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Chapter Four

March 19

---

Chara III

ANS Unification

---

Two days passed since the Alliance dealt a decisive blow against Omniwatch. It was, needless to say, exactly what the Alliance needed. There were already negotiations on the ODV Diplomat to work out a ceasefire between all parties, and they were showing progress. Dumisani and Munroe were usually at odds, but this time they seemed united in their desire to reach an agreement and end the fighting before it gets any worse, or involves the Alliance directly, beyond its peacekeeping role.

Admiral Vasiliev Kuznetsov was getting old, and it was starting to show. His hair was white, and largely gone now. His face showed deep wrinkles, tempered by scars and decades of military service. Now 84 years old, he had served the Alliance Navy since the day he graduated from secondary school at 18. It was without question that his devotion to the Alliance was unshakeable. That was why he now commanded the Alliance 1st Fleet, the largest of the five fleets that the Alliance fields.

Currently a task force of Marines and warships pursue a group of Omniwatch marines that had escaped from the devastation on the ground. In all, only about 40 had remained. Their retreat was disorganized and desperate, and so many either died or were captured. Omniwatch marines didn't have the same conditioning as the Alliance Marines, and so they were far more likely surrender against odds that are stacked against them. These ones would have to be no exception.

Kuznetsov had his command table set up in the bridge of the Unification, and it showed the position of the warships and the marines on the ground. He had a cruiser and a pair of frigates supporting a marine company. The cruiser sat in a higher orbit than the frigates, to allow it more space to fire its larger main guns. According to the estimates, the warships would make contact with the Omniwatch marines within the hour, and the Alliance Marines would be behind them by about 20 minutes after that.

"Admiral, are you sure you don't want to just bombard the Omniwatch forces?" Jasper Avtandil said. Avtandil held the rank of Commander, but he was not regular Alliance Navy. Instead, he was a member of the Directorate of Naval Intelligence, a subdivision of the Navy responsible for the deployment of political officers and other agents within the Navy. Kuznetsov naturally had a dislike of that oversight that came from the government directly. "It would spare us manpower and deal a final blow to the corporate rebels."

"Yes, and only damage our reputation more." Kuznetsov said as he let out a frustrated sigh. "I did that last time you recommended that, and we killed millions, and now there's signs of mutiny in the ranks. We are trying to protect the system, not bomb it into oblivion."

"Mutiny will be dealt with harshly." Jasper said with the smile that he usually kept when he was dealing with Kuznetsov directly. "Now, destroy the rebels."

Kuznetsov shook his head. There was something to be said about the political class of the Alliance. Particularly that they had their heads full of dreams of glory, when that just wasn't possible. Jasper was young - probably 30, if Kuznetsov had to guess - and just as ambitious. He saw this as a chance to advance his career to new heights. "The man that advised the great Admiral Kuznetsov to victory" would be what he'd call himself.

"No." Kuznetsov said. "We will fight this conventionally. Not another nuclear round dro-"

"Admiral, we have new contacts on scanners." The tactical officer that Kuznetsov never bothered learning the name of said. The Captain usually dealt with these people directly, but the captain of the _Unification_was injured rather seriously when he went down to Chara II.

The table in front of Kuznetsov automatically scaled, and the holograms of six Omniwatch warships appeared. This included, most importantly, the Ambassador. For the first time, Jasper and Kuznetsov both shared a grin at this sight. Omniwatch's Captain Trovato was definitely a pain in the ass, and now he could either kill or capture her. That would likely end the conflict.

"What was that about not another nuclear weapon?" Jasper asked with the tone of superiority that Kuznetsov had despised for the last several years dealing with the political officers. "Destroy the Omniwatch ships."

"No." Kuznetsov repeated. "Now we have a high value target. Captain Trovato is on that ship." He tapped on the Ambassador. "We capture her, and we may be able to end this, or at least have a bargaining chip. Surely you can see the value of this." He said. This time, for the first time, Jasper didn't argue with Kuznetsov. That surprised him more than anything else. Once nothing was said, Kuznetsov looked to his communications officer. "Send a communication request to the Ambassador. Let's see if the good Captain has half a brain."

A small beep notified the Admiral that the hail was sent. Whether it was responded to would be a completely different story. He could see Trovato not responding in any way other than ignoring him. It took several minutes, but he did get a respond, and it was in a video communication. Trovato was a mess. Kuznetsov noticed that first. He wanted to smile at that, but held it back for the sake of maybe leveraging her surrender.

