by Jessie Wolf
“Send out the recall order, Prefect. I want everyone here as soon as possible. Spare no expense. Get all our brave troops home. The time has come for us to bring the masses into the light.”
“At once my Lord.” The tall Prefect turned and left to carry out his orders. There was a spring in his step as he thought of how at last his Lord and his Family would finally be restored to their rightful place. Four hundred years his family had protected the true Heirs to the Empire the rightful descendants of Anitmov Empyreal Throne. He and all of his family have waited for this moment in time with great anticipation. Over the last centuries it had reached the level of a sacred duty to them to see the return of the Anitmov rightful Head of House.
Richelieu looked around the room at the other twenty two members of his personal bodyguards. These men had all sworn to give their lives in service to him. It was no surprise that they killed the old leaders of the Temples without a second thought. After all every last one of them were from the same family as the First Prefect. That family has been protecting him since the time of the Great Betrayal as it had become known amongst his own family. Soon though all the wrongs against his family will be set right and he will take his rightful place on the throne.
“Clean up this mess, and make sure that no one can enter this room. If you have to kill everyone who tries to disrupt the Conclave. Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes your Majesty. Long live the true Emperor!” it was with one voice the men shouted this and it brought a smile to Richelieu’s face. At long last the true Emperor would return. There was nothing that House Nakatoma could do to stop him. Even he knew it would take them several months longer to train, and equip a force that could challenge his. He may have to wait for five months for his troops to gather, but it will be far shorter than the ten to twelve it will take to train a military force to stand up to his ten Divisions. His thoughts were interrupted by one of his bodyguards.
“Your Majesty, word has just arrived. The Sword of Destany was successful. Empyreal City is nothing more than ash and with it the false Emperor.”
Meanwhile on Hades Prime at the Joan Eunice Smith School for Girls…
I looked over my shoulder at Alice. I could see she was just as shocked as I was over this news. I was pissed off beyond belief at what Richelieu had done. I wanted to leave here climb into Vicky’s cockpit and destroy something, but as much as I wanted to do that I had a duty to perform first. Somewhere out there was a young girl who had just lost her family in a terrorist attack and become the Ruler of the Empire. Of all the duties a commander has this is the hardest. Notifying one of their troops of the death of a loved one.
No words of comfort, no gestures of understanding, no matter how you say it, can prepare them for the news. Now, I have to not only tell Daniela her father is dead but also her brothers leaving her as the only heir to the Empyreal Throne. Goddesses give me strength to help this young girl.
“Alice, please go get the desk sergeant for me?”
“Sure, be right back.” Alice could see that I would need a few seconds to get my shit together. After she stepped out of the room I began to plan my next move in this war with Richelieu and the Temple of Holy Light. I had far too many questions that I needed answers to. The first of which is why would he go to such lengths? The next is what does he really want? By attacking the Empyreal City this way he all but guarantees the involvement of the Empyreal Military and the Death Dealers or does it? It has happened once before, it could happen again. The fact that Daniela is, was not the Emperor’s legitimate child was not exactly a State Secret. All it would take is for one High Lord or Parliament member to question her right of succession and the Empyreal Military would be paralyzed.
The Laws of Succession would guarantee that the Empyreal Military would have to stay out of any war between the High Family Houses. In the ensuing chaos he could easily maneuver himself to challenge Daniela’s right of succession. With the entire Royal Family dead and most likely all of the Parliament, Hall of Lords, and Supreme Justices. There will be no one to challenge his claims if he makes a bid for the Throne. It’ll be the Succession Wars all over again, but how can Richelieu lay claim to the Throne? I am missing something here and I don’t know what it is. Only a direct descendant of the Anitmov Blood line can lay claim to the Throne. My thoughts are interrupted by a knock at the door. “Come.”
I turn to see Alice has returned with the desk sergeant. “Thank you Alice. Sergeant, I need you to find Her Royal Majesty Daniela, and bring her here please.”
“Oh Shit!” the young sergeant did not miss my use of the Empyreal Honorific I use for Daniela. “At once Lady Nakatoma. Should I provide Her Royal Majesty with a full escort?”
I hadn’t thought about that. I give it a quick once over and think better of it. “No, not at this time. Have one ready for after I have had a chance to give her the bad news, however.”
“What of her security on the way here, ma’am?”
“Sergeant, bring her friends as well. Believe me, when I say that she has three of the deadliest bodyguards with her right now.”
“Excuse me ma’am, but the safety of Her Majesty is now my main concern. May I know who it is that is guarding her?”
I have to give the man this much, he knows his responsibilities. “They are the other three members of her lance. All of who just so happen to be second generation Death Dealers. Is that good enough for you sergeant?”
“Bloody Hell! No wonder you’re not worried, my Lady.” I almost laugh as the young man headed out to take care of his orders. The firepower and abilities of the second gen Death Dealers has already gotten out to the first gens. There is already a massive line forming for the upgrades. The problem that is holding up the upgrades is the fact that my engineers are still figuring out the side effects. The biggest of which is controlling the secondary reconfiguration protocols of the older Death Dealers.
