A base of operations, a handpicked crew of experts, and a target.
Those were the three factors that I had to solve before I could properly handle the investigation – by which I mean, toss all the work onto the poor saps that I’d tricked into working for me, and then swoop in to take all the credit when it was neatly solved.
Really, it’s kind of like a child’s puzzle. I had all the pieces, I just needed to put them together in the exact correct order. If, for example, I had a target, but no experts or base, then I wouldn’t be able to find the man. If I had experts but no target or base, they’d immediately realize that I didn’t know what I was doing, and abandon me.
Margaret Aten’s agreement had gained me a base, so that was the first one accomplished. I’d gone to her first because while I’d like to think I have a decent grasp on the fine art of recruiting people to do boring and potentially suicidal work, it’s rather hard to do so when you’re homeless. Despite the business speak that dominated the Lyran Commonwealth, nobody ever truly wanted to ‘get in on the ground floor’ of something like this, because that meant cheap food, poor beds, and no climate control. They always want to join a successful venture that’s already turning a profit.With a small wing cordoned off for our use, the next step was filling it up. George, my ever-knowledgeable adjutant, had already placed a large order from the local LIC offices for computers, guns, and access to their data-centers. The paperwork was already handled with a signature from both myself and Margaret Aten, and the requisition was on its way.Now I just had to go out and recruit the right mix of analysts, investigators, and soldiers, and they’d arrive to find their new clubhouse fully stocked and ready for them to get to work. This would have the side benefit of increasing their morale and the quality of their work, but more importantly, it would convince them that I’d already done an enormous amount of work behind the scenes. Once they believed that, I could let them carry most of the weight while that assumption made it seem like I was contributing.That old maxim of leadership still applied just as well here in the fourth millennium as it had in the forty-first: the men have to believe that you’re standing with them on the front lines, even if you’re not. Indeed, this was one of the greatest techniques I’d used to ensure that nobody discovered my cowardice – jump into a few battles that seem dangerous, but which are actually quite safe, and then nobody would mind if you quietly dodged the real death-traps. Normally, I’d done this by dint of showing up to every battle I possibly could in a Salamander light tank, and staying as close as possible to my mobile cover.In this situation, I actually had very little expertise to use. I wasn’t an Administratum datasavant, nor a skilled Arbites investigator, nor an elite stormtrooper or grenadier from the Guard. What I was, however, was a very good Commissar… and a good Commissar knows exactly how to do nothing, and get praised for it.First, I’d recruit the analysts. They would be the easiest to convince, but also the most easily overwhelmed by the splendor of the palace, and the most likely to babble and ruin the image I was trying to construct.Second, I’d get the investigators. They’d arrive to find the analysts already crunching the data, and I could suggest that their professional skills and instincts could help the ‘poor data-crunchers’ who hadn’t been able to solve it on their own.Third, I’d get the stormtroopers. They were the most likely to be a problem for morale, since soldiers are good at spotting the BS that I was going to feed them. Thus, I was only bringing them on-board after I had the first two groups handled, so that they’d have the hardest time figuring out that this had only been assembled today.I flashed a quick message to General Ashberry, requesting an appointment at his earliest convenience, so that I could offload the responsibility for managing my BattleMech Company off onto someone else for duration of the investigation. Technically, I was violating the chain of command, but I didn’t have the time to talk to Kommandant Wanger, or Lieutenant-Colonel Feretti, and I thought Ashberry would understand.Next up was the difficulty of determining where to go first.“LIC, planetary government, or LCCS?” George Wentworth asked, as I climbed into the car. I shut the door before answers, and reached for my seatbelt, though it took me a moment to figure out where it had moved. The vehicle was a different model than the LCAF staff car we’d taken from the 10th Lyran Regular’s base this morning. It didn’t seem to pose George any difficulties, and more importantly, it was a safer car, so I bore with the indignity of digging through cushions for the other end of the seatbelt’s harness. The car was on loan to us from the Archducal Guard, and to my immense happiness, it was designed with covert armor plating and bulletproof glass. A temporary annoyance was well worth that security.“LCCS first,” I said, with a firm nod as I clicked the seatbelt shut. “As much as I admire Simon Johnson’s people, they haven’t managed to stop Free Skye yet, and we’ll need someone who’s a little more capable at investigating than them. I’ll be happy to start with them.”“Happy?” George repeated, chuckling under his breath. “Nobody is happy to visit them, Hauptmann.”“What can I say, I like a little variety in life,” I answered with a chuckle of my own.The LCCS, you see, stands for the Lyran Commonwealth Civil Service. It was the overarching federal bureaucracy of the Commonwealth, and thus, easily the most hated component of the government itself, even more than the dreaded LOKI. After all, LOKI tended to only torture a man once before they killed him. The tax man was not so generous.
