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Chapter Four

The Anean Star Empire

Haroma System, Haroma III

Darkmire Mountains, Frostfall Palace

December 25, 7996 Haroma Year

The Herius Welhan was everything that Cadogan hadn't expected it to be. The ship was a rather impressive work of engineering, making it quite clear why the fleet only had 250 of them, despite the hundreds of thousands of ships within the Anean fleet. Jaylene had offered him and Janele a tour of the gun decks, and naturally both accepted. Cadogan found it rather cute how she went on about the main guns, right down to the force of their impact - which was the equivalent of 150 megatons of TNT exploding, as she continually drilled into their heads to get a sense of the amount of power her ship had.

In all, the one day trip was rather nice and relaxed for himself and Janele. Being guests aboard the ship, and not even proper soldiers, they were obligated to do exactly nothing. They were also very limited in what they could do, but nonetheless they made the best of the time aboard the ship. For both of them it was the first time aboard any ASF ship larger than a corvette or a battlecruiser for Cadogan and Janele respectively.

Back at the Palace now though, things were just a bit tenser. He could feel it just from the way the guards acted. Regardless, they were to meet with the Emperor now. Before doing that, Cadogan stopped at the Armory and turned in the weapon and armor. The uniform he'd get back to the Quartermaster later since Janele was still wearing it. Once finished in there, and thankful to be finally rid of the damn case, Cadogan led the way into the Library. He had been told the Emperor is in there and he has no reason to doubt that.

The Library was quite well decorated, and largely in the Imperial Haromian style. High vaulted ceilings were built into the mountain, and the high bookcases were sturdy enough to support the weight of thousands of books each. The library covered just short of 100,000 square feet of space with millions of books from across the galaxy, in all formats, from the past thousands of years. From what Cadogan had heard, it was mostly the Emperor's private study and a place to get away from the running of the country when the stress started to get to him.

Sure enough, as Cadogan got deeper into the library, he found the Emperor sitting a clear, open area that served, if he had to guess, as a nexus of sorts for the room. There were labels on the ends of the book shelves denoting what each aisle had down them and, roughly, where those books were on the aisle. Isaiah was in one of several sitting chairs at the center of the Library, reading a copy of a Remnora Novus book about the Exodus and a pre-Exodus conflict between Remnora and other nations. Cadogan knew the book, and found it interesting in that there were still some records in existence about that time period.

Isaiah noticed them as they walked closer, and closed the book after stick his own bookmark into it. "So, I see the mission went mostly as planned." He said. "And everything is going almost exactly as I had projected."

"We were attacked by the Dir-" Cadogan started to say before being cut off by Isaiah raising a hand.

"All as planned. I hate to say it but that was the goal of that. I wanted the Director to attack or otherwise do something stupid." Isaiah said. "He did both of those and thus did exactly what I had wanted him to do. He also enacted martial law without authorization from Emperor Boldomar, myself, or, at the very least, the local AGF and National Guard commanders."

"So what now?" Cadogan asked.

"Now? Now I wait. He can be brought up on various charges, but they won't stick. I am having a conference with Emperor Boldomar tomorrow. I'll force a few issues." Isaiah said. "But that's why you two are here now. Boldomar isn't the most... negotiable sort of person. I need people I can trust - and that's you two - that can... deal with him."

"Deal with him how?" Janele asked.

"I have things in place that, if he refuses to negotiate, he can be killed, consequence free to my government." Isaiah said with a grin. "You two would kill him by any means you so choose and I'll blame it on separatists."

"Sir, I need to know what is going on." Cadogan finally said.

"Oh. See, Remnora Novus has been a semi-autonomous province of the Empire for too long." Isaiah said. "My father wanted to slowly incorporate them, but now it's impossible to do so. Emperor Boldomar, while the head of the Remnora Novus, isn't the actual ruler of the region. That's Director Niadh. Emperor Boldomar is under more surveillance by the Bureau than any other psionic. They have him by the balls, and so he's just an official voice for the Bureau."

"So why not just disband the Bureau?" Cadogan asked, and Isaiah pointed at a pair of seats. Cadogan and Janele sat down.

"The Novus Bureau is a useful organization. Not necessarily useful to me, but it could be useful to the Empire and the government. Think about it like this. The Novus Bureau watches over nearly... what is it now? 400 billion psionics? Every one of those psionics is registered, their location tracked, and the high tier are monitored around the clock. They have DNA samples of every psionic they have registered to more easily track them thanks to our biometrics systems elsewhere in the Empire."

"So you want to make use of the technology?" Cadogan asked.

