All That Glitters Ch. 62

The investigation team had wanted to keep the presentation to a very select group of people but that had been vetoed by President Holloway, who opened it to all interested parties.

Maria Sanger had just gone through the timelines of the incident, describing the lead up, the incident itself, and the consequences of the event which by now were well known to all.

"Despite statements to the contrary from the media, the target of this assassination attempt was definitely Raymond Clark. Ikekiya's dream was clear evidence that Raymond, and eleven others would have been killed had the children not intervened. We do not understand why this is but we have the information from knowledgeable sources that this is so," Maria stated.

"I would be that source, Director Sanger," Shusshhttookkann, the Elder of the Sandekk said from the monitor behind Grand Dragon Ambassador Alvoie Mutt Semt. "Despite the potential major events predicted by prophecy, Prophecy itself is a very delicate thing. Interference in prophecy by people other than those named in the prophecy will result in disaster. This has been proved over and over throughout our history and supported by the prophets of other races.

"Palda Zarreniya Piscium was the intended recipient of this prophecy. She had to be involved in the change to allow for an alternate outcome. Had she not been, then the original outcome would have come to pass and twelve people would have been killed including the two Piscium children," Shusshhttookkann explained. "I am aware than humans do not place much stock in prophecy and prophets, however, the rest of the Greater Community does."

"Humanity has not had a great track record with prophecy because for most of our history we have regarded prophets as dangerous to the ruling class. They were often claimed to be witches and sorcerers or viewed as unwanted revolutionaries," President Holloway chimed in. "We tended to isolate or even kill prophets in the past, so they hid their prophecies in cryptic messages which made deciphering them difficult. I have been out there, in the Greater Community, and have seen for myself how much the other races revere prophets and how seriously they take their pronounced prophecies.

"I would like to point out that Ikekiya has had many prophetic dreams, at least half-a-dozen of which have already come to pass. The two best known are that of the finding of the original Resestess and this particular prophecy of the attack on Raymond, though this prophecy was known only to a select few before this incident occurred," the President finished.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we are unaware of these other prophecies. Can you let us know what they might be?" Maria asked.

"Most of those other prophecies are of a personal nature, which is why they are not publicly known. That my wife and I are going to have a baby girl and that we will have a boy in two years time is one such. We have just had our three month scan and it is confirmed that we have a little girl, so part of that prophecy has come to pass.

"Ikekiya also confirmed the pregnancy of another couple and indicated that that couple would be having a boy. The couple didn't even know they were pregnant. We are still waiting for them to attend their three month exam and confirm the sex of the child," the President said with a smile.

That caused a bit of a stir in the conference room as most people did not know that the President and the First Lady were expecting. It was the norm for senior officials to announce these things only after identifying the sex of the child at the tenth week exam near the end of the first trimester.

Congratulations were made by the ruling class who were attending the conference via ICS link.

"An official announcement will be posted tomorrow through the media," the First Lady pronounced with a beautiful smile. "So please keep this under your figurative hats until then."

"While most of Ikekiya's prophecies are not of a spectacular nature, they have had profound effects on those she has made them to, including myself and the First Lady," the President indicated.

"Most prophecy is of this kind, simple things of a personal nature," Shusshhttookkann informed them. "However, Ikekiya is a confirmed Seer. She carries the title 'Soona-Patak' the Dream Reader. Ikekiya is still mostly untrained as a prophet and still has some ways to go. She needs a competent teacher.

"The Sandekk will be adding an ambassador to Liramor-23. That person will be able to help Ikekiya reach her full potential. Hanalei, Junelliya, you have met this person already," Shusshhttookkann ended.

"Annnarrrekkk," Hanalei guessed, getting a nod from Shusshhttookkann. "Makes sense, most of you would find the rooms here to be somewhat small. Even Annnarrrekkk will find it confining here."

"Sandekk do not become adults before their first century and do not become sexually active for up to fifty years after that. The Sandekk do not come into their powers until they reach sexual maturity. Annnarrrekkk is over two hundred years in age and fully established in her powers," Junelliya explained to those in the room.

