Month 115, Day 4, D’Bringi Prime
“Why have you brought me here?” Skull-Splitter, chief of the K’Rorin Clan, was obviously in a bad mood, and being peremptorily summoned by a fellow chief to a more-or-less neutral meeting place likely had a lot to do with it. Skull-Splitter thumped ponderously into the room and took the proffered chair. He was large for a D’Bringi, and while his title, ‘Skull-Splitter”, had been handed down from some leader of the K’Rorin in the distant past, he certainly looked like he was capable of splitting any skull he encountered. Outside, K’Rorin guards surrounded the small meeting center, joining their B’Regest fellows in setting up a perimeter. The two guard forces were mainly concentrating on outside threats, but also were watching each other, alert for any possible treachery. Such treachery had been common in the time before space flight, but while it was uncommon now, especially amongst the highest leadership levels, it was not unknown.
Burning Blade, the leader of the B’Regest clan, sat a cup filled with water in front of the other clan leader, who looked at it disdainfully and pulled a flask out of his pack. “I see the Keepers aren’t here, or the T’Chau. Are they late, or did you just invite me?”
Burning Blade, generally considered the most urbane of the major clan leaders, sighed, and dipped his head. “Blunt as always. Very well. This doesn’t involve the Keepers, at least not yet, and with Fortress Breaker off world, with the fleet, if I invited the T’Chau we’d just get one of his innumerable sons who, of course, has no power of his own.”
Skull-Splitter’s eyes narrowed as he considered what his fellow clan chief was saying. “What has gone wrong?”
“Possibly nothing. But…there is something strange going on out on the frontier. This morning I received a strange report from one of my troubleshooters on Phyriseq IV.”
Skull-Splitter leaned forward. “Phyriseq IV? That’s that colony on the periphery, right? The Mintek are beyond there, and the trade goods we are getting from them comes in at Phyriseq, right?
Burning Blade shifted uncomfortably. “Yes.” If he was surprised that the other clan chief could pull those facts out of his memory, he didn’t let on.
“And, if I remember correctly, your clan has primary responsibility for the colony on Phyriseq IV, and thus the trade with the Mintek? Trade that you are supposed to ensure is fairly divided between the clans.” That last was said without emphasis, but with a focused glare that said volumes.
“Yes, and that’s why word of the issue has reached me.” He held up his hand when the other clan chief looked like he was going to interject. “I employ troubleshooters to deal with clan…problems, throughout the Expanses. These troubleshooters are usually the younger sons and daughters of the various family chiefs, and, while they have significant authority when on a mission, they have little hope of advancement or achieving a position through their family connections.”
“And thus, they are loyal to you. We do something similar.”
“Exactly. Five months ago, when we concluded the trade deal with the Mintek, I began receiving some troubling messages from my factors and labor bosses on Phyriseq IV. As part of the trade agreement, we had agreed to let the Mintek move freely on the two closest colonies, Phyriseq IV and Jerothal A-II, while our traders and tourists would be allowed free movement on two of the inhabited planets in their home system.”
Skull-Splitter suddenly sat up straight. “Wait! Jerothal? That system is the gateway to the human’s worlds! Our fleet confronting the human’s lies beyond Jerothal!”
Burning Blade’s expression turned even gloomier, if that was possible. “You begin to see at least one of my concerns. At any rate, my contacts on Phyriseq were telling me that the Mintek were up to something. They never were quite able to tell me what they thought the Mintek were up to, though. Every report just stated that relatively large numbers of Mintek were visiting the colony, and that they were very friendly and were talking to everyone. About a month later, the Mintek asked for permission to set up temples in several towns, and permission was granted. It wasn’t long after that that the reports of troublesome behavior dwindled to nothing. After that every report said that everything was fine, and all reports that mentioned the Mintek did so in glowing terms. I intended to follow up, but with the war…well, to be honest, it never happened.”
Skull-Splitter’s anger had dissipated, and now he was focused on what his fellow chief was trying to say. “So, what changed?”
“My staff noticed a relatively minor accounting discrepancy in the accounts for one of our mines on Phyriseq IV several months ago, and so I dispatched a junior troubleshooter to determine what the issue actually was. More than once, what appeared to be a minor error, when investigated, turned into a massive problem that we were lucky we brought to light early, so I tend to send the troubleshooters in unannounced, and early. Reports from the troubleshooter came in like clockwork, and revealed some very disquieting events were taking place on Phyriseq IV. There were Mintek temples in every city and town, and they were hosting daily events for the workers that were always well attended. One of the troubleshooter’s last reports indicated that the Mintek running the temples seemed to be very friendly with the clan overseers for the various cities and corporations responsible for operations for the colony, and stated that the troubleshooter was going to try to infiltrate the local temple to learn more. Nothing has been heard of her since.”
