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Chapter Five

The Anean Star Empire

Fan-Kui System, Fan-Kui V

Orbit, Approaching Novus Armada

December 26, 7996 Haroma Year

Fan-Kui was once a lush world covered in forests, but that time has long since passed. After centuries of Anean urbanization, massively increasing from an initial population of a few million to over five hundred billion in just over 600 years, most areas of the planet are heavily polluted. As the temperatures rose, deserts overtook what used to be grasslands. Now it's the center of imperial influence in the Rim Worlds, and the home of two fleets. Due to its importance, it's also a major stop for most tours, the location of most fleet repairs, and one of the most heavily fortified and well protected systems in the Empire.

The Novus Armada was going on their once a decade tour of the Empire, bringing along roughly 90% of the Novus fleet for it. This armada of nearly 200,000 ships in all is their way of showing that Remnora Novus, even with only semi-autonomy, is an extremely powerful state and capable of very large scale production. It was all a show, however, to those in the know. The ships were largely incapable of a true space battle lest they risk near total destruction. The weapons, though powerful at one time, are centuries outdated. Armor is lacking in favor of shielding, which is also centuries behind. The only thing the ships have going for them is the structural integrity. Remnora Novus engineering is among the best in the galaxy and the ships show it.

While the description of being useless describes the majority of the ships, the Pride of Remnora is the exception to that rule. The Pride of Remnora was one of the last super-ships of the galaxy still in service. The ASF and IFSF had destroyed Gemino's Spirit of Gemino_during the First Galactic War about 20 years ago, and the ASF Harbinger was being taken out of service due to old age. The _Pride of Remnora, however, was about the Harbinger's size and one of a kind due to the immense cost. The ship, in total, was a little over 20 miles in length. Despite being well built and heavily armed like all ships of its size, it was useless in combat just like all ships of its size unless used against an equally large warship.

Of course, the_Pride of Remnora_ was going to be where Luca, Cadogan, and Janele boarded. It was the fleet's flagship and where any leaders of note would be. Cadogan's attention was focused on the ASF fleet in dry-dock and undergoing repairs. He had, in fact, forgotten entirely about the Agebbians and what was going on with them. Luca was observing both of the fleets though, seeming to inspect like a typical admiral from the large, full height window at the front of the cabin.

Cadogan walked up to next to her. "I've been meaning to ask. I heard a little about the Agebbians and their attacks on the border. You're an ASF captain, is there anything you can tell me about that? I'd rather not be fighting this internal conflict if we're about to go into a real war against an old enemy."

"Agebbians backed down." Luca said. "They stopped the attacks and it will stay that way."

"Good." Cadogan said. He paused for a moment before adding, "How long do you estimate until we dock?"

"Not too long." Luca looked at the ships. "Maybe an hour at most, assuming we are able to get docking permissions fairly quickly. I know we will. Erik would have made sure to inform them of the ship we are approaching in."

"Erik?" Cadogan said.

"Emperor Erik Boldomar. Come on, I slept with the guy, do you expect me to call him by title and last name or something?" Luca said with a laugh. "Right, in all seriousness, be ready for boarding."

In the following hour, the Adamant_approached the flagship, but the crew wasn't prepared for the tractor beam to grab them. Submitting to the tractor beam, the engines were shut down and the _Adamant was pulled into the cargo bay of the Spirit of Remnora and set down once the cargo bay doors closed underneath. The crew of the ship managed to get the landing pads out and extended to ease the landing.

Once the tractor beam had grabbed the Adamant, Cadogan, Luca, and Janele headed down to the cargo bay and awaited the landing of the ship. When the entire ship shook from the rather rough landing the tractor beam caused, that was enough for the bridge crew to drop the cargo bay down. The group quickly headed down the ramp, unarmed save for Luca's pistol, and her lighter that she always carried for the same reason that Isaiah gave his to Boldomar back at Frostfall.

A Novus officer, only evident due to the different uniforms, approached Luca and there was a handshake between the two of them rather than a salute. "Captain Xaimoungkhoun, welcome back aboard the Spirit of Remnora. We're preparing for a single jump to Remnora Novus. The Terminus is... not looking very good right now. Captain Aldric is waiting for you and your team in the War Room. If you'll follow me, I'll give you the fastest route and brief you and your team on the way."

