

Chasing the Jewelled Throne

Ben Miller

Published by Smashwords

2011

The Jewelled Throne

Ben Miller

Cast of Characters

The Rebels:

Tarok Menzi Aldo's cousin President of Senate

Admiral Heren half brother to Aldo. The leader of the coup

Admiral Keeth the last conspirator

Admiral Zimmerand killed at the battle of Borealis Minor

Admiral Chun killed at the coronation attempt of Heren

Admiral Maori Menzi spy cousin of General Z. Shot by Keeth

The Menzi Emperors:

Aldo. Emperor at the time of the coup

Rulo Aldo's younger brother

Sashi. Youngest sister of Aldo

Zia. Heren's godmother. Aldo's aunt. She dealt the Admiralty their only defeat in the first eight years of the civil war.

Madlin. Aldo's wife

Mina. Oldest child, died in the Dagaz Prison

Arin. Oldest son of Aldo, captured in the battle of Starion III. Rescued and rebuilt the Empire.

Davil. Arin's little brother, mortally wounded at Vars VI.

Baraz. youngest brother, leader during the Hazey Point Battles

General Zintaurus Medio; Father of Madlin, Leader of the Palace Guardians.

Lea; sister to Madlin, aunt to most of the last emperors. Leader of the Tech-Body duringthedevelopment of all the tools used to defeat the Admiralty.

Pedra; General Z's youngest daughter, hero of Hazey Point

Mara; Grandmother of the Royal heirs

The Jewel Throne Table of Contents

Chapter 1; The Long Lost Throne

Chapter 2; The Betrayal; Zinad, LIX

Chapter 3; Aldo LX

Chapter 4; The Hawks

Chapter 5; Heren the Hammer

Chapter 6; Mara, The General's Wife

Chapter 7; Lea and Mara save the Day

Chapter 8; In the Palace

Chapter 9; The Empty Trap

Chapter 10; The Emperor's Spy

Chapter 11; Base Two

Chapter 12; The First Four Years; (from Aldo-to Rulo LXI)

Chapter 13; Sashi's New Ships

Chapter 14; Zia

Chapter 15; Madlin Regent

Chapter 16; Mina

Chapter 17; Ebb Tide; Arin

Chapter 18; Arin in Dagaz Prison

Chapter 19; The Chase is On; Davil

Chapter 20; The Last Warrion; Baraz

Chapter 21; Keeth's Fleet Arrives

Chapter 22; The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 23; The First Battle of Hazy Point

Chapter 24; The 2nd Battle of Hazey Point

Chapter 25; The Battle of Dagaz IV

Chapter 26; The Prodigal Returns

Chapter 27; A New Beginning
Chapter 28; War's End
Chapter 29; What to Do About the War Lords

Chapter 30; Keeth's Surrender

Chapter 31; Freeing Taurus

Chapter 32; Home at Last

**Chasing The Jewelled Throne**

**(Arin's Quest)**

Ben Miller

Published by Smashwords

**ISBN:** 978-1-4657-3839-4  
 **Title:** Chasing the Jewelled Throne  
 **Author:** Ben Miller  
 **Publisher:** Smashwords, Inc.

**Smashwords License Statement**   
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of science fiction. All of the characters are fictitious. All the events are fictitious as well. As far as I know, the places are fictitious. Any resemblance to battles you may have fought in or heard about is unintentionally intentional. Enjoy! Read, already!

Chapter 1; The Long Lost Throne

The howling winds of this hell hole are seen more than felt. Far below the surface, the effects of it are easily seen on the screens. Baraz was nineteen years old. Somehow, due to the foolishness of fate and men, he was the last Menzi Emperor. A young boy had become the Emperor of a dying empire at the end of its string. The mere thought of his station almost made him laugh out loud. Here on the fighting bridge, he waits with what remains of his Warrion for what may be the last battle of his short life.

He is as ready as he will ever be. He had been trained from birth to remain stoic. He knows that his troops are watching his every reaction. To distract himself from his blue thoughts, he looks out the scanning portals of these secret bunkers.

The bleak landscape of this desert planet matches his mood. He watches as the wind moans across the dunes, kicking up clouds of sand. On the horizon, the twin orange suns take one last look over the horizon at the planet's bleak landscape. The light continues to fade into a fiery borealis as first, one and then, the other sun drops below the horizon.

Immediately, he watches the fingers of frost wind their way across the shadow side of the dunes across the landscape. Camera lens tube heaters light up underneath the electronic sensors to keep the lenses clear of frost. As he watches, the chill is almost palpable as the outside temperatures begin their usual nightly drop of ten degrees per hour. This drop will continue each hour through the night, freezing any living thing solid by dawn.

The inhabitants of this planet, lizard-like beings and semi-sentient insects, cease their search for food and hurriedly begin to bury themselves deep in the nearest sand dune where they will pass the frozen night asleep. They will be reawakened by the warmth of morning's fiery dawn to return to their daily cycle.

These musings always take Baraz back. "How did this happen to me? Why am I fighting?" he thought for the thousandth time. One look around the fighting bridge and he knew. Part of him still wanted to run. Most of him understood that he had a mission. It was a silly question. He was a Menzi, after all. Leading was all he knew.

When his father's court had gone into hiding, teachers from the old Naval Academy had continued his classes. He had been raised as a warrior at war. He knew no other life.

As he watched the sunset, his mind went back over the seemingly short years of his life. When this sad tale had begun, he had been a mere babe living on the courtly edges of his father's palace. One scary night, he had been swooped up by a giant Guardian. He and his siblings, who were also children at the time, and his mother had been moved and hidden for years.

One by one, his father, his uncle, an aunt, and each of his siblings had fought and died defending this crumbling empire. Now, if the Rebel Admirals had their way, he would be the last Menzi to sit on a throne that he had no memory of ever seeing.

Chapter 2; The Betrayal

Zinad, LIX

The Empire of the Jewelled Throne had been crumbling for several generation. Despite the best efforts to the contrast, the empire was being crushed by its own size and the deterioration of the ruling family. The Empire had been built by the earliest Menzi ancestors one planet and planetary system at a time. In those days, they were a once powerful house. Over nearly a millennium, their house had ruled for 60 generations. Times had been good until the last century.

Baraz's story begins before he was born. His grandfather, Zinad LIX, was the current emperor. Zinad was a drunkard and a weakling. Complaints were constantly coming in to Zinad's court from the outer provinces. Piracy and lawlessness was becoming worse and worse each day. The news was full of reports that shocked the people of Arth. As the newsies told it, these pirates had turned themselves into warlords. They seemed to be biting off huge chunks of territory to rule as their personal empires.

This deterioration had accelerated in the last fifty years under the unsteady hands of Zinad, the 59th emperor in their line. Corruption was the way that business was done. When Zinad made any decisions at all, one could be sure that money changed hands. Any infraction could be glossed over with an appropriate exchange of credits.

Things got no better when his son, Aldo, became the 60th heir to this line. Through Aldo's own foolishness and laziness, he gradually became the emperor in name only. His rule was a sham. When he showed up at court at all, he sat drunkenly on the Jewel throne in the decision chambers day after day. He could be seen gloomily trying to rule an empire that, in his opinion, was becoming increasingly unwilling to be ruled.

Aldo could usually be found sitting slumped over on one arm of the throne looking bleakly at the constant stream of supplicants. From time to time, there would be a pause in the line. Aldo would stir and look about him. A small smile would cross his face as it would dawn on him that the day's business had ceased. Taking advantage of the pause, he would wiggle off the throne and duck down a back hallway. He would enter into his apartment. "Bath" was all he would say.

In a very short while, he would be holding a cold drink and sitting in a large warm bath being attended t by naked girls. Even though he would be quite inebriated, he would drink deeply and sink back into the bubbling pool.

Usually, he would go back in his mind to try and figure out who to blame for his predicament. As usual, he would alternate the blame between his mother and his father. The beginnings of his trouble he assigned to a night six cycles or so ago. He was so happy then. He had a wife whom he ignored except occasionally. They had given the empire six children. That should have been enough. At the point of his musings, he was reminiscing about one of his extended vacations on a nearby pleasure moon.

"Ahhh," he wold think to himself, "I miss those sylvan days of only being the prince..."

In his drunken mind, he would remember that his father had been ill for quite a while. Because of the deterioration of his health, Zinad had assigned more and more duties to Aldo, his heir and the Prince Regent. In reality choosing Aldo the situation actually got worse. Since Aldo was mostly useless, the Royal House Staff and Administrators did most of the work of ruling. Aldo was happy to let them. He would just sign where he was told.

Still, Aldo had always seen himself as over burdened. Whenever he could, he would fake some health issue and run off to his villa to rest. It was on one of these days that formed the beginning of this memory. His justification is to remember that he had decided that the pressures of being Prince Regent were overwhelming and he had to get away.

The truth was that with Aldo's bad attitude, anything that looked like work exhausted him. More and more often, Aldo would gather a few of his party buddies and headed for his private estate on the pleasure moon. They had been there nearly a week when the communication center began a beeping sound.

Tek-Mate III Belbus had instructions not to answer any calls after dark as the Prince Regent was not to be disturbed. Then she saw that it was the red line from the Empress. With a shaking hand, she answered, "Beau Font answering station. Report???"

To her great surprise, the Empress Madlin's beautiful face appeared on the screen. She spoke, "Is my son at your station?

"Why, Yes, your Majesty...I believe that he is at his villa on the other side of this fortress."

"Good. I've been looking for him for days."

Since the moon was on the other side of the planet, it was night time there. "Shall I wake him?"

The Empress knew that once he was awake, he might escape her grasp again to continue his tour of pleasure palaces. That must not happen. She put a sweet smile on her face. "No, no...Officer, you must not wake the Prince!"

Being very familiar with the results of her Empress's look of seriously, the young officer was now quite frightened for her life. Many an innocent minion had lost more than their stripes for messing with the Royal family. She bowed her head, "By your command, Empress."

In reality, the lowly Tek-Mate had no intention of violating the Prince's inner sanctum. In the twenty days that the Prince's villa had been occupied, several staff members found themselves posted at the edge of the empire for minor infractions on the wrong day (if they lived at all).

"Listen carefully, DO NOT wake him, ya silly Twit! One of my Guardians will be there by morning. You ARE however, to delay the Prince's departure, if he should awaken."

"Delay him??? How???"

"Equipment failure... ion storms... Have you no imagination?"

"By your command, my Lady. He will not leave before morning."

"Good." And her face disappeared off the screen.

The girl slumped in her seat. She took in deep breath just realizing that she had not been breathing during the Empress's call. Then, chuckling to herself, she mumbled, "That fat ass Prince ain't never rolled out of that sack before the mid day bells were piped through the fortress."

