Chapter 3

Somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy
Scythe II Class Scyftan Empire Vessel - The Fang of Khigil
01:37 Scyftan Empire Time (09:37 Eastern Daylight Time)
August 13, 12610 (August 12, 2019)

Alarm klaxons started blaring suddenly in the middle of the night, waking the captain of The Fang of Khigil. Akroix Drutex was about to head to the bridge when he felt his mental shield being tapped on. He reached out with his mind and realized it was his XO. He slightly lowered his shield so he could talk to him. [Status report!] he demanded.

[Apologies captain. There is nothing showing up on the ship’s sensors, but we did receive a file that set off the alarm and requires a level 9 security clearance.]

[Level 9? Are you certain?]

[Yes captain. I am looking at it right now.]

[Send it to my terminal. Full stop and stand by for further orders. I will make my way to the bridge shortly.]

[File is sent, captain. I will pass along your orders.]

[Thank you, XO, ] the captain replied, ending the connection between them and raising his mental shields again.

Every Scyftan was born with telepathy, though they call it Mindspeaking. It was a defense mechanism when their species was young. It originally allowed them to detect predators as well as find mates. When they detected an incoming predator, they would shapeshift into a perfect copy of that predator. Usually, the predator wouldn’t want to mess with multiple beasts the same size as it, so they would leave, searching for other prey.

Over time, it allowed them to speak to other members of their species with their mind, and allowed them more freedom when it came to shapeshifting. They could change their form, taking on characteristics from different animals they came across, rather than just shapeshifting into an exact copy. Female Scyftan would only mate with the strongest of Mindspeakers, and the strongest of Mindspeakers always ruled their society.

He sat down at his terminal and brought up the file. Since the Scyftan people are a race of shapeshifters, there is a very elaborate security process people must go through in order to access classified files. For level 9 security clearance, no less than a combination of ten different sources would get you into a file. These sources include retinal scans, voice prints, passwords and a mana signature match. It did make it nearly impossible to hack in, but it also took the captain almost 3 minutes to get into the file.

When he read the contents he was both relieved and apprehensive. Relieved because his over fourteen hundred year long search was over, but apprehensive because he knew he would be the one that would be sent.

The report stated that the last rightful living heir to the throne of the Scyftan Empire, Jonuth Kidravia, was alive and on the primitive planet Earth. He goes by the name Jonathan Stevens and was detected because the government on Earth requires anyone who wishes to enter a dungeon to go through an evaluation. When he went through the evaluation, his mana signature was flagged and a signal was immediately sent to the closest Scyftan vessel, which happened to be Captain Drutex’s ship.

It also states that he is only eighteen years old, which means that he had been in stasis for over fourteen hundred years. This puzzled the captain. ‘Why would they wait so long to awaken him?’ he asked himself. It should have taken roughly three hundred years to reach earth with the ship they had access to when his caretakers fled Scyftan space, which means he was kept in stasis for another eleven hundred years after they landed. He needed more information.

He again reached out with his mind, looking for a member of the science team assigned to his ship. He tapped on her shield and a moment later she responded. [Good morning, captain. How can I help you?] she asked.

[Good morning, Emais. I need all the information you can get me on the state of planet called Earth in the past eleven hundred years or so. Focus on eleven hundred years ago and then move to the present. I want a report on my desk in an hour.]

[I’ll do my best, captain. Can I put my team in on this?]

[Do as you wish, just make sure you’re in my ready room in one hour.]

[I’ll get started right away, captain. See you in one hour, ] she finished, closing the connection.

Captain Drutex shut down his terminal and exited his stateroom, locking the door on his way out and making his way to the bridge. When he arrived, the XO shouted, “Captain on the bridge!”

Since the ship was stopped, everyone stood at attention and saluted the captain.

“At ease,” the captain said. “Lieutenant Dhazi, send the file we just received to command, and let them know we are holding position and requesting further orders.”

“Yes, captain,” Lieutenant Dhazi said, turning back to his terminal. Less than a minute later, he added, “Message sent, captain.”

“Very well. XO, you have the conn. I’ll be in my ready room. Let me know as soon as we get a response.”

“I have the conn,” he XO acknowledged.

The captain nodded, leaving the bridge and entering his ready room. He sat down to catch up on paperwork while he waited.

Earth
Ottawa, Ontario
August 12, 2019
09:53 EDT

While Jonathan was in the dungeon with his friends, his parents were driving to the Canadian Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters, where they both worked. Alexandra was driving while Gabriel responded to emails. His phone vibrated indicating a text. He quickly read it over and looked over to his wife, “Just got a text from Abi. She says that they now know Jonathan is alive and on Earth. A signal containing a file was sent to the closest ship. The captain ordered it to be forwarded to command and are holding position while they await new orders. Abi traced where the signal came from and found the man responsible. She ordered a team to pick him up, and they’ll be arriving here tomorrow.”

“How far away is the ship? We knew they might get a signal off when he went through his evaluation. Are we going to have the time she estimates we will need?”

“Doesn’t say. I’ll send her a message and find out.”

They both rode in silence, thinking about the news they just received. They knew this day was coming, and they had spent a long time preparing for it. Ultimately, it would be up to Jonathan to be ready when the time came.

The silence was broken when Gabriel received another text. “Abi says that in all likelihood, the ship that will be sent is the one that received the message. It will take them just over 6 months to get here. Apparently it is a Scythe II class ship. Still a formidable ship and capable of carrying 2000 soldiers, it’s just slow. If they sent a Scythe VII class instead or another newer ship, it could get here in less than 3 months. They’re all being used in the war with The Confederation, so unless that war ends unexpectedly we’ll have more than enough time. She also says she will be here tonight to meet Jonathan.”

