Homecoming: The Return of an Heir
Part 3

There was a palatable air of tension to the room that had made the last
twenty or so minutes the most painful part of Lilandra Neramani's day thus
far. The fact that the meeting room was somewhat small and created a
crowded sensation for the assembled advisors in no way helped matters.

However, the true difficulty lay in their current topic of discussion
which was quickly becoming a hotbed of debate between those present.
The Empress once again took a moment to evaluate the assembled members
of her advisory.

Gladiator sat on the far side of the table at which they were gathered. He
had been stoically silent during the course of the proceeding, but Lilandra
had noticed how his jaw had tightened slightly every time that
Remy was referred to as a controversial issue.

Rallin Dalkaon, positioned to the right of Gladiator, was barely keeping his
veil of composure in place as he debated heatedly with Talyn Farsahn, who
was seated directly across from  him.

Hahl Tarrek, her primary financial advisor was busily fretting over how
the sudden appearance of Remy would generate too much speculation leading
to inflation. And of course, Pell Mentari, the director of the Shi'ar
Intelligence
community was demanding to know why he had not been informed of this
development earlier so that they could have run an impact analysis on it.

Lilandra leaned back in her chair with an inaudible sigh as the impassioned
arguments around her began to escalate once again. In these moments, she
often wondered how Charles could maintain sanity with his psionic powers
constantly allowing him access to the projected thoughts of those around
him. The amount of confusing concerns that she had been able to sense
without telepathic powers in the last half-hour had exhausted her mentally and
physically. The idea of being bombarded with not only what was said, but
what was thought constantly did not appeal to her in the slightest.

"Enough." the Empress declared firmly. Her command was instantly greeted
with a sullen silence. "We're bickering like children and nothing productive
can come of this."

She glared at every person gathered around the table, daring them to
Contradict her.

She smiled.  "Good.  Now that we are willing act as civilized mature
individuals, I will open the topic for discussion."

She waited a few more moments to ensure that the meeting was not going to
dissolve into multiple arguments again. "I would like a rational, protracted
analysis of the impact of today's events on the political environment of
Chandilar."

Her request was met with a complete and uncomfortable silence. She had half
expected such a result. None of them were willing to speculate on the
eventual results of her acts this early. The silence continued for several
moments until it began to grow strained.

Finally, Rallin, as usual, offered a conservative opening statement. "I
believe that getting this information out in the open as quickly as
possible, as you did, was most likely the best course of action." He began
hesitantly. "It was much better for the nobles to hear the story from you
first, rather than hear a second hand version from an unidentified source."

Talyn leaned back in her seat and very nearly snorted as she crossed her
arms. "That's certainly an understatement."

Rallin fired a withering glare at Talyn before continuing. "The paramount
objective that we need to accomplish now is to somehow have the nobles
disassociate you from young Rem'aillon."

Lilandra instantly felt a hot flash of anger rising in her chest at Rallin's
council. Her instinctive response was to give the man a tongue-lashing that
would cause him to shrivel in the chair were he sat. Lilandra quickly
reigned in the urge as she knew that it would not accomplish anything
effective. However, surprise bordering on shock was soon added to her
anger as Talyn, of all people, nodded in agreement with Rallin.

"I concur with advisor Dalkaon." That simple statement, coming from Talyn
had the effect of generating a moment of amazed silence from all of her
colleagues. "If we want to prevent this issue from damaging the Empress, we
need to find a way to separate Remy off. The fact that he is only here for a
brief visit will make that task all the easier." She paused for a moment to
gather her thoughts before elaborating. "We'll need to ensure that he is
never present with you in a public setting. Your faces share too many of the
same features and that could easily condemn you."

She continued on seemingly lost in her thoughts and obviously oblivious to
the effect that her words were having on Gladiator. Rallin, however, seemed
to have noticed and was trying to discretely slide further from the Praetor
as his face darkened.

"We'll also need for you to make another statement about his origin,
emphasizing that he is from a future that has not happened, and for which
you are not liable. Also, we should probably convince the Imperial Consort
to keep a low profile for the time being as he is clearly associated
with..."