Knowing she didn't need to do anything to keep Cadogan and Janele following, Luca just followed the officer out of the cargo bay and into the dimly lit corridors of the ship. After some wandering through the ship, the group approached a high speed tram, currently stopped, and boarded. The door slid into place and pressurized, sealing the tram in, and then took off quickly down the tracks.

"I'll keep this simple." The Novus officer said. "The Terminus is facing serious civil disorder, particularly in the Remnora Novus systems. The ring is... not looking so good either. There's large scale protests currently, finally showing the people's distaste for the martial law. I'll let Captain Aldric give you the full briefing while we're underway though."

The tram continued down the nearly straight tracks for about 20 minutes before slowing down steadily, coming to a stop in a far better lit part of the ship. Cadogan noticed the lighting, but he figured he was the only one given that Janele nor Luca were looking around at the lighting. Considering he was the only one to notice, he figured it was probably a bit more of his sensitivity to electricity and electronics, or it was his visor playing tricks on him.

Another lift took the group deep into the ship, opening up in a large command center. Along the edges were soldiers working on the computers with large monitors with various information and news feeds. At the center was a large holographic display, and Captain Aldric standing over it. As the group got closer, Cadogan knew the stars he was looking at, and knew immediately it was the four Remnora Novus systems; Uratica, Moliband, Onan, and of course Remnora Novus.

Captain Aldric noticed the three approaching and the tiger stood up. "Welcome aboard the Spirit of Remnora, Captain Xaimoungkhoun. I wish it was under better circumstances. In the past 12 hours there has been a major Bureau crackdown across all Novus core worlds. We've lost contact with the central government on Remnora Novus, people are up in arms and are either violently revolting or protesting. It's not looking good."

Captain Aldric is, like Emperor Boldomar, descended from a pre-Exodus former Remnoran royal family. Also like Boldomar, the Aldrics were disgraced and kicked from the throne to make way for the Coutants supposedly. Due to that, they, like the Boldomars, were sent on the second colony ship. As a result, where the Origenes, Coutants, and Neophytos argued over who should rule over Remnora, the Aldrics and Boldomars worked together upon landing on Remnora Novus. Even though the other Remnoran nobles hate both families, the two still get along well. Captain Aldric's father is, supposedly, the third in line to the throne of Remnora Novus behind Luca's daughter and, supposedly, Luca herself.

"How long until we reach Remnora Novus?" Luca asked.

"We just jumped about ten minutes ago." Aldric said. "It will be another 10 hours until arrival. Upon arrival, I'll broadcast a demand for the Bureau's surrender or there will be consequences."

"Because that always works." Cadogan said.

"Agent, you're on a tight leash. As far as I am concerned, you are the enemy. Keep your mouth shut unless you're asked to speak." Aldric said. "Anyway, Captain, we have limited contact with the AGF soldiers, but as far as we can tell they're coordinating with the local police and National Guard forces to combat the Bureau where they can. Due to the Novus Pact, however, the military doesn't have the manpower to fight the Bureau directly. Most of the soldiers aren't Novus-"

"And that means what exactly?" Cadogan said.

"It means they're useless on the ring Agent. You know that." Aldric said. "You know the Bureau only hires the most powerful psionics if possible."

"But if we're judging combat ability on psionics, then you're a fool." Cadogan said. A look over the shoulder from Luca quieted Cadogan, though he wasn't too happy with that.

"Captain," Luca said, "what plan do you have?"

"Currently I am planning on letting loose some of my marines on the surface and letting them push toward the Bureau Headquarters. If we can get Director Niadh, we can put down this little rebellion." Aldric said. "I want him dead, and I know my marines can make that happen given the chance. I hope there's no argument on that."

"Then what makes you any different from the Director?" Cadogan said. "I hate to admit it, but we need to arrest him. If we kill him, he's a martyr. For what cause? I don't know, but I wouldn't risk that. If we arrest him, we can publicly shame him and then execute him."

"Captain, get rid of the fucking agent." Aldric said to Luca.

"No." Luca said. "In this case, he's right. We should arrest Niadh. Give him and his followers no more reason to fight us. If we arrest him and parade him through the city before turning him over to the Federal Police, then we'll be able to leverage what's left of the Bureau."

