Chereads / Imperia: Return of the Empire / Chapter 13 - Only the Beginning

Chapter 13 - Only the Beginning

Meanwhile on planet Veskar's Fortress Moon.

"Our satellite imaging systems are back online, Supreme Chancellor Novak." A coarse feminine voice spoke in a room full of darkness, only illuminated by the trapped blue holographic interfaces. Dangerous silhouettes found themselves outlined, fingers tapping away at LED lined keys.

"Thank you Commander Kelyn, please continue with your report." A deep voice spoke out in turn, a mused tone taking over the dark mood of the room.

Suddenly a hologram appeared in the center of the room, revealing several new faces including that of a female soldier wearing a beret. The room was crodwded with officials of both the government and the military special forces. "This Cathedral in the middle of sector four on Veskar is showing odd activity. They were originally moving erratically, then suddenly became organized after lining up in front of a small group of people who entered."

The hologram was showing the interior of the cathedral, showing outlines of unidentified people. It was literally just using radio waves to record movements and organic movement inside the building.

The recording started from the moment that the single male and three females entered the building. They could see several people hiding within rooms. The brief pause that they witnessed of the male figure, it seemed he knew something. As if he could sense the people in the various rooms surrounding him. Yet he didn't stop moving during his pause in body language.

"Do we know who this man is?" The chancellor asked with a curious tone as he looked over at the girl who was reporting to him. She shook her head lightly.

"Keep watching Chancellor, it'll soon become more interesting." The man would nod in response to her telling tone.

They watched as the small party made their way through the service entrance of the cathedral and onto the main stage behind the podium. They watched as the man dusted off the book and skimmed. The recording quickly skipped to the rousing speech which seemed to have moved everyone into doing a religious baptism. Of course, the people watching the hologram hadn't heard the speech themselves.

As the people began lining up, the Chancellor's eyes widened a bit as he watched the male place a hand on a homeless man's forehead. Suddenly he could see the man's face contort into that of an expression of extreme pain while standing on his knees. The person collapsed and was moved to the side.

Only minutes later the man stood up once again with a completely different idle demeanor. He had more of a positive outlook, more attentive to his surroundings. The chancellor continued to watch as the people living in the cathedral continued to change over and over again.

"What's the meaning of this, Commander?" The Chancellor asked as he looked over towards the woman who was biting her lower lip. She was awaiting this man's questions and this was the one that was bugging her.

"If he is a psionic, he seems to have the power to overwrite the minds of others. Or at least forcefully condition them. We've experimented with this kind of procedure, but every time we tried to use it. The test subjects died of brain hemorrhaging." Kelyn reported to her superior, the chief of state of Veskar.

The chancellor was at a loss for words. He could only stare in disbelief. Someone had perfected the ability to overwrite someone's mind? This was natural talent! They found someone they could use to bring about the unyielding victory of the entire nation! Then he paused at this thoughts. They were rather conservative, but his radical side was making him think otherwise. This man was a threat to national security.

"Do we have a recording to before they entered the building? How did they get inside the Town?" The Chancellor asked, knowing very well that all towns and cities had guards posted outside at all entrances. The fact that these people's IDs didn't ping during entry, was strange, on top of that appear on the satellite feed.

"Sorry Sir. We hadn't gotten it up in time due to them being damaged during the battle. However sensors picked up the use of a particle weapon that yielded enough energy to vaporize a person. There was also several uses of a smaller yield of energy when he started knocking out people hidden in the rooms." She referred to the hologram again as he systematically hunted down and brutally took control of the women who had hid themselves in the back rooms of the cathedral.

"He's brutal," The Chancellor said with a light laugh as he shook his head seeing the treatment which was a combination of cruelty and gentle. As long as the girls went along with him without fighting back or trying to run away, he didn't harm them otherwise.

Though after fast forwarding, his face drew a blank as he was watching the man practically molesting the girl who had sat in his lap. "Was this really necessary?"

"It is," she gestured towards the sudden appearance of weapons which appeared on the man's desk he was using as his own. Almost everyone in the room stared as if they were in a trance. There were expressions of shock and others of being impressed by the display.

