Chapter 8 - Realization

Mei-Wan opened her eyes, looking at the sunlight streaming through the windows.

“You were quiet when you came in last night,” Dani’s voice said from behind her.

Mei-Wan rolled over to see Dani at the doorway to the bedroom. “I… I was tired.”

“Your mind was occupied.”

Mei-Wan frowned. “Spying on my mind?”

“No,” Dani said. “I would never disrespect you like that. I’m sure that whatever it is, if it is really important, you will tell me when you’re ready.”

“Being in a relationship with you is so refreshing,” Mei-Wan said. “Human males, well at least the ones I’ve been involved with, don’t have that kind of patience or trust.”

“As we have discussed on various occasions, I am not human, nor a male,” Dani paused a moment. “I’m not female either for that matter. I simply identify as female for the sake of the humanoids I interact with.”

Mei-Wan sat up in bed. “What time is it?”

“Ten.”

“Thank you for letting me sleep in,” Mei-Wan said, rubbing the tiredness from her eyes.

“How did your dinner with the magician go last night?” Dani asked.

“Religious leader,” Mei-Wan corrected.

Dani appeared as if she were lost in thought for a moment. “I must have confused the two terms.”

“And here I thought you were being sarcastic,” Mei-Wan replied with a grin.

“Sarcasm?” Dani asked. “I’m not familiar with that.”

Mei-Wan took a long breath. “I think he has connections inside Temporal Investigations.”

“What makes you think that?”

“He knew all about my mission to BR-59301, and my time travel experience five billion years into the past,” Mei-Wan said. “He knew I had been on Hel’yra and had met with an Ancient Progenitor named Manu.”

Dani stepped toward Mei-Wan. “How could a religious zealot have access to such information? From what you told me, Temporal Investigations is one of the most secretive organizations within the Federation. Only an imbecile would hand classified information about time travel to someone like Forcas.”

“I know,” Mei-Wan said. “The only other explanation is too fantastic to believe.”

“What explanation did he offer?” Dani asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Mei-Wan looked down a moment, wondering if she had dreamed it all. Could even Forcas have been that insane? After a moment, she turned back to Dani. “He claimed to be an Ancient Progenitor.”

Dani didn’t laugh. She didn’t seem to react at all. After some twenty seconds, she asked, “Did he present anything which would support such an odd claim?”

“Just his information about my experience five billion years ago,” Mei-Wan said.

Dani nodded. “While the Beota were quite capable of many fascinating feats of technology, I can’t imagine one of them living for billions of years. The genetic degradation would limit your kind to not much more than ten thousand to thirty thousand years.”

“Humanoids can live that long?” Mei-Wan asked, curious.

“We have heard of individual cases lasting that long,” Dani said. “I once met a man named Akharin from Earth. He lived for more than six thousand years. But the natural cases are one in billions, and has not been understood well enough to be used as a medical procedure to extend the lives of others.”

“Oh,” Mei-Wan said. “I would have liked to have spoken to him. The things I could learn from someone like that.” She smiled at Dani. “I suppose that’s one of the things which made me fall in love with you—your long life span.”

“I understand that about you,” Dani said with a smile.

“But he didn’t claim to have lived that long,” Mei-Wan said. “He said he had travelled to our time in the same way I had travelled back five billion years.”

“That is more within the realm of possibility,” Dani replied. “However, it is still more likely he was given access to the reports of your experience and is using that to tempt you to join his movement.”

“That did seem to be the intent behind all of it,” Mei-Wan said.

“You think he came all the way here to Yed Post IV simply to entice you with some flimsy story of time travel?”

“I don’t know.” Mei-Wan thought a moment. “Though if the Ancient Progenitor who had inhabited my body had escaped, she might be saying something similar. And Forcas did give her a name.”

“Which name?”

“Ulithia Mecval.”

Dani appeared lost in thought for a number of seconds. “Did he mention any other names?”

“The commander of the Hel’yra installation, Manu, and the name he said he had five billion years ago… Dajjal Therion.”

Dani stared into Mei-Wan’s eyes, then took her hand. “Mei-Wan, this is very important. Was there anything else he told you that might suggest he was telling the truth?”

“What’s going on?” Mei-Wan asked. “Why are you so fixated on this all of a sudden?”

“Please, just answer my question.”

There was an intensity to Dani which had never manifested in her before. It was the first time anything about Dani had caused Mei-Wan to fear her.

“He wanted me to tell you about what he’d told me,” Mei-Wan replied. “He said you could confirm it.”

Dani, still holding Mei-Wan’s hands, looked away a moment. “Did he tell you anything else about Dajjal Therion?”

“That he commanded one of the Ancient Progenitor fleets,” Mei-Wan said. “Their largest fleet.”

