Chapter19
Just another day
Ruby was nearly bouncing in excitement, no more doing hard labour in camp while the other teams went out and slew Grim. Today team RWBY will get to show everyone what being a Huntress was truly about. She was ready, Crescent Rose was more than ready. Stealthily she approached her teams tent, pulling her badge of authority from her pocket. She took a deep breath and prepared to…
"You blow that whistle and you will die." Olson grumbled from where she sat against the boiler
"What?" Ruby spluttered
"If not me, it will be between Royce and Walsh , assuming your team does not pitch in."
The bear faunus yawned deeply as she stood up from where she had taken position for her turn at watch duty
"Walsh is a sweety,she will not harm me." Ruby objected
"Just because she acts like a pug does not mean she can not get vicious, wake her at your own peril."
Said girl stumbled from their tent grumpily. She had dirty blonde hair with a button nose, her black ears pricking up as she looked at the two
"Right who has been gossiping about me." The pug faunus demanded
"Just warning little Rose not to kick the anthill." Olson replied
Walsh noted the whistle and actually growled
" Beckie may have just saved your life." Walsh said
"Do I need to start calling you Mione, my name is Rebecca." Olson stated
"Hermione is a noble name and it is a crime to abbreviate it. Beckie is a perfect abbreviation of a common name." Walsh replied snootily
"Whatever. I am going to take a nap before Moody gives out the assignments." Olson stated
"Then you are already too late. Miss Rose kindly wake the rest up." Moody spoke behind them
Ruby happily raised her whistle and blew hard.
Katya was waiting for them by the craft as they approached. To their surprise the cockpit was still covered by a tarpaulin. Katya kicked of from the fuselage.
"Is there a problem with the bullhead?" Blake asked
"First it is not a bullhead, two no one is flying anywhere till we have done safety and weapons training." Katya replied
Katya led them to the side where one of the repeaters had been set up on an ammunition case with one of the light machine guns next to it. Several targets had been strung on a wire set between two poles. Katya pointed to an ammunition case lying to the side well away from where the guns were situated.
"That contains the spare ammunition for the light machine gun, I want you to bring it over by yourself to the gun. Yang you go last." Katya stated
Blake shrugged and walked over to the case and tried to lift it. She got a few centimetres of the ground before she dropped the case. Weiss failed to lift it. Ruby anchored her heels and started pulling it, not trying to lift the case. Katya called her back and let Yang go. Yang managed to lift the case and carry it over. She dropped the case breathing heavily. Katya kicked the case and the lid popped open. The four looked at the piles of rocks in the case
"First rule check your ammunition before doing anything else." Katya chuckled
Katya whistled sharply and Yatsu came over a crate held easily under his arms. He dropped the case by Katya and walked away. Katya opened the case andshe pulled out a square box red lettering covering the top and sides
"The ammunition is stored in boxes like these. On box contains two belts containing two hundred and fifty rounds per belt. At full fire you can finish a belt under two minutes, so short bursts is the way to go normally. So how do we load this?" Katya lectured
It took close to an hour before Katya actually allowed them to fire the gun. She had them strip it down, reassemble it, load and unload it till she was satisfied all were competent with the weapon."
Due to the calibre size of Crescent Rose Ruby was the least affected by the recoil. Yang managed to keep from being pushed back by it while Blake and Weiss were pushed back by the recoil. Again not surprisingly was that Ruby was the only one to actually hit the slung target. Katya turned to the repeater
"Now if you thought the machine gun was bad, it has nothing on this bastard. Yatsu has problems firing this outside of its mounting. Now the principle behind using this is the same as the light machine gun. Here ear protection is a lot more important as is being properly braced when shooting. It has three firing modes. Single shot, burst fire and full cyclic. We only fire this one at full cyclic if it is connected to the ship as it goes through it power source very quickly."
All four quickly realised the truth of Katya's statement as they took a shot in single shot mode. Katya then had them unload the weapons and have them carry it and the ammunition crates to the craft. She showed them how to mount the guns before stepping out.
" Right next on the list. When next in town you will buy safety boots and coveralls while you are on here." She said firmly
"Is there something wrong with our current clothes?" Ruby asked
"In short yes." Katya replied
Katya pointed to their shoes.
