Tewanta A 7 A - 3305-09-30 21:12, Galactic Standard Time
Captain Luciano entered orbital cruise around Tewanta A 7 A. He brought his Vulture around and began his descent to Cortes Base. His destination was ironic given the news he was delivering. His ship began its glide toward the surface installation. Out here the it was always pretty dark, but at this time the base was on the dark side of the moon. It was the smaller of the two installations that Official Tewanta Order controlled on this moon and housed medical and training facilities. In the distance he thought he could see faint lights. He activated the night vision overlay on his ship and the installation became a little clearer. There were no landing pads at this installation, no traffic control, and no exclusion zone. He brought his heavy fighter down to five hundred meters from the surface and wheeled it around over the installation looking for a place to land. The base was small, four small low cylindrical buildings, an entrance block, and a data access point, with three light turrets for defense. He brought the Vulture down between the data access point and one of the turrets. That was as close as he could get to the entrance block. He prepared himself for the walk in subzero temperatures to the entrance itself.
Captain Luciano turned on his flight suit heating just before opening the Vulture's outer airlock door, stepped outside, and climbed down the ladder to moon's surface. He bounded around his ship taking advantage of the moon's low gravity to make large leaping strides. Three minutes later he arrived at the door of the block house. He pressed a button on his wrist terminal to initiate preconfigured access negotiation via a short range radio transmitter. The door slid open and he stepped inside to an airlock chamber. The door closed behind him and the chamber pressurized. He turned off the suit heating, removed his helmet, and walked across to the biometrics terminal at the other side of the airlock, noting both the security cameras and the mini laser turrets mounted in the roof. He positioned himself before the iris scanner typed a seven digit access code and spoke.
"Captain Frederico Luciano reporting with dispatches for Field Surgeon O'Boyle and Commander Graves."
"Identity verified", intoned a computerized voice.
The door in front of him slid open and he was met by a young lieutenant and two heavily armed and armoured troopers. The lieutenant saluted smartly, which he returned.
"Welcome Captain. I am Lieutenant Kohira. I will be here to assist you during your stay. Field Surgeon O'Boyle wished to see you as soon as you arrived, however. Please follow me."
Captain Luciano quickly inspected the young officer as they walked. He was shorter than the Captain, but stockier. He was trim, alert, and moved with an easy grace. His expression was calm, serious, but not grave. There was capacity for humour there, visible in the faint lines around the eyes and mouth, but it was restrained. Much different from the thugs that The Order used to have securing Wilson Port. It reminded him of Lieutenant Ng, curse her treacherous hide.
The walked through plastic clad passages and descended three flights of stairs to the Field Surgeon's office. The office was smaller than he expected, with enough room for a desk, two chairs, and a bookshelf which covered the wall behind the desk. One shelf of the bookshelf held jars containing mummified human heads in formaldehyde, the rest held old fashioned medical textbooks. Surgeon O'Boyle stood and returned their salutes as they entered. Lieutenant Kohira turned and left as the medic sat down again.
"I know what you are here to tell me. Colonel Cortes has been exiled from The Order. We suspected as much when the handful of followers he had here attempted to desert their posts seven hours ago. The bodies are available for inspection in the morgue and a report into the incident is being compiled. I trust you have new communications keys for us?"
"You are correct on both counts.", said the captain with surprise, " The new communications keys are encrypted, requiring three of the five encryption key shards. I trust that there are three uncompromised command officers left?"
"All five of us are loyal. We'll be secure again within the hour. Cortes never had disciplined enough followers to gain influence here. Skill, knowledge, and competence are required at this installation, rather than politics. Without it we could not function. As medics we have to heal our soldiers. As trainers we have to teach skills to already very skilled pilots and commandos. Not a lot of room for bluffing in either situation."
"Good to hear", said Captain Luciano as he passed over the data chip.
"This could have been done by tightbeam comms. What is the real reason for your visit?", asked the medic.
"Colonel Bierski would like to know how Commander Graves is doing. The commander was one of the few that had identified The Buurian Protectorate threat. This impressed the colonel, as did the efforts to attempt hold off that threat, despite the failures. But most of all, the colonel was impressed that the commander recognized his own weakness and sought to resolve it before catastrophic losses to The Order occurred. It was Colonel Cortes' insistence on scapegoating the commander that brought this internal conflict to a head. So, how is the commander doing?"
"Well, he is, simultaneously, both the best and worst of patients. He is applying himself diligently to rehabilitation in all areas except for rest. He will have to stay off combat stims from now on, but in a few weeks he should be able to return to his duties. Without resorting to tranquilizer treatment again, we would have difficulty stopping him. He is doing tactical work ups the way civilians would do sudoku puzzles: just to keep mentally active. However, this is probably going to make his treatment less effective in the long run."
