by Jessie Wolf
“Sargent Major, where is the Chief of Security? Over”
“On his way in ma’am. This is his day off. Over”
“Thank you, Sergeant Major. My self and the Lady Dai Etsu shall be with you shortly. Out”
Turning to my new sisters-in-arms I called out. “Stand down, Dragons. Head on into your dorms. This is only a misunderstanding.” I watched as all the girls stood straight, sheathed their swords, and then bowed to me as one. For some reason this simple act filled me with a sense of pride. Here they are not even a full day as Daughters of the Dragon, and already they are acting as if they were seasoned members. It is as if they were born to be what they are. As they all head for their dorms I notice they are all moving as if they had spent the last ten years at our family Temple. There was no doubt in my mind after seeing this sight that I am doing the right thing. Daniela and the others were right in saying I had given these girls purpose, a way to better themselves, and above all hope.
“Come, Maiha, let’s go see what the Security Staff has to say.” Mama’s words snap me out of my thoughts. She then turns to the rest of my family and begins handing out orders. “Alison, make sure that our new sisters in the Nightingale Order have a place to room. Fuyuko, head over to where the construction crews are and find Master Elise. Once you do tell him that I wish for him to join us at the Faculty Table for dinner. Nanase and Nanami please show the heads of the Nightingales over to the Faculty House and have Miss. Green find them rooms. If she asks tell her that they are the new instructors for the Nightingale order.”
Before I can say anything my wife and sisters take off to handle their assignments. I smile as they never once questioned mama’s orders. Mama gave me a look of ‘well, let’s get this over with’, and headed for the main building and the Security Office. As she and I moved through the hallways of the main building I noticed that despite us being in our armor we both moved with that famous Nakatoma glide. There was no doubt as to who we are as we walk the hallways of this school.
Upon entering the Security Office both mama and I are brought up short. What surprised the both of us was the radical change from the last time we were here. In a matter of just a few days the Security Office has been completely rebuilt. Gone were the old and out of date monitors, and control panels. In their places was the most up to date equipment on the market. Over where the old AI closet was, the walls have been torn out and the area expanded. Extra power lines and air-conditioning had run along with a raised floor. The ancient AI that once stood there had been removed. In its place was without doubt one of the most powerful mainframe AIs I have ever seen. It was most definitely a custom built piece of hardware.
“Ha, Lady Maiha, what do you think of all the upgrades?” I turn to see the Head of Security Chief Bronson walking through the door. Behind him a man I had not yet had the pleasure of meeting, however the AI ping I got from him identified him as Sargent Major Kingston. Seeing where I was looking Bronson smiled and then bowed. “Allow me to introduce Sargent Major Daniel Kingston formerly of the four twenty third Provost Marshall Battalion.”
I may not like the Security Chief and think he’s dirty, but until I have proof I need to nail his ass I’ll just have to wait. “Nice to meet you Sergeant Major.” I say out loud as I hold out my hand. On the command net I ask him. ‘Where is Top Ripley?’
“The pleasure is all mine, Lady Nakatoma. It is not often one has the chance to meet the first ever First High Lady of the Death Dealers. This is a moment that I will be telling my grandchildren and great grandchildren about in times to come.” Over the command net he told me. ‘Top Ripley is currently working with your personal maid Nia on the connection between the Security Chief and the local Yakuza clans.’
“Shall we adjourn to the Chief’s office?” I say smiling at them both. ‘Do they have anything yet?’ Mama and I follow both men into Chief Bronson’s office. I watch as Bronson walks around his desk and takes a seat. The man is smug beyond belief. It is as if he believes that there is no way he can be connected to the illegal deals with the Longfellow’s. Sadly I have more than enough already thanks to the Longfellow’s to have him hung in the Town square.
‘They have more than enough evidence to hang the bastard, my Lady. May I know why you haven’t already given the order for his arrest?’ Sergeant Major Kingston must really hate this man as he has not said another word since we had entered Bronson’s office. ‘When I heard you had returned I sent for both of them. They should be here within ten minutes.’
