Archives of the Frontier Universe: An Assassin's Assignment (9 page)

“
It is not in our interest to send meaningless aid, Justice!
” affirmed some woman with him. She sounded clearer, obviously, they were right at the door.

“
I think you should hold off on taking a stance until after the next session
,” said Kelrundum.

And then, from behind the bookshelf, Rose heard the man’s key slide into the lock and disengage it. She peeked through a row of books, noticing in the nick of time she had left on the lamp! Using her power, she waved at the light, and it died. The room was dark for less than one second before Kelrundum pushed the door open. Rose’s heart was throbbing.

“And what sense is there in that?” snapped the woman. She walked in quickly, as Kelrundum held the door. “So that I may be made to feel guilty?” Because of the light in the hall, Rose could not distinguish the woman’s features; however, what she did next revealed more than her physique. With an irritable wave of her hand, the torches mounted on the walls spat fire and steadied. Then spotting the lamp on the man’s desk, she pointed, and it glowed once more.

Remaining as still as possible, Rose examined the woman. Like Kelrundum himself, she was of the Eiltheen species. Her hair was brown and plainly long, but fastened neatly for Court duty. Even from the distance she walked, obviously, her height matched Rose’s. The woman also wore a fine Eiltheen robe of green and black, an extravagant sword at her side (most definitely an arkanverre), and her makeup was almost perfect . . . and she was very beautiful. However, in spite of fairness, the woman’s face exhibited cruelty at the moment. Rose reckoned this to be her usual persona, with it relaxing to mild sternness at the best of times.

Not even waiting for the justice, the flustered woman marched over to his desk. One of the guest chairs scrapped across the rug underneath (reacting to her telekinesis) and she plopped down in it. Promptly, she set a stack of her paperwork down on the desk and began flipping through the pages.

Over by the door, the justice shook his head in minor conflict and waved into the hall. “Please come in,” he said. “The councilor’s just frustrated.” A Forcurrian man walked in and joined the woman. The justice shut the door, and walked over. “Councilor, this is a touchy subject, to be sure,” he said in a reconciliatory tone. “No matter the morality, ‘I,’ as executive justice, cannot champion Florenial’s decisions. Not to such a degree that you’re suggesting. It would only give rise to instability in the Court, and to suspicion.” Rose saw this explanation light a weak fire in the councilor’s eyes. “They’re going to start believing that I only mean to further the goals of Florenial.”

“That’s a convenient cover up, Ladorn. So, let me get this straight: You profess to hold no responsibility for your home world because of your office? Because of some misplaced fear of losing popularity?”

“Now, his concern is actually proper, Councilor,” said the Forcurrian official. “Balancing the needs of all the allied worlds is always one of the more difficult duties of his office.”

“
Who is that with him?
” asked Meyer.
“
The woman? Do you recognize her?
”

Rose powered on her slate.

“
Yes, I heard them call her ‘councilor
,’” he said after a moment. “
She seems the festive and inviting type
.” His tone was soaked in sarcasm. Rose smiled but continued to watch.

Kelrundum leaned in his chair and held his hands out. “Hiellta, also remember the council knew the sacrifices I’d be forced to make when taking this office. At the time, they offered nothing but support.” He then leaned towards the councilor. “As I recall, you pledged your own support.”

The woman tilted her head briskly. “Indeed; but this was before I knew you’d practically desert all ties to Florenial’s wellbeing.”

“Now, that’s an overzealous thought, Councilor,” returned the justice calmly. “It would be foolish for any person to believe that I’d abandon my responsibility to Florenial. The Court simply has rules that are not defined in legislation. If I push to have the allied worlds assist Dailunavein but support Florenial’s own refusal, how will I be viewed?” He paused, in which time Rose sent Meyer another message.

He answered quickly this time. “Yes, and I’ve got a few interesting results coming up: Councilor Hiellta Silatine, a member of the High Eiltheen Council; and Representative Hiellta Silatine, liaison of Florenial. An impressive résumé.”

Rose looked at Hiellta as she continued protesting the justice’s position on the matter. In spite of her political standing, the woman appeared even more potent internally. Her very words and tone seemed to be influencing the other two, albeit lightly, to appreciate her side of the matter. She was very inspiring with her energy and facial expressions . . . and Rose began to wonder the extent of her combat skills.
If they were anything like her cracking whip of a tongue, she would prove a formidable opponent
, Rose assumed.

Hiellta huffed some sort of mild curse in the Eiltheen tongue and tossed her head. “I don’t know why I’d even bother trying to sway your decision. It was settled the moment Meirthealy appeared in transmission, wasn’t it? And that must’ve been weeks ago.”

“
Yeah, I see that now
,” entered Meyer. “
According to this, she is . . . or was a member of the Florenian branch. Heck, with her enthusiasm, I’m surprised she didn’t stay there and try to become grandmaster of their sanctuary.
”

“Representative, please,” said the official next to Hiellta. “Grandmaster Meirthealy’s voice is strong in the Court. Not only because of her standing in the Posteritor Order, but because of the tragedy her world faced only a few weeks ago. It’d be utterly inappropriate to dismiss her recommendations in this instance. The other worlds would simply not allow it, anyways.”

“Don’t remind me,” breathed the woman. “Which is another issue in itself,” she proclaimed. “The Posteritor Order may be part of the Court’s heritage, but it’s not a significant enough entity anymore. As the years go by, and other systems join our alliance, the order grows weaker. Soon its numbers will prove completely inconsequential in the face of the rest of the Court.”

Kelrundum leaned in his chair. “You seem to be monitoring this . . . deterioration with great anticipation . . . ‘Posteritor Silatine’. Do you regard your own heritage in the line inconsequential?”

