Javaed allowed himself a private smile in his recently hired apartment, watching the telescreen. The Rebel's attack on Levo posed little to no threat against him, and even if Javaed hadn't hidden every trace of his true identity - ever - then he would say not a word to the Rebels, under any torture. He would not even say he was a Confederation Secret Police agent; he would instead say nothing at all. That he was a Confederate would be assumed anyway, so there was no fear whatsoever of the truth coming out. But all of his thoughts were just mere speculation, the tiniest possibility if he had ever slipped up. Which he hadn't.
The telescreen was not INN, which was, in fact, not particularly popular. INN was well known for its Rebellion bias, and quite a number of people had reason to suspect they outright lied in many circumstances. The Confederate's news network, the Terran Interstellar News, was not much better. However, everybody Independant and with the slightest intelligence relied on the New Istanbul News, New Istanbul being the seat of the High Court of all independant worlds.
And the news on the NIN was quite promising. "The deaths of numerous innocent Levons, the attempted assassination of the Levon prime minister, and various other incidents have convinced every last court member that the Rebellion are corrupt. As of today, New Istanbul, New Ireland, New Scotland, Sauron and Maxwell's Purchase have all announced that no Rebel ships may pass through their respective systems. Maxwell's Purchase has followed Levo in requesting the Confederation's military support and a Confederate advisor, and all other aforementioned independant worlds have announced that at any Rebel offence, they will also side with the Confederation, including New Istanbul."
"In addition, the Rebel's own worlds are beginning to lose morale. The populace of Guiron and Zigra have recently stated a request for independance, and there have been riots in a dozen Rebel worlds."
"It should be now noted that any Rebel ships passing through any of the independant worlds will be fired upon immediately, without question."
Overjoyed, Javaed enjoyed a rare and expensive drink and began to wonder about his next engineering job, rewiring a shuttlecraft's engines to provide 125 au/h more speed, and how he could continue disrupting the Rebellion. The prime minister messed up slightly, but that should be okay. If the Rebellion try to land on Levo, or cause any more damage than they already have, they'll collapse from the inside. Guiron and Zigra won't be the only systems requesting independance, and Zaxted are on the brink of taking the Confederation's side. Heheh...all it requires now is a little push in the third direction, and I'm all set. Sorry you had to die for this, Landane, but what must be, must be.
Eventually, Javaed settled with creating wild and mostly untrue rumours about the Rebel's evil plots, which could, of course, not be traced back to him. Rumours can be publically disproved, but the effect will always remain, and it might just push the people a little closer to the brink... This is almost too smooth. Almost all of Levo agrees with their prime minister, and the next election is years off.
There was another thing tickling Javaed. Somebody had tried to land without being noticed, his ship noted as the Chimera. The militia had been on him in a second, even without Javaed and Talsir gentling pushing them in the right direction. The place where even now the captain of the Chimera slept was being monitored by an elite anti-terrorism team. A device was set up at his door. When he opened it, it would trigger a sensor which would fire a laser which would knock him unconscious. If he tried the windows first, he would suffer the same fate. There was no way of avoiding the lasers, and no way of detecting them.
The anti-terrorism team had a lock on his vital signs that could not be broken, and they could not be seen or detected themselves without it being too late. Their vital signs were masked. If the man was knocked unconscious, he would find himself in a room with no doors, walls two metres thick, and a shoot that delivered a sloppy liquid meal. He would be stripped naked and searched while unconscious, and have nothing on him when he woke. He could not wake earlier; not from the laser.
--------------------------------
{From: Talsir, Levon Merchant}
{To: Luke, Nirvana}
It appears you misunderstand me. I do not wish an escort. I want you to clear Zebetrious for me before I set off.
{click here to view the sender's profile}
{end transmission}
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-Esponer
(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 08-14-2002).)
Ah well - it was only a side-game anyway, whether or not you can land on Levo isn't too important in the whole scheme of things.)
