For several weeks already the fierce fighting had died down in Rubikon II. Ever since the news of Inara's surrender had arrived the local commanders had ordered their units, who had just been advancing onto the cities held by Restevian and IRS troops, to disengage the enemy and fall back to their initial positions. Compared to the precisely timed attacks the retreat had been long, drawn out and disorganized, with many low-level commanders thinking it was a ruse or that their comms had been compromised. Therefore divisional and army-level independent units had been working overtime, relaying the message of strategic command to the ground troops until they broke contact with the enemy and returned towards their main base of operations.

From there on the two sides had been in a silent standoff, simply facing each other. The massive combined APP force which had previously been on the offensive was now supposed to peacefully lay down their arms. According to Inara and Union leadership, the battered, vastly outnumbered AGA force that had been besieged just moments ago was now technically the occupation army for Rubikon II and in charge of their former enemies. The massive disparity in forces between the supposed occupier and the occupied armies was obvious but Capitol knew it was unlikely to last, sooner or later a much larger AGA force would eventually arrive. Until then, the APP combined force carried out minor operations with relative freedom, evacuating whatever high-value civilians they could and carrying out scorched-earth nuclear strikes on the last remaining research facilities on the planet. The two rivals had allowed each other to send unarmed units into the other's territory to recover bodies and dismantle minefields but the APP force still resisted the call to lay down its arms, remaining entrenched but not attacking, moving what units it could to the front.
Laikos had played his hand carefully now that he was not allowed to attack the AGA forces hiding in the cities they had captured upon landing. Claiming that water lines had been damaged in the fight, he had organized large scale evacuations of civilians from the occupied cities to the main urban belt along the equator of Rubikon II. At the same time, he had moved in a large ammount of surface-to-surface missile launchers closer to the Restevians to replace the huge ammount of such vehicles that had been previously destroyed by orbital strikes. With the cities emptied of civilians under false pretenses, Laikos was now in a much stronger position where, should he need it, he would vaporize the cities and the AGA troops inside them without killing Capitol civilians. When the AGA fleets eventually came to Rubikon with the full might of the occupation army, Laikos broke with Inara and informed that the fighting force of Rubikon II would not surrender unconditionally: they demanded the Capitol forces that had been cut off in the Union planet of Addas to be repatriated to them in an enormous prisoner swap. Only then would Laikos' highly-organized, unusually motivated army lay down its arms and dismantle its command.
Laikos' original plan was to link up with the ships carrying the capitol prisoners and leave with the remains of the Army of the Panopticon and his command staff. Problems began arising when a lot of field commanders started demanding to leave Rubikon II along with him, followed by entire fighting units. With Wilhelm Orkan in Rubikon Prime and te rest of the Agora Junta now dead, Laikos was now suddenly the leader of not just the Army of the Panopticon but of its entire parent organization: the feared Brotherhood of the Great State. The most fanatic of the fanatics, Brotherhood generals and admirals informed Laikos that they would not accept any order to surrender to AGA occupation forces. They would either fight to the death or leave with him. His task was now much more difficult, he was in charge of evacuating dozens of entire divisions now, finding out exactly who wanted to leave with him.

As such, the Capitol general arranged a meeting with the first elements of the AGA occupation forces that arrived, a Restevian fleet. He arranged for a meeting with the Restevian commander in a large luxury compound in the middle of the desert, requisitioned by the Capitol army and transformed into an ad-hoc command post.


