by J. Naomi Ay
“Do something good for the first time in your life,” Queen Moira snapped. She rose shakily to her feet and pointed a withered finger at Senya.
“You murdered my daughter, you executed my son, the least you can do is save my husband.”
“Moira.” The King tried to wave his good hand. “No.”
“He is an evil Saint-less infidel, and you are giving our beloved Mishnah to him to destroy like his ancestors destroyed the Mother Planet.”
“Moira…”
“Does Mishnah mean so little to you, Yokaa? After all these years, you do not care what becomes of her?” The Queen lifted her chin and looked away. She sniffed hard but refused to cry. “If you do not save him, Sehron de Kudisha,” she spoke to the windows. “I will declare to all of Mishnah that you have killed him and stolen his crown. Everyone will know that this is what you have intended, all of you Karuts, have intended from the beginning. Your reign will be very short. Someone will succeed where my son failed. Someone will kill you and restore Mishnah to the blessed Mishnese.”
“Moira!” the King's voice rasped. He seemed to sink deeper inside himself. He struggled to say something but then gave up and sank back into his pillows.
“You need not speak, Sir.” Senya shook his head with resignation. “I understand, and you should not have any fear.”
The King’s head jerked again in a nod. “Put on,” he said.
Senya played with the Firestone ring for a moment, as if he was deciding what to do with it. I wondered if he might just turn it into a ball of lightning or a snake. Instead, he slipped it on the fourth finger of his right hand, next to the Karupatani firestone on his third finger. The two stones flashed blindingly for a moment as if the meeting of the stones produced some kind of chemical reaction.
“No!” the Dowager Queen sobbed.
“I am sorry, Madame,” Senya said. “I will not perform surgery on a patient who does not wish for it.”
“Good,” King Yokaa gasped. “Is good. Great Emperor, you my son.”
“Sir,” Sehron nodded to him and then turned to leave the room. He changed his mind and turned back, coming to the King’s bedside and leaning down to kiss the King’s slack cheek.
“Goodbye, Grandfather,” he whispered.
“My son,” the King smiled and a tear trickled from his eye. “Tell Loman.”
Senya nodded again, and then bowing slightly to Queen Moira, he swept out of the room. I immediately followed him out into the corridor where he collapsed against the wall. Loman stood there waiting.
“Come on now,” Loman barked as Senya sagged to the floor. “Get up!”
“I don’t want to,” Senya whispered. “I don’t want to do this. I’m not ready.”
“Of course you are!” Loman practically shouted. “Get up and get yourself together. Taner!” He turned on me. “You're the Lord Chamberlain now. You and Dickon get out there and make the announcement together. We’ve already discussed what you’re going to say. Go on!”
“Senya?” I asked.
“Don't Senya him anymore,” Loman ordered, reaching down to grab Senya’s arm and yank him to his feet. “Like you said, he's the bloody Emperor now, and everyone will start addressing him that way. He pulled Senya down the corridor, scolding him as they went. “You get your bloody Emperor ass to your chamber and get a few hours sleep, and in the morning when your head is clear, you will start to deal with all of this. And get rid of these human clothes. You have four closets full of beautiful Mishnese garments and you will not insult us by wearing these ridiculous human styles. And don't think you can go off and be a doctor anymore either. I told Berkan the same thing. You leave SdK to those other fellows you've got there. Berkan's place is right here dragging your ass around instead of me because I am far too old and far too tired and far too fat to be doing this. Blessed Saint, how did I get into this? Just because I promised your lady mother I would take care of you doesn't mean I have to spend my entire life kicking your ass into gear. Blessed Saint, you're the Emperor now, and it’s high time you started acting like it.”
“Loman,” Senya said hesitantly, his silver eyes shining into Loman's face. “Go sit with Yokaa.”
Loman dropped Senya’s arm and stared back at him. “What is it, son?”
“Loman…Yokaa is your father.”
