Tanaab.
Skye Alliance.
Republic March
32ABY
April 31st.
Col felt sympathy for Alex, there was no denying that she’d found someone to love, had lost them through the callous actions of others and then been told that the one person she loved and thought she could always trust above all others, could have ordered an assassination against her.
He was also aware of the massive and potentially incendiary problem she’d just dropped on him.
“Alex” He said carefully, “I feel for you. I can’t begin to imagine what this must be like for you, but I wish you hadn’t told me”
“What?” She stared up at him with tear streaked eyes.
“You’ve just told me that you had a very serious and somewhat secret relationship with someone who is now a very high ranking member of a rival governments intelligence services” Col answered, “You’ve just basically informed me that you’re a pretty major security risk” He shook his head, “At the very least, you’re a target for blackmail, either from Natasha herself or from someone else who might learn of the relationship. The fact you still obviously have very strong feelings for her aren’t going to help. Hell, those feelings could be theoretically used to make you betray the Alliance”
“Sir, I….I…” Alex stammered on the verge of tears again.
“Shut up” Col snapped, “As your superior officer, I’m supposed to report this and take you off the active roster. I’m also supposed to pass this to General Stone and the local ISF liaison. You’ve handed me a major headache and I don’t appreciate it”
“I understand, sir” Alex hung her head, “Robert Craon can take over my squad. They’ll be in good hands”
“They’re already in good hands” Col shook his head, “I said, I’m ‘supposed’ to remove you from the active roster. You’re one of my best officers and I’m not about to throw you on the scrapheap. Nor am I willing to allow you to be ‘investigated’ by the ISF, you know how thorough they can be, I doubt even your family name can protect you from having every corner of your life probed and questioned”
“Then what?” Alex frowned, suddenly aware that Col was bending the rules for her.
“This remains between ourselves” Col hesitated for a moment, “I’m bringing Sini in on this too. You don’t have to give her all the details, but you can trust her regardless. We’ll protect you the best we can, but the moment you look like you can’t cope any more, then I’ll have to relieve you of duty”
“I understand, sir” Alex straightened up, realizing just how far out on a limb Col was going for her, “I won’t let you down”
“See that you don’t” Col nodded.
Alex looked at her feet for a moment, “One question, sir. Why?”
Col shrugged, “Like I said, you’re a damn good officer and I don’t want to see you wasted because of something outside your control. But, let me ask you a question”
“Sir?” Alex looked up.
“If you ran into Natasha Loran during a combat situation and were faced with the choice of allowing her to take actions which could kill members of your unit or taking a shot which could lead to her death, what would you do?” Col said, wincing at how callous the question sounded.
Alex hesitated and Col could see the tears threaten to begin again as emotions warred on the young woman’s face. After a few minutes, Alex looked up, “I’d take the shot, Sir” She said, woodenly, “But I think to do so, would kill me too. Inside”
————————————————
Royal Palace.
Nashira,
Skye.
Skye Alliance.
322ABY.
May 3rd
Harrison Tarn, First Prince of the Skye Alliance, flattened himself against the half ruined wall as blaster bolts passed over his head. A second later, he leaned around the corner to snap two shots off at his target, quickly realized he was aiming high and adjusted his aim before firing again.
This time, both shots hit the target dead center and Harrison saw the shooter drop away from the window.
Glancing to his left, he saw Arden Sortek crouched behind a pile of debris. Seeing Harrison looking his way, Arden held up three fingers, then pointed up the street. In return, Harrison nodded, raised his hand, first closed, then counted to three, then dashed for the next set of cover up the street.
Up ahead, and off to his left, Harrison saw two more shapes pop up. The one in the window started to track him, but behind him Arden opened fire. Two shots hit either side of the window, but the third hit the target dead center. Meanwhile, Harrison snapped off a quick shot at the second one, hoping to distract his assailant at the least.
To his surprise, his single, poorly aimed shot hit dead center and the training dummy dropped out of sight. Still reeling with shock at his luck, Harrison dropped into the shadows behind the cover.
A moment later, an obnoxious buzzer filled the air and signaled the end of the exercise. Standing, Harrison felt a twinge in his left leg, a return of the old ache that had plagued him since losing his leg years ago and having it replaced with a prosthetic.
A moment later, Arden joined him, a grin splitting his face., “Compliments on your shooting, Harrison” Arden laughed, “A dead center hit with a single shot whilst on the run. With shooting skills like that, who needs an army?”
