“Wait a second, Danny was the target?” Lee blurted. “Why?”
Briggs ran a hand through his hair while the other dangled in chains beside it. “Listen, ASC, it’s an absurdly long story, and frankly I’d just as soon not get into it because it doesn’t change anything. What you need to know is that your man was a bona fide hero, period. In spite of everything that happened to him, and everything he lost, he still had the presence of mind to see the bigger picture and help me get Zier offworld. And because of that, our people now have a chance to stop what’s coming with Masterson and the Kurgorians.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it,” Lee said. “The Kurgorians, right, we know who they are, already. Back to Danny.”
“Trust me, friend.” Briggs’s look turned to stone. “You really, really don’t. These aren’t just any people, okay? They’re not some random race of aliens that we just so happened to cross paths with while out on the rim, and they’re certainly not your run-of-the-mill first contact. These are the very same beings that came within a smidge of wiping our people—yours and mine—off the face of this very planet more than a century ago!”
“What?” Lee asked, not following at first. But then, slowly, it began to come back to him…a conversation he’d had over dinner five years ago with Jon Reiser and Noll. It’d taken place in the mess hall of the AS Milky Way during their first trip to Aura, and it’d involved Reiser telling them in rather grim fashion of a race of beings who’d attempted genocide against the Auran people, only to be warded off by some sort of doomsday weapon that the Aurans didn’t like talking about. It was that event that’d later led to the Alystierian secession under Clayton Zier.
Lee rubbed his eyes. “Wait, you mean the Kurgorians are—”
Briggs slammed his shackles on the table. “The godsdamn Beyonders, yes! And Masterson just cut a deal with them! He’s been planning it for years, but he never had the right opportunity to push the agenda until you gave it to him with your attack on Kyma 4! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. That’s what Tucker knew, and he gave his life to get us here to warn you!”
Lee rocketed from his chair, his head spinning like a top with everything Briggs had just unloaded on him.
“Captain Summerston!” Link’s voice announced through the intercom. “Can I speak to you in the observation suite, please?”
Briggs’s head all but snapped from his shoulders. “Wait, your name’s Summerston? As in, Lee Summerston?”
Now the Alystierian captain had Lee’s undivided attention. “Maybe…Reckon it depends on who’s askin’.”
Briggs blinked. “You’re him. You’re the one from the Myrick security feed…the one he’s after.”
“I’m what?” Lee said, now completely lost. “The one that who is after?”
Briggs blinked again. “You really don’t know, do you?”
Exasperated, Lee made a dismissive gesture with his hand then allowed it to fall to his side. “Apparently not.”
Briggs slumped back into his chair and stared, dumbfounded, at his inquisitor. “You’ll probably want to keep that seat. Believe it or not, this all started about five years ago…”
* * * * *
Epilogue
Back in the imperial alcazar, Chancellor Alec Masterson leaned forward at the desk of Zier’s personal study—his study—and switched off the hologram that’d connected him with the Vanxus. He had no idea why, but for whatever reason, this morning’s briefing had left him with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He respected Kai-Ool, of that there was little doubt, and he had no reason to think that the Kurgorian pralah had been anything but forthright with him. Still, there was something about the alien commander that gave Masterson pause…He just couldn’t put a finger on what that was.
Leaning back into the soft leather cushions of his new chair, Masterson picked up his tablet and saw the Daryn Reese inbox contained a new message. It was an Auran CIB report from one of his contacts on Marlon 3.
Interesting. He swiped it open to examine the header: “Deputy Director of Auran CIB Field Office Found Dead.” Below that, the sub-header read, “Detron City investigators have ruled out foul play; toxicology results are pending.”
“Oh my dear Kimi.” Masterson clicked his tongue. “You never could mind your pills, could you?”
Skimming the report before swiping it free of the homescreen, Masterson returned the device to his desktop and began to ponder the girl’s end. It’d been several weeks since last he’d spoken with her, and while Masterson was fairly confident that this alone wouldn’t have driven Kimi back to her pharmacological demons, he was pretty sure that it, in conjunction with her assembling the pieces of his identity, probably would have.
“Such a pity,” Masterson mused, lamenting her loss in some ways, though by no means upset that he’d never again have to sleep with the pig.
A tri-tone chimed from his desk terminal, and Masterson inspected it to see the Kamuir’s IDC. He tapped the respond key. “Yes?”
“Pardon my intrusion, Chancellor,” Commander Ovies said, “but we just received an encrypted transmission from Minister Vancent of Revlin Province. He asked that we send it directly to you.”
Masterson raised his eyebrow. “Did he say what this was about?”
“Not exactly, sir. He only mentioned that it contained a video message meant specifically for you. Apparently his engineers in the Kyma System dug it out of a buoy during repairs, and after viewing the first few seconds of it, they sent it directly to Vancent, who passed it on to us.”
“What kind of video message?”
“He didn’t tell us that either, sir,” Ovies said. “He only added that the file originated from somewhere in the Coralin System and was time-stamped three days ago.”
During the battle with the Praetorian, Masterson thought. “Send it through to me at once.”
“Transmitting now.”
After a few seconds, the inbox alert on Masterson’s tablet chimed, and he began toggling through the messages inside until he found the one he was looking for. He opened it.
Masterson’s entire body wrenched upright when a familiar face filled his screen.
* * *
Subspace Relay Buoy 11-382.6
Spec Feed: 098.26, Tine Index 1526 hours
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