If it wasn't for Scout shoving them awake that morning, they would have overslept. As none of them were used to having their independence, they'd tried to take full advantage of it. The living quarters at the council building was possibly the best place they were ever going to stay.

Space Division wasn't known for its comfy vessels. Luxury was reserved for the Science Division. Axel had never seen the inside of their discovery ships but he'd heard stories. Some Space Division ships may have been huge but none of them prioritised the comfort of their staff. The main focus was their ability to move through space and fight.

Since the invention of transdimensional passage-providing technology, each upgrade competed to soar through space with a higher light-year-per-hour and a lower risk capacity. That wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Axel blinked through the hazy morning glint as he pulled himself up. It was amazing how much of a buzz he had last night. So much so that he couldn't sleep but now he would give anything to get back down the bed.

"Told you you'd regret it in the morning," said Scout and Axel groaned as he grabbed for his black t-shirt. "You lot might laugh at my routine but I promise you my body clock has never failed me."

"Alright, we get it. The perfect Scout has spoken," snapped Rolly. "I've got enough of a headache without you being one as well."

Scout smiled sweetly. "I suppose you haven't seen the time."

Axel looked at the clock and scrambled to get out of bed. The Galactic Council meeting was in fifteen minutes and he hadn't even had a shower. He hurried to pull on his grey Space Division jumper and black trousers. As they grew through the ranks, it would evolve to include colour. But first he needed to graduate from the Academy.

Ten minutes later, the five of them were ready and waiting by the door for Commander Brixton to join them. It was amazing the effect a deadline had on the productivity of the team.

The door pushed open and the stern face of Commander Brixton appeared before them. He pointed at Nitwit's jumper. "Get that tucked in, boy," he said, then looked over the rest of them.

"Very good," he said. "Remember the rules. We are not to engage with anyone at the meeting. We are to sit in our pod and listen. Should anyone ask you a question, you tell them it is not in your jurisdiction to answer. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nodded. Brixton led the way as they walked in single file down the corridor and through to a glass elevator. They stood in triangle formation as Brixton tapped the button to the right floor and they were whisked up towards the meeting area.

Striker shot Axel a nod of encouragement and Scout gave him a smile. Axel's heart pounded as they stepped off the elevator and walked along to the pod before taking a seat. He wondered what his father's first council meeting was like. His chest grew heavy as remembered he might never be able to ask him. Striker said he could be missing in action. But what if he never returned?

They squeezed along a wooden pew as the glass dome closed over and sealed shut behind them. Axel's stomach lurched as they rose up along a rail on the wall. A mechanical whir filled the air as the pod trundled them up the track and suspended them above an oval room so vast it could contain over seven thousand Vaxorians at once.

The walls were awash with several complicated tracks, each had a pod attached to them. The marble floor was over twenty feet below. If it weren't for the intricate design, they would plummet to their doom. More pods ascended. They contained the most important people on the planet. Axel watched as they prepared their paperwork ready for the meeting.

In the capsule at the centre, Axel could see a gaunt Vaxorian figure with large brown fins. His long fingers danced around the paperwork that sat on his desk. This was a face everyone who lived in Displincia knew. Axel had only met Mayor Hux'tarn once before when his father had been required to discuss a secret off-world meeting. The same off-world meeting that could have led to his death. Not death. Missing.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

He couldn't allow himself to think like that. There was no proof his father had died.

Hux'tarn pressed a button on his desk and the entire room was lit up with holographic projection pods. These were also people Axel had seen before but never had he been in their presence.

These were the Mayors of every planet within the shared Valaxoria/Ivarozza system. Axel and the team had been forced to learn all of their names (and also their predecessors for reasons Axel couldn't fathom). There were two Vaxorian mayors other than Hux'tarn of Displincia.

A large portly Vaxorian called Mayor Quish of Aquartillus was known for his aqua blue fins and large nose. He addressed the people with a disapproving look on his face.

Next to him was a pod that projected the image of a chunky Vaxorian with a dim smile and deep red fins. This was Mayor Nuchar of Magmagenta, he gave the people in the room a little wave.

On the other side of the room, the Mayors of the Ivarozzan planets sat. Gorm of Nifelzar was a big and brutish lizard, while Burg of Rutilarns was slender with a ponderous smile. Present too was Sidgur of Bellumdar and Durg and Lye'af were the joint ambassadors of Saxonica. A planet which stretched both sides of space and shared jurisdiction.

None of them looked happy to be there.

Axel never knew what to make of Ivarozzans. While some of them co-inhabited the planet of Displincia, it was very rare he would meet one face-to-face. As a human, he was only to be associated with the Vaxorians. Not that Wizan would have cared but the big lizard form of the Ivarozzans always made him nervous. He wondered how many his father had been forced to kill in the Final War. He also wondered if any of the Ivarozzans held it against his father for the things he'd had to do.

Surely peace was better for everyone though, wasn't it?

Two large screens hovered above them and flicked on. These were the final members of the galactic meeting. One was a tiny Vaxorian known as Zazillion, the President of Valaxoria while the other, Guthram, was the President of Ivarozza.

During history class, Axel felt the amount of people on the Galactic Council seemed excessive but when he took into consideration how many planets needed to be governed over, it made some sense.

"I welcome you, people of Valaxoria and Ivarozza," squawked Hux'tarn. "It is an honour to host the annual galactic meeting on our humble planet of Displincia. As you all know today we bring forth a matter of great anxiety."

Axel wasn't expecting that. He'd been told these meetings were usually a run of the mill, in-and-out affair. What could there be that was making them nervous?

"There are two great issues within the galaxy. Both have come in an unsuspecting manner and now we must consider whether them happening at the same time is a coincidence."

"It's an outrage," boomed the guttural voice of Gorm of Nifelzar. "That plasma is ours and we all know it. That's what's set out in the treaty."

Zazillion held up a hand. "Might I suggest that it is quite possible your own people might have stolen this plasma? I mean, how do you suggest the Vaxorians crossed unseen into the Ivarozza space?"

Axel's heart dropped. If a set of Vaxorians were seen to be stealing the plasma from the mine of Nort, that could be looked upon as an act of war.

"It can be done," boomed Gorm.

"Well it certainly wasn't a part of our plans," said Zazillion. "Why would we put the treaty at risk like that?"

Guthram sat forward in his seat. "We all know the power of the Ivarozzan plasma would do Vaxorians a great deal."

"Only if we were at war," shouted Mayor Hux'tarn. "We have no intention of fighting you again."

"Let's face it," said Zazilion. "We can all agree something is amiss with the galaxy. Just yesterday, the exploration craft we sent out with war hero Quentin Ford failed to return to the designated port. We could just as easily see the Ivarozzans as the cause of this."

Scout put a reassuring hand on Axel's. It probably should have been obvious his father was going to be up for discussion.

"Why would we want to attack your old man of a hero? He's hardly a threat to us," Guthram laughed.

"If you thought we'd stolen your plasma," said Zazilion. "Which by the way, we have not, then who knows what you might have done in retaliation?"

Guthram's scales turned red. "We wouldn't break the treaty after everything we were put through to get it!"

"Well something is amiss," said Zazilion.

Hux'tarn's podium beeped. He patched it through and his fins turned red as he noted it was his secretary. "What is the meaning of this? You are not to interrupt a Galactic Council."

"Sir, there's been a warning on the security satellite," said the secretary. "You might want to see this."

"It will have to wait until--"

He didn't get a chance to finish what he was saying.

An explosion crashed into the side of the building. Axel was thrown into Scout. The lights went out and the pod they were in plummeted towards the darkness.