"Why!" The Gladiator's voice boomed with righteous anger. "Why deny the
Imperial prince his very home? Why treat him an outcast when he has as much
if not more of a right to enjoy the privileges of a citizen of the Shi'ar
Imperium?"

Lilandra knew that for all of his noble traits the Gladiator would never
survive in the political arena in which she lived her life from day to day.
He never minced words and tended to wear his emotions plainly on his face,
especially in moments of agitation. At the present moment, his features were
an open book to all those present within the room.

"Rem'aillon Neramani has suffered more from this incident than all of us put
together." the man continued in an impassioned voice. "And, he has done more
to ensure the safety of the Imperium than any one of us present. He should
be accorded a welcome of honor and status for what he has done for the
Shi'ar people. Yet you continue to play politics with his life instead of
doing what you know to be right."

The truthfulness of the man's words was undeniable by any of the advisory;
however, though spoken with passion and conviction, they also had an effect
equivalent to attempting to douse a star with a single glass of water. The
other
members' expressions showed that they were giving as much heed to
Gladiator's
words as they would to an impertinent child.

"Gladiator, please calm yourself.  We will accomplish nothing with the
meeting if we resort to unbridled passion to express out views." Lilandra
secretly thanked and lauded the Praetor's actions even as she reproached him
for them. At times, she greatly envied his position which allowed him to so
freely speak his convictions and idealism without fear of repercussions.

The Empress took a deep breath before continuing. "However," she ensured
that every eye in the small room was carefully focused on her, "I must
concur with Gladiator that attempting to disassociate myself from my son is an
unacceptable course of action."

The moment of silence that greeted her uncompromising statement gave her a
chance to study their various reactions which varied greatly from
individual to individual. Rallin merely rested his head on one hand with a
frustrated but resigned sigh. Talyn was looking at her with an expression
of utter disbelief; though Lilandra also believed that she saw a hint of
approval in the younger woman's eyes. Hahl was trying, without much success,
to protest, but his mind appeared to be so caught up in calculating the
results that such a line of action would have on the financial institution
that all he could manage to do was stutter. Gladiator's features had
regained their stoic somberness though Lilandra could see satisfaction
written all over his face. It was Pell, however, that was the first to
formulate a response.

"Your highness," he interjected with an earnest expression. "I strongly urge
you to reconsider. I do not believe that you have fully considered the
ramifications of that this incident could have upon your political standing."

Lilandra had to fight to keep a hold on her temper once again.
When she finally did respond her it was in a slightly clipped voice.
"You are mistaken Advisor Mentari. I have considered little else since the
time that I was first informed of Rem'aillon's existence."

"And when exactly was that, your Highness?" Though his tone was not exactly
accusing, it was not completely respectful either. Lilandra could see
Gladiator's features darkening once again and nearly sighed as she could
sense another of his outbursts building.

"I did not believe that the details of my personal life were of vital
importance to the Intelligence community. As Empress, I believe that I am
accorded discretion in what I choose to reveal to the Intelligence
community," she responded in an even tone.

Pell refused to back down. "If I am to provide accurate analysis for the
Imperial throne, then it helps to possess all vital Intelligence to
formulate such an analysis."

Gladiator's eyes widened in outrage before narrowing again into angry
slits. Lilandra could feel her own fury growing and worried that she might
not be able to contain it for much longer. A tense silence fell across the
table as the Empress and her Director of Intelligence engaged in a staring
contest. Finally, it was Rallin who interceded.

"With all due respect, Director Mentari, I don't believe that you would have
been able to accurately produce a model for such a contingency even if you
had possessed the information before." Rallin was speaking slowly and
calmly like a wise old grandfather comforting a young child. "As I said
before, Lilandra's path of action in revealing the existence of her son was
the most logical choice available. However, if the knowledge of what she had
intended to do had leaked out before she had been able to act, the result
would have been disastrous."

Pell and Lilandra both began to relax as Rallin continued. "And as there was
no guarantee that you could have produced an accurate prediction of the full
reaction to such an incident, there was really no sense in risking the
information."