Aldric was quiet for a moment. "Point taken. I don't like it, but I understand. What about you three? What's the plan there?"

"Not quite sure yet. If you give us time with the map upon arrival, we'll draw up our own plan to advance on the headquarters." Luca said. "Either way, we need to support the regular soldiers. If we don't, then it will be a disaster. I am curious. What kind of manpower does the Bureau have on the ring?"

"Approximately 1,500 active agents and about... 2,500 inactive on their payroll." Cadogan said. "Of those 4,000, I'd estimate about 1,000 of those are Tier IX. I had access to a lot of information before reassignment. They have a lot of modern military hardware as well. AGF garrison is, what, 25,000? National Guard is largely civilian right? Most of those soldiers are probably wiped out already. It's a mess, nicely put."

"Great." Aldric said. "I wonder what assistance we'll be getting on top of the armada."

"I should note that of the 4,000 the Bureau can call up, I can estimate about only 80 to 90 percent of that manpower available. 10 to 20 percent of the agents were rather opposed to the Bureau and its goals, but worked for it for a steady check and a little less suspicion. There will likely be scattered resistance if anything."

"What if they shatter the ring?" Luca said thinking, and that left everyone silent. "We can't glass the city, and they know it. Too much firepower and we run the risk of breaking the ring and destroying the entire construct. It would have to be a ground war entirely. If the AGF is making use of their artillery, it could already be threatened. I won't lie, I hate these damn rings. I doubt artillery would destroy it, but I know the dreadnought guns could shift the orbit entirely."

"Noted." Aldric said. "No bombardment. That's going to make things rough."

"Yes, but I know our soldiers can handle it." Luca said. "Have to put some faith in the ground troops Captain. We wouldn't be winning wars without them, after all."

"What of the Agebbians?" Aldric asked.

"Not a threat. They might attempt to take advantage of this temporary weakness to launch an offensive, but our EWS will pick them up long before they even hit the Crossroads."

"This is a mess. I guess we've done all we can do at the moment." Aldric said.

"At the moment, yes. This room will definitely be buzzing once we arrive." Luca said.

"Where will you be ma'am once we arrive?"

"I'll be on the surface. I have my personal reasons for wanting to take the fight to the Bureau directly." She said. Aldric opened his mouth to protest, but Luca added, "And you won't convince me to stay up here. I refuse to. We're going to need some sleep before we drop into this. Do we have even basic accommodations for a few hours of sleep?"

"There's a small barracks area over there." Aldric pointed to the door on the other side of the War Room. "We've been using that to be on hand immediately. Not sure if the bunks will support you in the armor, but you're welcome to try. They're cheap and we have several more in storage to bring up."

"Thank you Captain. As I said, we just need a few hours." Luca said, walking off soon after with Cadogan and Janele following. She passed through the door into the room, seeing about thirty bunks just hastily set throughout the room. It was clear this room wasn't meant for sleeping in and this was a makeshift attempt at a barracks. "Well, you heard me. Let's get a bit of sleep. I don't want to be running into battle about to collapse from exhaustion." Luca took her helmet off and picked an empty bunk. She set the helmet underneath and laid down on the bed.

Cadogan did the same, taking off his helmet, setting it under the bunk, and laying down. As the Captain said, they were cheap bunks and he almost thought it was going to collapse under him as he laid down. It held though, he made sure not to move at all, locking up the armor to more easily accomplish that. Janele took the bunk next to Cadogan and laid down, setting the helmet aside as she did so.

"First combat?" Janele said to Cadogan.

"Yeah. First real combat." Cadogan said. "I don't like it. Am I supposed to feel scared and excited?"

"Yes. That's probably about as normal a reaction as you can have with something like this."

"Well, good I guess." Cadogan said. "Again, thank you Janele. I don't know where I'd be without you right now."

She laughed a bit. "Probably still be doing what you were doing for the past 27 years." Janele said, pausing and thinking. "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?" Cadogan asked.

"Regret taking the job working for the Emperor, regret doing what you had to do in his service, regret turning your back on the Bureau, regret anything." Janele said.

