The Plot Thickens

LEMURIA'S PUBLIC MUSEUM BEAR WITNESS TO ROBBERY AND SLAUGHTER

March 16th, Year 1265, by Anista Sherman

This late afternoon at about 3:25 P.M., residents in the Civilian District of New Danes, Lemuria's capital city, were traumatized by an armed robbery at the New Danes Historical Museum. Approximately one hour before reports of the robbery were broadcasted, the district suffered an unfortunate power outage, allegedly done by the culprits.

By the time power was restored throughout the district, the museum had been broken in by unknown parties. A dozen, if not more, artifacts unearthed from excavation projects across the Union space were taken by the robbers. Between five to seven people within or adjacent to the crime scene lost their lives in the incident, likely assassinated by the perpetrators.

Lemuria's peacekeeping force later announced that people suspected to be the actual culprits were brought in for questioning. There were three identified suspects as of this article's publication; two of which are recognized as Sylvon visitors and the last one, currently deceased, is a Union citizen. Only a handful of the stolen museum exhibits were found and confiscated by the authorities; the rest remains unaccounted.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Indoraptor Year 1265, March, Adar Flam spaceport, Admiral Ender's office...

"Admiral Ender, sir."

"At ease, Ludvik. Have a seat."

Being back at the spaceport orbiting Earth was quite a breeze for Raizex. After weeks of hard work, hitting proverbial dead ends along the way, it was nice to just settle down and try to clear his mind, but no, Admiral Ender just had to call him in for a briefing. While Vion already filed an official mission report that he duplicated for Xivena to bring back to his government, Admiral Ender insisted that Raizex came by to give him an 'abridged' version of the report.

"Is there anything I can do for you, sir?" Raizex queried.

"I wish to hear the full story of your little groundside adventure, young agent," the admiral declared calmly. Seated in front of the old Indoraptor, Raizex did his best to remain impassive even though he desired to abandon the office.

"What do you wish to know, sir?"

"Everything."

Raizex thought the admiral was in it only for the decorum, but Ender's gaze said otherwise; he wanted to know if anything from the mission back on New Danes was out of ordinary. Much to his own surprise, or the lack thereof, Raizex could imagine himself back in the city…

He was there, in front of the Historical Museum, where police lines and peacekeepers stationed here and there prevented passersby from getting any closer. Journalists and photographers surrounded the crime scene, chatting amongst one another and doing their best to pry out information from the stoic peacekeepers. As a representative with special clearance, Xivena managed to gain a permit for himself and the three Indoraptors by showing his badge and warrant to the guards.

"Firstly, you guys should allow Xivena to deal with the guards," Lyra warned them via Raizex's radio.

The next thing Raizex told the admiral was the situation inside the museum. Security guards were leaving white outlines marking the location where the victims of the robbery died. Detectives and coroners chatting in corners away from people. Since the building's security cameras went out during the power outage, the Aviren guide had to ask a detective to share what they identified from the place.

"Pay attention to what the man shows you," Lyra added as Raizex trailed behind, taking notes of the chaotic mess.

One, only the windows at the left and right sides of the building were smashed, suggesting multiple culprits invaded the museum together. The back door was unlocked, strangely, as if the lock was deliberately picked.

Two, the museum was empty of visitors, yet the outside area was full of people and tourists, except they flocked away from the crime scene. Only one or two Sylvons or Avirens were seen near the museum.

Three, some passersby who went out when the power outage hit claimed to hear noises comparable to glass breaking coming from the building. Those who dared to go in to check were found dead alongside the museum's janitors.

Four, whoever the robbers were, they went right after the ancient alien relics displayed in the museum's second-floor exhibits and left other artifacts completely untouched.

Five, as the coroners agreed on, the victims all shared one correspondence; they were murdered with a dagger or knife.

"Why? Why did they stole the ancient alien relics but not the others? What value does the relics have for them?"

Instead of leaving the group hanging from the lack of proper explanation, the detective took them outside the building to see eight people currently being interrogated by the guards. There were three Sylvons, two Avirens, and three Indoraptors said to be found hanging around the location during the robbery. They all spoke in a hushed tone until the group arrived in front of them. So began a series of questions where the group inquired about their names, occupation, and reasons to be on Lemuria. All of them claimed to be tourists coming to Lemuria to experience its beautiful capital city. Then Xivena began asking whether they knew about the murders in the museum.

All of them repeated the same answer they gave to their earlier interrogators; that they were there by chance, not by choice, that they heard a commotion happening in there and decided to look closer.

All of them admitted to being afraid of entering the building… except for one Sylvon who mistakenly said that he looked through the broken windows on the front and that he said the back door was wide open.

No front windows were broken, remember?

And how did he know of the back door's position while the others didn't know of it?

