The last two days were a stark reminder for Commander Cyrix that they were officially at war. He sat in his office surveilling the real-time combat occurring around the planet he was tasked with safeguarding, haggard.

  Luckily, he’d been prepared by Nessah for the arrival of the Rukkan after their disastrous attempt to fight in Verilian-controlled space. What he hadn’t been expecting was the sudden arrival of the gru’ul.

  They came in continuous waves and hadn’t stopped for two full days. No matter how many enemy ships his army destroyed, more showed up. The gru’ul had heavily damaged the entrance to the research facility in their initial surprise attack and now occupied it. Facing such heavy fire in space left him with little resources to spare to safeguard the facility.

  When at last a lull in the fighting occurred, Cyrix debated sending a contingent down to the planet for backup in the hopes that it wouldn’t be destroyed by the gru’ul defending the entrance. His soldiers were in desperate need of reinforcements.

  He sighed, hoping that the active combat zone planet-side wouldn’t become a grave for all the personnel in the research facility. Reports were infrequent and heavily erratic, but what he’d received left him with a difficult choice to make. He could either abandon his soldiers and researchers onsite to their fates or order an evacuation to abandon the facility to the gru’ul and retreat back to Verilia. Doing that meant abandoning the treasure trove of knowledge that would give them the edge they needed in future battles.

  He refused to forsake his own people and leave them at the mercy of such monsters, but he needed to be pragmatic. They couldn’t afford heavy losses so early into the war. Already, the flagship had been damaged by powerful gru’ul weapons and precious lives had been lost.

  He was furious. He didn’t know why the gru’ul decided to show up or how the Rukkan had known the coordinates of the facility, but he was certain it had something to do with the traitor currently being interrogated. The data slate found in Fahl’s room had damning evidence. No matter how much Fahl denied it, the truth was staring everybody right in the face.

  Cyrix would discover the truth, no matter the method.

  A new report flashed on a holoscreen to his left, bringing his attention back to the warfare being waged around the flagship. A new wave had arrived, this one much larger than the first. Cyrix took stock of the state of his troops and came to a decision.

  Nadi jumped from her hoverbike and landed on the hard, metallic ground with a thud. She wasted no time and immediately dashed for cover among the debris with the rest of her squad. Quickly taking up a defensible position, she and her team opened fire on the defending gru’ul.

  The soldiers at the research facility had managed to fend off their invaders, but their resources were running thin and there had been significant casualties. Nadi’s mission was no longer to control the facility. The order to evacuate had made her shift her priorities.

  More soldiers entered the damaged hangar on their hoverbikes but not all of them made it safely off of them. Enemy gru’ul were everywhere in the expansive room and soon the battle devolved into who could eliminate the other side the fastest.

  Nadi knew her group was at a disadvantage. There wouldn’t be more troops coming to support them, while the gru’ul were scattered gods knew where within the maze-like facility. She was just thankful that the entrance from deeper inside the facility made a natural choke point her squadron could control.

  When the last gru’ul body hit the floor, Nadi gave the orders to tend to the wounded and advance cautiously. Another gru’ul came rushing through the door but made it all of two steps before another soldier left a gaping hole in its shoulder and neck. It dropped to the ground, dead.

  The group advanced, covering possible blind spots and entry points. Nadi already knew where the survivors were holed up waiting for rescue. She thanked her lucky stars that they were mostly all in one place. There was almost no contact with any wayward stragglers, which led Nadi to believe there were none. Those who never answered back after initial communications she had to presume dead. Although she wanted to get everybody out of the facility alive, Nadi made the tough call to leave those in too deep to their fates.

  The halls left little in the way of cover while gru’ul poured out of every possible entrance with no warning. The fight was long and exhausting. Eventually, Nadi made it to the survivors alive and in one piece, at the cost of half of her contingent.

  Now joined by more soldiers and non-combat personnel, she had the difficult task of ensuring they survived the perilous trip back. She knew that Commander Cyrix was waiting on news from them before directing the rest of the army to retreat. The more time they lost down there, the more people would die covering them.

  The hallways blended into one another, Nadi trusting in the guidance from her teammates back on the ship to find her way back. She fell into a trance. Step, turn, shoot. Duck, ignore cries from behind her, fire back. She snapped out of it only when she finally arrived back at the hangar. With no other gru’ul ships inbound, she evacuated the survivors onto her ship and was soon on her way back to the flagship.

  The fight wasn’t over yet. People cried out in a panic with every sudden lurch to avoid incoming shots, praying to the gods the next shot wouldn’t hit them. Nadi’s teammate was a seasoned pilot and steered them safely back to the flagship. One of the other ships following her took a direct shot. The damage was extensive, but they somehow hobbled back to the flagship mostly intact. Nadi attributed the narrow survival to pure luck and proceeded to inform the Commander that everybody was accounted for.

