Prologue: Neliff? The Good Life
The creature was five foot tall, and rather small from the waist up. It was vaguely humanoid with two arms ending in hands, and an obvious head on a neck. From the waist down it was a mass of tentacles, and each tentacle was tipped by a stinger, with an egg sac at its base. Its mouth was very carnivorous looking, and its wide fish-like eyes were positioned on the sides of its head. Its markings were strange, but then again neither Oliver nor the Old Vlad had ever met a Neliff before and they didn’t know if the markings were birthmarks, scarification or some sort of tattooing.
The Neliff levitated two feet off the ground, although Oliver noted it did not seem to be using the Leyas to do so. Maybe some form of natural anti-gravity, he wondered. Of course Old Vlad and Oliver were in a chamber on the opposite side of the facility where the meeting was taking place.
The Neliff diplomat would only be met with via the hard line holo-vid communicators that had been built in this place for studying dangerous lifeforms. Oliver suspected there were few aliens as dangerous as a Neliff.
“Excuse me,” said the Neliff as if unused to speaking vocally, “Is there some sort of device here I may speak into?”
Oliver realized that stuffing the Neliff in a room surrounded by one way armored mirrors might be a little off putting. Then he looked over at the Old Vlad, as the Spymaster studied the creature, and knew instantly that was what the old man had tried to do.
The Old Vlad was in his Olgog clone form, with a pair of platinum caps on his tusks. It was the only form of Old Vlad that Oliver had ever met.
Even long ago when he was just a boy soldier serving in the Kolgul Militia, Oliver had been impressed by the Old Vlad. One part weathered soldier, one part devious game theorist, with an unstoppable thirst for knowledge, Oliver had looked up to the old gog back then. Before he knew the truth about the Old Vlad’s operations here in the Goblin Lands.
The Old Vlad leaned forward and said, “Speak aloud diplomat, this entire room is transmitting so that we do not miss a single of your important words.”
The Neliff’s tentacles spamsed a bit, though if it was from pride, or from embarassment, they could not tell. It said, “Thank you honored hosts. Both the Kolgul Militia and the Armies of Eloga have been so kind in their treatment of our caravans. The Neliff appreciate that.”
Oliver looked to Old Vlad, and the old gog motioned with a finger for Oliver to speak, Oliver cleared his throat and said, “Thank you. It has been our pleasure having the Neliff as our neighbors. Before you arrived, the Armies of Eloga were regularly fighting back packs of raiding Giants from the mountains. Now the attacks have all stopped.”
The Neliff seemed confused, “No Disrespect, but the Neliff were told the Neliff would be meeting with Bo’gan the leader of the Armies of Eloga.”
“Bo’gan has become incapacitated due to chronic overdoses of Voho,” said Oliver putting extra effort into adding sadness to his voice, “I am Oliver his second in command, and his right hand. I will be running things until Bo’gan recovers…if he recovers…”
“Then the Neliff have brought honors for you, Oliver,” said the Neliff diplomat, “This Neliff has come directly from Neliff the Outcast in the mountains. Neliff the Outcast tells of a return of the greater evil Kalok to this dimension.”
Old Vlad looked up concerned, “Kalok was sealed away in Mt. Rhug.”
Neliff the Diplomat replied, “Mt. Rhug is now a hell dimension, where Kalok has grown more and more powerful. His armies are ready to strike, and when they do the UtR and their allies will be distracted.”
“This seems like a win,” said Old Vlad, “Let the Kalokians destroy the UtR and then your own forces can mop up the remaining Kalok forces.” Old Vlad didn’t add that he had a few orbital weapons online to clean up the Neliff forces. The weapons had been available since he hitched a ride on Olgog the Olgog’s hacking of the planetary satellite grid. It had been so easy to fool the impressionable Olgog into turning the weapons on the Tla’loc’alans over a year ago.
“Neliff has but one master, and that is the Warmonger,” said Neliff the diplomat, “And Neliff the Outcast has interpreted Warmonger’s will. An army of giants must face the Kalokians on the mountains over Tla’loc’al. And if we succeed, then Kalok’s host must be brought to Neliff the Outcast so he may be implanted, and we may make Kalok a servant of Warmonger instead of his foe.”
Old Vlad pressed the mute button, and faced Oliver, “What do you think?”