Raizex, of course, caught on this oddity and began probing further. The young agent began asking about windows and back doors that the particular Sylvon knew of, occasionally cross-referencing his answers with what the peacekeepers gained from him. Once or twice, whenever Raizex let slip words such as 'knife', 'lock-picking', and even 'ancient aliens', the inquired mollusk shifted from nonchalant to edgy to stammering. It was when the second Sylvon began babbling excitedly on the ancient relics topic that the young agent's companions started to feel wary toward them both.

These two knew more than they let on.

"Listen, both of you; if I were a criminal who's so close to being caught, what will I do to escape attention?" Raizex remembered himself asking Vion and Lea.

"Feign innocence?"

"Or throw the blame away to someone else?"

Both could be true. When Raizex said the words knife and lock-picking in front of the suspects, everyone was confused at the insinuation. The two Sylvons, meanwhile, showed edginess masked behind politeness. When the young agent talked about ancient aliens, they were stuttering. The second guy was, in his opinion, a little too willing to swing the topic, speaking a bit too much. It does sound like feigning innocence and letting others take the blame, as Raizex said.

Vion finally caught on the ruse. Lea, however, remained uncertain.

The group didn't have a chance to discuss when one of the Sylvons dropped a small round item.

It was a smoke bomb! Thick grey cloud covered the scenery as the thing went off, startling the innocent suspects, the group, and peacekeepers alike. In the ensuing commotion, Raizex felt himself being dragged out of the cloud of smoke by his sniper friend, who alerted him that two Sylvons and one skinny Indoraptor ran away from the crime scene. He then shouted into his radio, hoping Lyra to be able to track them down via security cameras along the roadsides.

"They're heading towards the Crystal Claw Pavilion!"

"Got it!"

The Crystal Claw Pavilion? That's the largest open area in the city, the closest public spot to the Civilian District, and one of the busiest places too. He didn't have time to ponder as Vion tapped his shoulder so they could go and hunt down the three culprits. The two of them, as Lea and Xivena stayed behind to organize the security forces, dashed on all fours to the pavilion as two more blasts coming from that place, followed by grey smoke. The Sylvons were getting away fast, but the lone Indoraptor got left behind. Raizex quickly pulled his handgun from its holster and fired twice. One bullet pierced the skinny one's upper arm, and then the second bullet struck him in the thigh, incapacitating the suspect.

Before he could say anything to Vion, his radio buzzed. The young agent recalled his conversation with his girlfriend on the radio. "Raizex, are you there?!"

"I'm here, Lyra. What is it?"

"I'm tapping into the district's security cameras right now. I think I can see where the culprits are going!"

"Okay, where are they?"

"They are heading back to the port. It looks like they've got a ship ready to take them off!"

"Alright, keep us posted, Raizex out!" Raizex excused himself from the call to inform his comrades. The city's authority was then alerted to put the groundside port into lockdown, giving Lea and Xivena a chance to get the peacekeepers there. By using his sniper rifle, Vion was able to track down the remaining two culprits, fleeing the crowded streets by using back alleys between buildings.

"Double time, buddy! We can't let them get away!" Raizex roared as he and Vion broke into a sprint.

The alien burglars ran faster, doing their best to evade obstacles as the pursuing Indoraptors started to gain more ground. The chase took them in and out of alleyways and main streets. People left and right hurriedly jumped out of the way at the sight of the fleeing suspects barging through the place and the chasing Indoraptors hot on their heels.

Before long, the Sylvons ran out of smoke bombs to throw. Raizex, fortunately, saw the alien losing his speed, "Vion, tackle him!"

His friend didn't need to be told twice, "I'm on it." And with a bang from his sniper rifle, the Sylvon fell, alive but incapacitated. Now, only one more left. Right after they made a sharp turn into a fenced alleyway, passing the downed Sylvon, they saw the last robber climbing the fence in the alleyway. Without hesitation, Raizex raised his handgun and fired once…

"Good work on that. What did you gain from the downed robbers?" Ender asked when the young agent stopped to catch his breath.

"Insults and threats, mostly. But he did say something about having a client who paid him money," Raizex answered. The admiral motioned for him to continue talking.

And so the story unfolded again…

"End of the line, pal," Raizex sneered. Before him, the wounded Sylvon lay exhausted on the ground, but still defiant. The sniper Vion stood on his left, having finished radioing Xivena to bring the culprits into custody. With the downed criminal under his mercy, Raizex decided to question the alien. He got to know the robber's goals and affiliation.

"Who do you work for, burglar?" Raizex coldly asked the alien.

"Das vmoibi'in cmeyziw 'ubretz! I will not tell anything! I will not tell anything!" The alien yelled as he tried to spit at his captors in vain, only to get kicked in response.