The Empress stood and turned. Walking slowly and seductively, she slipped the silken cover off and let it fall to the floor. She touched the dark skinned foot that extended out of the silken coverlets tangled around his giant form. "Oh, Cerby...is it time for more debriefing yet?"

The man in the bed lifted himself onto one elbow as turned his head to watch her walk back from her desk. He was the Praetorian of her Guardians. She called these meetings, "debriefing." He had been here now without any briefs for more than an hour.

With a loud intake of breath, he watched her remove the last piece of silk covering only a tiny part of her beautiful body. He threw the covers off. She lay across his gigantic body. He ran his dark skinned hands down her alabaster body and smiled, "Your Majesty...how may I serve Thee?"

"I need you to go get Aldo and bring him to my palace..."

"Now..?" he asked slowly.

She wiggled against his hard muscles, exciting them both, "Maybe not right now..." He covered them both with the coverlet and they got busy.

An hour or so later, they had showered and they were dressing. "So, you found him?"

"Yes. He's on Detrium III at his villa."

"Have you talked with him? Does he know how ill the Emperor is?"

"No...I've just found him. But, I now know that he's there?"

"Partying..?"

"Let's just say he's indisposed... You must be careful what you say out loud, Sir. He is after all, your next Emperor."

In a well practiced move, he zipped her back into the skin tight outfit that she had been wearing at the beginning of their meeting, "I talked to the comm. desk at the Pleasure Station. An officer there said he was on planet. I already tried his personal talker. No one answered."

"Can he get away?"

She watched him in the mirror, then, went back to straightening her hair, "No. I have had the staff disable all of the vehicles on Detrium III or anywhere near him. "

He looked at the time piece in his data terminal on the inside of his helmet, "I shall be there in an hour, Your Majesty."

She was applying makeup to cover her swollen lips and whisker burns on her neck, "Good."

"What if he won't come?"

She sidled up to him and ran her hand up his well muscled arm, "Don't be a baby. I order you to use these beautiful muscles and throw him over your shoulder. Drag him here naked if necessary." The Guardian visibly gulped.

"Move it, Mister!!! I'll wait here for your call."

"I hear and obey!" The Guardian checked to make sure he had the special comm. link that the Empress had given him at the beginning of their private "debriefing" session. (What a night that was.),

Now in full battle mode, he clanked out of the Empress's private offices ducked through her Comm Center and into an elevator to the flight deck.

"Yeoman!?!" he called.

Without waiting for a reply, he used the enhanced features of his suit of armor. His enhancements allowed him to leap the length of the hallway through the half gravity of the Empress's private space station. She had convinced herself that as long as her trysts were off planet than she was breaking no vows to her dying husband.

He flipped the blue button on his wrist unit to open the all call channel. "Reply!"

"Aye, Chief!" A squadron of Guardians replied.

"We are jumping...Bring a rifle squad.

Pointing at three other guardians along the way, "You three... come with me! The rest of you slimes break this unit down and get this barge to Detrium III in twenty or find some where to hide because there's some serious stink coming off the royals. GO!."

A single man flyer was fuelled and ready for him. He jumped in, plugged his armor into the extended controls and the jet leaped off the deck, heading for the skies

The men snapped to ready positions, powering up their armor enhancements, "Aye, aye, Chief." When the word had come through the grapevine that the Prince had been located, they had begun stowing their gear. By the time their Praetorian was done debriefing, his crew was already at "mission go" status. Grabbing their giant boxes of gear, these mechanized giant warriors were aboard their waiting transport and headed for the other side of the planet to the man made moon where the Prince's villa was. Burning bright, the larger transport chased after their boss. They arrived at the villa just ticks behind him.

They headed for the Prince's villa. They were passed with out pause through every portal until they were at the Prince's door. Within moments of their arrival, Aldo's reverie was disturbed by loud knocking on the carved wooden door. He unwound himself from the nubile bodies that lay sprawled about the giant bed and waddled naked to the door.

"Who disturbs our royal sleep," he bellowed at the hulking figure of the giant Guardian.

The Guardian bowed low, "I am sorry, Your Most High Majesty, but your Most High Empress calls..."

"OUR Mother..? You disturb our sleep with lies...why I'll..."

Without a word, the Guardian took his communicator off his cluttered belt and snapped it open. With his giant armored hand, he clicked a red button that was lit and pushed the screen into Aldo's hand. He gaped as his mother's face swam into view. "Mother..." he sputtered.

"My darling baby...Your father has taken a turn for the worse. I have given instructions for your Guardians to bring you here forthwith."

"But... but... I would have been home in few hours...this was to be the last day of my vacation!" he whined.

Chapter 3; Aldo LX

"Your father needs you, baby..." she pleaded.

His face darkened, "That old bastard has never needed any one but a bit of shank now and again."

At the mention of her husbands disregard for their marriage vows as evidenced by the desire for an endless parade of younger females, her lips tightened. Then, her face softened. Shrewdly, her voice was quiet, "Whether he needs you or not, baby, your mommy needs you here now... Won't you please hurry?"

He had heard that tone before. When his mother's voice used a nice tone of sweetness, heads were about to roll. The only terrors of his privileged childhood had come when he had ignored that tone and not responded appropriately. Since she was still calling him Baby, then, for now, he was not headed for the bright fires of her fury. Someone was in some deep trouble tonight. "Probably Daddy's latest lady in waiting" he said to no one. He wouldn't miss that show for any thing,

"Yes, Mother...we hear and obey!"

Behind him, his care takers were holding towels. The Guardians were following their orders to not let the Prince out of their sight. They stood at attention by the door. He ignored them while he let the girls bathe him and dry him. Other girls, also naked, dressed him. He allowed them to comb and dress his hair. Finally, in a shirt and pants, he sat down for some soft slippers. Within a few minutes, he was decent.

Aldo spoke to his Chief of Staff, "I'll prepare properly on the flight to Arth..."

"What about them, Sire?" sweeping his hand over the scattered males and females sleeping drunkenly about the room.

Aldo shrugged, "If they notice that I am gone, bring them to my central Palace. They are my true friends. If they don't, send them to prison planets... They weren't my friends anyway...just some whores and ne'er do wells that I found at other parties..." With out another word, he stalked through the door that was quickly swung open in front of him by one of the Guardians.

Out in the hallway a litter was set up to be carried by 10 strong barely clothed females. The Guardians took up defensive positions at the corners and they all took off running for a large elevator and were whisked up to the flight deck on the roof. The litter team ran like a trained machine through several portals on to a large drop down ramp at the back of a huge flyer. The ramp raised up, closing with a thump as the passed in.

The tiny ship raised gently up as the passengers strapped in. The girls locked the Prince's litter to clamps on the deck. Then they rushed to the back for their own seats. There were only eight seats. Cursing under their breaths, the last two girls stumbled back to the front using hand and foot holds. They locked themselves into clamps on the belt of the flimsy outfits they wore.

Once all were secure, the ship gained speed and altitude. The two of the females who had lost at musical chairs were serving wine and bits of cake to the Prince. They were feeding it to him like a baby. The Guardian noticed the other girls were drawing straws. One after the other, they either quietly jumped for joy or slump their shoulders in depression.

Once the ship was free of the planetoid's thin atmosphere, the ship was flown expertly into a special docking station of a Royal Barge. Once the smaller vessel was firmly attached, the large ship powered up for the hyper space trip home. Inside the Prince's ship, another portal opened and a smaller litter was viewed waiting for him. The Prince waddled and whined over to the new litter. The girls all gathered around him carefully in the reduced weight environment. They helped their prince into the smaller littler. The antigravity units were turned on and his female handlers were able to just guide it to his apartments in the center of the barge without having to carry him.

The prince loved being in space. "Ahhh, I feel light as a feather." Every one around him knew that this meant that he didn't feel the oppression of his fat overwhelming him. On the Royal Barge, the crew hated when he was aboard because he insisted on ¼ gravity.

Once back at his apartments on Arth, the prince was taken into his dressing room. Aldo, as the oldest son, was redressed in Court Finery. As soon as he was properly dressed, he was hustled to his father's bedside. In horror, he watched the last breaths of his father. He knew it was an early death from drink and debauchery. Like his son, Zinad had become his own worst enemy. Born to a life of privilege, they both cared little for their duty to their subjects. They lived only for their daily pleasures.

Sadly, in their defense, neither Zinad nor Aldo had been prepared to rule. In fact, neither should have been chosen for this or any position that required a decisive leader. Both had the wrong temperament. Neither had a single shred of ethics or morals that any one could find.

To make the situation even worse, it had been clear from his birth, that Aldo had inherited only the worst traits from his father. With each passing day, it became the general feeling of the Galactic Senate that Aldo was the least fit man to rule this empire that any one could have chosen.

Aldo knew that his father had many other children from his many dalliances, but he was the oldest legitimate son. His own mother had been forced to adopt many of his father's children. A year ago, his father had named him successor. This was reiterated in a ceremony just before his death. Now, he, at the tender age of 27, automatically became the 60th Menzi to ascend to the Jewel Throne.

Since then, he had continued the worst policies of his besotted father. Bored with the drudgeries of day-to-day politics, the running of the empire was left to anyone who would curry his favor. These people were left to their own devices. As long as the money came in regularly, these governors could do what they wished with their territories.

Unrest was rampant. In all quadrants pirate bands and warlords sprang up. As long as bribes were paid, they ruled their planets as they wished with out being seriously bothered by empirical security forces. In space, pirates terrorized the outer fringe inhabitants and raided Navy bases at will. In some cases, it was the Naval officers and sailors themselves who revolted and formed the warlord's fighting forces. It seemed as if everyone had their hand out to squeeze as much as possible as long as they could.

On the far side of the palace, was a gigantic building known as the Galactic Senate. These elected officials were harassed every day with calls from their home planets for the Emperor to act. As these calls continued to go unanswered, a segment of the fringe area Senators formed a growing faction, These fringe Senators followed a militant line of thinking and soon were known by the newsies as the Hawks. They did not see themselves as anything but good citizens doing their jobs and were committed to trying to get the Emperor to increase military spending to try and return order to the Fringe.

The Emperor was too busy holding grand parties and fooling with his mistresses to be concerned with a few backwater Senators. As more ships defected to Pirate and Warlord bands, the Navy continued to dwindle in ships and manpower. The Security Committee under the strong hand of Heren Menzi, conspired to create opportunities to hold secret meetings with Hawk Senators.

At first, Aldo's bastard half-brother, Admiral Heren made a great show of appearing to be invited to the meetings. In reality, Heren was both the instigator and choreographer of those meetings. He made great use of his notoriety as a the top Naval officer in the Empire. Publicly, it was stated that he was the considered to be an expert witness on what was not being done by the Emperor to save his own Empire. Laws were passed by the Senate on their recommendations and sent to the Emperor.

