Hrekkel moved forward to clap his hand on Tawtchee's shoulder. "It is good you are here," the scientist said.

Strechen noticed the big female moved with him, one hand on the pistol that rode on her belt. Strechen wondered if the pistol was to stop the male scientist from performing any actions that might be dangerous, protect the male, or both.

"Why?" Tawtchee asked. "I mean, whatever this Path of the Traveler is, why do you need me?"

Hrekkel smiled, flicking his ears. "Because it can change everything. Will change everything."

Tawtchee just shrugged. "If you insist."

"What do you know about the Path of the Traveler?" Hrekkel asked, turning and motioning for everyone to follow him.

Strechen noted that the Way of the Means guards didn't bridle up at the small male giving orders. Some looked, well, afraid was the only thing she could think of.

"Not much," Tawtchee admitted. "Supposedly it leads to a treasure trove, but everyone craps out," he paused for a second. "Except Senior Agent Pratulpet. She brought back a trove of technical data. I heard that somewhere."

Hrekkel again signified amusement. "Probably Pratty-chan," he chuckled.

While Strechen felt a slight burn of anger at the mention of the dissident and seditious character of Pratty-chan, which many felt was insulting to the Way of the Means.

Tawtchee shrugged. "Yeah. The video that went around a few years back."

There was silence as the group moved through the corridors until they finally reached a briefing room.

Strechen went over and grabbed some of the snacks and a drink, Tawtchee doing the same. Everyone else sat down while the Senior Intelligence Agent chairing the meeting summoned everyone else.

Tawtchee went to sit at the side, but Hrekkel motioned him to sit on one side of the table.

"I want to hear your words about the mission and the data," Hrekkel said.

Strechen could see the disbelief and borderline outrage on a lot of the female's faces.

Interestingly enough, the large female standing with her hands on Hrekkel's shoulders just gave Tawtchee and appraising look and went back to staring down the other females while her claws slowly groomed Hrekkel's fur on the back of his head and neck.

It took nearly twenty minutes, but then the table and side chairs were full.

Strechen had to admit it was impressive. There was no only several ship captains, some commodores, but a Half Admiral of the Lower Decks.

When everyone was present the scientist, Hrekkel, picked up a pointer and tapped the far wall.

The 2.5D flatscreen turned on.

"Some of you may know parts of this, or think you know parts of this. Others of you may think that this is data that is not to be disseminated," the scientist said. "However, the Empress and the Emperor have empowered me to not only oversee this scientific mission, but to decide upon information classification as well as who has access to what data in those classifications," he stared hard at the Fleet Intelligence Officer. "I am the one who makes the final determination. There will be no censorship or redaction of data without my explicit authorization and then approval."

The Intelligence Officer figeted slightly, but otherwise showed no outward sign of anger.

Hrekkel nodded.

"The Way of the Traveler has long been known to be one of the few safe passages through the Shattered Systems," Hrekkel started.

A star map appeared, with the Fallen Confederacy and its allies appearing. Then the Dremkilia and Grenklakail Empires and the Strevik'al Dominion, smack dab in the middle of the Shattered Systems. A line went from the edge of former Lanaktallan space, through the Shattered Systems, and then into the Confederate border.

"Largely used by traders, finding the Path of Traveler is the only way to safely move," he tapped it again and a fifteen star Transit Path appeared. "The Dra.Falten Empire uses this route to reach it, which then allows trade and diplomacy with both the Coreward and Spinward Fallen Confederacy star nations."

Hrekkel paused to sip at a glass of water.

"Now, there has always been legends about the Path of the Traveler, but these have largely been discarded by the Dra.Falten Empire," Hrekkel said. "Particularly the idea that a powerful and mythic entity known as Nakteti the Traveler is the one who established the Path, which for many millennia after the Fallen Confederacy's Second Precursor War was the only safe path between Coreward and Spinward nations."

Strechen noticed that a lot of the naval officers looked bored, some of them obviously not paying attention.

"This myth was disregarded by almost every species but the oldest members of the Fallen Confederacy," Hrekkel said. He looked around and gave a slight smirk at how many of the officers rolled their eyes.

"Until five years ago," He tapped the screen and it changed.

There was a Tnvaru sitting in a Captain's throne, wearing an archaic armored vacuum suit. The female Tnvaru was obviously sitting on the bridge of a warship, but the additional stations were all empty. Her visible fur had strange discolored patches on it.

What Strechen noticed first was the fact that her eyes glowed red.

