Goddess of the Galacticide Episode 31 - The Opportunity She Brings

Episode 31

“They expertly destroyed the research station, but left eye-witnesses?” asked Rige Khuksos.

“Yes, Assembly Member.”

Rige sighed. She was used to her colleagues being generous with words, giving meandering responses if asked such an open-ended question, leaving room for sweet speculation. Not so with this man.

“Intelligence Analyst Vnoot, in your experience, if someone is capable of planning and executing a daring operation, like the theft of a Kubuu Ksiw sphere drive array, then disposes of all physical evidence, how often does it happen they do not leave just one witness behind, but a whole group? Is this not a bit too convenient?”

“Convenient, Assembly Member? Certainly. Otherwise, we would only have fragments of radio communication between the infiltrators…”

Foyash Le Sakp’s long slender hand slapped on the polished conference table. “Infiltrators? These people are traitors. Terrorists!”

“Yes, Assembly Member. As to how often does it happen? Never. But then, we also never had a sphere drive taken.”

“Do not get clever with us,” said Foyash. “Be glad we even consider the opinion of a lowly analyst.”

“I am a Lead Intelligence Analyst, Assembly Member, outranking the Deputy Sector Commander you had assigned to oversee my investigation. I was told I would report my findings to the committee.”

“We are the chair and vice-chair,” said Rige.

The conference room was bright, simple, yet elegant, and featured twelve comfortable seats around the oval table. Rige knew this was the most important investigation in Analyst Vnoot’s brief mortal existence. He wanted an audience to tell his findings. Share his discovery with the galaxy, not simply with the gruff elder plus a career stateswoman .

She smiled. “We are the committee.”

“Yes,” said Foyash, “and before we waste our colleagues’ valuable time, we want to make certain these eye-witnesses are useful. There are many ways to temper with someone’s recollection. Maybe the station operators told you some carefully implanted memories, believing them to be true. The terrorists had ample time. It took many spins before the group was found.”

“A fair point, Assembly Member. There was likely opportunity for such manipulation, but the ERI would have revealed it.”

“The ERI?” asked Rige.

“Episodic Resonance Imaging. A combination of engram tagging, neural pattern reconstruction, and optogenetic restoration.”

“Oh, spare us the jargon,” said Foyash. “Are the memories genuine or not?”

“Most importantly,” said Rige, “would you, Lead Intelligence Analyst Vnoot, stand in the Grand Chamber of the Assembly and state with full confidence what you are about to tell us?”

Rige knew the threat of a Grand Chamber testimony to be terrifying, even for a clever, ambitious man like Vnoot, who tried his utmost to appear calm and controlled. Mortals had rarely set foot in the Assembly chamber in recent history, and only one had ever addressed a session.

Foyash seemed sluggish, even while seated, at least to the untrained eye. But he understood what Rige was doing.

“We are doing you a favor, my dear Lead Analyst,” he said, “keeping the audience small for now. What do you have for us?”

Vnoot touched his temple implant. A projection of two human heads appeared over the center of the table.

“The infiltration…”. He started over. “The terrorist attack was led by two individuals. This woman…” The female head ballooned into a magnified view. “…went by the code name Wraith.”

Rige squinted. The young woman’s face looked familiar.

“We identified her with 99.5% confidence as Linuka Omga.”

Foyash’s pale complexion got paler. “You are telling us that Kel Chaada’s daughter has stolen our sphere drive? That is ridiculous. How old is she? I know some religious cult used to worship her, but she is a child.”

“Krrugze Darrtuzke is the second-largest religion in human-settled space, Assembly Member. I would not call it a ‘cult’.”

“She had help,” said Rige. She pointed at the unmagnified male head. “Who is he?”

“Identified as Cha Dzeeny. Former Levy Fleet Detachment Leader.”

Foyash looked at Rige. “Dzeeny? Is that…”

“Maybe later, Assembly Member,” said Rige. “We should let the Analyst Vnoot continue.”

Foyash had recognized the name, too. The leader of the marines who took the fall for Assembly Member Lotnuuk Rrupteemaa’s escapades with the Omga family. Linuka Omga’s quest beyond space and time, the death of Kel Chaada. Stolen battleships. Once quiet returned, the marines fled their holding facility. Lotnuuk Rrupteemaa had approached Rige, promising her support for becoming the committee chair. In return, she excluded the facility video streams from the official report. The streams showing Linuka Omga freeing Cha Dzeeny. Vnoot was not aware of this, and she preferred keeping it that way.

