Subsequent monitoring of the communications relay in the Isep Xedi system has yielded the following information.
1. The rebel Xedi faction has been actively seeking ways to undermine the current government and gain popular support. Recently they sent a member undercover to join a smuggling operation, then ambushed and captured a smuggler vessel containing illicit narcotics, inbound from Klingon/Orion territory.
In addition to achieving a symbolic victory over the Xedi government as keepers of order, they discovered an unexpected windfall of latinum aboard the vessel, an estimated five hundred bricks. Expect to see more and better armaments from the Xedi rebel faction once they’ve hundertook an operation to increase popular support. They recently seized a Xedi-owned ship carrying narcotics from Klingon/Orion territory.
- It follows that the Xedi rebel faction will be interested in turning that latinum into equipment and supplies as quickly as possible. If we could maneuver an undercover supplier into position, we may be able to exert some subtle control over the equipment they receive and gain a pair of eyes on the inside of their operation at the same time.
2. We have intercepted messages from the homeworld that suggest a military leader, General Balrath, is preparing to launch a coup d'état to take control of the Xedi government. This is expected to take place within the next 72 hours.
Since the assassination of his superior on the Intelligentsia (see prior entries), Balrath controls the branch of the Xedi military placed in charge of hunting ‘heretics’, which may be defined more simply here as Xedi rebels. The internal nature of hunting dissidents within Xedi society has built this group a reputation more in line with a ‘secret police’ profile than a military one.
The general himself is part of a hardline political movement intensely critical of the government’s ‘soft’ approach to dealing with the rebels, and, in addition to the forces he controls directly, he has rallied clandestine support from other hardliners to supplant the current government.
Balrath’s reputation as a brutal enforcer with no compunction for killing or endangering civilians in large numbers to accomplish his goals, coupled with his available resources and level of support from the rest of the hardliner faction, make this attempted coup a credible threat, with likely civilian casualties.
Balrath is extremely unpopular with his peers and the populace, but an effective military leader whose subordinates respect and revere him. If this coup is successful, he is unlikely to remain in power long-term, but the short-term repercussions will be immediate and severe as he attempts to maintain control.
- The Xedi rebels have a deep-seated loathing of Balrath and his division, and have tried to assassinate the general twice. If Balrath is given free rein to solve the Xedi rebel problem as he sees fit, the rebels can expect to be mercilessly hunted down and exterminated. If we choose to intervene on behalf of the current government and we can prove to them that the massacre on Poltofor II was not our doing, they may be willing allies.
There will not be a better or more critical time for intervention on either of these concerns. We strongly urge Command to consider the ramifications of letting these events proceed unchecked.
//SIGNED//
LCDR Sideris
Intelligence Officer, DS13