Dante Artorius Inferno – Wuthering Halls

Part 1

I couldn’t believe what i saw: The Planetary Chief Socrates had secretly saved my life … So, he knew that I was innocent, or else he knew about Desmond’s plans …

-Chief Socrates … how is it possible? – I still didn’t believe i was free.

-Dante, remember that I must know EVERYTHING about MY Planet … -Again that strange feeling of possession was seen in the way of talking about Next Island. He sat on the grass next to me.

-Listen… Your wife and your friend the Toulano came to see me and told me everything they knew about your adventures with Simon and Desmond … The planetary TP and the betrayal of some members of the Stel faction … We had to intervene.

-But… why didn’t you intervene in person? You are the Planetary Chief of this area of ​​the Entropy Quadrant.

Chief Socrates looked at me amused, as if he had to explain a lesson to a student.

-Let’s see Dante, this is … Politics … There are several factions in Next Island, and also a kingdom from another time, Ancient Greece … The balance is precarious between all the factions … I can’t intervene in one, because the others would throw themselves like wolves to take the place, and what is worse … that instability would lead to problems with the Central Government of Calypso … there they have their own problems with the robots, and if something happens on a planet in the Entropy Quadrant, they fire the Planetary Chief and put another in his place … and we don’t want that to happen, do we, Dante?

Power games … that’s what I was involved in now because of Desmond, Mark and the handling of some of the VIP Stel.

-So, Dante, we will have to do it in a discreet, hidden way … If the planetary TP is known because of this crisis, there will be chaos between the factions trying to take advantage of the possible advantage if they find the place … We cannot allow it.

-Yeah, Boss … and in this interval we have lost Simon … he was a great help despite our differences, but now he’s dead … -deep down I felt guilty for his death.

-Too bad we couldn’t resuscitate him, -Socrates said.

I was amazed … could it be resurrected despite being removed from the DNA data banks ?. I asked Chief Socrates, who explained to me that with a DNA sample the avatar could be reconstructed with memories up to the moment of death … The bad thing is Desmond was cremated in Ancient Greece once the investigation was finished; Furthermore, when he sold himself as a mercenary, he was very jealous of his privacy and security and, therefore, no one knew where he lived … Maybe in his house there was some DNA residue to be able to reconstruct it.

-I’m sorry Boss, but I don’t know where he lived either … Too bad I couldn’t bring him the Viceroy helmet that I gave him.

-Were you going to give him a helmet? -Socrates asked.

-Yes, he said that Viceroy helmets were his favorites, so I looked for one for him … When we came back from Teleporting I was able to get a contraband one … I showed it to him, he tried it on but it was too big for him, so he left it to me to read. I will change it for another … and with so much trouble with the animals, Desmond and everything else, it stayed in my private storage …

-He tried it on … -Socrates was thoughtful, smiled and immediately said – Dante, we have to go for that helmet, it could be that it had some DNA from him.

-But … let’s see … I can’t go back for my storage … I’m on the run, I’m an outlaw …

-Yeah, but Katalina if she can legally go after your belongings. -Socrates was in everything.

We notified Katalina … in a couple of hours she showed up … We hugged each other tightly while Socrates quietly retreated to the background … After that intimate moment we explained the whole situation to her, and what she had to do: Report to the Stel barracks where we resided and go to my private Storage, which was in the basement of the building. Each Stel has a private Storage that only he can open, unless there is some authorization for a close relative, and that’s what we were going to do… I wonder what is in Katalina’s Private Storage… I’ve never known.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by Socrates and I chatting amiably about the political situation in the Entropy Quadrant, until Katalina appeared in her Quad… She had a package in her hand: It was the famous Viceroy helmet… Socrates took it, went to his backpack and He pulled out the strange device that he had undoubtedly used to reconnect to the DNA Banks.

Katalina and I watched with interest … the strange device launched a bluish beam into the helmet, scanning it … Seconds later, images of the people whose DNA was in the helmet appeared on the screen: A known Arkadian smuggler, me himself, Katalina who had just brought it in her hands, another who would undoubtedly be the Crafter … and someone whose DNA was missing or had been erased … Possibly it was Simon …

We got going … we went to a nearby revive and entered the data of the unknown subject … the Revive stayed for a while processing … and a green light appeared on the terminal: The data had been 99.92% accepted … That is, some failure was possible …

We all looked at each other … Socrates manually activated the “Revive”, and immediately afterwards, a form appeared lying on the ground between great flashes … he was naked, and in his strong muscles you could make out the scar on his belly that I had made with my SI Knife some time ago, before we were friends … He moved … he turned his face with his eyes open, and we saw a spot in the shape of a lightning bolt on his skin, on the left side of his face … Without a doubt, the result of 0.08% of mistake. Simon jerked to his feet, staring into space as he screamed.

