As Vaukt reached out to Byte for information and Zha to formulate his own plans, and making excuses for why Sko and Kiz haven't yet arrived at Jakri to aid Grimm, namely having to travel across much of the known universe to get there first, the Ghost of Irk would find itself arriving in the path of the Massive. It was either a bog standard meeting between the Tallest and their personal SpecOps meeting or a trap. Either way, Vaukt would have his answer and know how to proceed next.
"You two be careful in there, yeah?" Vara leaned against the airlock wall as Vult, their SiR unit, and Corr walked inside.
"Worst case, if you're all not killed immediately and manage to escape, you and Kiara are ranking officers." Corr attempted some humor.
"Very funny."
The Captain shot a smirk back at the Vortian Commander as the door closed behind them and the airlock cycled.
"You getting an uneasy feeling about this?"
"No," Vult responded, calm as could be, looking to Corr. "...and you shouldn't either. Don't give them a reason to suspect anything. This is routine for us. Everyone else aboard the ship knows the plan if things go awry and we'll figure something out if we're not already dead. Just another day in the lives we live, Captain."
Corr sighed as he took out a flask to take a swig of some of its contents. "It's a bit different when you really have someone to come back to…something I'm still trying to get used to."
Vult's artificial hand clasped his shoulder in camradire before the airlock concluded cycling, allowing them to board the Empire's mightiest vessel of them all and the mobile base of operations of the Almighty Tallest.
"Come on. Sooner we get this over with, sooner we can get back to work." The Commander cryptically spoke, leading through the opened doors with their SiR unit close behind in tow.
Corr remained quiet, simply following the Commander to the bridge where the Tallest were waiting for them. The Honor Guard waited…inside for a change. Corr took notice but said nothing. Watching the Honor Guard Commander announce their presence, salute, and take his position within the room itself.
"Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?" Purple queried of his co-ruler.
"That's not how this works and you know it!" Red snapped.
"Hey, I'm just offering constructive solutions! I'm not the technical expert guy!"
"That's why you don't know how it works! It's an interstellar communications array, not a toaster. I don't understand why it isn't working…he's stupid but wouldn't miss the glorious opportunity to bask in our greatness."
"Maybe Zim died."
"Don't play with my emotions.." Red scoffed. "We couldn't get that lucky."
"Yeah…you're right…" Purple sighed, finally noticing their recent arrivals. "Oh! Oh! Look! Our guys are here!"
"What? Where?" Red spun around, searching the room to find Vult and Corr standing at-ease with the SiR unit. "Commander. Captain. Always a pleasure."
"An honor, My Tallest." Vult graciously bowed. "I received orders to make an appearance forthwith."
"We called you?" Purple commented, confused until Red glared at him. "Oh! Right! I remember!"
"...do you actually?" Red needled of him.
"I do! Hah, in your face!"
"Okay, smarty-skirt, why are they here then?"
"Tooo…do…something."
Red sighed in exasperation, turning his attention back to their visitors. An attempt was made, if only barely. He reached into his belt, procuring a prepared dataslate to present to Vult.
"Due to…unforseen circumstances, Commander, it appears our attention has shifted away from Operation Impending Doom II to a greater…internal issue." Red began in explanation.
"Yes, bickering! Like children!" Purple punctuated in disbelief. "...that and someone apparently getting too tall for their station."
Corr looked over the dataslate alongside his superior officer and his eyes widened briefly before looking to the Tallest. So it seems the Commander wasn't at all joking in that emergency staff meeting…Vaukt was right, they're made.
"Great Ones, correct me if I'm mistaken but this dataslate is asking us to hunt down and execute our very own head of Special Operations. What happened?" Corr began, "Surely this is a bit extreme, wouldn't you say?"
"Ah, ah, ah…it isn't execution. It's…restructuring." Purple corrected, searching for the appropriate word. "We'll spare you the boring details. We had a lengthy chat with the Control Brains about…things…and stuff…and it was their recommendation that we find a replacement for the General as soon as possible."
