As darkness fell over the Capitol, the Director of Imperial Intelligence was still hard at work in his office. He spent more nights there than he did at home, but his family had come to understand his habits. Once he caught the thread of a conspiracy, no matter how small, he would pursue the lead until the threat had been neutralized or turned to the Empire’s cause. It was this dogged pursuit of the truth that had kept him in his high office for decades. The Emperor valued a subject that could dispel the deepest shadows both within his domain and without.

Cossus’ gut instinct told him that there was more to the story of Kronos as he listened to a disturbing report from Chief Impez.

“Director, Kronos has been reassigned. He’s being sent to Uranus rather than Mars like we previously discussed. When I tried to discover who authorized the change, it was outside of my authority.” Her tone was frosty and the Director could feel Impez’s glare through their holoconference.

“Project Kronos was under my jurisdiction. This is highly irregular,” she finished. She was clearly irate and it was only her respect for the Director and the IID as a whole that kept her from fulling venting her wrath.

Cossus didn’t reply immediately, instead he accessed the SECNET and pulled Kronos’ transfer file. He scanned the contents and frowned. The report said that the Director of Imperial Intelligence had authorized the change to Kronos’ orders. There was only one problem.

I didn’t do that.

“You’re right, this is highly irregular, Isadora.” He watched the woman flinch at the use of her first name. It just confirmed what he knew about the her. He liked to test what he knew of his subordinates at various intervals. It pushed him to understand the organization that he led while at the same time giving him an indication if they had been compromised in some way.

Even though it was even later at night on Ceres than on Terra, the Bureau Chief was still in her uniform and holding herself at parade rest during their conversation. Most of the agents in the IID, were a little more casual—not Isadora. No, she was a career agent with ambitions for higher office. She had a spotless track record, and she likely felt personally offended that someone had reached into her domain and made changes without her approval. She likely didn’t care if it was the Director or the Emperor himself who changed the rules. Rules were rules.

It was an admirable quality in an administrator, but Cossus didn’t think she realized that her unwillingness to bend the rules would likely halt her future advancement. No one who made it into the Imperial halls of power got there by following the rules. The Empire cared about results, not about excuses.

“Unfortunately, I can’t reveal who changed the orders, but thank you for bringing the matter to my attention.” The Director knew it was a weak answer, but it was the truth. He really couldn’t tell the chief who had changed the orders because he didn’t know himself. Revealing what he actually knew would only provide more questions than answers and Impez wasn’t the type of subordinate who wouldn’t make a mess trying to find the answers.

It’s all part of the game, he realized.

Without thinking about it, Cossus had kept the chief in the dark. Now that his own security had been compromised, he wasn’t sure who he could trust. He didn’t believe that the chief had been compromised, but she was a blunt force instrument and someone was playing a deadly game. Cossus knew he needed more information.

“Do you want me to stop him, Director?” She asked. “I can reassign s couple cruisers from 3rd fleet and stop this anomaly before it get’s started.”

The Director pondered her question before replying. “No, Chief. The orders have been changed at the highest levels and we have a duty to obey.”

Impez’s eyes widened slightly. It was the only tell that betrayed her surprise. Cossus knew it was the one thing that would make her give up her line of inquiry. If he told her they both had a duty to obey then the only person who could’ve changed the orders was the Emperor. He wasn’t telling her the truth, but he wasn’t lying either. The orders were changed at the highest levels. It was a deception, but a necessary one.

“I see,” Impez replied. She was still clearly uncomfortable with the aberration in her duties, but she was going to follow the rules. “In that case, did you need anything else from me, Director?”

Cossus put the unfolding plot from his mind. He would think over the problem when he wasn’t on a holoconference with Impez.

“Yes, actually.” He answered. “How did the medical evaluations go?”

The chief picked up a handheld vid screen and started scrolling through the data. Cossus had already studied the data himself, but he wanted Impez’s perspective on the results. She was his eyes on the ground, and she might catch something he missed. It was the one thing he loathed about his vaunted position—he missed the field work. He missed using his Omni-tool to pry open enemy secrets. He missed shadowing a target and revealing their entire network.

Hell, I miss shooting my pistol outside of the practice range. There was only so much investigating to be done within his office on Terra.

“The results are remarkable,” the chief said quietly. “Virtual reality appears to have had an effect on Kronos far and above that of his peers.”

She looked up at Cossus and explained. “There were marginal improvements in the rest of the cadre as was to be expected. However, tolerance day is meant to exhaust the minds and bodies of the cadets. It doesn’t actually do much to improve them in the short-term.”

She glanced down at her vid screen again and made a few gestures.

“Kronos’ body responded to the training as if he were actually undergoing the training for the duration of the time dilation. He grew in height, bone density was increased, quick twitch and long twitch muscle fiber was developed—“ She broke off and addressed the Director directly.

