“VENTRIX???” LORD-PRINCE AXIUS UTTERED after his eldest brother had ended yet another ‘secret meeting’ with the thought to be dead, self-exiled Vexan Mystic Obrron via Holo-Call on SEKTORA.

  “Axius… DID I CALL YOU?” the Lord-Emperor asked after turning around to face his visibly confused younger brother.

  “No… You did not. Ventrix, who were you just…”

  “WHY ARE YOU HERE?”

  “Who were you talking to just now?”

  “Tis none of your concern, Axius… AND YOU STILL HAVE YET TO ANSWER MY QUESTION.”

  “I wanted to discuss with you our current ‘options’, brother.”

  “Current options??? What in the thrack are you talking about?”

  “Our current options for reclaiming the Pyramid.”

  Ventrix’s eyes then widened as Lord-Prince Axius continued, “With the Mawl-Scout having failed miserably on Earth, we have been set back to ‘phase one’ of our plans. I only wish to know now what we are to do next? I assume that you have a plan, yes???”

  The Lord-Emperor did not reply, causing Axius to huff.

  “No plan? Interesting… VERY INTERESTING, VEN.”

  “ENOUGH OF THIS!” Lord-Emperor Vexas barked. “What be your game?!”

  “Game?” Axius repeated. “I come to you with no ‘game’, brother. I only come to you… WITH AID.”

  “I seek no ‘aid’ from you, Axius. I have everything under control.”

  “REALLY??? Your work with the Mawl speaks VOLUMES of that, Ven. I mean, how those six human ADOLESCENTS united seemingly out of thracking nowhere and took out one of our most savage weapons as if it posed no threat at all showed everyone just how ‘in control’ you truly are.”

  Sensing Axius’s obvious sarcasm, Ventrix stepped towards him to scold, “DO NOT MAKE MOCKERY OF ME, BROTHER. Tis VERY UNWISE to insult… AND ANGER a Vexan Lord-Emperor.”

  “Oh, trust me, brother,” Lord-Prince Axius replied. “I know that quite well after witnessing that ‘little incident’ you had with Pronos down in the Extraction Room earlier.”

  “WHAT BE YOUR GAME?”

  “As I said before… BROTHER, I come to you with no game. ONLY BUSINESS.”

  “Business?”

  “Yes, Ventrix… BUSINESS. Believe it or not, I ACTUALLY agree with your choice not to invade the Earth outright. To invade like we have with the others would be far too wasteful in numbers and resources. Your Scout plan, though a failure, DOES have ‘some’ strength in it… DEPENDING ON ‘WHO’ THE SCOUT IS.”

  “What are you getting at, Ax?”

  “I STRONGLY think that we should send another scout down to Earth’s surface in search of the Pyramid… But NOT a Mawl or any of the other ‘mindless tools’ we have tamed and conquered through the cycles. No, I believe we should send something else… SOMEONE ELSE.”

  “Who?”

  “A MERCENARY.”

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  “A mercenary??? Art thou mad, Axius?”

  “No, Ventrix. No… I AM NOT. I am of ‘full’ mind… As opposed to Drellix and Titanus, who together share one brain.”

  “No Mercenaries or any other ‘Warriors for Employ’ shall be allowed to join our hallowed and grandly revered forces,” Ventrix firmly denied. “Vexans do NOT associate themselves with such lowly and wretched life-form URCHINS.”

  “And what of THE NYTE?” Axius pressed, causing Ventrix to freeze up in shock.

  “Thu-The Nyte?” Lord-Emperor Vexas stuttered in shocked surprise. “THE WARLORD OF SKILIA? The MOST FEARED and INFAMOUS Bounty Hunting Merc within the whole Known Twenty-Four… AND BEYOND???”

  “Yes,” Lord-Prince Axius quaintly replied.

  “And you want him to ‘join’ us in our quest to reclaim the Unlimited Power Source?”

  “No. I do not wish to ‘hire’ him to join our cause, brother. I only want what he has in his stock.”

  “Which is WHAT exactly?”

  “Tell me, brother. Are you familiar with the Kadorians?”

  “THE KADORIANS??? Raxx, Ax. I haven’t heard of their kind in cycles.”

  “So, you are familiar with them?”

  “Aye… But I’ve never encountered one… Nor their ‘PLAGUE-RACKED’ world, for that matter. They were ‘Changelings’, if I’m not mistaken?”

  “Correct. That they are, brother… And would you like to know something else that is rather enticing?”

  “What?”

  “The Nyte just so happens to have one fighting in his War Pits on planet Skilia, in the Serpenus Galactic Sector.”

  “A Kadorian Changeling? A LIVING and BREATHING Kadorian Changeling??? IMPOSSIBLE.”

  “Tis true, brother.”

  “NO. TIS IMPOSSIBLE, AX,” Lord-Emperor Vexas thundered. “The Kadorians, along with their home world of Kador, were all RAVAGED and DECIMATED by plague FIFTEEN CYCLES AGO. They are all extinct and their world is nothing but a skeleton-littered, DEAD ROCK.”

  “Very true,” Lord-Prince Axius nodded. “But WHAT IF I were to tell you that one survived the plague and is now in the possession of the Nyte? What would you say then, Ventrix???”

  “What is your plan?”

  “WE PURCHASE THE LAST KADORIAN CHANGELING FROM THE NYTE. With ‘it’ in our possession, we can then dispatch it to Earth, just as you did with the Mawl, and have it transform itself in the visage of a Human. Then, it shall assimilate itself into their culture so it can then locate the Pyramid and…”

  “RETURN IT TO US???”

  “Aye. Tis a grand plan, brother… A GRAND PLAN. What say you?”

  “HOW MUCH WILL IT COST US?”

  “We are TWO of the FOUR Royal Heads of the most POWERFUL Empire in all the Known Twenty-Four, Ven. Currens are the LEAST of our problems.”

  Scrunching his brow, the Lord-Emperor thought over his decision as Axius pressed, “LOOK, I shall be the one to ‘make deal’ with the Nyte… For I am QUITE familiar with Skilia and how he runs things there. All I need from you, brother, is a suitable transport astro-vessel… As well as a GROUND-ASSAULT-TEAM of Wartroopers whilst I’m there. I do not fear the festering wretches that lurk upon diseased and heavily polluted lands of Skilia… But you can never be too safe, can you?”

  “Urgh… Very well,” Ventrix grunted. “I permit you to go on with this supposed ‘grand plan’ of yours, Ax… BUT you better be right about this because we haven’t ANYMORE ROOM for anymore thracking mistakes.”

  “No need to fret, Ventrix. I have everything under control. Better than you do at the current moment. Heh, heh…”

  Having absolutely NONE of his brother’s jests, Ventrix snapped, “BE GONE WITH YOURSELF, AXIUS! You have MUCH work to do.”

  “As you wish, brother,” Axius smirked before giving the Lord-Emperor a ‘formal bow’.

  Upon his rising, the Lord-Prince turned away from Ventrix, smirking still as his elder brother watched him depart with a cold bitterness in his burning hot, fiery red eyes.