There were a few more moments of silence before Pell nodded his head in
acquiescence and leaned back in his chair. Lilandra wished that she could
afford the luxury of letting out a relieved sigh as she felt the anger
slowly drain from her own body. Once the built up tension had dissipated, she
decided to broach the subject once again.

"I have made my intentions known to you for a reason. Now that you are aware
of the path upon which we are set, I am open to council on how to make that
path as smooth as possible."

Silence once again engulfed the room.  Apparently all of her advisors had
Been working on strategies to distance Remy from her as much as possible and had
not even considered the possibility that she might desire something else.
Lilandra tried not to let the thought upset her unduly even though it greatly galled her that every member of her advisory, with the exception of Gladiator, had instinctively opted to dispose of her son as discretely as possible.

"The festival," Talyn spoke up suddenly breaking the silence.

Rallin seemed to be considering a set of factors before he responded. "That
may be a little too overt an action."

"What do you mean?" Gladiator asked with a slightly confused expression on
his face.

"We make Remy an integral part of the Festival.  Give him a special duty
that would make the Shi'ar people associate him with the festival." Talyn seemed
to be growing more excited as she spoke.

The confusion on Gladiator's face was earnest now. "I fail to see how that
would make the public more accepting of him."

"It's quite simple really," Rallin stated by way of elaboration. "Despite
his mixed ancestry, Remy is still, in essence, a member of the Neramani
line.  And the Neramani line, in the minds of many Shi'ar, was ordained by ancient prophecy to act as Guardians and protectors of the Shi'ar. It was a belief that was promulgated largely by Aldarus Neramani's miraculous victory over the Fal'korr during the War of Attrition."

"And as the Festival of Lights is the celebration of that victory," Talyn
interjected, continuing Rallin's line of thought, "associating him with the
festival as much as possible will go a long way in associating him with the
Neramani line. If we can convince the public that he is a Neramani in his
heart and soul as well as his blood and genetics, that fact alone could sway
at least twenty percent of the public."

Pell slowly nodded his head in agreement. "It seems feasible, but I can't
honestly say that it will work. We still haven't managed to gather enough
intelligence on the public's initial reaction to Rem'aillon's presence to
make any kind of an estimate."

The assembled group debated the matter for a few moments longer before
finally reaching the reluctant consensus that it was indeed the best plan of
action available to them.  Lilandra had watched the exchange in silence and
was quite pleased that they had managed to reach the same solution that she
had already decided on three months ago with Charles. And they had done it
with a minimal amount of persuasion on her part. After all, most Shi'ar
would endorse an idea more faithfully if they felt is was their own rather
than a suggestion from someone else.

"We are agreed then," she said, confirming their course was set. "My son
will participate in the festival in hopes that the goodwill it generates for
the Neramani line will also be extended to him."

As no one had anything further to add to the proceedings, Lilandra quickly
moved to close the meeting, and soon the members of her advisory were
filing out of the room.  As they left, Lilandra closed her eyes and finally
indulged herself in a heartfelt sigh of relief.  It had taken more patience
than she had thought would be necessary, but they had eventually come around
and that was the important part.

However, when the Empress opened her eyes again, she was surprised to
find that Talyn had not departed with the others and was currently staring
at her intently.

"My council displeased and upset you, didn't it," she began without
preamble. Lilandra was somewhat accustomed to the younger woman's direct
nature. But, even so, the bluntness of her advisor's statement caught her a
little off guard.

"I was surprised to see you agreeing with Rallin on an issue." She responded
tactfully. "Normally the two of you are always at each other's throats."

Talyn let out a small silvery laugh. "I'm sure that if the two of us would
sit down and actually discuss our opposing views, we would find that we
really want to accomplish the same goals. The difference is that what I want
done by tomorrow he is willing to sit on until the next Festival of Lights
comes around."

Her face then turned somber. "But that is not really the issue here, is it?"

Lilandra had to concede her that point. "I'll admit, I had hoped that you,
of all of my staff would have been on my side of the issue from the
beginning."