“Maiha, what are you thinking so hard about? I know you; there is more on your mind than just telling Daniela about the deaths of her family. So, please tell what is bugging you?”
“I have too many questions and not enough answers Alice. For starters, why would Richelieu be so stupid as to use stolen Imperial technology? Why would he so carelessly throw away crack troops in an obvious attempt to kill us? What does he stand to gain by attacking the Empyreal City the way he has? Why now? Why not wait to get the Emperor behind him and the Imperial Temples? Everything he has done shows a cold calculating reason and intellect. I can see plans within plans. He has worked too long to just be throwing it all away now. No I need answers and I don’t know where to look, damn it!”
“Pussycat, love, please calm down. You need to be in control when Daniela gets here. If you don’t, you won’t be able to help her.” Alice was acting as the voice of reason for me.
“You’re right, love. I need to get my head out of my fourth point of contact. Goddess how I hate what I am about to do. Of all the duties I have ever performed there is only one that I have hated more. The notifying of a troopers death to their mother and father is the worse. I can help a trooper deal with the grief of losing a loved one, but it is not the same with parents or wives. They want to know how and why their loved ones died. The old sayings of ‘They died for their Emperor’ or ‘They died saving the lives of others’ always felt hollow to me.”
“Then don’t tell her that. Just tell her the truth or maybe better yet show her the message. When she sees that the First High Lord of the Military is going to send the Death Dealers after whoever did this she’ll see she isn’t alone.” It was Alice’s words that gave me the clue I needed to figure out what Richelieu’s plan was.
“Oh Shit! Alice, the First Lord can’t give that order.”
“WHAT?! Of course he can.”
“No he can’t. Don’t you see? The only person who can give that order is the Emperor himself.”
“What are you talking about? He is the overall commander of the Empyreal Military, which includ
es the Death Dealers.”
“No it doesn’t Alice. The Death Dealers maybe a branch of the Military, but they answer only to the ruling Emperor. The First High Lord is only truly in charge of the PDF’s. Sure he can take over command of the local House Militaries, but the moment a Death Dealer sets foot on the planet they out rank everyone. From the very first, the Death Dealers have been the enforcement arm for the Emperor and his Quick Reaction Force. They had to be in order to do their jobs.”
“But if they can only be ordered by the Emperor, who is in charge of them now?”
“That is the reason for the First High Lords, and now Lady. We are the stop gap in case of something like this. The problem is of all six of us I am the only one who can do anything.”
“What do you mean you’re the only one who can do anything?”
“As you know there are only six First High Lords at any one time. One for each sector. When the Death Dealers were founded the Emperor at that time saw a need for over-all commanders in areas of dispute. His answer was the First High Lords. In the beginning there where only four, but as the Empire expanded their number grew until we wound up with twelve High Lords. This caused a major problem with trying to figure out who was finally in charge. So about three hundred and twenty years ago the Emperor Alexander the fifth broke the Empire down into six sectors. He placed the first sector in the center and named it Heaven. Then starting at the ‘head’ position of the Empyreal Star Map going clock wise he broke the rest into five equal sectors. The twelve o’clock position was named Conquest, to be followed by Famine, Pestilence, and War. The last sector though is the most important. The reason for this is because of the fact that the Death Gates system and Hades is there. This is the sector of Death, and the only First High Lord who can act without the Emperor’s command.”
“Wait! You mean that as of right now you are the Supreme Commander for the Death Dealers?”
“No, that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is this. All the other First High Lords have to wait for a new Emperor or in this case Empress before they can act. I as the First High Lady of the Death Dealers in this sector have the authority to act on my own.”
“Ok, let me get this straight. There are six First High Lords of the Death Dealers.” I nod my head yes. “The Empire is broken down into six sectors with one High Lord per sector.” Again I nod my head. “The six sectors are Heaven, War, Famine, Pestilence, Conquest, and Death.” Again I just nod. “Only the High Lord of Death can act on his own authority, while all of the others can only act by the Emperors command.” Again I nod my head. “Ok I understand all that, but why is the Death sector the only who can act on his own?”
“Because the First High Lord of Death has the smallest sector population wise, it contains only three planetary systems. Nobody really wants to be the First High Lord in this sector because of that. Until just a few months ago the Death Gate, Valhalla, and Heavens Door systems only had a training unit of Death Dealers. There was only four active Death Dealer Divisions within this sector. To be blunt about the Death sector was considered the asshole of the Empire.”
“Is that why Hades never had a Death Dealer presence on planet?”
“Yup. That and the fact that Hades was the only holding of the Nakatoma Family. While we may build and develop military technology for the Empire, the Nakatoma Family has not been one to allow anyone to be without a voice in what we develop. That was why Light, Moore, Daniels, and all the other rebels had a seat in our planetary Parliament. It is also one of the reasons the Nakatoma Family controls the Death Dealer technology.”
“Is that why when the Emperor appointed you the First High Lord for this sector you began moving in all of those Death Dealer Divisions? To make it more appealing to someone else later on?”
