Velion’s smile faded for a moment. Seeming to remember something, a dark look passed over his face. Looking away from the projection of the planet, he asked, “Have we conducted a scan of the surface yet?”
Aeria, slightly disappointed by his lack of enthusiasm, replied, “No… not yet father. We won’t be within scanning range for about another day. The image on the holoprojection was collected from one of the scouting drones I dispatched a few days ago.” She smiled, hoping to hear his praise.
Velion’s eyes returned to the projection before him. Still looking grim, he said, “I see. Well then that gives us plenty of time to make preparations. We will need to assemble scouting teams in order to survey the surface for any mineable deposits. We will also need to prepare a fighter squadron to escort the scouting teams.” He paused for a moment, thinking to himself. After a several seconds he finished, “I will also travel to the surface myself, so my ship will need to be readied. Do you think you can handle all of that?”
Disappointed by his coldness, she responded, “Of course, Father. Should I also dispatch a messenger back to Tython to report on our success?” This time, her eagerness betrayed her.
Velion scrutinized her and coldly he replied, “Seeking glory again, are you? No, we will not send a messenger. I want to stand before the council myself and tell them when I am ready. All in good time, Aeria. Now go; leave me to my meditation.”
After kneeling once more, Aeria stood to leave. She marched out of the cavernous room with less confidence than when she’d entered, feeling frustrated at her father’s indifference to the news. She felt a surge of anger as she made her way out of the chamber. He hadn’t even acknowledged that she was the one to find it! Instead he just sent her on another errand, as if she hadn’t just discovered the most precious of treasures. They had only been searching for it for thousands of years. And what was that look he had on his face? She wondered to herself, as the massive doors behind her quietly slid shut. She rarely knew what her father was thinking, but she had never seen him with such a grim look before. Or had she?
As she walked back down the long corridor she searched her memory. Closing her eyes, a flash of a memory came to her. She remembered running through the courtyard outside of her home on Tython; the Goralia trees were in full bloom and the sweet smell of their blue flowers filled the palace courtyard. She wasn’t supposed to be there, but she had skipped out on her lessons with the high priest. He was a boring old man, and a lesser one at that. It was silly that she had to learn from him, considering she was of royal descent and he was part of the lowest caste. Aeria recalled how irritated she had been that day, but could no longer remember the reason why.
She remembered running up the steps and hearing raised voices coming from within her house. Bending to hold her ear against the keyhole, she tried to listen through the door to determine who was inside but she was unable to understand the words or who was saying them. She decided to crawl into the bushes under one of the open windows. From there she peeked into the living area and saw her father arguing with her uncle Hadius.
She remembered overhearing Hadius say, “You know as well as I do that it didn’t happen that way! He’s meddled with something that could undo us all! We cannot ignore this! What happens if it gets out and the Centuri discover our weakness? It could destroy everything we’ve worked for!”
“But it can’t be true, Hadius. Why would he have lied to us? How do you know this source can be trusted anyway?” Aeria recalled how skeptical her father had looked.
“Forget the damn source! You are missing the point, Velion. We know that he and his men were overpowered. The only way that that could have happened is if they had used the armor and weapons! Think about the consequences of such a scenario.”
And there it was: the look on her father’s face. There was no mistaking the memory. Aeria knew he had had the same look then as he did a few moments ago. She stopped short in the corridor and pondered aloud, “What does it mean? What were they arguing about? ‘They had used the armor and weapons’? Who had? Not the lesser ones, surely.” She let out a snort of derision and started walking again, shaking off the idea. She knew the lesser ones could never use their armor or weapons. It was their genetics that prevented them from integrating with the technology the way she and her family did. In fact it had been countless years since any species outside of her family could use the technology….
Pushing the thoughts from her mind she returned her focus to the tasks ahead of her. She had much to do and not a lot of time to do it. After passing an intersection of four hallways she approached another set of doors, but this time they did not open. Protruding from the left side of the large white marble doors was a round glowing orb that pulsated with a dim green light. Aeria placed her palm around the orb and it lit up brightly. A moment later a low rumble could be heard. Aeria let go of the orb and stepped back. The green ball sank into the wall and like the doors to her father’s chamber, these began to silently glide apart. Instead of opening into a cavernous room, however, they opened to a small round room. Aeria stepped inside and turned around. The marble doors closed in front of her with an almost inaudible thud and a panel of lights illuminated to her left. Without looking, she pressed the uppermost symbol and immediately felt the room start to move upwards. After a few moments it stopped moving and a hidden door behind Aeria quietly slid open. Turning around, Aeria stepped into a large and dimly lit room.
The room was wide and had two levels; the door Aeria entered through stood on the edge of the higher of these two levels. This upper platform stretched out approximately thirty feet in front of her and curved forty feet to either side of her, forming a semi-circle. At the center of this upper level was a large throne-like chair, flanked on both sides by two smaller chairs. In front of each stood a short, white pillar that resembled a stalagmite protruding from the floor of a cave. At the top of each of these rounded pillars rested a glowing green orb; similar to the one that Aeria used to open the doors below. On the outside curve of this higher level sat several work stations, each with large holographic screens that hung above rounded control consoles. In front of each console was a small stool. All of these work stations were being operated by individual soldiers wearing black metallic armor.
A set of steps leading to the lower level sat at each end of the semi-circular platform. This lower level was also filled with various control consoles that sat in three parallel rows, the first and third stretching the width of the room. The middle row was interrupted at the center by what looked like a large round table, the top of which consisted of a shimmering crystal surface illuminated from below by a dim blue glow. At the very end of this lower level, opposite to where she had entered, stood a wide flat wall approximately eighty feet wide by forty feet tall. This wall was covered in the same shimmering crystal surface as the round table below it, and was also illuminated by a faint blue glow.
As she entered the room, all of the soldiers on both platforms ceased their work and stood to attention. A tall man, who had been standing next to the large throne-like chair, turned on his heel to look at Aeria. His long silver hair hung gracefully down his shoulders, shimmering in the dim light as he moved to greet her. With a smile the man bowed gracefully at the waist and said, “Mistress Aeria.”
With only the slightest of movements, Aeria nodded at the man. At this gesture the soldiers around the room quietly returned to their consoles, and continued their work.
Standing back up, the silver haired man asked with a tone of excitement, “Well, Mistress, what did your father have to say?”
“Never mind that, we have to begin our preparations for landing on the planet,” she replied curtly. Immediately the sting of the short answer could be seen on his face and Aeria knew he was as disappointed by her answer as she had been with her father’s reaction.
“Of course, Mistress. What would you have me do?”