CHAPTER 66: LETTER FROM THE ICE PLANET

Julian now had two things to reason upon and it was the ice planet and the pincer beast.

Why the ice planet?

Well, that was because with their hatred for men, they would go on to spread it across all planets.

That was just a theory of Julian. The women of the ice planet would think every man was a threat. The male race in general, and this might be a problem.

What if they had an initiative which was to get rid of men?

But how they had relations with Drayyors baffled him. How were Drayyors in good terms with them since they were allergic to men?

That was when the thought hit Julian.

The pincer beast wasn’t from Drayyors, then, where could it be from?

Julian stroked his beardless chin.

By the way, he was alone in his room, seated on a comfy chair, a cup of an energy weird but very delicious drink in front of him.

He was the one that had requested for it.

It would soon be morning, as he could see, through the window adjacent him, a hint of light.

Julian pondered, still stroking his beardless chin.

But then what had the weapons commander gone to do on the planet?

Something was fishy. He could feel it. This whole thing. It was just fishy.

Well, he decided he wouldn’t go into conclusions so quickly. He would simply wait till tomorrow. But then, he had a kinky feeling.

If the pincer beast was not from planet Drayyors, then he was certain, although with a hint of doubt, that the weapons commander wasn’t coming back.

He couldn’t put a hand to where the feeling was surging from, but just maybe she had been...

---

Morning descended like a gust of wind.

Julian, clothed in a royal attire, paced around the hall. He should be addressing the planet in a few minutes and he was thinking on what he would say.

"Governor," a soldier came running in.

Julian looked at him indifferently. Wasn’t he to be addressed as Emperor? He didn’t really care so he didn’t say it.

But then, a guard, which stood by the entrance door, shouted at him.

"He shall be addressed as Emperor!"

The soldier, looking all wimpy, knelt before Julian.

"My apologies, m’lord," he said. "I forgot."

Julian waved.

"Cut the courtesies. Apology accepted," Julian said. Them seeing him as a god didn’t mean he would be so ruthless. Of course he was ruthless in battle, he decided he wouldn’t be so while not fighting.

Moreover, that was never his personality. Before becoming the Galactic Knight, he was a nice guy, always willing to help and do good.

"What do you bring?"

The soldier was clothed in steel, only slim fitting. He was wearing a helmet, one that covered the sides of his face excluding his eyes, nose and mouth. The middle in general. Perhaps when the soldier wanted to fight or do battle-like stuff, he’d fully activate the helmet.

He wore heavy-looking boots and had quite a pale face. Seems he was the assistant to the dead commander. By the looks of it, he should be the commander of the soldiers now, except Julian wanted to change him.

Julian didn’t mind though. If he was the assistant commander and had survived the war against Hellfott, then he wouldn’t mind if he became commander.

Julian looked at the soldier’s hand—seems he was holding a note.

Finally! First time he was seeing paper here. He was sure Drayyors had no papers, so this was not from Drayyors.

This must be from...

Julian squinted his eyes. He came close to the soldier who spoke:

"It is from the ice planet. They sent it through a bird-like device."

"Let me see?" Julian asked the soldier.

The soldier handed the note to him.

Julian read it:

We have the weapon commander of Drayyors.

If you don’t want her killed, do as we say.

Julian threw the paper on the ground. He was boiling with anger.

"Bullshit!" he roared.

"How... how is this possible?"

Julian frowned.

The soldier stepped back, looking at the floor.

There were two guards at the door. Julian signalled for one to come over.

"Call Matt, Zatt and Rayn for me."

The soldier bowed.

"As you wish, m’lord."

Julian hit the soldier who brought the letter.

"You got what it takes to be commander of Drayyors’ soldiers."

The soldier was surprised.

"I don’t know, m’lord. I replaced the dead commander. It’s up to you to choose."

Julian sighed. "Are you a good fighter?"

The soldier looked at the ground more intently.

"I can’t say, m’lord."

The fuck is wrong with this soldier! Julian thought.

It seemed he had a lot of work to do.

"Tell the soldiers after the speech I’ll be delivering to the planet, you all should meet me at the training ground."

The soldier nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes, sir."

Julian turned back.

Another war would certainly be happening because he didn’t know what was wrong with the ice planet.

Just then, Matt, Zatt and Rayn walked inside.

Julian pointed at the paper on the ground.

The three of them exchanged glances before Matt took a move to pick it up.

They all read the letter out loud in unison:

We have the weapon commander of Drayyors.

If you don’t want her killed, do as we say.

Julian sighed.

"What do you think?"

At this point, the three of them had been promoted to his special advisers. They now made up his council of advisers.

"It’s... well, crazy I guess," one of them said.

Julian snickered.

"You guys don’t know about that damn planet like I do. I know the reason they hate men."

They all looked at him in surprise.

Julian decided it would cause no harm in telling them the reason why they hated men.

He narrated to them what he saw in the vision. Well, not everything, but why they hated men—he narrated it all to them.

They were surprised.

"They were done dirty," Zatt said. "But they’ve got to understand that not all men are like that."

Julian shrugged.

"When you said they hated men, I thought it was merely a phobia or tradition. But when you said they murdered that horny Drayyorsain man, I knew it was more than that—and now, they wish to kill all men."

The men were even more surprised.

Julian sighed.

"That’s the agenda. You can’t just hate men and let it slide. The hate inside of you would make you want to kill all men."

"So what do you do now?"

Julian grinned.

"We get the weapon commander back. I’ve never asked for her name. What’s it?"

"Voisey," Matt replied.

"Nice name," he said. Of course he had never heard something like that before, but it sounded nice.

Zatt was squinting his eyes the whole time.

"Wait, so that weird creature you guys killed must be from them?"

Julian nodded in the affirmative and paced around, feeling that standing wasn’t doing justice to the situation.

"I figured before you and I’ll say, it just makes sense, you know. Think about it," Julian said. "The ice planet has been in existence for quite long and they would have attacked since, you know. Why did they choose to do so now?"

It made sense.

"The reason they would be doing so is because they have found something—or rather, they have made something—that has gotten them stronger."

"If you go after them, what about the Imperium of Archos? What if they attack?"

Julian grinned.

"I know the Imperium is coming and if they come, I might not be able to handle them like this. When they first attacked, you guys, even though amateurs, survived. Do you think they’ll attack more softly the second time?"

The soldiers nodded in the negative.

"They’ll think you guys are strong and attack with more force and hundreds of battleships."

The soldiers squinted their eyes. Julian was on to something.