Dad looked nervous. He read and reread the orders carried aboard Novus Ordo Siderum by Orion and glanced again over to me, as Orion fiddled with the monitors. His eyes tightened and his breathe caught in his throat as we entered hyperspace, on our way to HR 32. Cadence didn't so much as bat an eye at the thought of heading back into Cubeo, even if it meant cutting short her hauling, and immediately gave Captain Green the order to plot a course to the nearest system.
Orion made his way into the briefing room, after making his courtesy greetings to my potatoes- who remained completely silent. Cadence and I were seated and dad stood at the door with Captain Green, who was immediately excused and made her way to the viewing deck. The briefing was short and relatively innocuous: general information on the state of the major galactic powers, a short discussion of the Kumo crew as a potential model for future command-structure, trade notes, etc.
"Lastly, we've received word that a potential asset is currently being held in a reform center. The cargo is relatively unimportant but we'd prefer that, at the very least, it not make it into other hands. We've been assured the information would be meaningless to the asset's captors without the cypher, but we'd prefer to secure the cargo all the same."
Cadence looked at me. I think she was trying to suss out whether this was a serial sequestration, but I hadn't the information to cough up, so I did little than look right back at her. She took the news far better than I'd have imagined and, as we sat aboard Novus Ordo Siderumawaiting our jump, Cadence boarded Ovid and elected to make her own way into the system. She mumbled something about how the organization's public image would stay clean if she'd come on her own, rather than with its flagship, which didn't make any sense to me, nor to Orion. Dad headed to the bridge to speak with Captain Green, promising to return in time to monitor Cadence's operation.
When she completed her mission, dad breathed a sigh of relief, before looking toward me and Orion, who sat chuckling at the monitor.
"So are we going to tell her at any point that this was little more than a trust-test?"
Orion looked at dad and smiled.
"It wasn't just a trust-test."
I tilted my head, tucking my chin into my right shoulder while holding in a laugh.
"We had an asset that we needed to extract and, with everything else going on we thought she might be appropriate to the task."
Dad turned his head to the side, wrinkling his eyebrows and curling his lips into a confused half-smile. He looked from corner to corner of the room before exiting her quarters. I looked at Orion, opening my invisible box with a laugh.
"How would she have been the appropriate operator for this? You just ordered her to provide offensive support for a prison break in her home system, which happens to have as its political leader a woman she's weirdly beholden to, less than 3 month after we found ourselves mired in The Emperor's abduction and captivity."
Orion stopped laughing, and looked around.
"How is she not appropriate for this? What if I told you that the asset happened to be a former Imperial slave that may have happened to have known Cadence and her father from their time under contract?"
He opened his invisible box and raised his eyebrows, smiling at me. I turned my head to the left, squinting my eyes as my gaze remained steady into his.
"Is that what you're telling me?"
"No. No it isn't," the tension in the room quickly dissipated, "I'm not telling you anything about the asset. It was a Prismatic Imperium controlled facility and we wanted to see whether she would have any objection to conducting an operation against what she might have seen as a potential ally in her loyalty to Princess Aisling."
I slowly began to squint as he spoke. She's never expressed any particular trust regarding the Prismatic Imperium as a political group. I wouldn't have gone so far as to argue that we'd ever had any reason to cultivate such trust- nor exercised any real care with gaining it- but it still seemed strange to target a facility controlled by one of the more powerful of political groups in Imperial society, specifically one with which we'd had a relatively shaky relationship to begin with. The orders were funny to me when I'd first heard Orion deliver the command, but as he explained the reasons it grew increasingly confusing.
"So we targeted a facility controlled by one of the larger Imperial political factions, one with an extremely powerful propaganda apparatus, sending in Cadence because you wanted to test where her loyalties lay?"
Orion smiled and nodded, opening his invisible box and shaking his hands at me. Dad returned shortly afterward and, as I continued trying to figure out what the possible benefits to the organization could have been for such an order to have been passed down, he and Orion discussed the operational guidelines pertaining to Cadence's activities. Technically, there were no organizational guidelines barring Cadence's activities. As the announcement of Cadence's arrival blared through the ship's speaker system we sat quietly, dad growing increasingly upset as he looked around the room and Orion as mutely peaceful as always.