Dani released Mei-Wan’s hands. “Dajjal Therion was the most barbaric of the Ancient Progenitor warlords. He was responsible for the deaths of trillions,” Dani whispered. “If ever there was a living horror, it was Therion.” Dani sat, her gaze directed into a fog only she could see. “He would go into battle, telling his troops, 'Mowel ta xekfanda gulfisla.' It translates as, 'Let the slaughter begin'.”

“I take it that wasn’t hyperbole?”

“No, he left a trail of destruction across what you know as the Gamma Quadrant. Whole sectors were made lifeless by him. But before death, he would maim and twist every living thing he came across. Death would come slowly to his victims.”

“Forcas must have heard the name somewhere,” Mei-Wan insisted.

Dani turned to her. “Or he is Therion.”

“You believe him?”

“I can't ignore the possibility he may be telling the truth. That he knows the name Ulithia Mecval would suggest he is.” Dani said. “My people must learn of this. If confirmed he must be held accountable for his crimes and suffer the judgment he has escaped.”

“What are you going to do?” Mei-Wan didn't like Dani's tone.

“I must confront him,” Dani said. “I will be able to tell if he is Therion.”

Dani started pacing the room. “I must be careful. I cannot allow him to escape.”

“You can't move against him,” Mei-Wan said.

“I must! He is a criminal far worse than any you have ever known!”

“But... what if that's his intent?”

“What?”

“He wanted me to tell you, and he may have known how you would react,” Mei-Wan said. “If you harm anyone else in your attempt to get to him…”

“He must answer for his crimes!”

“We have to find another way to do that,” Mei-Wan said.

Dani shook her head. “No. I have to contact my people, tell them who inhabits Forcas.” Dani started to walk out of the bedroom.

Mei-Wan followed her, catching Dani as she reached the doorway. “Will you wait, please!”

“Wait?! We have waited five billion years!”

“Yes, you have,” Mei-Wan said. “A few days or weeks longer isn't anything compared to that, is it?”

Dani stopped.

Mei-Wan motioned her to the bench at the foot of the bed. They both sat on it.

“We have to stop this, all of it,” Mei-Wan said. “Forcas, or Therion, whatever his name is, he knew I would come back here and tell you. He wants you and your people to know he's here.”

Dani finally looked at her. “To what end?”

“Perhaps to bring about a war between your people and the Federation. Because if we're at war, it would be so easy for him to then push that war to encompass more non-humanoid species.” Mei-Wan took Dani's hand. “He wants us apart, on opposing sides because he knows he can defeat all of us if we’re already fighting one another.”

“But what is the final goal?” Dani asked. “It can't simply be to restart a war which ended so long ago.”

“I think he may have told me last tonight,” Mei-Wan said. “He kept talking about the return of the Ancient Progenitors. What if they're all going to come back the same way he did? What if this is the escape they planned all along from that war five billion years ago?”

Dani looked into Mei-Wan's eyes. “He's going to bring them all into this time?”

Mei-Wan nodded. “What happened to me, and was reversed, what happened to him... It could be used to bring their minds forward to inhabit people in this time.”

“You walked into that chamber by accident, and it is likely the original Forcas did so as well,” Dani said. “How could he arrange billions of such accidents?”

Mei-Wan thought a moment. “He wouldn't have to. His followers... He could tell them exactly what he's doing, and they would blindly sacrifice themselves for the return of the Ancient Progenitors.” Mei-Wan was now more certain. “That's the reason for building this movement. It was to have a large group who would make themselves willing vessels for the Ancient Progenitors to resume their genocide across this galaxy.”

“But the technology required,” Dani said. “It would be immense. How could they have enough chambers to do that?”

“I'm not sure,” Mei-Wan said. “But one thing you could have your people do is destroy the machine I went into on BR-59301, and find the one on Forcas's homeworld, Merion V, force him to start from scratch.”

Dani nodded. “I will contact them about both sites.”

“Good,” Mei-Wan said, though the thought of destroying such artifacts made her physically ill, they were both too dangerous to allow into Forcas's hands. “We also need to find any manufacturing facilities Forcas may have at his disposal. If he has already gotten to the sites, he would have begun building larger versions. That's another reason not to confront him personally at this point. I'm sure he has contingency plans to continue on with this work in case of his demise. If he is gone, we wouldn't know who to look for. But as long as he remains in charge of his movement, he will be the nexus of all the activity related to this.”

Dani nodded. “I agree. You are correct. While holding Therion accountable for his crimes is important, preventing the return of the Ancient Progenitors is far more so.”

“And... there may be another possible way to find out what he's doing,” Mei-Wan said.

“Yes?”

“He took over Janus Osmand's crusade,” Mei-Wan replied. “There may be someone within his organization who isn't happy with what he's done to Osmand's ideals.”

“Perhaps,” Dani said. She turned to Mei-Wan. “I am sorry I frightened you. You must believe I would never do anything to harm you.”

Mei-Wan threw her arms around Dani. “I don’t want there to ever be anything which makes me afraid of you. I love you. I want to make a life together.”

“I do too, Mei.”

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Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2021 Michael Gray

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