Heren's best patsy was to make use of the emperor's cousin, Tokar Menzi. Tokar was president of Senate. Well, he was really a sort of a poor relation cousin to Aldo Menzi. He was the only grandson of an unmarried favorite mistress to Aldo's grandfather, Zaster, the 58th emperor in this line. Aldo's grandfather had blessed Tokar's political aspirations and bankrolled his way to his first Senate seat. From that point on, it was Tokar's own moxie and political skill and acumen had led him to be the President of that body twenty cycles later. In that capacity he had served the next three emperors.

Today, he had come to the Palace because it was his job to appear almost daily to report on the imperial business to the Emperor. He fidgeted as he waited. He had brought a book with him to read, but, he was too nervous. As the president of the Senate, he was used to the waiting, but, this new bill was going to really upset his cousin. Listening to the sounds from the Emperor's chambers, he could hear laughter and music.

"Bathing my foot," he thought. After a long wait, he was ushered into the Royal Garden.

He bowed low before the Emperor, "You are looking well, Sire."

Aldo didn't even look at his cousin. He grabbed his golden goblet and poured wine into his face, drips ran unheeded, "Do I really, cousin? With all of the pressures of office, I feel older every day."

"Nonsense, Sire. You have grown better with each year."

Tokar looked at the grossly obese man sitting on the throne before him. Standing there in front of this wastrel, he felt a little ill. He thought back to Aldo's grandfather (and his). Now there was a man fit to lead this Empire. "These days," he thought sadly, "after two generations of sloth and dissemination, we are stuck with this weakling. Oh well."

He stepped forward, hoping to hurry his business along, "Sire, I have come to deliver the Senate's view on the increasing tensions of the Perimeter."

"Work, work, work! That's all I ever do," Aldo whined.

"Yes, Sire. I am aware of your busy schedule. None the less, I must beg a little of your time to read these documents." The old senator handed Aldo a file. On top of the file was a sheet of lextex. On the sheet each law was summarized in one line. Tokar knew that Aldo could usually be coaxed to read one line. He would never read any more than that.

Aldo, though already drunk, tried very hard to concentrate on the words before him. As he read, his face became redder and redder.

"How dare you bring me this sedition!" he sputtered.

"Sedition, Sire? There is no treason here. Our poor forgotten and ignored citizens of the Perimeter are simply requesting a miniscule increase in the Naval patrols to open up shipping lanes and fight pirates!" Tokar had raised his voice without knowing.

Aldo tore the document in two and then again and threw the pieces at Tokar.

"I spend far too much of MY precious money on my half brother's damned Navy now! We have expenses of our own to worry about. Why does your esteemed body not raise the taxes for the Perimeter planets to pay for these increased patrols, eh? No! That would be too easy. Let's bleed the old Emperor some more! Now, get out of here before We lose our temper and have you all arrested!"

Shocked and horrified, Tokar bowed quickly, "By Your command, Sire! I am so desperately sorry!" Not turning his back, he exited the room and the building.

Aldo stormed around the garden looking for something to damage. Then, he remembered her name.

"Tisha?" he called softly. Tisha was his latest nymphet, hiding in the bedroom. She had seen him like this all too often lately. The out come for her was never good. Finally, he found her.

"So, when I need you most you are hiding."

She wrapped her arms around him and pulled his head down to her breast. "Why would I hide from the most loving man in the Empire?" she cooed.

He pushed her to the floor. "Why indeed. I picked you up in the gutter. I made you a fine lady. This is how you repay me?" He grabbed her by her long curly hair.

"No, my liege, I will do what ever you need," she begged. He was remarkably strong for some one so dissipated

"You must be taught not to hide from your master." He dragged her down the hall. He dragged the naked, crying girl to the desk of the Sergeant of the Guard, "Send this bit of baggage back to her mother. I will not have anyone around who doesn't appreciate me fully."

The man smiled cruelly, "Yes, Your Majesty." The girl fainted.

He had done this many times. Every couple of weeks, his Emperor would grow tired of one of his "ladies" and she would be dragged kicking and screaming down the hall to this desk for disposal. He had worked and schemed for years to get this post just for the pure enjoyment of these moments, seeing these blue blood bitches brought to their knees. He knew the Emperor wouldn't mind if his men had some sport with the girl before she was shipped back to her wee mum. The Sergeant motioned for another man to take his post.

That man smiled softly. He knew that he would have a turn coming to satisfy him self at the expense of a bit of royal fluff. "Room one is empty, Sar'nt. Sound proofed, too!"

"Excellent!" The Sergeant picked the tiny girl up gently. She was as small as a child in his gigantic arms. With a look at the receding back of the Emperor as he waddled back toward the throne room, the soldier ducked quickly through a hidden door into the barrack area behind the desks. He passed rows of barred rooms with sad faced girls who looked up and then down quickly.

They were embarrassed that they were filled with relief and guilt. They dropped their heads to hide the look that passed over each face as they knew what was in store for the newest member to their little zoo and relief that the Guards attention would be on someone else tonight.

The Emperor had already forgotten her. She, however, would never forget the next few days. Aldo paid no attention to the business in the back sound proofed rooms in Barrack One. His mind was on his own problems. He now knew what he must do to show those rotters in the Senate.

He called for a litter to take him to their end of the palace grounds. At the door to their chambers, the Portal Guardian was stunned to see who was at his desk. "Let me in right now!" Aldo screamed in a high pitched voice.

"Yes, Sire," he stuttered.

The Knight at Arms had barged in to the back of the Senate Chamber and yelled, "All rise for the Emperor," his collar mike broadcast the call throughout the chamber.

Immediately all business stopped as Tokar rushed to the Portal to escort the Emperor to the dais. The Knight hit a secret button. The strains of "Jewel Throne Forever" were heard through out the room. Aldo, LX, staggered to the dais.

First, Tokar hit a button to call all the Senators in from their offices. Then he hit another button to raise the step behind the dais so that the emperor could be seen by the full senate. While this was going on, Senators were pouring in to the Chamber from their offices to see what the fuss was about. An aide adjusted the microphone to the Emperor's height.

The Emperor glared from one side to the other. The sound of, "For sixty generations the House of Menzi has ruled this Empire" echoed through the hall. The statement was met with mixed applause.

"The Jeweled Throne will not be auctioned off to fight a few pirates." Now a few boo's were mixed into the applause.

"My bastard half-brother's Navy is well enough equipped to face this menace." Following this back handed mention of his brother Heren's name, applause and whistling erupted.

Aldo was encouraged by this out burst, thinking the Senators were cheering him, he continued, "We are not amused by this attempt to throw our money anywhere but where we say." Mixed boos and polite applause were heard in the room.

"We are sorely pressed to understand how a few Senators can ruin your beloved Emperor's day."

Now the crowd was clearly booing and cat calling these words. Aldo let the bedlam die down.

"We are offended!" He pounded on the podium as boos rained around him.

"I am hereby disbanding this body until further notice." More pounding and more boos.

"Be thankful that my infinite mercy keeps me from throwing you all in jail for attempting to tell our majestic self how to spend our money." He then staggered out of the chamber. Behind him, the Senate was in an uproar.

His half brother did happen to be in the building. Another meeting of the Hawks had been called. When the all call light had interrupted a meeting, he had slipped quietly into the balcony. He was no longer waiting his turn to testify. He wanted to watch the show. He was disturbed by the reference to to his bastard status.

He did not need to be reminded that he was, after all, Admiral Heren Menzi, Military Chief of Staff. He was very glad now to have been accidentally called as a witness before the secret sub committee that day. Now, he saw his chance. He slipped out of the chamber and, gathering his staff, immediately sent them to carefully chosen offices. In hours, he began to gather support among the Senators. Because of his previous secret meetings, he now knew which Senators were most in favor of his position.

The emperor had added many Senators to the dissident's camp when he made the supreme mistake of dissolving their body. The viddy had captured the whole escapade and even fence sitting senators were knocked into their side of the argument after the Emperor had thoroughly embarrassed back in their home providences.

The final straw came from the Admiral Heren. He won the last group over by promising that when he was Emperor, he would reinstate the Senate. This brought the rest of the Senators in line. The Senators had grown tired of Aldo's mismanagement.

# Chapter 4; The Hawks

Two years ago, a dedicated band of men met and formed a commission. This group began a careful campaign. The leaders were all royals and sub royal. All were of the family of Menzi. This new band of rebels (they called themselves Hawks) was able to convince more and more senators that only a completely new leader could save the Empire. What the Senators did not know was that their were helping the chaos to increase.

While his cousin was visiting the Emperor, Heren sat in his Admiralty office and watched the viddy reports. He looked around him and cursed at the marble and dark wood walls. To anyone else, this opulent office would have been enough. For a lesser man, the chance to be the head of all security and armed forces of the empire would have been the job of a life time.

But he wasn't any man. He was a deeply bitter man. He cursed his luck for the thousandth time, "My younger brother sits upon my throne. Simply due to the fact that HIS mother was married to MY father and MY mother was merely his favorite concubine." He threw his glass into the fire place sending burning alcohol flying every where.

After his tirade in the Senate, Aldo went to see his mother. He cried on her shoulder like a baby. Finally she was able to console him. She spoke softly to him and stroked his hair, "Aldo, ma bambino, your father, may he rest in peace, tried to disband the Senate, too."

He turned his tear stained face up to hers, "He did?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"This Empire is too big to run alone. Even he, in all his magnificence could not do it. He eventually had to reinstate the senate."

He was shocked, "Just like that! No punishments?"

"He said if there was any more sedition, he would have them all killed and get new Senators."

He stood and shook himself like a dog. "I like it! Thanks, Mama!" and he was off.

Tokar was surprised the next day to be standing in the Throne Room waiting to be noticed by the Emperor. The Emperor was eating and talking to a girl barely of the age of consent. The girl was wearing nearly nothing at all. His cousin was fondling her and she was expected to comply.

She knew what happened to girls who did not, so she laughed and giggled and kissed him even though she was naked and they were not alone. Finally, Aldo noticed his cousin, "Cousin," he spoke pleasantly as if nothing had happened before.

Tokar had let his mind wander to try to ignore the girl and the activities in front of him. He thought back. They were cousins, but, too much had happened for him to truly wish to serve this beast of a man. He bowed, "Your Majesty. You asked for me?"

Even after reinstatement of the Senate, the members failed to trust Aldo and continued to see Heren as that savior.

Thus over the next seven months, Heren formed and solidified a coalition that he thought would be strong enough to overthrow his half brother. Once he was able to convince enough people that his claim was legitimate, he felt strong enough to make his move.