Every single planet in the Lyran Commonwealth had at least one office for the LCCS, to handle necessary functions of civil life for citizens. Things like passports, pension funds, treasury bonds, and of course, taxes.Most people didn’t really like to think about the Commonwealth’s bureaucracy unless they had to, and thus it was easy to forget its sheer size. When one finally looked into the topic, they would invariably discover that the LCCS was continually competing for the title of the single largest employer in the entire Commonwealth. Their only real competition was, naturally, the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces. It would surprise some, but not many, to find out that the Lyran military was only barely larger than its paper-pushers.Despite that overwhelming size, the Civil Service was spread far thinner than the LCAF. While every planet had an LCCS office, most of those were small things, often considered to be little more than another department within the existing planetary ruler’s government. There were only a few places where the Civil Service concentrated its administrative requirements into large office complexes; usually, these were the capitals of various Shires or the Archduchies themselves.Skye was one such important planet. As the capital of the Skye Province, it possessed a sizable office complex belonging to the Lyran Civil Service, under the control of the local Chief Administrator. I didn’t remember his name, but I’d actually met the man already twice, both during the welcoming ball, and during Margaret Aten’s war council after the assassination attempt. He was a very germannic fellow, which struck me as a bad choice for this culturally distinct planet. It wasn’t just my opinion, of course. Part of the job of the Civil Service was to be the visible reminder of the benefits that the Commonwealth’s overarching government brought to the people, and that was a public relations job that had to consider those variables.It occurred to me then, as George drove us through the streets of New Glasgow, that I was marching headfirst into a new battlefield, and I wasn’t properly prepared for it. Not in skills – I had those aplenty – but in munitions.“George, we need to detour,” I said, frowning as I realized that I was quiet unarmed at the moment. “Find the nearest bakery, and get ready to help me carry some boxes.”
Xxxx
Preparation is key in a military campaign, and truth be told, it was just as key in the kind of investigative wet-work that the Inquisition was so often called to perform. Different battlefields required different kinds of preparation. Even though my work today wouldn’t involve a single gunshot, it was still war.Accordingly, within an hour of my departure from Honor of Skye, I found myself sitting on a cheap chair in a large break room on the fifth story of the Regional Administrative Center, a towering building with nearly fifty stories devoted to it. It was nearing lunch, and I’d made sure to crack open the top-most box as I had walked through the hallways of cubicles and offices, so that the smell of fresh donuts could spread throughout the building. “Go on, go on,” I said to yet another Civil Service bureaucrat, waving negligently at the boxes. “They were supposed to be for an LCAF meeting, but it got canceled at the last moment, so they were just going to be wasted anyway. Might as well share them, am I right?”
It was an admittedly classic manipulation, though one that I hadn’t often been able to use as an Imperial Commissar – provide them with tasty snacks, and people will love you.“Thank you sir,” the bureaucrat said, smiling nervously as he picked up an apple fritter from the nearest box. “If I might ask, why are you here? Is this some kind of… inspection?”“Oh, nothing like that,” I said, shaking my head and then pretending to look around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. “I was scheduled for a meeting with some high-ranking director or manager or some such, but it got bumped, and now I’m just waiting around to learn if we’re even going to have the meeting at all. It’s a damn shame.”“Ah, what a horrible thing,” the bureaucrat agreed, nodding along with me. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, please just let me know, Hauptmann.”Finally, a bite, I thought to myself. I’d been sitting here for some time, and while I’d gotten plenty of thanks from the office drones before this man, none of them had been willing to extend this kind of offer.
