Moving the Players Forward

Sylvon Year 2193 (Indoraptor Year 381), November 2nd, Sylvon Council Space, classified location...

"It is NOT my fault, madam!" Nobec shouted defiantly.

"Yes it is."

"No, madam, it is not. I've done everything according to the organization's accepted parameters! We all agreed that the missions themselves hold no more than 25 percent success rate; disastrous undertakings are not the end of our brotherhood!" Nobec willed himself to go on relentless reasoning despite the long record of fiascoes in his hands, the mark of dishonor that his organization would be forced to bear for a long time. The person he answered to, the ever-so-enigmatic spymistress of Miralis organization, greatly disagreed with the male's alleged confession.

"Yes, I am aware of that. It is YOUR endless streak of failures that shames Miralis as a whole." The spymistress hissed in disappointment.

Stepping closer to the disgraced mercenary, the spymistress leaned close to the male's earhole and whispered "You have failed us. You are no longer useful to the Council and our species." as her facial tentacles whacked Nobec in the face. Shocked, dejected, the mercenary could only stare in disbelief at his superior's venomous assertion, knowing that soon his life would be decided by a single bullet from her bodyguard's gun.

"Do you wish to be reminded of your mistakes?"

Nobec looked at the spymistress as she sat back on her seat. Murmurs were heard amongst the watching onlookers, he noted.

While the mercenary himself almost lost count on how many unsuccessful tasks transpired under his command, the small audience standing near or behind the spymistress was all too aware of it. To begin with, the initial mission on Lemuria, meant to demoralize the Indoraptors as a whole, ended up in disarray when Nobec's comrades were captured alive, giving the brutish black lizards a means of anticipating the Council's efforts to undermine their society. The black campaigns that trailed shortly thereafter didn't produce any desirable effects as well. From there, the follow-up mission on Cognita, another one of the Union's colonies, was easily thwarted as Union warships ruthlessly chased Nobec's mercenary ships and almost blew them all up, had only some of the smaller ships didn't sacrificed themselves for the rest. The third and most recent task, intended to throw the Agnaktors into social anarchy instead, turned out to be meaningless when the red reptiles set up safeguards on their space stations and fledgling colonies after learning the bad luck befalling their alien neighbors. The mercenary ships under Nobec's command had no more than an hour before the red lizards were tipped off of their presence. And then the damned Union's Grand Fleet just had to come in and destroy them for the second time, at the most inconvenient of time to boot!

To further ruffle the Council's tentacles, the Human Imperium of Terra has been contacted by the Union, possibly because the Indoraptors were desperate enough to search allies in the event a war really broke out between the Council and the Union. Not to mention that both Indoraptors and Humans found newly-spacefaring aliens just outside their borders, with plans to welcome them into their folds under progress.

The Sylvons were all too familiar when it came to the quickest routes to breach the Human Imperium Space, but they too suspected the chance of them already being warned by the black lizards...

At times like this, the spymistress pondered whether she did the right thing, to keep pursuing her top-priority schemes when things got too rough for her to continue working.

"May I conclude this little charade, madam? We don't need him anymore."

The request came from the left of the female Sylvon.

"Yes, you may," the reply slipped in an instant.

The humiliated mercenary widened his eyes, breathing hard as he eventually realized the end of his usefulness, as a Sylvon in dark suit stepped forward, his gun pointed straight.

A loud bang echoed in the room, and Nobec's limp body fell, his eyes lifelessly stared to the people in front of him.

"Burn his body," the spymistress ordered in icy voice. Promptly, some of the spectators briskly grabbed the dead body and dragged it away whereas those who didn't move fast enough to secure the corpse slowly vacated the room. Foul mood was simply not the correct word to describe the female's emotion at the moment; she was both infuriated at the person's incompetence and troubled that the Council would catch wind of the organization's lack of meaningful progress. Only the mercenary's murderer stayed, as the spymistress gestured him to step nearer. The assassin in black gently bowed in reverence. "I deduce there will be some discussion concerning us, madam?"