"Close, but no. I want the Bureau to become a Haromian-friendly organization. At the moment, if you haven't noticed, it is Remnora Novus dominated and the vast majority of the Novus despise humanity for not having psionics and not being a related race like the Remnorans. The Bureau's intentions are good, but they're incompatible with my agenda. I became Emperor for a variety of reasons, but I am loved because I have tried to make everyone equal in the eyes of the law regardless of species, gender, or ability. The self-superiority of the Remnora Novus is unacceptable in my Empire."

"Why are you speaking with Emperor Boldomar then?" Cadogan asked now, having not quite gotten an answer for that.

"I can pull a couple cards to force his hand, and it would pain me to have to do it." Isaiah picked a cigar out of the case he had on the small table next to his chair and lit it. "Cadogan, you probably know of my daughter right?" Cadogan only nodded. "She and the Emperor had... ah... well, simply put, they have a child between them."

"I know where you're going with this." Cadogan said. "That's quite underhanded. What do you hope to accomplish though?"

"As I said, it would pain me to make the threat, even if I have no intentions of carrying it out, but it might make him stop and think. Anyway, I want Boldomar to see how controlled he is, even if he thinks that he isn't. He made the mistake of letting the Bureau get that much influence in his government, and I want him to realize it. He'll be accompanied by Bureau guards, all of them trained to shoot to kill if he shows signs of turning on them."

"How do you know that for a fact?" Cadogan asked, only getting a smile from Isaiah. "Informants. God damn, I'd almost assume you were the Eminence with the amount of information you have." That actually got a laugh from the Emperor.

At the head of the Syndicate is the 'Eminence', as the name would imply. Publicly, the individual doesn't exist, speaking instead through the various heads of the Syndicate. Whether the Eminence exists or not is a matter of opinion, but what is known is that the person has a vast knowledge of the happenings of the galaxy and what everyone is doing. As many have said, knowledge is power and the Eminence is the embodiment of that.

"Nonetheless," Isaiah finally said, "you'd be surprised by how much I know thanks to my position. So, here's what I need from you two. If I cannot prove to him that he's just a puppet, I'll need you two to either kill him or make an attempt on his life, scare him. I'd like to keep him alive because I'd rather not cause a fracturing within my family due to his death, but if it can't be avoided then it won't be punished. You two will stay close on hand. I don't want you to leave the palace unless it's necessary. Your rooms have been set aside on the upper level, you two are free to go. I'll call for you when you're needed. Stop by the Armory, both of you. New equipment and a personal gift for both of you."

When Isaiah opened his book again, Cadogan took that as the cue to get up and leave. Janele followed him out of the library and had some trouble keeping up with his quick pace. He only slowed down once he was out of the library and turning toward the barracks and armory. The barracks were, as usual, largely empty. In the armory, the Quartermaster was sorting a couple of boxes he had apparently received. He gave a simple glance over the shoulder when he heard Janele and Cadogan enter.

"Well, it's been a while since I've had to do this." The Quartermaster said while standing up. "Come with me."

With a wave of his hand, the Quartermaster beckoned them to follow. He opened a keypad on the wall and tapped in a code. The old stone wall, now obviously modernized for easier opening, pulled back and slid out of the way with the sound of stones grinding together, not that Cadogan expected anything less. There was something slightly exciting about the idea of stepping into an otherwise hidden part of the Palace.

"What is this?" Cadogan asked as they kept following the Quartermaster into the newly opened room.

"Powered armor storage, to ruin the surprise." The Quartermaster said as he led Cadogan and Janele into the hallway. There was no reason to doubt that this hall was once just bare stone dug into the mountain. The angle of the walking was rather obvious that they were descending. "We have a few dozen excess sets that are going unused. Emperor Xaimoungkhoun is trying to get rid of them all. They're all G6s though, so it's not like it's centuries outdated. Have a couple Ps as well."

"Yeah, I don't know what that means." Cadogan said. Had he been an actual soldier, he'd have understood that he figured, but he wasn't and he didn't.

The Quartermaster tapped another code into the door at the end of the hall and the pressurized door slid out of the way. Inside was a relatively small room, but there were several metal crates stacked up throughout the room. They looked almost like anything one would have seen in almost any other armory, with the exception being the addition of a keypad on the side of the case. On the computer in the center of the room, the Quartermaster was checking on something. Both Cadogan and Janele were surprised when there was a beeping on a couple of boxes in the room.

While Cadogan and Janele stood silently, the Quartermaster was walking over to the two boxes that had started beeping and carried them over to Cadogan and Janele. When he set the first one down, Cadogan walked around to the front and looked at the inscription. Written into the crate was a simple explanation of what was inside, as well as the big emblem of Imperial Defense Corporation. Below that was 'Goliath Powered Armor Mk VI - Psionic' as well as weight and other information that didn't interest Cadogan.

