Operation Red Wedding
Operation Red Wedding was the codename of a mission carried out in Year 15 by the internal security of Morobe's corporate authority that led to the capture and subsequent execution of Sirius Constantine. The mission was preceded by at least six months of internal investigations and intelligence gathering to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Constantine was acting against Sienar Fleet Systems and was a member of a criminal syndicate. In the aftermath of the operation, security protocols were strengthened to prevent such incidents from happening again.
Operation Red Wedding
Background
The internal investigation of Constantine began in early Year 15 when suspicious behaviour was noticed by the security branch of Morobe's corporate authority. Evidence suggested that Constantine was aiding Zann Consortium, a criminal organisation, from his position as the Director of Production of Sienar Fleet Systems. Prior to this, it was known that Constantine had connections to Zann through his wife Thali'a N'ightshade. The two married in Year 14 on Day 318 and by then N'ightshade was already a known member of Zann. This in itself was not suspicious as other members of Morobe corporations had social connections to Zann and their affiliates.
Constantine was a trusted member of Morobe corporations from early Year 14 when he joined Aurora Technologies, and he had prior history with many members through earlier Imperial service. As such, the general attitude was the hope that the investigation would prove the suspicions wrong.
We hoped we were wrong. He, like all of us, was a hard working Imperial, committed to his job and devoted to his friends. He, most of all, was a brother, so we stood by until the evidence pile was damning enough to seal his fate without a sting of conscience. ― Gredek Dregoth, Senior Vice President
However, the suspicions were confirmed several months later when collected evidence proved beyond reasonable doubt that Constantine was in fact a secret member of Zann, and among other things was allocating Sienar Fleet Systems datacards to Zann members despite the fact that trading with Zann and their associated groups was a criminal offence for corporations operating out of Morobe.
Further evidence was also provided by the Director of Imperial Intelligence Elvira Falston. This evidence was gathered as part of a separate investigation to root out Zann spies in the Galactic Empire.[1] The plan devised to bring Constantine to justice became known as Operation Red Wedding.
Operation
In the broadest detail, the plan was to isolate Constantine without alerting him of the mission to arrest him. Steps had to be taken to protect other members of Sienar Fleet Systems as it was feared that upon premature discovery Constantine would escape and give Zann access to ships where they could capture members of the company for ransom.
To address these concerns, during the planning phase members of the security team were tasked to covertly protect company workers from potential capture attempts. Bok Kiluyak, one of the security team members, was assigned to shadow the ship of Symphony Brooks, who was one of the most active and productive members of Sienar Fleet Systems, so that in case of emergency Kiluyak was in position to extract Brooks from a compromised ship. Fortunately, the operation was planned and executed with timely precision before Constantine had an opportunity to misuse his corporate privileges to take hostages.
The operation itself took place in Year 15 on Day 210 when a strike team led by three Force Sensitive agents boarded the Mammoth-class Heavy Hauler Kryat 04 that Constantine was using to transport cargo of Meleenium from Kroctar to Morobe. The plan was for Lilith Sarka to apprehend Constantine, whilst Salyavin Chronotis took control of the bridge to maintain the scheduled course and prevent any attempted extraction of Constantine by Zann. Meanwhile, Kiluyak's team was to secure blast doors throughout the ship to limit Constantine's movements.
The strike team was unable to hide their intentions once onboard the ship and Constantine attempted to escape during the team's attempt to secure all exits out of the bridge. As planned, Chronotis took command of the ship and ordered the crew to enter hyperspace. Sarka and Kiluyak pursued Constantine and eventually tracked him down in the ship's docking ports where Constantine would have been able to board another ship if one was at the same location, which suggested that Constantine was expecting an extraction.
Once apprehended, Constantine was taken back to the bridge and presented with the charges against him. Despite the evidence, Constantine denied his crimes. The trial lasted nearly two days, and in conclusion his actions and Zann membership were deemed as treason. Constantine was sentenced to capital punishment, and was executed by Sarka on Day 212 whilst the ship was still in hyperspace.
Aftermath
Although Constantine's crimes and Zann membership were confirmed, it remains unclear why he was motivated to join the criminal organisation in the first place. It is presumed he was influenced by his wife, and the goal of his activities was to disrupt or seize production of Sienar Fleet Systems. In Year 15 Zann was still a relatively new organisation but already had a reputation for violence and terrorist attacks across the galaxy to establish their base of operations.
To this day N'ightshade denies that her husband was a member of Zann, and the organisation also attempted to cover up Constantine's involvement. Public records controlled by N'ightshade and Zann portray the capture and execution as a murder without motivation, and present Constantine as a stoic and brave man awaiting his fate while under arrest.[2] However, in reality Constantine was well aware of the charges brought against him and instead of awaiting his fate, he attempted to escape when his treacherous actions were discovered.
Constantine's body was buried at an unmarked location, and his fate served as a cautionary tale for all would-be spies and criminals within the Morobe corporations. There have been no similar incidents in Morobe's history since.