"It's one of the pitfalls of having a reputation for being aggressive,
radical, and unorthodox in my view of Shi'ar politics. Everyone expects me
to always assume the most extreme stance on every issue." Talyn replied with
a small smile and a shake of her head. "The truth of the matter is that I do
tend to stand by my convictions, but while a loud fiery radical may attract
a lot of attention, they aren't really going to make a lot of difference in
the long run. In that sense, the only difference between myself and the
so-called conservative factions is that I believe more is possible and thus,
am willing to test the waters more often."

Talyn let out a heart-felt sympathetic sigh before continuing. "I will be
frank with you, your Majesty. In my heart, I feel that what you are doing is
right, but I honestly don't see how anything productive for your reign could
come out of this issue. At the very best, you could lose all of your
remaining clout and end up becoming a puppet to the Imperial Magistrate. At
the very worst, you could lose the throne."

Lilandra closed her eyes briefly, suddenly feeling incredibly tired. She
knew the potential dangers that she was facing.  She had gone over them in
her mind countless times for the past six months; however, all of these logical
arguments seemed to be rendered insignificant by the image of one young
man's lonely and pained gaze. She opened her eyes once again temporarily
banishing the image. Talyn was still there, waiting for her reply.

"Advisor Farsahn," she stated with iron in her voice. "That is a risk that I
am willing to take.

***********************************************************

The sun was slowly setting on the Capital City of Chandilar and already the
Shi'ar nightlife was moving into full swing. Bars, dance halls and other
recreational establishments were enjoying brisk business on this the first
night of the Festival of Lights. Despite the increased influx of patrons, or
in truth, because of it, the owners of the various facilities were engaging
in an even more intense competition than normal. Each was proclaiming
loudly by way of holographic streetboards, special media spotlights,
celebrity endorsement, and any other viable means to be the exclusive resort in which to truly celebrate the Festival.

The M'kraan Shard, a popular downtown bar, was no different in this respect.
It too had invested a great deal of capitol in its own advertisement scheme
in hopes of a quick return on the first night. A large stage for
performances had been quickly erected at one side of the bar and rumors had
been carefully leaked that Lila Cheney herself would perform at the Shard.
As a result, the bar was teaming with patrons, all in various degrees of
sobriety, who were in the process of making the most of their holiday leave.

Zair Rilie casually leaned back in her chair as her eyes expertly scanned
the crowded room. She disliked the fact that there were a larger number of
patrons present tonight, but not to the point that she would cancel her
scheduled meeting. The first night of the Festival of Lights always resulted
in increased crowds as the common public flocked to town in celebration of
the anniversary of the Neramani victory over the Fal'korr. The thought left
a bitter taste in her mouth prompting her to take another drink of her
beverage.

Most, if not all, of the patrons here believed the Fal'korr to be safely
buried in the Imperium's history, of interest now only to historians,
scholars, and perhaps a fiction writer in need of plot device for an otherwise inept novel. Surely none suspected that the ancient order had not only managed to survive the War of Attrition but also continued to grow and thrive. She also
suspected even if these blind fools could see some of the things that she
had, they still would not open their eyes to the truths in front of them.
It was more likely that they would continue to think of her as a paranoid
extremist, a modern-day sooth-sayer who preached endless that the sky was
falling.

Zair quickly fought down the hot surge of anger that her current line of
thought was provoking. She had sacrificed a great deal during the course of
her life and lost much to expose and halt the insidious designs of her
unknown foe. It was a quest that she had inherited from her late husband
after it had cost him his own life, and for it, she had suffered the
ridicule of her colleagues, the loss of her professional reputation, and outright opposition from most government officials. Yet, she continued steadfastly onward, certain that despite the overwhelming nature of the task before her, she could perhaps play a small part in preventing the looming disaster.

Still, she supposed that she had become somewhat embittered following the
path that fate had allotted to her. After all that she had been through in
the past fifteen years, the choice had been either succumbing to bitterness or
insanity. She and her husband had possessed it all or, at least, everything
that they had wanted. They had been the premier team in the Shi'ar
intelligence community often forming the policy that others would follow
after them. Two emperors had relied implicitly on the information that the
couple had been able to provide. Then, as often happens, fate had chosen to
pull the rug out from underneath her.