When the Restevians arrived, it was with a singular heavy dropship, the craft bearing the markings of one of the beleaguered units that had been trapped here. Bullet holes marred parts of it's dusty hide, the engines whined slightly higher pitched than a craft like that's might've normally, and when it settled down in the landing zone the clatter of metal and the suspicious, tired looks of the door gunners told the tale that yes, this bird had been on Rubikon II a while. In the far distance, RSCN transports were arriving as they had been sporadically all day, bringing in medical battalions to relieve those that'd been working nonstop the entire battle, setting out to see to any AGA wounded they could reach. The noise was a far off rumble that was sure to keep going for quite some time, set against sharply by the opening door of the dropship. Had the SAM batteries been firing it would have been a lot noisier, but the arriving forces had made damned sure that if they did it'd be one of the last things they ever were able to do-- Restevian warships again were in the skies over the recently-embattled world.
Rear Admiral Natalie Kuros was the first one out, a small security team of Marines at her side as she stepped into the sunlight. Her pressed dark blue dress uniform was clean and well kept, having come here almost directly from her flagship with only one detour. The reason for that detour was the next to disembark, and by comparison to his Navy counterpart Field Marshal Grisha Koshkov looked a sight. Still wearing battered combat armor and a dusty tan greatcoat, Koshkov hadn't shaved for two weeks, and had only had barely enough time to do so this morning before the pickup had arrived for him and his security team, the battered and busted up troopers and lone Gladiarus forming up tightly behind him. They had spoken on the way to the compound over tea and fresh food that the groundpounders had devoured, and they knew what they had to do. But for now, there was a meeting to handle, and with that in mind they walked in to the compound with their heads held high.


The large compound appeared to be quite pristine compared to the devastated and oppressive cities that the Restevians had previously fought in. Polished marble, fine wood, large panels of glass giving a nice view of the desert, large pools and interior zen gardens. It was the first place Koshkov had seen that wasn't completely packed with surveillance cameras in the entire planet: a true retreat for the elite from the planet they ruled. It was some kind of spa with plenty of electroneural devices strewn about, modern in its architecture but marred by the presence of several Capitol headquarter companies that had quickly turned the place into a communications center, erecting comms antenna on the roof of the facility and laying cables to tap into planetary landlines from the interior of the place. They had arrived in several large transport craft that were now landed and folded up in the helipads besides the Restevian dropship, some of them still being unloaded.
None of the Capitol staffers were armed and there didn't seem to be any sort of infantry combat unit in the entire place. The situation was complicated enough as it was, Laikos didn't want to drag it out further by having to haggle over what kinds of weapons would be allowed in the meeting or who would provide security. Instead he had unilaterally disarmed his headquarters, the only unit in the whole planet to do so. While the entire headquarters section was extremely busy communicating with field commanders and trying to get a last-minute tally of which units wanted to leave the planet, the sight of the heavily-armed Restevians was definitely an intimidating one, with many staffers avoiding them altogether. A few technicians led the Restevians to where Laikos had set up his command post - a massive blue and white hall with enormous windows and an undulating roof, once occupied almost entirely by a pool that had long been drained and was now being used as an improvised archive. Underneath the pool's glass floor there was a huge illuminated aquarium where mermaid-like alien creatures swam admist shapeshifting coral, largely ignored by the technicians.
Laikos was in the middle of it, standing in front of a desk and holding an obsolete-looking phone receiver with which he was talking to some distant field commander. He wasn't wearing much of his uniform, only a dress shirt, a black tie and pants, revealing his overly accentuated, somewhat off-putting voluptuous proportions. The general, who had been a pencil-pusher for most of his career and was currently in the thick of it, didn't have any smarmy introductory line and merely nodded to the Restevians to come when he noticed them.


"Zapomnite dver'." Koshkov ordered as they entered, gesturing lightly behind them to one of his men as he removed his helmet, replacing it with a field cap that like him had seen far better days.
"Da, tovarishch fel'dmarshal." the trooper nodded, turning around and leaning on the door frame to keep watch. The rest of the troopers and Marines spread out through the room, keeping within sight of one another, their commanders and the enemy general, though a couple of them eyed chairs that looked far more comfortable than a chair ought to. Probably fatigue talking.

