Region of Selene

Palazzo Malzo
3:15PM

It was a rare occasion when Francesco Sciarra visited the Palazzo Malzo. He was the Second Councillor, but his office was located in the Senate Building, and the bulk of his work involved coordinating and liaising between the Senate and the Privy Council. He was, despite everything, a senator first and foremost. Still, there were those occasions where he would have business at the Palazzo Malzo, and he would either request an audience or be invited.

Today he was there at the request of the First Councillor, who was very keen on knowing what he would say at the Eastern Realms Conference, which he was set to attend that evening. Originally Valerio had been invited, but he was already scheduled to speak at the Royal Institute of Technology, so Francesco had been asked to attend instead.

"Will you mention the security investigation, Francesco?"

"I was asked by the Chief of the Royal Security Service to refrain from talking about the investigation. I assume that was at your behest."

Valerio smiled, tacitly admitting his role. "I may have had a role in that. Truth is that the investigation is progressing, but we are unsure of how deep this goes. You have read the briefs. If we disclose information to the public, and eastern governments qualify as the public, we risk revealing more than we should."

"You know to trust in my discretion, First Councillor."

"I know; you are an excellent Second Councillor, and I'm sure, soon enough, the Privy Council awaits you, should you want it."

Francesco nodded. He knew that Valerio held him in high esteem, even if he was prone to acting cautious around others (hence his asking for discretion), and it was not the first time he had hinted at a possible elevation to the Privy Council, if he was interested. Francesco always deflected, believing that he did more good serving at the Senate, at least for now. He shook hands with Valerio, ready to leave for the airport.

"Oh, Francesco. Since we missed our usual working dinner last week, how about an informal breakfast tomorrow? You can bring Marzia if you want."

Royal Institute of Technology
7:40PM

Marco Valerio was seated in a comfortable chair, overlooking a crowded hall. He was there was a guest speaker at the annual Letizia Bruno Fellowship Lecture Series, a week-long event where distinguished speakers, most often experts in the fields of life sciences and engineering, would give lectures on topics related to their areas of expertise. Then there was Valerio, an unlikely guest, but for his well-known support for the integration of software engineering processes in government. He was no software engineer, but through the years he had become quite the expert in the matter, and as its highest profile proponent, he had earned a -rather undeserved, in his opinion- place among the much wiser minds in the hall.

"Without further ado, please welcome the Duke of Messelia and First Councillor of Sartoria, Marco Valerio."

He smiled and rose, extending his hand to shake the woman's hand. She was quite the eminence in her field. In fact, one could say Ester Landini was a living legend, the kind of person about whom entire chapters in history books would be written. Currently the Senior Fellow at the Letizia Bruno Fellowship, she had a remarkable list of achievements, including participating in genome sequencing projects for various species and conducting groundbreaking researches into the evolution of species and the effects of human activity over them. Her investigations, and the various papers she had written, had helped revolutionise the approach of the Sartorian Government towards the environment and, though she was not overtly political, she had also been a major contributing force towards the rise of the Alliance for Sustainable Development as one of the largest political parties through the realms.

Valerio reached the podium, and facing the audience, he started talking. "Thank you, Dr Landini. It is truly an undeserved honour to have the opportunity to speak before this audience, one that gathers the most promising minds in our country, and probably the world as well..."

While Valerio talked, a few meters away, Stefano Giordano stood. Head of the Security Unit for the First Councillor and Captain of the Corpo di Carabinieri, he had served with distinction for nearly twenty years, putting his life on the line for many senior government officials, investigating crimes and conspiracies, and as he saw the First Councillor, he knew that something was wrong. It wasn't something palpable, certainly nothing he could prove, it was simply his instinct, one developed over his years of service, which told him that things were not as they should, that he should be alert.

Valerio was speaking about the Letizia Bruno Fellowship, praising its role in Sartorian society. Giordano looked around the room, identifying all the Carabinieri that were posted, charged with protecting the First Councillor or simply the venue itself. It all looked fine. He then looked around the room, at those in attendance, and there he saw some discrepancies. He raised his arm, preparing to talk into the mic on his wrist, when he heard frantic words on his earpiece, words that every single Carabinieri hoped they would never hear.

"Shots fired at the Regù. Code Red. Get the First Councillor out, now."

Giordano raced to the stage to grab Valerio. Then he heard the shots.

Skyscraper in Chiavere
8:37AM

"We just heard from our inside operative. Sciarra still refuses to break down. They will try again later today."

