Neptune's Massif (14 page)

"That is still too large of an area, we need to find them, Glamia. Our Emperor has decreed this. We must seek them out and burn their worlds down around them," Shalo said as he studied the big map.

"It will be as you say, Master. But these are humans, will they not be needed?" she asked quietly.

Shalo looked at her sharply. How could she know of something so secret only a select few had been told?

"You do not know of what you speak, Glamia. If you did, I would kill you where you stand. Do not mention it in my presence again."

She bowed her head in shame. "As you command, Master."

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G
rand Council Chambers

Elysium, Planet New Talos

New Talos System, Carnius Sector

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T
he situation on New Talos was far worse than even Noren had been aware of. Grand Council meetings, meetings that included all the family leaders, were usually only held every six standard months. The last one had been canceled for an emergency, so this was the first time in a year that the Grand Council had met. Even before the meeting, Noren knew there would be serious trouble. Almost everywhere she looked there were hostile faces, low, angry conversations, and a lot of hostile looks at her.

To be fair, they weren't just for her; the few people on the ruling council she had counted as allies were also getting hostile looks. When Admiral Goya and his aide arrived, most of the conversations stopped completely. No, this was not a good sign; this was going to be a very difficult Grand Council meeting.

When the appointed time arrived, Noren stood and called the meeting to order. She had no more than gotten everyone to quiet down when a minor house leader stood. "Before we begin, I would call for the immediate recall and arrest of the Chairwoman, Councilor Noren. I would also call for the immediate recall and arrest of the Councilors Juntsie and Kentis. I would call for the immediate arrest of the entire leadership of our military for the crimes of treason and deception with intent to force their own agenda on us!"

Amid cries seconding the motion, Noren pounded on the gavel to quiet the now shouting people. "I would hear on what grounds you are accusing us of treason Patriarch Borge. What evidence do you have?"

"Evidence does not need to be presented at this time Noren. A call for expulsion has been made and seconded. From the response of the peerage here in the chamber, I hardly think a vote is required. Guards!" Councilor Anewl replied.

One of the armed and armored Guards stepped forward and saluted. "Yes Councilor?"

"Have your men take Councilors Noren, Juntsie and Kentis into custody. You will also arrest Admiral Goya and his Aide. Further, you are to pass the word for the entire command staff to be detained as well,"

"At once, Councilor., Might I inquire about the charges?" the Guard asked.

The Councilor looked at the Guard Captain like he was daft. "Are you deaf? Treason you moron! Arrest them for treason against the Talosian People!"

"My apologies, Councilor. Treason is a capital offense punishable by death. As such, I cannot arrest or detain a member of the Ruling Council on those charges without proof, as I have to confront them with that proof at the time of arrest. That is the law," the Guard Captain replied.

“I am a member of the Ruling Council, trooper!" Anewl yelled at him. "You will do as I order!"

Very calmly, the Guard replied. "I am sorry, Councilor, but I cannot. To do so would be in violation of the laws our people have put into place to protect themselves. I am sworn to uphold those laws, and even a direct order from you cannot force me to break that oath. If you have proof against the Councilors and the Command staff, I will, of course, comply immediately. However, I need to know what this proof is to make certain that it is done according to the laws of the Talosian People. Show me your evidence, Sir, and I will arrest them," the man finished. "My apologies but the law is very clear on this matter, Councilor."

"We do not have the time for that today, we are in a state of emergency and this is a necessary action to prevent further disruption and damage by the individuals in question," Anewl replied. "Follow my orders Captain, or I will have you relieved of command."

The Captain saluted the Councilor, did a smart about face and yelled. "Lieutenant Car'tlon!"

"Sir!" Echoed back.

"According to item nine, subsection four, you are to execute security protocol alpha two at this time. Do you understand?" the Captain called.

"Sir, yes Sir!" Almost before the reply made it back to the Ruling Council, the sounds of doors slamming shut could be heard.