"Right now only Ruby is wearing appropriate boots. If we have to land and walk back to camp, all three of you are at risk from broken ankles from those heels. It might work for you while in combat class or inside Vale. Here the ground is uneven and you can easily twist or fracture your ankles. Plus your shoes do not give any protection from heavy objects falling on your feet. You felt it yourself, the ammunition crates are heavy, you can easily drop one if I have to make a sudden turn. And in combat an injured team members is only a liability, those crates can easily fracture your feet Aura or no."
Katya moved on
"Your clothes are too loose, Ruby your cape is a particular liability. The wind can easily blow it over your head or even pull you out of position, not mentioning it getting caught should we have to bail out. We are not addressing you flashing everybody with your skirts as we fly. Next your clothes are not suited for flying as it is short and open, it gets very cold at altitude, Coveralls are ideal as it keeps you warm and covered. I am not saying you can't wear your combat outfits on the ground, coveralls will keep you warm and your clothes clean should you wear it over your clothes."
Next she pointed to the utility lockers
"In there you will find the emergency supplies. We carry two medical kits, rations for two days and two spare guns and ammunition and a few survival tools, there are also three fire extinguishers. One thing we do not carry is a life raft so I hope everyone can swim and swim well."
"I can't swim." Weiss lifted a hand
"Okay something to fix then and quickly. You will notice that every seat has securing straps. While in the air you will wear it, or a leash and belt if you are on door gun duty. You can easily fall out if we have to perform rapid movements and landing strategy or no crashing after falling will either kill you or cripple you, so best avoid it."
Katya lifted a headpiece
"You will wear this on flights. It is for internal communications. You will be addressed by the position you hold. Front guns are front, door gunners are left gun right gun and rear is obviously rear, The pilot is addressed as pilot. This is purely to make life easier for the pilot to give orders as you will not always be together for the flights. You see anything you tell the pilot first before you do anything, no one will fire a weapon without the pilots permission. Are we clear on that?"
The four nodded, slightly unnerved by the seriousness the usual happy go lucky catgirl was displaying. Katya pointed to the inside.
"Now I want you to practice with the restraints and set it to fit you. To make sure your in correctly I should not be able to get in more than one finger between the straps and yourself. Oh and one last thing, no loose hair. No braids, we will get you hard hats till we can get motorcycle helmets or Atlas trooper helmets. You will wear the head covers or I will shave you bald."
It was mid morning before they actually lifted off for their patrol. As one of the light machine gun had been allocated to the scout, Ruby and Crescent Rose found themselves allocated to the right side door, with Yang and Blake allocated to front and rear and Weiss awkwardly holding on to the light machine gun
As they lifted off Ruby blushed at the sight of the remaining eleven digging holes and filling bags. All of them shirtless and dressed in shorts. Hearing a slight gasp she realised Weiss was just as scandalised as she was. Ruby was happy that Yang could not see what she was looking at as the innuendo and puns would have been endless. Looking around quickly to make sure she was unobserved, she quickly shouldered Crescent Rose and used the scope. Just to check that the scope was calibrated of course, not for filthy reasons. Nope no filthy reasons.
An hour into the flight she was happy that Katya had insisted on them all wearing goggles and cloths to cover their faces or she would not have needed to have lunch as the amount of bugs she would have swallowed would have accounted for two meals. Weiss would need to go and wash her clothing as blood spatters covered most of the pristine white clothing. Courtesy of a bird that had been struck on the side of the craft, it had smeared the clothing before the body had gotten into Yang's hair , causing a minor freak out.
Ruby looked down at the passing surface and she stiffened as she saw a shape
"Pilot, Right Gunner. I have movement on the ground." She reported
"Right Gunner, Pilot. What do you have?" Katya replied
"Looks like an Ursa Major, there could be more in the tree line." Ruby answered
Katya banked and the craft twisted as she turned. Ruby grabbed onto a strut by the door the deck tilted. She looked at the Ursa and tried to peer into the tree line but only saw shadows
"Right Gunner, can you confirm more Grim?" Katya asked
"No, Pilot."
"Right Gunner, you are cleared to fire."
