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Quinn steps to the front of a conference room with the entire division assembled
All right everyone, take a seat. Ironclad, if you would?
Int Ironclad closes the door, clicks on a small machine nearby, and takes his seat. The machine begins emitting high-frequency white noise.
We’ve scanned this room for bugs, but that noisemaker should block out any eavesdroppers. Now that we can speak freely, I’ll get to the point. I’ve called you all in as a follow-up to our previous discussion. I want to hear ideas on how to gather intel on the senior officers’ location and status, no matter how far-fetched.
As I said before, I believe there to be three possible avenues for this intel:
- the ISN, or more specifically the Azure Legion,
- the TSN, who may be prepared to assist us,
- or underworld elements, who we currently have no contact with.
Feel free to suggest alternatives, but I currently see those as our most viable options.
This intel is our first priority. I want to be able to act on it before the ISN tries to march us all onto Azure Legion ships. If it comes to that, we’ll need to scramble ships and leave immediately, whether we have the intel or not.
I’ll be frank with you: I believe leaving the ISN is an inevitability. By the time that happens, I want to have actionable intel for a rescue of the senior officers. Whether we are able to achieve that or not, we must be prepared for this eventual departure by all possible means, so I will also be taking suggestions during this meeting on how we can best equip ourselves to operate outside the ISN supply chain.
Any questions? Any suggestions?
“Of course leaving the ISN is an inevitability. Our primary objective should be returning home. But why wait to start siphoning off resources? Let’s start that now, and also distribute things into caches located off-base so we can access them when we leave. We just continue requisitioning as much equipment and materiel and saving what we can. Offer some of that as payment to information brokers on Azure Legion detention facilities or the whereabouts of our senior officers. And use those transactions as the basis for good relations going forward, on a transactional basis.
“In the mean time, we keep pursuing intel leaks from INI and the Azure Legion. If we can find the whereabout of one of their ships, then we capture without destroying some pirate vessels or make sure some from impound get marked for the scrap heap and fly those out so we can attack the Azure Legion ship with plausible deniability. We board it, we download their computers, set it to self-destruct, and then sift through the new data to find out either where the Fleet Captain and the rest current are, or where they will be and hopefully the transfer orders.
“All the while, we let this TSN know we aren’t in it for their revolution. That the relationship for the time being will be a transactional one, and that we have a line of credit we want to call on. They don’t get anything from us until they help us identify the location of the senior officers.”
She turned her head towards Quinn more directly and slightly tilted it.
“Is there anything that you disagree with factually, sir?”
Quinn stiffens at being called sir, still clearly unused to it
No, intendant, your assessment is accurate. Your proposal to capture pirate vessels, which we then in turn use to capture an azure legion ship, however, is somewhat… roundabout, considering they may not even the intel we need aboard.
He turns his attention to the rest of the room, hoping for wider engagement
Do we have any evidence to suggest the Azure Legion would have that kind of secret data redundant on all their ships? Or would it be stored on a station somewhere?
“I’m expecting less that specific data being on all their ships so much as locations and nav markers for likely detention facilities and the ability to connect to their data network to obtain greater information. We could even simply keep the ship and see if we can use it as a part of a ruse when we launch the rescue operation,” she amended.
If we start requisition surplus supplies, it won’t go unnoticed long. We’re already under heavy scrutiny – that damned Commadore seems to show up everywhere. With the ISN holding multiple fronts and staving off a civil war at the same time,I am sure they’ll be questioning every single torpedo and energy cell requisitioned.
Hamilton has gone AWOL. She is probably headed to make contact with the TSN forces we’ve encountered. I doubt they’ll let her just walk in and join them without interrogating her first. However, she might just convince them to let her join. With the way the ISN operates, I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t the first time and officer has defected. If she does, she might be a way to make contact with them. We need all the help we can get, and so far they seem to have been the ones who have tried to kill us the least.
Quinn nods to Nhaima
Hmm. Knowing the ISN, I’d say they’d have quite a few detention facilities to choose from. It’s a long shot, being able to find our needles in that particular haystack, but so far it’s our only plan. Anyone care to suggest a better one?
Looking to Turnez
As for Hamilton, I also suspect she’s headed for the TSN. Has anybody gotten any communications back from her? She may not agree with my commands, but if she still has any loyalty to the senior officers she might be able to negotiate for any intel they have.
