20: The Langaran Crisis
It was somewhat unexpected for Jonas to find himself called to the briefing room. He was not an official member of any team, and on SGC records he was listed as an 'advisor' in a similar way that McKay was. He had to assume his call to the briefing room had to be for something important, and despite the work he and McKay had been caught up in it seemed that McKay was not being called in with him. Whatever awaited Jonas was for him alone.
It was late afternoon and activity around stargate command was at a lull. There were several teams off-world, running reconnaissance on far flung planets or conducting scientific research on worlds of interest. Jonas, dressed in a fresh set of green fatigues, made his way through the intersecting, drab grey and green corridors towards the briefing room, situated as it was overlooking the stargate and the embarkation room as a whole. As soon as he walked in, he sighted General Janssen seated at his usual spot at the far end of the table. However, he paused partway into the room when he saw the familiar and unexpected figure of Major Kav'rak seated at the left-hand side of the table. His subordinate and the resident makalvari representative, Captain Sha'pek, was also present and seated to the Major's right. And there was Colonel John Sheppard, sitting across from the pair of avian-like aliens. A strange get-together, and one that immediately cast a sense of foreboding within Jonas.
"Jonas, you're here. Excellent." Janssen motioned for one of the several vacant chairs. "You'll want to sit down. The Major here has news, and it isn't all good. Some of it may be relevant to you."
"Jonas," John said, offering the Langaran a nod as he sat down beside the Colonel. John was outfitted in a similar set of plain off-duty fatigues as he was. The two makalvari were in their now familiar dark green uniforms, with the Major's studded with many coloured ribbons. His head plume ruffled noticeably, and his beak-like jaws opened wide in a yawn, displaying the many pointed teeth within.
"Major, it's been some time," Jonas said, and the Major closed his snout and set his eyes upon the human. Kav'rak offered him a curt nod.
"It has indeed, Advisor Quinn. And as much as I would like to catch up with you as a compatriot, there are matters that have been brought to my attention that could spell trouble for your home world."
Jonas had seen Kav'rak only in passing since the mission to Dalabrai. During that assignment, Kav'rak's leg had been maimed by a land mine. Jonas had been the first to try and patch him up, although with the limited medical supplies on hand there had not been much he could do to repair the damage done. Partly because of that, and the amount of time it had taken to get Kav'rak to a proper medical facility, the Major had gone on to lose much of that leg. For an advanced civilisation such as the makalvari, this should not have been such a big deal. They had prosthetic limbs that were better than many of those available on Earth, and yet the makalvari attitudes to such a handicap were dismissive, even derogatory. For a makalvari male to lose the agility that made their species so effective in combat was, in a sense, to lose some element of their manhood.
Jonas watched Kav'rak now, trying to get a sense of how he was feeling. He looked older compared to when Jonas had last seen him, and not for the simple fact that the Major might have aged a handful of months. No, he looked much older and deeply tired, as if the world around him was wearing him down and winning in what could very well have been classed as a war of attrition.
"What's going on, exactly?" Jonas asked, his sense of foreboding only growing deeper. He had not been back to Langara for something like eighteen months. He had assisted Kav'rak in exposing the presence of a Herald within the Kelownan leadership there, and in turn Jonas had been classed as a traitor and forced to leave. It was not the first time he had been exiled from his home world, and he intended to return one day to clear his name and remove the presence of the Scourge from his people's leadership. Now, however, he got the distinct impression that this plan of his was unlikely to work out as well as he hoped it would.
"A number of things, some of which concern the Republic and no doubt concern your Earther friends," Kav'rak explained. He had a small pouch before him, a typical makalvari-made document sleeve. He slid it across the table to Jonas, who put a hand to it and eyed the text on the front. It was in the makalvari common tongue, a language he had put some work into studying. The sleeve itself was made of a leather-like substitute, presumably taken from the hide of an animal native to the makalvari home world. He pulled the document itself from the sleeve, seeing immediately that someone had gone to the trouble of translating it into English.
