“It would appear so.”
“Is putting the lives of everyone on the station worth becoming a high scholar and financial gain?”
“No . . .”
“Then, you do have work to do, Odelea,” Tolukei said. “Choose the right path.”
33 Foster
Central Operation Spire, Intergalactic Leadership Forum
Amicitia Station 14, Arietis system
August 11, 2118, 08:19 SST (Sol Standard Time)
The central most section of Amicitia Station 14 was reserved for station operations, CPU cores, AI core, environment controls, primary reactors, and, most importantly, the Intergalactic Leadership Forum. The forum was a majestic chamber used by the leaders of the Radiance Union, Hashmedai Empire, and UNE, where the three galactic nations could discuss matters of galactic diplomacy, settle disputes, and build the seemingly difficult idea of true peace and cooperation between the three.
The forum was originally created to settle the growing territorial disputes between the three nations during the start of the colonization rush. Gene therapy had eliminated death from old age thus resulting in a massive population growth in the galaxy, and the need to claim as many planets and systems as possible. Its success prevented all-out war between the three nations over planets, and then later helped the Empire cease human hostilities to its people as many still mourned the loss of two billion lives during their invasion. Following that, the UNE used the forum to encourage Radiance and the Empire to enter a ceasefire, bringing an end to thousands of years of war between the two.
The leaders of the Qirak, from time to time, used the forum as a means to reach trade deals, while elders from the Undine and Poniga that wished to speak to galactic leaders on rare occasions were offered the chance to travel to the forum to sit and talk.
Foster and Pierce contacting the UNE and unveiling what they discovered and presenting proof had once again prompted the three political leaders of the galaxy to come together and discuss their findings in regard to the new threat, one that took the lives of thousands from all three nations. Foster approached the lift which led to the forum and waited for it to arrive as Peiun strode in from around the corner. He too stood waiting for the lift.
“You too?” Foster said to him with her arms crossed.
“My government has summoned me here,” Peiun said. “I was hoping my report was all they needed, it would appear I was wrong.”
“Oh,” said a timid voice from the corridor Foster had passed.
Foster turned and smirked at a young Aryile girl. She looked a lot like the girl that was on TV when Radiance first landed their transport ship on the White House lawn. Odelea was her name if Foster remembered correctly. It was hard for her to forget that as it was one of the last times she sat down and watched TV with her father, excited to discover the human race wasn’t alone in the universe.
Then promptly wished they were days later, when the Empire struck.
“I was under the impression I was the only one speaking during the forum,” the Aryile said.
Peiun grunted. “A human, Hashmedai, and an Aryile, speaking with the leaders of our respected nations, this will be amusing.”
The lift doors swung open and the three piled in. It’s rapidly powered parts lifted upwards toward the forum’s location as silence enveloped the three. Silence Foster tried to break. “You look like that Scholar Odelea girl that was part of the Radiance’s first contact with Earth.”
“I am her,” she revealed.
“Just couldn’t give up the young body, huh?”
“Oh,” Odelea looked down at her young adult body. “I recently reverted back to this form; it was to celebrate one-hundred Earth years since we uplifted your species, saving you from the demonic the claws of the Empire—”
“That’s racist,” Peiun cut in.
“Oh, my apologies,” Odelea said, facing him. “I didn’t realize you had joined us.”
“What did you think I was doing down there?” Peiun said, his voice growing annoyed. “Waiting around for no reason?”
“Please, forgive me,” Odelea reiterated and bowed.
Peiun crossed his arms in an uncaring manner, leaning his back against the lift’s walls. “Its fine, I’m used to the entire galaxy hating my kind.” He gazed at Foster, smirking, she rolled her eyes.
The lift’s ascent came to an end and its wide doors slid open and the three stepped into a circular room, the Intergalactic Leadership Forum where realistic holograms served a videoconference system for the leaders of the three nations. On the left was the Radiance council, who sat at their wide desk in the council delegation chambers in Veromacon, Aervounis. Iey’liwea, the Rabuabin representative sat in between Ienthei the Aryile representative, Zealoei the Javnis representative, Marchei the Vorcambreum representative, and Hanei the Linl representative.
