Uprooting the Sprouts (3)
It had been roughly a month since the chain of incidents at the Eastern Army Headquarters in Branberg had come to an end. Shortly after Werner Grime resolved to thoroughly crush the Revolutionary Front, the Security Strategic Agency underwent considerable changes. The once plain and unremarkable base had been renovated into something far more modern. Satellite communication towers had been erected, and new hangars for unmanned aerial vehicles were constructed to support active intelligence-gathering operations. That was not all. Rooms that had been left unused were repurposed for various functions. Beyond combat and operational facilities, amenities such as a gymnasium, lounge, and even a movie theater had been added. The transformation was remarkable enough to finally call the place livable. Yet the most striking change of all was in the Agency's personnel.
Including the director, the Security Strategic Agency had once numbered only six members. That count had now swelled to forty. Most were administrative staff handling logistics, maintenance, information processing, and general duties, but Werner had personally requested and handpicked several operatives for field deployment from Supreme Commander Arthur Philias. After all, an intelligence agency could not be composed entirely of desk workers. The new recruits were placed under the command of Karin Maven, who had been reassigned from the ambiguous title of deputy headquarters commander to the more concrete role of security platoon leader.
At first, Karin had tried to avoid the director, insisting she was unfit for such an important post and nearly fleeing from the responsibility. In the end, Werner's persuasion won her over. Since outright refusal was impossible, she had no choice but to accept. Contrary to her mountain of worries, however, the security platoon members showed little concern about her reputation.
"The Grim Reaper? So what if that's what they call her? Doesn't bother me one bit."
"I've heard the stories. Honestly, I think it's rather impressive. Not easy to earn a nickname at the lieutenant rank."
"If you think about it the other way, the platoon leader was away, so everyone else died. If we stick close to her, maybe we won't die either."
It was less genuine praise than a grim sort of acceptance, yet that very attitude suited Karin surprisingly well. The burden that had once weighed so heavily on her began to lift more easily than she expected. Of course, this was partly because Werner Grime had deliberately selected only those who would respond this way.
With the war over, the reduction of the military was all but inevitable. That meant an era was dawning where connections and words mattered more than pure skill or battlefield achievements. The first to be weeded out were those who had fallen out of favor for various reasons. It did not matter how bravely they had fought or how many merits they had earned. Once they caught someone's eye for the wrong reason, they were forced to submit their discharge papers—sometimes under duress. The fact that fitness-for-duty reviews, which had never occurred during the war, were now being reinstated said everything.
Their offenses ranged from disobeying orders to offending a superior's sensibilities, or simply being disliked. Some had simply kept to themselves and lacked connections. The process varied, but the outcome was always the same: they were cast out of the organization to which they had devoted their lives, left with nothing. Naturally, their resentment toward the military ran deep. Who better to become the Security Agency's new hunting dogs, trained to tear into their targets without mercy?
"Director, all personnel have assembled."
"I was just about to head out anyway."
Werner Grime answered Karin, who had come to fetch him, and rose to his feet.
***
"...That concludes the operational briefing."
When Lieutenant Dante Vega, chief of the Information Management Division, pressed the remote, the holographic screen filling the auditorium vanished. It had been a clean, concise briefing. Combining Dien's internal intelligence from his infiltration of the Revolutionary Front with information gathered from other sources, it was clear they were preparing another major operation. After the previous terrorist failure, they had judged it too risky to target the Eastern Army Headquarters or assassinate its commander, Heinrich Rendal, directly. Their next targets were set on supply hubs and manor estates in the east. By destroying military factories, they aimed to weaken the Eastern Army's logistical capacity while simultaneously striking at the existing noble power structure through the destruction of the manors.
Werner assessed it as a reasonably sound strategy. The Revolutionary Front had already realized that the central authorities, including the Chancellor, were displeased with the Eastern Army, which was dominated by the Imperialist faction. "The Chancellor seems to think there's no need to intervene directly. In fact, he appears to want the Eastern Army stirred up even more." The trial dates for the terrorist ringleaders detained at Military Police Headquarters had not even been set. Under the constitution, high treason carried the death penalty. If the authorities were dragging their feet instead of swiftly sentencing and hanging the perpetrators, there could be only one meaning: they wanted mutual destruction.
It was a very Chancellor-like calculation. He would never miss an opportunity to solve a problem without lifting a finger. By deepening the conflict between the Eastern Military District and the Revolutionary Front, he could wait for the right moment and devour the victor. It was a common yet highly effective strategy. But it was one only the Chancellor could pursue. He was a living bomb willing to do anything to protect his throne. Anyone who displeased him was ruthlessly crushed. Whether others were sacrificed mattered little, so long as his goal was achieved. That was the kind of man the Chancellor was. He also possessed the power to carry out such acts, which was why he had been able to push aside the legitimate Emperor and rise to the top. There was a reason for everything.
