Credible Prime

Pol

Protector Pol's pursuit ship  "Stargrazer" navigated Kalus as Beacon trackers tried to fine-tune their locators onto Krux.  They recorded enough of what the Yend call "Dreamdoubt" to convict Krux of high treason.  Pol clenched gloved fists together as he oversaw a Beacontracker at work. The data port flickered in and out of range as the signal fought against the planet's magnetic field.  A larger armada of Yend warships had fallen into orbit around Kalus awaiting orders.  As soon as Pol was certain Krux Koda was on Kalus, the attack would be swift.  Laying waist to the planet would be necessary collateral damage in the defeat of Koda and the mercs.  Pol paced up and down the bridge of the ship, glancing at monitors and listening to the hushed conversations of officers bent over instruments that were designed to listen to the thoughts of everybody in the Vast.  This permeating ever-present entity shrouded the entire galaxy with fear and Protector Pol was its monger. 
Oddly enough he was a slight being. His scowl was legendary, however.  Rumors abounded that he was actually surgically altered to look menacing.  And despite his small frame he was anything but demure.  He was a fink that scurried along corridors and control rooms constantly micro managing the assaults that the Stargazer was known for.  He commanded with a merciless attention to order and a frothing hatred towards anything that challenged or compromised the Yend philosophy. 

Stargrazer ambled through the rubble and navigated what would otherwise be treacherous passage with a near graceful ease.  The ship was gargantuan.  It was shaped like a blade with deck upon deck stacked and angled so that it could tear through barriers such as this.  The crew of 50,000 was just a speck in the army of the Yend.  And with an armada of ships almost as menacing now in orbit around the garbage planet, Pol's eyes glinted at the prospect of being so close to certain victory.  Eliminating Koda would wipe away evidence of the strongest Beacon ever recorded. Pulverizing the Mercs and vaporizing that confounded ship, the Hammerlight would be the beginning of the new era in Yend rule.  Finally Pol would have a monopoly on the back story of all the Vast.  And that would secure his place among the infinite story of Truth.

"Quite a lot of carnage just to eliminate someone with rogue thoughts", thought one of the ensigns fast at work.  That officer's family was, still is, on Kalus, his boyhood home. Awash with fear that his family would be obliterated in the coming attack, he decided, in desperate panic, that his fate would be intertwined with that of Krux Koda.  If he could get a message to the
Hammerlight with details of a compromise, perhaps he would commit an act of treason to save his own  family.   For decades, since he was recruited from Kalus, he was Yend through and through.  He had faith in Pragmatica.  He was under the tutelage of Protector Pol.  Pol was somebody to look up to. He was not only fearful but he was inspiring and the ensign knew that he was being torn in two.  His loyalty certainly lay with the Yend, but seeds of discourse compelled him to think,  for the first time, about his family, first.   He quietly decided that he would instigate a way to offer the Hammerlight a chance.   He would offer safe passage in exchange for the evacuation of his loved ones.  And their secret.   It would certainly mean his death. But his family's survival meant more.  He took a deep breath, grit his teeth, and began to devise a plan.