"She will be the oldest ambassador then," Mayute stated.

"There is old, and there is experienced, Mayute," Shusshhttookkann answered. "This will be Annnarrrekkk's first experience at being an ambassador. We will leave the title of senior ambassador with you for some time yet." The last sentence was provided with a coy smile.

"If we can get back to the issues at hand?" Fiona gently interrupted. "I believe that we have confirmation that the Orin Sallé are again plying their trade as assassins."

"Yes, our forensic specialists, Chief Inspector Marini and Dr. Domuchelle have both confirmed independently that the enhancement drug used by the Orin Sallé was found in the bodies of the assailants along with the mark on their bodies that shows when the drug has been activated," Maria confirmed. "This confirms that the Orin Sallé are back though in what capacity we do not know. We are currently trying to back track the route that the assailants used to get to Liramor Prime and the platform.

"Gregory Dorman does not appear in the transportation net until he arrives on Terra, on his way to Liramor Prime. He had his papers in this name. However, he did have other identities on his personal comp. Fortunately, we have a savant at computers who was able to gain access to the information on both of the assailants comps without triggering the failsafe's." Maria explained.

"I bet I can name the savant," Liea interjected with a smile.

"Quite," Maira gave Liea a nod. "Satrina Kalenka needed to confirm her abilities as a maintenance worker and thus left a longer trail for us to follow backwards and track. We are seeing where that takes us. She also had several identities on her person but we do not see them as having been used. It is most likely that previously used identities were dumped by the assailants which would make tracking them back somewhat harder. We believe we found their starting point in the Union's transportation net but we do not know how they originally connected to it," Maria reported. "We have the local IPPF of that planet looking at independent ships coming into the system. Hopefully, we will find an anomaly and a ship will stick out but that is going to be a lot of groundwork for the local IPPF."

"So, we have found where the tail connects to the body and now we have to work our way out to the tip of that tail?" asked Ambs. Porra of the Byandi.

"That is correct, Ambassador," Maria answered. "And we must do so carefully, without attracting the attention of the beast we are on or be thrown off as it shakes its tail.

"For the moment, we have gone as far as we can. There are fourteen stars systems in the local area that might have hidden bases in them. That might not sound like much but the number of ships required to search such an area would be huge and there would be no guarantee of finding a hidden base. We simply do not have the resources necessary to complete this task.

"We can be assured that the Orin Sallé would have a base or bases of operations that we do not know about left to them by the Confederation of Planets after the Terran Union War. Finding those is going to be problematical. We are looking at records from the Confederation of Planets but those records have been searched before. We also have new records from the now defunct pirate syndicates to look through and cross check against the Confederation records. If anything shows near the planet that is the base of our tail, we will hit that as quickly as possible. That the Orin Sallé are beginning to show themselves indicates that they have recently completed the training of a new batch of assassins, a process that can take twenty or more years. We want to stop them before they can create havoc within the Union. You can guarantee that criminal networks will make use of such an asset giving the Orin Sallé the budget they would need to continue with their operations and to prosper."

"I would track the local banks then. They have to have one or more that they are using for their operating budget. I won't tell you how to do your job but I would look for a local company that is holding larger than normal budgets," Hanalei suggested.

"What would happen to the reputation of the Orin Sallé if it was discovered that their assassins were killed by two children?" Dr. Gualt asked.

"Their reputation would take a severe kick in the pants, however, that would make the Piscium family targets of the Orin Sallé. It is one thing to accidentally interfere with the group, it is another to be the intended target of such," Maria stated.

"So something to be avoided then," one of the IPPF at the table speculated. "However, it might not be such a bad idea to let someone on the dark web 'accidentally' discover that the assailants were Orin Sallé. That way, there might not be any backlash against the Piscium family,"

"Might not be is not an option where the Orin Sallé and the criminal underworld are involved. If I find that one of your team 'accidentally' let that out of the bag and it comes back to haunt the Piscium family or myself, you might not like my reaction," Raymond said forcefully, stopping all speculation on that option.

