Chapter 24
Dividing Universes
Federation Station #16 was one of the few space stations in possession of the Pangalactic Federation that survived the disaster caused by the Executioners. General Reed was the commander of this famous Federation base which acted as one of its primary bases. He was often compared to the likes of Commodore Wittcomb for his popularity and devotion to the military but Wittcomb's sacrifice was the one event which will be remembered for all of the Pangalactic Federation's lifespan.
"Well, it seems like you all have had quite a trip... it's been a long time since i've heard from Quark." Paulin exclaimed as he looked at every one of them happily since they were safe and sound.
The station's conference room was significantly larger than the one Mirage had seen earlier in the remote station and as well as the one in the Diplo. The facilities within the station were also much more elegant. The base, in general, seemed to be much more lively and busy than the others she had visited.
"And I see both Cliff Fittir and Maria Traydor are here as well." Reed responded while keeping a suspicious eye on Cliff. "Although I had heard you were involved with matters on behalf of the Alliance. What happened there?"
Cliff and the rest of the Quark crew did their best to explain on behalf of Cliff and what his intentions were during the confrontation with the Outer Alliance on Elicoor and Vanguard.
"I see... in any case, whatever happened has happened." Reed spoke in a firm manner. "Cliff... what were you able to find out about the Alliance? We need to know everything we can about them."
Cliff shrugged slightly, "Can't say if I was able to find out everything I could about them since I could only get as far as the boundaries of the Outer Alliance team, but all of these events seem to have relevance with 4D..."
Everyone looked at him in utter shock after hearing the word '4D'. The Fourth Dimensional space otherwise known as 4D, was a universe for 4D beings who were the ones who originally created the universe Mirage and co. live in which is known as the Eternal Sphere. Due to a major conflict four years ago, a war resulted in the 4D universe losing any connection they had with the Eternal Sphere.
"4D!" Paulin gave Cliff a look as if to make sure he wasn't joking. "Weren't the 4D beings taken care of four years ago? How could they have come back here into our universe?"
Cliff shook his head calmly, "No, that's not what I meant. After the downfall of Luther, the Creator, people within our universe were able to live their lives peacefully again."
"Everyone started their lives all over again and made their own choices by themselves, and soon it came to be known as the new era." Mirage added.
"Yeah, I can still recall the events exactly how they turned out to be. Ever since, the 4D beings were never seen again or heard of. Supposedly, whatever connection this universe had with the 4D universe had vanished ever since." said Maria with a serious expression.
"True. But there were others who weren't so happy with the events. The Vendeeni, who feared the 4D beings, did not feel that their existence was justified without being under supervision of the 4D universe. They could not go on to believe that the Eternal Sphere could still actually exist after what had been done." Cliff went on, "And that's why the Alliance was formed. They are looking for a way to absolve themselves and repent for the sins they allowed to happen four years back."
"So what is going against the Pangalactic Federation going to do for them?" General Reed asked angrily. The more he heard about the Alliance, the more he grew to despise them.
"That I don't know... but they act like some kind of cosmopolitan organisms." Cliff said as he hung his head slowly.
"Cliff, do you atleast know what the Outer Alliance team planned to do with the Sacred Orb and the spirit stones?" asked Mirage as each word of Cliff started to make more and more sense to her.
"Oh, right. That brings me to the other point. Most of these rare materials were so scarce that originally there were only one of its kind. That's why we were forced to interfere with the underdeveloped planets since they didn't exist in any other areas outside the particular planet."
"And what could they possibly use them for?" asked Xeim.
"Not much I can tell you on that, but the Outer Alliance bases were mainly located on Vanguard to extract ingredients which the Vanguardians call 'Fenrir Crystals'. Fragments of these substances were used in Vendeen to generate a much more powerful art known as synchronology." Cliff replied in a confident style.
"Synchronology? Is that what's behind the black art...? The Alliance were known for their powerful technological capabilities... which even surpassed the Vendeeni's." said Steeg in an intricate manner.
"Basically, synchronology is the science that deals with arts that involve many other arts combined together including symbology and alchemy that occur all at once. Thus, all these arts are synchronized at once. The synchronizing effect is the result of the methods, calculations, and equations developed by the Alliance team which we refer to as the 'Black Art'. The fenrir crystals are what supposedly cause the synchronizing effect, meaning... it's what causes everything to occur all at once." Cliff indulged everyone in the group.
"Alchemy? No wonder what I saw in Kaddan looked familiar." Misty replied as she placed a finger on her lip.
