Chapter Ninety Five - Seventy Two Hours Part One

Guran Vi Du wanted so much to be a landscape artist. He studied gardening and plants in his spare time. He drew up basic designs through his middle school years, which became more intricate as he entered high school. He secretly had ferreted away credits from his part time jobs and had planned to study the subject formally at university.. until his mother put a stop to that.  She used the words of guilt.

"It's a dream of mine that my son follow in my footsteps..."

"Wouldn't it be nice if you were able to study under my old professor..."

"Look, love, these are the first tools I ever took to a dig.  I can't wait for you to use them!"

And so he had reluctantly put aside his own dreams for those of his lone parent and took the subjects she once took as his focus in university.  And when she secured him a place on an up and coming dig, he had followed with out a protest.  During the dig, he died.  But though this was the end of Guran Vi Du, it was not the end of Guran Vi Du as his physical self lived on.

At that moment, Guran Vi Du was being observed under the scrutiny of many suspicious eyes and just one pair of warm ones that was failing to hide the love within them.  "Oh, hello, there," he said, nervously.  Explaining this was going to take some eloquence.  Fortunately he had some experience with that sort of thing... in a former life.  "I'm Guran Vi Du, formerly of the Alliance.."

"You mean that thing that attacked us was from the Alliance?" A hot headed youth from the lost fleet cried out.

"Ah, no, not exactly," Guran tried to explain.

"Well then, where did it come from?" the man beside him demanded.  "Captain, we should just kill this thing now. Everyone is dead because of it!"  He was not addressing the Captain of the Sabine, who crossed his arms with a frown.

"I can safely say that was not my doing," Guran replied.

"Who else is to blame?" the ensign shouted.  "You were aboard that thing!  You survived! Someone needs to pay from the crimes against us."

"If you kill me now," Guran said with a slight sigh.  "Then I can guarantee that you will not stop the invasion that is coming."

"No one is killing anyone," the teenager with the silver white hair standing close to him yelled, as he stepped in front of Guran as if to shield him.

Guran gently placed a hand on his shoulder.  "You aren't supposed to know me, remember," he said with a gentle whisper.  He stepped around the slight blockade to face his accusers.  "You are right to be angry," he said to the men confronting him.  "You are right to be upset.  But you have no right to judge me without hearing the full situation."

"Oh?" The woman holding the teenager that looked identical to his lover questioned.  "And just what are the circumstances?"

*****

Aldon Krause collapsed in his seat behind his desk, his mind blank.  Within the space of just twenty minutes, more than three quarters of a border regiment had been destroyed and an additional fleet of twelve ships had sacrificed themselves to protect the Empire.  Jezmi Welhaven's ship had been amongst them.  But, she had told him that she was moving to intercept the pirate holding his sons... had they died to?  Just like that any hope for their future as a family gone?

He swept the desk clear of tablets and pens, even the empty, chipped mug his wife had gifted him flew subject to his wrath.  But his eyes were dry, so much so that they burned.  Why had he not found them sooner?  What reputation?  What position?  What did that matter anymore?

Jezmi's parents, as well as the families of the lost men and women, were demanding explanations, but he had none to give them.  Military Head Quarters simply received a short tranmission from the fleet; they intercepted a megalith of a spatial vessel that appeared to be made up of an immeasurable number of nanochips.  Lasers and Missiles did not work.  Their only choice was a last ditch kamikaze run.

Several warships had headed to intercept the thing after it breached the borders; it's course set for the Imperial homeworld.  But when they reached the location of the last transmission, there was nothing but debris.  No survivors.  All they could do was collect fragments of said nanochips for investigation and head home.  The Military officials planned to treat the lost men and women of the fleet and border regiment as heroes who died in the line of duty, but what comfort was that to their grieving families?

At a loss, Aldon was about to throw the communication device, which had constantly been bombarded with journalists and calls from the Welhavens, when he realised that this call came with a security code.  He allowed it to connect and a familiar face appeared before him.

"Fucking hell, Jezmi," he laughed as the tension built over the past day released from him.  "You all scared the living daylights out of us!  Where the hell is your fleet?"

The serious expression the woman held upon her face did not falter.  "Aldon," She said, bursting his false bubble.  "It's gone, they are all gone.  Only five of us survived in the end."

"Five? Five ships?" He asked, more out of hope than anything.  But it was quickly dashed as she shook her head.  "Five people?" His words were barely above a whisper.  "How could this happen?"

"It's complicated," Jezmi advised him.  "But, hear me out until the end, no questions."

He frowned, but agreed with a slight nod.  "Alright."

