The Artemis Trap

by DN Farrell

  The king then turned and faced Regis directly. "But truth is the foundation of existence Regis. As king I must follow the truth and lead the people accordingly."

  "Your Highness," Regis replied, his face now gesticulating slightly as he tried to win over the king, "in an ideal world the king should be a pillar of honesty and integrity, but survival comes first. Maybe you are not very attached to your own head, but I am attached to mine and if you fall, my head will also fall Your Highness."

  "Ha is that it Regis, you are worried about your own skin?" The king retorted while slapping his right hand of off his thigh with a hard slapping sound.

  "Of course your highness, I am worried about my own skin and you should be worried about your family, even if you are not worried about yourself. Today you have lost a daughter, but tomorrow you might lose your other children, your Queen and all your relatives; we are all in this together with you at the helm Your Highness."

  The king slumped noticeably and clung onto the red velvet curtain, which draped the large window, for support. He nodded slightly and then sat back down again.

  "If we execute these officers, it will make you appear strong in front of your people and the Federation cannot make any complaint, as we have proof of their skulduggery!"

  "Yes Regis I understand, but I feel played with, even if I follow your plan, then I am just playing into the hand of the Vis Yar, instead of the Federation!"

  "Well better that sire, than your head should fall from your body!" Regis rebutted.

  "Your Majesty." The voice of the Herald drifted over the heads of the two men, who were oblivious to external sounds. "Your Majesty." The Herald spoke again and this time Regis turned around and noticed the Herald. Walking over to him, the Herald spoke into the ear of the chief minister and with some fluctuations of his arms, Regis seemed to direct the Herald towards some activity.

  "Your Majesty." Regis now addressed the king. "We have a VIP guest here to see us, Ubek Qi Tan of the Southern Skies region of the Kolatian Quadrant." Regis smiled broadly, feeling pleased by the news of the arrival of Ubek Qi Tan, for Ubek Qi Tan shared the same anti-Federation prejudices as Regis himself.

  "Oh well, if he has come all this way then we shall meet him briefly, I suppose." Registered the king, who was less than delighted to see this aggressive little man, who was an ally of the king, but difficult to talk to.

  Seconds later the Herald ushered in Ubek Qi Tan. Ubek Qi Tan, was a small round bellied man, who wore a long flowing white robe and a big oversized red turban, which sat like the head of a mushroom, upon his fat little bearded face. Externally he acted with great decorum, but the king knew only too well that the Ubek Qi Tan was only concerned about his aggrandizement and the proliferation of the Southern Skies division of the Vis Yar rebels.

  "Your Highness, as always a great pleasure to meet you," he said, while bowing before the king, "It is terrible news about your daughter, my king!"

  "I know, I know." The king said, while nodding solemnly and shrinking back into his throne.

  "You must know by now, my king, the true nature of the vile organization, which goes by the name of Galactic Federation." Ubek QI Tan continued and then following hand gestures from Regis, he sat down on some cushions, directly in front of the king.

  "It is for this reason that we of the Vis Yar, are fighting the Federation tooth and nail, to repel them and their earthling plague, back to where they came from."

  "Earthling plague?" The king queried.

  "Oh Your Majesty, did you not notice that most of the Federation officers either come from Earth or from an earth colony." Ubek Qi Tan responded.

  "They're humanoid you mean." Replied the king.

  "No not just humanoid, as we too are humanoid Your Highness, but rather thy want to racially dominate the galaxy and make all of us slaves to their earthling empire and earthling ways, Your Highness."

  "Oh I see." Replied the king, who inwardly disbelieved Ubek Qi Tans vivid notions, about earthling dominance, another sign of his prejudice against them.

  "But the Analusian Alliance are okay by you?" Asked the king, who knew full well that Ubek Qi Tan was on their payroll.

  "Yes of course Your Majesty, for the Analusian Alliance are on our side."

  "I see."

  “Yes we can trust them to be greedy and eager for half-blood slaves, a handy way to get rid of the racially impure if you ask me your majesty.” Ubek said and then added that, “We must free the Kolatian Quadrant of all interloopers, but the Analusians shall be the last to go, if my plan goes ahead.”

  “Your plan Ubek?” Queried the king.

  “Yes we already made a small fortune from the ransacking of the planet Exugenes, which will act as a war chest for our upcoming war with the Federation devils, then we shall get rid of the Galbraggians and finally the Analusians.”

  “I see,” said the King, “I didn’t know that invasion was orchestrated by yourself Ubek.”

  “Yes of course Your Highness, but do not worry that planet has a democracy, a crazy democrazy you see?” Ubek chuckled at his pun and then went on, “and many half-blood politicians, unlike your beautiful planet here, the Vis Yar would never attack it.”

  "Ubek Qi Tan," Regis said, while looking over at the short little bearded man, "I was just explaining to the king, the necessity of executing the Federation personnel, first thing tomorrow morning, as otherwise his very crown could be in trouble."