It took Foster the better half of the day to match their names with their faces and species and was certain she would forget it all by the end of the next hour, if not, within the next two minutes.
In the center of the room sat Emperor Eensino and Empress Kroshka on their respective thrones in the Imperial throne room on Paryo. The two Hashmedai leaders waited for the forum to start, donning glittering white robes that matched their pale skin and platinum-blonde hair, adorned with gold and platinum rings. Black-colored highlights covered one half of Kroshka’s hair.
Finally, off to the right was none other than the President of Earth, Lance Anderson, who sat at his desk in his office in Earth Cube with his hands folded and his black suit and tie looking spiffy. Geneva’s devastated skyline could be seen in the distance behind him. The crisp and realistic imagery of the holograms made Foster wonder how much money was spent on the projectors. The more she looked at them, the more she felt as though she had one foot on the station and the other on Earth, Paryo, or Aervounis.
“Is this everyone?” President Anderson asked.
“For now,” Iey’liwea said.
“Well then, let us begin,” Emperor Eensino said.
The meeting started with all parties introducing each other, and then Odelea stepping forward and introducing herself. It drew unexpected glares from all members of the Radiance council.
“Scholar Odelea . . .” Iey’liwea said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’d like to know that myself,” said Anderson. “We have been looking for you.”
Odelea broke her silence, and her sun-kissed skin turned a shade red. “I cannot remain silent any further, so I have made the choice to appear before you all today.”
Foster saw Iey’liwea’s face twitch and her posture become uncomfortable. Odelea was about to do something that wasn’t part of the council’s plan. Or perhaps just her plan, whatever that was.
“Is that so?” Emperor Eensino said. “Well, do share with the rest of us.”
Odelea exhaled deeply, mustering the courage to speak. “Tolukei did not force me onto Earth. I forced him.”
“You what?”
“I needed to continue my research,” Odelea said. “I needed a live invader soldier to study. The ones on Aervounis had all been slain and I imagine Paryo as well, Earth was the only source, and there was no time to ask for permission. I needed a live sample and I needed to be the one that had exclusive access to it. Souyila convinced the Union to blame Tolukei in order to protect me and keep my research a secret.”
There was silence and deep musing from all those present, thanks in part to Odelea’s bombshell, dropped on her own people at that.
Odelea continued. “The UNE boarded the Abyssal Comet, likely out of suspicion of our presence on Earth, so Souyila had me, Tolukei, and the invader specimen we captured secretly moved to the station.” She waved her hand in the air and a hologram of the Dragon Knight appeared, trapped behind a force field. “Last night I witnessed an Imperial vessel dock with the station, the specimen with me reacted to it. It knew there was something on the ship that it deemed important, something it claimed was
stolen. I was asked to stay silent about it.”
“This Imperial ship you speak off was most likely the Rezeki’s Rage,” Anderson said.
“That is correct,” Empress Kroshka said. “No other Hashmedai ships have docked with the station within the last twenty-seven hours.”
Anderson sat back in his leather presidential chair, with a fierce grimace. He faced the duo leadership of the Empire. “We called this meeting to exchange critical information. Is there a reason why the Rezeki’s Rage didn’t inform the station’s crew of this important stolen item they were bringing with them?”
“We were not made aware of this, only that the ship had been covered in a strange material, which we extracted and had shipped out of the system for further study,” Eensino said. “Peiun, why didn’t you reveal that there were more facts?”
“We brought nothing else with us other than the strange material, as you mentioned, and the four survivors from the Kapteyn’s Star system,” Peiun said. “I don’t know what this scholar speaks of.”
Peiun was asked to go into greater detail in regard to the Rezeki’s Rage’s escape from Kapteyn’s Star and how it arrived there in the first place. Foster’s situation with the tattoos came next, which gave her the abilities to navigate through the maelstrom, followed by a replay of her engram experience from the monolith.
