Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (47 page)

Soon after General Kalan’s
victory against Liutein, those generals saved by General Kalan resumed their
posts. Since General Klizan was dead, every member in the Joint Commanders of
Staff was coveting the chair of offensive department and they quickly got into
action and lobbied around. General Klizan had been working hard on that too,
but his influence stopped short of affecting the senior members of those
powerful families. He was still too young. Even in the family K, Kalan couldn’t
take the head position which was succeeded by Klizan’s brother. However, Kalan
didn’t give up and gathered supports from the commanders from 23 fleets. Most
of them backed up Kalan and it finally landed him a seat in the Joint
Commanders of Staff. In the meanwhile, Kalan was still the commander of the
Seventh fleet.

It
turned out that the competition for the chair of offensive department was so
frenzied that the members of Joint Commanders of Staff all agreed that no one
should take this position and they should executed the right of the chair
together. They decided to spare the royal families, but keep them out of the
system. The royal families was no longer the diplomatic face of Glycan. As for
Liutein, the Joint Commanders of Staff had labelled him as the most wanted
criminal and offered a hefty reward for clues leading to his capture. 

Right
now General Kalan was heading to Guardian Fleet headquarter. He would discuss
with other eight species about the Hylocan issue. This was a preparation
meeting before the main conference which the leaders of nine species would
attend.

The
vessel carrying Klizan slowly touched down on Eva-1. After 20 minutes, Kalan
walked in the conference room. Six generals were already there and nobody was
talking to anyone. Kalan picked a chair next to the window. He believed Glycan
was much greater than all other species and he kind of felt that others species
also thought they were the best. They were all wearing their cold and straight
faces and waiting impatiently. Kalan knew the rule: the more powerful species
you were, the later you could show up. Nowadays, Estian and Oireitan had become
as strong as Glycan, if not stronger.

Several
minutes later, Estian General Geijoa and Oireitan General Ru aihotr entered the
room.

“So I
guess we can get started.” Kalan said hastily.

“First,
General Kalan, are you sure that fucking Human wore Hylocan queen’s ring?”
Geijoa said unhappily.

“What is
his name again?” Ru aihotr asked impatiently.

“Yes, we
got the ring from him. I have said it many times.” Kalan said calmly.

“Then
why Hylocan didn’t come to rescue this Jason Marton?” Geijoa said angrily.

“Patient.
It was just more than a month.” Kalan said slowly.

“We are
counting on how much the Hylocan queen loves this Human. Is there anything more
stupid than this?” Ru aihotr complained.

“This
Human was the only lead we have. If you two have better ideas, I am on my
ears.” Kalan said ironically as he looked at Geijoa and Ru aihotr.

“Can I
speak something for the other six species?” Uainanese General T-Regae said
politely.

“Of
course. You are one of us.” Geijoa said happily.

Klizan
knew what Geijoa meant. Estian, Oireitan and Uainanese were paying for the new
vessels for Guardian Fleet. Even though Uainanese didn’t have an arm as strong
as Glycan, their economy gave them a strong pull.

“When
Estian, Glycan and Oireitan finished their turns to watch the prison, the other
six species should combine their forces together and patrol that area.” T-Regae
said

“That is
fine. But the patrol time won’t change. It will be six months not one month.”
Ru aihotr said firmly.

“That is
not reasonable. Even though we agree each species only does one month, you have
to consider the armed forces we have.” Yaseen General Ihiet said sincerely.

“It is
our decision to take turns to send our own fleets to monitor prison Listan.”
Geijoa said coldly.

“Yes and
we all know the reason, don’t we? The outdated combat vessels of Guardian Fleet
couldn’t even stand up for a fight!” Ihiet said hastily.

“General
Ihiet, we need to work together in this case. If you don’t want to put in,
everyone’s safety will be in jeopardy.” Ru aihotr said in an official tone.

“We are
giving our best. But you need to think about the capability of our armed
forces. Estian, Oireitan and Glycan are strong and you three should take more
responsibilities.” Ihiet said innocently.

“Who are
going to pay?” Ru aihotr asked directly.

Ihiet
suddenly lost steam and casted his eyes down. 