Rose concentrated her gaze on the woman, wondering the same. Hiellta seemed to hesitate, as if considering this detail for the first time. “It is a shame, Justice. The situation,” she specified. “However, those who lack adaptability—even an order as historical as the posteritors’—will die off to make room for the more sociably stable. Though a pity, it is only natural.”

“Meaning if it were possible,” began Kelrundum, “you
would
further a path that would sustain both—your order and the wellbeing of the allied worlds?” Hiellta paused again but then straightened up in agreement, as if the question was absurd. But she did not speak. The justice nodded. “I thought so. Which is why my current goal is unity. Both can survive, Councilor. The Posteritor Order may be weaker than it was in past days; however, I believe it to be the dusk before dawn, not an eternal sleep. It wasn’t until recently, actually, that posteritors began training like before . . .”

“
Do you believe the order is really ‘that’ weak
?” asked Meyer. “
I know it isn’t as strong as it once was, but . . . I thought it was just . . . downtime right now. I mean, there hasn’t been a full-on war or anything going on for a while
.”

“
Hmm. Well, assuming they won’t notice, is there anything you can do from there? To get the intel
?”

Very quietly, Rose moved from where she could see them and pulled out her slate again. She moved as slowly as she could, so as to not expose herself to Hiellta. The device began searching for an entry point to Kelrundum’s computer.

“Ladorn, there’s something odd about this room,” said Hiellta all of the sudden. She began peering around the room in suspicion.

Rose froze behind the bookshelf and focused her hearing. Using ultra-sensitive equilibrium organs in her ears, she could read pressure fluctuations in the room and somewhat map out the area . . . and so could the councilor. Kelrundum, Hiellta, and the Forcurrian were all immediately discernible, as was the justice’s desk. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, leading Rose to believe the councilor had detected her.

“Excuse me, Councilor?” said Kelrundum. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

Rose felt the other woman lift her head and scan the room with her own senses. Using her psychic powers, Rose very gently conjured an inverse fluctuation, hiding herself. The skeptic listened on, though.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “I thought I . . . nothing. It must be my imagination; it’s gone now. The recent news of that Pirate base is . . . lingering in my mind.”

“Yes,” agreed the Forcurrian official with her. “That was some troubling news. I can’t believe the Union would be so bold as to attack us here. The very Court capital! They amass a small army of martyrs simply to strike fear into the hearts of our people.” Rose felt him shaking his head. “Terrorism. Ha! How archaic.”

“
Perfect
!” grumbled Meyer. “
Well, this is just great! Because of Kyte’s people, they really think we were here to carry out some disgraceful attack on civilians. The idiots! If they just would’ve surrendered, they . . .
” He trailed off in anger, making Rose think he would punish Kyte himself for the outcome.

“Remember, we’re dealing with Pirates here,” returned the councilor freshly. “What did you expect? A fair fight? Diplomacy? Mercy?” She shook her head, smiling in intolerance.

Still trying to establish a connection, Rose peeked her head back through the books. She saw Justice Kelrundum nod and lift both of his hands declaratively.

“Ah, very good!” he concluded. “Then you must now appreciate why Meirthealy is calling to aid Dailunavein. Just who did you think would be attacking them?” Hiellta shot the man a devilish look, and he opened his palms calmly. “Just examine the facts, Councilor. Whether it is our responsibility or not, they
are
in need. We should bear in mind that it is not just Pirates either. Meirthealy is convinced this other race which attacked Castle Maenewgala is targeting them too.” The man faced his computer and powered it on. Rose’s heart picked up a bit as her chance neared. “Look, I’ll read the report,” he said, bypassing the security.

Cautiously, Rose peered down to her slate and tried to connect now with the security out of the way. Astonishingly, the device secured a connection at once! As Kelrundum searched his system for the Atlantis war report, Rose began scanning at high speed. First, she entered a command to simply find the three representatives from his terminal. However, it appeared that Kelrundum’s system did not have direct access to the information, and another security layer stopped her.
You’re kidding!
she ranted internally. She abandoned the first search and tried for the codes for the server floor instead.

“Here!” announced Kelrundum. Hiellta and the other man leaned as he rotated his screen. “In several of the reports, not just Meirthealy’s, there were sightings of an unknown race. The grandmaster claims that they’re ‘Norvanulls.’ An ancient species dating back eons before the formation of the Court. Apparently, they are much more powerful than the rest of the Union and . . .”

Only partially listening still, Rose located the codes she needed. She transferred them to her device along with two or three other codes for various restricted levels. However, only the one for the sever room near the bottom floor was labeled.

“
Ugh
!” groaned Captain Meyer. “
Damn Norvanulls. I understand they’re on our side but that doesn’t mean they’re looking out for us. I don’t trust them. They seem the treacherous type. Anyways, do you have the codes yet
?”

“
Great. Now all you have to do is wait them out
.”

At least from where Rose stood now, there was no peaceful escape, anyways. She looked back to Hiellta, as the woman continued her incessant ranting. she added.

“
Good idea. I’ll listen in as well. Maybe we can dig up some more intel. She’s certainly spouting off nicely
.”

Rose smiled.

“You don’t have to tell
me
about the Norvanulls’ potency,” put Hiellta, crossing her legs. “I’ve studied them extensively, among many other so-called extinct races. If the Eiltheen archives are accurate, Ladorn,” she peered at him closely, possibly because he was Eiltheen as well, “then yes . . . certainly . . . Dailunavein has
much
to fear. This does not mean it’s in our interest—any of our interests,” she specified, motioning around the room and very building, “to assist them. They’ve made their decision . . . for decades.”