Chapter 27; A New Beginning
The time was changed to dawn the next day for temperature reasons. For about an hour after sunrise, the dunes were quite pleasant. At dawn (plus about fifteen ticks, all the base personnel that could be spared were present on the dunes outside the Underground Base. Lea and Pedra stood for the bride. Baraz and Gunnery Sergeant Frain stood for the groom.
The thousands of people at the wedding and the more than six million souls who watched on viddy screens were one today in faith and adoration for their emperor and his true love. Their loyalty had little to do with his royal status. Arin had fought with them, drank with them, ate with them, and, most important, had served with them those two long, terrible years in Dagaz Prison.
As a prisoner, he had asked for nothing extra. He had become what they regarded to be highest rank amongst them, a good Joe, a regular guy. Now that his true identity was revealed, they understood his need to disguise himself. They all knew very well what had happened to his older sister, Mina, when her real identity had been discovered in that place. Today, they celebrated by cheering for the lovers, for the victories, and for the new Empire that they were going to forge in the days ahead.
Once it was over, their newly re-crowned Emperor spoke, " I have decided that two new insignias will be passes out among you as soon as they can be struck. The first will be a blue flame for the heroes of Hazy Point."
Arin allowed the cheers to go on for a moment, then raised his hand. "…and I will wear as many of you will, a white flame for the heroes of Dagaz Prison.” This will include the newly liberated Fleet Marines who rescued us. The men and women that bear these insignia will never bow to me again. We are comrades in arms. Siri and I and all of my family owe you more than we could ever hope to repay."
Saying this, he and his new bride, looking lovely in her wedding finery, walked among his people shaking hands and hugging special friends he had made when they all thought he was an ordinary yeoman such as themselves. These old friends congratulated him on his wedding as they would anyone else. This pleased him greatly. He had much enjoyed the camaraderie of the yeoman's life and vowed that the Jewel Throne would not become a barrier to these friendships.
He was a little sad to shave and finally cut his hair however. Last night, he had vowed to Siri to make a special effort to free Taurus next. It was in the hands of a particularly evil War Lord. Zim had been one of the first Governors to mutiny in the last days of his father’s reign. In that fifteen years, Zim had made use of the chaos of civil war to forge a state based on his personal malevolence. Once he was had freed her home, they would make a trip to Taurus and thank them personally for forging him the means to survive those life threatening experiences.
He returned to the front of the crowd and continued, "While I was a prisoner, living among my people as one of you, I was continually struck by your goodness and faith in what we stood for. As soon as we can bring this civil war to an end, all peoples will be given the right to join the New Empire freely and without coercion. From this place, we will march forward. We will touch every planet on our long march home. We will rid the skies of the old Admiralty or any lawless elements that exist. We will have elections. The Senate will become a council of planets organized into one hundred sectors with ruling parliaments. Each sector will send five representatives to the empirical senate."
Cheer after cheer lead by his brother and the family followed the two as they made their way to the royal apartments for their wedding supper. There was much to do, but it could wait until the morning. The Emperor and his new Empress had other plans.
After attending his brother’s brief reception, Admiral Baraz called his new general staff together. They met briefly met briefly to lay out plans for the distribution of new man power. Baraz was surprised to find that his brother and grandfather had agreed to make him an Admiral. He was then forced to stay up all night organizing his new warrion of a million and a half men, women and their children. This quadrant known as Hazy Point was to be his new provincial capitol, and he would be the Governor of it in the New Empire until elections were to be held.
He knew what his first moves would be. He went to the Guardian Married Officer’s Barracks to find Jar and Cyn at home with their new baby, Zinny. He had asked his grand father to accompany him. This was not difficult as the old man had grown very fond of his godson. Jar was very surprised to see who was at the portal. Cyn, ever the good hostess, pulled them inside, handed the baby immediately to his reaching god father, and had them sit for drinks.
"Captain, it has not escaped our notice that you have rendered our family and the entire New Empire a service that must be repaid. Saving the life of this great gentleman, you are a hero of the first order.
“These new Captain’s bars and this fancy new apartment is thanks enough, sir.” Cyn just smiled.
“No, sir, it is not enough. I have come to ask you to be my right hand. I am forming a new warrion, and I need the best aide that I can find. I am offering a colonel's rank and pay.”
“By the stars!” His wife squealed and hugged his neck.
Baraz took a sandal wood box out of his satchel, “And, oh, by the way, please accept my congratulations on earning this Jeweled Cross. I'm sorry that it is so late, but we have been a little busy lately. We will be holding a little ceremony for you and your guests tomorrow at noon. Blue Deck…don’t be late."