Kalan
knew Ihiet was right. But he also knew the six species were not really involved
in the slaughter of Hylocan and that might be the reason why they couldn’t
fully commit to this matter.

“That is
the way it is. If we don’t work together, then one day Hylocan will come back
and you will count on us to defend you.” Ru aihotr said coldly as he pointed at
himself.

Kalan
flashed a brittle smile.

Later,
they discussed the details about monitoring prison Listan and their strategies
to the possible attack from Hylocan. At least they all agreed on one thing: the
Hylocan was definitely coming back. Estian also pointed out that they lost a
squadron of 10 combat vessels about a month ago. The investigation showed that
those 10 vessels fired at each other. Except Kalan all generals were worried.
Kalan knew this incident from Klaycon and now he was really concerned about the
Hylocan eyeball. Thinking about this, Kalan decided to put more effort to find
Cruiser General Klizan.

The
meeting finished with some surface level agreements. Everyone was watching how
much efforts others put in and everyone was calculating how to save their own
species and consume the most of other species.

After talking with Gloria,
everyone got their own assignments. Erikon and Lucis were in charge of
collecting guard’s information in prison Listan. Sayilin and Orizy would take
care of locating the prison. Titainein and Idi were responsible for the vessel
and the security layout of the prison.

Erikon
and Lucis had no idea where to start, but they didn’t complain. They knew what
they were facing couldn’t compare with what Gloria would run into. Erikon
really admired Gloria for her resolve and courage, but Lucis thought Gloria was
crazy.

Erikon and
Lucis reasoned that the information center in the Guardian Fleet headquarter
should have all prison personnel information. They tried several times but
couldn’t even get close to the headquarter. They ended up asking Gloria for
help. Gloria managed to get in, but the personnel information wasn’t there.
Instead she found that several days ago, Guardian Fleet sent the personnel data
to Human treasury department to process the payment. Even though the prison was
making a lot of money for nine species, the second class species still needed
to pay all expenses.

Since
Lucis’s father was in charge of Human treasury department, Lucis and Erikon
decided to try their luck in his father’s office. They waited until the weekend
and left for Human colony.

The
offices of Human treasury department was a group of buildings sitting near the
river. It was the weekend and most buildings were empty. Lucis went to his
father’s office before, so he no problem passing all security checks except the
last one that required his father’s DNA. Since they couldn’t get into his
father’s office, they quickly changed the plan and went to the room right
beneath Cateon’s office. Then they sent a small robot worm to Cateon’s office
through the ceiling.

As the
robot worm crawled into the room, they started to hear people talking.

“I must
say this Glycan thing really get all of us on the edge.” Cateon said in a
joking voice.

“It
didn’t work out as Liutein planned.” Colonel Salmon said easily.

“You
think we will get any trouble?” Mark asked cautiously.

“Not
that I know of.” Cateon said happily.

Lucis
recognized his father’s voice, but had no idea who the other two guys were. He
manipulated the worm to take a good look at those people. There were three men
standing in the middle of the room.

“Well,
Mark, you must be wondering why we have this meeting today. I could simply make
a call, right?” Cateon asked with a mysterious smile.

“I am
dying to know.” Mark said.

“We all
know you worked on a lot of Hylocan stuff before. We also know your son Jason
is locked up in prison Listan. It seems that those first species take special
interest in your son.” Cateon said.

“Why is
that?” Mark asked.

“It
might have something to do with Hylocan.” Cateon said in a doubting tone.

“I see.”
Mark said calmly and hid his surprise. He was actually expecting something
related with Glycan.

“We
would like to send somebody to prison Listan and find out more details.” Cateon
said.

“If I do
this, can my son get freedom?” Mark asked hastily.

“It’s
not our call. Those first species don’t give a damn about us. They didn’t even
tell us what happened when we requested.”

“I see.”
Mark said sadly. 

“You are
certainly not our only option. Given the fact that the economy is so bad these
days, I am quite sure someone else would like to take this job and make some
money. I personally feel you are not the best candidate for this job. He is
your son and you have this emotional attachment. But Colonel Salmon highly
recommended you.” Cateon said with a grin as he glanced over at Salmon.

“I still
didn’t get the money from that Glycan job I pulled last time.” Mark said
unhappily.

