16 Iris (1/2)
Mortimus Lupin, a man who appeared young but whose true age was unknown, was the current prime minister of the Andromeda Federation. He was someone who had become a politician only in the past decade, and as such was considered a 'greenhorn' by most.
What nobody ever expected was that someone this fresh in the political scene would sit in the position of Prime Minister. It was so unexpected many suspected the election was rigged, but they couldn't find any evidence to support such a claim.
At this moment Mortimus was holding a meeting with 47 Galactic Fleet Generals in attendance around a massive war table. A three-dimensional hologram of the Andromeda Galaxy was projected above the center of the table, occasionally blipping as confidential data from battleships and destroyers of the Galactic Fleet was sent back to HQ.
”Has there been any news on the criminal Mazur Ral Vendick?” Mortimus asked solemnly to seated Generals.
”There has been no siting of him since his escape from the Oberon Solar System,” One General spoke in defeat.
Mortimus furrowed his brows in displeasure as he asked, ”So where do we suspect he is then? You all know the current situation with the Scalians. Mazur Ral Vendick is not only the galaxy's leading physicist in several fields, but is completely unchallenged when it comes to types of energy and their applications. We need his assistance desperately right now, the enemy's space folding technology has confused our current scientists to the point they even dared submit a report on a new type of particle.”
”Prime minister, we need to capture one of their ships and reverse engineer it. We wouldn't need someone charged with nearly every kind of offence to aid us.”
”General, we don't understand their technology and are at a severe disadvantage because of it. They know this too, which is why they've booby trapped every single major component of their ships to explode long the moment it is neutralized or tampered with.”
Several other Generals added their suggestion before Mortimus stamped them out and demanded, ”Enough! Our priority is to find Mazur Ral Vendick. General Timaeus, give me a summary of everything we know about his location history and predicted locations.”
General Timaeus, A bald man covered in muscled stood up and give a disciplined military salute, ”Prime Minister, the target, Mazur Ral Venick had been known to have been inhabiting a run space station outside of our regular fleet patrols. It is overrun by pirates and others fleeing for various crimes. The local inhabitants refer to the station as 'The Pit'.
”Approximately two years ago, he left the station on a ship called Poseidon. The commander of this ship, as noted in the footage recorded from a communication with a Galactic Fleet battleship, is of unknown personage. We are still investigating the origins of this individual, but he is suspected to just be a tool injected with memories by Mazur Ral Vendick.”
Mortimus nodded his head to this. ”Continue investigating his background. Something about him just doesn't add up. I believe traces of his blood were located by ultraviolet scanning on Oberon II, use that to find him for me. I want to know everything about him, down to which sperm cell from his dad he came from. Now carry on from their escape.”
”Ahem, after their escape from Oberon II, as indicated by point alpha on the star map. They escaped the solar system and through a dogged chase at maximum speeds greater than 3.1HU, managed to lose the pursuit of the Galactic Fleet battleship at point beta.”
The massive star map above the war table began to map out these points in response to the General. A glowing white line even connected the points as it traced the movements of the Galactic Fleet battleship as recorded by its onboard computer.
”Point Beta is located outside the galaxy within deep space. The Poseidon and Mazur Ral Vendick should have moved even deeper within. A civilian transportation vessel simply does not have the navigational equipment to return along its past vector. It also does not have optical enhancement powerful enough to pick up distant starlight invisible to the naked eye.”
”Given the intelligence and capabilities of Mazur Ral Vendick, the AI of our quantum supercomputer has calculated it should have taken him about a year to repair the expected damage to the hull. Under the condition that the target is able to calculate himself which direction to go in order to return to the galaxy, our AI has predicted it should be somewhere within the nine hundred solar systems in the region of point gamma.”
”Do we know anything about what is in that region other than the number of solar systems?”
”Prime Minister, that region is within an uncharted section of the galaxy. Gravitational lensing can only tell us that there is something there, but not what is there.”
Mortimus nodded his head and ordered with a sigh, ”Good, assign ten thousand battleships and a hundred destroyers to comb through point gamma. The pirates are all now hiding under their rocks so we don't have to dedicate as many resources toward monitoring them, all we need now is that damned arrogant convict.”
”Prime Minister! That is far too many resources just to chase someone down!” One General shot to his feet and protested.
”Enough! There is no room for debate!” Mortimus quipped back in anger. ”That is just how important this task is. We are at war! If we continue to be suppressed by their technology, we won't be counting our losses in people, but in planets! To ensure this operation runs smoothly, I will also be joining the search.”
”Prime Minister! You are req-” One of the generals shouted in protest, but was quickly cut off by Mortimus.
”You have your orders, General. I will communicate directly from the search party for any required authorizations.”
*****
”A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ivan. You may call me Iris, I will be your personal secretary from today,” A beautiful women with long flaxen hair and soft, pointed fox ears curtsied to Ivan with a gentle smile.
Iris was a major celebrity in the Folkien Empire until just yesterday when the empire's royal family sent out a decree for her to serve as a person secretary for the extra-terrestrial visitors. It had contained all the information on Ivan, Mazur, and her duties when working as their secretary.
The royal family had also commanded her to attempt to form a physical relationship with one of them. One of the wishes for the royal family was to learn the method in which they became completely impervious to conventional weapons. She is to do anything as long as she can find out this answer.
Iris had always kept her body pure for the entire 23 years of her life and was also in the prime of her career, so she was greatly displeased by this sudden change. Alas, she could only depressingly sigh in the mirror since she did not have the means to resist the decree.