Operation Arrakis: Epilogue: Terra Irregulars by scifantasy Some time after the conclusion of Operation Arrakis, Sci was at one of his regularly-occurring tactical simulations. Some of his staff, as well as one of his friends with a suitably tactical mind, were involved. Sci, Josh Cochran, Sylvana, Thayer, and Becki were sitting around a table, each absorbed in his or her own resources and methods of attack. Each had the probabilities of the various outcomes running through his or her minds, and no one was discounting pure chance. "I'll get another card, and I'll bet ten." Syl threw a chip worth ten Dars into the hand pot and looked around for any takers. Josh, disgusted at his cards, threw his hand of card-chips down. Becki had already folded. Thayer and Sci threw in ten Dars of their own. "Sabacc is pretty complex, you know," said Syl in an effort to psych out her opponents. "What with the randomization factor, a twenty-two can turn into a thirty in seconds." "But this thirty can turn into an Idiot's Array in a few more," Thayer retorted. He was enjoying this afternoon of escape from the constant business of running his country, not to mention his life. He threw in twenty. Syl, worrying that Thayer might not be bluffing, folded. Sci also folded, and gathered up the card-chips. Thayer didn't call the winning combination, which meant the sabacc pot was growing still. Two hours without a revealed pure sabacc or Idiot's Array. Lenka knocked on the door. "Major, I'm sorry to bother you, but Emily and Bethany need to see you." Sci smiled and looked up. "That's all right. Here, play my seat." He vacated the chair as Becki approached and took his place. As Sci left, Lenka looked around the table. Josh and Syl both had large piles of chips. "Looks like Syl's a bit ahead," she commented. Thayer chuckled. "Look down," he advised. Lenka looked at the short pile of chips below her, then double-checked the denominations. She blinked several times at that as the others chuckled. "It's that damn implacability," Josh mumbled as he randomized the cards and dealt. "I can't even pick up anything through the Force." He glanced significantly at Thayer. "Not that I would, naturally. You're not allowed to cheat at Sci's games. Of course, he just left." "Remind me to get a ysalamir, Lenka," muttered Thayer, picking up his cards. Lenka studied her own cards. "How does this game work again?" she asked. "I'm not very good at cards." ------ "Welcome, have a seat," said Sci to the two agents standing in his office. "Computer: Code 'Sanctum.'" As the computer beeped, Sci turned to the women. "We can talk freely now." "Sci..." started Bethany. "Thank you again for this. When we told you that we didn't think that we could continue as active agents, we figured the worst--you might wipe our memories or something. We didn't think you could give us a new assignment like this." "It's not a new assignment," Sci stressed. "It's a new part-time job. You're retiring from Terra Group, and you're going back to your own life. You're just putting something else in there...a little side responsibility." Shortly after the mission was over, Emily and Bethany had come to Sci asking if they could get out--they were tired. "It's incredible," said Emily, "but I actually want to go back to normal life. School actually sounds appealing." Bethany likewise, despite her fantastic time at training, had been badly shaken up by the events in Jerusalem and Baghdad. Both of them had had enough with the secret life, but they understood if Sci couldn't help them walking away with the biggest secret on the planet. Sci had told them that he thought that he could arrange something for them, and told them about one of his private projects. "How do you think I keep on top of everything that goes on on this planet?" Sci had smirked. "I have, let's say, a private cadre of agents. I don't think anyone in NRI knows about it, and I'm reasonably sure no one on the team does either. They're normal people, many friends of mine, who live normal lives--except that they send me information." "You think we can join that?" Emily had been both surprised and intrigued. Now, after some training--and some un-training--and a respectable time lag, they were ready to go. "All right," said Sci. "You'll ship out in a few days. You're all packed?" They nodded. "Very well. You'll get instructions soon. Computer: Cancel 'Sactum.'" They walked out. "Computer," said Sci, "code 'Sanctum.'" As the security systems were reestablished, he placed a call. Terra Group had a very sophisticated sensor system, encrypted with methods that would make RSA look like a substitution cypher. A transmitter hidden in an isolated spot on the island sent a signal to one of the Group's satellites, which was resent--and reencrpyted--to another satellite. This happened a half a dozen times before a signal was sent to the phone network. Here, the standard RSA algorithm was use to encrypt the conversation further. In a few seconds, a click announced the beginning of the conversation. "Irregulars," said Sci. "Here," replied the head of Sci's intel network, the Terra Irregulars. "The two new ones are ready to go." "Fantastic. We could use the footholds in those areas." "Agreed. Meanwhile...Any news on the other search?" "Not a blip since you told us about it." "Keep looking." "Look, we're using up resources for this, and it's a fool's errand. If she's alive she can certainly hide from the likes of us." "Keep. Looking." "I will if you really want to, but..." "I do." His comm beeped, and Sci looked down. "I have another call to make. Keep looking." "Will do, boss." He killed the signal, but kept the connection to the phone network, and quickly dialed another number. When he heard the click, he made his voice as friendly as he could. It was a social call for the moment. "Hi, Jessie," he said. "How's the family?" Jess Mereel smiled a little. "Good, good. Orien's going off to kindergarden soon. We're trying to teach him to be careful about playtime..." "Good luck with that. My friends at work are going to have a real handful until he gets older. How are things with the neighbors?" "We haven't had any problems in a long time. I really should thank you for that--I thought we'd have to worry about them trying to look in on us forever." "Right. I think most of that is taken care of. Is your husband home?" "Sure," she answered. A few minutes later a different voice came on the phone. "Major?" "Jaster," said Sci, mock-annoyed, "do you have to call me that?" "No. But I will anyway." "All right," Sci sighed. "At any rate, I'm just calling to make sure all is well. Like I told Jess, I've pretty much covered your tracks with NRI too. There's no evidence that you're here. But if you ever decide to go back, even for a visit, just let me know and I'll set it up." "Thanks again," replied the man once known as the bounty hunter Boba Fett. "But I don't think I'll be going back any time soon..." "No pressure, naturally. In your shoes I'm not sure I'd want to go back either. Say hi to Orien for me, and tell him that if he doesn't straighten out I'll come back and sneak up on him again." "That won't help. He liked being surprised." "Well, it was a good idea." As the comm system clicked off Sci killed the security and sat in the darkness for a minute. There was that one other concern to take care of in advance. He'd run searches on the Holonet, and the Coruscant General Library, and the hidden archives, on the Elenari. He'd cross-referenced those with searching through the best sources on Terra, and what he'd found had disturbed him--but wasn't all that surprising. Elenari really were the analogues to Elves on Terra. Right down to the oldest legends. The Fair Folk, the Shining Ones, the ones you don't name, the ones who come in the night and take the children... Sci pulled himself out of his reverie and reached for the package that he'd bought on a jaunt. One of the advantages of living on a backwards planet was the conscious effort to keep the past alive, and Terra still had a few people--mostly in the Society for Creative Anachronism--who knew how to make cold-forged iron. He slipped the dagger into a pocket of his uniform. *Just in case,* he told himself. *Just in case...* ------ Sci returned to the game to find Josh more flustered than he had been before--and also almost broke. Lenka, by comparison, had a lot more small- denomination chips. No one else seemed any different, and the sabacc pot was even bigger. "Here," Sci chuckled, splitting off the winnings Lenka had made and pulling up another chair. "You earned it." As he gathered the card-chips to deal, he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lieutenant Emily Janson and Agent Bethany Brown have officially departed Terra Group. With Captain Boyd's--" his voice suddenly had a hitch in it "--departure, we now have several holes in the ranks. I'm open to suggestions."