“This is bad!” Skull-Splitter leapt to his feet and began pacing. “We have warships in the system, right?”
“We do. Three cruisers intended to show the flag and defend the border. Two T’Chau ships and one of yours.”
“One of mine?” He paused his pacing to punch an inquiry into his pocket comp. “The Devastator, under Turiq. A good warrior. We must contact him immediately!”
“Wait! We must be very cautious. Think! Why has your commander not contacted you to report these events?”
Skull-Splitter turned on the other clan chief. “You accuse him?”
Burning Blade merely held up his hand, waiving away the others accusation. “I accuse no one. I merely fear that some, maybe many, officials in the system may have been suborned by the Mintek. This may be nothing more than the fever dreams of a minor official, or it could be that the Mintek already control one of our colonies.”
Skull-Splitter resumed pacing. “The other two ships of the squadron are clan T’Chau. Could they be in league with the Mintek?”
“And now you see why I didn’t invite them. We don’t know what is going on there, but we must respond, and we cannot tip off anyone in the system when we do so.”
“We have no ships left to send there, though. Between the three clans and the Keepers, there are no more than three warships left that are ready for battle, and one of those is a corvette.”
“Yes, I know. I propose diverting the reinforcements dispatched to Fortress Breaker and the main fleet at the start of the month. After all, they are already heading in the right direction, they merely have to divert from their original course once they reach the Chruqua nexus at the end of month. And, the reinforcements out numbers the border force in Phyriseq handily.”
Skull-Splitter stopped pacing and turned back to the other chief. “That is…doable. However, those reinforcements are needed on the front lines. They will go a long way towards regaining the fleet’s superiority over the humans.”
Burning Blade looked troubled. “I know, but it can’t be helped. I fear what is going on in Phyriseq, and I fear that if we don’t investigate now it boil over and engulf us all while the fleet is deployed far away.”
Skull-Splitter stood stock still for a second, then dipped his head in agreement. “Agreed. We will have to bring in the Keepers, though. The squadron you wish to divert is led by one of their commanders, on board one of their battlecruisers. And, there are two T’Chau cruisers with the group. If the T’Chau are in on whatever is going on, they will have to be dealt with.”
“I have called upon the Keeper-Cleric to attend us later this day, in the hope that we could come to an agreement. As for the T-Pau, we can put the squadron under a communication’s blackout, and leave them to watch the warp points in the Chruqua system. That will weaken the task group, but not severely.”
Skull-Splitter ceased pacing. “I will go out to join the reinforcement squadron. One of us must be there to evaluate the situation on-scene, and to provide command and control.” He stared at the leader of the B’Regest intently. “We must determine the intent of the T’Chau as soon as possible!”
“Agreed. I will remain here to coordinate our activities and response. I will have all of my agents begin investigating T’Chau activities across our territories, in areas where we are still receiving good information. In addition, I will send an auditing team with you, to go over all of the colonial government’s records.” The B’Regest leader stood and moved towards his counterpart. “We must stand together in this.”
Skull-Splitter dipped his head in agreement. “I will order our agents to investigate the T’Chau as well, and to report to you their findings. In the meantime, all new construction and newly refitted warships must be held here, to act as a reserve against the possibility of military action against the Mintek, should they prove to be a threat.”
The two leaders, having come to an agreement, moved to another room to bring their respective staffs together to begin the planning that would be necessary to divert he squadron and begin investigating the T’Chau. The Keeper-Cleric arrived just over three hours later, and having received some cryptic warnings from Phyriseq himself, agreed to place the Keeper ships in the reinforcement squadron under Skull-Splitter’s control. In addition, he agreed to send an elite team of Keeper Inquisitors with Skull Splitter.
Skull-Splitter would board the lone corvette in the home system belonging to the B’Regest clan, which would ferry him to the reinforcement squadron at its maximum speed, risking burning out its engines in its haste to reach the warships. The reinforcement squadron, which would be renamed to Attack Group Skull-Splitter upon his arrival, would arrive in the Phyriseq system next month, on day 5.