-Damn Desmond !!! I’ll take you with me to hell even if it’s the last thing I do !!!

He collapsed backwards giving a strong blow … without a doubt his mind was recreating the moment of his death … We had to give him time, but the important thing is that he was alive and we had a good mercenary in our ranks … Desmond and his dirty dealings had their days numbered …

Part 2:

-I can’t believe it… I can’t believe it, damn it !!

The one who spoke thus was Simon … once he woke up and could focus his gaze, between the Chief Socrates and I we explained what happened, as well as his resurrection … incredulous, he looked at his image on the screen of one of our tablets … to discover the strange new scar on his face …

-Dante, every time I have to do something with you I end up with a new scar … You are unlucky chasing my butt all over Next Island…

The situation would have been very comical had it not been for the seriousness of the events … when he recovered a bit and his anger passed, Simon told us about the last seconds of his life.

-The roof fell on us, and without a doubt I lost consciousness … I was awakened by a huge, indescribable pain, from the inside out of my body … the pain of the disconnection of the DNA banks … I couldn’t move, that idiot Mark had me held with all his might … And I saw Desmond …

Simon stared at me …

-Dante, you were unconscious, and that bastard was holding your hand with the Chikara in hand … he was pointing at my neck, and his finger is on top of yours on the trigger of the gun … Damn … The very pig shot while cursing him with all my might … explosion on the neck, and all black … until a moment ago …

-Okay Simon, calm down … -Socrates put his hands on his shoulders in a friendly gesture. -It’s all over … you’re back to life, and now we must end this story before Desmond does something dangerous.

Behind us we heard the sound of the teleporting chips materializing … Moustapha appeared and our most recent acquisition, my friend JoseGaltor …

Between greetings and introductions, the six of us sat on the grass and proceeded to summarize the situation.

-The thing is as follows: – the one who spoke like that was Chief Socrates – Simon, Mark and three other VIPS, of which we already know one, know about the Planetary Teleporter, as well as the location … They also know that it is destroyed and useless, and they think they have left Simon and Dante out of the game with the fake murder …

-Then it’s easy: Use the planetary troops, stop them all five and it’s over… We restore Dante’s honor and forget all this nightmare… -Moustapha was a practical man.

-The Planetary Chief cannot choose a faction or there will be an imbalance of power … this must be done discreetly. -Katalina understood the ins and outs of power … without a doubt, its origins, of which I have not yet spoken, helped it.

-Exactly, we cannot destabilize the planet… therefore, we will have to… -The sound of the InterCOM interrupted Socrates – Wait a minute… Chief forward, Roger.

-Chief Socrates, here follow-up … the bird went to the TP directly to Shadow Hill.

-Let’s go there, copy that. -Socrates closed the communication, and addressed us – Gentlemen, it seems that the identified VIP is going to the Teleporting near the pyramid … Why?

It didn’t make sense that … the Planetary Teleporting was destroyed … there was nothing else there. Just scrap, destroyed robots, spare parts in stock…

An idea began to haunt my head …

-Simon… when we were there, we destroyed everything, didn’t we? -I asked for.

-Let’s see Dante, we put the termite charges in the TP and we burst it … -Simon answered looking at me strangely …

-As far as we know, we could not see more of that pyramid … the corridor, the entrance, the gigantic door through which we left, the teleporter type entrance through which we entered … was there only that? -I asked the question. JoseGaltor was the one who answered.

-And if there were more than one teleporter room inside? -That’s it … someone else saw my idea.

-It doesn’t make sense … Desmond would have used her to run away. – Simon cut the possibility … Now it was my turn.

-What Desmond said … “colleagues will come to hack the system” … and those spare parts that were in boxes …

Socrates put words to my suspicions …

-The fellow hackers are the other two unidentified VIPS … and with any spare parts … they will try to rebuild the Planetary Teleporter !!!