"It's not like I understand it all myself," she sighed, turning to glance at several people he could barely see behind her.  "We were picked up by the Pirate ship that I told you about..."

Pirate ship? "The boys.. are they there?  Can I see them?"

"I thought I said no questions!  I'll introduce you in a bit.  This is important Aldon!" She scolded, before continuing.  "The Alliance unearthed some ancient civilisation on a dead world, releasing these nanochips into the galaxy.  These chips can come together to form... anything I guess.  Ladders, ships, lifepods... they made up the megalith."

"We heard about that, the Plier sent a transmission."

"Stop interrupting! Anyway, these chips also can take over humanoid minds."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said!  The chips have been taking over people, completely subverting their minds until they are just puppets and then using them to spread more chips. According to... our source... they have taken over nearly twenty planets in the Alliance, as well as several key figures in the Alliance government and a couple of planets in League space."

"Wait.. doesn't that suggest that there is an operative source? They can't be acting on their own right?"

"That's right," Jezmi agreed.  "The remnants of the original race that created the chips.  Or more specifically, their queen."

"Like insects?"

Jezmi glanced behind her at someone, but clearly didn't receive an answer.  "Not sure on that one."

Aldon sighed, this all sounded like some epic science fiction holo movie to him.  Sure the Alliance had not answered their demands for answers clearly, coming up with vague brush offs and there were some unusual movements within their borders but... Aldon frowned.  "Wait, you said, you had a source."

"Yeah, about that..." Jezmi had hoped he would not bring that up, he was much more aware than she gave him credit for.  "He says he was one of the first to have been 'taken over' by the chips, but says his is defective allowing him to escape the queen's control."

"I think we'll need to take him in for interrogation," Aldon told her.

"Not a chance," came a voice from behind Jezmi.

"Law, honey, this is a matter for the military," she said to the boy soothingly.  Aldon froze, he knew from her soft tones and manner that she was talking to his son.

"Let me talk to them," Aldon pleaded.

Jezmi moved the visual in order that the man be able to see a number of people behind her including two identical twin boys with black eyes and silver white hair.  From their strong jawline to length of nose and phoenix feather, black eyes, they both resembled a youthful and vibrant him.  Yet both had inherited the beautiful silky locks from their mother.  "You both have Myha's hair colour," he murmured.  He had never seen two brothers that looked so alike, identical twins were unheard of in the Empire.  But it was no wonder Myha could not bear to part with them.  They were beyond words.

"But they look like you," Jezmi said, sulkily.  "They are even cold like you.  Law refuses to hug me."

"They are young men, now, Jezmi," Aldon reasoned.  And then he unexpectedly bowed to the older man, whom he rightly assumed to be the Pirate Captain.  "Thank you for raising my sons."  Maerlon looked surprised for a moment, then sent Jezmi a few sly and smug looks, which infuriated her instantly.  "Boys, I'm not expecting you to call me father, I've not earned that right.  But could you give me a chance to get to know you, in the future, please."

This man's humble pleading rather that their aunts abrupt demands sit better with the twins, who nodded in agreement.  "Ah, but you can't have Guran Vi Du," the twin to the left of the fourth man in shot told him.  Said man, with height slightly more than the twins, with dark skin tones and pale eyes waved sheepishly at the screen.

"You are the escaped... person?" Aldon asked.

"That would be me!" The young man said, openly.

"Would you mind coming to speak with us about the invaders?"  The twin beside him instantly became ruffled.

"No, not really," Guran said, "but there isn't really the time for that if you want to stop her."  Everyone froze on hearing this new piece of information.  "She's preparing to attack again.  Understand though, she doesn't want to kill you, just take you all over until there is only one will in this galaxy. Hers.  But if you think there is time for idle chit chat..."

"Aldon," Jezmi said.  "I have recorded everything down, with just a few exclusions." She glanced at her nephews, to which Aldon nodded his understanding.  "I'll send the file to you.  It includes the names of the survivors.  I know this will not help the families who have lost people, but.."

"No, it's something," Aldon sighed.  "But just how long do we have."

"If the manufacturing rate of the new chips remains constant," Guran said after listening to the calculations of Yin inside him, "about 72 hours before a new deployment reaches your border."

"That soon?"  Aldon exclaimed.  "I'll get this information to the officials.  And boys, it is great to finally meet you both."  The screen went blank before the twins could say a word.

"Ah don't mind him," Jezmi said, dismissively.  "Work always comes first with him." She fell silent for a moment.  "Just 72 hours huh.  What are we going to do?  It took three self destructing warships to take it out last time!"

"Hmmm, actually, there is one way to stop it," Guran Vi Du mentioned.