"We've maintained a diplomatic relationship with Langara, or more specifically, the government of the nation of Kelowna. As you're aware, we require naquadria for some of our special projects."
"Oh yeah, 'special' projects?" John gave the Major a small frown. "You mean weapons, right?" He looked to Kav'rak, who simply narrowed his yellow eyes, and then to Sha'Pek, who simply offered a wry smirk. The Captain was not the higher-class sort that Kav'rak was, and he was without the many connections within the makalvari government that Kav'rak had. If anything, he was more of a kindred spirit for John than any of the makalvari he knew.
"Same as the facility on Dalabrai," John continued. "You used us to clean up your mess there and salvage some priority information at the same time. What kind of trouble have you caused on Langara?"
"We haven't caused any trouble, Colonel," Kav'rak said, eyeing the Colonel with some annoyance. "There is, however, unrest within the Kelownan nation. Seeing as how the Langarans are not only our allies, but yours as well, it seems only logical to include your people in the response to the crisis. I am planning a diplomatic visit to Langara in the coming days. It is a simple cover for my own investigation as to what is going on there. We would be willing to permit a handful of your own people to accompany us." He turned to Janssen. "And, of course, Jonas Quinn will have to come with us. I suspect he may have some pull on Langaran affairs, even if he has been forced into exile."
"Jonas stated in a report from some time ago that a Herald had been sighted on Langara, specifically within the Kelownan parliamentary building." Janssen narrowed his eyes, before he clasped his hands on the table and watched Kav'rak with some small measure of suspicion. "You must suspect, same as we do, that their government has been infiltrated."
"As was yours, from what I understand." Kav'rak was quick to counter, his response only causing Janssen's frown to deepen. "They even had Atlantis under their control. They lured your fleet into a trap."
"And who told you that, Major?" Janssen had not expected to hear this from the makalvari, so his question here was directed to the Major with the utmost seriousness.
"My people have sources, same as yours. You don't honestly think what happened did not get out to the greater galaxy?" Kav'rak's beak-like snout closed into a smile, one that was not entirely without malice. "There are people out there who would gladly take advantage of such a setback to get some personal vengeance. Exiled Goa'uld, the Lucian Alliance, any other petty warlords your people might have crossed in the past. If they hear that Earth's position has been weakened, then they may strike."
John exchanged doubtful glances with Janssen, although the General simply nodded in acknowledgment of the news. It was an obvious outcome, so Janssen was hardly surprised to hear it from an alien guest. Earth was not defenceless, however, and there were still a handful of powerful starships at their disposal. More were being built, but that was a process that took time and time was something they likely did not have a lot of.
"Langara is a shared ally, and the commodities they offer are unique," Kav'rak said, keeping the conversation from veering too far off the reason he had come here. "Naquadria is potent and volatile, yet with it one can power a city for thousands of years."
"Or blow one up in a few seconds," John remarked.
"As the diplomatic liaison to Langara, or more specifically, the Kelownan nation, I have been briefed on a growing crisis on Langara itself that could very well threaten that planet's people as a whole. You should find the more pertinent information within those documents I gave you, translated into your language for your convenience."
Jonas placed the file before him and started flicking through the pages. There were several images interspersed throughout, taken in sharp, high-resolution clarity by sophisticated makalvari imagers. A few of them were gruesome, to say the least, and when Jonas' gaze fell on what looked like a mutilated human body, it took him a long moment to actually realise it had been a person. The bloody sores, black chitinous protrusions and misshapen limbs had suggested something else.
"What are we looking at here?" John glanced over, before he pulled one of the photos out for himself. He winced at what he saw, before he passed it to Janssen. The General, who had seen his fair share of grisly sights, barely flinched. Nonetheless, his brow did furrow at the sight pictured, more so out of curiosity than revulsion.
"A few victims of the plague sweeping Langara," Kav'rak explained. "Those are the worse off victims. Others tend to die well before the unsightly mutations begin."
