While the Church of Arkhan was busy assimilating the various cults, the Arcadian Intel Corps was busy fermenting resistance in the outlying worlds of the UGN. The Core Worlds were all nestled in one particular side of the Galaxy and had spread their nations’ influence like the twisting branches of a tree. Thus, the farther out you went from the galactic North-West, the more worlds belonging to the UGN and its members would be found that were having difficult times. The invasion from the Angelus Holy Union had further soured relations between the Outer and Core Worlds, with the fact that the UGN military left them to die being one of the main issues.

These worlds were still chock full of refugees with nowhere to go. They had lost everything in their flight from death, and now exactly eighty systems were nothing more than glorified refugee camps that had been mostly ignored by even the system governments. Such massive tent cities and shanty towns were places where radicals and firebrands could gain massive followings and places where black markets and other criminal enterprises were able to take root. These worlds were ripe for demagogues to rile up the populace, and the Arcadian Intel Corps were more than happy to light the powder keg.

…

“How long do we have to wait for the corrupt and decadent leadership in their ivory towers to treat us with any degree of respect?! The answer is; FOREVER! They will never view us as anything more than mangy curs to be kept far away! They do this because they fear our power and they fear that we, the people, will one day rip the nations our ancestors built from the elites who have stolen them from us! Rise up! Show the Corporate Stooges that run the UGN that we are NOT their slaves! Show the puppets whose gilded strings are pulled by the 1% that we are NOT going to be their pawns any longer! Rise Up and take back this world for the People!”

For the third month in a row, a single Human stood up on his soapbox above the teeming masses of unshaven and hungry refugees. For three months he had acted as the firebrand and for three months he had given out food, fresh water, clothes and medicine smuggled from Arcadia to the people whose number grew daily. His mission, and the mission of the others like him sent to this world, was to stir the people up. It was a gradual process, but one that was proceeding smoothly.

Every day that passed resulted in more people ignoring the government soup kitchens that demanded payment for even a single bowl of soup and instead coming to listen to him and receive relief for their needs. The phrase, “Hearts and Minds” was the name of the game. Building up support was a process he was good at, and being a decent orator was a nice bonus.

“Move aside, you filth!”

Planetary police, or rather, thugs from the planetary governor, shoved their way through the crowd, using stun sticks to smack people aside with brutal force.

‘Jackpot!’ the Human firebrand thought as he saw the mob struggle to make space.

“YOU! You are under arrest for instigating insurrection! Your life is forfeit; prepare for summary execution!”

The Firebrand gestured towards the thugs.

“Do you see, good people? This is how much they care for you! They send their murderers and butchers to silence anyone who would try and give you the power to make your own path, your own destiny! They want you to be cowardly little babes, too afraid of their might to even dream of taking back what is rightfully yours!”

“STOP THAT!”

“I will NOT stop! The Truth will come out! Even if you strike me down, someone else will come and take my place! The people will retake what is theirs, and no one can stop that from happening! You may delay it, but you cannot stop the inevitable!”

*BANG!*

A bullet from the thugs ripped through the firebrand’s shoulder, but he stood tall despite the pain.

“See?! They will murder me, and then they will murder you! If you do not resist, they will eventually come for YOU next!”

*BANG!*

Another shot tore through his leg.

“Resist! Rise Up, or you will forever be nothing more than a slave!”

The head thug tried to aim his gun again but was hit with a flying rock.

“WHO THE FUCK JUST SIGNED THEIR DEATH WARRANT?!”

The chief thug wheeled around and began to fire wildly into the crowd. As if on cue, the mob went crazy. In that one action, that one act of anger, the worldwide riot began. Like a match touched to a mass of straw, the fires of insurrection began to spread. The planetary shantytown had been turned into a worldwide orgy of violence and destruction. Even the planetary governor up in his orbital space station got spooked and fled the system after the UGN refused to send anything to help deal with the revolution.

In the rampage, the Arcadian Intel Corps extracted their agents and sent new ones in to help direct the rioting mobs. Evelyn Norn could not have been more thrilled at the result, though her icy demeanor would never let her joy be known. Everything was proceeding according to plan, and soon enough more refugee planets would rise up in bloody revolt. Eventually the UGN would have to respond, and both Evelyn Norn and Drakz Blackmane looked forward to the day when they could help organize guerrilla fighters and more militaristic revolutionary parties.

79 worlds were left. 79 worlds ripe for rioting and rebellion. 79 worlds that were filled to the bursting with the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the generally disenfranchised. To Evelyn Norn this was like a walk in the park. The way things were on those planets was just too perfect; it was an environment ripe for exploitation. Her only issue was dealing with the Urk Consortium.

Those sorry excuses for criminal scum had indeed made the initial process of setting up far more difficult, but wiping out a few tens of branches of the Urk Consortium was an activity that was certainly quite a welcome diversion for her agents. After their ‘emissaries’ had made such costly blunders and had tried to ruin Arcadia, no one cared for the lives of a bunch of gangsters, slavers and generally horrid people. Not even after so much time had passed was it enough to make Arcadia forget the actions and intentions of the Urk Consortium, and Evelyn was more than happy to have a few of the branch heads captured for ‘questioning’.

But even still, the main prize was those remaining 79 planets. Just a slight push to the façade, just a single spark in just the right place could and would set those planets ablaze with the flames of revolution. And of course, when enough planets had risen up the fun would truly begin.

Evelyn’s frozen expression slipped a bit before returning to its expressionless form once again.

“What did Lord Arkhan say again? ‘All according to keikaku,’ was it?”