Her world and its people, whether they liked it or not, needed Jason Montagne in order to survive. She knew it would be a difficult road to repairing her relationship with him, but she was committed to doing her utmost in that regard. And if she failed to succeed, she would nonetheless continue to perform her duties as his Sword Bearer.
“Then pass your judgment,” Valeria said, jutting her chin out. “I would rather die than be subjected to any more of this brand of ‘justice’.”
The woman’s gall and disrespect were nearly enough to make Akantha abandon her plan, but she drew a deep breath to steady herself. “Then it is time to pass judgment,” Akantha declared imperiously after recollecting her composure, after which she drew an executioner’s axe from the wooden executioner’s block. She had brought both items from Messene, as was customary for such a public affair, and again she could feel the swell of the crowd as they sensed—or perhaps the better word would be ‘hoped’—for a savage end to the young Hold Mistress and her heretical legacy.
To her credit, Valeria stepped forward and knelt before the block. There was no fear in her countenance, nor was there anything resembling the fanatical zeal of a true believer, and this both perturbed and impressed Akantha. Valeria met Akantha’s eyes once before laying her neck on the block, and Akantha desperately wanted to take her life with the axe she now gripped in her hands.
But she was committed to her chosen course, and after several long, agony-filled seconds she tossed the axe to the stony ground near the block.
Gasps filled the air, including indistinct cries calling for Valeria’s head—cries issuing from the throats of Hold Mistresses who had suffered at the hands of the Ice Raiders during recent years.
“Valeria,” Akantha intoned in a rising voice as she swept the crowd with a commanding gaze, her eyes briefly meeting those of the angry Hold Mistresses who had thought they were attending the execution of their enemy, “it is the learned judgment of the Hold Mistresses that you and your people be forever exiled from this planet and Star System, to be forever forgotten by the world which gave birth to you.”
Valeria froze with uncertainty before slowly lifting her head from the block and looking up with a briefly confused expression. That moment made up for no small amount of the angst Akantha had felt at sparing the heretic’s life, but she knew that this was far from the last sacrifice she would need to make on behalf of her people.
Without Jason’s efforts, Tracto would have already fallen—either to the Bugs or to Jean Luc Montagne, her Protector’s ‘uncle’ who had aimed to make her home world a vassal state to his piratical organization. She needed him…but of equal importance, though likely making little difference to her people was the fact that she wanted him. But she also had a duty as a Priestess of Men, and the conflict between her duty as Sword Bearer—or ‘wife,’ as Jason preferred to say—and her duty as a Priestess had caused her endless inner turmoil since Nikomedes had made his challenge.
Valeria rose slowly to her feet, and Akantha cleared her mind of those former thoughts before continuing, “Those of your followers who have not recanted their rebellious ways are to share your fate. You will be placed on the next available barge and sent to a distant bank in the River of Stars. If you,” Akantha said with dire warning in her voice, “or any of those who accompany you ever return to this world, you—and every other exile who receives our mercy this day—will be hunted to the last and shown no further mercy. Do you accept this mercy?”
Valeria cocked her head just enough that Akantha saw her do so, and the young Hold Mistress nodded slowly, “I do. I will not return…and neither will my people.”
Akantha nodded and pressed an icon on her com-link’s miniature screen, prompting a series of shuttles to descend almost instantly beneath the clouds above them. Those shuttles would need to make several trips to move all of them off the holy land they had defiled with their every step, but before the sun set Akantha knew that her world would be rid of them once and for all.
“Remember this day,” Akantha said, turning slowly to encompass the assembled dignitaries with her piercing gaze, “for it marks the dawn of a new age for our people. As an additional display of solidarity and…mercy,” she said, the last word tasting bitter as she spoke it, “I encourage each and every one of my fellow Hold Mistresses to offer her current prisoners the option to take the path of exile, so that our world’s purity might be renewed without needless bloodshed. But any future heresies or transgressions of this magnitude,” she added, casting a long, hard look in the direction of Valeria’s people, “will be punished swiftly, severely, and without any such lenience. Our world can no longer afford to bear the stain of weakness which the likes of these Ice Raiders and night bandits represent,” she said condescendingly, taking no small amount of pleasure seeing Valeria bristle at her words and their delivery. But the former Hold Mistress willingly went to the first shuttle after it touched down just a few meters from Akantha’s position amid the roar of its engines. “If we are to take our rightful place in Men’s plan,” she continued as Valeria’s Ice Raiders began to board the shuttles, “then we must remove such impurities from the body and soul of our people, and we must do so with all haste.”
She could already tell that this ‘gesture’ had earned her a handful of new enemies, while also stoking the embers of old grudges with adversaries she would have rather worked alongside than opposite. But it was a sacrifice she made on behalf of those very people, on behalf of Messene, on behalf of their way of life—and on behalf of her children.
Besides, none of the Hold Mistresses which made their displeasure clear in the ensuing hours while the heretics were removed from Tracto were powerful enough to cause her people any significant difficulty. Those who were powerful enough to create significant trouble remained dispassionate and impossible to read, just as leaders of their station were wise to do in such times.
