The Last Defender (FINISHED)

Chapter 11: The Conference Room

The next day started fine. Until I sat up to get out of bed. Immediately, I groaned in agony. Every muscle in my body was completely sore. I groaned again when I remembered I was going to have to train again, and I had a sinking feeling that complaining would not be tolerated.

Lucky for me (or at least, that's what I thought at that moment), I was called to come to a conference room. I headed there, but when I entered, a conversation between Racer and Skyal was paused midsentence.
"Oh, uhm, am I... interrupting something?" I said carefully.
I saw Racer looking at Skyal awkwardly, but Skyal looked at me calmly. "Nothing of the sort," he said in that fancy way of speaking of his, "please take a seat."
"Yes, the others should be here soon," Racer said, now recovered from the original awkwardness.
"Oh, alright then," I said, determined not to show them I had noticed the awkwardness. Although, in hindsight, I realize that they probably realized this themselves. I sat down and that's when the awkward silence started.
I was silently messing with my nails and I noticed Racer, who I sat across of, messing with the necklace I hadn't noticed until then. On it was a pendant shaped like a winged shield. I wondered where he'd gotten it but I didn't ask. I didn't raise my eyes either, mostly because I had the feeling Sky was staring me down.

Just when I thought the awkward silence was about to get unbearable, it was finally broken by Raleigh entering the room, followed by Dino.
"Sorry it took so long," Raleigh said easily, "bridge malfunction in the hub, had to fly here myself."
"Which is Raleigh for 'I need an excuse to hide the fact I plundered a pizzeria.'" Dino put in.
"Shut up, you traitor, you helped!" said Raleigh, confirming Dino's comment.
"I did not!"
Skyal sighed deeply. "Just.. sit down, you two, before I get even more of a headache.
Without further question, the two sat down.
"Right," Skyal said. Then he snapped his fingers and the room darkened, a holomap of a planet (I assumed correctly that it was Ionica) appearing above the conference table.
"We all know the Unity is a danger to us all. They have been proving it more and more in the recent past. However, there is much we do not know about them- or what they're after. At first, we thought of them as a minor threat, merely another terrorist group or rebellion. But during the raid three months ago, led by Dino, that was proved very, very wrong. The Intel that base has provided us shows that their numbers are not only larger than we originally assumed, but they are also in possession of old Union war tech."
"The big question now," said Dino, "is what they're after- besides world domination, of course."

"Most of their latest attacks weren't intended to actually hurt us," Raleigh pointed out, "they were seemingly too random." The holomap showed red dots supposedly represented attacks, seemingly randomly scattered. "That is, until we realized that, every time they attacked, they tried to hack into vital databases. If you combine that with the fact that they're still hanging around in the middle of nowhere all the time... They're searching for something, and they know we know where it is, whatever it may be."

"We know the unity has been searching for major sources of power over the past few years," Racer said. "First they tried to use the Hearts of Leadership to create their own defenders- in which they succeeded, but obviously, it didn't work out, 'cause look where I am now."
"Yeah. Presumably they gave up on that idea," Raleigh agreed.
But this is where I stopped them. There was too much in what Racer just said that sounded unfamiliar even though he'd said it like it should be the most normal thing in the world. Then again, I was in a whole new world, compared to my own, so maybe it was normal here.
"Hold on," I said, sitting up straight so they'd at least notice me. I was slightly soft-spoken. Keyword: was. However, I almost immediately shrunk back as everyone looked at me. I flushed and only barely managed to say, "uhm, w-what's a Heart of Leadership, exactly?"
"Simply put: an object that turns an ordinary person into a Defender," Raleigh explained.
"That's not to say we're better than you, but, well.." Racer hesitated, but he didn't have to finish the thought.
"We are, technically, better than you," Dino finished apologetically.
I nodded. Even though I didn't get it entirely yet, I figured it was enough to let them proceed.