Hearing the voice of a ghost, specifically that of someone who tried their hardest to make his life a living Hell, was unnerving. It was nothing like that of the message Lina sent him after she was killed aboard the Royal Carrier, and he had to resist the urge to stop playing the message.

‟For posterity, I would like to begin by confirming I am alone in my apartment on the two-hundred and twenty-second floor of the Hallow Building in Mornage. It is approximately seven fifteen in the evening, and the Terran date is the ninth of November, four thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-six. This record is to serve both as a personal log as well as an update for High Command for better understanding of my role in the events surrounding the Hyperion Takeover of Stariek.”

A creaking came through the audio file as Ire leaned back in a chair followed by the sound of a drink being poured. After a few seconds of silence, there was a soft swallowing noise, and he sighed in satisfaction.

‟As of the Terran date of the seventh of November, four thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-six, Stariek is officially fully under Hyperion control. It’s taking a bit more work than expected to get all of the citizens to accept their new positions, but such is the way of life in an empire.

‟There have been some minor impediments in the overall plan of Hyperia, gathering new soldiers in preparation for the Emperor’s plans. Small, isolated terrorist acts across the city from disgruntled citizens that were dealt with quickly and severely. Once the first few were made examples of, the rest were quick to fall into line, though that may change once we start taking their children. I’m still not sure what exactly the Emperor wants with them. Robot soldiers have always served well and never need more maintenance than tune-ups and recharge time. People are so expensive to train, maintain, clothe, feed, keep happy, transport, everything. It just doesn’t make sense in this day and age, but if it’s what the Emperor wants, who am I to argue?”

Another bout of silence followed the words, and ice quietly clinked against the side of a glass. Xaleyp swore that Eve could hear his heart thumping against his chest in the stillness. Some crunching of food suddenly pierced the air as the Colonel bit into something before continuing to speak.

‟The so-called Commander gave up without much a fight, not that I really gave him much choice. Still, I thought he was going to blow just like that building did when he saw the smoke rising into the air.”

The Colonel’s laugh dug into Xaleyp like a dagger, and he could feel the ice of the words hanging on his heart. Even if Ire was dead, the words stung deeper than he thought they would, and he desired nothing more than to be able to reach through the waveform image and hit Ire in the face.

‟I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect him to be such a coward after what I’d heard about him and the way he walked into the office at first. But, he signed the contract, and we were able to avoid further bloodshed, which is all High Command really cares about in the grand scheme.

‟After I left, I sent a team to capture him as I went to secure the child and his mother. A distress signal went out just moments before I arrived at their mountain cottage, but I ignored it thinking that it was just a false alarm. The damn Siatians sent a team in to extract the boy’s father and take him to who the Hell knows where. So, my first objective for my mission to Stariek was a bust, but I at least still had the second coal in the fire, even if the first jumped and ran from the forge.”

Xaleyp barely had time to process the words as Ire kept speaking, but his breath caught in his throat at the mention of the Siatians taking his father.

‟The mother and child were much easier, especially since my informant was able to keep them isolated from the rest of their guard where they assumed they would be safe. Locking yourself in a safe room in today’s galaxy? Might as well just throw yourself to the wolves, you’ll have a better chance of not being eaten. Captain Zayne Alcatar played his role well as the child’s guide and father’s adviser, and I was glad for that at the least. None of them suspected a thing, especially since they had been friends since childhood and trusted each other with their lives.

‟So, I captured the mother and son, sending the mother to a remote prison facility on Venator and the child to Vertyn as the mission profile commanded. We also found another child in the basement safe room of the Vah’Aris’s estate.” Ire shuffled some datapads around, trying to find the name he was searching for and succeeding after several seconds. ‟A Rach’El Torlin, daughter of Travis and Trilia Torlin, entrepreneurs and senators in the Stariek Congress. She seemed relatively unimportant in the overall plan, so I had her sent to one of the training facilities on the Arcadian surface, where she will undergo basic training.”

