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Liliath looked up at the big screen hanging before her in the air. All of the members in the Grand Council of the Dimensional Alliance were in attendance. In the council chambers and senates of every member of the Alliance, beings were gathered around similar screens. Before her was every representative of every member dimension. Some of the gatherings were small. In Sanglarka, and the gates where the Earth teams resided, for instance only the guardians were present. This was typical of nonmember dimensions where their people in general had no idea the Alliance even existed. Jenny was in attendance via the connection they had put in orbit around the Groga world, along with her retinue and the officials of the Groga government.
That had been a necessary exception to the rules regarding Alliance membership. They would be working closely with the top Groga and their military advisors, as they had intel that would potentially prove vital to the Alliance effort to permanently dislodge The Great Insenium.
Those gathered in the room before her sat silently exchanging greetings and having multiple mindspeech conversations. The only sound in the chamber was the rustling of feathers or those shifting or fidgeting in their seating arrangements. Any being witnessing this gathering and unacquainted with the true diversity of the beings of the Dimensional Alliance would have been astounded at the spectrum of body types from humanoid to those not recognizable as intelligent beings at first glance.
Finally, she stood, and all rustling ceased, and every eye, for those who had them, was riveted on her.
She had known the time would come when she would stand in this place, as Chief Councilor, but she regretted with all of her heart that it was not Ingot who stood here now instead. She missed him so much and still had not finished grieving for him.
“Fellow beings and representatives of the Dimensional Alliance, I bid you welcome on this grim day. We are about to declare open war against a formidable foe; how formidable we did not know until recently and they may yet prove to be much more than we had initially believed.
Our newest intelligence tells us that we have been drawn into a conflict that may not fully succeed in our lifetimes, which for many of us are very long. The Great Insenium ruled by the beings who call themselves ‘Norgoths’ is a vast entity, rivaling, in some ways, even the combined forces of the Dimensional Alliance.
They are developing a weapon, not the one we thought of at first, but something so terrible as to bring every dimension to their knees. Our sources tell us that if we do not strike them soon, the weapon will be completed and our chances for success will be reduced drastically. Thanks to the teams of the Earth gates and the efforts of The Gatekeeper, as well as the ongoing support from all members of the Alliance, we have a usable plan in place. The Gatekeeper has secured the aid of the Groga.
Based on reports of our agents in the Great Insenium, they do not yet realize that the Groga planet is in rebellion. They still hold hostage a few million Groga who have been stationed throughout their domain, however.
Therefore, one important part of our plan is to infiltrate the Groga armies still held by the Insenium with Groga from their home world. If possible they will convince their Groga relations to also rebel against their captors. A vital part of our plan is to have all Groga lay down their weapons of war at the same time, thus crippling that portion of the Inseni strategy.
The Groga government has agreed to this, for which we are grateful. It is the desire of this Council to see the Groga people establish themselves as a sovereign entity and allow their culture to return to its roots of peace and productivity with the freedom to choose their path going forward. We thank the Groga leadership for their help which, although it will mean stepping back from the fight and to only fight defensively, will be intrinsic to the success of eliminating the Inseni threat.
This part of the plan will require our space fleet to be in active operation to protect the Groga home world, as we believe the Inseni will immediately divert some of their own space fleet to attempt to wipe them out as soon as they realize that they are actively in rebellion. This we will not allow.
We have located what we believe are the coordinates to most of the Inseni inhabited worlds, many of which are outside their home dimension. In the meantime, the Earth Science and Technology team, alongside Alliance scientists have developed some nasty surprises in addition to the Groga rebellion. Using a combination of Daringi abilities and the new uses of MDP technology, we can now transport huge numbers of troops, equipment, and weapons instantaneously and with pinpoint accuracy to the various battle fronts.
Fighting a war on multiple fronts is a risky and complex task, but with the ingenuity, diligence, and courage of our combined forces, I believe we can do this. The Strategy and Tactics team comprised of those chosen for that team in Sanglarka and military experts from across the dimensions are integrating the many technological advances from our various science teams in ways that frankly astound me.
Assignments have been sent digitally to every participating dimension. I know there are those of you whose personal beliefs do not allow aggressive actions of any kind. For this reason, we are especially grateful for your willingness to provide supplies and medical aid to our troops as well as to any beings potentially displaced by this conflict.
