A Weapon’s Serenade

“I would have loved to just send you over to Isha and Serena over on Tehom, but you are just in time to witness important things. The specialist should attempt to contact us very soon.” Focalor was walking the girls to the bridge of the Nemesis.

“Wouldn’t want to miss that.” Melody abruptly stopped the moment the bridge doors opened. She snapped towards Baal who was just standing near the front window, looking out at the arriving ships. “You!”

Baal turned around, only to have his face meet Melody’s fist. He briefly flinched but regained his composure rapidly. “I deserve that.”

“I know we never met but I would recognize your smug face anywhere. Baal. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was sent to assist your efforts by any means necessary. I will follow the commands of the executor without question. If you wish me to leave, I will do so. But I expect that my superiors will simply send someone else in my stead.”

Melody scoffed. “Is this your attempt at undoing the damage you have done? You got the wrong demons for that. Thrasir is at home. I’m sure she’d be happy to break your stupid face if you dared to show it.”

Baal shook his head. “My presence here is unrelated to our past. I am here to make sure the heavens are on the right side of history this time.”

“And to sell us out again once it becomes personally profitable.”

The angel smirked. “I doubt it would be beneficial for me to betray the demons’ trust again. That is a mistake I cannot make twice. You may execute me personally if I betray you.”

“Ugh. Better the angel you know… but if you step out of line just once, I will watch with glee as Nemesis turns you into paste.”

“Understood, daughter of Thrasir.”

Nemesis flickered into existence in the middle of the bridge. “Excuse the interruption, but we are being contacted.”

Focalor nodded. “Let’s hear it.”

It was the voice of a man. “Pandemonic chariot, this is the USS Thomas Whitmore. Please respond.”

“I am executor Focalor of the chariot Nemesis. Who do I have the pleasure of talking to?”

“I am rear admiral Marshall Douglas, commanding the thirteenth US carrier strike group. Executor, while we have a specialist with us, professor Gregory Broysc, who is authorized to discuss further details with you, I must inform you that we are here to enforce the treaty you have quoted at captain Harriman. To ascertain how we continue from here, professor Broysc has requested an in-person meeting. You, me and the professor.”

“We will retrieve you and the professor whenever you are ready.”

“Executor, we will meet aboard this ship, not your vessel. You are in our world, you follow our rules.”

Focalor sighed. “Admiral… in the interest of cooperation, I implore you to reconsider.”

“I will not. You will either come down to us or we will have to take action.”

“Actions as in attempting to shoot us down. This isn’t a point in your favour, admiral. You want us to reveal what we are doing here, in international waters I might add. You want us to give in to whatever you demand of us. You want us to potentially stop what we are doing. You want a lot of things. We want to simply continue what we are doing. That is one demand against many. Until you showed up, we didn’t bother anyone. You came to us with demands. You need to give us something if you want us to give you anything. The meeting will be held aboard this chariot.”

“As you wish. We will take precautions, launch our airwing and be prepared to destroy your vessel in case we do not report back in time.”

“If that makes you feel better. We are ready to transport you at any time. Just give the word.”

The meeting between Focalor, admiral Douglas and professor Broysc was projected onto a table in the mess half for the others aboard the chariot to witness.

“You certainly have an impressive airship, executor.” Douglas rested his elbows on the conference table in the forward lounge.

“Thank you, admiral. While the chariots were originally planned as warships, we found no need for them. Well, not for war at least. This chariot is designed as a scientific platform. Yes, we are armed but most of our equipment is research gear.”

“What could you possibly be researching that requires you to be invisible from more than a few hundred metres away?”

“Wildlife. We are overseeing the resettlement of an endangered population of deep-sea fauna. Once we are done here, we will take our leave again.”

“I am not sure I buy that. Professor?”

Broysc nodded. “We have noticed the movement of some very large creatures unlike any we have seen before as we approached you. You say you are resettling them?”

“We are. They intend to leave this world and we are facilitating that. Neither they nor we pose a threat to you or your country and once they have left this world, we will too.”

“Why are you doing this without consulting the inhabitants of this world first? Humans are the de facto rulers of this planet and just removing something from the ecosystem without consulting us is unacceptable.”

“Why do you think no humans are involved in this? You are not all of humanity.”

