Admiral Aikens shook his head before he could, once again, lament about the unfairness of it all as he, once again, sat through the damned presentation and turned his attention back to the young captain seated on the other side of his desk. Her head bowed, her eyes closed as the replay ended, her short blond hair framing her round face like a halo around the face of a lovely angel. The tears causing her pale cheeks to glisten did nothing to detract from her beauty.
With a deep breath that strained the fabric of her uniform, she raised her head and opened her eyes, looking at him.
“They’re all dead, then?” She asked, the slightest of trembling in her voice.
“I’m afraid so.” He responded, allowing some compassion to show in his deep voice. He waved a hand at the view screen they had both been watching. “That was the last signal we received from HQ. It was accompanied by a code Omega”.
Corina gave him a quizzical look, and he explained.
“A Code Omega is meant for Flag officers.” He said. “It allows them to view sealed and encrypted orders. In this case, those orders free all fleet vessels from Central Authority and instructs them to prosecute the war as best they see fit.”
“What war?” Corina exclaimed, jumping to her feet. “That… That…” She appeared to recall where she was and slumped back into her seat. “My apologies, sir. That was uncalled for.”
The Admiral ignored the outburst and continued.
“While that may have been the last signal from HQ, it is not the only signal we have picked up.” He said. “We received that message from HQ two weeks ago. Rather than alert the entire fleet, I dispatched a stealth courier back to the core to gather more information.” He held up a hand, not giving Corina a chance to object, even had she felt so inclined. “It had already taken that message three months to reach us. We needed get a full grasp of what the current situation was… is.” He paused and shook his head. “It appears there was an attempted coup that was botched… badly. What should have been a surgical strike to take out the governmental leaders turned into a blood bath that signaled the start of a five sided civil war.”
“Against the crown?” Corina exclaimed.
“No.” The Admiral shook his head. “There is no crown. It is a five way free for all. 1st and 2nd fleets are involved somehow, but we have not yet determined in what manner. 3rd and 4th Fleets were loyalist fleets. They no longer exist. Fleets Five through Seven were Border Fleets like our own and have been flagged as unknown due to their distance from the core. Besides the five sides battling it out for control, we also have incursions from neighboring systems on three borders, so I would hazard to guess that those three fleets have either been destroyed, or are trying to regain control of the borders, or have thrown their lot in with one of the five factions.”
“And how will 8th Fleet be categorized, Admiral?” Corina demanded, her blue eyes like cold sapphires glaring.
Despite himself, the Admiral smiled. This might go better than he had expected.
“As long as I am in charge of 8th Fleet, you will be able to count us as a Loyalist fleet…. Your Majesty!” he responded, raising one eyebrow, awaiting her reaction.
“What?” Once again Corina leapt to her feet as if to flee the office.
“You saw the message.” The Admiral indicated the view screen. “The entire royal family wiped out. With one exception. You.”
“But I am not in the line for succession!” Corina protested.
“I beg to differ, Your Majesty.” The Admiral countered. “You are, or were, rather, in the second line. Your father was the King’s younger brother and would have been next in line for the throne had the King died before he took the throne or had he died before having children afterwards.”
“No!” Corina shook her head. “Uncle Aston had a daughter before he took the crown. She would have inherited.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that one.” The Admiral nodded. “It is unfortunate Princess Ishera died along with the rest of the royal family. With her death, the line of succession transferred to your father. I am sorry, Your Majesty, but your entire family was present when the capital was taken out. That leaves you. There is no other member of the Royal Family left.”
“No.” Corina denied, again shaking her head, and the Admiral knew that it was no longer the captain of a battle cruiser that stood on the other side of his desk. “I will not play the pretty princess to continue a damned war!”
“I would not ask you to.” The Admiral stated. “Your Majesty, you are correct. That war is lost. Even if some of my officers do not agree, whatever is going on among the Core no longer concerns us… at least for the present.” He hesitated before continuing. “I have a few scenarios I would like to speak with you about… but…” He trailed off, indicating the now blank view screen with a negligent wave of his hand.
Corina took a deep breath, closing her eyes and then reopening them with a small sigh.
“No, I understand, Admiral.” She said. She retook her seat and sitting ram-rod straight, looked him in the eyes. “Even as the Caption of a cruiser, I learned that the universe does not wait on personal tragedy.” She waved a hand at the display. “If something must be done, then we do not have the time for me to sort through my emotional state.”
Despite himself, Admiral Aikens sat straighter in his seat, his eyes widening. Deny it all she might, the young woman sitting across the desk from him was royal.
Before she had arrived, he had asked for and received her records… the unedited versions. Impressive. Though she might deny it, there had been no doubt in the minds of her instructors or previous Commanding Officers that Corina Altaria Terrel had been born to command. Several had been so bold as to remark that it was a pity that this young woman had not been born into the direct line of succession.
His eyes had narrowed a bit at that and he could not help but wonder if Corina’s assignment to Eighth fleet had not been EmpInt’s way of removing her from the confrontation that was to come. The second thought that came to mind had been to wonder who else might have known the Princess had been assigned to Eighth Fleet. Could other forces already be attempting to locate Eighth fleet in order to capture or kill her? Or perhaps use her as an unwilling figure-head for one faction or another?
These were thoughts he laid out for her now.
“Before they get here, if they are coming, then we have to know how we will receive them.” He told her. “That is my job. Or rather, it is the kind of task I and my staff are prepared to work on.” He paused, knowing the next part of what he had to say would be the telling part. “What contingency plans we develop, however, is entirely up to you, Your Majesty!” He hurried on, seeing the look in her eyes. “We are a Border Fleet.” He stated. “Most of our crew come from worlds along the border we are assigned to.” He stood and after touching a button on his desk, moved to stand beside a large image that was now displaying on the wall behind his desk.
