The administration palace's grand stonework lay still for the first time since the morning. Smoke still belted, now subdued, from cinders hidden beneath rubble. Several drapes and banners with bullet holes or fragmentation dust were being ripped down by the servants. The planad strode around with his loyal death squad surrounding him, he couldn't rule out the possibility that some traitorous snake hid in some rubble waiting for their opportunity to ice him.
A man in military regalia, a khaki uniform and a soldier helmet ran up to the planad, gun strapped around his shoulder, his epaulets denoted that he was a major in the Azonis Planetary Guard. "Sir, the grand hall is clear, shall we prepare the reporters?" he asked the planad.
The planad responded self-assuredly "Be ready in ten minutes, and make sure the wings are guarded too, we wouldn't want troublemakers at my heroic speech"
"Sir, yes sir" the officer responded, saluted and, making an about face, started jogging towards the grand hall, almost tripping over the dead body of a soldier, face mutilated by a large caliber firearm.
Around the building, a perimeter had been erected, with the Azonis Planetary Guard's Palace regiment setting up an ad hoc hospital in the north wing of the palace and checkpoints and patrols around the palace exterior. About half of their soldiers lay wounded, and most of their transport vehicles had been sabotaged by a planned bombing earlier that morning, meaning they had no means to chase the attackers. Civilians started leaving their houses, just as the alarm level had been lowered, and started heading to see what the commotion was about. Many awaited at the palace gardens swarming guards with questions and seeking medical aid. It was not only the palace that had been hit, firefights and explosions sprawled through the early morning across Azonis Central - the planetary capital.
General Vyke hopped into the grav jeep with his aides. "To the palace, now!" he barked at his driver. The reports had been clear and Tyu needed to know. The reason for the poor fighting effort was that they were fighting their own troops, the 6th Light Regiment. That much was clear, but what wasn't is why Colonel Ky'Ope betrayed his planet. The general knew this was not exactly the best situation for his career - he needed to get to the bottom of it and salvage the situation. "Planet forbid that the new spymaster gets his nose stuck in to this mess" he thought to himself and made a note to his aide to send for the Military Investigations Office to put this as their top priority.
Under the chauffeur's steering, the grav jeep cruised smoothly over craters and debris in the streets which were once again filling with life. Soldiers also spewed through the streets, patrolling in pairs. The general knew this was to keep up appearances, as no serious lingering threats remained. An aide pulled up a map holo display on his military issued comms device. The aide traced a route of contact reports which showed that the 6th Light Regiment pulled south out of the city. The general observed these movements. "Heading down into the empty savanna, out of civilization. Planning on waiting this one out are they? I will see about that" he thought to himself as he twirled his pencil thin mustache.
In the grand hall, temporary seating was put out, and most of the rubble had been hauled out. In fact at that moment about twenty soldiers were trying to lift a chunk of a stone pillar, probably weighing a couple hundred kilos. Reporters were being sat down as the planad strode in, wearing his official suit, a sort of beige jumpsuit with a purple sash and cape. The jumpsuit had a high collar with insignia pins of a lion made of platinum, passed down from his father, the previous planad before he died. He resembled his father quite well, even styling his charcoal hair in the same obnoxious flat top, as if attempting to rouse authority from his late father. He held to his side in his right arm a set of documents which he placed upon the podium as he reached it. There was nothing important on the documents but the planad thought it made him look prepared. A flash of lights greeted him as cameras took in the moment. A voice to the side introduced him "All hail the most patriotic Planad Tyu!".
He opened into a speech, beginning "My fellow countrymen, today a vile attempt has been had on my life by the traitorous agents of Key'Ya'Nosh. Fortunately peace has been restored as our glorious patriotic palace regiment fought bravely and caught most of the rebels. The rest are being hunted down and captured as I speak, rest assured that by the end of the day, all of them will hang outside the palace. We have achieved peace and there shall be no more of this". One of his advisors had walked up to him and whispered in his ear
"Sir we have reports of gunfire in Southern Azonis Central, intel suggests they have an almost full fighting force, a second attack may be possible"
"As I was saying, all is safe, a report has just told me that we have caught their leader and will be interrogating him shortly" the planad continued as if he had heard a different report from a different advisor just now.
General Vyke hopped out of the grav jeep, with the local commander saluting him on arrival. "Take me to Tyu and prepare an expedition into the savanna" he commanded, in his gravelly voice.
The command almost flashed a worried look for a second before responding "Sir status report - we only have two companies of armored cars ready for deployment, we are not an effective fighting force, the 6LR really did a number on us."
"That was an order, major. Your cars will do, find the 6th Lights and delay them enough for support to arrive". The general responded. Vyke knew that no support could arrive. The deployment of the guards was a precarious organizational feat and they were spread quite thin. Any serious reinforcements would make space for local dissidence. The general saluted the major and headed off into the building.
"Ah, my general! Just the man I was looking for" exclaimed the planad, throwing a fake smile. Standing together, the general was an imposing figure to the relatively scrawny physique of the planetary administrator, however the planad's flowing cape outmatched the general's silver trimmed attire, only undermined by the planad's haircut, which everyone thought was worn better by his father.
"Why is it that we've just had a security failure on several levels and I almost died were it not for sheer luck and the gun under my pillow?" the planad passive-aggressively queried, remembering awakening to a soldier smashing in through his window, and blasting said soldier impulsively.
"Sir, our troops are already maneuvering to eliminate them, it will not take much time. The situation is as follows: it was the 6th Light Regiment, which has betrayed us and attempted to clearly assassinate you. I must regret to inform you that we do not know who is leading this or why. In addition we are lacking the manpower to fight them head on... however I could redirect helicopters to search-"
"Quiet" Tyu interrupted, "The planetary guard is thinly stretched and I will not deal with two rebellions. Keep them where they are and raise a militia regiment in Azonis Central. I'll get my intelligence service to track them down, and when they do, you can finish the job"
The general looking a little angry responded "Sir, no disrespect but I still cannot believe that young brat is now your spymaster. What was wrong with my candidate for the position?"
The planad hit back "Your candidate was nothing but your puppet. I am not stupid general. You think you can wrap more of your fat fingers around my privy council than you already do. Aqa has proven himself many times over in the field, his youth will reinvigorate us I truly believe" and make way to clearing the old guard from myranks he thought. "Speaking of which, where the hell is my spymaster?"