Stephanie smiled. “Very well, we will reconvene this council tomorrow.” She rose and exited the chamber to her private quarters, with Solon following.
Once they were alone, and the door secure, she fell into his arms and they kissed and held each other with passion.
“Oh Solon, I love you so.”
“I love you!”
After a while, she said, “So, this is your idea of a private word with an Empress?”
“Well, not all of them, just you.”
They laughed together for a while.
“Also, I did want to ask you a question.”
“Yes?”
“Would you have dinner with me tonight? I was thinking about inviting Jeffrey and Heather over as well.”
“Of course. What time?”
“Say about point six?”
“Very well, sir. I shall see you then.”
Solon left and went straight to Jeffrey and Heathers quarters. “Okay, she will have dinner.”
“Did you tell her where?”
“No, I just said point six.”
“Perfect. Then you pick her up at her room and walk her to the garden restaurant and I will take care of everything else.”
“Thanks, Heather.”
She smiled, saying, “Oh no, thank you. Stephanie is my sister and so much more. I know she will be simply over the moon with this meal.”
Heather departed and casually walked to Stephanie’s quarters. “Hi Steph, what’s up?”
“Oh, nothing really. My gosh, I must say, I do love Solon. He takes my breath away. He asked me to dinner tonight and said he would invite you and Jeffrey.”
“Really? I saw him a few minutes ago and he didn’t mention dinner tonight.” She smiled a conspiratorial smile, “Maybe he is going to trick you into a quiet dinner with just the two of you?”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. But I do think you should dress up for this dinner. If he is planning a surprise dinner for the two of you, you certainly want to look your best.”
Stephanie smiled, saying, “You don’t think he would ask me to marry him, do you?”
“I don’t know! But let’s not take chances!”
They decided to dress her in a marvelous Martina original, a red rose-colored flowing gown with slits up the sides and a fairly low-cut front, revealing the upper curve of her breasts, while holding them firmly in place. They also called for her beautician to create her face and hair. Once this was started, Heather departed.
Jeffrey coordinated with the chef and sommelier for the perfect matching of Beef Wellington and a gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon. Heather coordinated with the Maître De so there would be no others seated in the immediate vicinity of the Empress, except for Jeffrey and her, along with Edric and Kare. This was going to be a very private affair.
At point six Solon knocked on the door of the Empress. Stephanie opened the door herself. He was mesmerized.
“Oh my God. You are gorgeous.”
Stephanie blushed, saying, “Thank you, Solon. You are quite handsome yourself.”
“No, you don’t understand. You are so beautiful. I have never seen such beauty, even traveling the stars, there is nothing and no one who comes close to you. Wow.”
“Stop it, you’ll make me start crying and ruin my makeup.”
He held out his arm, saying, “Please, let’s be off to dinner then.”
They walked past the quarters of the Fleet Admiral. She said, “So, where are we going?”
“No fear. We have reservations. Also, Heather and Jeffrey will meet us there.”
They walked, talking and laughing, until they came to the entrance to the Garden Restaurant. The Maître De escorted them back into the quietest part of the garden. Here they found Heather, Jeffrey, Kare and Edric already seated. When they arrived, the four of them rose.
“No, please, sit. This is an informal dinner with my closest friends.”
After everyone was seated, the waiter brought bread and olive oil and wine. Once they were comfortable, Solon rose. He looked at Stephanie and began. “Your Majesty, or as I know you, Stephanie, you have completely captured my heart. I remember the day we met, and you stood right in front of me staring into my eyes. I knew, right then, that you were my destiny, my future. I have loved you, a little at first but growing stronger every day, since that day.”
“Today, I stand before you as a man desiring to share a future with you. A future we could create together, one where we share all that life can give us.”
He walked around to her, and bending down on one knee, and holding out a beautiful yet simple diamond ring, said, “Stephanie Williams-Wilson, I love you with all my heart. All I can promise is to be there with you and for you, for as long as we live. Will you then do me the very high honor of becoming my wife?”
Stephanie reached out and pulled him to her and they stood together as she said, “Yes!”
He put the ring on her finger, and they kissed in public with joy! It was official now, she was getting married!
Their friends stood and applauded, and others who could overhear in the restaurant also clapped and yelled their support. It was a wonderful, magic night! The Empress of Two Galaxies was engaged!
59.017.13
“Your Majesty, we are home.”
“Stephanie looked out the windows on the bridge and saw the huge planet, Meladeran, spread out in front of them. “Very well, Admiral, please dock the ship.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Admiral Jackson, please dock the ship.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
Heather stood beside the Empress, and said, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
Stephanie smiled. “Yes, I truly am. Our worlds will change in the next few years, Heather. But I believe it is all for the good.”
“Oh, I have no doubt about that.”
“We are docked, Admiral.”
“Very well. Your Majesty, we are docked and secure, you may depart the craft.”
