In the years since Station Halcyon had been the target of a violent attack that triggered conflict across the Gigaquadrant, the station's own investigation into the culprit and motives had come to a dead end, but Captain Caelia Valerii was determined to continue. Her investigation would ultimately unravel the mystery and point to the mysterious figures at the heart of it all...
Story
Prologue
News had arrived at Imperial Intelligence from the Outer Rim of the Cyrannus Galaxy. Rushing through the dimly-lit corridors of an installation that was officially on night shift, an agent made her way to a face-to-face meeting with her superior: this information could not be allowed to go through the risk of being passed along by the usual channels, not until a course of action had been planned, nor could it wait until the morning shift to begin. Fortunately for the agent, Caranye, her superior was wide awake, scanning her eyes somewhat uninterestedly over some documents in her sparsely-decorated and similarly ill-lit office.
- Caranye: "High Minister Agnassana, I bring news."
- Agnassana: "So I see. And this could not wait until the morning, agent?"
- Caranye: "No. As you can see."
Caranye handed a datapad to Agnassana, who skimmed over it with widening eyes.
- Caranye: "Atirieil's dead body on a freighter in the Locháinín System. This is not good, sir."
- Agnassana: "... That is not the best system for such a person to die in."
Both agents knew of the lifeforms native to that system, their capabilities, and most importantly, the affiliation of Atirieil. It was not difficult for them to connect the dots...
Revival of an Investigation
In the years since Station Halcyon had been the target of a violent attack that triggered conflict across the Gigaquadrant, the station's own investigation into the culprit and motives had come to a dead end, but Captain Caelia Valerii was determined to continue. The memory of a mysterious black-suited alien leaving Halcyon B as she arrived on that fateful day was at the front of her mind; not of a species recorded in any known database, and certainly not a registered inhabitant of the station nor a member of any of the diplomatic congregations attending, it surely had no business being there. She had paid little attention at the time, but maybe knowing a little more about that one individual would reveal a vital clue to discovering what led to the tragedy.
When Apalos left the Civilisation and joined the Mou'Cyran Accords, a new hint convinced her to reopen the investigation. Cut off from its collective consciousness, a lone Apalos probe sent a message to the alliance in the moment of its destruction, at last confirming the great divisions in the AI Netspace that had torn it apart. There was now a faint hope that, somewhere in the information trickling out of the Plazith Rim, there were answers.
As she sat in her office watching starships both arriving at and departing from Halcyon, Captain Valerii ran things over in her mind. While it would be incorrect to say that the Incident at Halcyon B was the sole reason behind the outbreak of conflict throughout the Gigaquadrant, it was inarguably a key piece in the puzzle which had damaged so much of what organisations such as the Seven Starr Alliance had strove to build. However, there was light on the horizon. The newly formed Mou'Cyran Accords had commissioned a new investigation into the cause of the explosion at Halcyon B, led by an independent Lacertian known as Nascbek. It was Caelia's hope that with help from an outside source independent from the crew of Halcyon would help unravel this crucial conundrum. Distracted by the arrival of a newly commissioned Presidio-class Star Cruiser, Captain Valerii was startled by a sudden buzz from her door, indicating that someone wished to speak with her.
- Caelia Valerii: "Enter."
To her surprise it was Nascbek who entered, smiling amicably. Standing to greet the Lacertian, Captain Valerri was about to greet her esteemed guest when she was suddenly interupted by one of the crew members on the lower decks of Halcyon, the Salsetthe chief of security Tazch'xatri.
- Tazch'xatri: "I apologize if I am interrupting something, but a rather interesting message was found in a room in the City Ring. If I did not have other duties to attend to at this time, I would further investigate it myself, but I have a data pad with what we did find there."
- Caelia Valerii: "I am with Investigator Nascbek now, Chief. Could this message be related to the incident at Halcyon-B?"
- Tazch'xatri: "'We suspect it could. The most notable feature of the room was that a singular statement, 'XONEXI STANDS' was written on just about every possible surface inside. However, we do not yet know the reason behind this."
- Caelia Valerii: "I'm on my way. Care to join me, Investigator?"
- Nascbek: "An excellent idea. I came here to suggest we discuss possible lines of inquiry but it seems that fate has made such a discussion unnecessary!"
Xonexi Stands?
Beaming directly to the location mentioned by Tazch'xatri, Valerii and Nascbek scrutinised their surroundings before entering the dark room. It appeared that the chief of security was correct, the words "XONEXI STANDS" were scrawled on the walls, the floor and the ceiling of the large empty room.
- Caelia Valerii: "Well this is certainly something. Any suggestions, Nascbek?"
- Nascbek: "It's presumably a reference to the message that Apalos sent to the Accords: 'Netspace split; our loyalty ends. We wish to join the Mou'Cyran Accords. Xonexi stands. Civilisation fell.' It's not clear what 'Xonexi' referred to, but the two schools of thought are that it's either an ominous warning about the Xonexi Allies, or an optimistic statement that, after all that's happened, there's still hope for the people of the Xonexi Cluster. Personally, I prefer the latter interpretation."
Captain Valerii scratched her chin in thought.
- Caelia Valerii: "Is it possible that it refers not to the Cluster or the Allies, but rather the Xonexi Space Station?"
Nascbek looked a little shocked, but quickly regained her composure.
- Nascbek: "I- I suppose it is possible, but what would that mean? Xonexi used to be a major base for the Seven Starr Alliance before it was heavily damaged in the War of Ages, before being overrun by pirates and then later destroyed. Are you suggesting that 'Xonexi Stands' is a metaphor the for the Alliance or its ideals, that some trace of them remains after all that's happened?"
- Caelia Valerii: "No, I'm not suggesting that. I wasn't aware we had any substantial records of the fate of Xonexi. What if it wasn't destroyed? What if it... stands?"
