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  One of the armed and armored Guards stepped forward and saluted. "Yes Councilor?"

  "Have your men take Councilors Noren, Juntsie and Kentis into custody. You will also arrest Admiral Goya and his Aide. Further, you are to pass the word for the entire command staff to be detained as well,"

  "At once, Councilor., Might I inquire about the charges?" the Guard asked.

  The Councilor looked at the Guard Captain like he was daft. "Are you deaf? Treason you moron! Arrest them for treason against the Talosian People!"

  "My apologies, Councilor. Treason is a capital offense punishable by death. As such, I cannot arrest or detain a member of the Ruling Council on those charges without proof, as I have to confront them with that proof at the time of arrest. That is the law," the Guard Captain replied.

  “I am a member of the Ruling Council, trooper!" Anewl yelled at him. "You will do as I order!"

  Very calmly, the Guard replied. "I am sorry, Councilor, but I cannot. To do so would be in violation of the laws our people have put into place to protect themselves. I am sworn to uphold those laws, and even a direct order from you cannot force me to break that oath. If you have proof against the Councilors and the Command staff, I will, of course, comply immediately. However, I need to know what this proof is to make certain that it is done according to the laws of the Talosian People. Show me your evidence, Sir, and I will arrest them," the man finished. "My apologies but the law is very clear on this matter, Councilor."

  "We do not have the time for that today, we are in a state of emergency and this is a necessary action to prevent further disruption and damage by the individuals in question," Anewl replied. "Follow my orders Captain, or I will have you relieved of command."

  The Captain saluted the Councilor, did a smart about face and yelled. "Lieutenant Car'tlon!"

  "Sir!" Echoed back.

  "According to item nine, subsection four, you are to execute security protocol alpha two at this time. Do you understand?" the Captain called.

  "Sir, yes Sir!" Almost before the reply made it back to the Ruling Council, the sounds of doors slamming shut could be heard.

  "What in the frozen hells did you just do?" Anewl screamed at the man, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

  The two ceremonial guards at each side of the raised dais charged their pulse rifles and aimed them at Councilor Anewl. The Captain raised a hand to prevent them from firing.

  "With respect, Sir, I would advise that no one attempt to touch any of the guards in this chamber from this point forward. The Security Protocol now in effect was put in place in the event of an attempted coup or hostile takeover of this Council. As such, the guards will assume that anyone touching them is hostile and have orders to shoot them.

  "Currently, this building is surrounded by house troops from only two houses. Troops loyal to their houses first, and not the Talosian people as a whole. Your illegal orders to me, as well as your position as the head of one of those two houses, forced me to assume you are attempting to force this Council to take action that will be detrimental to the will and well-being of the people. This building is now locked down. No one is to be allowed to depart and no one is allowed entrance until this situation is resolved according to mandated and approved law. With all respect, Sir, those are my orders and not even Admiral Goya can counter them.

  "If you wish for us to arrest a member of the Ruling Council, we have to have conclusive proof of guilt. Any attempt to do otherwise is to be considered an attempted coup and treated accordingly."

  "How dare you! We are the Talosian people! That is the entire purpose of this conclave! The family leaders represented here are here on behalf of their clans and families. It is their wish for the arrests to be made, why are you questioning this?" Councilor Anewl yelled.

  "With respect, Sir, they can be misled or lied to, either intentionally or unintentionally. The rules we follow were approved and put in place hundreds of years ago to protect everyone from such a situation as the one we are now facing," The Captain replied.

  "Very well, Captain, the first charge is based on a lie told to the Talosian people. Many years ago, House Herecin, in partnership with House Bjorin formed a colony in the Sol Sector for the purpose of expanding the house as well as building ships and providing for the war effort..."

  "I object!" Noren said. "That is a completely incorrect story concocted by House Herecin in order to lay claim to the facilities and society built by the Terran people, who by the way, are not even part of the Talosian Alliance!"

  Just as Councilor Anewl was about to blast back at her, the Captain held up his hand to the man to silence him. "Madam Councilor, I asked Councilor Anewl to present his charges. If you would please, I will listen to his charges. You will be given a chance to speak, after I am certain I understand the issue from his prospective. If you would, please refrain from comment until Councilor Anewl has finished."

  Noren looked pissed but nodded. "I understand, Captain. My apologies."

  The Captain nodded to her, turned back to Councilor Anewl and nodded to him. "Please continue Councilor."

  "As I was saying, House Herecin has invested a great deal of credits as well as effort in building a colony world hidden from the spying eyes of the other races. However, rogue elements within that colony have rebelled against house authority and are claiming independence from our Alliance. Now normally, House Herecin would simply ignore them and send in our own troops to quell such a claim, however, since it was intended to be a weapons facility, we no longer have the resources available to subdue the colony world.

