Orion's Private Quarters
Ozuul


So I decided that after a few days of work that I needed a vacation. I know, I know. Ridiculous right? My sister is a few months pregnant and works 60 hour weeks like it's nothing. I run the company and I maybe put in 5 hours of actual work a week, and I need a vacation? Yes. Yes I do. Those are 5 incredibly stressful hours and so here I am. Ozuul. The one place I can go where absolutely no one can find me. Not Erica, not Jimmy or Isabel, not even Lila. Just me and some peace and quiet as I stand on my balcony overlooking the Capital City.




Peace and quiet.

No one will bother me here, hell, they don't even know that I'm here. Just me and the view, and some whiskey that I brought with me.

I just need a few hours of peace.


KNOCK!!!


KNOCK!!!


KNOCK!!!


Mother fucker.

The whole world is against me. This one and Earth.


KNOCK!!!


KNOCK!!!


KNOCK!!!


This could get interesting. The last time I was hear Nova did some little magic trick that changed my look up slightly so that it was more in line with what the real Orion looked like. I wonder if they will notice.

Enter.


I reluctantly turned away from the beautiful view and see "Ranelagh" one of Orion's squires entering the room.


"Sir, you are needed in the Citadel."

"I'm busy, can it wait?"

"No sir, it is extremely important that you come, things are very chaotic right now."

"Chaotic how?"

"I am not at liberty to say sir, just to bring you to The Citadel."

“Very well then.”


I guess peace and quiet is out of the question, might as well get this over and done with.


“Sir, perhaps you want to put on your council robes.”

“Right, and where might I find those?”

“Over here sir.”


This is going to be a challenge. Last time I was here I had Az with me to keep me from looking completely out of place. Literally.

A few minutes later and I am not dressed in what “Ranelagh” called my Council Robes. The robe is about what you would expect, green with black trim that goes down to the floor. If I had to give you an example I would tell you to picture Loki in those awesome Avengers and Thor movies.

The trip to The Citadel, specifically the High Council Chambers took about 20 minutes.

The Chambers themselves look different than the last time I was there. Some of the faces are different but that is to be expected. While appointment to the High Council is for life, life is not forever. Certainly prolonged compared to us mere mortals but even here, people die. However one of the faces that is the same is that of K’ar.


“Orion it is agreeable to see you again.”

“You as well K’ar. So tell me, what is the situation that required my coming here?”

“What’s wrong Orion, do you not want to fulfill your obligations as the Leader of the High Council?”

“That has nothing to do with it, mores so I was in the middle of something extremely important.”

“Must have been, we have been trying to locate you for days. Where have you been?”

“On Earth meeting with Azrael.”

“Why?”

“He asked for my presence and I provided it. Much like I am doing now. Tell me K’al, is one of your duties here on the High Council to know every detail of my life?”

“No it is not.”

“Good. Then how about you tell me is happening?”

“How about we all take a seat and allow us to present the information to you.”

“So be it.”


I take my seat at the head of the table while everyone else takes theirs. One of the faces that I do not recognize stands up and begins speaking, his tone is deep, his words are sharp.


“Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt.”

“No apologies necessary sir. How may I be of assistance to you?”

“Your name son, what is your name?”

“Tayo’Dor”

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

“Tayo’Dor, sir.”

“Splendid. Tayo’Dor, you are my new favorite person here. I just want you to know that. Now please continue with your presentation.”

“Thank you sir. Our initial scans of the planet’s core reveal that it is becoming increasingly unstable.”

“Unstable, meaning what?”

“Meaning sir, that if something is not done to stop or drastically slow down whatever is causing the instability, than the core will cease to exist.”

“Well I’ve seen Superman so I know how that ends.”

“Superman, sir?”

“Nevermind.”

“As you wish sir.”

“Alright then, so my next question is, what is causing the instability and how do we stop it?”

“Well sir, there is no one thing that is causing the core’s instability, but rather a few, and that is what has made this situation so dire as the solution is as complicated as the cause.”

“Well Tay-Oh, do you mind if I call you that?”

“Not at all sir.”

“Perfect. Tell me Tay-Oh, how do we go about ending this crisis before it results in the destruction of our beautiful world?”

“Well sir there are a few things we can do. However I am going to allow another member of the Science Council to speak on that as my charge was the scanning and analysis of the data. “Priam” was responsible for coordinating a plan on stopping the core’s breakdown.”

“Very well. Let’s hear from “Priam”.


