Chapter 29 - A death in the family (2/2)

”Hope I do,” said Arthur as he cut the call.

”You know what the best thing is, I observed in all this mess?” asked Bolena suddenly.

Balthazar looked at her and thought, ”When did she become an optimist?”

”Is it that I am in a lot more bored and frustrated than you?” he asked.

”Wow! Good guess,” answered Bolena as she started to laugh.

”You know, sometimes I just have these urges to strangle you.”

”I know, I guess it is just genetic,” she retorted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January the 30th, 2682 A.D., Asklepian

It had been a very eventful day for Arthur. Just 8 hours earlier, he had received a message from Walter about Max being assisted by someone very dangerous and thought to be dead for more than 5 decades. He immediately set to verification of the information and asked Elaine personally about the vessel that attacked her.

”It was a large grey vessel about 4 km long with the red words 'UNHINDERED' written across it side and it had used a very good camouflage tech till they were right in the firing range. They had some kind of illusion over the ship that made it look like it was covered gray gaseous substance,” said Elaine over the call.

As soon as Arthur heard Elaine talk about the illusion of it being covered in some kind of grey gas and the red words 'UNHINDERED', he was sure that they were back. The color of the words was written down as black in all reports by the military.

Only a few people, who had seen and survived the murder of its captain, Asuragana Veeraprasad and bombarding of the ship from within knew that it would be red. Moreover, Walter told him that he checked the video recording of the black box and the radar logs were also quite convincing.

A lot of copycats tried the same thing, but the most of them will wiped off the universe by either its survivors or the military. Also, the way they managed to have Max escape was very similar to how the original Nirbaadh pirates used to work. They always knew that the ship and the Nirbaadh pirates would resurface but didn't expect it to be so early.

Immediately after he got a confirmation from Walter, he called Balthazar and Bolena to tell them of Max's escape. But he didn't mention anything about the ship or its legend to them. He instead notified Albert that a very dangerous group which went dormant before the knights of the old republic were assisting Max and to confine them in the bunker until further development.

But now he heard something very disturbing from the local law enforcement of a city in the planet KF-35, that they found a body that was very similar to Max. He had been beheaded and thrown by the police station. Even the DNA results showed that it was Max's body.

He immediately sent someone to make a more detailed check of the body and take sample from various parts of the body to confirm if it is actually Max or a ruse. He couldn't understand why they would just not throw it in some isolated planet if they wanted to get rid of Max.

He also called Walter who luckily was quite close the planet KF-35. Walter immediately set off to collect Max's body. On reaching the police station, Walter had confirmed that the body was actually his son with the help of the personnel Arthur sent.

The sub-inspector also provided a small video disk that was left by the body. It was the same as before, the Nirbaadh pirates always made a statement when they attacked someone. Walter quickly played the recording in a device provided by the police.

It was a recording of someone beheading Max. ”We were paid to provide extraction for Mr. Max Blyth and kill him after we receive the information. The Nirbaadh pirates have returned. Hail!” shouted the person who beheaded Max.

”They are making a statement of return,” thought Walter looking at the video. They also intend to say that they were just doing a job and had no other intention than that. They had no intention to fight against the Blyths.

He immediately informed the alliance authorities that the Nirbaadh pirates have resurfaced, killed Max Blyth and sent out a statement of return. He also sent the information back to the Blyth household and also told them to concentrate on security rather than tracking the Nirbaadh pirates.

He told Arthur that he would personally look into tracking them, that he could have Balthazar return back to Asklepian and they were no longer in any danger for the time. He also told Arthur to hold Max's funeral at the Blyth mansion and not reveal the hunt that happened for him.

Arthur immediately called Balthazar to inform him that Max was dead and to come back to the funeral which was being held on the evening next day. Balthazar was very shocked to hear this. Just 8 hours ago, he heard that Max managed to successfully escape but now he is being asked to attend his funeral.

”Why did they rescue him if they just wanted to kill him,” asked Balthazar confused.

”They are an old group of assassins and pirates that have been employed to rescue Max, but their employer seemed to have had him killed as he is no longer useful. They must have been pissed off that their employer asked to dispose of the target they secured with great efforts. So, they decided to announce their return with his decapitated dead body. That's what Walter makes of the situation anyway.”

”OK. I will return immediately. What about Bolena?”

”She will stay there. She needs to work there. But you need to practice on your skills and strengths. So, you are going to come back to Asklepian with Albert and his team and stay here for the remainder of your medical leave.”

”I am concerned about Bolena's security. What is being done to improve the security here?” asked Balthazar.

”Come here for the funeral. We are going to introduce you to the people who would be in charge of her security from now on,” replied Arthur.

”OK,” said Balthazar accepting the plan. He quickly contacted Albert who was already getting ready to depart. They left quickly even before Bolena woke up. Balthazar left a small note explaining that he would be leaving to Asklepian and wishing her the good luck with her research.