Interlude V

Captain Chet Goldman

Human Captain Chet Goldman sat in his personal room aboard the Galactica class ship, Titan. It had been a long few months for him, he had lost most of the advantages that made him successful to this point. While his rise to being a Captain was fast, his rapid growth was not unheard of. There were always officers who had fared better in their careers. Though compared to his peers he was leaps and bounds ahead of them, especially as he was a Space Force captain, or the equivalent of a colonel for the ground forces. The role was assigned the pay grade of O6 for sixth rank of Officer. Still, that hadn’t been enough, nothing was ever good enough for Chet, and he knew it.

Ping.

A personal message came in. When he looked at who it was two letters set his heart racing in panic.

PL.

That was all that was on his display, even that might be enough to get him severely punished. But he would only be punished if the person at the other end of the line found out about the two-letter designation.

Still Chet Goldman was thorough if nothing else. Rather than worrying about the person finding out about his designation, he was already moving to secure the room. Within moments the door was sealed, anti-magic and scrying wards were placed, and the room was as secure as could be. Finally, once he was certain all forms of resonant magical effects were erased, did he answer.

“Hello.”

No names, that was a big thing. While the end points were secure, the transmission could be picked up. So, everything was done with alternate accounts. The PL in fact only used this one specific line to talk to Chet Goldman personally.

As he spoke, a three-dimensional dark hologram appeared in the room. The hologram was intentionally made this was, darkened. Only able to see Chet, while only allowing Chet to see the physical outline of the caller. Still despite this, he was able to make out the familiar outline of the PL.

“Hello. It has been some time, but I wanted to commend you on playing your role flawlessly, while also effectively neutralizing the threat you pose to the mission.”

Hearing this Chet smiled. At first, he thought he had been a bit too obvious with his intentions, forcefully going after Kyle-X with all four of his banned powers. Now with his role effectively neutralized the two love birds could have their synergy that had long since been touted.

“Thank you…” As he spoke his tone was reverent, clearly, he was speaking to a leader. This was not bad, as the two of their roles were at vastly different stations. Should anyone find out about the communication and realize that honorifics were not being used then that might cause more issues than not being prim and proper. But still nothing should be done to jeopardize their roles throughout this whole process. If one of them were to be discovered, then it could have a devastating cascading effect that would mean ruin for the entire mission. With the mission in this case being the survival of the entire universe, it was easy to see why such protocols were in place. Also, it was understandable how the actors were able to use wards that were generations above even the best wards currently available for the same level of communications. Even still, the two took their roles and communications very seriously.

“Save it. I just wanted to ask how much longer we had on the lease.” The PL said, her voice commanding and authoritative.

At this, Chet’s face grew tight with tension. “I thought you managed that?”

Hearing this, the PL grew visibly tense as her silhouette stood completely still. The sudden stillness was unnerving to Chet, but he made no indication to get the PL to move, or at the very least breathe. Instead, he sat there and waited patiently.

Finally, after a few seconds the PL Shadow began to nod to herself. “Okay. Alternate Kyle got here what two months ago?”

Chet mentally thought back to the day he had been mentally neutered and realized it was slightly longer. “Two months and two weeks, rounded up.”

Hearing that the PL nodded once more. “Okay, so assuming it is the minimum we are looking at six months total, for him to be sent back two weeks before new year.”

“And if it is longer?” Chet found himself asking.

“Doesn’t matter.” The PL said, waving her ghost arm dismissively. “We can’t predict that. We must assume the worst. As such this will mean we will have to move our schedule forward… I’d dare say your dear alternate brother deserves a reward for all his recent work.”

“You are referring to the scourge attack?” Chet asked.

PL nodded, her ghostly silhouetted head moving up and down. “Yes.”

There was a note of tension in her yes. As she seemed to be troubled by something. Seeing this as his moment to voice his own fears, he posed the question that had been plaguing him.

“Is it how powerful the scourge are?” Chet asked.

Hearing this, the silhouette paused for a moment, before shaking her head. “No, this is in relationship to their bonding. It is a lot stronger than it should be.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“What, no. On the contrary it is a good thing. Almost too good in fact.”

“Should we take measures?”

A pause.

“No. We need to encourage this relationship, trying to get them to take the next step.”

“A mind merge?”

“Yes, with that they can reach further into the Gemini Temple. They can theoretically continue to unlock the next set of doors without making the mind merge, but that is a tough proposition.”

“Your goal is to get them to run the Gemini Temple before he gets sent back?”

“Yes. That is why I was calling to confirm the time frame we had to work with. This cuts our training time down to just three months, before we send them out.”

“That will give you two weeks?”

The silhouette nodded. “Yes, that will have to be enough time.”

There was silence as so many other things were not being said. Finally, the PL spoke again. “Still, I cannot help but feel that all our efforts will be wasted due to this unknown third actor.”

“Can’t you do a reveal?” Chet asked. This was a benefit of being the PL, they could do a mass reveal, but that was a last-ditch effort. It was when you knew you were outmaneuvered by the enemy and needed to find out where the holes in your leadership were. Such actions often concluded with the scourge leadership appearing in droves. This of course would mean that most protection rules that were in place would also be dissolved, allowing the scourge to grow and attack with impunity. For now, all the wounds had been self-inflicted and even then, the wounds were egregious.

“No. While this is a rogue actor, they seem to be working with us. So, for the time I will keep the reveal. Plus, even with two Kyle’s we are not ready for tension a reveal would cause.”

Hearing that Chet could only nod in agreement. “What do you need from me?”

With that question the PL visibly tensed, her shadow going completely still once more. Finally, after a second she spoke. “For now, continue the course. Infiltrate the ranks. Find the moles and document them for me. We know there are at least seven. So, finding one would be huge in our victory.”

She of course was referring to the seven hidden scourge operatives. As a full mind reader Chet was in prime position to find these operatives. Now that his role had been compromised by an agent, and he had been effectively neutered. The would be no penalties for him to change his original purpose. At least his original purpose in this universe. With that the orders from the PL made sense and were easy to follow. Also, it filled one of Chet’s core values perfectly, the need to be seen and recognized by superiors.

“I will endeavor to raise my standing within the faction and search out these hidden agents among us.” Chet said.

The PL nodded.

“What will you do?” Chet finally asked before it looked like the PL was about to leave.

For a second it looked like she was debating whether to tell him what her plans were, but then decided to tell him anyways. “I intend to push Rayquel and Kyle-X closer. Then have them complete the Gemini Temple as thoroughly as possible. With that and joining at least a tier two mind meld, Kyle-X will be permanently bound to our Rayquel. Which means all the resources that were spent on Kyle-X will be ours. Even if he must go back to his home universe in some way in three and a half months’ time, he will be bound to come back here.”

Hearing the plan, it was solid. While Kyle-X would have to go back after the time period, he could always choose to come back. It was a gamble, but one that seemed like it could pay off.

“What if Rayquel decides to go with him?” Chet asked.

Hearing that the PL paused. Then after a moment she said, “we will just have to make sure that does not happen, now, won’t we?”

With that there was a silence for a few seconds. Once it seemed that all of Chet’s questions had been answered, the PL ended her connection. Her shadow first flickered, then finally dissolved completely. Only once the connection ended, did Chet lower the wards, then attempt to remove any signs of the wards ever being activated. This was as simple as turning on the vents in his room, the ones with the specialized resonance clearing trap installed. With the room being cleaned of any signs of their communication, Chet got up and left. He had a lot to do, and their window of opportunity was dwindling.