Part 3

With a flash, we appeared in the TP closest to the coordinates we had of the pyramid … Being registered in the DNA banks I was able to enter the Storages network again and recover my weapons and my old Viceroy … With Simon it was something more complicated, because their belongings were already in the previous warehouses for the global auction, due to having “died”… But with the permits and authorizations of Chief Socrates, the bureaucracy fell at our feet.

Once prepared, Socrates spoke to us:

-Sirs … from now on I cannot accompany you … The “official” presence of the Chief of Next Island would be counterproductive in the political balance … Therefore, from now on you are alone …

We looked at each other: Moustapha, JoseGaltor, Simon, Katalina and myself … Armed, willing, but in case of a mistake, they would deny knowing our operation … I remembered a former elite corps of covert operations, true shadow heroes but, if something came out wrong, he denied any relationship, knowledge or support. Socrates continued:

-Okay, the orders are as follows: Re-enter the pyramid, destroy a possible second Teleporter or the previous one if it had been rebuilt, destroy the spare parts, everything … regarding Desmond, Mark and the three VIPS, they must be taken prisoner … They will later be taken to the Secret Services of the government of the Entropy Quadrant in Calypso … and they will cease to be our problem.

We nod in silence … we prepare the coordinates of the pyramid in our teleporter chips and …

With a flash, we appeared in the vicinity of the pyramid … there it is, a few hundred meters from us … black, silent … and with several Krakas parked nearby … We were not alone …

We approached carefully … the black mass grew as we got closer … There was no one watching, something logical because no one knew those coordinates except those who were there …

The pyramid had a Teleporter-type upper entrance, which was accessed with the chips that some of the guardian robots had … There was also a huge armored door at the front, almost invisible, whose opening mechanism we had broken to lock Desmond inside … but he had managed to open a hole during the months that he had remained there, and that allowed him to flee … there it was … it was not big, but it was enough to be able to pass inside …

We went inside and turned on the flashlights … the hallway was dark, although we saw remains of Desmond’s work: Abandoned tools, discharged batteries connected to long lines of cables … bloodstains from his suicides … Deep down, Desmond did not deserve the torture at hand. that Simon and I submitted to him.

JoseGaltor gestured to us pointing to a corridor … he remembered it from the other time, so we moved on … there were still traces of our passage: several guards destroyed … we followed the trail of destruction that Simon and I had created until we reached the door where we were going to stop at the Teleporter room …

We looked at each other: If Desmond and the others were there searching for the remains, we should come in by surprise, aim quickly and stop them … Two to the left, two to the right and I to the center … We count: three, two, one …

Now!!! I pushed open the door and we stormed in, shining our flashlights and pointing at possible targets …

-Stop !!! Stop there and drop your weapons !!! -we shouted as we pointed to the air … only the echo of the room answered us … We looked at each other without knowing what to do …

Nothing !!! … there were only remains of the original teleporter that Simon and I had destroyed … Traces of the explosive charges and the combustion of the termite charges … a pile of junk from drokas, drones and Calypso defenders, and the metal skeleton that had been General Kratos, but nothing more …

Where were Desmond, Mark and his henchmen ???

Part 4

We went back down the corridor we came through, which we hadn’t fully explored now or when we were the first time … several doors opened to various rooms with machinery, boxes of spare parts and other things that we could not identify …

In some rooms we saw traces of the months that Desmond spent there, while other rooms seemed not to have been used at least by human hands …

At the end of the corridor another sliding door opened that led to a ramp that descended to a lower level … We tensed, we did not know what was there …

We put the flashlights on low intensity, so as not to denote our presence, and we slowly descended the ramp, without making noise …

The ramp was quite long, and every so often it turned and fell again, like a spiral staircase.

Suddenly, JoseGaltor, who was in the lead, raised his clenched fist: The universal signal to stop because there was something ahead … slowly we cocked the weapons, trying to keep the BLP strikers not making noise … we advanced a little more, and began to see lighting … A bluish light … and the noise of machines … and in the background, human voices …

A little further down was the last bend in the ramp … we crouched down and looked out very carefully, to see a scene that left us all petrified …

A huge room, cyclopean in size, in the center of which was a second Planetary Teleporter, but in this case of gigantic dimensions … what were you planning to transport? Eomons? Hussks?