All of you should know and understand that our intent is to do as much harm to the enemy as we can with the least potential damage to those who are peripheral to the conflict. We know there will be unavoidable death and destruction, but our desire is to execute this war with the absolute least losses while still being sure to eliminate the threat.
Stage one of this war is intended to do two things: First to find and destroy their means of launching their new weapon, and second to create so much chaos and disharmony among their forces and their government as to effectively restrain them from expanding their empire further. The entire elimination of the threat will, as I have said, take much longer and we need to recognize that and accept it.
I hope with all my heart to be wrong about the length of the conflict, but we must be realistic. The scope of the holdings of the Great Insenium is vast and we don’t know what new tricks they might have up their collective sleeves.
We also don’t want them to know what’s in our repertoire. For this reason, we will not be too specific in this briefing. Your instructions and missions as well as equipment and resources will arrive through gates via secure carriers. Please do not discuss any of this over unsecured or unapproved channels.
We try to learn from our past mistakes. It is true that no channel is absolutely reliable, but we have done what we can to vet every being involved in the transfer of restricted information.
I won’t keep any of you any longer. Alliance representatives will arrive through every member’s primary gateway within the next day cycle, wherever you are. It might be as easy as communicating directly over the communication network, but we hope to minimize leaks of anything but what we want the enemy to know. Thank you, my dear friends. Liliath, out.”
When she cut the feed, she let out a long sigh. She had always known that her position as one of the three lead councilors held great responsibility, but she became a councilor during peacetime. In the back of her mind she had known that the people of the Alliance could potentially find themselves at war once again. But she had hoped with all her heart that it wouldn’t be during her fifteen year assignment.
Now here she was, the Chief Councilor and before her time. The loss of Ingot and Myla had been such a blow, and she admittedly didn’t feel prepared for this. For a moment she sympathized with Jenny. How much less prepared was this youngling? And yet she had taken on her responsibilities admirably.
Of course, neither she nor the Gatekeeper was faultless. Jenny was young and more apt to take chances than Liliath. So far, although her reasoning had been sound, the risks she had undertaken without counseling with any of those who would be willing to guide her, including Tarafau, her official Guide, were higher than any of them had expected.
Now Liliath looked out over those assembled before her. She could feel her councilors seated behind her, focusing their energy to support her and she was grateful for the choices she had made under such stressful circumstances.
“Brothers and sisters, for so I consider you, each and every one; please attend to your people. Thank you so much for your show of support. Please send any further questions you have or any suggestions to the Chief Council communications account. I dismiss you now to your various areas of responsibility. Let us prosecute this war with a common mind and heart. I retire to the private council room for those of you who have appointments to speak with us.”
The entire grand council stood in respect. Liliath turned and exited through the special door at the back of the dais along with her two assistant councilors. Ascending on the elevator, she sighed once again. Her work for the day was only beginning.
In the private council chamber, she settled into the chaise that had been specially made for her. Arranged before the dais were two similar chaises to accommodate her first appointment of the day. Her councilors seated themselves and about the same time, two Donalian representatives arrived from the Alani parliament of her home world. Fendal and Beren were well known to her, respected elders in her land.
“Greetings,” she sent in mindspeech as her two councilors were not well versed in her language. “I have some urgent messages for you to pass on to our parliament. I had originally intended only for the Alani to supply support via equipment and resources, but I have considered and realized that Earth is not the only planet or dimension explored by our people and their legends all tell of us as formidable warriors to be reckoned with. The more I considered this, the more I realized that we must take a more active part in the fighting.”
Fendal and Beren both nodded approvingly. “The consensus of parliament is of the same mind. We can add shock value to the ground forces and our unique mental abilities could turn the tide of a battle. This is not the time to be retiring, nor should we allow our fellow beings to make such sacrifices without doing our part. We are relieved to hear you say this, as we were prepared to argue strongly for it.”
“We are all in agreement,” Beren added. “The voting was unanimous to approach you about this. We have ten thousand Alani troops ready and awaiting orders.”
Liliath was deeply touched. “Then by scale, fang and claw, let us decide the best way to deploy them.” Her mind much relieved, she began to outline her plan.