“Well, perhaps there is one thing,” I said, putting on a sheepish air. “That meeting I mentioned? I think it might wind up canceled, but I’d like to at least shake hands with my counterpart. Make a good impression, you know. The only problem is, I can’t quite remember their name.”“Really?” the bureaucrat asked, eyes widening.“I know it was someone very important,” I told him. “It was someone from the Treasury’s investigations department. I think they won a lot of awards for efficiency. The top investigator, or something like that. They’re excellent at catching tax evaders.”“You must mean Herr Anton,” the bureaucrat said, his eyes brightening with recognition.“That’s the one!” I said, lying outrageously. “Where is his office, if I might ask? I should pop in briefly and say hello to him.”
“He’s on the thirty-second floor,” the bureaucrat said. “Corner office on the north-west side, you can’t miss it.”“Excellent, thank you very much,” I said, smiling warmly as I stood up from my seat.It didn’t take me long to make my way up the thirty stories. This did involve taking the elevator instead of the stairs, but the risk was minimal here, as I was hardly following a pre-set schedule, so the odds of ambush were quite low.
After that, I found the office for one Waldemar Anton. I inspected the nameplate, and saw that his title was listed as ‘Senior Tax Compliance Officer’. A good sign, that. It meant that I’d actually found the kind of analyst that I wanted.I knocked politely, and prepared to recruit the first member of my team.“Enter!” a harsh voice barked out.“Good day,” I said as I walked into the room. “Hauptmann Ciaphas Cain, 10th Lyran Regulars. I’m here regarding a matter of security.”Herr Anton looked up from his desk computer with a scowl, but to his credit, he immediately gave me his full attention.“Security?” the man repeatedly suspiciously. “In what manner? My office has filed all LCAF liaison paperwork properly, and if this is an attempt to exert pressure, I will report you to the Chief Administrator, no matter your military rank.”Well, that saves me some time, I thought to myself, as I mentally crossed the man off my list. Definitely shouldn’t be on the team.I recognized that kind of personality instantly, and I could tell that Herr Waldemar Anton was exactly the wrong kind of person for my task force. I needed inquisitive people, and there was nothing less inquisitive than immediately assuming you know why an unknown visitor has arrived at your doorstep… much less the sign of stupidity that was following that assumption up with a threat! Honestly, if I’d still been back on Tharkad, working for Katrina’s anti-corruption task force, I’d have been tempted to sign him up for a thorough investigation.
However, while I wasn’t going to recruit the man, I obviously wasn’t going to tell him that. It would waste far too much time. I needed two things at the moment: a good replacement candidate for my investigative team, and to reassure this civil servant that his rigid, pre-formed idea of the world was correct.“I apologize, but I don’t take your meaning sir,” I said, bowing slightly at the waist to him. “I am here on behalf of the Military Intelligence Division. I was sent to talk to a man in your department who has been under some suspicion? One of your fellow investigators, I believe. Record of high performance, only matched by their… attitude. I was informed that you would be the best person to talk to about that.”Anton’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment I thought that my ploy wouldn’t work – but then the moment passed, and the man smiled cruelly. “Yes,” Anton said with a hiss of satisfaction. “You must be referring to Max Raum. I knew he was up to no good.”
I nodded, as if this exactly who I had meant – but in truth, I was lying to him in the same way that I had lied to the bureaucrat earlier. The trick was simple: I spoke vaguely, and allowed other people’s minds to naturally fill in the gaps.
The first time I’d used that tactic, I’d been searching for the most efficient and capable investigator in the office. Pretending to have an appointment with him was merely a ruse. I didn’t have the time to sort through employee efficiency scores or send a polite request for records. Instead, I temporarily borrowed the accumulated institutional knowledge that the Civil Service employees possessed, and which I didn’t.
