"Destroyed?" Beelzebub ashed for confirmation yet again.
"Yes sir, Cygnus space station was destroyed in its entirety. We suspect it's those T.I.T pirates again." His female attendee replied, "We suspect no one survived the attack."
"Any news regarding section chief Aamon?"
Beelzebub couldn't care less about anyone working on the space station. He only wanted to know whether Aamon survived the attack or not.
"Parts of his ship were found floating around the debris of the destroyed space station. COnsidering his love for spaceships, it is unlikely that he abandoned it and escape."
Beelzebub took a deep breath to calm his raging nerves down, "Fine. You can leave now."
Aamon was one of the few Xyrans who could get on the planet and effortlessly blend in with the locals. After all, he was one of the few who had knowledge regarding the cultural background of earth, which was also referred to as the 'Forgotten Planet X201'.
Since Earth wasn't of any importance to them, not a lot of them decided to learn about it. The few who did usually did it because they couldn't afford to learn about other prospering planets. Hence, it was difficult for Beelzebub to send someone else either.
He could ask Lucifer for help, but Beelzebub knew, he wouldn't help him. Especially after what he did to Lucifer.
"I need to do something about these fucking pirates," Beelzebub swore as he headed for the high-level meeting.
The meeting was scheduled to discuss a more important matter than the mere destruction of a barely functioning space station. In fact, Beelzebub had a feeling Cygnus's destruction would be most likely viewed as good riddance.
They were wasting a heap of resources to keep it functional but now they wouldn't have to bother about it anymore. Also, Beelzebub didn't want to raise the topic of Astaroth's 'potential' survival yet. He needed proof first, and it was unlikely that Lucifer would help him and testify.
Living on a planet that the Xyrans didn't give a fuck about was something Astaroth would do. All signs were pointing to it as well. But signs and logic wouldn't be enough to persuade the council.
Without any proof, the council would not waste a single molecule of fuel, let alone personnel to find Astaroth. That was the whole reason why he sent Aamon to gather some kind of evidence which Beelzebub would then use to persuade the council to attack Earth.
But alas, his brilliant plan failed... brilliantly. Forget about the council, he wouldn't be able to persuade his own wife to believe him. Seeing no other way, he had to drop the matter now and focus on bigger problems... The Precursors.
A species that they had never seen or interacted with before that happen to regularly invade their territory. According to what little knowledge the Xyrans had about them, they were probably looking for something in the galaxies that fell under Xyranian controlled space.
"So far all attempts to communicate with them have resulted in failure." Andras, the raven-haired Xyran finished reading his report, "On top of that, they seem to be more capable of accurate worm-space leaping than us. Which would also answer the question of how could they so easily invade our territory and escape before we could attack them."
"This is troublesome." Ibis, who was also known as the queen of hellfire and Seraph's daughter replied, "Handling them is of utmost importance. I suggest we put all of the colony worlds into a state of emergency and as soon as these precursors make an appearance, they should launch an infiltration operation before the ships are able to make a worm-space leap.."
It took an hour or so to persuade everyone to go along with Ibis' plan. But in the end, they were ready to do it as they needed more information regarding these unknown creatures. Which required allowing suicidal missions as well.
Once the meeting was resolved, Beelzebub gathered all his courage and headed toward Ibis. He needed to persuade her to launch an investigation on earth. Even if it meant he had to manipulate her and the precursors seemed to be the perfect candidates to serve as the scapegoats for it.
"Ibis, I think I might have some information that you would like to know," He said.
"I'll listen to whatever you have to say at home, not here," Ibis replied and turned back to discuss some other issues with a bunch of important delegates.
Judging by how obsessed Beelzebub had been regarding Astaroth, she knew her husband would only like to talk about that. Sometimes, she even thought he was deluded to think that Astaroth, her former fiance and Seraph's killer, was still alive.
She even wondered, even if he was alive, why was her husband so hellbent on finding him? After all, Astaroth had already served his share of punishment for betraying Seraph and killing him.
Ibis wanted nothing more than to close that chapter of her life and move on. But Beelzebub did not think so and was obsessed with Astaroth. He had always been the jealous type but the way he kept thinking of conspiracy theories to prove that Astaoth was alive was a bit disturbing.
That was the entire reason why she didn't want to listen to his absurd remarks in presence of other council members. She did not want to admit it, but her reputation mattered much more than Beelzebub's obsession.
"It's not what you think," Beelzebub urged, "It's about the precursors."
And just like that, he managed to get her attention. Now, he just had to make his story believable.
"If they are frequently leaping into our controlled space, don't you think it's obvious they must have some kind of base in here?"
As Ibis nodded, Beelzebub knew she was interested and he had to keep pushing forward, which he did.
"Since they have been hidden from us all this time, maybe we should start looking for them in places we haven't before. There are hundreds of forgotten planets that we don't care about, and in hindsight, these are the best places for the precursors to hide."
He continued, "Not only these planets are not advanced enough to defend against them, but the residents of these planets might also think of them as 'Gods' and welcome them with open arms. If this is the case, then we should move ASAP and secure those planets back, don't you think?"
Beelzebub had planted the seeds of suspicion in Ibis' mind and he also made it believable. There was no chance Ibis was going to ignore him this time.
"Fine, if you think it's possible then form a team and explore these forgotten planets. But you better come back with some results or even I won't be able to save your ass from the council."
"Oh, don't you worry a bit." Beelzebub smiled, "I will definitely be back with unexpected results."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