Light in the Dark Chapter 2 Talks
Light in the Dark - Chapter 1 - First Contact
Sn'onver Habitat Cylinder, Petani Orbital Rung
Cterin, Iwrin System
March 7th, 2254/3023
The past few days had been almost too much for Edward.
First they encountered aliens, then people who had their minds put into computers and then been shown a new form of faster than light travel.
On their way from the L2 point of Cterin, they had passed a massive bulk cargo vessel that carried over a hundred million tonnes of refined materials to the planet, coming from asteroid mines in the outer system.
Why?
Because the Mega-structure in orbit around the planet was undergoing constant expansion. Uncle Dick and grandma had been rendred speechless at the not one, but four rings around the world in what was geostationary orbit around this planet, interconnected by massive rotating cylinder habitats, each of then thirty kilometers in length and eight kilometers in diameter. And there were thousands of them.
The Pascal's Wager had docked inside a hangar that could have easily swallowed that bulk freighter from earlier, close to one of the cylinders. It had taken nearly half an hour by maglev train, surrounded by the Quetzal aliens who paid them absolutely no mind, to get from the hangar bay to a station inside the cylinder, which rotated fast enough to generate about one Earth gravity.
The moment they had left the train and the train station, every Taurian in their group had stopped like nailed to the floor and the vista in front of them. Vast parks and plazas as far as the eye could see, with large buildings all around, but while there was a sense of vastness, it was tempered by a sense of claustrophobia. A few hundred meters above, rings of artificial lights kept everything lit and past those was the other wall of another cylinder, nested inside the outer one.
One of their guides, Ambassador Ngo, had described that the Quetzal build their cylinder habs like this, four cylinders nested inside one another, counter rotating to offset much of the rotational inertia of the group. While three were sorely for habitation, the innermost cylinder was for high intensity industrial agriculture and aquaculture to feed the population of the cylinder. And that population was as high as 8 million for this cylinder alone.
The Taurian group, Edward, his grandmother, Uncle Dick, Major Lenard and three of his people for security, had been given some rooms inside the human UN embassy, and then told not to to and eat any food made by and for the Quetzal. When one of the security people, who Edward knew liked to try out strange and exotic food, had indignantly asked why, Admiral Mountbatten has said that no one wanted to get arsenic poisoning, especially since arsenic was for Cterin biology what potassium was for Earth biology.
The next two days had been something of a blur to Edward, learning that the UN weren't only humans first hand. Okay, they had been told about it, but it was different to meet a Titanian heptapod, a Titanai, in their spherical, pressurised containment vessel. An honest to god intelligent squid like alien, with a technology level that allowed them to travel the stars. And who not only lived, but apparently had evolved in the Sol system, guided by godlike machine intelligences.
It had been almost too much and Edward still felt a bit blurry around the edges as he sat behind his grandmother, his uncle and Major Lenard in a large conference room, around a large round table as one of four groups that had been invited to a conference.
On their left sat the UN delegation, Ambassador Ngo, Admiral Mountbatten, Professor Prometheus and several people, including an Ormiold, a Quetzal and two Titanai, whose names he had forgotten.
To their right were a delegation of ten Quetzal, representing the Iwrinai Cooperation, with two of them of the mechanical kind. And finally, on the opposite side of them, was the delegation of the Union of Jeratir, a group of seven Tiaunt, actual effing dragons lounged on top of pillows, with three more Ormiold in attendance.
That Edward was around at all, had been an idea of his grandmother.
"It will be a learning exercise," she had said. "You'll have to learn how to deal with this kind of thing when you become Protector."
Still, he felt overwhelmed, especially since he had to wear an earbud for the translation of the alien languages. But not only that, but his grandmother has asked him to take notes, so a stack of paper lay in front of him and a pen was in his hand, the first few sheets already filled in shorthand script.
"As far as our position within the 'Periphery' of the Inner Sphere goes," the mechanical Quetzal speaker said, the quotation marks around 'Periphery' audible in the translation. "We are located between two minor, local powers, the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus, spinward and anti-spinward respectively, with two of the major powers, the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation out to coreward."
The Quetzal paused for a moment.
"The region we find ourselves in can best be described as no mans land, with a few inhabited worlds and a pirate problem, as we already experienced."
"We have been able to take the information provided by the recovered star charts from the pirate vessels and compared them to the survey of the region we have done for Project Starscape. So far, we were able to match almost all systems with bio and techno signatures with the inhabited systems in those star charts. But there are still three systems with bio and techno signatures that were not on those charts, though one is listed as 'abandoned'. And several worlds with just bio signatures could be matched with worlds that were also listed as 'abandoned'."
"Bio and techno signatures?" his grandmother whispered at his uncle, who nodded in understanding.
"If you have a telescope large and powerful enough, you can do more than just take a look at a star," his uncle explained. "You can see the planet and take a snapshots of the atmospheres and their chemical makeup. Oxygen alone is almost always a sign for biological life on a world. Some other chemicals might be identified as signatures for technology above a certain level. Or elevated levels of radio traffic. Things like that."
He paused for a moment.
"Its mostly theory for us, because it doesn't make much sense to look for worlds with life and technology on it, if our part of the galaxy is full of it. Though... The Far Lookers might be interested in stuff like that for finding new worlds to colonise."
His grandmother nodded and turned back to listen to the report.
"This concludes out initial findings," the mechanical Quetzal said and many around the room nodded, or made similar gestures.
"Thank you, Elder Guardian Oughing," came from Councilor Therisna.
The Elder Guardian gave something that could best be described as a blow.
"I exist to guard the Living in the name of Petan," they said and Edward had no idea what to think about that.
There was some talk amongst the delegations, before Councilor Therisna looked at his grandmother.
"Mistress Calderon," they said, making Edward wonder why that horrific was used," I would like to ask you to help fill at least some of the gaps in our findings. Especially considering the political situation in the Inner Sphere."
Zarantha Calderon hmmed for a moment, before sighing.
"Before I say anything about the Inner Sphere and it's politics," she started." I want to say that the Taurian view of the Inner Sphere is negatively biased towards them. Especially in the wake of a two hundred years occupation of the Concordat through the Star League."
Edward was surprised that she lead with that, but his diplomacy lessons came up again. She was using the occupation and the Taurian bias to make them look more sympathetic and to offset any information that could be interpreted as 'wrong', when these people finally met the Inner Sphere powers.
There was a murmur in the delegations, but no one asked for a clarification yet.
"Currently the Inner Sphere is made up of five star nations or Successor States, as they are sometimes called. I fact they are five of the six founding nations of the Star League that broke apart in the 28th century and the Star League Civil War."
She paused for a moment and Edward just jotted down that his grandmother was talking about the Inner Sphere, while looking around at the three delegations, noting down what he saw of their reaction, even if he could not tell what those reactions meant.
"Only recently, they have ended the 3rd Succession War in a ceasefire agreement, after almost a hundred years of low intensity conflict, following the first two Succession Wars, where they almost bombed each other back into the stone age, with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, in a bid for the Throne of the Star League."
That did get a reaction out of several of the delegations, especially the dragon-like Taunt and the Ormiold in their delegation.
