Chapter 16: Bloody Politics

'There are things that can only be shared to those within the agency, but there are also things that can only be shared within this group.'

Cellica said as she ran her finger over the anti-monitoring noise generator and switched it on swiftly. She looked around at her little five men unit, at all those young faces around her. Those people are all someone that she has had prior encounters with before, and can vouch for both their characters and their ability. When General Kuviar first assigned the various aspects of the investigation going on on the second orbital ring of Olympus Prime after the skirmish between the bearers and the absolute being, Officer Sundera gave Cellica total freedom in picking her very own unit, due to her limited experience dealing with the group of people.

And these people here are the ones she can trust, at least a little bit.

So far, she will keep the more 'radical' things she has learned using the power of the artifacts to herself, but there should have been enough things that can be pieced together regardless.

'Boss, what's the deal?' Charlie asked, as she leaned back in the chair and waited for Cellica's instructions.

'The deal is that things involving the artifacts have just become a lot more complicated.' Cellica said, bringing out a summary hologram that listed all of the information that the unit has gathered so far, 'so this is what we know.'

'Artifacts enable the users to seemingly work around laws of physics, though the abilities for each individual artifact is limited both by the user and the scope of the artifacts itself.' Cellica said, 'this is shown by revising the footage of Brakagi and Jozzor's attack on the headquarters. But beyond that, the Bureau has few information about the artifacts themselves.'

'But I submitted my files!' Claudia protested.

'Yes, you have. And I have seen it.' Cellica looked over at her trusted inventor and researcher in the group, 'but those old heads at the higher ups are still having trouble understanding the 'visual effects' of Brakagi's powers. We know that Commander One uses some sort of projection and illusion tech, but Brakagi still managed to work around it on the spot. That can be credit to him and his skill rather than the artifacts though.' Cellica continued onward.

'Now, moving onto the groups that currently possess and use the artifacts, there have been three identified factions.' Cellica then pulled out three separate holographic files, 'the first group is the miscellaneous group, they were the groups that requested our help back in the first book on planet B1, The assessment of the Bureau so far regarding their threat level is neutral, as they willing corperated and even saved our agents on multiple occasions, though they do operate outside of jurisdiction, and is secretive to the Bureau regardless.'

'And they clashed with Absolute Being on the orbital ring.' Jun, the perceptive member of the unit remembered from their prior investigation, 'for some reason.'

'Yep, and the outcome was material damage to properties of Infinity. But we will get to it when we get to the second group. This is ironically the group we know the most about.'

'Absolute Being...woohoo.....' Charlie made a face, but instead only received blank stares from Claudia as a result.

'The Bureau didn't take them seriously until very recently, though I reported their activity way back.' Cellica said, 'they were involved in the robbery of various high tech equipment back then, and their temporary base is thwarted by the neutral artifact user group, however, there is evidence of their increased involvement in the settled region ever since nearly a year ago when a mining corporation collapsed due to the death of the owners on an unstable mining planet.'

'I fished out the files before they were perma-removed.' Toso said, sliding his Aquarian fingers in and out of each other before hissing a breath of air in, 'an artifact made it decay. An entire planet just gone. Poof.'

'Less dramatic than that, but that's the idea.' Cellica said, 'I have a theory that instead of Infinity being a victim of Absolute Being, they are actually working together.'

'A big ol corperation being shady behind the back?' Charlie's eyebrows raised high up into the ceiling as she threw her arms back, 'HA! That's a bingo!;

'If we are to truly make a case beyond a conspiracy theory, we will need more evidence. But that is not the focus right now.' Cellica said, swiping her hand to the side, 'only very recently, there appeared to have been a third party. The Rocky's.'

'Team New Rocky Government.' Jun bobbed his head at the name chosen, and both Absolute Being and the New Rocky Government are deemed to be high threat compared to the neutral of the first group.

'Absolute Being's motives are shady, the motives of the miscellaneous group is unknown beyond their personal beef with Absolute Being, but the New Rocky Government intends to challenge the government head on.' Cellica explained, 'though we need to be aware of Absolute Being's influence in the central systems, that was not only part of the purpose of this move.'

'Our main objective here is to investigate the origins of the Falling Stars model, test it's validity, and find out more about how it actually happened.' Cellica said before bringing up an image of Brakagi, 'so far, no artifact user has shown powers up to the magnitude of influencing a sun, but we are in unfamiliar territory here...so...'

'No fucking way...' Claudia covered up her mouth at the thought of a being being able to affect a sun, 'how is that possible...'

