Chapter 19: The day before the meet
Space is full of emptiness. The darkness and void remain with little to disturb it, but on this day, this quadrant of space was not so lucky. Brilliant light permeated the otherwise dark emptiness as 3 massive space ships appeared in thin air.
In one of the spaceships, there was music and songs that could be heard. Sounds of partying as a crowd of people were cheering at someone. The one being cheered was at the DJ's docket, showing off his non-existent Djing skills. Nevertheless, being a spoilt rich kid means you can do anything and still get away with it, scratch that, and still get cheered for it.
Despite the foul music, they all seemed to be having a jolly good time. Most people were all in swimsuits around the swimming pool, and one would be forgiven for mistaking this as a wealthy tycoons mansion than a spaceship. I guess in the universe there was no much difference between the 2, for there were some people and even races that were known to live in spaceships their whole lives, only docking for supplies before taking off again.
The rich kid let the hired professional DJ get back to work as he jumped into the swimming pool, frolicking in his revelry.
"I wonder how he does it?"
"What?"
"Let lose like that, I could never be able to."
"Are you sure that is not who he is?"
"If you've met him, the real him, you'd be sure too!" Her words had a hint of admiration, and why wouldn't she. They were talking about the person who was poised to inherit the kind of wealth that could last someone a hundred lifetimes. He was the crown prince of the Tlas Family.
When he was younger, he loved his parties and was wholeheartedly engrossed in them, however, for some reason, he outgrew them. Few people got to know he had, and fewer still got to know the reason for it. Those that did got to see a side that many never did.
Ser Bor of House Tlas. At the moment, he already controlled 10 planets in different systems. These gains were obtained by his methods, not part of the inheritance. He was an icon of affluence. The kind of people who are filthy rich and not ashamed to front it.
The man himself was tall and handsome. Perfectly shaped. At the age of 35, he looked like he was not a day above 21. With money and human innovation, getting the perfect body and extending one's lifespan was no longer out of rich. He looked like he had been carved, not born. No matter what he ate, his body would retain this luster of beauty. Age would still catch up, but for someone with a lifespan of up to 300 years, aging was a very long process.
Ser Bor also had the natural charisma of influence. Having been born to money, commanding came easy for him.
In matters combat, Ser Bor had received the finest training from the best instructors. He was also on a regiment to keep his body fit and as high performing as possible. Unfortunately, he had never found anyone to fight with. All those he'd spur with always went easy on him, to the point of allowing him to give them a beating. No one in their right minds would dare strike one of the exalted human princes.
With status came responsibility, that was even more true for Ser Bor. The family business, as the family called it, spanned across several star cluster systems. They had their fingers in almost every economic activity worth mentioning. Their industries were not only top tier, but they maintained galactic standards. The family was so big that they had kingdoms and empires under them, especially in the lower tier planets they controlled.
There were countless people under them, many of them holding some very important positions. As the next leader, he needed to show his credentials, earn his position. Perhaps this was what changed him, as he transitioned from the flamboyant party head to a responsible manager.
Yet he chose to retain his outer facade for exactly these kinds of missions. Those with sufficient clout knew and had even met the real person. Anyone out of this social circle did not matter, and their opinions even less so. Many people who were ruled by them didn't even know they were the rulers.
After five days of continuous partying, the spaceship they were in made it's way to the planet's orbit. The other spaceships had already been notified of their approach, and so had the ground teams.
The huge space shuttle left the ship and descended to the ground base, where there was a flurry of activities going on.
Already, Sir Anyang had walked around the base inspecting all the important areas twice. Not even that made him feel prepared for who he was meeting. This was him, THE son of THe family. Others might share their name but their family business was firmly in Ser Bor's family. His father was the chancellor of the Tlas Family Business, and soon it will be his son's turn.
Sir Anyang himself saw nothing special about the brat. Most of the time, he was either seen drinking and partying with women or being an asshole to some poor sod that caught his attention. To Anyang, having such a person at the top would be an embarrassment if not catastrophic. Anyang didn't think any person could lead to the fall of the family business.
As the Shuttle docked on the ground, Anyang had his people gather and line up as they welcomed their soon-to-be Chancellor. He made sure to keep his disdains in his heart, but it was a hard task indeed when he saw the women and other party animals coming out of the shuttle.
He'd been wondering about the prince's involvement and approach to the planet. He wondered if it had anything to do with his primary mission. All he'd been told thus far was that the prince was in the area and was coming to tour the planet. Now seeing the party freaks coming out, he concluded that not even the family could trust him with something so confidential.
