by Jerome Kelly
“I suppose you have a point there.”
The Malorian delegation on the council had only agreed to Saavoy’s participation in the mission on the condition that he be brought back to them safely once the mission ended. They would not be happy when they found out about his current condition and there wasn’t anything he would be able to do to stop them, his mission report would have to straight to the council upon their return. Therein lay his next challenge, what to say to the council?
James left the medical bay behind, Isha deciding to stay with the rest of the crew at Saavoy’s side. His report to the council would be interesting to say the least. Artennes had a fair amount of explaining to do once they confronted him with this information, however, like most politicians, James expected him to deflect the questions and cover the actual truth. His action in response to the Hunters would pose a potential problem, there was no way Artennes would not elect to start a military campaign against them to try and end their threat. It was fortunate that Kalmar was returning to Tolis with them, his knowledge of the Hunters and his experience of battling them would likely be key in persuading the council to come around to his way of thinking.
“Aha, there you are,” James had asked Kalmar to meet him on the command deck as soon as he was done in the medical bay. There were things that needed to be done before they returned to Tolis, steps that needed to be taken.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, I’ve asked Connolly and Lucy to meet us both in the war room in just a couple of minutes. There is something we need to do before we reach Tolis.”
* * * * *
“We’re coming up on Tolis now sir,” James’s concentration in his study was broken as Ivanov’s voice came over the comm system. The journey back from the Blue Ring sector had taken several hours longer than the outward journey, Sharstrom being far further into the sector than the system in which they had found the missing Tolian and Churian ships. It had felt like an age since they had first set out but it had in fact barely been a couple of days… an eventful couple of days.
“On my way now,” James left his seat and began his walk back to the bridge. He had spent the last seven hours trying to figure out what to put in his report. Since his official place in the fleet had been granted to him, his reports had been on little more than routine missions and patrols but this was a different proposition altogether. The Hunters, the Adeans, the near death experiences and of course the Shadow Bringer… it made for quite a story.
“Disengaging warp engines now,” Daniels said as James arrived on the bridge, “we’ve arrived at Tolis sir.”
“Have we got a location on the council ship?” James asked, “I’m sure they will be eager to hear from us.”
“Picking up their signal on the far side of the planet,” said Ivanov, “should I set a course?”
“Yes, lets get this over with.”
It felt good to be back in Valoran space and back among the alliance races once more. It meant that they were safe, at least for now, the Hunters could easily come looking for them again but they had given themselves some breathing room. One Hunter ship, as powerful as it was, could not overcome the entire Tolian fleet or the planet’s many orbital defences. It would, however, be an entirely different story if they brought a few friends along.
“Getting a message from the council ship, sir,” said Elena, “putting it through now.”
“Captain James Tavarez, lord Artennes has requested your presence on board the council ship,” a woman’s voice was speaking, “he has asked that you and your crew meet him in the council chamber at earliest possible convenience.”
“We’re on our way over now,” James replied.
“Your superior officer will meet you in hangar bay seven, he will escort you to the council from there…”
They ended the message there.
“Are they always this straight to the point?” Kalmar asked, “you just returned, unharmed, from an incredibly dangerous region of space that no other ship in your alliance has ever returned from in one piece and this is your ‘welcome home’ greeting?”
“Welcome to the politics of the Freedom alliance,” James chuckled, “the best we can do is just go along with it and let the situation play out. I’m sure Artennes will be relieved to know that we did the job he sent us out there to do. He may be less pleased with what we decided to do afterwards.”
“So how much are we actually going to tell the council?” Isha asked, “are we going to let them know we actually brought a piece of the weapon back with us?”
“We have no choice,” said James, “the alliance will have to increase military operations now that the Hunters are likely to enter the sector. I also want to know for a fact that Artennes did not plan to use this weapon and simply wanted it for research purposes. Kalmar, I’ll need you to come with me, Artennes needs to know what he is dealing with here. Jaiden, Kaldun, I need you two with me as well and Kaydenne, you’re in the pilot seat again. Isha, you have command until I get back.”
“Just make sure you’re careful over there,” Isha warned him, “we don’t know how Artennes will respond to your course of action.”
“I’ve already taken precautions just in case Artennes gets any ideas,” said James, “we’ll be prepared should this meeting not go to plan. Come on, lets get over there and get this over with.”
James lead Kalmar, Kosare, Ansare and Melina off the bridge and once more down to the hangar bay and the Mantis flyer. Melina wasn’t going to risk overdoing it in front of the leaders of the Freedom Alliance, she flew very casually and carefully for probably the first time since the start of her racing career.
“I get the feeling you’re expecting trouble,” said Ansare, “do you suspect Artennes might be up to something dangerous here?”
“I honestly don’t know what to expect,” said James, “I just want to see how this all plays out. I don’t think Artennes counted on us finding out about the Shadow Bringer and I don’t think he will be happy when we confront him with this information. Kaydenne, make sure you back us up into the shuttle bay, and keep the engines running too.”