  The retreat signal immediately went off to all active units as powerful shields went up around the flagship. They permitted entry to allies and kept the gru’ul out long enough for every surviving ship to safely dock.

  The flagship and all other support vessels winked out of existence and returned home to lick their wounds.

  Gru’ul ships continued to warp into the Arvis sector uncontested now that Commander Cyrix had retreated. Several made their way down to the planet and sent troops to scour the facility. The nameless soldiers paid no heed to their slain brethren, unwilling to give such failures their attention. That they died to the experiments was a testament to their weakness. They were unworthy of further thought.

  Any unfortunate survivors that hadn’t escaped with Nadi were summarily executed. The gru’ul had no need for interrogations, as recordings from around the facility allowed for them to recreate the timeline of events that led to such a disastrous situation.

  As the monstrosities covered every section of the facility, another group with proper badges made their way to the restricted section. Among them was another gru’ul wearing a Highest’s badge. It inspected all of the special rooms accessible only to the previous Highest. The many decapitated bodies in the first one gave them all pause. Only something with great force would have been able to accomplish such a feat, and the new Highest knew that the a’vaare were unable to muster such strength. Something to investigate later.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  The room containing the mutated bodies merely informed it that one pod had been opened. The Highest made its way to the terminal that controlled the pods and screeched in annoyance when it saw that they were corrupted.

  The lesser gru’ul were not permitted into the final room. There, the Highest went to the master terminal. It inspected Irric’s equipment setup that had allowed him to access the terminal. For a brief moment, the Highest worried that the experiments had learned everything the facility had to offer. It was only when it started up the master terminal that it discovered that even that one was corrupted.

  Satisfaction flooded the Highest. Its counterpart had denied the a’vaare vital information. At best, only random scraps of data had been found. The Highest removed its badge from its chest and placed it into an ever so slight depression in the terminal.

  The terminal opened up, revealing two crystals inside. One shone a brilliant blue while the other a dull green that was fritzing. Ignoring the damaged green memory crystal, the Highest grabbed the blue one, an uncorrupted backup copy of all the facility’s research.

  While there were many such research sites set up in various hidden locations, contact was few and far between. The Hive had no reason to doubt that anything had gone wrong at the one it was at currently. Since research notes were decentralized and only reported once the experiments were complete, the Hive did not yet have access to what had been discovered in the Arvis sector.

  The Highest was certain that it would find things of great interest on the crystal in its hand. It hissed gleefully at its luck. The experiments hadn’t thought to open the terminal directly. Such was another example of their inferiority, as it should be.

  It removed its badge from the terminal and place it back upon its chest. With nothing of value left in the final room, it turned to leave, eager to see what had truly happened since the last communication with the facility.

  “What of the traitor?” Cirrus asked Commander Cyrix directly as he debriefed the Tribunal upon his return back to Verilia. “He cost us the most valuable assets we’ve ever had!” She was livid. Not only had the Rukkan received word of the research facility, but they’d also somehow known its coordinates. That and it was now back under gru’ul control, who surely knew about their tampering in the facility. There was no way the gru’ul would accept their experiments learning the truth.

  “He is currently in custody in one of our highest containment cells on the flagship,” Cyrix responded. There were no excuses. He’d permitted one of his own soldiers to leak such vital information and it had cost them the opportunity of a lifetime. Rapidly advancing their research into gru’ul technology was the only thing that stood between them and total annihilation. “Our interrogators have been hard at work,” Cyrix continued, “but so far he’s repeatedly denied the accusations levied against him. He claims his data slate was tampered with and that he did nothing wrong. Apparently, he was following orders.”

  “The orders of who?” Cirrus asked dangerously. “I doubt he was ordered to commit treason and simply went along with it.”

  “He didn’t say yet,” Cyrix replied. “We’re working on it.”

  “Work faster!” Cirrus exploded. “We can’t afford this right now. Soon, the gru’ul will show up on our doorstep ready to kill us all.”

  “Commander,” Kaius interjected, “has the traitor said or hinted at anything else?” Inwardly, he was worried his name would be leaked by Fahl and that he would be suspected of the illicit research he was conducting on the orange chemical. He cursed himself that he’d managed to pick a mole to carry out such a sensitive mission. His position as Arbiter was in jeopardy and he needed to find a way to silence the rogue soldier before he was the one branded a traitor.

  “No,” Cyrix said. “He’s kept quiet.”

  Kaius stroked his beard, a plan forming in his mind. “Perhaps a visit from one of us would impart on him the severity of his crime?”

  “I believe our interrogators are best suited to the task,” Cyrix reluctantly replied. “They’ve been specifically trained for such an event.”