"Mutations?" Jonas swallowed when he turned the page, for another gruesome photo awaited him. It was a top-down, head and shoulders capture of an unfortunate plague victim, their skull seemingly twisted by various bone-like growths that had taken on a dark shade. There was plenty of blood, of course, and on the portion of the skull where one eye had been had instead become taken up with the same exoskeletal material. That eye was gone, yet he could make out the small hints of another one that had been growing in its place. A distinctly inhuman eye at that, although the victim had died well before the mutation could carry on further.
"This can't be any ordinary disease," John said. He was voicing what they were all thinking. Kav'rak nodded his head in agreement.
"We have people in Kelowna, at an embassy there. As far as we can tell, the disease begins with symptoms not too dissimilar to your Earth flu, or some of our own more common ailments. Most victims will get as far as the open sores before they die, usually from multiple organ failure. However, a select few will get as far as what you see in those images. Those are the ones we're most interested in, as it would suggest the disease is something far more than a simple influenza. However, we have only a few such examples accessible to us in terms of the advanced victims."
"What's the infectivity like?" Jonas asked.
"So far, it seems to be physical contact, not airborne. Fluid transmission, even waterborne. However, it does not seem to affect everyone."
"Most diseases are like that."
"This one is unusual. We have studied households in Kelowna in which all but one family member will catch it, and no matter how close the contact of that final family member with the others for days on end, they will simply not get it. Our medical personnel there have tried to look into this, to take samples and search for antibodies, but the Langarans are not as trusting of us as they once were. Few are willing to assist us in our own research, whereas certain subsets of the population have become outright hostile to our presence. Even more so their own government."
"Something like this would stir up unrest," Janssen commented.
"It's more than that." Kav'rak motioned to the documents upon the table before Jonas. "Get to the last few pages."
Jonas did as instructed, whilst John watched on from beside him. It was towards the back of the dossier that Jonas found himself pause again, his eyes widening slightly as recognition and fear and anger hit him all at once. The face he saw, one contained in an unflattering mugshot taken by the civil authorities of Kelowna, was one he had never hoped to see again in his lifetime. This man had been put away, thrown into a maximum security facility because it had been the 'right' thing to do. Jonas had been so very close to killing this man, and yet his mercy had won out in the end.
"Do you recognize him, Jonas?" Janssen asked him. Jonas looked up, his train of thought interrupted. He gave the question some thought, wondering just how much was suitable to say here. It seemed selfish now, after everything the people of Earth had done for him. There should be no secrets here, not between friends.
"Gorum Kavul," Jonas replied. He looked at Kav'rak. "What's he got to do with this?"
"Gorum Kavul has become the leader of a growing anti-government movement in Kelowna," Kav'rak said. "He broke out of prison several months ago and, in the past month, has launched a terror operation against the Kelownan leadership. Bombings, shootings and the like have been carried out by his followers. We suspect he has taken control of a Chevokan separatist group, but that was simply a start. Others flock to his cause, some because of this plague, others because of the measures the Kelownan government has taken to stem the plague's tide. Martial law exists in many parts of Kelowna now, and from what we've ascertained the disease has spread into the other nations of Langara. No one is safe from it, and Kavul has seemingly taken advantage of the crisis for his own ends."
"You know this guy?" John asked, and Jonas nodded his head in the affirmative.
"We fought together during the Ori occupation." Jonas had seldom pondered on these memories, for the simple fact that many of them were unpleasant. To him, Gorum Kavul should have remained a distant memory, someone he need not have worried about ever again. "He was a demolitions expert, formerly a Sergeant in the Kelownan National Army. They threw him out because he was deemed 'unhinged'. Thing is, that was probably what made him so effective during the occupation."
"We didn't know you were familiar with this man," Kav'rak said, one brow-ridge quirked with curiosity.