The Field Marshal and the Rear Admiral walked over to Lakios, Koshkov folding his arms as he came to a stop. So this was his enemy, the Capitol madman that had blasted a third of his men with radiation and bombarded the rest with the fires of the seven Irrian hells. Without the distinctive uniform of the enemy, or armor, or a sword or any sort of weapon, the man decided that while offputting as he wore the face and form of Inara, Laikos didn't look much like the enemy he had fought before. Nevertheless, he didn't let his guard down. Admiral Kuros was slightly more open, nodding to Laikos as she came down from attention and into parade rest.
"General." she said curtly. "You wanted to see us, and we're here."


"Field Marshal, Rear Admiral." Laikos nodded to both Restevians, putting the phone down and leaning into his desk a bit. He got down to business very quickly, not paying too much attention to who the Restevians had sent specifically. They could have sent a private and it wouldn't matter, he was in as much of a tight situation anyways. "Have you brought the Addas expeditionary force as we agreed?"


"Da, they are in orbit and being staged to land as we speak." the admiral nodded. The others in the room watched closely, hands on their rifles if not exactly on triggers. "I appreciate your willingness to negotiate with us for the safe withdrawal of RSC and IRS assets, however... there is something that needs to be addressed."


"Yes, as a matter of fact there is" Laikos intervened, looking over the stacks of printed lists that an assistant handed to him, his gaze switching between the tally of loyal units and the two Restevians. "I've received information from some 74 divisions and 14 thousand more detached personnel that they also wish to vacate the planet alongside the exchanged prisoners once we get this done with, so they'll be going up with me. The rest of the planetary garrison wishes to stay as planned. I think we need to be on the same page as to what kind of materiel are those who are leaving allowed to take with them."


"They will be allowed to leave and return to their families, if that is what they wish to do." the admiral nodded. "That said, you will not be going with them. Marshal, if you would."
Koshkov grunted, his expression not changing. Another man might let a feral smile come over him in a moment such as this, let victory and smugness color his voice. Tiredness, a strong wish to get this over and done with and some scrap of honor left intact through the savagery of the war prevented it as he straightened up and motioned two troopers to come over and stand ready, which they did in a clatter of armor.
"General Laikos, by the authority of the Ancerious Galactic Alliance and the Restevian Socialist Confederation, you are under arrest. I ask that you don't make this any harder on yourself and the rest of us than this needs to be."


Laikos hesitated and stammered in disbelief, thinking that he had misunderstood the Restevian or that they were having some sort of linguistical translation issues until he saw the two troopers walk up to him with guns in hand. "Arrest me?" He stepped back to put some distance between the Restevians and himself. "Arrest me for what? Who the hell do you think you are and what the hell do you think you're here for? We're negotiating the safe passage of your men for fuck's sake. Your men and mine!"


"With the surrender of Capitol, a lot of information is now in the hands of the AGA. Information including the Brotherhood of the Great State, which as Marshal Koshkov has informed me his troops and that of the IRS have been fighting a good number of them for some time now. According to this information, due to various internal struggles, shifting of internal politics alongside the intention of the Brotherhood to not surrender, you are their leader now, General. Reasonable to think then, that you would intend to leave in order to assume leadership." Admiral Kuros stated plainly, folding her hands in front of her. The troopers didn't move to immediately pursue, but neither did they back off as the rest of them perked up from their guard positions.
"For this reason, among others such as war crimes, and believe me please you are not the only one charged with that, you are being placed under arrest. You will be treated fairly, I assure you, as will your troops."


Laikos quickly jumped backwards, becoming cornered by the Restevians against the wall of the pool where several large server racks had been set up.  "I'm going to give you three fucking seconds to tell me which one of Inara's zombies bribed you into doing something this stupid or I'm calling a goddamn airstrike on that dropship of yours, understood!?" He shouted loudly in Capitol language, making sure the rest of his staff could hear him. The commotion quickly became obvious to the other staffers working in the central room of the command post, who dropped what they were doing and ran to alert the rest of the compound of what was happening.


