John looked at the Council as he finished briefing them on what he had discussed with the Thon Councilman. "So, we can continue to run the war as long as we make sure the IntelDiv and Admirals Board doesn't slaughter a bunch of people. This should be easy considering we have no idea how many Black-Ops bases they have outside Imperial Space or what operations they are running from them. All they did agree to be a Trade agreement with no real support but Aran'Sul believes they would sign an Alliance agreement with us, but they are also worried about us becoming what we are fighting against... This will end well." Jimmy summarized what John had said.

"So based on that warning, how are we doing in confirming that the Black Ops bases exist and their locations" John asked the assembled crowd.

Natalie immediately responded "We have confirmed the existence of the raiders and their base in the Epsilon system. The two R&D bases we have not confirmed yet but scouts are en route and will be reporting back within the next couple days. We will have the preliminary report on the Epsilon base in the next 24 hours, and we can plan the raid after that."

"Good, I know we have exposed that fact that someone is actively opposed to IntelDiv out here, but we no longer have a choice in the matter if we want to continue to control the pace and direction of this war. We just got to continue to double check all incoming Intel and hope we don't fuck up." John responded before continuing. "Now, we have a third trading partner and will be able to open up the trade markets of the Thon, we need to appoint someone to take over Trade routs and to make sure we have a steady income from that venue. Suggestions?"

"Jamie, she loves digging and creating an industry, but she is amazing at creating trades and penny-pinching. She will dislike stepping back from getting her hands dirty, but she will do it for the Alliance." Jimmy put in.

John nodded "Agreed, she is going to give me so much shit, I will message her after this to get back here and take over as Officer of Trade or whatever we call it. Now Dr Burmingham how are we, at creating a antivirus or reverse engineering what they did?"

"We are doing a good job and should have a viable sample, but we will have to create more of the virus to test it against. Also from what our tech people have been pulling from the drives you captured on the raid at the Duniden System, we believe they are trying to replicate the virus but apply it to two other species. Specifically for the Da'Gog and the Gol'dan, both species are known to be neutral parties with their neighbors and used as middle men, so to speak." Miles responded.

John quickly responded "Do we have base locations of where they are modifying the virus?" Miles was already shaking his head at Johns question.

"They only referenced base designations, like the R&D facility in Duniden System was known as Alpha 1. The bases that are doing the modifications are Alpha 3 and 5. That is all we have currently, we are looking to see if scientists reference planet types, weather patterns, or even sun types, but so far we have found nothing yet." Miles stated as John worried.

"Natalie, press them hard, Jimmy I know you hate doing interrogations, but help her. Miles, get your tech oriented scientists on this. It has the highest priority over anything else. We need locations of those bases immediately. As soon as the Intel on the raiders come in, I want a plan of attack on my desk within 12 hours and the plan launched within 24 hours. Rebecca and Jake you head that. How is the system industry looking? Can we continue to expand at the rate we have been or do we need to back off on recruiting?" John turned to look at Jaine, Mary, and Lieutenant Daniel McPherson

"As long as we continue to stagger bringing in these groups of people every two weeks, we should be able to keep up with demand. We are in the process of upgrading all the current facilities, so we will be able to induct more trainees and do a better job at training them." Jaine said while Mary nodded.

"I was wondering if we could support actively start recruiting in the Theron, Draconis, and Persious Clusters. With what we have been doing out there fighting the Imperium we have a lot of possible recruits but with us only picking up at Manhym and Arkonia Prime its limiting how many we are actually recruiting. If we opened up another spot for screening and pickup somewhere in one of those clusters I believe we could almost double the amount of recruits we would be bringing in." Daniel responded.

"Start screening the applicants in those star clusters, we will choose a secure system we can do the run, but we need another ship to do it. The Tortuga and her crew spend enough time in space as is, I will not add a third pickup point so far out of her current path. We also need to expand our training facilities both here and planet side if we are going to double the number of recruits. Ladies, can we do that within a month?" John talked to the logistics gurus.

Mary and Jaine whispered back and forth before responding "It will be close, it will be basic facilitites, but we will be able to upgrade them within two months after they are operational Captain."

"Ok then, I will talk to Chief Letts about getting another personnel carrier out of mothballs earlier then slated. Does anyone object to me having him join this Council?" John asked the council.

Rebecca snorted "As long as he keeps a civil tongue and tone. Not at all, he has a unique perspective on life and could provide insight on some of the troubles we are having." All the others nodded.

