Coming Undone

Chapter 14: The Same Truth

The sounds of quiet rain and thunder on the roof of the communication center gave a backdrop to Osterman's temporary field office. Despite being hours away from Obsidian's massive headquarters, and even further from the capitol, information had been pouring in through high-speed connection almost faster than their hardware could handle it.

Socotra was heating up.

And it was about to come to a head.

Osterman's brow furrowed as he looked over the report, and glanced up to meet eyes with the security officer, dressed in Obsidian uniform and wearing a sidearm. The hired soldier had delivered the brief Osterman had just finished reading, and had apparently read it too. Osterman could tell as much from the solemn look on the soldiers face. He'd arrived ten minutes prior, forcing Osterman shuffle his schedule before the system-wide holo-confrence.

But the knot in Osterman's stomach told him the interruption was necessary.

"This is up to date and accurate?" Osterman asked, closing the report's final page with a cold, clammy hand.

"Yes sir, I'm afraid so."

Osterman's backbone tingled as he scooted his chair back and huffed out a long, exhausted breath.

"We're going to need to take action. Immediately." He said, tearing his eyes from the report to look out the window. The storm clouds were still dimming the sun, as they usually did on Pathmos. They obscured the stars, but Osterman was still looking towards them.

There were a lot of vulnerable people out there.

"Where do you want to start?" The soldier, a naval captain, asked, preparing to receive orders.

Osterman looked back to the report and tried to push aside the passion. Anger and fear vied for his attention, and not without reason.

There were two blows in the papers, both bitter.

Osterman knew which one he had to deal with first. But his heart tugged towards the second.

"The colonies and outposts." Osterman said, leaning forward on his desk. "Give me options."

The soldier leaned forward too.

In that report, Obsidian's intelligence had briefed Osterman on the MLA's threat level, as usual. Far from usual, though, was the actual content of the report.

The MLA was gearing up. Unauthorized ship movements had seen a six hundred percent spike in the last twenty four hours, and typical MLA communication channels had spiked, then gone silent. Further, two separate reports had been filed, suggesting that embedded cells were about to come online.

Something was coming. Something ugly.

"Sir, we don't have many options. We have reserve warships and ultra-fast patrol vessels on standby that could be activated in a matter of hours. The Obsidian fleets can be mobilized rapidly as well."

"Give the orders." Osterman said. "What can we do for civilian ships and distant outposts? Warships can't respond fast enough at this point."

"Send a general alert bulletin, and raise readiness." The soldier said, lacing his fingers together on Osterman's desk. "To be perfectly blunt sir, most outposts aren't designed or equipped to repel significant attacks. Keeping terror at bay was meant to be the Alliance's place."

"Don't we have any other options? A lockdown?"

"A general alert is wiser. Lockdown limits readiness. Alert at least prepares them to mount a defense."