Heren had no fear of his staff. The other Admirals had also lost all faith in the Crown's ability to hold the Old Empire together. Their choice for the next emperor was simple. Since childhood, as boys at school, they had followed Heren Menzi. They had named him "the Hammer" in school for his exploits and his temper. They knew that his claim was probably legitimate. After all, every one knew that his father was the 59th Emperor. They had known the emperor was a notorious womanizer. The Emperor, through his sister, had sponsored Heren to the Academy. And Zinad's sister, Princess Zia was his godmother?

Heren called them together. They met in an out of the way palace on a small moon. When Heren arrived, they were milling about the room chatting nervously. They snapped to attention when he strode into the room pulling off his great coat and cap and pitching them onto a chair, "Admiral on the deck!"

Heren smiled at his men, "As you were, Gentlemen." Without missing a step, he strode to the head of a long table and sat. As he was moving to his chair, they quietly moved to their places and sat quietly.

They held a brief meeting to discuss their view of the situation and Heren's plans for the future. "Gentlemen... From this moment, I intend to risk everything to save the Empire."

"Hoo rah!" they replied simultaneously.

"Do you people understand that if we proceed, we will be signing our own death warrants?"

"Hoo rah!"

"If any of you have other plans for your future...Just turn and go. We all took the same oath. Nothing will be said." To a man, they vowed to follow Heren to new glory in his New Empire.

Finally Heren thought his position was strong enough to make his move. The Admirals filed in slowly. Each one saluted the head of the table where Admiral Heren already sat. How could they not believe that he was the dead Emperor's son? He had the Menzi curly hair, now turning grey, a much firmer chin than Aldo, and had he not always been their leader even when they were mere boys at school?

The ward room rang with the sound of highly polished boots. The sound echoed in this room be4cause it was designed for all the Admirals and their respective staffs. This would be a meeting of the Admirals alone. Secrecy was of paramount value. What they decided today would mean their lives and the lives of countless others.

Creatures of habit, the men distributed themselves around the huge table in their usual places. Heren looked down the long table usually filled with faces and laughed gently to him self. He motioned them to come forward and sit tight by his side. He stood up and took off his jacket and the other men did too. The dress uniform jackets that they wore were laid over the backs of empty chairs, medals jingling and sparkling in the light. In this room were the heroes of the Empire, defenders of the borders, and after tonight, the most heinous criminals in several centuries.

There was little discussion and little need for any. After a short time, Heren distributed the bits of paper, two to each man, one blank and one with a black ball on it. Each man folded one of the pieces and passed it to the head of the table. He looked at the grim faces around him. There was Keeth the faithful, Zimmerand the dogged, Maori the worrier, and Chun the inscrutable one.

He knew by their attitudes that there was no need to count the slips of paper sitting before him. Still, to give himself time to calm his voice before he had to speak, he made a good show of counting. They were unanimous, blackballs on each and every one.

He was elated and scared to death all at the same time. "By this time tomorrow, I will sit on the Jeweled Throne as Heren I. I have wanted this all my life. My degenerate half brother and his pox ridden brood will die by the laser swords of my vaulted Fleet Marines, and I will triumphantly make my way to my rightful place. No longer will I have to feel the shame of being the bastard son of a dead Emperor."

"Gentle men...We have our plan. You know your roles... Please make ready and wait for my signal." After that, the Admirals made their way around the table to shake his hand. One by one, they headed out to take their places for tomorrow's mission. Heren mused quietly about how he had gotten there and how far he had come.

Chapter 5; Heren the Hammer

The fire that would one day ravage an Empire had begun as a tiny flame. It had burned in him slowly, yet it would not die. It began far back in his earliest memories. The other children were always teasing him because he had no father. His mother, always lying to hide her own shame, told him that his father had died in a mining accident before he was born. There was always an anger that he felt at the hand this life had dealt him. Every time he saw one of his friends out playing in the park or going on outings with their dads, the flame would jump a little higher.

Then, as if his life was not hard enough to bear, at the tender age of only ten, his mother had been stricken with a horrible wasting disease. He watched her die slowly over a period of nearly a year. As her last days drew near, his mother became too sick even to get out of bed anymore. He never left their mean little place for fear that she would die before he could return.

One night, she called to him in a little voice to come quickly. He ran from his bedroom to hers to find her sitting up looking very strangely at him. "There is something that I must tell you about your father," she said softly. "He is not dead. he is Prince Zinad, heir to the Jeweled Throne. When I was sixteen, I was a hand maiden to his sister, Zia. He was so charming to me that I thought I was in love. After he had spoiled my love, he just threw me away. I was heart broken and told his sister what had happened."

"No," cried Heren, "you're making this up. If what you say is true, then I can never join the Navy and get out of this stinking ghetto that we live in. I will be hunted down to protect them from my claim to their Throne! I am the eldest child, after all."

"My darling son, I would never have allowed that to happen. When Zia found out, she got me quickly married off to one of the kitchen techs. On our honeymoon, a gift from Zia, he fell down a mine shaft and was killed. His name is the one you bear and his little pension is the one we live on now. No one, except my dear friend Zia, knows about you or your true parentage. She has always hated her brother's habits. She was unable to bear any children of her own and loves you dearly.

She has arranged for you to go to the Naval Academy. She is your god mother and has vowed to protect you, if only to spite Zinad. You must make us all proud of you." She then kissed his softly and died.

He covered his mother's ashen face, kissed her bony hand, and walked out of that room thinking what a burden she had carried all these years, protecting him from this shame, hiding her only son from sudden death as a pretender to the throne.

For Heren now realized that he was the fourth in line to ascend that Jeweled Path. If only the world could know the truth. He vowed that someday every living Menzi would pay for the life that she had lived. Somehow he must make them pay.

The group of people waiting outside the bedroom could tell by the look on his face that she was gone. Women began to cry. His Aunt Silvie had come only yesterday from her home to wait. His mother had told her that it wouldn't be long now and someone must be there for Heren. He had always loved Silvie. They thought that she would be the best choice to be around for comforting him.

Without a word, he walked slowly over and curled up in her ample lap and cried himself to sleep. She rocked him for a time, knowing that he had not slept well in months. He has been so brave she thought, working so hard trying to comfort his mother in her last days.

The next morning, they went to the funeral together, holding each other tightly.

That afternoon, when the house was cleared of consolers and they were finally alone, she took his little hands in her two meaty one and said, "Heren, my sweet, your uncle and I have always loved you like one of our own. We would like you to come and live with us in Taraz. We have plenty of room. It would be just fine. You'll see."

"No!!!" he cried, "It was arranged by Princess Zia and my mother that I should be attending the Navel Academy Prep School."

"But, baby, you are too young to be flitting off half a galaxy to that school. When will I see you? Who will take care of you?"

"I am too grown up to need someone to take care of me," Heren said proudly. "I have been taking care of myself just fine these past months. I must go to this school. Its graduates have the inside track to the Imperial Naval Academy. It is the only way that I can fulfill my mother's dying wish."

This was an argument that Silvie could not defend against. She had lost that little boy forever. He knew that she could not go against her sister's will, and he held her while she cried. He knew she was secretly glad that he wouldn't be coming to Taraz. He was aware of her opinions of the Naval life. She probably was afraid that her darling, little Bert would get ideas about running off following him into the Academy.

They spent the next days getting rid of here sister's house and shipping things home to Taraz to store for Heren. They separated at the Jump Port, both he and Silvie acting brave and promising to write often.

Heren followed the instructions in the packet that had been given to him after his mother's funeral by an Imperial messenger. In it he found Jump stamps, rooms to rest from the sickness, and meal chits at good restaurants along the way. The Imperial Seal got him the best meals and rooms as he made his way on the Jump Path to Naval Prep.

When he got to school, he was immediately immersed in his new life. The Head knew that he was newly orphaned. He was determined that Heren would be too busy to feel sorry for himself. He did wonder how an orphan from the edge of the galaxy could become the godson of an Imperial princess. "I'll bet that is quite a story," he thought.

Every Friday, Heren would write Silvie all about his new life. Silvie loved those letters. They broke the monotony of her home life, and she didn't have to sacrifice her little Bert to get it.

Heren almost forgot his hatred. Here at school no one had families. Each boy or girl was lost and on their own. Since Heren had been on his own longer, he was already practiced at this. As the Menzi blood flowed through his veins, he made easy use of his natural born leadership skills and quickly earned rank over his fellow classmates.

It was only at holidays that he might have felt inadequate with no where to go, but thank his lucky stars for Silvie. Every holiday, there was a ticket at the desk for a vacation trip home. At last, he was just one of those Naval Cadets, those really cool guys, trying to look taller in their dress blues, hoping the looked suave for all the girls in the Jump Ports that they would beam through. When they got back, they bragged of how many Jumps they could take without having to take those foul tasting sick pills and how many girls they had dated while on leave.

All through those school years, he developed a strong circle of mates. Those people learned and practiced skills that served them well. Through one minor war after another, they served and fought together. Watching each other's flanks, the ones who survived those battles rose as one. Political skills were used as well as they collectively moved up through Naval ranks.

The ones who survived were the men plotting with him now. Their careers had been tied to his and now they would rule together or die trying. He would make them each a rich and powerful Quadrant Governor when this war was over. He would need strong leaders such as these to actually rule.

Two forms below Heren was a student named Aldo Menzi. he was a constant reminder of what Heren was trying to forget. He was the oldest legitimate son of the Emperor. In truth, he was Heren's half brother. What bothered Heren the most was that Aldo outranked him simply because he was the Crown Prince.

Aldo was never required to do much at the Academy. He slept late and studied little. The Emperor had sent him there trying to keep him out of trouble. It didn't work. With Aldo's temperament, that was impossible. He was often up on charges for bullying younger male cadets. Female cadets were forever charging molestations.

As the ranking officer in the school's brigade, he was simply impossible to be around. His special pleasure came from riding the boys that had achieved rank by their merit. Heren, as the best cadet around, received the worst treatment. The flame that had almost died burned anew with this abuse. Heren went to sleep at night dreaming of the tortures that he would someday wreak on the Menzi family for all these injustices.

The happiest day of Heren's life was the day he graduated with top honors from Prep with a full scholarship to Naval Command College. He also found out that day that Crown Prince Aldo was retiring from the service to pursue studies in the Diplomatic Academy. The whole brigade turned out for a party in Aldo's honor. As Prince Aldo sat at the head of the table, he did not even suspect that these revelers were celebrating their own liberation even more than his retirement.

Heren shook his head to clear the past from his mind. "I've got too much to do to be sitting here thinking about things long gone," he thought to himself. Sitting up straight in his chair, tightening his tie, Heren smiled to himself. "I've got one more retirement party for you to attend, my brother," he mused wryly.

