A message beeped into my terminal over internal communications. I overcame my lack of desire and exhaustion with difficulty and stood from the couch, activating the screen and reading. And right from the first lines, my weariness blew away like the wind! I told my cousin what I'd seen:
"I just got some information from the former navigator of Joan the Fatty. He says that he managed to figure out the Alien map and transpose their system of coordinates onto our usual one. Interesting, very interesting... Yes, here is a map of star system locations with space disruption points and a scheme of possible movements between them. Woah! From the system neighboring ours, Amati, you can even get to Sector Seventeen! Think of how surprised those Grand Duchy people would be if we dropped by for a visit! There are more than seventeen disruption points, of which just eight are in human space. There are also a couple in the Swarm but the others are extremely far from the systems known to humanity... And it should be said that, in Gold House space, there is just one weak point: the Korusyo star system, which just so happens to be in Sector Seventeen! Now we know the location of humanity's first contact with the Aliens!"
My advisor walked up nearer and started studying the map with me. Soon, our attention was drawn by a point far from any human-known star systems, the only one marked on the map in red. On Katerina's request, I opened the note from Mike ton Tir:
"The D5-113G system, an orange-dwarf-class star. Alien space. Based on the data we got from the Queen, this is systems the Aliens spread from, after inventing rapid interstellar flight technology."
My cousin and I looked at each other at the exact same time. There it was — the historical homeworld of the Aliens! I opened the map, trying to find its scale. Ugh, damn! Two hundred thirty thousand parsecs from us! Seven hundred fifty thousand light years. The Aliens had gone a long way in the process of their expansion...
My further conversation with Katerina was interrupted by a call from the fleet headquarters:
"Commander, a warp beacon has turned on in the Forepost-10 system."
Apparently, Kevin ton Moldier was prepared for the suicidal Alien armada explosion after all. I ordered to be put through immediately with the Grand Duchy Admiral. A few seconds later, the wall screen lit up, and the red-headed Admiral appeared on it, looking down at me. He had shaved recently and was wearing his ceremonial uniform with all its many medals and other regalia.
"Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle," said the man, placing his hand on his beret in a military salute, "the order for the Alien ships to go charge has already been given. I ask you to tell me the activation code for the thermonuclear bomb on the warp beacon!"
Now that was self-control. The Admiral knew perfectly that he had just seconds to live, but I didn't see even a shade of gloom on his face, and certainly no fear.
"I admire your courage, Admiral Kevin ton Moldier. But I ask you not to rush to your date with eternity. In the time since our last conversation, I managed to speak with the admirals and captains of my fleet. And they would be honored to serve side-by-side with such brave officers as yours."
The red-headed Admiral made a dismayed grimace and removed his hand from his beret:
"I can’t believe my ears. Crown Prince, you cannot seriously suppose that I and my people could change our oaths and join our enemies?! That is simply unheard of! We prefer an honorable death to treason! Let's say this nasty attempt of yours to tempt us didn't happen, and return to our former understandings."
It seemed that the conversation was taking the wrong path, and I needed to immediately change my tactic. The brave commander was clearly not the type to change his loyalties. So, I screwed up my face into a dismayed grimace and barked at the military man:
"You're forgetting your place, Admiral! How dare you accuse a Prince and heir to the Empire of untoward behavior! The only thing I demand from you and the other Gold House officers is to fulfill your duty! You all swore an oath of loyalty to Crown Princess Eleonora royl Akad, the legal ruler of the Gold House. But she is dead, as is her only daughter, Crown Princess Elisa royl Clement ton Mesfelle-Lavaelle. All the same, her grandchildren are alive, direct heirs to the Gold House throne. My twin sister Violetta and I are the only possible legal heirs so, to keep your oath, you must declare allegiance to one of us!"
