Chapter 10

A Covert Alliance

Federation Station #16 was one of the stations that was reclaimed by the famous federation hero Commodore Wittcomb who gave his life in a fight against the 4D Executioners four years ago. It had been had been heavily damaged by the Aldian Empire during the capture, but no one could tell now after the excellent repairing job that the federation station had ever been under attack by the Aldians.

A meeting between the top federation generals and officers that were in charge of dealing with the Alliance was being held in the conference room of the station. The latest actions of the Alliance on Elicoor was a devastating news to them.

"So what is going to happen with Elicoor?" asked General Reed one of the best generals in the federation who had reclaimed Federation Station #18 from the Aldian Empire.

Commander Paulin who was sitting across from General Reed replied calm and collectedly, "We can't do anything about what has already been done. The fleet we sent failed terribly in their confontration of the invasion."

"The enemy has gotten away yet again..."

"This may just be a lost cause we are fighting for here." Commander Paulin sighed.

Commander Reginald, one of the military ranking officers, was quick to give Paulin a blunt response. "Not the most ideal way of following in the footsteps of General Birmingham, no Paulin?"

Reginald and Paulin were considered rivals as being equal in rank, respect, and their fleet. However, they didn't let childish competitions bother their sophisticated manner and rankings.

A female military commander didn't hesitate to share a little concern she wanted to bring up. "Surely the name 'Alliance' doesn't indicate any relationship with the 'Terran Alliance', the former title of the Federation, does it?"

"The Terran Alliance, that's an intriguing idea." her words danced in Paulin's head for only a second. "It strikes no resemblance with the Alliance, i'm sure it is only a matter of coincidence."

"If I may, we won't be getting anywhere by following the Alliance's tracks. The black art is the key to our victory in this war." said General Vaughn, the oldest of the military officers who had a long white beard that blended well with his moustache.

General Reed replied, "Please General Vaughn, our responsibility to protect the inhabitants comes first under our treaty. While these inhabitants are constantly in danger we cannot sidetrack from our task and investigate on the black art just yet."

"Ungh!"

Despite having the rank of a General, Vaughn wasn't treated with the utmost respect ever since he left a mark that ruined his reputation as a general. It was because of him, many federation bases had been annihilated by the Executioners. Although no one could have ultimately stopped the destruction, Vaughn was held responsible for not fulfilling his responsibility as a federation general. He was a believer in logical reasoning and acts according to the situation rather than following the federation's treaty.

"Besides," Reed went on. "We could possibly not get into the Alliance base at Vendeen to access the database on black art so easily. If it was that easy, the ball would have been in our court by now."

He turned towards Commander Paulin. "Paulin, I heard the Klausian fleet, Quark, was involved in the confontration on Elicoor as well. Any news from them?"

"Yes. As I expected, they proved to much more efficient than any of the other federation fleets in the battle." Paulin claimed with some pride and hope. "I will request them look into the matters of the Outer Alliance invasion fleet that was present in Elicoor. I've received news that the commander of the Outer Alliance, Shin, is headed for Vanguard III with his fleet."

"Vanguard... just what will they attempt to do now?" another military officer pondered.

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"Captain! Lieber! Xeim! It's great to see you back! I was wondering how much longer you were going to take." Marietta jumped forward to greet them as Mirage and the others returned to the Diplo via the transporter.

"It's good to be back, thanks." Mirage said looking down to hide her expression.

Marietta, however, could tell easily that she didn't seem to be happy. "What is it captain? You don't look well at all. Oh! and who are these two? You brought some friends?"

"My name is Misty Lear." Misty turned towards Welch and gazed her eyes upon her, "This is Welch Vineyard."

Steeg who was just behind Marietta took a look at Misty and Welch as well. "Hey Lieber, what's this? Is it what i'm thinking?"

"uh... ahem Steeg, shut up." Lieber took a few steps forward to introduce both Misty and Welch and what they were on the Diplo for. Marietta and Steeg still seemed a little confused from his explanation.

"So how did you guys meet then?" Marietta asked.

"Oh. We were going on a date!" Welch clinged onto Lieber's arm with a bright smile on her face.

"Aha! I knew it." Steeg snickered.

"What? Lieber?" Marietta turned green and had an obvious jealous look on her face while narrowing her eyes on Welch.

"H-Hey! Knock it off, it's not funny!" Lieber yelled as he tried to shrug her hands off.

The situation amused everyone else including Mirage who wanted to discuss their plans for the upcoming situation quickly, "We've had enough fun now. We have a lot to discuss before we move on further."

"Aww, how boring. Boring-poke..." Welch whined as she slumped onto one of the seats on the bridge of the Diplo.

While on the bridge... Mirage, Xeim, and Lieber explained what happened on Elicoor. Hearing the news about Cliff, Marietta and Steeg were left speechless. Marietta shed a few tears after hearing what happened to him but Mirage tried to cheer them up while she herself was the one who was hurt the most. She also told them about Fayt and Albel who are fighting on behalf of the Federation along with Nel who was abducted by the Alliance. Once Steeg and Marietta had absorbed everything with quite some difficulty, Mirage wasn't finished discussing.

"That's about all there is. But now that we've discussed the events that occured on Elicoor, let's go over the things we've learned." Mirage said as she brushed her hair back with her fingers.

