USD: The Morning after IFRB Warrant
Location: Meltisar, Mil-1A, Meltisar High Command, Tia’s CIC
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A massive fireball streaked toward Alex. Her heart pounded as she raised her staff and gritted her teeth. Sweat dripped down her forehead and her pointed wizard hat blew off her head in a gust of wind as she strained to hold back the fiery onslaught. The effort drained her energy rapidly, but she managed to halt the red ball’s momentum just before it reached her.
The lush green ground around her withered and blackened under the intense heat, charred remnants of grass crunching beneath her boots. With a grunt of exertion, Alex hurled the fireball back at her opponent.
Who effortlessly somersaulted over it towards her.
Alex did her best to release a flurry of light attacks to conserve her energy but then one of the punches was grabbed and Thea threw her to the ground. Attempting to roll away, she then grabbed Alex and put her in a headlock.
“That’s not fair!” Alex mashed on her controller harder, slamming the X button repeatedly to try to get her character out of a headlock. Her health bar shrank rapidly until she finally was released with a barely visible sliver.
She launched an immediate counterattack only to run out of stamina. Wasting no time, she launched into recharging her energy, but then a low-powered range attack flashed in and sent her character collapsing onto the ground.
A groan escaped from her throat as she released the game controller to grab a bite from a shared bowl of nacho flavored crisps.
“That’s not fair.”
Thea chuckled and grabbed a chip from her own bowl. “You need to spend way more time practicing if you want to beat me.”
A chime signaled someone entering. They both looked behind their seats to wave at Elis.
“What have you done?” Elis scanned the room, her eyes lingering on the corner of the room that Alex had renovated. Two comfy recliners, a large sofa, and a few end tables surrounded by a large gaming-style holographic display. It was surrounded by a see-through bead curtain that separated the space from the rest of MIL-1A’s primary CIC controlled by Tia.
Alex shared a look with Thea before snatching up another crisp. The beads made a rattling sound as Elis entered the din and stole one of the snacks for herself before fixing Thea with the look. “You shouldn’t be teaching her bad habits.”
“Hey!” Alex protested. “It was my idea. Thea just helped me select the things because I didn’t know what to get.”
Elis’ gaze slid over to her. The gaze of disapproval shined a bit more strongly than Alex was used to causing her to tug on her collar. “What?”
Elis raised an eyebrow. “You decided to install a gaming room inside the CIC of the system’s most important military stations. Did you even ask Tia?”
“It’s an obvious fix to a design flaw.” Alex said defensively.
Elis rolled her eyes and shook her head. “How could I even expect something else?”
Alex stuck her tongue out at her sister, then looked at Thea who was barely containing her laughter. Elis came around to sit in the middle of the sofa between them, skewering Thea with a glance. “You’re supposed to be an adult. Why’d you let her get away with it?”
Thea raised an eyebrow. “Why wouldn’t I encourage her? I enjoy playing games, and she’s the boss.”
Elis frowned. “She’s still a kid. Sometimes she needs moderating.”
Alex felt her cheeks heat up before she protested. “Hey! That’s not true! I’m not a kid!”
Both Elis and Thea turned to fix her with a stare that had her wiggling in her seat on the sofa, but she didn’t back down. “I’m not!”
Elis shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. “Fine. You’re a young adult. But we are supposed to be meeting here for some serious stuff and you’re playing a video game.”
“We got here on time; it was Tia who suddenly chimed that she would be three hours late!” Alex said.
“There wasn’t something you could study? Haven’t you been on that station review and missing half your academy classes?” Elis questioned.
“I have been keeping up with classes remotely. I have done a ton of studying.” Alex crossed her arms and leaned forward to look around Elis and redirect attention to their other companion. “Besides, Thea was here. She’s unbeatable at Portal Combat!”
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Elis glanced at the controller in Alex’s hands and then glanced back to Thea, who was looking extremely smug.
“What? The girl is right. I’m very good,” Thea said, with a smug expression plastered all over her face.
“Is that so?” Elis reached over to take the controller from Alex’s hands.
Alex’s eyes widened. “Hey!”
Elis raised an eyebrow. “You’ve already had how many attempts? You didn’t beat her once?”
A sheepish feeling filled Alex as she released the controller to her sister. “Twenty-six…no.”
Elis navigated the game’s menu screen and highlighted the versus mode, then plunged them into the character select screen. “Leave it to your big sis to save the Myers’ name.”
It was Thea’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Oh? Are you sure you want to bring family honor into this? You’re going to get whipped, too.”
“Please. I’m going to knock that smug look off your face,” Elis shot back.
Thea shook her head slightly. “Have you even played this before?”
Elis turned to study the available game characters. “Portal Combat is a classic. It might take me a few rounds to get used to this version, but then you’re gonna be the one crying.”
“Already setting up an excuse for when you lose, I see.”