I looked over at Bronson across his desk. It was as if he was expecting something from me. The man didn’t disappoint me as he asked. “Well, Lady Nakatoma, is there something you want to say to me?”
“About what, Chief Bronson?”
“Your unfounded accusations you made the other day. I do believe you owe me an apology, young lady.” he was leaning back in his chair as if he was totally within his right to an apology.
“Oh, and why do you believe that Chief Bronson?”
“It is obvious. You’re here with your mother and have asked for a Death Dealer to witness the fact that you were mistaken. Now, let’s get this nasty business done with as I have work to do.” When I didn’t say a word he started to get upset. “Well, get on with it already. I don’t have all day.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Bronson, but you’re mistaken if you think I am here to apologize to you. In fact, I highly doubt that I’ll be apologizing to your sorry ass. In fact I believe I’ll be swearing out a warrant for your arrest, along with a good portion of your staff for the endangerment of minors.” At no time did I lose the sugary sweet smile I had plastered on my face. When I finished the man was red as a Cnidarian blood beet.
“I don’t know who you think you are you little bitch, but it will be a cold day in Hell before you arrest me. I know far too many powerful people that will shut you down. Now I suggest you apologize before you dig yourself a hole you can’t get out of.” The man was damn near screaming by the time he was done speaking. The knock on his door kept him from spouting anymore of his threats. “Come!” he snapped.
I don’t think he was expecting Nia and Top Ripley to enter his office. However I was. Top Ripley had been keeping Sergeant Major Kinston appraised of their progress on the way here, who then relayed that info to me. Nia walked straight over to me and handed me a very thick file folder. I opened it up and began to read. The more I read the madder I became. Nia and Top Ripley most have done extra overtime duty to dig this much up on Chief Bronson.
“Sergeant Major, arrest Chief Bronson, please.” It was all I could do to hold my anger in check.
“You have no authority to arrest me, you little bitch.” When Bronson made this statement Top Ripley grabbed him by the throat, and began to lift him off the floor.
“Not only does she have the authority to have your ass arrested, but she doesn’t even have to give you a trial, you sack of shit. We have enough hard evidence to hang you on just half of the charges that are in that file.” Ripley snarled in his face. At Kingston’s questioning look I handed him the file. I had only read through half before I couldn’t read any more. What was in that file turned my stomach.
The man had been targeting the students placed here in his care for more than just the Yakuza. There was everything from Child Pornography to Child Prostitution, White Slavery to Murder for Hire, Drug trafficking and Money Laundering. Those were just the mundane charges. Here was my leak to the Imperial Temple and one Cardinal Richelieu. The man was a traitor of the worst sort. The man wasn’t even a decent mercenary, for Pete’s sake. If I were to turn him over to the Mercenary Council they would kick his ass the first airlock on a drop ship on a decent burn.
I looked over at Kingston to see the man turning white with rage or was it sickness, I’m not too sure. It might well be a combination of both. I know what I had read was enough to put me off my lunch. The only person to not know what was in that folder was mama, and when she went to reach for it Nia stopped
her. “Please, Lady Dai Etsu, leave it be. Just know that I will have nightmares over what is in that folder. If it was left up to me, I would take this man to the Town square and peel the flesh from his body one inch at a time until he was dead. There is no punishment that can cover what this pig has done to the girls of this school. If it was not for him the Longfellow’s would not have been able to do half of what they did.”
“Don’t choke the man to death, First Sergeant; I want his ass to see the inside of a courtroom.” At mama’s command Ripley drops the coughing and coffining man to the floor. We all watch as Chief Bronson’s’ hands are handcuffed behind his back.
“You don’t know who you’re screwing with. When the Longfellow clan hears that I have been arrested they will come down on you and your pitiful house with a force unlike anything you have ever faced. They’ll…” Smack! “OOWWHH!” my hand hit him dead in his open mouth knocking a few teeth loose. “Youba sitch youball paybas for that’s!”
