Story Hub: [link]
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Maia 30th 758
The High Council reconvened in the
war room. While the clock had ticked over from one day to the next, the members
of the council had yet to rest, there was far too much to do. The first rays of
morning sunlight trickled through the skylight as the council members took
their seats. Alas, despite the call for all-hands-on-deck, barely half of the
council had attended, and even Queen Celene failed to appear.
Lady Aphros took her seat in the
first chair as usual, Aré sat beside her in the second chair, and Lady Ze and
Lady Herme took their places on the opposite side of the table in the seventh
and eighth chairs respectively. Aphros’s composure was shaken, her hair
unbrushed, and her makeup was smudged. Aré’s frustration radiated off her like
a tangible heat. Ze’s armor was still dirtied by dust and debris from when she
crashed through the walls of the Multiversal Power Stationtm. Only Herme had
taken a moment to have a shower and change out of her lab coat into a more
formal suit and skirt, although in her rush, she dressed up more for a board
meeting than high politics.
“Where is Lady Hade? I know she was
in the palace this morning,” Aré demanded an answer.
“You know how she is,” Herme
replied. “She’s likely come and gone. Perhaps she’s with Her Majesty, and
that’s why they’ve been missing all day?”
“For Heaven’s sake, I know I can’t
expect Chrona and Helio to show up on short notice, but she has no excuse,” Aré
slammed her fist on the table. “What about the four stooges?”
“They were in Zodiac for their
regular duties. They’re on their way back right now,” Herme explained.
“Ourano and Posei?” Aré continued.
“Still in the middle of their
mission, so communications are sporadic,” Herme revealed.
“And what about-?” Aré began to ask.
“She’s with Helio,” Ze cut her off.
“Great,” Aré settled back into her
chair. “I’d say I’m going to have a word with each of them, but I know it would
be pointless.”
“Let’s just lay out the facts of the
case,” Ze took charge, “we have the attack on the power station and the
incident that occurred at the palace right under our noses. Lady Aphros, would
you like to start?” The other three turned to the first chair, who remained
silent and lost in her own head.
“Huh? Oh, sorry, I promise I was
listening, I’m a little off my game today,” Aphros admitted. “I broke character
in front of Serena tonight and made a fool of myse…No, forget it. I’ll focus on
the task at hand.” She took a deep breath.
“Fine, I’ll start us off while you
recollect yourself,” Aré sighed, yet her expression softened. “Let’s start from
the top,” the noble began, “Late at night on the 20th, Aphros assigned the
three princesses to tour the new power station. She revealed this information
to select members of the press on the morning of the 21st so they could publish
an article announcing the visit to the public on the 22nd. However, during the
evening of the 21st, the palace received a cryptic letter threatening the
princesses and the power station. The timing of the letter was obviously
suspicious, if not near impossible. How did we even get the letter so quickly?
Do we know which mail carrier delivered it to the palace?”
“The short version is, we don’t
know,” Aphros revealed. “I’ve had my people searching high and low for where
this letter came from and how it ended up in the palace, but nothing has been
discovered so far. It was either snuck into a mailbag during the route, or it
was directly placed in the palace by some unknown means.”
“Highly concerning,” Aré commented.
“And that doesn’t even go into how they learned about the visit so quickly. Do
they have a mole, a spy, a listening device? Are they intercepting our messages
or something more?”
“I’d like to believe that it
couldn’t be possible for a mole or a spy to be within the palace,” Herme
stated, “but I know that’s not true.” Her gaze turned downward.
“Speaking of moles, the chief
engineer of the power station, Carus Lambros, was determined to be a turncoat
by the Second Princess,” Aré continued. “From my understanding, he has
assaulted a civilian – A trespassing photojournalist by the way, we’ll get to
him later – sabotaged the security system, set up a timed explosive with the
intention of causing serious damage to the facility, and might have been
responsible for the station’s staffing issues.”
“I had the pleasure of speaking with
the administrator,” Ze chimed in, “while he didn’t want to admit it, it seems
he delegated a great deal of the station’s day-to-day operations to Carus. For
all intents and purposes, Carus was doing both the job of the chief engineer
and most of the administrative work while the actual administrator did very
little.”
“It’s a wonder why he was tempted to
defect,” Aré commented, “but was being overworked really the whole reason he
would sell out his whole kingdom?”
“I can’t say,” Ze replied, “all I
know is that Carus had been working for that same administrator since he was a
boy. The administrator admitted he constantly blocked Carus from being
transferred or pursuing any other opportunities.”
“Ah, they preyed on years of his
bottled-up frustration,” Aré observed. “Sounds like a miserable story that will
have a miserable ending.”