"Admiral." Luca said as she tried to keep herself composed as best she could. "We know you're coming. My marines are prepared to hold you back."

Kuznetsov shook his head. She was stubborn to the end. "Captain, you and I both know that you cannot do that. I can only offer you this once. If you surrender now, I will guarantee your safety and release upon conclusion of hostilities. This goes for all your crews and marines. Even the ships as well."

He knew full well he didn't have authority to promise anything other than safe capture and release, but it sounded good. Given the video communication, and the audio the entire bridge could hear, refusal would mean that Luca would face mutiny if she doesn't follow through with a surrender. That would be exactly what Kuznetsov had planned on. It was a gamble, to say the least, but forcing Luca to make a choice was entirely worth it.

Audio was shut off, but Kuznetsov could see Luca conversing with her officers on the bridge of her ship. He'd give her time. The warships would arrive on scene in about half an hour, and thus Luca had half an hour before her fate would be out of her hands. Kuznetsov simply waited, and found this whole situation amusing. Trovato was a competent officer, but it was going to be completely worth it to bring her down several notches.

"Admiral Kuznetsov." Luca finally said after several minutes of silence. "For the sake of the crews, I will surrender. The marines will be standing down shortly, and the ship crews have already stood down. We await boarding."

"Smart move Captain. You and the cat will be brought aboard the Unification. The rest will be moved to one of the Alliance camps here on Chara III." Kuznetsov said as he cut the communications. He was very satisfied with this outcome.

Hours passed on the ground as additional marines went to the surface to detain and transport the prisoners of the Omniwatch vessels. There was surprisingly little resistance, and the resistance that did occur was put down swiftly. It would most certainly do. As he had hoped, the commanders of the ships were brought aboard the Unification for detainment including, of course, Captain Trovato, Commander Harun, and several others.

As the night shift began on the Unification, Kuznetsov was settling in for a dinner. Being the polite host he was, he had Captain Trovato brought up. It was, in his mind, a show of respect for the officer. Luca had gauged the tactical and strategic situation correctly and enjoyed a string of successes, only brought to a halt due to the intervention of another force. The dinner was also in part because after two days on that ship, Kuznetsov suspected that she could use a hot meal.

Trovato was brought in under armed guard, in uniform but not restrained. The guards then left, leaving the two alone as Luca and the Admiral sat at the table in the Admiral's quarters. The captain was far from intimidating, though that was due to being a defeated officer. It happened. Kuznetsov settled on a regular meal, having a pair of rather expensive steaks brought up to the room. This time Jasper would not be making a remark about him wasting Alliance money on his dining.

"Captain Trovato, welcome aboard." Kuznetsov said. This was the first time since she was brought aboard that he had seen her. "I apologize for this inconvenience, but we know it is necessary to ensure we all get a favorable outcome."

Luca shook her head a bit and cut at her steak. "I am sure it's certainly favorable for both of us. After all, we are both getting something out of this, no? Do you realize that Omniwatch won't take a loss well?"

"I am fully aware." Kuznetsov said as he took a bite. He finished it and added, "But you realize the Alliance has greater assets than the corporation?"

"Of course I am aware. I get the intelligence briefings." Luca said with a grin. It reminded Kuznetsov eerily of the one Jasper tended to sport when he had a response to something. "Nonetheless, Omniwatch has plans in place. My capture won't stop that. There are assets that are in total communications silence, working to unwind the Brakians."

"Such as what?" Kuznetsov asked after listening intently.

"You should know who I am first." Luca said as she pulled out her contingency datapad.

March 20

---

Chara II

NBTC Territory

---

Luca had been on the Unification for an extended period of time, but everything pointed at her being alive and well. That left Commander Harun, who had managed to negotiate his own release the technical second in command of the Ambassador and its crew. And it meant that he was now responsible for further ground operations, what few could be launched. Admiral Aylmer had yet to make contact, so Harun fled to Chara II on one of Luca's contingency orders, should she be captured.

The Northern Brakians are generally a friendly subspecies of the Brakians, and that would work in the favor of the corporation to ensure that things were done in the favor of the corporation. The vulpine races were a rather rare species outside the Northern Tribal Territories, but they were the preferred of the corporations. Brakians were not just 'Brakian'. Beneath the Brakian superspecies are two distinct species; Northern Brakians and Forest Brakians. These are the human names for them, essentially. There were two others, but they had been wiped out entirely by Alliance and corporate expansion on the planet.