"How many worlds died," one of the Tiaunt asked.
His grandmother shook her head and shrugged helplessly.
"I have no idea."
"And the involvement of your people?"
"We don't want the Star League back," she said vehemently. "Not after two centuries of occupation, where they destroyed what used to make the Concordat a peer to any of the Successor States and the Terrain Hegemony. We just want to be left alone and rebuild as best as we can."
She declined to tell them that they were selling heavy heavy to the Inner Sphere. Or about the border raids between the Fed Suns and the Concordat.
"Please continue. Tell us about the Successor States, as you call them."
With that his grandmother began to explain and Edward continued to jot down the reactions.
It took about an hour or so, until his grandmother stopped explaining the Taurian view of the Inner Sphere, with the delegates of the three systems, as Edward had taken to call them in his head and on his writing, listened.
Occasionally there was a question, which Zarantha Calderon answered. Edward did note that she left a few things out, but never outright lied. And Edward certainly viewed is as a lesson for his later political career.
"Thank you, Mistress Calderon," Councilor Therisna finally said, giving her a nod. "That does in broad strokes match the information we have gotten from interrogations of the captured pirates, who obviously have their own biases."
Already, the gamble of telling outright that the Taurian view of things had its own bias, seemed to go over well.
"May I ask why the Taurian Concordat was occupied by the Star League?" Admiral Mountbatten asked after a few moments of silence and Edward looked at the back of his grandmother, as it stiffened and he himself had to fight the urge to grind his teeth, as every Taurian would, when asked that question.
"Because," his grandmother said, and he could hear the bitterness in her voice," The Taurian Concordat, declined the dubious honour of becoming second rate citizens of the Star League when we were told 'to join or else', as did the Outworld Alliance and the Magistracy of Conapus. So in order to 'bring education, technology, culture, and prosperity to the denizens of the Periphery, in spite of the best efforts of "a handful of rabble-rousers and metaphysicians,"' the Star League invaded with the help of the Federated Suns. All in a bid to have the Terran Hegemony and House Cameron rule all of humanity."
She took a deep breath.
"There have been many reasons why our ancestors chose to leave Terra for a new world to call their own. We always tried to stay neutral in the Age of War and improve the life of our citizens. The Concordat used to have one of the best education systems of the Inner Sphere and our technology and industrial base was independent from everyone. We used to be a peer power with the Federated Suns and the Capellan Confederation and the Star League needed twenty years to grind down our defences and begin to occupy us."
"We never wanted anything but to be free and independent, not second class citizens burdened by high taxes and without a single say about what happened. And with the end of the occupation, we never took part on the Succession Wars, but tried to rebuild what we lost. If a Second Star League is to be founded, it will come back and try to bring us in again."
As Edward listened, he recognised a few parts from speeches he heard from both his grandmother and his father. He agreed himself, but he doubted that anything like this was going to happen within his own lifetime. Sure the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth were moving closer towards each other, but with the Combine being what they were and the insanity of Max Liao, trying to establish a Second Star League was going to be an uphill battle.
The Admiral nodded and leaned back.
"Thank you, Ambassador," he said. "That does clarify a few things."
The way he said it made Edward wonder how he meant that, but than realised that the man was a noble himself and if he had really been the 'First Lord of the Admiralty', he had his own meeting with politicians and knew how the game was played.
There was some silence and the delegations talked amongst each other. Finally one of the Tiaunt spoke.
"I believe that the information presented to us here makes it priority to get our act together," they said and Edward wondered briefly if that was a translation artefact or if they had really said it like that." Even if we are not likely to be under threat by a power within the Inner Sphere at the moment, we still will need to communicate and treat with them."
They looked around the room and Edward again found the way their six eyes looked at different people unnerving.
"I do propose that each of our delegations suggest the formation of a larger supranational organisation, akin to our own system wide organisations, for the explicit goal of better and closer cooperation, to our own respective supranational organisations. It would be better for us, if we were to present a single voice towards the Inner Sphere, rather than three. Not only for diplomatic and political reasons, but also economic and military ones."
They paused and again looked around and Edward could see the humans nod, while some of the alien made other gestures that might be similar.
"In the shorter term, we have to consider that the volume of space we find ourselves in, is home to a rather high number of pirates and that even Jeratir is likely to be a target sooner or later. Not to speak of smaller settlements like Eyeball in the ε Eridani system, which has much weaker defences than our home systems. Who knows what an effect a pirate raid might have on the Davenport Free State, for example. I believe they are at odds with the other two settlements on Eyeball."
There were murmurs amongst the delegations.
"What do you propose," Councilor Therisna asked.
"A joint anti-piracy operation to take out the major pirate bases within thirty to ninety light years and set up anti piracy patrols to support the independent worlds in this space. That many of these worlds and the traders in this area of space rely heavily on mercenary forces for their own defence should be a clear sign that someone has to do something. And many of the nations within Local Space have the necessary force projection capacity for such an operation. Operation TYRANT has shown that."
The proposal made Edward blink and he saw his grandmother stiffen. It they were starting an operation to take out pirate bases, who was to defend their home worlds? Even for the Concordat it was hard to pull together enough forces to take on one pirate world, let alone several tones.
"You can't really think that you could deal with the pirate problem around here," she finally said, before anyone else could comment. "If you take out one base another will spring up soon afterwards. And any attack on more than one pirate base might leave you open for retaliation."
There was a short silence.
"Mistress Calderon," Councilor Therisna said," I believe that we appreciate the concern, but even during Operation TYRANT, which saw the deployment of 600 capital combat craft of all types across five hundred individual nations, not to mention thousands of small craft, there were more than enough forces left for a similar sized operation, in case the operation failed, as well as the needed defence of our home systems during all of it. And we will certainly not launch any major military operation without the proper preparation. Whether it is against pirates or not."
Edward felt a numbness he couldn't quite explain, after hearing that. 600 WarShips was only a portion of all WarShips of these people? They had more than that? How much more? And...
He heard a snapping noise and looked towards his grandmother, who had snapped her own pencil in two. From where he sat, he could see how she had grown pale, her lips thin from how much she pressed them together.
"How..." she started to say, but her voice had moved up a register, so she stopped to cough and begin again.
"The SLDF at its height had a few thousand WarShips to work throughout the entire Inner Sphere..." She finally said." You have three systems. How do you have that many WarShips?"
"Madam Calderon," Admiral Mountbatten said softly, and Edward could see a soft expression on his face." You have to remember that the UN alone has over 600 member nations. Almost all of them have a black navy. Even a nation like the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with a population of not even a million people, no extra terrestrial settlement ambitions and surrounded by friendly nations for the better part of 300 years, has a heavy frigate, six destroyers and a good number of assault craft and interceptors."
He took a breath and continued.
"There is of course a good amount of national prestige bound up in a black navy. And, like always, there is also some dick measuring involved. 'My fleet dick is bigger than yours.'"
The last bit was said with dry sarcasm, and got him a kick under the table from his wife, Ambassador Ngo. But the Admiral continued without a word about that.
"There are many international mutual defence agreements and no one want to be seen to shirk their duties, especially when the Sword of Damocles that were the Onouch'l Automata was still hanging over everyone's head. They have destroyed Cterin 3000 years ago and by proxy led to the Irwin Apocalypse."
