“Are we connected?” A gravely old voice asked.

  “Yes Sire.” A young enthusiastic voice replied.

  “Go live.” The old voice commanded.

  The young attendant began pressing buttons which caused a large screen to light up the dark room where the two were sitting. The screen was divided into ten separate sections each showing a different Leonid.

  “Attention Pride.” The old Leonid commanded the screen of fellow Leonids.

  “Phase one is complete. Earth will remain isolated from The Union and continued propaganda machines will drive the populace towards distrust. Multiple governments have been acquired with relative ease including Russia which has turned over a substantial section of their country for us to begin operations. Engagement, report.”

  “Sire, glory to the Pride. The three of the closest countries have been acquired, one of them holding the greatest economy on the planet, allowing for greater leverage on uncompromising governments.” A female Leonid replied quickly and succinctly.

  “The Pride is pleased.” The old Leonid said.

  “The Pride is pleased.” The other nine screens echoed in unison.

  “Operations, report.” The old Leonid commanded.

  “Sire, glory to the Pride. The fleet is scheduled to depart Jal El Han at the end of this week. Their journey will take one month to get into position behind Earth’s moon. From there the fleet will enter the atmosphere in the uninhabited arctic circle and travel south to the land acquired. Our schedule is to be unpacked and ready to receive assets after seven days.” An older Leonid, older than the leader of the meeting in a decorated militaristic uniform said.

  “The Pride is pleased.” The old Leonid said.

  “The Pride is pleased.” The rest of the attendants repeated in unison.

  “Assets, report.”

  “Sire, glory to the Pride. Assets will depart Jal El Han one month prior to the date Operations has indicated as reception day. The assets will be sedated and restrained aboard the containment vessel with cruisers ready to destroy should a breach occur.” The younger Leonid said, dressed in a lab coat signaling they were some kind of scientist. He swallowed as he was attempting to bury the stress he was feeling before he continued his report.

  “The… Assets… From Tulian, have been exterminated and the Pride’s presence erased. The incursion on Radan was dealt with promptly and our presence erased there as well. All assets were moved to Jal El Han before the consolidation… err, Phase two begins on Earth.”

  There was silence for several seconds before the old Leonid shifted in his seat and cracked his neck.

  “The Pride is not pleased.” The old Leonid said with a low grumbling tone that hid extreme anger.

  The rest of the attendants of the meeting did not reply per their usual pattern, instead the screen of the Leonid in charge of Assets went blank. After another ten seconds or so the screen reappeared and a different Leonid scientist appeared, still adjusting his seat.

  “Sire, glory to the Pride. Assets will learn from the weak and not fail again.”

  “The Pride is pleased.” The old Leonid said.

  The remaining attendants repeated their usual reply.

  “Security, report.” The old Leonid commanded.

  “Sire, glory to the pride. Security has identified through video footage that fraternization is the root cause of the containment breach between two new asset personnel. The asset personnel were also acquaintances with a security personnel who allowed for the lapse in surveillance of these personnel which would have prevented the fraternization in the first place. All personnel involved have been replaced and mandatory training ordered to show why fraternization is forbidden outside of scheduled breeding plans. This has been delivered and consumed by the Pride.” The female security attendant finished speaking, confident in her report.

  “With phase two to be underway soon, the Senator will not have jurisdiction to investigate again. A portion of the propaganda machines are being diverted from Earth to assist in the disruption of the Senator’s reelection bid.” She continued. She was not as confident in that segment of her report, but she delivered without stumbling, without hesitation.

  The Leonid Sire remained silent for several seconds again before speaking, contemplating whether he who was in charge of Security should be replaced as well.

  “The Pride is pleased.” He finally said.

  A visible relief washed over the Leonid in charge of Security as she and her comrades repeated the praise of the Pride.

  “Engagement, prepare the executive briefing. Glory to the Pride.” The Sire commanded before the large screen went dark and the lights in the room lit up.

  “Attendant, prepare the shuttle for Jal El Han. I want to examine the fleet and containment of the Assets prior to departure. I also want daily updates on the Hirondant Senator’s reelection.” The Sire commanded.

  “Sire.” The Attendant stood at attention holding his closed left fist to the upper right side of his chest. The Sire returned the salute quickly before turning and walking to the door.

  “Sire? Why does Security not just remove the threat?” The Attendant said with a questioning tone to get his attention.

  “Senators are high-profile targets and would cause significant attention and investigation. You must think ahead like this if you are to continue to have a place here. You are lucky you are my nephew or I would have you removed for such incompetence.” The Sire barked.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The Attendant bowed; a silent plea of forgiveness in Pride culture. When he arose he spoke again. “Sire?”

  The Sire turned to regard the attendant without saying anything.

  “Glory to the Pride.” The Attendant said.

  A deep uncharacteristic smile crossed the face of The Sire. “Glory to the Pride.”

  ***

  “I'm just going to show you the security footage from my home as some of the evidence is no longer available as I already told you.” Kalazan said to Gib.

  Gib nodded and turned back to the large screen in Kalazan and Dalma’s living room.

  The door bell rang on the video causing a confusing look to appear on both Kalazan’s and Dalma’s faces. They hadn't ordered delivery, and wouldn't receive packages this late at night. Dalma stood up from the sofa where she was seated next to Kalazan and walked to the front door. She viewed the camera where a young girl in a yellow jumpsuit was standing in their entry way holding a package. Dalma opened the door and greeted the young girl. The uniform read “Parcel Pace.". Gib clocked the courier service that specialized in transporting things where only the person sending the package, the counter clerk, and the delivery personnel ever touched whatever was needing to be delivered.