"Are you threatening us, sir?" one of the senior members of the investigation team asked.

"He might not but I will if that is necessary," President Holloway informed them from his monitor.

"Mr. Clark is correct," the Director General told her team. "I would not like to have any repercussions against the Piscium family and the best way for that to happen is not to adopt such speculative actions. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly, Madam Director General," Maria chimed in, giving a harsh look to the investigation team, who were effectively the DG's people. They all nodded in response to the implied threats from the President, the Director General, Director Sanger, and especially from Raymond Clark, whose reputation they all knew intimately after the last week's investigations.

"So, we have the timeline of events leading to the arrival of the assailants, we have the timeline of events while on the platform, and the event itself, which was a complete bust for the assailants. What now from the Orin Sallé? Will they try again?" Fiona asked.

"The Orin Sallé are not known for giving up, especially when we see that there have been no consequences for the organization," Maria replied. "They have nothing to lose and everything to gain from assigning another team to complete the task. We don't know how much the Orin Sallé were offered for this attack but we can be assured it did not come cheap."

"So we shall have to have a little more vigilance from this platform, from the Liramor Mining Company, and from Liramor Holdings?" Fiona stated more than asked. "Can we also assume that the IPPF is now concerned with this?"

"You can rest assured, Ms. Marsh that the IPPF is very much concerned that the Orin Sallé is once again active," the Director General answered for Maria. "The Orin Sallé were known to conduct political assassinations in the past, in fact, were the Emperor's personal assassination force. They likely do not have a single financial donor of the same previous calibre which is why they are branching out to do assassination work on non-politicians. You can assume that this client is wealthy as the services of the Orin Sallé's would not come cheap, that means it is more likely an organization that is paying for this.

"Raymond has a lot of people that he has displeased over the years that would pay handsomely for his departure. That includes a number of criminal organizations not the least of which are recently defunct pirate syndicates.

"While the general threat from the Orin Sallé is bad enough, I am concerned that they will attempt to re-establish their prestige as premier assassins of politicians. In that regard, this event has damaged but not eliminated their credibility. After all, everyone who works with assassins knows just how dangerous the task is especially when the target is as well protected as Raymond," the DG finished.

"Raymond is not a public figure," Liea chimed in.

"No, but to the people who would employ the Orin Sallé, and to the Orin Sallé themselves, he is a worthy target," Maria interjected.

"So does that mean the Piscium family is safe?" one of the ambassadors asked.

"I cannot answer that question, Ambassador," Maria stated. "We simply do not know the answer to that question."

"So far, four of the rulers of the Greater Community have offered assistance in protecting the family and in bringing the Orin Sallé to justice," Fiona explained to the table. "The Piscium family is admired and the children are named in prophecies which will effect the Greater Community which is why we see such assistance.

"Having said that, we need more support for the family on Liramor-23. First, despite its isolation, this platform has not proven safe from assassination attempts. Second, we cannot ask the family to stop doing things that a family should do which means they will frequently be in a public venue," the President stated.

"Agreed," Fiona answered. "As much as we'd like to, we cannot ask the family to hide away. Especially this family - with these children. They will be working with Prakeshya to help her attain her throne as the rightful ruler of the Oranae. If the children are isolated, the risk to the Pod-Drran and Maha-Rrin becomes too great."

"Takabayashi Urano has asked me to bring in a new childcare worker from Hollander's World for the young Asocan empaths/telepaths. The person in question has just completed her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Development and as a specialist GME working with empaths who manifest early. She is also a Fourth Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo," Fiona was looking deliberately at Fayad, Hanalei, and Junelliya now as she spoke.