"Yeah. I guess in one way I do." Cadogan said. "I do, deep down, regret choosing to protect the Emperor. In doing that, I think I set this course of events into action. I have been wondering what if I didn't do that. What if I wore my armor that day on Remnora Novus? What if I had my communicator on? What if I followed protocol? What if I was never reassigned?"

"You'd be working for the Bureau and most likely caught up in all this as well, except on the other side of things?" Janele said.

Cadogan said nothing, thinking about that, and shuddering on the inside at the idea of blindly following Niadh because he wanted to stay alive and didn't want to betray the Bureau. "And that's the same conclusion my mind comes to." He finally said. "I'd have made more mistakes and I'd end up regretting them all. Despite what has come of this job so far, I regret nothing. Service to the Emperor and the Empire feels... right. Feels like I am working for something more than me, something more than the Bureau and its cronies."

"And I'd be working with someone that didn't think like that." Janele said. "Goodnight Cadogan. We'll talk when we wake up."

With all the thoughts now put into his mind, Cadogan found it difficult to fall asleep. He was left thinking for nearly an hour before he finally drifted off, the need to sleep overwhelming his mind and its thoughts.

Remnora Novus System

December 27

Despite Luca having asked the captain to wake them up in only a few hours, Captain Aldric intentionally forgot to ensure they were all well rested. It was the drop out of hyperspace that awoke Luca, who then awoke Cadogan and Janele after she realized what happened and how long it had been since they fell asleep. As Cadogan and Janele both were slow to wake up, it was instantly clear to the both of them that Luca was a very light sleeper.

Cadogan eventually unlocked his armor and turned out of the bed, still struggling to wake up. Janele was just as slow, though was cursing Luca under her breath for the less than friendly awakening just now. He grabbed his helmet from under the bed and put it on. Janele was still sort of struggling to wake up, and Cadogan just gave her a pat on the shoulder. Had he not heard Luca yelling at someone or something, he'd have said something, but his curiosity got the better of him and he left the sleeping area.

"I gave you an order Captain!" Luca yelled at Aldric.

"I am fully aware of that, but I'd rather you three not get yourselves killed from fatigue." Aldric said calmly. "I apologize for trying to look out for you all. Whatever the case may be, we've arrived and we don't have the time to argue about this. Look at the ring yourself."

Captain Aldric pulled up imagery of the ring, focusing on New Senzovona. There was the beginnings of thick plumes of smoke and ash, though most of the city was still visible. It was quite clear that there was still extensive combat on the ground. Luca hardly looked at the images, instead focusing on the strategic display in the center of the War Room. What she noticed were several AGF transports over the ring, and she pointed them out to Cadogan when she noticed him.

"I count five transports, that's... 5,000 soldiers at best." Luca said. A simulated flash near the edge of the display of the system brought in a Xaimoungkhoun Class Hospital Ship. "They're definitely about to undergo major humanitarian operations once this is said and done."

"So what are we going to do?" Cadogan asked as he was only slightly interested in the transports and the ships.

Luca zoomed the display onto New Senzovona, showing the city and the position of Anean soldiers on the ground. The Battlenet, a creation perfected in the middle of the First Galactic War, showed each individual soldier, tank, artillery piece, and other equipment on the ground as well as their near real-time position. Most of the AGF soldiers were concentrated around the AGF base on the surface, which wasn't surprising, as well as the space port. Luca broadened the display, also showing civilians that the soldiers were detecting, and it seemed that the spaceport was being turned into an impromptu refugee camp.

"The Bureau Headquarters has no AGF soldiers in the area for scouting, but there are a few gunships flying about." Luca said. "We're going for the headquarters once we're in position. We could hold the line, but we have the combined psionic power, as well as firepower, to break through any defenses they might have."

"How are we getting down there?" Cadogan asked.

"Drop pods. Unless you want to drop in just the armor. We have jump packs to slow the fall. Goliath V and up have built in shock absorbers for the impact." She said, before noting the silence from Cadogan. "Yeah I've done it before. Nothing scares an enemy like heavily armored soldiers dropping from orbit with extreme firepower. They're already more or less civilians when you think about it. I am surprised the AGF has been holding the ground rather than attacking. It's quite unlike them."

"You were serious about the jump weren't you?" Cadogan asked.

