Planet Parnian Palace.
The Syndicate's answer to Cetra 9.
A huge planet with a dry core, mechanical structures inside and out. Half steel. Half rock and mud. Unfailing defense and weapons system.
Eve walked down the escort ship, guarded by Syndicate guards and Team Charlie.
Hannah and Jax flanked her sides.
They walked through the ramp to the bridge. An interplanetary cruiser ship took them through various views of the planet and finally descended down a volcanic rim, deep into the heart of the planet.
A planet layered—each layer a different world housing diverse Syndicate colonies. Their families.
It was no Cetra 9—nonetheless, no less a marvel of science and technology.
They finally arrived at the executive hall. Several Syndicate leaders awaited. Eve, Hannah, and Jax seated themselves.
A Syndicate leader announced, "Eve of Andromeda is here in good faith. She only wants to talk. Dr. Baalthore Seraphis, you may come in."
An alien figure in a lab coat walked in, followed by a woman with a metallic mask. He came and sat on the opposite side of the table, while the masked woman stood behind him.
Eve clenched her fist. Hannah held her hand.
"What's the point of this meeting?" Baalthore asked Custard.
"I want to ask you about Dr. Kyle."
"Still digging the ghosts of your past?"
"Were you there at the time?"
"Yes. I watched you take shape in that lab.
As my brother increasingly became fond of you and wanted to give you more free will, while I was planning to make you the weapon you were intended to be."
"I'm just looking for answers."
Baalthore became silent for a moment.
"We didn't know he secretly slipped Earth-borne AI's data into your memories and programming. Thelarians had execution orders for him, but he took his own life before they could reach him… initiating the self-destruct sequence in the lab. Kyle gave me a heads-up, so I was able to escape. Saved all the data I could carry with me, and by the time I looked back from orbit, the whole facility was already blowing into pieces."
"I found that place. Found a message."
"Of course you did."
"Anyway, I thought this might be about Kyle. Here's everything you need to see," Baalthore said and slid a crystal box containing a data chip toward Eve. She took it.
Baalthore stood up. "If the Syndicate has no more business with me, I will take my leave."
Custard's eyes rolled to Eve. She nodded.
Then Custard spoke.
"The IC is concerned about Thelarian exaggerations at the borders."
He turned around and said, "Blame her for that. She's the one who let the monsters right to our doorsteps. We have no choice but to escape and move our operations."
"Virex left me no choice. Nor did his brother. Thelarians pushed me to take action."
"We don't work like the Syndicate. Our commanders are independent," he replied.
"Amorfati is a life-inhabited galaxy. Nascent colonies!" Eve erupted, standing up and slamming her hands on the table.
Tension rose in the room. Both Thelarian and IC soldiers became alert. Custard cut in, "The Nomad Space Commander must know—Baalthore here is just a scientist. These affairs are not his to speak of."
Eve had to respect the risk Custard had taken for her, arranging this meeting. "Then this sums it up," Eve said.
Dr. Baalthore left the room along with his guards. Custard escorted Eve and her crew back to the Syndicate ship they came in. They said their goodbyes and the ship took off.
Jax asked Eve, "I missed something?"
"She wasn't the woman I fought on Amorfati," Hannah answered. "She was a clone."
"How did you know?" Jax asked.
"She seemed more controllable. The woman I fought—she had a persona of her own," Hannah responded.
"Whoever she is, Thelarians don't have perfect control over her. If she's half as powerful as me, Thelarians would be scared of her," Eve added.
"So this was all a drama?" Jax asked as the tail door closed and they settled on a bench.
"Yes, you meathead," Hannah said, burned. "Any more questions?"
"Nope." Jax raised his hands. "I'm gonna check on Kinze." And he joined the Andromedan soldiers.
"What were you planning to do if she had really been here?"
"I seriously don't know."