Degrees of Seperation: Foundations

[Karina Maddoc]

A flash of light came moments before the deafening thud of the mortar round exploding against the concrete of the capital building.

A cake walk he had said. Nothing to worry about. Just get in and play rent-soldier for a few months while the army tried to crush the rebels. Oh and let's not forget the bonus objective.

"Fraking bonus objective." She thought to herself. It sounded like something out of a bad holo game. "Your mission if you choose to except it..." The mocking tone in her head rang out.

"Frak.". She said aloud this time before raising her head just barely over concrete barriers she and the others stuck outside with her were hunkered down behind.

"Okay that's four. On your feet, check for casualties."

It was the usual routine for the rebels. From wherever they chose to set up that day, they would fire off four mortars at the presidential palace before fading back into the urban sprawl before government troops could triangulate and converge. Every day the same thing. The only thing that changed was the time, but that was more then enough to keep everyone on the receiving end on their toes.

Walking toward the main entrance she took the black helmet from her head letting her wavy shoulder length brown hair fall down from where it had been tucked. Running her had through it lightly as she walked toward the communications room she couldn't help but wonder how much longer they were going to be stuck babysitting a man who if the situation was different she might likely kill at the first chance.

"Any word from Olympus?". She asked the tech manning the communications equipment.

"No ma'am.". He pause for a moment. "Ma'am, how much longer we going to be stuck here?"

"Contract's up at months end.". She replied. "And start praying the old bastard doesn't try and extend." She added to herself knowing it was the way they all felt.

"'bout time. Tired of this of this game."

"This is what you signed up for. Welcome to the not always so glamorous life of a private contractor.". She stopped just breifly. "Let me know if anything comes down from the gods."

The tech just nodded as he watched her walk out of the room.

It was what they had all signed on for when the man they all now referred to as Zues came calling. The pay was definately better, but having to protect the bastard they were currently protecting was a definate downside of having joined up with the SSF. Though she hoped that the bonus mission meant that the man who called himself 'The Supreme Ruler' would be getting what was coming to him soon enough.

It was the thought of that, and the well being of the men under her command that kept Commander Karina Maddoc of the Silenus Security Forces going.

[Xavier Synik]

**7 Months Earlier**


"General..." Xavier continued forward and stuck out his hand to shake the one that was extended toward him. "A pleasure to finally meet you in person."

Okay so it was a lie. But sometimes one had to state falsehoods to get what they wanted.

It had been a month and a half previous that he had been approached by a member of General Asteru senior staff. Apparently word of Xavier's spate of hires had begun to filter into the right and wrong ears. While Xavier had been very careful about who the, at the time still semi-secret, Silenus Security Forces, it was obvious that they had picked up a lot of the mercs who certain people like Asteru would have been looking to hire.

And that's what brought the General's senior staff member to contact him. A quick inquiry by them, and a confirmation from Xavier about the fact that they were in fact entering into the security industry, and suddenly Xavier's SSF had they're first clients.

Not that they were really the type that he wanted to be dealing with. The General was the head of a military dictatorship, one which was not against committing what most would consider atrocities against their own populace. However when living in a universe controlled by the Empire, those type of dictatorships were allowed to exist, if not thrive. And unfortunately, good business practice said that telling people that you didn't agree with that you wouldn't deal with them was a bad idea...especially when those people were more common then the group that you did agree with.

And so now he was here in the Presidential Palace meeting with the man himself.

Pulling his hand away after the greeting was completed he took the chair that the General motioned to at the side of the conference table, the General taking the obvious spot at the head.

"So what can the SSF do for you sir?"

"Mr. Synik. I am in need of more troops to support an offensive my military leaders want to undertake in wiping out the rebels."

"With apologies sir, my people are not mercs nor are they meant to be front line troops." Xavier started to explain why he would not be able to do business with him given what the General had just said, but the General held up his hand to stop him.

"I understand that Mr. Synik. I am not looking for your people to be the tip of the spear in this case. However, if you were able to replace my elite Palace Guard with your forces I could re-allocate our own troops to the offensive."

The proposal somewhat caught Xavier off guard. He hadn't expected something like that. Most dictators were paranoid bastards. To think that he would replace his personal security forces with troops that were essentially rentals was amazing to him. But in hindsight, was probably also bad for business to have it get out that you offed the person that you were hired to protect.

"Sir, I believe that would be acceptable. How long are you thinking you will need our services?"


And that was how it had started. The SFF were hired on for a 6 month contract. Their first contract, and a simple protection mission. Or at least that's what it was supposed to have been. It was amazing how even the simplest job could become overly complicated with one simple, and seemingly innocent holo-communication.

[Xavier Synik]

"Mr. Synik, you have a communication coming in for you on a secure channel."

It was the voice of his new assistant. Jax had moved over to be his eyes and ears in the new Security division, and so he had to a replacement that he hadn't had the time yet to break out of the habit of calling him "Mr. Synik".

He hadn't been expecting any business calls this day and so he was currently in the private quarters that he shared with Em, who was on yet another pilgramidge to her beloved Bastel. He had to smirk at the thought, and at the same time wished he could have been there with her.

Walking toward the bedroom to quickly grab a sports jacket to put on so that he didn't appear totally informal for whoever was calling him, Xavier called out to his new assistant over the internal communications.

"Thank you. Please tell them I'll be a couple of minutes and then patch it into my office with the neccissary security protocols. I'll be there shortly."


Less then five minutes later Xavier walked through the private entrance to his office. Expecting a business client, he was quite surprised to find that it was a client of a different sort that now greeted him.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is not a social call?" Xavier said with a playfully sarcastic tone.

"Because it's not." The man who stood virtually in front of his desk replied with the slightly digital tone that always seemed to come with holo-communications.

"Well if your not calling to invite me to a party, to what do I owe the pleasure." He asked as he took his seat behind his desk.

"General Jyn-ni."

"Who?" Xavier hid the surprise that the man knew of the General he had just signed an agreement with. Well maybe it wasn't that much of a surprise.

"We know that you just signed an agreement with him." The man paused for a moment before continuing. "We want you to use the agreement to get someone in place to secure some information for us."

"Go on."

"The General, in an attempt to gain some leverage against the Empire's sector commander in the area should he ever decide to stick his nose, and starships where the General didn't like, purchased some information from a broker. We want it."

"Bastards not as dumb as he looks I guess." Xavier leaned back in his chair. "And do I get anything to make it easier to find then just searching through the General's entire database."

"Not yet, but we're working on it. Oh and there's something else."

"Of course there is...."

For the next 30 minutes Xavier listened as the detaisl of what would soon become the "bonus" objective of the contract was laid out to him. At the end of the conversation he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't been able to find a nice simple job for the company to start with.