"I wish I wasn't," Jonas countered, his tone souring. "Gorum Kavul is a ruthless man, a monster. He was always pushing things too far during the occupation. He had no problems killing innocents if it meant hurting the Ori, and to him anyone who had chosen to worship the Ori instead of being killed by them for resisting was fair game. He had his uses, but we always had to keep him on a short leash. When the Ori left, he found his way into the employ of a separatist group. Chevoka, specifically, a small nation to the north of Kelowna. They'd been trying to gain independence for more than one-hundred years. Gorum was more than happy to conduct terrorist bombings on their behalf, especially since he was getting paid for it."
The others listened with rapt attention. Jonas, who had rarely mentioned his past with Gorum to anyone before, felt some small weight leave him now that he had finally spoken about it to others. Even so, it was little consolation for the losses that man had caused in innocent lives.
"What's the connection?" It was Janssen who asked this, and he directed the question to Kav'rak. "We have a mutagenic plague of some sort, and a separatist-backed terrorist. What is the connection, if any?"
"The connection?" Kav'rak gave a light shrug. "That is the thing, General. We suspect a connection, but there's little in the way of evidence. What we do have is rumour, and there is a prevailing rumour in Kelowna that those within Gorum Kavul's rebel movement remain unaffected by the disease."
This suggestion received a deep frown from Janssen, who then scratched at the stubble at his chin whilst his expression became one of more careful consideration. John, however, had no doubts in his mind about the implications such rumours brought.
"This Kavul, you think he released the disease?" The Colonel asked. Kav'rak had no solid answers for him on this front.
"That is a bit of a leap, but my people aren't ruling anything out. Either Gorum and his followers are very lucky, or they do indeed have some means of resisting or becoming immune to the disease. It was mere weeks after the first confirmed infection in Kelowna that Gorum made his presence known again. He did so by bombing a train station in one of the larger towns of Kelowna's north. His way of saying 'hello', I would think." Kav'rak gave his wry smirk again, apparently amused by his own joke. John, however, remained unimpressed. "His separatist followers swooped in on that town shortly afterwards. Their first piece of Kelownan territory under their control."
"I take it the National Army responded?" John asked.
"Of course they did. But from what my people on the ground have reported, the fighting seems to have gone poorly. It doesn't help that the Kelownan armed forces were stricken by the plague shortly afterwards. Desertions were frequent on top of this. From there, it seems the situation has simply ballooned into outright war. And now terrorists are active within the Kelownan capital itself. Their government is falling apart and they have even turned to my people for materiel help."
There followed a pause as Jonas, John and Janssen considered all of this. There was an out-of-control situation on Langara, and it seemed they were being invited to head straight into it. The Langarans may have been a stubborn, paranoid people but they were allies of Earth, or had been in an on-again off-again kind of fashion.
"You're giving them aid, I suppose?" John asked.
"A little bit. Nothing too extreme. We're not equipping them with advanced weaponry, if that's what your concern is." Kav'rak sounded dismissive, for it was apparent that he really could not care less about the Langaran people. Rather, he and his superiors were much more interested in the resources the Langarans had to offer. This was what this assignment would be, and Jonas saw it as clearly as John and General Janssen did in that moment: they would assist the makalvari to aid a flailing ally, but it was more out of selfish wants than some charitable gesture.
"The question is, gentlemen, whether or not you want to assist my people in this mission," Kav'rak added. "I have been saddled with the task of attempting to secure my government's interests in Langara, yet I haven't ample resources to do so. Any help from your people would be much appreciated." He gave the three humans an inquisitive glance, almost playing it up. Jonas was not sure if he truly liked Kav'rak and had come to think of him as an opportunist with a hidden agenda. Then again, most politicians in Kelowna could be described in much the same way. Most politicians here on Earth were the same.
"I think SG-1 could be of some help here," Janssen suggested, and he looked to John. "What do you think, Colonel? The Langarans are our friends, in a way. And this plague, you can't deny how strange it is. Might be worth looking into."
"Just as long as we don't bring it back with us," John said.
"Indeed. Quarantine procedures will be in full effect. If you go on this one, you'll have to head for the Beta Site on return. Better risking it there than here at home."
