Part 2
The reckoning

Chapter 1
Queen Vandai Golden Designation was in her living chamber discussing what to do next with Karok and a couple of her other advisors when her own com unit chimed softly. Who the hell was it now. She wasn't exactly ready for this meeting, but it needed to be done now, before the threats that Vorak communicated to Buron at the time one or two of them had remotely viewed the events leading up to the latter's death could be carried out. Queen Vandai was damned if she was going to sit back and let the Shalka mess up the world that, through centuries filled with more trials than most nations had in their existence, been carved out slowly but surely and given more power. It wasn't their fault that one faction had broken off from the whole and betrayed them, trying to take unwilling subjects with them, she knew. Unwilling subjects like Lyra, Anara's firstborn. Nobody knew about the events surrounding that ugly business but she did. It had only happened a couple orbits after the Shalka had come into existence as their mortal enemy. It had been Vorak once again, as it had been This time. Anger surged through her being as she remembered what had happened that day and how disaster, unlike what had happened recently, had been averted in time. It seemed like it had taken four of her mind specialists to root out where the drug did most of its damage. Since her mind was like a tabula rasa, waiting for new commands from some heretofore unknown source, not having any wishes of its own, they had one hell of a problem trying to find an antidote to the drug. At this point, the only thing they could do was find the source that she was to receive commands from and block it directly by venturing into her mind. The other thing it was important to do was give her a complete detox and subconscious dump, and to give her their own commands. once the drug was removed. Then, it was believed, she would remember everything and be back to her acerbic, crazy self. It had actually taken some time to execute all this, and some steps hadn't exactly gone as they wished, considering that Lyra had nearly died in the process due to some nasty blocks the Shalka had set up in her mind. That had been prevented the next time they had to inject her with the opposite of the drug, which was synthesized using the scant knowledge some of the team had of it, and had been stored with care and labeled with a pictoform of a hook and scythe and the Pyrian pictographic representation of the mind.
Almost before she knew she'd done so, she answered her chime and, recognizing the accompanying pictoform, accepted Valoda Orange Designation into her chamber. Voloda, being Anara's nest-sister, had taken the events of the last diurnal cycles harder than she would let on. Her stance was strong, but her scales bore that telltale tint of bronze signifying that things weren't as they should be.

"There's something wrong with some results I just received," Valoda went on gravely. "On a hunch, before the memorial service not knowing why, I took key tissues from Anara for analysis. I entered my office in the beginning of the diurnal cycle to check the results of the tests I performed. The tissues are discolored, which means that she was drugged.

Vandai joined Valoda in her small office The latter took down what looked like a small display case bearing a containment field on the inside. She also pulled from her racks and racks of substances a vial of clear yet bubbling liquid. Indicating this, she said, "this is ichthizine. I poured some on the small bits of tissue." She put the small vial back. "This is what happened a couple days later when I looked at the results of the test."

"so what else did you find out?" Vandai pressed.

"With the ichtizine, the tissue normally wouldn't have discolored and mottled in this manner in a containment field like this unless there was a foreign component there." Voloda replaced the containment display and retrieved another one. "this also had ichthizine poured on it but you cannot see any of the differences you saw with the other one, Not even the mottling has occurred with this sample. Voloda indicated a screen on the outside of the containment field's display. It showed a breakdown of everything that was in the tissues just like the other portable containment field. She put the other portable containment field back and retrieved the one she showed Voloda first. Pointing to the pictograph showing breakdown of substances with a forepaw, she said, "This" is something that has only been around for the last orbit or two. They call it Death by Empathy or Dyo but it's common name is the scourge."

Vandai blanched, for she had heard of that name. But with
everything in such an uproar, they had no chance in hell of discovering the underlying reasons for what was going on...Not just the business with Tristanizine and the trial of the bastard that had helped to create it, but also the fact that War Commander Vorak had wanted to meet with Buron Golden Designation, the late tactical commander of the Pyrian military. Everything that had happened that day had made everyone in the government take a closer look at everyone else, and now this. She knew something had been wrong with Anara's death, but the Scourge? Only the Shalka used the Scourge in instances...when they wanted someone neutralized...of course.