It was just after 5AM, and I was working on my fourth cup of coffee. I did not sleep a wink as after the press conference with Lord Dickon, Berkan arrived, and the two of us went to the tailor shop to have new robes fashioned and then to our offices to get our bearings and start organizing even though it was the middle of the night.
“He's my bloody cousin,” Berkan said almost hysterically. “After all this time he finally decides to tell us.”
“It probably wasn’t up him,” I replied. “It was King Yokaa’s decision. Maybe even Queen Moira didn’t know.”
“Still,” Berkan mumbled, glancing through the papers left on his desk by the previous Chief of Staff. “I've been his best friend since we were twelve years old. It would have been nice if he had hinted or something. Luci and Mum are hysterical now. They both think they are princesses.”
“Well, I guess they are, aren't they?” I held my Lord Chamberlain pendant in my hand and gazed fondly at it as I had done for much of the night. It was a star-like diamond and sapphire medallion on a thick gold chain that hung mid chest. I would wear it with my dress robes. Hell, I’d probably wear it naked in the shower and outside with jeans and a t-shirt if I could. In fact, I had already snapped a few pics of it and emailed them to my mom.
“Poor dad though. Can you imagine after all these years finding out that the love of your life was your sister?” Berkan snorted and tossed the papers into a pile. “I’ll deal with this later when I can think straight again.”
We headed back to Senya's apartment and waited for daybreak. Berkan drank at least four cups of coffee, as well, but fell asleep on the sofa anyway. I sat there and looked out the picture windows at the sun rising over the ocean. The two moons were still at their zenith, causing the beach to light up in golden hues. It was beautiful. It was magical. I got up and went out on the balcony to breathe in the morning air and thank the Saint, or whoever was in charge of this life, for blessing me with such good fortune, for bringing me home to Mishnah, to this incredible palace and granting me this awesome responsibility.
“Calm yourself, Taner,” Senya said, leaning against the rail as he smoked a cigarette. “You shall wish to retract your gratitude before very long.”
“Why would I?” I shook my head with disbelief. “You’re wrong, Senya. I mean, Your Imperial Majesty.” I knelt down at his feet. “We, you, all of us are all blessed to be able to be here, to do what needs to be done to restore this planet.”
Senya exhaled a breath of smoke into the air. “Get up, Taner. I hate groveling.”
I rose to my feet and straightened my robe, leaning against the balustrade beside him. He offered me a cigarette, and I took it but didn’t light it.
“Do you know what a blessing truly is, Taner? On what authority can you speak so knowledgeably of this?”
“Well, a blessing is when…”
“It is impossible for a simple man to discern that which is a blessing, and that which is a curse, that which is granted to you by angels and that which is thrust upon you by demons. More often than not, blessings and curses appear inexplicably alike. Unfortunately, Taner, I am not wrong.”
“What are you smoking there, Senya?”
He laughed.
“Merely tobacco today, although I would dearly love something stronger.
“Maybe a few cups of coffee will do it for you,” I offered. “I recommend against having your first presser as Emperor in a state of intoxication.”
“Ach, Taner. I will always count on you to attempt to keep me focused and sane.” He straightened up and tossed his cigarette into the sand three stories below. “Too bad it won’t work.”
I wasn’t sure what he
meant by that and at the time, attributed my confusion to lack of sleep and fatigue. He turned to go back in the building. “Senya,” I called after him, holding out my unlit cig. “Your Imperial Majesty. Light up the sky again.”
He took the cigarette from my hand and crushed it between his fingers. “I don’t need to do tricks any more, Taner,” he said, letting the paper and tobacco drift harmlessly to the ground. “Not when I am about to set the whole galaxy afire.”
Two days later, Sehron left Mishnah for an overnight in Karupatani. When I retrieved him the next morning, he looked mentally and physically drained. He then departed Rehnor in an SdK plane and rendezvoused with the Allied Starship Discovery at Spacebase 42 a few hours later. Loman was furious that we allowed him to do this, to go anywhere without a contingent of security other than a few Andorians. Senya would not listen to our security concerns and made it plain to all of us that he was still capable of taking care of himself. He was as adamant about escaping from our watch as he was when he slipped out of my grasp and through the windows of the Palace when he was a child.
