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SAFES Liaison's Log, Science Vessel Searcher, Aug. 14th, 2555:

It has been approximately two months since we began our surveys in the Viis system with the approval of the Kaa and the curious unconcern of the Grand Admiral. It is an impressive system, younger than the Solar system but with a hotter sun, holding about 5% more mass and being 25% hotter while being noticeably smaller. The heat and size of the system's central star helps to explain why the plants in the Kaa's palace, despite their northern latitude, seemed tropical and why an area of the planet that would be expected to be temperate would have so many open buildings: severe winters would be unlikely enough that developing windows would be unneeded. Viisymel is actually the fifth planet in the system with its inner neighbors either half-molten hunks of rock or so hot as to be impossible for anything other than a heat-tolerant bacteria to survive and its outer neighbors gas giants or frozen rock and ice binary planets like Pluto/Charon. With our many advancements in mining and gas extraction, this system could be an incredibly rich source of raw materials; thus far, it appears that the Viis lack the technology or the inclination to extract materials from their own planetary system outside of their sole livable world. Because of this untapped potential, a great deal of our scanning time thus far has been spent doing detailed mass spectrometer readings on the unlivable worlds to determine if it would be worthwhile, assuming that the situation with the Viis Empire rises to the level of formal diplomatic contacts, to negotiate for mineral rights. Based upon the level of mineral concentrations, especially in heavy rare elements such as uranium, titanium, gold, and a significant amount of pure elemental carbon, there would be very few prices too high to pay for such rights. The resource base in the Viis system alone, not even taking into account what they might have access to in other systems of their empire, is amazingly rich which seems to be why the Grand Admiral commented that the Viis have faced many enemies and pacified them all: they seem to have the ability to entirely outlast any potential foe without needing to rely on resource extraction outside their primary system.

All of the above said, however, this survey has proven to be an extremely unpleasant experience. Not because of the company, mind youâ€"Admiral Williams is an excellent flag officer who understands the complexities of the scientific work and possesses a personal warmth that makes it very easy to work out arrangements that properly balance military needs with the requirements of our job. For having been kicked upstairs unexpectedly, General Wilson is a highly competent administrator and has proved surprisingly skilled in locating members of her ground contingent that could prove useful staff in a pinch. Naturally, the respective commanders of the other two vessels are very good at their jobs and have shown skill at remaining out of our way while still keeping an almost paranoid eye fixed on the Viis to ensure our safety. I shall not comment on Major Obsydien or Major Jenkins except to say that both remain as they already were with Obsydien keeping Jenkins publicly humble, apparently having made a very poignant impression with him with the sucker punch in the mess hall. If Akeya were not so dedicated to her self-appointed position as General Wilson's second in command, I'd kidnap her amazing intellect for my own uses.

No, the burden on my shoulders is that of the Viis themselves. My read of the Grand Admiral is that he would be very angry that the various officials and administrators we've had to approach to attempt to glean information that would shorten the requisite survey time have been unfailingly petty and arrogant even to the face of the Admiral. My read of the Kaa, however, is that he would be pleased that his underlings are showing the proper contempt of the serfs pretending to be their equals. Their insolence has vastly increased the complexity of our job because we cannot gain what information the locals have that would allow us to properly attenuate our survey array and are subsequently forced to waste many hours while our BSY Core constructs a compensation protocol to correct our raw data into a usable form.

Their arrogance, however, might come back to bite them. As a very complex AI with immense processing muscle, our BSY Core is able to extrapolate facts from our raw and refined data that I have a feeling that the Viis do not want us to know. For example, they have proven especially sensitive about our proximity to the ring structures we detected upon initial system entry which aroused the curiosity of the Core and convinced him to sift through our data to see if there was anything interesting he could determine without our needing to approach the precious devices. As a result of his nosing around (and my willingness to ignore the occasional screeching of a Viis official), we have been able to determine that the structures are a form of interconnected superluminal transmission arrays not dissimilar to our ‘ripple gate'. They are significantly smaller in scale, naturally, but they seem to operate as a form of highway, allowing ships to be moved extremely fast from one end to another since fine calculations aren't needed to keep the ship on course and clear of any dangerous obstacles. I will admit that it is a vastly superior system concept to what we have ourselves developed but almost as a form of divine compensation, the ‘quantum gates' are in a universal state of disrepair; you can almost see the duct tape and chewing gum used to keep them functioning. To our immense interest, however, Socrates (the name our BSY Core chose for himself; it is surprisingly apt for his personality) located an anomaly to the general pattern, one of the gates that is in virtually perfect working order... except for the fact that it is nonfunctional. He reports that the damage is not from neglect or accidents like the patterns that he noted in the other gates but, rather, seems to be very similar to sabotage, certain critical systems surgically damaged and, strangely, kept that way. Without knowing the Viis better or knowing what is on the other side of that gate system, I cannot really guess why the saboteurs would keep the gate offline but if I was to hazard a guess, the maintenance is handled entirely by slave labor and these slaves do not want their masters to use the device to reach what is on the other side.