“Hardly skill” Harrison returned the laugh, “Just pure dumb look. Even with my limited force control, I doubt I could make a shot like that again in a million years of trying” He looked to his friend, “Still, not so bad yourself”
“I’m slowing down” Arden shrugged, “Once, I would’ve hit with all three shots”
“You did” Harrison grinned, “Two hit the building, the third hit the dummy”
Arden laughed again, “I suppose we should return to the training center and find out our scores”
“They only gave us twenty minutes on the course, so we must have scored well” Harrison frowned, “It would be a shame if we failed to qualify with small arms”
“I’m not worried about that” Arden jerked his thumb in the direction of the other small arms qualification maze. I’m more worried about how your nephew Draco and Jacob did. I just hope they haven’t beaten us again”
“Sithspit, I hope not” Harrison grimaced, “I don’t think I could take another six months of jokes” He frowned, “Speaking of Draco, have you and Subhash managed to establish where his loyalties lie?”
Arden shrugged, “Honestly, we’re still not entirely sure. He seems to have very little contact with Miles. Indrahar has had people watching him constantly and as far as he can tell, Draco isn’t involved in Mile’s schemes. In fact, he said Draco appears to be utterly loyal to you”
Harrison nodded, “I brought him here as a hostage to keep his father in line, but I’ve grown to like having him here. He does seem to be trustworthy. But I still want the surveillance to continue”
Arden frowned, “Fine. But I’m going to give you my opinion on this, even though you’ve not asked for it” When the Prince didn’t reply, Arden chose to take it as a signal to continue, “I hope you realize, you’ve placed Draco in a position of great responsibility. Other officers his age -those who graduated with similar or higher scores- are just receiving their captaincies. They’ve been given squads and companies to command. Whereas Draco is a major in the Tarn Heavy Guards with a full battalion to command. There’s not a lot of officers in the AFSA capable of shouldering that responsibility”
Harrison scowled, “What are you telling me? Do you think Draco will crack under the strain?”
“Nothing of the sort” Arden smiled, “It’s just that Draco works hard to make himself worthy of the honors you’ve bestowed upon him” He shrugged, “Indrahar’s agents reported that he’s been studying military history. He’s been gobbling up military texts in the libraries of the War Collage and he’s even managed to get himself a bootleg copy of the battle analysis software we use to test officers”
Harrison looked at Arden, “How has he done? I’m assuming you’ve managed to get copies of his performance for evaluation?”
Arden nodded, “Indrahar even managed to to get Draco an updated copy of the software, upgraded in light of the troop performances in Galahad ’20 and ’21” He let out a breath, “How has he done? I showed a copy of his performance to Field Marshall Yvonne Tarn”
Harrison nodded and thought, “Knowing Yvonne’s reputation for innovative tactics, she’s perfect for evaluating Draco’s skills” He smiled, “So, what did she say, Arden?”
Arden smiled, “Well, knowing how much she hates the Fel’s. I didn’t tell her who’s tests they were. She looked them over and was visibly impressed. She especially praised the orders he wrote for his company and platoon commanders. She found them clear, concise and encouraging and called them ‘orders even an idiot could get right’”
“And what did she say when you told her who’s tests they were?” Harrison grinned.
Arden chuckled, “She looked me straight in the eye and said ‘Of course he did this well, Arden, He’s a Tarn, isn’t he?’”
“Just like Yvonne” Harrison laughed, “Thank you Arden for your opinion. And what do you think of his abilities?”
“Well” Arden said thoughtfully, “His scores beat anything I’ve ever seen”
Harrison stared at him, “Even those Jacob turned out when he graduated?”
“Dwarfed them” Arden nodded, “Give him a regiment and there’s not a unit in the New Republic or Circinus Federation that could stop him”
“And what news of Duke Miles?” Harrison asked, changing the subject.
Arden grimaced, “Indrahar reports that they still haven’t managed to get any bugs into Miles’ office that aren’t then found by the Duke’s security personnel. Not his fault, Miles is just too paranoid, he has daily sweeps carried out and they are very though”
“This is no good” Harrison scowled, “We need definitive proof of Miles’ complicity if we’re going to bring him down” Anger flickered across his face as they came within sight of the scoring complex, “If he’s stupid enough to work with Fel’lya, he must have made a mistake somewhere” He sighed, “Anything more on his supposed trip to Coruscant?”
As they cut through the ruins of a burnt out building, Arden shrugged, “Well, nothing we can act on. We know from our agents in place on Coruscant, that he was there. But to use that information to publicly or privately accuse Miles would mean death for those agents. We know he was there and collaborating with the enemy, but we can’t prove it enough to bring him down”
Harrison nodded, “Are Republic troops still shifting around in accordance with the erroneous figures we’re sending Miles?”