"And that isn't all..." Cliff went on as everyone looked at him curiously. "The Alliance's main purpose of using synchronology is not to boast its power or terrorize the Federation and other planets, but they are attempting to forge this art with living beings to fulfill their goal."
General Reed replied immediately, "I wonder how they plan on doing that..."
"The physical form of this powerful art are known as synchronic cells, which are used mainly to enhance any Alliance technology. These cells have been experimented with human bodies but there's been no result as of yet. But these guys keep trying to seek for methods to find the relation between the basic components of the human body and the synchronic cells."
"Seems like you managed to find out a lot about these people..." Lieber said while proudly looking at Cliff.
"Did they do anything to you as well, Cliff?" asked Mirage to which Cliff nodded.
"Yup, I suppose it was that which made them think I was under their control. My body wasn't able to use the power of synchronology by itself, it was the specific belt strapped around me that I was given to by Shin. Of course, it's all busted up and useless now." Cliff stood up and took of his vest before rolling up his white shirt revealing scars on his body.
Mirage was able to recognize these scars. They ran down both sides of his rib cage and another scar ran across his abdomen as if to connect the other two scars. They were created when Mirage busted the belt's mechanism during their fight at the Outer Alliance base on Vanguard.
"Looks painful!" Steeg exclaimed.
Cliff put his vest back on before sitting down in his seat, "Anyway, the other synchronic experiments were still failures, i'm not really sure how keen they are on their chances of success, but they seem to be pretty devotional. I remember during the time I was taken to Vendeen that they were constantly trying to specify the correct DNA structures which the synchronic cells would recognize. Most of the trials that resulted in failure were able to forge themselves with these types of cells but they usually ended up dying immediately from a loss of blood."
"Using lives to create some kind of a biological weapon? That's absurd!" Commander Paulin blurted out, "We need to stop them at once!" he demanded. Everyone could see a nerve bulge out on his neck as he spoke furiously.
"I'm not sure if I was able to absorb all of that at once, but thanks for the enlightenment Cliff." said General Reed.
"Not a problem..." Cliff nodded.
"What we need to do right now is to stop the Inner Alliance on Vendeen before they take any further drastic steps." General Reed suggested as he stood up from his seat. "I think we've previously informed you about our battleships which are in the process of infiltrating the Vendeen system."
Marietta nodded to his words, "Yes... Commander Paulin informed us of this plan previously. But how do you plan on breaking through Vendeen's barrier?"
"My concerns aren't any different," Maria added bluntly. "With all due respect, even if every Federation base were to launch their flagship, they just wouldn't be any match when dealing with powerhouses like the Vendeeni and the Alliance."
"I understand. But we've noticed the lack of security in the rear section of their barriers and I assure you our plan isn't something they can just cough at. Even if our battleships do suffer a loss, they won't go down so easily without being able to create a large distraction for our other battleships to join in." General Reed informed optimistically.
"What do you plan on doing after that?" a curious Xeim questioned.
"We'll launch an attack on Vendeen. Although i'm not really sure if we'll be able to succeed in our attack or not, it's our best chance on ambushing them." Reed answered.
Commander Paulin added, "Speaking of ambushes... General Vaughn was unable to succeed in his ambush against the Alliance squad that had overthrown Moonbase."
"Well I wasn't really expecting much from Vaughn's plans anyway," Reed replied sedately showing his bitterness once again towards General Vaughn.
"Still, with Fayt Leingod commanding Vaughn's team, one would have thought our victory would have been achieved easily." Paulin sighed.
"What! So Fayt's involved in this as well..." Cliff stated surprisingly. "Didn't think he would stick his nose in these matters as well."
"Clair Lasbard had informed me earlier about Fayt's involvement with the Federation and the Alliance." Mirage informed Cliff.
"According to the information General Vaughn provided us, Fayt is currently in search of Sophia Esteed. Apparently she was taken in by one of the Inner Alliance Specialists during her flight on a tourist transport ship that was launched from Earth a few months ago." said Paulin.
Cliff nodded as if he understood what that meant, "That explains it. Fayt will take any measures to protect those who are close to him, and Sophia is as close to him as she can get... I don't mean literally of course."
"Fayt..." Maria pondered for a while as she turned towards Reed. "Yeah, I heard about him from you earlier that he was on the lookout for Sophia, I just pray that both of them are safe. They're one of the few people i've managed to relate to... maybe it's because of my..." she shook her head before completing the sentence as if to drop the subject.
