Kareivis: Warrior

CHAPTER 8: NEW PLAYERS

Muhali was relieved when the announcement was interrupted. She wanted more time to unmask those pretentious nobles. She needed to know who she could trust and who to keep at arm’s length. She had been betrayed far too many times. And some of those betrayals had cost her dearly. She looked at the King waiting for his instructions. He merely nodded his head indicating she could go and attend to Zionas. When she arrived at the Hall of Tryst, there was a holographic image of a Channidae mothership orbiting Zeme. As soon as she saw this her heart dropped. “Atrinis-Yuda sent me a communication early this evening. She had encrypted it as a safety measure to ensure that only we read the communication. I have just finished decrypting the communication.” Muhali noticed that her Mamme the Queen mother and Sky had followed her. They all looked to the monitor and an image of a young girl started saying: “My princess Muhali, as I was performing a routine sweep of Zeme’s atmosphere I came across an alarming discovery. I found a Channidae mothership hiding behind the shadow of Mars. I monitored this ship for some days, and it did not make any movements. But today it moved out of the shadows and allowed itself to be seen by the satellites of the humans. It then connected itself to their communication frequencies and began to communicate with them…” No one said a word, they all remained very still and an image of a Channidae Commander who was sitting in the command centre of his ship appeared.

Commander: “Leaders of Terra I am a commander in the council of a race known as the Channidae. I have no name but if you wish to address me you may call me Commander. I have come here to warn you of a great threat that is on your planet. Her name is Kariai. To our people this means destroyer of worlds. She has committed great atrocities across the galaxy. We have reason to believe that she is hiding among you, plotting on how to destroy your planet. We have come to bring her to justice, not only that but to offer a hand of friendship and to share our knowledge and technology with you. We already know where she is hiding; we only require your permission in apprehending her. She is hiding in the place you call North America; this frequency is an open channel so feel free to respond.

President Morris: “Commander, I am President Morris leader of the United States of America. If truly you come in peace, then on behalf of the American people I would like to accept your hand of friendship and to assure you that we will help you in whatever way we can to apprehend the criminal and to bring her to justice.

Commander: “The Channidae thank you for this friendship Master Morris. We will send a delegate from our ship that will provide you with all the necessary information regarding this criminal and her followers.

The Queen mother stared at Muhali as though she could read her mind. She knew her granddaughter very well and she knew that danger was looming, and she was afraid for her. Atrinis-Yuda continued: “Eight days after intercepting the communication, my sensors picked up activity on the outer perimeter of this facility. I initiated the lockdown protocol, and I started the evacuation procedure to our secondary base. But I am afraid that before I could fully evacuate all our people, my systems were halted and some soldiers with strange weapons stormed our facility and apprehended some of our people. I counted twenty-seven captives in total. They were engineers, guards, cleaners and cooks. We had tried as much as possible to blend into Zeme’s daily routines to not arouse any suspicion. I have done all I can to hold them off but by the time you receive this communication they will have completely taken over this facility. My Princess, they seem to have intimate knowledge of our technology, my systems and our lockdown protocols…” They could hear gunfire in the background. These new developments enraged Muhali. She instructed Zionas to bring up the schematics of the Atrinis-Yuda facility and then she stormed out of the room. On her way out, she tilted her appearance changed and she was wearing her battle suit. Escorted by some guards Muhali went back to the coronation where she proceeded to bow before The King and The Queen,