“Good. The sooner she starts working with Jonathan, the better. Our other guests have already arrived?” “The girls arrived last night, but last I heard the Stewarts won’t arrive until around 5pm,” Gabriel said. “The triplets are eager to finally meet their brother.”

“They’ll have to wait until later tonight to meet him. First, we’ll need to let him know about his people.”

Having arrived at their destination, she pulled into the employee entrance and stopped at the security checkpoint. She sent a small pulse of mana at the machine beside the car and a light on the machine turned green. Bollards in front of the car started lowering into the ground. While the ones in front of the car were lowering, the ones behind the car started rising to stop anyone from coming in behind them. When they were through, the front ones would rise up, and the back ones would lower into the ground again.

Alexandra drove forward and pulled into her parking spot. They got out and walked over to the employee entrance. Both of them had to pulse mana at the door to gain entry. Most companies around the world employed a mana scanner, since every person’s mana signature is different, and is nearly impossible to forge. A very skilled Scyftan could do it, but for humans, which make up 99.999% of the population, it was impossible.

The first thing on their agenda this morning was to greet Jonathan’s sisters, and their caretakers. You see, Alexandra and Gabriel weren’t Jonathan’s birth parents, and neither were the man and woman who had watched over Aleena, Alexis and Lucille for the past fourteen hundred and twenty-one years.

Before the King’s children were born, he had tasked the Royal Guard to find him the best people they could find and develop a training program for them to keep his children safe. These people would be the highest skilled adventurers they could find, before they went through their training. When their training was over, they would be unmatched by anyone not a member of this unit. Upon seeing the teams in action, the only name he could come up with for the unit was Spectres.

Each child was assigned a two-person team, and there would always be two more nearby, practically hiding in plain sight. When the King and the Queen were slain in a coup by a rival family, the teams sprang into action to get the children off the planet. They, along with the King, had selected a number of worlds far from the core of Scyftan space where they could flee to if anything happened. When in orbit, Jonathan and the girls were separated and two ships headed in a different direction, but would eventually converge on Earth.

Alexander and Gabriel stepped into an elevator and waited for the doors to close. When they did, Gabriel stepped up to a panel and gave it a short pulse of mana. The panel retracted inwards and moved upwards, revealing a small screen, a retinal scanner, and a keypad. Having recognized his mana signature, it asked for three retinal scans and a password. He went through the process of changing his eyes between retinal scans, and finally entered his password. When everything was accepted, the panel closed and the elevator started descending. This was one of their most sophisticated security measures, and no one but a Scyftan would be able to activate the elevator to bring them where they were going.

The elevator finally stopped after a couple of minutes, having descended roughly 1000 feet underground. The doors opened into a small room with two Spectres standing as security. When Alexandra saw who was on duty, she broke into a big smile and started walking towards them. “Yuki, Omar, good to see you,” she said, giving each a hug. “How have you two been?”

“Much better now that we’re here,” Omar answered. “Do you have any idea what it’s been like dealing with three teenage girls? It’s been harder than the training we went through to become Spectres. I’m never having kids. Nuh-uh, no, sir.”

“He’s been like this for years,” the petite Japanese-looking woman said with a laugh. She shielded her mouth from Omar and continued in a quiet voice, “He adores those girls. Don’t believe a word he says.”

Omar acted like he didn’t hear what Yuki said. Instead, he turned to Gabriel, “You wanna get a drink and catch up when I get off shift, Gabe? I still have some of that ale from back home that you like.”

Gabriel was already nodding before Omar could finish. “Absolutely! You know I can’t pass up some good ale. I’ll be bringing Jonathan with me, if you don’t mind. He’ll probably need a drink or ten after what we’ll be laying on him tonight.”

“Sure, it’ll be good to meet the kid, especially since I’ll be one of his trainers.”

“You two should probably head in. The girls saw you pull in and they can’t wait to see you. They’ve been watching Jonathan and his friends going through their evaluations, and following their progress in the dungeon,” Yuki interrupted.

Alexandra nodded, “Abi will be showing up sometime today. Let me know when she arrives, will you?”

“Will do,” Yuki confirmed, pressing a button on her console. A door formed on the wall opposite of the elevator, allowing them access to the facility, “You can head on through.”

While it looked like a door, it was actually a portal that would teleport them a few thousand kilometers to a facility hidden deep within the Canadian Rockies. “See you two later,” Alexandra said before stepping through the portal. Immediately she was pounced on by three giggling nearly eighteen year old girls. “Hiya, auntie!” they chorused.

“Hello girls,” she said with a chuckle. “Something tells me you three have been spying.”

“It’s hard not to with all these monitors,” Aleena, the oldest of the triplets replied, gesturing at the large curved wall of monitors behind her.

“True enough. Yuki said you’ve been watching your brother and his friends?”

“Yup,” Alexis, the youngest of the triplets answered. “Yuki is going to be very happy! Anja ended up learning Precognition at the end of her evaluation.”

“Did she, really? That is a very powerful skill, though it probably would have been better if Sonja had learned it instead.”

Gabriel stayed back for a moment to talk to Omar a bit more. They’re best friends and didn’t get to talk to each other often, since they were on different details. He stepped through the portal and was swarmed by the girls as well. When they were done greeting each other, Alexandra asked, “Gabriel, are there any Precognition Skill Gems in storage?”