"That one is yours Agent." The Quartermaster said as he approached Janele with another box. "Feel free to open it and inspect it if you want to. Either way, it's yours. I don't think either of you know how to use the armor, so I'll show you how to do so if you want to once you get it on."

"It's just like regular armor, more or less right?" Cadogan said as he tried to open it. "What's the code?"

"1234. And no, it's not like regular armor. Regular armor doesn't come with a fusion core or a combat software suite." The Quartermaster said. "Or shields. Just get it on and I'll go over it with you two. You'll need help getting it on anyway. Will need to strip down to almost nothing though to get the nanosuit on. If it's too loose, or too tight, just let it power up and it will adjust itself as part of an assignment process. It's folded up in the box."

Cadogan entered the box code and found it slight amusing that it was that easy despite the equipment contained within. Toward one end, as the Quartermaster said, was a folded fabric. Curious, he poked at it and found it rather tough and wondered just how it was folded exactly. The rest of the armor was on the other end of the case, with the plates and pieces organized in a way that would make it look like it was on a body. While the nanosuit was black, the armor itself was mostly white, likely to allow for recoloring and personalization by the soldier.

He pulled the nanosuit out first, letting it unfold itself as he held it up. It looked to be very nearly his size. Since Jaylene was focused on her own armor, the Quartermaster likely would have seen anything, and the fact that very little would be showing anyway, Cadogan started to get his uniform off. He set it aside neatly, as he was planning on keeping it later, if only as a reminder of this mess he got himself into, and all because he didn't follow protocol. That thought was amusing to him as he stripped down to nothing, figuring it would help the suit fit better. He turned the nanosuit around a few times before finding a seam at the back that he pulled at. After a particularly forceful tug, the nanosuit parted silently along the seam.

"If I hadn't known what you were doing, I'd have told you not to do that." The Quartermaster said. "Suit seals itself down to the molecular level once pressed together. That's why you need someone to help you get it on, or a machine to do it. To separate, you tug on it, as you had done just now."

Interesting as it might have been, Cadogan was focusing on actually getting the suit on. With the back open, Cadogan slipped one leg into the suit. Once it was about as comfortably as he could get it, he put the other leg in. The arms came next, then he tried to close it himself, but to no avail. The Quartermaster walked over and pressed the back together, sealing it up to the base of his skull, down to the base of his tail.

"You know, you said something about powering it up. That's the fusion core right?" Cadogan asked as a thought occurred to him.

"Yeah. Entire armor refits itself. The Goliath VI is extremely expensive because of that." The Quartermaster said. "Yet the Emperor made sure to get 10 of them immediately. Five male, five female, and four of them psionic models."

"What does the psionic model do exactly?" Cadogan asked as he pulled out the boots of the armor and set them up for him to slip into. He noticed that the armor plates were largely split apart as he put them on, sliding in easily.

"Psionic model effectively interfaces with the nervous system near perfectly, allowing the armor's mental amplifiers to take a typical ability and make it far more powerful." The Quartermaster said. "It's still a work in progress, but it shows signs of success. I don't know the details, but as far as I know, it will work fine for you."

The rest of getting the armor on took nearly half an hour, even with the assistance from the Quartermaster to fit it right before the fusion core was activated and everything powered up properly. He did, however, have to get special helmets for the both of them. They were Goliath VI helmets, but came separately of the armor itself, likely due to the lack of a universal helmet between all species. Once the helmet was put on, and the environment sealed, the helmet linked into the computer core and booted up.

"In a few moments, you'll feel the armor lock into place, and the nanosuit adjust to fit you properly. I'd recommend staying calm." The Quartermaster said.

Cadogan felt a sharp pinch all over his body, followed by the adjustment of the nanosuit. He only jumped a bit as it started to move. On the helmet's HUD, he was seeing a readout of his heart rate, shield power, what he figured was the power of the psionic amplifiers, and then an identification of his psionic specialization as well as his tier for the computer's memory. He looked down at himself as lights he hadn't seen before lit up in a bright yellow. The armor plates reconnected and adjusted themselves as well, fitting and expanding to properly protect as much of the body as possible. A symbol appeared on the HUD of his helmet once everything was in place and then faded away.

Within the helmet, the only thing he could hear was his breathing. He thought about hearing anything outside the armor, and immediately his external audio turned on. Despite the obvious weight of the armor, at least 100 pounds in all with most of that being the fusion core, Cadogan felt almost entirely unburdened. He could feel the weight, but it didn't hold him back at all.

"Alright, looks like you're both up and running. Perfect." The Quartermaster said. Cadogan looked up at Janele. Her armor was also white, but her lights were purple, the color of the psychomanipulator. "Take it easy, move around, and get used to the feel. You'll have plenty of time to do that, but right now I want to make sure you won't fall over from undercompensating for the slightly unwieldy weight."