"Cliff? Commander Paulin? Who are these Inner Alliance Specialists you mentioned about?" asked Steeg.
"The Inner Alliance Specialists are sometimes known as the Specialists for short. They have been spotted on many occassions and so far it seems like they are a group of dangerous assassins from the Inner Alliance team. That's all we've known about them." Paulin mentioned as he looked towards Cliff to bring more light into his description.
"From what i've heard, there are five Specialists of the Alliance who not only supervise the work of the Outer Alliance, but I suspect they are what control everything that goes on within the organization. They won't hesitate to involve themselves with the dirty work of murdering either. One of them is known as Wakou, who is the leader of the Specialists." Cliff added.
"So if Wakou is the leader of this group which has full authority over the Alliance... that makes him the cause of everything behind the Alliance, doesn't it?" Maria spoke as she sat cross-legged.
Cliff nodded boldly, "Yeah, the head honcho. That's what I suspect as well. Shin once mentioned Wakou's very taciturn when it comes to dealing with matters outside of the Alliance, so he's really never been seen publically ever since the Alliance was formed. He travels in the most elegant battleships so we have no chance of getting to him that way either. Apparently, it seemed like Shin wasn't really too fond of Wakou."
"Wakou..." Misty thought she had heard the name before, but nothing came to mind.
"General Reed..." Cliff cleared his throat as he began to speak further. "I hope you won't mind, but I propose a slightly different strategy of ambushing the Inner Alliance."
"What do you suggest then?" asked General Reed.
"Well, for one I know the place quite well. Heh, the location of all the main labs are like reading alphabets to me. Not only that, but I don't think the Alliance have raised any suspicions on me yet... so I can still get in there without being attacked. I'm sure i'll have a better chance of getting in there than any of your units." Cliff said cunningly as he smacked both his fists together.
"He does have a point, General." Commander Paulin consented with Cliff's suggestion.
"Right. So just leave it to me. We still have stuff to learn about these guys. So i'll try to get everything I can about what they're trying to do with their synchronological experiments and how they are connected with the 4D universe. Make sure ya don't have any units launch an attack in that time, or else it'll just cause an unnecessary ruckus." Cliff advised.
"Very well then," General Reed nodded gladly. "Once we've successfully breeched through the Vendeen System's barrier, the rest of our hopes will rely on you Cliff. Our relationships hasn't been the best one in the past, but we're going to work together this time!"
"Yeah, it's like an Alliance of our own!" Lieber replied amusingly.
Before the ongoing conversation could go any further, an officer dressed in a Federation uniform barged into the conference room looking like he had some very urgent news for the group.
"General Reed! We've just received news from General Reginald that the Outer Alliance team has moved towards the Klausian system and are currently on their way towards Klaus IV!" the officer yelled a little rudely.
"What! Klaus! As much as I hate to say it, if it's from Reginald then it must be serious." Paulin looked at him in disbelief.
"Wha...!" Welch suddenly raised her head which was lowered during the whole conference meeting as if she was half-asleep. Knowing her, she was probably asleep throughout the whole meeting... or else she wouldn't have normally been so quiet the whole time.
"Damn! It must be Shin!" Cliff smacked his fist on the large table ahead of where he was seated. "What the hell is he up to now?"
"Settle down, these matters will be taken care of by our units. Let's concentrate on Vendeen for now." General Reed replied calmly.
"Easy for you to say!" Lieber replied looking just as shocked as the others. "Our families are there... we're going to have to go there right now and stop them as soon as possible!"
Mirage stood up slowly before speaking to Reed politely, "I'm sorry, General but I have to agree. For us, this takes priority over all the other tasks. And we will be taking care of this ourselves, this matter concerns us most."
"Don't worry," Reed replied. "Fine then, we'll take care of things on Vendeen for now. Our battleships are still in the midst of fulfilling their respective tasks. Meanwhile, you all should go and take care of the Alliance filth. I pray for your victory!"
"Thank you, general." everyone chimed in to show their gratitude towards the famous General Reed.
There wasn't a single moment to waste. Mirage stepped into the transporter of the space station while thinking to herself, 'What is the Alliance planning to do with Klaus now?' Her eyes suddenly flashed as she started reminiscing the time when she was a student back at the dojo and her mentor, Dan Koas. This time Shin will have to be stopped. She knew it was a mistake for them to let him escape on Vanguard, but her thoughts were constantly on the same words that kept ringing in her head... 'Father... please be safe.'