"Who ordered you to steal our museum exhibits? What is your goal?" Raizex tried again, louder. The alien shook his head, unwilling to speak.

"What do we do now?" Vion asked with a sigh. Faintly, they could distinguish the sound of marching feet; the security forces would be there soon.

"Let's bring him in. We'll need him alive for the peacekeepers to interrogate," Raizex decided. As they stepped closer to the downed Sylvon, the alien unexpectedly unsheathed a gun from his shirt. On impulse, Raizex lifted his gun and shot the burglar's weapon away. "I surrender, I surrender!" The Sylvon gasped in shock and lifted his hands in defeat, "My client likes exotic artifacts and stuff, but they forbid me from ratting them out! Please don't shoot!"

"I promise, little guy, if you try anything funny next time, the second bullet won't miss."

With a nod of approval, Raizex rejoined with Lea and Xivena, and gestured his associates to move aside as the peacekeepers arrived on the scene, "Alright gentlemen, tow him in. Restrain the alien and his friends so they can't run away," Despite tiredness washing over them, the team agreed to accompany the security personnel as they towed the struggling suspects back to the city…

"That is all I can share, sir."

"Very well. I assume you're very hungry and exhausted. Go get something to eat before you sleep."

As Raizex thanked him and stood up to leave, Admiral Ender offered one advice to the young agent, "Be very careful when you travel from now on, kid. The Sylvon Assembly might have marked you as a potential threat to their interests."

After the young Indoraptor exited the room, Admiral Ender turned on his computer, wanting to investigate the files Raizex privately sent him. Supposedly the files were e-mailed by Overseer Arienne's assistant. Allegedly, it was a confidential Intel regarding the Sylvon Assembly's Council of Elders, as well as possible acts of hostility in the future. If the files were not lying, the Assembly preferred to do proxy wars against the Union, possibly to avoid losing money from open warfare.

He'd need to share the warning to his government, then.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Sylvon Year 2193 (Indoraptor Year 1265), April, Planet Yunduk (Sylvon Space), classified location...

"This is… extraordinary. I must understand how the Union managed to keep this information under wraps."

"Well, good morning to you, too, lady. Your formal dress looks very lively today," Councilor Astrax replied sarcastically as the spy mistress ignored his entry.

The female Sylvon calmly brushed him aside, her cranial tentacles curled tightly near her cheeks as she examined the extra data sent by the councilor's henchmen. "What do you have to share so far? Remember, the Council needs solid Intel on the Indoraptors' enigmas, not shifty data like last time!" The councilor hissed.

"Relax, today we finally have real information."

The bright sunny weather and the woman's positive attitude did nothing to lift Astrax's mood, what with his inability to rest while waiting for the councilor's devious partner to collect information related to their alien rivals. Nevertheless, he refrained from making any unnecessary comments and concentrated his attention on the Intel displayed on the spy mistress' holographic computer screen.

"First, let's begin with the border systems our agents tried to infiltrate," said the spy mistress, highlighting three dots on her screen, representing star systems located at the border between the Indoraptors' territory and the Avirens' territory. According to what the spies managed to discover, those systems were where the Union's top scientists carried out their research on ancient ruins. Further down the screen was a list of planets believed to contain holdouts of a long-extinct civilization; two of which were positively confirmed. The spy mistress' agents were unable to enter them without permission, but they did obtain confidential data on what was unearthed from the ruins. "Of course, said data caches spoke only of ruined palaces and preserved cadavers," the woman explained.

"I assume this is all you got to share?"

"No, councilor. My agents delivered more than just data. Now pay attention."

Interested at what she wanted to show, the councilor examined the next images on the screen. Pictures and diagrams describing artifacts of many sizes and shapes were shown; ah, so these were the relics her spies delivered to the homeworld, Councilor Astrax thought. Supposedly, the stolen objects taken from the Union's colony of Lemuria bore striking similitudes to holy relics depicted in sacred scriptures of marginalized religious groups. One of which was a holographic device that could open up like the mythical Purple Lotus of Wisdom and Truth. The Assembly members were aware of this fact and commissioned their best academics to determine the true nature of that relic.

Footnotes left by the spy mistress indicated her being obsessed with the lotus-like relic, keeping a close tab on the academics' progress.

"What happened to your agents? Have they returned?" the man queried, caressing his head tentacles.

"The Union's security forces captured two of them before throwing them into an undisclosed jail. An Indoraptor we paid to be our groundside snitch died of blood loss after the skirmish," the spy mistress added with a deep frown.

The sky was getting darker. Moving closer to the room's windows, Astrax reflected on the recent news the Council received some 24 hours ago.

Upon the revelation that Sylvon 'burglars' were disrespecting the Union's cordiality, petitions were shared on the Union's internet forums, demanding the Sylvon Assembly to issue an official apology to the victims of the incident on Lemuria, or there might be retribution to pay. So far, the puppet councilors hadn't issued an apology yet, all the while time was running out.