Cadogan took his first step in the armor slowly, noting how the weight of the armor made the step feel odd. From there he took slow steps around the room along with Janele. After only a few steps he was feeling fairly comfortable and picked up the pace quite a bit. He stopped as he didn't want to tire himself out too quickly.

"Good. You two picked that up fairly easy. Congratulations I guess. You both own your own Goliath VI. I suppose a forty million dollar suit of armor is a good enough gift for your service?" The Quartermaster said. "Just bear in mind the weight. Most chairs won't be able to support you now, but your armor will support you if you want to lock it up and relax in it. You'll learn everything about it in due time, but if you have questions the best person to ask is the Captain. She should be back at the Palace soon from what I hear. She knows the armor the best."

"Will do." Cadogan said. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. It's my job." The Quartermaster said as he led the way out of the room. "Oh, grab your armor cases. They'll be more useful than you'd think." Cadogan and Janele both walked back and picked up the now very light cases and continued out of the room. Cadogan took the extra step of putting the uniform into the case to make sure he didn't forget it.

Cadogan looked down at the chest and now noticed an interesting addition. Placed into the center of the chest plate was House Xaimoungkhoun's coat of arms. From the look of it, it was an easily removable addition to the armor and likely part of the armor order. Even though he didn't take the Oath of Loyalty to House Xaimoungkhoun and the Emperor, there was something rather appealing to be working for another organization that, in a little over a week, he had more respect among mostly strangers than he had in the Bureau among his supposed friends and coworkers.

Clad in their armor, Cadogan and Janele took the elevator back up to the living quarters. While in the lift they both took their helmets off. Having expected it to cause the armor to weigh them down again, but were surprised when it didn't. Given that the low hum of their fusion cores could be heard, it was clear that with the initial boot, the fusion cores activated and would likely turn off once the armor was shut down whenever it wasn't in use. With the power flowing, the armor was continuing to bear the weight.

On their floor, the two stepped out of the way for the Empress to board before stepping out themselves. They shared a simple respectful smile and a nod and went on with whatever they were doing. For his talk of making sure that there was equality in the Empire, Isaiah was probably one of the few that practiced what he preached. His wife was pure Remnoran, an arctic wolf, and a reputable doctor at the main AGMC building on Haroma. His children were either part human or non-human stepchildren. The children of the Empress weren't his own, and were instead Novus-Remnora mixes. Only one of those two children, however, ended up with psionics. Isaiah's biological children were identical twins from his last, and also Remnoran, wife, both children looking entirely fennec in appearance.

Janele's room was the first room on the left once they made the turn into the hall that overlooked the mountains below. Cadogan's was the second, but he stopped by Janele just before she entered the room. He took her by surprise by giving her a hug, even with the armor on. Despite the initial surprise, she did return the hug, though she laughed.

"I wanted to apologize." Cadogan said, having wanted to actually say this for a while. "I treated you pretty badly when I was working for the Bureau and I thought... very poorly of you. I figured you were enjoying the free ride provided by the Bureau. The past few days, even if laced with some bad, have shown me otherwise, and even justified that in some way."

"Thank you." Janele said. "I guess I was a bit wrong too. I saw you as just another enforcer for the Bureau. I was wrong. You at least know how to use your brain." She smiled and added, "I know you and Jaylene probably have something going on, so don't take this as anything more than friendly I guess." She stood up on the front of her feet, getting just enough height to give Cadogan a bit of a kiss. "That's for not shooting me when I know you wanted to. I look forward to working with you more given the chance."

Cadogan was caught off guard just a bit by the kiss, but he liked it nonetheless. "Likewise Janele. I'll see you later." He said as she stepped into her room leaving Cadogan to head into his own.

He opened the door into his room, the one he had been using his arrival, and set the case down in an empty corner, then put the helmet onto a table. As the Quartermaster was helping them get the armor on, he showed where the releases on the armor were, and how to activate it and mentioned how getting the armor off was always the easiest. Given that the fusion core was most of the weight, his turned the core off, and felt the weight of the armor take hold. He pulled the releases on the chest armor, and removed the front plates first before letting the core slide off and down an arm. From there it was as simple as releasing the plates on the arms and legs and making sure to stop them before the fell and hit the floor. Despite being make to take punishment, he wasn't about to risk the electronics. He set the pieces into the case, but left it open for later.

Now unburdened by the armor, though still in the nanosuit, Cadogan climbed and laid down on top of it. He'd try to get just a little bit of sleep before the Emperor called for him. Given that it was now starting to go on the evening, he figured that the Emperor would call at some point in the morning. A good night of sleep was certainly welcome.

