7 Months Ago. May 30th, 2267. 14:45 Xenuian Infiltration Headquarters – Green Space

Elias was sitting on a bench and enjoying the fresh air. There was precious little greenery in this old industrial park. He had come to thoroughly enjoy this little slice of heaven. It had been a hectic week, but entirely productive.

Dale Rosberg held his own and won the debate two nights ago. His responses were sharp, on point, and brilliant. In short, it was a perfect debate for him, in stark contrast to one of his opposition candidates who decided to throw in the towel because of their performance.

Not all was perfect regarding Elias’ attempt to subvert the election. William Marven, a first-time candidate, also had an excellent showing. Data on this man was in short supply, and what information they did have was effectively unusable. The man was both a boy scout and a brilliant businessman.

Worse yet, his responses were curiously witty and resonated with the viewers. All of the political analysts within the colony expected Dale to have a strong showing because of the business-centric theme. No one at all expected William to have as good a showing, much less any degree of goodness in general.

“There you are,” Constantine said as he stepped out into the courtyard, “I find it fascinating that grass is almost the same in every habitable world.”

“It’s the strangest thing. It’s present in virtually all worlds. Most of the time it’s green though there are some exceptions to the rule. None of the grass here is from Earth either, it’s all Vosturan,” Elias took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he looked up at the sky, “How can I help you today, Constantine?”

“I bring some troubling news.”

Elias opened his eyes and looked at Constantine, “What kind of trouble?”

“It’s more than one item I’m afraid. I’m sure you are aware that alcohol is illegal back home.”

“I am. Imbibing in it on assignment isn’t strictly illegal but it is a worrisome product nonetheless.”

“Imbibing alcoholic drinks is a fairly common pastime for Confederates. My team and I always play it off as recovering alcoholics. That is how we avoid alcohol,” Constantine paused, “I found a bag of hooch, in the early stages of fermentation in our headquarters. It was hidden in one of the storerooms.”

“I presume no one has taken ownership of it?”

Constantine shook his head, “My team finished searching the common areas. We found another batch in the car park. My team is required to wear monitors that provide more data than normal. Specifically, we can detect their blood alcohol content. They haven’t indulged in the devil’s drink.”

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t also have a suspect,” Elias said as he sighed.

“The logistics team are the only purchasers for us…” Constantine let the accusation hang uncomfortably.

“You are implying that Viviana or one of her people are creating this alcoholic beverage?”

“They purchased the goods. Their latest purchase included too much sugar and fruit to justify the demands of the people here. The behavior of far too many people here is beginning to be a concern for me.”

Elias nodded. He was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. There had been a prohibition of consuming alcoholic beverages since the creation of their nation. What was a surprise was someone was making low-quality hooch instead of just purchasing from one of the many liquor stores in the colonial city.

“Tell me Constantine, does the making of hooch make any sense to you?”

“In what manner?”

“Can we both assume the quality of this hooch would be on the low end? Both due to its general nature and due to the lack of knowledge in our people in producing alcoholic beverages.”

“That’s a safe presumption to make,” Constantine agreed, “At the very least I’d find it incredibly surprising that any of our people would be able to make alcohol better than the locals.”

“What if the hooch was made as a means of distracting us? To make the upper leadership waste time searching for more containers of the liquid. If you or I were to want an alcoholic beverage, why not purchase the much higher quality bottles that they sell at the various stores around the colony?”

“I hadn’t…” Constantine’s face contorted as he understood the ramifications of Elias’ statement, “It’s difficult enough to conduct our mission when a portion of our people are conducting a mission against ourselves.”

“I will have a conversation with Viviana when she and I have our meeting later this afternoon. Are you able to spare any of your personal?”

“Is it correct to assume that you want my people to watch the others?”

Elias nodded.

“Linus and Paulus will be shifted on their work. They are excellent at being unnoticed.”

“Speak of this to no one,” Elias said as he stood up and faced Constantine, “Make sure those two are aware that they are only to speak to us regarding their findings.”

Constantine nodded and then quickly exited the green space. Elias stood there, alone, cursing himself. The mission was far from achieved. It was hard for him to understand why anyone would want to drink alcohol. History has shown that it had no redeeming effects. There were good reasons the Xenuian government banned both its consumption and creation.

Worse yet, Elias strongly suspected that someone close to him had a hand in this. Daphne was many things, but she was a terrible liar. She was outspoken in her beliefs, too outspoken for most people. Elias believed it was time for the lovers to have a private dinner this evening.

For now, it was time for him to go back to work. He needed to review security footage and other data. If there was a cancer festering in this team he would need to excise it from their operations as soon as possible.

18:20 Xenuian Infiltration Headquarters – Elias’ Dining Room

Elias’ accommodations within the base were quite nice, all things considered. If his space was in a residential home, it’d be called an in-law suite. The dining room was anything but spacious, but it was a homey enough space.

