11 – A VOICE OF DISSENT

The special meeting took place at the very heart of the Capitol Tower. The twenty-fifth and highest floor of the grand structure was more a promontory of purple-colored steel than a floor in the traditional sense. This level was actually the largest level within the tower, for its boundaries jutted out to hang over the lower walls of the tower. The circular perimeter of the level was one long circular window that wound across the perimeter of that floor. The window was a one way glass, such that from the outside it was only black, but looking out from the inside, one could admire the view of the many streets of Vinsóth down below, and also have a slightly better view of the surface on the asteroid's opposite side. However, it was the center room of that level in which the meeting was taking place. No windows looked into this chamber, and the only one true entity was the darkness, which was permeated only by several subtle purple lights around the room, as well as the glow from several holograms in the room's center. The look of the War Room was distinctly similar to the command dome aboard the Avant Garde. The Admiral always seemed to like planning while cloaked in near darkness, a facet of him which had only ever served to exemplify his cunning. This meeting would likely exemplify it further.

Hathrow Vorennius had once again convened his Vice Admiralty, this time for a discussion of strategy. Now that the War of Six Armies had begun, it was extremely important that a specific plan be devised for the Purple Army's immediate future. The Admiral and his six Generals stood in a circle around a holographic representation of the entire galaxy. Its six main arms embraced a core of light, and every part of the three-dimensional shape had been divided into hundreds of colored regions of space, each one representing the territory a particular Army owned.

Gorn Wilhuff cleared his throat. "From my observation, the situation has become increasingly chaotic since the War's beginning. We simply cannot win a fight against all other Armies at the same time, not even with the help of the Reds. I suggest that we focus on the Greens for now. Absolute justice should come first, then dominion."

The Admiral looked briefly at Wilhuff. "You sound as though we have not been focusing on the Green Army already. Their capitol city has been attacked, and we have in captivity their leader. They are wounded."

"All the more reason to strike upon them once more!" shouted Seren Dizra, General of the Revolutionary Forces.

The Admiral shook his helmet. "Do not misunderstand me, General Dizra. I do fully intend to wipe the Green Army from the galaxy. But at the moment, there is another matter which must take our focus." He reached out and touched a part of the hologram with the tip of his finger. The hologram then zoomed in on a system which had regions from all six territorial colors clashing together at one spot: the planet XBOXL1V. "The place from which I have just returned is no less a lynchpin in the war," the Admiral explained. "I have heard rumors of a war council that is to take place here very soon. It is a planning meeting between the Greens, the Yellows…and the Blues."

"The Blues?" Wilhuff asked loudly, his visor a look of surprise. "The Blues are in no alliance."

"But they soon could be," said Vorennius. "The war council will determine whether or not they join the Green-Yellow Alliance, and if they do, it will become significantly harder for us to campaign into Green territory. The Blue Army by itself is little threat, but when used as support alongside Green and Yellow ships, our strategies for conquest will have to become much more complex."

"Do you mean to interrupt the war council?" asked Yoren Stendaar.

The Admiral shook his helmet. "I would, but I do not know where on the planet the council will take place. I think a more effective move is simply to assassinate Lord Blue. It will throw the Blue Army into chaos."

Stendaar couched quietly. "There might be another way, Admiral."

Vorennius looked at him.

Stendaar started: "Now, I am fully aware that our alliance with the Reds was not fully by choice…but we can use them."

Vorennius stared blankly at the wall for a second, deep in thought, then shook his helmet once again. "I do not think it such a good idea. There are things about the Red Army you do not know…they are using us."

Stendaar stared hard at Vorennius. "Using us…but what do you mean?"

The Admiral would speak no more on the subject. "The Reds have their own agenda…I think it best we do not interfere."

The rest of the Vice Admiralty all stared at the Admiral. He had never, NEVER, concerned himself with another faction's agenda. Something was going on, and the Admiral was doing his best to clue everyone else onto it.

"Admiral…" Dizra asked with concern. "Is there something we need to know about?"

