[sachmo]

"Eliminate the Tyrean colony. Until further notice, treat all Tyreans as hostile."

Chief of Corporate Security Bill Langley looked up from the video console and into the face of the security agent who had delivered the recording to him. The man looked as if he wished he could be anywhere but in this room.

"You've told no one else about this, Sweers?" Langley asked.

The nervous agent started at his superior blankly for a moment, then jolted into reality.
"That's right, sir. No one else knows. I'm sure of it."

Langley nodded and rewound the recording, watching it one more time. There again was the Board Chairman, the most powerful man in the Invexus Corporation, and therefore in Cherek society, ordering the death of six million Tyrean colonists. It was almost too fantastic to believe, but the reality was right in front of him.

He ran through the story which the Board Chairman had sold the public in his head. The Tyreans had colonized a planet, Fortress Odahir Two, in Harridan system. This system had previously been claimed by the Invexus Corporation. After repeated attempts by Invexus to reach a diplomatic solution to the issue of planet ownership, a Fleet Services Task Force had been ordered to the system to protect the Invexus planet already colonized. When the Invexus task force reached Harridan, they were engaged by a Tyrean fleet. The Invexus ships gained the upper hand in the battle, and had persued the surviving Tyrean ships to the Fortress Odahir Two, where they were engaged by ground based defense bases and the surviving Tyrean ships. In the ensuing battle, the colony on Odahir Two had been destroyed, but at the cost of the entire Fleet Services Task Force 7. Four brave ships destroyed.

On the masses were told of this, support for the war was a forgone conclusion. They were behind the Board Chairman one hundered percent.
Now, Langley held the truth in his hand. The war was a lie.

There had been no Tyrean ships that intercepted Task Force 7. They had been ordered to orbit the Tyrean planet for a bit of gunboat diplomacy. When the Tyreans refused to parley with the Board Chairman, he ordered the Task Force to destroy the colony. Unfortunately for them, there was a previously undetected minefield surrounding the planet, and it was activated before the colony was completely destroyed. The minefield destroyed all of the ships in the Task Force, but there was no self defense in this action. It was a shameful attack on a neutral colony, and now people on both sides were dying. Tyrean agents were running rampant throughout Cherek space, wrecking all sorts of havoc. They had even seized an Invexus Cruiser, which destroyed two other Invexus ships before it could be destroyed. And it was all for the ego of one man, because of some perceived insult.

Langley knew that his duty was to protect the company. Normally, this would translate into keeping the Board Chairman safe from harm, and with the tenacity of the Tyrean agents who were after him, that had been a rough job recently. Now, it was clear to him that when the Board Chairman himself was a danger to the Corporation, it was his duty to eliminate the threat. However, he wasn't so naive to believe that the most powerful man in this quadrant would just willingly hand himself over to the authorities. He needed to gather his allies before he made his move.

He locked his steel gaze on the agent standing before him. "Agent Sweers, it seems we have come to a fork in the road. On one path, we fight the Tyreans in a galactic war. We don't know how that will end, but millions have already died, and it has only just begun. On the other path, we bring a lie to an end, and possibly ignite a civil war that could destroy the Cherek race. Which one would you take?"

Sweers began to shake as the enormity of the situation washed over him. "I-I-I think we should do...we should do what is right. We should protect the corporation, sir." With that, he began to cry.

Langley gently eased his pistol back into it's holster and slowed his breathing. Agent Sweers was his first ally. He hoped that he would be able to find more, and quickly. Otherwise, the truth would no longer matter.

He began to activate his web of agents whom he hoped were loyal, and had them transmit a message to the Tyrean Federation. He had to see if they would even listen to what he had to say.