"As was foretold, the Traveler has returned," the female stated. "I bear fearsome tidings and joyful warning."

Hrekkel stopped the video. "The ship was registered as the It Tastes Bitter, an obvious reference to the ship's original name of It Tastes Sweet, which disappeared nearly forty-thousand years ago and was considered lost with all hands."

Hrekkel tapped the screen and the path replaced the image of the Tnvaru with the burning red eyes.

"Diplomatic channels have verified that the Tnvaru consider this being the actual person of Nakteti the Traveler," Hrekkel said. "Does anyone remember what her mission was?"

There was just the shaking of heads. A few people stealthily checked their datapads then frowned.

"I have restricted all access to those files at this time," Hrekkel smiled. "I want you paying attention to my briefing, not looking up what the Truth of the Way has decided are the facts."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Strechen honestly expected one of the agents present to stand up and shoot the scientist and was surprised when nobody did.

Hrekkel began pacing back and forth. "She was out to find out where the Terror went. At the time it was believed that they would return at any moment."

Another tap with the crop and the image changed to show a bipedal primate. It was tall, over two meters, but gave the impression of being squat. It had well developed musculature and gave off an aura of menace and restrained violence. It had two close set eyes, a flat face with a nose that went from between the eyes to just above a mouth that took up half of the face.

"This is what is colliqualy known as a 'Terror' but in the language of the Fallen Confederacy is actually a 'Terran Descent Human', commonly called 'The Builders'," Hrekkel said.

He tapped again, showing strange constructions hanging in space. "They left behind enigmas and strange artifacts that have resisted explanation by science."

He tapped again. This time it showed tanks, strikers, artillery units, giant warmeks, power armor.

"Militarily, the Terrans were impossible to beat. Defeat temporarily or cause setbacks, yes, defeat? No. Not until they were exterminated somehow during the Second Precursor War," Hrekkel said. He looked at everyone. "They defeated everyone in the Fallen Confederacy at one time or another, including themselves."

He tapped the screen again. It showed the Path of the Traveler then zoomed in on a section two-thirds of the way through.

"Myth and rumor stated that there was a second, possibly even a third path off of the Path of the Traveler," he said. "One supposedly led to where the Terrans that had survived their extinction had fled to," he tapped and eight stars became linked with lines. "The other supposedly led to somewhere that we don't quite understand. While many considered it a myth that the third led to the afterlife, a superstition that believes that the consciousness of living creatures continues in a paradise after death, it can no longer be discounted."

No other lines appeared.

"The second path is what we are mainly interested in," Hrekkel said. He looked around. "Fifteen years ago, the Empress embarked on a plan to seize control of Terror worlds by landing colonists, in excess of a million per world, on Terror worlds. Those worlds are under Confederate interdiction, however the Empress believed that a suitable population would force the Confederacy to turn those worlds over."

He shook his head. "It was less than successful."

Strechen heard Tawtchee give a slight snort of amusement.

"In every case, something woke up the Terror war machines. They quickly overwhelmed the defenders, killed any who resisted, and took possession of the colonists," Hrekkel stated.

A tap showed burning Dra.Falten military vehicles, starships breaking up, and dead Dra.Falten soldiers laying on the ground. The data at the edges of some of the images all showed it was from helmet cams of Dra.Falten military forces.

Strechen saw Tawtchee's citizen number on several of the images.

"The project was deemed a failure," Hrekkel stated.

He tapped the screen again. "Six years ago, an overlooked instance took place," he stated. The images cleared to show a younger and smaller version of both Hrekkel and the large female Way of the Means soldier behind him.

"These two were captured by a Terror entity," Hrekkel said. He paused to brux his back teeth and the large female slowly and firmly groomed the back of his neck. "They returned to Dra.Falten space on year ago."

He tapped the screen again, bringing back the star systems off the Path of the Traveler.

"The two returned with vital information regarding the Path of the Traveler," Hrekkel stated.

Strechen noted that over half of the present officers still weren't really paying attention.

"Specifically, passcodes to activate the satellite and ground systems at each system to move to the next system," Hrekkel said. "The Grenklakail Empire and the Strevik'al Dominion also came into possession of the same data."

He tapped it again, showing a small ship and a small group of Dra.Falten. "Our Empire, like the Grenklakail Empire and the Strevik'al Dominion, sent out expeditions to discover what this secondary path led to."

He paused a moment.

"Every attempt by all three of our people's have failed at the exact same spot," Hrekkel said.

He tapped the screen.