"And until we found their home system, ten years ago, we never knew if the Onouch'l Automata were still around and how many there were. And so we tried to prepare for the defense of Earth and all UN members as best as we could. Only with Operation TYRANT, we found out. There have been more than five thousand combat craft available to the Onouch'l Automata at their height. And we found them a hundred years after they turned themselves off. I don't want to think about what would have happened if we had gotten there in the 2140s and alarmed them about our existence."
Edward didn't know what to think about that. Five thousand WarShips...
That number didn't feel real to him. How could anyone operate that many...
His train of thought stopped as he stumbled over the word 'Automata'. Did they mean to say that these Onouch'l were machines? Like the Star League SDS?
A glance at his grandmother made him realise that she was thinking across similar lines.
"Automatons..." she said." Machines? Fighting for their masters?"
Everyone around gave a nod or a similar gesture.
"Yes," Ambassador Ngo said. "They were programmed to defend the last survivors of the Onouch'l species, after they destroyed their own home world. The Automata became what we call 'Paperclip Optimisers', and decided that offence was the best defence and to destroy any alien species with FTL that could potentially become a threat to the surviving Onouch'l."
She paused and closed her eyes for a moment.
"If what the last Onouch'l went through could be called 'survival'."
There was more silence and from the expression on the UN humans' faces, the fate of those aliens must have been horrible. The silence had the feeling of Remembrance Day and remembering the fallen of the Reunification War.
"I believe that the Taurian delegation can ask about the Onouch'l at a later point," Councillor Therisna said after a few moments of silence.
The Quetzal looked at Uncle Dick.
"Professor Calderon, I believe that you are an astrophysicist?"
Still under the influence of the revelations from just a few moments ago, Uncle Dick had to quickly shake his head to clear his mind.
"Ahm..." he began," Yes, tenured Professor for Astrophysics at the University of Samantha."
The Councillor nodded and then looked at the Tiaunt and UN delegations.
"Have your delegations been given full powers concerning Project Starscape as requested?"
Edward blinked, as he tried to put his own mind into a different train of thought, from the revelation of just how large the fleets of these people were, to... Science?
"Yes," came from Ambassador Ngo, followed by the Tiaunt delegation.
"Very good," the Councillor said and looked back at Uncle Dick. "The Iwrinai Cooperation would like to invite Professor Calderon and any other scientist of the Taurian Concordat to take part in Project Starscape. As such, we'd like to suggest to invite the Taurian Concordat to sign the Project Starscape Treaty as an equal member."
There was another stunned silence, at least for the Taurians, as the other delegations talked amongst each other for a few moments.
Had these people just invited the Concordat to a treaty as equal members? Just like that?
"Motion seconded," came from the Tiaunt, while a 'Motion carried' was uttered by Ambassador Ngo.
"What exactly is Project Starscape?" Edwards grandmother asked, her voice suddenly sharp and he could hear a bit of distrust from it.
"Project Starscape is an international attempt to explain what exactly happened two years ago, when our local space time displaced another piece of space time. It did involve taking surveys of the new stars all around us, which allowed us to identify our location in the galaxy, as well as the Microwave Background and the Fine Structure Constant. Both are identical to within the margin or error to any and all measurements we have done before the event."
"As a physicist myself, I am tending towards an Everett Inversion that transferred a piece of space time into a different Tegmark-Greene Type III universe. But there are other theories. We are trying to find out which. It is likely that we learn more about the universe while doing so."
There was a pause and Edward saw how his uncle wanted to say something, but was kicked by his grandmother under the table. He wondered for a moment why the Quetzal was using human names, before remembering that they had been told that the translator earbuds were translating many of the alien versions of human concepts into the closest human equivalent.
"I do believe that I can assume the full power of the Taurian Concordat to sign the nation into the Project Starscape Treaty," his grandmother said officially and Edward could almost hear the implied 'and my son better ratify the treaty if he knows what's good for him'.
Edward certainly remembered what had happened the last two times his father hadn't. While he didn't quite support his grandmother on that, but could understand why she was going for it. They were guests of an alien civilisation, in a part of space that had replaced what used to be here, with people who had new and different technologies and here they were given the opportunity to get something, whether technology of just knowledge, before the Great Houses could. And it might as well make future diplomatic talks with these people easier.
"Professor Calderon will gladly be the first Taurian scientist to help work on Project Starscape."
His uncle looked at his grandmother, the 'I do?' was left unsaid as his grandmother looked back with an 'or else' expression on her face.
Ambassador Ngo seemed to notice what was going on and there was something of a wry smile on her face.
"It would be a pleasure to welcome Professor Calderon to Earth," she said and continued for the Taurians sake. "Since Project Starscape is headquartered at both the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton and CERN in Geneva."
From where he sat, Edward could see his uncle's eyes grow big as he heard that, before he looked at Ambassador Ngo.
"Very well," Councillor Therisna said after a few moments of looking at them. "Which brings me to a proposal for the extension of Project Starscape to include the reverse engineering and research into the unknown technology recovered in the wake of the attack by Captain Roberts band of pirates."
"As far as we have been able to ascertain, both reactor and thruster technology is different to our own and there is some strangeness going on with what appears to be a standardised docking port, there is too much germanium in unknown circuits and it is connected to a mesh structure that is integrated into the entire super structure of the craft in question."
Entering the room, I made a beeline for one of the piles of pillows and dropped myself onto it belly first, legs spread backwards, tail lazily flipping between them, while my arms lay lazy spread out to my sides and by head buried between a bunch of pillows in front of me. Some might say that it was undignified and lazy, but quite frankly I didn't care what people said. While it might not be for my physical body, it was extremely comfortable mentally.
But Adam, I hear some say, you're an AI, you don't need comfort. To which I will loudly say, fuck off. I find it comfy and I don't care what you say is comfy or not.
A sigh and a flomping sound next to me showed that our delegations political scientist, a second generation Texas born Ormiold named, Martin Phohonem, had elected to copy me on top of a beanbag chair, draping himself over it.
"What a shitshow," he said, a tiny bit of a Texan brawl peeking through in his English. "The political situation in this 'Inner Sphere', I mean. Whatever form of international org we form with the Iwrinai and the Jeratir, is going to have it work cut out for them to keep the 'Successor States' at arms length."
"It is only one possible interpretation," Maria noted, ever the Ambassador and never sticking to something, unless she felt strongly about it or was told to do it." We do not have as much information as I wish we could have. And you heard Mrs. Calderon say that she is biased."
"She sounded reasonably truthful to me," Francois D'Alger noted, second generation Parisian Quetzal and an UNOIA data analyst himself." Though there is always lying by omission and distorting the facts just enough to remain true, but change the emotional content and it gives us a different view point."
Francois looked like someone had put a big snake into a pile of tires and added some feathers and fake arms in the way he rested on the floor.
"Adam, what do you think?" Marie asked, sitting on a chair, and thrust me into the discussion.
I made a sigh and a mumbling sound.