December 26

Cadogan was awoken at about 6 in the morning by one of the Xaimoungkhoun soldiers. Like before, he tried to wake up quickly. The nanosuit made things a bit more unusual than most mornings, but he dealt with it. He honestly wondered if it would ever need proper cleaning on the inside or if it would be fine either way as he pulled the back again, splitting the seam and getting out of the suit. Either way, he needed a shower since he wasn't about to wear the armor down to eat or whatever, nor would it be a particularly good choice of clothing if he was going to be meeting another emperor today, if Isaiah even wanted Cadogan and Janele down there for it.

Once out of the nanosuit, Cadogan grabbed his new robe out of the closet and put it on. He had gotten that simply as a courtesy given that walking around someone else's home naked was hardly a good way to make a positive impression, not that he had, it was just a preemptive solution. As he stepped into the hallway, he had a rather unusual sense. There was, simply put, a very powerful psionic nearby. What he was feeling was beyond what he normally sensed in a Tier IX. He shook it off, and figured it was oversensitivity in the morning, and walked around the corner to the shower.

Out of habit, he gave a knock on the door, no one said anything, and he entered. Naturally he locked the door behind him. There were too many people at Frostfall for him to just leave it unlocked. He hung the robe on the door's hook and then stepped into the shower. Having learned from the few days here before, he nudged the knob over just a little bit. Drawing upon the geothermal energy below the palace, most of the water that was for the showers and other such cleaning requirements was hot almost as soon as it came out. It required far more precision to prevent scalding than any other, normal shower.

Cadogan made the shower quick, lasting only 15 minutes, as he wanted to be dressed and down to eat quickly. He didn't know what the morning itinerary was, but whoever was in charge and awake he'd be able to ask. As he stepped out of the shower, after wiping the extra water out of the fur to mostly dry off, he heard a knock at the door. He said nothing as he grabbed his robe off, quickly putting it on and tying it off and opened the door.

"Oh. I'm sorry." The arctic wolf at the door said. Cadogan's psionic sense picked her own power.

"It's fine, I am done Captain." Cadogan said, taking a shot at who it might have been. She stepped out of the way for him to leave the room without having to push through.

"Hold on, who are you exactly? I've not seen you around the Palace before." The wolf asked.

"Cadogan Gavin, former senior Bureau agent." He said, making sure to add former for his own amusement.

"Agent Gavin?" She said, turning around to face him now as he was in the hall. "Explains why you said 'Captain'."

"Captain Luca Xaimoungkhoun." Cadogan said. "Good to finally meet you in person. We'll talk more later I suppose. I'd really prefer to get dressed."

"Right, sorry. See you in a bit maybe." Luca said as she entered the bathroom.

Cadogan returned to his room and closed the door, quickly tossing the robe aside for the moment. He looked into the armor case, and saw his uniform from yesterday sitting alongside the armor. He balled up the uniform and walked to the back of the room, opening a panel and dropping the uniform into the laundry chute. That little task he had forgotten yesterday taken care of, he opened the closet and pulled out another House Xaimoungkhoun uniform. Given that he was having to wear those every day, he was growing a bit more accustomed to the idea of wearing uniforms regularly, even if he didn't particularly like it.

Getting the uniform on took about fifteen minutes as he took extra time to dry off properly before getting the uniform on. Once that was taken care of, he left the room and headed for the elevator. Janele was only just stepping out in her own robe, likely for her own shower. She didn't even notice Cadogan though, given her back was turned, and he wasn't about to distract her into talking for too long. He just headed right for the elevator and hit the button for the Great Hall once he was inside.

Once the elevator reached the Great Hall, Cadogan stepped out and saw that one of the tables was covered with a rather large amount of food. He took note of Isaiah, the Empress, Luca, some children, and a few others he hadn't yet met. Isaiah saw Cadogan shortly after and waved him over. Cadogan hesitated for just a moment before walking over to the table and sitting down as Isaiah silently told him to.

"I figured you could use a proper, hot meal." Isaiah said between bites. "Same with Janele whenever she gets down here. Emperor Boldomar will be arriving around midday, and we need time to prepare, so we're starting early. Help yourself to anything."

Not needing much more encouragement, Cadogan helped himself to the breakfast that was laid out. Much of it was meats, compensating for the primarily carnivorous diet of the Remnorans, but also had several vegetables and fruits about for Isaiah it seemed. The breakfast, mixed with the conversation, took a little over an hour and a half. What interested him was the use of the Emperor Wasp as a meat. The large insect certainly could be used as such, but given that there was very little it seemed to be a particular rarity.

What bothered Cadogan a bit more was the feeling of a very powerful psionic was back again, but even stronger. If he had to guess, it was someone at the table, but he only knew a handful were psionics. There was Luca, and her patterns marked that as fairly obvious, and there was Isaiah as a low tier psionic. One of the children, the youngest of them and probably Luca's if Cadogan really had to guess, also already had pyrokinetic markings. He said nothing about it, not wanting to raise a conversation that could go wrong, but he was left curious.