"What in the frozen hells did you just do?" Anewl screamed at the man, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

The two ceremonial guards at each side of the raised dais charged their pulse rifles and aimed them at Councilor Anewl. The Captain raised a hand to prevent them from firing.

"With respect, Sir, I would advise that no one attempt to touch any of the guards in this chamber from this point forward. The Security Protocol now in effect was put in place in the event of an attempted coup or hostile takeover of this Council. As such, the guards will assume that anyone touching them is hostile and have orders to shoot them.

"Currently, this building is surrounded by house troops from only two houses. Troops loyal to their houses first, and not the Talosian people as a whole. Your illegal orders to me, as well as your position as the head of one of those two houses, forced me to assume you are attempting to force this Council to take action that will be detrimental to the will and well-being of the people. This building is now locked down. No one is to be allowed to depart and no one is allowed entrance until this situation is resolved according to mandated and approved law. With all respect, Sir, those are my orders and not even Admiral Goya can counter them.

"If you wish for us to arrest a member of the Ruling Council, we have to have conclusive proof of guilt. Any attempt to do otherwise is to be considered an attempted coup and treated accordingly."

"How dare you! We are the Talosian people! That is the entire purpose of this conclave! The family leaders represented here are here on behalf of their clans and families. It is their wish for the arrests to be made, why are you questioning this?" Councilor Anewl yelled.

"With respect, Sir, they can be misled or lied to, either intentionally or unintentionally. The rules we follow were approved and put in place hundreds of years ago to protect everyone from such a situation as the one we are now facing," The Captain replied.

"Very well, Captain, the first charge is based on a lie told to the Talosian people. Many years ago, House Herecin, in partnership with House Bjorin formed a colony in the Sol Sector for the purpose of expanding the house as well as building ships and providing for the war effort..."

"I object!" Noren said. "That is a completely incorrect story concocted by House Herecin in order to lay claim to the facilities and society built by the Terran people, who by the way, are not even part of the Talosian Alliance!"

Just as Councilor Anewl was about to blast back at her, the Captain held up his hand to the man to silence him. "Madam Councilor, I asked Councilor Anewl to present his charges. If you would please, I will listen to his charges. You will be given a chance to speak, after I am certain I understand the issue from his prospective. If you would, please refrain from comment until Councilor Anewl has finished."

Noren looked pissed but nodded. "I understand, Captain. My apologies."

The Captain nodded to her, turned back to Councilor Anewl and nodded to him. "Please continue Councilor."

"As I was saying, House Herecin has invested a great deal of credits as well as effort in building a colony world hidden from the spying eyes of the other races. However, rogue elements within that colony have rebelled against house authority and are claiming independence from our Alliance. Now normally, House Herecin would simply ignore them and send in our own troops to quell such a claim, however, since it was intended to be a weapons facility, we no longer have the resources available to subdue the colony world.

"In an effort to settle this 'dispute' peacefully, Councilor Noren offered to go to our Colony world and speak with the leaders of this rebellion. Instead of doing as she told us, she returns after having allowed Councilor Amaraliss to be arrested by these renegades. She has also returned without the Admiral that accompanied her for military protection. Further, I have been informed that of the fleet of ships that had been sent as back-up, several key officers were not returned with their ships. In fact, testimony from members of the crew has told us that renegades from this colony world boarded the ships and arrested them on her authority! All together, these acts constitute treason against the Houses Herecin and Bjorin as well as the people of Talos. There are other events we can add, but that would really be redundant in light of these most current events," Councilor Anewl finished.

"Indeed," the Captain agreed nodding. "That does constitute treason. Thank you, Councilor."

The Captain turned to the now much calmer Councilor Noren. "Madam Councilor, do you wish to dispute these charges?"

Noren was nodding affirmative before the man had stopped speaking. "Yes I do, Captain. I believe I can offer proof that disproves the charges. Councilor Anewl, on what date did you establish your colony in the Sol sector?"