The other fact that I'm relatively certain the Viis would not want us to have concerns the apparent main effort of their scientific endeavors. It's extremely complex to explain what readings Socrates compiled to be able to make an educated guess as to what sort of equipment we'd detected in operation but suffice it to say, his observations led to us starting to zero in on the "hot spots" where the equipment was in the most constant operation and determine a few things about it. First, the equipment is tied directly into some form of supercomputer which we can detect because supercomputers necessitate multiple processors which each emit undetectable levels of electromagnetic radiation but when working together, generate a curious although harmless effect that backfeeds along its power supply (actually, around the supply wiring) as far back as its generating facility which is something that you can see if you know what to look for. Second, the equipment itself needs to constantly bleed off immense amounts of heat and this is best accomplished by an evaporation rig with naturally-circulating coolant that runs through open tanks of high heat bearing liquid and we can easily detect the vapor. Lastly, the various little EM components and readings are intimately familiar to us because we see them whenever we calibrate our sensors on the Trinity Neo-Genetics Center on Earth. This manner of frenzied genetic research concerns me a great deal because it seems like the sort of frantic effort that is not designed to be elegant or constructive but, rather, a brute-force weapon that could be directed against a certain collection of alien creatures that have inconveniently parked their battleship above Viisymel. I don't believe they had a chance to deploy it yet but the weapon needn't be fully refined to be slipped into the drinks for a toast or bound to the pollen of one of those beautifully-scented flowers in the Kaa's gardens. Since our current diplomatic focus would necessitate a return visit, a possible deployment of a crude bioweapon to send us a message is a possibility that I cannot take lightly and feel that I must speak to the Admiral. Her response, naturally, is entirely her own prerogative but from the little I know of her personally, a direct-action solution seems likely.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

Sera sat back in her seat in the dimmed conference room aboard the Executor, tuning out the flow of side conversations around her as she thought back upon the last couple months. There had hardly been a dull moment almost from the time they returned to their respective ships. Akeya had remained uncharacteristically silent during the return and hadn't attended the debriefing afterwards which meant that she missed a golden opportunity to jeer at Jenkins as he tried to piece together an insightful analysis of the meeting with the Kaa and the Grand Admiral

"Admiral, I don't exactly know what you expect of me." He'd almost growled as Shadow had sighed in exasperation. "Evidently, most if not all of the things I noticed were hardly unique observations to me. You seem to be annoyed at the fact that I'm only human."

"Major, I am irritated that I have been saddled with an intelligence specialist who is no more insightful than the chief technical security officer of the Gaia Shipyards whom he sneered at when I spot-promoted her to general." Shadow had growled back. "I generally expect that when someone is as insufferable and arrogant as yourself, you would have something to back it up with. Such as, for example, a unique insight into the situation."

"We've got a player in this game whom we know nothing about who seems to be incredible well-informed about us." Jenkins snorted. "The important facts don't go much beyond that. He would have no way to obtain the information without..."

"...being exceptionally observant with an intellect to match?" Dr. Campbell had offered in her quietly even manner.

"The way our special intelligence asset is meant to be?" Shadow had added, digging the barb deeper. "You're right, Major, that I'm expecting a great deal but it's your own damn fault that you've been strutting around rubbing my face in the fact that I cannot stuff you in a missile tube and shoot your butt home. You've been acting like someone who's certain of his own irreplaceable value but you can't back it up and I admit a certain level of annoyance with that fact."

Jenkins' lips had compressed angrily but he'd taken a deep breath and nodded. "I am sorry, Admiral, that I have proven to be a disappointment." He'd managed, his voice sounding strained.

"Ensure that I am not disappointed again." Shadow had retorted brusquely and the conversation had moved on. Evidently, she had not regarded his performance as proof that he was incompetent because as she sat in the dark of the conference room, Jenkins was still in it. His inability to back his arrogance with actions had temporarily humbled him but as the mission had reverted more to the efforts of Dr. Campbell and her scientific team about the Searcher, he gradually regained his sneering mannerisms although he continued to be somewhat more subdued around Akeya which seemed to have proved the draccian's point: sometimes, bullying a bully was the only way to get through to them.

Just then, Shadow entered the room and went to the head of the briefing table, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am officially bringing this meeting to order." Shadow announced, silencing the titters of conversation that were running amongst the commanders as she sat down. "First, a status report. Commodore Andropoli?" She nodded to the carrier captain whom Sera had seen very little of during the last two months of their mission. As near as she could tell, this was because he preferred to remain aloof from the rest of the officers although he was always unfailingly polite and respectful at weekly meetings. He stood and cleared his throat.

"We have been in this space for seven weeks now, give or take a week either way." He stated in his deep and powerful Russian accent. "Since the official SAFC estimate of our mission tour was approximately one year, we are very well-supplied in terms of medical essentials, personal articles, and nourishment. As of now, we have approximately one month of luxury rations, four more of field kitchen rations, and six of combat rations. This is assuming that we are somehow cut off and unable to be resupplied via the Ripple Gate for many months, a scenario that I and my staff regard as highly unlikely but for which we are pleased to report a contingency has been prepared."

"What about military readiness?"