Her husband's sudden demise had been a shock to everyone, her most of all.
There had been, of course, an extensive investigation into the tragic
incident that had caused the hover transport carrying her husband and fifty
other passengers to crash. It had eventually been classified as a power
coupling failure, and the investigation had been officially closed. Zair
herself had even believed that it had simply been an unfortunate accident
for a time, but that had been before she had stumbled across of group
personal files that he had kept hidden in their home.

At first the sketchy details contained within the files had been too
incredible for even her to believe. The idea that an element of the Fal'korr
could still be alive after all of this time was a concept more plausible in
badly done holofilms than real life. However, the evidence had been simply
too great for her to deny and had lead to the beginning of a fifteen-year
quest to uncover the truth about her husband's death. It was, unfortunately,
a quest that had brought her few results other than disdain.

The former intelligence officer took another sip of her drink and tried not
to think too much about the fact that her contact was already late. The one
aspect of her prior occupation that she had managed to keep intact after her
formal departure from the Shi'ar intelligence community was her incredible
talent for finding informants in all levels of government. Her meeting
tonight happened to be with a member of Telra Ja'harr's Imperial staff, a
man name Judan. The man was normally quite well informed, even if he tended
to be less then punctual.

She let her eyes scan the swirling crowd once more and was rewarded with the
sight of Judan slowly swaggering over to her secluded stall. He carried with
him the air of a man looking for female companionship to help him celebrate
the Festival and as Zair was not an unattractive woman, though somewhat past
her prime, she was able to lend an element of credibility to the charade.

"May I take this seat?" he asked while setting his glass on the table next
to her own.

"That depends on what it is you have to offer," she replied without looking
up from her drink. Judan took her response as an affirmative answer and
settled down across the table from her.

"I believe that precedence will show that I always have something worthy of
your time."

"And money," she added coldly meeting his eyes. "I have paid you well for
the information that you have provided. Which is why I become upset when I
find out that one of my most well tended associates has been holding out on
me." She paused to take a sip before continuing. "Perhaps you wish to
terminate our arrangement. I can assure you that such an event would benefit
no one."  Especially not as long as Zair possessed an incriminating set of
holographs of Judan and Telra Ja'harr's daughter.

Judan stiffened slightly at her barbed comment and threat. His voice lowered
dangerously as he responded. "When have I ever with-held vital information
from you?"

Zair calmly withdrew a holocrystal from her coat and placed it on the table
between the two of them. A bare tap at the base was enough to activate the
device causing it to project an image of a young man with shoulder-length
red hair and piercing red on black eyes. After a moment, another tap
deactivated the image.

There was no need for further explanation. The young man in the image was
currently the topic of conversation of not only the majority of the Shard's
patrons, but Shi'ar citizens as a whole.

Judan sighed as he slumped back into his chair, his own feathered crest
twitching nervously. "Somehow I knew that this was the reason that you
requested our meeting on such short notice." He leaned forward again and his
voice lowered as he continued. "You must believe me when I say that this
caught us off guard as much as it did you."

Zair favored him with a skeptical glare, prompting the man to continue in a
slightly more desperate voice. "It's the truth. The Empress had told no one
about this until today. House Ja'harr hasn't even had the chance to finish
recovering from their shock and decide on a coarse of action."

His eyes took on a pleading aspect. "No one, absolutely no one, in the
entire Imperium saw this coming."

The former intelligence officer stared absently at her drink as she allowed
her mind to process the information that Judan had just given her. She had
to admit that it made sense for Lilandra to keep such an event secret until
such time that she could present it without suffering too much political
backlash. With the issue of a son of mixed heritage conceived outside of
wedlock, it would be impossible to avoid all negative reactions. But, given
the circumstances, she had managed to skillfully maneuver into the best
position possible.

Finally, Zair looked back up to her contact. "Are you telling me that there
was nothing in her actions that could have hinted at today's events?" Her
piercing glare caused the man to consider his next words very carefully.

