Despite the shock of seeing the dreaded Ultramarines on the security screens, the four Marines saw no need to panic. As they watched, the security officer was setting charges to destroy his systems, and no-one appeared to have connected the sudden emergency with themselves.
c
Turning back out of the security office, they moved against the flow of evacuating staff and security guards towards the front of the building. As they set off, they passed the two computer technicians Blackwell had kicked out of the computer room at their behest. Hearing these men discover the collapsed Blackwell and the scrammed computers, they picked up their pace a bit. Twice, security guards stopped them and challenged them, but their persona of military couriers linked to the conspiracy held up, and they were able to leave the mansion by the front entrance and return to their vehicle.
Lifting off, they flew away from the scene; looking back, they could see the evacuees heading for the hangar on the edge of the estate. As they re-docked with the Brazos, the ship's sensors had already picked out the neutrino emissions and density map of the vessel within, matching them to a 200-ton Iylvir class troop lander with 90% certainty.
Swinging around above the launch pad, the Brazos had a lovely clear shot at the emerging vessel, and Reagan was able to blast holes through it with relative ease. The pilot struggled to gain height and escape, but his drives were disabled a moment before a laser bolt obliterated him and his bridge, and the Iylvir dropped back onto the launch pad with a shattering crash. Secondary explosions and a wash of supercooled hydrogen fuel washing over the wreckage made it pretty unlikely that there would be any survivors; but Reagan was lining it up for some more bombardment to make sure when suddenly the Brazos angled up and shot away, heading for orbit.
Watching her sensors, Cassandra had noted an upsurge of neutrino emissions from the mansion itself, consistent with the activation of a nuclear device of some description - and Captain Maclean had no desire to remain and watch what was about to happen.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, a nuclear explosion - only about 100 kilotons, but entirely sufficient - pulversised the entire mansion and grounds, destroying not only any evidence of the conspiracy's presence but also of the Marines' as well.
Returning to orbit, the Marines brought Duke Henry out of his improvised cell, and - without telling him why - interrogated him to find out the standard destination for the sort of evacuation they'd just witnessed. The answer was "Rhagosus", which rather chimed with their planning for the next stage; Rhagosus, described in the computer files as "Alpha Barracks (Breeding and training facility)", was the current favourite next target in any case.
For the next couple of days, the starship hung undetectably in the sky over Bremerton, monitoring the radio transmissions flowing through the ether. Of course, the majority were centered on the terrible event that had destroyed the Ducal Palace and (apparently) slain the Duke - sombre music, reassurances to the population at large that it must have been some sort of reactor malfunction, rather than an act of war by some unknown party.
Contrary to their expectations, there were no communications from or to the Slorfil Naval base wrapped in the conspiracy's new cipher - or anything resembling it.
This was swept abruptly away on 105 by the sudden announcement that the notorious terrorist organization, The Sons of Gilussor, had claimed responsibility for the explosion. Intrigued - and a little miffed, because he had been half planning to try and invent such a claim to muddy their own trail - Reagan started to investigate a little further.
First, he examined the news-media archives to see if there were any mentions of the SOG in the past. Sure enough, there were several items describing attacks made by the group, both on Bremerton and other worlds - primarily Gilussor, of course - but all these were on a much more modest scale; things like assassinating a regional governer on his doorstep, kidnapping an heiress to blackmail the release of imprisoned group members. Nothing even vaguely approaching nuclear assaults. Of course, Reagan knew that the SOG hadn't done this, but even if he hadn't it would have seemed suspicious.
Next, he hacked into some planetary police archives for around that time in history, finally unearthing some codes used by the SOG for claiming responsibility for their actions. Using a similar spoofing technique to that they'd used on the hapless merchant trader, he broadcast a message to the authorities declaring that the SOG would strike again, somewhere in the sector, for the great cause! This to cover off the chance that they were going to create a mess later on....
Settled on the idea of proceeding to Rhagosus as the next target, the next requirement was fuel. Heading north, the Brazos slipped quietly under the surface of the Rudart Sea and filled her tanks. As Rhagosus was only one parsec away, a 12-hour purification session was enough to start with, with the other half of the tank being processed as they travelled.
Finally, Jacques and Uriah took the APC and went cautiously into Lymdon for some supplies, loading up with food, lifesupport recharges and beer.
Emerging from Jump into the Rhagosus system, the crew had certain expectations. Knowing it to be a prison world, they fully expected it to be well guarded; and so it was. A large squadron of destroyers patrolled the space between the planets, and the expected military base was present on Swabs (Rhagosus VII). What was far less expected was the level of sophistication on the surface of the mainworld.
Normally, prison planets are fairly primitive places, with the luckless inmates abandoned on the surface with little or no equipment to survive for themselves. Here, however, the sensors picked up the presence of a large, high-tech installation down on the surface. As they got closer and studied the area, the details emerged; a massive plascrete fortress/barracks, bristling with weapons and sensors, squatted on a mountain peak near the equator. Strangely, the ragged towns clearly inhabited by the prisoners also put out power signatures as well. In between the towns and the citadel, the signs of high-technology battle were plain to see - radiation smears, scorch marks, blast damage.
The ship orbited for five days, watching. During that time, they witnessed an excercise, wherein a large group - two hundred or more - of Ultramarines moved out of the fortress, deployed around one of the towns, and then fought an action against the inhabitants. The victims of this training excercise gave a pretty good account of themselves, fighting back with weapons that a) they shoudn't have had and b) should have brought the Interdiction forces instantly down on them, inflicting some casualties among the invaders before the village was eventually overrun.
Given the number of villages, this sort of exercise couldn't have been a common thing. Given the way the Ultramarines performed, the training had been pretty effective.
Swiftly concluding that this was beyond their own capabilities, the crew of the Brazos turned around and jumped again - to Cheltac, and the Protoss Task Force.