Unfortunately, the flaw with this method is that sometimes, other people can fill in the gaps in a way that you don’t expect. I had indeed found a capable and efficient investigator… but he was a gigantic stick in the mud, and that was no good.Whatever Herr Anton’s competencies as an investigator, he was not a good fit for the team I was putting together. I could practically recognize his back-biting style of politics on sight, because it was exactly the same kind of attitude that inevitably cropped up in any large, distributed organization like the Lyran Civil Service. With so many lesser employees, only the truly capable rose to the highest ranks – and so if you weren’t quite that capable, a far better method of securing promotion was to become adept at the game of office politics.This second time, I needed to narrow down my search. I’d already found a highly capable investigator, but his personality didn’t match. Therefore, the best way to find a more compatible person was to look for someone that this political animal despised… and there was no class of employee that a political back-biter hated more than a highly capable but politically idiotic rival. The kind of data-savant that labored away at a specific task with a single-minded efficiency that caused problems for ladder-climbers like Herr Anton – and if they hadn’t been fired, then that was all the testament to their competency that I needed.“I believe that was the name,” I lied once again. “Where would his office be?”“Oh, he doesn’t have an office,” Anton told me, with a satisfied smirk. “His professional behavior is not appropriate for most visitors, and so he has been relocated to somewhere that suits him better. You’ll be looking for Floor B4, down in the archives.”A data-savant in the underground archives. I probably should have guessed that. That hint about professional behavior was just the cherry on top; I had little doubt that Max Raum had corrected Herr Anton and been right at least once, probably more, and that was the source of his enmity. “Thank you very much, Herr Anton,” I said, nodding to the man and stepping back out of the office just as quickly as I’d entered, before the man could start to ask any more pressing questions that I didn’t actually have answers to.The door clicked shut, and I swiftly walked away before the man could ask any questions, and potentially realize that I wasn’t actually here to investigate his rival, but instead, to hire him.I marched to the nearest elevator and hit the button for the lowest floor. Once again, it asked for my authorization, and I entered my LCAF identity card, which had the strangest ability to open any door owned by the Lyran government. I couldn’t possibly explain why that was, of course.
The basement archives were chilly and brisk, the hum of air-conditioning resonating through dark hallways as I walked slowly through the computer stacks.“Can I help you?” asked a bored voice behind me.
I turned, and saw a sloppily dressed man slouching back in a large leather office chair, his feet propped up on his desk, as he fiddled with a keyboard in his lap.“Yes, I’m looking for Max Raum,” I said, my clipped pronunciation standing out against the other man’s drawl. “Why on Earth would you want to do that?” the man asked, not bothering to look up from the three computer monitors spread across his messy desk.“Official LCAF business, I’m afraid I can’t talk about it,” I said.“That’s not what you said upstairs,” the man replied.
He still appeared disinterested in me, but my gaze sharpened, because those words didn’t fit that sentiment.
“And what did I say upstairs?” I asked the man, walking towards him slowly.I was close enough now to see his computer monitors, and it looked like he had one screen open to a large spreadsheet, the second watching a sporting event of some kind, and the third one looked like an audio graph… and as I watched, words appeared underneath the wave-form, transcribing directly from it.“You know, I wasn’t paying close attention,” the man said, finally glancing up to look me in the face, before glancing down, very obviously, at the audio graph. “But it wasn’t that.”“That’s an illegal listening device,” I said. “You’re tapping Herr Anton’s phones.”“Nah, I would never do that,” the man said with a languid shrug. “Too obvious. This is the building’s own legal listening devices for the hallways. You should always shut a door before you start a conversation around here. Anti-corruption measures, y’know.”“And you feel the need to access those anti-corruption measures?” I asked, tensing up slightly. “Possibly illegally?”“They’re actually accessible to any Civil Servant with the appropriate certifications, which I have,” the man revealed. “It’s an accountability measure instated by our new Archon. I’m surprised you don’t that, Hauptmann Cain. If you did, maybe you wouldn’t have shined a spotlight on me.”“You must be Herr Raum,” I said, as the final pieces clicked into place. I looked around, wondering if there were any more of those listening devices in this room. I didn’t think so, but then, I hadn’t noticed the ones in the hallways upstairs…
“So, what can I do you for?” Max Raum asked, turning away from his monitors and giving me a flat look. “A security check, was it? Something about me being up to no good?”“That’s not actually what I said,” I pointed out. “I said I was looking for a man under some suspicion. I never said you were in trouble. That was Herr Anton’s assumption. Rather bold of him.”“Well, is that so?” Max asked, rhetorically. “That’s mighty reassuring. But I’m still wondering why you’d want to talk to little old me.”
