Hi, NorthernMage here with chapter 8 of Silence of Division! In this chapter, we see N enter the Federation Senate and the chaos that ensues.
Margide Hostar: NorthernMage doesn't own Pokemon or FTL.
Chapter 8: A New Alliance
N's POV
The moment I entered I knew the Federation was already well into rebuilding. There was already designated sections for each group that had survived the attack on the Federation. I saw Margide Hostar in the middle of the room, and a guard next to her quickly gestured to me. This could get bad. She glared at me.
'It seems you rebels just can't stay away.' Margide said. Instantly all attention was on me. 'Apparently the war was started in a different way to what we think. So, according to you, how did the fall of the Federation happen?' Silently I cursed myself. Of course they were critical, skeptical and more likely to lock me up than listen.
'It was Renina and I's father, Ghetsis. I only found out a few hours before the attack anything was happening. When I was talking to someone and they said that the fleet was preparing its weapons, I asked why and they replied that he had ordered the entire fleet to attack Quariane. By that point I couldn't stop them.'
'Is this the same person who also insulted the Federation Senate profusely?'
'Yes.' Margide looked at me.
'So you want a peaceful solution?' I nodded.
'This may be able to be arranged, however where is your sister Renina? Trying to clean up the mess you made?'
'She would be, if not for special circumstances. I assume you know of the message that you sent to the Plasma Senate, declaring that if we didn't surrender, you would kill her?' Margide nodded.
'Oh, of course.'
'I'll arrange for the planets with Plasma invaders on them to be released from sieges or whatever they're in. Also, we have a lot of cures to disease such as Kirau Olumi, which we will hand over to the Federation.' Margide nodded, slowly becoming more satisfied. 'Of course, for this, I need only two things.' The tension that had vanished in the last thirty seconds returned.
'What are they?' Margide's voice was tight.
'Possibly a little help dethroning the idiot responsible for this war.' Margide smiled.
'Of course, anything for him to be brought to justice. Everything he has had a part in is a menace to the universe.' I looked at her pointedly. 'I did not mean you and Renina.' Happy with that, I continued.
'And, Renina in a decent condition.' Margide nodded, slower this time.
'We'll get her right here.' Immediately a group of guards went off to get her.
Margide's POV
As N checked his holopad, I wondered about the two. Was it as bad as he said, that they had only barely known what was going on? 'Any objections to this scheme?' I asked all the leaders of the various groups that were gathered. There was a distinct "no" that went throughout the senate. 'Then we will help N.' A few moments later, the guards tossed Renina into the room.
With no one reaching out to help her, she landed in the lowest part of the room, at the bottom of a flight of stairs. N ran down the stairs, taking them two or three at a time, then crouched down next to Renina. Up at the door I saw a woman. Rynhart Catagor, captain of the Fallen Angel. She was glaring at N.
'Why is a rebel here?' she demanded, idly reaching for her Aringa.
N looked up and I heard a muttered 'Just had to be her.' before continuing on with making sure Renina was fine.
'N came to us for help.' I told the captain, knowing she would stop asking questions when answered. N shakily stood.
'What did you do to her?' I could see worry in his eyes, and a lot of it. What had happened to Renina to scare him this much? 'What did you do Rynhart?'
'How dare you assume it was me. There could-' N broke her off.
'Could, yes. Make sense, no. In your eyes, Renina betrayed you and has made your life horrible ever since she caught Kirau Olumi. You've never felt like she repaid you for saving her back on Quariane. No one else has enough evidence as to why they would hate Renina enough to use the lever control for someone's electro-handcuffs.' There was a collective gasp throughout the room. The lever control was only for serious prisoners, ones who had betrayed everything to the rebels and fired on the Federation. General Ariyta stood.
'Rynhart, explain yourself.' In the captain's eyes I saw a hardness, a speck of determination.
'The rebels burned down Helios.' Rynhart hissed. 'She tricked all of us! If I had known she was a rebel, I never would have let her on the ship!' Suddenly, there was a weak voice.
'I never tricked you Rynhart. You asked me whether I was an Academy student and I said no. I told you I was a uni student, and you accepted that answer. The only time I ever lied was when I said I had shared a room at the uni.' Rynhart was shaking, her anger boiling up.
'Why didn't you stay on Quariane?!' Rynhart screamed at her. 'If you had, this wouldn't be happening! The stinking rebels wouldn't be here, in the one place I thought would be free of the horrors that destroyed my home!'
'What was your homeworld?' N asked carefully.
'Helios, out in the Mortina system.'
'I've never heard of any official attack on Helios by the Plasma Senate. It was a group of vengeful rogue Federation captains.' Rynhart took a step back.
'You...you're lying! I saw my family killed before my eyes!' The captain shakily took out her Aringa and flicked it to exterminate. She aimed it at N, who managed to get himself and Renina out of the way before she shot. I saw General Ariyta come up behind her, and grab her hands. Rynhart struggled. 'Let me go!' Ariyta stunned Rynhart, who collapsed to the ground.
'I'm so sorry about the captain's behaviour.' I began. We needed this alliance. Any chance to neutralise the threat the rebels posed, we would take it. However, the siblings were already waving it off.
'I've heard of captains becoming a little different after a stressful mission.'