From what I understand, Hamilton left because she disagreed with the decisions made. However, she is TSN. I wouldn’t be surprised if she contacted us; infact if I were a betting man I’d say its only a matter of time.
“The ISN may have quite a few detention facilities, but the Azure Legion would have far fewer. As an independent organization, particularly a secretive one, operating fewer quality installations would be preferable. If something requires more attention than Navy Security, then escalating it to the Legion is sensible.”
She then turned her attention to Turnez and shrugged.
“They’ve sent us to reconquer entire sectors and reclaim command bases. We file flush requisitions, but solid ones. We’ve been running ourselves ragged trying to keep up with our assignments. It’s already cost us one Invictus. Let them question it, and maybe we don’t get everything we ask for. But of all the charades we’ve tried to pull, this is undoubtedly the least risky since its already grounded in the job they want us to do.”
Her eyes flicked down to the conference table top thoughtfully, then back up to Quinn.
“With regards to Cadet Hamilton, she should be recovered if possible – just like the Senior Officers. But she’s also abandoned her post in an emergency situation and should be treated as such once she is apprehended. And I think that is all the discussion her case requires at the moment.”
raises a hand slightly”
“if I may… Cadet Hamilton represents a potential security issue if we some how do make it back home her very presence and knowledge may prove catastrophic to us if it some how falls into the wrong hands. we need to return her home with us, or.. ”
face rumples in disgust
“.. Or ensure that she .. no longer poses a risk… to our own universe as indeed the senior officers do presently. To cut and run away now would likely hasten the ISN’s discovery of our true natures and well I really dont what the ISN to know about the TSN and USFP.”
Straitens up a bit whilst still holding his hand up on the table
“with regards to the supply caching.. dont forget our auxiliary we can perhaps propose some exercises with them which would allow for some more creative accounting – its a been a while since they where used. we need to plan for the safe extraction of ALL of our forces.. not a single man, women, neuta, geck or other that came into this universe with us should be left behind … by force if needed.”
lowers his hand having said his bit
Nodding as Vimes speaks
That’s a good point, Intendant. We’ll have to keep it in mind, even as things come to a head. No one gets left behind.
Subaltern Tam clears his throat
Can we perhaps parlay our youth and inexperience into advantage in lobbying for additional supplies? You know, speak up brashly about how impossible the situation is and the former senior officers not wanting to rock the boat? Could we even get the supply ship expedited that we requisitioned to replace Grant?
On a less practical note, and with all due respect, I don’t see how dealing with the TSN on a transactional basis will work. No one is going to fight the ISN for money. The TSN will fight for us if they believe in us. Our transactions will be the currency of trust, of information vital to their cause, like knowledge of the terrifying weaponry and how to slow or disable it, intel on how to protect or free those they care about.
A young cadet who has been standing with the juniormost officers raises her hand.
Sir, doesn’t SubKommandant Mundy have a relative in the Admiralty? Perhaps letting Adm. Mundy know about the arrest might lead her to ask questions, or pull strings. She doesn’t know it’s our Mundy who’s in trouble. And if the Admiral sends in lawyers and whatnot, we might hear about it.
Actually, what do we know about the Imperium’s control of Caltrons? Do we know how they do it, how to stop it?
“I’m not asking them to fight the TSN for money. Quite the opposite, in fact. It has been suggested that we join the TSN, and I continue to reiterate that I feel that should be a desperate choice of last resort. To do so embroils us in this universe’s politics in a way where we have actively chosen sides rather than simply trying to make ourselves whole and return home. To choose sides here constitutes an act of war which far exceeds our mandate and forces policy choices on our TSN and the USFP we swore an oath to protect, and actively making enemies of a power from another universe when passage between universes is possible undoubtedly violates that oath.
“And personally, I don’t really care if they have Caltron technology beyond perhaps the ability to bring that understanding back to our universe. It is simply a weapon, and is no more or less horrific than a fusion warhead which we routinely use. Whoever it kills is still dead, but such a death doesn’t seem inhumanely painful or awful to warrant preemptive action. Sure, it alters the balance of power in this universe. Sure, it’s in the hands of people we all seem to agree are cartoonishly willing to commit acts of barbarism. But a moral objection rises from their targets, not the methods, so it doesn’t really matter.”
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