Admiral Mohammed Hardel had a heap of paperwork to do, and yet he was pacing on his balcony. Hardel was in charge of Directorate defense forces, a relatively boring job for a man trained in space navel tactics, but a least this job was less disgusting then being a Captain in “Population Control” as Hardel had been 10 years ago. Population control essentially meant the extermination of small villages in over populated areas, or forced relocation, and sometimes conscription. It had not been a job he had enjoyed, but then Hardel had never gotten the jobs he would have hoped for.
He had graduated from the Directorate’s top military academy, but instead of being given a ship to captain, Hardel was given the rank of lieutenant and put in charge of a division of siege tanks, which never saw combat. He was promoted to captain, relocated to Population Control, then as the invasion of the colonel sector was about to begin, promoted admiral, and suggested as a third leader of the Directorate expeditionary force. Instead he was given the position as leader of Directorate defense forces.
As Hardel continued to pace, he gazed inward from the balcony. His wooden desk sat under a heap of paperwork, the whiteness matching the wallpaper. He heard a nock on his door. “Come in,” he said, and walked back into his office. The door opened, and Hardel greeted the young man who had walked in.
“Welcome Alek, what news do you bring?” Hardel smiled at the site of his good friend.
“There are reports of a half infested man coming to earth from Artigona Prime. The man claims to be… my father sir.” Aleksander Stukov gestured to a report he was holding. Ever sense Alek’s father’s reported death, Hardel had taken a fatherly approach to the boy, making sure he was well off. Hardel saw Alek as the son he never had.
“Alexei? If it’s true, that’s an amazing thing. You of course know of our defeat at Char, but your father’s death was reported a few months before hand. In DeGalle’s final transmission he claimed responsibility for it too, Lieutenant.”
“Yes sir, I’m aware of that, but if this is my father I’d like to be one of the first to see him. If you would sign this paper,” Alek looked up pleadingly.
“Well, you’re father loved you quite a bit, even convinced DeGalle to name their flagship after you. Yes, you may go. You of all people would be aware if it was truly your father or not. Here,” Hardel made a swift signature with his pen, and smiled.
“Thank you very much Admiral!”
“My pleasure. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have paper work to do.”
Hardel watched him walk away, down the hallway that lead to Hardel’s office, past two armed guards, and then out of site. Hardel smiled, and looked down at the paper work before him, and almost at once the feeling of boredom came back.
***
Dominion Battlecruiser TDSS “Emperor’s Pride,” in space dock on Korhal
Emperor Mengsk himself had appeared for the ship’s launch, the launch of the first of the next generation battlecruisers. History was to be made on this day, and a large crowd had come to see it. His chamber was as luxurious as possible, with silk curtains, and velvet pads on the throne. The walls were made out of marble, in order to preserve Mengsk’s idea of being a modern Caesar
The Emperor was sitting back in his chair, relaxing for the moment. Mengsk had always held his enemies in contempt, and now he had real reason to do so. The “Emperor’s Pride” was better fit than any cruiser seen before. It had over 30 laser batteries, duel yamato guns, a new more powerful reactor, and most important of all, shields. The shields were not as powerful as those found on Protoss ships, but still strong enough to deflect several missiles.
The shields had been a challenge, but Mengsk had ‘encouraged’ his scientist to get it done, and so they had. They were only a slight upgrade on the science vessels short-lived defense matrix, but enough of an improvement to make a big impression on his subjects.
Mengsk’s thoughts were interrupted by one of his attendants, and with annoyance the Emperor listened to what the man had to say.
“Your highness,” the man began, “The ship is ready to launch. Will you not be present to dub it with the name you so wisely selected?”
“Cut out the old English,” Mengsk spat back, “Take me to the ship.”
“Of course sir,” the man gave a distasteful glance toward the Emperor as soon as Mengsk’s back was turned.
“Funny,” He muttered, “That a man I once revered turned into such a disappointment.”
“Well are you taking me anywhere, or should have just stayed back on my throne?”
“Follow me sir.”
Mengsk followed the man to the space dock, where a man was waiting with a glass of champagne. Mengsk ignored the man’s compliments, and grabbed the bottle, bashing it against the ships hull.
“I dub thee “Emperor’s Pride!” He cried out to the crowds, “We will never need to worry about our borders protection again!”
The cheers were wild, and first one, then two and three of the spectators stood up and began in a cry of “Hail to the Emperor!” Soon the whole crowd had joined in. Mengsk smiled to himself. Like pawns they were, so easy to manipulate.
He steeped out of the dock. A near-bye officer gave the signal, and the airlock doors opened. The “Pride’s” engines turned on, and it was propelled slowly out of the airlock. Everywhere the people were cheering, hailing Mengsk’s name. Mengsk ignored them, as he had more important things to think about.
“How are the other three progressing?” He asked Edward McHenry, his Chief Engineer.
“The “Glory” is near done, we expect her to be out in about a month. The “Duke” and “Grace” should launch in another two,” McHenry replied, “All and all the next three “Emperor” class battlecruisers should be done before you can finish assembling the rest of your fleet.”
“Excellent. Remember McHenry, no delays, or else. Now where is General Dresner?”
“The General is onboard the “Pride” sir.”
“I’ll talk to him later then. Make sure those ships are on time”
“I will sir.”
With that Mengsk turned away, leaving McHenry to his work. The engineer turned away from his Emperor, hiding his sense of contempt.
You’ll see soon Emperor, he thought to himself, Don’t think that we will tolerate your oppression for long.
McHenry walked down a hallway, away from his post. He made several turns, finally leaving the stainless steal hallways, and entering a almost forgotten and rusted room. He was now in the original space station constructed by the confederates almost forty years earlier. The area was used for storage now, and hardly anyone even remembered the small docking station located inside the tiny room McHenry had entered.
The place was full of rust, and in fact, all but three decrepit wooden crates had been moved out. McHenry stepped into an alcove over the ladder down into the airlock. It had originally been a guard post, and had a window looking onto the airlock. He would know when his client arrived. He rested his head against a rusted bar, and leaned onto the wall. He checked his datapad. Everything was there. He closed his eyes and waited.
A few minutes later he awoke with a start at the sound of the rusted airlock doors opening. An unseen figure climbed up the ladder, and McHenry suspected he was checking to see if it was safe. The ghost decloaked and McHenry stepped forward.
“You have the information then?” the ghost asked, his cold voice sending a chill down McHenry’s spine.
“Yes, I have it,” He put forth the datapad, “Now show me my end of the bargain.”
The ghost stood there for a moment, and then razed his hand upward. There was a silenced shot, and McHenry gave a muffled scream before dropping dead, a look of surprise on his face. Two more ghost appeared, and one removed the silencer from his gun. The other stepped forward and took the datapad from the dead engineer’s fingers.
“That man was far too trusting,” said the first ghost, “We should see how many more Dominion officials we can get like that.”
“Yes sir,” replied one of the others, “ Now we have everything we need. The dominion will be in chaos by the time that the rest are ready.”
The leader motioned to McHenry’s dead body, “You two, cloak and drag him up to the hallway outside the engineering deck. Make sure he’s found. Leave the Umojan manufactured bullets on the floor a few feet away. We can move onto faze two then.”
The leader went back to the transport he had come in while the others performed the assigned task. No one else would no what happened, or what information was stolen. Everything was going as planned.