I reach out and grab him by his lower jaw and snarl. “The Longfellow’s are history, you stupid ass. They and all their followers are either dead or on their way to Cold Field to become High Priests. As for their fellow yakuza they are all more than willing to abide by the wartime agreements. You on the other hand are not protected by those agreements.” I get interrupted by mama as she brings something to my attention.
“Daughter, look at his forearm. That is the mark of the Black Rose.” What she was looking at was a tattoo of a rose vine wrapped around a sword on the inside of Chief Bronson’s left forearm. “The man is a spy for the Cardinal. This is not a man but a pig.” Looking up at the Death Dealers I can tell she wants to give the command to kill this man, but as she is outside of their chain of command she cannot. I decide to save her the trouble.
“Gentlemen, take this piece of shit to the Provost Marshall in town. While you’re at it, collect the rest of the men that are in that folder. Use the troops at your disposal and make sure that none of them escape. Gentlemen, this is a stealth operation. However, that being said, you are not to take unnecessary risks. The use of deadly force is authorized, but only in self-defense. Make sure that they are all arrested by the due course of the law. Am I understood?”
Both men look at me and realize that I wasn’t screwing around. I wanted the men who had helped Bronson to face a courtroom. That I would not be just handing out death sentences without justification. Top Ripley smiled and said. “I’ll have them rounded up before dinner, Lady Nakatoma.”
“Thank you Top. Just how many men out of the original contingent are involved?”
Sergeant Major Kingston answered my question, and to say I was surprised is to say the surface of the sun is hot. “The only ones not involved with this mess are the evening shift my Lady. Those men truly have done all in their power to protect the students of this school. From what we have been able to figure out, the Chief here kept them on the same shift so he could keep an eye on them. One of the reasons for the constant security breaches was to help some of the students to escape from here for a few hours at a time. We have also found evidence that the former Headmistress was aware of the Chief’s dealings with the Longfellow yakuza. To what extent we have yet to discover. However, there is one connection to everything that has been going on here that still doesn’t make sense to me or Top Ripley.”
“What connection is that Sergeant Major?”
“There seems to be a large amount of the girls who leave here before they finish their formal school who join the Sisterhood of the Crimson Shield order. It is almost as if they were forced into joining that Temple order. The same goes for the boys over at Jacob Solomon as well, only they join the Order of the Black Rose. They don’t target the High Families children or the ones of the politically powerful, but anyone else is fair game in their book. Those that don’t join one of those two Military Orders more often than not join the local Planetary Defense Force or one of the High Families House Militaries. My Lady, in all my years I have never seen such barbarous actions by those charged to educate and protect children. If I could I would lead a force strong enough to tear down those who have seen fit to abuse these children. I swear my Lady if word of what has transpired here were to reach the rest of the Death Dealers the Imperial Temples will be nothing more than a memory by the end of the year.”
“And that, sir, is why nothing of what you and the First Sergeant along with my maid have learned must ever get out. It is also why this pig and his cronies will not be given a trial in the normal sense. Instead they shall be brought before the Sisterhood of the Dragons Daughters and Nightingale Sisters. They shall be the ones to judge and then sentence them.” the smile that crossed my face was one of pure malice.
Of Corse Bronson had to voice his objections at hearing this. “Those orders have been outlawed by the Imperial Temples. They have no legal standing and therefore cannot pass judgment upon a true member of the Temple Guardians. Not even you have that authority now that I have been identified as a member of the Black Rose, you know this now let me go.” I think everyone in the room started to laugh at the poor, delusional jackass. Thankfully Top Ripley decided to explain the facts of life to him, because I know that if I did I would be removing teeth while I did it.
