General Jee read the reports with growing anger. The Ick had counter– attacked, driving back the Federation forces. Smashing victories had the entire Federation forces in a full retreat all along the Ashia Minor front. The return of Wickede had galvanised their forces and with the cure for coffee addiction readily available on the Outer System Universal Wide Network, entire divisions of the Federation's conscripted army had defected to the Ick cause. Only his swift action in shutting down the Federal Wide Web in the Inner Systems until appropriate viruses could be uploaded to wipe such information, had prevented the news spreading to the heart of the Federation. Now only controlled sites still operated as the Federation spread stories of a wide-scale cyber-attack by the Ick.
The Secret Order of the Bean would weather the storm in the Inner System but needed time to reposition its forces. They already controlled the Senate and kept those troops most loyal in all key positions. The robotic forces would now be recalled and production of them increased. He wasn’t worried about losing the war; they still had the upper hand and the Ick did not have the forces to press their advantage. What infuriated him was the fact that he would have to postpone his own plans to seize control of the Order of the Bean and control the universe as its first emperor. The only positive thing so far was that there was no mention of the Alienbutt in any report, but he was still waiting for his spies to find out what that meant. Too angry to deal with the work before him, he stood up and decided to go release some of his pent-up anger.
Jee walked down to the detention area. Here on his private estates on the planet AV32 he was guaranteed total privacy, as the estate sprawled over an entire continent. The planet was owned by the Secret Order and the estates were a perk of his position. He exited the lift and entered the giant underground holding area. It was empty and bare apart from a large circular holding cell in the centre, which contained one prisoner. After a month of regular beatings and the expert attention of his torturer his sister still showed no signs of breaking. With a broad grin Jee walked over to the energy shield that was the barrier of the cell.
“Great news sister, it appears that Wickede stabbed that Alienbutt in the back to return, and left him for dead. Maybe the Ick leader is not so unlike me.” Jee had no proof of this but suspected something fatal had happened to Alienbutt. He had sent Alienbutt's father, upgraded by cyborg implants and reprogrammed to be a killing machine, to track down Alienbutt and Wickede and kill them. The fact that Wickede had made it back while Alienbutt was missing, made him suspect that Bigrip Alienbutt had managed to find them and at least carry out half of his mission. Without Alienbutt the Ick were doomed and he hoped his little comment would get an angry reaction from his sister.
Grommit sat on the floor with her legs crossed as she stared at her brother, the same look on her face that she had every time he came to see her. That look of pure murder was still there aimed at him, undiminished by her time here. He knew if she got the chance she would try to kill him in an instant.
“Still not talking? Well, should we cut straight to your daily beating then?” he asked, averting his eyes from the murderous gaze. With a grin Jee pulled a pair of gauntlets from his belt, pulling them on. The metal plating over the knuckles and fingers began to spark with an electric current. As the shields were dropped between himself and his sister three other figures stepped forward each holding electro-batons ready for when Grommit would launch herself at her brother.
To be continued.
All images are mine.
