Setting
"Two occupations over a century, very impressive. You fought them, we're fighting them. We've been fighting them for a millennia, and you and I both know that peace with Langara always comes at a cost, even now elements of your government would willingly collaborate to save their own skins, you know it, I know it. If the Confessors came tomorrow to demand me, you would turn me over to spare your own selves. Maybe not you, but your superiors would order it so."
In the face of visceral rage, Ladon kept his composure quite well, it was evident on his face that he was ready to die.
"I told you what you wanted to know, I intended to use that explosive to destroy the empire, if you were truly at odds with the Imperial regime, you would support this action, and obtain some much needed justice for your Aschen partner." Ladon said, striking back in this verbal spar.
"Now. If you wanted me - let alone my government - to lend its support for your attack against the Aschen Empire, it'd be a good start to tell us what kind of attack it is," said Ilyssa, her expression communicating skepticism. "Besides, you think ten tons of czytronite is enough to take down an entire empire? What would it destroy? The emperor's palace? One Reverence? They'd only rebuild."
"Their aggression would provoke the Coalition to intercede and destroy them, the Langaran government stands on a precipice, racial tensions not just among Moluks are rampant, the façade is breaking down. There are elements in the Empire that are pulling in many different directions, these explosives were merely a spark that would ignite a firestorm that would leave Caprica in cinders." Ladon explained, big talk for an insurgent group, but a relatively competent plan given the current fragile state of the Empire.
"It doesn't matter what the target is, it would enrage them and ensure their inevitable demise." Ladon added.
Ilyssa's facial expression hardened. "I'm afraid the target does matter, my friend. It matters quite a bit. And yet, what matters more right now, is exactly who you're planning to frame for this attack - who's meant to take the fall out of this false flag operation." But she was afraid she already knew what the answer was, and absolutely no one in the Bureau was going to like it.
He kept quiet though for a moment as he considered his next response.
"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good." Ladon remarked.
His expression then darkened for a moment.
"Inevitably there will come a time when... How do you say? The wheat detaches from the chaff."
It was at that moment, as Ladon bore a smug expression while Ilyssa would be receiving an incoming call from someone with a blocked number on the main line who refused to identify themselves, but said it was urgent. The question would be whether or not the call was passed on to her.
Then someone knocked at the door. Ilyssa didn't move for a long moment. But eventually, she stood from the table, stretching her legs as she did so, and opened the door a crack. Murmured words, hardly audible, passed through the door. And then Ilyssa shut it again and returned to her seat. "So you tell me. Who've you been planning to sacrifice?"
Meanwhile, the switchboard operator told the person on the line, "I'm sorry, I cannot confirm or deny the existence of a prisoner undergoing TIB interrogation. Do you have an identifier?" There were strict protocols, after all, about how to handle unknown, outside calls, including conducting immediate traces.
Ladon didn't react when the Ilyssa stood from the door, rather his eyes quietly followed her movements to the door as she spoke with the person on the other side.
"Whoever we must to obtain our goal." Ladon answered, Intentionally vague.
In the switchboard room, the operator carefully transcribed and recorded every word coming through the line. "Identifier acknowledged. I'll relay the call to the Bureau."
Moments later, another voice answered, older and calm. "Operations, identifier Yoder. What message do you have?"
"Every one of them was hand picked, if we can resist the Confessors we can resist whatever you throw at them." Ladon said, leaning forward.
"I presume it all hinges on just how far they're willing to go." He added, grinning. "Every one of us have suffered at the hands of aschen torture." Ladon added.
On the phone Marlene grimaced as she typed in the identifier into her own IIA database. She shook her head and then spoke up.
"It's come to my attention that there is a certain individual in custody at Fort Veritas." Marlene said, while pulling up a dossier of Ladon Sidiim.
"It is imperative, and a matter of national security for this nation that I be allowed to interrogate the prisoner, in exchange I will share any intelligence that I've obtained with your government freely. I will reveal nothing further until I've been given a mutually satisfactory response. I will be arriving by the end of the day, local time. Do not let him escape, believe nothing he says." Marlene insisted, for the first time grave concern was evident in her voice.
Inside the interrogation room, Ilyssa shook her head. "I'm not planning on torturing anyone, here. You know as well as I do that torture just results in unreliable information, if anything at all. We don't do things the way the Aschen do."