Forest Brakians are the species that the Alliance knows the best. They are largely lupine in appearance, but with an exceptionally rare few showing traits of species of more domesticated canines of Sol. These Brakians are the ones that have the strongest pack ties, and tend to have an extremely strict hierarchy. They make up roughly ninety five percent of the planetary population, and are somewhat xenophobic. In first contact, the Northern Brakians handled the contact while the Forest Brakians wanted to fight the Alliance off the planet.

Northern Brakians are the primarily vulpine races that make up the areas in the northern part of the planet. They are particularly adapted to the cold, but also live in a far more structured and less hierarchical society. Northern Brakians united for the simple fact that they could make more money by cooperating rather than fighting. Compared to the rest of the planet, the North Brakian Trade Coalition, or NBTC or Coalition, was the first true government of the planet and the most stable one still on the planet today. Naturally, the business sense and shrewd way of working with others has worked in their favor, and many are corporate managers and executives... or criminal bosses.

Omniwatch had multiple contacts in the NBTC that are sympathetic to human interests if it suits them. In this case, it did. The Brakian government didn't move into NBTC territory, but the seizure of foreign corporate assets has proven to cause problems for the NBTC. The corporations were responsible for movement of supplies and material north into the NBTC, and without the corporations and their ports profits were dropping in just the few weeks of this incident. The ever-accumulating cargo was posing an issue as well. While the corporations shipped into the NBTC, they also shipped out into the Alliance and to other worlds.

The NBTC's capital sat relatively far north, safely behind several layers of worsening winter weather and the NBTC's own military forces. That didn't stop Harun from getting a shuttle down several miles from the capital's city limits. Omniwatch shuttles were never fired upon within NBTC airspace, as they knew Omniwatch, like the Alliance, carried great power and could be extremely useful to the Coalition.

Harun particularly hated the cold. Being born on Procyon I in its deserts meant he was suited for the hot weather of that world, not the arctic weather in the northern lands of Chara II. The snow crunched under his paws as he kept walking down one of the main avenues. He had put on his heavy coat and a scarf. The scarf covered the entire head other than his eyes, for obvious reasons. And yet, through the several layers of clothes, Harun was still cold.

"Commander Harun." A voice said behind the officer, and Harun turned to face them, only to see an Omniwatch representative. Dumisani was the chief representative for the planet, but there were lower rated ones for local areas. It only made sense that one would track a naval officer, but Harun expected all the representatives to be off world now. This representative, also an oddity, was vulpine, but that almost made sense as well. "I was notified of your arrival and the situation. Please, come with me."

Harun wasn't going to argue this time, and simply followed the fox to a nearby luxury vehicle, one clearly imported from Sol. The vehicle was parked on the side of the road several meters behind the two of them. While Harun remained quiet, and unreadable under the scarf, the fox had a smile on his face. It made Harun feel on guard, more than normal. Soldiers were one breed. Corporate officials were an entirely different one. The fox held the door open for Harun, and he climbed in slowly, checking the interior of the vehicle as he did so. Nothing seemed out of order. But then again, nothing ever did.

The fox climbed in right after and the driver began to head down the road toward the city once more. "So, Commander, I understand Trovato is being held by the Alliance, correct?"

"That's rrrright." Harun said in a muffled tone while he started to undo the scarf he had wrapped around his head. It was far warmer in the car.

"That is what intelligence had told us." The fox said with a grin and an offputtingly casual tone. "It's very curious though that she's been out of contact with her usual officers. Have you seen her of late?"

There was nothing nice about where this questioning was going. Harun could sense that much. "He has not hearrrd frrrom the Captain of late, no. She was speaking with Admirrral Kuznetsov to negotiate our rrrrelease."

A folder was put in Harun's hands as soon as he finished that sentence, and he took it on instinct. Harun blinked at the cover, which had Luca's name on it. Nothing surprising there. When he flipped it open, however, there was a surprise. Instead of the Omniwatch emblem and corporate employment record that he had expected, he looked upon the Alliance emblem and "Alliance Naval Intelligence". Sure enough, the picture that stared back at him was not the Omniwatch Captain that Harun knew, but the same face in an Alliance Navy uniform with the rank of Commander, and the emblem of ANI on her lapel.

"Commander, we have reason to-" The fox started, only to be silenced by Harun's hand gripping him by the throat, and the sudden disappearance of his smile into an expression of fear.

"She would never do this." Harun growled out at the fox. "Because forrrtunes arrre turrrning, you are making a scapegoat of herr. He will not stand forrr this."

