Facade

K+

The Lunises had just returned that night from dinner with Kristin's family. "They were so nice!" Ilana remarked as they filed through the doorway.

"Yeah, her parents are nothing like her," Lance agreed. "Nothing like her at all. I thought they'd be aloof and relaxed, but…I guess not." He was hoping the others wouldn't see the glum look on his face.

"Two working parents that have long shifts and a daughter they have likely had many concerns for don't have the luxury of being so 'chill' like you prefer Kristin to be," Octus remarked with a wink. Lance sighed and shifted his gaze to the floor.

"I didn't say 'chill', I said 'aloof'," he insisted. With a smile, he added, "It'll be a cold day on Sirius when start using Earth slang!"

Ilana held back a chuckle. "Well, we all had fun and the mission wasn't compromised, so I'd call it a success!" she declared. "Now we just have to get Jason to have us all over soon." Lance groaned.

"I've already had one gathering, I don't have room for another!" Lance protested. Ilana rolled her eyes and bounded up the stairs, looking at Octus with a "What are we going to do with him?" look. The robot understood.

"Something wrong, Lance?" Octus asked. "You seemed to enjoy yourself earlier."

"Yeah, I did," he replied. "The food was good and we were able to talk. But her parents were like strangers to me. She never introduced me to them. In fact, up until now she seemed to not want to. And then after everything that happened with Neil, she changed. She doesn't have anything to hide anymore, I guess. Not like we do. Not like what we want to do. I was…kind of jealous. She could be free. And happy, with a loving mom and…Dad."

Octus decided not to respond due to not knowing what to say. Lance's father could be contacted, so why did Lance feel like Edward was still "gone"? Was it because he was not physically present?

Suddenly, he received a transmission with a familiar source signal. There was no message, just a request for his presence on G3's airship. Perhaps this was just the impromptu summons he needed.

"Could you get Ilana back down here?" Octus asked. "We still have one more place to visit tonight."

. . . . .

"Great, another gathering," Lance muttered under his breath. He and Ilana were waiting for Ranaron to arrive. Edward and Solomon were already with them.

"Ranaron's knowledge of various Mutradi languages was very helpful with translating the documents," Solomon explained. "It would have taken us much longer without him, and there's no telling what sort of mistakes we could have made." Edward and Ranaron were walking in together, with Edward using Ranaron's arm for support along with cane.

"How long are you going to be limping?" Lance asked his father. Edward shrugged.

"It might be a while, son," he admitted. "That explosion crippled me, and I'm still convinced Modula intended me to be launched from the Rift Gate right into that target practice spot just to hope I'd be blown to bits. I guess that makes me the first indirect casualty of the war he started." Lance went over to give his father a hug and snatched the documents from Ranaron, who held two copies in his other hand for himself and Ilana to pore over if they wished.

"Your father is still a very valuable member of G3," Ranaron added to Lance, whom he could tell was a bit out of sorts. "And I've only been here for a few weeks!"

"Thank you so much, Ranaron," Ilana said as Lance gave her a copy. "Having Octus just project these from his body would take too long to read through, and while he's many things, he's no printer!"

"I think I might be able to install that if I just had some samples of the various ports in Earth computers," Edward suggested.

"With all due respect, Edward, I'm starting to get some suspicious looks every time I have to run by Best Buy. I can't run your errand right now!" Solomon replied. Everyone shared a laugh, even Ranaron, who wasn't quite sure what a Best Buy was but could infer what it sold.

"Well, thanks again! We have to get going, though. School's tomorrow!" Ilana said, turning on her armor and heading out to one of G3's hangars with Octus so they could return home.

"Aren't you going, Lance?" Edward asked. "Do you wish to stay a little while longer?"

"Yeah," Lance replied curtly. "And I want everybody else out of the room, too."

"Is it really so important that we have to leave? Edward's going to be needed around here," Solomon pointed out.

"Yes, this is personal, Solomon. I can't have you or the frog or anybody else get in my way. Tell Ilana and Octus I'll be catching up."

. . . . .