“Under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to agree with you. But you and I both know that the current Imperial administration has maintained a tacit state of peace and cooperation with your government, an I would hope that it could continue, now I am not implying any sort of hostilities to come out of this, what I will tell you is the individual you have in custody is in possession of intelligence vital to the security, and stability of this government.”
Marlene was almost annoyed.
“I’m trying to play nice here, I could have just sent a strike team after him.” She said with that same annoyed, almost unhinged tone she was known for.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know, but I want access to the prisoner, otherwise no deal, and he’ll tell you nothing, the caliber of individuals your organization is dealing with is beyond your capabilities, or have you not studied Aschen history?” Marlene added.
Back in the interrogation room, Ladon offered a simple shrug.
“I’m not going to tell you anything, we can keep arguing in circles, or you can take me to my cell, or hole, or wherever it is you people take their prisoners. My time will come eventually, nothing you, or I can do will change that.”
Meanwhile, Nujood listened to Marlene's patronizing demands with the patience of a saint, mentally cataloguing everything the Aschen woman said. "Insulting my agents' capabilities is a hell of a way to 'play nice,'" Nujood replied icily. "I am more than confident in our capabilities to extract necessary intelligence from detainees of interest, as I am in your agency's ability to carry out its work, and I would expect that as a professional courtesy you would extend the same respect to us. Particularly when asking for a favor." Her tone softened slightly for what she had to say next, but remained businesslike and distant. "However, I'm of course willing to discuss a possible exchange of information. If - and only if - you can make a good faith proffer of verifiable information, then we may share what we have learned from any such detainee. Starting with the identity of the person you believe to be in our custody, and how you came to believe that this individual is in fact in our custody."
Marlene paused for a moment. "We intercepted a Naquadria enhanced fusion warhead we believed was bound for his group, shortly therafter our intelligence apparatus placed him on Terra operating under a front. He was recruiting Molecay militants from the Aschen diaspora there.."
Marlene heaved a slight sigh. "He is by all intents and purposes one of the most dangerous men alive, and truth be told he belongs back in Imperial custody, where he belongs. But here we are. As for how I found out about him, you'd think the Old woman trained you guys better than that, I'm a precog, I see everything." Marlene chuckled.
Nujood straightened in her seat, eyes narrowing. "If you can see everything, Marlene Angel, then you'd already know the plan this Ladon Sidiim has hatched. It sounds to me like you've yet to uncover that information. Fortunately, our agents have already put quite a lot of it together." There was a certain schadenfreude in beating the Aschen to something, particularly when this specific Aschen kept insulting the Bureau. Nujood just wished it'd been significantly lower stakes. A poker game, or a football match. Not a burgeoning terror plot aimed to start a war - a genocide. "And no, I doubt that either of our governments will be pleased." Neither would the old woman.
“You’ll come to find I am capable of a great many things.” Marlene said, this time through the video screen, but her voice also echoed on the phone line. “It would be in the best interest of everyone involved in this matter that we collaborate, the Molecay terrorists are as dangerous, as they are unpredictable, If Ladon is in your custody that means he wanted to be there, or he made a mistake somewhere down the line, maybe he was desperate, we’ve been putting a lot of pressure on his organization.. His comrades will try to free him.”
Marlene’s eyes remained an unsettling blue as she tried to peer through the snow.
“I would like to meet with you, and the operative in charge of Mr. Sidiim’s custody over a meal, and we will discuss our next steps. I can arrive within the next few hours, a solar flare is interfering with the Bifrost system, and I have a few personal matters to attend.” The image of Marlene faded from the screens, and only her voice remained on the other end of the phone line, while she massaged her temples, these things took a lot of work on her end.
Already, the messages from Ilyssa seemed to carry new meaning. Nujood had only met Ilyssa a few times - the old woman had always managed operations with a fully decentralized structure, the better to protect their agents and assets. But from what Nujood recalled of the woman, Ilyssa was fiercely sharp, independent, and above all, trustworthy. If Ilyssa said there was a serious, imminent threat implicating possible war, then Nujood was inclined to believe it.
There was a political battle on the horizon, and Ladon had Intel on Moluk terror cells operating within the Empire.
"One more thing, I'm going to want to see him. He has information on operating terror cells in the Empire. If our exchange goes well, I would like to extract that information. I can arrange for an Aurora chair to be delivered to Fort Veritas as well as someone to train your people on how to use it. We're going to need it if we're going to root them out." Marlene said over the phone line.