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A captain melted back into the city, having reported in of some knightly movement a few districts away. There were handfuls of energy orbs turned over as well. The General turned them in her hand like juggling glass orbs, considering the message that chirruped in a new voice from breast pocket.

Lieutenant Umber. I have not eyed that one. The name was on the rosters to the GenOps. A lieutenant, relatively recent to the recruiting. Asking for me specifically by name? And where would there have been cause to know it, from where the shadows and Barbary wrap 'round? Interesting. Schörl set the orbs into waistcoat, then withdrew her own communicator crystal. "Now, Later, Before, any and all times that name is available on call. Light dreams do nightmares keep. What do you need, Lieutenant? And what is your location?"

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore

"I will meet your position. Standby. " Just to discuss? And what topic, I wonder, needs myself in person instead of other channels to set up something more sit-down in the Dark Kingdom itself.
Seeing is believing, I suppose. Let us find out what sort of eyes this lieutenant has.

General Schörl wasted no time and set immediately to a sprint of buildings and necessary few teleportations peppered in between to cross town. The Lieutenant's aura was picked up in due time, the buildings petering out to houses, then a fence, then gravestone to gravestone until the dark silhouette of a person emerged against the light-polluted sky. Without a starseed or energy ball, she'd be less fitted for direct combat, but it hadn't sounded like part of the reasoning. Schörl relaxed pace at the last to a brisk handful of hops to join the roof party. She spoke his name by way of greeting, "Lieuntenant Umber."

No need for my own introduction, with the meeting arranged and my recognition of him confirmed. Well-knit and of a height. That's more promise than plenty of the recruits for use in combat. Hopefully with a mind to match. It would be nice not to have another best suited to paperwork or politics. " What is on your mind? "

Oh, Laz. Indeed, that would be you sounding off, wouldn't it. Schörl chortled, not showing any sharp concern for the 'hostage' label. "They do correlate nicely. Were it not so and a report just made of the Lieutenant's words, I would put forward Quartz as the culprit. "

"Proceed in meeting with the page, and gently get what information you can from him- oft the direct question they'll deny. Asking questions around the subject, however, might let slip names or places where surveillance footage could be collected, or police reports probed for more. Making a friend of this page, superficially, will put you in good stead to make use of them. Our enemies are so often children to War, thinking friendship and love have anything to do with it. Or that they have a chance. "

" And..."

"Don't worry about Quartz. He is very much a hostage, an experiment in some ways. You see, the best thing about pretending to act, pretending you don't care, wearing masks....if you wear them long enough the face beneath is lost. There comes to be nothing else. Quartz does and says what he does to try to protect himself with the walls.....but if you wall out the light, there's nothing to keep at bay the living dark. "

" It serves, as well, to make him more believable a wounded bird. The White Moon and Knights will take pity, will tell him things, will try to show him there's some hope of freedom. They'll open themselves up. He believes it all himself, you know, all except the last. He's a coward. "

And some day that last little bit of light keeping back the dark will goad him to try to love. It will be the last hurrah, the last hope of growing any light or roses in that dark hole he's building around himself. And I will be there, waiting. And that last love will be devoured by Quartz's own dark in trying to bring them into the Negaverse, or in killing them to save them from himself...or me.

"Neat and Tidy. Do you think you can make nice with this Ploutonion? "

"Conscription is always a viable option. Transmutation guarantees burning away, however, so information if better gained before the scramble. There's no reliable prediction method for what goes and what stays. "

"If you aren't making headway, there's also the option of finding some fresh-faced darling from the Infos or Infiltration branches to weedle into Ploutonian's good graces. Or bedsheets and milk out information among the rest. "

"I serve the Special Operations branch. Respond, Remand, Re-educate or Repurpose."

"You are still a member of the Gen-Ops?" It was toned with obvious emphasis and a look to indicate there was implicit language there. As in What are your plans for the future regarding the branches and yourself?

Xenotime. Well. Good to hear that name about again, after so long a while. "I trained with Xenotime before. A good fighter."

First meetings hardly the place to go sussing about with more than surface impressions of other officers, though, and particularly not to their subordinates. teaching methods was notably lacking, though, when I met her at the ring.