"It's up for consideration, yeah. Either way, we need to get to one of the deployment bays and be ready for the deployment. I won't do a space to atmosphere jump. That's stupid and dangerous. Armor can withstand reentry temperatures if aligned correctly, but it's not a risk I'd want to take." Luca said standing up from the hologram. "We will be dropping at the base of the Bureau headquarters though, or at least close by." Janele finally walked out and joined with Cadogan and Luca. "Sorry about that. I was annoyed. Good of you to finally join us though Janele. We're about to head for deployment."

"What's the plan?" Janele asked.

"Well, if you were here, you'd know." Luca said as she started to lead the group out of the War Room. "I'll brief you on the way though."

Over Ringworld Remnora Novus

Once the Spirit of Remnora was fairly close to the ring, the shuttles carrying roughly 2,500 Novus marines were deployed. Luca, Cadogan, and Janele headed in with the first wave. Luca's final order toward Captain Aldric was that his marines are to, ideally, hold the line at the spaceport and the AGF base. An actual offensive would cause too much damage to the city and risk too many lives. If the attack on the Headquarters failed, then the soldiers would begin the advance.

The group of several dozen shuttles mostly broke off to land in one of the free areas near the spaceport, offloading their soldiers. Cadogan's shuttle was flying near the edge of the ring's atmosphere, just out of range of any anti-air weapons the Bureau might be using. The three of them were silent as the shuttle flew rapidly over the city. The Bureau Headquarters stood out among all of the buildings, but Cadogan noticed the shuttle showed no signs of descent.

Luca stood up and opened the side door of the shuttle, the internal atmosphere rushing out due to the lower pressure. All three of them had equipped jump packs, but Cadogan and Janele did it just to play along with Luca's idea, not actually intending to jump. The shuttle could be felt slowing down as it approached the city center, and it was definitely quite clear what was going to happen now.

"Are you sure we should do this?" Janele asked as she walked up behind Luca.

"No." Luca said. "But try to keep up." She said before jumping from the shuttle.

Cadogan hesitated as he looked down, but nonetheless forced himself to jump out. He gave a look over the shoulder as he jumped and saw Janele follow him down as well. He looked down again, seeing Luca dropping down rapidly, using the pack to adjust her course. To his right was the Bureau Headquarters, and he fired off the pack to head in that direction. There was, despite the danger and lack of common sense in jumping out like that, something rather exciting about this sort of drop.

Roughly three minutes after the initial jump Cadogan turned himself to slow the descent with the pack. He saw Luca's landing, and she managed to land on her feet, though quite hard and kept going. She drew the fire of nearby Bureau agents that were on the ground, though he did notice that several had started to run away. He adjusted the course a bit to land a bit closer to the headquarters, but that didn't work as he had intended. The landing resulted in him hitting the ground on his feet, and harder than he had planned for. The road under him had a few cracks in it. Since it still had quite a bit of fuel left, Cadogan left the jump pack on just in case he'd need it.

Janele's landing was far better than Luca's or Cadogan's, activating the jump pack and holding it as she came to a near stop, then a soft landing on her feet. She unslung her assault rifle and then ran up to Luca and Cadogan. Despite the fact that all three of them could carry heavy weapons, all of them had assault rifles since they were fighting what amounted to civilians with military grade equipment. Only a handful of agents had proper combat armor, and the rest were just with nanoweave vests or other light armors. The assault rifles were designed to punch through almost anything save for powered armors.

With the headquarters right in front of them, the group settled on a more or less leisurely walk toward the building. There was no sense in tiring themselves out, after all, if there was no threat nearby. It was a short walk up a shallow incline before they continued to approach the headquarters. Luca slowed Cadogan and Janele down as they got closer, knowing that something was going to happen here. It was too quiet, and the Bureau agents did run into the building. Either they were about to get attacked here, or there was going to be well laid out traps within the building.

"You know, we can take an elevator right up to the Director's office." Cadogan said as the thought occurred to him. "The top floor has only a few areas within, but it's as simple as taking the express elevator to the top. I really don't want to have to climb up the stairs."

"Yeah, nor do I." Luca said. "Glad you mentioned that, or we'd be climbing."