“My apologies your majesties but there is a matter we need to address in the chamber of Tryst. We also need the council members and my sister Vesma as well.” The king then requested the guards to call Vesma, Commanders Kilnus, Vadas and Rokas as well as Master Dau. When they arrived, they saw a frozen image of Atrinis-Yuda, a schematic of the Atrinis-Yuda facility, images of Zeme soldiers attacking the facility and a Channidae mother-ship orbiting Zeme. Sky did not waste time he bowed his head and began to say: “Your majesties, my Lords I extend my most humble apologies for taking you away from an important celebration but there is a matter of greater importance that needs your attention. We have been monitoring the Channidae’s movements for a while now and I believe that the Channidae are preparing for an attack here on Inthia. They knew that during the new moon of Inthia, a crowned princess would be presented to the people. And they would not miss an opportunity such as this to ensnare the heir to Inthia. Nevertheless, I must go to Zeme to evacuate our people and to ensure the safety of our friends and allies.” “That will not be possible your highness…” said the King looking directly at Muhali and he continued saying: “…if the Channidae come for us, you must be here where it is safe. Allow your brother to go to Zeme.” The commanders, The Queen Mother and Vesma all nodded in agreement with the King. But Skydas responded: “My king, I understand your concerns, but I am a servant of our people and at this moment our people on Zeme as well as my draugas (friend) need me. Besides I will be under the protection of Atrinis-Yuda and Inthia will be just as unsafe if the Channidae really do attack as per my suspicions.” The king was not pleased with Muhali, she never talked back to him.

“This is about that human. It is not safe for you to leave the confines of Inthia and pursue this childish endeavour.” Muhali was still reeling from the events that took place on Thyatira and The King’s stubbornness was only agitating her already volatile state. And even though she was not speaking her frustration was apparent on her face.

“With all due respect Majesty, Zeme is my territory. This matter is not up for negotiation. Varetu is draugas and his safety is a priority. I gave him my word and I will not go back on my word…”

The King stared at Skydas with fury because of his blatant insolence.

“N… No… Not my words highness. Remember I speak her words.” Sky nervously defended his actions and words to the King.

“Well, oath or no oath, you will not and cannot go anywhere if I do not permit it.”

This statement of The King was pushing Muhali over to her anger threshold.

“Enough! That is quite enough, both of you. Kareivis, allow the child to do what is in her heart.”

Both father and daughter unwilling to yield curled their lips and puffed their noses like thoroughly riled bulls. But the Queen was already used to them which was why she called them to order. The king still unconvinced by Muhali’s argument then asked: “Who will you go with?” “I will go alone. I will be more effective, and I will remain undetected if I go alone.” The Queen mother knew better than to argue with Muhali and she stood up and said: “She will definitely go to Zeme. But…” she paused as she looked directly at Muhali and then she continued saying: “…granddaughter, you have ensured that we have all the protection. What about you? By royal decree of The Queen mother your Mamme, I send with you your brother Skydas and Masters Varens and Kilnus. My word is final.” Muhali could never say no to her Mamme, that was just the nature of their relationship and with the royal decree Zionas appeared before Kilnus and Varens summoning them to the chamber of Tryst. When they entered the chamber, they found Muhali talking saying: “…we cannot use the jump gate on Inthia because the surge in energy levels would alert the Channidae of our departure and arrival. As I am sure they are monitoring our movements, we need more time to formulate an appropriate strategy. We also need to visit the Pirmas facility because one of our guards disarmed one of the human soldiers, I must analyse the weapon she seized. This means we will jump from Inthia to Rammenu and from there we will jump to the Pirmas facility. I do not disobey you Mamme, but Sky cannot be seen with me, he is my shadow he will precede to Terce, and he will monitor all my movements from there.” When Muhali looked up at the entrance she saw Varens and Kilnus along with Yona wearing confused expressions on their faces. She looked to her sister and hugged her very tightly and said: “Be strong my sister and protect our people. Zionas will show you how to give him commands, and in your battle band I have entered the Zionas command override in case anything happens to me you will have full control over him.” Muhali let go of her sister and headed to the entrance with Sky. They stopped in front of Varens, Kilnus and Yona and Sky spoke,

“Welcome to our family Yona. It is unfortunate that you have joined us at this time when there is a crisis, but it is also an advantage because you will learn your responsibilities faster. Do not worry The Queen and your father will be with you, you are to stay here, and the two brothers are coming with us…” he then looked directly at Varens and Kilnus and continued saying: “…there is no time to explain. I see you are wearing your training bands. This is good, Zionas will show you how to operate them and he will also brief you on what is happening. Meet me at the jump gate fully armoured; Rehsa will show you the way. We are going to Zeme.” Rehsa was never too far from Muhali, she was standing at the entrance dressed as a guard as Sky was speaking. Sky took Muhali’s hand and held it firmly as they exited the chamber of Tryst.