Chapter 11 - Geneaology

Winston being the patriarch of the family was one of the busiest men on the planet. He had to manage all the assets of the Blyth family. As the family owned more than 80 percent of the entire planet, he tried to moderate and keep all the denizens of the planet satisfied and happy as he believed that it would be more efficient to be in control of the planet in this manner.

He also held the position of the director of the alliance interplanetary health standards organization. He was considered to be man of honor and was well respected throughout the alliance. His position required him to have frequent meeting with various delegates and officials of several organization and forces. This made him a very busy man and it was very difficult to meet him.

After Balthazar was done with his breakfast, an alarm from his wrist band reminded him that he had to meet his grandfather. Winston Blyth along with all the advisers and grand elders had his office at the sixth floor, the topmost floor of the east wing of the mansion. No person could enter this floor without an appointment or permission of the residents of the floor. Balthazar had never been to this floor before. This would be his first time on this floor.

When he got into the elevator and selected the sixth floor, the screen immediately prompted him to enter the password. Not knowing what to do, he immediately messaged Thaddeus. He soon got a temporary password from Thaddeus. He was soon at the sixth floor of the mansion. He went along the corridor checking the names of the rooms. At the far end of the corridor there was a large plaque with the words "PATRIARCH" written in large bold letters.

It was a long time since he met his grandfather. Winston was his role model when he was a kid. He was very proud of his grandfather and always wanted to be a great medical professional at that time. But his father's death had caused his perspective to change. His grandfather wanted him to continue his previous goals. But after John's death, he wished to know what prompted his parent's death, he wanted to know more about what his own father did alongside Walter and slowly his life goals and aims changed irrevocably. When he was 14 years old, he had angrily refused his grandfather's goodwill and completely gave up his studies in the medicinal field and picked up engineering.

Balthazar still wondered on occasion whether he chose the right field of study at that time. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. The door immediately slid open and his grandfather came out and hugged him. A couple of seconds later he released Balthazar.

"Come in. It has been a long time since I have seen you," said Winston pulling him into the room by his shoulder and shut the door behind them. "Get onto the table. Let me inspect you," said Winston.

"Don't joke grandpa. I am no longer a kid," said Balthazar remembering his childhood. He always used to play the doctor-patient game with his grandfather as a kid.

"Hahaha. Glad you grew up. How are you? How's your career?" asked Winston.

"I am fine. Work isn't bad. Lots of opportunities everywhere I see," replied Balthazar.

"You have become quite a celebrity among the younger generation and you rate your career as not bad? You sure have great ambitions," said Winston appreciatively. Although he was sad that Balthazar hadn't followed the path set by him, but chose a different career path, he had always been worried for his grandson. Now, that he had seen him well and successful, that worry had also been relieved.

Being the patriarch, he had many responsibilities and he couldn't show any weakness even to his own family. After John and his daughter died in the accident, Balthazar and Bolena were his only surviving descendants. The past fourteen years had been very restless for him. He finally could consider have a little peace of mind. His grandson had shown his capability and even Walter had approved of him. Bolena was groomed by him specifically and was even considered by many to be capable of handling his post after him. He could finally leave the well-being of both his grandchildren to themselves.

"So, what did you want to talk about that you requested a meeting from me?" asked Winston.

"There are many things I wanted to talk to you about. First, I want to know if you have ever actually had any clues or suspects for my parent's murder. They were murdered even though they had one of the highest security level in the family without any evidence left behind. This implies that the involvement of moles or traitors. Was anybody ever suspected by you. Second, I can understand the intent in killing my parents as they were considered that generations leaders and the immediate heirs but what would be their reason in attempting to take my life?," asked Balthazar.

The question stumped Winston. He hoped that it was something related to the military or wanting to return to the family. He didn't want it to be this. This was extremely troubling matter to the family and was something the upper ranks of the family wanted to stay hidden as it could potentially cause a split in the family. But now he had no options than explaining it all to Balthazar.

The question drained the color and happiness out of Winston's face. He quickly sent a message on his wrist band to his assistant to inform him that he would be a little late to work today and to delay his schedule for half an hour. He also sent a message to Walter about it before he began to answer Balthazar.

"I hoped that I wouldn't had to have this discussion so soon. This began 70 years ago when Walter was on a mission. He was a member of an alliance black operations group who was tasked with suppressing the rebels including knights of the old republic. Those were very chaotic times. The knights of the old republic were actual knights in service of a sovereign family, the godspeed dynasty. The godspeed dynasty was annihilated and the victors named themselves as the knights of the old republic. Thus, began a scourge which plagued mankind from within."

"Walter was considered an engineering genius. He somehow tracked a signal, a call for help from within the presumed rebel area. They were promised valuable information about the knight in exchange for safety. He along with a small team of four others followed the instructions and arrived at a desolate moon. Soon, they saw a shuttle crash nearby them. There was a woman in a near death state in the shuttle. She had just given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Walter promised her that he would take care of her children and she had given him all the information she had. She had just escaped from a hunting party of the knights and she was your grandmother. That baby boy was John."

"So I am not a Blyth?" asked Balthazar in shock. He always thought that his father's side of the family were in seclusion like several other old man of the family. Never did he think that his father could be a bastard.