"I rather you would allow me to lie here in peace and digest," I complained, earning a chuckle or two. The digestion bit was of course in a more figurative sense, as I compiled my own thoughts on the matter, letting a thread or two write down my observations and psychological evaluation into a form that was more suitable for the faceless bureaucrats back home.
"I say that Zarantha Calderon is a shrewd political operator. She has to be to have been the Head of State of the Taurian Concordat for decades. She knew exactly what she told us and how she told us. I have to admit that I was surprised about her bit with the bias. Usually politicos don't admit that they are biased."
"Tell me about it," Charles grumbled from where he had sat down on a couch and thrown his hat on a nearby table. He had not only been in the House of Lords for a few decades, but also the first Lord of the Admiralty for two. He knew all about politicians.
"But I believe that she has broadly told us the truth, with some omissions here and there," I continued. "The thing is that the way things are set up here, and exactly we're we are, compare to the Inner Sphere, we are at the end of a very long game of telephone and the Taurians are the last link in the chain. There is bound to be multiple sets of misunderstandings and just plain ignorance at work. On top of that, is ingrained propaganda that has passed into culture and of course the legends of politics about things that happened centuries ago."
I took a breath.
"Some of which she is not aware of."
"I concur," Francis said and I could see Martin nod from the corner of my eyes." We can also say that for all intents and purposes, these people might be living in a post-apocalyptic world that hasn't fully collapsed. But I'd also be wary about intentional misinformation. Maybe not from the side of the Taurians, but on the side of this Comstar."
He paused for a moment.
"A communication company that is the sole remnant of a hegemonic nation and the only people who can provide FTL communication? You cannot tell me that they don't have the urge to keep going in their control of other nations. We have seen that kind of thing too many times in history. They are likely read the mail of people. Maybe not that of the common man, but those of the big important people, be they politicians or executives. Not to mention that they might as well just disappear some mails if it suits their goals."
"In Roman times, the Imperial Postal service was also a spy agency that read people's mail and informed the Emperor and his people. What would an organisation like that do when they are suddenly not reporting to a higher authority anymore?"
"And the secret government spy shows himself!" Martin proclaimed theatrically and pointed an accusing finger at Francois, who returned a look that said 'What do you mean 'secret'?' before he continued.
"I am also willing to bet that Comstar is financially significant in the way Western Union was significant in the days of the telegraph and use their services to transfer money from one planet to another as a supposed neutral party."
I heard a few sighs, mirroring my own.
"Politically, at least from the Successor States, there seems a certain Crab Bucket mentality going around with a good amount of Zero Sum thinking," Martin noted, having gone back to being serious." Everything, in some way, has to deal and point back to Terra."
Internally, we had decided to call the planet Earth that was a few hundred light-years away, Terra, partially to avoid misinterpretation and partially because that was what the Taurians called it.
"He who controls the Terran Spice," Martin suddenly and theatrically proclaimed, showing once again that he was a theater kid," Controls the universe!"
It got the desired response of snorts from everyone for that misquote.
"Or at least that is what I see here," he said and made a hacking sound. "Everyone who tries to get away from it gets pulled back in, like the a Taurians during these 'Reunification Wars'. But I need more data on that, from multiple sources that aren't a bunch of pirates or a career politician with an agenda. Though even if that is all true, we can't rule out historical legends and historical information being lost."
"I mean... That has even happened to us. A friend of mine is a cultural historian and wrote a paper on the origin of the Loss glyph. It took her almost a decade to find out that it's origins is a freaking meme from the early 21st century."
The reaction from Charles was surprising. He laughed out loud and had to fight to keep himself together. And that was before he made a misquote of his own, somehow managing to make an almost Shakespearian delivery out of it.
"Do not quote the Meme Lore to me, witch! I was there when it was written."
Even I was stumped for a few moments as I tried to understand what and why was going on with Charles. Only after those few moments I remembered that Charles was Gen Z, and had been born in 2005. It made sense that he knew meme culture from the early 21st century. It was hard to remember sometimes, especially since in public and even in private he was the grumpy old Admiral. Even if in private he could be a massive troll and nerd.
"Adam?" Maria asked after a few moments and after slapping her husband to stop him from laughing. "What's your thought on the rest of the Taurians?"
I gave a snort at that, as I was in the middle of writing those thoughts down in my report.
"Major Lenard ist a military man and a mercenary to boot," I said." I'd trust him to keep his mouth shut about things if he wants to get paid. He is a Taurian himself and he and his people work only anti-piracy and security missions for the Taurian government or Taurian companies. He does have a good pokerface, but micro expressions and the like give him away. He certainly seems to believe what Zarantha said."
"Than we have the kid, Edward," I sai and paused." He is a beginner in this kind of thing, but also seems to be the hair apparent to the Concordat, if the Calderon's are the 'First Family'. He doesn't yet have a poker face worth anything, though if Zarantha is teaching him, we might end up with a political operator almost as shrewd as she is. So, he does believe every single thing his grandmother said. And his reactions, especially to the numbers of combat craft sent to Operation TYRANT seem to indicate that there aren't many capital space craft around anymore. Likely destroyed in these Succession Wars."
"I agree," Charles noted, still smiling." It even managed to undermine Zaranthas poker face."
I nodded and continued.
"And finally, we have Richard. That man is an academic like he stepped out of a novel. His power face is worthless and he wont be able to tell a lie to save his life. But come a Department head meeting and they deal with money, he'll tell porkies with the best of them to increase his own people's funding."
That got a chuckle.
"Ten quid that the first thing he visits at the IAS is Einstein's office," was Charles response.
"Suckers bet," I said with a laugh, but had to her serious again." But that is not what makes me pause."
I did pause at that, perhaps a little bit for dramatic effect.
"No, I've talked to him on the Pascal's Wager on the way in, asking him why he went into Astrophysics. He told me that he was the fourth child of his mother and so could do whatever he liked, he had always liked looking at the stars and out of all scientific fields, Astrophysics is the one with the highest survival rate."
That made everyone pause, as they looked at me.
"That is what he said," I noted and shared a short video from my point of view, from when we talked.
The silence got a bit deeper.
"He seems sincere."
I had of course come to my own conclusions, especially in the wake of getting the information about the Succession Wars, but it was only a single data point.
"It's only one data point," Francois mirrored my thoughts." But when seen in the context of these Succession Wars, there might be a systematic campaign of destroying any institution of higher learning and killing any scientist and engineer able to give an enemy state an advantage over your own state."
"Bombing factories, company headquarters, killing the intellectual elite," Charles said." I can see that all to easily. It happened several times in the early 20th century. With the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union being the best known example."
"Followed by retaliation from the enemy," Matting added. "Jesus, if that turns out to have any factual reality..."
"Who knows what technologies they have lost in the wake of over two hundred years of war."
"We should not jump to conclusions," I warned. "No matter how much it might make sense. We need more data points."
Nadir Point ε Eridani System March 7th, 2254/3023
'Commander' Adrian Bedford didn't really know what to think about these people. They were so different to what he was used to, but then again he knew that the Clans were different to the people of the Inner Sphere, as he had read the intelligence briefs coming back from Wolf's Dragoons. But as far as he could tell these people were different to the Inner Sphere again.
