The attack on the moon was successfully defended and the alien armada had been annihilated. Though it had been a thorough rout of the alien forces, it wasn't without its losses. More than 300 personnel had lost their lives. In this age of medical advancement any injury including loss of limbs bones and even injuries to spine and nerves could be treated and successfully rehabilitated as long as the person is still alive and not brain dead. A loss of 300 personnel at such a time would be considered a significant setback. Of these 300, less than 50 were during the defence of the moon and the remaining were due to the explosion in the hangar.
Once Balthazar reached the medical facility on the moon, he was immediately take to the intensive care unit. The bones in his legs and a few of his ribs were broken. He also had few internal injuries and internal bleeding. He was quickly operated upon, any broken bones were patched within the hour and he was put out of any sort of immediate danger. But PK-170-B being a military citadel that had just suffered an explosion, had a lot of patients coming in and wasn't the best environment for a man with such injuries to recuperate. He was immediately transferred to the medical facility on his military base on the planet. The very next day, Major General Brixton Bones had him transferred to the military base under his direct jurisdiction as Balthazar was an important link in the investigation.
The sudden attack which had all the typical signs of attacks by the knight of old republic happened soon after Rodrigo friend started making silent inquiries regarding them. This caused a few quakes even among the top brass of the alliance forces. The situation was probed into and soon Rodrigo had to inform about his conversation with Balthazar. Then, Sophia, Jacob and Jones were also interrogated and soon the information about glitch in the defence systems of the moon came into light.
Based on the information from Sophia, Jacob and Rodrigo, the military came to a conclusion that the person responsible for the attack can only be found out by tracking the merchant vessel involved in the explosion. After an extensive search, the military managed to track the vessel to Raymond Rowley within three days of the explosion.
When the military investigators questioned the Rowley Firm, the Rowley family informed them that the Raymond Rowley in question had been expelled from the family on 8th January, two days before the explosion for commercial espionage. Their spokesperson, John Rowley also provided the emancipation documents of Raymond Rowley and also informed announced an award for his whereabouts. They announced their intention to support the investigation in any way possible and that they were never involved in Raymond's activities, thus unburdening themselves from any blame. This put the investigation at a dead end.
The only lead they had left was Balthazar who was in a comatose state. The medical examiner informed that he was severely injured internally and that he would wake up within the week.
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It had been 5 days since the attack. The red-alert on the planet had long been lifted. A lot of military personnel have been moved to the planet post the attack. During these 5 days, Balthazar's family had come to the planet and were waiting on him.
It was early morning and a lady was sitting beside Balthazar's bed browsing through the new on an expandable screen of her wrist device. She was a thin lady wearing a tight black-suit with matching leather boots. She had green eyes and wore her waist length in a ponytail. She wore a pair of thin, black rimmed tinted-glasses. She kept giving occasional to the man on the bed. This had been her daily routine for the past three days.
Today after three days, she finally saw Balthazar move. She immediately moved towards him and began examination. As Balthazar came to consciousness, he immediately noticed that he was hooked to a couple of machines, one was to monitor his health and vitals and the other fed him supplements required to keep him alive and healthy. His eyes slowly fell upon the lady. He immediately closed his eyes and stiffened his body acting like he fell unconscious again.
"Quit acting idiot. You might be a good actor but you could never fool me," she said tapping him on his forehead.
"You know that I am a medical practitioner right?" she continued.
"Good morning, Bolena. How are you?" asked Balthazar smiling widely.
"Far better than you, my dear brother. So, how is military life treating you now," she replied in a condescension.
"Enough with the sarcasm. Didn't expect you here. How long have I been asleep?" he asked his sister.
"It has been about 104 hours now," she replied.
"Do you have any idea, how many people came looking for you in these few days? Both grandfather Winston and granduncle Walter asked me to get you asklepian as soon as you are permitted to leave," she asked him further.
"The minute I saw your face, I knew that my days of peace were over," said Balthazar smiling. "Even Walter asked for me? You have any idea why?"
"No clue. Like I would even know where he even lives," she said rolling her eyes. "Grandpa sent me to get you. On route, Walter contacted me and told me that he had arranged for you to return as soon as possible and whether you would continue to serve in the military or not would be decided after you meet him."
"Anyways you best be careful little brother. Walter sent a couple of men to bring you back safely. They were very concerned about you safety. You had really severe injuries. If not for Salazar, you would have lost your life," she said.
"I never expected it to happen this way. It was as if they were downright suicidal. There were no signs of such behavior from any of them," said Balthazar as he pushed himself up into an upright position.