"Commander Harun, I recommend you rethink this." The fox forced out, only to feel the claws of the Tesgnov push deeper into his skin around the neck. "The corporation applauds the Captain's actions, however this has come to light only recently. There have been multiple high priority pulses back and forth between Sol and Chara that have occurred around the time Trovato was taken captive."

Harun kept growling lowly at the fox, but he let him go carefully, so that the claws would not harm the fox any further. He chuckled internally at the fox quickly dabbing at the small holes and the blood drops. "He does not trrrrust you corrrporrrate types."

"Noted. However, assaulting a representative is a surefire way of getting yourself fired." The fox said as he moved just a bit further from Harun. "We're currently in negotiations with the Coalition to gain their support. Admiral Aylmer is busy with the ambassadors to end the conflict. I am representing the corporation to get the Coalition to strike directly against the Confederation. It's surprisingly easy."

"When will therrre be war?" Harun asked.

"Shortly. The Coalition has a decent border force and they can push forward with that. However, we need a fleet in position to destroy Brakian ground forces to allow the Coalition to advance more rapidly. The push will be to Landgate primarily." The fox said. The smile was back, and it was the same as it was before. Harun didn't let that bother him.

"He came down to the grrround to look for supporrrt to get Trrrovato off the Unification. He has a feeling that you arrre going to send him off to do something else." Harun said, allowing some annoyance to show.

The fox only laughed at Harun's changing tone, and gave the Tesgno a pat on the head. "Due to being Trovato's first officer and likely better briefed on the strategic and tactical situation of the system than anyone else, you're getting a temporary promotion to Captain of the Ambassador, and everything that carries with it. Trovato will be facing a disciplinary hearing once she is released."

"So he is to prrrovide the orrrbital supporrrt?" Harun asked.

"Essentially yes. We have a team of Marines already moving on the Ambassador to retake it from the Alliance. They will have operations concluded within the hour." The fox looked out the window as the vehicle passed into the city's embassy row, and slowed down to approach the Omniwatch embassy. "While we are in the city and waiting for the Marines to finish their job, shall we have a lunch?"

"He'd much rrrather rip you apart and eat what rrremains than waste time in a rrrestaurant with you." Harun said.

Another chuckle came from the fox. "Noted, Captain. Please be on standby though to move back to the Ambassador. Glory to Omniwatch."

Harun said nothing as he got out of the vehicle when it came to a stop. It was too damn cold, but he'd survive while he thought things over.

---

ANS Unification

Admiral's Quarters

---

Kuznetsov and Luca had been going over the documents that Luca had provided, along with Jasper since it interested the political officers of course. Despite both being Alliance Naval Intelligence, Kuznetsov saw an intense dislike between Luca and Jasper. They were also both of Commander rank, but Luca held an actual naval rank, while Jasper was a political officer. Still, the Admiral was greatly amused at the fact that his political officer was acting subordinate to the former captive.

Just two hours ago, the ODV Ambassador was seized from the Alliance skeleton crew on board. No casualties for the Alliance, as Omniwatch made sure all were captured and then sent back to Alliance ships, but it was a daring raid that the Alliance didn't expect. For Luca, it was rather impressive. Omniwatch never carried anything like that out unless there was some great reward. This time Luca didn't even have knowledge of what the corporation was planning.

"Omniwatch isn't nearly as powerful as the Alliance fears." Luca said. This point had been reviewed multiple times the last couple of days, however now Luca was going to elaborate on this point. "The Alliance only has sensor buoys in its systems, as well as Procyon and Chara. Naturally, we overestimate the enemy threat whenever we see it. Omniwatch's fleet is usually overstated to being as large or larger than ours, they just keep it in Corporate Space, with small forays such as this into Alliance space. In reality, it's smaller, if only just. Their prime tool is the Ambassador Class. With only three of them and the shipyards under surveillance from the corporations and the Alliance, on top of the ships being expensive, they cannot produce any more than the three currently in service."

"So if we destroy them, we get a major advantage?" Jasper asked..

Luca had to laugh at that. "For once the PO is right." She said. "Omniwatch will backpedal a bit with the loss of the ships."

Kuznetsov was largely listening to Luca, but reports were coming up from Chara. Alliance agents were monitoring the planet for anything out of the ordinary, and a skirmish appears to have occurred on the Confederate-Coalition border. Minor, minimal losses to either side, but still noteworthy. Tensions existed long before the Alliance arrived in the system, and this conflict was likely only making things worse.