“I’ll recommend for the
administrator to be reassigned as a pencil pusher somewhere dull, boring, and
out of the way,” Aphros declared.
“Very well, but if Carus’s situation
is true, could he not be the one who leaked the information to the other
extremists?” Herme pointed out.
“Maybe, but I don’t know if the
timeline adds up,” Aphros replied, “I spoke to the administrator directly to
tell him the princesses were coming, but I don’t know when Carus learned about
it.”
“The administrator wasn’t helpful in
giving exact dates either,” Ze added, “I think he was so used to relying on
Carus for everything, he just sailed forward without taking time to record
important events or remember things properly. Plus, even if Carus was their
source, it doesn’t rule out the idea that they had others.”
“Good point,” Herme sighed.
“Something still doesn’t sit well
with me over this whole incident,” Aré clenched her fist. “These guys had all
this information, they had a man on the inside, they got in quickly without
anyone knowing, yet they fumbled it so fast.”
“So? They were prepared but couldn’t
stick the landing, wouldn’t be the first bozos like that we’ve dealt with,”
Aphros commented.
“It’s not just that, they seemed too
ready,” Aré continued. “The power station’s head of security was out sick, all
their security robots and cameras were disabled ahead of time, and the plant
was practically running on a skeleton crew.”
“It’s a mostly automated plant, Aré,
they don’t need that many employees,” Aphros pointed out.
“I know, but they’re working with
even less than that,” Aré explained. “I’ve been reading reports from the
facility. Their overall staff has been trending downwards since it was brought
online eight months ago, and several staff members were put on extended leave
over a week ago for one reason or another.”
“What are you implying?” Aphros was
sure what to make of the facts.
“Well, I have a theory that the
reason they got in so quickly was because this wasn’t the first time they broke
in,” Aré declared. “But more importantly, all this indicates that their
operation was planned far in advance. A simple mole wouldn’t be enough to
explain their foreknowledge. If the princesses were their goal, whoever planned
this would practically have to see the future.” The room went silent for a
moment before Ze spoke up.
“Planned far in advance, but the
second the princesses were involved, they knew and pivoted to take advantage of
that,” Ze put the pieces together.
“Yet, despite this meticulous
planning and near clairvoyant level of information gathering, they fumbled the
whole operation,” Aré stated, “whoever planned this and the extremists we
captured are not the same people.”
“Then I’m afraid to admit it, but,”
Aphros gulped, “that whole ordeal was a complex diversion, and what happened at
the palace was their real goal. And considering that the incident happened the
second Ze left, I can say that with 100% certainty.” The blonde slammed her
head on the table. “The only silver lining is that the media was oblivious to
this whole thing.”
“Aside from that photojournalist,”
Ze added, “but he’s been stripped of anything that could contain photos and
sworn to silence.”
“Did we find out if the intruders
took anything else?” Herme inquired.
“As far as we know, just the two,”
Aré replied.
“Speaking of the whole ordeal being
a diversion, my discussion with Jace Regas lends credence to that theory,” Ze
added. “According to him, he learned the locations of all the bombs over the
enemy radio, because ‘some Idiot’ was carelessly spouting them out. Jace
asserted he was smart enough to know the person wasn’t lying, but he still
doesn’t know why they blatantly ruined their own advantage. It really makes no
sense, yet all the bomb locations were correct. It was no lie or trick.”
“I can’t help but notice that among
the prisoners we took, we’re short one traitorous engineer and one blabbermouth
Idiot,” Aré chimed in.
“He must be far cleverer than his
actions let on,” Aphros added, “He played the part of a bumbling fool, but his
machinations must have wheels within wheels. He threw all his supposed allies
under the bus as part of an elaborate scheme. And it clearly worked as he not
only escaped undetected, but he took Carus with him and apparently siphoned
energy from the power station during the incident, completely uncontested.
We’re either dealing with the luckiest man in recent history or some evil
mastermind.”
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
As
the Idiot prepared to take a bite out of an olive, he was beset by the worst
sneezing fit of his life.
“The
heck? Someone must be talking smack about me,” the Idiot wiped his nose before
sinking his teeth into the olive and then screaming in pain as he bit into a
pit. “Agghhh, these aren’t pitted olives! They’re just regular olives!”
\\~~~\\ //~~~//
“Let’s hope that’s not the case,” Ze
commented. “That brings me to another matter, this Adaman character who
targeted Caenia. He was some kind of machine disguised as an incredibly
muscular man and was near invincible. Even Caenia couldn’t put him down with
her full power. Serena had to lure half of him into one of the power flare
vents, while Princess Atlanta dealt with the other half.”
