Chapter 23

Juram's Journal - Part 2

Xeim often found his father to be too much driven by his emotions. However, that was one important aspect Xeim had tried to improve on in his life. It was one of the many reasons he liked reading his old man's journal entries many times. Politics wasn't his cup of tea, but Xeim was always keen on exploring his father's intentions and his feelings throughout his professional and personal life. As he turned the pages of the journal, he suppressed all his emotions in one breath trying not to let them take over his mindset.

Entry #37

My goodness! What a trip so far it has been! Klaus is such a beautiful planet, just like the rumors I had heard. The scenery, the people, and the climate. My face did feel a little irritated from the sun at first, but i've managed to get used to it.

But it looks like Lias was right. As soon as the treaty between Uelia and Galza was terminated, a war broke out. The Uelians who were causing trouble in many areas of the Klausian system became more vicious. So now Klaus has taken the privelege of involving themselves in the war as well! Before matters got worse, I quickly went over to the Galzan space station and took the first transport ship that was leaving for Klaus IV to settle our differences in a civilized fashion. The trip wasn't pretty either. We just barely managed to escape a Klausian battleship! If it were any more powerful, I wouldn't be here writing this right now.

During my attendance at the conference, I did my best to explain about those Uelian bastards and what they're trying to do with the Zeta sector. To my surprise however, they refused to listen on my defense for Galza and held all of Rezerb responsible for the casualties in Klaus casued by the Uelians. As I left the conference, I knew the Klausian military would be after me but I waited to see what happens. My suspicions were correct when I heard citizens talking about rumors of the military on the prowl for a Rezerbian president. So I made a run for it. I don't know to where, but anywhere out of their sight. Now here I am writing this entry in an isolated town known as Likins near the woods. I suppose i'll stop and take a rest for now before I take my leave back to Rezerb once I find the location of a nearby space station.

Due to Inus' inability to persuade the military and the Klausian government at the conference which was the only chance he was given to explain, the war that broke out in Rezerb turned out to be more hectic than Inus had ever imagined. Galza was for one involved in the confrontation with Klaus and Uelia at the same time. Due to the friction between Uelia and Galza, Klaus seemed to have the upper hand in this major conflict. Klaus was of course, fighting for its autonomy while Uelia struggled to keep its edge over Galza, let alone the Zeta sector.

Inus, who had vanished from the incident, began to raise suspicions in the eyes of the GGC and the citizens of Galza. They feared that their leader had ran away like a coward. A group of Rezerbian military squads began to scout areas of Klaus IV to search for Inus, but of course, the Klausians could not allow them to patrol the area, and this caused more problems between the two.

Entry #43

Days passed and now it had been another week... but I was still safe and sound in Likins unspotted by the military. In fact, during my stay in Likins, a kind, beautiful Klausian lady was nice enough to take care of me. She was one of the very few people who resided in the central part of the town. But soon we heard news that a group of military was headed our way! The Klausian lady who called herself Jina insisted on aiding me into the empty corner of the small town behind the woods where no one would be able to find us. I cannot describe the feeling I had started to develop with Jina, but whatever it was... it didn't want me to be separated from her.

I had heard about how physically developed Klausians looked, but I had now seen it in Jina. She was the most beautiful person I had ever met. We stayed in a small shack in the isolated corner of the woods all alone, far away from the central part of town. In time, I knew I had to return to Rezerb and aid my citizens where they needed me, but something kept pulling me back. I think it was Jina, suddenly my ambitions of being a successful leader vanished completely everytime I was near her. She wanted me to be with her as well, so I had no choice but to stay. Was it wrong for me not to return? What would everyone back at home be thinking of me right now? My family doesn't even know where I am at the moment.

I also did not see what Jina saw in me, I am after all repulsively hideous just like every other Rezerbian. But she said she wanted to help me after seeing me become so weak. I fell unconscious once in the woods, and she had to carry me all the way here! She told me that it was my love for her that made her want to stay by my side. And we did indeed make love that night...

Inus was not aware of his feelings at the time of his stay with Jina. He couldn't allow himself to be separated from her due to a silly war. Jina of course refused to move back to Rezerb with him due to the Zeta war that was still taking place. Their time together would last for years in the rural areas of Likins.

During one night in the shack Inus and Jina had stayed in, they discussed many things about their upcoming first child...

"We'll call him... Hakhim..." Jina spoke softly in the dark.

