Twenty-two
Overlord Khalin Nome saw Lee Wokan coming. He
watched Lee's skiff approach from the nearby Alliance cruiser and dock.
Defiantly, he held one security door closed in the docking bay to gauge
the extent of Lee's anger. Lee's security guard burned through it with a
beam weapon of unknown configuration.
The security guard proceeded the investigator,
prepared to destroy with equal efficiency any other barrier that stood in
their way. Khalin relented at the last moment and opened the security
doors to his personal office. Lee Wokan rushed into his sanctuary and
stopped dead in front of his desk.
"Hive forces are in pursuit of a rogue warcraft. En
masse, Overlord Khalin Nome. En masse!
“Alliance forces are following even as we speak. And
what explanation do I have for this event of historic proportions? I hear
from Hive communications that a child escaped the surface of Covonia.
This child destroyed a probe and somehow managed to acquire a Hive courier
and pilot it to a Hive military base. There, she hijacked an armada of
Hive warcraft and utility vehicles and left the base burning in her wake.
Lee Wokan stood with clenched
fists. “Not a human child, Khalin Nome. To me, the incident
smacks of illicit Dalikor technology. According to the legal archives I
consulted, the technology was to have been left behind on the core
Alliance worlds and destroyed."
Khalin held up a hand. "Allow me to speak. You have made no mention of perhaps
the most prominent factor of recent events."
Lee Wokan blinked. The
slightest evidence of confusion showed on his face. "You refer to
the alien craft on Covonia."
"You ignore the possibility that
an alien presence
may be responsible for Myla's seemingly miraculous behavior. Myla may be dead for all we know. If she is aboard
that rogue craft, if she is still alive, consider the possibility that she
is in the company of something we do not understand."
"She has her personal servant with her," Lee said
with lingering bitterness.
"Dikki. A mere toy of no consequence. And perhaps
an alien presence?"
"You know of the penalty for the crime I suspect you
may have committed, Khalin Nome."
"I know the penalty."
Lee glared at him and shook his head, rejecting
Khalin's suggestion. "It's not an alien outsider slipping its way through
Hive ranks with such fine-tuned expertise. It was being pursued.
Even if it has taken refuge among us in some form, it couldn’t know so much about us so quickly. We'll know
soon enough one way or another. One final time, Overlord. Do you have
information regarding these events you have not as yet divulged?"
"I do not," Khalin said mildly, suppressing a
sadistic smile at the outrageous lie he was speaking.
Lee Wokan spun on his heels and left the office.
Khalin closed his eyes and followed on inner channels Wokan's progress
through the administration levels of the city. Wokan commandeered an
office, established communications with the Alliance cruiser, and began
calling members of the Covonian Ruling Council for a systematic
interrogation.
On Khalin's exterior, nothing showed. On the inside,
a terrible grief threatened to consume what little human flesh had
survived a millennia of abject failure. He had failed to protect Dalikor
from the cowards at his side, and now Myla had been found out
prematurely. She could be overpowered and destroyed so early in her journey of
self-discovery. If that happened, his failure would be complete.