"We suspect that not even she has possessed this information for very long.
And as for clues as that could have predicted her actions today..." he shook
his head emphatically. "The only action she took that could have been
construed as even slightly suspicious was an increase in the volume of
subspace transmissions to earth in the last four or five months. But even
this action could have been easily justified by the fact that her Imperial
consort would be attending the festival and she wanted to make all the
necessary preparations."

At the present moment Zair would have gladly given up one of her eyes to
know the contents of some of those transmissions. However, such a desire was
not even a remote possibility. The Imperial House had it's own specialized
set of encryption codes for their private transmissions and a log was never
kept of these communications. The only plausible way to eavesdrop on a
royal transmission would be to physically infiltrate the local system being
used to complete the communication. But even then, one would almost
need to be a telepath to know which encryption would be used
for that particular transmission. Still, she might be able to gain some
illuminating tidbits out of the information that was accessible.

"I want an itinerary of all the communications that the Empress has made in
the past ten months."

Judan looked as if he was getting ready to protest but she quickly cut him
off. "I want to know who she called, when she called them and for how
long they talked."

"I can't get that kind of information..."

"Then find someone who can." Zair stated in a tone that left no room for
argument. "You would do well to remember that you are not on my good list
right now. Something like this will go along way towards redeeming
yourself."

Judan looked into his drink for a few more moments his mind obviously
calculating the risks. When looked up at her again his features had hardened
considerably. "I want those holos, all of them, and then you disappear out
of my life after the deal is finished."

Zair hesitated only a moment before nodding in agreement. She hated to lose
one of her more productive contacts, but it would be well worth it if he
could obtain those itineraries.

With their business concluded, the former intelligence officer then
Carefully picked up her glass and hurled its remaining contents directly into Judan's face. She doubted that anyone had been watching the two of them, but if
there had been a casual observer, she preferred to leave that individual
with a plausible reason as to why she was taking leave of her night's company
so abruptly.

"Filthy Skrull," she shouted, standing up indignantly. "If you're that
desperate for a rut, then I suggest that you work on you wit to make up for
you lack of charm."

With that she angrily stomped away from the table leaving behind a
Sputtering Judan who was doing an admirable job at feigning outrage and surprise.  Few patrons from the surrounding tables even looked up from their own
conversations at the scene that Zair and Judan had just played out. After
all, such sights were more than common at the M'kraan Shard especially on
the first night of the Festival of Lights.

***********************************************************

"One who strikes overtly at his opponents will quickly find new
enemies to replace the ones dispatched. The essence of our
doctrine is subtlety."

-Kalem D'arthon, second Presiding Keeper of the Fal'korr.

The other members of the council of nine had been reluctant to gather for a
meeting on such short notice especially during the time period surrounding
the Festival; however, Gadian had felt it was necessary as his current plans
would require the approval of the council before he could proceed. Therefore
he had invoked one of the privileges granted him by virtue of his office and
had called for an unscheduled hearing.

The Presiding Keeper instinctively checked to ensure that the distortion
field cloaking his frame was properly in place as the rest of the Keepers
began to arrive. It was maintained by a small but powerful emitter that fit
conveniently on his belt. Any wave-based energy within the prescribed
perimeters of the emitter was completely absorbed by the field. The end
result was that anyone who donned the device would appear to be little more
than a solid living shadow. Even high-powered scanners were unable to
penetrate the defenses of the device and make a positive identification. The
field covered all visible parts of his body and along with the ceremonial
robes that he wore over it was a required standard of dress for any formal
meeting between any Partisan.

Gadian allowed his gaze to slowly pass over the assembled dark forms.
Once again, he idly speculating as to their identities. Utter secrecy was a
base principle of the Fal'korr society that was followed with a religious
zeal.  Even in his position as Presiding Keeper, he was only privileged with the
knowledge of the true identities of his guardian and disciples.  That was
all that any partisan of the Fal'korr was permitted. Those Partisans found
in violation of this law were punished severally.

Gadian waited until the last of the Keepers had taken their seats.  Each one
was accompanied by their two councilors. He then signaled to Kr'lltumen to
seal the chamber ensuring them complete privacy.