Everytime Xeim would think about their feelings for each other, he always figured Inus' feelings for Jina were mostly based on lust. Jina, being a Klausian, of course had the figure of a very attractive woman. Klausians were very often noted for their beautiful physique and considering how Xeim had always considered his father to be emotinally driven, his suspicions weren't doubtful at all. After reading through the entry, he recalled a certain incident four years later that would scar his life forever...

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The Zeta war was over with the Klausians being victorious. Both sides, however, suffered from casualties. Bloodshed from gunfire, explosives, and bare-handed assaults was spread over all regions of Rezerb, especially Uelia. Klaus was successful in keeping its autonomy, while Uelia and Galza were not satisfied with the results. Galza still had ways to go before they could remove the injustice and discrimination that surrounded the planet of Rezerb. Four years later, the GGC military was once again on Klaus IV searching for Inus Juram.

Jina and Inus, were still living their isolated life within the woods by themselves with their child Hakhim who was now exactly four years old. They would visit the central area of the town of Likins every once in a while to stock up on food and other necessities to keep them going. Likins was one of the smallest and poorest town on the planet, it was not developed like the other parts of Klaus, it was still in its stages of development. Seeing this town, anyone could confuse Klaus IV for an underdeveloped planet quite easily. Inus was satisfied living this type of life as long as he was with Jina. Hakhim would often wander into the central area to play with the other kids even when his parents warned him not to.

Not too long after, the Galzan military soldiers had arrived in Likins and the villagers had given the information about Inus' location. This was unfortunate for the Juram family during the confrontation the military had with Inus.

"The military? That uniform! What's Galza doing all the way over here!" Inus asked with utter shock of disbelief as he looked at them with fear in his eyes.

"We've finally found the traitor!" the Rezerbian soldier cursed more and more spewing out his hatred at the former president of the Galzan committee.

It was true that Inus was labelled as a traitor by Galza and was sentenced to be eliminated at sight. Once Jina arrived, she saw her lover being dragged by a group of soldiers outside the shack. She yelled and pleaded, but they would not listen to a word of hers. Hakhim was hiding behind his mother watching the scene in fear and despair. The military had layed him down in the sun after completely stripping him off his equipment and tied him down together with magnetic cuffs.

"Leave those two! We don't have anything to do with them!" shouted the military officer to one of the soldiers after he took down Jina with a single blow rendering her unconscious. Hakhim was still quiet from the horror and he panicked seeing Jina lying on the ground helplessly.

Inus was tied down for hours in the sun suffering the a cruel death no one could have possibly imagined. He kicked and screamed from pain as he felt skin itch intensely from the burns. Hakhim watched all of this as his heart paced faster and faster. Inus Juram had soon met his end when the last of him remained on the small grasslands still under the bright sun's light. The sun had begun to set by now and the military had made their way out of Hakhim's sight.

After grieving over her beloved's death for days and weeks, Jina was able to stay with her only child for not more than a month. She was then sentenced for forbidding the seventh law under the Klaus governmental treaty of claimed rights. She aided and held relations with a Rezerbian terrorist who proved to be a threat to Klaus.

She was executed publically in front of many other Klausians, including her own child Hakhim who once again had to experience the trauma of seeing the death of a close one. After her death, Hakhim was taken away by the Klausians into prison where he was looked at as a mark of Inus and Jina's crimes. However, a demon who was scouting the woods south of Likins broke Xeim from prison and escaped with him. The demon was rather skeptic about the crimes of his mother, Jina, so he took the child with him to Deamonium so Hakhim wouldn't have to suffer from the hands of the Klausian citizens who already had a distaste for both Inus and Jina.

Xeim began to think once again about the horrible events that took place during the past, 'That demon... he called himself Rodrigue. It couldn't be... no! It has to be him.' His focus then went towards the demon they had met in Pessoto Forest... 'Where could he have gone? Looks like i'll have to look into this myself... I guess that means I won't be staying with these guys for long...'

Before he could ponder on, an announcement on the loudspeaker interrupted his chain of thoughts. It was Mirage...

"We've arrived at the Federation space station, guys. Everyone meet in front of the transporter room."

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The Alliance station known as Bolga which was located in the gamma sector just outside the Vendeen system was known as one of the hideouts for the Alliance. Wakou was just in the process of receiving details of the recent actions of the OA team from a Vendeeni officer.

"There's been a leakage in our confidentiality." the Vendeeni spoke. "We believe the OA team is responsible for this!" he spoke with a tough, solid accent.

"So it seems..."