Unfortunately, this was the last time he left Rehnor. He would return a few weeks later, and for many years to come, he would never even leave Mishnah, except for a few brief trips to Karupatani. He lived cloistered behind the oppressive walls of the second and third floor offices in the Big House, in the newly refurbished Palace of Mishnah. He never even emerged outside except for a few moments to smoke cigarettes on the balconies attached to his rooms or in the dark of the night when he wandered the skies in search of something he never found.
Chapter 3
Katie
“Let's load up and move out,” I said. “I'm cancelling shore leave.”
“What?” Jerry cried. “Why?”
“Ambassadorial summit.” I signed off the cancelation notice and picked up my tablet to review the new orders just sent to me from Command. “Altaris II and Altaris IV are having a dispute. They've been fighting each other for centuries over the control of the third planet which is a class 2-b, Jurassic stage planet populated by some indigenous Neanderthal like creatures and a lot of dinosaur like lizards. Planets IV and II both signed a non-aggression pact with the Alliance a few years ago, but their governments changed and now they are breaking it.”
“So what are we going to do?”
The bridge personnel changed duty stations and Leroy, my First Officer stood next to my chair waiting to begin his shift. I forwarded a copy of the new orders to Leroy and then stood up and stretched. It had been a long twelve hours, most of it confined to this single chair.
“We're going to go down to Altaris III, meet with representatives from all planets and hopefully mediate something.” I grabbed my jacket and walked across the bridge to the lifts with Jerry. “We're boarding our Ambassadors and their staff right now. Excelsior is rendezvousing with us there.”
“Okay,” Jerry sighed. “I guess I'll cancel those dinner reservations I made at the best little steak house in space.”
“Oh bummer. Steak sounds good. Was it real or synthetic?”
“Real,” Jerry insisted. “I thought you and Ron would like to meet Veronica. I made reservations for the four of us.”
“Veronica?” I mused. She was a yeoman about twenty years too young for Jerry and in the middle of her first and probably last cruise. I hadn't met her, but I did read a staff captain write up that wasn't too favorable. “We’ll have to do it another time. I can’t exactly hold the ship over an extra two hours just because we’re dying for some real red meat.”
“And I thought you were the all powerful Captain,” Jerry smirked as the lift door swished open.
“My power is based solely in the prompt filing of forms and reports. If I get my Form 322-A Requisitions submitted before the rest of the fleet, we might actually get some new Ultra Definition Vids in the recreation areas to replace the ones that have been there since you and I were both ensigns. Other than that, Doctor, I am simply a paper pusher with a few extra stripes on my sleeves.”
“Is Ron still coming aboard?” Jerry asked, pushing his glasses up his nose and holding onto the hand rail as the lift whisked us laterally across the ship.
“He is aboard.” My tablet beeped with notification that our final supply packet was being loaded. We should be able to get underway within about ten minutes. “I think he went to the kindergarten to say hi to Steven.”
“Tell him to drop by and say hi to me when he gets a chance,” Jerry called and stepped off the lift as we pulled up outside of the sick bay.
“Mhm,” I mumbled, thumbing through the rest of my checklists before heading down to Meeting Room 11-2 where the Ambassadors were waiting to conference with Command and come up with our strategy for Altaris.
Two days later, we were in orbit of Altaris III. The Excelsior was on a parallel orbit in an opposite vector, so all sides of the planet were patrolled at any given moment. We were loading all four of our shuttles with security teams, a total of forty troops, two ambassadors, each with two assistants, and me. Excelsior was sending their captain, Les Komura and another forty security troops. I was standing on the bridge watching our teams set up a meeting space near a beach on the northern continent. The Altarians from both planets were landing spaceplanes on either side, and accumulating in pavilions set up for each of their delegations. Behind the meeting space was a thick jungle, the borders of which were patrolled by Spaceforce with lasers. Ambassador Flake came up beside me.