  “That may be true,” Kaius conceded, “however, they lack the true authority of War Elder. Your interrogators operate within pre-defined bounds. As the War Tribunal, we define those limits. A session with one of us might be enough of a threat to make him talk.”

  Cyrix hesitated. “Is that the will of the Tribunal?” he asked.

  “We have nothing to lose,” Darros said. “Perhaps Kaius is correct. I suggest we try his idea before escalating to more drastic interrogation methods.”

  When nobody else contradicted Darros, Kaius knew his plan would work. All he needed to do was ensure that he was the one that went, and he would be able to control the flow of information and silence Fahl should the need arise. “Very well. In that case, I’ll be th—”

  “I’ll do it,” Cirrus volunteered. “I will board a ship to question him myself and assess the damage done to the flagship at the same time. That way, we’ll be able to properly allocate our resources to repair it.”

  “Excellent idea,” Darros agreed before Kaius could speak. “I believe that settles it then. Commander, you’re dismissed. Prepare for Elder Cirrus’ imminent arrival. She’ll make her way as soon as this meeting is concluded.”

  “Understood, Elder Darros,” Cyrix said with a deferential bow. His image winked out of existence and the Tribunal was left to continue their discussion privately.

  “Given that we lost the facility,” Orryn started, “it ended up being a good thing that Ava and Irric were evacuated. Since they’re in the same spot as Tassie, they’ll be able to cooperate directly for any additional technological advancements.”

  Cirrus’ expression soured. “I don’t think we should bring such valuable pieces of gru’ul technology to the safe house. We should bring Irric back to the main base to work with Lona and trickle down anything they deem important to Ava. What do you say, Maraz?”

  Maraz drummed his fingers thoughtfully. “I think that would be for the best. Irric is now one of the most well-versed researchers in the entire faction on gru’ul technology and programming. He knows the software and Lona’s team knows the hardware. Anything they can’t accomplish can be filtered through to Ava, who has a better understanding of gru’ul technology.”

  “Wouldn’t it make more sense for Ava to accompany Irric back to the labs?” Orryn asked. “There’s no point in letting such a valuable asset sit around collecting dust.”

  “I don’t want that bucket of bolts anywhere near other people,” Cirrus spat. “We can’t trust it. I think my idea carries less risk. We just lost the access to the research facility. Right now, we need a team that can safeguard Ava and keep her away from society. As it turns out, we already have one in position.”

  “Was Captain Jyn’s performance adequate enough for him to remain in command?” Darros asked. “Or do we put his second in command officially?”

  “Leave him as Captain for now,” Cirrus proposed. “Let’s see how he handles Ava, and if we see he doesn’t adapt properly, we’ll make the switch official.”

  “Fine,” Darros agreed. “I suppose his leadership was sufficient on their mission to save Reya. She’s still recovering well?”

  “According to her doctor’s report, she’s doing remarkably better than expected considering how intense the surgery was,” Maraz replied as he stared at Kell’s reports on his data slate. “I think she’ll make a full recovery.”

  “It’s going to be a hard sell to the rest of the populace,” Orryn pointed out.

  Darros waved away her concern. “They don’t need to find out. What they do need to be prepared for is receiving the full truth behind the war. Verilia will be a battlefield before long, and everybody needs to be prepared.”

  “You want to reveal the gods don’t exist?” Cirrus blanched. “That’s how we end up with a rebellion. I know we’re not the most religious faction, but our religion still plays an important enough role in our society.”

  “They need to know,” Darros said. “We’re out of time now that the gru’ul know what we’ve learned. I propose we have another joint announcement so that everybody will know that we speak the truth.”

  Cirrus let out a long sigh. “In that case, we’ll need to prepare the soldiers for any insurrections,” she said.

  Darros nodded. “Naturally,” he said. “I don’t want to do this anymore than you do, but it’s a necessary evil. The sooner we rip off the band aid, the better it will be.” He then proposed to call a vote, to which Kaius obliged. It passed, although it was a narrow thing.

  “I propose we have the announcement before Cirrus assesses the damage to Commander Cyrix’s flagship,” Kaius proposed. He needed to buy time so that he could covertly make contact with Fahl first. He couldn’t afford any slip ups that made him suspect.

  “Doesn’t it make more sense to wait and see what the traitor has to say first?” Darros asked, perplexed by the proposal.

  “I don’t believe it makes a difference either way,” Kaius replied smoothly.

  “I disagree,” Orryn said. “We need to repair the flagship immediately. The announcement can wait until after we allocate our resources for repairs.”

  The other Elders nodded their heads in agreement with Orryn. Kaius was keenly aware that proposing anything else would only raise suspicions later. He would have to hope that Fahl didn’t leak anything regarding him. Reluctantly, Kaius went along with what the other Elders wanted. He quickly ended the meeting. He needed to speak with researcher Roke.

  Urgently.