"There's members that specialize in lone wolf and fighting. We need that as well as people who can think. Skimmed over are ability to teach, to lead, to follow direction and orders, to work with others, sensing and following leads others leave fallow or cold. "

"You have skills you could teach to other Gen Ops to increase their effectiveness? Arrange a practice session. There are leads we had at the New Year's operations- purified agents recaptured from which information about what knights or senshi are proving the most dangerous to the young initiate minds, follow up ambushes to capitalize on the psychological effects to further limit their presence and response against our operations...I would suggest you pair with another officer to prove you can work in tandem and run a formal mission to capture an enemy, research an 'ally' or uncover information.

Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret." The general sighed, " I have reservations of our Eternal Persephone. There is also Kerberos of Asphodels who could use surveillance. They falter. We need to be able to stop it or to turn it to use- capture or elimination of targets that seek to aid them. Kerberos especially- he's one of our own SpecOps. "

"There's also the matter of the Dark Moon. Getting together a better idea of the faults in the surface, would let us respond and polish it. They've been unkind neighbors. There are many paths that could use pursuit. "

"The best recommendation you can give yourself is to be active, consistent, and do more than quota turn-ins. Quota is for people who can't brain anything except what they're hand is held to do."

"One of the reports of late was the direct interventions of the Dark Mirror Eternal Chariklo attacking agents at the European branch, deliberately interfering with the on-site conversion of a Wonder. If she did so under orders from either Leto or Remarque is an unknown- the official status of any and all of the dark mirror as a whole as enemy now or if we're just to take care of known insurgents hasn't been handed down by General King Howlite. "

"We had our own mishap with some followers of former-General Wolframite, which was patched up politically to Leto by censoring the culprits only. Piecemeal dealings, likewise, seem the best current policy to neutralize problem mirror senshi. Research about and pinpointing the troublemakers, capturing or removing them from combat while not killing them, is on the table for maintaining our own efficiency. "

"At least until something finally comes down from Howlite. " The news about Persephone earned a clipped laugh and bit of a knuckle for a moment before the General spoke again. "Well. That is interesting. Its also a betrayal. Dark Mirror may serve a brand of Chaos, may be pets of Zinkenite, but going awol....joining someone else is a clear cut case. I'm also curious how she managed it. "

"Her existence out of our keeping is a blemish to the Special Operations, and we will need to capture her for study and disposal. You are most welcome, having provided this intel, to join in the chase in good faith towards your enrollment with the division and my note of sponsorship to it."

"Kerberos is a super senshi, of asphodels, blue of hair and pale of skin, gold eyes. His uniform is black and burgundy cut similar but drunkenly to a toga praetexta. Roman, dress-like, covered in asphodels. He himself is tattooed with flowers. Shoeless in uniform. Often crawled himself into bottles, and underwent a two week program to quit. The jury is still out if he will stay on the wagon. "

"Problems especially lie in how he reacts and considers acts of efficiency on the part of other soldiers as well as calling pinnacles of service to Metallia 'monsters' for following their orders. In specific, General Ascendent Alkaid, who has proven herself loyal and shrewd, was abhorrent to him. Where he's getting these ideas, who he's talking to, and what he's doing with his time other than fulfilling rote quota are necessary. Even if he's repurposed, it behooves us to take up and deal with the sources of subterfuge that have undermined this soldier to ensure it doesn't happen again. "

"The Dark Mirror Royals have had the time to act if they were going to. They have not. Inaction is as much a test, in politics, of the strength of your allies or your enemies. Inaction on their part may be complicity, or simple ignorance is true. Inaction on our part is a predator without teeth. Waiting has already been overlong and generous- in both cases. "

"I would be extra disappointed if their royals have no reaction. It would speak volumes. "

"As for Persephone, studying the effects on her starseed itself hold the interest. The magic itself, not the girl, is interesting. Magic study has uses, where people cease to have them through misuse. There is no official team yet assembled- it may wait on approval order from the Sovereigns when it come to it since she is a personal pet of a royal. I will send in the report, however, and note your diligence in the matter. " If they are reticent in acting, at the least a useful member of the ranks should be rewarded for actually gathering intel and reporting it.

"There was nothing else, Lieutenant, if you have no other questions. " She took out a card case that was stowed during planned transformations near the pipe and matches she tended to carry. A die-cut business card was removed and held out, "My civilian contact, if you need it. There is space for company to relax. I am available for other questions and concerns, martial training, quotas, reports, planning operations...essentially as one should expect of a superior officer. We are what we build of ourselves, even to our weakest links."