The room that they were in was constructed of a high-density allow of Omnium
which was nearly impossible to penetrate with any frequency of transmission.
The words that would be exchanged here today were meant only for the ears of
those present.

Once the chamber was sealed, Gadian rose to his feet and withdrew an ornate
dagger from his robes. He extended his right hand forward, which even to him
appeared to be nothing more then a mass of indistinct shadows, and slowly
drew the edge of the blade across the palm of his hand. Though the dark
outline of his hand remained visibly unchanged, he could feel the blood
sliding between his fingers as his hand clenched into a fist. The drops
became visible as they dropped to the table and out of the range of the
distortion field.

"As my blood flows, as the M'kraan binds reality, as the Creator lives and
grants life to others, so am I bound to the Fal'korr."

He spoke the oath in the pure ancient language of the Fal'korr. The same
language that had been spoken by his ancestors thousands of years ago before
the time of the unification. Before that vile dialect called Shi'ar had been
made the official language of the Imperium.

The other Keepers followed his lead, cutting their own hands and speaking
the same oath. Drops of blood flowed, freely dripping down to the surface of
the table before slowly soaking into the wood. The table possessed a rich,
dark, though uneven and somewhat blotchy, color. An ounce of stain had never
touched the wood from the moment it had been crafted three hundred years
ago. It had, instead, gained its rich color from the blood of every Keeper
that had ever sat on the council of Nine.

With the ritualistic oaths completed, Gadian seated himself and immediately
moved on to the business at hand.

"You know, after a fashion, why it is that I have summoned you here on such
short notice."

A month and a half was short notice for the council.

"You have all heard of the upstart heir that Lilandra has managed to
discover."

He paused before continuing, knowing that his next words would ruffle a few
feathers.

"Some of you have known of it for as long as six months."

As he had expected, there was a slight rumble of disapproval to his
statement. The disapproval came not from the fact that such knowledge had
been kept secret from the council as a whole but from disgruntled
individuals who felt that their rank should have privileged them to prior
knowledge.

"It is unnecessary for me to point out that such a contingency clearly
interferes with the will of the Fal'korr and must be taken into careful
consideration."

Not for the first time in such gatherings, he wished that he could see
their faces. Most would have been practiced in giving nothing away
with their features anyway, but there was always the small chance that one
of them might let something slip.

"Lord Presiding Keeper," the figure standing in the position of Fourth
Keeper began respectfully. "We are all well aware of your pet project with
house Ja'harr and know how very proud you are of the success that you have
achieved thus far with them. And though we laud your efforts, I must
reiterate that the actions of a single Partisan hardly constitutes the will
of the entire Fal'korr. Even if that Partisan holds the position of
Presiding Keeper."

Though the other figures gave no perceivable reaction to the man's words,
Gadian could almost hear them agreeing with the Fourth Keeper. Gadian
mentally cursed the man, who-ever he was. He needed the council to be
completely malleable to his desires. To do that he needed for them to be
convinced of vital nature of his mission for the future prosperity of their
society.

"Perhaps I did not express myself correctly," the Presiding Keeper spoke,
choosing his words carefully. "The actions that I have taken have always
been in the best interest of the Fal'korr. For the purpose and intent of
this project, as my fellow Keeper has so quaintly put it, is to give the
Council of Nine power over the Imperial throne."

Even behind their shields, he could see that his bated comment was getting
their attention. His next comment was carefully crafted to finish drawing
them into the trap.

"And once we have gained control of the Imperial throne, we will be able to
access the inner sanctums of the M'kraan Archives." He paused to let the
comment sink into them. "We will be able to reclaim that which was unjustly
stripped from us so long ago. We shall regain the writings of our great
master J'thenn and shall then rebuild our society as he had originally
intended."

Gadian would have punctuated his next statement with an innocent smile, had
they been capable of seeing it. "Is this not the will of the Fal'korr?"