  “Hi M’am, please sign here.” The young girl said.

  Dalma signed the girl’s link with her finger and then took the package from her hands.

  “Thanks, have a nice night." The young girl said.

  “You too miss.” Dalma replied.

  Dalma walked the package back to the living area where Kalazan was standing, pouring himself a drink from the bar.

  “Its addressed to Uncle K?” Dalma said, making a face of uncertainty.

  Kalazan, now more concerned than confused, hurriedly walked to Dalma to take the package from her hands and began to open it. Inside was a metallic rectangle with a green light pulsing in the corner. Kalazan carefully picked up and placed the object on the bar counter and pressed his finger on the green light.

  “Voice verification required.” The box said.

  “Kalazan Tomlin." Kalazan replied.

  “Verified.” The box said.

  The box made a whirring sound as it opened and began to unfurl itself into a bipedal humanoid looking robot.

  “Ah, I see. Where is Tonk?” Kalazan said to the robot.

  “Mr. Tonk is deceased.” The robot replied without any emotion.

  The shock struck Kalazan like a punch to the gut. He held on to the table for support trying not to stumble from the news.

  “Dalma!” Kalazan shouted as he turned to see the tears already welling up in her eyes. Her link was already up to her ear calling Peggy as he was about to ask her to do.

  “I have a message for you Mr. Kalazan.”

  “Please, play it.” Kalazan’s voice quivered.

  “Uncle K, Uncle K. I don't have much time. I don't think I'm going to make it out of here. I'm sending this to you because I know you’ll know what to do. My parents will be too emotional, they'll try to look for me. You can't let them.” Tonk said desperately, sniffling the snot back in his nose every few words, tears were streaming down his face. He was interrupted by screams and the sound of combat in the background. An inhuman roar pierced through the audio that Kalazan didn't recognize.

  “Oh Gods, Uncle K. Senator Joon sent us to investigate some facility here on Radan that was insanely hidden in the middle of the desert. There’s this symbol I keep seeing, my server bot has a picture.” The same roar overcame the sound of Tonk’s words, followed by an explosion that was so loud it distorted the volume.

  “My server bot has my location, I’ve set up a large explosion to seal us and these things down here after my server bot gets out of here.”

  “Cmon boy, tell me what’s going on, tell me!” Kalazan shouted at the robot.

  “My bot should have a gem. I think, I think they are Vor…” The audio cut out before Tonk could finish his last sentence.

  Kalazan shuddered with fear. The chest of the robot opened and took out a black gem covered in a dried flaky substance. Kalazan took the gem from the robot and examined it more closely, noting the swirling insignia in the center.

  “They’re on their way.” Dalma said through tears.

  “It’s a Void gem.” Kalazan whispered

  “What?”

  “It’s a Void gem.” Kalazan said softly. He looked up at Dalma holding the gem to show her. “Vortani.”

  The security video ended and Gib was left staring at his reflection on the screen.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.” Gib said softly.

  “He was a good boy, too young.” Kalazan replied.

  “He was too young to be a watcher, they only take in category four entities. So why the hell did the Senator send his team on that mission?” Gib added. “Is there more?”

  “Yes, the reason I wanted you to come over. One of those in my employ was able to do some digging into the Intelligence Consortium’s biological database due to their former tenure there. Without utilizing the samples with any connected devices they were able to confirm that the material is from a Vortani.” Kalazan said, waiting for his friend to absorb the information.

  “K…” Gib said.

  “I know.” Kalazan said.

  “In the hands of the Leonids.” Gib added, getting up from the luxurious sofa in Kalazan’s living room.

  “I know. You can’t tell the watchers.” Kalazan said.

  “How the hell do you figure that K?” Gib shouted, spinning to look his friend in the eye.

  “This is going to spiral out of control, you can’t trust a politician with information like this, let alone whoever else may have seen anything come from the two sites you’ve been to. You mentioned Senator Joon sent crews to clean up the aftermath and collect evidence. There is no way someone hasn’t already triggered an inquiry, which means this might be coming to your plate anyway since you work for both the Watchers and GIB.”

  “That’s why I'm there, so I can control investigations like this. The watchers exist because there is a fundamental distrust that the Union has with the Leonid Empire, along with its own more radical citizens. I too have that distrust, Kalazan, with more evidence now thanks to the last five minutes.”

  “So you go back to the Senator, confirm Vortani exist, the Leonids have them, and are planting them in hidden facilities in Union space! Think this through Gib!” Kalazan shouted back at his friend uncharacteristically.

  Gib sighed, knowing his friend was right. There was no one in the galaxy that could truly be trusted with this information.

  “So what do we do K? Hmm? You got some idea on how we stop the second Vortani conflict? And oh by the way, let's add a dash of Leonid empire into the mix, who has had two hundred years to study them, build up their military, plan and execute an attack?”

  “We could get the band back together?” Kalazan asked with a leading and inquisitive tone.

  “I see what you’re doing here. Kalazan wants to get his old drinking buddies together, well fat chance. There’s no way J will come within five hundred yards of me. You can’t date your best friend’s sister and come out the other side ok after you break up. Especially now that she’s dead.” Gib said, pointing a finger at Kalazan.

  “Five master level contractors can sort this out. Especially the five of us.” Kalazan got to his feet and placed his hands on Gib’s shoulders. “Let me take care of Jarris, he will set your grievance aside for this.” Kalazan looked into his friend’s eyes, hoping for him to come around.

  Gib sighed, then looked into Kalazan’s eyes. “Alright, where do we start?”