Akantha only hoped that Jason would appreciate this sacrifice she made on his behalf…but if history was any indicator, she gave herself even odds that he would even recognize it for the gesture it was.
As the assemblage finally returned to the large lander which Akantha had used to bring them to the site of Blue Fang Pass’s destruction, the last rays of the setting sun began to retreat from the mountain valley. As the crowd of people left, each member of it took a moment to gaze upon the long, fang-shaped buttresses for which the demolished fortress had been named. Akantha had worked extensively with the engineers during the planned demolition-via-orbital-bombardment to ensure that those portions of the structure—and those portions alone—would remain. She hoped they would serve as an effective warning to would-be heretics and other rebels.
It was time for her people to unite under a common cause, and she was determined to do her part in that unification in accordance with the will of Men.
Even if it meant occasionally subordinating her preferences to those of her Protector.
MSP Coalition Fleet Breakdown (119/21)
Total Ship Breakdown
4 Battleships
2 Gunboat Carriers w/ 350 combined Gunboat carrying capacity
11 Cruisers
37 Destroyers
51 Corvettes
14 Cutters
MSP Main Fleet = Total Warships (40/5)
4 Battleships (Royal Rage, Messene’s Shield, Metal Titan and Armor Prince)
2 ‘Jumble Carriers’ w/ 350 attached Gunboats
3 Destroyers (1 MSP, 2 Border Alliance)
17 Corvettes (4-Tracto SDF, 8 Border Alliance, 3 MSP former Druid-Sector Guard, 2 MSP captures)
14 Cutters (2 Tracto SDF, 11 Border Alliance, 1 MSP—formerly attached to Parliamentary Power)
1 Dungeon Ship (Durance Vile—assigned to recruitment drive)
2 Converted Colliers (former freighters)
2 Armed Freighters (shuttling repair supplies)
Allied Forces - Sundered Warships (5)
2 Destroyers (1 Commanded by Primarch Glue) with 24 attac
hed Gunships
3 Corvettes (Commanded by Primarch Glue) with18 attached Gunships
Allied Forces - Promethean Survivors = (5) Warships
1 Medium Cruiser (Prometheus Fire)
4 Corvettes
Allied Forces - Wolf-9 Reserve Confederation Squadron (29/6)
1 Heavy Cruiser
2 Light Cruisers
14 Destroyers
12 Corvettes
2 Mine Layers
4 Medium Freighters
Allied Forces - New Sector Guard (23/8)
3 Heavy Cruisers (1 New Pacifica)
12 Destroyers (4 New Pacifica, 8 Capria)
8 Corvettes (Mixed Sector Worlds)
3 Marine Transport Ships (10,000 Marines)
5 Freighters (Fleet Train)
Allied Forces - United Sentient Assembly Expeditionary Force (17/2)
1 Cruiser
3 Former Droid Motherships (number of attached combat-ready gunboats unknown at this time)
6 Destroyers
7 Corvettes
2 Freighters
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Assets (32/11)
MSP Detached Forces (12/5)
1 Heavy Cruiser (Gamer Gate, under Captain Archibald’s command—assigned to Lieutenant Commander McKnight’s Sector 24 Task Force)
1 Destroyer (Freedom’s Bastard—assigned to Sector 24 Task Force)
1 Cutter (Custom design and personally owned by Sundered family—assigned to Sector 24 Task Force)
1 Medium Freighter (General Fleet Train)
2 Corvettes (Recent captures assigned to Gambit Defense Force)
3 Cutters (Omicron Defense)
2 Armed Merchant Freighters (non-hyper capable)
4 Cutters (Border Alliance – stationed at Tracto)
2 Armed Merchants (Border Alliance – stationed at Tracto)
Home Guard - Allied Forces - United Sentient Assembly (9/4)
1 Mothership (Oversized Constructor/Heavy Cruiser equivalent based on technical specifications)
2 Cruisers
3 Destroyers
3 Corvettes
1 Research Ship
3 Freighters
Unknown number of operable Gunboats
Home Guard - Allied Forces - Sundered People (3)
1 Destroyer
2 Corvettes
84 Gunboats
2 Fixed Defense Platforms stationed at orbital factory complex
MSP Mothball/Repair/Construction Forces (8/2)
1 Constructor Ship (New Dream - Gambit)
1 Cruiser (Harmony Cruiser)
1 Mothership Cruiser
1 Destroyer (Harmony Destroyer)
1 Decommissioned Battleship undergoing total salvage operation (Chief Engineer’s note: She’s the Lucky Clover 2.0—and she ain’t bein’ salvaged; she’s half-way rebuilt!)
1 Medium Cruiser (Furious Phoenix under extensive repairs)
4 Mothership Cruisers (under extensive repairs)
Chapter One: Peace at any Price
“New Pacifica is a peaceful world. We have no weapons; there’s no reason to attack us,” protested the power-armored, silver-haired woman on the holo-screen.