"Her name is Kriss Klassen and I think she would be an ideal nanny for the children. Unfortunately, I cannot justify her presence here on Liramor-23 as our daycare budget currently does not allow for it. We had anticipated bringing her in in the next draw for daycare workers later this summer. Even if we did, she would be assigned to the daycare and not to your family but she would be an ideal candidate to assist Violletiya in protecting your family. If she is the children's nanny, she would be in the daycare whenever the children are there thus assisting our daycare. As such, Liramor-23 can pad her paycheck for her work in the daycare," Fiona finished, giving the Piscium's a smile.

"How are the children now?" asked Mylatrin Adriné.

"They are clinically depressed," Dr. Gault stated. "They caused some serious injury. In fact, are quite aware that they are responsible for the assailant's deaths. They are also very much aware that their actions brought fear and panic to all of us adults. They believe that we adults no longer like them. That they deserve to be punished. No matter how much I speak to them about the incident, they believe they did wrong."

"That is not good," the Asoc spoke from her monitor. "We were frightened for the children and not for what they did. This incident will not cause us to hate the children. Quite the reverse actually.

"We warriors can only admire what your clutch has accomplished, Gurn Hanalei, Palda Junelliya, Dragon Fayad. They fought for their lives against trained assassins and won at an age when most clutches are barely able to think straight never mind act so decisively.

"Shusshhttookkann, you mentioned that a Turning Point was coming for the clutch?" the Asoc stated more than asked.

"That is correct. It will be soon. I see the Royal Court of the Kumar-Pair involved in this event with most of the Rulers of the Greater Community at the event in person or via ICS. How they are involved I cannot say as I cannot see more than the event itself. However, it will produce a major Turning Point in their lives."

"All of the rulers?" someone asked.

"That is what I saw," Shusshhttookkann confirmed.

"In my royal court?" the Kumaraie asked.

"Yes, Kumaraie. We are all there in person or via ICS, acting as judges."

"The children believe they have done wrong. They believe they should be punished, put on trial," Dr. Gualt explained.

"It would have to be the Pod-Drran who conduct the trial as they would never be brought to trial in a human court system," the President Holloway stated.

"Nor an Asocan court," said the Asost.

"It would have to be a real trial," Hanalei told them. "They would know immediately if it was not."

"Hanalei is correct. The children are much too intelligent to fall for a false trial," Junelliya confirmed. "That frightens me though. Did they exceed their authority? If they did, they could conceivably be found guilty."

"How soon do we need to act?" the Kumaraie asked.

"It would have to be soon," Dr. Gualt replied. "The children are getting more depressed each day. I fear that if something is not done soon, we may not be able to bring them out of this depression in any reasonable amount of time."

"Are we sure this is necessary?" the Kumaraie asked of Shusshhttookkann.

"Yes. I do not know why but I do know that it is important that this occurs," Shusshhttookkann verified.

"How long would it take to bring those who want to be at my court?" the Kumaraie demanded of Fiona.

"We could have them here in two days," Fiona confirmed.

"Very well then, we shall conduct the trial in three days time," the Kumaraie stated. "All those who cannot make it here on time can connect to us via the ICS. Please confirm your intention to my Palace Senechal. Those who need transportation can contact LoSostoc Wren War Dragon Marsh."

The rulers all nodded and one-by-one closed their links, leaving President Holloway and the Kumaraie to the last.

"We will need these investigators to provide evidence at the trial," the Kumaraie declared. The Director General nodded and asked of the team who wanted to be at the trial. Almost all wanted to be there as none had ever been to a non-human world before.

Small Throne Room, The Palace, Pod-Saar, The Sharanas System, Twelve Light Years from Liramor-23

"Do you realize what you have done, Na-Maj?" a furious Kumaroe Jarl-Se-Lam Pod-Sai-Roe demanded as soon as the link was severed.

"I have helped our Goddaughters in a bad situation," the Kumaraie returned, surprised at the vehemence in her mate's voice. "We need to bring peace of mind back to them."

"You have also stated that this will be a real trial!" Jarl answered. "You have set a trial date with all of the rulers of the Greater Community to act as Judges, here in our Palace.

"You will have to find a Director (the one who runs a trial court's proceedings), a Prosecutor, and a Defender from among our people.