“Thank you, Admiral Wilson. I would appreciate it if you and the Archduchess would escort me.”
She began walking towards the elevators to descend to the hangar area to exit the ship. She reached out and grasped Sovereign Prince Solon’s hand, saying, “Please, dear, walk with me to the exit.”
The entire landing zone had been opened up and the ship was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of cheering subjects. As they exited the ship, the sound of the cheers was deafening!
Grand Princess Tamara Stewart, Regent of the Milky Way Galaxy, stood at the bottom of the steps awaiting the Empress. The Empress walked down the steps and Tamara curtsied to her. The crowd silenced for a moment for this greeting. Tamara rose, and said, “Your Majesty, the people of the Milky Way Galaxy welcome you home!”
“Long live the Empress!” “Empress of the known universe!” “We love you!” “Congratulations on your engagement!” It was just a chaotic and wonderful warm reception for Stephanie.
They walked through and boarded an open roof transport and slowly began the journey to the palace. Stephanie stood beside Tamara, with Solon, Heather and Jeffrey directly behind them. All of them could then wave to the lively crowd.
Once they returned to the palace, they went to the private quarters of the Empress.
“My God, Tamara, that was an incredible reception. Thank you so much!”
“Stephanie, your people love you. Aside from those who tried to overthrow you, the vast, vast majority of the people simply love you. They are so proud you conquered a second galaxy. As a matter of fact, there is a bet on which galaxy you will travel to next.”
“Oh my. Well, I have no intention of going to another galaxy. I want to settle down and relax in this one. I have to thank you for your wonderful work holding things together here. I know it was sudden, but you
have performed admirably. Thank you so very much.”
“You’re welcome. I learned a lot watching you, dad and Heather. You three are quite the knowledge base.” They all laughed.
“Well, we are home now.”
Tamara spent time with them, and they agreed a time to get together to catch up and complete a thorough briefing, then she departed; there was still work that needed to be completed.
“Heather, can you see if Dhakini can come visit me?”
“Of course.”
It took about an hour, but soon she entered the private villa of the Empress.
“Good evening, Your Majesty.”
“We’ll have none of that. You are my niece. Come here and give me a hug, it’s been such a long time.”
Once they were settled, she said, “I am sure you are wondering why I have called you here, on the day of our return from the Andromeda Galaxy. Well, I have a special project for you. I want you to seek out the location of an obelisk. Jeffrey, please transmit the image and all the background information we have gathered. It is urgent we find this obelisk, and it is somewhere on some planet somewhere in this galaxy. We know of the one on Earth, but there is another one somewhere we need to find.”
“I will search, but what then?”
Stephanie paused a moment, then said, “Once you find it and find the coordinates the fourth obelisk will provide, I want you to go to the coordinates and see what is there. This sounds truly intriguing, but I just don’t have the time to worry about it, but I want to make sure we follow up. You are the one I thought of, because of your background and knowledge. I am asking you to do this as a personal favor to me.”
“Absolutely! I am honored. Is there a story here?”
“Yes. Come here.” Dhakini went to her and Stephanie held her head in her hands and leaned forward to touch their foreheads. Both of them stood for a few minutes, eyes closed.
“Is this true?”
“I don’t know, but it came directly from those who may know a truth.”
“Incredible. I will find this obelisk and see what the story truly is.”
“Very well. Now, will you be staying in the palace for the festivities?”
“If you don’t mind, I am suddenly so intrigued I would rather depart on this quest right now.”
“Very well. I love you. Godspeed to you.”
59.020.15
Early in the morning, the seven hundred traitors from two rebellions were marched from their holding cells to the Imperial Throne Room. They were chained and escorted by thousands of troops. Admiral Wilson supervised the transfer and sat in his place at the bottom of the stairs awaiting the Empress. When the Empress entered from behind the throne, everyone rose, even the traitors.
Regent Grand Princess Tamara Stewart began. “Your Majesty, there are seven hundred traitors before you this morning. They include members of the nobility, along with some of their friends and allies. I am proud to say that no Starfleet personnel were implicated in this event. They are here, awaiting your judgement.”
“Thank you, Regent Stewart.” She looked at the faces of the traitors gathered, and said, “Do you have a spokesperson, or are you a gaggle?”
“I am our spokesperson.”
“And you are?”
“I am Daryl James Sebastian.”
She looked at him and her irritation could be seen at the lack of respect he showed her or the throne.
Tamara interjected, “Your Majesty, Viscount Sebastian is the Viscount of the Candella System, the core of this rebellion.”
“Thank you, Tamara. Well then, Viscount Sebastian, state your case.”
“We do not recognize you as legitimate. We believe you tricked the original Galactic Council into appointing you as Empress. Today? Oh, sure, you are more powerful, but you are not worthy to sit on that throne. We will not follow you or obey your commands. To us, you are a tramp and a thief. Do with us as you will.” With that he sat down, and all the remaining traitors also sat.