Following the breakfast and everyone cleaning themselves up a bit, Isaiah had Cadogan head into the conference room just off the Great Hall and set a few things up. He was to help the guards with moving part of the table away. The room was large enough to accommodate a couple dozen people on the large table, but since it was going to both emperors and a few other people, the size was unnecessary. The table was in several pieces and Cadogan and a few soldiers were going to move it into the adjacent storage room. That took about an hour in all due to the weight of the table. Cadogan would have made use of telekinesis to move the parts, but didn't feel like wasting the energy he had today if it wasn't quite necessary.

With the table fixed, Cadogan checked the time. It was just a little bit past nine already. Isaiah sent Cadogan and Janele back up to their rooms to get into their Goliath armor again. He knew it would take a little over half an hour without any assistance, save for each other at a few points. Cadogan very nearly argued with it, but it quickly clicked that being in armor, assuming the meeting went quite wrong, would be the safest option. Just before 10 in the morning, Cadogan and Janele were in their armor and back in the Great Hall after getting an assault rifle from the Armory.

At about 10:30, Isaiah sent a Palace wide message that Emperor Boldomar was en route to the Palace and would arrive about half an hour. From there, everyone took up their own positions and waited. Cadogan and Janele were told to wait in the meeting room behind and to either side of the seat Isaiah would be taking. The two just stayed silent and waited, even taking the Quartermaster's advice of locking the armor and relaxing in it. The half hour passed fairly quickly, but it took almost another ten minutes before Isaiah and Emperor Boldomar entered the room with a pair of Bureau agents.

The differences between the two emperors were quite amusing to Cadogan. While Isaiah is human and a little over six feet tall and looked like a proper emperor, Boldomar is a fennec and only a little over three feet tall. Had he not been known as the emperor, Cadogan would have figured he was just a child or something. And yet, despite the size, Emperor Boldomar was one of the most powerful psionics in the known galaxy. Not quite a Tier X, but definitely far up there.

Isaiah took his seat first, and Boldomar climbed into his seat. Like Cadogan and Janele, the two Bureau agents stood behind Boldomar's chair and to either side of it. "Since we're now in private, care to tell me why you asked me to come here?" Boldomar said.

"I believe that we have a mutual problem." Isaiah said. "See, Remnora Novus has been plunged into martial law for the past several days now due to the escape of a high tier psionic." He said, getting Boldomar's attention with that. The internal affairs of Remnora Novus didn't tend to get out to the rest of the Empire, even to the Emperor. "I don't like when my worlds get put under martial law for no reason. I'd like to hear your explanation for it."

Without missing a beat, Boldomar said, "Security of the Novus state is primary among my responsibilities. An improperly monitored psionic could be a threat to all. She is a Tier VIII Psychomanipulator that's now on the run somewhere. We've scoured the ring and cannot find her. Until we can, it's martial law."

"Except," Isaiah pulled his datapad out. From Cadogan's view, he could see the Empire's 'Declaration of Sapient Rights', "that puts you in violation of Section IV of the Declaration of Sapient Rights. In recognition of tyrannical regimes, citizens of the Empire protected against unwarranted and unlawful search and seizure. You did just say you scoured the ring, and I have people that can confirm that arrest was threatened."

That seemed to silence Boldomar fairly quickly. "You are mistaken, however. In accordance with the Novus Pact of 7910, Remnora Novus doesn't have to adhere to all of Anean la-"

"Incorrect. Perhaps you should read the fine print." Isaiah said after cutting off Boldomar. "Remnora Novus is semi-autonomous. You are controlled by the Empire, it's why you fly the Anean flag above the Novus flag. Our law trumps all your laws save for on the cultural level. You know better than that Boldomar. This is getting off track, however, as it's not my primary concern." Isaiah sat back in his seat and then pointed at the Bureau agents. "They're my primary concern."

Cadogan noticed a hesitation in Boldomar before he spoke. "How are they a concern? They're the ones that keep most of the order on the ring."

"Director Niadh fired upon one of my people for no reason. He enacted martial law without your consent, without my consent, and without the consent of the AGF and National Guard commanders." Isaiah said. "Boldomar, that's a crime. The Novus Bureau doesn't have the power to do that, yet you're sitting here and justifying it. I have tolerated your rule over Remnora Novus since I took the throne, but I am growing tired of it. You need to step up and be a leader, or I'll make sure I have the Novus Pact stricken down and bring your petty kingdom brought under the total control of the Empire."

Boldomar relaxed into his chair. "Do you really think you have the political power to knock me off my throne?" He said with a laugh.

