Jae Richards I
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen" Monarch said and lit a giant Cuban cigar. "Allow me to bring you up to speed: We've had a leak at the very top of ASIS. We have no idea of just what has been leaked, but we have a pretty good idea as to who the leak is" he said to the people gathered around the small conference table in the smoke-filled room. Turned off the light an started a projector, projecting the pretty mug of Denmana on the wall and looked her straight in her eyes like a Viking warrior would his sworn enemy.
"Her name is Denmana Nassus; she is the head of Human Affairs, the department specialising in anti-human counter-espionage," he said and pointed to the Asari's face with his cigar. "She might look like a hot babe, but believe me, Nassus is no maiden; she is a known seductress and a trained killer," he said and blew smoke out from the side of his mouth.
"Slide," he said with his firm voice. Spooner took a drag on his cigarette and changed the slides. "At some point, at what seem to be a while ago, she approached and seduced Anderson Finch, the head of Diplomatic Reporting. Presumably, she pumped him for information, although we have no evidence indicating he shared anything highly confidential. We don't know how much he has spilled, but we fear that it might have been a whole lot," he said, staring at the projection of Finch's face. "Some of our assets were able to obtain this document indicating that he was willing to defect to Asari space with Denmana," he said as Spooner began passing out copies of the chatlog he and Giffard had found in the apartment.
"Now, we have been trying to track Denmana and see if we could catch her before she reached the Citadel, but it would seem that she has already escaped. She is very likely to be on the Citadel or in Asari space as we're speaking" he said, the worried furrows on his forehead becoming deeper and deeper. "Now…" he said and held a dramatic pause. "That's not the end of it; it would appear that we have another leak inside ASIS. The chatlog indicates that a so-called source warned her that Anderson had become aware that she was a spy. That would mean that someone who was close to Anderson leaked this information to the Asari…" he said and cleared his throat. "Now, whoever this source is, he or she will be instrumental in finding Denmana and making sure her spy-ring can be properly closed. We need to find him," he said and extinguished the fire in his cigar.
"Okay," a dark-haired woman, who sat at the other end of the table said. "How exactly are we supposed to do that?" she asked as if Monarch was wasting her precious time. "It doesn't seem we have many clues to go by," she said. Monarch stared at her, smiling. "No" he said and scratched his chin. "That much is true," Monarch said. "That's why we're assembling a team consisting of the very finest agents ASIS has to offer," he said as Spooner began passing documents out to the people around the table. "This will be an elite task-force under the command of Bradford Giffard and Timothy Fitzgerald. Gerard Spooner, who is present here today is a part of this task force and will be your Bridge Agent for whenever you go places the aforementioned agents cannot go. Spooner has handed out the profiles of all the people who will be in the task-force. Please review them," he said. "You will all be sent to the Citadel in a few days, under the cover of being there to attend the embassy's Christmas ball as security personnel. In reality, of course, you'll be looking around for clues as to who the source might be, starting by keeping a close eye on the Asari embassy"
The group fell silent as all the people around the table began reading the profiles. "Hold on," a man of long, reddish hair man with short stubbles and a ponytail said. "I see we have Turian squad-mates, one of them an… enhanced interrogations specialist," he said with a slightly worried voice. One could tell from the look in his small bloodshot eyes behind those huge glasses that he didn't like the notion of having aliens on the team. "Are you sure we want to have Turians with us? Who knows when they might turn on us and stab us right in the back?" he asked. "You make the mistake of forgetting that the Turians are about as homogenous as we humans are, Richards," he said. "There are plenty of Turians that have reason to work against the hierarchy… Ever since the High-Council of Palaven dissolved the provisional government of Palaven and made the Republic of Turia into the Turian Hierarchy, a lot of middle to higher-class intellectuals has felt disenfranchised" Monarch said "Not to mention the royalists, plotting to restore the king to the throne"
"So," the person next to Richards said, a blond man, with glasses and a square chin said. "What is the name of the task-force?" he asked. "You will be called 'the spiderlings', in honour of my good friend Giffard. You will all be given appropriate codenames" Monarch answered. "Anyways, let's call it a day and follow up on this later. God save the King" he said and with those words the meeting came to and end.
Richards was collecting his stuff and ready to get out of there when Spooner approached him. He looked up at them and sighed. "What now?" he asked. "I was going for a cup of coffee with a couple of my friends. You wanna come?" he asked. "Just leave me alone, Spooner" Richards said. "Aww, come on. It'll be fun. For old times sake?" Spooner pleaded. There was little Richards wanted to do less than to hang out with Spooner, but he realised that he did not have much of a choice. He sighed. "Okay. But you're buying" he said. "Sure. No prob, mate" Spooner said with a smile upon his lips.