The Vendeeni waited for his further response but nothing came out, so he went on... "And we've located Shin, he has apparently run off to the Klausian system."

"How disobedient. Klaus... what is he up to now?" Wakou thought aloud as he started pacing back and forth in his room.

"Nothing can be said. Ever since the atrocity that he allowed to occur on Vanguard, it's been like this. They're just falling apart."

Wakou shook his head and smirked before giving the Vendeeni officer a put on the shoulder, "Don't worry, our use for Vanguard is far from over. But we've finally got what we wanted from those filth."

"So it's almost ready..."

On that instant Wakou received a call from one of his subordinates. He picked up his communicator to receive the call.

"Sir Wakou, it's an incoming transmission. It's coming from Lab 2." spoke the soldier on the other end of the line.

Wakou replied firmly, "I'll be right there." he said putting back his communicator in his pocket as he turned towards the Vendeeni to speak further...

"About Shin, I need to have a word with Rudra about that. Make sure you send him in later."

"I'll make sure of that."

At the conference room of the station, Wakou requested to open up the comm link to see who it was. It was Svenh, the Vendeeni in charge of the main labs on the planet.

"Svenh, it is good to see you again. What's going on now?" Wakou smiled with a gleam in his eyes.

Svenh responded bluntly, "Not much news on the progress yet, but we have some news about Nahal..."

"I see, so it's about her again. Wondered off has she again?" Wakou shook his head in disappointment.

There was a slight pause before Svenh replied, "I'm afraid so."

"sigh..."

"She left a message asking what should be done about the hostages? She says she plans to use them as bait." said Svenh.

"Ah, those. Doesn't one of them hold the power of connection in her genes? Make sure Nahal doesn't get a hold of that one. The rest is for her to do as she pleases."

"Understood."

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Marietta was sitting in her seat on the bridge in front of the navigation control panel taking a moment to rest as the others took their time to assemble near the transporter room. She was beginning to feel stiff from sitting in that one seat for such a long duration so she walked out into the upper deck and took a seat on the first bench she spotted. Just when she thought she was about to doze off, Welch came and sat beside her slowly which caused Marietta to wake up with a jolt.

"Hi. Oh, sorry about that." Welch said kindly as she stretched her legs forward while sitting.

"Hey Welch... no it's alright. Being a navigator is just not an easy job." replied Marietta gravely.

Welch nodded as she placed her on the front edge of the steel bench, "Yeah, whatever a navigator is. I used to think my job influenced everyone in the world back at home. Boy, how wrong I was. But I wonder, if there will ever be a famous guild established for the whole universe... now how exciting that would be!"

"Guilds? What type of guilds are you talking about?" Marietta asked with curiousity.

"Oh sorry, nevermind. I was just rambling on again. By the way, what I really wanted to talk about is... just so you know... there really going on between Lieber and me. That was all only part of a joke... He's just fun to tease!" Welch giggled.

Marietta's eyes widened for a second, "So wait, Is that what this is all about?" she said raising an eyebrow. "Y-You're mistaken. Me and Lieber are nothing like you're thinking. Although it is true I had started to develop feelings for him... but it's like I always told myself, you can't keep fighting for a lost cause. I've already gotten used to it and set new goals in my life."

"Wow, Lieber could learn a lesson or two from you. All I ever see him doing is mope around nervously ever since Maria has been with us." said Welch.

"I really hope he gets used to it as well." Marietta replied just as she suddenly remembered something, "Oh! Everyone must be waiting near the transporter room by now. Let's head over before the captain gets mad at us."

Once Cliff, Lieber, Maria, Xeim, Misty, Welch, Steeg, and Marietta had assembled in front of the transporter room of the Diplo, Mirage was ready to announce Quark's intentions.

"Now that everyone's here, let's get to the point. We've received transmissions earlier stating that both General Reed and Commander Paulin are present at the Federation base. So I don't want to see any clumsy acts or misbehavior going on in there." Mirage stated boldly.

"Hey, we're not in pre-school you know..." Lieber exclaimed as he strapped his rifle around his uniform.

Mirage shook her head, "It's hard to tell with you guys, really."

"Well since I won't get a chance to say something like this for a while, allow me to express my admiration for the beautiful women we've got onboard in our crew, it makes for one really hot group wouldn't you say?" Cliff interrupted as he looked towards Mirage, Misty, Welch, and Marietta one by one.

Mirage smiled back at Cliff sincerely in a sedate manner "Well Cliff... I must thank you then for proving my point."