After Bruce and Evelyn left, Winston and Yassin were left in the room. "I didn't expect you tell me that your grandson defied military law by failing to inform his superiors about something that important. Aren't you concerned that I might cause trouble to your grandson?" Yassin asked Winston.
"Frankly speaking, both I and Walter wanted him to resign his job at the force and come back here. If not for the fact that my father and elders insisted that it is best, we have a person in the alliance force, I would have had him back here a long time ago," replied Winston.
"Hmm. Who are Samuel and Ethan?'
"Samuel is my uncle. Even I don't know who Ethan is. There are two generations of people above me. I am just passing on a message."
"Fine. I am not going to mess around with those ancient ones. I will keep it a secret and you can expect co-operation from the Achaemenid family."
"We also suspect that there might be at least one Rhodium level assassin among their members. We think that the person Dave, we heard about from Balthazar after the explosion is a Rhodium member of the Nirbaadh pirates. Obviously, Dave is an alias."
"Hmm. So, you suspect the explosion on the frontier was also a work of the Nirbaadh pirates."
"Well, we haven't been able to relate the two assassins who made an attempt on Balthazar after the explosion to any group. There is a good chance that the assassins were either from the knights or the Nirbaadh pirates."
"That is a bit farfetched isn't it?"
"Just suggesting the possibilities. The Nirbaadh pirates would not have announced their return, if they didn't have a few strong members among them. In case, you remember, Asuragana Veeraprasad and his brother were platinum level agents and even you are still considered a Rhodium member. We still don't know where his brother had disappeared to after his death."
"In that case, are you sure you want Walter to be tracking someone that dangerous."
"Rupert is also a Rhodium level agent, and Walter I think can be considered to be a Platinum level agent by now."
"Walter is considered platinum level now?"
"I think so. I don't have the clearance level to check about him."
"You are the Patriarch, right?"
"Some things especially the secret ops are kept even a secret from me. You know plausible deniability. Similar to the reason why you are kept out of the Achaemenid family."
"You are really Walter's brother, aren't you? You both have knack of using the person you are talking to, to make your point."
"Easier to convince people that way."
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A few light-years away, a ship was parked on a desolate moon of the planet GT-14. It was Unhindered waiting for Dave to dock back on to the ship. A shuttle just docked onto the large grey pirate vessel that was on the moon.
As soon as the shuttle docked onto the vessel, Dave walked out on to the vessel and was quickly taken to the captain's quarters by a bunch of guards where the captain of the ship, Asuragana Rana pratap. He seemed to be talking with one of his subordinates about something they were smuggling out.
Rana Pratap was more than 7 feet-tall with long black hair that fell down to his waist. He had toffee colored skin and dark red coloured pupils with thick strong beefed-up muscles which were clearly visible due to the tight-fitting black suit, he wore. He had a red combat armor covering his chest over his suit.
"It has been a long time, brother. How are you?" asked Rana Pratap.
"I have seen better times. I hope you didn't have much troubles escaping from the Blyths," replied Dave.
"Yeah, it was fine. It was just escaping from them and we managed to ambush them to rescue Max from them," said Rana Pratap. "Guys, could you leave us for a minute or two. I need some privacy to talk with Dharma."
The men quickly left leaving both of them alone in the captain's quarters. Rana pratap gave a quick hug to Dave and set him down at his seat while he rested himself against the wall.
"I heard that the Blyths are looking for you. They seemed to somehow managed to connect the name Dave with both the knights of the old republic and us."
"Yes, despite all the precautions we took they somehow managed to get my alias. It looks like the Blyths have a better network in the shadows than what we expected. That man Walter sure lives up to his reputation," said Dharma.
Dave's original name was Asuragana Dharma Pratap and he is the younger brother of Rana Pratap. He spent more than a couple of decades creating a believable alias Dave for himself before he was given his mission to execute the Blyths. He was very upset with the fact that someone managed to relate his alias with the knights or the Nirbaadh pirates.
"It isn't Walter who found out about you. According to my man in the alliance force, it was your target Balthazar who leaked the information about Dave. He managed to convince them that the woman you recruited Jane was the one responsible for finding out about you. Also, the attack was a failure because he managed to identify the glitch in their systems and fixed it silently."
"Yes, I heard about him and how he managed to subvert our plans. It is best we take care of him. But I never heard about Jane being his informer," agreed Dharma.
"Nevertheless, the fact that Balthazar found out about you has become well known to various factions of the knights including ours. They want Dave to be dormant for some time to let it all cool down," said Rana Pratap.
"What? That is ridiculous, I have been a Gold-level assassin for more than a decade, bordering on Rhodium level. Why do they want me to calm down because of some young Colonel, who probably is a silver-level agent."
"Well, for some reason, Walter Blyth seems to take his word regarding the intel on Dave and he might not actually be as weak as he lets on. I heard that he managed to defeat Max at the Blyth mansion in combat," replied Rana.
"You kidding, right? Though Max is not much of a fighter compared to us. He is not that weak either."
"Yes. But the rumors about the kid are quite confusing and he is being protected at the Blyth mansion. It is best we leave him alone for some time."
"These Blyths have become such a pain in the recent times," said Dharma feeling a bit morose.
"Hmm. I agree. But the main issue is not the Blyths. I am afraid that our collaboration with the knights might be more trouble than we expected."
"You know that it is not optional now. After your uncle joined them, it would only be advantageous to get more involved with them. You know how crazy they are and since your uncle came to know their secret, just consider ourselves lucky that they chose to give him a chance rather than attack us."
"That is just consoling ourselves. You and I both know that we haven't been completely accepted by them. They clearly let my father be cannon fodder a few decades ago. It was always a game for them. I do not for a second think that uncle is in any good situation either."
"What do you suggest we rather do?"
"For the time being, we just stay low and do whatever is suggested by uncle," replied Rana Pratap.
"Well, even if my alias is found out by them, I don't think that I need to put down that alias completely," said Dharma.
"It is not the Blyths, I am worried about. You are a known link connecting to the knights. I am just worried that they might throw you to the alliance or get rid of you secretly to prevent any unforeseen accidents," said Rana Pratap. He had already seen his father sacrifice himself for his uncle and now he doesn't want his brother to be thrown under the bus too.
"FIne."
"Cool. Stay on the ship. You can work on assignments which we take, but just not anything that are involved with the knights. I have a couple of plans that would help increase extent of our dominion. A few assignments that are suited for you," said Rana Pratap.
A few miles away under the dark shadow of a small hill, a small shuttle was parked hidden from the Unhindered. It was Walter and Rupert, who managed to tail the Unhindered stealthily.
"Why are we not informing the alliance of their location? We need backup to fight against a vessel of that size. It can simple shoot us before we reach any closer to it in this shuttle. What do you intend to do?" asked Rupert.
They were parked there from more than 20 minutes. All Walter did was send out a small drone, which couldn't be used for anything other than surveillance. He couldn't understand the point of surveying the ship alone. It was a very big risk and it didn't look like he was planning to call for help anytime soon.
Walter seemed extremely concentrated on the drone that he was controlling and monitoring. He didn't even look at Rupert, but slowly hid the drone behind a large rock before he turned back.
"We are not trying to take down the Unhindered. Though they proved to be the same notorious gang of pirates or assassins, the people in the Unhindered aren't my main priority. The one I fear most among the NIrbaadh pirates is Asuragana Shouryaprasad, who I think is not on the ship but is dictating their actions from somewhere else," said Walter.
"So, you are trying to get the drone on the ship to bug it?" asked Rupert.
"Good guess."
"But any transmitter that has a large distance or coverage would be easily discovered when it is transmitting," said Rupert confused. Rupert was an expert at infiltration expert but was still confused about why Walter chose him of all to accompany him.
"That is why I am placing a short range encrypted one which sends a signal only when it receives a request from us. We are going to be closely stealthed on their tail for some time. I was told that finding out the location of Asuragana Shouryaprasad at any cost as he is being suspected of being in some kind of collaboration with the knights. It the best option, I have to find him," said Walter.
"Where do I come in, in all of this?" asked Rupert confused.
"You are just a contingency," said Walter at a low voice.
"Contingency? I hope it doesn't mean, what I think it is" said Rupert sitting down. It had been a long time since he infiltrated any organization. He is about the same age as Walter and a bit out of touch. He had long been considered dead and could be regarded quite an apt candidate to infiltrate a pirate organization such as the Nirbaadh pirates.
"Ya, we find a proper place where they seem to be working for a continued period. We would need you to be a proper convict escaping the authorities or something else to join them. I will take care of the cover you require in case of such a scenario," said Walter.
He slowly managed to control the drone till it reached the stand of the Unhindered. He slowly made the drone crawl up the stand and place it on the inside of landing gear.
While Walter and Rupert were risking their lives, Balthazar was having the time of his life at the garden of the Blyth mansion. Once, the attendees gave their eulogies, Max's body was incinerated, and Winston carved his name on the memorial where all the other dead Blyth family members names were carved at the back of the mansion.
Balthazar had spent a little time with Dick and Barbara discussing his sister's security arrangements and afterwards went along with Rudra and the rest of his friends to karaoke bar. They spent most of the evening singing and dancing drunk till Rudra finally realized that it was past 10 p.m and he needed to get back to the Dreamz Cyber Space to get ready for the launch of vita-nova.
Balthazar quickly told his goodbyes to them. He also told Rudra to be careful if any Blyth other than himself, Robert or his sister because these were extremely troubling times. As he reached the mansion, he found Robert waiting for him by the main hall.
"I half thought that you would spend the night at your cyber cafe. It being the launch of vita-nova at midnight and all. Don't they have a party at the cyber cafe?" asked Robert.
"I think so. But I am not really comfortable sleeping at a place with hardly any security. You remember I was almost blown up and impaled, right? That tends to change one's habits," replied Balthazar.
"OK. Anyways, I came here to tell you that Lucius was kind of waiting for you at the gym by 6 p.m. and was disappointed that you weren't there. He asked me to inform you that he expects you to be more disciplined from now on, being that you are a military man."
"Sure. Will be on time from tomorrow morning. Tell him... No. I will apologize to him for my tardiness tomorrow."
"Just be careful you know. You remember that Winston also suggested that it would best for us to not leave the mansion frequently."
"It is not that serious right now. You are still traumatized a bit by Max's attempt. Just calm down and relax. Play the game vita-nova. I will join you at midnight," said Balthazar patting him on his shoulder. He went into his room, crept into the V.R. capsule and went to sleep after putting on a timer to pull him into the game vita-nova as soon as its launched.
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Translator Notes:
1. Security agents and Assassin's are graded at different levels as Bronze, Silver, Gold, Rhodium and Platinum. These grades are dependent on their capabilities and are mainly their achievements.