as written by Tiko and barney_fife
Kianna let herself into the penthouse suite of the hotel that Mollem was currently staying in while he was in Illumene. He had initially planned to hole up in the Administration Complex when he arrived, but Kianna had swiftly seen to more comfortable arrangements.
Inside, Aaron was lying on the floor watching the television which was airing some news report about another terrorist bombing over in Brillion. A pharmaceuticals lab had sustained heavy damages in the attack.
Mollem meanwhile was at a table in the adjacent room with a holopad.
Aaron all but jumped to his feet when Kianna came in.
"Hey!" exclaimed. "Dad said you would be here today. He also said you went to Cryo. What's it like there, and can I come next time?" he asked.
It had been a few months since he had seen Kianna. Hell, it had been a few months since Mollem had seen Kianna, and Aaron's questions spewed out in rapid succession.
"Not now, Aaron," Kianna replied. There was an air of urgency and purpose to the woman that likely reflected Mollem's own with whatever business he was attending to over his holopad. No doubt word had reached him only minutes ago, as it had she. "I brought you something. It's downstairs in the lobby."
"Really? What is it?" he asked.
"Go on and see for yourself," she told him. "I need to speak with Mollem."
He didn't need to be told again as he swiftly departed with only a parting questioning glance as to what was going on that had Kianna so on edge. She had clearly come from recent battle, her combat suit was in disarray as were her robes that were scorched from disruptor fire from her recent engagement with Paragon. Though even that altercation paled in the wake of the attack upon the Aschen Watchtower in the Cryos system.
With the place to the two of them now, Kianna's frustrations reached a boiling point as she picked a vase up from its place upon an end table only to hurtle it against the far wall. The shattering of pieces raining to the floor offered some measure of satisfaction, but it did little to fix the situation they now found themselves in.
"How did this happen?" she spoke finally through grit teeth.
____
Mollem was indeed holed up in one of the suite rooms with a Holocron, a large map of the Aurora was played out before him, with Imperial fleets outlined in shimmering blue-white icons, portraits of Minister Chaska, Chairman Inviere, and Confessor Prince were flickering before Mollem, in addition to several portraits of the Imperial Admiralty, from Admiral Nash, to Admiral Steele.
All of them were conversing in Anquietas, the commotion of their words filling the room as Mollem considered the position of the fleets.
"We need to consolidate our forces and prevent this from happening again!" Admiral Nash spoke up. "I'm prepared to initiate orbital blockades over the Isirian core worlds, and assign forces to search this sector for the origin of this attack."
Inviere was massaging her brow in frustration. "Intel points to Aiyanna, but the patterns don't match up, she assimilates, not outright kills.. whoever or whatever this was showed up hard and fast, like they knew the Watchtower would be defenseless."
Mollem remained quiet, as he manipulated the hologram to zoom in on the Fleet of Inner Knowledge.
His silence was interrupted as Minister Chaska spoke up.
"Push comes to shove we'll abandon the Aurora, we need to consider the Cimtar directive." Chaska said flatly, silencing everyone in the conference.
"It's a last resort, Chaska, we don't even know if the device is still functional." Mollem spoke up. "We need to brief everyone with the codes, but until we know more about what we're dealing with, I'm not entertaining it."
The Minister nodded, before she cleared her throat. "Regardless, defending the Empire is top priority, I'd suggest you both return to Langara and consider retreating to Cimtar."
The Shattering of the vase procured everyone's attention though, and Mollem disengaged the Holocron's conference feature, leaving only the map of the Aurora, and a highlighted red zone around Cryo, with Aschen ship positions moving about the Aurora and consolidating into defensive positions.
"Somewhere down the line there was a failure in our intelligence." Mollem said, swiping his hand around the hologram. "Billions of cubits for some of the most well funded intelligence programs in the Galaxy and we don't see this coming? We'll need to react quickly if we're going to walk away from this."
"You and I need to go to Cimtar." He said, zooming out on the map, and highlighting an isolated star system nestled in a dangerously radioactive nebula, several thousand lightyears outside the Milky Way.
"From there we can coordinate what to do next."
____
"She's not wrong about one thing," Kianna remarked, her voice a frustrated growl. "It was a mistake to try and hold territory so far from home. These reports from the ships that survived the destruction of the Watchtower... This enemy seeks to bait us into moving against it. Defending Isiria leaves us vulnerable on the home-front and stretches our resources across the galaxy. We should be prepared for an assault on the Aschen home-worlds, why else send so many to die to draw our attention to the Cryos system?"
She moved then to replace the holographic image of the Aschen fleet with one of her own altercation back on Cryo, uploaded from her combat suit. The brief skirmish played out between herself and Paragon only minutes before the destruction of the Cryo Watchtower.
"Coincidence that one would move for my life, only moments before the Watchtower fell?" Kianna inquired.
She shook her head and paced restlessly.
"I won't flee for Cimtar with tail between legs," she growled. "There are others who can go in my stead. I am a weapon in the hands of the Emperor, and I cannot be wielded half a galaxy away from this threat."
____
Mollem watched the combat feed in silence, nodding approvingly. "Your combat skin performed well." Mollem commented, gesturing to the feed. Minimizing it into a small imagescreen imposed on the larger map.