Daphne was picking at her food. Elias couldn’t tell if she was just wholly uninterested in their conversation or if the meal was in the same way offensive to her. This was, however, quite the norm for her. Elias still believed that she would come around to the notion of being married and having a family, but doubts began to form while off-world whether that was even possible any longer.

The conversation had been nothing but going in circles. Every time Elias tried to engage Daphne she responded with short answers. She made it apparent that this meal was an overly laborious affair.

He tried to engage her once again in conversation, “Do you expect us to run into any financial setbacks here?”

Daphne sighed before taking a bite of a green vegetable, “We could be the richest people on the planet if we changed the settings a bit. There’s nothing they could do about it.”

“Does anyone suspect anything?”

“Not from what I’ve read, in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The execs at the processing company believe their profits are up quarter over quarter. They really should be making more; they are clueless about what we’ve done. We think it’d take at least a year of this skimming operation before they’d notice.”

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“What’s our daily intake?”

“The colony averages about two hundred fifty-thousand transactions that are over a hundred credits each day. We’re getting between ten and fifty cents per each of those transactions,” Daphne smiled, “It helps that everything is going through a singular company.”

“How have they not seen this?”

“Because we’ve induced a rounding error on their side,” Daphne grinned, “They completed a deep dive audit on their systems last year. It’ll be five more years before they have to re-certify their results. A cursory audit wouldn’t catch anything for at least another year in operation. It would show up as a rounding error at the moment.”

Elias took a bite of his steak, “Then that means they’ll be in the dark throughout the mission.”

“I think it may be necessary to skim more as the election drags on. Our candidate is going to need more funding,” Daphne said.

“Have your team look into that, but don’t change anything. I’d like to see a proposal. I’d rather not rock the boat unnecessarily.”

Daphne wanted to roll her eyes at that statement, but she caught herself, “I’ll forward you what my team comes up with.”

Elias nodded, “What can you tell me of the excess sugar and fruit purchases?”

Daphne tensed up as she looked at Elias cautiously. She of course knew about those expenses, but she was surprised that Elias was aware. He had been very hands-off with the purse strings since they got there. If he knew about those purchases, would he know about the others? She drank some milk and looked at him before speaking.

“I wasn’t aware of anything untoward. Why would…”

Elias held a hand up to quiet her, “Don’t lie to me or think me a moron. It was used to make hooch, a rather primitive alcoholic drink.”

“You think I had something to do with it?”

Elias stared daggers at his fiancé, “I’m not sure you were involved in the scheme to make it, but you absolutely knew of it, possibly even at a minimum tacitly approved the purchase. Who wanted it?”

Daphne tossed her blond hair over her shoulder and leaned in towards Elias. His eyes looked briefly down at her top, which was now revealing a surprising amount of cleavage. Surprising in Xenuian standards, not so by Confederate social standards. Elias looked back at her eyes and showed no signs he’d budge.

“Why don’t we retire to…”

“You’re not going to be able to use sex to avoid answering the question. I will get an answer and it will be the truth.”

Daphne’s mood changed immediately, “And what if I don’t help.”

“I’m not above house arrest and reassigning your duties to someone else,” Elias continued to stare down his fiancé, “This is not a game you want to play or have any hope of winning. You will answer truthfully. And you will answer now.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Elias surprised her, she wasn’t able to talk her way out of this situation. But worse than that she was being forced into a corner. She didn’t know what Elias knew of the situation, lying here could have catastrophic consequences.

“Paulus was talking about prison alcohol or something of that nature. Castor made an innocent comment about what it’d taste like. Nemo and Viviana were in on that conversation, and they went shopping later that day. I saw the extra sugar and berries purchased but didn’t put two and two together until earlier this week when I found a bag filled with a purple drink. I do not know who brewed it.”

Elias nodded, “You saw the container they were brewing and said nothing?”

“It doesn’t concern…”

Elias set his knife down loudly on the table, “Everything we do here is concerning. The mission is the most important thing. We cannot afford to lose focus and weaken our ability to do this very important work by becoming drunkards.”

“That’s easy for you to say in your privileged position.”

“What?” Elias said in an exasperated tone.

“You heard me. You and everyone like you have a privileged position in our society.”

“I do not have a privileged position in society. I have had to work for everything I’ve received.”

Daphne tossed her utensils onto the table and shook her head, “Men. All men in our society benefit from not having uteruses. Look at the makeup of this team. I’m the oldest woman at twenty-five. Both Viviana and Katherina are twenty-two and upon return from this mission will be going on family leave once they are married and knocked up.”

“How does that have anything to do with our mission?” Elias slammed his fist on the table, “We were sent here to do something of terrible importance to our nation. We must be successful. Failure is not acceptable.”

“It has everything to do with it, you daft idiot. My future was always to be a mother the moment I was born. Have you ever thought, ‘What if she doesn’t want children?’ You’ve never listened to my concerns.”

“Oh, I’ve heard…” Elias began to speak but was angrily interrupted.

“Right, you heard, but you never listened. I never wanted to be a mother to a dozen children. One, maybe two children at most, would be acceptable. I like working, I like being free to make my decisions. I do not want to be stuck at home raising a gaggle of children, some of which aren’t even biologically yours and mine.”