“Interesting. Well, we do have options. Admiral Wilson, do we still have those vats of boiling oil we could drop them into?”
You could hear a rumble through the ranks of traitors.
“Yes, Your Majesty. Why, just this morning we were heating some up for the grand welcoming party, but they could easily be used for this purpose.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
Stephanie laughed. “Well, that is where you are wrong, because I would dare. But don’t worry, that is not something I will actually do. No. I have another plan. I will send you all to the planet Dreadfall to mine ore. The difference between you and other miners, is that once you are put on the ground you will not be retrieved until you have successfully mined the planet for one year.”
“But no one has ever managed to stay on that planet more than a few days!” “We will be driven insane!” “That’s not fair!” “You can’t do this!”
Finally, Stephanie raised her hand for silence. “You rose up against me while I was in another galaxy defending our people. You want to talk about fair? You are cowards, one and all. You will never be allowed to be free to inflict your disease on others. Admiral Wilson, transport these people to Dreadfall immediately. They will be dropped off and not retrieved for one year, if they survive. If anyone attempts to rescue them, or if they attempt to escape, blow them out of existence.”
She stood and looked at them, and said, “Good luck to you. Your survival is in your own hands.” With that she turned and departed the throne room.
“General Chou, take them away and do as the Empress demands.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Jeffrey and Heather left the throne room and went to see Stephanie. She was with Solon when they arrived.
“Honestly, Jeffrey, I never expected that type of comment from one of the nobles in the galaxy. We only have a nobility because they wanted it this way. I was happy with the representative form of government we had.”
“Yes, and it was working. But we are too far along the path now to reverse course. You do know that there will come a time, somewhere in the future, when this will all fall apart, and the arrogance and greed of humans will destroy what we have built, along with this empire. Then it can be rebuilt as people prefer.”
“Yes, I know. But not today. Today we still have to plan for the future. With that in mind, would you inform Matthew and Lanica that I need them to come here for a family meeting. I will appoint Gregory, who they have spoken so well of, as the regent while they are away. In the meantime, I think we all need to think about what the future looks like so we can be prepared to make some decisions soon.”
59.153.10
Jeffrey and Heather finally departed Meladeran for Xena.
“I can’t wait to get home.”
“I know. I believe the children are excited as well. No more galivanting around the stars, at least for a while.”
At that time, several of the children appeared in their doorway.
“Mom, dad, can we go spend time at the mountain retreat?”
“Please? There should be snow and you promised we could go skiing again!”
Suddenly all the kids rushed them, and the laughter and a giggle fest commenced. Kathryn, the eldest now at fourteen, Lucy, Alexander, Addyson, Cadence, Isaac, Lydia, and the youngest twins, Dinarri and Zander, aged six.
“Okay, okay!”
“Yes, we will go skiing!”
“Promise you will not go away again.”
“Everyone, come sit. Now, your father and I are taking you home to Xena, to our home. I want to share something with you, but you can’t tell anyone else, not even your aunt Stephanie, until we tell her. Okay?”
“They all said “Okay” in unison, then Heather continued. “We plan on this being our last trip for several years. We want to stay home with you and grow up with you.”
“Awe, dad!”
But they had a wonderful journey home. They laughed. They played. They sang. It was a wonderful trip.
A few days after they arrived at the memorial family center in the mountains, Stephanie and Solon arrived for a few days to relax with them. While the children were mostly good and kept the idea to themselves about their parents leaving again, little Dinarri couldn’t help herself.
She sat on Stephanie’s lap, and said, “Auntie Stephanie, are you going to take mom and dad away again? They said they were not traveling anymore.”
Stephanie was taken aback and looked up at Heather. Heather smiled, and said, “Out of the mouth of babes. Come, Dinarri, go find Lucy and stay with her for a little while so mommy and daddy can talk with Auntie Stephanie.”
Once she was gone, Heather said, “Well, we were going to talk with you tonight, but I see you have been forewarned.”
“Stephanie, Heather and I have decided its time to retire and spend more time raising our children. They are our legacy and we have been so busy taming the universe that we have not spent the time we need for this important task. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, I understand. It’s funny, actually, because I was going to tell you tonight that I am going to retire as well. Solon knows, but I was going to tell you this evening that I intend to name Landon as my successor, and name Lanica and Lakelyn as Archduchesses of the galaxies. That way we at least pass on the family business to a single family. It will be theirs to manage, not ours anymore.”
Heather got up and walked to her and they stood and hugged. Jeffrey joined them.
“We three have done a lot and come a long way.”
“Yes,” she said, reaching out to pull Solon into the group. “And now, its time for a new future for the Wilson Family. One of quiet, raising kids and enjoying the life we have created.”
“When do you plan on making the announcement?”
“I have called Landon and Lanica home and will bring Lakelyn here once they arrive. I am not sure, yet, who to name as your replacement, Jeffrey. But I intend to make all the announcements at a large family meeting later this year.”
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