E:A Vol 4 Ch 10—March 30, 2120

“Thanks for coming,” Vince said as John, Chris, Kaven, and Steve took seats around the small table in Vince’s private quarters. Be’atta was not in attendance; Vince didn’t want her there. The guise was that they were going to have a little poker game, but Vince had other things on his mind. The first of which was remembering to use Rayth titles since Steve hadn’t been given the names of those he’d be talking about.

“Gentlemen, we have an issue. Perhaps not, but we need to be prepared in case things turn south.” Vince set the tray of snacks on the table as the men poured themselves glasses of tea or took a can of soda. “When we first met the Supreme Commander, we had this image of him being invincible.” Vince sat down after grabbing a deck of cards and poker chips, “But lately, cracks in his invincibility have appeared. I don’t like the fact that he was captured so easily…Victoria as well.”

“Remember, he was still recovering from the serum,” John said, “and he did tell us that he let them take him. But I agree, probably wasn’t the smartest move to allow Victoria to get caught up in that, though she saved his life by being there.”

“And, though I hate to bring this up, we thought we had captured him way back before he and Victoria were married,” Chris said. “So he does have a history of allowing himself to be captured to serve his purposes.”

“I agree,” Vince said, “but we also have to consider the incident of the break in at the chancellery and the fact that his best friend, a fullblood none the less, ended up with a couple of transmitters on him. Now I don’t know much about Zy’nayth’s past, only what we’ve seen him do since we met him, but I can’t believe that something like this would have happened in the past. And I know for a fact that though he may risk Victoria in some sort of scheme, he’d never allow those two kids to be used as pawns.”

“But he was having us pray about using them as bait,” Kaven said.

“Another fault,” Vince shook his head. “He’d never go through with it once he actually realized the danger it would put them in. But the fact that he even thought about it, let alone asked us to pray about it…it’s not like him. He has the entire Raythian Army at his disposal, he wouldn’t resort to putting his two year old kids in danger.”

“What are you suggesting? He’s losing his abilities? His reasoning skills?” Chris asked. “Getting too old to think clearly? The serum having some sort of weird effect on him?”

“I don’t know. I just know that he’s put this base in danger. Though, technically, that happened when he married Victoria. For us that means we need to be on our toes because it’s not only Victoria making this place a target, it’s the twins, Lutia, the baby she’s carrying, and now Be’atta’s about to become the wife of the First Commander.

“Also keep in mind those who’ve taken up part-time residences here, not just the High Chancellor but the First Commander and the First Science Commander, along with several of the flagship command staff.” Vince sighed, “I shouldn’t have allowed that. They’re good men, or so they seem, but they’re turning this already targeted base into one giant bull’s eye for the rebels.”

“We’re fairly certain the rebels don’t know where we are. They don’t know what planet the name ‘Terra 2’ refers to. They would only know it by the ancient name the Mythicans used,” John said.

“Fairly certain is still not completely certain,” Vince said. “We can cloak, and supposedly this ship can outrun anything the Rayth have, but still, we’re relying far too heavily on what we’re being told by the Rayth. I want our people to know everything there is about this place.”

“Aside from Be’atta and Kaven,” Chris said, “I think the only other person who can read Mythican is Simon.”

“And all three of us are limited in what we know,” Kaven said as he looked at his cards. “Other than the bridge portals, we haven’t seen much Mythican text until we came here.”

“We need to learn it.” Vince set his cards down and ran his right hand over his bald head. “Here’s what I want us to do. John, you’re our best pilot and my second in command. I want you to push Simon and his team; and I want you and those around this table, including myself, to know how to fly this thing. We need to know more about the capabilities of this ship. I don’t think even Simon knew she was armed. John, start with those of us here. Get us up to speed. That will mean extra hours but we have to be able to defend ourselves.

“I’ll talk to the High Chancellor and tell him what we’re going to do and ask if someone on his team can be sent to help. Simon has to know everything, not how to fly it, but how to fix it if it breaks. I’m going to make that his number one priority.”

“So you’ll be pulling Simon from getting more areas in the tower ready for habitation?” John asked.