Chapter 6; Mara, The General's Wife

Mara Medio was the wife of the General of the Guardians of the House of Menzi. She was also a mother three times over. Her oldest daughter, Madlin was the Empress. Her youngest, Lea, was a major general of the Tech-Body. Mara had also been a researcher there many years ago. When she could, she would come by to see her old friends and to have lunch with Lea, of whom she was very proud, as was the General. Pedra, who was later to create heroic solutions, was still in school.

She was nervous these days. He tried to fool her, but, she had known something was up long before the old man would ever tell her. In almost forty years of marriage, he had gotten very little, good or bad, past her.

Then one day she was called to lunch at the Palace. Although Empress Madlin had tried to act nonchalant, a tone of great tension could be heard in her daughter's voice. Madlin met her, making a grand entrance as usual, dressed in her newest gown just as her mother's private flitter to set down on the pad outside.

Looking quickly into the shiny gold mirrored windows, she gave herself the once over. "Not bad," she thought, "for an old gramma." She noticed a slight wisps of gray creeping into her auburn tresses. She inspected her hips, "Just a little plumper than she preferred. But, hey, after all, I am a gamma and grandbabies prefer a soft lap for those special hugs," she told herself. With that final approval, she shut the door and headed for the Palace.

At the Palace, she was astounded by the activity. Trying to appear normal, the Guards could be seen rebuilding every guard post, putting in those new Laser Batteries that Lea's Blue Team had perfected. It was told to the Sun Down Reporters that it had been almost fifty years since the Guard areas had been refurbished and that this was just a cosmetic face lift.

Since the new Batteries were unknown outside of the Tech-Body, they believed the story. Mara had to admit that the Lasers, newly recovered in the old Laser Battery covers really did look the same. What the Crown had not told the reporter was that they had they were working day and night to complete the project.

Mara and Madlin walked arm in arms escorted into the Empress's private chambers. There, already seated were her husband and daughters, Lea and Pedra. Just after she entered, the Emperor and all of his children came in surrounded by new camera crews. The excuse to bring all the children in from far flung homes around the galaxy was the birthday of their grandmother.

Mara played along for the cameras, acting surprised and delighted, know full well that the Emperor would not have called the dogs in to honor his mother-in-law. Aldo had barely spoken to her in years. The situation keeping her husband up nights must be of the gravest of importance. Also, it wasn't even her birthday.

As soon as the news crews were gone and pleasantries had been exchanges, the luncheon was served. The Empire could be crumbling around him, but nothing would hold up Aldo's meal time.

It did Mara's heart good to see her family. She was feeling so good that she would include the Emperor in that circle, just this once. To see them all together at a table gossiping, teasing and plainly enjoying themselves warmed her heart. Even the General relaxed for awhile, basking in the adoration of his family.

Mara was most concerned about her Madlin. She had her father's auburn hair and hazel eyes. Today though, she looked so pale that Mara was afraid her health was going. Living with that man would wear out a saint, she fumed.

After coffee and a large Vesuvius Brandy for Aldo, they went into Madlin's private library where gifts were opened for the news crews. Mara knew that whatever the real reason for this gathering, nothing could be worked out until all the photographers were gone. This process completed, finally alone, all eyes turned to the General.

She watched him as he began to speak, "We have begun receiving reported that the Admiralty. They are chafing under the last round of budget cuts from the Royal coffers. My bastard brother has begun organizing a coup. They have much support from the Hawks in the Royal Senate who feel that the Empire is being put in too grave of danger by these cuts."

"Our spies tell me that Heren has spoken three times in the last two months to secret panels of Senators playing up the dangers to outlying sectors if they lack the ability to patrol and react to uprisings."

The Emperor was his usual arrogant self, "Why...why, that's preposterous. Who are these traitors? We will have their heads. I was with Heren at school. He was always loyal and spoke so highly of my Aunt Zia, his god mother."

His father in law spoke evenly as if speaking to an idiot child, "Never the less, Sire. It has come to my attention that the Admiral that you speak so highly of is really your half-brother. If that were true there are some who might say that he is the real 60th Emperor of your line. He says that you stole the Jeweled Throne from him."

Aldo staggered to his feet, "There is no right of ascendancy for bastards. I have spent my life hunting and ridding this Empire of my father's illegitimate spawn. By the stars, I get so tired of these pretenders. Have him arrested and brought before me."

General Z looked down at his son-in-law. He searched those rum soaked eyes, looking for something to cling to, some bit of leadership. He had wanted so desperately that this man would snap out of his dream world when faced with a real challenge. He got no such assurance. "On what charge, Sire?"

"Well, treason or blaspheming my father's memory, whatever you can find. You just bring him here," he raved, clearly entering his usual state of inebriation.

Knowing that it was futile, the old general continued to try and be sensible, "Sire, we have no proof. Up until now, we have only heard stories. I have made contact with my cousin. He is an Admiral on Heren's staff. He is not thrilled nor does he support the Admiralty's positions in this matter. I have equipped him with the new Super Scrambler Spy Radio. We will not get detailed reports daily from inside the Admiralty. When we have enough data to go on, then we can arrest the lot of them and nip this revolution in the bud."

Mara saw the Emperor nod and then his head dropped onto his chest. In a chair designed just for him, the Empress pushed a button and hydraulic motors stretched it out into a bed.

General Z then began to explain a plan that they hoped would never be needed. They broke each unit down and created specific plans about escape routes that they would be taking. For his grandchildren, he had set up escape teams to come and get them at their various homes and schools.

Each had a code word to learn. When they heard this word, they were to follow that person, asking no questions, because that meant that they failed to stop the coup and their lives were in grave danger.

Mara watched her husband and patriarch of this clan working feverishly to get his babies to understand this was not a game. His long, lean frame folded so uncomfortably over to look into their little faces so that he could whisper his instructions. His graying head tucked in among all those little curly ones was so dear to her now.

They must be made to understand that some people wanted them dead, but wherever they went many more people would give their life to keep them alive. She marveled, as she always had, at how organized he was when it came to solving a puzzle, and, if possible, she loved him even more.

Returning home, she began to organize their little family. Pedra must call in every time she changed location. Her mother knew what this would do to her very active love life. Pedra needed no explanation beyond the look on her father's face when he had told her the plans for her. Mara saw her husband wink.

Then, he pressed into her had a prize almost beyond belief. It was a Royal Guard Palm Buzzer. Fitted into the meatiest portion of the palm attached to nerves it would vibrate your whole palm when activated. If tingling, she should get home immediately.

Chapter 7; Lea and Mara save the Day

Lea left the Palace in a dark mood. She went to headquarters and immediately called the leadership of both her Blue Team and her father's White Team into the conference Auditorium. "People, I have it on highest authority that the Admiralty is about to mutiny and attempt a coup."

She waited for the outbursts to die down, "We are in big trouble. It is a matter of life and death that this entire building must be able to be cleared in under an hour. I want wheels placed on every work table. Practice drills will begin tomorrow. Construction will start immediately on dedicated Jump Tubes. Everything we need to move must fit into those Tubes."

She activated her light board. Diagrams and charts were gone over.

"How much time do we have, Director?"

"I don't know. We are actively searching for those answers. Now, squad leaders will work with their squads to make your loads as efficient and mobile as possible. The destinations will be secret. All members with families will be given special Jump Passes for those families."

The rest of that day she spent working with squad leaders, getting their individual squads lined out. Each squad leader had left to visit each family personally. Together each member of the Tech-Body must understand that, if attacked, they would be the first targets of the Navy. The Navy will want to get the latest in technology. Their families must escape to prevent hostage situations. Lea knew that these people had been hand picked by Tech-Central. They were good, level headed people. They took their instructions with little complaint and began preparing to disappear at a moments notice. Children were watched closer than ever.

Mara had come up with a great idea as well. She discussed it with her husband later that night. It was there habit to sit together a while each evening."Z...I have an idea on how to organize the children to keep them safe."

"Really..? Do tell."

"We form them into groups, like clubs...but more orderly."

"Ok."

"I want to call it the Empress' Personal Junior Guardians."

"A bit military, isn't it?"

"I want to know exactly where the loyalist children are when the trap springs?" Her husband leaned forward and nodded, encouraging her.

"The Rebels think they have us in a trap here. Using Lea's model, we can get our people and their children out as well."

"My darling, you have a wonderful idea. I want you to start tomorrow. I want you to be in charge.

The Empress went on the news thenext morning to announce the formation of her Junior Guardians. It was a big hit. Children stayed after school and quickly organized. They began doing important projects for the Empire. What was really going on was a way to keep the children together so they could all disappear together. All of the loyalist government worker's children were also brought into the JG.

Their parents breathed easier. They now knew that General Z would see to it that their children escaped even if they were captured. Mara was glad to have something to do to keep her mind off of the crisis.

Chapter 8; In the Palace

Somehow, no one outside of their inner circle guessed what they were really doing. Life, to any outsider, appeared to go on as usual. Mara watched in joy and amazement at the way security very quietly tightened around her family and friends. She hoped that if would be enough to save them.

Her husband was a born conspirator. She stood by him, smiling and carrying on small talk as a beard for the General as he held meetings within meetings. At what outwardly appeared to be simple meals in her house, loyal Senators were kept appraised of the changes in their situation.

The funny thing was that even Hawk Senators had children in the Junior Guard. Mara saw to it that those children never suspected the true motives for its formation. The Hawk children were in separate units from the Loyalist children. Assignments were created that appeared to meet Mara's strategy and teaching goals. When the outcome of an exercise was benign, the units were merged. But, somehow, the Loyalist children had the most time practicing with Jump Tubes. She believed that this skill was most needed by her charges for the quick exit that they would have to make. Jump Tubes were secretly constructed at every school and ball field for easy exit.

Since there was always construction going on through out the capital buildings, nothing unusual was noted with the new Jump Tubes being installed. But getting the tubes installed in schools and ball fields was trickier. General Z had them built into a new locker facility that he dedicated to the new Emperor at the ball fields. School was easier. Every school is a maze of halls and rooms, so under cover of darkness, several basement corners got some tubes disguised as piles of boxes.

Chapter 9; The Empty Trap

On the day of the vote to mutiny, Admiral Maori had returned quickly to his own stateroom aboard the flagship "Zia". He was sickened by what he had just witnessed. Yes, he had voted with the others as his orders had specified, but he knew the cost of that vote. Many men and women would die on what ever day that Heren "the Hammer" decided to march down that Jeweled Path.

Heren, my friend, how did we get so far from our vows. We were the best that the Academy had ever produced. Right out of school, in the Taurian uprising, you had first shown your ability. We were a green lot, lacking experience but filled with zeal. We were after a pirate named Kirzon Delpht. He had been an Admiral assigned to a back water sector of space called the Taurian sector. He had convinced many of his crews to mutiny and formed a tiny empire of his own.