The rooms were prepared and the ground party started. Ser Bor's host of guests seemed to have an insatiable desire to just keep of partying, something Bor was happy to oblige. The base operators were professionals. Not that they had anything against partying, but the sheer wealth and affluence, not to mention the decadence in the party, made it quite foreign to them. Keshi found herself with a permanent frown on her forehead.
Out of respect for the prince, they had to indulge. The soldiers and mercenaries never had any issue with this, but scholars and others would have preferred to keep working. Unfortunately, they never got their choice.
On the 3rd day of continuous partying, Anyang felt as though he had had enough. He snuck back to his chambers for some rest, only to find someone in his room. Anyang couldn't switch on his light, no matter how much he flipped the switch.
"Tired?" The silhouette asked.
"Not really, just getting somethings then I am back." Anyang didn't know what to think, but he now knew he was in a room with a tiger, and his instincts were yelling at him to run. He just wanted an excuse to leave the death trap he had walked himself into, anything would do.
"Relax, if I wanted you dead, you would already be dead." The silhouette stood and walked towards him. That face did not look familiar, nor could he place it. It was as though this fiend had strolled in from nowhere, or just spontaneously occurred. The man handed him a note and walked out.
'Come find me tomorrow morning, you are too wasted right now.
Ser Bor.'
Anyang was sure that that was not Ser Bor. Could that have been his errand boy? Anyang was not sure, but he made sure to take note of the individual, anyone connected with Ser Bor was not simple.
Meanwhile, in Ser Bor's quarters, the mysterious man walked in.
"What do you think of this place so far?" Ser Bor asked.
"The base is well equipped, and the people here are well trained. The command structure is sound, and while the head, Anyang seems like a tool, he knows what he's doing." Carzola said. His role had been to monitor and supervise, but for a much bigger reason.
"Do you believe the threat is as credible as they say?"
"It's hard to say especially without firsthand interaction with it. However, after going through the footages and the eye-witness accounts, it is safe to assume that there is a threat, but its formidability is yet to be determined."
"What do you need to make that assessment, I need to know if my cousin is crying wolf or there is an actual threat." Carzola wondered what was so important about this planet that even the prince himself made a personal visit.
As a long term mercenary with very well established connections, Carzola was privy to very sensitive information. He offered discreet services and could come in cold, diffuse the situation and leave, at the right price of course. This made him a preferred merc among the top circles when they needed discreet services.
Despite having seen all that, he didn't understand why the Tlas family held this planet in such high esteem, but some things were above his paygrade.
"Tomorrow I venture out to see the shepherds for the first time, hopefully, I'll get to see this new guy in person."
"Be careful, he is quite lethal. The record shows he's killed over 30 soldiers in 3 days." To this, all Carzola did was chuckle before saying, "I've faced worse."
***
Chege was cursing himself. Why did he have to go and make quite the ruckus? Right now, they were in a large hall. The entire community was gathered, and there was only one thing on their minds, vengeance.
For too long, they had been downtrodden, forced to leave their home and live in deplorable conditions. They had lost both friends and relatives at the hands of the little monsters. All this time, they had taken it all without fighting back, not because of altruism, but inability. They had been thoroughly crushed, and the power of their weapons could not be undone, or so they had thought.
Seeing that crater, hearing the reports of first-hand eyewitnesses, they now knew they could do it. They had a chance to fight back.
"Wamena, how can you sit there and defend them, did they not take away your mate, or was it good riddance?"
"He too spoke of vengeance, but he never came back."
"What do we have to fear? We have our Champion!"
"We cannot ask him to fight our battles for us!"
"If he's eating our food and living under our shelter, he better get to work!"
"Haha, you think we doing him a favor by feeding him, he's the one doing us a favor! The little monsters know not to attack now that he's with us!"
"They won't attack as long as they don't know where we are."
"How can they not know with a massive crater outside to announce our presence."
The discussions were loud and heated. Chege, the one being discussed, couldn't understand a thing that was being said, but the intentions were clear. He knew they wanted to storm the base, that much was clear. What he didn't get was where his part ended and theirs began. In other words, they were pushing the dirty work onto him.
While he wanted revenge and to make the humans suffer, he had no deep-set hatred for them. Moreover, he still wanted answers. In his mind, humans were not the enemy, they mostly looked like him, albeit shorter.
His powers were his and his alone to wield, not to be used by someone or some other race. While the mayi recognized him as one of their own now, what happens when all their enemies are defeated? Won't they see him as just another freak?
Needless to say, this was a very important decision, one that Chege was not quick to rush into it, so he decided to hold off for a while longer, see what develops would come about.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone