Mistrust & Hidden Truths
Republic Year 2176 (Indoraptor Year 1264), October, Parallel Earth, President Ashford's Office...
"Good morning, Mr. President. We hope you're feeling well today."
The president lifted his face to see two high-ranking officers entering his office, "I am at a loss of thought, Commander Samson, not waiting for a miracle."
"I believe it would be prudent if you show up at the next meeting on Saturday, sir. Everyone in the House of Commons was disappointed with your nonattendance in the previous summit."
"I don't think I can attend the following summit as well. Not if I have nothing useful to present, Commander Ryder."
Damn it, six o'clock in the morning and these two people already used sarcasm to begin their conversation. Clearly, Commanders Julia Samson and Adam Ryder weren't paying attention when the president's secret service members said that he needed plenty of time alone.
"Pardon my language, Mr. President," Julia Samson replied calmly, "but we were eager to have you formally address the situation two days ago. Your absence instead gave us worry."
"Shall we tell Lord Anderson to postpone the Saturday meeting?" Adam Ryder presented his idea.
President Ashford refrained from responding. Standing up from his seat, the gloomy human wandered away from the two commanders who were trading glances at each other. Walking toward a mirror at the very corner of his office, the president stared at his reflection, letting himself lost in his own point of view.
Both Samson and Ryder were unsure at how to gain the general's attention. Not that it mattered, since Ashford intentionally ignored them.
Months have passed since the Republic investigated the true nature of the Indoraptor Union and any related entities. They had a lot of questions to answer, but nobody could find a proper answer for them unless the Republic purposely made contact directly with the Union. Such an option could be dangerous. The Republic's House of Commons, excluding its Chancellor Lord Anderson, demanded more resources diverted to this relentless search for the truth ever since last year. No one, not even the President of the Human Republic, could predict how this affair would progress in due time. Truth be told, all those fears and worry came from prejudice, wasn't it? The Republic's scholars hadn't even determined whether the Indoraptors were friendly or not. There was also zero indication that the Indoraptors were plotting for the death of mankind, so why the desperate need to study them?
A small cough returned the president's mind to earth. Commander Samson had stepped closer to the sullen man.
"If you don't mind, we have compiled all information we've studied so far in here, sir. We can allow you to read them at your leisure while we vacated the room."
Gripped in the woman's hands were printed files and datapads, containing the results of all the summits that the House of Commons had conducted. He doubted if there was anything new in the reports. After minutes of contemplation, the man nodded heavily at Samson's suggestion and permitted them to leave.
"Very well. If anybody asks about my situation, just tell them I'll be ready to talk when the next summit begins."
"As you wish, sir."
The two commanders saluted him before leaving. Returning to his work desk, Ashford checked all of the files for new information, skipping past all that they previously learned until now. It turned out, the scientists had successfully identified two other species which attempted communication with the Union. The former was called Aviren, a race of avians originating from a tropical but volcanic planet. The latter was called Sylvon, hailing from an oceanic planet with below-average temperature. From what the Republic's best minds had calculated, no hostilities were made during both contacts, but they claimed that it'd be a matter of time before all three aliens learned of humanity.
The most concerning problem, President Ashford recognized, circling the fact that the Indoraptors could be predatory in nature. According to the Intel in the datapad, the researchers spent countless days and nights trying to tap into the Union's equivalent of the internet system and dig as much information as they could. What they had in their hands, although the result was disjointed, was frightening; the Indoraptors were artificially designed by those who came before them, deliberately engineered as biological weapons that surpassed their creators. They had sharp teeth and claws, tough black scales as natural armor, a heightened sense of smell and sight, complemented by an ability to learn new knowledge very quickly. Even more, they not only survive but flourished in many extraterrestrial garden worlds as if they were immune to possible alien diseases. Many of the scientists suspected the unknown aliens to be chimeric in some capacity.
And still, there were whispers of these things originating from a 'Parallel Earth'…
Maybe, just maybe, the reasoning behind all this distressed pursuit for facts was mankind's irrational fear of reptiles, due to how irregular and abhorrent reptiles looked in the eyes of mammals.
And then the academics' search for the truth came across the Avirens. Aside from the data declaring that the crimson-feathered birds were scholarly and inquisitive, their fleet size was small, too small to pose a danger to anyone. The investigations mentioned how the Avirens were handy in science, trade, and arts, and could control the flow of money as long as they stood strong in business, but their Polity was perhaps a little too pacifistic to be a credible threat to the Human Republic.
Hah, anybody could rule the world through market domination if they are sufficiently thrifty.
Next came the Sylvons. The patchy data mentioned fairly little of this molluscoid aliens. If the pictures accompanying the files were telling the truth, they looked like humans with tentacles on their heads; a substitute for hair, but the Republic's researchers were certain beyond any doubt that the Sylvons, whatever they were, were actually mollusks with cartilage bones, solid yet flexible at the same time. The data mentioned a so-called 'Council of Elders' lording over the Sylvons' assembly-like administration where slavery, political backstabbing, and authoritarianism were commonplace. A caste-based culture had taken hold on their planet long ago, they said.