It was apparent that John did not trust the whole thing, in particular he did not trust the makalvari. Nonetheless, this was something that had to be investigated, if only to determine the nature of the disease loose on Langara. John glanced at Jonas, and the latter wore a similarly wary expression. Too much of what they had been told seemed suspect, but naturally they would not know for sure what was really going on until they had investigated the situation themselves.
Kav'rak had his own agenda, no doubt, just as he had had during the mission to Dalabrai. At that time, he had sought to recover information pertaining to a powerful new weapon his people were developing. And again, it seemed that their reasons for being in contact with Langara to begin with stemmed from their need for naquadria. And Jonas knew better than most that naquadria was capable of creating some truly powerful weapons, and so much of the tensions between the superpowers back home on Langara stemmed from it. The Kelownans had discovered it and refined it, and until the Ori occupation they had held a monopoly on its use. The balance of power had since changed and their rivals had developed similar naquadria-based weapons, resulting in a Cold War that could turn hot at any moment. This plague would only heighten the chances of just that occurring.
It was settled, then. Regardless of doubts and the trustworthiness (or lack thereof) of Major Kav'rak, they would go to Langara as part of a diplomatic mission with the makalvari. Jonas' last homecoming had been a dour one, in which he had needed to help fight off a Goa'uld incursion. Now, it seemed he would be returning home to help rectify yet another crisis. Sometimes he doubted if his people would survive past the next twenty years at the rate they were going.
Kav'rak did not much like the food on offer in the cafeteria. He also did not much like the fact that there were several people in the cafeteria trying not to stare at him; and yet they continued to steal furtive glances at the unusual alien whilst doing a poor job of hiding their obvious curiosity. He felt like an exhibit in a zoo, and such places did exist on the home world. Come and see the exotic makalvari Major sit down and eat, or so it seemed here in the cafeteria. His head plume ruffled in a show of annoyance, and he found himself standing before a bench within which several choices of mass-produced human cuisine was available.
The makalvari had evolved to be scavengers on the home world, capable of digesting just about anything plant or animal. None of what he shovelled onto his plate was quite like what was common back home, and the smell of some of the cooked food was noxious at best. Cooking meat was so unusual to a makalvari, for if they did eat meat it was often delivered raw and at whatever temperature the surrounding room happened to be in. As such, Kav'rak bypassed the cooked meats on offer and stuck to a vegetarian meal, before he took himself and his tray to a spot far in the corner of the cafeteria.
He had some hours before they departed for Langara. He would have much preferred to leave right away, but the humans it seemed had nary a sense of urgency. General Janssen had told him that he needed to run it all by his superiors, and that clearance for the mission would come within the next four hours or so. And then, when that was received a proper mission plan would be drafted utilising whatever intelligence was available. That would take a few hours, until finally the team would gear up and depart through the stargate. That left Kav'rak with several hours of waiting around, and although the humans had been kind enough to provide him with his own room, he found he was in no real mood to relax. He had not had a drink since he had arrived on Earth, and that had been four hours ago. Alcohol was completely absent within Stargate Command, presumably a means to keep the personnel here from becoming unreliable.
He would be dry until he got to the embassy on Langara. All this did was leave him feeling high strung, and he found it difficult to sit still even with the food in front of him. He picked up a fork, poked at the salad on his tray and then nibbled carefully at a lettuce leaf. Unlike the common edible plants back home, this one was almost tasteless. So, not only could he not get himself a drink, he was also stuck with bland food. This place was cursed and its people irritating at best.
He had run into human cultures on other planets, all of which had been primitive and easily intimidated by his alien appearance. However, here on Earth it seemed these people were immune to such tactics and were more than capable of backing up any threats with actual firepower.
"You look unhappy." A voice sounded from his left. Kav'rak looked up, sighting the human, Daniel Jackson, standing by his table. He had a bowl of red jelly in one hand and a thick hardcover book tucked under his arm. Kav'rak felt like telling the man to go away, yet before he could do so Daniel went and sat down in the seat opposite him.