Isaiah only grinned at Boldomar. "You'd be surprised. I have absolute power if I choose to use it. I think you forget that. I'd rather pick a diplomatic approach, and that's why I brought you today. Boldomar, you backed me in taking the throne and I am going to call in a favor. The Novus Bureau is taking too many steps that are outside their authority, and you are signing it off as procedure. Why?" Boldomar said nothing, but continued just looking at Isaiah. Isaiah, however, took note of the two agents moving a bit. "Look behind you. You have two Bureau agents watching over you instead of a proper guard. And you know they're not standing over you to protect you."

"I don't see the point you're trying to make." Boldomar finally said.

"You've heard of Agent Gavin right?" Isaiah asked. When Boldomar said nothing, Isaiah knew that Boldomar knew who he was talking about. "He is a Tier IX electrokinetic. He had 27 years of meritorious service with the Bureau. In one mistake, he was reassigned to Haroma because he breached protocol a bit and the Director didn't want the stain on the organization. In doing so, I picked him up. He is disillusioned from the Bureau now that he tasted true freedom without someone always watching him, without having a metaphorical leash on at all times. You might be emperor, but how many times have you had to confirm your itinerary with the Bureau? I am a psionic, you know that, but I don't have any Bureau agents around, nor do I let them near me. Why do you? You can tell them to leave."

"Isaiah... what you're asking me to do is almost akin to treason." Boldomar said. "The Novus Bureau has always stood as the first line of defense against psionics since the first ones appeared centuries ago. What you're asking of me is not an easy thing for me to consider. However, it's something I must consider. What is it you'd want me to do anyway?"

"A couple different things. One, I want you to consider ending the semi-autonomous status in favor of full integration now." Isaiah said. "I can guarantee I'll make you a Duke in return and you'll effectively have control over the same area as before. Two, I want you to, if you go with full integration and even if you don't, to consider a changing of the guard and allowing my government's oversight and reform of the Novus Bureau."

"You will certainly have that second one." Boldomar said. "I am not blind, but I've had no voice in my own government. It's sickening. Right now, Director Niadh is listening in to this conversation."

"Well then, let me introduce my two guards properly." Isaiah said looking back to Cadogan first then to Janele. Both took the hint and removed their helmets. "Due to the Bureau's poor choices, Agent Cadogan Gavin and Janele Wilkie have both taken their oaths of loyalty to me." There was silence in the room. "Director Niadh, you have started a war, and it's one you will not win. Emperor Boldomar, Remnora Novus won't be safe for you to return to. You're free to stay here."

"I had no intentions of going back with these two." Boldomar said.

One of the two agents finally spoke up. "Boldomar, if you refuse to go with us, you will be terminated. Noncompliance is unacceptable."

Emperor Boldomar only laughed, and Isaiah slid a light across the table. The lighter landed in Boldomar's lap and he picked it up. It didn't immediately occur to Boldomar what that was, but he flipped it open and looked momentarily at the fire. As the agents started to react behind him, Boldomar jumped up onto the table and ran toward Isaiah, if only to get a bit of distance, and then lobbed a pair of fire bolts at the agents. The bolts set the suits of the agents alight, and caused them to flail around from the burning.

Cadogan, feeling merciful, if only barely, raised his rifle and put a burst of bullets into both agents. That kind of suffering was... almost too cruel. As quickly as he had set them alight, Boldomar put the flames on the agents out so it didn't damage the furniture in the conference room. Through all of that, Emperor Xaimoungkhoun remained seated and took it all in. He took his lighter back from Boldomar and lit the cigar he pulled from the suit using some of the flames that Boldomar was still producing.

"Well, that was eventful." Isaiah said. "About how I figured it would go."

"What do you mean that was how you figured it would go?" Boldomar said, returning to normal and turning around.

"It was either violence or... violence. The difference was the target." Isaiah said. "Nonetheless, I have a plan. I am always planning, remember that. Right now, in your absence, and given the circumstances, Director Niadh is likely about to begin a major crackdown on Remnora Novus and likely order all branches to begin doing... something. I couldn't tell you what." Isaiah turned back to Cadogan and Janele. "You two, head to Fan-Kui and meet up with the Novus Armada. They're on tour across the Empire, and they're likely to be recalled. Isn't that right Boldomar?"

"I don't know. Novus command doesn't tell me what it's..." Boldomar started to say before what Isaiah said and what he meant clicked. "Right. I'll give that order. As the Emperor said, get to Fan-Kui. I'll tell the admiral to expect you two."

"Also sending a company of Enforcers along." Isaiah added. "Cadogan, they can operate independently, but you're free to command them if you need to. I'll order the AGF and National Guard on the ring to stand down." When he noticed that Cadogan and Janele were still standing around, he added, "You two are dismissed. I'll have a ship get you to Fan-Kui immediately. Head up to the hangar. I am sure my daughter will be fine with taking the _Adamant_out somewhere."

