Chapter 4

Truths Unveiled

Marietta tried once more with her compact communicator, but again... no response. She slightly worried, but constantly reminded herself that nothing could do in Mirage that easily. She's always looked up to her for many years.

"Got anything yet?" Steeg asked as he returned to the bridge and took his seat for a moment to rest. Just as good of a pilot he is, he has excellent maintenance skills as well. It was really thanks to him that the Diplo got back into shape in no time.

"No, sigh whatever could take this long?" Marietta spoke as she looked down. "She could have atleast contacted us if she was heading off somewhere else."

"I don't think they'd go too far without informing us," Steeg replied as he took sips from his water bottle. "Besides, it's not like they're taking that long. They're only a few hours delayed."

Marietta looked towards Steeg forcing a smile, "I hope you're right. By the way, how did all the repairs go?"

"It was a cinch. It wasn't so bad actually, the Diplo's shields have really gotten much stronger than you think. And we did avoid all those rounds of their cannons. Hmph... guess a pilot's job isn't so easy. I, of all people should know that." said Steeg.

"Well, I guess all we can do is relax for a bit and keep in contact," Marietta said as she laid back a little in a more comfortable position. "By the way, I managed to fish the data you asked me to look for."

"Oh... that? Hey, not bad... that was pretty quick. So what did you find?" Steeg asked impatiently.

"A few things."

"Like?"

"There's too much to explain right now. But maybe we should be thinking about something more important? Like contacting our captain?"

"Well... fine, I suppose I can wait."

"You're a lot easier to convince than your brother, you know that?"

Marietta giggled slightly as she spoke. Steeg simply slouched in his chair not looking so pleased at her comment.

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A small pile of dust got caught in her nose when Mirage opened her eyes and started breathing a little heavily. She sneezed and then got back onto her feet again finding herself back in the dark cave. She noticed two slouched bodies on the ground a few metres away from her still unconscious, Xeim and Lieber. Just as she started walking towards both of them, she heard a loud beeping signal. Then she had suddenly remembered of Marietta and Steeg who she never bothered to contact!

"Captain! Are you there? This is Marietta!" spoke a loud excited voice from the communicator.

Mirage grabbed the compact communicator from her vest pocket, "Marietta. How are things going?"

"All the repairs were done hours ago. We thought you would have been back by now... you really had us worried!"

"Oh ah... sorry about that. Well, the situation here's fine... uh sort of but i'll brief you in on it later when we get back. Can you wait a little longer?"

"No problem, captain. i'm just glad that everything is fine."

"Thanks."

Xeim and Lieber were a little dizzy and nauseous once they got back up but were still willing to move right away. As they trudged their way slowly out of the sanctuary, their heads filled with thoughts which were still unclear and foggy.

"Looks like we failed the ambush... what a waste of effort." Xeim broke the silence with a moody tone. Out of all three of them, he took the most injury from the vicious blow from the demon. Xeim almost felt his ankle snap at that instant, and to Mirage's surprise, he gained a pretty quick recovery for a non-Klausian.

"I have a suspicion they're somewhat involved in this galactic war. Who knows? The energy stones is probably the only reason they'd invade a planet like this." said Mirage, still deep in her thoughts.

Lieber was just as confused, "So what can we do now? Go after them?"

"Let's head back to Lacour and try to get an audience with the king." Mirage said looking back up now, "This planet should be clear from any hazardous threats... for now."

Heading back to Lacour, they noticed citizens overfilling the city... but it was still far from lively. Probably due to the loss of numerous lives during the day. They made their way towards the castle once again where the receptionist told them that the King was having a busy day with the audience. However, once the guards consulted with the King, the King allowed Mirage and co. to hold an audience with him right away.

"So you say you're not from this world? If so, then forgive me for causing you lot the trouble the terrible monsters gave us. Besides, it's not the first time i've seen people like you." the King of Lacour spoke with a gently, yet firm voice.

"I heard this Kingdom was recently built." said Mirage after everyone payed their respects to the King.

"That is correct. Lacour became such widely known region for its attractions. It was the most lively place in our world... and its result is what you see now. Although our kingdom isn't the only thing new about this city, look around and you'll see monuments like in no other cities." the King went on proudly. They could tell he was proud just by the way he spoke and sort of... rambled on.