Suddenly growing businesslike, Queen Vandai rose to her full and considerable height and said vehemently, "I want you to check everything that was consumed on the day that Anara and Buron died. I want you to check even the stream they drank from, even the caretaker of their young at the time. I will not rest or somnambulate until this matter is put to rest and good. We will make sure that their deaths were not in vain. Where's Drenog Green Designation? He is the only one I know with information on The Scourge."

Drenog and probably only a couple others were the only ones that knew a thing about the drug that was called the Scourge in colloquial terms. Voloda didn't know the green-scaled scientist too well, because he was on projects on the fringes of the Pyrian homeworld and on other planets, but Queen Vandai was no slouch in the judgment department.

"We want to obtain more knowledge about The Scourge, as it is known in some circles. What knowledge do you have concerning this drug?"

"Why do you wish to question me concerning this?" Drenog became more agitated, swishing his tail back and forth over the wooden floor.

"Because," said Queen Vandai, "From the evidence that has been gathered by Anara's nest-sister, it may have had a part to play in Anara's death. we wish to question you concerning some of the symptoms of the drug and the way it is administered, among other things."

Drenog's composure grew less agitated at that point and he said, "I was put to work with creating the second vial of antidote when this was occurring... but I do have knowledge about the Scourge. When Buron Golden Designation was doing reconnaissance work, he found information pertaining to it six lunar cycles ago. He told me and two other scientists to keep the information that he learned and the samples he got undercover and to learn all we could in the meantime so as to find its opposite. We had gotten close to finding it when the Tristanizine outbreak happened. We do know that it is packaged in a very thin tube in a concentrated form. One sniff of the drug is all that is required, or it can be used in combination with others." Drenog's tail was moving faster and faster as he chittered agitatedly "And then," he said, his tail finally stopping its movement as he looked at everyone in the room, "It kills the subject by sheer weight of empathy. It usually takes another closely bonded to the subject getting neutralized at the same time the subject is under the influence to cause this... The mind brings the images received into it in a sharper focus, due to the drug's influence, which also causes the emotion centers of the brain to take what it's being given and magnify it nearly a hundred fold. It causes the death by overloading those centers and causing what the subject sees to echo and magnify in a cycle. Buron believed that Vorak used it because it was a good way to neutralize more of those who were a threat. Are there any samples that I can look at to ascertain whether The Scourge played a part in it?"

Slowly, Valoda indicated the samples that were sitting on her desk, and Drenog looked at them with a careful eye, only stopping to ask, "Was the Ichthizine administered to these?"
Yes," said Valoda gravely, "As you know quite well, Drenog, there should not be this much contamination in a containment field."

"Ah," said Drenog, "The other telltale we noticed. Whether the tissues were in a containment field or not, they were contaminated. Pouring Ichtizine over tissues not affected with the drug left them uncontaminated, especially since it has a tendency to evaporate quickly and thus, evacuate from the samples. In this case, since The Scourge was administered some hours before her death and Ichtizine acts on its traces, someone had to have administered it, discretely or not."
Queen Vandai knew that the medical staff were handpicked by Valoda and that she'd rather endanger herself than choose questionable people to fill those positions. So how did this get administered? she asked herself.
Replaying the events of the horrible diurnal period only brought up one thing. "Ultrazinium," she said, thumping her tail on the floor, "What color is it, Voloda?"
"I noted that that was in the report that was given. Good call for Karok...But Ultrazinium is blue, isn't it?"

Generally, it is blue," said Voloda, "The question becomes, who administered it, and what color was it. Anybody should know that it is rather volatile when mixed with other drugs, and considering that it's supposed to be a stabilizer..." Her ice blue eyes became more like storm gray as the ramifications became clear to her. She had remembered studying it at the University of Medical Practice, how it would even change color if one so much as added a drop of another drug to it.

"From the report I have here," said Queen Vandai imperiously, "It was you, Karok who administered the ultrazinium. What color was it when you did that, pray tell? The report I have here said that it was amber, am I correct?"

