A/N: Thaedus Time!
-x-X-x-
Letting out a sigh, Thaedus pushes back from his desk and rises to his feet. Then, he walks over to the nearby window and looks out over the city beyond. The Capital City of Talescria is as beautiful as ever, a shining gem that never fails to make him swell with pride.
… He had been in his position for a long, long time… thousands of years in fact. As Founder of the Coalition of Planets, he had never initially intended to lead for millennia. However, the goal he had set for himself before stepping down, that being the end of the threat posed by his own people, had never come to pass despite his best efforts.
It weighed on him some days, all that he had done and what little effect it seemed to have had. Even now the Viltrumite Empire still existed. And while they were not expanding as aggressively as they had been a thousand years ago, they still continued on with their incessant belief that the galaxy belonged to them and all should be crushed beneath their heels.
But when he looked out this window, Thaedus was reminded that it wasn't true. For all their atrocities, his people had not won yet. They had not managed to conquer the galaxy. Down below, a city filled with free, innocent souls went about its business. Everyone working towards their own goals while also being part of a greater whole, a better form of life than what the Viltrumites promised.
And that view was repeated all across the Coalition of Planets, not just on its Capital World. Maybe not always in the same way of course, many worlds had their own cultures and neither Thaedus nor the Coalition tried to enforce their values on everyone… but it was still better than being under Viltrum's thumb.
Thaedus had to believe that. Just as he knew in the depths of his soul that his work wasn't done yet. He still needed to-
"Sir!"
Blinking, Thaedus turns as the doors to his office slide open and a slender alien woman rushes in. Telia is panting as she arrives, seemingly having run all the way from wherever she was. As one of the Coalition's high-ranking Generals, it was rather odd (and somewhat uncouth behavior)… which only alarms Thaedus more, because Telia has never acted like this before. Indeed, she was levelheaded and open minded more than not, a proper soldier and military leader.
"Calm down and breathe, General. What is it? What do you have for me?"
A thousand doomsday scenarios run through Thaedus' head. A report that a mass of Viltrumites have appeared at the edge of the star system because they've found out where he is and come for him is at the forefront of his mind. But there's also plenty of other terrible options that involve Viltrumites causing havoc and creating chaos, death, and destruction somewhere in the galaxy.
Which is why when she finally does finish catching her breath, Telia's answer is so… surprising.
"It's the V-Viltrumites, sir… they appear to be… gone?"
Gone? Thaedus furrows his brow.
"Explain, General."
Talia quickly takes out a tablet and begins doing exactly that, using her connection to the room to project the contents of her tablet's screen onto the far wall. Thaedus' eyes dart back and forth across the data in front of him as she speaks.
Apparently it had begun a little over twenty-four hours ago with a single report of one of their agents losing track of the Viltrumite they were supposed to be keeping an eye on.
Admittedly, the very prospect of tailing a Viltrumite was an unenviable task. They were by and large faster and stronger than most species in the galaxy. They also tended to be much more aware of their surroundings, being able to hear and see and smell across large distances.
Coalition Agents were good, but they had to be very, very careful if they were tasked with keeping tabs on a Viltrumite. And it often went poorly, with the job having a much, much higher turnover rate than Thaedus would have wanted.
Despite how many Coalition Agents were lost in the effort, they only really had 'eyes' on about ten to fifteen Viltrumites at any given time… and often it was single digits. Ultimately, they usually relied on years- or decades-old reports about when a planet might have a Viltrumite presence on it and used that to keep their more active, public agents as far away as possible.
That all said, things had gotten rather strange in the last twenty-four hours. Because that first report of a missing Viltrumite wasn't the last. Rather, over the course of the last day, every single agent who had visual confirmation on a Viltrumite as new as a week ago… had lost said Viltrumite.
One was to be expected. A handful was unfortunate, but not the worst setback the Coalition had ever suffered. But all of them? All thirteen Viltrumites currently under Coalition Surveillance, many of which had been largely stationary for years, had up and vanished. Every last one of them.
That wasn't happenstance or coincidence. That was enemy action.
Swallowing hard, the General nods.
"Yes sir. I… what do we do?"
That was the question, wasn't it? Thaedus wasn't nearly optimistic enough to believe this was a good thing. It was a thousand years too late for this to be a result of the Scourge Virus, for instance. A thousand years ago he and Coalition Scientists had used his blood to formulate a viral weapon that had then been snuck past Viltrum's planetary defenses in order to genocide his entire species.
… From what they'd been able to tell, it hadn't worked. Oh sure, Thaedus had to believe it'd had some effect. The rate at which the Empire had expanded in the past thousand years had completely collapsed and slowed down to a crawl. What before had felt like an inevitable and inexorable slide towards Viltrumite Hegemon had become much more manageable in no time at all.
Based on how much territory they'd been holding and how they'd been stymied, Thaedus suspected there were probably only millions of Viltrumites left alive at this point, down from the billions that the Coalition had estimated lived before they unleased the Scourge Virus.
For this to happen now, a thousand years later… there was no way that it had anything to do with the Scourge Virus. Something was going on. And Thaedus didn't like it. Unfortunately, he was the be all, end all. He was the leader of the Coalition of Planets. So…
"Send for Allen, General. Tell him to report to me directly as quickly as he possibly can."
General Telia wastes no time snapping off a salute.
"Yes sir!"