“By any measure, Kronos has improved. I’ve checked his most recent diagnostics and it seems like the changes have sustained themselves.”

Cossus nodded along at her analysis, he had seen the same. Virtual reality was useful for putting information in a trainees head that could be unlocked and reinforced over time. It couldn’t take the average citizen and turn them into a highly trained operative, but it would give them the foundation necessary to become one. However, if they could take the same technology used to create Kronos and apply it to their training, he could have fully capable operative in a matter of months instead of the years it took now.

“What did Maxim think of Kronos?” He wondered aloud.

Impez grimaced at the informality. “Master Trainer Diamenes was enthusiastic in his praise of Kronos. In every one of the scenarios, Kronos took a leadership role. He seemed reluctant to do so at first, but when everyone else in his cohort failed, he would take up the slack. After a few scenarios, every other trainee looked to him for guidance.”

The Director laughed at Impez’ muted depiction of Diamenes. “All that old dog cares about is making warriors. Kronos was probably the most exciting trainee he’s ever had.” A thought occurred to Cossus.

“He never knew anything about Kronos’ history, right?”

“No Director, it was strictly need to know. I’m the only one on the station that knows Kronos’ true identity.”

Cossus nodded. She wasn’t entirely correct. The Director would never leave his eggs in one basket, but the chief didn’t need to know that.

“What is your evaluation of Kronos?” He asked.

“If were discussing his personality, Director, then he’s average at best. He seems determined to do things his own and in his own time. During his simulated training, he found ways around the trainer’s instructions if he thought they were to his benefit.” Her tone implied that she didn’t think very much of Kronos’ approach to rules.

The Director had to struggle to maintain a placid expression. He found it ironically funny that the straight-laced bureau chief didn’t approve of the gene experiment’s methods.

“Did his ways end up benefitting him?” He asked with a too-innocent tone.

The chief clearly knew the Director was mocking her. “Yes, they did,” she said reluctantly. “In almost every case, he found marginal improvements in the system. He found more efficient paths during his agility training, he was able to repair and optimize his equipment during his weapons training, and he found even better ways to survive in hostile environments than the trainers imagined.” She sighed heavily before continuing.

“My operations section has been going over the footage and has already come up with ways to refine the virtual training for the next cohort. I’ve spent the last twelve hours approving their changes to the program.”

Cossus winced at the admission. No one enjoyed the administrative work that came along with a supervisory position. He could easily image the figurative pile of reports that Impez had on her desk.

“Well, you win some and you lose some.” He said encouragingly.

“If you say so, Director. I’ll make sure the next round of training is even better than the last. Both the operations section and the medical section have been begging to get greater access to Kronos. He’s turned into quite the little star of the show. Of course, I’ve turned them down at your command.”

“Very good, Isadora. You’ve performed admirably.” He couldn’t help the final dig. “Your next assign—“

An alert on his HUD interrupted what he was about to say next. He quickly accessed the SECNET and opened the onyx-level alert.

[Subj: 21:36 IST: IID Onyx Alert

Message: At 21:00 IST, Ganymede Ark was assaulted by a hostile company-sized force of unknown origin. Facility suffered minor damage, but no assets were found missing or destroyed. The assault was repelled by 112 and 113 Divisions of the 8th PDA.

Estimated Friendly Casualty Rate: 23%

Estimated Enemy Casualty Rate: 11%

Enemy Objective: Unknown]

Cossus deleted the message from the SECNET to prevent it from being sent to an analyst and he wrinkled his forehead in thought, the conversation with Impez all but forgotten.

That’s the largest attack from rebels in close to fifty years. There’s nothing in the ark except frozen colonists and—

The realization was so sudden that it took his breath away. He accessed the Ark’s mainframe through an IID backdoor and searched the status of a part of the facility that was only known to the IID.

“Damn,” he vocalized softly. He had last his opening gambit in the game.

“Director, is there something else?” Impez asked.

He returned his attention to the chief snd weighed his options before deciding that she needed to know.

“Kronos’ family has been spirited from Ganymede by unknown hostiles,” he stated flatly.

He watched as Impez’s already pale face turner a lighter shade. “Director, that means we’ve lost our leverage over Kronos. With his enhanced physiology, the inhibitor cannot be expected to keep him in line. Eventually, his body will adapt to it. In what ways, we can’t be certain. That’s why we took hostages.”

Cossus waved her off. “I know, I know,” he growled. “Alert your counterpart at Uranus. We need to act fast. Director Sita out.” He ended the conference, and erased the conversation log from the IID servers.

