Shadow of the Blue Ring

by Jerome Kelly

  James’s speech had sent the entire room into silence. No one, not even his own crew were sure what to say at that. Artennes stayed silent, as if he was being very careful as to what his next words would be. Speaking out against the head of the council in such a way was not exactly going to put him in anyone’s good books but he had needed to get it off of his chest, even if it added one more charge to the long list already filed against him.

  “Captain Tavarez… I am one hundred percent aware of what I allowed to happen these past weeks,” Artennes finally said after a long pause, “despite your rather immature tone, I am also aware of every action that you and your crew took during this ill-fated mission. I am truly heartbroken at the loss of one of the finest admirals in the fleet. His wife is on board this very ship right now and I have given her the news personally. In your rash attempt to throw blame around in my direction, it seems that you have missed the very point of why I called this meeting here today. Captain James Tavarez, on behalf of the alliance and of the council, we want to thank you for defeating the Al’cari and the Lataka and for saving this alliance for a second time.”

  James was speechless all of a sudden. He had expected to be walking out of the chamber having been given a discharge from the fleet. Artennes must have had another motive for this meeting, he always did, he never acted without a reason.

  “Well…” James was finally able to reply, “. . . thank you, I guess. It was my pleasure.”

  “There is a lesson that all of us here must learn here today though,” Artennes continued, maintaining his sturdy tone, “the purpose of this meeting is to remind us all that each of us must always be held accountable for our actions. James, you deliberately went against the council, you broke every rule and regulation that you have sworn to live by and you put a great many lives in danger, yet your actions saved this alliance and ended a war that had been going on for three decades, potentially saving millions of lives that could have been lost had things not been resolved. I did not call you here today to line up charges against you and strip you of your position or discharge you from the fleet, I called you here to ensure that each and every one of you were aware of your actions and the consequences of those actions. Had these offences been committed at another time then yes, there would be punishments, but because of the exceptional circumstances behind this unprecedented situation that we found ourselves in, it is up to myself and the rest of the council to hold up our hands and admit where we have gone wrong. We did not want you to plead guilty to these charges so that we could convict you and lock you away in the brig, we wanted you to step forward and be honest in regards to your actions. James, the following charges against you are in recognition of the fact that you saved us but at the same time, we wish for you to be aware of the consequences of this type of action for future recognition. So, James, I will ask you again. In the case of all charges filed against you in the manner of your actions these past weeks, how do you plead?”

  “If my actions are recognised as having saved the alliance and the people within it, they I will plead guilty to all charges Lord Artennes.”

  “You recognise that were any of these offences were to be committed again and not under aforementioned circumstances that the consequences would be severe?”

  “I do, Lord Artennes.”

  “Then let my judgement be passed here today,” said Artennes, “captain James Tavarez, you and your crew have once again saved this alliance from one of the greatest threats that it has ever known. For this we are truly grateful to you and we recognise the actions that you were forced to take in order to repel the aforementioned threat. There will be no charges on record against any of you and you will all be free to return to duty once you have been cleared by your respective medical staff. Now that my judgement has been passed, I would like to pass the floor over to chairman Cirian Gera of the Adean senate.”

  “Yes, thank you, Lord Artennes,” Gera said as he stepped forward, still kitted out in his usual senate robes, “captain Sejdan Kalmar, would you kindly step forward.”

  He did so very nervously, not seemingly wanting to make eye contact with the the leader of the senate. Gera was calm though, he did not look as if he was in the mood to throw around overly harsh punishments on a whim. Still, James was cautious, he did not know enough about how Adean law worked to know what to expect in a case such as this.

  “My lord Gera, I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Kalmar finally spoke up, “I understand that what I did was against every code that our people lived by, that I betrayed you and all of the senate by doing it and that I undermined everything we stood for as a race. Given the choice, I would do it all over again.”

  “Very bold of you, captain,” said Gera, “do you understand and accept the penalties for your actions by Adean law?”

  “I… I do…” Kalmar said very nervously, almost as if he was resigned to some unknown fate.

  “If I may ask…” James began, “. . . what punishment will you face for what you did?”

  “Desertion from the fleet and the breaking of a sworn oath on this scale amounts to high treason against the senate,” said Gera, “because of the predicament of our race in our time of struggle against the Hunters, these Al’cari as they were called, required us to live by a set of codes that were designed to prevent this enemy from ever achieving it’s nefarious goal. My predecessor introduced a new penalty to discourage perpetrators from committing this ultimate crime against the senate… the ultimate penalty…”

  “Ultimate penalty!” James exclaimed, “wait… you can’t mean… the penalty for Kalmar’s crime is the death penalty?!”