Despite expecting an attack before reaching the building, the group entered the headquarters. The Atrium was also devoid of anyone other than the typical receptionists that worked the front desk. Cadogan watched them and they looked at the group. He caught the movement of one arm toward the bottom of the desk. He shook his head and the receptionist pulled her arm back. Cadogan reached into one of the pouches of the armor and took out his Bureau badge, showing it. She got the hint with that and relaxed.

"Agent Gavin, you're the only one here that has worked the Bureau. Lead the way." Luca said.

Not about to question an easy order, Cadogan took the lead of the team. They passed the security checkpoints. The handful of security officers that were still in the Atrium did nothing as they passed. All of the security hired to protect the building were, in fact, entirely unarmed save for their psionics. The Bureau didn't want potential threats protecting their building. As Cadogan looked around, save for the fact there were no other agents about, it looked like it was going to be business as usual for the Bureau.

Cadogan walked around toward the rear of the Atrium, where a single elevator was placed. He pressed the button on that, only to have the doors open immediately. Despite the elevator being empty, he hesitated. There was something that felt wrong about the elevator already being on the ground level, despite the Director surely being the only one to use it. Luca and Janele made the choice to board for him, however, by walking past and entering. Cadogan reluctantly boarded the elevator and pressed the button to head up to the Director's floor.

"I don't like this." Cadogan said. "The elevator is never on the ground floor."

"You're just being paranoid." Janele said. "It's probably nothing."

"You don't know that. I know the building rather well, and this just feels off. That's all I am saying. I expect it to be nothing." Cadogan said, relaxing just a bit. On his rifle he turned the safety off, expecting to be in combat the moment he stepped off the elevator, and waited.

He looked up at the indicator, showing the floor they were on. The Director was on the 75thfloor along with the offices and desks of the most senior agents and the Deputy Director. The higher up in the building an agent or employee was, the higher up in the Bureau they typically were. Before reassignment, Cadogan had made it to the 73rd floor, and that's why he had been regularly hounded by the Deputy Director for being a few minutes late.

Once the elevator reached the 75th floor, there was a pause before the doors opened. The Deputy Director was standing right outside the doors and took a few steps back when he saw the group inside. Instinctively, and having wanted to do this for a quite a while, Cadogan raised his rifle and put a round in his head. The Deputy Director fell to the ground, blood already pooling around him, and the agents on the level were alerted by the gunfire. Before anyone could say anything, a few bullets hit the group and just bounced off the armor. Not wanting to test that any further, the three of them ran for whatever cover they could find.

Across the building from the elevators was the doors into the Director's office, but there were about a dozen agents in the way. Cadogan's guess was that all of them were Tier IX or Tier VIII at lowest. Likely for the same reason that Cadogan, Luca, and Janele weren't using their abilities, the agents were just firing on the group with the Class D sub machineguns the Bureau were issued as a standard weapon. What they lacked in power was made up for in rate of fire and the relatively small, but still powerful for their size, rounds.

Luca, while crouched behind cover, was flipping her lighter open and closed. To Cadogan, it seemed like she was debating on actually making use of it. "Might as well." Cadogan said, getting Luca's attention.

She tossed the lighter in such a way it would slide to the middle of the room while keeping the flame lit. Once it came to a stop, she did something Cadogan hadn't been planning on. Rather than the bolts that Boldomar had used at Frostfall, there was a rapid temperature increase, as Cadogan's armor showed, nearing 2000 degrees in a matter of seconds. When he looked around the corner, toward where Luca was walking, the fire from the lighter started to expand and spin around, whipping up everything in the area or just outright burning it be it desks and papers or flesh and cloth.

Cadogan ducked back behind the desk, despite knowing it wouldn't last too long, and he looked over at Janele, also only just holding on due to the heat and flames as they drew closer. Almost as soon as it started, however, the flames dissipated and the temperature began to drop back to normal. Cadogan stood up to see Luca picking her lighter back up and sticking it into one of the pouches on the armor. His own check of his armor showed its integrity was still at 100% and the shields barely took a hit from the heat. The center of the room, however, was a burned mess. Had the filters for the helmet been off, the smell of everything burning would have been overwhelming.

Luca turned around and said, "I've always wanted to do that." She laughed, and the laugh caused Cadogan to shudder given what was just shown, and he followed her toward the doors of the Director's office. She stopped and let Cadogan take the lead. "Your Director, you go in first. Only fair that you deal with him."