  "Why of course!" Ubek Qi Tan exclaimed, while slapping his right palm of off his right thigh and looking over at the king, with a deadly serious look on his face. "Why Your Highness, I came here to make a quick passing visit to some of my colleagues, in the Vis Yar, but I couldn't but help hearing about your woes and also the woes of your people, who sadly feel that you're in a weak position."

  "Weak position Ubek?" The king asked, while leaning forward in his chair, eager to get a second opinion.

  "Why yes, they think you are just a puppet of the Federation." Ubek Qi Tan said and then he too leaned forward on his chair and continued. "Why Comarin’s Fever is a creation of Federation spies, don't you know that?"

  "Yes your right, just as I expected!" Exclaimed the chief minister, who was happy to have agreement on this issue, from his fellow Kolatian.

  "Come now Ubek, the chief minister also believes this, do you really think the Federation would kill off thousands of our people, simply to launch this attack on my family?" The king asked.

  "Why I know so Your Majesty, my Analusian contacts have let me know about this scheme in detail. I would not have said anything to you, but for the events of the last twenty four hours, have made it necessary for me to come forward and advise you my king."

  "And what is your advice Ubek?" The king asked, now with a perturbed confused look on his face.

  "Why behead the Federation prisoners immediately, it will be taken as a strong pro Vis Yar message across the Kolatian Quadrant, Your Majesty." Ubek Qi Tan said matter of factly.

  "That simple, just off with their heads, but what if they have had no part in the assassination of my daughter?"

  "Why gracious king, your nature is too regal." Ubek quipped and smiled a little. "You are king of Artemis 11 Your Highness and if you want to do so, you must make a strong statement. The Federation are here today and will be gone tomorrow, I am making it my life work to do so. Don't believe in their PR or promises, Your Highness, the Vis Yar and the Analusian Alliance are the way forward for the people of this quadrant, believe me!"

  "Ah I'm afraid you would say that Ubek, so I must terminate three innocent lives to save my crown, is that what it comes down to?"

  "No Your Majesty." Regis countered. "It is not a selfish thing to save your head my lord, and you are not doing it for yourself, you are here to serve the people."

  "Yes exactly my king." Ubek Qi Tan joined in." The previous king was a tyrant, whereas your virtue is spreading far and wide across the quadrant my lord, you are the future of the people of Artemis 11, and yes
maybe those three Federation personnel are innocent, but it is a selfless act to execute them, for you must relegate your morals for the betterment of the whole planet."

  "You make vice sound like virtue Ubek!" Exclaimed the king, annoyed by Ubek Qi Tan’s inversion of all things good.

  "For the common good your highness." Regis said.

  "In war are not thousands of soldiers sacrificed for the greater good my king." Retorted Ubek Qi Tan. "You must make a tough decision and yes innocents may die, but it sends a strong message across the bow of the Federation and it builds up your kingdom, in the face of your colleagues across the Quadrant."

  "Yes I see." Said the king, as he looked blankly into the palms of his upturned hands.

  "Will I give the order Your Highness?" Regis said.

  "Yes very well. Do it quickly Regis and let us get over this." The king said dryly.

  "You are making a wise decision my king, for now even though you have lost one daughter today, you can be assured that your other children will live to lead your beautiful world along the path of peace and prosperity." Ubek explained in his twisted, politically motivated logic.

  "I understand." Said the king. "By doing this act, I save my skin and my children's skin, versus if I act any other way, I will probably lose my crown and whoever would dare to over throw me, would probably execute the Federation personnel anyway!"

  "Exactly!" Ubek exclaimed, happy now that the king was beginning to understand the intricacies of ruling a kingdom, in a politically fraught Quadrant.

  Chapter Thirteen – The Trap is Set

  Briefing Room A – The Bryant

  "Ok Commander the King has just given orders to execute the away team at 0.600 hours tomorrow morning." Captain Jobi said sternly, as he walked in through the sliding doors of the briefing room.

  Commander Trellon looked back over at the captain, as he had been absorbed in conversation between himself, Colonel Henry kell and Lieutenant Chandrima, regarding their proposed trip back down to the planet surface.

  "That gives us twelve hours to wrap this thing up then." Trellon replied, in an effort to garner the support of the captain, in his efforts to shake out the conspirators.

  "More like ten hours Trellon," the captain said, "as I have to guarantee the safety of the away team, so to be certain I will beam them out a little early and then get the princess to address the King via Holo Tube."

  "Very well sir." Replied Trellon, who was sitting at the other end of the table, with some odd device in his hand and beside him sat Chandrima, who was now dressed as the princess and beside Chandrima was sat Henry Kell, who was still wearing his traders outfit.

  "So Trellon please outline your plan again." Asked the captain, who now grabbed a chair and sat himself down, with a reading tab on his left hand and a cup of coffee in his right hand.