Ruby fired and to her horror she missed, the shot kicking up dust well to the rear of the Ursa. Her comlink crackled
"Rubes, aim for the chest of the Ursa or shoulder joint. Believe me it took a while for me to learn that trick. By the way, we are on a private channel, the others can't hear us." Katya spoke
Ruby realigned and fired. The Ursa dropped from a headshot
"Good shot, Right Gunner, Target down. Fire a few shots into the tree line to spook any hiding Grim." Katya said over the general channel.
"Pilot, Left Gunner. I have visual on a Gryphon."
"Stand by I turning around. Left Gunner, burst fire in the tree line. Right Gunner bag a bird." Katya replied
The Gryphon dropped as Ruby had an easier shot this time. The falling Gryphon triggered a murder of Nevermores to rise up. Weis's fire also drove a pack of Beowulfs and a few Ursa's from cover. Katya spun to face the approaching Nevermores.
"Front Gunner, engage. Rear Gunner engage ground targets." Katya ordered
Both fired the repeaters in burst mode. From the way both Yang and Blake twisted their heads had Ruby suspecting they had been given private messages as well.
Katya landed in the school yard and barely had the engines shut down before her crew abandoned ship in a desperate rush to find the bathrooms. She waved to the children as they had all rushed to the windows as clearly there was something more important than lessons to attend to. She climbed onto the cockpit and looked to the covers of the intake tubes, a red bio hazard bag held in gloved hands. She started pulling the birds free and dropping them into the bag. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the principal was approaching. She pulled a few more birds off before dropping to the ground.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I was having some problems with the engines." She lied smoothly holding up the bag.
The woman stopped in her tracks. Katya took advantage of the womans confusion
"Just need a few more minutes to clear the intakes and police some cartridges then we will be off again."
The school groundsman took the red bag and headed to a door marked incinerator. Katya waited for her crew to return giving covetous glances to the tavern where several patrons had decided to come out and watch what the excitement at the school was, many bringing their food and drinks out.
Four very stiff Huntresses stepped from the craft as they landed at camp, not that the road patrol moved any easier as they had been stuck in a confined space too. All of them looked at the pole that had been set up on the edge of the camps, two sandbag nests had been set up at the base of the hillock leading to blue teams encampment. Yang pointed to the pole
"What is that for?" She asked
"Scratching Post." Katya replied of handedly
Yang started snickering at Blake's expression. Privately Yang thought the Ichuru's deliberately tried to wind Blake up by acting out cat stereotypes, though a three metre scratching post topped all the previous attempts.
"Excuse me?" Blake replied
"A scratching post, a way to leave messages or a record for others to find." Katya stated
The girl led the way forward till they were right against the pole. They could now see that the pole had been carved into. Several letters from the language they used was carved into it, then in regular writing the teams initials. Above the teams names two circles with a monster figure and an elephant shape were carved
"This is blue teams side. We already have two packs and a Goliath to our tally. Should one of the tribes see this post they will now know who was here before and what grim we dealt with."
Walking around to the other side they saw their names and a blank space above it
"Now you can carve in your own kills. Ground packs are a figure in a circle. Arial packs a bird in a circle. Special kills like a Goliath gets drawn separately." Katya explained
Hina was leaning against the pole by the shower area. She nodded to the pole where BROW and RWBY were now carving into the pole
"So they actually believed that Cantina tale?" She remarked
"They sure did, though I am sure Nora and Yang are suspecting the truth." Katya said, heading for the kiddies pool stripping down as she went
"Those two are hard to catch out, Yara did get Velvet this morning." Hina said
"How?" Katya asked, sighing as she sat down in the lukewarm water
"She had her looking through all the tools for a left handed wire stripper. She actually unpacked all three toolkits."
"We are bad, bad kitties." Katya chuckled
She jumped from the pool with a yowl as it suddenly got ice cold, an ice dust shard dissolving in it. She heard the click of a camera shutter and Velvet stepped into view. Velvet held up her camera
"One more prank and I upload this to Beacon." Velvet threatened
Katya shrugged and walked out from the bathing area. Hina chuckled
"Next time try for something that might actually embarrass her. A little nudity is nothing to us. Though nice try." Hina remarked
"You go Girl!" Velvet heard Coco cry out and wolf whistle
Hina walked away, she paused after a few steps and looked over her shoulder
"You do know she is going to get revenge for your attempt. And she will get you in the way you tried to get her when you least expect it." Hina said.
