Location: Chiharu Starfortress
System: Veronica
ON
Konpeki looked at the message on her screen for the second time. Disbelief was her initial response, but after reading the attached information. Her disbelief became a low anger at the responsible parties.
She waited for Elisto to arrive, she sat at the desk in her quarters.
Elisto calmly approuched the quarters, he looked down at his uniform and straightened it out before giving a light knock on the door. "Tereane-hei here," he said in a calm tone.
Ah he is here at last. Good, the sooner I can brief him the better I will feel.. Konpeki looked away from the screen, and pressed the door control, as the door slid open she called out, "Come in Tereane-San."
Konpeki then activated a pair of devices she had sitting on the floor of the room. When Elisto would walk through the door there would be a slight change in air pressure.
Elisto stepped in, glancing partway toward the walls curiously before approuching Konpeki's desk. "You called for me ma'am," he asked in a calm, curious tone, hinting that he somewhat had a feeling what this was about.
Konpeki waved her hand over the control unit, and the door slid closed as the devices started humming, and a faint shimmer appeared along the walls. "Okay, it is safe for us to speak now. I am sure you are wondering and yes this has to do with the Directive 137.9 that we received earlier. Please have a seat." she said as she sat on the issued sofa.
He glanced over at the sofa and walked casually over to it, sitting down, but not really relaxing. "I'm hoping the directive being put into place has nothing to do with me getting a fellow pilot involved in analyzing the sensor data...." he said, a hint of worry in his tone.
Konpeki was watching Elisto carefully, evaluating his movements to determine how best to proceed. His initial comment almost made her laugh, instead she smiled warmly. "I can assure you the Directive had nothing to do with any analysis you were performing on mission sensor data, or the fact that you were working with a fellow soldier."
A small relieved sigh left him, but then he looked up and thought for a moment. "Then if I may ask, what happened? I know the directive can only be done when its a threat to SAINT."
"This is information is not to be shared with anyone outside of SAINT. It is regarding a betrayal of not only SAINT but ultimately the Empire as well."
Elisto stiffened, he was curious before, but hearing that there was a betrayal, meant that curiosity turned into a serious interest now, who would betray the Empire?
"This conspiracy was brought to the Director's attention by an ongoing investigation on the Nishitama. The Tachibana Clan who have a number of members in SAINT has gone rogue. They were developing a bioweapon of mass destruction. They intended to use it against the other races." she replied.
Elisto thought for a moment. "To ultimately what end though? Just the mention of a bioweapon reminds me of the great plague by PNUgen, and even though 'that' was created by a single corporation, there are still people who blame Yamatai. Creating another bioweapon would just instill more hatred toward us, so what's the ultimate goal?" he asked curiously, his mind trailing off a bit in thought.
"Apparently the Tachibana clan are Nekovaklyjra supremists. Their goal was to deploy these weapons to force the other races to join the NH species as either NH-22C's or NH-29's or die as a people. They saw this as a way to strengthen the Empire by outright mass murder."
He shook his head. "Sounds like history repeating itself, what do we do about this and what can we do about the clan?" Elisto asked and shifted his weight bit.
"Effective immediately, the Tachibana clan is declared rogue, any member of the clan is to be arrested on site. If they refuse use of deadly force is authorized but only if there is no other way to stop them. Their financial assets will be frozen if they are in any bank within the Empire, but most likely they will have anticipated this and liquidated such assets. We are to step up our vigilance, and when not actively employed otherwise, look for them. I am running a cross reference for the crew of the Heitan looking for anyone who has had any dealings with this clan. When I get a list, I will give part of it to you to contact and question."
Elisto brought his hand up to his chin for a moment in thought, then asked. "I'm doubtful any officers know what is going on, but I'm certain some may start asking questions when we start questioning some people, provided there are any..."
"Actually that will not be a problem. Tamahagane Mai-Chujo has been under the impression that some aspects of the Star Army and possible SAINT was compromised since she took office. Missions compromised, the enemy alerted to them, it spelled a pattern long before we learned of this problem. Its one of the tasks I have been working. Looking for anomalies, discrepancies in personnel. Even without this Clan, the NMX have been infiltrating installations and sabotaging by creating soldiers. So our investigation can be two fold."
"If there are supporters of the Tachibana Clan onboard, let's just hope we can find them before they decide to do us some harm," Elisto thought aloud for a moment, not realizing that he had actually spoken his thoughts.
"That's the general idea. Locate any sympathizers, route out the Tachibana, and neutralize their threat potential. We also have to be careful with the local squadrons. I have vetted most of the veterans of the 21st, and a few of the others. But new recruits are the greatest risk right now. Even Vas has been checked out, he may be a screw up, and a whiner, but he's no traitor."
"I wasn't going to say anything, but that's good to know," said Elisto a bit nervously, recalling how Vas had treated him when he first arrived.
"Do we have anyone in the 21st that 'might' be suspicious?"
"All the people who flew on the last mission are cleared, so its just any new transfers that we will need to take some time to vette. Take an opportunity to talk to some of them, get an impression of them. I'll initiate a background check on each, and get with you on those results. With the two of us working together we can get it done quickly."
Elisto nodded. "Aye, let me know if you find anyone suspicious that needs to be looked into further." And hope that this clan doesn't decide to cause us problems just to throw us off, but that's probably what I should expect....
Konpeki switched off the security systems, and handed Elisto a datapad. "Keep that with you at all times. Its been modified and has a special ecryption circuit. I will use it to contact regarding this matter. That's all for now."
"Aye Ma'am," said Elisto as he gave her a bow, then turned partway toward the door and left to take care of his other duties.
