Chapter 24: Chapter 23 – Saphir

The cockpit of the Dawn felt a bit stuffed at that moment. Miyon was sitting in the pilot’s seat as usual, next to her granddaughter. Yet they had almost a group behind them, all looking forward, making the pair feel like others were judging their performance at every passing moment. 

 

“Next time, the cockpit is going to be off limits…” Miyon grumbled, prompting his granddaughter to nod in agreement.

 

“Ahaha… sorry…” Mirian said with an apologetic voice as she, her two guards and Omega were also there, filling up the small space completly. 

 

“I didn't mean it that way, My Lady!” Miyon sighed, cursing his own thoughts, why did they even escape his mouth. “We are going to need your help pretty soon anyway! We should be out from the Astropath in a few minutes and I don’t think we can go past the Gate that easily.” 

 

It turned out, Miyon was right. Not long after they appeared from the Astropath, showing up at the Gate of Kaltazar, four patrolling ships changed their course, coming at them from different angles. Miyon and Sylen were expecting this, so they simply slowed down and let them fly close to them, circling the Dawn.

 

“They are hailing us.” Sylen reported and it was Mirian who nodded with a smile, signaling her to open up a channel.

 

“Dawn, this is-” The voice that came through was very familiar to the ears of Miyon, Sylen and Omega. It was none other than Rururin, who was standing guard here, leading one of the ships to keep an eye out for their possible arrival.

 

“Identify yourself.” Mirian spoke up, her voice calm, strict and commanding.

 

“We are the-” Rururin said after a short pause, a bit surprised as she did not recognize the voice as being Sylen’s. While she was explaining, with an authoritative tone, who they are and how they are the ones to ask questions, Mirian turned towards Sylen.

 

“Open up a visual line with them. It seems my voice is not good enough.” Mirian smiled and Sylen just did as she asked.

 

When Rururin saw the incoming request, she was skeptical. Video feeds were unnecessary but she was not about to refuse. Yet when she recognized the face, looking back at her, linking Mirian’s features with her voice, she was frozen in place.

 

“Why is my ship surrounded? Did I miss something while I was away, Technical Sergeant Ruru’rin?” Mirian asked. The fact that somebody like her knew her name meant trouble in itself. Especially because of their current predicament.

 

“No, no My Lady! This must be a mistake!” Rururin gave in immediately. She was not about to question someone at her status.

 

“I am sure that it is.” Mirian nodded. “Please, tell your commanding officer that Mirian Kaltazar sends her regards. The success of his previous mission is going to be a great boon for the Neo-Hegemony.” She said, leaning forward, pressing on Sylen’s console panel, terminating the feed, patting her shoulder. “Done~ Go, take us to Saphir.”

 

“Yes, My Lady!” Sylen said happily, looking up to her even more now.

 

The Dawn simply flew past the military ships and none of them dared to turn around or follow them. Their road to Saphir was smooth and no other ship ever tried to stop them. The ones that met with the Dawn after arriving in the system of Saphir, were all from Mirian’s faction, giving the Dawn its own escort to the home planet of the Neo-Hegemony.

 

At Mors Caminus, in Parthen’s office, another meeting of the admiralty board was taking place at the same time. Admiral Jankho was silently reading through Parthen’s full report, while the rest were sometimes interjecting, asking questions of him. 

 

“You should have shot him down the moment he tried to leave.” One of them said.

 

“I don’t think that would have been a good choice. Simply by the fact that the suit’s backpack exploded in such a violent manner…” Parthen answered, stopping for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “Risking an explosion of that kind, that would damage the Veil or even destroy it… I was not willing to risk it. One thing was sure, if we became immoble and stuck there, then we would lose the Veil AND the Suit of Ares. That was an unacceptable outcome.”

 

“He is right.” Another voice interjected. “You did the right thing. This data is enough for us to replicate that machine and build our own version.”

 

“If we can build it.” A female voice interjected. “I am not a scientist but these schematics are way too advanced! Even if our station is capable of building it… There is the challenge of figuring out fine details… also… If we are going to build it we are going to need the resources from the Merchants’ Guild and the brains from the Research Department. We alone can’t handle something like this!”

 

“And that is why the Major General acted correctly.” Admiral Jankho spoke up then. “I put him in charge exactly because I trust his decisions.”

 

“How sure are you that that man was part of one of the other branches?” A different female voice asked suddenly. 

 

“I-” Parthen opened his mouth to speak but then he received Rururin’s message. Nobody was annoyed that he stopped talking and started reading instead. All of them knew if he did this, he had a good reason to do so. “100% at this moment.” He said after a minute of silence, wearing a small smile.

 

He quickly transmitted Rururin’s message to the rest, letting them read it and check the included video feed of the arriving Dawn and Mirian’s message.

 

“So it was her…” some voices murmured softly.

 

“I just hope you were not too harsh on him.” Jankho said in the end, wearing a small smile. “Lady Mirian is close to Professor Keshnar. She is going to work with him, I am sure of that.”

 

“I…” Parthen fell silent, as in his mind, he was cordial enough but remembering Omega’s words, he was not that sure anymore. 

 

“No matter.” Jankho continued. “This is also good. We should focus on roping in the merchants, getting the fundings and the resources. By the time we are ready to start building our own version, the researchers are going to have their own input.” He smiled. “The end is going to be the same, we are going to gain a great boon!”

 

…

….

…..

