Chapter 30

The Beacon

Earth 63, 2049, 12:05 PM

Charlie's POV

We arrived in the airships hanger to find Castle waiting for us. He gave a small smile that I could tell was forced.

"Your Connor's strike team?" He asked, somewhat suprised.

"Yes, Kelly, Layla, Nixillum, Alveri and I are former MRPA agents" I responded respectfully.

"Very well, follow me to the bridge," he said as he motioned for us to follow.

The team and I entered the elevator and arrived on the bridge, it was buzzing with radar technicians and navigation officers, however in the center of the bridge stood someone who'd I never expected to see here.

"Hello everyone, welcome to the Crucible" my father said. He was wearing a tactical vest and black pants, a far cry from his usual suit and tie

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Kelly asked.

"I'm overseeing your team on this operation" He responded enthusiastically.

"And our operation is?" Layla asked, clearly wanting the briefing now.

"Castle will walk you through the mission" Alex said as Castle pressed a button on the table in the center of the bridge creating a hologram, it showed the Crucible and a dot on a map of the ocean.

"That dot is the enemy vessel, we're tailing it at a safe distance, they'll lead us right to their destination" Castle said smugly.

Nixillium shook his head and said "why not just launch a missile strike and end this now?"

"We won't know anything if we do that, we need to get an idea of what their planning. Blowing it up gains us nothing, any high ranking officers can just escape" Castle explained, clearly irritated.

"We'll be waiting for Castle's go, then we'll stop them as a team, that includes me," My dad said confidently.

"Sure you can keep up Mr. Mason?" Layla asked.

"Oh trust me, I wouldn't be here if I couldn't" He assured us before pulling down his sleeve and showing off a blue gauntlet with a communicator, touch screen and orange stone with a blue and red teardrop symbol embedded right where the gauntlet met his wrist.

"I'll show you all to your quarters" said a woman in a white uniform with glasses and blond hair.

"Very good Laswell, I'll be in my office, I need to check on my family" Castle said before leaving the bridge.

As I began to follow the team out I felt my dad grab my shoulder and say "Kelly, Charlie could I have a minute"

I turned to face him, the look in his eyes was one of concern, he ushered us down the hall to his room, after closing the door, he gave a sigh.

"I know you don't like being around me" he admitted.

"I wouldn't know, your never around enough for me to have an opinion about you" Kelly scoffed.

"Kelly!" I scolded.

"No, Charlie, I'll handle this" he said before turning to Kelly and lifting her chin with his hand. She was gazing at the floor and avoiding eye contact.

"I love you, you know that right?" Alex asked.

"Yes, but you're never around enough to show it" She responded.

Alex shook his head and said "I know, I have responsibilities on the council and everything I do is fighting for shifter rights, that includes you two"

"Responsibilities? You have a responsibility to be our father too!" Kelly yelled before storming out of the room.

I turned to go after her only for my father to grab me by the shoulder and shake his head.

"It's ok, give her some time" he asked in a calm voice.

"I'm sorry Dad, she just.." I was cut off by him raising his hand to stop me.

"Don't apologize for her, she's not entirely wrong. I just hope that one day she understands why I do what I do" he conceded before sitting down at his desk and booting up his laptop.

I took that as my cue to leave, I could tell he wanted to be alone for a bit. I opened the door and said "I love you dad" before leaving…..

Earth 63, 2049, 2:00 PM

Calrok's POV

Calrok was about to go to the mess hall when Olivia came up behind him on the bridge, a wicked smile on her face.

"I've got some interesting news" she stated proudly.

I sighed and said "what is it"

"I've found the ark" she revealed as she pressed a button on her tablet and made the screen above me mirror hers. It showed a red dot about 100 miles away.

"Are you sure?" I asked

"I'd bet my life on it, the shadow energy signal is below sea level and it matches up perfectly with a geothermal vent" she confirmed.

"Very good, navigator set course due south" I ordered.

"There's a slight problem though," she continued.

My good mood dissolved instantly, I turned to her and said "spit it out"

"An Allegiance airship is tailing us, their out of missile range" she confessed.

"Damit, how long did you know this!" I yelled.

"Five minutes ago, don't flip your lid" she requested.

I shook my head and yelled "no matter, I've got a solution" before storming past her and heading to the elevator. I rode it down to the lower decks and found Ethan in the control room of the cargo hold.

"Allegiance is tailing us!" I yelled causing everyone in the room to stand at attention. i had ordered them to go over the security systems and cages prior to this. it was time to see if they could back up their "fully operational and properly maintained" report

"What should we do?" Ethan asked, waiting for orders calmly.

"We can use this to our advantage, this is a perfect opportunity for a beta combat test, send the squadron of gargoyles" I ordered.

"With pleasure" Ethan replied as he typed commands into the console in front of him dozens of cages opened as all 50 of the gargoyle betas walked out of their cages. Their computer chips activated and waiting for instructions.

Ethan relayed the orders as a massive hatch opened the gargoyles looked at the control room for a mere moment before shooting off into the sky. Our pursuers would never catch up in time, and that was if the gargoyles didn't cut them to pieces...

Author's note- the next chapter will be another intel file on Latios and Latias in preparation for events in a few chapters. You won't need to know them for 5 or 6 more chapter so don't be too worried.