Children of Trident Book 1: Broken Treaty

The Meeting

Cassielle

    Cassielle carefully got out of bed. She wore a purple shirt and pants, standard clothes for those in stasis for more than two hours. She changed into a clean set of combat clothes and walked into the adjoining room, which happened to be the main sitting area. LuHan sat on one of the couches reading from a tablet. He looked up and quickly got his feet.

    Close to seven feet, LuHan dwarfed the smaller Cassielle. He hesitated before saluting her by placing the first two fingers on his dominant hand to his forehead and nodding slightly. She raised an eyebrow to the salute but said nothing. It had been years since he officially saluted her. She wondered why he bothered now.

    “How long?” she asked.

    “Four hours,” he said. “We had to get a transfusion from one of the Earthlings. You had lost so much blood that your enhancements were starting the process for extraction.”

    It shocked Cassielle on how close to death she had come. “Who convinced Celia to donate? I assume Nate was not available.”

     “How did you know-,” he began but Cassielle had held up her hand.

    “I am well aware of who share’s my blood type.”

    “High Council spoke with her directly.” LuHan said looking down. “Nate is still recovering in the med bay. Since he does not have a regeneration upgrade, his recovery is going slower than yours. Here’s the report Jacobee made from your mission to Earth.”

    Cassielle took the tablet from LuHan but did not read it right away.

    “How did I get here?”

    “High Council thought it best you wake in your quarters. Rose and Hank are refusing to remain in the guest area and are instead at Nate’s bedside.”

    Cassielle closed her eyes. Of course, they would want to remain with him. He was their oldest grandchild. She quickly read through the report LuHan gave her. High Council needed to know about this new information. She headed for the door followed by LuHan.

    “How much longer will he be recovering?” she asked as they entered the hall.

    “At least two, maybe three more hours.”

    “Notify me the moment he wakes.” She stopped at a door in the hall and LuHan saluted her before continuing.

    She turned to the door and requested entrance. The door opened and one of High Council’s attendants greeted her. The attendant wore a soft green tunic with a white long-sleeved shirt and a dark green head covering. On her upper right arm bore a single gray band, signifying she would always serve High Council. One other attendant was waiting by High Council’s office door. Only the two attendants were needed at this time. The others would come out of their hidden room when needed. Two guards stood on the opposite wall. They saluted Cassielle as she walked by.

    High Council sat on the far side of the room at a small table where tea and refreshments were served. Rose and Hank sat across from her. All three looked up at Cassielle when she entered. Rose seemed to lose all color in her face as Cassielle approached.

    “Have they been with you the whole time?” Cassielle asked.

    “No. I invited them for some tea,” High Council said. “It’s good to see you up and around.”

    “Thank you, High Council.” Cassielle bowed.

    An attendant brought another chair over and she sat down.

    “As it turned out, you were more injured than you thought,” High Council said, pouring a cup of Morgoth tea.

    Cassielle smelled it and she remembered her friend.

    “I’m sorry,” Cassielle said in response.

    “Hank, you said that you were able to visit Nate before you came here?” High Council asked turning to one of her visitors.

    “Yeah,” he said. “He was still out but the medical staff stated he would recover, just not as quickly.”

    “They said he had so many injuries, they were surprised he managed to survive the flight up,” Rose added.

    “Humans are incredible,” High Council mused.

    Cassielle grew more and more nervous. She had not seen these people in over twenty years. How much did they know? She studied Rose carefully, trying to gage what she knew. Rose wore a soft blue light-weight sweater over a white collared shirt. She wore slacks with black flats. Her hair, which Cassielle had always remembered long, had been cut to chin length, and was completely silver.

    Hank looked as Cassielle always remembered him. A military style haircut, clean shaved, wearing a button down short sleeved shirt over his favorite brand of blue jeans. Gray Velcro shoes completed his outfit. Unlike Rose, Cassielle had never seen Hank’s original hair color as it had gone white while he served in the Vietnam War, right after she was born.

    “I’m curious,” Cassielle began, “how much has High Council told you about what is going on?”

    “Not much,” Rose said. “After we arrived on the ship, she had us join her. She stated we were onboard for our own protection and that if you hadn’t just left, we would have met then.”

    “You didn’t tell them why?” Cassielle asked High Council.

    “I did not,” High Council confirmed.

    “Masa said someone was trying to kill us,” Hank offered.

    Cassielle sighed. Masa’s friendly nature would always be a problem. Why did she have to reveal the danger? Cassielle could not be sure she could go into detail without exposing herself. An attendant approached High Council and handed her a tablet.

    “That can be a discussion for another time,” High Council said. “Right now, we have an emergency meeting to attend.” She handed the tablet back to the attendant and stood up.

    Cassielle and the Kalls followed suit.