“I’m in need of an analyst for a classified operation,” I said, laying my cards on the table. “The kind of man who can untangle data and figure out what people are hiding. Of course, since the operation is classified, I should also mention that the ability to keep your mouth shut is of similar importance.”Max leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful expression“Y’know, I don’t really like working for the Civil Service,” he said, changing the topic abruptly. “Too much office politics. I do like catching criminals. I’m pretty good at it, which is why our dear friend Herr Anton hasn’t convinced anyone to actually fire me yet. But I’m not really feeling the most encouraged in my professional life right now. Maybe I could help you with your analyst problem, but what’s in it for me?”“Good news,” I said, spreading my hands wide as if to say ‘ta-da!’, “I’m hunting the criminals that just tried to kill the Archduchess. Help me find them, and you’ll have the most powerful person in all of Skye owing you a favor. From there… well, you’re a creative man, I’m sure you can think of a use for it.”The man smiled, and kicked his feet off the desk. He stood up, and to my surprise, he was actually almost as tall as I was, and his long, housecoat like garment had disguised his lanky nature.“That sounds like a damn good reason to me,” Max said, extending a hand.
Xxxx
The police precinct was busy when I entered. I didn’t draw much attention, largely because I had returned to the garrison for my Stinging Barflies of the 10th Lyran Regulars, and changed into more casual clothing than my proper duty uniform.I waited in line for the duty sergeant, behind a pair of squabbling women that were probably looking for their husband or children in the drunk tank. One hand lingered in a pocket, holding a scrap of paper that I’d been given by Margaret Aten before I’d left for this errand. “Can I help you?” the duty sergeant asked with a tired voice. “Yes, I’m looking for a Detective Brennan,” I said. “I called ahead to let him know I’d be coming. Could you let him know that I’m here?”“Name?” the duty sergeant asked, looking down at his computer monitor to check something.“Ciaphas Cain,” I said. The duty sergeant paused, and looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. I smiled back at him with a touch of self-consciousness inserted into the gesture, as if I was embarrassed by my fame – which I both was and wasn’t, when you thought about it.“…one moment, Hauptmann Cain,” the duty sergeant said, tapping on some buttons on his keyboard. “The detective will be right out.”“Thank you,” I said, nodding appreciatively to him.It only took a minute or two for Detective Brennan to appear in the doorway of the waiting room. He was an older man, wearing the kind of cheap suit that many senior law enforcement seemed to prefer, and I spotted the distinct sign of a laser pistol holstered at his hip. He looked, all in all, like any other grizzled old gumshoe from fiction. But more important than anything else was the fact that Brennan matched the picture that I had been shown not two hours before by one Archduchess Margaret Aten, who identified him as the kind man who had brought a young homeless girl to the hospital, and sat by her side the entire first night.
“Cain?” the detective called out, looking around the room without any awareness or special attention to me.“Here,” I said, unfolding myself from the waiting room chair.“This way,” Brennan said. He turned around and walked further into the station without any gesture or polite greetings, as if he had plenty of work to do, and no time for pleasantries. I liked him already.
I followed the detective to a small office with an even smaller desk. The detective went to a small coffee-maker and poured himself a cup. He glanced his shoulder and held it up, but I shook my head, and he took it back to his desk without making a second.“How can I help you, Hauptmann Cain?” Detective Brennan asked.For a moment, I paused to consider what kind of lie to feed the man. Promises of glory, or rewards, or favors… but somehow, looking around the cramped little office that the Detective had, I felt like those things would be hollow. How long had he been in this office, doing this job, without any special attention? The thought crossed my head that perhaps this was the rarest man of all – the kind of man who didn’t need a lie to motivate him. All it took was a just cause.And lucky me, I had one such cause.
