You are dancing around my questions as you were in space He said in an increasingly exasperated manner. He was well aware of the limitations this strange and unusual individual had placed upon himself but Skirka wasn't in the mood to play game anymore. Caliban is involved in something, what is it? And why are you so hesitant to explain what he is involved in? Obviously you know enough to not be hunted, so what do you know and why have they not come after you?
Israfel sighed, closing his eyes.
– The system is already unstable enough because Caliban doesn't hold monopoly over being cuckoo. I don't know if there's a single sane being involved in this bedlam and I'm honestly anxious about pushing even more variables onto the stage.
He looked Skirka in the eye.
– Especially when the variables are relatively sane individuals whose hair will turn grey overnight as they finally learn about circus tricks performed by the main players.
Now this was an interesting development, yes he was still avoiding direct answers but it was better than nothing. Skirka smiled faintly, more to reassure himself than a genuine desire to comfort his guest. And the main players are who exactly? Nomads? Also, if the Newcastle project was so secret, why would anyone want to access it?
He hoped to God that Israfel would say something like It's not Nomads, it's the Order but that was a fading hope. More importantly, the nomad city in Newcastle was a thorn in Bretonia's side that everyone wanted gone. If the Oracle knew a way, then perhaps it was worth asking.
Isaiah sighed. Skirka's reaction will probably be worse than disappointment. Judging from the surface he didn't want to hear the full explanation that Isaiah had even though he needed to.
– No, main players are humans exclusively. Nomads watch the extravaganza hoping that if they ignore it it will just disappear. I honestly hope it does, – he shrugged. – Imagine a problem so threatening that even Nomads are forced to act on it. No one will like that. Newcastle, though... – he closed his eyes for a moment. – It was just dismissed. No one really cared to touch it. They probably let you keep it as a secret object because they think you'll never get in. I just wanted to check it out because it doesn't have a small fleet of Nomad vessels around it, unlike many other structures. I'm gonna get shot if I enter their space. I have no privileges but at least I don't owe them anything.
Thank God for that was the thought that went through his mind. Nomads and their insidious nature was not something he wanted to deal with at all, but people, people he could endure. Caliban is obviously one such individual involved in this...mad dance of demons and men, how many others are involved that you know of? Have you any idea of their ultimate goals? Now that some headway was being made into the exact nature of the conflict that the SIS suddenly seemed to be wrapped up in he believed he could relax if only a little. Or perhaps he was too busy feeling relieved about Nomads not being involved to understand the actual gravity of the situation.
Reaction as expected, time to move on.
– I cannot tell you the exact number or their identities. The immediate goal is preventing spread of information. Next is dealing with the source of the problem. This source, as far as I know, is currently out of reach for any Sirius or Gallic entity. It seems like there is already a key to it, at least. The way I see the whole situation is... – he paused, rubbing his chin and continuing to put elements in place in his mind. – There will be a squad of kamikaze who go in, do the job and most likely all die in the process. I was advised to not involve myself because there might not be a way back for anyone who commits. I am not ready to sacrifice myself either because there's plenty I can do to help people who stay in our home, in Sirius.
He wasn't overly happy with this development. While his charge was by no means useless he was still 'outside' of the picture, deliberately it would seem. Oracles tended to be a reliable source of information regarding the Nomads, information they usually shared with interested or aspiring parties. The fact that Isaiah was keeping largely out of this whole affair indicated to Skirka that this business was obviously dangerous.
Have you any recommendations for us as to how we deal with Caliban, Raven and...whoever else is involved?
He had a solution he could never hope to bring to life. Everything he could push the groups of Sirius to do would only lead to setbacks. This game was excessively dangerous for the humanity. Nevertheless, he had little justification for staying completely silent. Hoping for their success and elimination of Sentinel threat was in a way naive.
– You have some obvious options. One direction is leaving the involved parties alone or offering cooperation. Another is wiping everyone out, everyone who is contaminated, one by one. Making sure the progress is pushed so far back that no one can ever hope to finish what they started. Assuming it will lead to the effective elimination of the threat, of course.
Isaiah took the water canteen from his belt, opened it and drank half of the liquid.
– Back to topic. I was never told if that would be the end of it. Perhaps the whole thing will simply start over with new faces.
He could see how that would end. If the Service could actually kill them, which he doubted considering the paranoia of those involved, those who cared and sheltered them would probably come after the field agents whenever they could. The Service would declare war on an unseen and unknown enemy and that didn't appeal to anyone. Like it or not, Caliban, Raven and the others were all people who inspired loyalty in those who followed them.
If we were going to start killing people off who were involved in some sort of shadowy cult like business you, with the greatest possible respect, would not be here. But my job is to find out what is going on, and I'm honestly not sure if I have learnt much aside from what is going on is no good, involved nomads and that two people who don't like one another are claiming to prevent the other from bringing doom upon the world. I can see why shooting them might just be easier....but it doesn't solve my problem about nomads.
He sighed, he was probably getting too old for this but here it was. The truth that no one wanted to face. The world moved on and he didn't know much about anything anymore. He recomposed himself, unsure as to what else to ask.
Israfel simply closed his eyes and smiled in response. He would go as far away from Bretonia as possible in that case, perhaps leaving a burning wreck of his ship behind after an unfortunate meeting in Newcastle.
– Nomads in their current state seem to be an unsolvable problem unless one has enough destructive power to annihilate entire systems.
Isaiah had some thoughts about the only entity that could become capable of such. Those thoughts were best kept unspoken.
– I won't be forcing you to purge them either. The result is utterly unpredictable. I avoid spreading information about the whole affair because someone might panic and mash the big red button.
![[Image: K21Vaai.png]](https://i.imgur.com/K21Vaai.png)