Pax Galactica - A Space Opera

Interlude - The Ghosts of Inxon

Two cloaked figures, Helios and her squire, moved purposefully through the desert winds. At long last they came upon the same outcropping behind which they hid when they first detected the Old One presence.

<Do you see anything yet?> Helios asked her suit.

<I'll tell you when I see something,> replied the Suit, exasperated with her.

<I think this could be it. I have never given you a more important task.>

<I understand. I said I'd tell you.>

<Good,> thought Helios. <Pay special attention to the place we detected the Old Ones before.>

<What an amazing and novel idea I never would have come up with myself,> her Suit said. <You let me worry about the hypersensors and you worry about breathing and walking at the same time.>

"Wait a moment," Helios told her squire as she came to a halt herself. "My Suit is having a look around."

"I'll help too," offered Annesdaughter.

"I have it covered. Your job is to do nothing until I say so."

Helios was tense and she spoke a little more harshly than she intended.

"Where did this come from all of the sudden? Since when can't I scan for hostiles?"

"Since I told you your job was to do nothing. This is a delicate task."

Squire Annesdaughter was a sharp kid. She would keep asking questions. Helios would need to have the talk with her in the near future. In the immediate future if her hunch was correct.

Helios wanted more time to get a feel for her squire. To be able to better predict her potential reaction. Time was the one advantage she didn't have. She would have to take a leap of faith. All this would be for nothing if she couldn't show some basic human solidarity. That was the point, wasn't it?

"It's frustrating, fighting like this. Isn't it?" said Helios.

"What do you mean?" asked Annesdaughter.

"I mean with one hand tied behind our backs. The Old Ones aren't any real threat to us on an even battlefield. All their advantages come from being willing to break the rules. We hold ourselves back when if we just let go we could humiliate them even more thoroughly than we did in the war."

"Well maybe," said Annesdaughter. "As fun as that sounds I like the Parliament of Stars might have something to say about it."

"The Parliament is exactly what I'm talking about. Take this whole proxy war. It wouldn't even have happened if our hands weren't tied by the Parliament. Any fool can see what the Old Ones are doing and yet we're expected to pretend the gug-gug-gugs are acting alone and treat them like an out-of-play species. It's pathetic."

"Well what's the alternative? Quit the Parliament? We have enough enemies as it is."

"You're right," replied Helios. We would need to surpass the Parliament first.

<Do you see anything yet?> Helios asked.

<Oh sure I was just hiding it from- wait, no I actually might. Stop distracting me.>

There was a beat of silence.

<There's something at the edge of my sensor range. We need to get closer.>

"Come on," said Helios, and she led her squire onward.

They circled around the outcropping and made their way towards the place where they had originally detected the Old Ones.