In the background a row of monitors, terminals and other electronic devices in which the three VIPS were busy: The two who spoke with Simon and me when they paid us for our service and our silence when they discovered the Teleporter, and the third who was the one who disconnected me from the DNA banks in Ancient Greece …

Voices brought me out of my reverie: Desmond was calling Mark from the Teleporter panel, while he lowered a protective plasma welding mask … Mark was leading a small transport with materials …

We hid…

-Hell, Dante … these guys have built another teleporter … -Simon didn’t get out of his astonishment.

-Let’s see … if it’s technology from Calypso’s robots, most likely they can’t connect it without help … -JoseGaltor was right …

-And this … – Moustapha narrowed his eyes trying to see what was at the bottom of that huge hangar- What’s there at the bottom?

We looked out again… there was something huge in the shadows, but the very darkness of the background did not allow us to see what it was …

-I don’t know, but I think we should throw ourselves against them and try to stop them … -Katalina already wanted to go into combat …

-Mmmm … if I remember correctly, Desmond told me that there was a revival right here … if any of them or us dies, he will appear again in battle … That could be a draw … – I doubted the way to launch us attack…

-Maybe we should try to catch them by surprise -JoseGaltor grabbed a piece of metal from the ground and threw it hard through the gap in the ramp to the opposite side of the monitors …

The metallic “clang” was heard over the noise of the machinery … The three VIPs jumped up, with their short weapons in hand; Mark left the transport and materialized a Plasma rifle, and Desmond raised his welding mask while he stroked the grip of a Sparkbite … they all looked in the direction of the sound, which was just the opposite direction from where we were …

Everything was silent for a moment and, immediately afterwards, the five of us got up in unison with our weapons at the ready, pointing them …

-SET EVERYONE !!! NOBODY MOVE!!!

The five Stel turned to see five guys with a diverse and ferocious appearance, us, pointing them with large caliber weapons … We looked into each other’s eyes … It is curious how conscious one of small details is: a drop of sweat, a corner of the lips twisting, the flexing of the fingers on the triggers …

-Damn Dante !!! Is it that I’m never going to get rid of you ??? -Desmond was looking at me wanting to squash me like a Cyrenea fly.

-Desmond … how could you build this? And in such a short time?

-Little time? I had enough … I did not tell you everything that happened in those months that I was locked up here …

Desmond began to speak …

Part 5:

-Dante, I already told you that I had time to explore all this, and repair lighting and energy systems … the first time I committed suicide I appeared in the Revive that is on that corner … I saw the ramp through which I imagine you have come …

Desmond had a strange look as he thought back to the months locked up there.

-And besides, I found this Planetary Teleporter, but it wasn’t working … in fact, it was under construction … I didn’t have much to do here, except die to live again, so I spent a lot of time trying to repair it in order to escape …

Desmond always had great knowledge of engineering, so despite the misfortune of being locked in the pyramid, surely he took that as a challenge …

-The weeks passed … I learned a lot about this robotic system, so different from the teleporters of the Entropia Quadrant, but … there came a time that with my knowledge I could not do more, I needed to reprogram the computer system, but hacking is not among my skills …

He looked at the ground, perhaps saddened … Mark looked at him with intense love, possibly remembering the months that they were not together …

-When I saw that I could not do more, I decided to get out of here as it were … the weeks of attempts to open the door began … and my mind, already quite deteriorated by the confinement, the suicides and the attempts to repair something that has never been seen, it finally broke … the rest you know …

He looked up and stared at me …

-Dante, we were friends, you could have been part of this …

-Desmond … you don’t betray a planet in this way …

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a movement … Moustapha saw it too … one of the VIPS raised his gun … The exchange of shots began …

We all took cover, both they and us … the shots ricocheted off the walls, the monitors, the boxes of equipment …

Suddenly, a shot pierced Moustapha’s chest, who fell dead next to us … he began to vibrate and, seconds later, he dematerialized … to appear on the opposite side of the room, where the Revive was …

That led nowhere: When we were mortally wounded, we would reappear … Draw … We knew it, but so did they …

Suddenly, Mark approached one of the terminals and began to type frantically while his companions covered him with the shots … What the hell was he doing?