Modula's unofficial home had changed greatly since Ranaron had left. The floors were never cleaned, and food had never been served, leaving Modula to tend to the palace. The Mutradi guarding the place had taken to using the various rooms as barracks, all sleeping in piles or fighting like barbarians for the available beds, not wanting to share. Food was plentiful thanks to the various supplies being brought in from Mutrad and the Galalunans around that were forced to work without pay to prepare it, but the remains tended to get discarded around the palace hallways. Thanks to the sparse lighting, it wasn't uncommon for someone to trip over the bones of some Mutradi game animal, and this tended to fuel rumors among the Mutradi that there were some human bones mixed in from people Modula had killed.

The General himself was in his private room, the bedroom that had belonged to the king and now served as his. He was poring over maps illuminated just by a few candles, trying to discern a battle strategy.

I've got to do something about all of those underground holdouts. Bombardment clearly isn't enough, and the air force is getting restless. What about the supply lines? Have I cut them off? Are all the cities secured from siege? That one raid on that village was unforgiveable. If word gets out to the pathetic people—the humans—around here that the Royalists stand a chance, they'll rise up and rebel! In fact, how do I not know that they haven't done so already?!

He tended to forego eating and sleeping until it was brought to his attention by other turncoat Galalunans.

"General," called an officer knocking at the door. "It's time for dinner. Also, Private Litvut Helmas has been requesting a plunger for his room. His toilet is clogged, you see, and—" The officer winced at the sound of Modula's loud footsteps marching over to the door to open it.

"Can't you see that I'm busy?!" He snapped. "There are many, many war strategies to consider and many things I've had to discuss with my subordinates. But just when I get alone time, you come in to issue me some petty things—orders, practically. Who do you think you are? If you were more like the Mutradi and saw just what I was doing on behalf of both of our planets you'd retract your requests immediately!"

With a gulp, the officer replied: "W-with all due respect, General, you might wish to consider a change of…scenery. You've been cooped up in here too long, too content for the war to just end itself. Nothing around here will change unless we, you know, mix things up." At his words, Modula paused for a moment before giving a wicked grin.

"That's actually not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all. I think a few changes are in order." Modula stood up from his desk—formerly the king's—took his maps and candle and headed out the room into the hallway, knocking on all of the doors. "Your General wishes to see you in the throneroom at once!" he shouted for as long as he was able to from outside the rooms.

When all of the Mutradi and Galalunans in the palace had assembled, Modula announced his plan.

"Some officer just gave me a simple, yet brilliant idea," Modula explained. "A change of pace is in order. Every Mutradi here, as well as a few Galalunans whom I am certain I can trust, are going off to the front with me!" Cheers erupted from the Mutradi who were eager to see some action, which tended to be the Nephilimites and other more brutish species.

"Indeed. Brilliant, is it not?" Modula said. "I've wasted too much time trying to destroy Titan directly. So I'm going to destroy it indirectly and have us go and destroy the pathetic life-forms of this planet directly!" This brought more cheers from the Mutradi and nervous looks from the other Galalunan traitors.

"Lieutenant Baron!" Modula called out into the crowd. "You will accompany me on this mission! And whoever it was that suggested this idea—"

"That would be me, sir! Major Palius!" the Galalunan man who had started this whole thing answered.

"You'll be taking care of the place while I'm gone!" Modula announced, leading to snickers and laughter from everyone else in the room.

Later, as the group prepared to head out, Baron approached Modula. "If I may be so bold, General, what exactly are you going to use to attack Titan indirectly?"

"A very good question, Baron," Modula said. "I've already gotten my scientists on Mutrad to produce some very…devastating parasites to handle that problem, or at the very least slow Titan down. And they'll be making a very grand arrival. Remember that statue I commissioned to be built in my honor? The one I believe is approximate to Titan itself in size?"

"Yeah…what was the point of that, General?" Baron asked. Modula chuckled.

"It's just an innocent mask, hiding the real threat. You're smart to question why."

AN: Hello, all who still care about all this! College has been ok, but I haven't forgotten about my beloved fanfics! Nothing must go unfinished, not even this whole series!