"Concerning our future steps from here on," the female alien said coolly. Letting her anger fade away would be the best course of action, she decided.

The assassin said nothing as the spymistress rose from her seat the second time. "We are becoming too engrossed in all these espionage actions, Naja. It is... good that we have the incentive to stop and reflect on our latest engagements, lest we reveal our weaknesses too early," she confided in the male Sylvon.

Naja, the assassin, appeared uncomfortable at the sight of the spymistress showing her fragile side. "Madam, you usually brainstormed your plans with Councilor Astrax. Why share your insecurities with a lowly agent like me?" "Astrax is gradually losing his popularity in the political circle. He believed our goal of interstellar domination cannot be achieved unless we do get along with aliens, if we will only stab them in the back. His prime agenda is to make nice with the Indoraptors we've hassled all this time, so that he could pave his way up their ranks and gain complete control... except the notion is vulnerable to mass societal disruption and potential backfire," the spymistress explained, "we can't have our slaves stage another rebellion, like what happened earlier in our history."

"Besides, I've studied your dossier. You've done merely a small number of high-risk missions, and yet you've never botched your tasks, not even once. Amazing."

At her implied praise, Naja bowed in appreciation.

In reality, the spymistress spend little time reading all of the dossiers, having no personal attachment toward any on the spies. She required no boastful subordinate like the foolish Nobec and his small army of unapt mercenaries; she required someone with skills, loyalty, and in-depth knowledge of how Miralis and the Council worked in tandem. More importantly, she needed a person who's ready to betray the Council should its members went off track from the Sylvon's original goals.

"I could send you out on a classified duty right now, "the female Sylvon admitted thoughtfully, "but I'd rather have you provide support to our cyber hackers; they're beginning to understand the schematics of the Union's weaponry and warships." The assassin nodded anyway, knowing that he'd probably not contribute much on the task, although he had some worthwhile skills in network calibrating. No loyal subordinate wanted to displease the spymistress for her influence was far wider than the Council members.

"Look, I'll arrange a more suitable duty for you once we manage to create a new timetable, preferably without more failures this time. We'll have you fitted with appropriate armor and arsenal after we can mass-produce the Union's weapons, and most importantly after the clone soldiers are ready to serve in combat. We just have to bide our time until then."

"And what about Councilor Astrax?"

"As long as he serves the Council, we may allow him to perform his daily errands unhindered."

-x-x-x-x-x-

Agnaktor Year 2219 (Indoraptor Year 381), November 2nd, planet Agnius, Executive's Office...

"Tell me what truly occurred on the main plaza."

"All of it, Executive?"

"All of it. Please don't leave out any detail."

Once again the Agnaktor prime leader, Zyr, sat in her office, listening to one of her secretaries elaborating an unnerving situation from two weeks ago, the aptly named 'Slavery Campaign' by those who had their internet accounts riddled with jingoistic mails from Sylvon Space. These electronic mails spoke of how slavery was the finest way of life, how slavery determined who was the strongest of societies and who should stay at the bottom as something to be profited from. Either the Agnaktors joined them in this 'glorious path to mastery over nature', or suffer from the Sylvon's bigotry for all eternity, the campaign stated.

Naturally, the public flew into a rage and demanded the executive and her Governors close their borders from Sylvon immigrants, just like what the Indoraptor Union had done last year.

Even with the Indoraptors promising aid in the form of another species that had... special yet unsettling bond with them, Executive Zyr couldn't help but wonder at how long the mollusks and their obstructive Council would persist with this terror campaign.

"Shall I elaborate it from the disturbance two weeks prior or...?"

"No. Let's skip that part; I want to know how the hell the Sylvon bastards terrorized us via the mega-screens." the executive waved her hand dismissively. The secretary recognized the hand gesture a little too well; it meant his superior decided that all Intel secondarily related to the main state of affairs to be trivial and could be dealt with later. He might as well obeyed and do as Executive Zyr told.

