"Damn bitch," Lord Dudley cursed as Rachel ended the holocall before he opened a cupboard down the side of his desk, which revealed a safe.
He put his thumb on a fingerprint scanner, and after a confirmation beep, he entered a pin code into a keypad on the door, resulting in another beep. Finally, a holographic screen appeared, which showed his console scanning his iris before a final beep, and the lock on the safe door clicked to signify that the safe was unlocked.
He opened the safe and withdrew a data drive, which he then plugged into a slot on his console, which scanned the data drive before opening a new holographic screen and making a holocall, which was answered after a few seconds.
"Is there a problem, Lord Dudley? You were told only to contact us using the data drive if it was something serious," A distorted voice asked from the black holographic screen.
"Well, that depends. Would you call the TISF blockading my planet and a member of the Ororis family arriving to perform a planetary audit a problem?" Lord Dudley asked sarcastically, though his face was still filled with anger.
The black screen was quiet for a moment before the distorted voice said, "Yes, that I would class as a problem. Do you know why they're here all of a sudden?"
"No, they didn't tell me, wasn't your person on the emperor's council supposed to keep my planet's affairs out of anyone's interest?"
"Yes, and so they have been doing, however, they have said nothing about Trillion suddenly receiving a planetary audit, which leads me to think this was something decided without their knowledge, which is concerning."
"Of course it's concerning, now, how do you plan to fix this. Your part in our deal was to keep Trillion out of anyone's interest, so fix this."
"Calm yourself, Lord Dudley. I will contact our representative within the Emperor's council, and we will look into this matter. For the time being, I suggest you play along with the audit while keeping anything about our operation secret."
"Then I suggest you look into this quickly. I doubt we can keep the operation hidden for long." Lord Dudley said before he ended the holo call.
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In a dark room, the outline of the man who had just been talking to Lord Dudley could be seen tapping the desk his console lay upon.
"First Dexter and now Trillion, they can't be related, can they? I mean, the issue with Dexter was down to that idiot boy, however, that doesn't explain why Trillion suddenly has a planetary audit."
After thinking for a few minutes, the man took out a data drive from his own safe before inserting it into his console and starting a holocall.
"What is it?" A distorted voice asked from the black holographic screen as the call connected.
"We have a problem with Trillon. The emperor has suddenly decided to conduct a planetary audit there."
"How did you miss this?"
"I was not informed about any planned planetary audit. It seems the emperor decided this himself, he even sent a member of the Ororis family as the auditor and has blockaded the planet."
"The Ororis family are insignificant; however, it is suspicious that you, as a member of the emperor's council, were not informed about the planetary audit. I wonder what caused this.
Has anything else of significance happened?"
"Only that brat instructing Dexter to go after that ship, because of that, I had to pull Dexter out before the Ororis family came for him."
"So that's why the TISF went after that ship, how foolish. If this derails our plans in the Sandanar Galaxy, that brat will have to pay.
What are we getting out of Trillion at the moment?"
"Honestly, very little. We used to conduct some of our experiments there, however, with the new research station, the project was moved off-world. They do still send new test subjects to the research station, however, but they recently stopped sending credits after those in charge were killed. Lord Dudley was in the middle of finding a suitable replacement for the Parks family."
"Wait, the newscast report about the Parks family from Trillion skytowers being killed was actually our credit makers on Trillion?"
"That's correct."
"And you didn't think that was worth reporting?"
"At the time, no, my sources in Trillions' lower levels say the Parks died because the brat Max paid a gang to kidnap the woman of the ship's captain."
"Stupid brat, wasn't he already getting his cock wet enough from all those hookers he was fucking on his streams?
So all we are getting from Tillion now are slaves, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Then I don't see any more use for them since we can get slaves from almost any planet. Contact our person on Trillion and order them to enact the ghost protocol before pulling out."
"The ghost protocol, are you sure?"
"Yes, Trillion has served its purpose, and with them facing a planetary audit, we can't risk the Terrans finding anything."
"Understood, however, to get them out, we will have to sacrifice someone in the TISF."
"That's not an issue, there are plenty more."
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"If you don't want your drug addiction to become public knowledge, listen to me and do as instructed." A distorted voice from a black screen said coldly before ending the holocall.
"Fuck," a female Terran cursed before using her console to access the file regarding persons authorised to bypass the Trillion blockade and inputting a new individual.
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"You're instructed to initiate the ghost protocol."
"Understood. How do I leave the planet with the blockade?"
"That's being taken care of."
"Very well,"
[[Are you sure you wish to wipe all data?]]
[[WARNING: All data will be permanently erased]]
[[Yes]] [[No]]
[[Deletion underway]]
💫💫💫
"God, I hate these patrol duties." The pilot of a TISF fighter complained over the comm to his wingman, who flew beside him.
"All part of being a proud TISF pilot, Tom." The wingman replied.
"I thought being a pilot in the TISF would let me see more action."
"What action? You know the only sort of action we ever see is damn pirates, and most of the time they turn and flee at the sight of the cruiser."
"That's true… hey, my sensors just picked up a ship attempting to leave the planet."
"Another one? That's like the seventh this hour, it's your turn, so go deal with it."
"Fine." Tom sighed before he piloted his ship towards the one trying to leave the planet and hailed them.
"Shuttle leaving the planet, this is TISF patrol craft bravo seven.
Trillion is currently under blockade due to a planetary audit being conducted. Please turn around and return to the planet immediately."
"TISF patrol craft bravo seven, I have authorisation to leave the planet." The pilot of the shuttle said.
"Transmit identification docs for confirmation."
"Transmitting now."
"Identity and authorisation confirmed, you may proceed."
"Much appreciated, Bravo Seven, stay safe out there."
Once the shuttle cleared Trillion's atmosphere and was about to jump into FTL, the pilot suddenly pulled out some sort of small controller before pressing a button.
A moment later, the shuttle vanished as it entered FTL.
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"Why the hell are we having a planetary audit all of a sudden?" Joe asked as he entered Jessie's office.
"No clue, but it seems kind of strange. I always thought something fishy was going on, considering the gangs have been able to run the lower levels for years now." Susan commented.
"Do you think that's why they're here?" Jessie asked with concern.
"Why else would they be?"
"Maybe because of how Adam attacked the sky towers?"
"Do you really think they would blockade the planet and do a full planetary audit, all because of that?"
"I guess you're right."
"So it's got to be because of the gang running the lower city, right?" Joe asked.
"It's the most likely reason, though again I have no idea why they would suddenly just arrive," Susan commented.
Jessie was about to speak when a knock came from her office door.
"Yeah?" Jessie said.
The door opened, and one of the door bouncers for Becky stepped in before saying, "There's someone here to see you, boss."
"Who is it? I'm kinda busy right now?"
"Administer Rachel Ororis."
"What?" Jessie, Joe and Susan asked in surprise.
"Why is she here?" Jessie asked.
"No idea, she just said she wanted a meeting, I didn't want to outright refuse, considering she's flanked by a dozen armed TISF officers."
"What the hell is going on?" Jessie asked in bewilderment before waving her hand and saying, "Invite her in."
The bouncer nodded before leaving the office, only to return a couple of minutes later with Administer Rachel Ororis, a woman they all recognised from the recent planet-wide broadcast.
"You can wait here," Rachel said to the TISF officers escorting her.
"Are you sure, ma'am?" One of the officers asked.
"It's fine," Rachel replied before stepping inside Jessie's office and closing the door.