Then, she turns on her heel and rushes to carry out her orders. Thaedus, meanwhile, continues to pour over the data in front of him. But the more he does so, the more his shoulders slump. What did it all mean? This didn't make any sense…
-x-X-x-
Allen was, in many ways, the Coalition's true crowning achievement. Some might argue it was the Scourge Virus, but Thaedus considered that less of an accomplishment and more of a horrifying necessity. Allen though, Allen was a bright ray of sun in an otherwise bleak universe. If Thaedus had to point to one unequivocally good thing that the Coalition had accomplished, he would point to Allen first and foremost.
The alien man was born in a Unopan breeding facility created to replenish his species after the Viltrumite Empire had nearly wiped them out. He had been genetically engineered to be an effective defense against Viltrumites, with the Unopans placing all of their hope and faith in him as an advent of the future.
… Unfortunately, he had ultimately proven to be far weaker than even your average Viltrumite at the start and only the meager fight he had managed to put up against his opponents had led to them sparing him at the time. He'd very nearly died on his first mission, proving that even with all of their science the Unopans could not produce something as strong as a Viltrumite.
At least… not at his base anyways. The thing was, Allen continued to get stronger. He continued to grow mightier. He was only a hundred or so years old at this point and given enough time Thaedus thought he might one day be able to rival some of the very species he was designed to fight against.
That day… may not be today, but the facts were what they were and Allen could not expect to grow if he was never subjected to adversity.
Even in the wake of his initial failure as a Viltrumite deterrent, Allen had still wanted to help… and the Coalition of Planets had found a use for him all the same as an 'evaluation officer', sending him to different planets across multiple galaxies.
Technically, his job was to go to said planets and check to see if they were strong enough to protect themselves. In actuality, his true task was to search for warriors and possibly even a species that would be capable of going toe to toe with the Viltrumite Empire.
Now, however, Thaedus had recalled Allen from his last mission. As the orange-skinned one-eyed alien steps into the room, Thaedus has his arms folded in his robes in front of him.
"Allen. Thank you for coming so swiftly."
Allen is quick to salute before nodding resolutely.
"Of course sir! I was just on my way to my regular check-in with the planet Urath, but I came as quickly as I could! What do you have for me?"
Thaedus hesitates briefly. Because… there was every chance that he was sending Allen to his death. But then, it wasn't like the Artificial Unopan would be going alone. A multitude of Coalition Agents was being mobilized for this. Allen was simply intended to be the tip of the spear. A hopefully stealthy spear that would slide right in through the dark and find the Viltrumite Empire's ribs before they realized what was happening.
"Our enemies are pulling back. Going missing. Abandoning their posts. Viltrumites who have been assigned to the same planets for decades are suddenly gone, vanishing into the ether." This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Allen's one large eye widens at that.
"Where are they going?"
If Thaedus had to guess? Viltrum, maybe. If this was a recall, then perhaps Thragg had some new battle plan he intended to use. If he brought the millions of survivors of the Scourge Virus together and stopped worrying about maintaining the Empire, he could do untold amounts of damage and Thaedus wasn't sure if they would be able to stop them.
The Viltrumite Empire had long been the Coalition's greatest enemy… but in a way, the Empire itself was like a weight around Thragg and his people's necks. They clung to it like ornery children, refusing to let go in the name of their Emperor despite Thaedus assassinating Argall millennia ago.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Thaedus just sighs.
"We don't know. That's where you come in. You're being sent to the edge of Viltrumite territory. Not alone… but you're going to be our most visible agent in the upcoming operation. You'll be doing the same as all of the others, just more openly… you'll be hunting for the Viltrumites and finding out where they've gone and why they abandoned their posts."
Allen nods, three-fingered hands curling into fists and jaw clenching in determination.
"I won't let you down, sir!"
Thaedus just smiles a wan smile.
"Allen… first and foremost, your priority should be to survive. If the Viltrumites are planning some sort of mass attack, then you might be walking right into a trap. I expect you to assess the situation rationally and logically, especially as it evolves. At any time, you retreating to live and fight another day is preferably to you dying at the hands of our enemies. Do you understand me?"
Allen looks a bit mulish from what Thaedus knows of Unopan facial expressions (and Allen's facial expressions in particular) but the musclebound Unopan does eventually nod.
"… Yes sir. I understand, sir."
Thaedus nods back.
"General Telia will have the exact coordinates we want you to check out and further coordinates from there depending on what you find. Good luck, Allen."
Allen salutes one final time before leaving the room. Thaedus watches him go, wondering if he's going to wind up wasting the Unopan's life on a fool's errand. And yet… leaving his people to their own devices was never the right move here. Whatever they were up to, the only way the Coalition could possibly react in time was if they chased them down.
… Besides, if they really had all been recalled to Viltrum, this might prove to be an opportunity Thaedus could ill-afford to pass up. If every Viltrumite left alive was on their home world, then a second application of a far more deadly version of the Scourge Virus could be in order. And with that, the threat posed by the Viltrumite Empire could theoretically be extinguished forever.
Thaedus doesn't want to get his hopes up though. They would see what Allen found, first and foremost. And then they would go from there.
-x-X-x-
A/N: What do you think they'll do when they finally get to Viltrum and find nothing lol?
Feedback is GREATLY appreciated, every comment helps me shape the story with a Daily Story like this one!
ALSO! If you have a Royal Road account please consider showing the RR version of this story some love. Every Five-Star Rating, Review, Favorite, and Follow helps!
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/199384/inconceivable-invincible-au