Mindshard (ON HOLD)

The Next Step

     After Finn’s body was interred in space and repairs were completed to the Indurin, the Sidhe capital ship damaged in the Viseith attack, the Pax flotilla bridged subspace and jumped away from Directorate space.  Knowing that, despite the great speed subspace bridges gave them, the flotilla was still a number of days from Pax space, Deks took the opportunity to begin briefing their remaining human ally.

     The screens in the small conference room they had first spoke in after Finn’s death, cleared with a wave from the swarthy Sidhe.  His silvery environmental suit long removed, today Deks was much more casual, as was his wont.  His ensemble included a loose shirt in some creamy fabric, equally loose dark leather pants tucked into calf boots and a heavy, dark leather vest with a multitude of pockets, each filled with some gadget or device.  The weapon strapped to his waist, however, wasn’t so casual.

     Vaughn had to put the weapon’s presence aside to concentrate on what Deks was going to show her.  It did nothing to settle her nerves to realize they were still at risk by an enemy attack.  She focused just in time to see the center most screen spin together an image of what appeared to be an ancient page of text, written in an even more stylized form of the alien language Vaughn had noticed on the screens before.

  “Our only clue to the existence of the talisman we seek.”  Deks identified the page, the screen dividing the image into several segments which were, in turn, highlighted and analyzed as they watched, the sinuous alien text translated on the fly into English.

  “A page from one of our most ancient historical texts that survived the Exodus.  Ironically we didn’t know it existed until recently after intercepting a Viseith operative that managed to penetrate one of our primary archives on Galus Prime, a key Pax world.  She had it in her possession.”  Two other screens lit up with three-dimensional floor plans of the archive, a well-structured monolith that occupied several levels below ground as well as above.  The location of the text was briefly highlighted with a pulsing square of light.

     The page continued with its deconstruction and analysis as the tanned Isivir agent went on to explain that the text contained references to a mystic talisman called the Crown of Oberon, one of the sources of early Sidhe power that enabled them to shape the world they once lived in.  While not divulging a great deal of detail, the text gave a brief description of the talisman itself and the power it wielded.  A power that could shake the very foundations of the Pax, or weave it together much stronger than before, depending on who got to it first.

  “A quick question.”  Vaughn rasped, eyes narrowed as she examined the page of text, tattered and torn as it floated over the holo screen, reassembled once more with Deks’ brief description completed.  The passages that directly mentioned the talisman remained highlighted and in English.

  “Obviously the Viseith knew about the talisman before they penetrated the archive in search of this piece of text.”  She looked over at Deks.  “Else why run the risk of getting caught?”

     Deks nodded in agreement from where he had taken a seat on the table’s edge, arms folded across his chest.

  “So thinks Isivir Command.  But our deep cover agents haven’t been able to discover exactly how the Praetors became aware of the talisman to begin with.”  He grimaced.  “Likely because the Viseith knows we’ve agents in their midst, as I’m sure we have theirs in ours.  Their core command is keeping that information isolated, so we don’t find that out.”  He paused to look away from the screens and at her.

  “But I’ve a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with your people.”

  “My people?”  Vaughn’s eyebrow climbed as she returned her dark eyed gaze to the swarthy alien.  Deks nodded.