"I am doing all that can be done." He replied. "Technically, we have a truce with these Viis and thus, too many exercises to keep the pilots on their toes would send a wrong message. I run regular scramble drills to keep their edge sharp and I am extremely pleased to report that their response time has dropped by a full second since we began the exercises. Beyond that, however, it is essentially as if we were in peacetime patrolling near Mars. There are presently no threats against which to guard or concentrate exercises and we lack the information to speculate on the specifications of Viis naval weaponry and sub-capital ships."

"Thank you, Commodore." Shadow replied, giving him a nod of acknowledgement and a brief smile of appreciation. "Captain Rousseau, do you have anything to add to the Commodore's assessment of our readiness?"

"I do." Nomi stood as Andropoli sat down. "I concur with the Commodore's assessment of the fleet in general and of course am gratified to learn that his personal command is in excellent fighting shape given the near-peace footing we're operating on. I only feel the need to report on the status of my personal command as well."

"Proceed." Shadow told her with a gesture.

"I attribute much of the excellent state of our ground contingent to Major Obsydien." Nomi reported. "Given her special skill set I and General Wilson decided to put her in charge of managing the contingent such as running exercises, doing training, inspections, and other essential tasks to keep morale and readiness high. By virtue of her rank and prominence alone, she is able to instill the soldiers with an innate sense of confidence because of the carefully-cultivated image of the SpecOps as being almost supernaturally gifted. Well, that and the fact that she is apparently skilled at parlaying her physical attributes to... enhance morale."

Even Jenkins couldn't entirely suppress an amused reaction; the rest of the commanders either chuckles or gave a snort of mirth at Nomi's straight-faced observation. "Very colorful, Captain." Shadow remarked amusedly. "If that is all...?"

"It is, Admiral." Nomi responded, seating herself.

"Thank you then." Shadow smiled and then sighed, looking reluctant before she called the next name. "Major Jenkins?"

Sera easily noticed the smirk decorating Jenkins' face, an expression he didn't bother to hide, as he rose to his feet and cleared his throat importantly. "Largely, these last two months have been entirely about intelligence work." He drawled in his mildly unctuous fashion. "Dr. Campbell's team has made satisfactory progress at enhancing our understanding of the Viis, their technology, and this planetary system although there is always room to improve this understanding." In the brief pause, Sera chanced a look over at Melinda Campbell who, unlike her usual aura of serenity, looked distinctly agitated. It wasn't hard to understand the feeling; Jenkins had just characterized two months of exhaustive and difficult work as "satisfactory" then implied that it really wasn't sufficient. Filing her curiosity about how the scientist would respond away for the moment, Sera turned her ears back to Jenkins as he resumed his presentation. "The arrogance that the species displays seems strangely misplaced for their lack of immediate assets to shield the central world of their empire from attack. The only logical explanation that I have been able to come up with is that they're engaged in battle with a much deadlier foe than they'd originally anticipated and have been forced to strip Viisymel of its protection so they can bring their biggest guns to bear on the problem. Any secondary assets might either be joined with their primary fleet or, given their imperial nature, may be required to control outlying conquests. At any rate, Dr. Campbell is confident that if they start bringing assets in, the Searcher will be able to give some form of advance warning."

Sera felt some level of surprise at the clever analysis from the normally dense blowhard of a human until she glanced at Campbell again and got the sudden feeling that Jenkins had simply pieced together some of the doctor's theories and presented them as if he'd come up with them himself. She had no solid proof of it, not even an alteration of Melinda's expression, but was certain that her idea fit much better than assuming that Jenkins had actually become insightful. At the end of Jenkins' presentation, he sat without being bid and Shadow herself stood up, looking over the assembly before speaking.

"What I am hearing is that our mission is going very well." She summarized. "My personal observation is that the Viis are getting a bit more used to us; at the very least, they've toned down their rhetoric about us being scum beneath their feet." She gave them a wan smile, evoking chuckles from everyone but Jenkins and Andropoli. "Doctor Campbell's team is progressing very well with their instrument scans and analysis and I wish to personally commend her for the exhaustive effort she's putting into the work to ensure its rapid and accurate conclusion. SAFES has rarely been so accommodating and willing to recognize the reality of doing field work with a military escort but Dr. Campbell has gone out of her way to work with me." She gave the slim wolven a warm smile and got a look of warmth and gratitude in return. "SAFC is thus far pleased with my reports although markedly less pleased that the probe being fired upon was no misunderstanding and that the Viis give every indication of being volatile and expansionist. Nonetheless, they feel that the expedition is heading towards a successful conclusion."

Shadow paused for a moment and Sera sensed her friend shifting to a more serious tone and demeanor, the way she remembered her getting whenever a very important subject needed discussing.

"At any rate, with status reports out of the way, it is time to move on to the main point out this meeting." She announced. "Dr. Campbell has recently approached me with concerns about certain findings that her team has made during high-resolution surface scans of Viisymel. She has informed me that the matter could well be very grave and pursuant to the gravity, I am contemplating some manner of direct action to address the potential threat. Direct action, however, is a profound enough escalation that I felt it appropriate to convene a quorum and get your perspectives on this matter as well as hear your opinions about my proposed response. Doctor, if you please."

