A Stargate is an oversized teleportation portal that was used by vessels and allowed them to traverse through the vast galaxies in a short amount of time. Therefore, having a stargate connected to the elf side on the other side of the border would be nothing short but disastrous for the Magus Alliance.
“You let the elves enter and bring their army here?! Why would the leaders do this?!” uttered Shane, disbelief apparent in his voice. “This is crazy! You all have lost your minds!!
Putting a stop at the former marshal’s burst, Julian stepped in and said, “They must certainly have some sort of an agreement…” Turning his gaze at the only knowledgeable person present, the Roman asked dryly, “What is it? What is the reward for your betrayal of the alliance?”
Instead of answering, Otto was trembling in silence. Then, it was Stildar who was previously in rage who stepped forward with a guess for the group’s confusion.
“A new home…isn’t it?” Staring at the trembling minister, the man continued, “The elves are offering a new planet for the faction, aren’t they? That’s also most likely the reason why they stop caring about the colony.”
“You stopped all water and irrigation projects because of this, didn’t you?!”
The rebel leader’s furious roar shook in the air, causing Otto’s body to involuntarily shake even more violently. Looking at the minister’s silent reaction, it looked like Stildar was right on with his guess.
Seeing the situation, Emery calmly gestured with his hand. He then walked up to the minister and said, “Please, tell us why you.. Why did the leaders decide to do this?”
Once again, the minister’s body shook, but this time not involuntarily. It seemed that he wasn’t afraid about the threat of the elves or the consequences of such actions, but he was afraid to reveal the truth.
“I-it’s… my fault… I’m not good enough to solve the problem with this barren planet… There are no oceans, no mineral reserves, nothing – just the sun, and the alliance thought we are capable of nurturing 30 million lives in this god-forsaken place with our technology. We can’t.. Not with the time given…”
In front of Emery and the others, Otto started talking about how the Nexus leadership, particularly the Principal, had grown impatient with how slow the colonization progress was. The stark contrast of how the great Nexus faction had turned into the weakest faction comparable to the lower realm, and his selfish wish to see it all change within his lifetime; hence when an opportunity knocked on the door, the Principal decided to take it.
Hearing such words, Stildar was enraged once again. “That fucking Principal!”
“No!” Otto interrupted, earning a glare from the incensed Quartermain. “W-When the Principal brought up the idea… Many of us agreed. You, Stildar… You yourself hate how the alliance treated us.. When the other factions were fortunate enough to be given a planet with a Primordial Wips, we instead bestowed with the worst, barren one!”
Looking at Emery and the others, Stildar returned his gaze to the minister and said, “Yes, I hated the alliance for the things they did, but unlike you… I have grown fond of the people of this planet. Some of us have even become family with them, therefore leaving them is not an option.”
The next second, he exploded in anger once again at the minister saying, “But you!! You even let those elves breed those abominable orcs here! Did you know that you basically condemned 30 million lives to death with that decision?!”
Unexpectedly, Otto shook his head at the rebel leader’s accusation. “No… believe me, that was not our intention… We plan to bring as many as we can with us.. That’s what we’ve been working on.. An extension that would allow the ships to accomodate more people… The elves… they promised us one of the human planets on the border of the neutral zone, we the Nexus can rebuild once again”
Julian immediately interrupted when he heard those words. “You all are fools to believe the elves would keep their promise!”
Otto turned to look at Julian, heaved a sigh before slowly saying, “The same goes for the alliance.. We could not put our trust in them as well… Either way, things have turned this way. There’s nothing else we can do…”
Emery cut in by saying, “There is actually something! We can still stop them finishing the stargate.”
At this moment, Emery thought whatever the Nexus was planning for their people was not the real issue, the most important problem they had to immediately deal with was to stop the elves from finishing the stargate and launching an invasion.
“We all know that the alliance will come in a few days.” Staring at Otto, he asked, “So tell me, how much longer will it take to complete the stargate?”
The answer the minister gave shocked everyone present.
“I-It’s… actually already finished for quite some time… I mean, it’s already capable of sending medium-sized vessels.” Under the horrified look of everyone, he continued, “…The only reason why they haven’t used it is because we haven’t given them the key. After all, we are not ready for the migration yet.”
The minister then heave a sigh before continue,
“Unfortunately, there was a mistake on our part. A message was wrongfully sent to the alliance about a missing Replicator, which leads to this entire situation.”
The Replicators were one of the results of humanity’s ingenuity, and therefore their existence were strictly monitored. Knowing that there would be an investigation, in order to cover the secret that they gave the machine to the elves to build the stargate, the Nexus faction decided to blame the entire matter on the rebels to the extent of letting Stildar one of the remaining Replicators.
“It was all part of the plan! Dammit! No wonder it was so easy to steal them!’
The revelation uncovered all the mystery, but it also provided the fact that at any moment now the elves’ army could arrive on this planet. While Emery and the others were shocked by the news, one of the rebels barged into the room bringing another.
“We detected multiple transmissions from the space station. They have ordered the commencement of Protocol 66. The three colonies have received the message, and there is high activity from all of them.”
Hearing the news, Otto’s face turned pale again which of course did not escape the attention of others.
“Otto, what is Protocol 66? Tell me!!”
“I-It’s already begun… That is the order for the evacuation of the planet.”