"At the start of its appearance, the mega-screens in the plaza only had these advertisement inserts too small to be immediately noticeable by the public, but we all knew it came from Sylvon Space. You know, it resembles the internet campaign from two weeks ago." the secretary said. "A day later, propaganda-like commercials would come online every six hours on certain mega-screens, then-supposed to be glitches in the network system. They hadn't put it on top-priority list. The day after, the mega-screens blasted the so-named Slavery Campaigns in high volumes once every hour, forcing the internet caretakers to forcibly shut down all mega-screens on every plaza on Agnius. Cyberware personnel did an exhaustive sweep on the internet network, but found that all traces of the campaign's sender mysteriously erased. The public had been rendered intimidated by the events, and productivity has decreased by 23 percent." the Agnaktor concluded his narration. He handed over his portable computer for the executive to evaluate; a long list of disturbances caused by the Sylvons and complaints being posted as a response to those outrageous vandalisms. Further down the list were recommendations for Executive Zyr to reinforce the Agnaktor's connection with the Indoraptors.

"Is the pattern similar to the internet hacking two weeks ago?" Executive Zyr inquired, still reading the wealth of information in it.

"Almost similar, ma'am. The main difference is the spamming internet mails had no audio-visual media and indirectly insulted our people, while the propaganda videos on the mega-screens openly disrespected us." replied the unhappy secretary. For a minute the two of them shared a look of understanding.

"Curse the damned mollusks. Curse them all."

"My thoughts exactly." the secretary agreed solemnly, "We can't afford to stand alone in this."

The irritated Zyr returned the portable computer in silence, still unsure of the best strategy to deal with the network vandalism. Military wasn't their best forte and the Agnaktors were not prepared to deal with proxy war like this. Furthermore the Indoraptors were kind of busy facing their own share of these vandalisms to actually contribute to the Republic's safety as they promised before. Zyr was assured of the Republic's protection and prosperity when the Union allowed them to study various schematics of the Union's arsenal and warships, but so far research and development was slow, to put it mildly. Valuable minerals needed to build those warships were also in slight shortage; it's a blessing that the Union was more than willing to send the Agnaktors some surplus minerals, particularly the likes of iron, iridium, and palladium. But the boon won't last them for long.

The only way to survive through the coming storm was to do what their alien friends do; find more allies, find new aliens willing to band together and stand against slavery and discrimination. From the information she once read, the Union discovered an avian species ready to begin space colonization, and was drafting protocols to welcome the avians as equals. Lucky for them, it seemed; said new aliens were located at the Union's border far away from the Council's territory.

Will the Agnaktor Republic be as fortunate as them?

Only time will tell.

"Sir, would you kindly bring officer Xivena in? I am assured that he has more experience in cooperating with the Union to undermine the Sylvon's crusades." Zyr spoke as she shuffled through the paperwork on her table, "Also, tell the scientists of the Crimson Blaze faction that I'll give them some funding to explore new star systems until twelve years later. Don't reveal them the reason behind this initiative." The secretary seemed hesitant for a second, though he ultimately complied and left the office to carry out the assignments.

Deep breaths, the female Agnaktor said in her mind, deep breaths. She now understood the pressure her alien ally must be facing these days and hot heads wouldn't deliver them to the best solution. She could deliver a public speech to raise the populace's morale, but talking in rousing emotion was easier said than done. Perhaps her personal aide might be able to shed his insight on the matter?

Maybe she could find solace in communicating with the Union's prime chief.

But that had to wait. First, the disillusioned executive must convene with the Governors and resolve the situation. Find out what could be done to help the public recover from the widespread anxiety.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Indoraptor Year 381, November 28th, Deep Space Communications Satellite...

(RETRIEVING CONVERSATION ARCHIVE...)

(ARCHIVE LOCATED, PLEASE WAIT...)

