Immaculate Deception -- Chapter 1: Revenge Motive

     Magistrate Tolan Pollivar shuffled through an orderly stack of transparencies. His mind was not on their contents, but the Regulator who stood at silent attention before him. He could almost see her mother when he looked into her pale young face.

     Merrina Kilm had been one of the best Procurators he ever had the privilege of working with in his 70 cycles with the Internal Affairs Directorate. Brilliant, calculating and beautiful. Officers in the highest echelons of the Peacekeeper services feared her, with good reason. If she could not ferret out a hidden truth through traditional methods of investigation, espionage or torture, she would use her not inconsiderable sexual gifts.
     In atypical fashion, Pollivar had cared for Kilm. He would have even gone so far as to admit it was passion he felt. He sired a child on her when they were both young Regulators. The child had been culled due to inferior intelligence. Pity. When they were selected for breeding, IAD held lofty hopes a future High Magistrate would come of their coupling. That it did not was a profound embarrassment, even after all these cycles.
     Within a cycle of their child’s culling, Kilm made a tragic mistake. Her transgression cost her both her career and life. Following her selection for breeding with a renowned admiral, she did the unthinkable. Throwing away cycles of training, commendations and a secure future with IAD, Kilm disobeyed standard Peacekeeper High Command policy. She altered assignment schedules in order to be with the admiral to whom she had borne a child. She fell foolishly under his spell and died because of it. Condemning her of treason was the hardest single act Pollivar had ever done.
     Admiral Neleu EL-Vashti was considered blameless in the sordid affair, though Pollivar had tried his damnedest to bring him down. It would’ve been a modest compensation for the pain of condemning Kilm. EL-Vashti was the hero of the Scarran war, the Llundelan brush wars and responsible for the quelling of anarchists on Delvia. No Tribunal would have put such a decorated hero into the dock for a dalliance, however scandalous.
     Fifteen cycles ago when the young Regulator was first assigned to the IAD as a cadet, Pollivar looked into her sealed genetic records. He discovered what he’d already guessed. She was Kilm and EL-Vashti’s daughter.
     Liliina EL-Vashti had her mother’s pale skin, dark eyes and hair, the same slender frame and deadly intellect. However, the similarities ended there. Her arrogance, coldness and vicious instinct for the kill all came from her father. Pollivar would have detested her on general principle even if she were not EL-Vashti’s daughter. That she was also Kilm’s child was the only reason he had not found some way of destroying her.
     He continued to let her stand at attention, ignoring her and purposely procrastinating. Let her wait. Sensing her nearness to promotion to Procurator, she had gotten very high-handed. She was long overdue for an attitude adjustment. Though he despised her, he would be the first to admit she had outstripped her mother in the IAD. She was an exceptional Regulator. In her cold, methodical way, she always managed to get information more quickly than many of their veteran interrogation Teams.
     People feared her, not because of any great power she wielded, for she had little as a Regulator, the bottom of the IAD chain of command. It was her utter lack of sentimentality in her methods. She did not have a squeamish bone in her body and would resort to torture in an instant should her subject prove uncooperative. She had a talent for torture and its devices that bordered on the perverse. Destroying herself through sexual passion or love as her mother had would never be a problem for Liliina EL-Vashti. She was one hard as stone, frigid tralk.
     Of course everyone feared IAD personnel, with good reason. Peacekeeper IAD could bring down commanders in the highest military echelon on the merest whisper of wrongdoing. They had frightful power, but walked a dangerous tightrope themselves. How did a Regulator become a Procurator, or a Procurator advance to Imperator? How were Magistrates selected from the corps of Imperators? Competition was tight and oftentimes advancement relied on how clever an IAD officer was at cutting the throat of his fellows, not how worthy. But, then didn’t cleverness make one worthy?
     Pollivar exhaled noisily, finally sparing the waiting Regulator a scathing look. She was almost as beautiful as her mother, but the cold black eyes were enough to freeze out any man. She was taller than most Sebacean women and slender, almost frail. She was not a fighter. . .at least she didn’t look like one. IAD didn’t conscript individuals into service for their brawn, but for brains. Grunts were meant for the commando regiments. The intellectuals were meant for something greater.
     “Liliina EL-Vashti,” he said suddenly. She did not startle. He was disappointed somehow and knew he should have been ashamed at his pettiness.
     “Yes, Magistrate Pollivar.” Flat, unemotional, but respectful.
     “You have been summoned here for a particular mission. The normal channels of command are being set aside in this case due to its delicate nature.” He instructed. “We have received a very disturbing report from a member of the Special Research Directorate--Scorpius--concerning possible treason on the part of a command carrier captain. Bialar Crais is his name. It has something to do with an incident a little more than half a cycle ago. A project Captain Crais developed himself. The impregnation of a Leviathan with a Gunship offspring.”
