[Unknown_Enemy]

Inquisitor Ostaliat was reading. On his desk was lying printed spreadsheets, pictures and reports. His eyes were red, as if he has been crying for a long time. Leaving his chair, he slowly walked to the window. Outside was the garden of His Holiness' Space Research Institute (HSRI), it was a beautiful and very hot summer afternoon, temperature was reaching 3°C. Some snow was melting, which was a rare thing indeed.
The automatic protection system emitted a low beep, as it was complaining to be turned off, but he hasn't been turned on since six years, the inquisition was not anymore a field unit, but a prestigious research unit. A few seconds later Cardinal Iwazahi entered the room. He was also bearing the sad face of those who knew. He stared at Ostaliat, then said “I have just received an update from the geological team from the spaceship. We already knew that nuclear weapons of 100 megatons were used against all major command centers, and a minimum of one hundred and sixty 50 megatons weapons were detonated high in the atmosphere to render entire continents unable to sustain life”.
Ostaliat stayed silent. “But the team in orbit was able to direct guided probes to scan these weird volcanos. Some of the robots Lasted long enough to do a short range radar scan. These volcanos are not standard. May the Almighty forgive us, as they are in fact not volcanos, but deep rifts in the planet's crust and a direct access to the inner layout of our homeworld. These huge scars constantly reject radioactive dust in what's left of the atmosphere. This is why the radiation level is still so high, it also explains why the dust is still covering our world after six hundred years.”
Ostaliat snapped “The atmosphere was dispersed in space by the strength of the bLasts six centuries ago, what we have now is the result of evaporation of our homeworld's oceans”.
Cardinal Iwazahi acknowledged, “I know, I read that part too. We feared the facts, but now we have to face them. The Great Death killed even the simplest virus in a matter of hours. But worse, seismic conditions are such that no settlement will ever be able exist on the surface, there are no lands stable for more than a few hours between tremendous earthquakes. The geological team just told me we would be better off building a new planet. This one will not be able to sustain life for a few million years.”
Ostaliat's head fur flattened, then he hissed “We will not be able to come back to our homeworld ?”
“No. Never. This information went immediately to his Holiness who shall announce it shortly to our population. By the way, our ship scuttled part of the old international space station. As they were not monitoring earth activity, their systems cannot tell us why started the war, but they were working on gravitational anomaly they had located in our system since a few years, so what remains of their work could still be valuable. This point brings me to the main subjects, the Tyrian's Hope spacecraft made the journey to our homeworld in less than two months, the HSRI proved that ionic motors are a better alternative to the prototypes that throw us here six centuries ago. But his Holiness has read your report on hyperwave resonance, and was deeply disturbed by your team's finding that some emissions did seem artificial. Our ship confirmed that it was not emitted from our former homeworld's orbit. His Holiness want you to lead the research teams on both hyperwave technology and gravity anomaly, with increased fundings. Also, I have the pleasure to tell you the Genetic Commission believe that all your children should be able to avoid the Small Death, so you have been granted to have a sixth and seventh children. Congratulations Inquisitor Ostaliat, for the Almighty helps the faithful”
“And the faithful will praise Him in return” recited the inquisitor. And despite his tears, he smiled. The Commission was one of the most hated necessity of their world, more than 8 centuries after being Banned to this world, still 15 percent of pregnant women had to abort by order of the Genetic Commission.. All their ancestors were bio-modified to sustain the Ice planet's climate. But the first generation of children born here had partial mutations of their genetic code, some of them could still live, but the majority were victims of The Small Death. At Last, after five generations without any case of Small Death in his family, Ostaliat and his children had access to the white card. Then his thought quickly came back to the Cardinal “We will do our best to honor his trust in our abilities, we will finish the work of our ancestors by analyzing the gravity distortions points, and I am confident we can create an hyperwave resonance between two linked devices thus achieving instantaneous transmissions.”.
“God spared the faithful from his wrath, He will help us.” concluded Cardinal Iwazahi.