Chapter 29 - A death in the family

"Wait. Wait. I have to stay here too?" asked Balthazar. Staying there with Bolena was definitely not a part of his plan.

"Of course, you do. You are in the same situation as your sister and Robert. Albert will be providing security and anything else you need. We will inform you of the updates as soon as there are any," said Winston.

"I have to work. I can't wait here til god knows when. Bel and Albert are going to be by my side all day long. Do we really need to stay in this bunker till Max is captured?" asked Bolena.

"Yes, at least till we are sure that there would be no more attempts on your life. Definitely for a week or so. Till we make a definitive plan and improve upon the security available at your workspace," said Arthur trying to assuage her.

"You said Elaine is tracking him on an armed vessel, right? If you have their location couldn't you just blow their shuttle to kingdom come and be done with it?" asked Balthazar.

"Given all the ridiculous things that Max had done, it was suggested to by me to shoot him to death, but Walter insisted that it is in the best interest for all of us to capture him alive. And the fact that he tried desperately to escape us and the amount of support he was provided by his mystery helpers had the council convinced with Walter's decision. He personally followed behind Elaine along with his team," said Arthur.

"That makes sense. How is Robert by the way?" asked Balthazar. He was both concerned for Robert and wondered Walter's state of mind is, that he followed after Max himself. Max was Walter's only remaining biological son, but he seemed to be intent on capturing him and interrogating him by what Arthur just told.

"Robert had his arm cut off by Max in his attempt to kill him. If Elaine hadn't reached in time, Robert would have lost his head too. Walter went bonkers again. He almost strangled Silas awake in anger that he managed to get himself fooled by Max," replied Arthur.

"Robert had his arm cut off?!"

"Also got a deep gash on his neck, Max just missed lopping off his head. He is in surgery right now, but it is expected that we could attach his arm back and would be back to perfect health in a couple of days."

"Anyways, please continue to stay in the bunker till we give the say so. Bolena you can work from the bunker itself. No direct meetings only virtual ones," said Winston as he cut off the call.

"Sorry, I have to keep you here and I suggest you be cooperative," said Albert. Thus, they were stuck in a room with no one but each other. Albert occasionally went out and got a chance to meet with other, but Balthazar and Bolena got bored by the day.

The night they began their time in lock down, they came to know that Robert was successfully out of surgery and his consciousness returned. Both Bolena and Balthazar talked to Robert to make sure that he was all right.

The next day onwards, it was only the two of them with occasional appearance of Harry or Albert. Bolena spent all her time on the computer they got into the bunker and lead the experiments on the nano-technological bots which are to be used to transfer data from human body to warframes, through internet.

Bolena had a lot of work and spent her time doing it, but Balthazar was just bored. By afternoon of the next day, he had requested Albert to get a somnium V.R. technology helmet. He spent most of the day creating an arena framework, so that he could start practicing his weapon and also fight against Robert.

Once that was done, he spent his entire time in the arena practicing his weapon or fighting with Robert. Soon, even his regular class with Salazar was also continued in the same arena.

This period of them in the bunker endured for a total time of one week till they finally got a call from Arthur regarding Max's escape.

"Max managed to escape. Elaine almost caught up to him but some pirate vessel showed up to assist him. Elaine's ship was blasted to pieces, but they managed to get into a escape pod and landed stealthily on a nearby planet. Walter's ship which was following them managed to get a hold of their position and pulled Elaine and her team onto their ship," said Arthur as soon as the call connected.

"So, what does that imply for us?" asked Balthazar depressed. He knew that it implied continued isolation for him but asked anyway to be sure.

"We are going to announce tomorrow morning that Max has been disowned by us for commercial espionage, escaped from us and announce a reward for him. Walter insists that we would rather have him dead than him escape. Yassin is also announcing an award for him, but only if he is alive."

"Walter is still pursuing him?" asked Balthazar.

"Yes, I don't think he would let him off after he tried to kill Robert," replied Arthur.

"So, my suffering continues?" asked Bolena in a sad and frustrated manner.

"I'm sorry. But we did manage to improve the security at Apropos, by a lot. The Patriarch had Bruce Kane to revise the entire security setup. You probably would be able to resume back to your usual life in a couple of days," said Arthur trying to calm her.

"Well that is something I could look forward to," said Bolena as she turned towards her computer and continued with her work.

"When can I return?" asked Balthazar. He realized that if Max isn't caught then he probably wouldn't be allowed to return back to Asklepian anytime soon. They would probably just suggest him to stay here with his sister for the remaining duration of his medical leave.

"Just, stay with your sister, Balthazar," said Arthur like he had expected. "We might make arrangements to transport you back to Asklepian in a day or two."

"That's better than I expected," said Balthazar pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah, you can also stay there with your sister which I suggest."

"No, I like the other idea better."

"That's what the Patriarch thought. We will see according to the situation."