  "In an effort to settle this 'dispute' peacefully, Councilor Noren offered to go to our Colony world and speak with the leaders of this rebellion. Instead of doing as she told us, she returns after having allowed Councilor Amaraliss to be arrested by these renegades. She has also returned without the Admiral that accompanied her for military protection. Further, I have been informed that of the fleet of ships that had been sent as back-up, several key officers were not returned with their ships. In fact, testimony from members of the crew has told us that renegades from this colony world boarded the ships and arrested them on her authority! All together, these acts constitute treason against the Houses Herecin and Bjorin as well as the people of Talos. There are other events we can add, but that would really be redundant in light of these most current events," Councilor Anewl finished.

  "Indeed," the Captain agreed nodding. "That does constitute treason. Thank you, Councilor."

  The Captain turned to the now much calmer Councilor Noren. "Madam Councilor, do you wish to dispute these charges?"

  Noren was nodding affirmative before the man had stopped speaking. "Yes I do, Captain. I believe I can offer proof that disproves the charges. Councilor Anewl, on what date did you establish your colony in the Sol sector?"

  "I do not have the information at the moment, but I believe it was seventy-one-twenty or there abouts," the man said guardedly.

  Noren nodded. "The people of Earth, while they are human as are we, can prove they have been on that planet since before the fall of Talos during the Caldarian war. This information can not only be collaborated, but can also be verified by the Benesian Hegemony as well as ARC records. In the past, both of those sources of information have been considered to be accurate by this body. In point of fact, most people living on that world currently have never heard of New Talos and have no knowledge of any extraterrestrial life.

  "As for the group calling themselves Terrans, that have developed advanced technology, by the way a good share of that technology is even more advanced than ours, have been brought together by the need to defend their planet from a still existing Caldarian threat. A young man by the name of Ian Williams was contacted by the still functional AI of one of our crashed warships, because he matched the genetic profile of its original commander.

  This young man, instead of surrendering the crashed ship to local authorities, took it upon himself to attempt to build up a defense c
apable of defending his planet from Caldarian assault. Which he did when a Caldarian Super Nova arrived at Earth to subdue the planet.

  Six months ago, the arrival of the Caldarian ship got the attention of an ARC deep space monitoring probe. They discovered that the humans of Earth had restored the crashed ship and have built a defense to protect themselves against the Caldarian. As per our agreements with ARC, they contacted us immediately and two heavy cruisers were dispatched to investigate. At the same time, an entire ARC fleet was sent to a system close by in the event more force was needed. Until that event, we had no knowledge that the Sol Sector even existed, and no record of it was in our database. It is on the far side of what has been traditionally been considered Benesian space.

  "Ian Williams and his people succeeded in destroying the Caldarian ship and ending that threat, but they discovered that a Caldarian resource base was on their planet, and are currently in the process of removing it.

  "The Terran people are not a rebelling colony of anyone. They are an independent tribe of humanity that has grown and is thriving on a planet we had no knowledge of seven months ago. In the short time they have been active, they have managed to build an impressive foundation for their defense and have plans for much more. If it is the wish of this body, I will personally contact either the Benesian Ambassador or our ARC liaison and request the information." Noren paused.

  "As for Councilor Amaraliss; an agent working for him was caught attempting to break into the AI vault of the Terran Heavy Cruiser Star Dancer for the purpose of sabotage. The agent admitted to working for the Councilor and had been acting on his orders. Councilor Amaraliss later confirmed that information. Both were arrested by the Terrans for the crimes of espionage and attempted sabotage. I would point out that both men returned with us as prisoners and are still being held on grounds of treason and unauthorized sabotage of a friendly power.

  "Admiral Belirus resigned his commission and position when it was proven that he had been intentionally mislead by sources he trusted more than those of his command structure. He volunteered to remain in the Sol Sector to assist them in building their facilities. His formal resignation is on file in the records of his ship's AI, the Adonis.

  "The Adonis AI had been ordered shut down because of instability," Councilor Anewl replied.

  "That is not what the computer chief of the ship told me, he said he had simply received orders to shut down the AI. He said no explanation had been given. Admiral Belirus even spoke to it after it was reactivated. It has been fully active and functional since that time and has not malfunctioned in any way," Goya replied.

  The Captain once again held up his hand in order to stem the argument that was about to begin. "Councilor Noren, I am afraid no contact out of this building can be allowed at this point. So the matter comes down to a verbal disagreement with no actual evidence for either party."

  "Wait Captain, can we not simply request data from the Council AI?" Noren asked. "Surely it would at least remember the initial report from the ARC telling us of the Terrans."

  "I am afraid that is not possible either, Councilor. It seems that there are a lot of problems developing in our AI. House Herecin, acting as the unit manufacturing house, ordered all active AI to be shut down two weeks ago due to a 'viral instability' that could cause the unit to initiate independent actions. The units have since been shut down and their memory units purged. We are awaiting an upgraded version from the designers."

  "So how are we to settle this issue?" Noren asked reasonably.

  Chapter 7

  Grand Council Chambers

  Elysium, Planet New Talos

  New Talos System, Carnius Sector

  "Since it is obvious that resolution one way or another cannot be made and the only method of reliable tamper proof information is not available to us in this situation. The Council as a whole will be taken into protective custody in a secure location until proof can be presented," the Captain replied.

  "So what you are telling us is that you are staging a military coup of your own and holding us all hostage until we do what we are told, right?" Councilor Anewl replied.