Vorennius stared everyone in the visor. "Motives are the most important thing. Certain prisoners might know more about this subject." The Admiral paused, thinking what to say, and then spoke: "The Red Army has seen a loss of fusion coils recently. Their agenda is now influenced by the forces behind that event. Now, may we move on?"

Standaar nodded with hesitation. Vorennius had just told everyone something in code. "Motives are the most important thing" was code for "I am under duress". But this was odd, since the Admiral was inside the capitol building and surrounded by his Vice Admiralty. More likely what it was supposed to mean was "Someone is listening to everything I say". And if he understood the rest of the Admiral's disguised message properly, it had something to do with the fact that Vincent had recently been replaced as leader. It was unknown who the new leader was yet, but the Reds definitely had one, if the success of their latest campaigns was any indication. Clearly, the Admiral knew something vital about the Red Army's new leader. And he had hinted that the Green prisoner, Richard Face, might know something about it. Standaar resolved to visit Face in his cell as soon as the meeting had concluded.

The discussion moved on. The artificial intelligence which was kept within the tower was giving a run-down of the overall situation regarding the War. In traditional monotone voice, the computer explained: "The state of the galaxy has changed dramatically since the War of Six Armies began. According to observations, all other Armies have been spurred on by the Battle of Centerpoint City, which has served as a catalyst event. The Green Army has rebuffed its defenses for all of its worlds. The Yellow Army, in an alliance with the Green Army, has succeeded in taking several systems from the Red Army. But the Red Army is also on the move, for it is currently ravaging Blue territories all over the galaxy. And within just the last few days, several unoccupied systems have been claimed by the Orange Army, which is gaining valuable resources in several vital systems and is likely to soon become stronger than our own fleets at Roster Teth. Since the events at Centerpoint City, all of the other Armies have launched many new campaigns. The entropy state of our own situation within the galaxy is increasing at an alarming rate. Swift action is needed."

Vorennius clinched his fists as he listened to the AI's report. This was not what he had intended, not at all. When he had first come to XBOXL1V, he had intended only to find retribution for what the Green Army had done to Roster Teth. Absolute justice. The downfall of the Green Army was supposed to have been swift and painless. But then the key battle had come…and against all of the Admiral's predictions, the city had survived. He had underestimated the power of the Green Army's alliance with the Yellows, for just as the city had been about to fall, the Yellows had sent in their own ships and managed to drive off the attack fleet. And the event itself had caused such a stir for the Greens that now everyone else had taken advantage of it, particularly the newer Armies such as the Oranges and the Reds. Vorennius himself had effectively begun the War of Six Armies without meaning to. It had been his campaign at XBOXL1V and the attack he had commanded which had served as the catalyst for galactic chaos. And now the Admiral was expected to find a way to make order out of the situation, one strategy at a time. Fortunately, he did at least know what the next step had to be.

The Admiral straightened up. "Lord Blue must be assassinated. The Blue Army cannot be allowed to join the Green-Yellow Alliance. It would make the situation that much more difficult for us."

Wilhuff nodded. "I agree. I can think of no better move at the moment. Unless of course you can convince the Reds to be more cooperative."

Veros Rane, the General of the Stretch Arm, shook his helmet. "The Reds have no intention of cooperating with us, Wilhuff. I do not understand why we are currently in an alliance with them, for so far we have given them some of our technologies, but they have given us nothing. How is this alliance to benefit us?"

Another General spoke up, Toer Vandon, General of the Lesser Arms. "An alliance with them is better than fighting on our own. They have their own agenda, as we do ours. They will eventually prove of use to us, but not perhaps at the moment. Right now, I think we should be much more concerned with the War Council and the Blue Army."

The Admiral nodded. Then he said: "Computer, do we have any spies stationed on Azure?"

"Affirmative," said the AI. "There are five agents on missions near the province of Muffinia. All of them are capable of reassignment for the assassination."

"Excellent," said the Admiral. Something was finally looking up. "Reassign all of them. Order them to rendezvous with each other and then launch the assassination as a team."