“Why did you not involve the most powerful nation on this planet then?”

“Because we are not operating within Chinese jurisdiction.”

Broysc and the admiral looked mildly insulted. The professor composed himself and continued. “Leaving that remark aside, we are still an important partner in keeping the peace between your kind and humanity. You should have informed us at the very least.”

“A partner? You? A partner that launches a terrorist attack on our facilities. A partner that allies with our historical enemy to prevent us from rescuing a long-lost sister. You have been anything but a partner. There is a reason why the federal bureau of control is no longer allowed to exist. Speaking of which… who are you working for, professor? The US has no government institution to deal with the supernatural anymore.”

“I work at the department of applied theology at the Brigham Young University. The fact that the FBC no longer exists is the very reason I was called upon. I have studied your kind and the truth of this world for a long time. My unique expertise made me the only choice for this conversation.”

“Alright then. Let’s get to the demands then, so we can move the conversation forward.”

“As you wish, executor. Please, begin.”

“We will continue the resettlement undisturbed. You will not take any action to interfere with us, our efforts or the beings moving through this region. I am willing to allow you to hold your position and simply observe. Once we are done, we will leave and you will make a classified report to your superiors and that will be it. We all go home.”

“That sounds reasonable, but we still don’t know what you are resettling. How can we agree to any terms if we don’t even know all the facts?”

Nemesis flickered into existence beside the girls in the mess hall. “Apologies for the interruption, but we have received a message from the George Hammond. It took me a moment to decode but it appears to be text in what humans call morse code, relayed to us by a man with a small light flickering it on and off.”

Melody raised an eyebrow. “What did it say?”

“It is a warning. The exact message was ‘Corpus Christi approaching submerged. Received warning. Do not trust specialist. All allegiances unclear. Acknowledge covert communications.’”

Melody turned to look at Baal. “It’s not just me, is it? The feeling they don’t know what’s going on.”

Baal nodded. “They are afraid. They are referring to the submersible vessel as the Corpus Christ?”

Nemesis nodded in affirmation. “Yes.”

“I was blind. That’s why it’s not approaching with the others. We can see them, the George Hammond can too, but the carrier group can’t. They are deploying the technology we gave them, a selective stealth field, similar to what you use on this chariot.”

Melody looked back and forth between her companions and Baal for a few moments. “A submarine with human-angel hybrid technology must be at least a decade or so old. That crew was likely selected under the old FBC. They know things about professor Broysc that we don’t. They likely also know about the sirens. Nemesis, can you respond to the message from the George Hammond without the other ships noticing?”

Nemesis pondered for a moment. “I can deploy a selectively cloaked light-based response. Akin to what they used to contact us.”

“Good. I hate to ask you do something without Focalor’s permission, but we need to answer quickly. Tell them we received and understood their message and to inform us of any changes. We mean them no harm and wish to cooperate, but only with them.”

“Understood.” Nemesis vanished again.

“Baal, we need to talk about that angelic tech you gave the FBC.”

Baal stifled a sigh. “Of course.”

Focalor shook her head. “No, we cannot allow you to deploy submersible craft. We also can’t just put this entire operation on hold just because you are incapable of understanding our motives. There will be no delays and we will defend us and the local fauna by any means necessary.”

“So, we are a standstill.” Broysc groaned.

“Apparently so. As I offered previously, you are allowed to observe. I would prefer if you were to leave, but here we are.”

“Even if we decide not to interfere, this world was granted to us by God himself. We should know who is doing what here.”

Focalor raised an eyebrow. “You said you studied applied theology?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. We shouldn’t get bogged down in semantics anyway… I shall return you to your ship. You can reconsider the options and talk to anyone you need to. Contact us once you have made a decision. Until then, we will keep a defensive posture and remain ready to respond to anything.”

“Very well. Thank you for your time, executor.” Broysc got up.

Admiral Douglas followed suit. “We will see how this ends. Let us hope for a swift and peaceful resolution. Executor.” He bowed his head politely.

Focalor teleported them both away. Nemesis instantly popped up beside her. “Executor, we have a development.”

“Oh?”

“A message about the approaching submersible vessel. I have answered this message with Melody’s permission. I also have problematic news about our very recent visitors that I wish to discuss with you first before telling the others.”

“Alright, what do you have?”

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