Analysis of intelligence reports

The latest report came in from Marinus Nerva. It seemed that there were more than one dangerous species that existed out in that area, and he would need an extended period of time to finish clearing out the dangerous creatures. Garret didn't like that the man was gone for so long, but there wasn't much he could do. The removal of the dangerous creatures was key for making sure that the work that the guards and soldiers would be required to do would be minimal and within their ability to handle.

Garret shook his head. Everything was running smoothly on his side of the operations, so he wasn't too worried about what occurred there. He had received a report from Quintus Titus that all was clear on the treasury's front, and that there were no further instances of possible theft from their various safe house leaders out there in Reim. Garret twas pleased to hear that it was as he had believed, an isolated event, and that the rest of the organization was running their financial matters appropriately. His most recent foray into the wild on behalf of Martinus Gallus had gained a bit of local renown with the equipment department, as the metal that he had brought back was of high quality. The metals would be used to re-outfit the various leadership members of the safe houses out there in order to provide them with better equipment, and the group was working on that even as Garret approached his next destination.

Iulius Valentinus. The man who spear-headed the primary political negotiations of Lagi El Nagi's rule over Reim. He was a no-nonsense man, and it was only due to his incredible amount of discipline that he did not speak more harshly than he had at the meeting. The man's position within the organization was head of the information analysis team, and his work required quite a bit of thinking. The man often referred to his team as 'the think machine'. Tons of information passed through their hands on a daily basis. Garret approached the head of the department, who nodded to Garret in recognition of his presence, but continued to discuss the movements of the soldiers in Reim while the Spymaster listened in on the conversation. They were keeping a close eye on Lagi's orders, as well as the reactions from other countries as news of Reim's takeover spread.

Once the meeting was over, Garret approached Iulius. "By now you've no doubt heard, but I am traveling to each department and collecting  stronger understanding of their efforts and procedures. What can you tell me of your operatives' daily work in this room?" He watched the man and listened carefully to the response given. The type of work this man did seemed like it would be almost as dry as the accounting work that he learned about not too long back, and he knew that if he didn't pay the most careful attention to what the man said he may as well not even have bothered to ask in the first place. Recalling the man's actions at the Summit, his judgmental nature would have likely begun as Garret approached him from outside the room.

Iulius nodded, and began to speak. "A worthy aspiration. Listen closely. Our operatives here are each in charge of their own region within Reim. Some cover various cities, while others cover international interactions. No single operative besides for myself and my direct assistant is fully aware of the entirety of the operation details for our organization. This is a form of risk management that mitigates the level of risk an individual operative provides to us, though it is at the cost that by themselves they could occasionally not be taking into account all of the factors that could influence their region." The man showed Garret a series of maps, one which held information on Reim alone and another of which showed a map of the known world. The various countries were color-coated to denote affiliations, and there were many other notations on the side. "These are my personal maps. My assistant and I overview many of the various analysis reports provided by the operatives here, and determine if any information is considered void due to outside forces. For the most part, this rarely happens, but when large scale issues occur we pull in our over-arching operatives who are generalists rather than regional specialists..."

Garret nodded, listening to the explanation as they went along. When Iulius was done, he offered Garret to listen in on a few of the analysis reports his operatives discussed. Upon reaching a table that handled Narpolia reports, a concern was brought to the attention of Iulius. One of the operatives spoke up. "Sir. It seems as if the quality of the reports in Narpolia have been... Lacking as of late. It isn't too clear, but it looks as if there are some suspicious movements where individuals are casing the Imuchakk supply ships. Our workload in the area is too heavy for us to request they take care of the matter themselves. We may need to request support be sent from Aurelius Junius..."

Iulius listened to the concerns and mulled over the suggestion for a moment. "Unfortunately, Marinus Nerva is still assigned to a high-priority mission. We'll have to look for an operative who could handle such a thing in his place..." Iulius drummed his fingers on the tabletop, contemplating the options available.

Garret interrupted the man's thoughts. "I currently have Acius handling most of the day-to-day affairs. Due to Marinus Nerva's current mission, I've loosened myself up a bit to fill in and learn more about everyone's work. I'm especially concerned since this is a sensitive matter tied directly to Chief Asisiak and our agreement with her. Mind if I go take care of this?" Iulius' mention of Marinus also handling jobs from the information analysis department did not come as a surprise to the Spymaster. The man lived up to his title of 'Troubleshooter', fixing problems and shoring up holes in all areas of operations that he had come across.

Iulius seemed receptive to the idea, nodding slowly. "Yes. I am aware of your recent progress in learning the roles and routines of the other departments, and the part you have played in assisting them with issues that have cropped up. Please, take my junior analyst with you to help you on your investigation." Iulius motioned to the man who was talking earlier. The man, surprised and simultaneously excited that he would be doing field work, simply bowed to the two men.

Garret nodded, and got geared up for the mission ahead.


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Word Count: 1123/1500

Garret and the junior analyst, Fulvius Celsus, spoke little on the way there. When they arrived in town and got to the old HQ, however, the man sighed. "It's nice to be out in the field again. Sometimes I miss the old HQ." The last part was said wistfully as they went down to the cellar and passed the various alcoholic beverages to their side. Garret raised an eyebrow at the man before continuing into the old HQ's actual meeting room. It was there that they met with the men who were running the place. A run down on the information of the bandits that were casing the ship was provided, and Garret nodded. Fulvius spent some time estimating the size of the enemy forces, as well as the skill they possessed based on the frequency of their sightings and the number of different individuals that were found casing the docks.  He procured documents and government permission to use a nearby warehouse and double-case the docks, awaiting for the arrival of the bandits.