“Oh, like a Termin-” Aphros began
excitedly.
“Yes, exactly,” Aré interrupted her,
earning a pout from Aphros. “It must have been serious if Atlanta felt the need
to step in. If there was any way she took after her mother, it was a certain
reverence for her powers and knowing when to use them. She’s not one to use her
magic frivolously.”
“But more concerning than his
incredible strength was his single-minded focus on Caenia. Apparently, he was
only there to fight and potentially kill her,” Ze revealed. “Again, very
bizarre considering she was only assigned to be there a week prior.”
“Just one more mystery,” Aré sighed.
“Hmm, Adaman,” Aphros tapped her
chin.
“Does the name mean anything to
you?” Herme inquired.
“It sounds vaguely familiar, but I’m
not sure from where. Maybe if I saw him,” Aphros mused.
“Unfortunately, all the security
cameras were disabled during the incident, and none of the journalist’s photos
that we’ve looked through so far have depicted him either,” Ze shook her head.“On
the subject of Adaman, I’d like to bring attention to the three who helped
bring him down and took credit for neutralizing the bomb threat, Jace Regas,
Medy Regas, and Penelo Gataki.”
“Why? Because they ignored protocol,
charged blindly into danger, and Penelo nearly got herself killed?” Aré pointed
out.
“But they did help save the day,
Orion attested to that,” Aphros countered.
“True, they threaded the needle this
time, but nine times out of ten, they would have gotten themselves needlessly
killed,” Aré shot back. “Forgive me if I’m not eager to reward their behavior.”
Aphros glared at the other noble and prepared to deliver another biting remark.
“I agree with both of you,” Ze
snuffed out their argument before it could start. “I recommend a half-measure
punishment. Acknowledging their contribution by giving them an opportunity to
put that energy towards more productive efforts. Not quite a reward, not quite
a punishment.”
“You’re only saying that because
you’ve taken an interest in that Penelo girl,” Aphros smirked. “I bet you’re
eying her to be part of the royal guard in the future. Shame on you playing
favorites.” She wagged her finger. The whole room went dead silent, the other
three nobles staring at Aphros, wondering if she could hear herself talk.
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“I approve Ze’s plan,” Herme quickly
righted the conversation.
“Seconded,” Aré agreed.
“Wha? No discussion?” Aphros was
taken aback. “Fine, but I get a say in what they do. This could be a chance to
fix my mistakes with Jace.”
“Very well, then let’s circle back
to the final and most pressing issue,” Aré nodded, “the break-in at the palace,
which conveniently occurred right as Ze left the premises and the rest of us
were focused on the incident.”
“Just thinking about it is making me
lose my composure,” Aphros admitted, “but this was a result of my lapse in
judgment, and I’ll take full responsibility for retrieving-” Aphros’s words
were abruptly cut off by the head maid, Penth, bursting into the room without
warning while holding up her phone.
“Penth, I thought I made it clear
there would be no interruptions to this meeting?” Aré stood up furiously.
“Lady Aré, you must see the news,
this might be the worst case scenario!” Penth exclaimed as she slid her phone
onto the table. Lady Herme was the first to pick it up and nearly fainted at
the sight of the news on the screen.
“Let me see, let me see,” Aphros
hopped the table as Aré merely walked around it, and Ze moved to catch the
distraught Herme. The second the blonde’s eyes were laid on the screen, her
heart sank. A photo of what she assumed to be Adaman fighting the workers in
the power station, Irene caught near the middle of it, and the other two
princesses visible in the distance watching the fight. The journalist’s photos
had been published online, and now the whole world knew about the recent
incident. After witnessing her fears come to life, Aphros took a deep breath
and exclaimed, “Oh Fu-!”
May This Fantasy
Continue A Little Longer…
>>>~~~~<<<
In wake of an unexpected incident, the first thing you must do is determine how this happened and how can we prevent it from happening again.
Author's Note: And that closes the book on Volume 4. This one took about a year and two months from writing the first paragraphs to posting the final chapter online. I hope to get the next one done a little quicker but I know it's too soon to hope for that. It's been a fun volume and I've learned a lot while writing it. Namely that I won't be setting so many chapters in a row in the same location during the same event.
Right now I have to get back to working on Volume 5 and other stories I'm eager to write. I have no idea when Volume 5 will start right now, but I do have some stand alone short stories lined up in the meantime. Maybe I'll finally get one of those other long runner stories off the ground. As for now, look forward to all the other wacky stories that come out of this blog as we wall wait for Maid in Fantasy Volume 5: Call of the Countryside (and other Odd Tales).
Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy.