“I’m hunting the people who tried to kill a woman yesterday,” I said, looking Detective Brennan straight on. “I’ve already got plenty of analysts and footage, but I need investigators that can turn that data into a pattern.”Brennan inhaled, sucking up some of the coffee’s wafting steam into his nose, and then sipped at it. “I could do that,” he said, setting the cup down. “But I’ve got two murders on my desk right now. I can hand to someone else, but why should I?”“Because they tried to kill Margaret Aten,” I told him. He stiffened. “I’m not going to say anything about your personal connection to her,” I said, picking my words carefully. “Instead, I’ll point out your lack of connection to her. The Archduchess informed me that you did not help her because of any especial desire, but simply because you care for everyone.”I leaned forward, and stared into the man’s eyes, practically willing him to understand what I was getting at.“If Margaret dies, then there will be more murders,” I said, speaking of a hypothetical that was all but guaranteed. “The chaos in the streets will hurt everyone. Rich and poor, young and old. Unless we find these men and stop them, before they try again.”Detective Brennan met my stare for a long moment, and then sighed and ran a hand down his face.“I’m just one man,” he said softly.“You are not alone,” I countered, my voice even. “You’ll be in charge of the entire investigation team, so select whichever of your colleagues you think will help. They’ll have pass a security check, but other than that, you’ll have complete control over their selection. I don’t have the time to pick everyone myself.”He rolled his jaw, then picked up the cup of coffee and drank. He drained the entire mug and then set it down firmly.“When do we start?” he asked.“Tonight,” I said, holding out a hand. “Pick your men, and meet at the Archducal Palace.”“Cain,” he said, hesitating slightly at my hand, which he did not shake yet. “When we find them, do you need me and my men kicking in doors?”It was a good question. It wasn’t about loyalty, as one might think, but instead about competency. Could he recruit the older, slower detectives who still had sharp minds, or did they have to pass a fitness standard?“No, don’t worry about that,” I said, still holding out my hand. “I have just the men in mind for that particular task.”Brennan nodded, and then stood up and grabbed my hand firmly, giving it a shake.
Xxxx
The Lyran Intelligence Corps was technically the junior partner in the Lyran Commonwealth’s intelligence community. People often forget that.After all, LIC is the civilian intelligence agency, not the military one. The latter fell under the duties of the Military Intelligence Division. The problem with that is that the MID was a bad joke. In competency, it fell so far behind the other intelligence services of the Inner Sphere that it was simply excluded from the list. In responsibilities, it was primarily assigned to handle battlefield intel, because that was about all it could handle.Of course, the LIC was founded long before the MID, so why was it the junior partner? Simple: officially, the military took precedence over the civilian government. Just another Lyran joke, I often thought, though I never quite got around to understanding the punchline.Now, practically speaking, everyone knew the LIC was the only real intel organization in the Commonwealth. I should know, because I was still officially a liaison to them, which gave me certain access rights. The LIC headquarters on Skye was not a large, imposing office block like the LCCS. Instead, it was nestled further away from downtown New Glasgow. A series of smaller office buildings, perfectly innocuous, with no signage whatsoever – like a little corporate park.I walked up to the front door and inserted my identity card into the slot. A few moments passed, and then the door unlatched with no beeping or other indicator. I walked inside to the cool air-conditioned lobby, and spotted the guard-turrets immediately. There were three of them on the far corner of the ceiling, all focused on the entrance to welcome anyone who decided to simply bust in the front door.“May I help you?” a pretty blonde receptionist asked, looking up at me with a professional smile. I returned it, largely because I have a habit of not annoying people when they have guns pointed at my head, than out of any kind of attraction, let me assure you.“Yes,” I said, as I slid a document across her desk. Speaking wasn’t encouraged here. Too… risky.
She didn’t even look at the paper I’d handed her, simply taking it and inserting it into a small slot inside her desk. A moment later, she glanced at her computer screen.“Elevators are on your right,” she said.“Thank you,” I said, nodding politely, before leaving the desk behind.This is the way that the LIC handled appointments. Receptionists and secretaries had tremendous amounts of power, because they saw the schedules and appointments. If you want to learn everything about a covert agency, you don’t look for the head honcho, because he’s probably guarded by a dozen hired thugs and knows how to disappear. Instead, you find his secretary, who almost certainly possesses neither quality. Or so I’m informed. I’ve rarely had cause to actually use that kind of skill, but I was reliably informed.
Thus, the best security measure against that? Tell the secretary nothing, and hand out hardcopy appointment codes, like the equivalent of dead-drop letters. It forced the LIC's leadership to manage their own appointments, but it also meant that there was no way to easily subvert the entire organization.The elevator doors opened automatically for me, and closed after I walked inside. There was a brief sense of motion, and then it rose upwards. A few moments later, the doors opened, and I left. I didn’t even know what floor I was on, though I believed I had ascended. There was a narrow hallway before me, with only a single open door, which I entered - and found, appropriately enough, the correct office.
