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.