"This wasn't a recklessly-made decision, Captain." Red concurred. "In fact, we were confused ourselves initially, but the more we delved into the matter, the clearer the picture became."
"Yeah! They were even slinging wild accusations at you!" Purple laughed.
"Accusations…at us, My Tallest?" Vult masked his growing paranoia well. This did not bode well. "What sort of accusations?"
"Oh, you know. Stuff like you're all a bunch of defectives…and traitors…defective traitors."
"My favorite was the claim someone intends to overthrow us and take the Empire for themselves." Red snickered, looking to the two Special Operations soldiers before them. "...that doesn't sound like something you guys would do, does it?"
"No, absolutely no." Corr masked his disdain well. They were made. Or at least the General was and they weren't far behind. "That's absolutely preposterous. What would we do with the Empire? We aren't even tall enough."
Just as Vult was about to dig his elbow as deep as he could muster into Corr's ribs to stop embellishing, both Red and Purple burst into laughter at Corr's humorous comment.
"See? I said the same thing!" Purple commented, sighing as he regained his composure. "The nerve of some people though. Absolutely rude. The sacrifices we make in serving all of you! Ungrateful!"
"Jealous of our attention paid to you and envious of the honor that comes with it makes for very ugly, petty, insignificant things." Red observed, folding his hands behind his back. "Nevertheless, the General has been up to no good. At all. So much so certain extreme measures had to be taken to confirm allegations."
Vult steeled himself, staring intently at the simple information presented before him. A kill-on-sight order from the Tallest themselves for their commanding officer. A common document often seen in issued orders, but to see Vaukt's face and service record attached made it surreal. This was actually happening.
"My Tallest…"
"Hmm? What is it?" Red beckoned.
"It is not my place to question…but are you absolutely certain of this?" Vult requested, gesturing to the orders he held in his hands. "An unruly usurper on the homeworld stirring up trouble among the drones, I understand…but this man has been instrumental in many victories and conquests for the Empire at-large."
Corr had the urge to bury his own elbow into Vult's ribs for potentially adding to the pile before chiming in. "How would you like it done? Slice and dice? Shot in the head? Tied up and boiled in oil? Would you like us to send you his head as proof of the deed being done?"
"What? Eww! No, that's gross." Purple recoiled in horrified disgust. "Just…kill him. Whatever it is you army guys do to make people…not alive. Do that."
"Yeah, that'll suffice." Red concurred, turning his attention back to Vult. "...and to answer your question, Commander…yes…we are absolutely certain. I understand it comes as a shock but no one is infallible, even our chiefs of staff. We place this in your capable hands. Any questions?"
"No, My Tallest. No questions. We will carry out your orders forthwith." Vult assured with a nod.
"See to it that you do, Commander. Dismissed."
Equal parts relieved as he was dreading what was to come, Vult masked it with a staunch salute and about-face. A mental reminder to not move too quickly kept him from an unnatural gait of escape. Vaukt was made, surely they were too…right? Were they being played? Tested? Were the Tallest and Empire at-large completely oblivious still? Surely not…it was inevitable. They had to know…didn't they?
Corr did much the same, following Vult out. He outwardly remained calm despite eyes scanning everyone around as they made their way back to their ship. Waiting outside the airlock was a pair of IIA officers holding a dataslate. Corr's spooch sank at the sight of them. Horror, dread, none of it showed on his face but he was feeling it.
"Commander Vult and Captain Corr I take it?" One of the IIA officers asked as he extended the dataslate to them. "We're here to inform you that after whatever mission the Tallest have given you that you're to deliver one Corporal Hesa to Irk, specifically to the IIA headquarters."
"May I ask under whose authority?" Vult played off calmly. A reasonable question beneath the circumstances. "I was under the impression Internal Affairs was forbidden to involve themselves in Special Operations activities."