Shadow seated herself as Dr. Campbell got to her feet, sliding one of the table's decorative panels out of the way to reveal the standard holographic projector controls under it. Fishing a data rod out of a pocket, she slipped it into one of the various receiving slots in the control panel, causing a detailed image of Viisymel to appear above the table, the projector sparkling with light under it.

"As you are all aware, this is the homeworld of the Viis species, a planet that they called Viisymel." She began. "It is the sixth planet away from their sun which is a main-sequence star of an unusual type, smaller than our own sun but more dense and emitting significantly more light and heat energy. As a consequence, Viisymel is a fairly tropical world with very small polar icecaps. Surprisingly, while their atmosphere is very polluted, the hazy appearance and thick layer of gasses is partially due to the constant bombardment by high-energy photons which has created something of a gaseous shield that allows for the development of higher lifeforms. This shield of sorts is so effective that microscopic life is much more prolific and with greater average longevity than the single-celled organisms with which we are familiar. This, incidentally, also includes semi-alive organisms such as viruses."

Sera got a suddenly queasy feeling at the spindly scientist's mention of viruses and single-called creatures; while it was merely implied, she could tell that Dr. Campbell was saying that disease organisms tended to be more widespread and robust on Viisymel. A moment later, the doctor tapped a control and the projection rotated around to a certain point and zoomed in closer to the planet, focusing on an area a few hundred kilometers north of the capital city in the middle of an expansive grassland. No form of infrastructure was visible anywhere near the point but in the center of the zoomed-in area was a small bunker complex with a large power generator surrounded by cooling towers laying outside of its walls.

"The possible longevity of potential disease organisms is partly what caused me great concern when our detailed surface mapping and scanning uncovered this complex and a few dozen others like it." Dr. Campbell continued in a clinically-detached tone of voice. "Focusing on this particular complex with more scanning power and resolution revealed certain electromagnetic and thermal emissions that are consistent with high-grade scientific research. More specifically, research into microbiology, genetics, and virology. Normally, I would hesitate to be this definitive with just distance readings to go on but our BSY Core recognized certain of the EM readings because he sees them every time the Searcher calibrates its instruments using the Los Alamos Neo-Genetics Center as a baseline. I do not regard there being much chance of identical readings belonging to a different set of equipment and do not see how this particular equipment set could be used for non-biological engineering or research."

"You are concerned that these... laboratories are developing a biological weapon to use against us." Andropoli observed. "One with a very long trigger, perhaps one that would hide effectively."

Melinda smiled slightly at him and nodded. "Yes, Commodore." She replied. "Given the remarkable capacity of their Grand Admiral to discern things from precious little information, his prominence in the Kaa's court, and his lack of hard assets, I believe it to be plausible that he would devise a more effective weapon that would expose the Viis to very little risk while allowing them to strike a devastating blow. The first infected in a pandemic outbreak, after all, are almost guaranteed causalities. Since Viisymel is unfamiliar to us, he could plausibly insist that we must have picked up a local illness that was especially deadly to us because we were non-native. In essence, it would be a perfect weapon for a decapitation and the level of activity my team observed indicates a frenzied effort given the sheer volume of energy being consumed and the constant activity."

"Doctor, when we first arrived in this system, a Viis supply captain reacted to my appearance by calling me a ‘reject'." Nomi spoke up. "I understood from his other comments that that is what they call members of their race that are flawed in some way. I suppose that he thought my wings were actually a Viis frill and commented that I must be a mutant with my frill draped down my back. Could this intense effort be an ongoing program to repair such defects and possibly incorporate rejects back into their society?"

Dr. Campbell looked taken-aback by the question and thought about it. "It seems... possible." She admitted. "But this doesn't quite feel that way to me. The effort is too frenzied, like they were operating under a deadline or in desperation. Unless they feared that their race was about to suddenly die out unless they could fix the rejects, I don't see the reason for day-and-night effort."

"A cure to a pandemic then?"

"More possible than the first." She nodded. "But then again, wouldn't quarantine in response to a pandemic look less like people hiding in mortal terror and more like openings closed up and no one daring to go around without some form of breathing device or something to prevent the spread? Martial quarantine is virtually impossible to hide no matter who you are, especially when there is an all-powerful person at the top who'd be so paranoid about his own well-being that he'd not invite unknown visitors to come have a nice talk."

"So if we understand correctly, this expedition may be in terrible danger from a theoretical biological weapon that might be under development in labs that could house the appropriate equipment and can magically infect us if we don't oblige them by going down to the planet." Jenkins summarized with a barely-suppressed smirk. "Is that your report, Doctor?"

"If you remove all of the snide references to it being a wild guess, Major, then yes, it is my report." Melinda reported dryly, her eyes narrowing. "Do you have any valid points?"

"In fact I..."

"...will make an attempt to be respectful, Major?" Shadow interrupted, giving him a pointed look.