  “Under Adean law, the penalty for this kind of treason is death,” Kalmar said, doing a very good job of hiding his emotions, “I knew this when I left with you, I knew this was a possibility but I had to act to protect my people.”

  “Chairman Gera, I have to protest…” James spoke out, “. . . to condemn a man to death for actions such as these…”

  “Captain Tavarez, please be silent, I have not finished,” Gera interrupted him once more, “yes, Kalmar is correct, the penalty for high treason in any normal circumstance is death. However, as your own leader has highlighted, this is not a normal circumstance. Because of the part you played in ending our war against the Al’cari and freeing us from over three decades of war… it is my decision that the death penalty be disbarred in this case and in all cases from this day forwards.”

  “My lord…” Kalmar was almost speechless, “. . . I don’t know what to say…”

  “But of course, if I do not act to punish you, there will always be others who will believe that they can get away with such actions and expect leniency on their return and I must prevent this. Captain Kalmar, it is with regret that I must withdraw your position as a captain within the imperial fleet and you will not be allowed to serve with us again. It will be put on record that both your actions and your resulting discharge were honourable and that you played a part in ending a long and costly war and also in freeing us from the codes and laws that we had been forced to live by for the past three decades. This is a momentous day for the people of Adean, captain. Today, our laws will change forever. Today we are free.”

  “Chairman Gera…” Artennes began, he had been waiting for a break in Gera’s speech to get this word in, “. . . if you are still interested, I would like to once more put forward the invitation to you to join this alliance.”

  “After having successfully fought together once already, I see no reason why not,” Gera said proudly, “simply tell me what is required of us to gain membership and we will make it happen.”

  “We will need a four-man delegation from your people,” said Artennes, “we will need one of your high ranking politicians, a general from your military force, an admiral from the imperial fleet and a representative chosen by the people of Adean. Your delegation will meet with the council every three weeks to
discuss matters concerning the alliance as a whole and no alliance member race will have any sovereign power over your people. You will retain your independence. There are further codes and regulations to be applied but we can discuss these in more detail at a later time.”

  “Simple enough, I can agree to those terms,” said Gera, “from this day forward, I am happy to announce that Adean will be a proud member of the Freedom Alliance.”

  So far, this meeting could not have gone any better. James was quite amazed at Artennes’s change of heart in the case of what James had considered to be crimes against the alliance. Something that had happened in the past week or so must have caused him to have a change of heart.

  “And what about you, emperor Darien?” Artennes turned to his Vulian counterpart, “do you have anything further to add to this discussion?”

  “I do not,” Darien finally made his presence known in the room, “seeing as executor Kyrakian was rescued by captain Tavarez and given no option but to participate in these events, there was no wrongdoing on his part. We will return to Vulia leaving you in the knowledge that we will uphold the truce so long as neither one of our sides comes to blows in that time. It is not a feasible course of action for us to become a part of your alliance however a day may come some time in the future when diplomatic relations between our two sides become possible.”

  “Emperor, may I speak…” Kyrakian piped up, drawing the attention of Darien and the rest of the council, “. . . I believe that we can go one better on that promise, my lord. In the past week, the days spent among captain Tavarez’s crew have opened my eyes to the potential that this temporary alliance between our two sides could have. I believe that working together, we can create a better and brighter future for our people and we can work towards repairing the many wounds left by the war six years ago. My lord, I would ask that I be allowed to be appointed as the Vulian empire’s envoy to the Freedom Alliance. I will make it my job to work as a mediator between our two sides and not only prevent us from going to war again but maybe even make it one day possible for us all to come together under one banner again.”

  “That is a very bold request, executor Kyrakian,” said Darien, “however… I do believe that what you suggest is in our best interests as a whole and I am therefore inclined to accept your request. While I believe that your goals are highly ambitious, I respect what you are trying to achieve here. Lord Artennes, does this sit well with you?”

  “I would gladly accept this offer,” said Artennes, “I agree that it is very much in the best interests of both this alliance and your empire to reopen diplomacy.”

  James had been right about Kyrakian all along, he had been their best chance at achieving peace between the Vulians and the alliance. While neither side would be able to properly trust the other for a very long time, it was going some way to repairing the wounds that both sides had inflicted on the other. Having seen both Kyrakian and Saavoy fighting alongside one another rather than trying to kill each other over old hatreds had been a breath of fresh air for him. If those two races could work out their differences then just about anything was possible.

  “Perhaps I was wrong to doubt your judgement, James,” said Saavoy, “perhaps you were right when you decided to save him. I’m starting to believe it myself that there may in fact be a better way than all of this hatred and bloodlust between my people and the Vulians.”

  “It’ll take some time to heal though,” said James, “do you think the rest of your people can put aside their hate and perhaps embrace the possibility of peace, and maybe even friendship?”