"By order of High Marshal Xilch with the imprimatur of the Control Brains. Specifically as to the matter as to why Hesa was deemed deactivated on Vort but then someone deactivated by Judgmentia by remote ends up on your roster when they should be dead."
"That is peculiar…" He authentically observed, nodding. "I will see to it personally once our business abroad is concluded, Sergeant. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an assignment of grave importance to be fulfilled."
"Of course, Commander. Good luck with your assignment." With their business concluded, the two departed, leaving the trio to reenter their ship. Only when the airlock door closed behind them did Corr slam his fist against the bulkhead.
"Damn it all… I don't think they'll shoot us as soon as we leave the hangar but this isn't looking good."
"Calm. Down." Vult insisted at his outburst, just as eager to leave the Massive and be on their way. "Don't make a scene. We'll push off and come up with a plan. Just like always."
"...At least the door was closed." Corr sighed and ran a hand down his face. As soon as the airlock finished cycling he looked to Vara, waiting for them the whole time. "Bridge, now, kick Chavsa out of her chair."
"Literally if you must. Deadly serious." Vult added. "Far and fast, don't care where."
"On it." Vara sprinted down the hall to the lift.
"So I take it you need to call Vaukt?" Corr queried.
"Already am." He answered, waiting for the General to accept his incoming transmission. "Emergency meeting, conference room, all-hands in 10 minutes."
"On it, Sir." The Captain nodded, hopping to with a purpose.
Vaukt answered.
"So let me guess, I'm right?"
Vult, manipulating the dataslate with one hand to hold up into view with Vaukt's image, information and a bright, bold "KILL ON SIGHT" plastered across the subject heading.
"You tell me. The Tallest want you dead and tasked us with finding you. Confirms your suspicions. The fact they are sending us if we're supposedly made confuses me unless it's a matter of denial on their part being their hand-selected favorites incapable of doing any wrong."
"I suspect a possible two in one move on their part. They wait and see how you react. Kill me first, kill you second if you're apparently loyal. If you deviate, they'll have their suspicions confirmed. Either way, we're both to fry in the same pan now."
"Sooner than I anticipated but inevitable nevertheless." Vult summarized with a huff. "...obviously we're not committing to assassinating you only to be taken behind the space barn ourselves in short order. How do we play this?"
"Well, thanks to our friend, I'm off to Vort to pull a very bold prison break. Major Amka should have that frigate by now for that mission we were planning. Perfect cover. A lost frigate taken by pirates would be suitable to get you through. I'm going to send a message to my loyalists for them to scatter to the wind. I'll set a meeting point for us and go from there once I have Zha."
Vult gave pause, considering the rapid derailment and direction things were transpiring. His attention returned to Vaukt a matter of seconds later.
"I'm not going to bother trying to talk you out of this course of action. I would do the same were it Hesa or anyone else of this team…but I am not in a position to assist you. All I can recommend is to do what you know best and hope it works out for you. In the meantime, what is your fallback thereafter? We are going to have to make ourselves extremely scarce very soon."
"I was thinking of having all my loyalists meet us at that planet full of drones; 8875, right? Have everyone land there, get us unhooked, proceed from there while leaving some behind to properly train our first soldiers. Not to mention I'm sure they could use a resupply of food and the like."
"As good a place as any. I have Kazak setting up a fallback position on Earth if needed. Time can be bought with that distance if things truly go awry." The Commander reasoned, taking a deep breath to steel his nerves. "Need to keep communication to a minimum moving forward. They're bound to start listening in closely once it becomes apparent. Whatever needs to be said, relay it through Byte…now…I need to give the news to the team. Stay safe and stay alive, General."
"Likewise, Commander. See you later." Vaukt cut the channel on his end, he had a prison break to focus on.
The entire team, Vortians included, made their way into the conference room. Vara joined on screen from the bridge with a none too happy Chavsa as she put as much distance as possible from the Massive to…anywhere in space. No particular destination in mind, just clear a potential threat as quickly as possible.