Based on the authentic amazement drawn on the admiral's face, he'd never before thought about his political alignment in this way. And while the shock hadn't yet passed, I continued my speech, beating my words into the brain of the dumbstruck military man, like nails into a yielding tree trunk:
"I'll be direct. My sister and I have equal rights to the throne, but Violetta has chosen the path of alliance with the Aliens, blatant enemies of humanity. I, though, walk the path that shall save our race from these ruthless enemies. And now, Admiral, I demand that you decide once and for all:who is your legal ruler? If you choose my sister Violetta and her allegiance with the Aliens, you and your fleet will share the fate of our enemies. But if you call me your legal ruler, I swear that I will do everything in my power to get you and your people out of the blocked system. So, I await your answer!"
Ten seconds passed, and I had already begun to worry that I would never convince the man. But my words resonated in the courageous military man’s heart. Admiral Kevin ton Moldier, unhurriedly and with dignity bent down on one knee, lowered his head in respect, and pronounced:
"Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, you are the only legal heir to the Gold House throne! My people and I remain true to the oath we gave and are prepared to follow our new Gold House ruler through fire and water! We await your orders, Your Highness!"
Achievement unlocked: Enemy of the Empire
"It isn't all so smooth with this Antagonist admiral, Crown Prince Georg. Yes, he recognized you as his ruler aloud, but he would prefer not to give any official oaths of loyalty. He's still hesitating and holding in mind that his officers might have a different point of view and refuse to obey. Several times, a thought flickered in his head that the most important thing was getting out of the trap, and the balance of forces would become clear once he made it to your system. And then he would decide whether to become your subject or, on the other hand, take the situation under his control. But now, the admiral is prepared to lie under oath, if that saves his fleet and the people entrusted to his leadership."
"I see, Flora, thank you for the information," I mentally answered my Truth Seeker. "Well then, we'll take preventative measures. We'll bring his ships out in small groups, telling them coordinates from the Mechanoid. As each ship arrives, we will immediately place Alpha Iseyek divisions on them. Then, we'll make all the new officers give a fully-fledged oath of loyalty to Unatari and at the same time weed out traitors."
I turned to the admiral, who was bent down respectfully on one knee. Everything in his facial expression and pose were demonstrating obedience and loyalty. To look at him, you'd never think he was hesitating... Good thing I was warned. Well then, I'd have to act carefully and not create a situation where the newcomers might start thinking about disobedience and mutiny. Then, in a few weeks, they'd gel with the common fleet, grow accustomed and even stop thinking themselves any different from the rest of my troops.
"For now, wait, Admiral. There is a way of moving ships to star systems with disactivated warp beacons. But it will be difficult, and we still have calculations and preparation to do. We'll be removing the ships in small batches, calculating temporary jump coordinates for each group. I'll let you know when everything is ready."
The new admiral of my fleet gave a salute and signed off. As soon as the screen went dim, Duchess Katerina giggled nervously:
"I'll admit, when I saw how angry he got at first, I was one hundred percent convinced we'd never come to an agreement. But, Georg, you simply slayed me. What a superb genealogical feint! Just to think, my second cousin — legal ruler of the Antagonists! If you'd have told me that just one year ago, nothing could have made me believe it! Now, we need to think of
the most delicate way possible to communicate that fact to Unatari's subjects, so they don't get too flabbergasted. Well, alright, I'll deal with that myself."
* * *
My fleet was in Amati, carefully checking all ship systems and preparing for the never-before-attempted jump directly from Perimeter Sector Seven to Eight. The usual path, which passed along a long chain of transport warp beacons took more than eight full days, but my fleet was going to do it in just twenty minutes. It was simply unbelievable! But the navigator of Joan the Fatty assured me that it was possible, showing a folded sheet of paper as an example and talking about the complicated properties of space and time. The Queen had already told us the coordinates to warp jump to the Hnelle system, and preliminary calculations showed that his data was accurate. But all the same, the nervous charge in the fleet headquarters was palpable.