I remember how excited we were to be assigned to the bridge crew of Flag Ship when the two fleets faced off. You took command when the flag bridge was destroyed and our Admiral and two commanders were killed. You lead us to outmaneuver the pirates with your tactics and saved the lives of more men than any of the other commanders. You were knighted on the spot by comm-link with the Emperor himself. Kirzon escaped and managed to rule almost thirty years.

By the end of that four year campaign, you were a Vice-Admiral in charge of your beloved Fleet Marines. They would have gone through the fires of hell for you. Some day, they will. So many glories we have shared together, campaign after successful campaign. Yes, this Emperor was soft on defense, cutting the Navy budget year after year, and each year more border uprisings to deal with. But, in the last thirty years, we have seen the word that I would have through good times and bad. Traitor is the last word that I would have thought anyone would ever call you.

And as for what to do now, I must signal the General. He typed his whole report into the Super Scrambler. Its internal programming would then compress the message into a tenth of a second blast of ions that would have the same pattern as a toilet flushing so as not to alert the Security Screens around the Fleet.

He carefully put the scrambler back in its hiding place. In General Z's office on the surface below, a short blast of information went to the descrambling computer in General Z's office. A comm-tech took the information and ran to find the General. He found him at lunch with his oldest daughter, Lea. They were in one of their usual heated discussions. The suppressor that the General had created made their discussion silent to anyone not touching the General. Buck could tell that they were yelling at each other, as usual.

He touched the General's sleeve. The older man jumped as if he were shocked. When he was fighting with Lea, the whole world seems to go away. Buck loved looking at Lea, those tawny locks and freckled face that he had admired from afar for all these years. She was still the only one who could go head to head with the old man and hold her own.

"Still, I love to be the one that gets that fire blade," he thought.

"What is it, Buck?"

Buck just pointed his finger at his ear and shook his head. The General had forgotten to turn off the suppressor. He laughed and hit the kill switch. "What is it, Buck?" he repeated.

"I have a message here for you," Buck replied.

He handed the message to General Z. As the General read the message, his mouth formed a thin line. The comm-tech had seen that look way too many times for comfort. Something was very wrong. The General hit the suppressor button on his collar, touched his daughter and said in a voice that no one ever questioned, "Maori says, Red!Red!Red! The Admiralty is in revolt. Get our crew jumped to Base Two. Then, alert the Guardian office. Call your mother and your sisters. They have about one hour to hit the nearest Jump Tube. Your mother knows where to go. I must warn the Emperor. Tell them that I love them all, and I know that they will be good little soldiers and do what Mum tells them."

He touched Buck's arm next. "Buck, the call is Red! Red! Red!.Order the Secret Alert. The Admiralty must not find out that we know what they are doing."

"Yes, sir! Right away Sir!"

Lea jumped to her duties. Walking quickly but calmly, she went immediately to the offices of the Tech-Body. She found her crew already hard at work.

"Red Alert," was all she said. People couldn't have scrambled more if she had thrown a grenade. They had their orders. Red Alert meant hit the Jump Tube running.

Lea watched as room by room they pushed their work projects into the oversized Tubes and flashed off to Base Two, a secret location known only to the Heads. They were allowed one call to their families. Just as they had been warned to do, they had their families ready to jump at a moments notice. Within a few clicks, their families were scattering to jump tube locations all over the city. When the last person was gone, Lea set the detonator and headed for the slide way to their home.

On her way home, Lea stopped off at the office of the Junior Guardian Commander. Without a word, she dropped one red Button on his desk. He only stared at it for one second, mentally going over the steps that he had memorized since getting this command a few weeks ago. He stood up, shook Lea's hand, mouthed a silent "Good Luck" and headed for the school.

He walked into the Headmaster's office and silently, as before, laid the same red button on his desk. What the Loyalists had done was break the Brigade into squads, carefully calling out Admiralty children into their own squads.

The Headmaster pushed a button on his desk and said, "Blue Fire Alert."

Immediately, all over the school, a preconceived disaster drill was put into effect. Certain squads were assigned different duties. The Admiralty squads were sent to assemble at Admiralty HQ. The Loyalist children were immediately sent to Base Two for safe keeping. According to the plan, when these parents did call into the office to inquire as to the whereabouts of their children, they were told that they were on a "Blue Fire Alert" and could not be reached. These parents then knew that their children were already on Base Two and got busy getting there themselves. They were very glad to by under the watchful eyes of the good General Z and his wife.

Lea had already alerted her mother. Pedra, the youngest, was waiting for her when she arrived. Over the last few weeks, all their bags had been sent to Base Two. Hand in hand, the three women went into their private Jump Tube to flash off. The Tube was preset for one Jump and then automatic self destruction.

As the Captain of the Guard watched the General's family disappear, he cleared his men out of the area because he knew from his orders what to expect next. They set up a defensive perimeter around the house and prepared to give their lives for the man who had saved their families.

What the Admiralty didn't know was that Capitol City would be nearly empty, except for chosen death squads that would fight to delay their finding this out, by the time the Fleet Marines landed. This delay would allow the further scattering of the Crown's forces. Without their escape, there could never be eventual victory over the rebelling Admiralty.

The General went to his office in the Palace. He opened a channel to the office of the Emperor on a secret, scrambled line. Marx, the Captain of the Guard and personal Guard of the Emperor, drifted into view on the screen.

"Condition Red," said the General.

"Acknowledge," replied Marx. The line was cut dark.

Aldo Menzi came back on the line almost immediately. Z noted that it was not yet noon and the Emperor was stinking drunk and hysterical. The Emperor blubbered, "How could they do this? What shall we do? We should have assassinated those men years ago."

With all the reserve that Z could muster, he said, "Sire, everything is being handled by the proper authorities. Please go with Marx. He knows where Base Two is. I will see to our family, and Marx will take care of you." To himself, he thought, "maybe we should leave him here to face his own mess with the Admirals and save the sons. Any one of them would make a better Emperor. No, no, we pledged our oath to all the Menzis and all must be saved."

Marx was already setting the detonators in the Guardian offices to go off when the door of each office was opened. Then, he grabbed the slobbering Emperor and half towed, half carried him into the Jump Tube. He set the controls, and they flashed away.

As with so many other tubes that day, when its mission was accomplished, it blew up. Within five clicks the rest of the personnel was done booby trapping their offices. They headed for Base Two to meet their families.

General Z entered the Country Palace. He had called ahead, and he could see that many people were already gone. He could tell that by dawn, when the Marines were scheduled to land here, this place would be nearly empty. Coming in, he had swung his flitter around the perimeter. The Batteries were in place and everything looked normal. He was saddened at the lives that would be lost later that day, but he could see no other way to make good their escape and defend the Crown.

Baraz at this time was six years old. He was the youngest of Aldo's brothers. He awoke with a start. People were running through the Palace. Women were crying. Baraz reached for his clothes and saw that they had been replaced by a Palace Guardian uniform and his tiny laser sword.

He spoke to the man helping him dress, "What is happening here? Why have you disturbed our sleep?"

The man who had brought his new clothes said nothing. He appeared to be speechless from fear. He simply turned and ran out of the sleep chamber making strange noises.

Baraz jumped to the floor from his bed as his grandfather came into his room wearing full battle raiment.

"Good, you are awake, my prince. We were unable to stop the coup. Heren didn't even tell the other Admirals his time table and we were caught unaware. Admiralty troop ships are on their way here. We must escape now."

"Where is my father? Why don't we stand and fight? We could crush these scum, couldn't we?" he asked as he dressed.

"Your father awaits us in a secret base that we established when we first got wind of the growing power of the Admiralty's position in the government. Now, we must get moving. The Royal Guardians are out numbered ten to one by Keeth's Fleet Marines. We must escape before the Marines get here. As you are my ranking officer in the family, I want you to stay at my side to help me organize the escape."

"Yes, grand father...ummm, sir.., ummm General. What shall I do first?"

"I think you should finish dressing, son. We must hurry to the nearest Jump tube. Hurry up now, my prince."

The General was glad to see the boy brighten, stand straighter and begin to look the part that he must play if they were to pull this off with their heads intact.

Baraz's mood was better. He knew that his grandfather made no jokes of this sort. He was thrilled that he had been chosen to be the aide. He was determined that his family would see how well he could do under these conditions. He had heard the stories of Admiral Heren's abilities. He was studying his tactics at the Academy. Heren was known to be a tough, very well organized opponent. There would be many battles and chances to lead. Baraz wanted to show his family that they could rely on him.

He worked long hours at his grandfather's side. They ran here and there getting palace personnel into the Jump Tubes to get them to safety. Grandfather's plan was to make sure that they would survive to run the Empire when the revolution was put down and the Jeweled Throne was returned to its rightful owners. The Royal Jewels were scattered amongst the family as well for the same reason.

As all but the last of the Jump Tubes were reduced to smoking rubble, the laser batteries started their regular firing patterns signaling the arrival of the revolting forces. Baraz and his grandfather stepped into the last Jump Tube for the trip to meet his father at the place designated for rallying the Loyalist forces. As with the other Tubes, when the lights had turned from red to green, allowing the next transfer, detonating devices went off blowing them to bits. There would be no way to trace the location of their exits now.

One by one, the batteries were overwhelmed and the barges of Fleet Marines began to land. Tail ports opened and the marines began to fan out securing vast sections of the Royal Command. They were very efficient about their duties, rounding up every person that they could find and herding them into the grand ballroom where they began the interrogations.

The ones left had volunteered. Most often, it was the oldest members of the house hold staff. They had not wanted a life on the run. To ensure the success of the escape, the people left behind had not been told the location of Base Two on purpose. Even under torture, they were unable to crack the secret.

Outside, the command barge landed with a soft thump. Crack Admiralty Marines hustled out of the under ports and formed a cordon path. When all was ready, Admiral Keeth made a stately procession into the Grand Ball Room area of the Palace. Entering the ballroom, he went to a table and chairs on a small dais to set up his command post.

"Commander's report," he said.

A small throng parted uneasily. A Captain of Admiralty Security stepped forward, visibly shaken. "The Palace is secured, sir. We are unable, at this time, to locate any member of the Royal Family."

"What do you mean no members of the Royal Family?"

A fresh faced boy stepped forward, new yeoman bars on his shoulders. "They must have escaped, Father. They must have been warned. We were only held up eighteen ticks getting past the batteries and only six ticks securing the grounds. Except for the battery-teks, there have only been twelve Royal Guardians captured and they are all in sick bay."

Keeth looked from one to the other. He then concentrated on his son standing below him. He knew why he had intervened. He was so much like his mother with his dark eyes and dark hair. Protocol dictated that he could not protect his son now.

