The Ghost of an Empire

Chapter Four

My father swung around to face me as soon as I raised my hand. Tym let out an audible gasp. Several people frowned, whispered, or covered their mouths with their hands. The head of the Central Intelligence department looked at me in a strange way, but then beckoned me forward onto the stage. My father whispered "No!" as I passed him, but I didn't look his way. I was too busy thinking of things to say to the Head.

Once I was on the stage, the head of the Department gave me a small frown, and then addressed the audience. She spoke in a stern voice: "Everybody! Silence! Why do you find it so strange that this girl has volunteered, when do others did? She is obviously brave, braver than many here, and more focused on the good of the planet!" 

People still weren't taking it well.  A man at the back of the room stood up. "We can't let this child go on such a mission!" he said loudly. "We need someone strong, someone daring, someone serious!"

I spoke up. I said: "You know very well that I am 15 years old. I am officialy an adult. I have a full job here, in the CID." I looked over at the Head of Department, hoping she would agree. Fortunately, she nodded shortly at me. "Let's hear what she has to say", the Head said.

Fortunately, I had already thought of things to say to her. "My name is Eris Adala", I replied. "I am the adopted daughter of Chato Becik, who also works in this department. I want to do this mission, because I know the Government. I know how it works and how it takes care of so much on Udara, and helps the other planets as well. I know it would be a lot harder to be a good planet without the Government. Plus, I know how bad it would be if Adalana returned and waged war on us once again. And I am confident I can do this." 

I took a deep breath, praying that my speech had fallen in good favor. It seemed to have. The Head was looking impressed, Tym winked at me, my father gave me a stern but proud look... But there were a few who still weren't convinced. The man from before still looked unconvinced. Then he argued back. "But, Head Savi", he said, addressing the Head, "She's barely an adult! This is too much responsibility!"  Several people nodded in agreement.

I was starting to think I had lost, when my father started speaking. "I would like to remind everyone that Eris is my daughter. And she may be adopted, but I know for a fact that she is trustworthy. She is skilled, smart, and cautious. I am sure she could do this mission." My breath caught in my chest. I hadn't expected my father to support me in this. I gave him a small, sly smile, and he winked back. 

All the protesters seemed to be cowed after this. My father was quite respected in the CID. After a few seconds, Head Savi looked around the room. "Any other arguments against this?" she asked. Nobody said anything. "Very well", she said. "Eris Adala, you have the honour of the spy mission against the ghost of the Empire. It is your job to collect any information you can about the whereabouts of the Empire, if they are preparing for war, and who is leading the new Empire. Good luck, may you have good results and stay out of danger. Commence Operation Anti-Empire Udara, code name Skyscraper."

***

The next day, I was on my way back from a meeting with Head Savi about Operation Skyscraper, to meet with Tym. I couldn't wait to tell her about the stuff the Head had said.

I flew down towards Tym who was on the shopping street.

"Hey Tym!" I greeted. "Hi Eris!" she replied. "What did Savi tell you?" She asked. "Head  Savi, Tym", I reprimanded. Compared to her, I wasn't rebellious at all. Well, I guess her Government job was only half.

You could see the difference in our appearances, too. She had green hair, mine was it's natural brown-black. She had pierced nails. I had merely two piercings in each ear lobe, although I had a cartilage one in my right ear. She tattoos around her ears. I  didn't have any tattoos. In clothing choices, she was also different. She wore bright, crazy clothes when she wasn't at work, often DIY, covered in texts talking about freedom, or anarchy symbols. My clothing was basically just random black stuff. 

Me and Tym walked down the shopping street. There were so many cool shops in the Planetary Capital of Udara. There were crazy clothing shops, body mod shops, all sorts of hobby shops, animal stores with crazy animals from all the planets. But me and Tym weren't headed to any of this. We were going to our favorite place to go. It was on a roof of an old warehouse and one end of the street. 

Once we got there, we discussed the words of Head Savi, strategies for me to spy on the Empire, and our views on the whole "Empire-has-returned" thing.