The captains of the fifteen hundred former Gold House ships who had joined my fleet were also nervous, but it had nothing to do with the upcoming long jump. As a matter of fact, the upcoming warp transfer worried them very little. They had made a super-long jump before when coming from Antagonist space to the Nayal system and were sure it could be done safely. What was making those captains nervous was that I ordered Alpha Iseyek combat groups to be placed on all Gold House ships to avoid any unexpected excesses. The presence of the huge deadly insects on the ships made my new subjects nervous, and they periodically expressed their dismay and annoyance on the common fleet channel, complaining about their commander’s mistrust.
But I didn't pay any mind to their discontented grumbling. They'd get used to it. My troops were already totally at ease with Swarm individuals, and there were even mixed assault subgroups in the Unatari Fleet containing both humans and Iseyek. And I’d even seen that there were some ships crewed by chameleons, people and praying mantises, taking advantage of all the strong sides of each race. By all accounts, they also got along swimmingly.
And as for the "mistrust of their commander," I couldn’t believe the captains of the former Gold House were complaining. We dragged every last Gold House ship out of the Forepost-10 trap, but left all the Aliens there together with the Green and Purple House ships. And that was fifteen hundred human starships together with all their crews, around a million people, left to die in a lifeless, uninhabited system...
It was a very difficult decision, but it was taken consciously by the vast majority of votes at a gathering of senior officers of my fleet, where I spoke in favor of just such an outcome. The subdivisions most loyal to the Grand Duchess Violetta and Duke Amelius royl Lavaelle, our clear enemies, were caught in the Forepost-10 system. I gave them the chance to save their own lives, offering them to give in and join my side, but didn't find any understanding. Now it was too late. The Forepost-10 and Forepost-9 warp beacons had already been blown up. It was too dangerous to leave the warp beacons unharmed even in a disabled state. After all, it was possible to hack into the automatic control system, or bribe the staff, and then the huge Alien armada would be set loose, bringing death and destruction to humanity.
And then, when I was already prepared to give my fleet the go-ahead to jump to Sector Eight, a long-distance call I'd been expecting with particular impatience came in. It was my twin sister Violetta. I was reminded that she promised to get in touch with me after the Unatari Fleet's battle with the Grand Duchy Armada when, according to her, I'd know the bitterness of defeat, and my haughtiness would be reigned in.
My sister couldn't hide her surprise, and her very first words confirmed the Grand Duchess's extreme confusion:
"Georg, why are you in the Amati system?"
"Where else should I be, sister?" I chuckled happily. "I picked up my daughter Joan, milled the fleet you sent to stop me into dust, and now I'm going back where I came from."
There was such an awkward combination of mistrust and surprise reflected on my twin sister's face that I broke down laughing. In the end, Violetta came to the conclusion I was mocking her, and grew clearly offended:
"Do you have anything serious to say, brother? The warp beacons around your fleet were turned off! You wouldn’t have been able to get to Amati on your own, which is to say nothing of defeating a fleet so much stronger than yours! Admit it, are you now in captivity on one of my ships?"
Here came my turn to get offended and put on a dismayed countenance:
"Violetta, you may find it hard to believe, but Demyen royl Lavaelle's fleet no longer exists. To be more accurate, the fleet may still exist, but it will not be available for many years to come. We switched roles. Your ships are trapped in the Forepost-10 system, while I left the trap and blew up all the neighboring warp beacons. Demyen royl Lavaelle, your fleet commander, fell into the same trap I caught him in once before, a fact which he found unbearable, so he shot himself. I will send you the video of the former Crown Prince's suicide, and you will send it on to his father Duke Amelius royl Lavaelle."
"Is that so...?" my sister asked, immediately familiarizing herself with the video clip. But she was clearly in shock and couldn't fully believe it was real. "On one of the Perimeter Sector Seven Fleet ships, there is a young man I care for greatly... As a matter of fact, he and I are secretly engaged. He is the father of my future child. Georg, are you really saying I'll never get to see him again?"