“Nope, not at all. I knew that sooner or later someone was going to try again and this time I was going to be ready with at least ten heavy armored Death Dealer Divisions. Love I fought one war on a shoe string I don’t ever want to do that again. I’ll be truthful with you love. In this last rebellion we got lucky. If the Emperor had not already had those Death Dealers on their way here we would have been out gunned, out manned, and outnumbered by at least seven to one and that includes the mercenaries.”
“You have got to be joking right?” her shock at hearing this was palpable.
“No, I’m not joking. We would have lost within two days. There would have been no way to stop them. Not only did they have all those troops, they also had control of the LEOs and PDF AI tanks. Hell even with those Death Dealer divisions we came far closer to losing than winning. If it had not been for them falling into our trap on the training course and attacking where we wanted them to it very well could have been a different outcome.”
“Why didn’t you say something? All this time it has to have been eating at you.”
“Love; there is a story from ancient Earth. There was this French Emperor named Napoleon who was being told about how great a tactical genius one of his generals was. Well Napoleon asked of his other generals ‘Is he lucky?’ Well his other generals don’t know how to answer this question so they continue to tell him all about how great this general is. Again he asks them if he is lucky. Well this time one of them speaks up and asks Napoleon ‘Why is his being lucky so important?’ Well Napoleon answers him. ‘I can get a hundred generals who know tactics, but to have one who is both lucky and a tactical genius then I could rule the world.’ This time I got lucky Alice. Luck plays as much a part in war as does tactics and supplies. I saw no reason to tell you or the others about how close it came.”
“Alright love I’ll keep your secret about the last war. Now tell me something just how many Death Dealer Divisions are in the Death sector now.”
“Let’s just say there are enough to handle any emergency that should come up.”
“Let’s not say. Now tell me how many divisions are under your direct command at this point in time.”
“Out of the current two hundred and twenty divisions, there are at this time nineteen in this sector, with six on Valhalla, five on Heaven, and eight on Hades.”
“Does that include the training divisions?”
“No, if I did that there would be another three divisions.”
“Mother of God, Maiha that is a whole Army Group, do any of the other First High Lords command that many?”
“In truth, most of them have larger commands than I do. The difference is that mine will be the first to receive the second generation Death Dealers. Not that it will make a difference now. Right now there are two hundred and one divisions out there that can’t do a damn thing. They are bound by law to do nothing outside of their sectors, and then they can only act if there is a direct attack against them.”
“So, that order the First High Lord gave is worthless?”
“In a word, yes. Without a ruling Emperor there is no way any of the current First High Lords will make a move. To be blunt my dear Richelieu has effectively removed the one force that could stop him. Until we can get Daniela crowned Empress the only military force that can stop him are the Knights of Ida-ten and maybe the six or seven divisions I can pull away from the sector defense. As much as I hate to say this Richelieu first strike could not have been better planned.”
“How can you say that? No, how can you be so cold about all those deaths? My Goddess Maiha, what is wrong with you? I have never seen you so cold and uncaring before.”
“Oh I do feel the loss of those lives Alice.” I had let my anger flow into my voice. Every ounce of it came pouring out of me as I rounded on her. “And in four months I am going to ram my anger over this blatant act of terrorism down Richelieu’s throat. For now though I have to keep my feelings in check or we lose everything.”
“Forgive me love, please I had not realized what you were doing. You are right, we must control our feelings for those around us.” Alice grabbed Maiha and pulled her into a hug.
That was how the security sergeant and the Daughters o
f the Four Winds found us. Daniela cleared her throat to get our attention. “You sent for me, Lady Maiha?”
“Yes, Princess Daniela, please sit down.” I was waving to one of the chairs in the room. I waited for her to do so. Daniela just gave me a strange look and did as I asked. I still didn’t know what I was going to say yet, but I did know what I was going to do. Standing as straight as I could I stepped before her and then bowed from the waste. “It is my sad duty to inform you of His Empyreal Majesty Sha’ Dan the Great is no longer with us. He and his sons were killed in a terrorist attack on the Empyreal City and the Palace. At the time of this notification rescue and relief operations had not yet begun. What are your orders My Empress?” when I finished I stood back up and waited for her to breakdown.
At first she just sat there looking at me as if I had grown a second head. When she realized that this was not a joke she started to cry. It didn’t take long for her to completely lose it and her crying became bawling, then wailing, to finally settle down to sobbing. The entire time she was crying I held her in my arms. I knew this was going to be hard on her. I knew she had, had her problems with her father, and family; but she never hated them. The biggest problem she had was being the baby of the family. At least my old friend always treated her as his daughter.
“Oh Goddess I am all alone now. What am I going to do?” Daniela cried out. Yup, she was now in full blown breakdown panic mode’. Time to do some damage control here, I thought. Relying on a time honored method I slap the dog piss out of her.
“How dare you say that? You are not alone. Just look around you. You have three friends that are closer to you than family ever will be. Lisa, Susan, and Cassidy have given up their chances for a normal life to join you as lance mates and sisters-in-arms. Do you really think they would just walk away now that it might get a little bumpy? Pull your head out of your ass your Majesty!” I know I was taking a risk by doing this, but I needed her to look to the future. I needed her to realize that she was now the leader of our Empire and its people. The response I got was not one that I was expecting. Her right cross connected with my chin and rocked my world.