There had been no mention of the kind of large dropships these people seemed to have, not of the outrageously long ranged missiles he had seen in action and had almost destroyed three dropships. Of the remains his own people had helped recover, his technicians told him that the Union had been almost shredded by what they said had been tungsten fragments. Another dropship, a Triumph, had not one but two holes going right through it, one meter in diameter. Again, there was residue of tungsten and the hole itself meant that a large block of it had impacted, shattering dozens of tons of armour.
And the Davenport SDFV Pentacost was larger than any dropship he had ever seen, larger than the SLS Behemoth, the Colossus of Clan Wolf. Though maybe much of this size was taken up by the massive hangar space that had disgorged nearly 40 parasites he couldn't with good conscience call 'small craft', reminding him more of the old Saturn class dropships, the Terran Alliance used to use.
And now his own shuttle had entered the large illuminated cavity, allowing him to see the docking cradles for those parasite vessels and space suited individuals working on one or two docked vessels that weren't out in the deep black to run patrols.
As the shuttle moved closer to a docking port, Adrian leaned back, listening to the communication of his pilot with hangar control. Short and professional, as it should be in such matters. But his mind was on the two other 'dropships', closer in size to the Behemoth in size, that had simply appeared, without warning, under their own power it seemed.
It was possible though. He knew about the Bug-Eye class, but for some reason, he didn't believe those vessels to be jump ships, not in the way that had manoeuvred and how their captains had made demands.
No, this was something completely different. And he would get down to the bottom of this enigma.
That was part of why he was here, at least in part. The visions of The Man, The Kraken, The Phoenix, The Dragon and The Serpent ran through his head for a moment and how they had changed his point of view. His life before the two years Vision Quest to this place, the Clans, the Inner Sphere... Almost everything had changed.
He looked over to his pilot. She was still wearing her original Clan Nova Cat uniform, but like himself, she had dropped their old Clan totem, replacing it with the sigil of the Serpent. He hadn't just written down those visions, he had talked about them. And the longer their journey had taken, first towards the Inner Sphere and then ,through unknown and hidden systems, through the Inner Sphere, the more of his people had dreams, similar to his visions, but more personal.
It had taken some time before they too had shared their dream visions with others. It didn't matter what caste they were part of, every one had at least one of those dreams over time. And everyone had seen the Serpent.
Adrian took a deep breath as he felt the shuttle rock as it finally docked.
They had been given a special 'inter modal' docking port, meant to be used for vessels that used docking systems incompatible with the one these people used and he wondered why. But he heard the crew chief of the shuttle call out that they had a good lock and that the systems showed green.
Adrian opened the harness that had kept him in his seat for the journey over and pulled himself along in the micro gravity, something that had become almost second nature from two years in the deep black, even if the Bright Star had a grav deck. He reached the air lock and the crew chief nodded.
"We have air on the other side, Oathmaster."
Adrian shook his head.
"I am not an Oathmaster anymore, Michael. Just a Commander."
The Crew Chief gave him a look and Adrian nodded.
"Open it."
After a nod, the Crew Chief began to cycle the airlock and as it opened, slightly warmer air flowed into the shuttle, smelling of those smells that any spaceship collected over the years, and which would never go away, no matter how much the air was filtered.
On the other side, three people in unknown uniforms floated, holding onto nearby railings. Two were pretty normal humans, a man and a woman with an athletic build that hinted at regular exercise, a must in space. The third...
As far as Adrian could tell it was a man, but he was short, with a barrel chest and dressed in a tight uniform that struck out, even if it looked like that other two. But what made him stand out was an almost deep black skin that was at odds with the mixed Asian and Caucasian features of his face. On top of that, his hair was a deep red, as was the full and meticulously trimmed and sculptured beard.
After a few moments, Adrian gave a salute.
"Requesting permission to come aboard," he repeated the ages old rite.
The black man, Adrian almost wanted to say 'dwarf', returned the salute.
"Permission granted," he said, his voice a warm baritone that surprised Adrian. "I am Lieutenant-Commander Damian Yamamoto. I am the XO of the Pentacost."
Yamamoto stuck out his hand and Adrian shook it, noting that the man had a surprisingly strong grip. That clearly made the other man and woman guards.
"Commander Adrian Bedford," he introduced himself and Yamamoto nodded.
"Captain Walters is expecting you, Commander," the other man said and raised an eyebrow. "Will you be alone, sir?"
"Yes," Adrian answered." I believe it would be simpler that way."
"Very well," Adrian responded." Please follow me."
Adrian did follow Yamamoto, the two guards trailing him.
From somewhere further away, Adrian could hear some cursing, as they moved deeper into the ships interior, making note of everything around him. While there were some similarities between the design of the ships he was used to and the Pentacost, there were differences as well. Adrian noted flat screen panels almost everywhere, showing information about the air quality in many cases, but also other pieces of information. In one case, a technician was looking at one of the screens and what Adrian thought was a diagnostic readout, as she was elbow deep in a nearby maintenance panel.
"You seemed to have suffered some sort of engineering problem when my ship jumped in?" Adrian probed. He had of course already talked to Walters before, but the Captain of the Pentacost had been cagey with an answer.
Yamamoto sighed and slowed down for a moment. It seemed that there was a bit of a story behind the situation.
"The Old Lady," he said finally said," is temperamental."
One of the guards snorted at that, but kept their peace.
"But what do you expect for a hull that is over 50 years old and hasn't seen a proper refit since her maiden voyage?"
"Damned cheap Space Force," the male guard muttered under his breath.
As if on cue, a frustrated scream came from some side corridor.
"Fucking Gremlins!"
Adrian turned to look into the direction where the scream had come from, only to see another black skinned short person punch a nearby bulkhead.
"That about sums it up," Yamamoto said. "There was a problem with the reactor control systems that never went away and we still have the problem where the reactor just scrams and leaves us on battery power until we fix it."
"I see," Adrian made.
Something like that was not uncommon from what he remembered from the Wolf's Dragoons intelligence briefings. Problems keeping old technology running, thanks to technology that was forgotten. But on an only 50 year old vessel?
"But we're going to see to that oversight soon," Yamamoto continued." As soon as Ceres Dockyard delivers us our Type 27 Heavy Frigate and Type 19 Destroyers, we can go to Sol and have them take the Old Lady apart to give her that long overdue refit."
Adrian kept his face neutral as he thought about the implication of that. These people could build heavily armed sort-of-dropships like this vessel and full on WarShips?
No wonder the visions had warned him about the Clans attacking the Inner Sphere.
They entered a part of the Pentacost, deep in the hull that seemed to be the bridge, with various men and women sitting at their stations and looking at a wide variety of displays, hands moving across keyboards and fingers poking at the screens.
Yamamoto led them to a door and pressed a button.
"Captain Walters, I have Commander Bedford here to see you, ma'am."
Nadir Point ε Eridani System March 7th, 2254/3023
"Fucking..."
Captain Ariana Walters had to bite her tongue to not continue, her hand coming up to her face to massage the bridge of her nose. She hated dealing with the Russians. Presumptuous, arrogant assholes.
Coming in a day after everything had gone down between Pentacost, the pirates and their new 'friends'... And then demanding that they were the ones to help bring the Jumpship and the Dropships back to Sol for the UN.
