16 Desperate Hope

"So…You're telling me…In the four years we've desperately struggled to keep the balance from tipping…that was just a scouting party?"

Faberius, one of the council members, stood up suddenly with a frantic look in his eyes.

"Wait! We're can't completely sure yet! Maybe they noticed the interception and laid this out just to scare us! That's a possib-"

"No. I don't think it is."

Richard finally spoke again after a stretched spell of silence. Looking over to his son, he saw an expression he expected.

"You realize it too, don't you, son?"

Upon hearing those words, he turned to the council with a strained expression.

"I did not want to think about it. But today's success confirmed it for me. I've been in multiple parts of this kingdom, fighting the Kridora multiple times. Even today, when I was on the ship, my sense were on their end because I knew that even a single misstep would lead to failure. It was the same with Pandira city. We fought to our last breath, to our last man, to take our city back. Remember the time me and dad were surrounded by snipers on the Omslutande Mountain ranges? We pulled some crazy stunts just to bail out of that situation and lost quite a few men."

Getting impatient, one of the council members spoke up, interrupting Alexio.

"We know already of your achievements, little one. But what has all this got-"

"But…I never felt…that…the Kridora were fighting for something."

The comment hung in the air like a looming acceptance of the truth in the transmission.

"Of course they struggle and fight as much as us on the battlefield. But even when they're losing ground, I've never seen them struggle too much before they retreat or just call for reinforcements. Dad's noticed it too, I believe. When we trapped them around the ship using the emergency lockdown, most of the Kridora commanders there just ordered their troops to evacuate with only a few trying to fight back. It was as if they didn't care if we downed their ship. Am I wrong?"

Alexio spoke his mind while not taking his eyes off of Richard for even a moment. With every nod from his father, their suspicions were being affirmed.

"Even today, when Saito…err the Capital airspace Sky commander and I fought against the assault team pinning you down, captain…"

Alexio turned his attention to the Captain who was beginning to realize the direness of the situation as well.

"…I felt it was way too easy. Everything went a bit too smoothly for both sides to be equally desperate. Now it all make sense. Damn it. All they're doing is buying time, isn't it? Buying time for the Armada to arrive. It's taking everything we have to fight on equal terms with this…this scouting party. What can we possibly do against something like that?"

Silence ensued once again for a while before Richard coughed loudly to turn everyone's attention to himself.

"If this transmission is to be believed, then we've seen only a percent or so of the actual Armada of these Kriodra. And if that's true then yes, we can't defeat them. We can't save our planet."

Alexio looked down at the ground with an angry expression, unable to come up with anything to say.

"I said, we can't do anything to save our planet. I never said we can't save ourselves."

Everyone turned their attention towards Richard once again as he walked back to a rack of files in the corner. After ruffling around for a few minutes, he came back with a thin file. Dusting off the dirt, he laid the file in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Even with all the dust, it was noticeable that this was not very old. In the middle of the file were engraved the name of the project it described.

"Project Fade Out? What is this?"

Faberius, who had been quiet for some time, now spoke up.

"Are you sure you want to bet on this, Richard? Even I don't know the route they took or if it's viable anymore."

"You got any better ideas? I believe that this…is the only thing we can do."

Alexio picked up the report and flipped to the first page.

"Intelligence division project initiation, dated 14th July of this year. That's almost 4 months in the past. What is this?"

"Richard came to the council once before with the same discussion as this. At that time, we brushed it off as misreading of the situation but allowed him to form a team to do what he wished. They were all over the kingdom, doing God knows who for a month or so with no reports as such except this one. This was a plan that this team concocted in case the war became too much for us as a species to handle. But the problem was with the certainty of success. This escape route relies too much on legend and speculation and risks too much. That's why we had this archived so even if such a situation arises, we don't refer to this."

"And now I have concrete proof that this can work. Alexio? Remember that thing we talked about before I went and got myself captured?"

Alexio suddenly remembered the exchange and produced the hilt that they took from Igor's axe. He had kept the artifact securely in his back pouch. Laying in on the table, he then noticed engravings on the hilt similar to those in museums and monuments.

"This thing? What even is this?"

"Right now, it's a piece of composite metal and stone that can act as a control device for enormous quantities of energy. But what it can do in the right situations is what we're after."

"Stop it with the eerie puzzles! What are we doing?"

Deberius raised his hand to silence all discussions. He then proceeded with his thoughts on the matter.

"The explanations will have to wait until the immediate issues are dealt with. Now, given the new reality we're faced with, let's put it to a vote. Those in favor of putting project fade out into action, raise your hands. Of course, the Templar are exempt from this vote."

Out of the seven members, five raised their hands including Deberius himself.

"Alright. The council has approved of project Fade Out. If memory serves, this requires the formation of a team, does it not?"

"Yes, my Lord. And for that, we'll need all the adept warriors. I think it's time we joined the Andra kingdom on their frontlines, since they're essential to this plan as well. You know what that means, don't you Alexio?"

Before he could even finish his talk, Alexio's face had lit up in anticipation.

"Heh. I know, all right. Time to meet up with a friend."