“Hauptmann,” said a man that was standing before me. “I am Colonel Halburg. I’ve been informed that the Archon has put us at your disposal. How may I assist you?”“I’m here for the LOKI team you have on standby,” I said, pushing down the unease that filled my stomach at the words.Halburg blinked. He looked like the kind of man that lived his life by an iron-clad self-control, but my words had punched through that.“You’re trying to catch the terrorists that tried to kill Aten,” he said calmly, as if trying to reason with me. “Surely, you mean to ask for our Lohengrin teams.”“And how effective has Lohengrin been thus far?” I asked him, raising a single eyebrow.“LOKI is not trained for counter-espionage,” Halburg said.“I’m not going to use them for espionage,” I said, with a small chuckle. “I’m going to use them as killers.”The Colonel looked discomforted, but he nodded. “If you believe that is wise,” he said slowly.I didn’t, but unfortunately, I had no choice in the matter.
Xxxx
It was near evening by the time I returned Honor of Skye. The sun was setting in the distance, and the light clouds were lit up in gorgeous oranges and pinks, like a tapestry brough to life.
I was finishing off a slice of pizza as we pulled in, as George had thought ahead and grabbed some takeout for us to eat on the drive back. We had already arranged food for our newly assembled team with the palace kitchens, but I was so hungry that I just couldn’t wait. I could probably justify it better as some leadership trick like never show yourself eating food, so that you appear more than human, but honestly, this was just good fortune that I already had the food.Our new office was in a side building away from the main palace itself. I’d been told that it was auxiliary quarters for esteemed guests, before it had been converted into a small barracks for the Archducal Guard. As such, it had independent parking, kitchens, and security apparatuses, which was quite a boon to us.George parked the car, and together we strode through the hallways until arriving at the largest room in the building – what looked like a small movie theater. My adjutant nodded to me and split off as we entered, with him walking back towards the audio-visual control room, while I headed to the front of the room. Almost every seat in the room was filled, and I spotted the three most important men sitting at the head of their respective organizations: Max Raum sat at the back with a collection of analysts that looked like they’d been gathered from the local mathlete competition, while Detective Brennan was in the middle with a collection of grizzled and bitter looking police sleuths and even some private investigators. At the very front, taking the uncontested best spot, was dozen or so men who sat very still, and their sharp, razor-like eyes followed my footsteps.“Good evening,” I said, the acoustics of the room projecting my voice naturally. “You are all professionals, so let’s get to it immediately. Yesterday, there was an assassination attempt on Archduchess Margaret Aten’s life. It is our job to find the men who planned, organized, and executed it.”I swept my gaze over the room. It wasn’t the most ragtag group that I had ever commanded, but it was the riskiest, for the simple reason that my reputation was so much lower here in the Inner Sphere than it had been back in the Imperium, and thus I couldn’t rely on that holding the group together. I would have loved to allow someone else to take the lead in this, while I could safely lurk in the back. Alas, that simply wasn’t an option, thanks to that exact reputational problem.Someone had to be in charge of these three different groups. Someone had to give them a unifying purpose, which, ideally, would be an individual that every single one of them had their own independent reason to hate.A base, a crew, and a target. I had the first two – now it was time to give them the third.I looked up to George, and nodded my head. Behind me, the movie theater’s screen flashed to life, with a man’s face plastered across it. I didn’t look, because I already knew who it was. I had seen him multiple times before – including, most recently, a bar in New Glasgow, where he’d panicked at the mere sight of me.“This is Terrence Moore, a pirate formerly of the Black Brotherhood,” I said. “A Jumpship captain, not a Mechwarrior or Aerospace Pilot. He was last seen in the All Dawn system six years ago… until a few weeks past, when he popped up here on Skye.”Near the back, Max Raum frowned, lifting his chin slightly as he inspected the man’s mugshot. Detective Brennan was squinting, perhaps wondering how this was related. The LOKI team, who I still barely knew, ignored the image entirely, and stared at me.“He was accompanied by half a dozen members of Free Skye,” I said, as George obligingly changed the image to the six mugshots of the dead men from the bar. “As Mister Moore is a non-political pirate, and specializes as a smuggler, he is our first target. He is not a local, and he does not blend in. We already have a location of that sighting. You will trace him, find him, and we will bring him in for questioning.”I paused, and shifted my expression to something suitably grim and serious.“This man is the key to Free Skye’s entire network,” I said, lying my ass off. “Find him, and we find their weapons. Find their weapons, and we find their leaders.”“When do we start?” Max Raum called out from the back.“Right now,” I replied.