     “I am familiar with the incident, Magistrate.” She acknowledged.
     “Good. You shall become even more familiar.” He replied. “Apparently there was a question as to the success of the project due to sabotage by a Leviathan Research Division Technical Lieutenant. The traitor, Velorek, was questioned by IAD at the time, but he died without revealing his complicity in the matter.
     “Scorpius asserts that Captain Crais may not have been as forthright as first believed when questioned about the incident. He suggests that Crais may actually have been in alliance with the traitor Velorek. He further states that the impregnation of the Leviathan in question may have been a covert plot to make off with the vessel.”
     “Why would any Captain in good standing risk his career and life on such a foolhardy mission?” she asked, dark eyebrows knitted. “No one could hope to evade our fleet in a mere Leviathan.”
     “That is for you to find out, Regulator EL-Vashti.” He said. “These are the materials in the case.”
     He handed her the stack of transparencies he’d been shuffling. “You will also be required to question Scorpius further prior to your departure for the Mhultaan, Captain Crais’ ship. Your Team is assembling and all necessary equipment is being readied aboard your transport.”
     “Yes, Magistrate,” she said.
     “EL-Vashti, prepare yourself.” He advised her, leaning forward with elbows on his desk and fingers steepled in front of his face. “Scorpius is not. . . a full Sebacean. He is half Scarran. His appearance will no doubt…take you by surprise.”
     Revulsion. Discomfiture. Finally, he had managed to pierce that cold armor.
     “He is, however, a valued member of the SRD and a brilliant scientist. You are to treat him with the utmost care.” He warned her. “He has friends. Powerful friends. Your own father was his patron. Take that into consideration as you proceed on this case.”
     “Yes, Magistrate.”
     “You are dismissed Regulator EL-Vashti.”
     Pollivar watched as she spun stiffly on her heel and left his office, spine ramrod straight. She would get her attitude adjustment with this no-win case. No matter the ending, someone would want her head on a jinka pole. Having questioned Scorpius himself, Pollivar had no doubts what would happen should the half-breed’s agenda not be met. It would be a shame to lose such a gifted Regulator.



     Liliina EL-Vashti smelled Scorpius before she actually saw him; a sickly sour smell almost like fresh baked bread. The stench of malnutrition and disease. Her stomach tightened as she walked farther into the darkened interrogation room. The skin beneath her red and black IAD uniform prickled and fine hairs stood on end when she perceived slight movement in the far end of the room.      A shifting of paler shadows among darker ones.
     “You must be the Regulator,” he said. His voice was like a harsh abrasive dragged along tender skin. “I’ve been waiting for more than an arn.”
     “Apologies, Scorpius,” she said, trying to sound unshaken. “I was detained in a meeting with Magistrate Pollivar. He has apprised me of the facts in this case.”
     “Make this quick, if you please.” He said coming fully out of the shadows and sitting in the only chair in the room. “Matters of utmost importance await me on the Gammak Base.”
     “To be sure, sir.” She said, still standing near the doorway.
     His body was completely encased in a bizarre environmental suit, leaving only portions of his grayish-white, wrinkled face exposed. Some sort of electronic devices protruded from his cowled head roughly where Sebacean ears would be, red lights shining in the dimness. He crossed spindly legs, the long tails of the thermic suit falling at odd angles around the chair. With great effort, she approached him.
     "Well?" he demanded, revealing a mouth filled with hideously discolored teeth.
     "I need certain particulars if I am to proceed with the investigation of Captain Bialar Crais." She began.
     "Young woman," he interrupted scathingly. "I have given a great deal of detailed information to your Magistrate Pollivar already. Am I to be inconvenienced by repeating it all to you?"
     "Regulator!" she snapped without thinking first. "You will address me by my proper title, Scorpius."
     A twisted sneer crept onto Scorpius' face and EL-Vashti knew immediately that she hated this horrid abomination. Every fiber of her being, every ounce of Peacekeeper training made her wish to squash him like an insect.
     "It is my duty to inform you that hampering my investigation in any manner whatsoever will put you at risk." She stated the IAD hard line to him, angry now and more than willing to pull rank.
     Scorpius laughed, a sound like the claws of a bird scratching on metal, then purred sweetly, "Very well. . .Regulator. By all means, please proceed."
     He was amused with her. She could sense it in his patronizing manner. She knew in that instant whatever charges and allegations this half-breed freak had leveled against Crais were false. It wasn't so much the evidence in the case, but her instincts that told her Scorpius was just another powerful Peacekeeper seeking revenge against an enemy.