Once Garret had taken care of matters, he returned to the old HQ's inn and reported the successful routing of the bandits in question. Ignoring the fact that the Imuchakk captain of the ship had destroyed his own mast, Fulvius brought up a different concern. "I do not believe that they were the only ones involved in this attack. Their group was certainly large enough to deal real damage, had you not interfered, but I believe they must have had a plan for transportation with their comrades."


Garret thought on that for a brief while, and they brought a map out of the immediate area. There was a particular tavern that they had tracked some of the men down to, four days prior to the attack on the ship. If any information could be found, perhaps it was there? Taking the lead, Garret headed out and made his way to the tavern. Garret's plan this time around was to make an attempt to force his opponents into his own pace, causing them to move to his will by feeding details to the enemy. When he left for the tavern, Garret had hid his identity in order to set up an opportunity to root out the core of the problem itself.

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Word Count: 1516/1500

He sat within the tavern, ordering food and drink here and there while relaxing. He listened to the conversations about him, but nothing of note was said for some time. Eventually, a new pair of individuals walked in and sat in a seat at the other side of the room. Underneath the cloak he wore, Garret grasped his wand and whispered the commands for Sound Sphere, allowing him to hear even the slightest bit of information from the men. As he listened he heard various information from the men. "Listen up. We need to leave and meet up with the rest at the hideout east of the Prancing Tiger. We need to make sure the boss and the others know of that man who showed up at the ship yesterday..."


Garret's ears perked at this information. It was vague, yet it seemed as if they were talking about the assault on the ship. "Yea, but I don't reckon I'm looking forward to an hour-long walk from here to there. That Magician did a number on us, and we ain't got nothing to show the boss for our work. Lost some good men, too. S'pose the place is normally cramped, but now it'll be a bit less so..."

Garret had heard enough, and stopped sustaining his spell. Taking down his hood, Garret leaned against the bar and spoke to the bartender loud enough to be heard by the rest of those in the inn. "Here you go, my payment. I appreciate the drink, but I've got to get going. Finished a guard job for the Imuchakk just yesterday, and the boss is waiting for good news." He nodded to the man and walked away, keeping his eyes off of the men who were part of the group that had attacked the ship the prior day.

He would lure them into a trap where they would attack him on his return trip home. Well, he called it a trap, but if Murata Fusau were to bring it to Judo terms he would call it a sacrificial technique. Garret was relying on the hope that his opponents were not skilled enough to defeat him with their numbers. So long as they numbered under fifty men, and they didn't have anyone on the level of a Great General, he felt he should be fine.

Garret made his way back to the old HQ to inform Fulvius that he should wait half a day before following Garret back to the Villa HQ. Garret did not want the man to stumble into the battle he hoped would come shortly, as he did not have an accurate idea on the man's skills and did not want to bring him into the frey. Garret himself would set out about three hours later in order to give the bandits a headstart so that they may get into position for him. It was plenty of time for him to get prepared for the brawl to come, should they move as he hoped they would.



Garret was on the road, heading north back to the Villa. Predictably set upon by the bandits that had showed up in the inn, as well as some of their friends. Garret looked at the group with a raised eyebrow. "This can't be all there is." The number of opponents that made their appearance were few. He counted five men in total, and was disappointed by the turnout. This couldn't be all of the, could it? Regardless, Garret took a step forward.

"I hear you took down our boys the other night. Only a few of 'em made it back... And plenty decided to leave. We'll take you out, and get our men back. Don't think you can just do whatever you want!" The Bandit Lord seemed confident in his abilities. He pulled out his long sword and began approaching Garret as the other Bandits began strafing and attempted to surround the Magician. Garret, Kuroi Shimo in his left hand, gave several commands to the Rukh one after another. Water Gill, Controlling the Currents and Pressure Crusher created a fifteen meter long rush of water, which surrounded Garret two and a half meters out from him. The bandits paused, considering what to do with the man inside the cylidner of water. They hadn't much time to think, as Garret immediately created several currents that carried him towards the Bandits at 20m/s. When he colided with them their bodies were curshed under the weight of the spell.  They hadn't the constitution to stand against such damage, and their lives were forfeit shortly thereafter.

The Bandit Lord was frozen, unmoving from his spot as he watched his men die around him left and right. The man screamed out in frustration, but Garret was busy concentrating on the spells and had no time to watch as the black Rukh began to gather around the man. The Bandit Lord began running, but his speed was no match for that of Garret's spells. Garret's column of water crashed into the man and his Pressure Crusher was soon upon the man. The intense pressure was breaking the man's bones. Garret slowly touched down on the ground after the water had pushed down on the man at 20 m/s and dispelled his torrent of water alongside his other spells, placing his wand away in his pocket. "Tell me, are there others with your organization?" If he could, he wanted to determine whether or not there would be more enemies to route out.

The Bandit Lord, from his position on the ground, attacked Garret with his Bandit Lord's Dual Blade, striking out at Garret and hitting his Borg. Garret simply shook his head. "Wrong answer." Garret grabbed the man's collar. The broken bones in his body made it difficult to resist what Garret was about to do. Garret moved quickly, pulling the man up and getting behind the man. He held his arm against the man's throat just as Murata Fusao had taught him, placing a choke on the man's vein that brought oxygen to his brain. The man attempted to struggle against it, but the various bones that had been crushed made it incredibly difficult. After a moment of time the struggling stopped, and the man became limp in Garret's arms. Garret continued to hold the technique, finishing the man off.


He had no interest in torturing him, which was why he had killed him right-out. Garret got back on his horse and made his way back to the Villa HQ.



OOC:

Word Count Training Shime Waza: 1113/1000
Magoi|Stamina: 170/300

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