The woman turned to face the one who had spoken to her, turning her back on the Chiavian skyline, what she could see of it anyway. They had made a huge gamble, certainly their riskiest yet, with the attacks the previous night. They had taken the Second Councillor hostage, along with all five eastern governors. That had been a success. They had also tried to assassinate the First Councillor at the exact same time. That had been a failure. Apparently the operatives had been a few seconds late, enough time for the Carabinieri to get in the way, keeping Valerio from being shot. There was also the hostage situation in the Museum of Historical Arts. That one had also been a success.

There were now reports of increasingly heavy police presence on the streets of Messelia, Chiavere and Regù in response to the attacks, unlike anything she had seen in recent decades. Carabinieri had been dispatched for active law enforcement outside Messelia-Verale. It was not uncommon for them to assist law enforcement in other realms, but to perform in active duty, that was something not seen since the days of her parents. Apparently this had really shaken Valerio, who seemed ready to take risks to prevent another attack. It mattered little, in any case. This was it, for now, and even if he was still alive, they had succeeded in carrying out the other two attacks.

"Tell them to haste. We might not have much time left with Sciarra. That applies to our agents at the Museum. By tonight I want the ritual to be performed. Make sure they hang the flags."

Statement by the First Councillor
On the Terrorist Attack and Hostage Situation

Palazzo Malzo
June 20, 9:30AM

Valerio rubbed his right shoulder, still hurting after the Carabinieri had basically pushed him to the ground, in trying to save him from being assassinated. He was grateful to be alive, but his body was unaccustomed to the kind of physical effort that he had experienced last night, so all his joints were hurting, along with many muscles in his arms and legs. A mere second after the first short had been fired, he had been shoved to the ground by an officer, who placed himself on top of him. Shortly after, several officers had formed a human wall between him and the shooter, their guns drawn out and shooting back. It was all fuzzy after that, but the officers had helped bridge the gaps, when he insisted in asking.

Once the shooter was incapacitated, they had pulled him up, the human wall turning into a circle that surrounded him, and forced him out of the auditorium, towards the emergency exit that had been contemplated in the contingency plan, the one that was always designed, with little expectation that it would ever be used. They had taken him to his official vehicle, which was already waiting at the exit, surrounded by armed officers, and once he had been shoved inside, they had left for the Palazzo, driving at a much higher speed, to the point that the driver had nearly lost control of the vehicle, while doing a turn. Valerio remembered what had happened once he had arrived at the Palazzo, including the briefing where he found out about the hostage crisis in Regù, and the realisation that, rather than an isolated attempted assassination, this had been a coordinated terrorist attack. He had held meetings and coordinated with law enforcement and intelligence agencies for the rest of the night, and had made an early rise to keep having meetings.

He had just delivered his first public address since last night, meant to assure the public that the government was still standing, that actions were being taken, and that the situation would soon be under control. An aide approached him and handed him a white, leather-bound file, a highly classified report that contained the latest updates about the hostage crisis, and those responsible for it. He held onto it as he kept walking, until he reached the elevator at the end of the hall. He was going two floors underground, to a restricted area of the Palazzo, for a meeting with the Internal Security Committee, the body that gathered the main security and policy officials of the government, to discuss the latest updates and the steps to be taken.

He entered the room, and most were already seated, some standing on the side with their respective aides. They all rose when he entered, and he quickly took his seat, at the centre of the left ride of the table. Some faces were well known to the public: Grazia Marelli, the Foreign Councillor; Elena Tosi, the Military Councillor; Gerardo Alessandri, the Interior Councillor; Fiorella Bove, the Director of the Carabinieri. Other faces were less well known, maybe even unknown to those but the most interested in the security and intelligence apparatus: the Chief of the Royal Eastern Security Service, the Director of the Joint Military Intelligence Command, the Director of the Information Security Agency, the Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, among others.

"Good morning everyone, and thank you for being here. It is a rare occasion when the full membership of this Committee meets, but I think we all agree that the ongoing situation qualifies. As you all know, yesterday evening there was an attempt on my life, and simultaneously there was a successful attack on the Eastern Realms Conference, resulting in the Second Councillor and all five Eastern Governors being held hostage. I expect everyone to give their very best to solve this situation as quickly as possible, saving as many lives as possible, and I also expect that all those responsible will be brought to justice. With that being said, I will defer to Councillor Alessandri, who will be leading this meeting."

"Thank you, First Councillor." said Alessandri. "You have all received a white file with details on the ongoing crisis. As the First Councillor already said, yesterday at 7:40 PM, an armed man started firing at the podium and crowd during Lecture Series. He has since been identified as Gianluca Nervi, an unemployed microbiologist who was living in Suderia, where he had worked at the Space Centre. He was fired following his inclusion in a classified list of potential threats, which mentioned his occasional breach of biosafety protocols, and his association with extremist groups, namely the Hidden Truth Seekers. Please refer to Annex 7.5 of the briefing for a more detailed explanation of said group."