“There are ways to avoid that. In fact, it isn’t difficult to ask the government to ensure our children be biologically…”

“I don’t want twelve children Elias. I want to be free to make that decision myself. I don’t want the state to forcibly take me and impregnate me. I want to be able to make that decision for myself.”

Elias sighed loudly as he closed his eyes, “Then you must be smart and play the game correctly. When we get back, we need to finalize our wedding plans and also plans for children together.”

Daphne got up and collected her plates and silverware, “You haven’t listened to anything…”

Elias looked up at her and spoke in a stern and authoritative method, “All financial transactions will be sent to Kaius’ team for review. The books will be fully opened, if there are any inconsistencies then I’d suggest opening up about them now instead of later.”

Daphne was about to speak before Elias quieted her with a single gesture, “You are to report to me any purchases of alcohol done by any member of the team. I also expect that on my desk by 08:00 in the morning. Nemo and Viviana are no longer able to go shopping for the time being. Am I clear?”

“Crystal, may I leave?” Daphne said in a huff.

“I would appreciate your company this evening. It’s been too long since we’ve had time to conversate as a couple.”

“The mood for that has been ruined. Besides, you’ve now given me work to do that I need to complete. May I leave?” Daphne’s agitation could barely be contained.

“Very well, have it your way,” Elias said as he watched his fiancé walk towards the door, “Daphne if Kaius does not have access to the financial data and you haven’t provided me with the summary report by 08:00 tomorrow, consider yourself temporarily relieved of your duties and confined to your quarters.”

Daphne spun around and stared at Elias.

“This mission must succeed. If I need to make an example of you I will, nothing else matters my dear,” Elias said sternly.

“There is more to life than a mission,” Daphne said quietly, “But I’m not surprised someone like you is unaware of that. Nevertheless, you and Kaius will have the information as requested on time.”

The door then opened quietly before Daphne walked out. Elias took another bite of his meal, but its taste had been ruined by the conversation. He struggled through another piece of stake before quietly sighing at the outcome of that day.

May 31st, 2267. 09:15 Elias’ Office

Kaius walked into the office and slumped into one of the chairs opposite Elias. He rubbed his eyes as his friend and commanding officer looked up. Daphne had come through and sent both of them the information as requested shortly after midnight. The pair of men had been up nearly nine hours poring through the documents.

“I’m not seeing any siphoning of the money, nor am I seeing any other obvious issues with what the logistics team has been doing,” Kaius sighed, “But I fear this laissez-faire attitude of a surprising number of the crew here is troubling me.”

“There are some irregularities with money, but we’re talking less than a hundred credits a week,” Elias was not only tired but was in a mood, “If I didn’t know any better none of the women on this mission care about it. Look at this damned email, Katherina was suggesting they rent an apartment near the city center.”

“There is a cancer in this team, and I fear that it’s spread,” Kaius said, “I think we’re well past the point of no return.”

“That may be a bit strong my old friend,” Elias said.

“Is it though?” Kaius retorted, “Most of the people outside of this room and Constantine are not behaving like Xenuians ought to.”

“I disagree, but we’re heading in that direction. Fucking hell, why have they behaved thusly?”

“Because we are far away from families. Our social norms are radically different than they are here,” Kaius said rubbing his eyes.

“Television and extra-net use is being restricted for everyone, effective immediately. Work with Constantine to identify what can and can’t be accessed.”

“This won’t be popular with anyone,” Kaius said, “But it’s the right thing to do.”

“Make sure all of the backdoors we’ve exploited aren’t used to bypass the ban. I also want commands installed on every terminal of this base. I want reports on all extra-net usage. When our people have returned to their senses, they will have those privileges back.”

Kaius stood up from his seat, “I wish I had more faith in my fellow countryman, but I for one do not believe they have sufficient sense to understand the error of their ways.”

Elias nodded, “I’m afraid you may be right old friend. It’s time I send a message back to the Legatus, they’d like a status update.”

“Well, I’ll leave you to it while it feels like it’s raining down fecal matter on you. At least our candidate is polling to acquire three-quarters of the votes and we’ve begun utilizing some of their industrial capacity to build the gate.”

Elias managed a small grin, “Let us hope these changes right the ship. My fear is this is the first bump of many, I just hope we aren’t sent overboard in the process.”

The screen on Elias’ terminal appeared to be dimmer than usual. The bright light from behind him was drowning out the screen. On the left-hand side of the screen stood their skimming operations thresholds. He didn’t see it as his eyes were focused elsewhere, but the number displayed there wasn’t one hundred. The actual limit was set to fifty credits.

Kaius nodded as he left the room. Elias spun his chair to look out the window. There was nothing good about the view, which matched his mood. Things were going so well until they weren’t. There was an element within his team that was rebelling against the Xenuian ideals, but worse yet, they were not only receptive to but enthusiastically desiring the Confederate way of life.