"Would it be possible to see him?"
"Of course. Keep the work talk to a minimum, though. He needs to rest and recover. The stress of work and current events will only hinder his long term recovery. His room is on ward two, two levels down."
Captain Luciano left and walked Commander Grave's room. When he arrived, he found the door open with the Commander standing beside a small table, with a large pointed brush in his hand drawing something on a sheet of paper that rested on the table. A narrow bed, a chair, a small bookcase with a handful of books, and two drawings done in black ink on white paper pined to the wall completed the furnishings in the room. Captain Luciano wasn't sure if they were some abstract sketch or a form of writing. Commander Graves was wearing combat fatigues and a plain grey t-shirt. He was leaner and better toned than the captain had ever seen him. However, his forearms were covered in small bruises, and as he turn to face the door, Captain Luciano could see that he had a black eye.
"Ah, Captain Luciano! Good to see you! Don't be alarmed about the black eye: it was due to a minor training accident. My hand-to-hand combat skills are a bit rusty. I tried a Venusian jiu jitsu technique on Lieutenant Kohira and unfortunately failed to remember that it was only properly effective in a free-fall environment. What can I do for you?"
"I came to see how you are and how your recovery is going.", captain Luciano said uncertainly.
"And?"
"The base surgeon strongly requested that I not bother you with work or analysis..."
"Surgeon O'Boyle has a comprehensive treatment program set out for me and I would agree with him that work similar to what I was doing during the height of my addiction would retard my recovery. He has me on medications, a good diet, lots of physical exercise, and has recommended that I take up calligraphy.", Graves said gesturing toward the paper on the table and the two sheets of paper pinned to the wall. "This is ancient Chinese, a language from Earth history. The practice of calligraphy is supposed to focus my mind on asthetics and fine motor control, to give my mind space to wander and break habits of obsessive analysis. Did you know, that the ancient chinese on Earth believed that the skill of a warrior with a sword could be determined by examining the warriors calligraphy? I have looked at my own, and a sample I requested from Lieutenant Kohira: it was most instructive before my last sparing session."
"What are you trying to tell me Commander?"
"What I am trying to say is, that asking me to not analyze things is like asking me not to breath. I can for a while, but the only sure way for me to stop is to be dead. So what can I help with?"
"Colonel Bierski wanted your opinion, if you were up to it, on the latest events, in particular regarding Colonel Cortes, and also your thoughts on The Buurian Protectorate."
"The two matters are related in a way. Official Tewanta Order is an organization dedicated to creating and ordered society, where everyone knows their place, their role, their duties, and fulfills those duties. This is what we believe in, for the betterment of mankind, to create an example society free of degeneracy and vice. However, The Order attracted some individuals who were more interested in riding on the coat tails of The Order to further their own aims: tyrants seeking power over others, brutes seeking to be cruel, cowards seeking to bask in glow of The Order's glory."
The captain thought bitterly of Jennifer
"The arrival of The Buurian Protectorate showed us the extent of these parasites. Colonel Cortes and his followers were the last of them. It was like a great storm which shook off the deadwood from the great tree of our organization. Our mistake in dealing with The Buurian Protectorate was by being to rigid in facing the storm. We were arrogant. We failed to see their strengths, the fact that they could marshal powerful allies. We failed to see our own weaknesses. We are stronger now, and the force of the storm is weakening. They are inherently weak, squandering resources on the lower orders of society, allowing friviolity and degeneracy, and failing to instill a sense of common duty and purpose into the citizens. When I came here first, the Buur Pit CMDRs were planning an expedition far from Tewanta. Has that taken place?"
"It has just started Commander."
"Good! The force of the storm is already weakening."
"Should we launch a counter attack?"
"No! They will have made allowances for that. Probably by training up a spec. ops wing. The explorer known as The Prime should have returned by now, and their web of futures based on his exploration data will have been fulfilled, so they will be well funded. Has intelligence picked up anything?"
"There have been reports of some heavily engineered Vipers being constructed and some training flights. Our spies have noted that some of the better pilots in the System Defence Force have been assigned to training exercises and new recruits drafted in."
"The Buurian Protectorate are wily opponents. They will still have access to their independent pilot allies and the new wing of Vipers we be available for direct engagements. My recommendation would be to perform hit and run attacks on multiple fronts. Our organization is smaller now, but the people we have are more committed, more flexible, and more skilled now."
A panel on the ceiling made a small beeping sound.
"Ah! If you will excuse me Captain, I need to attend a psychological evaluation. I hope I have been of some assistance. Official Tewanta Order will control Tewanta again. We just need to be patient!", commander Graves said with a chuckle.
Captain Luciano left the commander to go to his appointment, his head full of thoughts.