As Cadogan placed his hand on the door handles, he hesitated again, but knew he was being watched now and had to act like he was ready to go through with this. With a sigh, he pressed the handles down and pushed the doors open. All he saw was the Director standing with his back turned, looking out the window with a cigar in hand. As Cadogan approached, he suddenly had a rifle barrel put to his head and he came to an immediate stop.

"Helmets off. I want to see who I am dealing with." Director Niadh said while turning around. "On your knees and lock up your armor."

With hesitation, Luca and Janele took off their helmets. Cadogan was last to do so, and he hated himself on the inside for falling into this trap when he should have known better. He took the helmet off and kept it in hand he dropped to his knees as told. Reluctantly, he also locked up the armor, only to hear the clanging of chains behind him. His wrists were grabbed and one chain wrapped around them, but he noticed they weren't locked. A tug on the chains when he unlocked the armor showed the chains were stronger than something he could break.

"Interesting. Agent Gavin, Princess Xaimoungkhoun, and the outlaw." Director Niadh said. "Good news Princess, you're in no danger. I have no desire to incur the wrath of Emperor Xaimoungkhoun. I've seen what he does to people that do."

Luca laughed a little. "Well, you're not stupid at least."

"I never was stupid despite what you might think. I've done what I had to. I have kept order on this ring until the government turned on me. That's unacceptable. I was given the right to do as I must to contain the psionic threat." Niadh said. "Now that I have gone too far, according to the misguided people of the Anean government, I must be taken care of. I have done my job right, and now I am an enemy of the people. I followed protocol as I was told to do, and it's unacceptable apparently. This was all brought upon by this person here." He indicated Janele. "Had she submitted, we'd not be in this position and everything would have gone as it has since the Novus Bureau was founded following the Novus Pact."

"So what now?" Cadogan asked.

"Now Agent? Now we fix this together." Cadogan looked over to see Niadh putting his pistol to Janele's head and pulling the trigger. The large round punched right through her head, and she fell to the floor in a mix of blood, bone, flesh, and grey matter. "And like that I can lift martial law. I followed protocol." Niadh tucked the pistol back under his suit.

Cadogan was left speechless, but he wanted to get up and kill the Director. Given that he had no helmet and that he was surrounded by several armed people, it wasn't possible. He stayed silent and just started at Janele, letting the anger bottle up. Luca, likewise, said nothing, but Cadogan knew it was because she was probably anticipating that or otherwise didn't care as she hardly knew Janele.

"You, Agent Gavin, are an interesting case." Niadh said. "You haven't done anything directly against the Bureau. All you did was shoot the Deputy Director." He actually laughed a little. "I don't blame you. Agent Hamilton was the doing of Miss Wilkie here. You never directly killed a single Bureau employee, more or less did as your assignment entailed, and you never turned on me fully. You've proven your loyalty in one way or another I suppose. Given that he is now bleeding out on my floor, the Deputy Director position is open Agent Gavin. I think you could use a proper promotion. You've been working for us for too long for anything else."

Despite the last several weeks, Cadogan found himself actually considering this offer now. Director Niadh was right. Despite what he had done, he was merely following his assignment. As part of the paperwork Chief Acquarone had given him, he was bound to do as the Emperor told him, and the Director signed off on that additional order. To do what Emperor Xaimoungkhoun told him was doing exactly as his reassignment told him. He still exercised sound judgment in dealing with the Bureau and only lied the once to protect Janele before they got back to Haroma. He shot the two Bureau agents at Frostfall in a mercy killing rather than an attack. Granted the Director was wrong about Agent Hamilton, he figured the Director was willing to overlook it... or he knew exactly what had happened.

There was something off about all of this, but he couldn't quite place what he thought it was. Given what just happened with Janele, and the fact the Director had now killed someone that Cadogan found himself taking a liking to, almost more than Jaylene, he couldn't work for Niadh. Despite the time he took to think about the offer, he still hadn't come to a real answer for the Director. Luca remained entirely silent on the matter.

It was, however, thinking of Luca that push Cadogan's thoughts to what the proper course of action was. There was no guarantee that, if he accepted Niadh's offer, that he'd be allowed to get away with everything. Niadh had said he didn't want to draw the Emperor's wrath, but if it was Cadogan that shot and killed her, Niadh would be free of that wrath.

