Legacy of the Guardians
by AJ Marks
Part 17
Jack looked up at the knock on the door frame to his office, not surprised at all to see Steve standing there. Anyone else and his secretary would have buzzed him.
“I’m ready to get something to eat, what about you?” Steve said, looking in at the office.
“Yeah, I could use a break from these reports. I think they invented such things just to drive me crazy,” Jack said, stretching slightly before getting up to exit the office.
They quickly made their way to the cafeteria, and sat down with a tray.
“Anything important in any of your files?” Jack asked.
“Nothing much, except we had an unusual request by Captain Sam Uliki,” Steve said, causing Jack to look up from his food. “He asked for any information about Marcus Johansson.”
That caused Jack to frown. “Did he say why?” Jack wondered why Sam would ask about such a person. Jack had worked with Marcus years ago before he passed away. His loyalty and unwavering faith in their cause.
“Only it might solve a mystery he is trying to solve,” Steve replied.
“Let him have everything, he might find something out about the mysterious Marcus Johansson,” Jack said.
“That’s what I thought as well, I already sent him everything we have, not that its much,” Steve replied back, taking a bit of his sandwich.
“I wonder what’s going on with Sam,” Jack said, wondering what type of mystery he was trying to solve. They had allowed him to go on leave. Sam was a good soldier, and had psychic abilities.
“Don’t know, but it might have something to do with the mystery that Marcus kept talking about before he died, remember?” Steve said, causing Jack to recall some of the strange things Marcus said in the final years of his life.
Jack thought back to the few times he actually met the man. Marcus had an almost religious perception of the war against the Skartians. He warned them that the time would come when humanity would lead the way. Of course everyone thought he was a bit crazy, but now, as Jack reflected on it, he wondered if Marcus had known something no one else did. Jack shook his head, and decided to change the subject.
“How long do you think it will take for the Skartian to break?” Jack asked, It became a game they played from back during the war. They would be on how long something would take, from small things to large.
“Hmm, a difficult one, but I’ll go with a day,” Steve said, finally giving his answer.
“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t take that one. Well, guess I go against the odds and say less than a day,” Jack finally said. Personally he thought it would take about a day, but hoped it was quick, he wanted that information.
“Okay, you’re on,” Steve replied, as they both finished up eating.
*****
Greg walked into Admiral Cave’s office looking for the admiral only to have his secretary tell him he was out to lunch and be back shortly. She asked Greg if he wanted to wait for him. Greg told her he would look for the admiral in the cafeteria first then come back here if he did not find him.
He made his way down to the cafeteria. Normally he would have waited, but this message was urgent. It came from the interrogators and they wanted him to have the information as quickly as possible. So far tracking him down had been hard, especially when he was not in his office, or Steve’s office. Looking inside the cafeteria confirmed the admiral was not there, and they had not passed each other so he made his way to General Terial’s office.
A minute later he stood outside the office, finally catching up with them, and handed the message to the admiral.
He watched Jack look the note over a few times before handing it over to Steve.
“Well, looks like my fears are confirmed,” Jack said to Steve.
“Let me guess, the Skartians are getting help?” Steve replied, before looking over the report.
“Yeah, seems like the Skartian cracked like an egg, they are working on a few others to confirm the information, but it looks like an ancient race is helping them out,” Jack said to him.
“Any idea who?” Steve asked, leaving Greg uneasy about the fact of an ancient race helping out their enemy.
“Nope, not a clue,” Jack said, thinking about it. “But I think Randall might be able to. He knows them better than we do, contact him and give him that information, see if he can think of anyone.”
“I’m on it,” Steve said, picking up the phone.
Greg was dismissed and headed back out towards the waiting area musing on what he heard.
*****
Randall sat down in shock at the information he had received from HQ. The Skartians were getting help, but from who? That seemed to the question on everyone’s mind. Randall could not think of a single ancient race that could be friendly enough to help the Skartians, or the humans.
He activated his communicator calling a friend. Kinser might know something he had not thought of yet. After all his race had been part of the Council longer, and perhaps he knew of races not part of the council. It did nt take long before Kinser’s face appeared on the screen.
“Kiner, its Randall, listen, I’ve got something you might be able to help me with,” Randall said, watching Kinser’s face.
“Ran Dall, always nice to hear from you, what can I do for you?” Kinser replied.
“Do you know of any race, ancient race that might be willing to help the Skartians in the war?” Randall asked, not trying to disguise the question, and saw shock on the Ilderian’s face.
“Helping the Skartians? Those backwards people! No, I haven’t heard of anyone helping them, why do you ask?” Kinser replied, sounding puzzled and shocked by the question.
“Let’s meet and talk about this in one of our office, and not over an open channel,” Randall said, not wanting to tell any more over an open communications line.
“That sounds like a good idea, can I bring some of the other ambassadors, like Toncor?” Kinser said, surprising Randall with the request before saying all right.
Half an hour later Randall sat at a table in his office, along with Kinser, and two other ambassadors. Toncor, an ambassador from an old race and H’Tirw, a race of traders. Randall knew his race went all over the universe, and might have heard something.