"Have you informed the new Emperor?"

"No, sir, we were just double checking when you arrived," said the Captain.

"I will speak with him when you have delivered your report and your resignation."

The Captain's face blanched and he took a step back, almost falling off the dais. He turned and practically ran over to the comm-base that had been set up at the far end of the ballroom. Keeth turned back to his son saying, "You should not have talked out of turn. No one was speaking to you. As you are now commanding this outfit, you will put yourself on report, forfeit one weeks credits, and I am delaying your promotion to Captain. That is all!"

His son saluted, turning on his heel and stepping smartly off to assume command of his father's guardian unit. The men were glad to have Danil there at that time. Who know how many heads would have rolled if he had not taken the wrath of the Admiral. The Admiral had reason to be upset. Without the Royal Family Crown, there could be no legitimate ascension. Short of that; there were also no hostages to bring in the old Emperor. Worst of all, there would now be a major civil war to fight. They had hoped that the entire mess would be cleared up tonight.

Danil walked up to his command post just as the busted Captain was finishing his report to the new Emperor. His face was completely white, and his eyes looked dead. He walked out into the hall where no one was standing. All of a sudden, in one motion, he snatch a photon grenade from his side and dove on it. He disappeared in a cloud of fragments that blew a three foot round hole in the wall, knocking over the huddled crowd of captives.

People were screaming and crying. Dust was everywhere. Danil looked over to see if his Dad was alright. He saw one of the Security Mates helping him to his feet and back into his chair. Keeth caught his son's eye and they exchanged thumbs up. Then, they both went back to their duties wondering what they might have done if they had lost their commissions and their life's work.

Back in Capitol City, Admiral Chun's forces were finding a similar lack of people at the Tek-Body Headquarters of General Medio's wife. On his comm. link, he heard the other reports about tacit, death squad resistance being found at Z's house. Other reports from his home were coming in describing how he and his family had fled the night before. Reports were filed about the hundreds of secret jump tubes found everywhere across the city. These jump tubes had been used and destroyed. The data that would have told the pathway of the jumps was destroyed with the units and the location of the end of the jumps was untraceable. The continuous input of reports from Fleet Marine squads doing house to house searching for any member of the Royal Family had, so far, proved fruitless.

Admiral Heren went crashing around in the Palace as the reports came in. He was beside himself with anger, throwing dishes and assorted crockery. How could they have known? He sent for all the Admirals to meet him in the Jeweled Throne Room. He had each of their staterooms searched thoroughly. He promised, "I will find the traitor and fry him myself slowly in his own juices over a real wood fire.

Chapter 10; The Emperor's Spy

The Admirals milled around in the ante-room. They had been summoned to a regular morning conference. Heren thought that would keep the spy from bolting before he could get his hands on him.

Keeth thought that this meeting was poorly timed. Arth was theirs. With most of the key government officials that had been against them having jumped off to who knows where, there was much to do about setting up the new government. The Admiralty Staff and Hawk Senators and their people were clamoring for the cushy new jobs that had just come open.

Senators that had been in favor of this coup were wanting to know when the new Emperor would be crowned so that they could have proper photo opportunities for the news.

The news was a mess. Arth was cut off from the rest of the empire. Crown forces had blown up all the transmitters on the planet. There would be no photo opportunities until the news was back on the air. They were unable to announce that anything had occurred. That General Z, for an old poop, was too fast for them.

Zimmerand was in charge of technical proficiency. He stalked back and forth like a caged beast. He had teams of Jump Techs going over all those destroyed tubes trying to find any clue at all as to the whereabouts of their terminal tubes. House to house searches were under way to locate any members of the old government not affiliated with the Admiralty's positions and therefore, potentially disloyal to the new Emperor. He set up links through his Flag Ship so that the news could go on line. When his ship filled up with newsies, he moved his flag to his number two vessel. This, was a short term solution and reconnected Arth to the rest of what was left of their new empire.

Chun, as new Commander in Chief of the Navy, was so busy thinking about how he was going to set up things his way. He had already sent out one-man and two-man speed fliers in every direction to the other Naval Bases trying to get them to join the new Empire and to try to find that secret base.

Within days, over a thousand ships were looking for any clue to the whereabouts of Aldo and his court. Within a few weeks, as the million credit reward gained greater converts, every rocket jockey in the universe was flocking to our banners to find the Royal Family.

All Maori could think about was communications. If Z was ever going to get him out of this place alive, communications must be restored. He had been promised a support network. He looked at every stranger's face that he had seen that day hoping for some kind of sign that he was not the last Loyalist officer left on this whole planet. His first officer had promised that the damages would be repaired in time to show the coronation on the Sundown Report News Cast.

Just then, the giant double doors to the Throne room opened and out stepped Birt, Heren's cousin. After Silvie's death, Birt had joined the Navy and became Heren's secretary and valet. "The Emperor would like for you to come in as called, Admiral Keeth, sir, if you would kindly enter."

Keeth nodded his assent and entered. The doors closed silently behind him. He found the new Emperor in a middle chamber, sitting at a huge, raised desk. Heren was signing proclamations to begin the new government and handing them to groups of people packed around him.

He looked up, noticed Keeth, and said, "Keeth, my old friend, already the pressures of government, eh?" With a swipe of his arm, he cleared the room. Leading the way to a couch behind the desk, he continued, "How are your men?"

Puzzled by the small talk, he answered, "We experienced few losses once the batteries were taken, Sire. The Country Palace was nearly empty when we arrived, as you know."

In five minute intervals, Chun and Zimmerand were brought in leaving Maori outside. As this group was seated on the couch, the mood suddenly changed.

Savagely, explosively, as if he had suddenly lost his mind, Heren began to rave. "They were warned, damn their eyes! I had that ward room swept for listening devices. Security found none! Do you know what that means, my friends, a year's work wasted because of a spy in our midst. This is the only time, at the anniversary of the coronation of my half-brother, that all the Royal Family is gathered on Arth. We could have wiped them all out and never had to fight them again. Now, a long civil was will rage. But I do fear war. I vow to fight until every Menzi and Medio alive has been put to the sword!"

He tossed an object to Keeth, "What do you make of this?"

"It's a Super Scrambler. It sends a message that will sound like a toilet flushing to the Security Grid and not set off any alarms. General Z was supposed to make them available to the Navy, but he had been dragging his feet, saying they had some problems to work out. Where did you find this, Sire?

"I found it well hidden in Maori's state room. Now, when he comes in, I don't want anyone to say anything about this. I want him to see me on that Jeweled Throne before he finds out that we know."

Heren looked at each man and each, in his turn, bowed their ascent. Maori was brought in and together the coronation march began. They were joined by members of the new Senate and newly appointed officers of the bureaucracy, mostly drawn from the Department of the Navy. It was quite a show for the cameras. Comm-links to the entire galaxy were promised by night fall. So, Heren wanted the film ready for the Sundown Report. Stately music was played by the Naval Band. People cheered as the new Emperor turned, waved to gathering, and sat.

Within seconds, all could tell that something was desperately wrong. Heren's eyes bugged out. The one hand that was free jerked uselessly in the air while the other appeared to be glued in place to the arm of the Throne. At once, Birt and Admiral Chun reached for the Emperor's hand. Several members of Heren's Personal Guardians also attempted to render aid.

Keeth grabbed Zimmerand and held him back, thus saving his life. Any person attached in any way to the Throne remained there, slowly frying in an electric field. Keeth and the others slowly backed out of the Throne Room. Keeth then ordered it sealed and called for Interrogators to get to the bottom of this situation. He didn't care if every person on Arth was tortured to death. He wanted answers, now!

The remaining three members of the Admiralty met back aboard the "Zia" in the same ward that this revolution had begun. Zimmerand had polled the Senate. As dead men and women anyway, they vowed to continue the revolution. If left alone, Aldo was still a total idiot. The reasons for the coup were still as present as ever. Heren had been a blood member of the Royal Family, but he was dead. They asked that Keeth, as the Senior Officer, take the reigns of power. Zimmerand said that he agreed and looked at Maori.

Maori was stunned to still be alive. He had seen that his state room had been gone through and that the Super Scrambler was missing. He had hoped that the secret of his betrayal had died with Heren. He was determined to try to bluff his way out. "I can make no better recommendation, my friend."

Suddenly Keeth was very tired. He slowly pushed the call button on the edge of the table and Security Mates surrounded Maori. He was very sad. Maori had been his friend since school. He motioned for them to take him away saying, "Full Courts Martial tomorrow. I'm too tired to hand anyone tonight." He got to his feet slowly and made his way to his shuttle for the return trip to his own vessel. He then walked without talking to his state room. Without ever taking off his clothes, he fell face down on his bed and slept for the first time in almost three days.

Two hours later, when she came off duty, his companion, Glori, found him that way. She called to the Security Mates to help her. Gently, they undressed him and got him comfortable. With a soft kiss, Glori turned off the light and curled up beside him to sleep.

She had heard the scuttlebutt about him taking the Crown, "Sleep, my little Emperor," she thought. There he lies, sleeping the sleep of the pure hearted. When this is over, if my luck holds, he'll make me his Empress.

Crowding in on these pleasanter thoughts came her worries of this afternoon. Rumors had begun as soon as the cameras covering the coronation for the fleet that had suddenly gone dark with no further word of what had occurred. She had been nearly frantic. She had heard that there had been an accident and that most of the Admiralty were dead. Luckily, she had gotten her brother assigned to the Flagship as a Comm-Tech. She rushed to his office. He had asked a few discreet questions and was able to tell her only that Keeth was still alive and unharmed. He then shooed her out as he was quite busy trying to establish the network broadcast of the Sundown Report for Admiral Maori.

Upon waking, Keeth untangled himself quietly from the young girl. "I'll have to buy her something nice," he thought, "She takes better care of me than I do myself." Walking to the shower, he tried very hard not to think about what he was going to have to face in a short while. It would be an impossible task. Finally, he just gave in to it with grave sadness. He showered quickly and dressed in a full dress uniform.

He typed a command into the Bosun-Rob. The robot began touring the ship, heading for the bridge and piping all officers to the Courts Marshall. As he was fresh out of Admirals, Keeth called two Vice-Admirals over from nearby ships to preside. They agreed to be picked up in the Admiral's shuttle so that they can go over the case to save time.

They would be gathered in the ward room that this conspiracy had started aboard the "Zia". As he was drifting in to dock with the flag ship, he realized that they could not follow a vessel named after a Royal heir. As he was being piped aboard as the new Flag Admiral, he saw that they were already painting out the word "Zia" and painting "Heren" in its place. As good of a name as any he thought. What he didn't know at the time was that his own son had suggested that very thing only this morning. Always looking for friends in high places, the commander had quickly moved to have it done. After all, this was no longer the Royal Navy, at least no of the old Empire, anyway.

