"Based on how fast our moles are getting removed by Ukraine's intelligence agency, there's no doubt in my mind that they're receiving strong support from another agency. The likeliest suspects are from the Chinese Ministry of State Security, since they had a cooperation with them, but that was probably severed after the UNSC vote. So now I suspect the British MI6, American CIA, Israeli Mossad, or even the Egyptian GIS. We can't rule anyone out at this point, but...." Vladimir paused to heighten the tension in the briefing room and let the others come to their own conclusions.
Seeing that his fellows had each settled on a suspect, he continued, "If this situation continues, our military operations will need to begin much earlier than previously planned. If they manage to remove everyone on our side with power in their country, they'll be welcoming us with bullets instead of flowers. " He was already quite satisfied with the reception, especially the suspicion he had cast on everyone but the true culprit hunting their intelligence operatives and gathered his thoughts, intent on pushing his plan further forward as he clicked through powerpoint slide after powerpoint slide showing images of Russian agents and sympathizers who had been caught by the Ukrainian government.
"Another thing we have to keep in mind is that we already know they're reorganizing their military. Together with putting pro-Russian politicians, businessmen, and leaders on trial for treason, it isn't a good sign for us. It shows that they're gearing up to fight, so we must act first to gain the advantage.
"The fight against Ukraine won't be as easy as the rigged referendum we called for in Crimea. That was a plan that could only have ever worked a single time, but they're probably certain we'll be trying something similar there. So if we act now, we can catch them while they're still in the chaos of reorganizing their military." The next few slides detailed the ongoing reorganization along with all the western forces supporting it. "Any questions?" he finished as the powerpoint came to an end and the lights in the briefing room came up.
"Why do you think the other forces are supporting them?" Putin asked, despite knowing the answer . He considered this briefing as Vladimir's final evaluation and it would determine whether the spy is worthy of real power and raising as a potential successor, or if he was just one of the many who thought themselves as geniuses while they were nothing of the sort.
"Getting allies closer to Russia means they have a shield and sword. By bringing people onto their side, they effectively cut off our maneuvering and leave us only one area we can send troops at them through. But the opposite isn't true, because the Ukrainian allies in Eastern Europe will certainly allow their passage, letting them strike at any point along our border. Thus, we would be forced to limit the number of troops we can use because we would have to guard our borders, while the Ukrainian defenders can concentrate their defense along a comparatively small area." That was the likeliest plan and reasoning behind it, according to Nyx. They had given him a detailed briefing after he informed them that he would soon be presenting the situation to his leaders.
A thin smile formed on Putin's face. He was extremely satisfied with the operative standing before him and the hard work he had done on behalf of Mother Russia. "Good," he said. "We'll move up the military operation to eight months from now. You will be on the planning team—any objections?"
"I would be honored," Vladimir said, trying to hide the happiness he was feeling at the moment, but in a subtly bad way so that those in the room thought he was easy to read.
...
"Five… four… three… two… one…. Lift off" A massive rocket took off and pierced through the cloud cover that was still shielding Avalon Island from overhead observation.
"There goes our first middle finger toward the sanctions," Alexander said as he watched the first of ten rocket launches that were scheduled to take place over the next two days.
They had attempted to follow the accepted procedure as defined by the ITU, but had been met with delays, denials, and disdain. It was obvious that, so long as Eden was under UN sanctions, no orbital slots would be awarded to them.
"We don't have time to deal with their incompetence right now. We're up against a deadline," Aron sneered. He looked at his friend, who seemed to have aged a few years over the past couple of days.
"By the way, how did you find them? They're still outside visual range and will be for a few years yet," Alexander asked.
"Oh, that? It was quite easy..." Aron began.
"Mana, or 'dark matter', as people call it, exists everywhere in the universe. It's everywhere—in the depths of space, the hearts of stars, and even lingering between the cells of living organisms. As well as within them, I suppose. For the purposes of this discussion, you can consider the universe like a bowl filled with marbles. All we had to do was poke one marble and record the changes that happened in all the marbles connected to it. The moment you poke one, they all move.
"But mana isn't equally distributed through the universe, so those marbles can be big or they can be small. The bigger marbles represent areas with higher concentrations of mana, which tends to correlate with the mass of an object. And the bigger the marble, the easier it is to see," Aron continued, then paused to let Alexander's mind catch up to the new disturbing reality he found himself in.
"So, the new satellites we're launching are specifically designed to detect mana with a higher resolution. It's almost like upgrading from an old daguerreotype camera to an 8K DSLR camera, and will give us a much more detailed image of our approaching... guest. Once we have that, we can make and adjust our plans from there."