Alex’s eyes flipped back and forth between the two girls rapidly. She’d never seen Elis quip back and forth with someone else like this before. A warm fuzzy feeling filled her as worries about all the pressure on them dissolved into the background. Even though Elis lost the first round, it didn’t dampen her vocal support for her sister to win.
The first round went by rapidly, with Thea giving Elis zero time to acclimate to the controls. Alex rapidly began to divulge everything she could think of to help, and much to her relief, Elis began to turn things around within a few games.
By the time they reached round ten, Elis was already putting up a stronger resistance than she had over dozens of matches.
Thea’s smug superiority evaporated, and Alex watched as both of them disappeared into a deadly silent focus, fingers mashing buttons rapidly as the characters on the screen jostled for position to deliver devastating magic attacks and martial art moves.
Neither of them looked away when the CIC’s main entry way finally slid open again. Alex turned to face backwards on the sofa to spot a confused Tia staring at their corner. Alex offered a friendly wave as the other girl approached.
Tia’s face was an incredulous mirror of Elis’s when she had saw their gaming zone. Elis still had not won a match, although she had brought several rounds to a draw and put Thea on the defensive and nearly out of the game multiple times.
Wanting to give Elis a few more chances to win, Alex hopped off the couch to run interference. Meeting Tia before she made it halfway across the room, she blocked the white-haired girl’s line of sight of the corner with a weak smile. “Hey.”
Tia transfixed her with a stare. “I can see right through you. What the heck are you three doing?”
“You postponed things… we had to find something to do while waiting,” Alex offered. Elis let out a victorious shout, and it was hard to not turn to see if her sister had finally won a fight.
Tia leaned around her to look, anyway. Her voice was a neutral flat. “In the CIC.”
Alex bit her lip. “Why not?”
Tia’s eyes slid back to her, and Alex felt like the other girl was silently judging her. It was a relief when the other girl’s expression softened and a slight grin appeared. “Sure. Why not?”
Alex nodded carefully. “So, what about the meeting with Veliana? It was important enough to keep us all waiting?”
Tia crossed her arms and the flat stare returned to lock on to Alex. “It had to do with the IFRB Warrant yesterday. You’re not the only one being targeted. The Corpos have put a lot of effort into pumping the IFRB’s prosecution department. The Solarians are a named defendant in the same case you are. Someone sent in a trove of unfiltered recordings and data from Nu Crateris.”
Alex felt her cheeks redden as she knew exactly who Tia was referring to. She’d sent the data forward as a defense mechanism when the colony administration on Dedia IV had been trying to strong-arm her into completing the eradication of the troublesome Rexxor nests that had been threatening to overrun their settlements.
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“The Corpos have laid the colonization of the planet and violation of the accords on the feet of the Solarians. You nuking the nest next to the colony hub is just icing on the cake. They have some kind of evidence that the landing of colonists on the nest was a deliberate act, which it might very well have been. You don’t just unload thousands of people on top of the nest of a hostile species, sapient or not.”
Alex frowned. “It didn’t make much sense to me at the time, either.”
“Veliana told me that the Solarians believe it was a false flag operation, and the commander of the convoy was a Corporate plant.” Tia frowned before glancing at the noisy corner.
Alex tilted her head. “But there is no proof?”
Tia nodded. “Which is a problem.”
Alex bit her lip. “Is this something we seriously need to worry about? We have a war to plan, and if the IFRB is running to our enemies’ playbook, shouldn’t we just ignore them?”
“I don’t think you appreciate how integrated the old Federation institutions are in everyday life, everywhere. They are ingrained in the system—every financial transaction, every contract validation, every dispute mediation, and even the mail are facilitated by their various departments. They might not be as visible as the four major powers, but there is a reason everything across every core system is compatible. Everyone adheres to IFRB standards because not doing so means disaster.”
Tia paused to take a breath, then continued. “Even if we wanted to retool all of that ourselves, we couldn’t do that overnight. It would take years, even with Nameless working 24/7 and without any external threats beating at the gates. Which isn’t likely.”
“Why didn’t you mention this before? If they can just yank the rug underneath our feet so easily…” Alex’s lips drooped into a worried frown.
“Because it wasn’t a likely problem. The IFRB doesn’t like to get involved. They don’t get involved. That’s why they remain in the background. But this seriously violates their charter and their enforcement division is probably foaming at the mouth to get in the limelight for once. I don’t even remember when a major case went before the IFRB courts off the top of my head. It just doesn’t happen.”
“But it is now.”
“No one wants the Drakari involved, or another war with them.”
“I read a little about that a long time ago when I was researching the Octanis Accords, but I don’t understand why people are afraid of them?”
Tia let out a breath. “Well, you’re going to find out. One of their diplomatic envoys arrived to oversee the IFRB’s investigation.”