“I hear you have some disturbing news ambassador?” Toncor said to Randall, who knew the two other races were not like the human race, and were cautious of them, but even more so of the Skartians.
“My government has reason to believe that the Skartians are receiving help from some other race, and older race,’ Randall said, watching the two ambassadors look very surprised by that bit of news.
“This is not good news,” H’Tirw said. “I have heard nothing from my home world about such things, but I can put in a report, maybe someone saw something.”
“Any information would be useful,” Randall said, turning to Toncor who had yet to say anything.
“I know of no race that would, hmm,” Toncor said, pausing in his reply, his blue skin wrinkling in thought as he tried to remember something. “I would need to look over something, it may be nothing, but it might be a lead. We have a tale of a very old race, it might fit here, but it might be nothing.”
“Fair enough, I think we should inform the council about this,” Kinser said. Randall watched the other two agree.
“I guess so, having this out in the open might help,” Randall said.
“I’ll make the arrangements,’ Kinser said.
“I’ll contact my government, see if anything comes up,” H’Tirw said, standing and heading off.
They broke up each with something to do. Randall hoped they might gain some information about who might be helping the Skartians.
*****
Sam poured through the documents he received from HQ about Marcus Johansson. So far Sam found nothing that might give him a clue to what he was looking for. Everyone seemed to view him as highly devoted to his job, and the mission. Sam, however, felt something else in his words, like he knew something out of reach of everyone else.
Sam skimmed through some more notes about Marcus, trying to find something. He felt no closer to solving the puzzle than he did before he started. Looking back over another file, he hoped a new one. Just some poems that Marcus had written. Same read a few, but poetry had never been a strong suit.
Opening a few of the poems he read through a few, thinking he never would find what he was looking for, before coming across a three-line poem that seemed to speak to him.
Looking toward the view
Standing between the paws
A darkness coming to
Sam had a strange sensation. He knew where he had to go at last. Running out of the room and towards the ancient building. He paused in his run realizing he would be able to accomplish his task later tonight in the dark. Turning back around, he headed back to his room to make his plans, get something to eat and perhaps, take a nap if he could.
*****
Randall waited for the President to call the meeting to order. Many of the ambassadors were wondering why another meeting had been called. He spotted Toncor and H’Tirw making their way into the Council room. He hoped they had discovered something.
“This meeting is called to order,” the president said loud enough for everyone to hear. “This special meeting had been asked for by the ambassadors of the Ilderian and Human race. I will turn the floor over to them now.”
The president sat down allowing the others to take the floor. Kinser stood to address the group.
“Honorable diplomats, there are dangerous developments in regards to the Skartians and their war against the Earthers,” Kinser said, looking around at the assembled group. “It appeared the Skartians are receiving help from another race. This is disturbing to many because the Skartians have never held any other race with a favorable view.”
Randall saw several heads nod with that statement. The Skartians were known for their ability to backstab someone if the opportunity arose. The fact someone could help them meant whoever it was understood that aspect of the Skartians, and could be even more dangerous to them all.
“Where is the Skartians ambassador? I haven’t seen him in a while now,” one ambassador said.
“A better question is, who might be helping them. I, for one, do not know of any race advanced enough to help out another race who doesn’t have an ambassador in the Council,” another ambassador said.
“There might be evidence that this race is an older race, and not part of the council,” Randall said speaking up.
He watched as conversations began everywhere, everyone trying to talk at once. Several blamed other races, who denied such actions. Many wanted more answers which he did not have. It took several seconds before the President finally regained control of the council.
“Quiet please,” the President said, as a few ambassadors finally stopped talking and looked at the front of the council chamber. “I realize this is disturbing news, but we cannot start blaming others randomly without proof. Baseless accusations will get us nowhere. I am recommending a Security Council to work on this. There is no need to panic.”
Randall thought about that, then recalled something from earlier, and asked permission for the floor. “Mr President, perhaps we should panic a little,” Randall said, watching as everyone looked at him strangely. “We know that Alpha-X-5, or Tagad, was destroyed recently, and entire system by an unknown race. If that race is the one helping the Skartians, we have a lot of problems.” He sat back down allowing his words to sink into the room.
The very thought of something so powerful in the hands of the Skartians scared everyone. Randall understood some might considering him to be fear mongering, but to not act could be even worse.
“We shall take your point under advisement,” the president finally said. “We shall go ahead with the Security Council.”
“Any new information about Tagad?” Toncor asked.
“No, only that it was a powerful race. We still do not know who destroyed the system, or why they did so,” the President said. “We are still investigating this, unless we are sure the Skartians have developed such a weapon.”
“I cannot confirm or deny this, as recent exchanges with Skartians warships have shown no such weapons,” Randall said, wishing he knew who had destroyed the planet, and what the weapon system was. It reminded him a bit of the Death Star from Star Wars.
“Then we shall continue to look into the mystery. Inform your governments about such actions by the Skartians, maybe someone knows the truth,” the President said, adjourning the meeting.
Randall paused, sitting in his seat wondering what might happen next.
End part 17
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