"He has a spatial storage device as well?" This was an assumption they were making by seeing the weapons appear in the hologram. "How is he this well equipped?" He thought to himself for a few moments. "Wasn't there a pod crash two days distance from the town?"

"Yes, sir." Commander Kelyn reported with a nod, "There were traces of two different peoples blood within the debris of the pod. One of them is unidentified, the other is from a boy named Emile who was a runaway who was avoiding conscription. We also found imprints in the ground which had hair belonging to three different girls. From what we gather, this man is probably an enemy soldier. However, neither us or our enemies have particle weapons… So this could indicate that he is a stranger from an unidentified power trying to make a foothold on our planet."

The chancellor nodded slightly as he placed a hand on his chin in thought. "We need to contemplate carefully on how we are going to deal with this individual. He could serve as an priceless asset. Yet he has the means to take our entire army and use it against us. For now, we will just watch him. Don't inform the local garrison just yet. Even if he tries to take control of the town, we can negotiate with him with superior firepower and numbers."

His eyes narrowed on the commander across from him on the other side of the holographic projector. "If anything goes down, you will be sent to negotiate with him. Whatever you do however, do not let him touch you. Your mind is too precious to the Veskar Imperial Army."

"Yes, sir! Understood, sir!" Kelyn pounded her fist over her collar bone in a Veskar salute as the room was engulfed in darkness yet again as the hologram's recording was terminated.

Lextra woke up on a ruined feathered couch in the Bishop's abandoned office. She stared up at the wall as her head was throbbing. "What… happened?" She couldn't remember anything after she had arrived at the Cathedral after dropping off the dead drop. Slowly sitting up, she felt her skin sticking to the pleather cushion coverings and came to a halt.

Looking down at herself, she was literally only in a fresh pair of panties and that was it. She had no undergarments on other than that and her torn attire was missing.

Her mind drew a blank, all actions ceased for a few moments until she let out a shriek, covering herself and rapidly looking around the room. Breathing rapidly, she curled her legs up to her chest as she remained seated on the couch.

As she noticed no one was in the room, it appeared that she was alone. Slowly letting out a sigh, she would look at the door which had a broken window. Pursing her lips slightly she then got up from where she sat and walked over to the large gothic rose window and looked down at the main room below.

There were people training in martial arts, others who were preparing things regularly used for protesting. "So… This is why Zuk sent me here… For shelter?" Her head slowly tilted her head to the side slightly, still trying to remember when she had lost consciousness.

That was when she felt a slight sting on her backside as she looked at the shallow bruise. "Did I fall down or something…?" She asked herself, not being able to recall before looking down at the podium where a group of three girls were and a single man.

A strange familiar sense was felt as he stared at Vycter from above. "Who is he?" Feeling a bit warmer the longer she looked at him, she stepped away from the window and looked at the desk behind her.

There was a set of clothing which appeared to be a ochre yellow collared dress which reached down just over her thighs. It reminded her of a school uniform really, except it didn't have any school patch on it.

Smiling lightly she would pick it up off of the desk and hold it to herself. The fabric was soft and adjacent in color to her blond hair and even accented her bright orange eyes. Pulling it over her head she would notice one thing in particular. Her tail kept the back of her skirt lifted as it swayed side to side slowly. Flicking in curiosity, she was beginning to like this man before actually meeting him.

Though there was also the possibility he was the one who caused the light bruising on her backside. This thought was there, but she dismissed it. Even if he did cause the light damage, he wouldn't have dressed her and rested out on the couch if he were a bad person. Right?

Unsteadily making her way over to the door, she would stumble down the steps and eventually make it to the first floor. Once she was there she looked around.

There Vycter was, sitting on a throne which was elevated a few steps above the main stage behind the podium. It was a religious relic which represented the first Kings and later the Chancellors of Veskar. "hmm…"

Waddling on over to the throne, she would bend her knees slightly and curtsied to one side before him.

Vycter's eyes narrowed on the girl who had come over and respectfully curtsied to him, he held in a laugh seeing how she was appeasing the thought of him sitting on the throne. "Hello, Lextra. Welcome to the Beginning of an Empire."