recover the ship’s computer core from the Fringe Pirates. As it turned out, the pirates never did have the core, but somehow, Oplim had still acquired it.
In light of all the information Giodol had collected, his only conclusion was that the mystery ship was more- than-likely a Klin starship. If this were true, then the whole dynamic of the galactic power structure could change. If the Klin did exist, and had been in hiding for 4,000 years, what evil could they bring upon the Juirean race?
Overlord Yan’wal had spent the past seven months traveling from Juir to The Fringe. Yes, there were other Overlords much closer who could have led the hunt for the Klin, yet the Council had decided that this information was much too important to be broadcast across The Expansion and left to a more junior Overlord. Even though rumors were bound to surface regarding Yan’wal’s mission, the Council felt it was better to keep the number of people who actually knew of the Klin to the barest minimum.
So Yan’wal had come to lead the search. And his first task was to debrief Giodol, who was now seated to the Overlord’s right, while all the other Jurieans seated around the massive conference table were staring at him.
There were twenty-two Juireans seated at the table, more of his own race together in one location than he’d seen in over ten standard years. Being so small and inconsequential to the affairs of The Expansion, The Fringe had never had more than ten Juireans in the entire Sector. Until now.
As they stared, Giodol began to experience that strange feeling again, and he actually began to sweat…
“We have all spent a very long time getting to this point,” Lord Yan’wal began. Instantly, all eyed locked on him. “I will now summarize our tactical plans for the benefit of Lord Giodol and his staff.”
A screen on the wall behind Yan’wal came to life, displaying a graphic representation of The Fringe. Highlighted was the planet Nimor, near the center of the spread of twelve named planets forming a crude crescent and bordering the vast emptiness of The Void. There was a short red line running to the left of Nimor on the inner edge of The Void, then a dotted straight line running from the solid red line until it intersected with the planet Dimloe.
“If we assume that the Klin ship continued on a straight-line course from the point of the attack,” Yan’wal continued, “we would place Dimloe as its final destination. We cannot be sure, since the ship may have taken evasive action once confronted by the pirates.
“So our strategy will be multi-fold. Fleet Commander Siegor will take a contingent to Dimloe and look for any trace of the Klin there. Meanwhile, Senior Guard Commander Lod’fin will take a force into the Far Arm and begin a systematic survey of the worlds there, ranging out to ten light years from The Barrier. We have crude records to work from, but they have not been updated for over seventy standard years when Sector 17 was first included in The Expansion. It would be logical that if the Klin had a larger base of operations, they would have placed it beyond The Barrier, but close enough to The Fringe to maintain contact with the operations of The Expansion.”
He paused briefly as he swept a hand toward the left side of the table. “Lord Giodol, Senior Counselor Arolus and his assistants here will assume most of the day-to-day responsibilities of governing the Sector to free you up to pursue my bidding. You will be assigned two new Senior Counselors.” He looked down the table at Giodol’s current Counselors. “This is no reflection on your competency,” he said to them. There was no reaction on their faces. “You will be placed under the command of Counselor Arolus for reassignment of duties. Your experience with the functioning of the Sector will be of great value to them.”
Yan’wal then addressed the right side of the table. “Under direction of Specialist Eannwen, his team will be responsible for the investigating and correlation of all information regarding the Klin and their rumored presence in the Sector. He will coordinate with Lord Giodol for any information that can be gleaned from former Overlord’s records, including his private notes, transmissions and the like.
“As it turns out, Lord Oplim and Counselor Deslor had been obsessed with the Klin myth for a very long time. Their suspicions appear now to have been correct. We must not take anything they may have said or done throughout their careers as wild ravings. If we do succeed in discovering the Klin, and eradicating their threat from The Expansion, their names will go down in Juirean history as heroes of our race.
“As usual, most of our operations off-planet will be performed by trusted agents. Lord Giodol and his staff will in invaluable in providing our teams with the names of these individuals.”
Again the Overlord paused and scanned the others seated at the table. The pause was for effect, and it definitely did raise the gravity of the meeting in Giodol’s mind. Since the time of that frantic link with Overlord Oplim, Giodol had been uncertain as to his role in the upcoming events. Now he had a better idea. Still, he wasn’t altogether sure he was up for the task.
Finally Yan’wal spoke: “All of you seated here have had ample time to weigh the significance of our mission. At this time we do not know the extent of the threat the Klin may pose to The Expansion. What little we do know of the Klin starship tells us that their mastery of technology has not suffered since The Reckoning. The fact that they could have built such a ship, while remaining completely hidden from us, is very troubling. Therefore we must assume that they are a grave threat — and that the confirmation of their existence is not information that can be openly discussed.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “We are here to find and destroy any remaining Klin — along with their allies, which we assume they have.” He glanced over at Giodol at that last comment, which caused Giodol to shift in his seat. “Our mission is of the utmost importance to the Council and to our race. We must not fail.”
He turned to the Juirean seated directly to his left. “Counselor Haden is my Senior Counselor. He will be your direct link to me. All contacts must go through him unless directed personally by me. I will remain aboard the UN- 444, along with my staff. The rest of you, who are not attached to a fleet, will set up operations on Melfora Lum. That is all.”
Immediately, and without a word, every Juirean at the table rose and headed for the exit. Yan’wal reached out a hand and placed it on Giodol’s arm. “Please join me in my quarters in ten minutes,” he commanded, and then he too rose and left the room.
Chapter Four
Precisely ten minutes later, Giodol entered Lord Yan’wal’s quarters, and was momentarily stunned by what he saw. The room was gigantic, even by Juirean standards. Like most Juirean living quarters, it consisted of one huge room with partitions separating the sleeping and working quarters. But along the two opposite side walls were massive, twenty-meter high drapes of purple, orange and green, flowing from floor to ceiling in swaths of fabric. The varying angles of the drapes produced deep black shadows, contrasting with the vibrant colors; recessed spot lights cast brilliant pyramids of light on the drapes and accentuated the sharpness of the colors. The whole affect was stunning, and reminded Giodol of a fiery sunset on Juir from his early years.
Overlord Yan’wal sat behind an ornate stone desk at the far end of the room. Giodol approached and was motioned to take a seat facing the Overlord. To the left of the desk was a two-meter-square monitor resting atop a marble stand. On the monitor was a frozen image of what Giodol recognized as the office of the late Counselor Deslor. In the image, the Counselor was seated at his desk, and standing before him, also frozen in time, stood four other creatures, guarded by a handful of heavily-armed Rigorians.
Yan’wal looked up from his inlaid desk monitor. “Lord Giodol, I know the present situation has disrupted your normal career path,” he began, “but I assure you that your efforts on behalf of The Expansion will be rewarded.”
“That is not necessary, My Lord. I only live to serve.”
“Very admirable, but nonetheless, your efforts are appreciated.” He then turned his attention to the large monitor. “As you know, the activities of Overlord Oplim and his Senior Counselor did not go unnoticed by the Authority. Oplim was a very gifted and promising young Overlord. As you know, all of our abilities are carefully monitored by the Authority, and from such monitoring, career paths — and expectations — are formulated.” He slowly shook his head. “So when a promising young talent such as Oplim requests assignment to an obscure Sector, notice was taken and questions asked.
“You may not know, but Oplim’s obsession with the Klin myths and rumors goes back over twenty years. He has been tracked following up on Klin folklore throughout most of The Expansion. So it was concluded that his request for assignment to The Fringe must have been as a direct result of his research. And so he was monitored even closer.”