“That must be it then,” Odelea said. “Foster, you must be what the Dragon Knight sensed; you must be the thief it referred to.”
“I ain’t no thief, I didn’t take anything that didn’t belong to me,” Foster said. “These tattoos were forced on me when I touched the monolith—”
“Spare us your excuses, it seems quite clear to me that the invaders and the cults of the Celestial Order are working together,” Marchei said.
“Explain,” Eensino said.
“The Abyssal Sword, before vanishing, conducted operations against Order forces,” Marchei said. “The Order must have boarded the ship then fled to Sirius.”
“No, this is all related to Tiamat,” Foster spoke up. “The statues we saw at her tomb in Sirius are the same ones we found at the dig site near the monolith.”
Kroshka faced her, her face twisted with confusion. “Tiamat?”
“Old Earth mythology,” Anderson said.
“It ain’t any myth, it’s true,” Foster said. “We encountered Marduk himself out in Sirius.”
“Captain Foster is referring to debunked reports of their Sirius expedition,” Anderson said. “They claimed to have discovered that Marduk, another part of old Earth myth, was really a Javnis Muodiry. During their disappearance, it was later discovered the Javnis called Marduk was nothing more than a rogue Javnis. The ruins belonging to Tiamat were of another generation of Lyonria.”
Foster reiterated her stance. “It’s all true, Tiamat, Marduk, the Sirens Undine whatever you wanna call ‘em. Earth’s past mythos was more real than we thought. What we’re facing right now are forces loyal to Tiamat who believe we’ve wronged them. Fighting them head-on ain’t gonna solve anything.”
“Thank you for proving my theory,” Marchei said to Foster with a devious smirk. “You are indoctrinated.”
“Bullshit!”
“He may be correct about that. If the Sword was under control of the Order, then this proves Tolukei’s true allegiance,” Heinei of the Radiance council said.
“Yes, Tolukei abducting Odelea to force her to the surface of Earth . . .” Ienthei said. “He must have been trying to reconnect with the invaders, who very well may be sinful spawns of the Order.”
Foster saw a troubled look appear on Odelea’s face, like she was placed in an uncomfortable position.
“How can you be so sure of Tolukei’s allegiance to the order?” Kroshka asked.
“Almost all Muodiry ended up in the arms of the heretics, clearly, he had plans to as well,” Iey’liwea said.
“Captain Foster,” Kroshka said to her. “Tolukei was a member of your crew was he not? Did he not play an important role in your survival?”
Foster nodded. “He did. He saved my hide from being held captive, if he was workin’ for the Order; he did a lousy job of that.”
“Might I remind everyone,” said Marchei. “If Tolukei was a member of the Order, he may have tampered with the minds of the Carl Sagan’s crew. Furthermore, this Marduk you encountered in Sirius, was he not a Javnis Muodiry?”
“Yeah, that he was,” said Foster. “We theorized he was taken from the Javnis homeworld by aliens, aliens we suspected to be of the same species Tiamat was. Which we now suspect are the same alien invaders we’re conflictin’ with.”
“A Muodiry on the Carl Sagan, a Muodiry ruling the Sirius sector,” said Marchei. “The Carl Sagan’s disappearance, along with the Sword, and reappearance may very well be part of a well-orchestrated plan in which all parties involved had been indoctrinated to following the Order’s beliefs. Captain Foster, I’m sorry to say, might be under their control attempting to manipulate us.”
“That’s nonsense,” Peiun cut in, his voice raised, drawing attention to him. “I had to rescue Foster from the surface of Jacobus. She was under attack by invader forces which you claim are possibly allied with the Order.”
“But we can’t look past the facts,” Marchei countered, his voice growing more arrogant. “The Abyssal Sword, we all can agree, had most likely been compromised by the Celestial Order, not beings related to ancient human stories. They arrived in Sirius, annexing the Carl Sagan, which returned alongside the invader fleet, with part of its crew missing, and those that weren’t had their memories wiped. Why would the Sword travel to Sirius? To seek help from Marduk, a Muodiry, of course. Why would Tolukei abduct Odelea and try to flee to the surface of Earth? Because he secretly serves the Order.”