"Orders sent," said the AI.

"Things are setting into place, then," said Vorennius. "Though things are not best right now, the war will soon fall into our favor. Victory will always emerge when order is attained from chaos." He then turned to the last of the Vice Admiralty. "General Sósh, I will need you to travel to Azure yourself and oversee the operation. We cannot have anything go wrong."

Cloaked in darkness in his corner, Zan Sósh, General of Special Operatives, nodded. His movement could barely be perceived for the immense darkness he was cloaked in. Sósh was noted for his reclusive tendencies and attention to efficiency, as well as precision, traits he enjoyed sharing with Vorennius. During the revolution of Roster Teth, Sósh had been in command of all special operations, particularly those involving the elimination of specific targets. For a mission involving the assassination of the leader of one of the Big Three Armies, Sósh's expertise was certainly warranted. Of course, Nezilus Thane was also skilled in assassination ops, but he was such a loyal bodyguard that Vorennius needed him to remain at his side. This left only Sósh for the mission's tasks, of which Sósh had no problem. "It will be done, Admiral," Sósh said slowly with a voice of patient determination.

Vorennius stepped back from the console. "Well, my comrades, I believe this concludes our meeting…at least for now. When I have more ideas about how to further turn the war in our favor, I will summon all of you again."

The members of the Vice Admiralty nodded and turned to leave. As Stendaar was making for the door, he glanced one final time at the Admiral. Vorennius' visor responded with a look of necessity. There was something the Admiral wanted Stendaar to discover, something that he did not feel safe admitting aloud, even to his own Vice Admiralty. The look between them lasted for only a second, but it conveyed volumes. He left the War Room and headed for one of the elevators. Judging by the subtle clues the Admiral had given him, it sounded like he needed to start by seeing Richard Face in his cell, and glean from him what he could of the Red Army's leader. It was a long shot, since the Reds had launched their attack on Centerpont City only after Face had been captured. But Stendaar didn't know where else to go, so whatever he could learn from Face would be well worth it.

Once his Vice Admiralty had left the room, Vorennius reclined to his command chair in the back of the room. It was of a more leisurely design than the chair in the command dome of the Avant Garde, this one including padding along with polished steel. Once he had settled in, he verbally ordered the tower's AI: "Bring in the Communications Director. I am ready to see him now."

The door to the War Room opened, and a stoutly framed Purple with a helmet shaped like a bubble entered slowly. He came before Vorennius' command chair and kneeled humbly. "Admiral…I must say, what an honor it is to meet you in person. You are the savior of our Army, and your reputation more than precedes you."

The Admiral nodded. "How very gracious of you."

"Now then," the Communications Director asked blithely. "What is the nature of this meeting?"

Agreeing that they needed to get straight to the point, the Admiral said: "We are here to discuss your status within the Army."

The Communications Director stroked the bottom of his visor in thought. "I see…and what exactly is it concerning?"

The Admiral leaned forwards. "Well of course, the fact that you are a traitor."

The Communications Director looked up quickly, with shock. "What?"

The Admiral sat back into his command chair again, quite at ease. "There is no point in pretending not to know. You were careless. Your crimes against this Army are all but obvious."

A sudden panic had crept into the Communications Director's voice and disposition. "But sir…whatever do you mean?"

The Admiral clasped his gauntlets in solemn recollection. "Let us travel back to the day of the attack on Centerpoint City, shall we?"

The Communications Director gulped. The Admiral was getting close to something. But how could he possibly know? "A…marvelous…victory…" he croaked out nervously.

"It was not!" the Admiral countered sharply. "The city still stands. And it does so largely because of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" the Communications Director pleaded.

The Admiral continued: "On the day of the attack, a Yellow command station in orbit over the city was neutralized by the Twins, so that the Yellows would not be able to call for reinforcements. The station was fired with electromagnetic pulse discharge spheres. It should not have been able to do anything. Yet a few hours into the battle, the Yellows were able to get the station up and running again. It has taken a bit of time to discover exactly how they managed this. But after examining our interceptions of transmissions from the station, we came upon a particular one, which came just before the station reactivated its communications array."