He leaned over his desk and steepled his fingers together. There were a number of other alerts that flashed in his vision, including an incoming call from his wife, but he disabled them. He needed time to think. He had been caught on the backfoot and it wasn’t a situation he had found himself in in over a century.

He looked around his office as he considered the facts. He had found over the years that tracing the embossed eagle on his wall with his eyes helped him to center his mind and work through the implications of his musings. The Imperial eagle was a stark reminder of who he was and what the Empire requested of him.

First fact, someone outside of the IID is aware that we have Kronos in our custody. Not only that, they knew the leverage we had over him.

Second fact, someone was clearly advanced enough to hack the SECNET and change Kronos’ orders. Not only that, but they did it using MY authorization. That implies either advanced technology or backing within the Empire.

Third fact, at the same time, they were able to organize the largest assault in the last fifty years on another planet within the system. Our analysis systems were unable to determine their origin which means they’ve never been seen before. Further, despite Imperial forces having superior force size and in the defense, they had a higher percentage of loss.

Conclusion: There is a new faction at play and they’ve decided that Kronos was worth revealing themselves. Their ability to hit multiple strategic objectives imply a centralized command structure with reach across the entire Sol system. They’re powerful, well-funded, and well-connected.

Cossus was comfortable with his operating theory, but it didn’t reveal who the new players were. His first thought turned to Triplex Corps, but the company had been shutdown like all the other capitalist entities in the system. Remnants of the faction likely still existed, but they would be degraded, useless shells of their former glory.

If he wanted to learn who his knew enemy was, he knew he would need to get them to extend themselves further. If he wanted, he could stop Kronos’ journey to Uranus and reroute him to Mars as had been previously decided. However, if he did that, then he wouldn’t have the opportunity to uncover their plot and end it once and for all.

Additionally, he needed to get back his leverage over Kronos. He was still covered by the deep fakes that he had created. It would be a simple matter to prevent Kronos from ever learning of their capture in time for him to disassemble the plot against the Empire.

I’ll allow the transfer to take place. They had to have known that was the decision I would make when they used my own credentials against me. It’s still likely they don’t know about the ace up my sleeve.

Cossus grinned at the thought. The game was on and he was ready to play. His first order of business was to set up a machine learning algorithm. He fed the proto-AI all the information that he had on Triplex Corps, Hod, Kronos, and the data from the assault on Ganymede. He also gave it access to the PUBNET, MILNET, and SECNET traffic. The last required him to personally authorize its collection. It would take considerable time for the algorithm to make any progress on the data. As it collected more information, it would draw connections between seemingly disparate pieces of data. From there, he might be able to get a better picture of who he was dealing with.

His first task accomplished, he needed to reaffirm his control over Kronos. To that end, he accessed the SECNET and reached out to his personal asset in the field. A revolving depiction of Terra in his HUD informed him that the connection was pending.

That’s unusual, he noted.

Normally, he could connect with any of his agents in the Sol System in a matter of seconds. The Empire had long utilized information networks that relied on hardline connections, orbiting communication satellites, and quantum entanglement buoys to ensure rapid communication across all Imperial-held space. A delay meant there was some kind of interruption in the network. A disruption that could affect the SECNET implied there were powerful forces at play.

As the seconds drew on, he felt his gut churn. He checked which ship Kronos had departed on. It was an Z11 Dorceus Class ship named The Unseen Observer. The names of IID starships usually brought a smile to his face, but in this particular case, the name took an unsettling connotation. He tested his connection to the ship and there were no problems. The ship itself was already in orbit around Neptune and it was likely preparing to give the CAG onboard some basic piloting training. If he wanted to, he could access the ship comms and speak to the pilots directly. From there it would just be a quick order and he would be on the horn with his field agent.

No, that’ll be giving up the game. If I reveal myself or my agent, even accidentally, then Kronos could be put on the alert and everything might fall apart.

He snarled at the feeling of impotence. Whoever I’m playing against is good. They’ve boxed me in and now I’m having to respond to their feints instead of launching my own.

Cossus thought about forwarding his report to the Emperor, but ultimately decided against it. It was his job to put down rebellions, and the Emperor didn’t need to be alerted until there was a threat to himself or the Empire and the threat was too far removed to be considered that dire. Rebellion and resistance bubbled all over the Sol System. In each case, Cossus worked to crush it before it could be a real threat.

This is no different, he decided.

He was self-aware enough to know that he was making the decision for selfish reasons. If he told the Emperor his theory, then the ruler of Sol might order Cossus to just destroy Kronos, every person from Hod, and crack the planet for good measure. If that happened, then the Director wouldn’t have the chance to expose the threat and defeat it. In his long life, playing the game against a worthy opponent was the only thing that made life worth living.

He set up an alert so that if his agent became reachable again, he would know immediately.

Your move, he thought to his unknown opponent.