“Let’s cut the bullshit,” Foster said. “Radiance, I don’t know what kinda game ya’ll tryin’ to play, but it ain’t workin’. We ain’t indoctrinated, Tolukei is not a member of the Order, and we wouldn’t be talking if he was. Odelea admitted to doing what she did, and you saw the proof of the vision that monolith put in my head. Pull your heads out from your asses and listen to the words we speak.”
“You are quite bold to say such things, human,” Zealoei spat at Foster.
Foster’s finger pointed toward the stars of space visible by the observation window behind her. “We’re quite possibly facing the extinction of all life in the galaxy, and the three biggest forces that could stop it ain’t working together. The wars between our people are over, ain’t it? So, let’s start acting like it. Radiance, Hashmedai, humans . . . ya’ll need to cooperate as one alliance, and you can start by reviewing the findings we presented to you, and start pooling your collective thoughts together to figure this shit out.”
“I, for one, welcome the idea of an alliance if it means the preservation of our people,” Peiun said.
“She is correct, accusations and bickering are getting us nowhere,” Eensino said. “We called this meeting to find a solution to the common threat we all face.”
“Very well,” Zealoei said, folding his fingers together. “Then, what would our next step be?”
“The three fleets that attacked us are still in control of the Kapteyn’s Star system, correct?” Anderson asked. “Perhaps a swift counterattack with the combined power of all our forces.”
Foster shook her head. “No, that will only make matters worse.”
“The intel we have gathered has given us the advantage, so long as that armada remains in one location,” Anderson said.
“I happen to agree, we can’t waste this chance,” Ienthei said. “If they spread out it will only make it harder for us to track . . . or worse, they could use the maelstroms to strike new targets. We have to end this now.”
“Ya’ll ain’t listening to me. This whole invasion was a misunderstanding,” Foster said. “They believe we wronged them in the past by killing one of their deities.”
Ienthei’s eyebrow rose. “Deities?”
“They think we did her in,” Foster said. “I’m guessing the Sword was compromised before we went to investigate it. From there, someone must have told them the lie that we all in the galaxy were their enemy. Maybe it was Order members aboard the Sword, maybe it was ancient tech, we don’t know for sure. But if we’re going to end this conflict, we must find the Abyssal Sword. The clues on that ship will point us to what we need to do next, and that’s findin’ the location of their homeworld. From there, we can contact their leaders and prove to them that we ain’t their enemy.”
“She is correct,” Odelea added. “From what I’ve been able to translate, they seem to view us as if we’ve committed a malicious act toward their people.”
“We could dispatch several ships to conduct a search,” Ienthei suggested.
“No warships, remember, we don’t want them to get the wrong idea,” Foster said.
“We should send one ship, it will draw very little attention,” Peiun said. “Ideally, said ship shouldn’t be heavily armed for prolonged combat and have a skilled crew.”
“Madness, one ship?” Marchei said. “What if there are more of these Dragon Knights? All it would take is one to appear and bring the crew of said ship to their knees.”
“Which brings up the next issue of your idea, HNI,” Anderson said. “We can’t remove the implants without killing the user and we all receive them at birth. A small ship and crew would be vulnerable. The only people that don’t have implants are those that live on remote anti-tech colonies, even then, those people would hardly be qualified for such a mission—”
“Then send me,” Foster interjected. “I’m a sleep-in, along with my crew, we never got the HNI implants, we’re trained and experienced explorers, part of a crew that already saved the cosmos from an ancient threat.”
“Foster, you’ll still need more personnel for your team, personnel that will have HNI,” Anderson said.
“That’s fine, because I’ll still have my senior crew with me. If we lose the whole ship to an HNI hack there’ll still be a skilled team ready to take control of the situation, the only team in the galaxy that stands a chance at fighting any Dragon Knight.”
Celestial Incursion (Edge of the Splintered Galaxy Book 1) Page 33