He gave her a sour look but nodded slightly. "Of course, Admiral." He then looked back at Dr. Campbell. "How can you be certain that the equipment of a wholly alien people would look the same as our equipment? The only direct example we've had of their technology was those hovering vehicles and the gating system, neither of which we have an equivalent to."

She furrowed her brow thoughtfully at that, staring through the holographic projection for a moment before looking back at Jenkins who was actually making an attempt not to look pleased with himself. "You have a valid point, Major." She admitted. "To put it in a way that a non-physicist could understand, there are only so many ways to accomplish the same task and all of them must conform to certain physical laws. You could use plasma as an energy transmission medium, for example, but it would still be constrained by conservation of energy and the laws of thermodynamics. Because of this practical limit on the variety of means, there is a practical limit on the variety of ends; no matter how someone does it, if they're running electricity through a motor sufficient to make that motor function, the motor is still only going to rotate one direction or the other. In this case, there are only so many things that produce the particular combination of electromagnetic radiation associated with lasers, supercomputers, mono-molecular chemical injectors, incubators, and superheated biological isolation chambers. The only other thing of which I am aware that emits a similar combination of heat and electromagnetic energy is the specialized supersaturation presses that are used to molten the armor of Hammer-class ramming frigates and no sane person would operate those underground in the middle of a grassland. The ambient heat alone would either vaporize the water table or ignite the grasslands from the roots upward."

Jenkins looked taken aback by how quickly the scientist was able to formulate a solid answer and gave her a look of grudging respect although he didn't say anything in response.

"Unless there are more questions, I believe that we should move on to proposed actions." Shadow said after a moment, resuming a standing position as Melinda seated herself. "Dr. Campbell focused the projector in on this facility for a reason. It is extremely isolated, has a relatively tiny garrison, and occupies a blind spot in their detection grids. It is thus an ideal target for a more hands-on investigation and a possible source of an intelligence coup if an infiltration team could gain access to the supercomputers that Dr. Campbell has identified by electromagnetic emanation."

"Admiral, are you proposing that we send a special forces team to break into a secure lab, possibly one being used for biological warfare research, and steal whatever data the team can access?" Nomi gaped at her. "I mean no disrespect at all but... that seems like a really easy way to imperil the larger mission of completely surveying this system."

"Except that the survey is only part of why we're here." Sera pointed out. "The other part of our mission is to assess the Viis as a threat to the Governance. Learning the current extent of their mass-destruction weapons program, even if it's a single aspect, would do quite a bit to fulfill that objective."

"And ultimately, Captain, it is the second part that was red-flagged." Shadow added politely. "If our surveying fails but we come back with a complete threat assessment, SAFC will consider the expedition a smashing success. As the general pointed out, this seems to be a perfect chance to further our most important goal while looking after our own hides. As Dr. Campbell correctly observed, a weaponized biological agent would be a perfect solution to an annoying bunch of aliens who're parked above the home world without any defensive hard assets in sight."

"Regardless of the rewards, Admiral, this little side trip sounds incredibly risky." Jenkins jumped in before Nomi could reply. "This ‘hole' that you refer to in their detection could just as easily be the gaseous stew above the ground fiddling with the Searcher's instrument arrays. It may have a significant garrison that isn't readily visible to either instruments from orbit or even to a team on the ground. And, of course, the entire ‘Grand Admiral is clever' shtick runs both ways: dangling bait for us that he believes we'd eventually find is a great way to entrap us into directly threatening Viisymel and giving him an excuse to try and knock us around a bit. Surely, their fleets are much more numerous than our piddling task force."

"Major, do you think we've spent the last two months twiddling our thumbs or something?" Melinda growled at him before Shadow could respond. "The Viis use an active wave system to bounce energy off things and figure out where they are and where they'd going. We just sat in orbit for a couple minutes and we could see where their coverage faded out; more to the point, an artificial intelligence with the resources of six linked BSY-20K's at his beck and call put that together. We know that the garrison size is fairly small because..."

"You extrapolated from some data or the other, correct?" Jenkins smirked. "I don't suppose it occurred to you that they might not need methods that you can watch from orbit to move their garrisons around. Or that the garrison is large and all you saw was the swapping of the guard."

"In fact, Major, we checked for that." Melinda retorted with forced calm. "They didn't drive the supplies in and they generally use atmospheric shuttles to supply the garrison. The ground shows no sign of a subway traveling under it and there are no terminuses or terminals to indicate it either."

"And the little problem of instrument distortion due to..."

"Major, you handle the intelligence analysis and projection and I shall handle the science." She interrupted with a deeper growl. "You have naught but the most basic education in sciences and thus have no clue what you're babbling about."

"Some people read books, Doctor." Jenkins replied in a condescending voice.

"Some people need to get the business end of a shovel rammed up their..."

"Alright, that's enough." Shadow jumped in before the clearly-angry doctor could finish her sentence. "I don't want this meeting to degenerate into a verbal brawl. This is a consultation of my senior commanders, not me hosting ragamuffins in the headmistress' office. Jenkins, unless you can treat Dr. Campbell like the well-regarded theoretical physicist that she is, you can get the hell out of my briefing room. Doctor, please calm down. If there is to be any use of shovels on Jenkins, I reserve that pleasure for myself."