As Vult entered the room, Corr nodded to him.
"The entire unit and our friends assembled as requested, Commander."
The curious murmurs and concerning rumors quieted down as Vult entered the room. As disciplined, the team collectively stood to attention at a superior officer being present. Hurriedly and focused, Vult didn't acknowledge them until he was at his place at the head of the table.
"As you were," He finally dismissed, permitting them to sit as he sent a hail to Kazak, awaiting for the connection to be established.
A Standby message appeared, lingering for some time.
"What's taking him so long?" Haxx blinked. "He's not dead, is he?"
Hesa shook her head. Then, right on cue, Kazak appeared, a backdrop of some timbers behind him. He was busy working on the base. As Tak set about securing some materials and funds for their front to complete Kazak's ideal base construction, he did what he could with local materials. Not much of a carpenter but about an hour watching videos on the human internet gave him enough knowledge to start repairs on the structures above ground.
"Is this a good time? I'm redoing the roof here." Kazak looked on screen at the rest of the team, seeing Vara and Chavsa on another part of the screen as well. "Uh…I know I haven't been there for a while but this isn't about me, right?"
Vult did not entertain his casual assumption. Not out of spite, but rather the severity of the situation finally sinking in. The day had finally come and they were far from prepared. Far too soon and unexpected. A situation that could see stragglers left behind or a situation that could become their undoing if pursued to the fullest.
"...Commander?" Aero cautiously approached, pink eyes wide with concern.
Realizing his silence growing ever longer and all eyes and antenna on him, Vult finally straightened up in his seat with a long, weary sigh.
"No, it isn't about you, Kazak…it's about all of us. Everyone."
A few keystrokes of his terminal at the conference table projected General Vaukt's bust and their extremely clear objective to see to his demise in any way, shape, or form possible. Another state-sponsored assassination. This time, not against a random political activist upstart on the home front but their own commanding officer and extremely involved in the ongoing movement building against the Empire.
"We were just handed orders to kill General Vaukt by the Tallest with the Control Brains' approval."
Skrem threw his hands up. "Yeah, I'm following those orders, just like my shit's purple and smells like dawn light sherbert."
"Be. Quiet." Vult pointedly spoke at his outburst, not taking kindly to being interrupted. "...I never stated we were going to carry out these orders. No, this is a sign of something far worse taking place. It means someone, somewhere along the line, is aware of our misgivings. General Vaukt has been a petulant thorn in High Command's collective side for a long time for his eccentric style of leadership and cult-of-personality. Nobody in this room can deny that, not even you." He concluded, looking to their resident Invader.
"So…what's this mean then, Sir?" Sula was next to speak.
"It means that our veil of deception is on borrowed time as it is and we will be next in line to suffer the wrath of the Tallest for our transgressions." He made clear, ensuring he had their undivided attention. "General Vaukt has been compromised. High Marshal Zha, by association or merely an innocent bystander in this, and her entire command staff have been detained by Internal Affairs on the grounds of obstruction in an ongoing investigation. Again, I repeat, not only the High Marshal, but her entire command staff. This is deadly serious."
A stunned silence enveloped the entire room. The realization of what was happening and what was to follow. The Empire knew something was amiss and actively seeking out the offenders.
Haxx immediately thought back to Vort…back in the restaurant's VIP room…that night…
"...It's Tuu, isn't it?"
"Yes." The Commander forced himself to respond, knowing full and well his decision to show mercy and spare one of their own had come back to not only bite them, but those associated as well.
"Wh-...how?! I don't understand." Vard burst out before the animosity reached a tipping point. "He ended up embedded in Major Amka's team, did he not? How could he have-"
"Internal Affairs broke their own rules, desperate for evidence and actionable proof of Vaukt's activities. They went after the General because we were untouchable. The next best thing would be a former member of the team not under the same veil of protection as we are currently."
