My Kingdom Come Book 1: The Saints We See (Complete)

Epilogue: The Message

666 standard years after the signing of the Alliance

Deetha reached into the pocket of her dress and rubbed her thumb over the paper there that had been folded and refolded a hundred times.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

Deetha nodded at her thirteen standard year old niece, Cheldez. "Go ahead."

Cheldez got up and walked out of the radio room and down the hall.

Deetha was left alone. She thought for a moment about trying to send her message, but the date and time for trying to contact Hathu had been carefully selected by her and her little group of resisters. Each radio operator for the window of his return message had been carefully scheduled. If she sent her message too soon, or too late, it could have disastrous consequences.

She let out a breath, I just need to be patient.

She sat in silence, watching the lights blinking on the radio equipment and her worries came crowding to the front of her mind. Worries over her little group of resisters and what would happen to them when- if they were caught. Worries about the crops that failed last year and were struggling this year, about the children here, what their future was going to look like in Nediz's colony. Worries over her oldest son Armis, who was out on patrol with her husband Tannis, worries over her younger son Janim and her eleven year old daughter Gierna and the upcoming hunt. Tannis said that Gierna had to join the hunt this time, or else get engaged to be married. And then there was the one worry that had dominated all others for the last four months or so, since she had first decided to try to contact Hathu: what if he's changed?

She shook her head. She knew Hathu. He wouldn't abandon her. Why not? You abandoned him. Her thoughts reminded her. She clenched her jaw and tried to push the thought away. That had been different.

She nearly missed the call light blinking.

She quickly slipped her headphones on and tuned the radio to the calling frequency. All she could hear was a series of shrieks and static, a very familiar series of shrieks. She frowned and keyed the radio to run the colony's standard decoding program. The message immediately cleared into a male voice speaking.

"...like to meet you and assist you in your work and see where you can fit into our organization. The rewards for those with the vision to see clearly are great, and you are plainly someone with great vision, someone who allows their prime to guide them to victory.

"Please respond along this frequency from wherever you feel comfortable broadcasting, so that we can set up a mutually acceptable meeting place between your emissaries and ours. Use the codename 'Believer' and you can use this same scrambling code to keep our business private.

"Until we meet, may your hunts be sweet and may your prime continue to lead you to victory!"

Deetha sighed. They received messages like this every week. This one was one of the few that thought Nediz would join them. Usually the messages were from people begging to join father. He usually didn't take these kind of messages very well. However, it was her job to see that he received all the messages that were sent. She began preparing the recording of the message to send to her father, when the voice began speaking again.

"Hello, to Nediz Fons, greetings from your emperor, Zaldis of the mighty Ir'Klan. News of your plans to bring in the age of the hunter has reached us. We are sorry that you felt the need to conceal your plans from us, though it is very understandable, it's not currently a popular stance. We would like to assure you that our goals and yours are one and the same.

"There is an exclusive group of leaders across the galaxy who have been working to bring about the age of the hunter for nearly seven hundred years, all our work is coming to fruition and will soon come into the light for all to see. We would like to meet you and assist you in your work and see where you can fit into our organization. The rewards for those with the vision to see clearly are great, and you are plainly someone with great vision, someone who allows their prime to guide them to victory.

"Please respond along this frequency from wherever you feel comfortable broadcasting, so that we can set up a mutually acceptable meeting place between your emissaries and ours. Use the codename 'Believer'. and you can use this same scrambling code to keep our business private.

"Until we meet, may your hunts be sweet and may your prime continue to lead you to victory!"

After another five seconds the message repeated. It was obviously a recording playing on a loop, every word and intonation was exactly the same every time.

Deetha listened with horror. Surely, the emperor was laying a trap for her father. How could he be working to abolish the Alliance? He was one of the original crafters of the document that guaranteed protection for all species, regardless of their ability to defend themselves.

Her fingers had paused, hovering over the button that would send the message off to Nediz.

She heard Cheldez's cheerful chatting coming down the hall.

It was the sheer audacity of the message that decided the matter for her. The emperor wouldn't get away with such a bald faced lie unless he had proof that would convince father, which meant there was a good chance it was true. The message said they had been working on bringing in the age of the hunter for nearly seven hundred years, did that mean that the Alliance was a farce? Was the historic document part of their plan?

She jerked the piece of paper out of her pocket and feverishly began jotting the message down on the back of it with trembling fingers, praying she would finish before Cheldez returned.

Cheldez's voice came closer and closer. She was talking to one of the young guards on corridor patrol.

Cheldez giggled at something the young man said. She was right outside the door. She paused there to finish her conversation. Keep talking, keep talking. Deetha scribbled the last words of the message down, refolded the worn sheet of paper and shoved it in her pocket. She was just purging the memory system as Cheldez walked into the room.

"What are you doing?"

Deetha furtively pressed the button that would block the frequency the message was coming in on. Hopefully it would stop broadcasting before her shift was up. "Just routine maintenance on the memory banks."

Cheldez frowned and sat in the chair next to her aunt's. "I thought we didn't do that for another three days."

"Usually we don't, but it's been such a busy week, I decided to do it today. If things stay this busy we'll probably need to purge it again on the usual day."

"Oh, that makes sense. Grandpa's cause is growing everyday. We'll be able to move on the empire sooner than he originally thought, wont we?" She looked at Deetha with shining eyes.

Deetha smiled at Cheldez. "Yes, you're probably right."

"This is so exciting, the prey will finally take their proper place and the Hunter will rule the galaxy again!"

***

A/N: Thank you so much for following Hathu and Mik this far on their journey! If you want to see what happens next, their story continues in My Kingdom Come, book 2: The Beast Inside (link in the comments)