Yet Werner had no intention of playing along with the Chancellor's wishes. After all, if anyone was more ruthless than the Chancellor, it was Werner himself. He had never considered himself lenient.
"What about the weapons?"
"They are ready."
The weapons Werner had ordered most frequently for the Security Strategic Agency were firearms equipped with suppressors as standard. Strike swiftly, then withdraw in silence. In such operations, the presence or absence of noise could determine success or failure. He had not forgotten to include the latest stealth and silent-engine unmanned helicopters as well. The Security Strategic Agency's top priority was the elimination of high-ranking Revolutionary Front figures, including their secretary-general. While the Front descended into chaos after losing its leadership in an instant, the Agency would use its foundational forces to turn the entire Revolutionary Front into its own puppet.
That was why Dien Schmidt had been kept alive. Simply bringing the Revolutionary Front under his control would be enough to weaken the Eastern Military District. In fact, thanks to the credit for successfully preventing the previous terrorist attack, Werner had already earned considerable favor with Commander Heinrich Rendal. The Chancellor wanted both sides to destroy each other, but Werner believed he could control them all. The forty regressions had given him far more than he had expected—combat techniques, command methods, and insight into the military's politics and alliances. Having declared he would crush every sprout of unrest, Werner already had a clear picture of each faction's position in his mind. Once the Revolutionary Front's teeth were pulled, the Eastern Military District and the Front would only growl at each other without actually clashing.
"As you instructed, Director, we have completed underwater infiltration training around the lake, aerial assault drills via helicopter, and covert infiltration exercises. Every member of the current security platoon has completed the training without a single dropout."
Otto Bichan, chief of the Training Division, reported with crisp precision. It was the bearing expected of a former member of the elite Mobile Strike Force. Even with one prosthetic leg, he had proven worthy of the important post Werner had entrusted to him.
"Then all preparations are complete. The operation begins at 00:00 the day after tomorrow. Everyone is to take two days of rest and maintenance, then assemble by 21:00 tomorrow."
All preparations were finished. It was the perfect time to hunt.
***
Around the same time the Security Strategic Agency was planning its precision surgery on the Revolutionary Front, there was one other person continuing her own investigation into the group.
"...Sister, aren't you going to sleep?"
"In a bit. I want to finish this first. There's something about it that doesn't sit right."
Arhen Orca had still not returned to the Inspectorate. She had handed all her previous duties over to the deputy chief and section chiefs, choosing instead to take full responsibility for investigating the terrorist incident at the Eastern Military District. Not only was her cherished younger sister and comrade, Leah Gilliard, directly involved in the case, but several suspicious circumstances had also come to light.
'If the Revolutionary Front's predecessor was the once-suppressed revolutionary faction, then their hostility toward the Eastern Military District makes sense. But... where exactly did this Security Strategic Agency come from?'
Leah had been injured while trying to protect an officer from the Security Strategic Agency who had been prepared for the scene. That much was understandable. Arhen already knew the Chancellor had established the Security Strategic Agency within Supreme Command. It was a malformed organization under Supreme Command, yet also directly under the Chancellor's authority. Following the Military Police, the Military Prosecutor's Office, the Inspectorate, and the Intelligence Command, it was the fifth official investigative agency with its own investigative and intelligence-gathering powers. The fact that even Arhen, who was authorized to inspect the Military Police, Military Prosecutors, and Intelligence Command under military law, was uniquely unable to inspect the Security Strategic Agency was highly suspicious. And above all, there were the corpses discovered at the Eastern Army Headquarters in Branberg.
After piecing together all the circumstantial evidence, Arhen Orca had reached the conclusion that the Security Strategic Agency had "known the terrorist attack would occur yet deliberately allowed it to happen." But why? If a terrorist attack took place, countless people would die or be injured. The best course of action would have been to inform the Eastern Army Headquarters, cancel the party, and arrest the terrorists. That was the only logical choice. There had been no need to track down and kill the scattered terrorists one by one.
'There must be something more. Another purpose behind the Security Strategic Agency's visit to the Eastern Military District.'
Arhen's eyes gleamed. If she continued to dig from the bottom up, she would eventually reach the truth. The most certain method was, of course, to meet someone from the Security Strategic Agency. The officer named Karin Maven, with whom she had spoken in the hospital room. She had to find her first. If that proved impossible, then at least the captain Leah had protected.
It was then that Leah, who had been watching Arhen's focused expression, spoke up.
"Sister, I have a favor to ask."
"Hm?"
"Could you look into that captain I saved?"
It was a request Arhen had never anticipated.