Yeah, right...
They were more likely to disappear them in some Moscow controlled black site and the UN would see absolutely nothing of them for years or decades, until the first Russian Jumpship appeared.
For a moment, Ariana looked at the bulkhead on the other side of her office, or 'Captains Ready Room', as some people called it.
Still, this jumpship and the Dropships were too important to remain here. And she didn't even want to deal with it. She had brushed off the Russians, quite harshly at that, something the people down in Davenport backed her up on. But they had seen the Rostov FTL Patrol Craft transition into the Everchanging Black, before the Destroyers had left for Eyeball, likely going to inform Moscow. And she was willing to bet that a Russian Battlescruiser or Battleship task force was going to drop by in about a week or so, making 'friendly' demands.
And then lose that jumpship to 'the uncertainties of the Everchanging Black' or something.
No, she was going to do this stuff herself. A diplomat was already coming up from Davenport and would arrive in about six hours. It would take another five days until the Jumpships 'jumpcore' was recharged. From its massive solar sail...
Why the heck were these people using solar energy to trickle charge a capacitor? No matter how large it was. They had...
"Captain Walters, I have Commander Bedford here to see you, ma'am," came the voice of Damian Yamamoto through the speakers and she sighed.
Time to face the music and see what kind of person this Bedford was.
"Come in," she said out loud, and the door opened a few moments later.
Damian, a spacer born on the small Vincente mining settlement on the asteroid Retina that orbited Eyeball, entered the room first, his dark, almost black skin a sharp contrast to the fair skin of the man that followed him. The man was tall, and muscular, in a way that made him look almost like a body builder, though not obscenely so. No chemical enhancement used by that man, if she was to guess. He looked conventionally attractive for the most part, not exactly a chiselled face, as there was a softness in his look that seemed to speak of a surprising amount of wisdom. Bedford's eyes were all over her office for a few moments, before settling on her.
Ariana rose from her seat, the magnetic soles of her she's keeping her locked to what was the floor when under thrust.
"Commander Bedford," she said and held out a hand.
He looked at the hand for a moment, before shaking it.
"Captain Walters, it is good to see you in person."
She made a gesture for him to 'sit' on the chair on the opposite side of her desk, while Damian floated over towards the small couch in one corner, settling into a comfortable position with the ease of long habit.
"And I have to thank you for helping us out again," Ariana said, a light smile on her face. "Though I still have a few problems to see your ship as anything other than a Battleship."
Bedford chuckled a little.
"And I keep telling you that she is an armed merchant ship. Surely it is something you know."
Damian snorted from his vantage point.
"Considering your pirate problem, I can see why you'd need armed merchantmen," he noted drily.
"Not exactly 'my' pirate problem," Bedford said. "Though I will have to admit that I did not think that the Inner Sphere had this much of a pirate problem, following the Succession Wars."
That made Ariana pause for a moment. Succession Wars... That did not sound good. And then there was the bit that Bedford didn't think that the problem was this big. But she didn't know enough about the situation outside Local Space to say much about that. There was this big meeting on the Cterin Orbital Rung that was supposed to deal with that situation.
"I can't tell you much about that, Commander," she said with a shrug." We didn't actually have to deal with pirates before, so this whole situation is new to us."
She paused for a moment.
"But you wanted to talk to me personally."
Bedford nodded and paused for a few moments. He seemed to be wrangling with himself over something, before he sighed and came to a conclusion.
"Aff," he said." It might sound strange to you, but... I have come a long way to this area of space, following a vision."
For a moment, Ariana was unsure how to react to that rather frank admission. Part of her wanted to say something witty to deny visions, but unbidden, she remembered that she had seen the 'Lady in Black' herself, a 'vision' many people had seen when transiting through the Everchanging Black. Not just humans, but Quetzal, Tiaunt, Ormiold... no matter the species, on every ship that entered the Everchanging Black had one person aboard who saw a pale human or humanoid woman dressed in black, for a few moments, before she disappeared again. No one could explain it and many saw it as something supernatural in some way.
"And what did that vision tell you?" she asked instead of the witty comment.
Bedford sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, as if recalling an old memory.
"To come here in peace," he said earnestly." To seek out knowledge and wisdom. To better myself and others. And while I have changed and learned on my journey, I feel that I can learn so much more here."
Ariana glanced over towards Damian, who seemed to want to say something, silencing him. She already knew what he wanted to say, likely something about being in the wrong place to find any wisdom.
"That's at least something," she said. "And I hope that you'll find what you're looking for. But I still have to ask what your plans are right now."
Bedford hmmmed.
"There is a system, about ten light years away that is may actual target. We jumped into this system to charge our jump core, not expecting there to be anyone around."
Ariana nodded. There could only be one place he wanted to go that was ten light years away.
"In that case, I'll have to ask you to carry one of my Patrol Craft with you along for the ride," she said and looked towards Damian, shooting him a short message to select one of their FTL capable Patrol Craft and have it prepared for a jump.
"Because it would be a lot easier for you to have something of a pilot aboard. These Emergence Points above Sol's North and South Pole have to be a mad house right now, with a few hundred warships around each in case some pirates come in and try something stupid."
Bedford seemed to get just a little paler at her saying that and nodded.
"A prudent choice," he said.
"Though..." Ariana continued after a moment. "If you are going to Sol anyway, I wonder if you could help us with a little problem."
The man nodded.
"That would depend on what that problem is."
"We want to get that Jumpship and its Dropships to Sol to hand over to the UN, because my government doesn't want it around. We don't know how to operate it, and no one trusts the pirate crews, even if they weren't on their way to Eyeball already."
As Bedford listened and nodded an alarm blared, before being silenced.
"Captain, arrival of eight new contacts close by," a voice said over the PA in her office. "One Type 27 and seven Type 19. Identification as Davenport SDFV Palamino and her escorts."
Ariana closed her eyes for a few moments. Finally someone to take this mess out of her hands and a way to get Pentacost into dock. And it looked like they could collect their own Patrol Craft while they were in Sol themselves...
Imperial Palace, Peephtin Jerat, Jeratir March 7th, 2254/3023
The building was old, everything around her oozing ancient history. The very stone, polished black marble that rung with every single of her footsteps had seen countless feet walking across it, even if many of those feet were not clad in shoes or boots, weren't even human.
Banners hung from walls, framing murals of alien scenes, while artefacts as ancient as the palace, stood on plinths and sat in show cases for passersby's to admire. She had to fight the urge to look at some of those artefacts, even as the small plaques that accompanied them were written in an alien language.
She followed the being in front of her, a bipedal alien with wings like a bird and coated in bright blue feathers, but with the head and teethed maw of a lizard. Around them, similar aliens were everywhere, as were the large, almost horse-sized alien dragons with their strange eyes, flocking around exhibits and staring at the art.
It had taken until she saw what appeared to be a school class being taken through these halls by teachers or tour guides to realise that this part of the massive, ancient palace she walked through with her companions was open to the public, a museum. But that was only logical, she assumed. Why not open up parts of the palace to the public, to allow the heritage of this Empire to be seen by its subjects?
