Unseen Voices

Unseen voice
Short story

         “Why have you summoned me?” I shouted into the infinite darkness of the council chamber “Speak or I will leave, I have matters of great importance to attend to”
         How dare you speak to us in that tone of voice
         We have summoned you of a matter of importance greater than your current interests
         No matter how many times I came here I never herd the same voice twice. Each one was different weather it be a male or female voice, deep and gravely or soft and feminine. It was one of only a few mysteries I could not solve. Even though every voice was forever different. They still managed to piss me off.
         “I doubt it but try me, you might spark my interest”
         Do not forget who you are talking to Supreme Commander
         Our words are final
         You have to obey us
         Or suffer the consequences
         A consequence worse than your own death
         I frowned, what they said was true. I might be the Supreme Commander of Logress but even I had my superiors, even if I never saw them and didn’t treat them as such.
         “Fine, but speak quickly. What is this matter of so called importance?”
         We are the ones who ask questions and give the orders here Supreme Commander
         Not you
         Now listen carefully for we shall only speak once
         You know of the Indian Ocean incident do you not
         “Of course I do, I lead the investigation personally”
         And you where only able to recover pieces of the Archangel
         “Yes, the explosion was estimated at thirty two Gigatons. Not even Avalon could survive a direct blast like the fleet did”
         The loss of the fleet is nothing is nothing in comparison
         We have reason to believe the Archangel was stolen prior to the explosion
         “My investigation was conclusive, there was no theft”
         Your investigation Supreme commander was deeply flawed
         “In what way was it flawed?”
        The explosion you reported came from within the fleet’s carrier
        Not from above like your report details
        “So our enemies used Anti Armour missiles, I hardly consider this a major flaw”
        The flaw Supreme commander is that out enemies do not possess Anti armour
Missiles
         Face the facts
         Someone accessed the carrier during the battle thus stealing the Archangel
         Detonating the carriers reactor in the process
         “Impossible, the carrier’s reactor cannot produce a explosion of that calibre”
         Unless deuterium was injected into the reactor
         This would boost the reactor’s potential output by a factor of ten thousand
         “Hmm you have a point but consider this. Every Captain including myself understands that the destruction of the fleet takes priority over its capture. Is it not possible the red army made a attempt to capture it. The fleet was out numbered after all”
         …….. We accept this is a possibility but the events surrounding the fleet will be none the less reinvestigated by Intel and Maintek
         For peace of mind
         You are free to go Supreme Commander
         May you serve us as well as you always have done
         I said nothing as I left the darkened room. The door leading out of the council chamber opened in front of me as I stepped into the frigid cold of the entrance hall. Pipelines and bundles of cables snaking their way along the ceiling and against the wall. The cool blue lights made the area seem all the colder. Yet it was comforting, our bodies having adapted to much lower temperatures than humans.
         “What did they want this time” said a calm female voice next to me
         I turned to face Annie one of my adoptive daughters and second in command with her sister. Her shoulder length brunette hair covering most of her face as she lent against the wall arms crossed.
         “They were questioning my report on the Indian ocean incident. Apparently there were flaws in it” I said gruffly
         Annie laughed loudly in disbelief at my answer. She stood up brushing her hair away from her eyes and joined my side.
         “Was that the only reason?” she asked still grinning
         “That was all but they are having Maintek and Intel reinvestigate the incident”
         “Is that not a problem?” Annie asked with a touch of concern in her voice
         “They will report exactly the same as I did, there’s nothing to worry about. Anyway we have more important things to concern ourselves with” I said with a calm demeanour
         “Your referring to the girl aren’t you Captain?”
         I nodded a yes
         “I prefer not to question your judgement but I can’t help but do it this once” she said crossing her arms
         “I understand your concern but she is a crucial eye witness to the Red Army assault, its not every day they attack a civilian population without reason”
         “We know they wanted her though don’t we”
         “Yes but their reasons are still unknown, she appears to be nothing more than a healthy human female”
         “On the outside maybe”
         “And on the inside, I have already seen the DNA test results”
         “That was fast, so she is nothing more than a pure blood human”
         “It seems that way which makes it all the more harder to find out why the Red army wanted her”
         “Mistaken identity maybe?  She shares a similar cosmetic appearance to us. Her platinum hair is not exactly common among humans”
         “Possible, it would explain why they used such aggressive tactics in her attempted capture” I walked over to a rack of pipes and sat down on them resting my legs. I hadn’t slept for almost 185 hours and it was beginning to take its toll.
         “Please get some rest, you look awful” Annie asked with a touch of compassion in her voice
         “I’m fine” I wasn’t but I was determine not to show weakness
         “I am asking you as your daughter, not a soldier. Please get some rest” said Annie standing up and offering me her hand.
         I smirked at her offer,
         “Thankyou, but I’m not that old” I said rising to my feet “Very well, ill rest. I trust you will take care of matters in my absence” I said walking away down the hallway.
         “Of course, you may not be old but you sure act like it” Annie shouted after me
         “Humph and I thought your sister was the cheeky one” I said to myself quietly. “Ill be in my room” I shouted in reply with out turning