“This is a two dimensional representation of the South border of the Empire.” He began. He didn’t need to go into the details of directions. It had been established, centuries earlier, that North, or Galactic North, meant inward towards the Galactic center while South, or Galactic South, meant outwards towards the edge of the galaxy. East meant Spinward, the direction of galactic rotation, while West indicated the exact opposite direction. Grand terms used by large and small galactic nations that occupied only a portion of a single spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.
The image that now occupied the wall had several flashing lights, showing one or more of the settled worlds in this area of space.
“There are twelve worlds in this sector, Your Majesty. Of those, six are agriculture worlds. Of the remaining six, only three can supply the industrial needs a fleet requires. Two of those being right here in the New Haberdeen system.”
Corina nodded. New Haberdeen and New Alderann, occupying the second and third orbits around their primary were both well into the so-called life-zone of their star. The history tapes showed that scientists had been astounded to discover two almost Earth identical planets in the same system, and so close to each other. If the Border worlds had a capital other than the Empire, it would have been New Haberdeen, the first of the two worlds settled.
“According to tradition, Fleet HQ determined that Border fleets be manned as much as possible by individuals from the Border in which the fleet is assigned.” The Admiral continued, remembering Commodore Ryese had said during their conference. “Frankly, given the situation, I do not see how I could order these men and women to leave the boarder and dive into a war that was over before we even learned of it. Yet I cannot, on my own authority, do anything else.”
“You want me to take the crown and then order you to remain on the Border?” Corina blurted.
“To a degree, yes.” The Admiral gave a slight smile. “Whether they know it yet or not, Your Majesty, these border worlds need you! They need you to pull them together into a new political unit before they fall apart, or before the remnants of the old show up to pull them into their damned civil war!”
“I won’t be a puppet, Admiral.” Corina got that out of the way. “If I do this… if I take the crown, I won’t be Empress in name only nor will I act all courtly and spend my time seated on a velvet throne!”
“Agreed.” Aikens nodded. “Up to a point.” He held up a hand to forestall Corina’s protest. “No one will pull your strings, Your Majesty, but we, the fleet and most likely the Border Worlds, will demand limits to your power.”
“No.” Corina shook her head. “Our old Empire was a combination of Imperial rule and Democracy. If you wish to continue with that, I am in total agreement. But the fleet will have no political power. The military will answer to the Crown and the government and they will answer to the people!”
“I cannot guarantee that.” Aikens frowned now. “Though perhaps giving the military political power is what caused the coup attempt. Perhaps some faction wanted more power in the hands of the Empire, and the fleet, and less in the hands of the member worlds and the people.”
“I will not negotiate on that, Admiral.” The fleet captain persona had fallen away now. The woman that sat across the desk from the Admiral was not the same woman that had entered his office. “I have studied history, Admiral, and having a military with its own political agenda has never turned out good for the nation… or the people. When the military and the Government are in agreement, everything is fine. But when disagreements arise, as they will, the last word must be that of the Crown and the Government.”
“With the Government able to over ride the wishes of the Crown?” Aikens raised an eyebrow.
“Of course.” Corina nodded. “Though I would not make it too easy. There must be a balance of power, Admiral.”
“And what of the war?”
“Whose war?” Corina countered. “Admiral, if we do this, our main concern should be the continued well-being of our little… Kingdom. For that, in effect is what it will be. Not the grand Empire reborn. We should consolidate our place here first before we consider looking outward. Not with an eye to continue a battle already lost, but rather to see what allies we can gather and to see what aide we can render to those others hurt by this senseless uprising.”
Aikens leaned back in his seat, his hands clasped on the desk in front of him.
“I must say, Your Majesty, that I am impressed.” He said. “By all accounts I have heard, getting you to even consider taking the throne should have been a more… formidable task.”
Corina gave him a wry smile.
“Admiral, while I may not have been in the direct line of succession, I was close enough that it was required that I undergo a specific course of education. It would not have been a good thing to have the burden of leadership fall on the shoulders of someone not trained for it!” She explained. “By the time I entered the Academy, I was already to the point that, if the need arose, I would have been able to take the throne and utilize the power of the throne.” She shrugged. “It was standard procedure. Brought about, I believe, by some incident in the past that saw just such a need arise… and the new heir was completely unqualified at the time.”
She leaned forward and locked eyes with the Admiral.
“So you see, if the thought was that I would be a quivering mass of confusion, easily manipulated, then that thought was wrong.” She stated. She then stood and turned away, collecting her thoughts.
“Very well, Admiral.” She said at least. “If you want me, here is how it will be done. You will dispatch ships to the twelve worlds. You will inform the governments of those worlds of what has transpired and what we propose. They must be cautioned against letting that knowledge become public, but they must be convinced to allow you bring representative here. Once here, you and your staff and those representatives will work on a new Constitution for our little Border Kingdom. Kingdom, not Empire. I will look over the drafts and give my opinions but nothing more. If, however, I am not satisfied with the resulting Constitution, then I will not do this. I will not allow all power to be placed in my hands, nor will I allow my hands to be tied by excessive restrictions on the power of this new monarchy. In addition, this new Constitution must be ratified by all those involved. No force will be utilized. If one or more of these worlds do not ratify, then they will be left alone. Completely alone. They owe nothing to the Kingdom, and the Kingdom will owe them nothing in return. Agreed?”
“Your Majesty, that is actually more than I hoped for.” Aikens smiled. “It will be done as you say.”
To be Continued
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2014 by Clay Grayson
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.