  "Well captain we're going to use this facial distortion gadget here," he said while raising the funny looking net like structure with his right hand, "and once placed over Chandrima's face, it will create a 3 D hologram of the Princess's facial features. Since she is a similar built and height to the princess, nobody should spot the difference."

  "Unless they try to kiss her of course!" Exclaimed Kell, who couldn't resist the urge to add his titbit in there.

  Chandrima just squished up her face in mock disgust, at the silliness of Colonel Kell and said, "Kell it's not like I'm going to go down there and make out with someone!"

  "You never know, stranger things have happened, maybe the princess has a boyfriend, that nobody knows about." Kell responded, with a wry smile on his broad craggy featured face.

  "She'll deal with that if she comes across it kell." Trellon replied, feeling a little irritated by Kells input. "So back to our plan, sir we send Kell down to the court to appeal to Regis and he will tell him that he has information on the whereabouts of the princess."

  "So you are using Chandrima as bait and putting it out there to the chief minister, in the hope that either he is one of the conspirators or that his activity will spurn the interest of the conspirators." The captain interjected.

  "Exactly captain." Replied Trellon, who then elaborated upon his position. "Look captain, we can just let the princess reappear and our away team will be freed and relationships between Artemis 11 and the Federation will be cool sure, but the real conspirators will just leave that captain of the guard and his men to hang out and dry, but they will escape."

  "The real conspirators nearly always do." Added kell.

  "Yes the Colonel is right.” Responded the dour faced captain, who hardly ever looked cheerful or infused about anything. "I admire your tenacity Trellon, that's why I'm giving you a shot at this."

  Then looking over at Kell and Chandrima he added, "Also since we have the princess in our hands, I can let you three go at it and if something good comes about, then great and if not, we haven't lost anything by giving it a try, if nothing else it's a good exercise for the three of you."

  "But you don't think we'll be successful." Said Trellon, with a crest fallen look on his cherubic face.

  "I'm not saying that Trell, it's just a tall order that you can get the conspirators, within a ten hour window of opportunity, by the very nature of high level conspiracy, they tend to use others to do their dirty work."

  "That's why I think we have a shot at this captain." Answered Trellon. "If you had been down in those caves with me, you would have seen first-hand the tremendous fear of the Murcu, which these people have. The conspirators are one hundred percent convinced that the princess is dead, so resurrecting her and letting only the chief minister know, will make her an instant target; for there plan to work our officers must be executed tomorrow morning and the blame for the whole thing thrown onto the Federation. They will have to attempt to kill her tonight, so as to cover up their tracks!"

  "Great thanks Trell." Chandrima retorted with a pensive look on her face.

  "Hey don't worry Chandrima, me and my little friend will be there to protect you." Kell added, while pointing to the blaster, which was attached to his belt. Chandrima just looked over at kell, with a general look of disdain. She was doing this for Trellon, as she believed in him, but to her mind kell was always a loose cannon.

  "Very well Trellon, Chandrima and kell, there is always a risk involved, you knew this when you signed up to the Federation and you know it now. From our side, we shall be monitoring you closely, you have ten hours." Said the captain, who now looked at his wristwatch and peering down at the watch with intensity, he added, "Starting now."

  With that the captain up and left the trio to finish their preparations. Chandrima attached her electronic veil and after Trellon fiddled with it for a couple of minutes, he managed to get it working and suddenly Chandrima's face transformed into the princess's face!

  Kell looked up feeling a little surprised to see how identical Chandrima was, when compared to the princess. Of course they had taken a scan of the princess's face and the web device was basing its hologram on those results, but still it was a little bit of a shock as Chandrima now was the princess.

  Chandrima's skin colour was darker than the princess's, but she had already rubbed on some ointment onto the skin of her hands, to make them appear lighter in color, but since the princess wore a full length dress, no other skin was exposed and Chandrima was indeed now identical in appearance to the princess.

  "Nice to see you princess!" Exclaimed Kell, while Trellon just nodded approvingly. Chandrima then got up and walked over to a mirror, which they had brought along with them; what she saw looking back at her was indeed the princess. She started mimicking royal gestures, in front of the mirror and smiling a little bit, which in turn turned out to be a bit of a chuckle as Chandrima, who like most girls, had always dreamt of growing up to be a princess. However she never thought that she would in fact become a princess, even if it was just for one day!

  The Chambers of the Chief Minister

  The chief minister was busy writing at his desk when he
was interrupted by one of his aids.

  "Chief minister?" His aide Leer called out to the chief minister.

  Without lifting his face out of his computer screen, Regis simply replied, "Yes?"

  "Chief minister there is a man here to see you and I think you should talk to him." Leer Said.

  "Has he a former appointment?"

  "Why no sir."

  "Has he dealt with any other court officials?"

  "No sir."

  "Then why do I need to see him, especially during this present crisis." Regis said, his voice rising in angry tones, as he expressed his irritation at been disturbed, while he continued to stare at his screen, as he was writing a press release regarding the mornings upcoming execution.