"Let us return to our discussion, shall we, councilor?"

"Go right ahead, lady."

Redirecting his focus on the computer screen, Councilor Astrax was presented with a list of warship designs belonging to the Union, accompanying them were comparisons against the Assembly's warships. The smallest ship was titled Raptor-Class, agile and equipped by deflector shields, capable of rapidly damaging enemy ships with their laser-based weaponry at the cost of forsaking tough armor. The medium-sized ships were split into two classes, the Stygi-Class and the Stego-Class, both had decent armor and shielding with small but rapid-firing auto-cannons and mass driver cannons. The third design was also divided into two, the Rex-Class and the Giga-Class, the former held a more aggressive role in combat, supporting a vast array of kinetic and projectile arsenal, while the latter played the defensive role, holding energy weapons and more shielding. All of them, the spy mistress explained, were being upgraded with better thrusters for a more efficient interstellar travel. As the spy mistress noted in her occasional commentary, there was a big discrepancy between what the Sylvons thought the Indoraptors were capable of and what the Indoraptors were genuinely capable of.

"I must say, I am both impressed and frightened at your latest data..."

"Are you?" The spy mistress flared her tentacles, "I am more concerned about the fact that the relics they've exhumed are so visually alike to the images in our people's religious scriptures. This presented a likelihood that the old gods that spiritualist citizens among us worshipped were instead a precursor species seeding the galaxy with entities bearing their likeness."

"And this precursor species could have abandoned our ancestors to seek other races with greater potential," Councilor Astrax commented dismissively. He turned to face the spy mistress with a grim expression, "Say what you will about old relics and ancient godly beings, but for me, the Indoraptors are more dangerous to us in terms of naval strength and scientific progress. I'd rather be doing something to curb their empire growth rather than dabbling in superstitions."

"Don't drag me into this, Astrax," The spymistress darkly smiled and held out her hands, "If you desire an open conflict with these lizards, then perhaps you should talk with mercenary groups affiliated with our Assembly. I'll bet you anything, they too are interested in claiming the Indoraptors' secrets by force. I work best in spying businesses, my friend, not in open warfare." With a cold grin, the female Sylvon twirled her tentacles, eager to get back to work.

The councilor sighed loudly as he nodded in approval.

"Bah, fine. However, next time we better do this job right!"

Councilor Astrax stomped his way out of the office, planning to book meetings with his other advisors. In his mind, he desired a better way to poke the Indoraptors to make them spill out their secrets, all the while trying to avoid being caught in open conflict. What he did not realize, however, was that the spy mistress wasn't merely doing her assigned task; she was contacting her spies in private to confer the best way to remove Astrax from power.

-x-x-x-x-x-

EXTRACTING CODEX...

THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS

The Council of Elders is the actual administrative body of the Sylvon Assembly of Akantorin, comprised of the most powerful political families among the species; so influential they can push for agendas that the 'officially elected' councilors are not brave enough to carry out.

The Council of Elders formerly began as a small group of corporate businessmen with strong political clout during the dawn of the Sylvon's Renaissance era, where civil rights reared its head for the first time. The organization, founded of no more than three mercantile families at the time, subtly manipulated the governments of fragmented nations to restrict civil rights growth, all the while founding the Silver Blade league to infiltrate civil rights advocates to guide them to the path of ruin. Not long after, the pro-caste and slavery groups emerged victoriously. Ever since then, the league's power grew steadily as more and more dictators joined the Council, even if their intentions served no one but their own.

From the Industrial age up until the Space Age, the Council of Elders is considered to be the true rulers of the molluscoid species, although their members seldom appear in the public. The Council preferred using officially-selected councilors to serve as their pawns, dealing with day-to-day Assembly matters while the real members plotted every move behind the scenes. Granted, there is also a big chance of one Council member plotting the deaths of his fellow members just to gain more influence. The majority of the Sylvon citizens remained unaware of the truth behind their administrative system, but the most chilling fact is that most of them has stopped caring at all.

Below is a list of the Council of Elders' current members:

Member 1: Qyn'Lostur (age 80), specializes in citizen surveillance.

Member 2: Bin'Dolzul (age 73), specializes in interstellar expansion projects.

Member 3: Irs'Werdan (age 70), specializes in economic monopoly.

Member 4: Luz'Daspan (age 81), specializes in regulating information flow.

Member 5: Ava'Glea (age 77), specializes in scientific research and development.

Member 6: Eyr'Aliveg (age 84), specializes in public propagandas.

Member 7: Ars'Astrax (age 90), specializes in intelligence gathering (also serving as an 'official' councilor for the Assembly).