Melinda leaned back in her chair stiffly. "As you wish, Admiral." She replied in a strained but polite way. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, me too, Admiral." Jenkins added in a faux cheerful voice. "I didn't know that our dear doctor's degree was theoretical until just now. I was hoping for an explanation of her questionable..."

As Sera watched in abject astonishment, the normally placid Melinda Campbell came to her feet with a snarl and thrust her head across the table until her bared teeth were only inches away from Jenkins' face. "Go on, Major... keep talking." She growled. "I see that Akeya didn't hurt you enough the first time."

"An emaciated little wolf threatening me... oh whatever shall I do?" Jenkins sneered, amazingly unconcerned about the fact that Melinda was close enough to grab him by the throat. "Sit down, lab doggie."

At that moment, things happened very fast. Melinda made as if to deck Jenkins but at the last moment, Nomi's hand darted out and she caught the fist before it reached its target. At the same time, Jenkins was hauled out of his seat by the front of his uniform and lifted off the floor by Andropoli before being slammed against the wall behind him and held there, looking stunned as he gagged for breath. Melinda tried to shake the grip but Nomi simply grabbed her by both arms and pinned them behind her back, taking full advantage of being larger than the thin wolven and, of course, being a draccian.

"ALL OF YOU SIT DOWN!" Shadow roared. "Now! Before I'm forced to have security break this up!!"

Andropoli looked over at her mildly before dropping Jenkins, causing the human to stagger as he landed before stumbling over to his seat and practically falling into it, coughing and trying to catch his breath. Nomi simply let Melinda go and sat down with the scientist following a moment later after rubbing the hand that Nomi had grabbed ruefully. Finally, Andropoli seated himself composedly and turned to look calmly towards the glaring admiral, pointedly ignoring Jenkins.

"I will not tolerate that sort of display from any of my officers or advisors." Shadow growled, sweeping the room with a poisonous glare. "Jenkins, get the hell out of my briefing room and stay out until you're capable of showing your fellow officers the respect due them. Doctor..."

"I know, Admiral." Melinda sighed, looking deflated as Jenkins managed his trademark smirk before getting up and walking out of the room although Sera couldn't help but notice that he winced at the soft swish of the door opening, probably starting to experience the effects of being slammed into a bulkhead by Andropoli. "I let my temper get the better of me. I'm sorry."

"You can't let yourself get rattled, Melinda." Shadow told her with a mildly sympathetic tone. "Jenkins is apparently very talented at provoking others and he played you like a fiddle. I'm sort of interested, though... were you actually intending to duke it out with the resident splinter in our collective asses?"

Melinda smiled lightly. "I was planning to do a bit more than simply fight him, Admiral. But it wouldn't have been a fair contest."

"Da." Andropoli agreed. "It would have ended as fast as it would take a soldier with even a modicum of close-quarters training to break your bony tail over his knee, meaning no offense to you, Doctor."

She simply laughed at the Russian's dour assessment as Sera looked over at him with a mildly amused expression. "Speaking of CQT, Commodore, where did the entire hoisting him and smashing his head against a bulkhead come from?"

He shrugged. "Alcohol is banned from ships. Voldka is a tradition older than ships. Russians have their voldka and a captain does not last unless he can break up a drunken fight on board his own ship." He grinned fiercely all of the sudden. "And it is not for nothing that others speak of the Russian bear, my Bavarian friend."

"He's lucky it's not literal, I suppose." Sera acknowledged before looking towards Shadow. "So what now, boss? Ya just threw Jenkins out face first with the rest following but he didn't really contribute anything anyway."

"I suppose that if no one else has questions for the doctor...?" Shadow looked around the table; silence greeted her implied question. "Excellent. Now we move on to the question for which I called a quorum: are there any reservations about sending a team to slip into that bunker complex and try to lift the contents of their laboratory archives?"

"Well, there are always the typical set." Sera replied, keeping her expression studiously straight-faced. "What should we do if they're captured? What if Jenkins is right about the larger garrison? What are the plans for extraction? What go-to-hell options do we have? Is the data potentially valuable enough to risk the lives of a team for? You know, reservations like that."

Shadow chuckled. "Just for that, General, I'm going to take away your supper and send you to your room. You knew what I meant."

"Yeah." Sera grinned at her friend. "Trying to add a bit more levity before we got serious again. I suppose my only reservation is that we only have so many special mission components and only have one SpecOps asset. This would be putting all of our chips down in a poker game where we don't even know what cards could potentially be in the other player's hand. A standard infiltration team is two scouts, one medic, one combat engineer, one technician, one team leader, one sharpshooter; we have plenty of medics and combat engineers but we'd be drawing from a very small pool of the other specialties."

"Well, I believe that Major Obsydien will be able to fulfill the role of team lead as well as sharpshooter." Shadow replied. "But you'd got a good point, my friend. I'm proposing that we throw down some big chips before knowing anything about the combat capabilities of the enemy."