Finally, we heard a deafening sound … we all stood still, not knowing what was happening … We looked at the dark background, where the noise was produced …

Huge red spotlights lit up in the distance … a sound like metal legs, gears … what was it?

Finally, that thing reached the illuminated area … A huge Vanguard appeared before us, with its metal legs …

Undoubtedly, Kratos had brought that huge robot, but it had not been activated the other time … and Mark had connected it …

The huge robot advanced towards us and pointed its weapons … We stood still, while the five Stel looked at us with sarcasm …

-Now what? -One of the VIPS looked at us mockingly – We have a huge ally to kill you …

Suddenly, the Vanguard spun around and looked at the VIP … he quickly aimed his gun at him and literally tore him apart with a single shot …

The Vanguard was connected, but it was not reprogrammed, so we humans were their enemies … them and us …

-Covered !!! EVERYBODY!!! – Desmond screamed like a man possessed …

It was clear: Our fight could wait, before all of us had to finish off that huge robot …

Part 6:

We all took cover while we drew our most powerful weapons … I happened to hide near one of the VIPS … we looked at each other … now was not the time for feuds, first we had to finish off that Vanguard …

Desmond appeared on a Skyripper, shooting at that huge robot … While, JoseGaltor and Moustapha machine-gunned the robot’s legs, trying to make it stumble … Katalina fired her Lacerating in bursts trying to damage her weapons …

Simon and I had high-end Armatrix BLPs… we peeked in unison firing every last round, while we watched Mark and the other VIPS firing their guns…

The hangar was a place of destruction … the Vanguard’s shots were destroying everything, including the second teleporter, which was blown to pieces … From his Skyripper, Desmond watched in dismay … all the efforts that he had made for nothing …

A few minutes later, the Vanguard began to lose lubricating fluids and to limp … its lights flickered and, with a great crash, the huge robot collapsed, defeated …

We all stood still for a moment … We looked at each other and, like comrades, we smiled with satisfaction … but it only lasted a moment …

With a leap worthy of a cheetah, Moustapha launched himself on one of the VIPS and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight … The rest of us did the same: the only way to end it, one way or another, was hand-to-hand. .

JoseGaltor was shot down by another VIP, but he managed to keep him at bay … Katalina, with her own SI Knife feint the remaining VIP … Mark advanced towards Simon, and that left me alone with Desmond …

He glared at me as he drew his SparkBite … mine came out, and like two ancient Japanese warriors, sword against sword, we finally faced each other …

The fight was tough … But the VIPS, after all, were simple bureaucrats who had military training and had nothing to do with Katalina, Moustapha and JoseGaltor … in a few minutes the three VIPS were senseless on the ground while my colleagues immobilized and bound them …

Simon hit an already defenseless Mark … the punches were devastating … it would take more than a Regeneration Chip to fix the damage on Mark’s face … with one last blow, he collapsed senselessly at Simon’s feet … some zip ties plastic, and Mark was immobilized …

Desmond kept feinting and striking with his sword … we realized that we were fighting alone, while the others looked at us …

-Dante, you spoiled everything !!!

-You don’t see it yet, Desmond … The robots would have invaded us … give up once …

Desmond glared at me… he swung his sword and slashed through himself… Suicide?

He fell to the ground, and seconds later, his body began to dematerialize … where is the Revive? Of course!!! Now I see it.

-Katalina, go to the Revive !!!

The Revive was near one of the exit doors of the room … without a doubt he wanted to escape …

Indeed, with a flash Desmond appeared in the Revive next to one of the doors … He made a move to run towards the exit, when an iron fist stopped him short …

-I told you that I would take you to hell with me … – Simon had foreseen the play and was able to intercept it …

We all looked at each other… five senseless bodies were at our feet, tied up and ready to hand over to Chief Socrates… We dragged the bodies towards the exit…

Part 7:

In the teleporter near the pyramid, Chief Socrates was waiting for us … he looked at us all satisfied.

-I knew you could deal with this situation … I suppose this time the Planetary Teleporter has been rendered useless … -It was rather a question addressed to me …

-Sure, Chief … all destroyed and the five prisoners here, for whatever I’m going to do with them …

Desmond looked at Mark for a moment, and then straightened … he looked Socrates in the eye, lowered his head and spat out a bloody phlegm, which ended up splashing on Simon’s boots …

-You’re not going to do anything to us … -His tone of voice was challenging – What do you think?” Send me Calypso, Intelligence? … you’re wrong, Socrates.

