Chapter 6

Life is not all beer and skittles!

“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.”

– General George Patton Jr

“We have had a breakthrough after three long months, Grefis. I discovered what we have been looking for while at lunch with my mother,” said Wensta. “She was angry with my father.”

“So, how is the gorgeous Lady Fufa Feriff?” Smirked Grefis.

“Grefis she is my mother, don’t be disgusting!” Wensta said impatiently then smiled at Grefis. “Don’t distract me from my story.” Wensta said while waggling his finger at Grefis.

“She was whining, my father is paying her too little attention and she is a woman who needs constant attention. She loathes Mergal, who she believes has captured his interest. This is not new. It happens whenever my father is busy. He has only visited her twice in the last month. Last night he spent the night with her. She complained he was distracted and talked about the chief scientist telling Radon about one of the students from the palace who made a mathematical discovery.

“I was pretty excited myself. I carefully nudged her to find out where these primitives were. She told me she knew where they are. Can you believe it they are here in the city at the War College on the Merka campus extension! So what you think about that. My father implied they were off world in some distant hidden location. I put a lot of effort into finding them. I tracked them off world and then nowhere.

“My mother says my father has changed and he’s not the same person that he used to be. As far as I am concerned, he is the same unpredictable bastard as usual. He treats me with no respect. He put me under surveillance. He looks at me as if he knows something. He doesn’t know his elbow from his posterior. He is a fool of the worst order,” said Wensta angrily.

“We had an assault gunship full of intelligence people who came to campus yesterday and dragged off five people. We have been told war is imminent and that we are to be attacked in the not-too-distant future. Our college is also on a war footing,” said Grefis. “It does provide us with great opportunities. It means all war colleges accelerate their programs. When that happens the rate of accidents inevitably increases! How sad it will be if a few primitives fall off the side of the mountain due to ‘equipment failure’. ‘So sad, sorry to hear what happened. It was old equipment and not well maintained. Or maybe they were too dumb to check it.’” Grefis laughed. “Do you know anyone in the College who can help us?” Grefis asked.

“As soon as I heard my mother say War College Merka I said to myself hallelujah. I have a good friend who will remain nameless. Jog your memory, you will recall him. It is a little job he would love to do. You may also think of a few people you know,” said Wensta. “I am looking forward to this. It gives me some practice in how to engineer a little accident for my father. So sad,” said Wensta and they both laughed.

“What has happened to your little lady?” Grefis asked.

“I have her hidden, no one will find her. It’s an old palace with many hiding places. She hates these foreigners more than you and I do and she hates my sister Pardela the most, as she blames her for destroying her life. She wants to get rid of Pardela, but palace security is so tight she can’t get to her wing. She is biding her time,” said Wensta.

“Incidentally, where did you get that three legged fungus thing?” asked Wensta “It was a great idea, it’s a pity it didn’t work.”

“We have a section where we train assassins. I went for a little visit searching for inspiration and for a cooperative sucker. The laboratory was very interesting, they have many inspiring methods of killing people directly or subtly. I looked for subtle with suffering. There was a delightful young lady who showed me some very interesting fungi she was cultivating. They were individually packed in little stasis packages. I was sure she would not miss one. They are very cleverly designed. There is a timer on the stasis package. The package camouflages itself on any surface. You would never notice it unless you were looking for it. At the set time stasis switches itself off, the fungus makes its way out and zeros in on its target. I had hoped it would attach itself to his face, but sadly he must’ve been facing the opposite direction. The young lady’s description of what it does was pretty graphic. It is a great way for your enemies to die!

“Wensta, my father is impossible at the moment. I don’t know who he is involved with or why, but we are bleeding money. Do you have a timeline for us? I am going to need you to be in power before I kill my father or I will be caught!” Grefis asked.

“Grefis plan on doing something in three and a half months, we need so much going on we can get away with murder. I will see you soon Grefis, go well my friend, together we will rule the Azayal!”

The Ghouls

Meeting Room 4.1, Castle of the Queen in the Capital Gresh on the Planet Drak:

Attendees:

Queen Parbath Kabal.