Hearing her change the topic of conversation from the heights of interstellar politics to the deepest personal issue was very surprising. Clearly, Grand Duchess Violetta's internal value system placed the fate of her fiancé on a very high pedestal. I just shrugged my shoulders ambiguously:
"Sister, if you have any scout ships at hand, you could send them to the Khell system right now. In six or seven years, the ship will reach them, build a new warp beacon, and you can meet your beloved, though he will, in truth, no longer be quite so young. And that's if, of course, the hungry Aliens don't devour him before that..."
"Is there no other way?" my sister asked, her eyes growing wide in horror. "Six years! What's more, from what I know, there aren't any scout ships in Grand Duchy space right now."
"I have a friend among the Imperial scouts," I reminded her. "But I don't think the captain of Star Mutt would be too elated if I pulled him off another long-distance flight for personal reasons. But I could try. So then, what was the name of your lame duck?"
"He's no lame duck! Baron Juan ton Amolie is from an ancient aristocratic family. He's a space major, and senior tactician on the battleship Purple Star, the Perimeter Sector Seven flagship. He's a very handsome, noble young man with dashing thick mustache and fists the size of a normal person's head. He's a great dancer, very gallant and knows how to treat a woman. I was even thinking of naming him my official spouse and making him Grand Duke... But somehow, I don't think you called to talk about my fiancé…"
I nodded shortly, as Violetta's amorous affairs were really of little concern to me. My sister kept silent for a little, then began a serious conversation:
"In Sector Three, the main Grand Duchy Fleet scored a solid victory over the First Imperial Fleet. There was a whole series of battles there, which came together into one grandiose conflict. The Empire lost more than ten thousand ships. The Grand Duchy's losses were also great, but quite a bit less. My Third Fleet from Sector Six is successfully attacking the Core now. And even though my Second Fleet is lost, Emperor August's days are numbered... Brother, have you given any thought to a future peace treaty?"
"Yes, that's all I think about," I muttered, mentally imagining the position of the largest fleets and the balance of forces on the political arena after all the events Violetta had just described. "Well, we shouldn't divide up the pelt of a bear before it’s dead. The Empire has thirty thousand combat-ready ships, and the Grand Duchy has one and a half times less..."
"Yes, something like that," Duchess Violetta confirmed my approximate calculations. "But the Grand Duchy has a significant advantage in technology. And that’s not all..."
I realized my sister was referring to the Aliens.
After the nasty defeat in the D56KT system and the loss of the fleet in the Forepost-10 system, the Aliens still had at least the third largest fleet, which had rolled back the Red House and conducted a successful war against the Blue House. Plus, in the light of new knowledge, it was impossible to exclude the possibility that reinforcements had arrived from the Alien homeworld.
"Georg, you don't have enough strength for an independent political game. But your fleet is easily enough to help me tip the scales in the war against the Empire. Why hesitate, Emperor August has already declared war on your government. I saw your new achievement, Enemy of the Empire. So, what are you waiting for? The Empire is our common enemy! Help me, and together we'll rule the galaxy! As brother and sister! We were together even in our mother's womb, so fate itself has determined we should be as one!"
"And what role do you see me playing in the structure of the post-war world?" I inquired, simply to understand my sister's thoughts.
"Don't you see, Georg?" Was it just me, or was Violetta really surprised I hadn't guessed. "The very same role you've always had: that of a dear and beloved younger brother! Judge for yourself: I have much greater territories, greater industrial capabilities, a much higher population, and a space fleet ten times the size of yours! I will make no claim on that which you already have gained, and will honestly share all future trophies. You will get the title of Grand Duke, junior co-ruler to the Empress of all humanity! You must agree, it sounds tempting!"
I shook my head and answered, making a show of not looking at Violetta and staring at my fingernails, as if the conversation was boring me:
A Game With No Rules (Perimeter Defense Book #4) LitRPG Series Page 26