The thought of aliens was still surreal, even after almost a week and her jump ship appearing in the Zenith point of this star, Jeratir. She wondered if she should have listened to the jump ship captain who had said that strange things were happening in this part of space for the last two years. Tall tales, she had thought, dropships that jumped around inside a system, inside the jump limit? Rumours and legends until she had seen it.
Her gaze lowered to her feet and the beautiful marble floor, her thoughts moving inward for a moment.
But everything seemed possible these days, she supposed. She had lost her home to her uncle. She knew that he believed her to be dead from the dropship crash. She should have been, had it not been for some people living nearby hiding her until she had recovered and smuggled her and her friend from her home to flee to the Magistracy of Canopus.
Which brought her here, an alien world in an alien system that hadn't been here two years ago.
As she looked up from her musings, she was startled as she saw a few humans amongst the aliens. They too were looking over the alien artefacts and artwork. They seemed to be guided by one of the lizard birds, who spoke in a language that sounded almost like English, explaining something.
'A tour group?' she wondered. Why were they here? Why did they seem to be used to these aliens? Where were they from?
They came up to a large double door, flanked by a pair of those six eyed dragons in what she supposed were uniforms. The door itself was as ancient as the palace, worked from beautiful alien wood in green and blue, with the symbol of this Empire in center stage.
A golden, raising sun with something she believed to be a stubbly pillar, maybe an obelisk imposed over it.
The two dragons nodded at their guide, and reached out to open the doors, stepping through them into a different sort of room. It had the same polished marble floor, but it was covered by plush carpets and different sorts of paintings hung from the walls, landscapes, while bookshelves, they could only be bookshelves, lines one wall. Some of the books sat on the floor, near a pile of pillows, one stack of books was topped by a coffee mug of all things, some words printed on it she could not read from this distance.
"We are sorry that we could not properly welcome you at the space port," a voice said, speaking in a strangely accented English, in a way that almost sounded like several people were speaking at once." But we all have to deal with the bane of the Sovereign. Paperwork."
The voice made her eyes snap back forwards and the massive, window at the end of the room. In front of the window was a low table, no, a desk, covered by printed sheets, more noteputers than she had ever seen, and, to her surprise a pile of assorted nick-knacks.
Behind the desk, on the pillows, rested one of the dragons, its wings neatly folded and its arms spread in a gesture that seemed to be a shrug. She had almost gotten used to the sight of the dragons, but this one startled her with the way its six eyes were completely, pure white. There was no visible iris, no sclera, just six white orbs that seemed to stare into her very soul. Its horns were inlaid with filigree of gold and gemstones that made her think of a crown.
Directly behind the dragon, perfectly framed by its head and horns, she could look through the window and see a massive stubby pillar, maybe an obelisk tower over the landscape. It had a reddish black colour and seemed to be made of glass or crystal, with an inner glow of some sort.
Their guide bowed before the dragon.
"Your Imperial Highness," the lizard bird intoned in perfect English with as much dignity as it could muster. "May I present to you, Lady Kamea Arano and Lord Alexander Madeira, late of the Aurigan Coalition."
Next to her, Alexander, sharp and proper as ever, executed an almost perfect bow, while Kamea struggled a little behind.
"Your Imperial Highness," she almost muttered.
Her mind went back to the door. Past this door was an open, public part of the palace. And it was the only door into this room. This was not any audience chamber, this seemed to be more of an office, a private office.
"Thank you, Llibelas, that would be all," the Emperor or Jerat said, dismissing their guide.
"Lady Kamea, Lord Alexander, please sit," they continued, gesturing towards two piles of pillows in front of the desk, as they rose from their own pile of pillows. "You had a long journey following my request for a meeting. Would you like refreshments? Coffee, tea, water or maybe a soft drink? Sadly, we cannot offer you anything stronger, as alcoholic drinks meant for homo sapiens sapiens have the same effects that LSD has to you. Fun sometimes, but not when there is so much to do and so much to talk about."
As Kamea parsed that request, she stumbled over the use of 'homo sapiens sapiens' instead of 'human', trying to understand why the Emperor was using that.
"Coffee please," she said after a moment, her eyes following the Emperor and she heard Alexander say the same.
The Emperor seemed to smile, or at least that what Kamea interpreted their facial expression.
"Excellent," they said and trotted, yes trotted, over the polished floor, padded clawed feet silent, towards a niche in the wall that contained a small kitchenette of sorts. Cabinets, what appeared to be a fridge and one large monstrosity of gleaming steel, chrome and plastic on the counter that only on second glance turned out to be a massive coffee machine, like it was used in cafes.
"Coffee is a bit of a forbidden pleasure for us," the Emperor said as they began to, personally, prepare coffee with the giant machine. "Caffeine does not do anything for our kind, but we do like the taste and the smell. We do blame the Italians. We tried coffee for the first time fifty years ago, when meeting with the Pope on a state visit."
The machine gurgled and sputtered, releasing a gout of steam, followed by the scent of freshly brewed coffee filling her nostrils.
"We immediately bought this machine and learned how to use it ourselves. We think we have gotten quite good at the art of barista."
As the Emperor was busy with the large coffee machine, Kamea looked over towards Alexander, who seemed to be about as sure about the situation as she was, mouthing the word 'alien'.
A few moments later, the Emperor returned, bearing two cups and put it in front of his two guests, quickly followed by a small cup filled with what turned out to be sugar. After returning to the kitchenette for their own coffee, the Emperor sat back down on their side of the desk, placing not a cup, but a mug on the table, inhaling the scent of the coffee. It was all Kamea could do to pull her eyes away from the English words on the side of the mug facing her.
'Delete my Browser History when I die'
She had absolutely no idea what that meant, but it seemed at odds with the title of 'Emperor'.
The mug went to the Emperor's face and there was a slurping sound, as Kamea brought the cup of coffee to her lips, dreading the result of whatever she was about to drink and having to feign enjoyment of it in front of an alien Emperor who might as well have her killed for talking badly about their coffee.
As the dark black brew touched her tongue, her eyes widened in response.
This was good coffee, better than anything she had ever had in her life.
"This is good coffee," she heard Alexander say in surprise.
"Thank you," the Emperor said and nodded at them, their own mug placed back on the desk, just looking at them. It was unnerving to be watched by those pure white eyes.
Alexander seemed to look at something else however.
"What is that pillar?" he wondered softly, making Kamea look at the pillar herself.
The Emperor turned their head around on their long flexible neck to look for a moment, a disorienting sight, before turning back with a nod.
"The Monument," the Emperor said and seemed to sigh." A memorial of ambition, hubris and mortality. It used to be an Archology, the first Archology built on this world, three millennia ago, just ten years before the nuclear apocalypse."
The way the Emperor said that almost casually, stopped any comment she might have made dead in its tracks.
"It was called Liberty Tower, three and a half kilometers tall, with a hexagonal base with a side length of five hundred meters. And since it was built at the height of a cold war between the major nuclear powers on Jerat at the time, a prime target for a nuclear device. When the apocalypse came, Liberty Tower was targeted by a fission-fusion-fission device that detonated just twenty meters above the very tip of the tower. It was the largest recorded detonation of a nuclear device on any known planet, with an energy release of about 150 MT."
