Rupra Bruda rushed into the Chancellor’s offices, not bothering to have his secretary announce his arrival. The Chairman looked up, startled by the intrusion.
“What’s wrong?” Vidal asked warily.
“Those dirty skutz have attacked Pegaport and stolen a transport plane.”
“Attacked Pegaport? Who?”
“Peter Turner and the other deserters. They used the four fighters they stole from Argot to destroy Pegaport.”
“I thought Peter Turner was dead!”
“So did I. That’s what Pegaport command reported but somehow they must have gotten away.”
Videl slammed his fist on his desk. “How did this happen. They were on full alert, for godsakes.”
“They thought the threat had been neutralized. The fighters flew in over the Drogals and they were caught by surprise.”
“Were any of the planes shot down?”
“No. They all survived the attack and were last seen heading south.”
“What did General Bratford have to say about this?’
“He has summoned the base commander to his headquarters to get an explanation as how this could have happened.”
Videl kicked his trash can across the room and began pacing back and forth. “Do you know what this will do for the Loyalist cause? They will be celebrating all over Tarizon and laughing at our incompetence. . . . So, now that the war has begun, we must do something quickly to dampen their glee and make them pay for what they have done. Have we located the rebel base yet?”
“We are searching the area where they sent Evohn but haven’t located it yet. There are 227 islands in that area.”
“And still no word from Evohn?”
“No sir.”
“But the fighters were headed south, not east.”
“That’s correct.”
“So, there is a base in Beet Islands. There must be.”
“Yes. I’m sure there is, so Evohn is probably there but unable to get away to make contact.”
“We must find the base immediately and destroy it before they launch any more surprise attacks.”
“They couldn’t have that many fighters,” Rupra reasoned. “There have only been a few hundred reported stolen.”
“Yes, but they may be buying some on the black market. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a lot more.”
“You’re probably right. Threebeard reportedly runs the black market.”
“And why haven’t we been able to stop him?”
“Until today we didn’t dare for fear of provoking a civil war, but now we can go on the offensive.”
“Do it. Track down anyone involved in black market trading and arrest them.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And contact your mate and have her start arresting anyone on her list of Loyalist supporters for treason. If they admit they are Loyalists execute them on the spot. I will not tolerate traitors!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Find out where Councilor Garcia, Threebeard and their co-conspirators are setting up their headquarters. If we cut off the snake’s head the body will wither.”
“General Zitor will back Garcia and his army is in Rigimol, so I would bet they will set up the rebel government in Shini. The chairman of Rigimol’s general assembly is a Loyalist too, so they will probably host the new government.”
Videl sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. “I suppose we should have anticipated something bold like this from Threebeard, but I frankly didn’t think they were ready to challenge us.”
“What I don’t understand is how this teenager, Peter Turner could have pulled this off. As I understand it he had no military training and this was his very first flight in a T-47.”
“Perhaps Threebeard recruited a squadron of seasoned pilots to carry out this mission but made it appear to be the work of the Liberator so people would think he was something quite extraordinary.”
“That would make sense,” Videl agreed. “Yes, you are probably right. We cannot underestimate them ever again. We have to crush them soon as they will grow stronger each day.”
Bruda nodded.
“Contact TGA Command,” Videl ordered. “I want to meet with the General Staff tomorrow morning to develop a preliminary battle plan for dealing with these Loyalist traitors.”
“Yes, sir,” Bruda said as he stood to leave.
Videl nodded and Bruda made a hasty exit. Several staff members were huddled outside Videl’s office and scattered as he rushed by. As he went out the front door he could hear Videl screaming at them. When he got back to his office he was shaking. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. Somehow he had survived Videl’s wraith. Luckily he wasn’t a military man, so the Chancellor couldn’t blame him for what had happened. Although General Bratford was technically responsible for the fiasco at Pegaport, he had an army to protect him. It would probably be the Pegaport Commander who would be lucky to be alive at the end of the day.