"Lord Connor Ashford, thanks for calling. It's not often for people to contact me via private channel, let alone from the great Imperium itself."

"The pleasure is all yours, Union Prime Chief. Xen Alven, isn't it? Please pardon us should we get your name wrong."

"Certainly, my new friend."

"Also, if you don't mind, please ignore all accusations from my people regarding you using names such as 'Earth' and 'Sol system' as an elaborate hoax. Obviously, we never expected to suddenly, very suddenly, getting a greeting or two from a world mirroring our own, which we thought to be an error in stellar observations. Until now we have no idea whether we should call you a friend, a neighbor, or a rival. Preferably a distant neighbor, since we haven't interacted closely with each other."

"I know the feel, Lord Ashford. We initially refused to believe it either, despite countless years and currencies poured into this socially-divisive research. When the real news got out, our scientific and military communities over here nearly demanded me to declare war on you unless I have solid proof that you, the parallel Humans, are worth being our future confidantes. It was a miracle that you remained composed and professional during the First-Contact days, therefore you have my eternal gratitude. I dare not thinking a possible war which might break between us..."

"Thank you for your kind words, Chief Alven. My people over her were also scared that you and the Indoraptors might possibly be the scourge of God or something like that. Thankfully the researchers got to calm the masses before anything unpleasant took place."

"You're welcome, my Lord. By the way, this is no ordinary gossiping, I assume?"

"More often than not I find myself agonizing over whether or not I should try to initiate small talks. You know, to improve relationships?"

"I do appreciate the gesture, my Lord. But something tells me that... your voice tone beckoned a plea for help. Shall we talk in a more straightforward manner?"

"Yes, yes, a direct type of person, aren't you? No offense by the way."

"None taken."

"Our Defense Fleets currently were getting pretty disturbed by unidentified ships trespassing into our Space for days if not weeks. Can you at least share some info on this? I guarantee you, I'm not accusing you of anything bad. I'm aware that you are quite busy running the Union and all that, but..."

"It must be the works of the Council of Akantorin. Those two-legged cowardly mollusks, we are becoming annoyed by how common they harassed us lately. Have my science teams shared the research data with you, by the way?"

"Yes, they had. At first we assume them to be of no imminent danger to us and were content to let you deal with them at your leisure. But as of three days ago, the... Sylvons, or their spying corvettes as we assume at the moment, were flying in and out at a random interval. Sometimes we caught them surveying our colonies or mining stations, other times they were visibly scanning our starbases and patrolling fleets from afar. We still haven't figured out the true intentions behind these unregulated actions... Our admirals and generals have advised me to put more attention to security management, although I suppose asking the Union for help wouldn't hurt."

"But you fear the likelihood of proxy war? We over here do, Lord Ashford. We've been reinforcing the Grand Fleet in the event another terrorist attack occurs."

"Terrorist attack?"

"Our flagship colony, Lemuria, suffered from a series of mass bombings nearly a year after accepting Sylvon residents from the Council Space. Many died in the attack; dozens of other victims were badly wounded. The mollusks themselves barely even acknowledged their people's involvement in this. In the following weeks, pirates and mercenaries tried to enter our borders, although they were all repelled."

"I am sorry for your loss. If you need anything, you may contact the Imperium; we should be able to assist you in future relief effort if you so wishes."

"For now I can only bring you warnings, my Lord. Strengthen your starships and your armies. The damn aliens will want to provoke your anger just for fun and profit."

"Got it."

"For the record, I suggest you to withhold giving the Sylvons any access to your stations or planets, but the Agnaktors might be excluded as long as you're fine having them around. I'll forward some useful Intel to your information specialists some twenty four hours from now, but make sure to have your specialists ready to data-mine it quickly; our chat right now could be hacked by the Council's spies and we can't afford to let them be profited from it."

"Very well, I'll keep that in mind. And Chief Alven?"

"Yes?"

"May God bless you."

"You too, Lord Ashford."