Xaleyp could hardly believe what he was hearing, and his head reeled as his brain attempted to process the whirlwind of information that never stopped coming. Uncle Zay betrayed him and his father, Rach’El was alive and sent to Arcadia for training, and Ire sent his mom to a prison on Venator. What the actual fuck did he get himself into?

‟As for the boy himself, he’s going to be tested just like all the other new recruits, and maybe we’ll see why exactly the Siatians want him so badly.” There was a deep sigh, followed by the gulping of liquid before Ire spoke again several seconds later. ‟I’ll tell him that his parents are dead, even though I don’t know where the hell his father is at this point. He might not like it—I certainly don’t—but it’s simplest and helps achieve the Hyperion goal of supremacy across the galaxy.

‟This was Colonel Augusta Ire, reporting on the Hyperion Takeover of Stariek and my version and recounting of the events surrounding Xaleyp Vah’Aris.”

The waveform disappeared with a gentle swoosh and retracted back into its original spot, reverting to the smaller version of the icon. Xaleyp trembled in the seat, his hands clenching into fists with nails digging into his palms. His breathing was quick and ragged, and he could do nothing but stare blankly ahead, looking through the holographic screen and at the plain wall beyond.

Eve shifted behind him, the bed creaking slightly with the movement, and she placed a hand on his shoulder. He tensed at the touch and resisted the urge to pull away, closing his eyes and taking a quick breath in.

‟It’s all in the past now,” she said, ‟and we always knew how much of an ass Ire was, so this doesn’t change anything.”

‟Doesn’t change anything?” Xaleyp spun the chair around, knocking her hand off his shoulder as he turned to face her. He desperately fought to keep his voice low and temper under control but knew as the first word came out that he failed horribly. ‟Eve, the Siatians were the ones that kidnapped my dad, not the Hyperions like Ire, or even Ardus, said. How the fuck am I supposed to work with them when they’ve kept that secret from me this whole time? ”

‟I don’t know, and I honestly can’t say how I would be feeling if I were in your position, but hear me out for me a second.” Her voice was calm, and she held his hands in her own, gently stroking the palms in an attempt to soothe him. ‟We already knew that we couldn’t trust Ardus, and this just solidifies that fact, so we just need to keep acting like we’re on his side until we are capable of doing something about it. Now is not the time, and we can’t afford to lose our heads over something we have no control over.”

Inside, Xaleyp seethed at her words, and barely resisted the urge to rip his hands away from her and leave the room. How could she just act as if nothing happened, as if she didn’t hear the same things he heard, as if the people they were working with weren’t the same ones who helped make his life a living hell?

After several seconds, he nodded slowly, the effort of doing so seeming to take every ounce of energy from his body. Eve squeezed his hands tightly, looking him in the eye with a sympathy he’d never seen from her, before she released him and folded her own hands in her lap.

‟Well, now that we have that settled, are we going to listen to the rest of them while we still have the time, or are we just going to sit here?”

Xaleyp turned the chair back and around and pressed the second file without thinking, though he wasn’t sure whether or not he was prepared for what he might hear. The waveform reappeared with a chime, and the audio started back up at once.

‟I just want to remind you that this conversation is being recorded for training and quality assurance purposes,” Colonel Ire said.

‟Cut that bullshit,” Seth Drake replied, his voice cutting through Ire’s. ‟What the fuck do you think you’re doing, keeping the boy’s mother alive?”

‟Relax, my lord. It is all part of the plan, your plan, if I am so bold as to remind you of such.” Ire’s voice was darker than Xaleyp had ever heard it, and he felt himself subconsciously trying to shrink away from it. ‟His mother is out of the picture, so she has good dead, and I really don’t see why you’re making such a big deal out of it.”

