Unit2317 had requested Lisa and Vark join him in the meeting room. He didn't need the security but the meeting room was the place to have meetings. The others didn't know what unit2317 was still doing onboard the golden chariot but they couldn't just ask him to leave because of his status of being from a higher tier race.
The reality was that his Paragon Unit 0 had requested that he keep a very close eye on the hybrid. He had been informed that the hybrid was a rare breed of true magi known as a Nullifier and that Unit 0 wanted as much information as possible about them before the Alterran arrived. The tier 2 races didn't know much just that the Alterran were a race of true magi that would one day arrive to conquer the milky way.
He had also been informed that it was going to be his responsibility to eliminate the hybrid when he reach a certain stage of development. Unit2317 was growing fond of the hybrid, he had been diverging more and more from the collective. He was worried if he did return to the Collective he may even be recycled.
Being called Littleman, or even this latest stunt of running away to mars had endeared him to the hybrid. This emotion was not something the machine races felt, they were sentient and had a soul but they were usually more clinical when it came to emotions. He knew that he was currently defective and should be self-reporting but he wasn't going to as he liked how he currently felt. It was for this reason that he wasn't going to report the latest developments to the council unless they crossed a line like revealing fields to the humans.
Vark and Lisa had arrived at the meeting room, they were looking for the children and were surprised they hadn't arrived yet.
Unit2317 started the meeting.
"They aren't here as they aren't on the ship"
"What? Did someone take them?" Lisa believed the anti-field shield was supposed to protect them from being abducted. She wanted to know where they were.
"No, well technically Null and Infy did take them. All 4 of them are currently on mars having a holiday. He used quite an ingenious device to get there too" replied Unit2317, he honestly had no idea why they were on mars. Mental links were very secure so he couldn't hear anything even with the tracker band in use.
"Have the council been informed? What are the consequences for this?" Vark was worried about the repercussion for the rest of them.
"No I haven't informed the council, this does seem like a childish prank. If they don't reveal the fields to the humans I don't see the need in letting the council know." Unit2317 words had calmed down the other two, now they needed to work out what they were doing.
"Do you know where exactly they have gone to on mars?" to answer Lisa question Unit2317 projected the group coordinates on a holographic map of mars.
"Damm it! , how did they get there and why now. Grr, this is going to be trouble" Lisa had identified instantly where they had gone and she couldn't believe it.
"That the Youth Soldier Competition, Competition grounds. Why would they think they could compete? This makes no sense. Do we have a way to communicate with them?"
"I can contact them via the band, but we would need to wait until they are alone, currently they are surrounded by many other humans" answered Unit2317 he then projected all the data that was being transmitted from the tracking band for the others to see. They decided to wait until the 3 of them were alone before Lisa would gently question them.
General Alexander was enjoying his lunch when he got the most peculiar message from processing. Three competitors had been found in the competition dome and when processed they came out as legitimate competitors but had a security lock on their accounts.
"What are the names of the three competitors?" asked the General
"Sir, Cadet Chris Jameson, Cadet Jania Anders and external competitor Null Anderson"
The General was in shock, those were not names he ever expected to hear again. Jania should have been hospitalised, Chris was assumed dead and they had searched the Solar system for Null and his mentor without any luck. He decided that it was above his paygrade to decide what to do, Last time when they were pushed into a corner Null had displaced powers they were incapable of stopping. He decided until he could get further instruction he would play it safe.
"Give them their badges, keep a watch on them but whatever you do, don't antagonise them" Ordered the general.
The three of them were shocked when they got an official badge with their name on it and were told they were free to compete.
"This is wrong, they should have arrested us. Especially since they have identified our true identities. Null and Infy when we get back, I am so kicking your arse for this mess" Chris honestly had no idea what was going on but was happy to play along if he got to compete.
They kept chatting over the mental link but they didn't want people to get suspicious of them so over last year they had developed their own personal sign language so that it looked like they were communicating in signs.
"This is the best, we are going to compete, they must have forgotten about all that other stuff" Null was excited he wanted to show off and battle other people.
"I don't think they forgot, I think they remember too well and don't want you to go on a rage. I suspect as long as we don't do anything too outrageous they will let us keep up this ruse. It is at the end of the competition that we will be at risk." Chris believed he had analysed the situation correctly.
The competition wouldn't start for another day, tomorrow would be a training and qualification day. How they perform tomorrow would affect their handicap in the main competition.
The three of them were finally alone in Null room. Each competitor had their own room so it was a little cramped but they wanted to finalise some details before tomorrow came.
"CHRISTOPHER JAMES JAMESON WHAT IN THE WORLD DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING" the voice came from Null's tracking band.
"Oh, Hi mum, what do you mean I'm just training for our next mission" Chris knew he was in real trouble when the full name came out, but he didn't want to give away more information until he knew what they knew.
"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME YOUNG MAN, HOW IS THE WEATHER ON MARS?"