She entered and gave us all a nod. Orion began quickly, before she could exit the room in order to take her debriefing in her quarters. He congratulated her on her work and provided what I realized was a completely fabricated fiction about the overall strategic aims of the plan. It amazed me to hear what he had come up with to conceal the relatively petty goal of the operation, which really was little more than finding out whether her loyalty to Princess Aisling would dampen her willingness to conduct counter-Imperial operations should the need arise. Cadence then asked if she could take the remainder of the week off in order to complete her hauling run and Orion laughed,
"No, you may not, Cadence. Your follow-up orders are to report to Medupe to turn yourself in. We intend to maintain a strong business relationship with Her Empire.
inara.cz
Orion made his way into the briefing room, after making his courtesy greetings to my potatoes- who remained completely silent. Cadence and I were seated and dad stood at the door with Captain Green, who was immediately excused and made her way to the viewing deck. The briefing was short and relatively innocuous: general information on the state of the major galactic powers, a short discussion of the Kumo crew as a potential model for future command-structure, trade notes, etc.
"Lastly, we've received word that a potential asset is currently being held in a reform center. The cargo is relatively unimportant but we'd prefer that, at the very least, it not make it into other hands. We've been assured the information would be meaningless to the asset's captors without the cypher, but we'd prefer to secure the cargo all the same."
Cadence looked at me. I think she was trying to suss out whether this was a serial sequestration, but I hadn't the information to cough up, so I did little than look right back at her. She took the news far better than I'd have imagined and, as we sat aboard Novus Ordo Siderumawaiting our jump, Cadence boarded Ovid and elected to make her own way into the system. She mumbled something about how the organization's public image would stay clean if she'd come on her own, rather than with its flagship, which didn't make any sense to me, nor to Orion. Dad headed to the bridge to speak with Captain Green, promising to return in time to monitor Cadence's operation.
When she completed her mission, dad breathed a sigh of relief, before looking toward me and Orion, who sat chuckling at the monitor.
"So are we going to tell her at any point that this was little more than a trust-test?"
Orion looked at dad and smiled.
"It wasn't just a trust-test."
I tilted my head, tucking my chin into my right shoulder while holding in a laugh.
"We had an asset that we needed to extract and, with everything else going on we thought she might be appropriate to the task."
Dad turned his head to the side, wrinkling his eyebrows and curling his lips into a confused half-smile. He looked from corner to corner of the room before exiting her quarters. I looked at Orion, opening my invisible box with a laugh.
"How would she have been the appropriate operator for this? You just ordered her to provide offensive support for a prison break in her home system, which happens to have as its political leader a woman she's weirdly beholden to, less than 3 month after we found ourselves mired in The Emperor's abduction and captivity."
Orion stopped laughing, and looked around.
"How is she not appropriate for this? What if I told you that the asset happened to be a former Imperial slave that may have happened to have known Cadence and her father from their time under contract?"
He opened his invisible box and raised his eyebrows, smiling at me. I turned my head to the left, squinting my eyes as my gaze remained steady into his.
"Is that what you're telling me?"
"No. No it isn't," the tension in the room quickly dissipated, "I'm not telling you anything about the asset. It was a Prismatic Imperium controlled facility and we wanted to see whether she would have any objection to conducting an operation against what she might have seen as a potential ally in her loyalty to Princess Aisling."
I slowly began to squint as he spoke. She's never expressed any particular trust regarding the Prismatic Imperium as a political group. I wouldn't have gone so far as to argue that we'd ever had any reason to cultivate such trust- nor exercised any real care with gaining it- but it still seemed strange to target a facility controlled by one of the more powerful of political groups in Imperial society, specifically one with which we'd had a relatively shaky relationship to begin with. The orders were funny to me when I'd first heard Orion deliver the command, but as he explained the reasons it grew increasingly confusing.
"So we targeted a facility controlled by one of the larger Imperial political factions, one with an extremely powerful propaganda apparatus, sending in Cadence because you wanted to test where her loyalties lay?"
Orion smiled and nodded, opening his invisible box and shaking his hands at me. Dad returned shortly afterward and, as I continued trying to figure out what the possible benefits to the organization could have been for such an order to have been passed down, he and Orion discussed the operational guidelines pertaining to Cadence's activities. Technically, there were no organizational guidelines barring Cadence's activities. As the announcement of Cadence's arrival blared through the ship's speaker system we sat quietly, dad growing increasingly upset as he looked around the room and Orion as mutely peaceful as always.
She entered and gave us all a nod. Orion began quickly, before she could exit the room in order to take her debriefing in her quarters. He congratulated her on her work and provided what I realized was a completely fabricated fiction about the overall strategic aims of the plan. It amazed me to hear what he had come up with to conceal the relatively petty goal of the operation, which really was little more than finding out whether her loyalty to Princess Aisling would dampen her willingness to conduct counter-Imperial operations should the need arise. Cadence then asked if she could take the remainder of the week off in order to complete her hauling run and Orion laughed,
"No, you may not, Cadence. Your follow-up orders are to report to Medupe to turn yourself in. We intend to maintain a strong business relationship with Her Empire.
INARA
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