"No." Cadogan said quietly as his mind finally rationalized a decision. "I refuse to work for you." He said.

"Unfortunate." Niadh said. "Nonetheless, I have no intentions of harming you. You haven't wronged me, and I won't give you a reason to do so. You'll stay tied up, but I just hope that your people get up here to free you." The Director gave Cadogan a pat on the shoulder as he and his agents left the office, closing the doors behind Cadogan and Luca.

Cadogan let himself fall to the floor, tired of holding himself up now. Part of him just wanted to give up and just let Niadh win, but he knew he couldn't do it. He had no idea where Niadh was about to run to, but he had an idea. In order to do anything about it, however, he'd need to get the chains off his wrists to be able to do anything more than stumble about aimlessly.

"Captain Xaimoungkhoun to Captain Aldric." Luca said after having managed to get her helmet back on. "Director Niadh is fleeing, location and destination are unknown. Agent Gavin and I are trapped in the Director's office. Janele Wilkie was killed by Director Niadh. We need immediate extraction."

There was a silence before Cadogan heard from his own helmet, "Understood Captain. We'll have a shuttle and extraction team en route. Director Niadh is on the run though?"

"Yes sir. Hopefully he's broadcasting a stand down order, but I have my doubts." Luca said. "What's the ETA on an extraction team?"

"About 20 minutes at most. Are you in danger?"

"No. The Director didn't harm myself or Agent Gavin." Luca said. "We'll hold on. We're in the Director's office, so don't have your people come in all guns blazing."

"Understood Captain. We'll be there."

Luca said nothing more, but she turned over to face toward Cadogan. "I'm sorry. I know you're hurting right now. Don't let it cloud your judgment though. I know the pain of losing someone you love."

"Nothing could be done." Cadogan said. "I'll just need some time in private."

Knowing that nothing she said would do anything, Luca stayed quiet and waited. Cadogan was left with thoughts running rapidly. He wanted to do damn near anything, as long as Director Niadh got what was coming to him. Assuming Director Niadh got off the ring, and Cadogan somehow knew that he would be able to get away, he had no real idea where the Director would flee to. Right now, until he got somewhere private, he was going to focus on thinking of what he's going to do now.

The twenty minutes passed slowly for the both of them, but the sound of boots on the floor was a welcome noise. Moments after the office doors burst open and the Novus marines entered. They removed the chains from Cadogan's and Luca's wrists and let them stand up. Cadogan picked up his helmet and put it on, letting Luca do all the talking. She was fine with that, based on what he could tell. The marines led the two back to the roof and they were placed back on the shuttle. Janele was wrapped and also brought aboard. Rather than an escort back to the Spirit of Remnora, they were brought back to the Adamant. Their job was complete, even if it didn't work out as planned.

Once back aboard, Cadogan followed Luca back to her cabin as he was invited in. The first thing he did was sit down at the minibar built into the room. He took off his helmet and set it aside. Luca walked around the back and just gave him a bottle. Cadogan smiled as she did that, because it almost seemed like Luca knew him rather well. She also set down a glass.

"I'll leave you it. Just... keep limits in mind." Luca said as she walked around the bar and headed out of the cabin.

Cadogan was left in silence, save for his own drinking as he thought and planned. Despite certainly wanting to kill Niadh in a very violent way, he knew that wasn't what he should do. A sense of justice, even if significantly impaired at the moment, was the right thing. Niadh would have to be arrested if possible for a public shaming. For Cadogan, there was something particularly enjoyable about that possibility. Seeing Niadh's smug grin being wiped off as he's chastised by the entirety of the Empire just before he's publicly executed. It wasn't what he wanted, but there was no sense in being selfish. Everyone, in his mind, should share in this moment.

Until he got more information on where Niadh might be, Cadogan was content with some drinking and sitting and waiting. He could wait for quite a while as long as he got what he wanted in the end. To him, it wasn't revenge now as much as justice. He missed Janele, he'd almost say he probably loved her in some sense, but he knew there was no sense in dwelling in the past in such a way. Justice was the only thing that could be served now, and he'd be more than happy to carry out the law as it was written.