     "Please start at the beginning of your involvement in the matter." She said. "I need names, dates and all other relevant information you have."



      Scorpius spun a twisting story of intrigue. His words painted Crais as a subtle but brilliant anarchist. He cited the Captain's birth and upbringing on an agricultural commune colony outside Peacekeeper territory; not all that unusual but a point which IAD noted with interest, ever mindful of conscripts. He listed a number of questionable actions committed by Crais leading to the most serious: collaboration with Velorek. It was a damning case taken as a whole, but still the doubt that originally formed in her mind did not ebb. Scorpius was up to something. Revenge, obviously. She could be certain of nothing else.
     Standing outside the office of Procurator Tev Dulan, she considered carefully what questions she needed answered. Seeking information from a fellow IAD Agent was always a ticklish affair. Her reputation was well known and only her powerful family name guaranteed her any respect whatsoever among her fellows. House EL-Vashti was one of the Founding Four families from the Peacekeeper's earliest days. Its membership included admirals, governors and royalty. Though she had been raised in a barracks along with others bred for the ranks, no one would dare offend her for fear of retribution. The patrilineal Peacekeeper system had given her that much.
     She pressed the signaler beside the door. It slid open after a microt and she strode into the outer office. She eyed the aide behind the reception desk coldly.
     "I need to speak with Procurator Dulan." She said.
     "I will announce you, Regulator," replied the aide.
     She did not have to wait long before the short, stocky form of Dulan bustled into the outer office.
     "Regulator EL-Vashti," he grinned officiously. "What brings you through my door this fine day?"
     "Dulan, I know you're the one who tried to break the traitor, Velorek," she stated icily. "Unsuccessfully by all accounts."
     "My team handled that case, yes." He admitted more than a little embarrassed by her remark and angered at her condescending nature. He hid it with a shaky smile.
     "I need to know everything that went on between you and Velorek, and all details of interrogations with Captain Bialar Crais." She went on.
     "Why, Regulator?" Dulan asked observing the courtesy of rank even if she did not. "Is the case being reopened? Are there charges against Captain Crais now?"
     "Simply answer my questions, Dulan." She replied. "Anything else is irrelevant to you."
     "Please, come inside," he motioned her into his private office. "Have a seat."
     "I won't be here that long," she said.
     Dulan eyed her callously but said nothing. He outranked this sanctimonious tralk, but her family was far too powerful. He had enough sense to keep his mouth shut and not cause trouble for himself. He sat stiffly behind his desk looking at her.
     "The matter of the traitor Velorek?" she prompted impatiently.
     "Yes, of course." He said. "Apparently, Captain Crais discovered Technical Lieutenant Velorek's conspiracy to block the project he had been assigned to. More specifically, Velorek was accused of somehow interfering with the conception process when Captain Crais was endeavoring to impregnate a Leviathan with a Gunship offspring."
     "Yes, yes Procurator Dulan," she interrupted. "I am already familiar with these facts. I need more in-depth information. Did Velorek in any way implicate others in the matter?"
     "Velorek implicated no one." Dulan replied. "He withstood our methods in complete silence and died unexpectedly during a simple mind-probe procedure. It was discovered through the autopsy that he suffered an allergic reaction to the medication we used for the probe, causing paralysis, asphyxia and cardiac arrest. My Team physician was unable to counteract it. Unfortunate, really. We might have made headway with the mind-probe."
     "And Captain Crais?" she prompted when Dulan fell silent.
     "He was beside himself with fury, as you can image. That type of betrayal on a project so valuable to First Council." He replied. "He completely lost his composure, I must say. I thought he would tear the lab apart when Velorek died."
     "He was present during Velorek's interrogation process?" asked EL-Vashti in disbelief.
     "We couldn't very well have kept him from it," Dulan answered. "As I said, he was almost completely out of his mind with rage. He had Velorek's entire team--with the exception of the commando who piloted their transport and a female Tech--brought up on charges. Of course they were all executed."
     "Out of his mind with rage," she repeated thoughtfully. "Could it have been an act of some sort? Did you get any scans on him at all?"
     "The scans all showed what you would expect, and we believed his emotions were genuine." Dulan said. "As you probably already know, Crais was a conscript from a remote agricultural colony. He's a first-genner. No house, no family of any note, nothing. He made his way up to command level through sheer determination and devotion to duty. He's a complete political animal. The impregnation of the Leviathan with a Gunship offspring would have made him, possibly even put him in line for the Admiralty. It would have been the coup of a dozen lifetimes."