“Spaceforce personnel are not to shoot any of the life forms populating this planet,” she said. “Per Allied Council Resolution 6743, Protection of Lower Life Forms.”
“I don't think the dinosaurs care about any Allied Council Resolutions,” I replied. “If my guys are going to get eaten, they're welcome to shoot.”
She glared down at me from the tops of her 6” Manolo Blahnik heels. I got the feeling she didn’t like me, but then again, I got that feeling the other day when we first met with Ambassador Yun to lay out our plan. I didn’t particularly like her either, but then I had never had a lot of patience for politicians.
“You'll take full responsibility for defying the resolution?” she demanded, tossing back her long tresses of perfect chestnut hair. She had the kind of hair every girl with curly hair wanted, the kind you would spend hours with a flat iron trying to create. She also had legs about the entire length of my body and boobs that…well, I'm a professional; I didn't need to get into this.
Today she was wearing a long movie star type gown, which in my mind, was totally inappropriate for an Ambassador, but hey, maybe that's how she got the job in the first place.
“Sure, Ambassador,” I replied, picking at some invisible lint next to my Captain's bars. “You tell the council to come after me.”
“Well, when are we going, Captain?” she spat.
“As soon as LCDR Rogers tells me he's ready for us.” I moved toward the lift doors. “Which should be any moment, Ambassador.” I didn’t spit when I said that. She followed me and together we headed down to the shuttle bay.
“How long have you been a Captain?” she asked while in the lift.
“Longer than you've been an Ambassador.” The lift stopped, and Ambassador Yun and their staffers got on board. Ambassador Flake turned her perfect white teeth and baby blue eyes on Ambassador Yun, who, by the way, was dressed in a business suit. Thankfully, they left me alone for the remainder of the ride. At the shuttle bay, LCDR Rogers had a laser and a Glock for me.
“Who's flying our shuttle?” I asked.
“Zem.” He nodded at the Talasian Commander who was cockily leaning against Shuttle #2 and smoking a cigarette, even though it’s technically not allowed in the bay.
“Put that out, Commander,” I barked to which Zem smiled and took a long puff. I let him get away with it because there wasn’t a better pilot in the entire Spaceforce. I holstered the laser and noticed Flake watching me carefully, so I took the opportunity to examine all of the cylinders in my Glock just
to make sure they were perfectly clean.
“Why do you have two guns?” she asked.
“Because I have two hands,” I replied and waved the Glock at the shuttle door. “Climb aboard.”
“Katie wait!” Jerry called, rushing into the bay. “We need to come down with you.”
I turned around to find Jerry, Lynne and Senya carrying medical kits.
“Why?” I demanded.
“I just got a call. We've got casualties on the ground. Some giant lizard or something got a bunch of our guys.”
“Oh crap!” I moved aside and let Jerry and Lynne board but stopped in front of Senya.
“No way.” I shook my head. “You're not coming.”
“I need him, Kate,” Jerry poked his head back outside. “I've got head injuries, and there are too many for just Lynne and me to handle.”
“Where's VJ?”
“He's in the bay. Don't argue with me, Captain. I need Ron, and he volunteered.”
“No!” I declared most adamantly and grabbing Senya's arm, I pulled him into the hallway. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”
“Helping Jerry.”
“Captain, you are wasting precious time, and we've got patients to get to,” Jerry yelled.
“You cannot go down there,” I told Senya. “It's dangerous.”
“If it is so dangerous, then you cannot go down there,” he replied with arms crossed in front of his chest.
“This is my job, not yours. You know you can't be put at risk like this.”
“Neither can you. If I do not come, I forbid you from going as well.”
“You can't forbid me,” I growled. “I'm in command of this ship and you're going to stay on it!”
“What the hell are you guys fighting about now?” Jerry stormed into the hallway. “Let's go already!”
Senya walked right past me and boarded the shuttle. I debated for a moment whether or not to have him pulled off, but I saw Ambassador Flake had already sat down next to him and was rubbing her scantily clad chest against his arm.