'That is a possibility.' Cellica said, 'we have no idea of the mechanism's of his artifact, but that really isn't the way we should deal with any artifact related incidents.'

'I agree.' Jun and Toso both said at the same time before Jun offered for Toso to go ahead.

'I think parts of why we are all here is because we were each individually capable of thinking around our previous problems. At least that is my own assessment of the group.' Toso said, looking around the room before turning his gaze to a proud and smiley Cellica, 'it appeared that we will have to change the way we think when dealing with artifact users. Instead of thinking about the how...'

'We should think about the why, and work from there.' Jun finished the sentence off for his Aquarian friend before they shared a fist bump.

This is the essence of countering artifact users! Deep down, Cellica is quite proud of her eye in choosing the right people. Essentially, Jun and Toso have both outlined the key to winning a fight involving the artifacts, and that is the principle of working around the powers of an artifact rather than working over it.

'Precisely.' Cellica said, 'we will verify the validity of the models by talking directly to a few different labs and observatories, Jun and Toso, you two are the smartest of the bunch here (Charlie: Hey????!) so you should also independently figure this out as soon as you can. Charlie and Claudia, we will be dealing with some of the GBI's contacts on Olympus prime and talk about what the backup plans are should the model's prediction be accurate.'

'Yes Sir.' Jun said respectfully, but he appeared hesitant to say something else.

'Open up, pretty boy.' Charlie flirted, leaning close to him.

'I have looked at the models. Assuming the predictions is accurate, there isn't an awful amount of time for us to just sit back and verify. I think the planning for mass evacuations will have to be done very very soon.' Jun said, his tone now serious, 'there are trillions and trillions living on that system. And planets and immobile habitats will be thrown into the sun, or out into the cold.'

'You know the stakes.' Cellica said, her tone also serious now, 'get to work.'

As the group dismissed and went back to their temporary work stations, some in the corners of the main room and the others back in the bedrooms, Cellica lets out a long held breath as she turned around and looked through the window into the cold empty space outside. Jun is right, and she knew that he is right.

She wondered what the response of the galactic government will be. History tells her that the response will be reactive, not preemptive, it will be heavily governed by political and economic interests, it will be too late, people will bleed, people will get angry...

Shit...there might not be anything that she can really do in this case in this investigation. Realistically, what will general Kuviar do with this information...? Compared to the rest of the people at his rank, his job required him to be more decisive and actionable, but he is also highly calculated and cautious in his movements.

If he know of the model's validity, would he share that information? Would that be made public knowledge before it is too late?

'Shit.' Cellica now truly felt the depth of Brakagi's plan. It's not a declaration of war, it's not an obvious attack on the galactic government...instead, it is a test...a question of what if a natural disaster of this magnitude occurs. He predicted what the galactic government will do, or rather will not do, and his purpose is to show it all to the galaxy.

In reality, who is truly responsible for the trillions of deaths. Is it really Brakagi when it could all have been avoided if the galactic government simply acted on their knowledge? Is this truly the deeds of an individual, or the failure at an institutional level?

This ain't it. Cellica realized that she hasn't made it clear enough to the rest of her group what to do after they have verified the validity of the model, which deep down she knew is going to be highly accurate and predictive. It wouldn't make sense from Brakagi's point of view otherwise.

'Everyone.' Cellica said, her voice now heavy and painful even to the sound of her own ears, 'there is something all of you should know.'

Those in the bedrooms came scrambling out and gathered once again.

'I have a feeling that what the models predicted will be true, and then the ball will be in the galactic government's field.' Cellica said, 'when I enlisted in the space force, and the Bureau, my goal was to serve the people of the greater galaxy. You have read the books, and you know what the government will do.'

'So if the higher echelon's of the Bureau or the government do not take our intelligence and findings seriously, then we will do whatever it takes to save as many lives as we can.' Cellica said with clenched fist and unwavering tone, 'I will not let their political games become the legacy of this generation. Not like before.'

'Fuck yes.' Charlie said, raising her fist overhead, 'let's go! Cellica!'

The rest of the journey towards Olympus Prime was considerably less active, with plenty of files and reports for each of the members to go through, and Cellica sent an encoded message to Ol before starting her own work too.

There are a lot of things that needed to be done and verified, but Cellica's heart and mind is still at the galactic governmental building on Olympus Prime. She can almost hear the Rocky's laughter as Brakagi taunted her, 'The ball is in your field now.'

