Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 48: The Church May Really Be Finished.

The next morning.

[Mars Joint News Morning Report]

Last night, a major and serious terrorist attack occurred in the administrative core area on the east side of the Olympus Mons hub on Mars.

Her Excellency Santa Sofia Paleologina was unfortunately injured in this incident and has been transferred to a dedicated medical ward for comprehensive professional treatment. Further updates on her condition will be provided as they become available.

Following the incident, the College of Cardinals, the Martian Joint Council, the Covenant Tribunal, and the Sacred Affairs Review Council—the four core institutions—immediately coordinated and jointly issued an official emergency notice. After multi-faceted verification and assessment, the attack was officially determined to be a deliberate act of terrorism and sabotage orchestrated by the Skyward Extremist Organization. This was a serious and malicious incident in which the organization intentionally disrupted the military and political order of Mars and openly challenged the authority of the Church and the authorities.

To comprehensively prevent and control risks and build a solid security defense line across the entire region, the Covenant Army has officially activated its emergency response, and the entire force has immediately entered a state of Level II combat readiness. Simultaneously, the Olympus Mons hub, the main Mars spaceport, the orbital fleet base, and the core urban areas of the three major zones have been placed under complete lockdown and martial law, strictly controlling the movement of personnel and materials to prevent secondary risks and attacks.

The College of Cardinals issued a stern statement condemning the Skydrive extremist group's brutal act of using tactical nuclear weapons to attack the political center...

After the news broadcast ended, only a scrolling red sign of martial law remained on the Mars public channel.

……

At the same time, the Conclave Church had entered a state of supreme council.

This is the core chapel where the College of Cardinals holds its closed-door meetings. Twelve mechanical holy rings hang from the dome, and the four walls are inlaid with metal reliefs of cardinals from all dynasties. The central meeting seats are arranged in a semi-circle, and all major personnel changes are ultimately stamped with the seal of the College of Cardinals here.

Today, all members of the College of Cardinals, including the cardinal candidates, were present.

The meeting was chaired by five of the most influential core members of the College of Cardinals, who are:

Alexandre Borja, the highest arbitrator of the Holy Cardinals.

Thomas Torkmadat, representative of the Mental Choir.

John Tetzel, representative of the Labor Commune.

Giuliano de la Rovere, the representative of the Iron Templars.

Leoné de' Medici, representative of the Brotherhood of Forging.

The five figures were positioned in the center of the conference room via a remote projection. Below them, the Grand Judge Urban of the Tribunal stood before the central reporting platform, clad in a black and silver judge's robe, projecting a preliminary report on the attacks of the previous night onto a light screen.

"Based on the explosion debris at the scene, the secondary explosion records left at the outer station, and the contamination traces detected in the remaining network links of the Ares system, the Tribunal can now determine that this attack was carried out by the Skydrive forces."

The chief judge raised his hand, and only a few related speculations were displayed on the light screen.

"The exact methods used in the attack have not yet been fully investigated. What is certain at present is that the intruders bypassed Ares's regular security check mechanism throughout the entire process. As for how they deceived Ares's monitoring system, the relevant details are still being traced and investigated."

"To prevent similar incidents from happening again, the Tribunal has recommended that the Olympus Hub, the Orbital Fleet, the Mars Main Spaceport, and all key Covenant nodes temporarily switch to an independent, closed network. All inter-agency orders, personnel movement, and material transfers must now undergo offline verification."

"In addition, some key institutions have activated wetware emergency nodes as backup encrypted relays. However, the system is still in a limited trial operation phase. After the previous wetware network incident, the already limited backbone links of the network were severely damaged, and the relevant technical personnel were also under scrutiny from multiple parties. In the short term, it can only serve as a partial backup and cannot bear the communication pressure of the entire Mars region."

These words caused many cardinals in the Holy Council to turn pale.

While an independent, closed network can reduce the risk of spaceborne invasion, it will also slow down the operation of the entire Martian military and political system.

Moreover, the Wetware Network recently sparked public outrage, and now they have secretly activated the Wetware Emergency Node. If this is leaked, the protests from those troublemakers outside could reach right up to the entrance of the Olympus Hub.

Many cardinals couldn't help but whisper among themselves, but the representative of the Iron Templars directly drowned out the whispers in the meeting room with a cold, hard voice.

"What about Romulus and the others' reports?"

The chief judge suddenly slowed his speech, carefully considering his tone before cautiously speaking:

"The current status of the six individuals is tentatively set as uncertain, whether they are alive or dead."

The representative of the Iron Templars stared at the Grand Inquisitor, his face showing undisguised dissatisfaction.

"If their fate is unknown, then they are dead!"

He couldn't help but raise his hand and tap the table in front of him; the dull sound of his metal knuckles striking the table was transmitted through the projector.

"Dead is dead."

"Are there any outsiders here? A nuclear bomb exploded right beneath their feet, the entire Aresta collapsed, and you're still saying their fate is unknown?"

Regarding the question of whether there were any outsiders present, Chief Justice Urban silently replied to himself.

Hard to say.