"OK. Hope you call me with some good news the next time."

"Hope I do," said Arthur as he cut the call.

"You know what the best thing is, I observed in all this mess?" asked Bolena suddenly.

Balthazar looked at her and thought, "When did she become an optimist?"

"Is it that I am in a lot more bored and frustrated than you?" he asked.

"Wow! Good guess," answered Bolena as she started to laugh.

"You know, sometimes I just have these urges to strangle you."

"I know, I guess it is just genetic," she retorted.

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January the 30th, 2682 A.D., Asklepian

It had been a very eventful day for Arthur. Just 8 hours earlier, he had received a message from Walter about Max being assisted by someone very dangerous and thought to be dead for more than 5 decades. He immediately set to verification of the information and asked Elaine personally about the vessel that attacked her.

"It was a large grey vessel about 4 km long with the red words 'UNHINDERED' written across it side and it had used a very good camouflage tech till they were right in the firing range. They had some kind of illusion over the ship that made it look like it was covered gray gaseous substance," said Elaine over the call.

As soon as Arthur heard Elaine talk about the illusion of it being covered in some kind of grey gas and the red words 'UNHINDERED', he was sure that they were back. The color of the words was written down as black in all reports by the military.

Only a few people, who had seen and survived the murder of its captain, Asuragana Veeraprasad and bombarding of the ship from within knew that it would be red. Moreover, Walter told him that he checked the video recording of the black box and the radar logs were also quite convincing.

A lot of copycats tried the same thing, but the most of them will wiped off the universe by either its survivors or the military. Also, the way they managed to have Max escape was very similar to how the original Nirbaadh pirates used to work. They always knew that the ship and the Nirbaadh pirates would resurface but didn't expect it to be so early.

Immediately after he got a confirmation from Walter, he called Balthazar and Bolena to tell them of Max's escape. But he didn't mention anything about the ship or its legend to them. He instead notified Albert that a very dangerous group which went dormant before the knights of the old republic were assisting Max and to confine them in the bunker until further development.

But now he heard something very disturbing from the local law enforcement of a city in the planet KF-35, that they found a body that was very similar to Max. He had been beheaded and thrown by the police station. Even the DNA results showed that it was Max's body.

He immediately sent someone to make a more detailed check of the body and take sample from various parts of the body to confirm if it is actually Max or a ruse. He couldn't understand why they would just not throw it in some isolated planet if they wanted to get rid of Max.

He also called Walter who luckily was quite close the planet KF-35. Walter immediately set off to collect Max's body. On reaching the police station, Walter had confirmed that the body was actually his son with the help of the personnel Arthur sent.

The sub-inspector also provided a small video disk that was left by the body. It was the same as before, the Nirbaadh pirates always made a statement when they attacked someone. Walter quickly played the recording in a device provided by the police.

It was a recording of someone beheading Max. "We were paid to provide extraction for Mr. Max Blyth and kill him after we receive the information. The Nirbaadh pirates have returned. Hail!" shouted the person who beheaded Max.

"They are making a statement of return," thought Walter looking at the video. They also intend to say that they were just doing a job and had no other intention than that. They had no intention to fight against the Blyths.

He immediately informed the alliance authorities that the Nirbaadh pirates have resurfaced, killed Max Blyth and sent out a statement of return. He also sent the information back to the Blyth household and also told them to concentrate on security rather than tracking the Nirbaadh pirates.

He told Arthur that he would personally look into tracking them, that he could have Balthazar return back to Asklepian and they were no longer in any danger for the time. He also told Arthur to hold Max's funeral at the Blyth mansion and not reveal the hunt that happened for him.

Arthur immediately called Balthazar to inform him that Max was dead and to come back to the funeral which was being held on the evening next day. Balthazar was very shocked to hear this. Just 8 hours ago, he heard that Max managed to successfully escape but now he is being asked to attend his funeral.

"Why did they rescue him if they just wanted to kill him," asked Balthazar confused.

"They are an old group of assassins and pirates that have been employed to rescue Max, but their employer seemed to have had him killed as he is no longer useful. They must have been pissed off that their employer asked to dispose of the target they secured with great efforts. So, they decided to announce their return with his decapitated dead body. That's what Walter makes of the situation anyway."

"OK. I will return immediately. What about Bolena?"

"She will stay there. She needs to work there. But you need to practice on your skills and strengths. So, you are going to come back to Asklepian with Albert and his team and stay here for the remainder of your medical leave."

"I am concerned about Bolena's security. What is being done to improve the security here?" asked Balthazar.

"Come here for the funeral. We are going to introduce you to the people who would be in charge of her security from now on," replied Arthur.

"OK," said Balthazar accepting the plan. He quickly contacted Albert who was already getting ready to depart. They left quickly even before Bolena woke up. Balthazar left a small note explaining that he would be leaving to Asklepian and wishing her the good luck with her research.