"Admiral, if we strike the ships now - barring the Diplomat­, since Munroe is aboard - we can deal a decisive blow to the corporation. I'd hate to destroy my former command, but we cannot let these corporations run rampant like this." Luca said. For Kuznetsov, there was a surprising determination in her speech now. "I will personally fire the killing shot if I must."

"Noted, however we have to contend with the other ships." Kuznetsov said.

The corporate ships were still largely in the system, however many had pulled out after Omniwatch's defeat over Chara III. What remained were the ships of Silverdyne and a handful of Omniwatch vessels. Canis was entirely gone, as well as most of the other companies. Against the Alliance's 74 warships, there remained only 20 corporate ships, but many were capital ships.

Luca tapped on the desk a moment in thought. "Is the _Valiant_aboard?"

Kuznetsov looked at Luca like she was crazy, but the response was from Jasper instead. "Yes, the corvette is in the cargo bay. What do you have planned?"

There was only a grin in response from Luca as she looked at Jasper. "It will be very interesting; this I promise you. Get it primed for flight, load the cap-killers in."

March 21

---

ODV Ambassador

Command Deck

---

Harun never expected to be standing in the command deck that Luca had made her home as the commanding officer of the ship. Her scent was still in the air. Had it been anyone else, Harun would have had the room completely scrubbed of things like that. He had a job to do now, and that would wait. The Coalition had finished amassing its relatively small military force on the border, and the Confederation had responded in kind. Chara II now just needed a single spark to set off a planetary war.

"Captain, I hope you're ready to act. We have laid out targets for your guns to optimize the destruction of the Brakian ground forces. Brakian sensor arrays are offline so they'll never see it coming. Make it happen." Admiral Aylmer had said directly through the command deck's speakers.

While he was trained with the systems, the knowledge of the command deck was relatively rusty. Still, Harun tapped the few points that the ship had to fire upon, and sent the orders down to the gun crews, while the bridge crew maneuvered the ship into position to fire most effectively. The maneuver would take about 15 minutes, then the guns would open fire. The white mark, the color of an unknown vessel, went ignored by Harun. He figured it was a glitch and would disappear shortly.

The Ambassador had the guns of the _Unification_trained on it as soon as it started to move, but Harun let them target. The Alliance would not strike the _Ambassador_without provocation. Not when a round could hit one of the cities below. There was also no hail demanding the dreadnought cease moving, which was also different, but almost fit the Alliance, as they expected everyone to bend to guns.

There was another priority alert about the approaching unknown ship. Harun focused his attention on this, having the sensors focus on the vessel. A zoom through the sensors showed a sleek black vessel, a design never seen before. That explained why it showed up as an unknown. While the crews had their orders and their plans, Harun had the time to send a hail to the approaching ship.

"Unknown, this is Captain Harrrun commanding the ODV Ambassador. You arrre apprrroaching a combat zone. Please change courrrse and returrrn to civilian space." Harun said once the communication channel was accepted.

"Captain Harun?" The voice on the other end said. It didn't take long for Harun to realize it was Luca. "I guess they wanted to get rid of me. Harun, please get to an escape pod and I'll pick you up. I have orders."

"What arrre you about to do?" Harun asked, showing just a hint of nervousness.

"My job, Captain." Luca said as she shut down the communications.

In the moment after, four objects were launched from the ship, all of them moving only just faster than the point defense tracking systems of the Ambassador. Luca knew what that speed was, and planned for it. Harun shook as he watched the objects approaching. Taking Luca's advice, he ran from the command deck and out onto the bridge. There was a Captain's escape pod in the cabin behind the bridge, one meant to be used only in excepting circumstances.

Harun hadn't been in the captain's cabin yet, but he didn't have time to care. A few bounding leaps across the floor brought him to the panel beside the pod in which he tapped the code to unlock the pod. As he did so, the ship shuddered violently once, and Harun recovered from that. After three more in quick succession, Harun was thrown to the floor as the power went out across the ship. He could feel a pressure behind him, as though something was sucking the air out slowly. He had only moments now.

The last number went in and the pod opened quickly, and Harun jumped in as he slammed the eject button. He was thrown against the back of the pod as the thrusters fired and the pod sped away from the Ambassador. Looking out a viewport back at the dreadnought, Harun saw the damage that was done to the former dreadnought. It was split into two parts, one of the warheads detonating at a thin part of the vessel. Engineering was hit directly, and the core of the ship was destroyed.

Where the Ambassador would have been, smaller capital ships were commencing bombardment of the planet below. They didn't have the same firepower, but the bombardment would definitely devastate the Brakians on the ground. With nothing else to do, Harun buckled himself into the pod's seat and watched as other escape pods fired from the Ambassador. He was going to miss the ship.