-No, I’m not wrong … the Entropy Quadrant Intelligence Center will investigate your actions and you will be judged … -Socrates was clear about what was going to happen.

-We will not be judged, stupid planetary boss … Do you think that all this plot we have thought only between five people? -A smile touched Desmond and Mark’s lips.

Socrates looked at them with a point of insecurity … what did he mean?

-Listen, boss … how do you think we could put a drone in Hadesheim? You know that all Calypso communications are monitored …

We all looked at each other apprehensively… would someone in Calypso know about all this? Would he have helped Desmond and his people? And above all … they were going to allow the robots to possibly invade half the Entropy Quadrant …

-I see that now you are beginning to think … -He spit out a bloody phlegm again, and half a tooth step by step; Simon’s fist was like a hammer. – There are people high up in the Calypso hierarchy who are aware of all this … people who want to remove the Space Guild from the equation …

It couldn’t be … traitors in the Central Government … Socrates clenched his fists with fury, he seemed about to explode … he froze for a second, blew out a breath and spoke:

-That’s none of my business now … my mission is to take Calypso to Central Intelligence … JoseGaltor, do you still have the Dropship you brought available?

-Of course, sir… I abandoned it, but I left its location traceable so I can use it remotely… and I’m ready to take a ride to Calypso with the prisoners… -Jose is always up for anything to entertain him… even if it’s dangerous.

-Okay then … take the five prisoners and go to Calypso with them … I’ll send you later by UpLink the necessary documents and safe-conducts …

Socrates took out of his backpack the device for connecting the DNA banks and, one by one, he passed near the five prisoners and disconnected them … his gestures of pain denoted how painful the process was …

-So you’ll be careful if you try to run away … if you die now, it will be final … remember … -Socrates put the device away while five pairs of eyes looked at him with deep hatred …

Minutes later, the ship landed remotely and opened the hold … with little consideration we pushed the five prisoners … As he closed the hatch, we could still hear Desmond …

-Stupids !!! When our contacts know that we are there, the case will be dismissed and we will return again … it may even be that there is a new Planetary Chief on Next Island … -a nervous laugh initialed his speech …

Jose got into the cockpit, started the engines and the ship took off vertically… he stopped for a moment in the air and made an upward movement…. We all watched the maneuver.

-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM !!!

Suddenly, the dropship burst into flames … a shower of debris began to fall as we took cover, just in case …

-What happened?? -Katalina was scared … well, actually we were all …

-I don’t understand -Socrates looked at the explosion in disbelief …

Suddenly, next to us, a glow appeared, and a body was materializing … It was JoseGaltor … We stared, hoping that he had just been reborn to ask him what had happened …

The body appeared upright … it opened its eyes …

-Yesssssssssss !!! Magnificent!!! That H-DNA was of good quality… I just invented a new sport: Resurrecting while you detonate a charge inside the ship you pilot, hahahaha!

I can’t believe it … the very crazy JoseGaltor had detonated the ship with the five conspirators inside … that since they had been disconnected from the DNA banks, they were dead forever …

-But… I… what the hell !!!.. what have you done, Jose? -Socrates was really angry …

-Me? Nothing … I just made sure that these five idiots do not conspire again, much less that they go to Calypso to tell lies about us … -JoseGaltor in the background had saved us a lot of problems …

Socrates lowered his head thoughtfully … no doubt he was considering what had happened, and how it was going to affect Next Island and us …

-Okay … we can’t do anything now … all five are dead, the TP destroyed and this time for real … I think … I think we should forget that this has ever happened … -Socrates began to think about the possibilities that this event offered us …

-But I’m still an outlaw … -I ventured

-No problem … As Planetary Chief I can raise a pardon or … better … we can “lose” some documents and court records … – With Socrates by our side, the bureaucracy would fall like a house of cards …

-And in Ancient Greece? – Katalina wanted to tie up the loose ends …

-Well … er … I will send a messenger to Queen Pentesílea explaining part of the situation … without a doubt she will be understanding and will not want any kind of problems between our worlds …

I looked at them all one by one … loyal friends, who had managed to get me out of this quagmire, and on top of that they had managed to defeat a planetary conspiracy … Oh, if the Space Guild knew how close they have been to losing their business …