     EL-Vashti considered this silently for several microts. She began to pace Dulan's office like a caged animal. He watched her lithe form, but without any real appreciation. She was poisonous, pure and simple. As a rule, the IAD bred within its ranks. He suffered a secret dread they would be selected for procreation. The very thought of the mating process with this woman made his mivonks shrivel.
     "Are you saying you suspect there is a possibility he was somehow involved then?" she asked.
     "Instinct reaction?" he said. "No. Not at all. However, the matter of the promotion of the Tech. . . "
     "What Tech?" EL-Vashti snapped leaning farther toward him. "The one spared from Velorek's team?"
     "Darinta Larell," Dulan replied.
     He tapped his security code into the control pad of his holoviewer. Data flashed to life before him. He scrolled down the list of files until he found the one he was looking for. He selected it and the image of a female around forty-five cycles appeared above the desk.
     "This is the Tech?" EL-Vashti questioned stepping back, scrutinizing the red holo image as it revolved.
     "Yes." Dulan answered. "The day Velorek was arrested, Crais promoted her to the rank of lieutenant and put her into the traitor's former position."
     "And the informant," EL-Vashti said. "What's her story?"
     He selected another file and the person in question appeared between them in profile.
     "Officer Aeryn Sun. No promotion. No significant action at all on Crais' part. She was simply returned to prowler detail," Dulan replied. "It was her original posting until Velorek's team was assigned to Crais' project. She had been reassigned to pilot the cargo vessel ferrying equipment and personnel for the team. Returning to her prowler division was the price she demanded for trapping the traitor."
      "Is it possible either of these women is guilty of collaboration with Velorek? Or with Crais in some scheme we've yet to uncover?" She asked thoughtfully.
      "Larell is Crais' creature, plain and simple." Dulan said with distaste. "Whatever she did and received in return was out of pure loyalty to Captain Crais."
      "And the prowler pilot?" she questioned, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched Aeryn Sun's image turning atop the desk.
     "Oh, she's a grunt." Dulan chuckled as he turned off the holoviewer. "Just another commando pilot in the Pliesar Regiment. She trapped Velorek to return to flying prowlers when she could have demanded far more. She's nothing."
     "How far did the interrogation go with Crais?" she asked finally, coming to a stop and facing him again. She leaned toward him with her fingertips on his desk.
     "Not as far as I would have liked." Replied Dulan. "The Admiralty felt Crais was not culpable in the matter. A fact that kept his head on his shoulders, I can tell you. Quite a lucky turn of events."
He trailed off and she nodded in agreement. Without another word she left his office. Dulan breathed a sigh of relief.
     "For the frelling love of Cholok," he whispered to himself as he wiped the perspiration from his forehead.



     Letting herself into her quarters she found her lover there waiting for her. A breech of etiquette and even standard Peacekeeper practices, but she allowed it.
     She found her alliance with her Team's physician more fulfilling than any relations she experienced before. It was more than their physical compatibility. In a position that involved constant subterfuge and the hatred of those she served with, she could trust him. Jinn Khetyr was the one person in the universe she could trust with her life and had many times over. Having someone to watch her back made life easier. Exercising due caution and taking full advantage of her position in the IAD hierarchy, she managed to avoid investigation for their two-cycle-long relationship.
     "Where have you been?" he demanded as he took her roughly into his arms and kissed her.
     "Interviewing an abomination by the name of Scorpius and that weakling, Dulan." she replied pulling away from his embrace. "I hope you've gotten your things together. We're off to the Mhultaan in two arns."
     "A command carrier?" he asked following her with his eyes. "What is this about?"
     "Scorpius has made serious allegations against Captain Crais," she explained as she began stuffing spare uniform articles into a jump bag. "He claims Crais is plotting anarchy and we're the lucky ones who get to find out who's trying to frell whom. Wonderful, yes?"
    "Not another one of these frelling revenge motive cases," Khetyr sighed and flopped heavily down onto a floor cushion. "You know this is going to end up as arns of torture with no useable information. In the end we're going to look like thoddos, the truth about the motive will come out and we'll have dren all over us for smearing a command carrier armada captain of otherwise good standing."
     "We've survived these cases before," she said zipping up her jump bag. "This one will be no different. I smelled revenge the microt I laid eyes on that monster, Scorpius."
     "I've heard of Bialar Crais." Khetyr said. "He's very powerful and popular with the Admiralty and High Command. So is Scorpius; prominent scientist with the SRD and all that dren. How the satra do you think he's tolerated by High Command otherwise? Talk about irreversible contamination! This has the probability of landing us all on the torture table."

     "Well, just let me worry about that, all right?" she smiled tossing her bag by the door and joining him on the floor cushion. "I'm guessing I'll get Procurator out of this one."