A Terror appeared. A large one, more muscular than the first image. This one had close cut gold hair on top of its head, gold eyebrows, and cold blue eyes. It was dressed in leather. Leather pants and vest, leather boots, a sleeveless linen shirt under the vest.

"This is the first guardian of the Path of the Traveler. Not the path everyone uses, but the real Path of the Traveler," Hrekkel said. "As of now, not one expedition has made it past this guardian. This singular Terror who holds the knowledge of the next step in the Path of the Traveler. Not the path everyone else uses, but the true Path."

"We must figure out how to move past this guardian."

He paused for a moment.

"Magnus Oathsworn."

-----

Strechen wasn't sure whether or not she was offended as she stood up from the seat in the dropship. Both Tawtchee and her had been widely pushed off to the side, never included in any more briefings, never invited to any discussions regarding the plans.

But, when the ship arrived at the target world, she had been told to gear up.

She took two steps and stopped suddenly when Tawtchee held out his hand.

"Yes?" Strechen said.

Tawtchee looked around, waiting until almost everyone else had gone by.

Strechen waited with him.

"Leave everything but your pistol behind," the small male said. He looked around. "Whatever you do, don't grab your pistol," he said. He set his rifle/grenade launcher combination down and then began detaching his ammunition pouches. He set down his knife and bayonet on the seat he had ridden down to the planet in. "Unload your pistol, put your magazines in your pouch. Only carry one pouch of ammunition."

Strechen frowned. "Why?"

"If you draw a weapon or point a weapon at a Terror, they'll rip you to pieces," Tawtchee said. "Make no threatening moves," he paused again. "Restrain your instincts and be polite."

Strechen followed his instructions, despite her doubt.

While she was followed Tawtchee's instructions, the small male had moved over to the female running the dropship's communications.

"I need you to open two channels. I need to see the feed from the team that just left and a communications channel to Scientist Hrekkel," Tawtchee stated.

The female opened her mouth, her expression saying she was going to turn him down and possibly even smack him, when Strechen bruxed her teeth loudly to get attention.

"Do it," Strechen said.

The female looked defiant, but did it anyway.

Tawtchee turned on two of the monitors, sitting down in the chair normally used by the officer in charge of the excursion team. He looked at Strechen. "Tell the mistress of gunnery to turn off all the weapons and everything but the particle screens," he shook his head. "If you have to, go to breaker box nineteen and I'll tell you what breakers to pull."

Strechen thought about demanding answers, then remembered one thing.

I got them to the dropship before the Terror robot broke my back. I know what I messed up on.

We cease to exist...

Strechen holstered her pistol and attached the strap over the butt as she moved up to the gunnery station.

"Power down and shut off all weapons and defenses, particle screens only," she told the Mistress of Gunnery.

"What if we are attacked?" the female asked.

"Just do it," Strechen ordered.

"You are not in charge of this expedition. I will do no such thing," the female said.

Strechen went back and saw that Tawtchee was looking at the feed from the cameras of the excursion team. They were walking between rows of fruit trees that all had ripe fruit hanging from the branches.

"She won't depower the weapons," Strechen said.

Tawtchee held up a scribbled note pad page. "Pull these breakers. It will depower the weapons but the failure won't show up on her board."

Strechen felt doubtful, but moved over the fuse box. She opened it and carefully pulled the breakers before moving back next to Tawtchee.

She sat down just as the channel to Hrekkel was opened.

"How is it going?" Hrekkel asked.

Tawtchee looked at the monitors.

Strechen saw that the group had just left the trees, passing through a gap in some tall hedges that formed a barrier around the lines of fruit trees.

There was a small house, built of wood with a roof of wooden shingles. In front was a fire pit, to the side was a small building that was closed up. There was a stump in the front.

A Terror was sitting on the stump, a woven basket of wood strips by his foot that was full of large red fruit. The Terror had one of the fruit in his hand and was peeling it with a knife, lifting up the knife over his head and tilting his head back so that he could drop the strip of peel into his mouth.

The Terror had golden fur on top of his head, a black leather vest and pants, and a sleeveless cloth shirt, with heavy boots on his feet.

He also had what looked like a sword at his hip.

"Spread out, keep your weapons on the Terror at all times," one of the Way of the Means troops was saying. "I will interrogate the Terror, search those two buildings, seize the data we came for, and then we can leave this place."

The Terror sheathed the knife and stood up, biting into the fruit and staring at the Dra.Falten excursion team, putting one hand on the hilt of the sword.

Tawtchee looked at the monitor, staring at Hrekkel.

"Your excursion team is about to all die."