"Chaska is right, though.." Mollem admitted. "If push comes to shove we will need to abandon the Aurora, but this is only the opening attack, I'm going to take in the bigger picture." Mollem said, zooming back in to the Aurora.
"If I withdraw most of the Imperial fleets from the Aurora, I could have Admiral Nash conscript the locals into a Militia to bolster her fleet numbers, I'll send out what Intrepids we have in this part of the Galaxy out to find the source of this attack, and then we'll hit the bastard harder than they hit us." Mollem said, sweeping his hand across the Hologram.
"As for the guy that attacked you, maybe he'll have some answers, I'll get in touch with Confessor Kesslee, see if we can't find him and bring him in for a light questioning." He said, emphasizing the word 'light'
"I don't want to abandon the Aurora quite yet though, just because we have fleets here doesn't mean we're defenseless, but if there's a breach in Imperial space, the people could lose faith in our defenses, and it'll hamper our morale, so I want to hit these things before they can attack again."
As she protested his decision to retreat to Cimtar, Mollem growled.
"Your duty is to protect me, consider if that thing that attacked you attacked my while you were on Cryo? I could be dead. We need to stick together, if I'm not going to Cimtar, I'm at the very least going to Langara, the Imperial Palace has since been fortified since that Daemon attacked it last year."
____
"And do you speak as Emperor, or as husband who would keep me far from this conflict?" Kianna retorted, her eyes narrowing upon his own. "You and I both know that the best way I can protect you, is through a quick end to this threat. I'm more use to you out here than in some safe-house. If you doubt the might of the Empire at your back, then summon the girl, Whisper, to your side. She's equally as capable, if not more so than myself."
Of course, Whisper had been retired back into civilian life nearly a year past. Recalling her now, could broach complications in their arrangement. But it was doubtful any of them had foreseen the threat that now lingered upon the horizon. A threat that they all shared in equally.
____
"Wouldn't do the Empire much good if either one of us were killed." Mollem rebuked.
"Do you propose a way to root this threat out at the source so we can crush it in a timely manner?" Mollem asked, crossing his arms across his chest, stepping aside and away from the holocron.
"Reactivating the girl is the step I will consider before I light off the Potentia, I had an arrangement with her."
____
Kianna's sour mood softened and she moved to gently uncross Mollem's arms with a soft touch before her hand moved to rest upon his chest, her finger tips brushing against the Emperor's seal that he wore.
"You should know, I'm not so easily disposed of," Kianna reassured him.
The rifts between them were no secret, and the past year had only widened them, but they had always been at their strongest when they shared in a common enemy, and a joint purpose.
"I would have words with this... Paragon. I have cause to think he will return, but not if I'm nestled at the heart of a hornets nest back on Langara," she explained.
Her lips found his neck and her breath was soft and warm, a sensation that had been absent many a month.
"These aliens in the Uranos system may prove useful as well. Their technology is like nothing I have seen before. Allow me to remain here in Isiria, and I will broker relations and trade with them, to prepare for the coming storm. If you will not call on Whisper, then I will find another to accompany you to Cimtar."
____
Mollem started to relax slightly, his arms uncrossing but his left hand moving to his chin in thought. "You're sure he'll return?" He said, referring to Paragon.
He relaxed even more at the sensation of her warm breath, and then he paused.
"I've got it." He said, his face brightening up. "I want to set a trap for this thing that attacked you, when he comes for you, I want to be ready, if we bring him in alive the Confessors can interrogate him." Mollem said, nodding.
"But the logistics of such a trap..." Mollem pondered.
"Maybe I'll stay here, keep tabs on the Aurora from the Administration center; it's sufficiently fortified against threats, so I'll be insulted there while you do your work, I will leave the Empire in the Quorum's capable hands." Mollem added, bringing his arms around Kianna.
"Would you be willing to help me lay the groundwork for a trap?" Mollem asked. "As for the aliens, do what you must, we'll need every edge we can get."
____
Kianna's fingers found their way to Mollem's lips as she shook her head. "No traps, not yet. There's more to this Paragon than we know. He knows us, he knows our weapons, and our tactics. He would anticipate a trap. I will have words with him, nothing more. If I am right in my suspicions and he can be leashed, then he may prove a valuable asset yet. If I am mistaken, then we can send the Confessors after him."
"In the meanwhile, conscripting the Isirians is a sound tactic. Rally the Isirians to defend their own lands with our guidance. Your presence here will bolster morale and strengthen ties with the Isirians, while also showing the Aschen people that you are unafraid."
She moved back a step, until the table was at her back, drawing Mollem with her. Isirian rebellions breaking out in the outer systems, Paragon's escape on Cryo, aliens in the Uranos system, and an unknown threat breathing down their necks, but it would seem Kianna's mind drifted to more... physical distractions for the moment.
But there was one other matter that weighed on her thoughts yet.
"Have we received word on recent events from the Shade Dominion yet?" she asked.
____
"Nothing but dust and echoes, this might be unrelated, but the LDA's lost contact with it's agents in the Taiyou Empire and the New Paradigm." Mollem said, frowning.
Mollem had taken a step forward, aware of what was about to transpire. As he drew nearer to the table, his hand waved across the holocron, and the map disappeared.
"I wouldn't be so sure..." Mollem commented, the wheels turning in his mind as he drew closer to the table. With another hand gesture the lights dimmed. The Empire would carefully consider it's next move with both Paragon and Celion looming over it.