Koshkov sighed and pinched his nose, shaking his head.
"Bogi znali, chto eto proizoydet..." he muttered as the Admiral produced a datapad and held it out to show Laikos. On it was the warrant for the General's arrest, in full detail and proper format with the various charges listed, signed by Marshal Brelkov and other AGA commanders. Such as it was, the proof was there.


Laikos seemed to relax a bit, still tense and his eyes darting all over the place but at least he didn't look like a cornered rat anymore. The alarms began ringing around the compound as they were activated by the staffers who'd run away but, raising his hands and without making any quick moves, Laikos reached for the intercoms. "Stand down, shut the fucking alarms off." He commanded and in less than one second the alarms had been cut. "Alright, well, at least you're not here because of some fucking Inarist ISS snake." He said. "If it's the AGA that wants me then I can go with that. I have done no wrong and have acted fully in accordance with the mandate given to me by former empress Inara. I believe I will be able to defend myself well if your trial is as fair as you proclaim. The Brotherhood of the Great State might be hard-headed but they aren't stupid, we refuse to surrender until our brothers are all back home. If needed be, I can be your liason with the Brotherhood and you can sort all of this out. You got me." He spoke slowly and clearly, addressing Koshkov. "But know that my men are not going to take this well and right now there is a lot of nuclear warheads pointing at your men holed up in the cities so we're walking on fucking eggshells here. My men are going to want some assurance that you will actually treat me well and they're not just going to take AGA's word for it."

He kept his hands raised but relaxed his pose somewhat, sighing with a tone of disappointment as he leaned onto the wall behind him.


"I'll go with you but before that let me fly in my medical section so that they can board your shuttle. They can act as my legal witnesses and testify of my wellbeing before and during the trial so my men stay calm." Laikos continued. "I am not going to play any games with you, I'll instruct them to land a mile and a half away from this compound and you can inspect the shuttle before they are allowed to exit, then they will walk all the way here. No guns. In exchange, you save three million lives from a pointless death in a war that's long over. Are my terms fair?"


Koshkov considered this. It was his call at this point, and there were two sides to the Field Marshal at this critical moment. The savage man, the man that had just survived one of the hairiest battles he had ever fought that his instincts cursed and roared at him to show no respect or mercy to the enemy in front of him. But then there was the other side of him, the cautious and considerate commander that had done the best he could to bring his boys through this war in one piece, and while he had failed in that he did not want to fail any further. He had to swallow his anger, do the smart thing, the right thing for his men.

"They are fair. I'll have troops meet them at the assigned landing zone, and once the inspection is over they will be brought here right away." he nodded, and the troopers began to relax from the tense postures they had taken.


"Good." Laikos himself breathed a sigh of relief and, after gesturing to see if it was OK, lowered his hands and walked over to his desk to pick up one of the many radio transceivers he had at his disposal and hang up on the dozens of calls that were holding on the line. He slowly raised the radio to show he wasn't armed or planning on doing anything. "Regulus 3-1 this is Goldstone actual, send the boys over here please. One transporter only, send it unarmed." he said and got a reply distorted by the radio. "They'll be here in ten, they're arriving from the north." He said before putting the radio back down and sitting on his desk, looking at Koshkov with curiosity for several minutes until he broke the silence.

"I've been told you are the field commander leading the Restevian assault. Were you at Ob or Asteria?"


"Ob was the 91st Krondsthant. Walking Ghosts after the radiation hit their transports almost dead on, the Gods grant their souls peace." Khoskov said, folding his arms. "My command post was in Asteria."


"Take this as a compliment if you want, I've made up my mind about going with you... but I found that Asteria and the perimeter around it was where the most dynamic fighting happened." Laikos said with an oddly nonchalant tone. "It was an interesting decision to concentrate all your special forces in a single formation, they practically anihilated the 559th mechanized. I must say it was the first time I've seen an irregular force beat a mechanized infantry division like that, by the time the 1010th Separate went north your guys had scattered my whole first echelon in that area."