Harun decided it was better to take a short rest and await pick up from someone, or something, and so laid down across the entire pod floor. There wasn't nearly enough space for him to do so, but he'd make it work for a little while at least.

ANX Valiant

Only a few hours passed before the pod came to a stop, and the whole vessel rocked as it was dropped onto a floor. That is what woke Harun up, not the zero momentum. He was barely on his feet when the pod was forced open, and an Alliance Marine stood outside the pod. At 4this point Harun was tempted to just run and fight until he was killed, but that would not work. The Marine battlesuit would end the fighting before it began.

With some hesitation, and of course while showing his hands, Harun worked his way out of the pod, taking a last step down onto the cold metal floor of the ship. The Marine took a step back, allowing Harun to see the officer approaching. Looking at him was the face of the officer he had seen in the folder the Omniwatch representative handed him. Commander Trovato, Alliance Naval Intelligence.

"Commander Harun, welcome aboard. Come with me please." Luca said as she approached him, and Harun could only stare in silence. She paused, and then pointed toward the doors at the other end of the cargo bay. Harun started to move with some hesitation.

The walk out of the cargo bay and to Luca's office was quiet, but also quick. The ANX Valiant was a relatively small vessel, smaller than a standard frigate. In all, it was about 100 meters long. Unlike most designs, it had "wings" which were more for form than the function. It did provide additional hard points for some of the experimental weapons the ship used. Most recently, they carried the antimatter missiles that destroyed the Ambassador.

Luca's office was set near the rear of the ship, and on the officer's deck at the top. Her windows faced back toward the engines and everything behind. The computers on the desk, and around it, showed various feeds from Alliance space, Omniwatch, Silverdyne, and several other corporations. She pointed to a chair as walked to her chair behind the desk. Harun sat down as soon as she pointed. Once in her chair, Luca realized that Harun was glaring at her with a look she actually had never seen. She couldn't tell if it was anger or disappointment. Both were likely.

"Captain Harun, you are aboard the Alliance experimental vessel Valiant. I might as well get that out of the way." Luca said as she relaxed in the chair. She watched Harun's eyes flick away from her as she said that. "Yes, I am Naval Intelligence. No, I didn't plan on getting captured. It throws a wrench in my plans, however I suspect that Omniwatch was onto me." Harun's response was looking back at her as she said that, and Luca only smiled. "That's what I thought."

"He... trrried to defend you." Harun said. "He thought you wouldn't actually do that."

Luca nodded slowly at that. "Yeah, well, the reality is that I've always worked for the Alliance. Naval Intelligence wanted me to observe the movements of Omniwatch and report it. I made it high up, clearly."

"Then why did you fight so harrrd for the corrrporrration?" Harun asked, and there was a hint of a growl in the question.

"It was for my cover. Omniwatch obviously had suspicion, however." Luca said. "Captain, we make difficult choices, it's part of what we sign on for. I worked for Omniwatch because it was necessary for the moment. Now, however, there are plans at work that are going to prevent any real peace."

"Beforrre you continue," Harun interrupted surprisingly, "why arrre you telling him this?"

Luca smiled just slightly. "You're the only Omniwatch officer I trust." She reached down, opening a drawer of the desk, and removing a folder. This was information too sensitive to keep a virtual copy. She slid the folder across to Harun. "Omniwatch has plans for this system, and they don't fit the Alliance plan."

"Why should he carrre?" Harun asked before opening the folder.

With no hesitation, and without missing a beat, Luca said, "Because they will do the same to Procyon." That made Harun finally open the folder, still with hesitation. Luca simply stood up and walked to the windows, looking out of them.

Braka was visible below. Despite the fighting that Luca was forced to do, she had no hate for the Brakians. In fact, she respected most. The Alliance was dedicated to protecting all species of the galaxy, especially if it suited their interests. And the real threat remained on the surface, in Landgate. The Coalition was on the move, the corporations were acting on old plans. War was coming in full, and the Alliance was the only thing to stop it.

Omniwatch would likely kill her if they found out that she had access to their most classified documents. That was a benefit of having a sister in Special Protection. Then again, Omniwatch would also kill Klara once they found out. Though it pained her to admit it, Luca was perfectly fine with her stepsister being executed for her crimes against the corporation. She had chosen her path, and so must Luca. Klara had no idea Luca was Naval Intelligence, and that worked perfectly for her plans.