Most present flipped the pages, until the reached the annex. Others remained still, either because they had already been briefed on that group, or because they found it inconsequential to their most pressing concerns.

"While the First Councillor was being attacked, a group consisting of 18 armed men and women entered the Hotel Molliero. They reached the first floor, where the Eastern Realms Conference was taking place, and carried out an attack. They easily neutralised what little security was present, and then proceeded to secure the floor. They took all attendees hostage, including Second Councillor Sciarra and all five Eastern Governors. Since this situation is our most pressing concern at the moment, I will let Chief Rinaldi explain the findings of the Security Service regarding the assailants."

Uberto Rinaldi nodded in acknowledgement, then used a remote control to show a slide on the screens on all four walls of the room. "We have been unable to identify any single assailant. Based on security footage from the hotel, we know they knew where each camera was, and took great care to avoid looking directly at any, even though they wore balaclavas. We do know, based on their voices, that they are easterners and southerners, likely from Bertuccia, Chiavere and Roccia dell'Est. They destroyed all cameras shortly after taking control of the floor, so we have been unable to determine any further information about them."

He pressed a button in the remote, and the screens showed the exact moment when the attack started. "Based on an analysis of the weapons they used, we are fairly confident that they are affiliated with the White Hand Consortium, one of the better organised Sacuri groups currently operating in the east. We know for a fact that they are the group responsible for the Basile School Attack earlier this year, and one of our teams was tracking one of their operatives before that. If you turn to page 57, you will see that our team tracked the operative to the house of a Maurizio Tomalini, an accountant who had been baited to access a tracked website. He was being unknowingly tested for membership, but failed when the operative ascertained that Tomalini was not a believer, and was ideologically opposed to the tenets of Sacur. Our team lost track of the operative, but further investigation proved that the White Hand Consortium is a well-funded organisation, which operates will tactical precision and only when there is a tangible benefit to be obtained. That is, their attacks yesterday have a specific goal beyond the mere creation of terror."

Rinaldi turned to Giustino Ughi, Director of the Information Security Agency. "As part of our counter-terrorist operations, we intercepted several communications by known WHC affiliates, days before the attack, discussing what in hindsight is the hostage situation. There was little actionable intelligence at the time, so no further action was taken, beyond sharing our findings with other intelligence agencies. Since the attack started, there has been a near complete lack of communications. We assume that a gag order was put into effect. I regret to inform that this group is far better organised than we dared to admit, and a more coordinated effort will be needed to prevent any future attacks."

This was ridiculous, thought Valerio. A well-organised group of Sacuri, yet they knew nearly nothing about them? "Are you trying to tell me that we have Sacuri terrorists killing children, trying to assassinate me, holding oru Second Councillor hostage, and we still know nothing about them?"

"First Councillor," said Rinaldi "most Sacuri groups are mere clubs of extremists, or ill-prepared associations that make beginner mistakes and are quickly neutralised. If our intelligence is to be trusted, this White Hand Consortium is so well-trained, so well-funded, so surgical in its operations, that is simply does not act until there is a clear benefit, until they know for a fact that they can do the job..."

"I know that these are all important facts when trying to fight a terrorist group, Chief Rinaldi, but we are pressed for time. We have a hostage situation, and little inside information on what exactly it is they want. So let me ask, what are we doing to end this situation?"

Director Bove cleared her throat. "First Councillor, the Corpo dei Carabinieri, in coordination with the Security Service, has a series of situations, training scenarios that we used for contingency analysis. One of those as a hostage situation of high ranking officials. While the specifics are different, we are using the scenario to plan for a future liberation of the officials, and capture of the assailants. Details should be arriving at your desk this afternoon, for further approval."

For the most part, the meeting consisted of similar statements, reports on intelligence gathered, information on the WHC and what the government knew about them. It was all interesting, but less than useful in solving the hostage crisis. That is, until he was given a small piece of paper, signed by Chief Rinaldi, with the following written on it:

I need a 4/2.

As he well knew, a 4/2 was jargon for a private unscheduled meeting, that was not to be on the record, its contents to be known only by the First Councillor and whichever intelligence chief had requested it, in this case, Chief Rinaldi. He was intrigued, and nodded at Rinaldi. It seemed there was more intelligence to be shared, this time, for his eyes only. He looked forward to it.

June 20

June 20