"However, it is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss." Andropoli added. "The Viis have no discernable space assets to block an emergency extraction. It is true that we know nothing about their soldiers but all they know about ours is that we have at least one special forces operator. They cannot yet be aware that we know about this facility and have a good idea of its purpose. A SpecOps is quite a hard hit when you are not looking for a fight and except for their Grand Admiral, they do not seem to expect a fight from us."

"Catch them when they're asleep at the switch." Sera thought about this and found herself nodding in agreement. "You're correct, Commodore, that we have a rare opportunity to get information while the Viis are still unsure of us. Still... well, like I said and the admiral acknowledged, we'd be putting down some big chips."

"Well, this is why we required a ground contingent to accompany all task forces." Nomi pointed out. "So that they could be used if needed. I think that furthering our ultimate mission counts as a need. Dr. Campbell... does the Searcher have communication-denial gear? Zorch-inducers, scramblers, white-noise generators, that sort of thing?"

"In spades, yes."

"Well, then we do have a way to decrease the risk substantially, General." Nomi continued. "With enough scrambling, they won't be able to tell their friends anything and if we record movements of soldiers towards you, we can step through our own interference to warn you and get emergency extraction burning."

"Rig the game, eh?" Sera grinned. "Oh, that brings me back... all those sand table exercises and the OpFor wanting to strangle me and my deceptively innocent-looking conspirator..."

"Only you, dear." Shadow corrected her with a chuckle. "I just sat there looking cute. You're the one who gave them that aggravating grin after explaining how the game got rigged."

"Well, sand tables aside, General, I believe that we can pare the risks down to an acceptable level." Nomi said, albeit with a slight smile. "If you have no objections, I'd be interested to know if the Admiral has a plan prepared."

"Not much of one, really." Shadow admitted with a shrug. "Of course, there does not need to be a very complex plan. The team will be inserted at a certain point within that detection hole, get into the base without being seen, and call for extraction when done. All we know about this complex is its purpose and a general idea of how it's put together from our top-down images but nothing about who's inside, where the computers are, and what sort of valuables could be appropriated. This is why I'm sending two officers whose judgment I trust implicitly."

"Akeya and...?"

"General Wilson, of course." Shadow smiled warmly at Sera who was too stunned to reply. "She will fill the role of technician in the standard team due to her expertise with electronics and system infiltration."

"Shadow..." She managed after a few moments of concerted effort. "I'm flattered but..."

"Later, Sera." Shadow gave her a reassuring look before turning her attention to the table again. "SpecOps Gunslinger will be team lead and will see to its assembly and outfitting. General, make sure she's clear on this point: don't be seen or if you're seen, don't let anyone tell anyone else about it."

"Confirmed, Admiral." Sera nodded to her friend, sensing that using her title would be more appropriate to the moment.

"Very good. If there's nothing else from the quorum, you're all dismissed. General, please stay behind... I owe you an explanation." Shadow stood, prompting the other commanders to do the same and file out quietly, leaving Sera sitting there with her friend looking absently at the holographic display that Dr. Campbell had left running.

"Why, Shadow?" Sera asked after a minute. "I'm a grunt. I'm trained to dig in and smash enemies, not slip unseen into secret bases or whatever. I'm not trying to welsh on you but seriously... why are you sending me on a mission for which I am not even informally trained?"

Shadow reached down and tapped off the display before sitting on top of the table, looking at Sera with a smile. "Sera, I know you. I know your mind, how you think, how you react, your moral bearings, all the advantages of having as friend as close as a sister for going on a decade now. Once you're down there with the Searcher making them dumb, deaf, and blind you'll effectively be without direction which is why I'm sending you along with Major Obsydien. I trust her a great deal but you I trust enough to let you scrap or dramatically change the mission parameters if circumstances demand. You might not be trained in black ops, my dear, but you aren't stupid. The essence of remaining unseen and unheard is simply not being a bull in a china shop and I'm certain that Akeya can tell you when to go where and how."

Sera relaxed and returned the smile. "I appreciate the confidence, Shadow." She told the other wolven. I guess I sort of knew what you were thinking but you caught me by surprise."

Shadow grinned at that. "I'm glad I can still manage it from time to time." She winked. "But there's actually another reason that I wanted to keep you behind and have a chat. A more... serious matter."

"More serious than sending a black ops team to hit a bioweapon lab?" Sera quirked a brow.

"More serious because we know the Viis threat, more or less. This one, however, is more vague and given history, has more potential to be dangerous." Shadow frowned. "SAF-I has been doing a great deal of poking around the last couple of months. As you know, SAF pretty much has its ears constantly perked up listening for something that could lead them to more werewolves under the Edict. It's reaping thin gains but some of the chatter they're getting, mostly from their less savory but highly reliable contacts, is that Andronov is remarkably satisfied about something. Considering that we have no idea what that something is and further considering that their idea of subtle is screwing a silencer onto a gattling gun, the best guess from Intel is that they managed to put an infiltration agent in an advantageous place and haven't pulled the triggerâ€"yet."

"And the biggest juiciest shiniest target is the task force that's been gearing up to go on a little expedition far outside Governance space." Sera sighed. "At least we know who he is."