Biqalak Kabilal – her Secretary and Assistant.

Gen. Etzil Tsanak – Chief of Intelligence.

Adm. Namenal Kabilaqua – Intelligence Division Acquisitions.

Bilulus Gelex – Elevated Admiral in charge of Armed Forces.

“I understand that this is a very brief meeting and it is simply an update of our plans that are reaching fruition?” The Queen asked. “Etzil I understand you have some information for us.”

“Time is running out for us with regard to the Azayal. General Slymon Demengus has been killed by the Archduke Jason Kargo. That scum finds a way to obstruct us wherever we are intending to strike next. We are trying to trace a leak from intelligence. Our enemy is receiving advance information on our intentions and they send the Archduke to block our plans. Such a coincidence could not occur naturally. The king is no longer under our influence and has changed direction completely. He is re-arming and ramping up industrial production. They have established contact with both the Collective and with the living planet. Cargo ships are being sent to bring back advanced replicators for weapons production. We cannot afford to allow them to get back anywhere near their previous level. Our window of opportunity will close in four months at the latest. They are moving quickly. We discovered before our agents were taken, Kargo is helping the Azayal to develop new weapons. We heard he is working with a team at the War College on Merka.

“We have one remaining agent in the palace, Col. Anastasia Zuniga. She cannot get to the king, but she intends to kidnap the crown princess, our original target. The Prince will happily sell his soul for power. He will kill the King and assist in the kidnapping of his sister. He then intends to kill the Queen and his other two siblings. He will provide us with a planet of fifty-billion people. In two months, we implement our plans. We do not need to involve the Grork, but we have agreed to a partnership with them to attack the Una. We will be at full strength by the time we launch our attack on them. We did think of attacking the Azayal through galaxy ZMBX46, but the Empire can detect us and we expose ourselves to unnecessary risk. They can hit us while they remain out of our range. The risks outweigh the advantages. The Crown Prince plans to kill the Archduke with Zuniga’s help,” said Etzil.

“Bilulus, what are your thoughts about Etzil’s report?” The queen asked.

“Our risks are growing as they have found most of our agents, but not the Azayal AI moles. We have scope for a campaign of sabotage. They will struggle to mobilize and operate the Azayal fleet. No matter how quickly they move there is simply not enough time for them. Their current fleet is antiquated, but well maintained. We will have overwhelming superiority as we know their weapons and we have optimized our shields for their weapon systems. We have prepared for this attack for a long time. We cannot afford to sustain extensive damage to our own fleets or we will not be capable to take on the Una.

“I recommend we plan our attack in fourteen weeks,” said Bilulus confidently.

Training continued at a rapid pace and was physically demanding. The academic pressure was relentless.

“It is two days until we are finished our basic training,” said Julia excitedly as they left the canteen after dinner.

“Jason you look as if your dogs have just died, what is the problem?” Adrianna Xavier asked Jason as they neared their quarters.

“Follow me, run as fast as you can, there is a bomb that is going to explode in my room!” said Jason. He turned, and ran as fast as he could back the way they had come and then turned into a doorway with the group close behind him. He shut the door after Mandy ran in. They stood panting.

Five seconds later they heard a muffled explosion and felt a tremor through the walls that rattled the door.

“Follow me quickly and run to the canteen, I am sure there will be a second explosion. As they ran, they heard alarms blaring and faint mist of rain fell on them. Jason heard the sound of heavy doors shutting behind him as they reached the canteen. They felt the tremor of a second explosion.

“Thank you, Jason, the second bomb felt bigger,” said Brenda Barros. “That was clearly an assassination attempt. Now what do we do?”

“We go and see the principal as fast as we can and try and help the intelligence people find the perpetrators,” said Razza. “Now that it has begun, we are going to have to watch our backs everywhere. We will need routines to check our equipment and be alert for an enemy. If we are outside, we look out for snipers. Now let’s catch our principal before he leaves his office.