“Have to. At least until we know more about this ship. John, I hate to put more pressure on you, but when Simon finds something new, it might change how our operations are carried out, or even something like our evac plans. You’ll be in the best position to altering those plans. Of course, you can recruit these other three men, and Be’atta, if you want since they helped with the original plans.”

“No problem. If we find something Simon’s team can’t figure out, which I’m sure is a lot, do I have permission to ask the High Chancellor if, say, he tells you he can’t send someone to help us out?”

“Yes.”

“And if he doesn’t tell me?”

Vince shook his head, “I hope that doesn’t happen. If he refuses to tell you, then you come to me. If anyone is going to risk their friendship with the High Chancellor, it’s best if it’s me. I’ll put it to him this way: we may have to depend on this ship for our lives and perhaps the lives of his wife and children, so tell us what she can do. If he refuses, we keep working at it. Simon’s good. He’s figured out a lot without Ja’val’s help; he can do it given time.”

“He’s figured it out after being told the basics by Ja’val,” Chris said, “and getting some translation help from Kaven and Be’atta…but like Kaven said, their knowledge of ancient Mythican is limited.”

“He’s our most fluent Mythican translator at this point,” Kaven said, “even more so than what Be’atta and I know. He and his team, like Vince said, will figure it out eventually.”

“Kaven, I want you to work on getting more of our non-military staff familiar with combat techniques. They all went through our basic intro program, but I’m sure they all need refreshers. Chris, help them to learn how to load and fire a gun, clear a jam, the basics. I know Kaven can do that, but I want him focused on more hand to hand combat, or how to hide from Rayth,” Vince shook his head, “If that’s even possible. Chris, I’d also like you and Steve put more time in on Elgolia and dig deeper here. I don’t like how these investigations have stalled.”

“How much do you want me to involve my Dad in these investigations?” Chris asked.

“He’s not to step foot on Elgolia. He’s a civvie, so no more than what he’s doing now—trying to put this puzzle together. I don’t want him in danger. He’s friendly with a lot of people and might get more information out of them than you or Steve would. Just keep him safe.”

“I will.”

“Steve, take your relationship with the Elgolians to the next level. See if they’re interested in buying weapons or explosives,” Vince said. “They think you’re disgruntled with us, right?”

“Perhaps I could lay it on a little thicker, but I think I’ve given them the impression that I’d like to see a few changes here,” Steve replied.

“Take it up a notch, but make sure it’s more of a natural progression. Don’t suddenly change things up. We don’t want to raise suspicion. That being said, our priority at the moment is for the people of this base. They have to be prepped for any emergency. A Rayth attack, this ship getting hit while in space, evacuation protocols, everything. Have them brush up on basic medical techniques: how to use the medical scanner, put on a tourniquet, whatever. Becket has a program everyone goes through before coming here. Either he or Danielson can run everyone through the course again.”

“He and Lia are having dinner with us tonight,” Chris said, “I can tap into him then and get something on the books.”

“Good,” Vince nodded. “I’ll send out a message in the morning saying that due to the attempted sabotage, I want to make sure everyone is up to speed and prepared. We learned a lot from the Rayth attack, but we mainly learned that without the High Chancellor, there’s no way we could have held the control room. I want that changed. Any suggestions or ideas you have now?”

“One thing that would help is having a Rayth on duty in the control room at all times,” John said. “The staff is comfortable with the Second and Third Commanders taking an occasional night shift, but having a Rayth on duty in there at all times could be beneficial. But if there’s another invasion like the last one, I’m not sure if that would be enough.”

“Right now, I want to keep things limited to all human defenses. We cannot rely on the Rayth to pull us out of a situation. If Rayth are here pulling a shift in the control room, that’s to our advantage, but we have to rely on ourselves. I don’t want to have to worry about what we’re going to do if something happens to the High Chancellor. I can’t rely on the First Commander or the Vice Chancellor to back us the way he has. He has only done so because of Victoria, his loyalty to us may only be due to her. He calls us friends, but let’s assume that’s not the case. I don’t want to get caught with our pants down. First Science may stay and help because of Lutia and the baby, but it would be less of a headache for him if he took them to Kiva. The First Commander may take Be’atta there as well.”