“Are you planning to make a quick exit?”
“Just want to be ready should this thing turn sour,” said James, “if I signal you during the meeting, you fire the engines and you get back to the ship as fast as possible.”
“I wont leave you all behind,” said Melina, “Isha would never forgive me if I left you here and made a run for it. Besides, what if they seal the doors and shut us in here? I can’t exactly fly through solid metal doors.”
“Then we switch to plan T.”
“Plan T?” Kosare said worriedly, “please tell me the T doesn’t stand for what I think it does?”
“Lets not worry about it yet,” said James, “lets just see how the meeting goes first, then if something goes wrong, we put our contingencies into action.”
None of his crew looked particularly comfortable with his backup plans, to them this was just a routine visit to the council, if that could even be called routine, it was very rare to get an audience with the entire council at all. Still, James had seen the worry and desperation in Artennes’s eyes when they had first met.
Melina backed the flyer into the bay where, once again, admiral Jamerson was waiting for them, the usual flustered look on his face. He did look relieved to some extent though, relieved that humanity had not lost it’s most revered captain and figurehead on the mission he had helped to volunteer him for.
“Welcome back captain Tavarez,” he hurried to greet them as they exited the flyer, “I would love to hear the story of what happened out there but there is no time, Artennes wants to see you right away. Follow me, I’ll take you to him.”
The group simply fell in behind him and followed his lead to the council chamber. The trip felt a lot longer than it had done the last time he was here, but maybe he was just dreading th
e outcome of this meeting and it was making time play tricks on him. At least one way or another, everyone was going to get answers.
“It’s good to see you again captain Tavarez,” Artennes said as Jamerson lead the group up to the council table, “I am glad to see that you and all of your crew survived the mission and… who is this? I do not recognise this member of your crew.”
“Captain Sejdan Kalmar of the Adean imperial fleet,” Kalmar introduced himself to the Freedom alliance council, “captain Tavarez and I crossed paths while he was investigating the missing ships. I joined the mission as a show of support from my people.”
“Interesting, we’ve not heard of the Adeans before,” said Artennes, “so you are an occupant of the Blue Ring sector?”
“Yes but they are not the ones who attacked our people,” James quickly stated, ensuring that the council did not get any wrong impressions about the identity of the attackers in the Blue Ring sector, “the Adeans are not hostile and they have no ill will towards us.”
“Slow down, captain Tavarez,” Artennes stopped him in his tracks, “don’t get ahead of yourself. I want to know everything that you found out there. What became of those that we sent into the Blue Ring sector?”
“Total loss,” said James, “the ships were unsalvageable and the crews were all dead or missing in action. We found the wreckage of the Churian ships on the surface of the planet they were surveying while we only accounted for one of the Tolian cruisers and it was in a bad way. They were attacked by an alien race that the Adeans refer to as the Hunters.”
“I see…” said Artennes, “. . . so who exactly are these Hunters then? Are they another descendent of the Jaiytid race?”
“No, they are something else entirely,” said Kalmar, “they are an alien race of unknown origin and they are very dangerous. We don’t know where they came from exactly but they have been occupying the sector for thirty-five years now and we have been at war with them the entire time.”
“Very well then,” said Artennes, “thank you for letting us know about this, I appreciate the efforts that you have gone to in bringing us this information. If you could send us your full mission report and any details you have on these Hunters, I would be very grateful. In the meantime…”
“Not so fast Lord Artennes,” James interrupted him, earning himself a few surprised looks from the councillors around them, it was not every day that someone stepped into the council chamber and spoke out of place, “we know about the Shadow Bringer.”
Artennes went silent. He had nothing to say to them, he just sat there for a second, staring at them, seemingly searching for the words to say.
“Didn’t expect us to find out about that did you?” James directed at him sternly.
“Captain Tavarez, what I need you to understand is…”
“Understand what? That you secretly had teams in an uncharted sector of the galaxy searching for what could be the deadliest weapon in existence in the galaxy? Did you really think that we would not stumble upon some connection to this weapon while we were out there? Do you not think it was incredibly irresponsible of you to send us out there blind, not knowing what we were looking for or what might be out there? And what exactly were you planning to do with this weapon once you had found it? I hope to god that you had no intentions of actually using it.”
“I need you to understand that a weapon of this scale cannot simply be allowed to remain lying around,” Artennes attempted to justify his actions, “anyone, including these Hunters, could just pick it up and then activate it, not knowing what it is or what it can do. It needs to be recovered and brought to an alliance world where it can be kept safe and we can ensure that it never falls into the wrong hands. I had no intention of using it, captain Tavarez, it was to be brought to the city of Tolassa and stored within the archive vaults and classified as top secret.”
“Well you weren’t the only ones searching for it,” said Kalmar, “the Hunters also want the Shadow Bringer, it is what they have been searching for these past decades. They already have one piece of the weapon and they nearly got the second.”