Meanwhile, on Mintek Prime, four days earlier…
The Mintek are entirely humanoid, and on first inspection appeared almost identical to humans, something that threw the D’Bringi for a considerable loop when they first encountered the newly discovered race. The sole visible difference is that the sides and back of a Mintek’s head is covered with what appears to be a shell, although it is made of a bone-like substance. The Mintek are hairless, and their internal organs and layout is significantly different from that of humanity, although those differences are not visible. The Mintek civilization also includes a second race, the Beoratal. The Beoratal evolved on the second planet of the Mintek system’s yellow-star component, while the Mintek themselves evolved on the third planet of the yellow star. A third habitable planet exists in the system, orbiting the white star primary of the binary pair, but this planet was uninhabited until the Mintek placed a colony there shortly after exploring the system. The Beoratal are entirely alien in appearance, being insectoid and possessing an exoskeleton. A human would likely think a Beoratal looked like a large grasshopper. Beoratal have been completely absorbed into Mintek society, and, indeed, largely think of themselves as Mintek at this point. Although they are not legally prohibited from travelling, they are not common off of their home world.
Chancellor Dukhon, the elected leader of the Mintek, smiled and rose when his Minister for Equality and Inclusion swept into his office. Dukhon always looked forward to Turval’s visits, as he always made an entrance, and always had something interesting to say, or some relevant wisdom to impart. The Ministry of Equality and Inclusion (MEI) was the most important bureau in the government, by almost any accounting, and certainly was the most powerful, should it choose to flex its inherent power. Of course, it was very rare for the MEI to do so until recently. Ever since the enlightenment of the Beoratal decades ago the Ministry, in spite of its sweeping powers and responsibility, had mostly limited its efforts to general education and oversight of the mental hygiene police. Now, though, with the contact with the unenlightened, the Ministry had been greatly enlarged to reflect its greatly enlarged responsibilities.
“Chancellor, good day to you!” Turval bustled into the room and bowed before the Chancellor, as was traditional and appropriate. “It is a beautiful morning; may we have our meeting on the balcony?”
Chancellor Dukhon smiled at his Minister. “Of course. I know how you love the view.” The Chancellor rose and gestured for his aides to move their food and drink to the spacious patio on the balcony adjoined to the Chancellor’s one hundred and thirty-seventh floor office at the peak of the capital city’s main government complex. The view was breathtaking, and both of them sat silently for a time, looking out over the city. Unity, as the capital city was named, would have been called ethereally beautiful by most humans. Its buildings were smooth and elegant, almost natural in appearance, and where people could be seen there was none of the hustle and bustle that was so common in human cities. Instead, the Mintek visible all appeared to be an integral part of the city, organized but not regimented, purposeful but not driven. The Mintek Universal Union’s two most powerful leaders often took their meals together on the balcony, as the harmony and tranquility of the city provided a useful backdrop to the decisions that had to be made, but were sometimes distasteful or disagreeable.
Finally, Dukhon turned to his minister and said, “How goes the outreach programs? Are the D’Bringi evolved enough to be brought to the light of Union?”
A huge smile broke across Turval’s face. “Of course they are Chancellor, as I have said before. I cannot believe that any sentient beings exist who are too depraved to see the light of the Perfect Union! Even now our Speakers move across two unenlightened D’Bringi planets, bringing harmony and a desire for Unity to the D’Bringi people.”
“And the D’Bringi government? We know from our experience with the Beoratal that regressive, pre-Unity governments can be blind to the truth, and indeed will try to organize against us and our attempts to spread the truth.”
Turval’s face took on a serious look. “We have infiltrated and subverted many in the local governments on the two worlds we have been granted access to at this point in time. We believe that we have prevented any warnings from getting out to the central D’Bringi government, however, we cannot be sure of this.”
“And what steps have you taken to continue the spread of the truth to the unenlightened?”
Turval settled back into his chair, an uneasy look on his face. “We have encouraged many of the newly converted D’Bringi faithful to emigrate to a new colony we have established for them on Mintek Tertius, in the home system. Here they will be safe from any reprisals brought by the regressive elements in the D’Bringi government, should they become aware of our efforts to bring their people to enlightenment. And on this new colony they can be trained in the truth of Unity. My reports show that they hold great promise. Many seek to become Speakers themselves, to spread enlightenment to their own people! The response of the common D’Bringi people has been gratifying. So far, over two million D’Bringi have agreed to come to Mintek Tertius and make a new life for themselves within the Light of Unity.” Turval’s face, which had brightened at the mention of the new colony, now grew serious again. “Of course, we cannot yet protect the Speakers who move through D’Bringi territory, or those faithful that remain there to assist in the spread of the truth. We must give the D’Bringi, including those within their government, the freedom to choose. As we saw with the Beoratal, when presented with the truth of Unity, any reasoning being will accept it and reorder their lives to live within the accepted dictates as presented by the faithful. We must give them that freedom of choice, until they prove they cannot be trusted with the choice. Only then are the faithful justified in sweeping away the regressive forces who would prevent their own people from reaching enlightenment. Yes, this will place the faithful, and the Speakers who lead them, in greater danger, but such is the way of the path to enlightenment.”