“You really don’t understand what’s going on here, do you? Allow me to educate you in the facts of the real world. First, she is the First High Lady of the Death Dealers for this entire sector, one of the most beloved High Lords of the Death Dealers. Even more so if she wished it every Death Dealer Division across the Empire would place her on the Imperial Throne before the sun set on Earth Prime this day. Second she is the planetary Governor for this system. So if she has decided that you are to be tried by a Temple Order that is who you will be tried by. Thirdly as the Head of her families Temple she has the right and authority to form or reform any, and I do mean any, Temple Order. Lastly as the Military Commander of all forces stationed on this planet and in this system she can in truth turn your sorry ass over to our Judge Advocate General to face charges of spying. Oh, and by the way if she does that, you’ll swing by the neck until dead. Personally I hope she changes her mind and gives you to us. I really hate spies and spooks.” As Ripley laid out the facts of life for this man he never once stopped grinning. In fact towards the end he was almost laughing as the realization of just how far down the rabbit whole Bronson had found himself.
“You cannot do this! I am here by the order of the Cardinal Richelieu. The true leader of the Imperial Temples and the Empire.” The more Bronson talked the more I wanted to rip his head off. “He will send every Brother of the Black Rose and sister of the Crimson Shield to tear down this false Temple and punish those who would further the heresy of the false orders. Your vaunted Death Dealers are no match for our orders. They are the most highly trained and best equipped followers of the True Way. You may kill me, but they will avenge my death.” I had, had enough of the man’s vile words to the point of wanting to just kill him to shut him up.
“Gag him!” it was taking all my strength to control my anger. “Do it now before I save the Sisterhoods the trouble of a hearing.”
When Kingston and Ripley hear me say this they move to carry out the order. Word had spread among the Death Dealers of my temper. For some reason the fact that I had a quick fire temper and control problem at times was widely known among their ranks. Once they had Bronson secured and gagged they turned to me waiting for their next orders. I took a few moments to compose myself before I made a rash decision. I knew I had to act in a rational and logical manner. I just couldn’t let my emotions over what I had read in that folder. If I did twenty full divisions of Death Dealers or more would be landing on Vega Prime with the sole mission of destroying the Imperial Temples. I had more than enough evidence to show their hand in the destroying of the lives of the students at this school and a more than a few others. However if I did that I might as will go ahead and take the Imperial Throne from the Emperor for myself.
I know th
at if I went down that path I would not stop until every last High Family House, political crony, and religious fanatic was dead. I would be no better than the Cardinal and his backers if I did that. I wanted to change the way things were done within the Empire, yes. However I wanted to do it the right way. If I had to use violence then it would be against those who deserve it, not in a random uncontrolled manner. I will not let civilians suffer in my fight if I can avoid it. If the need to replace the Emperor should come about it will not be by my hand. It will be by the will of the Hall of Lords and Parliament. They will be the ones to call for his removal by the laws set down at the founding of the Empire.
There was a reason for the three branches of Government within the Empire. It was so that no one branch had total control over Empire. Yes, the Emperor had more control than most; however the Parliament and Hall of Lords controlled the purse strings and appoints the Imperial Prime mister. While the Hall of Judges made decisions of legal nature and interpretation of the law. Of the three branches only the Hall of Judges could overturn a ruling by the other two branches. There was at all times a series of checks and balances. This was the main reason the Empire had lasted for as long as it has, almost five hundred years, with only one change in the Imperial Family. The Kerensky’s were the first Imperial Family, but Emperor Ivan the fourth died before he could marry or have an heir. The man died of a heart attack at the age of twenty five. If it had not been for his cousin Shad’ Dan’ the first the Empire may will have collapsed into civil war among the High Families. Even to this day that possibility is always a threat.
Once I had control over my emotions again I looked at both Top Ripley and Sergeant Major Kingston. “Gentlemen, you have your orders. Make sure that you get them all. I don’t want one of them to get away. I have a feeling that there are more snakes in the grass, if you catch my meaning.”
Top Ripley pointed down at Bronson who was lying face down on the floor. “What should we do with him till we get back my Lady?”