Arden smiled enthusiastically, “Like puppets on a string”
“Good” Harrison smiled as he pushed open the door to the complex, “Perhaps Miles’ treachery will pay for itself with this summers Galahad exercises” As they passed through the door, Harrison felt the chilled air cut through his sweat soaked fatigues.
Inside the complex, Jacob Tarn and Draco Fel-Tarn were sat slumped against the wall. Raising his head up from where it rest on his knees, Jacob scowled at them, “You bastards”
Harrison laughed and looked over at the scoring board, “265 out of a possible 300?” The Prince grinned and looked down the list of scores. Though Jacob and Draco had qualified easily, their score hadn’t come anywhere close to his and Arden’s, “What happened?”
“Bad day” Jacob mumbled.
Draco tucked sweat soaked strands of long red hair behind his ears and waved at his cousin, “We decided that the best way to beat you old codgers was to blitz through the course and pick up extra points for time”
“He decided neatness didn’t count” Jacob shrugged.
Arden nodded, “Your hits per shot ratio dragged your score down” He grinned at Harrison, “I guess us old codgers could teach these kids a few things about marksmanship”
Harrison shrugged, “You know this younger generation, they never listen to anyone”
Draco winced, “How long do we have to put up with this?”
“Six months” Arden grinned.
“Ugh” Draco shuddered, then all four of them began to laugh.
Harrison and Arden passed their rifles and power packs to the range master, then the four of them moved to the small bar where Jacob and Draco as losers got beers in for the four of them. Seating themselves at a table in a corner the group took a moment the savor the cool drinks.
Draco wiped foam from his mouth, “I heard a rumor that a Republic hit squad attacked Alex’s unit”
“It’s true” Harrison nodded, “She and the other officers in her company, including her CO were attacked in a restaurant. Happened last month. They got away without a scratch, the hit team wasn’t so lucky”
“Quite the showdown I hear” Jacob grinned, “Do ISF still think Alex was the target, the rest were a bonus?”
Arden hesitated, “To be honest, we’re not sure. The orders went out under Reisk Fel’lya’s name, and it would have been left at that, if not for a direct connection to Alex, one that made intel think she was the target. One of the high ups in the NRI is Natasha Loran”
“Alex’s friend from the Nagelring?” Jacob frowned, “I remember Natasha was booted for dealing. Was this some sort of revenge?”
“That’s Intel’s theory” Harrison shrugged.
“Actually, they aren’t so sure now” Arden said.
“What do you mean?” Draco asked.
“The orders went out under Fel’lya’s signature” Harrison nodded, “As far as ISF can determine, Natasha didn’t even know about the op until after it had already failed”
“So, what’s the connection?” Jacob frowned, “Or is it just coincidence?”
“Honestly, we don’t know” Arden shrugged, “Even the presence of Ran Gavin in the same division of the NRI is muddying matters”
“Ran Gavin?” Draco frowned, “Wasn’t he in your bodyguard unit?”
Harrison shot Arden a warning look that neither Draco nor Jacob caught, “He was. I had to dismiss him due to disobeying a superiors orders and cowardice”
“Sounds complicated” Jacob nodded, “So, Alex may not have even been a target, they just picked a unit, gathered the info and went from there”
“That’s one theory” Arden nodded. “Change of subject slightly. Any news on whether Alex will be at the wedding?”
Jacob hesitated, “I got a message from her a couple of weeks back. She sends her love and sends congratulations, but she’s not coming”
Harrison frowned, “Did she say why?”
“No” Jacob shook his head, “But I think it’s the same reason she always avoided coming home and why she transferred to a unit so far from the Alliance core. She’s ashamed of something”
“What’s she ashamed of?” Draco frowned, “I’ve seen her academy scores, she’s damn good at what she does. Her scores were some of the best”
“Not as good as yours though, Nephew” Harrison grinned.
Draco tipped an imaginary hat in salute at his uncle, “Touché, but no denying that they were good, almost as good as Jacob’s. Better than ninety percent of what the academies turn out. But seriously, what is she ashamed of? Is it about what happened to Natasha Loran?”
“Maybe, I always suspected that Commandant Keyes fabricated the evidence, but can’t prove it” Arden answered, “Maybe, Alex found out, but never found a way to help her friend”
“Something else to consider” Harrison frowned, “The date of the wedding. I agreed with you on holding it the day of your mothers death, to make a day of grief into one of celebration whilst still remembering her. But we never considered Alex’s feelings on the matter. Your mothers death hit her hardest, not least because she was there at the time”
“I know” Jacob sighed, I wish she would understand she doesn’t have to grieve alone, but I get the feeling that’s not all that’s bothering her”
———————————————————-
Ord Radama.
Circinus March,
Skye Alliance.