"Such was the situation at hand," he Field Marshal admitted. "I had one shock army on the ground already with severe casualties and a flank that needed locked off. I sent the Spetsnaz because I knew they could handle it, no matter how oddly they did."
A pause, and a rough, almost dangerous chuckle.
"I was surprised when they called for orbital, but I can understand why they did. And by the Gods did it work."


The field marshal seemed to be getting Laikos more comfortable as he himself chuckled a bit and looked over a large strategic map that was still draped on his desk. Lately it had been merely used to scribble notes on but it still had the last recorded position of friendly forces, when they were still locked in battle. "It must have taken guts. If I may confess to you on my side it was merely calling for a two-echelon advance from the west under EPA air cover and let my generals handle the actual gritty details of it. Seeing you here looking like you just came out of a trench makes me think that perhaps my position deprives me of a connection with the art of war that blinds me and makes me predictable. Although I would need your word on that."


"I am the sort of commander that if I am not in the field with the men and women in my care, I'm not doing my job correctly." Koshkov shrugged. Make no mistake, he still was alert, but being able to speak to one's foe like this was something few Restevian commanders had been able to experience with so many of their foes being the UEA or worse. As much as Koshkov hated Capitol, it was... perspective.
"Perhaps being so detached has changed your perspective, but you do not command like I do. As for how rough I look, pyatidnevnyye bombardirovki suka, your special ops are good at what they do, and let's leave it there."


"Ah, yes, the Triarii." The Capitol commander replied. "Men like those are one of the many reasons I believe my job is better done from inside bunkers or command aircraft." Laikos looked over the horizon, where the transport carrying his men appeared first as a tiny speck in the distance, flying at very low altitude towards the compound. "There they are." He pointed with a slight snicker. "I guess I should get ready then." He began picking up several papers on his desk and organizing them into folders.


"Starshiy serzhant, go and meet them. Take the Marines with you." Kohskov ordered, the admiral looking on quietly as the power-armored soldier nodded.
"Da, comrade." he acknowledged, motioning the squad out of the room. All but two followed, heading out to meet the transport when it landed. Having come in here they would likely be able to find their way back out again, but they got hold of one of the staffers all the same to be sure they didn't get somehow lost. Koshkov motioned the last two troopers in the room to take up guard at the door, and with some grumbling and creaking of the chairs they'd ensconced themselves in they did. No point in letting their guard down after all this, the Marshal himself was sure he'd finally relax when he was in a wardroom on a battlecruiser high up in orbit.
"You seem to be taking this rather well for being arrested for a trial, General." the admiral noted, still standing at parade rest.


The Capitol ship suddenly changed direction and took a detour for a couple seconds before resuming its flight towards the compound, approaching it from a slightly different angle. Laikos continued staking and neatly folding his paperwork up then addressed Koshkov and Kuros with a smile.

"Of course, admiral. There is nothing more calming in this world than to see, and the more you see the more at peace your soul is. Whereas primitive organisms have to live in a constant state of alert and evasion, organisms gifted with eyesight can know when threats are coming. More importantly, they can know when threats are not coming, when it's safe to relax their bodies, take care of their young, clean their nests and even contemplate the universe. In fact, I think that inner peace is a just a consequence of being able to see what matters when it matters" He suddenly dropped all his papers and stopped what he was doing. "And believe me, I see a hell of a lot better than you."