'We want this alliance too. Plus, neither of us are injured at least by Rynhart shooting us.' I sighed inwardly with relief. It seemed Renina and N were much more diplomatic than what we had thought. Most people would run away calling for reinforcements if something like this happened to them. Renina and N didn't even seemed fazed by it.
'Not meaning to insult, but you two are very...different to what we had expected.'
'We tend not to be like other teenagers.' they admitted. Renina started to try and stand on her own, as she had previously been leaning on N, but nearly collapsed. N managed to catch her and two senators came and helped the sixteen-year old out of the room, and her brother followed.
Just before leaving, N said 'I'll holocall you when we're ready for you to step in.' I nodded. As he left, the senate's attention turned to Rynhart Catagor.
'Prime Minister, I'll take her to a cell. Perhaps we could put her in for some therapy? Rynhart has never acted like this before, it's probably a build-up of the stress from the last two months suddenly breaking through.' General Ariyta protested.
'You are right. The captain has never acted like this before. Since there seems to be no damage done, she will be allowed to undergo an off-duty period. However, she must remain on this planet, away from any rebels until this is finalised.' The general relaxed.
'Thank you.'
N's POV
The moment we got on the ship, a small team of medical officers took Renina to the medbay. 'Are you alright?' one asked, as they cut out the transmitter in Renina's ear. I nodded.
'A captain broke under pressure and attacked, but thankfully missed. Now, I have to get back up to the bridge. They'll be unbelievably confused without me.' I hurried off.
Once up there, everyone was silent. After about a minute of the awkward silence, I broke it. 'Is something wrong?' One officer spoke up after a few seconds.
'King Ghetsis called.'
'Crap.' I hissed. This wasn't going to end well. I took a deep breath, attempting to calm myself. 'I don't want anyone distracting me while I try and deal with this, ok?' There was cringing nods all around. 'And if anyone even thinks about filming this and uploading it online, I will seriously unleash hell upon them.' I saw the blinking call on hold. I took another breath, calming myself. Surely it wouldn't be too bad. There was soft nervous laughter. I pressed the glowing icon, answering the call.
'N ALERIGA HARMONIA WHAT IN THE EMPIRES NAME ARE YOU DOING?!'
'I was rescuing Renina.'
'Your sister is unimportant, weak and hopeless. In fact, it would be good if she died. You should have ignored the call for help. Then, you wouldn't do things like this, and wouldn't get distracted!' My hand curled into a fist.
For seventeen years I had let Ghetsis control me. I had always let him do what he wanted, and say whatever he wanted about Renina and I. I wasn't going to take it anymore though. Suggesting it would be better to let the closest person I had to a friend die was taking it much too far.
'Don't you dare call her weak and hopeless! You're the hopeless one, always like "Oh, I think I'll go wipe out half a system!" Then Renina and I are left to clean up your mess! My God, you're like a little kid. I bet you don't even care about how much time Renina and I spend on trying to repair whatever you've recently done! And don't even get me started on weak! How do you think it feels talking with someone whose system was just destroyed and they're one of only two or three survivors? It's hard, harder than anything you in your little make-believe world have done! And in the various senates, including the one on Quariane, feeling all the judgement and criticism on you, before you say the first word! If anything, you're the weak one, completely absorbed in your stupid dogma that you're somehow above all others!' It was barely even me talking anymore. All I could think of was everything he's done to us, and now he dares to call us weak when we've come out of that as something for the world?!
'Renina is anything but unimportant. She's the only one who deals with all this apart from me! And believe me, she can be so unimaginably determined that its not funny. We've both worked as hard as we can to try and build up a decent relationship with the Federation, when you bring it all crashing down! So don't you dare say she's useless, hopeless or weak. You have no idea what she's like. Because, in reality, you're talking about yourself. Like you always do.' I waited for an answer.
The moment he was about to speak, I said 'Oh, looks like someone needs me to go help them. Renina and I will see you back on Atiris.' The moment I ended the call, I heard a soft laugh.
'You really annoyed him that time.'
'How bad do you think it's going to be?' I asked as Renina managed to walk up to me.
'Pretty bad, and it's not only him you've annoyed.'
'Huh? What happened?'
'Why did you not tell me you were going to unleash on Ghetsis? I mean seriously, N! I didn't even get to tell him off for all the things he's done to me!'
'I didn't know he had called. Otherwise I would have.' I protested.
'Its okay, just next time maybe?'
'I'll tell you.' I assured her.
'Maybe it's time to call the Federation in on this. Remember Ghetsis never comes to see us arrive if he's furious?'
'Yeah, he doesn't.'
'So, we could get the Federation into a position to surround the Plasma Senate without being detected.' I looked at her. Renina looked a little mischievous.
'You're enjoying this, aren't you?'
'Maybe a little.' she admitted.
'Well then, lets call Margide.'
Margide's POV
As we were finishing up the session, a quick holocall came through. It was N and Renina. 'Its time?' I asked the duo. They nodded. I simply looked to General Ariyta. 'Get your ships ready for a flight to Atiris.'
So, Ghetsis' time ruling the Plasma Empire is limited, as N and Renina have just called the Federation to come help them dethrone Ghetsis. I can't wait until I write chapter 9, so see you then!