"Oooh, that's dirty!" Aero huffed, agitated. "...and what? Did he open his big fat mouth and sing the first time he was asked about anything? I don't get it, how did Internal Affairs even get to him? Amka would've thrown them off his ship, wouldn't they?"
"Normally, yes…but one does not simply throw Invader Nossa off their ship without incident." Vult revealed to their dismay. "...the safe assumption is Internal Affairs circumvented their boundaries by having a mole inside of Special Operations…"
He paused, pointedly looking at Skrem.
"...what better mole is there than an expert in infiltration and subterfuge?"
"Especially one as fanatically loyal as Nossa." Skrem could easily see it. "She told me to leave the rest of our class in the dust, that they weren't worth my time, that the Empire deserves only the best Invaders. I didn't agree with that. Not to mention…I'm rather outspoken and I wasn't afraid to make my opinion known."
"We read as much when you called Red and Purple imbeciles to their faces." Corr spoke, looking at the Invader.
"Got Grimm's attention and helped me uncover his own plot didn't it? Wasn't even my intent it just…happened. I guess that's what they did too, played Nossa's loyalty to their own end, if they were wrong they'd just eat their shoes, but if it paid off it'd pay massive dividends for their own plots."
"The slight issue with that is that Grimm's plans are going to hit a wall without his precious Invader Zim to break out of the toolbox again." Kazak spoke, sitting on his toolbox to have this conversation. "We jammed him. He can't reach the Empire, Empire can't reach him."
"Explains the connectivity issues those two were complaining about while the Captain and I were aboard the Massive. Good work." Vult acknowledged, collecting his thoughts briefly. "...however, something tells me being denied Zim as an asset…and I cannot believe I said that sentence with a straight face…isn't going to assuage him. Especially not now having actionable intel that Vaukt is up to something nefarious and the High Marshal is being punished by association…or even a means to drag Vaukt into an unattainable position to catch him in the act wholesale."
"Get him angry and make him act stupid." Radec concluded with a nod. "Best way to outsmart someone smarter than you is to make 'em slip up, ain't it? It's what I'd do. Get them riled up, they start gettin' sloppy an' makin' mistakes."
"The issue being if Vaukt indeed makes a mistake, our borrowed time becomes zero time. We will be swept up in the fallout if he is fully exposed. He is already en route to the newly-built detention center on Vort managed by IIA."
Skrem, feeling a pang of loyalty to the man he greatly respected, rose from his seat. "I gotta go help him."
"Skrem, no." Corr ordered. "Sit down."
"Why not? I served with him for so long. I owe it to him to help if he's doing what I think he's going to do."
"If it all goes awry and you are there it's going to raise a lot of questions. We have mission logs that show that he directed us to go rescue you. That he attached you to us. We will be implicated if you're captured or killed."
"...And then that borrowed time definitely becomes kill orders on all your heads." Skrem sat back down, shaking his head.
"I know it isn't ideal but what the General's going to do, we can't aid him at all. We'd be doing the same for any of you on the team and the General couldn't involve himself. Our hands are unfortunately tied."
Haxx shrugged, throwing his own hands up with a huff.
"Since no one else is gonna ask, Sir, what the fuck are we supposed to do now? Way you're going on about this, we're screwed no matter what we do at this point and it's only a matter of time 'fore IIA or anyone for that matter comes gunning for us."
"Sorta with Haxx on this one, Commander." Aero thumbed towards him hesitantly. "...obviously we're not gonna go kill General Vaukt…right?"
"Right." Vult sighed, his natural hand rubbing at tired eyes. "...which would make us immediately in dereliction of duty. I can stall and buy us time but even that will have its limits. Our exposure is inevitable."
"...and most definitely boiling in the same water as the General." Rha concurred the line of logic. "...so what's the plan then? What do we do?"