“If we let another army of Giants and Neliff through to attack the UtR across our borders they will hold the Der’al Collective responsible,” said Oliver.
“I see, well how married to this Der’al Collective are you?” asked Old Vlad, “I mean it was perfect when we needed a hegelian dialectically opposed force to test the threat of this UtR to the Earther Colonies. I definitely feel the UtR proved itself to be a lumbering juggernaut more likely to harm its own than give the Colonies any real threat. And with the weapons I received from Alchemist Onderal prepped in specific locations, I could eliminate them quick enough if needed.”
“Good to hear, father,” Oliver replied, “But I do feel a certain kinship with the folks in the Der’al Collective. Even the dirty Tor’lallur have a charm once you get to know them. I would rather not see them blamed for the attack.”
“Then it is simple,” suggested the Old Vlad, “Send word of the attack to the UtR and their allies. Let them know the exact location the Neliff and Giant attack will come. Blame it on the members of the Ka Rhug who have embassies in your region.”
“Those embassies were negotiated in good faith, father,” Oliver corrected.
“Good faith?? Good faith by a tribe who brought about the rise of a Demon that could wipe out all human life on this planet,” countered the Old Vlad, “I’d rather their faith go the way of the dodo.”
“What is a dodo?” asked Oliver.
“Extinct Bird from Earth,” said Old Vlad, realizing again how odd it was to have a son who never knew Earth, and from a species standard never would need to. Who would have thought a drunken dalliance in Neo Vargas would have birthed one of his most exceptional agents. Ever since that one upload…He sighed, though Oliver interpreted it as related to their current situation.
Oliver suggested, “Why not show a level of honesty to both sides… Allow the Yyan army through because we do not have the forces to hold them back. Alert the UtR to the Yyan presence and advise them when the attack is coming, so they can prepare an ambush. Blame the whole thing on the Warmonger vs Kalok rivalry, which is quite true.”
“Tell them the truth?” asked Old Vlad, “What other foolish ideas are stewing in that head of yours? Me turning myself in to the EEF?”
“Not that, the EEF would just imprison you again,” said Oliver, “But there are times when Truth is better than lies, especially when manipulating your enemies.”
“Not in my experience,” mumbled the Old Vlad, as he thought back to when he tried to reveal that the Colony General was a vampire feeding on the colonists all along, and the huge backlash he saw among his friends, allies and supporters.
Even his dearest friend McMurphy had turned on him to protect that monster. Revealing that truth and trying to fix it was one of the main reasons he was stuck down here in the Goblin Lands instead of still running the agency for which he was named up north. The only man who had bravely stood by his side was Yildor Roren, and that had earned the old man a visit from a new VLAD agency kill team that destroyed Yildor’s ancestral manor house, and killed off both of Yildor’s sons.
The Old Vlad looked over at Oliver, and truly didn’t want him to have such a fate as well. And he knew full well if the EEF or the new VLAD Agency discovered the truth about his son, they would make him a target, and destroy all he had built here.
Ever since that memory upload, he knew things would be different for him. His passion for supporting the Church of One was gone, and he saw the racists for what they were: superstitious zealots who would move humanity back to the dark ages if given the chance.
It made him slightly annoyed it had taken so long for him to realize it. Perhaps if he hadn’t aided agents like Mortis Leonin and Cristos Dugari, this world would be a far safer place. But past was past and future was future.
The only goal he held onto was the disabling and dismantling of the government of cronies and minions working for the Vampire Malthus and his EEF, and an end to the new VLAD agency that kept the Vampire’s regime in power.
“The Neliff diplomat is waiting, father,” said Oliver, “What do we tell him…her….it?”
“Your plan is a sound one,” replied the Old Vlad, “Do the honors.”
Oliver leaned forward, steeling his will, and pressed the mute button into the off position.
“Neliff of Neliff, allow me to thank you for this opportunity,” said Oliver, “The Der’al Collective will give you the quickest path through our territory so that you may use the mountain paths to reach where Mt. Rhug once stood. Though with the UtR Airforce, you should expect attack the moment you leave our territory and enter theirs.”
“Neliff appreciates the hospitality and support of the Der’al Collective. It shall be remembered by Neliff once Neliff elimiates the thread of the Kalokians,” said the alien happy to be acknowledged after the long moments in the mirrored room.