"Nevertheless, you are to follow me back home. Your vitals all seem to be fine. You just need a bit of rest. I will get the medical examiner to draw you discharge papers. No more stupid business," she
As she left the room, two men walked in. "Don't let anyone other than Rodrigo, near him," she instructed them. These men both wore masks and silently stood guard over him. Balthazar slowly observed the room. Find the remote control to the screen opposite him, he opened an app and started browsing through the news.
The first thing he checked was the local planet news. As he quickly surfed through the headlines over the past few days, he came to know about the number of casualties and the state of the planet. There was also some news about the military finding out about some new alien technology and new species among the apes from the wreckage of the alien armada. Though nothing was substantial in the report and the military hadn't confirmed anything some journalist seemed to have managed to find out some information about it.
As Balthazar was going through the news, Bolena returned along with a medical examiner, Rodrigo Banderas and Brixton Bones. Brixton was also a good friend of Rodrigo and had known Rodrigo for more than 30 years. "The paperwork for the medical facility is all done, Sir. It is suggested that you take some time off to recuperate," said the medical examiner unhooking the supplements from his arm. "Please consume solid food within the hour. There is an electronic pad affixed in a panel
on the wall beside your bed. Anything you require can be requested through it," he sad and left the room. "He just woke up. I would suggest to keep it short and not to agitate him," said Bolena as she moved to a corner of the room.
"How are you doing kid?" asked Rodrigo. "They patched you up well."
"Not bad. But might take some time before I am back to my prime," replied Balthazar.
"Good! Good," said Rodrigo with a vacant expression. "Major General Bones wanted to have a chat with you."
"What can I do for you Major General?" asked Balthazar.
"Colonel Balthazar, you have been through a severe trauma, lost many men and managed to avert a severe crisis on the planet within a short time frame. For that let me offer you my condolences and gratitude," said Brixton taking a seat in the room. "But, duty requires me to gather any and all intel regarding the incident. This isn't a formal investigation. You will be asked to submit a report later. I am just here to speed things along in the investigation. Rodrigo has filled in some details, while your subordinates Sophia, Jacob and a few other filled in the details about you operation. So, this will be a short talk."
What about Lt. Col. Jane?" asked Balthazar. "If he talked with Sophia, he would definitely heard about the suspicions we had on Jane," thought Balthazar. "Also if they talked to Rodrigo, they might have also known about the knights of the Old Republic. I need to find a plausible explanation now. Else I would probably be detained for raising false rumors and trying to cause panic." All of Balthazar's plan was based on capturing the merchant vessel and Jane. Without interrogating them, he would have no basis for suggesting the knights of the old republic. He would be completely lost without Jane.
"Sadly, we don't have Lt. Col. Jane among us anymore. We came to know that she was a suspect. We would also like you to confirm on this," requested Brixton. This caused no small amount of panic to him. His heartbeat visibly raised on the heart monitor hooked to him. Both Rodrigo and Brixton immediately got concerned about him. They knew that Jane was along with Balthazar and was closer to the plane compared to him and didn't survive the blast. This caused them to misunderstand that Balthazar was worried for Jane.
"Calm down, kid," said Rodrigo. "It was an unfortunate accident. Sometimes, we lose our men and friends not only in the fight but also in some incidents like this. Jane's death was unfortunate. But you must let go of it," he comforted. This completely calmed down Balthazar. He was worried that Jane might also have been hospitalized, might wake up and be talking to them later. Now that he had no one to interrogate, he could simply put the burden on the dead Jane. Thinking of a plausible story he began in a sad tone.
"When we first investigated the glitch and the personnel surrounding it, considering the merchant vessel and the personnel involved in erasing the evidence on the navigation data, she was put into the suspect pool. This was before, I contacted Rodrigo. I was still discussing the matter with Sophia,
Jacob and Jones. But later in the day, she had come to me. She herself had the two personnel under suspicion for some reason and had them followed discreetly and thus, discovered the personnel I had tailing them."
"She was the one who had informed me that the knights of the old republic had been involved. Her personnel had overheard them talking of it and were trying to collect some hard evidence. In the meantime, I had my men secretly patch the glitch as it was a very dangerous security issue and we didn't deviate from the plan we had before the conversation I had with Jane. Sophia should have provided you with the details of the personnel we were tailing," he continued.
"Yes, we have been informed of them by Sophia. But, they also died in the blast. There was nothing we could get from them. We never knew about Jane tailing them. Do you have the details of the tails she place on them?" asked Brixton.