"No. It was blue," said Karok unabashedly, flicking the end of his long tail scornfully. "as you just said, ultrazinium is always blue."

"Karok," Vandai chittered in the middle of a deep sigh, "You forget that one of my advisors saw the whole thing." At this point, she tapped a device on her desk with an angry forepaw. "I know that the color was amber. Why was it amber, Karok? Why?"

Soon Queen's Advisor Dremelia Yellow Designation came into the queen's living chamber at a run, curtsied, and chittered her customary, "How may I be of service, Queen Vandai?"

"Tell me," Queen Vandai said,
"The color of the Ultrazinium that Anara was given on the day of her death. I apologize for having to ask about this since you were friends after a fashion, but this needs to be divulged so that we can continue our investigation. As humans would say, It stinks to high heaven and low hell. So in short, what was the color of the ultrazinium she was given."

"It was an amber color. bright amber as a matter of fact. I don't know much about medical knowledge, but I had the passing thought that something wasn't right. But I didn't know what to ask."

"not to doubt you, Dremelia, for we have worked together many orbits, but I should conduct a mindmorph to satisfy myself that you haven't been influenced. Are you compliant?"

"Yes," said Dremelia gravely, "I know the truth of my answers, and there would be nothing in my mind that would belie my statements, Queen Vandai.

"thank you. You understand that I prefer to ensure that there is no contamination of information here," she said, as she placed her head next to Dremelia Yellow Designation's. Her breathing became even and slow as she entered the mind of her advisor. Time seemed to stretch as Queen Vandai verified the information that she had given earlier. She straightened to her full height once again, and her and and her advisor relaxed.

The Pyrian queen seated herself behind her desk, placing her forepaws upon it. "The information that was given to me by my advisor corroborates my mindmorph with her. She has not been tampered with or influenced. I do not like the appearance of questioning her integrity but with recent events playing out as they have, we all must be on our guard."

"Understandable, said Dremelia, as both embraced in the customary way, with front forepaws and tails.

"However, this introduces a problem," said Vandai in a dangerous chitter that left no doubt of its menace to its intended recipient. "It is time that a more intensive mindmorph be performed upon you as well, and we will test your integrity. You have wilfully lied to me as well as all present, and a mindmorph detects the truth, and only the truth." With another angry tap to another device on her desk, her guards came in quickly. "You will not be allowed to leave until questions have been answered. I will ask and you will respond." Angrily she motioned for guards to restrain him on both sides, and placed her forehead to his. Though he struggled ineffectually against her mind and against the strength of the guards holding him, she began to breathe deeply and slowly once more.

"What was the substance that was put in the ultrazinium you administered to Anara after she blacked out?" chittered the queen wrathfully.

Karok, who had gone blank started to chitter in a monotone way. "It was The Scourge," said Karok. "I was commissioned by War Commander Vorak as a part of our undercover operation to administer it to Anara with the ultrazinium. We were informed that Anara along with her meddling mate needed to be dispensed with, so a plan was put into place to do so. It took much research and diversions, but it was finally accomplished, not without a lot of trouble. However, I will be brought into place as one of high rank among the Shalka."

Vandai's storm gray eyes tore through Karok, who was in such a deep trance that he seemed to remain unaffected. "You shall not escape. I have more questions to ask you, and since you have proven yourself guilty by virtue of the results of a mindmorph, your sentence will be visited upon you. If you didn't have a glimpse into Anara's mind with the express purpose of providing assistance, what was your purpose?"

"My purpose was to ensure that The Scourge was taking full control," Karok said rapturously, "And since I was informed that Ultrazinium and The Scourge combine to make a more powerful compound, that is what I did. My first experiment has become a success. War Commander Vorak is pleased."

"You despicable bastard!" Queen Vandai chittered, slowly but menacingly, anger radiating from her being. "You may think it's desirous to commit these unspeakable acts, but it is not. You shall be sentenced to death. We believe in this tenet, which you seem to have forgotten. When a life is taken, the one responsible must forfeit his in recompense. Guards, get him out of my sight. I don't wish him to corrupt Pyrian soil any longer than he must."