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The walk around Miriha’s garden had refreshed Jenny, as she and Miriha had discussed the implications of what they had seen so far. When they had returned to the pool, Jenny had requested to check in at Sanglarka, the main base for her team. A goodly number were out there risking their lives and in the situation room at the lodge Jenny knew that Lova and Arvid would be anxiously watching for reports to come in.
Miriha had reminded Jenny that she would not be able to communicate directly.
“I don’t really care about that right now. They know where my unconscious body is. I just thought maybe we could get a broader picture of what the outcomes have been so far with our people.”
“Very well,” Miriha said, patting the stone seat beside her. “Let us reach out.”
She took Jenny’s hand and nodded toward the crystal pool.
Immediately a picture formed. She was riding along with Lova and could hear Arvid reading aloud from a report: “Gariel has reported in with a surprising outcome to their assault on the main training camp of the Norgoth. As you know, they took some heavy casualties, but they finally defeated the Norgoth who surrendered the training base and the surrounding city.
As they rounded up the citizens to sort out the civilians from the military and to prepare to transport the Norgoth military to the new colony, they heard an interesting report. Scouts were sent to verify.
When they returned to the camp, they had with them the mayor of a slave village that lay through a narrow valley that formed a pass behind the training city. The slave village had been created as a farming community to provide food for the military base.
Get this...this farming community was made up of the people from Miriha’s village. Tarafau must be notified! He had sworn he would return her people to their home. From this report, it appears that most of them survived the Groga attack on their village and were transported to this remote planet to serve the Norgoth.”
Lova clapped her hands, tears dripping down her face. “Oh, Arvid! I had lost hope that he would ever see that promise fulfilled. Good news indeed. I mourn for the loss of our Alliance comrades in this battle, but if there was ever anything that would ameliorate it, this would be it. Thank the Creator of All Things.”
Arvid bowed his head briefly in agreement and reverence.
Jenny looked away from the pool momentarily. Miriha had her hands clasped to her heart, looking upward, and Jenny knew that she too was thanking the Creator of All Things for the rescue of her people. She decided not to interrupt that communion and instead returned her gaze to the pool. Arvid was saying:
“According to Liliath, a number of Daringi have been assigned to begin transporting Miriha’s people to their planet, bypassing the gateway. When Jenny recovers, she can unseal the gateway. We will send volunteers to help them reestablish themselves.
After these main assaults are completed and the gate is re-established, we will want to choose a new guardian for their gate,” he continued. “That is the end of this report, except to say that all is proceeding peacefully. The rest of the former slaves will be given possession of the planet after Gariel’s troops have surveyed it to be sure there is no further danger to them from the Norgoth.”
“But is there a potential danger from space?” Lova asked, wiping her eyes.
Arvid shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Evidently a crying woman was difficult for him to deal with, so he immediately answered her question, pretending he hadn’t noticed.
“I think not, considering Brendan’s report.”
“How did that turn out?” she asked, sniffling.
“It’s hard to say, the report cuts off in mid-sentence, but from what I can gather, they were successful in destroying the space station and were holding their own against the enemy fleet. Then, something about ‘self-destruct’ on the enemy ships. We haven’t heard from any of the fleet since then. But I retain hope.”
Lova nodded somberly. She had dried her tears and had calmed herself. The breathing exercises Lova had taught Jenny and which all of the agents and guardians of the Alliance practiced along with their physical exercise and self-defense were used more than just for protection.
“They are well equipped and competent,” she agreed. “I expect they will come out of it better than their enemies appear to have done.
What about the Science and Technology team? I was very much against them going into a combat situation, but Bob had already proven himself in the Brazil campaign and had been in the military. Not all the scientists on that team had combat experience, however.”
“They are returned safe and whole to Alliance Headquarters. Bob says that after they have been debriefed, he will take great pleasure in coming back to us for a good meal and the telling of the tale.” And Arvid grinned wickedly. “I understand that “dastardly alien tech” won the day. They’re all feeling a bit smug about the whole thing if I understand it correctly.”
Lova smiled and nodded.
“Oh, and a report that came in while we were eating lunch,” Arvid said swiping to a new page on the tablet in his lap. “This one applies to Earth.”
“How so?” Lova said, leaning forward. Her brows were puckered with concern. “Not more about the blackout? And I thought we quashed that incursion into the Puerto Rico gate. Is there something I didn’t know about?”
“Oh, this is much more interesting. Earth is digging out surprisingly well from the fallout resulting from the blackout. And Luz and her team did indeed contain the Norgoth, and after their interrogation, we sent them to the Norgoth colony, but this involves the Groga.”
“The WHAT? How could they affect us now? They are either on their own home world or under the thumbs of the Insenium. What does that have to do with Earth?”
“Do you recall the Groga we had housed in that little facility in the U.S.? Well, the Council decided that now that the Groga home world is pacified and the Norgoth have been, um...discouraged from bothering them ever again, the Alliance decided it was time to wake the Groga held in the facility who have been sleeping like the little beauties they are, attended by competent medical personnel.
As part of that process, they were transferred to Alliance Headquarters by some helpful Daringi before bringing them back to consciousness. Several Groga leaders were on hand to greet them as they were awakened. They explained the current situation and offered them a choice, either return to the service of the Insenium or retire to the Groga home world.
Without exception, they all chose to go home. One of them, however, the Groga-ha of the forces in the swamp, cried out as the Daringi entered the infirmary: ‘Please STOP! You must find it! It will destroy them!’
When asked to explain what he meant by that, he told them that the reason they were in that swamp was to monitor something (he didn’t know what) that had been placed on the moon of Earth. He told them it was set on a timer to go off and he was to monitor Earth communications to be sure they didn’t launch another moon exploration venture before that happened. If they had, it was his job to communicate to the Brazil contingency to notify the Fleistians, so the Fleistians could notify the Insenium.
It turns out that the device that caused the power blackouts on Earth was planted there by the Insenium as far back as 3 years ago. However, by the time the timer went off and the thing created the blackout, they were focused elsewhere. The blackout was to have preceded a full on invasion by the Insenium.”
Lova sat there, her eyes wide, obviously dumbfounded. Then she straightened and went straight to the core of it.
“What about the main Insenium planet? How long before we can mount an assault on Gall himself?”
“When all the teams have been debriefed and intel collected from the various raids, we will plan that assault with the entire force. However, we have been getting some rather confusing reports from the Mookookie spies among them. It appears that something odd is happening on the planet that the Mookookie aren’t quite sure how to describe; something about spaces being torn and bad guys blowing up. It almost sounds like a civil war of some sort.”
“And so, we wait.”
With that, Jenny disconnected, and the crystal pool went blank, reflecting only the garden foliage and the violet blue sky above her and Miriha.
Miriha had composed herself. She held out both hands to Jenny.
“We have much to be grateful for in all of this. I would take time now to celebrate, but there is one more thing you need to see. This will be uncomfortable for you, but it is important. We will do this a little differently. We are going to do something we never do without permission. In this case, however, permission would be a moot point. Do you trust me?”
Jenny was taken aback. Trust her?
“Of course, I trust you, Miriha. You have never lied to me nor would you lead me astray.”
“We are going to enter someone’s mind. We will have no power to do anything but experience what they are experiencing. We will be able to hear their thoughts and feel what they feel. We cannot communicate, and we cannot influence them in any way. A choice is about to be made and it is vital that what happens next be entirely by that individual’s choice. Do you understand?”
“Not entirely, but I do trust you, Miriha. Let’s do this.”
Suddenly what she was seeing in the pool wasn’t through her own eyes, as usual, but this time she could hear the thoughts of...