Velvet was still standing there as a mud covered Pyrrha brushed past heading for the shower, Hina's words running through her mind. She suppressed the urge to whimper as worst case scenarios flashed before her eyes. She was so sure she had the perfect payback and blackmail material
Cameron looked up from the book she was reading when she heard scratching at the tent entrance. She put a bookmark and sat up
"Need something, Ruby?" She asked
"Can you teach me how to drive a car?" Ruby replied shyly
"Can Yang not teach you?" Cameron asked
"No she only knows bikes and automatics, and the scout is stick shift." Ruby said softly, wringing her hands.
Cameron put her book down.
"Okay. See you at the scout. Is there anyone else who needs to learn?"
"Weiss, but she is getting another lesson now. Yatsu and Rebecca is teaching her how to swim."
"Not much need for that in Atlas I assume." Cameron remarked
"Too cold from what Weiss is saying."
Cameron walked outside and found Ruby standing by the scout.
"Where are the motorcycles?" She asked
"Yang, Blake and Professor Moody is doing a patrol, oh and Yara as well."
Cameron motioned for Ruby to come over.
"Right before we even think of driving a vehicle we start with the basics. As you approach your vehicle you start with a safety check. Check to see if you see any oil on the ground, check that the tyres are inflated…"
Peter Port cleared his throat to speak up. They were doing their now usual afternoon reportback on the activities of deployed students. As usual the other three headmasters were present electronically
"You have something Peter?" Ozpin asked
"I do. I believe we will need to reinforce the Serenity forest team as well as do a deep search and destroy mission." Peter stated
" We can not expend more resources." Lionheart argued
"I agree." Ironwood stated
"Can you explain your reasoning?" Theodore asked
Peter nodded to the Shade Headmaster
"Certianly. The combined teams have been there for three days, in those three days they have been in combat five times. Prior to this the Rangers reported a few random encounters in that area with low numbers of beowulfs, boarbatusks and very rarely an ursa. Up to now they have taken out five packs and more worryingly Gryphons, Nevermore and a Goliath. Grim that have never been reported in that region. So not only have we a sharp increase in Grim density we have an expansion of types."
Peter took a long swallow from his glass of water
"I fear we might be looking at a nest or several nests. We are probably seeing more activity due to the tension if the factories and settlement. Yes they are not close to Magnus, but they are under pressure from the Council to double their production to make up for the shortfalls from Magnus." Peter explained
"That does sound plausible but why expend more resources?" Glynda asked
"Right now Serenity forest is producing a third of the timber for Vale and half of what is going to Magnus, same with bricks and cement. We can not afford to have that supply endangered." Oobleck jumped in
"Bart is right, we can not afford to lose a major producer. If there is a nest or nests, the five teams there will not be able to defend the town and industries. And an attack is likely once negative sentiment increases once the herds reach Magnus, that same negative sentiment that we are seeing already in the farm regions being a lot closer to Magnus."
Ozpin nodded his head
"I agree with Peter, better to deal with it before it becomes a problem when we can not afford it. I assume you will want to lead this expedition?"
"I will, I can take half of the hunters assigned as security with me. I believe we can pull back three fifth year teams from the western farm regions since there has been no significant Grim encounters for search and destroy. I also suggest we take half of the security allocation from here to reinforce Serenity settlement. They may not be cleared for full duty but they can certainly reinforce and train the settlement militia." Peter replied
"I can go with Peter and help Anastasia with her teams." Colt offered
Ozpin turned to the other headmasters
"Do you have any spare teams?" He asked
" I can give you team NDGO, a first year team. I believe they are wasted on dock patrols." Theodore said
"I can give you team CLAP, also a first year team" Ironwood said reluctantly
"I am still a team short. Team CMEN has yet to report back in." Lionheart shook his head
"What is going on with that team?" Colt asked
"A member of their team has gone missing in Vale. They are searching for her themselves. I have tried to recall the remaining three but they are refusing to give up their search as they believe the police are dragging their feet. They are quite protective of the girl, as Mint is one of our few special needs Huntresses. The poor girl is mute. Of course with turmoil in your underworld their progression is slow" Lionheart said shrugging
Ozpin noted that Colt had stiffened on hearing Lionheart's explanation and the neutral expression the man took in. He saw Colt typing away on his lapscroll under cover of the table, his action masked by the others seated at the table and the table itself. He coughed to draw the attention to him.