"I noticed." Mirage smiled, "so do you know anything about those demons who invaded the city?"

"Ahh..." the King slumped back down once Mirage changed the subject, "I cannot say i've seen something like that before... but from the details i've received, it seems that the demons have all evacuated from this area. And probably from this world as well. But they took something more than precious from us... the energy stones."

"Maybe there's something we can do about that." Xeim spoke with a deep voice.

"Please don't bother, i've already made arrangements for that by making requests from the other kingdoms." said the King, in reply to Xeim.

The king explained that energy stones were the basis of nearly all their necessary supplies. The demons had stolen pretty much every energy stone from the continent. They were, however, unable to tackle the reason for such an action.

"I suppose we're done here then." Mirage stood up as she talked, "We'll make sure misery like that doesn't befall your world again. It'd be sad to see all these citizens lose their family again."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Be careful in your travels now... I pray for your success."

Mirage, Lieber, and Xeim, made their way out of Lacour unable to find the connections between the invasion of Expel and the war within the Sol System. After deciding they had meddled enough with the situation on Expel for now, the Diplo awaited their arrival where Marietta and Steeg were just about ready to fall into a deep slumber.

"Took you guys long enough." Steeg said while batting his eye, "So what were you guys doing? I thought you were just going to speak with the king."

Mirage explained everything with detail to Steeg and Marietta, as well as a few personnel that were present at the bridge during that time. Both Steeg and Marietta's suspicions were similar to Mirage's when they figured the incident on Expel had something to with the war and the planets being seized.

Marietta seemed a little pleased with the analysis, "Captain. It appears that the remote station #7 is now clear from all threats. And the Diplo is fully functional once again, the repairs went through much quicker this time. So what do you want to do now?"

"Set course to remote station #7 right away then. Hopefully we'll get some information about this specific organization there." Mirage said as she took her seat.

Steeg turned to the captain, "By the way, since we're so far behind on the Diplo's mechanisms... I've gathered together a report on all of its enhancements in the past four years. You should take a look at it so we don't have another 'what the hell was that!' moment."

"Will do, is there anything else?" Mirage asked while observing the report handed to her by Steeg.

"Yes... uh well... we'll get to that some other time." Steeg hesitated for a second.

"Do you think we'll get there safely?" asked Xeim.

"We'll manage." Mirage replied while closing her eyelids.

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"Hey Steeg! What are you doing here?" Lieber jolted open the door to the hangar where he saw Steeg with a few female personnel, "You better head back to the bridge. We're almost there. And w-wha... what's this?"

Lieber noticed that the only members of Quark present in the room besides him and Steeg were all female. He gave a 'whats-going-on' look to Steeg who gave a 'relax' look back at him.

"Oh... this is my co-everything and my brother, the other star of Lazeria like me, who i'm sure you've heard about." Steeg said with a cocky tone, "I'm sure you've heard of him but I don't think he's been given a proper introduction. Of course.. he still follows in my footsteps, heh."

Lieber nudged Steeg's shoulder who was right in front of him, "Uhh... hey, I thought we agreed on being equal in situations like this!" he whispered quietly into his ear.

Steeg gave a quick glance over the females who seemed worn out and then whispered back to Lieber, "This is different... Just stay calm!"

One of the female personnel stood up from her seat and spoke up, "Well, err... thanks for the introduction and all but I think we all have work to do as do you. We'll talk later, and oh! Since you're giving out introductions, maybe you can introduce me to Xeim sometime as well?" The other female personnel seemed to agree with this one and they left the hangar leaving Steeg and Lieber alone.

"Ohh dear..." Steeg whined while slouching, "If you hadn't come, it would have all worked out fine."

"I think it was you, bro." Lieber said looking at Steeg beside him with shifty eyes.

"I guess you're right." Steeg spoke with a depressed tone, "I'm nowhere as good as Cliff at this."

"Still... they seemed to be interested in Xeim a little. Why would they fall for that depressed emo dude anyway?"

"True, even Mirage said that he reminded her of Cliff."

"Pffft. Just between me and you Steeg, that guy pisses me off."