 

A white shuttle was entering the atmosphere of Saphir, leaving a red-hot trail behind it as it was breaking through the clouds. Mirian, Miyon, Sylen and Omega were sitting inside as the pilot was skilfully stabilizing their vessel, with the least, uncomfortable shaking possible. Sylen was already pumped up as for her, it was already 5 years since she last came here. Looking out from the window, what Omega could see was nothing but the sapphire colored, sparkling water of the ocean below them. Looking towards the horizon it was merging with the blue sky and there was no trace of any land on its surface.

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“The whole planet is covered in one big body of water!” Sylen explained readily to him. “It has a very rich ecosystem~ We managed to build huge, underwater cities, you know! Some are built on underwater volcanoes and fissures, harvesting their energies! Not to mention those stations that are down at the seabed, mining the resources from deep underground!”

 

“Mmhm.” Omega nodded, watching the endlessly stretching, sapphire ocean.

 

“Our biggest city,” Mirian added, “Is at a giant barrier reef. It was built alongside it. It has both a surface and underwater levels, housing more than 40 million souls. Its name is Pearl.”

 

“And I assume that we are heading towards it?” Omega asked, finally turning his head away from the scenery.

 

“No.” Mirian shook her head. “We are going to my home first. I already sent word and invited Professor Keshnar over; he should arrive in a few days. Until then, you can rest a little.”

 

“We are going to the home… of Kaltazar?” Miyon asked, as he gulped loudly. 

 

“As that is my home, yes.” Mirian smiled.

 

“Is it a site of pilgrimage?” Omega asked, guessing at it already.

 

“It is off limits for normal people. But yes, many fly by, close enough to see it.” Mirian chuckled a little.

 

“Humans also had a tendency to turn everything into a form of religion.” Omega smiled with a bit of nostalgia in his voice. Sylen and Miyon already knew that Mirian was told of his true origin so it was not surprising for them that he spoke so freely. 

 

“We inherited a lot of traits, it would seem.” Mirian laughed, covering her mouth with her hands.

 

It didn’t take long for them to finally see a small island come into view. It was completely man-made, its white, synthetic base was shining brightly as the sun’s rays reflected off of it. It was as if a whole palace was built atop the water, floating there gently. Of course, under the water it was a complex structure. Its pillars were making sure it was standing on a stable base and resisting any storms the weather may throw at it. It even had its own shields that it could raise if required, battling nature’s wrath just as well as any other attacks.

 

The shuttle was nearing a landing pad at the right end of it, taking a full circle before attempting to land. Omega had a chance to take a better look at the place while they flew around. The main palace was U shaped, three stories tall on all sides. It was built out of off-white colored stones, with orange tiles on its roof, resembling something that reminded him of ancient villas. It was way too big for only one woman so he was sure she was not living here alone. He could tell that without reaching out and getting a feeling for himself. Between the right and left wing, a garden was laid out, with healthy, green grass and multiple, colorful flower beds. Before he could count the people he saw, working in the garden or present at the premieters, working as security, their shuttle finally touched down.

 

“Well, before everyone else, I’d like to welcome you to my home~ Come, let me show you around a little! Mirian smiled, standing up and leading them out of the shuttle.

 

The people welcoming them were led by a butler, making Ariana chuckle involuntarily. He was a young looking boy, around 16 or 17, with big, white, rabbit ears, similar to what Rururin had. Meeting another of her kind, once again in a similar role, now as a butler, made her grin. She only wiped her smile off, when she heard him greet Mirian. His voice was way older than what his looks gave away. His tone resembled that of Miyon instead of that of a young boy.

 

“My Lady, we received your message. It is a relief to see you unharmed. I also welcome the esteemed guests.” He bowed towards them, leading a group of maids to follow suit, all of them coming from some kind of bestial heritage. 

 

“It was a close call, Ushu!” Mirian smiled, “If not for them I may have not come back at all! Ahaha~ Are their rooms ready?” 

 

“Yes.” He answered, clapping. Miyon and Sylen were led away, without questions raised. Both of them were escorted into their own, luxurious room with their own maids, ready to serve them and their wishes. What they didn’t notice was that Mirian just smiled, grabbing onto Omega’s hand, keeping him back. 

 

“Not so fast!” She chuckled. “Another ship is coming, bringing down the Xanthe. I am going to need your help to house it in the underwater hangar. I want to set it up correctly, so when the Professor comes, we can awe him into submission.”

 

“Into submission?” Omega asked, raising his eyebrows.

 

“Of course! He is a proud man! We can only gain his unconditional support, if we make him shake like the jelly he is!” 

 

“What?” Omega asked, now truly confused.

 

“Oh, yes, yes! You heard me right! He is more of a jelly than a human!” Mirian grinned, showing him an image of Professor Keshnar. 

 

“Huh…” He blinked his eyes, a bit surprised but also curious.

 

The image was simple and it only showed a giant, purple slime, wearing a white lab coat, making it look pretty funny. Especially as long, slimy hands were stretching out from the arms of it… and from multiple other places, making the coat completely redundant. Its body was partly see through, having two, black beady eyes on the top of its… well, body. It was missing any conventional features of a human, questioning the fact if he had any gene of theirs in him at all. 

 

“He only has a little.” Mirian answered, knowing what Omega was thinking about. “He has only a little of our ‘curse’ in him. He could easily mingle with his own people but he stands with us instead. Their people are the few who are not really hostile towards us.” 

 

“Mmm. I see.” Omega nodded.

 

“I think we should tell him what you are.” She smiled. “He is a fanatic when it comes to history. His goal in life is to discover a human corpse.” 

 

“A corpse?” Omega asked, twitching his mouth.

 

“Yeah! Nobody thinks your kind is still around!” Mirian answered, rolling her eyes. “If the Xanthe does not do its job, the fact what you are, would!” 

 

“Haahh… let us just see how it plays out… okay?”

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