"Very well, Peter you may proceed. Remington I will see you after the meeting to hear who you want to act in your stead, Pull the teams back and prepare to fly out as soon as possible. Next on the agenda."
"The Wall is fully staffed and secure, the Council is saying that the Grim shelters are ready for occupation." Peach reported
Half an hour later Ozpin dismissed the meeting and he and Glynda sat down. Remington walked to the momitors and unplugged both the power cables and the CCT connectors. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at Colts actions
"Neither Ironwood nor Lionheart are playing open cards with us." Remington said
"That is quite a statement." Glynda remarked
"Does not make it false though" Remington replied
He put his lapscroll on the table
"I got suspicious when Lionheart mentioned something that is a close kept secret. At this point only the police and a few select councillors know this. I was informed on the down low by a contact in vice. The gangs are at war, the Spiders and other non Vale gangs are being pushed out or eradicated by the Vale families. So far it has been kept from the media and the gangs had been doing this covertly. So how does Lionheart know? Two why was it not reported to us that a foreign student had disappeared? So I started looking using my special access to the VPD database. And guess what no missing persons report had been made for a Mint Noire. However I did find this" Colt stated
He linked up his lapscroll wirelessly to the one screen he had not disabled. A face appeared on it, the picture clearly taken in a morgue
"Trivia Vanille also known as Neo or Neopolitan, also know as the Silent blade. A known associate of Roman Torchwick, was found dead along with Torchwick a few days ago. She was called the Silent Blade as she was reportedly mute."
He manipulated the screen and a Haven student id appeared, this time of a black haired girl. He placed the two next to each other and stared running a facial match program. Moments later a message appeared superimposed on the photos. Ninety five percent match
"I give you Mint Noire, student of Haven Academy. The girl is not missing she is dead. Next is another member of team CMEN, Mercury Black"
The image shifted to a grey haired male
"According to the file from Haven no criminal record, model student. His police docket has him listed as implicated in several murders for hire, know associate of Marcus Black, his father. The same for Emerald Sustrai, clean record from Haven, police record for vagrancy, petty theft, pickpocketing and a charge of solicitation."
Finally a picture appeared for the last member
"Cinder Fall, and apart from the Haven file she has no electronic footprint, anywhere. The file for the team was logged by Lionheart himself. I know age is a sore point for many women, but trying to pretend to be a fourth year? She is closer to thirty at a guess."Colt concluded
Ozpin pulled out his scroll
"Qrow come to my office immediately." He said
Glynda looked at the screen
"How did we miss this?" She asked
"We trusted that the other schools did their work right. One student with a false file is possible as an oversight. An entire team, no."
"Moving on the Atlas team."
Four new pictures appeared
"Team CLAP. Ciell Solleil, Leonard Marks, Anne Greystoke, Penny Polendina. Solleil is clean as is Polendina, both Greystoke and Marks have a record, drunk and disorderly. Taken from Vale Police custody by Atlas Millitary police three years ago. Yet here they are as a first year team, again the file was personally logged by the headmaster in this case Ironwood."
Ozpin tapped his fingers on the desk
"I am sorry but I can not let you go to Serenity Forest. I will get Peach to take your place. I need you and your staff to go through each and every file for all the students and teachers, ours included." Ozpin ordered
"There is going to be five immediate anomalies. Rose, Arc and the Ichuru's " Remington replied
"I think we can safely rule them out for now, but keep an eye on it anyway. Leave team CLAP to me, I will confront Ironwood about it myself. Do we know why Torchwick and Vanille were killed?" Ozpin stated
"Torchwick crashed the bullhead he was escaping in from the dock fiasco into the car of the granddaughter of one of the big family heads. That got him marked for death, not that he was not already heading for a pair of cement shoes with all the dust robberies he was pulling. From what I have heard he was warned of by the families to cease and desist, then he escalated by using the White Fang." Colt replied
Colt shrugged
"I think the families will be cleaning house once they get the foreign gangs out and that may include dealing with the Fang and those who deal with them. It might be best to alter our weekend policy for the students till the dust settles."
