ETTING   OME   O   LFANDRA

---

Saga and Christi's Journey part 8 - Headquarters

And so Saga now slept with complete peace, held by someone who promised to stay with him forever. In his dreams, he once again found himself on the battlements, but this time, it was against the backdrop of a sunrise. Xane was there, of course.
"Well, Saga, that was pretty impressive back there. You did the right thing, and gained an eternal companion in the process. I guess she exists to make up for those Callian who have succumbed to the temptations of evil.
"You mean..."
"Yes. I mean the Coveneant of Seven. Those Callian who were given great power by Sultheri, the demon-fiend of shadows. You know that they weren't truly destroyed last time, 5000 years ago. Actually Sultheri is definitely done for. You made sure of that, back when you were called Aldrechsar."
"I remember that much. So why do you bring them up now?" "Because they will be stirring again, soon. I can feel it, and the first thing they're going to go after is that girl. It's your job to make sure she's ready when the time comes. Let me tell you a secret, Saga. Her powers don't come from the rift alone. They came from a reaction with the power she already had, but was never aware of until now. She was meant to fight them."
"Huh? Why does she have to fight them?"
"Because she has power far greater than any of ours, and she is the only one capable of destroying them permanently. I must go now, Saga, and I leave this in your most capable hands."

Saga awoke, finding Christi waiting for him by the door of the room. Saga quickly armored himself, but left his arms unarmored from the elbows down. Christi took the aopportunity to hold his hand with both of hers, and they left the ship like this. They immediately stepped out into the city, and quickly located Decker to ask the status of the ship. "Well, the techs opened the thing up from the outside, and they said that despite the delays, which they were none too happy about, They would be able to have the thing fixed by the end of the day. By the way, I also took the opportunity to ventilate a few moles that were on board my ship, so now you two can have separate quarters, if you want." "Um, no thanks."
"Why is that, Saga? Wait, never mind. It's not my place to ask anyway. Well, just make sure to get back to the ship on time. We should also have the ship calibrated for transdimensional jump by the time you get back."
They then left to explore the city. This was the mercenary HQ, and it showed. In the commercial district, there were a disproportionate number of guild offices, firearms stores, and bars. They chose one of the more upscale bars to have lunch. While they were eating, a rather strange customer walked in. He was dressed in a fighter pilot's G-suit, complete with helmet. What Saga saw as strange was the fact that its helmet visor was smoked so black that you couldn't see into it, and the fact that he still had a the breather mask still attatched to it, with a tube leading down to some kind of air tank with a filtration system attatched. He also took notice of the pilots thin, elongated limbs, the fact that is was seven feet tall, and that it refused all service and spent all of its time simply looking around. Saga excused himself to go sit at the stranger's table and find out who, or *what* it was.
"So, you don't wan't anything to eat?"
"He responded in a raspy voice. "No thankss. I jusst ate." The fact that the thing stressed the s's so much tipped Saga off. "All right, please indulge my curiosity when I ask: What's a bug* doing in this galaxy?"
"The Alliance knows of thiss. We are ssimply here to observe how a technologically inferior culture like the Alliance hass been able to hold off our armed forcess for sso long. We are doing sso by observing the ssociety of the Alliance." He looks over at the table Saga came from. "Iss sshe a Callian?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Ssuch a ssplendid, gentle creaturess, and sso powerful too. They have the mosst powerful and advanced military in the galactic clusster, and yet they ressisst the urge to conquer. I musst go." With that, the bug leaves the bar, walking in long, deliberate strides. Saga went back to his lunch, thoroughly disturbed by the whole experience.
After lunch, Decker called them through public access to announce that the repairs were complete and that they were now boarding. They rushed to the ship, because they didn't want to miss their ride home to Alfandra.

(* The term 'bug' is a pejorative nickname for the Shadrizans, an incectoid race whose empire has tried to conquer the Alliance three times, and has been thoroughly defeated all three. Their actions are dictated by pure logic, eschewing emotion as a weakling trait. The reason this bug was wearing and enviroment suit was because he wanted to mask his identity, and also because Shadrizans breath argon cyanide gas (oxygen is poisonous to them).)