“What do you mean, one piece of the weapon?”
“The Shadow Bringer is divided into four parts,” said Kalmar, “the first time we encountered the Hunters, they ambushed our research teams who had dug it up and they took it for themselves. Ever since then we have dedicated our existence to ensuring that they cannot find the other pieces and combine them. Even if you had found what you were looking for, it would only have been a fraction of the real thing.”
“And what became of the second piece that you mentioned?” Artennes asked, “who has it now?”
“It is aboard my ship,” said James, “we were able to extract it before the Hunters could reach it and we almost paid for it with the lives of two of my crew. Some of us are lucky to still be here, no thanks to any of you.”
“I understand the difficulty that you must have faced when trying to beat the Hunters to this weapon,” said Artennes, maintaining an air of calm despite James’s attitude towards him, “but I must now ask you to turn over the weapon to us. If the Hunters want this weapon, it must be put somewhere they can never find it.”
“No, sorry, I’m not turning it over,” James said sternly, “the Hunters wont stop searching for this weapon. They will eventually find it and if they traced it to Tolis, they would attack.”
“Even if the Hunters do trace it to our world, they must go through the might of our fleet to reach it,” said Artennes, “the surface of Tolis is the safest place for this weapon to be right now. I must ask you again to please turn over the weapon into council possession.”
“All due respect my lord, you have not seen what these Hunters are capable of,” said Ansare, “their ships are far more powerful than anything we have in our alliance, not even this ship could stand up to one. Even a single Hunter ship could decimate one of our fleets and if they launched a ground attack, they could slaughter countless innocent people.
“If the Hunters come, we will defend ourselves against them,” said Artennes, “they cannot stand up to the entire combined force of the alliance fleets. I’m sorry, the only sensible course of action is to bring the weapon to Tolis and to keep it safe.”
James knew this was what Artennes would be requesting of him. He was not going to give up on getting his hands on the Shadow Bringer that easily and James knew that he would go to whatever lengths he could to achieve this. James was prepared for this though.
“I will ask you again captain Tavarez, will you turn the weapon over to us or will we have to retrieve it from your ship ourselves?”
“Fine, you can take the weapon,” James said, a hint of resignation in his voice, “I will have it prepared for transport as soon as this meeting is over.”
Ansare and Kosare both wanted to protest but they did not fancy getting in trouble with the council, they continued to stay quiet but they clearly did not agree with this decision.
“So what will you do about the Hunters themselves?” Kosare asked, “you know they’re coming this way, are we prepared to fight them?”
“We will be sure to deal with this Hunter threat in good time,” said Artennes, “I had a feeling before you set out that something like this might have been happening so I took measures to guard against it. I have been brokering a deal with an old friend of yours, someone who also wishes to oppose the Hunters.”
From behind Artennes’s raised position at the head of the council table, three figures stepped forward. James had not noticed their presence at the meeting, they had been doing well to stay out of sight. James’s heart skipped a beat as he saw who these men were.
“YOU!”
“Hello again, captain James Tavarez, it has been a long time has it not?” Said the confident voice of emperor Reos Darien of the Vulian empire.
“What are you doing here!?”
“Yo
u don’t seem so pleased to see me,” said Darien, “I would have thought you would be a little more thankful after what I did for you back on my homeworld.”
“The last time I saw you, you had a gun to the back of my head,” James growled, “you will always be a betrayer and a coward. Even if you did help to end the war, what you did was a disgrace.”
“Six years later and I am still the villain,” Darien sighed, “never mind, I guess some people will always cling to the past and never let it go. Anyway, James, allow me to introduce the future of the Vulian hierarchy, my two best executors, Xherdan Sarmaxhian and I believe you already know Jarrod Kyrakian.”
“Yeah, we met,” said James, “so what are you all doing here? Come to join the Freedom Alliance have you?”
“The Vulian empire will continue to remain independent from any galactic organisation,” said Darien, “however, as we no longer bear any hostile intentions towards your people, we believe that it is possible for our empire and your alliance to work towards some mutually beneficial goals.”
“You’re kidding!”
“The emperor is very serious, captain Tavarez, “said Artennes, “remember, the Vulian empire lost ships at the hands of these Hunters as well as us. I believe there is a popular saying on your world, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and this would seem very applicable right now.”
“An alliance with the Vulians? Really?” Ansare was also rather surprised at this sudden course of action, “Lord Artennes, is there not too much bad blood between them and ourselves for us to work together?”
“The Hunters are a threat to everyone, admiral Ansare,” said Artennes, “we do not wish to fall prey to the Hunters, the Vulians also share this sentiment. Working together, we have a better chance of defeating them than we do alone. After you set out, I was contacted by emperor Darien who proposed a mutually beneficial arrangement. If the identity of the attackers was discovered, we would combine our forces and we would take the fight to them. Strike them hard and fast on our terms before they come at us in our own space.”
