Sael hurried through the hallways of the t’uk consortium’s headquarters, ignoring how unbecoming it was for someone of his station. When he had learned where the unaffiliated Xalos cores were originating from, he had been forced to act immediately by visiting the other members of their little cabal to gather votes. The fact that Naal’s pet eiraxin was somehow involved made the situation even more precarious, because the judicators were already sniffing around for his former protégé.
None of the conspirators were happy about having to act ahead of schedule, but when he had laid out what was going on, they had all agreed to enact their portion of the plan. Sael had collected all but one of the votes. There was too much on the line to risk acting unless everyone agreed. Chairman Senlor was the last person he needed to speak to, and the topic of discussion was too sensitive for anything other than a face-to-face discussion.
He strode into the office, Senlor’s fetching assistant looking shocked by his arrival. The aging Senlor always loved to have a young, beautiful woman on hand. It was a vice that Sael didn’t share, nor did he approve of. The young were far too free with their thoughts, and having such a distraction around at all times was foolish.
“Supervisor Sael, Mr. Senlor is on a conference call right now and can see you in a bit.”
“His call can wait, I cannot,” Sael said, striding past the flustered woman.
She knew better than to try to stop him, but Sael did see her page the chairman.
When Sael pushed open the thick alloy door, Chairman Senlor was already standing to greet him.
“Supervisor Sael, why the urgency?”
“Secure the room,” Sael said, closing and locking the door behind him.
Unfazed by the intrusion, Senlor clicked a button on his desk, and a harsh buzzing filled the room. Sael cricked his neck as the wave nullifier stabilized.
When Senlor confirmed it was fully active, Sael continued. “I found the source of the cores,” he said, his voice sounding like it was coming from a deep well. “Someone found a Concord military shipyard that was active.”
Senlor rocked back in surprise. “What! I thought we took care of all of those after the war.”
“Apparently not all of them,” Sael said in annoyance. “It gets worse. I sent a few hired contractors out there to see if destroying the station would be possible, and it turns out it’s the same station that Naal got mixed up with. So now the Astryx military is all over it.”
“Are the judicators aware of the connection?” Senlor asked nervously. It was the only question that mattered.
“If they were, we’d already be in prison or dead by now. They won’t remain ignorant forever, so we have to enact the plan as soon as possible.”
“If we launch the plan now, there is a good chance it will fail,” Senlor shot back. “Do we have a backup plan in case things go south?”
“We do, and it involves that very same station. Apparently, there is a new race on the scene called humans.” Sael pulled out a printed image since the nullifier would have rendered all tech in the room inert for the moment. One of his agents had managed to grab a snapshot of the humans.
Senlor looked at the image in confusion, his large eyes going over it a few times. “Are you sure that’s a different species and not just a sickly eiraxin?”
“No, but it won’t matter to the masses either. We won’t even have to fabricate a lie to sell the story. You can see the humans and eiraxins are working together. Hell, we could tell people the humans are just a hidden eiraxin faction from back during the Imperium. They have a planetary conditioning vessel and the Concord station.”
“They have what?” Senlor shouted, all sense of decorum leaving him for a moment as his voice rose to a near shriek.
Sael would have waited a moment for the man to collect himself, but time was in short supply, so he pulled out a new image and handed it over. Senlor’s skin turned a sickly blue.
It was clear from the image that the ship was a wreck, but it was also clear that significant reconstruction was underway. Without an intact AI core, the ship was useless, and Senlor’s next comment proved he understood that as well.
“Why hasn’t the Astryx acted to destroy it? They must know how dangerous such an AI is.”
Sael wasn’t sure if Senlor was referring to the galaxy at large or just them.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
“If that AI is active, it could ruin all of our carefully laid plans. There was a reason our forebearers sabotaged most of those ships before the war even started.”
That answered his previous question.
“I believe they already have,” Sael replied. “I reached out to a few of my council contacts, and one let slip about an emergency session a few months back that interrupted his plans.”
Senlor looked more annoyed than shocked by that disclosure. “Why hasn’t our councilor informed us of this?”
“He was unaware. It seems we were excluded from that discussion. Either because of our ties with Concord, or—”
“—They are starting to get suspicious of our activities,” Senlor finished. “Have the others already weighed in?”
Sael nodded. “They were all in favor.”
Senlor grimaced at that. “So, it resides on my shoulders to decide our fate.”
Sael didn’t comment on that, but he did ask another question, one that might help the chairman make the right choice. “Have the newest coverage numbers come in yet?”