Cyn threw her arms around Jar with a whoop. Jar just looked stunned. He kissed his wife, “I’m sorry sweetie, it looks like we’ll be moving again.”
Jar looked over his wife’s shoulder at General Z for confirmation that this was really happening to him. The old man just grinned a big, toothy grin at him and nodded.
He turned to his new boss and said, "First, I would like your opinion on this idea of mine that Cyn and I have been working on these last two weeks. I can tap into the Sundown News Show. We can add our stories and nothing can be done about it without ruining their whole communications network. No one knows yet about tour three victories out away from this sector."
"Jar, old fellow, you may have just earned a second Cross for this one," said General Z. "Prince Baraz may have to withdraw the officer's bars in order to make you the new editor of the Royal Report. Eh, my son?"
"Grandfather is right. You are much more valuable as a propaganda officer. The colonel's bars stay. You must be our Minister or Propaganda. I will set it up with the Emperor in the morning. When can you get the first show on?"
"I have been tinkering with several stories. I have edited the first Battle of Hazey Point down to the allowable two hundred ticks.”
“The FIRST Battle..?”
“It was Cyn’s idea really. She says there were really two great battles in one day. The first was when we fought them off.”
“Right…I see that.”
Cyn piped in. Baraz was a little thrown by the fact that he knew what little Zinny was doing under the baby blanket she had thrown over her shoulder. “The second was when you led troops in the boarding and destroying of a huge portion of the fleet.”
“That was my grand father’s plan…”
She nodded ignoring her son’s dinner activities, “Okay…we can cut it that way…”
“If I may be bold enough to create a third battle, let us consider the commandeering and repatriation of ships and personnel. As stated, we only have a couple of minutes per up load.”
“Brilliant…Mrs Kartin, you have earned your eagles today as well.”
“Thank you, sir, but, we’re not done…”
Jar jumped in, “We have some beautiful footage on the Royal Wedding. We can call it the Sunrise Report. We are ascending, after all, Sir."
"Right you are, people. Can we start tomorrow?"
“Locked and loaded, sir.”
As the men were preparing to leave, Baraz shook both of their hands, “I await something special as ai break my fast tomorrow morning.”
True to his word, at noon the next day a
ll of the base personnel that could be spared were assembled to honor the newest heroes. Cyn held Zinny up so he could see his Dad. They were so proud of their man that they felt ready to burst.
"Jar Kartin," Arin was saying into the cameras, "we are so proud to be associated with a man, who at total risk to himself, saved the man who would eventually lead us all home.”
Cheers
“By saving my grandfather's life you have done a service to the Empire that can never be fully repaid. You did a service to this family to which you now belong. We hope to show you the value of that membership. People, I give this Jewel Cross to Baron Jar Kartin-Menzi, Colonel and the hero of Givon Morass, Minister of Information for the New Empire. Baroness…"
Saying this, Arin reached his hand to help Cyn up to the stage before the cheering crowd. She hugged the Emperor, her husband and her child. The General took the baby so that Arin could stand between them, holding their hands high for their friends to wish them both well.
When the cheering died down, Arin turned to Lea. "Lady Lea, my best friend throughout my life… Even as a child, I knew you were destined for greatness. Please accept this Jewel Cross as a token of our gratitude for the work your Tech Body has done to bring about these great victories. We are issuing a unit citation for each of your two groups for their work. But, to you, dear aunt, I give the Jeweled Cross, our Empire's highest honor and, as always, my fondest regards." They hugged and Lea turned to show the Cross to her mother and sister.
"Lady Pedra, please step forward."
Pedra was shocked to hear her name. Her family pushed the shy woman forward to face the Emperor. To her surprise, the Empress Siri pinned a diamond covered blaze on her lapel.
"For creating upgrades to your sister’s inventions… For taking the first jump at great peril… you are now awarded the newest medal. We shall call it the Star of the Empress. I now ask you to head my personal guard and protect my children until you die."
As happy as Pedra had been to hear of her old friend, Siri's great fortune to find true love and the Empress Throne, she was ecstatic to be her old friend's guardian and the protector of the Royal Heirs. Forgetting herself, she hugged her new charge as if they were still at school. The people cheered the old friends.
Mara and Madlin watched this all with the pride of true matriarchs. The Empire owed them much and now they were repaying them for helping to forge this family, so much loss and now, finally so much joy.
"General Zintaurus Medio, you are the hero of so many battles and the inspiration and inventor of so much. I want all these people to know how I feel right now. The problem is that there is no way short of abdicating and giving you the entire Empire that a gift large enough to reward your due. So I give you this…"
Arin threw his arms around the old General and hugged him. The old man held tight. "It is enough, my son," choked the old man.
Chasing the Jewelled Throne Page 27