"See, that's the really big problem." Shadow grimaced. "Jenkins is so obvious that he would be the perfect cover. Monkey to mousetrap, Andronov realized that SAF planned to lend us a loud sneering ass of a human so that all eyes would be on him and not looking carefully at what their little buddy was up to."

"At the same time, he's the perfect cover for a real agent." Sera pointed out. "He's far too easy. He's so loud, so insulting, so arrogant that he would be easy to overlook. No one expects the xenophobic monster in a human skin to look and sound exactly like a xenophobic monster in a human skin. Everyone is fixated on the idea that a spy doesn't want to be noticed but it's possible that a particularly clever spy would rely on that expectation to be eliminated as a suspect because everyone notices him."

"You see the problem." Shadow sighed. "And, of course, there is the entire thing about it being impossible to identify a werewolf unless you can smell him or you've killed him and he reverts back to what he naturally is. Even Los Alamos has come up dry trying to identify a genetic marker. Without specific evidence or catching the agent doing something that deprives him of his secrecy, we can only keep our eyes open."

"At least we'll have help." Sera leaned back in her chair, thinking back to the confrontation between Jenkins and Akeya in the mess hall. "Something that Major Obsydien said just as Jenkins was entering the room, something that I really didn't pay too much attention to, is coming back to me. See, we were in the middle of conversation when she gets all still and looks behind her just as Jenkins enters the room. She then got this confused look on her face and said that she could have sworn that she smelled blood. I pointed out that neither me nor Nomi were wounded that I knew of and she says ‘Not that kind of blood'. Do you think...?"

"Well, they do look pretty hard for superior material to mold their super-soldiers out of." Shadow nodded. "Still, unless she can tell me that she smelled it more strongly when she got up close to Jenkins, it doesn't help us prove anything."

"I'm not saying that it does." Sera replied. "But she's suspicious of Jenkins already and unlike us, she has the implied authority to do what she wants about it if she feels it necessary. Given how he's been more careful around her, I think that he got the message: don't spook the scary little girl with the big gun."

Shadow chuckled. "Except for the little girl part, that's not exactly saying anything unique, you know." She smiled. "SpecOps are intimidating, even the ones that are naturally friendly like Akeya. Gotta tell ya though, Sera... when I wheedled a good asset out of SAFC, I didn't count on getting one like her."

"You've read the file." Sera noted.

"I can't believe that you haven't." Shadow smirked. "Bad guard woof. No security office treats for you."

"Oh, don't get started on the teasing, Shadow." Sera's ears sort of lowered a fraction in light embarrassment. "What's the scoop on her?"

"Identified as prodigy-level intelligence at five years old." Shadow replied, closing her eyes as she spoke, a trick that Sera remembered her friend having picked up to perfect her recall for written exams. "Triple-accelerated through primary education and formally inducted for basic training at thirteen. Instructors indicated a intrinsic instinct for close-quarters fighting; with no formal training, the only fight she ever lost was to a graduate of CQC school. Psyche evaluation attributed her quick temper to immaturity but indicated an unusually level head during bouts of temperamental anger. Formally graduated from basic after the standard single year with black stripes in combat engineering and sharpshooting. Slated for no-contest admission to the Francis Marion special-operations school and was given top marks in CQC, combat engineering, and Level 2 Specialist ratings in all weapon forms and models with diamond pins in battlefield precision shooting and close-quarter projectile combat. Inducted into SpecOps at fifteen which was two years ago. She has two silver intelligence stars, one for Operation Falchion and the other for Operation Flame Warden. There were no further details in her file about either one or why she was given the decoration so I had ATLAS make a personal inquiry to Gaia and she is still waiting for a reply."

"What about the gun?" Sera asked, her mind still furiously chewing over the details that Shadow was conveying to her. If the file was fully accurate and hadn't been redacted or altered for security reasons, Akeya was much more deadly than she'd first thought. Not only an immensely talented shot but highly rated in the unusual capability of being able to make full lethal use of a firearm at point-blank range.

"The file briefly noted that it was fully designed, lathed, and constructed by Akeya herself with no discernable outside assistance." Shadow said, her eyes still closed. "Further details can be found in a file that SAFES assembled on it but I didn't think it really mattered since the weapon isn't what makes her uniquely lethal." She opened her eyes. "I really wish I knew which marker I called in got her assigned to us so I could express my gratitude personally. Both by design and luck, we have one helluva poker hand in this game we're playing with the Grand Admiral."

Sera smiled at her. "All your doing, Shadow, and don't try to say differently." She told her friend with undisguised warmth. "Your grandfather would be proud of you."

Shadow smiled and leaned over, kissing Sera lightly on the cheek, earning a surprised look. "You're kind to say so, dear." She replied. "I'm just glad that my manipulations and markers got me the one person I'd trust with my life. Be very careful, Sera... after two months, we still don't know what trump card the Grand Admiral is keeping close to his chest that made him unconcerned about us sailing a battleship above an apparently defenseless capital world."

"I'll be careful, my friend." Sera leaned up and gave Shadow a peck on the cheek in return.