    “Please escort out guests back to the med bay or the guest area,” she said to an attendant who bowed back in obedience.

    They waited for the couple to leave before exiting through a door on the far side of the room. The room they entered had a large table with a total of 13 chairs, 10 of which had been filled by a hologram of a member of the ruling board. The dim lighting allowed the holograms to show brighter. The governors had congregated at The Kalli’s Seat on Trident for this meeting. High Council lead the way around the table, followed by Cassielle. All the members had remained standing while the two ladies took their own seats. The empty seat being reserved for High Regent, a position Cassielle rejected, thus it remained vacant.

    “It is good to see you alive, High Command,” Governor Chasta commented taking her seat.

    “Thank you, Governor Chasta,” Cassielle replied.

    “We have all read the report filed by Jacobee,” Governor Gou said.

    “It stated there was a Federation operation on Earth,” Governor Jace stated.

    “Yes.” Cassielle kept her answer brief.

    “No one from a Federation operation should have taken so much power to destroy,” Governor Chasta said. “Why, in this case, did you feel the need to use your power field?”

    “She was not an ordinary operative,” Cassielle stated. She sent a message to Jacobee to bring the item in. “This particular operative enhancement was not singular. When it was examined after the battle, Jacobee found it to be… different.”

    The governors remained silent but several exchanged worried glances.

    “Can you explain?” Governor Fila asked.

    “I had injured the operative with a fatal wound, but she merely shrugged it off. She used my own weapon against me. No other being has the power to warp my weapons to their will, but she somehow did,” Cassielle explained.

    Jacobee entered carrying a transparent box. The item he picked up from the hospital courtyard had been secured within. Some of the governors instinctively shied away. The effects from the Federation had a lasting impact on those in the outer regions of the empire. Once placed on the table, the box raised up to eye level. A readout of the device secured within the box showed on all their screens.

    “What am I looking at?” Governor Fila asked. “I don’t understand these schematics.”

    Cassielle had a hard time reading them as well.

    “It looks as if more than one enhancement is included here,” High Council said.

    She typed a command on her screen and the box lowered to the table leaving a hologram of the device within. A few more commands and five different enhancements separated. Their own separate schematics listed next to them. Several governors looked on in horror.

    “Each of these have a different skill enhancement,” Cassielle said reading them.  “You have healing, power, technology, battle, and charisma.”

    “Why charisma?” Governor Thyn asked.

    “She had lots of followers on Earth,” Cassielle said. “Several of them are in the holding cells. Many of them have enhancements themselves, but there are a few organic humans down there as well. They are all from Earth.”

    “You mean to tell me that you have arrested Earthlings as well?” Governor Chasta asked.

    “With upgrades like these, a human body cannot sustain itself,” High Council said. “How did she manage?”

    “I’m not sure,” Cassielle said. “We are looking into that.”

    “Your actions, while reckless, were necessary. With this new enemy, I doubt anyone else could have defeated her in battle,” High Council said. The governors nodded in agreement. “As for this new enemy, we have a new worry. If one figured out how to accomplish this, how many other have as well?”

    “I’ll check with the Polasi agents that we placed within several different Federation groups. I’ll see if they have found anything,” Governor Thyn said.

    “We need to understand this better. If they can match High Command in hand-to-hand combat, then how long will it be before they turn this new weapon against this leadership?” Governor Hu asked. As the chair of the board, he rarely spoke.

    “Agreed,” Cassielle said.

    “We have already left Earth’s orbit and are on our way back to Trident. We will be arriving in three days. Get back to me when you find out more, Governor Thyn,” High Council commanded.

    All the governors stood and bowed before their holograms went dark. Cassielle stood as well and waited for High Council. They watched Jacobee gather the box and leave.

    “Sit down, Cassielle,” High Council said.

    High Council rarely called Cassielle by her name instead of her title. She obeyed.

    “Your actions were irrational and reckless. You could have died, and you almost did. This whole situation is interfering with your ability to make logical decisions,” High Council said softly.

    “I underestimated her,” Cassielle said. The rebuke from High Council stung and she could not think of any other defense.

    “You were distracted by Nate.”

    “I was not distracted by him.”

    “I saw your face when they took him away. I read the report Jacobee turned in. You almost died because of Nate. You need to remove yourself from this and hand over the protection of the family to someone else.”

    “I’m fine,” Cassielle said standing up.

    “I’m ordering you to stand down, Cassielle. You need to take a real look at what this mission has done to you and to the family,” High Command said standing up.

    “My family wouldn’t have been in this position if the Federation had been stopped, Peddina” Cassielle said raising her voice.

    She stood there stunned at her own words. High Council’s closed her eyes and her face had gone red. Cassielle knew her words were harsh and inappropriate.

    “I’m sorry, High Council.”

    She bowed and left the room.