"Ok, I will make sure he is aware to be present for the next Council meeting. We are adjourned." John sighed as people started filling out and John sat and stared out of the viewport while considering the future.

"No, I am not an officer Sir. I don't belong on no council. Now as far as getting another Lightning out of mothballs, all you had to do was ask. I will put it on the priority list, and we should have one tested and on the line of maintenance by end of day." Chief Letts responded while Chief Johnson laughed in the background at his companion antics.

John looked at the grizzled NCO as he watched as Engineers swarmed over a Badger destroyer ripping it apart either for materials or equipment. They were in the process of testing the finale 100 or so Badger destroyers to see what had to be scrapped, repaired, or just cleaned up. The lines for repairs and scrapped ships had expanded though and Letts was slated to get 30 new engineers within the month to help with all the work.

"Chief, that wasn't a request. You will report for the next Council session. We need you Chief not just to run this mad house but to help run the zoo keepers." John finished with a wink at the irate Chief Engineer. "Although we can also have Chief Johnson and you alternate who reports every other week." Johns comment shut the laughing Chief Engineer right up and gave Chief Letts a shit-eating grin.

"Don't worry Captain, I will report for the next meeting. I will not make my fellow Chief suffer like that. We might want to have him report on occasion for his own unique perspective though." Letts said as Johnson walked away quickly before he was voluntold for anything. Both Letts and John laughed as the other Chief nearly ran away on his own deck much to the amusement of more then one engineer.

John smiled at the grizzled Chief "Thank you, Chief Letts. I needed that laugh. Just make sure Douglas or Kara are updated on that Lightning when it gets in, so we can get another crew trained up and running her." With that John left the Engineers to their vital task.

Loki Station

Location: Unknown

IntelDiv HQ

"So, does everyone understand the plan? How long until we have our assets in place to enact the plan?" Colonel Monroe asked his command staff.

Captain Teagon responded first "Yes we understand that someone is targeting Black sites outside of Imperium controlled space. We understand the plan you are going to enact within the week and assets of both FleetComm and IntelDiv will be needed to enact it. What we do not understand Colonel is what is going on at these bases and why we were not informed of their existence or what role they fill in defending our people."

Colonel Monroe glared at the Captain, but he couldn't do anything. He was the FleetComm representative and Senate Rep, if he disappeared the Admirals Board would not protect him and would gladly give him up for a lap dog in charge of IntelDiv instead of him. Someone like say... Captain Teagon. "The mission of those bases is classified even above your clearance Captain. If you are not satisfied with that response, feel free to ask the Admirals Board I am sure they would...enjoy your questions. Now, will you have those assets in place and will the Captains of those ships understand that they will be under the authority of IntelDiv and whatever happens or whatever they see or do will be classified Top Secret and will never be divulged to anyone?" Colonel Monroe responded.

"They will be and yes the orders will include that they are subject to IntelDiv authority. You will also be aware that whatever happens Colonel Monroe, YOU will be held responsible for what happens to those ships, crews, and what they do as well. I will make sure of that. The time of shadows and daggers is coming to an end. The threat you convinced the Admirals Board existed never materialized, your madness will end with you Colonel." with that Captain Teagon stood and left the briefing room.

Colonel Monroe snarled as the upstart left. He was not mad no matter what the naive captain thought. The Admirals Board was too far into bed with IntelDiv to get out now, if Monroe lost he had made sure the Board would burn with him and no way would those stuck up bastards give up power. Not without spilling buckets of blood to try and keep power.

IRN Olympia

Captain Teagon

Teagon Summers watched as Loki station dwindled in the distance as the Light Cruiser Olympia pulled away with a squadron of destroyers in escort. Teagon had worked hard to get where he was, trusted by the Admirals Board and the Senate. For his family he would get into bed with the devil just, so he could drive the dagger into his chest when the time was right. "You heard what that bastard said. They are meeting organized resistance outside Imperium Space. If this is true, there might finally be an organized resistance against both IntelDiv and the Admirals Board. IF that is true, they would have spies within FleetComm and IntelDiv. Confirm what Monroe said and if he wasn't lying start reaching out, we might no longer be alone in this fight." with that Teagon cut the Encrypted Comm line. He wasn't the only orphan from 20 years ago, he was just the only one that had made the most headway at getting close to the killers of their families.