As the doors to the High Council open I see another unfamiliar face walk in, a female, probably in her mid 30’s, dark black hair. Her robes are reminiscent of Tayo’Dor’s, which makes sense as both he and Priam are part of the Science Counsil of Ozuul. Priam takes her position at the opposite end of the table from me and begins to speak.


“Good evening. For the last several weeks we have been testing a variety of different chemical compounds in hopes that they would slow down the level of breakdown to the core before it can become radioactive. So far only one chemical compound has worked.”

“Well that’s good, why do you sound so distraught despite the good news?”

“Well sir, while it is indeed good that we have isolated a chemical compound that we believe will slow down the deterioration of the core the compound itself is one that the planet has a very finite amount of, and unfortunately we do not have the time, or the ability to artificially replicate more.”

“What is the name of this compound?”

“Gerritisite”

“Never heard of it.”

“You wouldn’t, it’s extremely rare, thus part of our dilemma.”

““I see. Did you or anyone else within the Science Council happen to scan any of the other worlds near here for that specific compound?”

“We did.”

“And?”

“And even if we were to collect the sum total of what is available from all of the planets within this star system it would not be enough to even make a dent in stopping the core from going radioactive.”

“That’s not good.”

“No sir, it is not.”

“Well if I may ask, do you have any good news to present us or should we consider contingency plans?”

“We have located one planet within 100 light years that has the compound we are looking for.”

“And that planet is?”

“Earth.”

“Interesting.”


As the words come out of my mouth I can see K’ar looking in my direction, clearly he is thinking the same thing I am, or at least, something close enough to what I am thinking.


“Ok. Well if there isn’t anything else I think that will be all for now.”


Priam bows her head as is the customary gesture when the leader of the High Council adjourns a meeting. As everyone else gets up and starts filing out of the room the only thing I can think of is “how fast can I get back to my private quarters and back to Earth.” Hell of a reversal from when I first got here. Unfortunately K’al seems to be hell bent on wrecking every single plan I have.


“May I have a word with you Orion?”

“If you must.”

“Yes I must.”

“Go ahead.”

“Will you be contacting Azrael about helping us?”

“I suppose that would be the most prudent course of action would it not?”

“Yes it would be.”

“Great, I’m glad we had this talk. Now if you will excuse me.”

“Beg your pardon but I do have something else.”

“Of course you do K’al, what is it?”

“Do you think Azrael would be willing to help us, given what we tried to do to him recently?”

“Despite what you may believe him to be Azrael is not a vindictive person. He will help because I will ask him to help. At the end of the day this is his home planet just as it is yours. He has no desire to see this planet destroyed.”

“You seem very confident of that fact.”

“I am. And that is why I rule the High Council and why you are just a part of it. Now are we through?”

“Yes we are.”


My God, that was worse than I had imagined. Now I get why Azrael was not a fan of this guy. And here I thought I was full of myself. Whatever, it’s over with now. Now all I need to do is get off of this planet. So much for a little rest and relaxation, so back to Earth I go.

I slip on the silver ring and a few seconds later presto, I am in the residence of everyone’s favorite space alien. No, not Radio. I can tell from Azrael’s sudden movement that my appearing out of no where startled him.


“See, it’s not as much fun when you are on the other end of an unannounced pop in.”

”Theo, what are you doing here?”

“We have to talk.”

“What about?”

“Apparently the planet core of Ozuul is becoming increasingly more unstable and if it isn’t corrected soon the planet will go Radioactive.”

“Like Krypton?”

“Yes exactly. See I knew someone would get it.”

“How do you know this?’

“Because I was just in a meeting with the High Council, and I gotta tell you, this whole running a planet thing is ridiculous. I have my own company to run, now I have to run a planet?”

“Well what did you expect it would be? A vacation?”

“As a matter of fact yes.”

“Ok, so what do you need from me?”

“Well apparently there is only one chemical compound out there that will reverse the damage that has been done.”

“And it is?”

“Gerritisite”


As soon as I say it Azrael begins laughing, which both confuses me as well has helps to defuse the situation a bit.


“What’s so funny?”

“Gerritisite, on Earth it is called Uranium Deuteride,.”

“I employee Scientists Az, I am not one myself.”

“It’s funny because obtaining some isn’t really that big of an issue, in fact, I would be willing to bet Pryce Industries could procure what is needed rather quickly.”

“Lovely, something easy for a change.”

“Shall we get to work then?”

“Yes, the sooner the better so that I can get back to my vacation.”

“Oh really, where were you vacationing?”

“Doesn’t matter, I need to find somewhere else now.”