This was bad news. The Human Republic of Earth spent so much of its history getting rid of oppressive governments and they couldn't afford to let space dictators prey on humanity. The humans must always refuse to bow to tyrants, no matter who they were.
Was President Ashford a fool for not appearing tough before his folks?
Or was he intelligent enough to remain silent until the time was right?
-x-x-x-x-x-
Indoraptor Year 1265, March, Lemuria, New Danes interstellar port...
Ah, Lemuria. The Union's best colony world and the one which experienced an unprecedented growth rate in only five years. Soaring spires and towers dotted the city where the colony ship once landed, a stark contrast from a disorganized collection makeshift cabins they once. Futuristic offices, colorful shops, tall apartments, burgeoning factories, and many, many other amenities that all could share without segregation could be seen here. Around 113,520 Indoraptors were registered as permanent occupants of the colony, in addition to 36,803 people who were either non-permanent visitors from Earth or aliens with migration permits from the Union, whether Avirens or Sylvons.
The city, New Danes, was as large as London back on Earth, large enough to possibly house over three hundred thousand residents up until three decades later. Any more than that and a new city would have to be constructed to accommodate the influx of newcomers. Thankfully, the surrounding villages were able to lessen the near-constant stream of immigrants.
But today, something bad was happening.
"Diplomat Kieran, we must express our interest at the sight of an egalitarian culture such as yours. We have never seen people working together to create a charming civilization without an all-seeing government lording over its people. Even after ten months of studying your Union's history, we don't think we've seen enough."
"You see, Councilor Ava, we were not always egalitarian like we are now. Centuries ago, the primitive Indoraptor society was centered on clans or tribes, each containing up to six hundred members or so before the rise of democracy and equality. Each tribe was governed by a Clan Chief or something like that. Such a culture lasted for centuries, even after the rise of the printing industry and the creation of an intercultural language."
"Ah, this intercultural language must be your English language, correct?"
"Correct, Councilor Astrax. While we did develop a few traditional languages based on signs and whistles, we realized that we'd soon require a form of speech to help us write and speak properly. Thus, we learned the language of the long-extinct precursors and adopted it as our own."
"And the fact that your civilization was built atop the ruins of those who came before, and hidden archives buried just around the corner of your home planet…"
Raizex Ludvik turned off the news on his smartphone as his transport shuttle landed on the colony's ground port, choosing to witness the glory and beauty of the planet's architectures. Once in a while, he took some precious seconds to re-examine his to-do list; visit New Danes' Historical Museum where old artifacts from ancient ruins were displayed. Coming with him were his teammates, Vion Hyperion, a male sniper from the Grand Fleet's Special Operations Unit, and Lea Vascon, a fellow agent from the Grand Fleet's intelligence agency. Accompanying them was Xivena, an Aviren sent by Lemuria's governing overseer to guide the three operatives across the city.
Sometime before the mission started, Lemuria's Overseer Qorina Arienne broadcasted an urgent report on how electricity in the residential area experienced a sudden power outage. When power was back online, reports began trickling in about the Historical Museum being broken in and many artifacts went missing, likely stolen. Now, it was the Aviren's task to bring the three Indoraptors up to speed; all available Intel indicated that a gang of robbers plotted to sell the relics from New Danes to the black market, but preliminary evidence gathered by the colony's peacekeeping force suggested potential terrorism at work.
The trio's job was simply to document the goings-on at the museum and report back to their respective higher-ups.
"Good, you're all here. Does anybody have a relative or a friend in the city?" Xivena asked in the middle of his briefing.
"No." came Vion's response immediately.
"Me neither," Lea responded soon after.
"I do," replied Raizex, much to his companions' interest. "Her name is Lyra. She's working as the colony's internet specialist, or so I think. She should be available in the city's administration office. But let's talk with the overseer first, see if she knows something that Lyra doesn't."
"In which case, we'll have her stay in the office. The governor could use her expertise to try and collect shreds of evidence while we survey the location," said Xivena earnestly, much to Raizex's relief. "I agree with Ludvik's idea. The peacekeepers should have some data for her and us to work on."
Everyone nodded as the shuttle finally made its landing on the port. Walking toward the shuttle's door as it hissed open, Raizex raised a hand to block the fairly piercing sunlight as he and his comrades stepped out. In Lemuria, daylight lasted longer than on Earth, and if he's correct, then the group must've arrived in the morning.
After minutes of ID confirmation and paper checking by the port's security guards, the trio entered the port's terminal. Many people could be seen filling the seats and the halls of the terminal, probably tourists and immigrant workers waiting for ID clearance to go where they had to go. The Aviren led the trio away from the congregating masses, not batting an eye to anyone unless he really had to talk.