Anyone who isn't an idiot knows that the entire Mars is now infiltrated by the Skydrives like a sieve. He suspects that quite a few people are secretly colluding with the Skydrives. Urban doesn't dare to guarantee whether there are any Skydrive underground members in the Holy Cardinals.

However, he wasn't stubborn enough to speak his mind. The humble Grand Judge could only look down at the report, trying his best to make his words sound less sharp.

"The court must use careful language until the wreckage is identified."

As he said this, he raised his hand and pulled up a video recording.

"Furthermore, the investigation team has a new hypothesis: the nuclear bomb was likely delivered to Aresta by an insider, and this person had considerable authority, was familiar with the engineering department's maintenance procedures, and was also familiar with Aresta's nighttime security shift changes."

A blurry image appeared on the light screen.

In the video, a figure leaves from the lower passage of Aresta, and the figure, gait and facial features are highly similar to those of Captain Romulus Finn of the Red Crown.

Urban paused for a moment, then continued:

"Among the data clips provided by His Excellency Saint Sophia before he fell into a coma that day, there was surveillance footage showing Captain Romulus Fein leaving the Aresta. We have conducted an independent analysis of the footage, and the conclusion is... we cannot completely rule out AI forgery, nor can we confirm that it is a genuine record."

The projection of the supreme arbitrator tilted slightly forward.

"You mean Romulus brought the nuclear weapons in, and then the Skydrives escorted them away?"

The chief judge lowered his eyes and cautiously replied, "That possibility cannot be ruled out."

Giuliano, the representative of the Iron Templars, slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

"Romulus is the captain of the orbital ship force, the one whose highest cybernetic body was forged by us Templars. He has absolutely no reason or motive to abet the faith!"

"This video is definitely AI-generated!!!"

The representatives of the other factions didn't say much, but they looked at Giuliano with a more scrutinizing gaze.

The representative of the Labor Commune abruptly interjected, "Skydrive was able to deliver a nuclear bomb into the Ares Auditorium, causing a secondary explosion next to Saint Sophia, and even evade Ares's internet censorship... Do you all still believe that it is merely a terrorist organization supported by external forces to disrupt the situation?"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the projections in the venue fell silent.

Previously, all parties unanimously determined that the Skywards were backed by the Terra forces and were anti-church puppets supported by foreign forces, whose purpose was to disrupt the order of the Martian Church.

But after last night's attack, this line of reasoning is no longer tenable.

The Skywards have an excellent grasp of the internal workings of Mars, which doesn't seem like the actions of any foreign force. Given the current situation, they can't help but suspect that there's a traitor within the Holy Cardinals.

Or rather, a very small number of factions are dissatisfied with the four-way division of Mars and want to grow stronger on their own.

Supreme Arbitrator Alexander raised his hand to quell the commotion in the conference room.

"The most pressing issue now is to fill the vacancy. Romulus is out of contact, and the Red Crown cannot be left to Ares as a temporary custodian indefinitely; it's not safe."

Before Alexander could finish speaking, Giuliano, the representative of the Iron Templars, spoke first.

"We recommend Valence Casati to succeed the captain of the Red Crown. He was the deputy commander of the Second Battle Group of the Guards Fleet. He is highly experienced, has a distinguished record, and his loyalty to the faction and the Papacy is beyond question. He is fully capable of this position."

The representatives of the Mind Choir immediately refuted the claims, their attitude firm.

"Valence is a direct descendant of your Templars. The footage of Romulus's suspected defection was only made public last night. It is too deliberate and unreasonable for you to immediately recommend someone from your own faction to take over the command of the Crimson Crown."

In the virtual light screen, the expression of the representative of the Iron Templar Knights suddenly turned cold, and his tone was tinged with a bit of sarcastic sarcasm.

"Then who does the Mind Choir prefer? Are they going to choose a clerical scribe who can only recite purification prayers to sit on the bridge of a warship and command the fleet in battle?"

The Mind Choir ignored the other party's words and continued speaking to themselves:

"We recommend Ignatius Vieland. He has led numerous ideological investigations and loyalty checks within the fleet, and has extensive experience in dealing with internal problems and eliminating dissidents within the Guards Fleet. His loyalty is trustworthy."

The Labor Commune representative stated, "Given the current turbulent situation, stabilizing the fleet's combat strength and operations is of paramount importance. This is not the time for factional infighting or power struggles. Our Labor Commune always prioritizes the vital interests of all Martian citizens, and it is most appropriate for us to take charge of this crucial position."

The Forging Brotherhood representative immediately shook his head, expressing a different opinion:

"That's not quite right. The Labor Commune has deep expertise in engineering and construction, and its capabilities are beyond doubt. However, fleet movement and battlefield command and coordination require professionals. Everyone has their own area of ​​expertise, and it would be more appropriate to entrust such important tasks to members of the faction who are well-versed in military affairs."

Each side presented their own version of events, and the sounds of debate and argument instantly intertwined and overlapped, filling the entire council hall.

Standing below the central reporting platform, Chief Justice Urban listened to the arguments raging on the projected images, and felt a chill run down his spine.

The church might really be doomed...

What will happen to Mars in the future? Only God knows.

……

……