“Oh, I
almost forgot. This is what Glycan paid us.” Cateon said as he threw a crystal
to Mark.

“I will
do it. But I need more intel about the prison.” Mark said calmly. He was
thinking about rescuing Jason.

“We have
the personnel information.” Cateon said happily.

“That is
somewhere we can start from.” Mark said.

They all
smiled quietly and then left the room.

As soon
as they were gone, Erikon and Lucis maneuvered the worm into a data port on a
console and extracted the data they needed. They swiftly left the building and
headed back to Eva-1.

After the fight against Faty,
Jason won another two fights. Even though he only won three fights, he had
already gotten a reputation of cruelty. Because Jason killed his opponents in
an extremely painful way. In the second fight, he punched through the belly of
a Uainanese and used it to strangle the Uainanese to death. In the third fight,
he bit the face of a Tizuee and pulled his skull apart. For him, the fights
were more like the opportunities to unleash his animal nature so that he
wouldn’t implode.

Right
now Jason was having dinner with Geuinm. Everyday they had the same food: a
thin soup and five pieces of bread.

“You
ever thought about the guys you killed?” Geuinm suddenly asked.

Jason
stopped gobbling and thought for a second. He smiled easily and said, “I am not
really a sentimental type.

“Oh.”
Geuinm was a little surprised, but he kept his posture the same.

“You
ever killed anyone?” Jason asked curiously.

“I
killed several guys in UWII.”

“You
must be a high rank officer at that time.” Jason said confidently.

“Why is
that?” Geuinm smiled.

“I got
that feeling.” Jason said happily as he took out a sausage which he got from
trading gems with shopper. He started betting on himself from the second fight.

“Hey,
you want some?” Jason whispered to Geuinm.

“No,
thank you.” Geuinm said politely. He knew what those sausages were made of and
he knew Jason knew that as well.

“I
thought an old guy like you get used to all those killings.” Jason said in a
low voice.

Geuinm
flashed a stiff grin and said, “I hope not. When you lose the care for life,
you pretty much lose the care of everything else.”

“I
guess, we should all become vegetarians. Right?” Jason joked.

Geuinm
smiled reluctantly.

After
dinner, Geuinm went back to his cell. Jason sat alone at the edge of the
playground. No one came to talk to him or even looked at him. Jason saw Luee
walking in the distance, but he had no intention to deal with Luee and he
didn’t feel sorry for punching Luee on the face.

Just at
this moment, a Tizuee walked to Jason. He was skinny and tall, middle age,
wearing gray beard.

“Hi, how
are you doing?” The Tizuee said happily.

Jason
gave him a cold smile and then turned his head away.

“You
seem pretty famous around here. Everyone knows you.” The Tizuee said kindly.

“You
need to know the name to bet.” Jason said in disgust.

“I am
kinda new here. Got in yesterday. I am Yawon, by the way.” Yawon said as he sat
next to Jason.

It was
the scent that stirred Jason’s memory. Jason immediately recalled Gloria who
had the same scent just like this Tizuee. He took a sniff and said, “You smell
like a girl, you know that?”

“Really?
You probably miss girls too much. I don’t blame you. I miss girls too.” Yawon
said in an understanding voice.

Jason
took another sniff. Now he was quite sure this scent was the same as that of
Gloria.

“Are you
alright? You look distracted.” Yawon said gently.

“I am
fine. What do you want?” Jason said impatiently.

“Nothing.
Just talking. You know. So how long you have been here?” Yawon asked.

“Close
to two months.”

“What
did you do?”

“I was a
trainee in....” Jason stopped short of saying Guardian Fleet.

“In
what? I didn’t catch the last word.”

“Nothing.”
Jason said coldly.

“You
look like a soldier.”

Jason
glanced over at Yawon, but didn’t say a word.

“How you
end up here?”

“I don’t
know. Oh, let me guess. Falling love with a Glycan girl and saved the Hylocan
queen.” Jason said impatiently.

“I
believe you.” Yawon said seriously.

“Man,
that is funny.” Jason chuckled.

“I mean
it.”

Jason
broke into laughter.

“You
regret anything you did for the Glycan girl?” Yawon asked directly.

Jason
immediately stopped laughing and shot Yawon an angry stare. Then he stood up
and walked away.