Jun and Toso headed off towards the Rocky solar research station where Caliditas was last stationed in order to investigate the situation a little more, though they will have to disguise as academic visitors as the GBI isn't exactly in good standings with the Rocky government after the wide release of the files. The human media companies have done some what of a good job to distract the galaxy away from the deeds of the GBI by focusing on other issues such as the falling sun 'conspiracy' in the mean time.

Joined by Claudia and Charlie, Cellica headed into the GBI headquarters of Olympus Prime to report to the local director before setting up a small office of her own in the governmental district. She can see the humongous governmental building directly outside the window, and with the power of the Eyes that she has been practicing, she should be able to see into the actions of the senators and even read their fat greasy lips from time to time, though spying shouldn't really be her first resolve.

Knowing full well the limits of the current system, she still wanted to go through the legal and legitimate channels first. No matter how well she thinks she know the failings of the system, Cellica cannot afford to lose her hope before even trying.

Just as Cellica is getting accustomed to her new temporary office, there are indeed some action going on in the galactic government building, namely in the office of the head senator, Dr Dorry May.

'The meeting will commence in 10...9...' The AI robot assistant counted down the beginning of a conference call with either the representatives or the presidents or owners of the big ten companies in the galaxy with the head senator herself. This is really the most powerful decision making party within the galaxy at this moment in time, and their weekly conference is to make sure that it stayed that way for as long as possible.

The big ten are simply the ten biggest galactic level corporations that dominates the economy and businesses in this day and age. As the three races grew in the new coexisting environment and adjusted to the new societal dynamic, the big ten became ingrained in the daily life of the galactic citizen.

And incidentally, they are also the top supporters of the galactic government, or rather the current version of it.

Conspiracies aside, the financial boosts coming as taxation from the mega-corperations do keep the galactic government more than afloat, though history knows what kind of a dangerous game this will become should the big ten grow uncontrollably. Historically, the head senator has been one of those that harnesses the collective power of the senate against some of the big ten's more unreasonable requests, and Dr Dorry May is no different...right?

The holograms for each of the representatives began to flicker to life, and Dr Dorry May scanned around the room to check on all of the representatives in the room. To the left and closest to Dr Dorry May, symbolizing the closest ties and largest political influence, is the president of Infinity. He is a young human male, almost too young to be taken seriously, and yet Dr Dorry May know that his words carried weights that can throw the galaxy around.

Then, next to the young president is the biggest Aquarian biotech company in the galaxy and also a spin off company from graduates of the Institute, Land and Seas, and the old Aquarian sat slightly slouched in the small Jacuzzi like chair with steam rising into the air. This is how the rich Aquarians like it, and Dr Dorry May is simply too preoccupied to care about such things.

Even further down the table is the Galactic United Miners, the biggest collection of miners in the galaxy. Ever since the dawn of the space exploration age, the mining industry has shook off the environmental shackles of the mid-modern age and made its glorious return as countless planets and their untapped resource potential became literal goldmines within their reach. In the post-modern age, however, the craze has slightly died off just because of the wide spread of terraforming technology and the rise and falls of countless mining companies that came along with the dying craze. The human female president is here bright and early and waited patiently for the others to arrive.

There are two more companies representative arranged to be sat to Dr Dorry May's left, and those seats belonged to the biggest Aquarian Bioship designer and manufacturer Aquarian Angels and Star Gate Alliance, the company responsible for building the acceleration gates that connected the galaxy together. They all appeared onto the scene when travel between star systems became the norm. They are both here, and the Aquarian representative for Aquarian Angles is in dry land in contrast to the other Aquarian of the group.

To the head senator's right and closest to her, the greasy human females from Star Bank and Dynasty Investments dressed in business attire is also the firsts few to arrive in the meeting. And they glanced at Dr Dorry May with knowing smiles that they directly control her own personal riches, and the funding for her election party.

The next two down the line are two software development and artificial intelligence development company, the All Intelligence (with an abbreviation of AI) and the Futurartist. They are the rookies of the table, and they mostly listened to the giants talk despite their own strong opinions. They are the two with the most potentials, so Dr Dorry May is always keeping an eye on them if the rests of the big ten isn't breathing down her throat.

And finally, and the only group that is missing from this meeting, the Rocky Labourer's Alliance. Given the state of the current affairs in both the galaxy and the Rockies region, this is only understandable.

Letting out a sigh of relief when finally the representative flickered to light, Dr Dorry May finally felt ready to begin the meeting.

'Welcome, representatives and presidents.' She opened, 'I hope you are all well. With everyone here, let's get right to business.'

'Today...we are talking about the Falling Star Conspiracy.'