30 minutes later they found themselves at the café closest to centre bloc. Jae had alway found that it was a very nice place, though he didn't get out much. "Come" Spooner said. "My friends are right over here" he said. Spooner led Jae to a table where two middle-aged men sat, drinking coffee. One had a head of greying auburn and the other raven hair with silver streaks. They both wore business attrire and grey overcoats "Hey guys. How are you doing?" Spooner said and was greeted with a silent smile from the aubrun-haired man with huge glasses. He shook the other man's hand and sat down. One could tell that there was mutual respect betwixt these men. "Jae, would you please be a real chap get me an espresso macchiato?" Spooner asked. "Oh, and bring a black coffee, will you?" the man with the dark hair asked him. Jae sighed and went up to the barista. When he returned with their drinks they were already well within conversation and the dark-haired one had lit a cigarette. After a few minutes of small-talking the man with the dark hair said: "So, you must be Mr. Richards. I hear you're some kind of computer wiz"
"They say that you can crack any network; get in contact with anyone" he said. "You might say that" Richards said with a certain sense of pride. It was true; few hackers were as good as he was and he was known as a living legend in the cyber-criminal community. "I used to do a lot of free-lance work" he said. "Oh, like what?" the man with the nice overcoat asked, sipping on his coffee. "Oh, mostly greyhat work and so on... you know" Jae said. "No, I don't know" the man said. "Tell me about it".
"Oh, well it's not really that interesting, but I used to find flaws in companies' security systems and offer to fix them for a reasonable sum" Jae said. "Aha... I see... So what made you come to us?" the man asked. "A patriotic sense of duty?" "No" Jae said and laughed. "Monarch has hired me personally to take care of IT-security at ASIS. He seems to be satisfied with the work I do" Richards said. The man raised a brow. "You mean he gave you a choice between prison and working for us after you hacked into his e-mail?" he said. "Oh" Jae realised. "You know about all that?" "I know everything worth knowing about you and your crimes, kid" he said. "Now now, there is little point in being rude, Tim. We are all on the same side here" the man with the big glasses and the narrow face said.
"To me, a man who tries to hack into the e-mail of the Monarch is a traitor" the man said and toked his fag. He blew out smoke. "I could have you put in prison any time I wanted, you know that kid?" Tim said and starred Jae into his eyes. "You couldn't... I work for Monarch" Jae said. "I am the head of Clandestine Operations" Tim said. "Do you really think that Monarch cares about little shitstains like you?"
"But... but I have been serving you faithfully. I have done exactly as you have told me to. I am the best. You need me!" Jae protested. "We don't need you, you little shit" Tim said without even flinching. "We need loyal men, regardless of ability" he said and took a sip of his coffee. "We don't need traitors" he said. "And we get rid of all that which we do not need" he said and smiled a sinister smile at Jae. "Oh god..." Jae said. "I'm... no, please don't. I'll do anything you tell me to do!" he pleaded. "I don't need anything from a traitor" Timothy said. "No... I can't go to prison" Jae said and broke down crying. After a few excruciating moments, the kindly man spoke. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Timothy. There's no reason to send him off to gaol" he said. "There is, if he's disloyal" Tim replied. "Then, why don't we give him a chance to prove his loyalty to us, Tim? I am sure that the boy would jump at the chance to do just that" the kindly man said. "Yes! Let me prove myself! Please sir!" Jae begged of him.
"Well..." Timothy considered. "There is just this one thing you might do for me. But if anyone hears..."
"They won't! Please, they won't!" Jae promised, interrupting Timothy mid-sentence.
"I need you to establish contact with the remnants of the Turian Monarchy. We have decided that they will be our strongest allies in taking down the Turian heirachy. They need our money and ships and we need their spies. Go to your office and set up secure communication channels at once and arrange a meeting" Tim said.
"At once" the young computer expert said and ran off. Once he was out of sight, Spooner started laughing.
"Ha ha! The old Mutt and Jeff. Works every time"
"Whipe that smile off your face, boy" Timothy said with a stern look on his face.
"Do you think we intimidate people for the kicks of it?" he asked rhetorically. "Do you think I like scaring the living shit out og spring-green boys like that?" he asked and discared his cigarette "No. We don't do it because we find it amusing. We do it because we have to and because we're good at it. You'd better get used to that" he said. Spooner could feel goosebumps on the back of his neck. "Sorry, Sir. I only meant..."
"I know... May god help you if you ever come to enjoy this line of work" he said and rose from his seat.
"Where are you going, Sir Fitzgerald" Spooner managed to ask as Timothy was leaving.
"Away. I have a plane to catch in the near future"