Sovereigns were busy people. They had to be active round the clock for any mission on any planetoid.
They could be called for a planetoid in the morning. By afternoon, they could be fighting an abyssal squad that broke into humanity's area of control. And at night, they should make time to review the important defense reports and plan for the future.
Despite being the most powerful beings in the solar system, they had their limitations.
The two common limitations that not only them but every awakener faced were space and time.
Space.
The solar system was incredibly large. The area occupied by planets was a fraction of the total space.
Navigating such vastness was a herculean feat.
Compared to a space shuttle, Sovereigns were faster but weren't as durable. Despite their overwhelming strength, they simply couldn't maintain such a high speed for a long time.
Time.
The federation stretched from mercury to Neptune.
Even light takes 4 hours to go from one end of the federation to the other!
And they were nowhere near light speed.
Even Space Sovereigns, who boasted the best travel abilities, couldn't just teleport from Earth to planetoids.
The distance from a planet to a planetoid was millions of miles. It was impractical to teleport such long distances.
But they couldn't just give up. To protect the planetoids and maintain the status quo, they needed to overcome these two limitations.
Their divine paths failed them, so the collective intellect of humanity stepped in to fill the role.
Teleportation Formations.
After an arduous analysis of the scripts retrieved from the ruins, tens of thousands of scientists squeezed the last of their minds to research this almost magical creation.
Teleportation Formation.
It needed a lot of space stones, space co-ordinates, and just maintaining a formation was incredibly taxing. But this was all much easier compared to the rewards.
Thus, every Sovereign was provided with teleportation formations.
Unlike the usual teleportation formations used in spaceports, these were more flexible, and naturally, more costly.
Each Sovereign was given at least two teleportation formations.
And the cost of one such formation was enough for a city like Valos to go from poverty to development.
So, even Sovereigns took care of their teleportation formations.
And that's why, when Sovereign Irene's teleportation formation was 'hacked' and used by Dreamer, they didn't doubt her.
After all, from the information published on ghostship, it was capable of ignoring the secret realm's barrier. Coupled with its high stealth, it wasn't impossible for Dreamer to use the teleportation formation.
So, she wasn't to blame.
But nonetheless, they believed Sovereign Irene would bolster the security around the formation. Dreamer wouldn't have any chance of repeating the feat.
But he did.
It was barely 24 hours. And he did it again.
No matter how stupid the Sovereigns were, they all understood something.
Sovereign Irene was the one who let Dreamer use the teleportation formation.
Fury erupted amongst them. But as she was their equal, they couldn't just 'accuse' her, they hunted for evidence.
Right then, they got the news that Dreamer used the teleportation formation on Uranus and consecutively teleported until Mars.
Then, the tracker started working and he was once again chased.
The Sovereigns grabbed the opportunity with both hands and investigated the ID Dreamer used.
Who issued it? For what reasons? When?
Every little detail was investigated.
If it was a level 8 or even a level 9, they wouldn't be able to discover the lies.
But Sovereigns went above and beyond. They used their authority and left no file unopen.
Finally, they got the evidence. It was crystal clear who the mastermind was.
"Sovereign Irene," Julius said, looking at the woman's hologram in front.
All the Sovereigns were seated across the semi-circular table with Sovereign Irene standing in front of them.
"The evidence is clear." Julius snapped his fingers and the files popped up in front of Irene.
"Go ahead," He gestured, "Read the files and prove me wrong."
"No need." Irene crossed her arms and said indifferently.
"Pardon?" Julius thought he was hearing things.
Irene looked into his eyes and said coldly. "There is no need to prove they're wrong. Because I did support Dreamer. I did give him the teleportation formation to use. And I used my network to give him an ID."
Bam!
Julius slammed his desk in the real world and the sound reverberated in the virtual room.
"Treason!" Julius bellowed, his eyes glaring daggers at her.
"You are indirectly helping Enigma survive." Sovereign Vianne spat, her usually soft eyes filled with bone-chilling coldness. "Another species will invade and everyone, including your own people, will be slaughtered. And you are proudly supporting it?"
"Did you finally break?" Sovereign Kreo said in a harsh tone. "I know your son and husband were killed. So, you want us all to suffer the same pain?"
Irene's body stiffened and she glared at him with unconcealed hate. Her heart stung with pain as she recalled the painful memories and the pain only worsened at the slander. His words hurt her more than being called a traitor.
"I sacrificed my own family members to save Neptune and you, the man who provided the least assistance to Neptune and Uranus, the wimp who used mind control to do shady things, you, of the 50 billion humans say those words?" Irene looked at Kreo with absolute contempt, the same contempt used when one looked at a piece of trash.
"…."
Kreo opened his mouth in shock as a tense silence descended in the hall. The Psychic Sovereign felt the disturbing gazes on him and clenched his fists in rage.
During his early years, he used his powers for a lot of dishonorable things. He even made many enemies because of that and got into a lot of scandals. His reputation was terrible to say the least.
But after he became a Sovereign, the records of such events were erased. His enemies were purged and many media outlets were shut.
He even ran propaganda and whitewashed his name.
Even the high awakener thought Kreo turned over a new leaf.
He didn't.
He continued what he did—just, no media dared to publish.
'Bitch!' Kreo glared at Irene and was about to curse when an aged voice broke the silence.
"Why?"
The Sovereigns turned their gazes to the oldest man in the room.
Albert.
The father of Evander and the grandfather of Sarah, he was stationed on Mercury and was usually very low-key.
But in terms of experience and strategy, he was the best.
Even Evander's Fanclub admitted that their idol got the training and talent from his father.
"Why did I support a threat?" Irene tilted her head and smiled at him. "Show me the concrete evidence to why Enigma is hunted down. The evidence on why she is a threat."
"She is an alien. Has a spaceship and will contact her specie—" Kreo roared, but Irene cut him off.
"Have you gone senile? I asked for Evidence." She stretched her hand at the Sovereigns. "Show me the evidence that Enigma will call her species and invade us."
Seeing their silence, Irene laughed mockingly. "You can't even prove that she's a threat and you call me a traitor? Is this really the Sovereign council or the gathering of fools?"