"We'll have to go rogue, of course." Corr answered, "But we're going to go rogue with an absolute bang. Before all of this happened, Kazak passed us a plan from Admiral 'Narr that we discussed with the General. A false flag attack, one that would give the Empire more pressing concerns in the immediate term than us going missing."
Gers looked around, seeing Zurrak still distinctly missing from the room. "Captain, can I take an educated guess that it has something to do with that Planet Jacker outpost that you sent Zurrak to months ago?"
"It does, yes. Vaukt said he would pull some strings to make it happen and it seems he has just before all this happened. We'll be meeting with Mirage to-"
"I'm gonna do what I should've done back on Vort and shoot that fucker." Haxx let out an enraged outburst.
"...Tuu won't be there, Haxx."
"...Fuck!"
"...Anyhow." Corr paused before continuing, "Major Amka and other Mirage loyalists of Vaukt will join us. We'll be meeting on the frigate Pilkaris, acquire standard issue Imperial equipment of SpecOps, Elites, and Troopers, and attack a Planet Jacker refueling outpost and depart. Then we'll need to decide what to do with the frigate and our own ship with all this tracking equipment on board. We can try tearing them out or we can scuttle them."
Orkos just sat quietly, wondering about all this. "So…what, we're going to attack some unrelated people? To what end? I mean we orbitally hit this outpost, what's it do for us?"
"Not unrelated. Not entirely anyway." Vult began, addressing Orkos' concerns. "Planet Jackers and the Empire have a non-aggression pact at this point in time. Neither ally or enemy but an agreement to not aggressively expand on the other. Part of that agreement is the sharing of resources, such as their starports and refueling depots near their territory by the Armada. In a surprising stroke of genius, the Tallest do not want to make enemies out of a people capable of relocating entire planets directly into their dying sun of their home system."
"...and if it appears the Empire is pulling a Vort and betraying that non-aggression pact, they have larger problems on their hands." Vard concluded, equal parts horrified as he was shocked at the brutal brilliance of it all.
"Exactly…I realize it is ethically-questionable but fighting conventionally and fighting fair will get all of us killed in short order. We've always struck first from the shadows, without warning. This is no different."
"Fightin' fair is for chumps." Radec huffed. "That's how you get your c'hurta kicked."
"Impending Doom might actually grind to a halt if the Empire has to worry about losing planets to these guys…" Orkos blinked. "And the Vortians came up with this?"
"They did. Admiral and I were talking it over while I was there actually. It was entirely his idea once I gave him some details about our arrangement with them." Kazak answered.
"It's pretty smart if not morally questionable since I'm sure the Admiral knows there's likely to be many Irken civilian casualties." Orkos conceded.
"And perhaps also a means to get them on our side." Corr added.
"Enemy of my enemy is my friend." Vult quipped, an adage as old as time itself. "The Planet Jackers are extremely isolationist and want nothing to do with the other major players of the universe. Being forced into acting in retaliation will motivate them to join the resistance movement."
"That's great and all, Sir, but it feels…nyeeeeeeah." Aero commented, face upturned in a disgusted grimace.
"I know…but this must happen if we're to have a chance to break away without interlopers giving chase." The Commander reasoned, studying the room. "Thankfully, Amka and some members of Mirage will be able to assist with this matter…I understand if not all of you can bring yourselves to do this…but it must be done. Them or us. I did not come this far to throw it all away now."
"Doesn't do you all much good if you guys get yourselves killed." Kazak added. "I don't want to see you all end up dead and I end up the sole survivor of the unit just because I'm six months time away on a completely different planet."
Vara spoke from the bridge, "We all knew it would have to come down to this eventually. We're open to helping if we can. Remain cloaked, plant demolitions charges on their fueling station's critical points. First chance we have to work together for the cause of ending the Empire, right?"
Vult gave a bemused huff to everyone's confusion before looking up at them all with a shrug.
"...Victory or Death, right?"
In that moment, the entire room shared the same brain as their simultaneous cheer erupted.
"Victory or Death!"