"It will not be popular but I agree it would be best." Glynda replied
"They are already a party spot down. The Club has been closed down, Junior and the Malachites had been evicted from Vale." Colt added
"Thank you Remington." Ozpin dismissed his security head
Ozpin and Goodwitch went up to his office, both silent. Stepping into the office they Found Qrow leaning against a windowsill, the open window showing how he entered. Both noticed something different in regards to the man, for one he appeared to be fully sober for a change and his clothes were actually in a clean state. Ozpin waved them to chairs before he accessed his system and send a message. Moments later Ironwoods form appeared on the screen
"Ozpin, Glynda, Qrow." Ironwood acknowledged them
"Haven has been compromised, Lionheart has turned traitor." Ozpin said without preamble
"How certain are you of this?" Ironwood demanded
"As certain as I can be without having extracted a confession from the man himself." Ozpin replied
"I am assuming this is not just about the large number of Hunters going missing in Mistral is it?" Ironwood stated
"That also bring up a point. What is the truth in regards to team CLAP?"
"I am afraid I can not divulge that information over an electronic medium. It will have to be face to face. May I ask what brought this about." Ironwood said firmly
" Head of security Colt caught on to irregularities on that team and brought it to my attention. He caught onto it when he took a closer look at the Haven team that is currently unaccounted for" Ozpin replied
"Those being?"
"That two of your team is active service personell in the Atlas Armed forces."
Ozpin hid his smile as Ironwood was momentarily shocked by the information
"You believe there is more to this Haven team than them merely being missing?" Ironwood asked
"I believe they belong to Her. We have a very narrow window of opportunity here as I am sure they do not know they have been compromised as yet."
"I can have both Winter and the Ace Ops in Vale within a day if needed." Ironwood offered
"Dispatch them, I believe we will need our most experienced fighters to bring them in and we need them alive. One of the woman may be the one who has half of Ambers power."
Ironwood paused
"Do you think the herd migration is part of a new strategy. Does she want us distracted while her agents are active in Vale?" He asked
"It could very well be, it also possible that she wants to weaken as in the process as well. That would also mean that Peter may be closer to the truth than he realised. The build up near a major resource area is not accidental or coincidental." Ozpin mused
"The SDC have reported an increase in Grim incidents at the mines." Ironwood added
"Are we sure it is not because of them brutalising the faunus workers more than usual." Qrow interrupted
"That can also be a contributing factor. Though when you stop looking at them as isolated incidents a picture starts to emerge." Ozpin said
Ozpin had moved from his desk to a chess table close by and had been shifting pieces on it as he thought. He looked up from the table
"I do believe we are seeing a major thrust by Her. I also believe we are in a good position to thwart her attempt at this time."
"What do we do in regards to Lionheart?" Qrow asked
"We keep him alive for now and keep the staus quo. He will get suspicious if we start cutting his access to information especially with this mass deployement. However we keep him away from sensitive information." Ozpin decided
"Like what?" Glynda asked
"She most likely already has our troop numbers thanks to him. What she will not have is we managed to build several new weapons that have never been deployed before."
"The stuff that Wilkes wanted to get build." Qrow realised
"Yes, we refitted four of the ships with the new weapons both the short and long range versions, we also derived a version for ground assault. The walls of Magnus will be fitted with them. Also thanks to the Serenity Team we are looking into a new way in dealing with Goliaths, knowing of a previously unknown weakspot is to our advantage. Also we are arming several bullheads." Ironwood responded
The Executor, En Route Arkaxis system
Being a dark lord or the right hand of one was not all about inspiring fear, crushing rebellions before they began and ruling over all with fists of durasteel. Sure it was some of that, but it also meant dealing with the true evil of the galaxy. Administration
You wanted your own terror inspiring battleship. Be prepared to gave to read for hours through multiple reports that you as Master and Commander had to deal with. Your own regiment of fanatical troopers, hours of reading and approving ammunition purchase, equipment requisitions, injury and casualty reports. And in rare cases something will come barrelling at you like an off course meteorite
Vader looked up from the report he was reading and onto the trembling supply officer standing before him at full attention
"You are sure your findings are correct?" Vader asked
"I triple checked my facts Lord Vader." The young woman said through a very dry mouth
"And why bring this to my attention instead of your superiors?"