“It was extraordinary how quickly they acted,” said Mandy Fritzell. “The principal isn’t as big a dork as I thought he was. A hidden second backup system for the cameras was clever. The cameras that see through cloaking were even better. Security had no idea of the existence of the second system. These people are not slouches. The bomb doors surprised everyone. This level of paranoia is very useful,” said Mandy. “No one catches first responders here in a second blast.”

“We could see that guy planting the bomb. He thought that his cloaking was going to protect him and he must have contacts in security if he destroyed or blocked the camera recordings they had. I think the principal recognized him,” said Alex Kafka. “Premonitions seem to be very rare amongst the Azayal. The principal seemed quite suspicious of us until we told him how many times Jason was right.”

“The bomb threw everyone off balance, but the College acted quickly and decisively. They made an arrest within twenty minutes. I’ll be interested in what they find,” said Alex. “The Intelligence people were here quickly. Jason, everyone treats us with great respect since your mathematics coup.”

“After the first day I thought we might not learn as much as we expected. But I am learning something new every single day. I was pleased they encouraged us to watch what was happening. What do you think about them moving into the same galaxy as Earth?” Trackrof asked.

“I think it will be a very good thing. From what I have learned of their history, the conquest of others is against their fundamental nature. I don’t think it will take them long to get up to speed and then race ahead of everybody else. I do think they will benefit from having allies and becoming much less self-absorbed and insular. They have an enormous amount to contribute and when they work with others they will advance even more and help everyone else advance. The milky way is a huge galaxy, and it is not as if they would be living right next to our solar system,” said Jason.

“Do you know what we’re going to be doing today?” Jason asked Razza.

“We are going to do your favorite activity. We are practicing our newly modified boarding techniques on a simulated Ghoul ship. A specialist instructor volunteered to take us where the other students won’t see us.”

“Yes, yes Jason we will all check our equipment twice and check our partner’s equipment. We are taking no chances especially now,” said Razza laughing.

“How long before we go?” Jason asked.

“Yes dear, you do have time to go to the hospital to deal with your phobia. We fly out in two hours,” Razza answered him.

Jason made his way to the hospital to speak to the doctor.

“Hi Jason, how can I help you today?”

“My PTSD has disappeared and I was great climbing trees and cliffs, but after a few days of practicing boarding techniques I began to feel increasingly anxious out in space. Is there anything you can do to help with that?” Jason asked.

“It is a very common problem amongst the Azayal. I had at least a quarter of your class coming to see me about it. It is strange yours developed over time, because it usually starts with a vengeance on the first day. You had some protection from your other treatment. Step over here and we will sort you out in a couple of minutes. I will increase the general intensity of anti-phobia treatment and make it more universal, rather than the highly targeted treatment that we used before.

“Who is taking you out today?” The doctor asked curiously.

“It is instructor Varick Maggart and his assistant. I don’t know either of them. They very kindly offered to take us out after the bombing of my room. We have been sequestrated away from the other students.”

“Jason watch yourselves with that untrustworthy piece of animal dung. He doesn’t volunteer to do anything unless there is something in it for him. I wouldn’t trust him to watch my lunch. Check everything. I don’t think that you can find an excuse not to go, but make sure everyone is alerted to that pair. Now brace yourself.”

Jason found himself standing in front of the doctor.

“It’s all done, you should be fine,” said the doctor.

Jason walked back to find his group who were all sitting in a private room next to the canteen that had been allocated to them. “Now that you are back, we will order some breakfast,” said Julia.

“Razza I think that your instincts are on the right track. That instructor never volunteers for anything and the doctor said not to trust him. Hide extra oxygen in your suits to give yourselves a reserve. Keep an eye on each other. If anyone’s suit leaks or someone cannot gain entry to the ship, we need to have enough time to call for help. Gaining access to those Ghoul ships, tests our limits at the best of times. If there is any indication they will try and harm us we kill them. We will give them no chance and no warning. Remember the Azayal proverb; ‘It is better to be cautious and suspicious, than to be stabbed in your back.’ The doctor doesn’t feel we can legitimately get out of it.” Jason told them.