Their silence was more than enough of an answer for Gadian.
Despite the power and influence that they had been capable of obtaining in
the time from D'ken's rule - a pity that one had gone mad since his blinding
thirst for power had made him easy to manipulate - every man in the room
knew that their organization was still vastly inferior to the one that
J'thenn had led during the so called Golden age of the Imperium. There had been
simply too much lost knowledge of their organization and the philosophy
of their predecessors to truly recreate their master's society.

There was not a new disciple brought in to the Fal'korr that was not first
well versed in what few writings of J'thenn that they had been capable of
retaining after the War of Attrition. However, under the direction of the
Tyrant, Aldarus Neramani, most copies of the man's works had been
destroyed.

As Shi'ar tradition would have it though, due to an instinctive loathing to
completely eradicate any part of documented history, it was required that
a single copy of any such destroyed document be preserved in the inner
M'kraan Archive, a sealed vault that could be opened only on the joint
authorization  of the Imperial Magistrate, Noble Council, and Ruling House.

It was the ultimate ambition of every Partisan to one day reclaim these
writings which, by right, belonged to the Fal'korr.

"My fellow Keepers," he continued in an earnest voice. "The future of our
people depends largely on our ability to destroy house Neramani. As long as
they remain, our way will be obstructed."

The Fifth Keeper seemed to shift slightly. It was hard to tell with the way
his form was completely obscured in shadow. "Are you saying that you believe
that the Neramani line is the line of prophecy?"

"I said nothing of the sort," Gadian responded quickly. He couldn't allow
them to believe that he put faith in the old prophecies of a religion that
they had all long since abandoned. "I merely stated that as long as the
Neramani line sits on the throne they will act to prevent us from obtaining
our birthright."

"Then you might do well to consider this fact," the Fifth Keeper returned.
"Zair Rilie does believe in the old prophecies and will undoubtedly seek the
young half-blood out and try to convince him of her personnel quest."

Gadian gestured dismissively with his hand. "Zair Rilie is a mere nuisance.
If she had ever been a true threat, she would have been killed years ago. As
it is, she has become a figure of public ridicule."

It was actually quite amusing to read some of the theories she had written.
Most of which did not even approach being accurate.

"You will remember that she already did try to approach Lilandra with the
matter several years ago."

Another of the Keepers added. "The members of her own revered prophecy
line paid her no more heed than any other noble."

The Fifth Keeper, however, was not satisfied. "Remember, on Chandilar her
reputation usually precedes her, this Gambit individual will have no
prejudices and thus, may even believe her."

"That could prove to be amusing." Another Keeper chuckled. "I'd almost wish
that he would."

The Fifth Keeper's body stance betrayed the slightest bit of annoyance. "I
was merely pointing out that it could prove to be an inconvenience.
Especially considering the fact that she has been heavily investigating the
Teleranni assassination."

Once again, Gadian wished that he knew the identities of some of these men
or quite possibly women. It was apparent that whoever this Fifth Keeper
was, he still subscribed somewhat to the widely held belief that House
Neramani was indeed the prophecy bloodline.

"Zair's investigation into the Teleranni murders is inconsequential."
Gadian declared confidently.  "As will be her interest in Rem'aillon
Neramani."

When he was certain that he had every Keeper's attention once again, he
withdrew a small datafile from his robe and placed it on the table.  "The
moment that I became aware of this new Neramani's presence, I took the
liberty of commissioning a private inquiry of this man's past.  The results
have been very illuminating."

Gadian did smile then, despite the fact that the gesture was visible to no
one.  "It would appear that this Remy LeBeau possesses a less than savory
past.  He might have even become a formidable Partisan if the circumstances
had been different."

Within moments he had outlined his intentions to the Council of Nine, and
they wasted no time in approving his proposed measures.  Remy LeBeau would
suffer a quick and violent political death.  And if Lilandra was foolish
enough to stand by him, the resulting scandal could easily force her into
abdicating the throne clearing the way for house Ja'harr.  The circumstances
were so ideal that he could not have made them more perfectly if he had
tried.

Still, it almost was a shame to put an end to LeBeau in this manner.  From
what he had learned about the half-breed, he truly would have proven to be a
skilled addition to the Fal'korr.

End Part 3