Vorennius hit a button on his chair's armrest. A two dimensional hologram emerged from one of the room's projectors. Hanging in midair like an odd ghost, the plane was a black square with white letters inside of it. The Admiral read: "I quote: You will need my help if you are to disable the crawler droids and restart your communications. I am on your side. The frequency for disabling the droids is 242445.3 hertz. I have come to realize that what my Army is doing is wrong, and I hope that you are able to stop this attack as soon as possible." When the Admiral looked up again, he saw that the Communications Director had begun to shiver. "It is signed with your name at the bottom," the Admiral finished. "Now tell me…do you think that our Army's agenda is some kind of joke?"

"N-no…sir…" the Communications Director stammered.

"Because either you do take it as a joke, or you are a complete and utter idiot. You sent a transmission to the Yellow command station, explaining how to counteract our weapons, and then signed it with your name. You are a fool in every sense of the word."

The Communications Director suddenly stood up straight. "Am I, Admiral? Because somehow, you have reached the conclusion that genocide will bring peace to the galaxy. Just look at what you've done, at the lives your agenda has taken. You are a monster. You will lead this Army on a path of terror and death—"

"My agenda is this Army's agenda!" Vorennius said loudly. "Absolute peace can only be achieved though absolute order. And absolute order can only be achieved if freedom of will is expunged, for it is the root of all chaos. This Army will bring peace upon the galaxy. However many lives must be taken is inconsequential, for many more will be saved in the long term. You have endangered that agenda with your idiocy. Because of your actions, Centerpoint City still stands, and the plans of this Army have had to become more complicated."

The Communications Director shook his helmet violently. "NO, you're wrong, Vorennius! You are the greatest danger to this Army! You are using us all to perpetuate your campaign of destruction!" As he spoke, he slowly withdrew his sidearm from his tool belt. "But I can end this madness! I can stop the meaningless killing, from our side and others, and save everyone from you. It will all end as you do!" He aimed at the Admiral's helmet.

A loud hissing sound suddenly came from behind the Communications Director. Then a blade of white light suddenly shot through his chest, and he dropped his sidearm, his body instantly convulsing as his nervous system was fried from the electric current of the White Blade. Then the blade disappeared back into his chest, as quickly as it had emerged, and the Communications Director dropped to the ground like a ragdoll. Standing behind him was Nezilus Thane.

"A bit too close, perhaps," said Vorennius.

"I will not delay that much again, Admiral," said Thane. "I did not think that someone like him would be driven enough to try to assassinate you. The galaxy has become no safer since we retook Roster Teth."

"Not at all," the Admiral agreed. "And now we are having to fear members of our own Army. I do hope that the Communications Director was the only person with so much dissent, but I suspect that he is not. It is yet another complication, for a reactionary movement is the absolute last thing my plans need right now."

Thane retreated back into the shadows while Vorennius retreated to his inner thoughts. Though many things had gone wrong, one thing was going correctly: Stendaar had understood Vorennius' veiled message that the Red-Purple Alliance was not all that it seemed. He didn't expect that Richard Face would know much of Amnion, but what little he did know, or even figure out, would help Stendaar to realize that the leader of the Red Army, Amnion, was an extreme threat who had forced the Admiral's hand. He was not able to tell his Vice Admiralty of Amnion directly because he had been sure that Amnion was somehow listening to everything that was being said. Knowing the stories about Amnion, Vorennius was sure that the dark soldier had hidden eyes and ears everywhere around Vinsóth, to ensure he could control affairs like a puppeteer with string. The Admiral had chosen Stendaar for the message because he was the most open-minded of the Vice Admiralty, the one most capable of seeing details between the lines. And so, it was now up to him to uncover the truth behind Amnion's release. When he eventually did, Vorennius would have a mission for him. Potentially, the fate of the Purple Army hung in the balance.