"No. She never told me till she found out about the Sophia's men tailing them. I was angry about it. She was extremely afraid and didn't want to take any action before she had anything concrete. I verbally reprimanded her for not doing anything to rectify the glitch and asked her to consolidate her finding and submit a report. It was her collar and that is the reason, I let her take the lead in their interrogation. But unfortunately, that ended in an unexpected way," said Balthazar.
"We have a lead finally. We can make inquiries into her staff immediately. Jane had someone tailing them and this might get us some decent intelligence," said Brixton in relief. They had finally got a direction, the investigation can head towards and that relieved the pressure on Brixton.
"But, I would suggest that any investigation should be held extremely cautiously. It is highly likely that there might be other traitors among them," said Rodrigo.
"The formal investigation would have long started into all the personnel under Balthazar. I would make the suggestion to them to focus on Jane's men," said Brixton. "If that is all, then we would take our leave Colonel. I wish you a quick recovery," said Brixton getting up.
"WAIT!" shouted Balthazar stopping Brixton. "This is a good chance to have the military investigate into Raymond Rowley and that man Dave," thought Balthazar. "Though Jane didn't provide me the transcripts on her investigation, she did let out a couple of names she gleaned from tailing those two. They were Raymond Rowley and Dave. That Raymond is probably someone from the Rowley Trading Firm. The merchant vessel also belong to the same firm. This would definitely provide some leads into the investigation," said Balthazar.
"Sshhh," sighed Brixton. "Raymond Rowley is already a suspect. We tracked him through the merchant vessel. What you said also matches with our intelligence. But, the Rowleys disowned him. We are trying to get a hold of him. Atleast, we got a new name, Dave. We will look into it. Allow me to thank you again, Colonel," said Brixton as continued on his way out.
"We will leave you now. Take care, kid.," said Rodrigo as they left the room.
After they left Bolena approached the bed and asked "How much of that was true?".
"All of it," said Balthazar furrowing his brows. He always hated this aspect of his sister. As long as he could remember, she could always detect it, if he lied or hid something important. It was a very vexing to have a sibling from whom he couldn't hide the smallest details. He had no idea how she does it. It never was the other way around. She always caught his lies and told his parents. They also always trusted her. This caused no small amount of conflicts between them.
"Hehe," she giggled. "Don't lie to me little brother. There definitely was something missing from what you told them."
"Keep your trap, shut. We are not kids and they are military officials. If somebody hears you, it would cause no small amount of trouble for me," said Balthazar sullenly. "Why do you trouble me like this. You are sadist!!"
"I am a sadist!? You are the sadist," she burst out.
"I'm the sadist? You were the one who always put your nose into everything I did. When did I ever even trouble you?" he asked back angrily.
"No, you hardly ever even talked to me. What trouble could you cause me?! Huh!", she replied angrily. "Idiot, you have been gone for 5 years. No phone, no message, no contact info. Do you even care if I was alive or dead. You think I don't care about my brother. I would have beaten you up were you not in such a state already. At least you put me in as you emergency contact. Shameless idiot! Shameless, careless, stupid idiot. Why don't you say anything now? Huh!"
"It wasn't my fault. Walter said," started Balthazar glumly his head lowered in shame.
"Shut up! I don't want to hear you lame excuses. Just take rest for now. We are leaving for asklepian tonight. Walter had already arranged for your travel and also talked with you superiors. You are taking a leave for a minimum of 3 months to recuperate and medical examiner also has submitted the same to your superiors," she continued in the same tone.
"Three months! To recuperate? That is stretching it a bit isn't it?" he asked timidly.
"You don't get a say in it. Walter's orders. He also seemed to have talked it out with Brixton and his superiors. Just finish up with the necessary reports within 4 hours. Anything else can be thought of afterwards. Hmph!" said Bolena as she walked out huffing.
"Maybe I was wrong," thought Balthazar. "But Walter would definitely have known if he contacted Bolena during his service."
"Well. It is all in the past. All I can do now is to finish up some paperwork and leave to asklepian."
Balthazar took the electronic pad near his bed, ordered food and started on his work. In a few minutes, hot bread, soup, broiled meat and some juice was delivered to him by automaton. He finished his food and continued with his reports.
Finishing the reports, he sent a couple of mails to Sophia, Jacob and some other comrades in the force informing them that he was leaving today and couldn't meet them for a considerable period of time. He also sent a couple of mails to Brixton. One summarized the details of the operation and the other was recommending Jacques to handle his responsibilities in his absence. After that he laid down on the bed and dozed off.
A few hours later, Bolena woke him up. She had already gathered all his belongings from his quarters. They both boarded a shuttle on the roof of the hospital and took off. After a period of 12 years he was finally going back home.