"Greetings, esteemed High Elder. Your presence is an honor on our world," King Lumis greeted with practiced formality.
"No need for formalities, King Lumis. I can already sense your fear," Robin replied, forgoing any niceties and promptly removing his mask. "I'm no High Elder, just an ordinary person."
"But surely, any planet would be privileged to host you, High Elder," King Lumis insisted, a mix of emotions flickering across his features—anger, fear, admiration, and even hatred.
"I killed your soldiers. Despite the political intricacies, they were under your command," Robin stated, cutting through the veils of diplomacy. Lumis was taken aback for a moment before he bowed his head, his response eluding him.
Named 'The Gentle,' Lumis carried a compassion that often surpassed his predecessors. His father's brutal rule had driven him to aspire to something better, leading him to ascend the throne and win popular support. Although he was compassionate and empathetic, Lumis wasn't naive. Politics dictated his choices, including sidelining his sister in the succession contest. Despite their rivalry, their bond remained strong beneath the weight of politics.
Having lost the Zorians in the war, Lumis recognized the necessity of his actions, even if they pained him. Despite his empathy, he was pragmatic and understood the dynamics of power, especially in his position.
"We are at the steps of heaven and that is how the politics carry on in the lower steps to heaven High Elder," Lumis spoke, acknowledging Robin's elevated status in the cosmic hierarchy. Sauvik intervened with a discreet pinch, urging restraint in speaking so openly amidst the gathered crowd. Such discussions would be better conducted behind closed doors to dispel misunderstandings.
"King Lumis, a private conversation is in order to chart our next steps," Robin proposed.
"As you wish, High Elder," Lumis agreed, leading them toward the palace, his gaze lingering on the battleship—an amalgam of respect and unease. He remained uncertain about Robin's intentions and the objectives of the Earthlings. Would they obliterate his world or draft it into the conflict against the Luminary Collective?
The sun dipped beneath the horizon, casting a warm golden hue across the landscape. The Dyson sphere radiated even more brilliantly, casting an otherworldly glow over everything.
Soon, Robin and his companions were seated in a grand hall, a masterpiece of intricate beauty. A vast table adorned the room, and Robin was offered a distinctive chair, set apart from the rest. This gesture underscored Lumis's mixture of fear and admiration for Robin.
A High Elder, seemed to be some crazy shit. He was getting more and more interested.
"At first we welcome, High Elder Robin for coming to our planet and showing his grace. Though we have put our wrong foot down, I sincerely hope that High Elder would be magnanimous enough to spare the lives of the Zorians. We are just a budding civilization, under the rules of the land. If the High Elder isn't satisfied with my answer, I am ready to bear the responsibility for my countrymen. I don't want the innocent lives of Zorians to suffer."
"I am Sauvik, advisor to Robi.. I mean High Elder. You didn't think for a minute before launching the invasion on us. And your expect us to spare you?" Robin didn't open his mouth but Sauvik did.
"I don't understand. The Zorians never launched an invasion into any galaxy and we don't even have the spaceships to even travel that far."
"You are not getting it did you, even after telling you a few times. We are not from some distant galaxy and no this not some kind of misdirection. We were born and raised in the same galaxy as yours which is yours. We have gone through your servers and we know that each galaxy has a very specific kind of species and we aren't sure what has happened to our species but we can boldly and truthfully say that we are from this galaxy."
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Lumis was having a headache listening to the 'lies' again. It was very absurd to lie for them when they even had the High Elder at the same table.
"Pardon me, but if you didn't belong to the Luminar Nexus Galaxy, then explain to us why we have such a huge difference in the species and even if we accept the fact that you belong to the same galaxy as ours, explain to me how your planet has so advanced technology that you are able to contend against the Luminary Collective. You have even brought help from another galaxy and you still say that you don't belong to another galaxy?" Lumis said while pointing out to the Protoss. Lumis seemed to be fed up listening to the same narrative since the start of the battle and crying victim, while in fact Zorians were the victims.
This made Sauvik pause for a second and then said.
"What if we bring you to our planet and show you the history of humans for you to believe. And the inclusion of the Protoss species will be explained after you see our home." Sauvik said. Lumis was a little angry now, as they seemed to be adamant on the fact that these people held on to the previous lie even though he called out on them.
"If you really speaking the truth then show us your IGID." Lumis said and he was a little furious at this point.
"What is IGID?" Sauvik asked. Hearing that Lumis was stupefied. He couldn't be believe his ears. They didn't know what IGID was?
"You mister, must be joking right?"
"Do I look like I am in a joking mood?" Sauvik retorted back. Lumis took a deep breath. His bioluminescent pattern which had been quite lit up for the past few seconds seemed to have dimmed down a bit. It seemed like the bioluminescence was the indication of someone emotional meter.
Their sex nights must be lit!
"IGID stands for Inter Galactic Identity. Every species who has come in contact with any galactic rule is brought under the identity and it would be illegal if one doesn't register when one is born. Now, if you really don't belong to other galaxy, show us your IGID." Lumis.
"Wait there is inter galactic federation of some kind?" It was Robin who spoke up as he suddenly got excited. Lumis turned over and he could tell that Robin seemed to be interested now.
"High Elder, do you really have no idea of the IGID?" Lumis, who had been a little aggressive against Sauvik, mellowed down like a kitty infront of Robin.
"No. So tell us more about the Intergalactic federation thing and IGID." Robin asked again.
"Uhh.. The Intergalactic federation is based on 200 billion galaxies in the known universe and is jointly governed and looked after by some of the most powerful galaxies in the universe. The IGID is issued by them and is valid in all of the known universe." Lumis said. "Look we can talk about Intergalactic Federation more but will it be okay if we check your IGID?"
"Why not? There is nothing to hide anyways." Robn said. This made Lumis double take. He was thinking once he took out the topic of IGID, they would back out and try to deviate their attention. How come these people seemed to be excited? He was still not able to entertain the fact that what these humans were saying was the truth and there could be one planet with so much power.
And honestly no one could blame Lumis for his thoughts. A single planet could never have the fire power to battle a galaxy. Lumis eyed his advisor to bring a scanner. Soon he came with a scanner that looked like the ones in the grocery stores, but it looked more sophisticated.
Lumis was handed over the device.
"High Elder, are you sure you want to do this?" Lumis asked.
"If it proves our innocence than yes, and if it's some kind of killing machine, then I can assure you that before that device can harm my friend, I will make your lineage vanish." Robin said with no emotions on his face. This made Lumis shudder, among all the talking and disagreements, he had forgotten that there was an High Elder among them, a legendary figure.
"I can promise you on my life, High Elder, that this is a harmless device and doesn't have any kind of radiation that can harm to any species in the known universe. " Lumis said. Robin nodded. Sauvik got up and stood in front of the device and waited to do it's job.
Lumis held the scanner high and clicked on it. And then a notification came up for everyone to hear.
[
Species : Unknown
Name : Not registered
Age : Unknown
Galaxy of origin : Unknown
Planet of origin : Unknown
]
This made the people in the room completely silent. And it was for both of the factions. The Zorians couldn't believe that these powerful people didn't have any presence in the known galaxy. How was that even possible?