Turval stood at that point, and moved to the edge of the balcony, where he could stare out over the city. The Chancellor moved to join him. After a few seconds, Turval continued. “Our efforts to bring the D’Bringi to enlightenment have paid off, old friend. The Speakers on Phyriseq IV have convinced a group of newly converted low-level administrators within the colonial government to give them access to the D’Bringi government’s navigation databases for the region around Phyriseq. It seems the system has four warp points aside from the one that connects to us here, and one of those leads to a system with no less than twelve warp points. This system seems to be the center of D’Bringi exploration efforts, and there are no less than four additional systems located adjacent to the warp nexus with habitable planets and populations. Even better, these planets house four different races!” Turval turned to the Chancellor, his eyes blazing. “We have been given a great opportunity to spread the truth. Think! With one fell swoop we can begin the spread of The One and his promised Unity to four additional races!”
Chancellor Dukhon was staggered. This was an immense development. He shook his head. “It is, indeed, a great opportunity old friend. But think of the danger! Our expansion of the faith into D’Bringi space was done stealthily, and by stages, to ensure that the regressive elements within their government did not act prematurely and attempt to prevent the enlightenment of their own people. We have failed to subvert the warships the D’Bringi government stationed at the border, and instead have had to settle for isolating them and cutting off or subverting their communications with their higher-level commanders. If we launch enlightenment missions to these other populations, then we will be escalating to a new level, and inviting the regressive elements to respond, perhaps forcefully.”
Minister Turval’s face assumed a solemn look. “Chancellor, surely you agree that we must take risks to spread the truth across the galaxy? We cannot shirk our responsibility to enlighten those who dwell in ignorance, or we ourselves will fall from the truth of The One and their Unity.”
The Chancellor stared at his old friend for a few seconds, emotions warring within him. His concern and fear for the fate of the Speakers and their enlightened followers battled with his certain knowledge that they must spread the faith to all unenlightened. Eventually his faith in The One won out, as it must, and he nodded. “You may send your enlightenment missions to the new populations. But! While I cannot reduce the immediate risk, I will do what I can to protect the faithful. Our memory of the devastating losses to the faithful during the efforts to bring the Beoratal to the truth are lasting, and still painful. I will do all I can to prevent such things from reoccurring. I am putting the fleet on alert, and ordering it to redeploy to the warp point. I will direct Strategos Neroon to prepare a plan to support your expansion efforts, in case the regressive elements move to stop your Speakers of the Truth.” Turval moved to speak, but the Chancellor raised his hands. “No, I will not hear your arguments this time. I will not allow another massacre of the faithful while I have the strength to prevent it.” Seeing the look on his friend’s face, he relented, slightly. “I will tell Strategos Neroon to seek a peaceful resolution, if at all possible.”
Minister Turval bowed from the waist. “I will do as you direct, Chancellor.” He turned back to the table they had abandoned. “Come, let us finish our breakfast before we begin changing the galaxy.” He chuckled.
That very day orders would be sent out. Some of the orders went to the fleet orbiting Mintek Prime. Upon receipt of the orders, the immense superdreadnoughts of the main fleet powered up their engines and left orbit, escorted by the battlecruisers and destroyers that made up the rest of the Mintek Battle Fleet. The other orders were sent to the official Mintek Embassy on Phyriseq IV. From there they were distributed to the faithful on the planet, when then began organizing missions to the five newly discovered systems. They would go forth on D’Bringi freighters that had either been subverted or otherwise hired to transport the pilgrims, and they left the system without being noticed or questioned by the three D’Bringi cruisers that hovered next to the warp point that led deeper into the D’Bringi Expanses. The squadron’s commander was just becoming aware that something was going on, and that the responses he was receiving from fleet HQ were not in synch with the messages he was sending out. But he was not yet suspicious enough to act against D’Bringi civilian transports going about apparently legitimate business.
