Shadow of the Blue Ring (28 page)

“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 the 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!?”

“You 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.”

This was not a course of events James could have predicted in a million years. An alliance with the Vulians, even if it was to be temporary, would be difficult for a lot of people to stomach, especially those on either side who had fought so hard against one another for so long.

“Lord Artennes, I urge you to reconsider,” said Kalmar, “my people have been fighting a war against these Hunters for three decades. Their ships are too heavily armed and heavily shielded, they will decimate your fleets and your casualties will be enormous. I strongly recommend you call this plan off. Let us take the Shadow Bringer and take it where the Hunters cannot find us. If we keep it on the move, we will keep them on the move and away from alliance worlds.”

“I’m afraid this is the best course of action to take,” said Artennes, “Captain Tavarez, captain Kalmar, admiral Ansare, I need you all to return to the Evening Star and await further instruction. In the meantime, please turn over all information you have on the Hunters, their ships, their capabilities and any details you have on the Shadow Bringer. We need to find the remaining pieces of the weapon and if you have any information on where they might be hidden, now would be a good time to let us know.”

“We have no information on the other pieces of the weapon, they didn’t leave any clues behind as to their whereabouts,” Kosare lied, neglecting to mention the many cryptic clues that had been present in the underground room of the Sharstrom hangar.

“Then we will have to check the weapon itself for clues,” said Artennes, “I will have a team of scientists ready to study the weapon. In the meantime, all of you are to return to the Evening Star. I assume we can expect your full co-operation?”

“Just let it be known that I strongly oppose this insane invasion plan,” James sighed, “if it all goes awry, I want to stamp the words ‘I told you so’ to the side of this ship in person.”

“Objection noted, captain Tavarez, you and your crew are dismissed.”

James had heard enough, he turned and left the room, his crew following behind him. He knew Artennes would take the weapon and there was nothing he could do to change his mind. He was quickly distracted by the beeping of his comm, it was Isha back on the Evening Star.

“What is it?”

“James, I’m sorry, there wasn’t anything I could do,” she sounded very panicked, “they came out of nowhere, we’re surrounded, we can’t make any kind of move.”

“Who?”

“The Tolian fleet, they have us boxed in,” said Isha, “they’re demanding we hand over the Shadow Bringer and they’re trying to board the ship. What do we do?”

“Just stay calm,” said James, “signal chief Connolly and have him prepare priority package for transport into Tolian possession.”

“James… are you serious?”

“Isha, trust me, I know what I’m doing. If we hand it over to them, we can avoid an incident and we can quickly be on our way.”