“And Vice may take Victoria simply because the twins are the offspring of the High Chancellor,” Chris said.

“I think a lot will still depend on the High Chancellor,” Kaven said. “If he sends someone to help Simon and John out, that’ll ease things for us. He may even see to it that there is a Rayth on duty in the control room at all times. Who knows what else he may come up with.”

The men continued their discussion, ironing out a few details, then Vince sent a message to Zy’nayth to see if he could meet the following day.

***

“Thanks for coming,” Vince said as Zy’nayth walked into his office. He shook his hand and motioned to a seat. “Sort of a business meeting, I’m afraid.”

“What can I do to help?” Zy’nayth asked.

“First, how are you feeling? No issues with the serum?”

“Thankfully, no. My tests came back normal. At least normal for me.”

“Good to hear. You gave us all a scare.”

“It was certainly not my intention,” Zy’nayth smiled.

Vince met his smile with his own, then got to the point. “Due to things such as this kidnapping of yours, the explosion on the mainland, and the fire down by one of the generator rooms, I’ve asked John and a few others to start working on getting my team prepped for any worst-case scenario that may arise. Part of that is pushing Simon and his team to understand all we can about this ship. I was wondering if you had someone who could help us out on that task.”

***

“You took a big risk with the Vice Chancellor,” the man in the shadows said.

“Had to. It kept him out of the game,” Ca’vak replied.

“It also kept us out of it. The transmitters should have been inserted while he slept, you imbecile. Doing it while he was awake, he knew not to say or think anything that would give away Earth’s position or Terra 2.”

“It did provide us a distraction. They’re looking for ghosts. They have no idea that Ny’van’s doing our bidding.”

“Is he? Why’d the transmitters stop transmitting then?”

“He was on the flagship,” Ca’vak replied. “You know how well-protected and shielded that thing is.”

“Why was he on the flagship?”

“Why don’t you ask the High Chancellor?” Ca’vak waved off the idea, “You know he often heads to the flagship just to talk with Zy’nayth. I think they just went to scare Di’vash.”

The man in the shadows shook his head, “It’s no matter. How’s our little fleet coming along?”

“Hulls, mostly. We should have enough personnel for a few essential crewmen on each ship.”

“We’d be better served doing this right instead of building a bunch of balloons that will only be able to take one or two hits.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ca’vak flicked his hand across his shoulder, brushing off some lint that suddenly seemed to bother him. “But there is strength in numbers. Besides, they’re just to keep my uncle’s fleet busy while we go after the real targets.”

“You mean while I go after the real targets,” the man said. “You’ll be captured by then or are you going to back out and run like you normally do?”

“I’m not backing out; you just have to make sure to keep up your end.”

“I will. But you know that this will mean captivity for months, perhaps a year.”

“I’m in this. I want to see the look on Zy’nayth’s face when things start exploding all around him. Supreme Commander! Ha! It’s about time we showed him who the real Supreme Commander is. I’ve always thought I’d look good in that uniform sitting on the bridge of the Raythian flagship.”

“You’re underestimating him. Those who are loyal to him are loyal to the death. He’s not paying them to be loyal to him, they actually like the man. Those men on his flagship would die for him and for those two little ones of his.”

“Don’t you worry about those two. We’ll get them and raise them right. They’ll follow our lead.”

The man’s right eyebrow arched as he eyed Ca’vak, “You’d best be sure they never know you and your brother killed their parents if you succeed in getting them and ridding this galaxy of Zy’nayth’s menace. Of course there’s the very real possibility that he may rid it of you and your brother.” The man’s face came nose to nose with Ca’vak, “He is stronger, faster, keener, sharper, and certainly smarter than you and your brother. One wrong move and he will have you. One small slip up, and you will be nothing dust before him. Keep your illusions of grandeur in the back of your mind. Focus on the task. Get the ships built, get us more men, and find a way to get those two kids. Go. Do not disappoint me.”

“Zy’nayth will die, if not by my hand, by my brother’s,” Ca’vak said and left the room.