  “I do, James,” said Saavoy, “because I believe that our views on others should not be based solely on the actions of a series of individuals. I have come to realise that when the actions of one race are directed by but a few, our view on the rest of their people should not be coloured by their actions. Without the evil of but a few men who directed this blood-feud against us, we no longer have any reason to hate the rest of their people who were in fact no more than victims caught up in a brutal regime that they did not all support. By holding onto our hate, all we do is deny our people a chance for a fresh start and the possibility of new friendships where before their was only hatred and mistrust. It is time to put the past to one side an realise that there is a better way forward for all of us.”

  “I could not agree more,” said Kyrakian, “our races were once culturally intertwined many years ago. Perhaps one day we may share our culture with each other once more.”

  He held out his hand to Saavoy who, although he looked reluctant to take the step for a few seconds, shook it. Having seen how brightly this man’s hatred of the Vulians had burned during their days in the revolution, it was heartening to see how things had been able to turn out in the end. There was a long way for all of them to go but it was a tremendous start to a potentially great future for everyone.

  “If that will be all, then it is time for us to depart,” Darien announced, “I bid you all farewell. Perhaps we shall all come together like this again one day.”

  “Maybe…” James though to himself. He was certainly feeling that his own distrust for Darien after his betrayal of the team six years ago was starting to slip away. Having seen what the Vulian empire was becoming under his rule, he had a growing shred of admiration for the actions of the new Vulian emperor. He wouldn’t care to admit it in front of anyone but it was definitely there.

  “I believe that this meeting is now concluded,” Artennes announced to the room, “although, I think there is one more matter that we could address in light of what has happened. James, Isha, you and all of your crew had your holidays rather rudely interrupted by this whole situation and for that I apologise. Each one of you shall receive a total of five months of shore leave to spend as you choose. Consider this a goodwill gift from myself and the council for your actions in saving our alliance from the threat of the Al’cari.”

  “Wow…” James continued to be rendered speechless by the actions of the council. He hadn’t wanted to press either Artennes or his superior officers for the recompense for his actions in the Blue Ring but he had felt as if they had maybe owed him one. He had expected to maybe get two weeks and then be dragged back to the fleet for patrol duty. Five months though… that was all the time in the world for them. James would eventually have to announce to the fleet that Isha was carrying his child and would be unable to return to her post for a long time afterwards but they would tackle that hurdle when they came to it. Until then, it looked like a very relaxing few months ahead for them both. No less than any of them had deserved.

  Having been dreading the worst when he had arrived for the meeting with the council, James concluded that things could honestly not have gone better for them. Peace with the Vulians, the Adeans joining the alliance, James and his crew receiving a fair reward for their troubles… it was all about as much as anyone could have hoped for.

  With the meeting dismissed, the councillors and all those who had been present for the meeting began to filter away and make their way to the exits. Out of the corner of his eye, James noticed Anaya Ansare among the Naisan delegation, whatever weight of emotions she was feeling at the time having been very well hidden. James made his way over to her, Isha following behind him.

  “Anaya… I’m so sorry for your loss,” James said to her, although despite the immense measure of sadness she would have been feeling, she managed to force a faint smile. “It’s Ok, James,” said said calmly, “my husband died as a hero, a true alliance hero. I am so incredibly proud of him and what he chose to do. I will mourn him in time but right now, we are all just truly thankful to him for what he did for every person in the alliance. I know it must be hurting you too, I know he was a friend.”

  “It was hard to see a friend die like that,” said James, “it’s not something I ever want to have to experience again. I really do wish the best for you, I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right
now.”

  “Nor should you want to,” said Anaya, “even if I am holding it together right now, what I am feeling inside… it hurts more than anything I have ever felt. I always knew that Kaldun’s job came with it’s share of risks. When you are married to an admiral of the fleet, you have to be prepared for the worst at any time. It’s just… of all the times for this happen. We were going to announce it at Ravenn’s party but you and Kaldun were dragged away before we had the chance. James… two weeks before the party I found out that I was carrying his child.”

  “Oh…” James could not even begin to imagine how that must have felt for her. Isha was almost in shock at this news too, being with child herself, she would know exactly Anaya felt right now.

  “I’m so sorry…” Isha said to her, “. . . if there is anything that any of us can do for you…”

  “It’s Ok, I will find a way to cope,” said Anaya, “Kaldun may be gone but he will not be forgotten. This child will grow up knowing that it’s father was one of the greatest heroes in the history of Naisus. It is a fine example to live up to.”

  “Anaya, it’s not just you who is carrying a child,” said Isha, “I found out that I was expecting at almost the same time as you did. I want to ask… perhaps you could come to Earth sometime? When our children are born, we could let them grow up together. I mean, with Kasha and Loca together now, I imagine it wont be long before they have one on the way too.”