This time, there were no anomalies. Lieber and Steeg were able to guide the Diplo to the remote station with Marietta's help. In fact, their flight course was so smooth, they reached their destination point a couple hours earlier than expected.

After their arrival to Remote Station #7... Mirage, Lieber, Xeim, Steeg, and Marietta headed for the transporter where they were greeted by the station's security team. One of the security members guided them to the second floor where they were to meet with the commander, "You're lucky to catch the commander at a good time, he's usually too busy to hold appointments like these. I've also received word from him, you may see him right away."

Mirage thanked the security member before they headed over to the conference room where the same silver-haired man who they encountered on the comm link seemed to be awaiting their arrival patiently.

"Please be seated." were his first words, "It sure is great to see Quark finally cooperate with the Federation after many years. Anyway, i'm Commander Paulin, I believe we've met before on the comm link. I'm terribly sorry about that, but you may have noticed situations were far too disastrous to allow any ships to enter within our region."

"We understand." said Mirage as she sat down on one of the seats available in front, "We were ambushed by the Argyll earlier, so we know what it must have been like."

"You what!" Command Paulin's expression changed from calm to aghast, "How did you ever manage an attack from a warship like that?"

"It's all thanks to the upgrades on the Diplo's defensive shields." Xeim chimed in, "it looks like it can withstand a few attacks from warships. It'd still be pretty stupid to engage in a battle with a ship like that."

'Of course that would be stupid, how idioticly obvious.' Lieber thought to himself.

"I hope you understand that the Argyll is no longer in the Federation's control." Commander Paulin sighed.

Mirage narrowed her eyes as she asked the commander, "So what does this terrorist organization want anyway?"

"They call themselves the Alliance," the commander spoke again after taking a few deep breaths. "We suspect that's mainly because they do not consist of a single race. Members of this organization vary from Earthlings, Demons, Roakians, Vendeeni, and even a few monster species. We're not exactly sure what their motives are, but they are constantly involved in the invasion of planets, mostly underdeveloped, to gather materials so they can fulfill one single purpose. We're unaware of that purpose, but all we really care about... is to stop them at all costs. Not only is their assassination and taking property to what isn't theirs becoming problematic within the Pangalactic Federation, but at the same time they ignore the UP3 law at a very high level."

"Alliance. So those demons..." Mirage pondered while scratching her chin slowly.

"What?" questioned the commander.

"During the ambush, the Diplo's engines were heated up to its core and we were forced to land on the Planet Expel. We encountered a demon who was in search for energy stones in the continental region. Of course we were unable to stop him, but he did leave us with a clue. There is no doubt now that he was involved with the Alliance." The rest nodded to Mirage's words.

"It definitely sounds like it." the command agreed.

Marietta felt a little curious, "So what's the problem? Why can't you put an end to this terrorism?"

"It's not that easy," Commander Paulin said as he looked towards Marietta. "The Alliance's power is something you should never under-estimate. They make use of their powers that come from a force far surpassing the arts of symbology. We are unaware of how this is done, but they use this power for many things... such as producing mass weaponry, concealing all their bases from visual sight, performing many experiments which we are still unaware of, and many other things. We are still trying to gather all the pieces of information on them before we can plan out a logical offense."

"It seems you have a long way to go," Mirage spoke as she slightly slouched back on her seat.

"I suppose you're all willing to lend a hand on this matter?" the commander asked as if he already knew the answer, but he just wanted to make sure.

"Why not?" Mirage answered, "It seems you need all the help you can get."

"I'm glad to hear that. Then let me brief you in on the current location of our military forces and our enemy..."

According to the words of Commander Paulin, the Federation ships were currently held in a warship battle in the Elicoorian region. It was highly likely that Alliance forces may invade Elicoor II. When she heard the name of the planet, Mirage was really beginning to worry. That was the home of many of her friends, she wondered whether they will be able to defend themselves or not.

Once the meeting was over, Mirage thanked the commander for briefing them on the situation and did not waste any time in heading back to the Diplo along with the rest of the crew.

"Once again, we're all set and the Diplo is just about ready for blast off." Steeg mentioned turning towards Mirage, "We're just waiting for your orders."

"We're heading for Elicoor II immediately. Hopefully we will be able to stop them just in time." Mirage spoke not looking any less worried as she was during the conference.