Inside the Capitol transport, just as it was about to fly directly over the compound at near rooftop altitude, dozens of bright red eyes lit up in its dark cargo bay. Without it ever opening its bay doors, the transport dropped a full platoon of ghostly figures, who phased through the floor of the craft and the roof of the compound. The Army of the Panopticon, a force that had been kept on standby during the entire battle and Laikos' greatest asset, was finally unleashed. The transport aircraft had changed its course to drop the psychic creatures without the Restevian dropship's pilots seeing it, then flew over the compound to land on the helipad right next to the Restevian craft so that its engines drowned out any signs of fighting. Laikos himself was gone in a flash, acquiring a ghostly appearance and phasing through the thick pane of glass at the bottom of the empty pool half a second before his soldiers arrived.
Telepathically directed by Laikos himself, the phasic soldiers of the Panopticon dropped on the Restevian soldiers right as they bunched up near the door of the hallway, unsheathing phasic blades and going for the Restevians' necks, tendons and spines with superhuman precision. As Laikos' personal unit, the detachment of Panopticon shadow troopers that came to his rescue was much heavier, outnumbering the Restevians by a slight margin, and was augmented by two hulking monstrosities that walked and moved like deep black mountains of psychically-actuated muscle with triple-jawed claws for hands and huge antlers that emitted paralysing electroneural waves. One of such creatures dropped on the Gladiarius while the other one dropped right in front of the two Restevian commanders along with two shadow soldiers. While the ones that targeted the normal troops and marines went directly for the kill, the Panopticon bioweapons and shadow troopers that confronted Koshkov and Kuros attempted to subdue them instead.

'They are in now.' Laikos communicated, whose ghostly form was now floating in the aquarium right under the Restevian commanders, looking up to see how the situation evolved. He addressed the staffers of the command post who were well aware of what was going on. 'Make sure to drown out any outgoing communications with HICOM traffic until I say so.'

The communications section of the Capitol command post quickly powered up its equipment and turned on the listening antennae in case the Restevians tried to call for help or communicate that they were being ambushed, ready to block their transmissions with the much larger comms antenna on the compound. The landed transport kept its engines running to make sure the Restevian pilots couldn't hear the bloodbath going on inside the compound.

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**FIELD REPORT 345988**
**СОВЕРШЕННО СЕКРЕТНО**

Following the recent surrender of APP forces on Rubikon II, field headquarters on-world was contacted by the Capitol commander in-theater, reported to be Laikos (TARGET LEVEL: ALPHA) to enact a prisoner exchange of BGS personnel for safety of AGA forces. Field Marshal Koshkov and Rear Admiral Kuros embarked to the Capitol headquarters compound with a small guard force, and at 1147 hours local time began negotiations.

What occurred next is sketchy due to thinness of available information, though reports from the crew of the dropship used to transport the delegation team indicate some exchange of distress and anomalous flight patterns of a Capitol vessel bearing a medical team for Laikos. Crew chief Dmitri Lenkov reported the sounds of gunfire from within the compound, but due to local conditions he was unable to confirm, and as a result of interference from a nearby sandstorm (Confirm this, conditions seem suspicious) was unable to report it. Following a short period of time, at 1219 AM local time the dropship was contacted by Marshal Koshkov, and was told negotiations had successfully concluded. Despite this, casualties were reported by the accompanying team. Shortly following this Laikos departed, and BGS withdrawal from Rubikon II was initiated. BGS-aligned Capitol military forces were observed to evacuate with mass amounts of heavy equipment, as well as all known units of the Army of the Panopticon. Prisoner exchange was then observed as proceeding, APP prisoners from the battle of Addas were turned over to Laikos as per agreement, and Rubikon II was officially surrendered to the AGA with all remaining Capitol forces standing down.

Fleet elements monitoring BGS departure have heavily advised tracking the course and possible destinations of BGS forces, and as of this time, this field office concurs. Circumstances of BGS withdrawal and unknown nature of occurrences within the compound are highly suspect and bear deeper investigation (Recommend examination of Marshal Koshkov and Admiral Kuros as well as accompanying team surviviours and casualties) and volatility of BGS forces demands mobilization of local units and preparation for containment operations.

**END OF FIELD REPORT**

Personal note: Comrade, just what the hell happened in there? Over half the team was reported as casualties, yet we have no concrete ideas of what happened. Men go down, get shredded, then apparently Laikos and Koshkov shake hands and everyone goes home? There's a lot of things not adding up, and we need to sort this. Fast.