"Food not up to your royal standards?" Daniel asked him, eyebrows raised. He spoke in jest, although Kav'rak was hardly in the mood for jokes.
"What do you want, Doctor Jackson?" Kav'rak did not bother to hide his weariness from his voice. The last thing he needed was this curious scholar prying into his business.
"You looked like you needed some company."
"That may have been so, but I was hoping for makalvari company." Kav'rak put aside his fork and narrowed his yellow eyes. "Let me guess, intellectual curiosity has brought you to me?"
"I've read a few texts supplied by your representative here," Daniel said. He referred to Captain Sha'pek, who was one of the last people Kav'rak would expect to have an interest in books. It seemed the Captain was full of surprises. "Part of my job is to study alien cultures. Talking to an alien face-to-face is the best form of study. Gets me out of the dusty old books."
"What is that?" Kav'rak nodded for the bowl of red jelly.
"My sugar fix for the day," Daniel replied. He slid the bowl towards him. The shiny, transparent red blob in the bowl wobbled with the movement. Kav'rak might have thought the thing was alive, were it not for the fact that he knew humans did not generally eat their food while it was still alive.
"You want to try some?"
"No thanks," Kav'rak said. "I'll be glad when I'm off of this planet. I need some proper cuisine, not this flavourless muck."
"The Caesar salad here is usually pretty good…"
"That's because you humans have an unrefined and underdeveloped palate," Kav'rak interrupted. Daniel had to stop himself from smiling upon hearing this. It may have been meant as an insult, but he had trouble taking it as one.
"Captain Sha'pek has been pretty happy with the food."
"As I said, Doctor Jackson, unrefined." Kav'rak frowned at the archaeologist. "Did you come here to annoy me, by any chance? Was there some point to your visit?"
"I just want to be friends, Major. That's what we're supposed to be, our two peoples. We help each other out. Like on Dalabrai." Daniel added the last part with a somewhat more serious edge. A reminder of the trouble that had occurred during that joint mission, and the fact that nearly the entire team had been killed. Kav'rak had lost a leg on that mission, so he did not need to be reminded of the danger involved.
"My people are not very trusting of other races," Kav'rak stated. "Alliances are made through necessity, and not through some desire to help our fellow sentient species." He paused, briefly, before a thought occurred to him: "You're a historian, aren't you?"
"Partly. It goes hand-in-hand with archaeology."
"Of course it does." Kav'rak did not entirely understand what an 'archaeologist' was, but he did not want to sound like an idiot so he did not ask. It was a human thing, no doubt, and the word had no close analogue in the makalvari tongue. "Perhaps you know of the Great Betrayal?"
"I might have seen mention of it," Daniel said. He looked intrigued now, eyes lighting up behind his spectacles. "But I don't know the details."
"Every makalvari is taught about it," Kav'rak said. "About how, roughly nine-hundred years ago, our greatest ally launched a full-scale assault that obliterated our cities and industrial centres. A lesson, or so they said, a pre-emptive strike to keep us from becoming too closely equal in power to that ally." Kav'rak's voice filled with a bitterness as he remembered the stories he had been told and the ageing images of the destruction he had seen.
"Your ally did that?" Daniel seemed surprised. "Who were they?"
"Who do you think?"
The realisation struck Daniel then and the intrigued look he carried shifted into something dour.
"The Calsharans," he said, nodding his head slowly.
"An attack ordered by the son of Visala herself," Kav'rak added. This latest piece of information seemed to give Daniel pause, and uncertainty splayed itself upon his features. "As such, Doctor Jackson, we do not trust easily."
"Her son?" He asked him.
"You look disturbed, Doctor Jackson." Kav'rak frowned, yellow eyes narrowing. "Did you think differently of the Calsharans?"
Daniel did not reply. He seemed to be mulling over what he had been told, and after a moment he took up his spoon and stuck it into the blob of jelly inside his bowl.