"The fireball had a radius of nearly 6 kilometers and remained for almost a minute. It vaporised the top kilometer of the tower in that time and melted the rest. What you see is a glassy crystal like material made from iron, glass, concrete and the remains of the nearly half a million people who lived and worked inside, still just over a kilometer tall and glowing in the night."
Kamea swallowed.
"It is on your flag," she whispered.
"Yes," the Emperor said." On top of the raising sun. A symbol of our people raising from the ashes of nuclear devastation to rebuild, to return to our former glory as a people and even surpass what was before. All of which we accomplished in three millennia. From survival, over war to consolidate, to rebuilding and prosperity."
The alien Emperor seems to only have eyes for her.
"It is what is in your future, Lady Kamea Arano," they said. "Tell us, what would you do if we gave you a field army, a hundred thousand strong, and space force support of a hundred capital vessels, to retake what is rightfully yours?"
Kamea stared back as those white orbs seemed to stare into her soul.
"Would you, in the end, after all is done and the last grave filled, give up absolute, dictatorial power and serve?"
Kamea stared and felt her face flush from the anger she felt. It was all she could do not to jump up and get into the face of this... this alien tyrant!
"How dare you," she said in a low tone.
Yet there was a tiny part of her who wanted to say yes. To stand at the head of an alien army and...
"Kamea," she heard Alexander say next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
She brushed off the hand and glared at him for a moment, before looking back at the Emperor. She knew exactly where this was going and what was going to happen if she took this 'offer'. And all she could think of was that his alien's face was looking smug.
"You want me to be at the head of an invasion force to extend your... Empire."
She stood up then, glaring directly into those six white eyes, her hands balling into fists at her side.
"I will never bend the knee to anyone," she said, her voice still dangerously low." I will free my people without your 'help'."
The Emperor looked back at her and then nodded, clapping their hands.
"Very good, Lady Kamea," they said in a jovial tone." That tells us that you have what it takes to be the Sovereign of your people. That offer was never real. Had you taken it, we should have sent you away. But since you have not, things are getting interesting."
Kamea blinked.
"What?"
"It was a test, Lady Kamea," the Emperor said." One that you passed."
They nodded at the pile of pillows behind her.
"Please sit."
The fight that had just pulsed through her veins, ready to come out to throw expletives at the Emperor, suddenly had nowhere to go and she felt her knees getting weak, so she sat down.
"However," the Emperor said," You are still young and inexperienced in the ways of the Sovereign. You have your heart at the right place, as your kind would say. But..."
The Emperor looked away from her and seemed to stare off into the empty middle distance.
"But we speak out of our own experience, all three millennia of it, that war has the tendency to change people for the worse, to erode the ideals one stands for. Especially when fighting those you thought of as family, like you are going to be doing. People that you have known your entire life and who have turned against you."
Kamea took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. The betrayal of her uncle hurt. And all of that because he couldn't take her refusal of his proposal. It made her wonder if he had something to do with the death of her parents. But she had to reject that. Santiago would not kill his own sister.
Or would he?
"It is the paranoia that comes from such a betrayal," the Emperor continued." It burrows into the back of ones mind and over time, everyone seems to be out for themselves, ready for betrayal. After all, if one was betrayed before, one can be betrayed again."
The Emperor's gaze returned to Kamea.
"Paranoia is a silent poison, Lady Kamea. It will destroy anything that makes life good and enjoyable with its doubt and fear."
They remained silent for a moment and Kamea took a deep breath. She wanted to say that she was never going to become paranoid, that she was not going to betray the ideals she had been ready to swear on when she took the throne of the Coalition. Yet, there was doubt.
"We have seen it many times over the millennia, a young Sovereign being ousted by a family member and after years of exile returning with an army. Some lost, but many of those that won their civil war, still lost, becoming a tyrant through their paranoia. Taking more power than even their usurper. Some said it would only be for the duration of the rebuilding or to stabilise the lands. But they never let go of the power they inherit from the usurper. They cling to it like it is a life line, the only way to keep their paranoia under control, as they fear betrayal from every side, even from their most loyal friends."
The Emperor looked to Alexander and then back to Kamea.
"There have been very few times where there was only one civil war. Usually it's many civil wars, destroying a once prosperous nation in constant strife."
They paused.
"If you win your civil war, will you give up the powers you inherit from your uncle? Or will you keep them and remove any chance of rebuilding and prosperity?"
Kamea stared at the Emperor. Not in fury this time, but in an uneasy understanding. The Emperor's voice had been filled with a wariness she couldn't explain. As if they had really seen this happen again and again.
And the worst part was...
"I don't know," she whispered, licking suddenly dry lips.
The Emperor nodded.
"Had you said 'no', we would not have believed you and this audience would have been over."
They sat in silence and Kamea could feel the eyes of Alexander on her, making her look back. There was a pain in his eyes she could understand. The same pain he had seen when he had told her what had happened and what her uncle had been doing in the weeks when she had been out of it.
"As it is," the Emperor continued," we still wish to support you. Not through lending you an Army, but financially. Under two... No three conditions."
Kamea looked back at the Emperor again, taking in a deep breath.
"Which would be?" she asked.
The Emperor looked at her again, their eyes again boring into her.
"When you win your Civil War," they said," You will give up whatever powers your uncle has taken for himself and not only restore your old form of government, but go further. Extend the Council of Nobles by a Council of the People, elected by the people. We know that your uncle took power because you would not."
The Emperor gave something that could be described as a smile, maybe a grin, and she could see the many sharp teeth in their maw.
"Ensure that your uncle lives and make him watch as you go into the other direction. Make him see that it was all for nothing."
Kamea was taken aback by that. She had expected to have to relinquish that dictatorial power, but going that far? She did not know what to think about that. Though her vindictive side was all for it. Just to get back at her uncle.
"The second?" she asked.
"Close diplomatic relations to whatever Super-National Organisation might come into being in over the next few months to represent the nations of Local Space to the rest of the Inner Sphere. We would of course hope for an alliance of some sort. It is always good to have friends."
She nodded at that. diplomatic relations with this part of space? A possible alliance that might involve some sort of military help if the Coalition needed it?
She nodded.
"The third would be to take on a liaison officer of the Imperial Armed Forces. Partially to help you navigate the situation within Local Space. We do believe that you might have a few problems to come to terms with how we do things here, but also to support you in your fight against your uncle and to act as an additional adviser. And to ensure that you keep to the other conditions."
Kamea nodded again, thinking for a few moments. It would certainly help her in the long run. To have a complete outsider as an additional adviser point her at things she or Alexander hadn't thought about.
She looked over to Alexander for a moment, who seemed to say that she should not act without thinking. She gave him a nod, as she was sure that she would be allowed to think it over and talk to him.
"How high will that financial support be?"
Because that was the thing she needed.
"The equivalent of, we believe, 250 million C-Bills in the Inner Sphere or 750 million Euro on Earth. Enough to be able to buy yourself a frigate and three destroyers from Ceres Dockyards, smuggle loyal subjects from your homeland to train as crews and still have enough left to hire some mercenaries."