322ABY
May 7th.
Patrick Tarn-Varik watched the activity out on the space port as the crews began to unload the cargo from one the Genyoshas transports. Mostly just munitions and general supplies, Patrick was somewhat pleased to a pair of new Taser class light tanks roll down the transports loading ramp.
“About time they arrived” A heavy set dark skinned man grunted from next to Patrick.
Patrick looked sidelong at Cat Wilson, Commander of the Genyoshas First Armour Battalion, “Told you they’d get to us eventually”
“Didn’t realise by eventually, you meant after six months of chasing them up through the damn system” Cat scowled, then brightened up, “Still, here they are. Better late than never”
“True, and that should be us up to full strength” Patrick nodded.
“Any ideas on where we’re being posted?” Cat asked.
“Not yet” Patrick shook his head, “I think my father’s waiting until after the wedding. He’s confident that Yorinaga Tortorelli won’t make a move until after the wedding either”
“Every body’s worried about the Jedi and Visage slapping a holonet interdiction on them” Cat frowned, “Can they actually back that up if push comes to shove?”
“I have no idea” Patrick shrugged, “But the general consensus seems to be that, yes they can, the Jedi aren’t given to bluffing. If they say they can interdict the communications of a nation, then no one is willing to test them”
“You still off to the wedding with your dad?” Cat asked.
“Yeah” Patrick smiled, “You still okay with being in charge while we’re gone?”
“No” Cat said dryly, “But I’ll manage. Conn O’bannon is going to lend a hand”
Patrick laughed, and turned away from the landing field and headed for the main buildings of the base as Cat fell into step with him, “You mean when he finds time between having his jump infantry out on exercises?”
Cat grinned, “Pretty much. He’s worried this weddings going to have a polarizing effect very soon. He’s right too. The Circinus Federation is already feeling boxed in as it is. With the League and the Alliance bound together, they’re going to be feeling even more trapped”
“My dad is certain war will come” Patrick nodded, “Might be a few months away, but sooner or later, it’s going to happen”
————————————————–
Jedi Temple.
Ossus,
Free Worlds League.
322ABY
May 10th
Diana Senn had been making her way towards the hangers when she caught sight of Conrad Skywalker directing several students who were helping prepare for the Councils temporary relocation to Kashyyyk for the wedding celebrations.
“Master Skywalker” She called, “Can I have a word?”
Skywalker glanced over at her and nodded, “Certainly, Master Senn” He gave some quick instructions to the students then walked over to her, his curious expression half hidden through his long scraggly hair, “What do you need?”
“I just have a few questions” Diana answered, watching the leader of the Jade Knights carefully, “About the Sarna mission”
Conrad nodded, “I’d suspected you were still investigating that disaster. I never liked the mission from the moment it landed in my lap”
“How did it come to you?” Diana asked.
“Julian Tiepolo briefed me personally” Conrad scowled, “I should’ve suspected it was going to be trouble then. I had my doubts from the off, but that was mostly down to the involvement of the pirates”
“How did we find out about what was going on in the Sarna Lab?” Diana frowned.
“Beats me” Conrad shrugged, “I assumed The Watch had discovered it, but after what happened, I asked Master Resh, and she’d heard nothing” He said referring to Master Lak Resh, the Shistavanen who headed the Watch, the Orders intelligence arm.
“It didn’t come to us through the Watch?” Diana stared at him, “Then how the hell did Tiepolo get the info?”
“I don’t know” Conrad sighed, “Master Resh is still looking into it, but it seems Master Tiepolo has his own sources, outside the order”
“I suspect as much” Diana relied, “He had non-order assets on Sarna, and I suspect it was them that set up Connor Solo”
“Why?” Conrad frowned.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Diana said thoughtfully, “I’m pursuing a variety of leads, but I suspect Julian Tiepolo is playing his own dangerous game”
“The Grandmaster doing something like this?” Conrad shook his head, “I don’t believe it”
“Believe it” Diana said firmly.
“For what purpose?” Conrad frowned, “As far as I can tell, Tiepolo is merely chasing galactic peace. He helped negotiate this alliance between Skye and Mon Calamari, he even has a hand in ensuring everyone behaves during the wedding” His eyes opened in realization, “The Sarna incident distracted the Republic. They were building up for strikes against the Skye Alliance. The disaster diverted assets to both the rescue efforts and dealing with the pirates”
“The strikes never took place” Diana nodded.
“No, no, there’s something else going on here” Conrad shook his head in denial, sending his hair thrashing around his head, “He can’t possibly have convinced himself that killing millions was a way of ensuring peace” He looked at her, “Can he?”
Fractured Galaxy 