"You'll need to tell me more about what happened," he said. The previous energy had seemingly left his voice. Kav'rak could not understand why the human scholar seemed so unnerved by what he had just been told. Regardless, it was not his problem, and he simply went to shovel more of his lettuce into his mouth when his communicator beeped. It was a small thing, attached to his collar, situated just on the inside and thereby tucked out of immediate view.
Daniel looked up when he heard the noise. Kav'rak rose from his chair, giving the human a curt nod.
"Excuse me, Doctor Jackson, but I'm getting a call." He strode away from the table and headed for the door. A glance at the device he wore at his wrist told him who was calling, and he was unsurprised to see that it was Sha'pek. Once he was out in the corridor and away from any prying ears, he hit the button to accept the call.
"Captain, what is it?" Kav'rak asked.
"There's a call coming in for you on the subspace transceiver," Sha'pek said. "I'll transfer it through to your personal communicator."
"Who is it from?" The subspace transceiver was located in Sha'pek's room, allowing for real-time communication across interstellar distances. At a glance, it was an innocuous grey disc, and it was this unremarkable appearance that had allowed Sha'pek to smuggle it into stargate command without it being confiscated. That way, he could communicate with the home world without needing to use the stargate to do so, thereby avoiding having the humans listen in on the conversation. Of course, he still relayed his regular reports in this manner, but the more sensitive matters were discussed through subspace communications.
"It's from a doctor Ver'tuk, sir."
"Go ahead and patch it through." Kav'rak started down the corridor again, and this time he pushed open a door marked 'Cleaning Supplies' and let himself in. He closed it behind him, finding himself in a small room with shelves at either side lined with cleaning products, the smell of chemicals thick in the air around him. A small light had switched on automatically upon sensing the motion of his entrance, casting the walk-in closet in a sterile white glow.
There was a pause on the line, followed by a few beeps as the transfer was made. Suddenly, and loud enough to make Kav'rak wince slightly, the gravelly voice of Ver'tuk came sounding through his personal communicator. The old man was angry, and he stuttered on the odd word as his rage overtook the grasp he had on his own vocal chords:
"Major, Major, are you there?" Before Kav'rak could reply, the scientist continued: "The damned Brigade Leader, that Tav'kar, he and some of his lackeys were here. They raided the lab!"
"They did?" Kav'rak sounded surprised, yet he was not truly as shocked as he portrayed. He had expected as much, and as someone who had been in the political game for most of his life, he had taken precautions to ensure all was not lost.
"Yes, they did, they bloody well did! Damn it Major, you were supposed to keep this quiet!" Ver'tuk did not sound to be in a reasonable mood. Anything Kav'rak might have said to calm him down was not likely to work.
"What did they do?" He suspected he already knew the answer to this.
"What do you think? They took everything. Anything that wasn't nailed down, they took. And even some of the things that were stuck to the floor, they took. The bomb, Major, the bloody bomb is gone!" His voice rose an octave, the thought of his life's work in the wrong hands one to strike a deep chord within him.
"Calm down, doctor. All is not lost." Kav'rak knew his words would sound hollow to the ageing scientist. Even so, he could not tell the man what he had planned, and that this latest upset had been expected. Tav'kar had been bound to move in and take control of the project, and although at a glance it was a serious setback, it was also something Kav'rak could turn to his advantage. After all, he needed proof that Tav'kar and his allies intended to put an end to the monarchy. Taking a prototype weapon for themselves would certainly add credence to those suspicions.
"That is my work, Major. I have poured years into this project. I do not intend to see it taken by some renegades…"
"Please, doctor, relax. They didn't arrest you, did they?"
Ver'tuk audibly paused, considering Kav'rak's words a moment before he continued:
"No, but they did threaten me. And given the secrecy of the project, there aren't too many people I can turn to for assistance. They have shut us down, Major. I cannot continue my work, and even if I were to do so on my own I would have difficulty. Most of my research materials were confiscated and backups only exist up to a point."
"That is why you must trust me, doctor." Kav'rak smiled then, even though Ver'tuk was unable to see it. "If things go as I planned, then Brigade Leader Tav'kar and his friends will only be helping our cause in the end."