"I do not have the information at the moment, but I believe it was seventy-one-twenty or there abouts," the man said guardedly.

Noren nodded. "The people of Earth, while they are human as are we, can prove they have been on that planet since before the fall of Talos during the Caldarian war. This information can not only be collaborated, but can also be verified by the Benesian Hegemony as well as ARC records. In the past, both of those sources of information have been considered to be accurate by this body. In point of fact, most people living on that world currently have never heard of New Talos and have no knowledge of any extraterrestrial life.

"As for the group calling themselves Terrans, that have developed advanced technology, by the way a good share of that technology is even more advanced than ours, have been brought together by the need to defend their planet from a still existing Caldarian threat. A young man by the name of Ian Williams was contacted by the still functional AI of one of our crashed warships, because he matched the genetic profile of its original commander.

This young man, instead of surrendering the crashed ship to local authorities, took it upon himself to attempt to build up a defense capable of defending his planet from Caldarian assault. Which he did when a Caldarian Super Nova arrived at Earth to subdue the planet.

Six months ago, the arrival of the Caldarian ship got the attention of an ARC deep space monitoring probe. They discovered that the humans of Earth had restored the crashed ship and have built a defense to protect themselves against the Caldarian. As per our agreements with ARC, they contacted us immediately and two heavy cruisers were dispatched to investigate. At the same time, an entire ARC fleet was sent to a system close by in the event more force was needed. Until that event, we had no knowledge that the Sol Sector even existed, and no record of it was in our database. It is on the far side of what has been traditionally been considered Benesian space.

"Ian Williams and his people succeeded in destroying the Caldarian ship and ending that threat, but they discovered that a Caldarian resource base was on their planet, and are currently in the process of removing it.

"The Terran people are not a rebelling colony of anyone. They are an independent tribe of humanity that has grown and is thriving on a planet we had no knowledge of seven months ago. In the short time they have been active, they have managed to build an impressive foundation for their defense and have plans for much more. If it is the wish of this body, I will personally contact either the Benesian Ambassador or our ARC liaison and request the information." Noren paused.

"As for Councilor Amaraliss; an agent working for him was caught attempting to break into the AI vault of the Terran Heavy Cruiser Star Dancer for the purpose of sabotage. The agent admitted to working for the Councilor and had been acting on his orders. Councilor Amaraliss later confirmed that information. Both were arrested by the Terrans for the crimes of espionage and attempted sabotage. I would point out that both men returned with us as prisoners and are still being held on grounds of treason and unauthorized sabotage of a friendly power.

"Admiral Belirus resigned his commission and position when it was proven that he had been intentionally mislead by sources he trusted more than those of his command structure. He volunteered to remain in the Sol Sector to assist them in building their facilities. His formal resignation is on file in the records of his ship's AI, the
Adonis
.

"The
Adonis
AI had been ordered shut down because of instability," Councilor Anewl replied.

"That is not what the computer chief of the ship told me, he said he had simply received orders to shut down the AI. He said no explanation had been given. Admiral Belirus even spoke to it after it was reactivated. It has been fully active and functional since that time and has not malfunctioned in any way," Goya replied.

The Captain once again held up his hand in order to stem the argument that was about to begin. "Councilor Noren, I am afraid no contact out of this building can be allowed at this point. So the matter comes down to a verbal disagreement with no actual evidence for either party."

"Wait Captain, can we not simply request data from the Council AI?" Noren asked. "Surely it would at least remember the initial report from the ARC telling us of the Terrans."

"I am afraid that is not possible either, Councilor. It seems that there are a lot of problems developing in our AI. House Herecin, acting as the unit manufacturing house, ordered all active AI to be shut down two weeks ago due to a 'viral instability' that could cause the unit to initiate independent actions. The units have since been shut down and their memory units purged. We are awaiting an upgraded version from the designers."