“I’m afraid I am not allowed to negotiate Reclamation Fleet policy, Miss. I can only relay terms,” the assistant Comm. Officer, Ensign Banks said politely.
“This is not an aggressive planetary system with a testosterone-fueled military industrial complex—our SDF has a strictly minimal footprint! Most of the warships built up by the previous administrations are now in mothballs, for the peaceful gods’ sakes. There’s no reason we cannot resolve this issue—or whatever other issues you have with us—peacefully!” exclaimed the woman on the screen, the Core World’s Foreign Minister.
“I’m afraid that I’m just the Comm. Officer, ma’am. My commanding officer, Admiral Arnold Janeski, has only authorized me to relay these conditions and accept your unconditional surrender,” the Ensign repeated.
“There must be a monetary figure that would satisfy your Admiral,” said the Foreign Minister of New Pacifica, looking genuinely stressed, “please send us a number we can work with and we can avoid all of this Neanderthalic mess.”
“Again, Miss,” the Ensign said with an edge to his voice, “I am not authorized to negotiate. If you are not ready to give your unconditional surrender then I think we’ve come to an impasse.”
“Then put me on with someone who has real authority you dim-bulb!” snarled the Foreign Minister. “War is simply economic and political competition taken to a disgustingly barbaric level. Put someone with real authority on and let’s bypass all the mindless death and destruction, letting everyone—including you, Ensign—get on with their lives and busy schedules!”
The Ensign opened his mouth but a penetrating look from the Admiral caused him to stop short, ignoring the woman on his screen.
“Listen up, whelp—“ barked the woman, only to be cut off by Janeski himself.
“I apologize for the abuse and ill use, Ensign,” the Admiral said firmly. “Even the meanest deck sweeper in this fleet is worth two of one of these up-jumped provincial ministers. I’ll take it from here, son.”
“My duty, Sir,” the Ensign said with a sharp nod, “and I’m happy to do it for you if it frees you or another officer from the task. You’ll find no complaint here, Admiral.”
“Even so,” Admiral Janeski said with a nod and then gestured to his command chair, “divert the channel to my screen.”
There was a short pause as the Foreign Minister was transferred to the Admiral. “Finally, someone in authority,” the silver-haired Foreign Minister said with no small relief. “I understand the need to negotiate from a power position, but dealing with that young man was starting to grow tedious.”
“Was it?” Janeski said flatly.
“Look, just tell us your demands, Admiral, and we’ll do our best to accommodate you. We must have peace at any price,” the Foreign Minister said frankly, “it’s obvious from the size of your fleet that we can’t resist you.”
“Any price?” Janeski asked coolly. “Did my communications officer somehow fail to forward my terms?”
“Unconditional surrender?” the Foreign Minister boggled, and then shook her head laughing. “Please, let’s be practical here. We can do far more for you under a tribute scheme than you’d get from a total surrender!”
“Very few people have described me as anything but a practical man,” Janeski said in a dangerously taut tone.
“I think you’ll find the amounts I can commit to pay you to turn around and leave—or at least forgo a direct invasion—will speak for themselves if you just give me the chance,” urged the Minister.
“I highly doubt that,” Janeski chuckled.
“I’m talking significant fractions of Gross Planetary Product here, Admiral,” the Foreign Minister said irritably.
“Oh really?” Janeski drawled with amusement.
“Yes! We’ve already calculated the amount of damage we’d have to repair from a full-scale invasion of this system and are prepared to start with an offer of 10% of our GPP. Rather than repairing all that damage and paying out the death benefit insurance for all the lives lost, wouldn’t it be better for everyone involved if we simply paid you out immediately—or in a contracted payment plan—in order to avoid all the mess? It can’t be cheap to keep a fleet that size up and running. And this way, instead of a one-time payment consisting of whatever you can carry off with you, you’ll get paid off immediately in a more liquid portfolio,” urged the Minister.
“And what’s to stop me from taking whatever you’re offering…along with everything else I want from you?” Janeski shook his head.
“You don’t honestly think we keep those amounts of credits on hand do you?” the Foreign Minister shook her head as if at a poor student.
“I’m afraid that whatever you can pay it won’t be enough,” Janeski said wryly. “Besi
des, even if you could, I really can’t leave an intact military force at my back.”
“What?!” the Foreign Minister started and then got a calculating look. “If it’s our SDF and military footprint you’re worried about then don’t! I’m authorized to offer, without precondition, the unilateral disarmament of our SDF in order to display our unceasingly non-hostile stance. By that I mean the instant and even immediate disarmament of our SDF,” she clarified speaking quickly.
“I’d like to see that,” Janeski said with real amusement.
“Then consider it done,” the woman said before turning and shouting at someone off the holo-pickup. “I want the Omega Code transmitted and I want it sent this instant! Give the order and transmit the code. Do it now!” shouted the Foreign Minister. She turned back to face the Admiral, “Consider it as good as already done.”
Janeski looked at her skeptically.
“Admiral, the system defense ships have started launching escape pods,” reported the Lieutenant Commander at Sensors.
Admiral's War Part One Page 2