‟It’s a fucking big deal, because you had explicit orders to kill his parents!” Seth roared in anguish, and the yell was quickly followed by a cacophony of noises from objects clattering across the floor to breaking glass. A moment of silence followed it, and he took a deep breath before he continued speaking. ‟This is not simply about the fact the boy’s mother being alive but the fact that if I cannot trust you to follow orders of something so simple, then what can I trust you to do?”

‟My lord,” Ire said, stressing the words, ‟I am as trustworthy as I’ve always been, and you have no reason to believe otherwise. Rest assured that I will fight for the good of Hyperia and ensure that your rule goes unquestioned in the galaxy.”

‟And what do we do if the boy discovers that his mother is alive and decides he wants to go looking for her? How is that the good of Hyperia if we have to waste time and resources to keeping him under control when you could have just fucking followed orders in the first place?”

‟I told him she’s dead, my lord.” Ire tried to keep his voice calm, but the venom that Xaleyp knew all too well began to leak out into his words. ‟There’s only two people in the galaxy that know she’s alive, and that is you and me, so unless once of us decides to let it slip, we are in the clear.”

‟You’re forgetting that the only reason I found out was because you decided to make a fucking report on it and sent it to all of High Command. Not to mention that you stated in your report a Zayne Alcatar was there as one of your operatives. And what about his father, who you said was captured by the Siatians before you had a chance to take him?” A noise that sounded like hands slamming on a desk pierced the area, causing the waveform image to spike suddenly. ‟There are too many fucking loose ends, and I want you to deal with them before it’s too late.”

‟My lord, are you suggesting that I murder everyone who knows that the boy’s mother and father are alive?”

‟Don’t even fucking try to twist my words like that.” Seth’s voice boomed through the holocomputer speakers, filling the room with the noise. ‟I want you to fix your fucking mistakes, or I am going to personally ensure that you are tried and punished for treason against the Hyperion Empire.”

‟I will do what I can, my lord, though there may be more important matters that we should take care of.” Ire cleared his throat, and his chair creaked as he moved in it, just as it did in the previous recording. ‟The Arcadian government has been putting a great deal of time into development of a secret program of theirs that they call the Praes Dominion.”

‟Why are you bothering me with nonsense I already know about?” Seth scoffed as he asked the question. ‟I’ve known about their Praes Dominion for years, but the more important question is why are they still being allowed to continue their research and progress on it?”

‟My lord, we have tried, but it has proven impossible to pin down the exact sponsors of the program, and they’ve evaded all attempts at us shutting it down. Plus, there’s more to it than you think, more than High Command has been wanting to tell you to avoid provoking your wrath.”

‟And just what is that?”

‟They’re planning your assassination, my lord,” Ire said matter-of-factly, as if the statement was as obvious as the color of the sky.

‟Then do what you can to stop them, if you’re so worried about it. They’re no threat to me, not after Hyperia secured its place in the galaxy after the failed Praesidium Union.”

‟My lord, that was almost two millennia ago, and if we keep hanging on to those past ideals, then we are doomed to failure. Please, take this threat seriously so that we can continue doing what is best for the galaxy.”

‟I will take it as seriously as I need to, and I don’t want to hear another word about it. This conversation is over.”

With the final word, the waveform disappeared another chime, retracting back to its small icon on the holographic screen. Xaleyp sat motionless for several seconds, holding a breath he didn’t know he was holding until Eve tapped him on the shoulder. An avalanche of emotions rolled through his head, tumbling over each other like a raging waterfall and threatening to drive him insane.

‟Before you get too deep in your own thoughts, let’s play the last one, then we can talk about everything we hear at once, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, she reached over his shoulder and pressed the icon for the file labeled ‟Meeting.” At once, a life-sized hologram in vivid color was projected from the holocomputer, taking up the majority of the empty space in the room. Xaleyp pushed his feet against the floor to roll the chair out of the way, allowing the holograms to have the proper amount of space. As the virtual video started, they watched and listened, both of them holding their breath.