"Captain Xaimoungkhoun?" Cadogan asked.

"That's right. I'll be in contact, but I need to plan with Boldomar and my commanders." Isaiah said. "Assuming this goes right, and I know it will, you'll both be well rewarded. Just trust me on this, alright?"

Cadogan very nearly said no there, but given everything that had happened this past month, he couldn't bring himself to do so. "Understood sir." Cadogan said as he led Janele out of the conference room. Once both were outside and he closed the door, he kept walking to the elevator. Janele followed fairly closely. When the doors closed and the elevator started to move, he said, "I don't like where this is going."

"Nor do I." Janele said, though with some reluctance to admit it. "However there's a certain excitement to it though huh?" She added after a bit of thinking.

The two stepped off the elevator on the top floor of the palace. Standing at the windows, looking out into the blizzard outside, was someone clad in a red Goliath V armor. Only when she turned around, and gender was only determined by the shape, was there any indication of who it might have been thanks to the ASF rank insignia on the chest, where the House Xaimoungkhoun coat of arms was on Cadogan's and Janele's armor.

"There you two are." Luca said. "I've been ready to go for quite a while now. I am glad everything went right." She led the way back down the hall toward the hangar bay. "Taking the Adamant out finally. That ship doesn't fly nearly as much as it should. Very comfortable ship, very fast. Makes a Terminus run in about a day assuming everything goes right. Anyway, to Fan-Kui it is."

"So you're in command on the trip?" Cadogan asked.

"More or less. Given the situation on Remnora Novus, when I informed my superior that my father needed me back on Haroma, I was allowed to return." Luca said. "I have a week of 'false leave', as I have taken to calling it. I am still on duty, but I am free to do as told. In this case, it's flying you two to Fan-Kui."

Once they entered the hangar, Cadogan noticed that the Adamant was already in place for takeoff, just waiting on the three of them to board. Luca seemed to almost slow down just a bit, but Cadogan figured it was nothing. As they got closer to the ship, the engines powered up fully. The moment all three stepped onto the cargo bay ramp, the ramp was slowly raised and the ship began to lift off out of the hangar. The rushed pace of everything at the moment did catch Cadogan's attention, but he shrugged it off as just typical military life.

The three stepped into the elevator and Luca hit the button for the living deck. Since they were mostly alone now, Cadogan decided to finally ask the question he was being bothered with all day. "So, I sensed a rather powerful psionic today." He said. "Captain that was your daughter right?" The one that he was referring to was the quite obviously fennec-wolf hybrid.

Luca said nothing for a moment. "Yeah, she's mine. You're not the only one with a score to settle with the Bureau."

"Care to tell, if I am not getting too personal?" Cadogan asked, adding on the second part in the hopes of actually finding out more.

"Once we get somewhere properly private." Luca said. "I'd like to keep it mostly quiet."

Cadogan said not another word about the subject as the lift came to a stop and opened up on a rather luxurious looking hallway. Luca led the way, of course, as she actually knew where she was going. She led the whole way, into the room at the end of the hall. If Cadogan didn't know any better, it was obviously the cabin for the Xaimoungkhoun in charge of the ship at the time. In this case, it was obviously Luca. She sat down on the couch, even in her armor. Taking her lead, Cadogan and Janele did the same and sat down on the opposite couch.

"My daughter is the first recorded Tier X pyrokinetic. I confirmed it with a former Bureau tester that quit his job because he was sick of the Bureau." Luca said bluntly once the doors to the cabin slid closed. "The Bureau itself doesn't know though. I know they'd take her if they did and I won't let that happen. I am sticking with you two. Goliaths work in teams of three anyway. I'll tell you both more when I know you have the clearance. Until then, settle in, be it here or one of the other cabins. It will be less than a day until we get to Fan-Kui."

Since it was going to be less than a day, and the cabin was quite obviously comfortable, Janele and Cadogan both quietly agreed that they'd rather stick around in there than in another cabin. The group got to talking a bit of course, as there was nothing else to do in the cabin. Against everyone's better judgment, they had a few drinks as they got more comfortable. Comfortable was subjective, of course, considering that the Goliath armor was hardly the most comfortable thing ever built.

For Cadogan, he was wondering the entire time was the extent of what was going on and what they would be doing. Given that they were all clad in powered armor, and with the situation developing on Remnora Novus, Cadogan feared for the people on the ring, and people around the Empire. He didn't want any of them to end up harmed in response to what Emperor Boldomar had done, but, if nothing else, it was clear there was going to be a lot more bloodshed in the coming days. As that thought went through his mind, he downed another drink. He was going to need that to go along with this.