Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 508: Gathering of Kings II

"Mhmm..." The High Priestess cleared her throat to quiet down the other leaders who had gathered and were speaking amongst themselves to pass the time. After a few moments the room was quiet. "Thank you. Now then I suppose we should start off this meeting by covering the various topics we will discuss from today’s agenda that you should have received ahead of time. First and foremost will be the-"

"Oh come off it!" King Montez yelled out as he stood up. Some of the smaller nations and colonies flinched or scooted away. But the other rulers just looked at him with exasperation or boredom. "We only came here because one of your people invoked the Kitinol Accords. So let’s just get to that matter first."

"King Montez." The High Priestess spoke in such a way that even the Oda Emperor flinched and slowly reached for his sword, probably without even realizing it. "We will follow the procedures that were decided on ahead of time. Along with the agenda that we gave you ahead of time. You were given ample time to dispute it. Or were you too busy trying to position your armada and mechs to take Yuri and the Holy Empire territories that you never bothered to read what was sent to you?"

You could almost hear heartbeats in the background. It was so quiet in the room. Even the King of Montez was taken aback by the High Priestess hostility and open annoyance. He slowly slid back into his seat as the High Priestess took a breath and the pressure she was emitting had started to subside.

Off to the side, Jace was surprised that the High Priestess had learned how to wield odd energies when she was busy already. It was nowhere near his level but she has definitely started on the path. Although he could tell he was more of a natural he was not lying when he said she wielded the same power with minimal effort, it seemed she struggled to hold it back instead.

"Heh... seems the King of Montez was put in his place. Then again I have heard he is a push over when it comes to politics." High Executive Imma Ag’ula chuckled out.

"I do not see why you are laughing. A third of this meeting is about the smuggling operations you participated in to get more profits while spreading what you thought was just a simple plague." The High Priestess snapped at him and the High Executive seemed to almost sheepishly shrink back into his chair while a hand came up and scratched at his face tentacle. Which might just be some sort of nervous tick.

There were a few moments of silence where quiet ruled once again. Then the High Priestess sighed. "Haa... now where was I? Oh yes, the agenda. The first topic we will discuss will be the threat that the Mortella, the Deamons, and the Nano Plague are to our galaxy as a whole. Then we will discuss the possible continued threat from other galaxies as various factions within our galaxy have already been receiving communiques from some nations in other galaxies, we will get more into that when it comes up. Then we will talk about various other more minor grievances and claims that nations have with each other."

The agenda was ranked through items of importance. Although for some of these lesser colonies and smaller nations that were not at the center of it all it might feel like their issues were being put on the backburner. So they might not take the first topic as seriously as they needed to take it. Although he knew for a fact that at least a few of them had been exposed to the plague when they did the massive operation to stop the smuggling. So a few knew the seriousness of the situation.

"Now then, I believe each of us worked to uncover information about all three of these groups through either our information networks or through study of information. Before we hear from the culprit that called the truce or the several other individuals that will act as witnesses it would be best that we share the information we have found so it is just not people from the Victorium. All in the hopes that you understand how transparent the Victorium is trying to be." The High Priestess explained before slamming her staff on the ground before slowly sitting down. Essentially handing over the time for another leader to speak.

"The Rogue Metal Legion has much to say." Aura announced all attention turning toward the holographic bubbles that were fluctuating. "First off, as an Artificial Intelligence from ancient times. I and many others were well aware of the Mortella and Daemons and the threat they posed on a galactic scale. They have already brought the Xenar to extinction before running away for some reason from this galaxy. We have plenty of records of both of them. But just as worrying is this Nano Plague. We have been trying to come up with a resolution at first but we have instead found it is similar to the Nanosystem but far more aggressive and hostile about getting hosts to carry it."

A hologram appeared over the center of the table showing a holographic video of a human as they were exposed to a black cloud. That black cloud moved straight to the human’s mouth and they spasmed with their body twisting in impossible ways before there was a loud cracking. Then the body pulled itself up, but it was moving oddly, like it was already dead. Then a metal body moved forward and the black mist moved from the human mouth to the robot body and the robot body froze and then exploded sending shrapnel everywhere as the human body fell to the ground dead.

"What you just saw was us exposing a death row criminal to the plague which was that black cloud you saw. Unexpectedly, one of the AI from the study that was in a robotic body moved forward to push the individual back onto the bed when the plague attempted to move from the human, which resulted in their death, to the AI’s body." Aura pulled back the video to the moment of the transfer and showed it frame by frame as the black cloud slid under the metal of the robot. "Fortuantely the AI managed to transfer out in time. But it has been forced into digital quarantine after being exposed to the corrupted AI that controls the nanobots. We have determined that its coding has become corrupted as well."

"Oh..." There was a quiet mumble that came from the High Executive Imma as he seemed to realize something. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"As a result we have determined that no race or species is safe from exposure. I believe the only reason the Victorium have been okay containing them is because they use fire and electricity to cleanse any source of the plague. In addition it is believed more powerful AIs like the ones running the nanosystem and the Centuria’s system can put up a fight against this corrupted AI." Aura explained and then turned to the High Executive of the Cthon Conglomerate. "I believe you now understand the dangers."

"Haa..." High Executive Imma Ag’ula sighed and nodded. "Yes I believe I do. This does make this Nano Plague a threat on par with the Kitinol that needs to be immediately contained. But perhaps we should review the idea of spreading a counter antidote in the form of the nanosystem."

"It won’t work the way you think it would." The High Priestess informed him as eyes turned in her direction as the other leaders looked on with greed. "Despite what you might think, the nanosystem does not protect all individuals with the nanosystem from the Nano Plague. Only those few with a higher level of affinity. Besides, we would have to know how to spread the nanosystem to other individuals."

"She is right. Having a nanosystem assisting your biological functions is a crutch that you should not rely on." Lesana of the Centuria reminded them. "My species is long lived and we have seen many species rise and fall, some even had something similar to your nanosystem. But they all fell under their own hubris. Do not believe you can solve something simply by trying. You will fail many times first."

"All in favor of the Nano Plague being a real threat?" The High Priestess asked and most of the hands were raised aside from a few minor colonies that were distant. "Then we will put in ’coming up with a resolution for the Nano Plague’ at the end of the agenda. Now let’s move on to either the Daemons or the Mortellas."

There were grunts in agreement while some scoffed in annoyance at being over ruled.

But then the Emperor of Oda stood up and glanced up at Jace for a moment. "I believe I can attest to the dangers that Daemons pose."