"Raizex!"
"Lyra?!"
The sound of Raizex's girlfriend's shouting stopped the trio and their guide. From the building's exit gate, a female Indoraptor came close to them with eagerness... and panic in her eyes. Giving a brief but tight hug at her boyfriend, Lyra calmed herself by breathing deeply for a few seconds.
"Hey, babe. Glad we meet you here. We heard the colony needs help, so we were deployed to look into the matter."
"I can't talk much right now!" Lyra whispered hurriedly. The Indoraptor operatives traded confused look to each other.
"Why? Is there something wrong, miss?" a curious Vion inquired.
Lyra looked around fearfully and said, "Shh, don't talk, not while others could be listening. Please discuss this in my office, shall we?" And with her hand gesture, she ushered the three agents and their guide away from the crowd of people around the spaceport. In their haste, Raizex caught vague glimpses of shady-looking Sylvons, glancing at them from the distance, talking in hushed tones while pointing at the trio of Indoraptors clad in service armors.
Lyra didn't talk as they boarded a train leading to their destination, nor did she instigate any exchange during the twenty-minute ride to the planet's government office. By the time they debarked from the train, the female gave only another hand gesture to enter the building and into her workroom straightaway, much to Raizex's dismay, but he refrained from saying anything.
As soon as Lyra closed the door to her office room, Raizex asked in frustration, "Alright Lyra, what's happening?! Why all the panic and..."
"I can't say anything that might compromise our safety. We're being watched," Lyra cut him short. "Long story short, multiple murders took place in the broken-in museum, some are janitors employed there whereas others are nothing more than pedestrians. Most of the peacekeepers overruled the deaths as workplace accidents, but the more I think about it, the more things don't make sense."
Raizex shook his head trying to understand what they've gotten into. Just hours ago, they were expecting a possible robbery act by gangsters, and now all of a sudden they have a murder case on their hands.
"I'm not the only one thinking that this is all bogus, trust me!" Lyra continued as if reading the young agent's mind, "The locals are getting more and more apprehensive whenever somebody starts talking about old ruins, excavation projects, and so on. Conspiracy theories came online weeks ago, mentioning the likelihood of governments knowing more than they told to the public and the possibility of long-lost precursor races setting us up to make first-contacts so swiftly despite being separated dozens of light-years away. And for those with the means to do it, they'd steal whatever artifacts our respective governments have on display."
"What do you have to support it?" Turning on her computer, Lyra decided to respond to her friend's question by having them watch a specific interview between a councilor from the Sylvon's Assembly with an emissary from the Union, aired a year ago when the Sylvon diplomats officially greeted the Union on Terra Prima. The interviewer in the show was the same diplomat who greeted the ambassador from the Polity of Laritem. The agents and Xivena found the interview a bit boring and typical of ambassadors… until the Sylvons began asking about the Indoraptors' extensive archaeological ventures on barren celestial bodies.
As they watched further, it became clear that the diplomat's attempts to steer the conversation with talks on cultural heritage and policy-making did little to satisfy the councilor's interest in the Union's unusual activities. The mollusk's face exhibited an expression of intense focus, masking his condescension, as he tried to gently pry more information from the diplomat with what appeared to be a venomous smile.
Eventually, the recording ended and Lyra turned the computer off.
"What are your fears, miss?" Lea inquired after the interview's recording was done. "The councilor's just interested in our infrastructure growth, am I right? He just happens to be... not interested in what we have found..." Lyra shook her head in disbelief.
"Exactly my point! All those inquisitiveness he expressed were veiled intimidations; either we tell him what we really are doing, no stone left unturned, or he'll find the secrets himself by any means necessary!"
"What were they plotting?"
"No idea," the hiss left Lyra's mouth. "Unless we go to the museum and examine the crime scene as thoroughly as possible, we may not know their intentions for sure," the female Indoraptor sniffed in disgust. "Are you absolutely sure, babe?" Raizex asked cautiously.
"There's no other option," said the female Indoraptor.
Vion stalked around in confusion, "Now we have a possible conspiracy plot to deal with, in addition to a possible sabotage and the murders in the museum. Could they all be related?" he asked to no one.
"You know how much secrets the Union is currently hiding from the common populace, and all those talks about politics are nothing but a smokescreen," Lyra responded, "Remember how the alien councilor reacted to the diplomat's explanation about our empire? He has judged us as a detriment. And remember how the councilor reacted when he knew we are having projects scattered across our territory. He wanted to know more."
"He threatened to invade us if we don't tell him everything?" Lea wondered, as did Xivena.
"More likely he's planning to hack our internet serves while using acts of piracy or terrorism to throw us off. Extending his Council's clout by putting his right-hand servants on our planets will likely provide his Council of Elders more eyes and ears everywhere."
Well, Goddammit.