"I told my direct superior and he told me to stop wasting time and attend to my work. I went to his superior who told me to refer it back to my superior, as did the senior supply officer." She said
Vader read through the report again, more meticulously than the first reading. He felt his anger rising. The facts were conclusive, his troopers are being fed substandard food and if the reports are correct in some cases toxic in the long run as well. The young woman had tracked the shipments as far as she could with her level of access, the reports from the medical droids who had analysed the samples could not be denied.
"What brought this to your attention?" Vader asked
"I was doing inventory in the troops supply room and had missed lunch, I joined them in their canteen to grab a meal before continuing and frankly what they were being given…" She shuddered
"I see, and why pursue this despite being told not to?"
"Sir, we all serve the Empire and I do not think it right that a section of our forces should be treated like this. Also my brother is serving in an ATAT division and I sincerely hoped the problem does not affect him too, though as far as I can find all ground troops food supple is sourced from there."
Vader pressed a button on a console and a figure appeared in holograph form.
"Agent Mathers, present yourself to my office." Vader stated
Vader disconnected the call and looked to the corner of the room and his aide stepped from the shadowed alcove, his datapad in hand ready to record the orders that were sure to follow
"Reassign second Lieutenant Rivers to my office effective immediately, contact Yularen and have him investigate this matter from Imperial Central starting with central supply, also contact the Inquisitor and have them assign a duo to the ISB officers Yularen assigns to this investigation"
Vader looked down at the report he had been given.
"Have captain Moore and Commander Barris escorted here by a squad of troopers immediately."
"At your orders." The aide replied
" What is the current location of Wren?"
"She is using the officers briefing room right now. I believe she is preparing to deliver a pre deployment briefing."
Vader stood up from the desk and moved to the door.
"Follow me lieutenant."
The woman scampered behind him as he walked into the main passageway and down it to the briefing room. A squad of stormtroopers were lined up against the wall. The ISB agents, the junior officer in charge of the trooper squad and Dallors had been seated as well as ten officers whose uniform insignia indicated they were from the executors pay office, all whom jumped up as Vader entered. Vader barely acknowledged the salutes, giving his attention to Keira
"This is second lieutenant Rivers she is now attached to your initiative." He said
Keira motioned the woman to a chair and activated the holograph unit. Vader made his way to the end of the table and sat down. Keir shrugged and turned her attention to the holomap displayed
"The Arkaxis system is our next destination. The target has been to the planet frequently and his crew is listed as residents of the system. However I do not expect us to find the targets there. This will be an attempt to narrow down possible locations. We will use a two pronged approach."
She narrowed in one planet
"Arkaxis five. Currently the largest Yuki colony. The crew is members of a prominent clan in the colony. I will lead the team to interview the elder of that clan, the second approach will be taken care of by agent Kallus. I will address his mission first."
The map shifted to another planet
"Arkaxis six was the site of a mixed Mandalorian and Galactocorp mining operation. More importantly it was the site of the Arkaxia orbital ship yards. The target flies an Arkaxia three thousand."
Keira moved the view back to Arkaxis five
"Arkaxia craft can only use parts and components that had been made by Arxaxia orbital, that is unless you want to spend close to thirty thousand credits to have the engines replaced by a custom build, and even then you are dependant on components from the ship yards. As to how this is relevant is that all parts and ship sold are registered by their corporate headoffice on Arkaxis . If the target bought any new parts or systems it will be recorded there as will any shipping addresses used. That is what our helpers from the pay office will be attending to, they are the best at finding small details in large amounts of financial and logistical detail. Kallus will be interviewing the parts and ship dealers."
Keira turned to face her audience fully
"My part will be in interviewing the elder and there is a possibility it may escalate to a meeting with the Choir. To prevent another Rendill incident I will explain as best I can what to expect down there. The meeting is taking place in a site known as the Catacombs, this is where all of the colonists that died on planet had been interred, to call it place of cultural importance would be a severe understatement. It would be required that some cermonial rituals will have to be adhered to…"
