Durgama Takeover

'The first thing I found odd was the way the ALEPH troopers moved in - they didn't even bother with trying to keep the pretense of their parley going. It was like they were expecting their ambush - we were able to adapt, but they took the initiative.'

'I decided to get my Barid and Ghulam team set watch over one of the more open areas of the battlefield - try and get them to paint targets for our Shaytaniyah.'

'Hearing from a Fiday that a flank of our foes was protected by only a meager mercenary force, I took an aggressive position alongside Yara and another trooper.'

'I wasn't especially surprised by the engagement so far - ALEPH forces are known to be sharp, and the initial shots weren't anything out of the unusual.'

The Asawira rumpled his face for a moment, paused, and then continued.

'This is where things started to get strange, Commander.'

'Instead - the Fiday's strike was deflected by the armor of the Dakini.'

'I have worked with Fidays for years, Commander - they do not make mistakes of this kind.'

Avci could clearly tell that Commander Bahjat wanted to interject. He didn't let him.

'With what was in essence a clear line of fire, the OSS squadron easily defeated the security measures on our supplies, and started to retreat having stolen them.'

'Whatever they had set out to do here, they had done with ease - every single thing we tried to do to stop them failed.'

'I've been reviewing the footage for hours, both before and after I put in my report.'

The Commander looked somewhat bemused.

'I'll be honest, Lieutenant - all this sounds like incompetency to me - what makes you think that this is the work of some unknown, undetected ALEPH penetration of our systems?'

Avci was expecting such a response, but it angered him none the less.

'You may insult me, Commander, but do not dare insult my men. They bled out there, and I've fought with some of them with years.'

The Asawira stood up, trying to keep his anger contained.

'They are not incompetent.'

'Lieutenant Avci, sit back down.'

Avci begrudgingly obliged.

'Commander, believe what you want, but the only way that OSS force could have knew our plan to ambush, could have tricked a Fiday into attacking at a strongpoint of their armor, and could have so easily and consistently defeated our hacking attempts.'

'This will happen again unless we investigate this - and out of all the foes we have faced, ALEPH certainly has the resources and capability to infiltrate our communications and systems.'

Commander Bahjat looked troubled - trying to weed out such an infiltration would be costly and difficult, and the only proof he had been presented was the word of this Asawira.

He sighed. He had some remaining goodwill left with the rest of High Command - goodwill that would be evaporated if he ignored the Lieutenant and it turned out he was right. Goodwill that would better spent improving their security and getting rid of rats - be them electronic or physical.

'I'll investigate this Lieutenant - for the time being, we will switch to the appropriate protocols for compromised communications.'

The Commander let his shoulders loosen and his body sink into his chair as the Asawira stood up and left without another word. He had managed to get through the meeting without having the Lieutenant punch him in the face, so it was a success as far as he was concerned.

The more he thought about the Asawira's claim of ALEPH system intrusions, the he found it compelling. The actual presented evidence was coincidental, but he had dealt with Asawiras before, and he knew that the only thing that can beat their sense of pride is their sense of duty. An Asawira would not lie about such a matter, even if admitting that he was thoroughly defeated wounded his pride.

Commander Bahjat started to take notes and right things down. He was not looking forward to his next meeting with the rest of High Command, but he did not have a choice.