Senlor nodded reluctantly. “We lost a tenth of a percent on our market share due to these new cores. It’s not much, but it is already putting our plan in jeopardy. And now you’re saying there is little we can do about it, unless we kick off the operation early.”
“That’s correct,” Sael admitted, his hands held loosely behind his back as the chairman paced while he thought.
Senlor was still on the fence, even knowing the plan was unraveling around them. Sael admired the man’s commitment and strategic vision, but sometimes action was what was required.
Eventually, Senlor shared his thoughts. “I don’t like it. That backup plan feels rushed. Too many unknown variables left to consider. I can think of one off the top of my head. If we want to make the humans the villain in our plot, we’re going to need more than just a station to point to. Do you know where their home world is?”
“Somewhere in the dead zone would be my guess, considering they picked up a planetary conditioning vessel. I have people going through our old records to see if we can trace the last known locations of all those ships. That should limit the possibilities by quite a bit.”
Senlor shook his head. “I can’t agree to this plan unless we reduce the variables.”
Sael expected this, and Senlor wasn’t the first to voice their concerns on the matter, so he told him what he had told the others. “There are preliminary steps to take that won’t arouse additional suspicion. If you can agree to that, we can move forward with that part of the plan while my people locate the human home world.” He didn’t need to tell Senlor that time was of the essence.
“Very well. I agree to kick off Operation Ascendancy on the basis that you locate this planet. You only have three months before the activation process syncs across the network, priming the cores for remote control. The military is bound to notice the strange signal coming from their cores at some point. That was always in the plan. The consortium can stall them for a time, but if I’m forced to pull the plug on the operation, you can bet the judicators will get involved soon after. You know what’ll happen if that’s the case?”
Sael nodded. All the conspirators would take their own lives to preserve the mission for the next generation. Naal was supposed to be Sael’s replacement if that ever came to pass, but the man had turned out to be a complete screw-up, so he would need to find someone more competent and trustworthy before their time ran out.
“I will notify the others of your decision, Chairman. May the stars guide us during our ascension.”
Senlor repeated the phrase, and Sael gave a curt nod before striding out of the chairman’s office. His first objective was to eliminate a loose end, one that one couldn’t even follow the simplest of orders, it seemed.
***
Naal paced along the small station corridors as he headed for the docking clamps to greet the information broker. It had taken far longer and cost significantly more than he expected to dig up information about Xing’che and this new station, but he had finally managed despite most of his connections wanting nothing to do with him anymore. He didn’t mind that the broker was so damn paranoid that he refused to discuss what he had learned over the comm.
He had been alerted to the man’s arrival when the station shook slightly. The place received so few visitors that it was impossible to miss any arrival. Sometimes their docking would wake him from a restless slumber. It was a reminder of everything that he despised about the place.
He was nearing the bend in the corridor that went toward the docking area when a man in a black flight suit came into view.
“Representative Naal?” the black space-suited t’uk man asked in a bored tone.
“Do I know you?” Naal asked in suspicion. He didn’t want to just assume this was the information broker.
There was another slight rumble from the station. It must be another ship docking. Naal wondered who that could be, but the suited figure either missed the slight shaking of the station or didn’t care.
“I have something for you,” the individual said, reaching into a side pocket.
The tension in Naal’s body released at those words. This had to be the mysterious information broker. Instead of a data chip or tablet, the man’s hand came out with a weapon. Naal barely had time to register the device aiming toward him as a searing beam flashed past. The black-suited figure exploded, coating the walls and even himself in gore.
Naal was so shocked by what just happened that he didn’t even register the searing pain on his right side from being so close to the energy blast. He tried to blink away the afterimage and blood dripping down his face. Once he could see again, his eyes caught the Astryx combat robot stomping down the corridor toward him, flanked by a troop of guards and a smiling myraan judicator.
The judicator spoke. “Well, you’re certainly a difficult individual to find, Representative Naal. I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
Naal shook his head slowly, still numb by what had just occurred.
“Well, that’s good,” the judicator smiled wider. “This is just my opinion, and take it as you wish, but you might want to find better acquaintances. I know mine don’t usually point weapons at me.”
Naal’s brain finally caught up with the present, and he stared at the spot where the assassin had been a moment ago. He had a moment to consider possibly running, but then the searing pain hit him, and he grabbed at his severely burned arm. Any thought of trying to flee quickly burned away in the pain. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” he said through shaky breaths.
“That was never in question, Representative Naal. The real question is, do you actually know anything worthwhile?”