  "No Sir, protective custody is completely voluntary, but highly recommended. Those who chose to be placed under this protection will be taken from here to an isolated, secure facility. Once proof of either guilt or innocence is provided to us, we will then either detain the guilty or free the innocent as is proven. Councilor, regardless of what you believe personally, the loyalty of the Guard is to the people of New Talos and the laws they have set for us to follow. Favoritism cannot and will not ever be shown under any circumstances. The Guard do not have a house; we have a nation," the Captain replied.

  He paused as he listened to a communicator. "Understood. Engage the shield and activate the defense grid. We will need a shuttle for the councilors," he said. "I will give the destination to the pilot once we are in flight. Scramble our fighters for air cover. Do not fire unless fired upon, understood?" He paused a moment, then nodded and turned back to the Council.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, the troops that are outside this building have assumed an attack posture. We believe they will begin their attack shortly. I have called for a shuttle to evacuate any who wish to go with us. I feel I should warn you that if you remain, your safety cannot be guaranteed by the Guard.

  "As of this moment, and because of the actions of the troops of House Herecin and House Bjorin, The Guard considers them to be attempting to overthrow the government. It is my personal belief, and not that of the Guard, that your lives may be in danger if you are not a member of their 'faction', and I encourage you to remain with the Guard," the Captain said.

  Several of the House leaders stood and began yelling, objecting to the entire situation and claiming that no one would be so bold as to attack the government building. Several explosions outside served to immediately shut them all up.

  Noren stood. "Listen! Everyone! Please calm down! Regardless of what you have been told, neither I nor any of Admiral Goya's staff have lied to you. We have no proof, but for a few months we have known of a plot within the leadership of Herecin and Bjorin to take over the leadership of the Council. Now it appears they are willing to do so with force of arms. We did not notify anyone of our knowledge because we had no proof and did not want to breed mistrust. Now the Gatais are at the doors, each of you must decide what the truth is. You must do so without any solid proof either way. If you believe the other councilors and I have been acting in your best interests, then please come with us.

  "However, if you think we have been misleading or lying to you for some mysterious reason, then remain here. I'm sure you have nothing to fear from those troops outside attacking this building." As she had been speaking, she was looking out at the crowd. She turned slightly to address Anewl about why the troops were attacking, he wasn't there. "Where is Councilor Anewl?"

  "Bjorin is gone too!" someone yelled.

  The Captain was on his communicator "Guard Command, come in! We are under attack and need assistance. Please respond!" he could be heard to repeat the call.

  "Noren!" Goya called. "We need to act now! It's begun!" he said and held up his key.

  "They've taken the AI off-line, will it even work anymore?" she asked as she ran toward him.

  "Not all of the AI are shut down. If they are dormant, then the command will still be received and acted on. We have to try," Goya replied.

  Noren nodded and inserted her hey in the special console built into Goya's place on the dais. Goya copied her.

  "If either of you turn those keys, I will shoot you in the head," a voice said from behind them.

  Standing behind them, in clear view of the entire gallery, was Patriarch Jermain of House Bjorin. "We couldn't do it the easy way, so I guess it's going to be the hard way. Now remove those command keys and give them to me."

  "Why would we do that Jermain? For that matter, what is this coup about? The people will never support you if you overthrow the government and as
sume control this way," Noren replied.

  "The people will do as they're told. Hell, for most of them, reality is what we tell them it is. We proved that when we discredited you. As for us overthrowing the government, we didn't - you are. It's really too bad our troops couldn't get in here in time to prevent you from killing all the Clan and family leaders and setting yourself up as our new Empress.

  "Of course, since all the clan leaders were murdered by you, someone will have to assume control in the emergency. From there it’s very easy to remain in control because of the rumor that ARC is going to attack us in order to use us as cannon fodder in their war with that Empire or whatever it is.

  "What are you talking about, Jermain? The Empire is a threat to all of us! Have you forgotten that we have lost colonies of our own to them as well?" Goya asked.

  "No we didn't, you simplistic moron, who do you think ordered the ships away from the planets? They were no loss, just simple, poorly producing farming worlds. We had no need to risk our expensive warships defending worthless targets. You'll notice that this Empire has not attacked a single Talosian world of value? The only reason they took the planets they did was because of their proximity to fucking ARC worlds.

  "Once I have control, New Talos will be safe from the ARC as well as the Empire. The Empire has no interest in humans! I've been assured by the Emperor himself that once we pull our forces away from ARC, he will leave us alone."

  "You're a fucking idiot! Once he defeats ARC, he will roll over us so fast you won't have time to kneel before him!" Goya said.

  Jermain moved the pistol he was holding and shot Goya in the leg. The crack of air displacement from the laser made Noren jump. Goya screamed in pain and fell to the floor. In the gallery several people screamed in surprise and fear.

  "I'm not going to argue this with you, give me the keys, now!" Jermain demanded.

  Noren nodded and turned back to the console. "If you want them..." she quickly turned both keys to the activate position removed them and threw them at the man... then you can have them!"