There was a pause in the discussion as Nascbek stood in thought, planning her words carefully.
- Nascbek: "You have a point. While it's a matter of public record that the region of space where Xonexi... stood... shows the signs of hypermatter radiation damage, that isn't conclusive proof. I suppose it isn't out of the question that there is still criminal activity there."
- Caelia Valerii: "Well there was an investigation several months back into possible connections between the Cyrannian Syndicate and Xonexi-based pirate groups. Hypermatter is favoured by Cyrannian starships."
- Nascbek: "So maybe they are responsible for the illusion that Xonexi was destroyed! But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still can't be certain that the message refers to the space station... but this room shows somebody thought something was unusual about the whole situation, and Xonexi's survival would certainly count as unusual. Looking over those Syndicate connections would be an ideal place to start."
- Caelia Valerii: "Agreed, though something about this still feels wrong. What would petty criminals stand to gain from destroying a diplomatic conference? Not to mention my encounter with that unusual alien just prior to the incident."
- Nascbek: "They might have thought that interfering with the course of diplomacy would... alter the political situation in a way that favoured their criminal activity? You are correct, this is strange. As to the alien, I personally think that it's a red herring; somebody disguised themselves as some make-believe creature as a distraction. But if I find anything about it I'll let you know."
Nascbek turned to leave the room.
- Nascbek: "Now, shall we make a start on that Syndicate lead?"
Captain Valerii overlooked the room one last time and appeared to be somewhat hesitant.
- Caelia Valerii: "... Y-yes, of course."
Majestic View
On the outside faces of Halcyon's structure was a network of circular tunnels, transparent all around except for the floor and the ceiling, the latter of which was the floor for the rest of the station. These tunnels were places where people could avoid the light pollution of the upper levels and gaze at the stars, the nearby gas giant Vundrum-Alpha, or starships arriving at, docked at, and leaving Halcyon. In one particular segment of tunnel that was otherwise empty was the Zuckhs Atirieil, staring outwards into a view in which all of those sights were present. She had been waiting for a few minutes before an expected visitor arrived. A Sylvamiman, named Eltaron.
- Eltaron: "Majestic, isn't it?"
- Atirieil: "Hmm?"
- Eltaron: "The view. Quite majestic indeed."
- Atirieil: "Oh, yes. Magnificent. Now, you know why we're here. Project Orthoplex. I need it back."
Eltaron folded his arms.
- Eltaron: "That wouldn't be in my interest, now would it?"
- Atirieil: "The investigation into the destruction of Halcyon B has had a little boost. That guy you poisoned... what was his name again?"
- Eltaron: "A charming Grimbolsaurian known as Xigor. How was I to know that his physiology would reject the poison?"
- Atirieil: "Ugh. I was hoping you'd tell me you misread the label or something. It's widely known that the effects of tripolixine on Grimbolsaurians include a) increased paranoia and b) not killing them. Thanks to your poor choice of pharmaceutical he went crazy for a few hours and wrote the words 'Xonexi Stands' all over the walls of the apartment that you dumped him in. We should just be grateful that a third effect is retrograde amnesia and he doesn't remember anything else."
- Eltaron: "Ah, a silver lining. Now if you'll excuse m-"
- Atirieil: "The investigation has since decided that the old space station Xonexi has something to do with what they're looking for. That train of thought has led them to look into organised crime associated with the station, and that's going to lead them to you."
Eltaron turned on his heels back toward Atirieil.
- Eltaron: "Say what now? I've never even been outside Cyrannus... If they do come to me, they'll have no evidence."
- Atirieil: "No, but they will find that you've been playing with a polychoron, and that's not going to look good on you, is it? They'll be able to detain you on suspected collaboration with hostile Ultraterrestrials, or suspected theft from a reliquary. And yes, they will find it. They have enough against you in their records to justify a search warrant."
- Eltaron: "They'd need to be mad to equate what happened at Halcyon-B to the Syndicate. I'll be the first to admit that war is good for business, but destroying an entire diplomatic conference? How do you know this anyway?"
- Atirieil: "I have eyes everywhere."
At that point, her skin erupted in a terrifying and random array of eyes of all shapes and sizes, all moving about in their sockets and blinking erratically. Eltaron backed against the wall and sqawked.
- Atirieil: "And there is more to the Syndicate than petty crime. I don't think you have a claim to know what goes on in its upper levels. The investigation won't find anything if it interrogates you, no. Especially not if you give me the Orthoplex. Come on."
The eyes on her skin all stopped their chaotic movements and turned to face Eltaron.
- Atirieil: "Or these eyes are just going to keep on staring at you."
- Eltaron: "For frak sake, fine. Just stop... blinking. There is more to this than you're letting on."
Eltaron reached into his pocket and pulled out the Orthoplex.
- Eltaron: "I still have no idea what that is, by the way."
- Atirieil: "That, my friend, is something that the Agency holds very dear. I'm almost surprised you've still held onto it after all this time."
The eyes all withdrew back into Atirieil's skin as she took the pyramid-shaped object from his hands, although one kept on staring for a second longer than the rest, almost as though it did not want to let him out of its sight.
- Eltaron: "And what if you are caught with it? I ain't an upstanding citizen, but I know this much; The Agency's presence here isn't at the request of Valerii."
- Atirieil: "If they want to catch me with it, they'll have to pry it from my cold... dead..."
The Orthoplex was slowly absorbed through the skin of the Zuckhs's webbed hands, creating a bulge that passed through her left arm and disappeared into her chest.
- Atirieil: "Body."
Trivia
- The Halcyon Scheme explains those responsible for the destruction of Halcyon-B and was written by Ghelae, Cyrannian and The Randomness.