Xeim nodded, "I agree. A lot has happened, and we'll need to be more cautious in the future. We've encountered the Alliance twice already now... and suffered defeat both times."

"Yeah," Lieber grumbled as he chewed on some blueberries he purchased from Peterny. "And they didn't put much effort in doing it either. Just goes to show how powerful they really are. I suppose we learned the hard way."

"The power I saw in the creature from Greeton and Cliff..." Misty started as everyone's attention went to her. Rarely do words ever come from her mouth, which is probably why it's not hard for everyone to pay attention to what she says. "They both resonated a similar aura. There was something boosting their power, although I wasn't able to pinpoint exactly what it was..."

Xeim nodded with no look of surprise on his face, "I'm glad i'm not the only one who felt the same way. The same thing happened when we encountered that demon in the Sanctuary of Linga."

Mirage and Lieber admitted that they felt the same way.

"Wait, I know!" Welch stood up raising her hand as if she was a student in class who knew the answer to the question. "Maybe they're all one entity with many different forms, know what I mean? I read a book about it once in the guild and-..."

Lieber interrupted before Welch could continue, "And the way they destroyed the wall in the OPA room, too. There's something fishy about it..."

Welch sighed and slumped back in her chair with an annoyed expression planted on her face.

"The amplified power they used against us, no doubt about it... they were very similar." Mirage replied. "Could it be that the Alliance is using some technological device to enhance its combatants' potential?"

Marietta shook her head, "I wouldn't doubt it. The Alliance is notorious of using their advanced technology for their own selfish benefits. Neither the Federation nor Klaus knows how far their technological level extends. Rumors says a lot of the science behind their technology is evolved from the most complex structures of Vendeen technology and some components of creation energy."

"I'd say it's more than just a rumor," Steeg interrupted as if to correct Marietta. "Vendeen is also the home of many Alliance bases and remote stations. I suspect the organization would be packed with the Vendeeni. But if they can boost the magnitude of their power so much, like we saw in the Argyll, then their technology level must be through the roof."

Welch rolled her eyes, "Then if we know where the Alliance resides, why didn't you just invade the Wedineenee or whatever?"

Lieber felt like putting his hand over her mouth throughout the whole time, "Maybe because it's heavily guarded?"

"Yeah," Steeg nodded. "The Federation has attempted invasions before... which only resulted in utter failure. We can't hope to win against them until we find out everything we can about them."

"So no one has any idea of what their technology is derived from?" Xeim asked curiously hoping for some light to be shed in the topic.

Marietta's disappointed expression gave the answer, "No. It's like Steeg said, the most basic structures of their technology comes from a lot of Vendeen's complex developments. And the Vendeeni as we know are obviously habitually taciturn when it comes to other life forms. The term 'Black Art' is used as a colloquial way of referring to the science behind each and every one of their developments."

"Yes, the Alliance soldiers carried disrupter rifles which only the Vendeeni were ever seen equipped with." Mirage stared into space as she scratched her chin slowly lost in her thoughts. "And could this so-called 'black art' explain what has happened to Cliff? If it even is him, that is."

Steeg agreed with Mirage's suspicion. "Yes. It's a little hard to believe that about Cliff. The Alliance is probably fooling us with one of its tricks. Besides, we know that it wasn't just Cliff who was attacked by the Vendeeni, Lancar was with him as well. It'd only make much more sense that Lancar be with Cliff if he somehow survived the Vendeeni attack and was eventually taken in by the Alliance."

Mirage didn't know whether to be depressed or elated about it. If it really wasn't Cliff, then it'd be safe to assume that he was actually killed by the Vendeeni. It would make much more sense if the Alliance created a clone of Cliff via black art, or just manipulated him into complying to their every order.

Mirage shook the thoughts out of her head for the meantime, "Anyway, we know that the Alliance uses highly developed technology to enhance its most devoted and highly ranked members, battleships, and just about every aspect of it that shows just how powerful they really are. But what are they hoping to achieve by doing all this? I doubt it's simply to create fear and display how powerful they can be."

"We know that that demon was seeking energy stones from Expel, and that Commander Shin who is probably the leader of the pack succeeded in his attempt at stealing the Sacred Orb." Lieber went on as he chewed on more berries. "We don't know what they're going to use it for... so it looks like we still have a lot to learn."

Xeim remembered the face of the demon he encountered in the sanctuary again. He was certain he had seen that demon before, he suspected it could have some connection with his childhood. "The demon, he said something about reviving the 'Supreme Deity'. But that doesn't lead us to anywhere, does it?"

"Supreme Deity? Nope. Not in the least." Mirage replied looking a lot more intent suddenly after being a little depressed. "Right now all we know is that we have to follow Cliff and Shin's trail. That's our next step."

"Captain, sorry to bring this up now but I had also received news from the Federation about Quark," Marietta said delightfully. "Since we are working for the same purpose, they want Quark to merge with the Federation, only for this task. What do you say?"

Mirage shook her head. "It's a good way to bring Klaus and the Federation together, but we can't do that as of now. I'll think about it once we fully understand the situation between the Alliance and the Federation. Until then, we have no choice but to do things our way."

The discussion went on as Marietta stated that the Alliance battleship that left Elicoor was heading for the planet of Vanguard III, yet another underdeveloped planet. And that was their next destination where they hoped to find more answers... and also find Nel so Mirage can fulfill the promise she made to Clair.