“It appears that Omga and Dzeeny commanded a group of human soldiers and three or more Isonomih.”

“AI cores?” asked Rige.

Cha Dzeeny had been freed along with his former unit. What drove the machines to participate in this attack?

“Sadly, Isonomih appear too uniformly to determine their identity, but from the context of the operation we are 72% confident these were Dark AI Remnants.”

“Analyst Vnoot,” said Foyash. “Listen to yourself. For eleven orbits, the Remnants have ignored or resisted any form of outreach or official negotiation. Besides a handful of amnesty seekers, no one had proper contact with these marauders. But this Omga girl has somehow befriended three of them?”

“Probably more, Assembly Member. Which leads me to how the attack was possible at all. This group used a Kubuu Ksiw ship identical to one the guarding task force expected as part of a regular rotation.”

“And they just let them join the task force?” asked Foyash.

“They knew the protocols and passed the challenges. There was no suspicion until an unscheduled shuttle approached the sphere drive array, which carried the infiltrators, who could then activate the device and use it for their escape.”

Rige took a deep breath. “Could you reveal the whereabouts of the sphere drive?”

“No, Assembly Member. The attackers were careful not discussing their plans in front of the station operators. The only statement made hinted they would use the drive again.”

“So, they could be anywhere in the local group of galaxies?” asked Foyash.

“As far as we understand…”

“We thank you for your illuminating, yet frustrating report,” said Rige, “and we shall call on you again shortly for more details. If you could please wait outside.”

Vnoot left, his steps lacking the crisp resolve compared to his entrance into the room. The door closed.

“He is disappointed,” said Foyash, “and so am I. Why did you send him away just yet? We need to squeeze every bit of information out of him before others are aware of what happened.”

“There is a greater opportunity here,” she said.

Foyash’s bald head wrinkled. “You got my attention, Chairwoman.”

“You recognized this Cha Dzeeny character? First, Lotnuuk Rrupteemaa lets Linuka Omga go instead of pulling her in front of the same tribunal that put this man and his soldiers away. Then Rrupteemaa does not keep her detained. The ‘girl’ is a known immortal and is multi-aware. He lets her live in an inner city apartment. When he comes to his senses, she evades arrest, then breaks out these soldiers and vanishes. Instead of starting the greatest person-hunt in history? Nothing. Rrupteemaa calms the committees, tells them to wait. For what? The same Omga with the same soldiers reappear, controlling a Kubuu Ksiw warship, and now the only working sphere drive array, operated by Dark AI Remnants.”

“A disaster.” Foyash shook his head. “I must admit I do not see the opportunity, only a string of bad decisions leading to a terrible outcome.”

“Precisely. And it is all Lotnuuk Rrupteemaa’s fault.”

Foyash’s lank upper body leaned back against the chair cushions.

“I see,” he said. “Well, Rige, I always knew you were ambitious. Youngest sitting member of the Assembly. First woman to chair a committee. But taking on Rrupteemaa? That is 500 orbits of intrigue-spinning and alliance-crafting, all in one dangerous man. Are you certain you are ready for this?”

“Rrupteemaa also had 500 orbits to make enemies. We could build a powerful coalition against him. But the most powerful enemy he ever made is at the center of this disaster—Linuka Omga.”

“What has he done to her?”

“The coup that unseated her as the Shaajis of Aloo Dash, putting her degenerate clone aunt on the throne?”

Foyash’s mouth opened.

“Rrupteemaa’s doing. When she comes here…”

“You think she will attack the Assembly?”

“Her mother did. I believe she is collecting a crew and ships to finish what Sya Omga started.”

“What do we do then?”

“We remind her that she has friends in the Assembly. Friends, who will deliver the one true enemy to justice. The man who imprisoned her father and ruined her life. If our efforts to bring Rrupteemaa down politically fail, we shall feed him to the most powerful angry girl in the galaxy.”

Click here for next episode

---

Copyright © 2025 Bert Oliver Boehmer. All rights reserved. No part of this serialized novel may be reproduced, reposted, or distributed in any form without the prior written permission of the author. The creation of any derivative works (including translations, adaptations, or other transformations) is likewise prohibited without permission. The use of any portion of this material for training or developing artificial intelligence or other machine learning models is strictly forbidden.