"Don't you ever say that!" shouted Winston. "You are my grandson and Walter treated John as his own. You are my flesh and blood, the only son of my beloved Emma. You are as much a Blyth as me."

"Sorry, grandpa. I wasn't thinking. I just blurted it out in surprise," said Balthazar apologetically. Winston also understood that he had overreacted and it was expected of Balthazar to be shocked at the revelation. He calmed himself down and continued to speak.

"Walter decided to stick to his promise and brought the kids back to the family. He later became the head of our shadow organization. The patriarch and the elders decided to raise them as Blyths. The girl was Robert's mother Jordan. It was all well and fine in the beginning. Both Jordan and John were very promising young individuals. Walter even took John as his apprentice. John had been Walter's only apprentice other than Walter's eldest son, George. George and John were as brothers. Even Max wasn't as close to George as John. Later John got married to my Emma and Jordan got married to George. George was set to be Walter's successor and Jordan mine, and everything was peaceful."

"Robert was one year old when an attempt was made on George, Robert and Jordan's lives. George managed to save their lives at the cost of his own, but Jordan lost her sanity watching George sacrifice himself. More than 6 members of the family were killed during that attempt. It was at this time that we first suspected a mole or traitor. John was distraught and inquired personally into his death. Both Walter and John suspected someone, but due to lack of evidence they both refused to comment on it. Everyone expected Walter to take Max in George's place and train him. But Walter chose John instead and somehow even convinced the grand elders and the old men in seclusion to support his decision."

"Seven years later, when everyone almost forgot about the incident, John requested a meeting with the council of elders claiming to possess evidence against George's murderer. Even Walter had given up, but John never stopped his pursuit. But, John and Emma had the accident before the meeting. It was after this that Walter confided in me about his suspicions."

"Was Uncle Max the suspect?" asked Balthazar suddenly cutting into his story.

"How? How? How did you know?" asked Winston flabbergasted. He was so shocked that he almost toppled backwards in his chair. In both the cases, the actual culprits were foreigners with no connection with anyone in the family. Max always wanted to be Walter's heir. He had the motive, but Max had neither the power nor the wealth to hire them. Unless an external force offered to do serve him for free, there was no way he could have orchestrated this. So any claim against Max had no proper basis or foundation. But Walter had always suspected Max since George's death.

"So, it is," confirmed Balthazar. "I guess you had no proper evidence as you couldn't find any trace of transactions of him or any of his acquaintances involved. It was always like someone just had done it without any proper motive. But among all the people that had the information required to do it only Max had any sort of motive for it."

"Yes. You are right," said Winston shaking all over. He got up grasped Balthazar's shoulders in both his hands and asked, "How did you know? Do you have any clues about it? Max is one of the few remaining heirs of the core family. We can't prosecute him without strong evidence. The grand elders wouldn't allow it." Emma's death had not been avenged. Her demise caused his wife to lose all hope in life and resulted in her death 5 years after Emma. He wouldn't give up any chance to bring them to justice. Hearing Balthazar had him thinking that his grandson had managed to find some tangible clue to it.

"I submitted a report to the military after the explosion in which I mentioned two names in connection with the knights of old republic. There was a third name which I hid. It was Max Blyth," answered Balthazar.

"That is ridiculous. We must inform this to Walter," said Winston.

"Are you sure? Max is his only remaining son after all," said Balthazar.

"You don't know Walter well enough. He would kill Max personally the instant he has any sort of evidence proving him guilty. He considered John his son more than Max and George was always his favorite. He almost went mad and hunted assassins crazily after George died. If the grand elders hadn't intervened, he would have killed Max. If not for John, we would have probably lost Walter too," said Winston trying to convince Balthazar.

"OK! I will leave you to it," said Balthazar. "But that would only help to the answer the first part of my question. I still need to get a lead on the second part. Why are they after me? Before last week, I was a person who ran out of the family. Max has no reason to attack me. All these days, I have been completely stumped about it. But, after you told me that my father might have other ancestors, I must assume that the people providing Max are related to them. I have much more confident of it as they are related to the knights of the old republic as the ones that tried to assassinate me are the same."

"The only reason, I suspect they were involved in George's death was to eliminate Jordan. George was just unlucky to be with Jordan," thought Balthazar. "They would surely attempt to kill Bolena and Robert too," said Balthazar.

"Don't worry. After the explosion when we came to know about the knight's involvement in attempting to assassinate you, we improved the personnel guarding both Robert and Bolena," comforted Winston. He got off his chair as he had to inform the rest of the family on the floor about what he learned from Max. If, the knights managed to have infiltrators in the family, it would be a very severe issue for them.

"I will try to investigate about the knights. Do you have any information about my paternal grandmother?" asked Balthazar

"We don't even know her name. Walter kept a tight lid on it. He might inform you about it. It is best that you consult him," advised Winston.

"Let us leave it for now. About Max, keep it a secret. I will talk to Walter and a few others. This is something that even my father would be interested in. We will consult and decide on what to do with Max. At the very least, they would wan't to put him under observation and confine his movements. Don't tell Bolena anything about this. I will inform you of what we decide," said Winston signalling Balthazar to leave the room. He immediately sent a message for an emergency meeting with the grand elders and Walter.