Saying nothing, Keeth led the entourage to the court room and took the chair at the head of the table. He looked right and then left to make sure his fellow judges were set to go and said, "Gentlemen, let's get this over with as soon as possible. We have more important work to do. Bring in the prisoner."

Maori's face, resigned to death, was impassive while the Clerk read the charges. "I took this assignment knowing the consequences of failure he thought. I must now take this like a Royal Officer of the Line." The evidence was brought, witnesses testified, and the prisoner was convicted in less than thirty clicks.

Keeth looked up from his papers and asked, "Do you have anything to say before we pass judgment on this case?"

"I wish to state, for the record, that I am not a traitor, but everyone else in this Navy who doesn't immediately rally to the Crown is and will die as a traitor. And further more...aaagh!"

The papers in front of Keeth had a perfectly rounded hole, smoking slightly. The prisoner stood there a second, a look of utter surprise on his face. His chest had an equally perfect hole that someone could look through, should they care to. He fell backward with a sickening thud.

"That's for every one who died yesterday and all who are about to die to end the old Empire and bring a new order to the front. They will not have needed to die if all had remained true." With that statement, Keeth left the court room. "I want this cleaned up in time for the General Staff Meeting." He said over his shoulder. "We must now prepare for a civil war that we have all hoped to avoid."

Keeth turned back on his heel, looking at the stunned faces around him, "Ladies and gentlemen, we must now assume that the good general has already had a secret base planned for some time. I can not emphasize this enough, we must find that base. Every day that they remain at large is two days worth of fighting that it will take to defeat them. Every tick they are free, they will rally more and more support."

As he was walking out, he grabbed his son's arm. "Please see to my things. Make sure that Glori has a good duty station on the Flagship."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"See that someone buys her a nice gold necklace with a diamond stone. I want to give it to her at supper tonight."

"As you wish, sir." Danil carefully kept his feelings about his father's "aide" out of his voice. His father had been a good husband to his mother, for a Navy man, and had always been his hero. Glori was just a topic that was never going to be discussed between them and that was that.

"Son, you are to by my Chief of Staff. I am offering you my old job and my old staff. You will act as my liaison to the Admiralty, after I appoint an Admiralty, of course. Your job now will be to help me screen candidates and to make sure that no one is forgotten. Please command my Flagship."

"I will do my best, Father."

"Zimmerand, you are the Chief of the Admiralty. I will review your nominations for the new Admiralty this afternoon."

"Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir."

Chapter 11; Base Two

The day after the coup, Base Two was also a bee hive of activity. People continued to pour in. There had been a contingent of Royal Guardians on the site since it was completed. They were busy assigning barrack units to every one. Whole families were being sworn in to Guardian Units as non-combatants or combatants depending on their physical conditioning and age.

The Junior Guard began working immediately as messengers and aides of all sorts. The older children were organized as leaders of squads to keep the children busy and safe. This did wonders for their morale.

The cleverest thing that her father had done was to put Base Two on Arth. In a remote jungle area, left as a wildlife preserve, they built an underground fortress. The men who had built it were told that they had been beamed half a galaxy away while in Hypno-rest.

They had been under only a few clicks, but they were told that it was the next day when they awoke. This was to pay off later when the Admiralty, using this incorrect information was to spend two years before they could even find the place.

Only four hours after the Red Alert, Lea arrived at Base Two. She was very gratified to see how well the place was shaping up already. Her first stop was the Tech Lab. People were busy working as if they had not been uprooted and gone into hiding only hours before. The office person was moving from desk to desk assigning housing as to need and availability. With all the people they had moved this morning, the base was only half full, so these first arrivals got the good housing.

She then went to Guard Headquarters. She found her father deep at work and her little cousin, Prince Baraz, asleep on a couch in his office. "Well, he has had a tough day for a ten year old and that father of his was no help, I'm sure," she thought to herself.

"Father, how did we do?"

"Wonderfully, I'd say. At last count, ninety eight percent of the people we had targeted to evacuate were successful in doing so. No children were lost and all have been returned to their parents unharmed. Guard losses were only a couple of hundred suicide volunteers. Some of these may have escaped and may filter back into the ranks soon, not a bad finish to an awful day's beginning.

"I am very proud of you. Your people are here and already working. We must solve the problems with shipping. The current systems used for beaming are so unsatisfactory. If only there was a way to circumvent the mass to energy ratio. We could jump through time and space at the same time. The lack of reassembly needed would negate the need for terminal tubes. We could go wherever we wanted. I know that your team is working on this. Please hurry."

Seeing how exhausted her father was and wanting to desperately to cheer his up, she flashed a false face of optimism and kissed his saying, "Well, it pays to hire the very best. I want you to know that the Ships that we stole from the Navy with the Masking Device are moving in and out of Naval Security Zones without a hitch."

"Good, good, we must make contact with Base Three. The Royal Family is there and I want to a check of conditions. I also want them to know that Baraz is with me and quite safe. Please ride out on the next shuttle. You can call Marx as soon as you are free of the security zone.

"Okay..."

"Please go home and lie to your mother that I am sleeping on a cot in the office.

"Daddy..?"

"You need to get some sleep now. The shuttle takes off at first light. I will have someone by to get you."

"This will allow our people to get the Super Scrambler permanent comm.-link established. It should be totally functionally by tomorrow," Lea said, trying desperately to keep up a good front for her dad.

"Yes, that is our theory, too. G'Bye, Dear."

"See you in the morning, Dad."

As soon as Lea had left, Z felt no longer that he had to keep up his false optimism. He dropped his head back into his hands wracking his brain. The situation here was desperate, and he could share his concerns with no one. They had old barges and shuttles to fight against sleek battle cruisers and the latest of war making machinery.

The Imperial Guardians had deteriorated more than the Navy under the last two regimes. Now, it was a joke, filled with these displaced civilian bureaucrats and government workers. Their desire was there, but it will take months or even years to make an army out of them. He knew they just didn't have that kind of time. Most of the trained soldiers were the men and women that had given their lives to make the escape possible and now we would just have to make do somehow with these brave souls that are left to us.

"Buck up, old fellow," he chided himself. Get your back straight. There are a lot of people who think that you can beat these demons, and you'll just have to find some way to do just that."

Baraz watched the play of emotions on the face of the man that he loved through the glass in the office door. He went to him.

"I know that you can lead us safety, Poppy. I just know you'll find their weakness and use it to destroy them." He put his arm around his grand father's shoulders, and they stayed that way for a moment.

"With brave soldiers such as yourself, we cannot fall, Baraz, Now, let's get some training programs together. We have an army to build," Baraz was gladdened by his grandfather's response to the confidence of his grand son.

Chapter 12; The First Four Years

(from Aldo-to Rulo LXI)

The first years were pretty quiet. The General had many saboteurs already in place throughout the Empire. The damage that they were able to accomplish kept any attempts to consolidate the revolt to a minimum. Almost weekly, all communications throughout the Empire would be totally cut off by an explosion of unknown origin. Motors would cease to function and power would cease to flow to some section of Arth.

The worst damage was that all the control computers for the Jump Tube System were periodically given a nervous breakdown. People would wind up on the other side of the galaxy from where they had expected to be. In a short while, the tubes sat idle. People refused to trust them. All transportation was done by ship, setting the Empire back two hundred years and slowing all the business almost to a stand still.

Life on Base Two was pleasant enough. There was plenty of food and shelter. Morale was kept up by the incoming reports of the trouble Keeth was having keeping his new Empire running. Every one at Base Two delighted in the reports of no power. They heard about delayed broad casts. Lea, who had done most of the work of creating the jump system, delighted in the stories about people getting in to a jump tube to go some where and ending up clear at the other end of the galaxy.

At Base Three, half a galaxy away, almost three million Loyalist guard and naval troops were assembling. The biggest problem was a lack of naval vessels. Troops could be moved by beaming, but it was so slow and the men got so sick if they went very far. The lack of modern naval vessels was critical. To make matters worse, after the tube system was sabotaged, even the Royals couldn't use it.

As usual, General Z's biggest problem came from Aldo. His constant complaining was more than the General could stand sometimes. It got so that Lea created a hologram of the General nodding and pretending to listen to the daily transmissions from the two bases. General Z credits this hologram with extending Aldo's life past this period.

Aldo never understood that this revolution was as much his fault as the Admiralty's. The way the Empire had been run had been as big of a crime as the revolution. Both he and his father had bled the Empire dry trying to find the newest of sensual experiences and leaving in their wakes more and more people who simply became disgusted with their antics.

This had accounted for the increase in the number of outer providences trying to become independent. People of the fringes were an independent lot anyway and they could see no value in remaining part of an Empire that had abandoned them. It was this decay in the bonds between Emperor and subject and the ambitions of a powerful Chief Admiral that had directly led to the fix they were all in now.

Keeth was not immune to these pressures either. One by one, these dis satisfied outer providences overthrew their old government connections and opted for independence. So, increasingly, he was forced to pull more ships off the search and face down these rebel warlords. General Z was glad for the assistance, but he knew these men would have to be faced by his people also once they had regained the Jeweled Throne.

Basically, though, Z's plan was to disrupt the Admiralty's efforts to forge a new Empire as much as possible. Then, after their quick attacks, his troops would lay low. So far, this seemed to keep Keeth's troops busy to give the Royal side time to get organized. This was his vision for a galactic strategy that would appeal to his besotted son-in-law. That was becoming increasingly difficult. It was all the entire Royal Family could do to keep Aldo from leading ill prepared and poorly equipped troops into a quixotic frontal assaults on Arth that first year.

On New Year's, he went to see his family and to check conditions at Base Three. The troops were reviewed in a professional manner. Each heir was given a warrion to command and sector to be responsible for. The troops were then shipped into position and Base Three was abandoned except for maintenance crews. The temporary Palace was then shifted to Base Two.

The real reason for moving the Emperor was not told. Aldo's health was failing. His life of dissipation was beginning to take its toll. No one thought that he would make it much longer. Two weeks after the consolidation, he passed on. He was buried in the three blue sons of Loraz where all the Emperors for the last three hundred years were buried.

The ceremony was broadcast over official channels. It had been taped and delivered to an operative within the Sundown Report System. He edited the tape and ran it before anyone could shut off the machinery, which somehow had been glued into position.

A Security Captain blasted the console to try to stop the broadcast. He was executed the next day charged with responsibility for shutting the system down for two days for repair. This went into the morale report circulated throughout the Loyalist forces and generally was responsible for helping them get through the loss of their leader.

Rulo became the 61st Menzi to hold the scepter. He took it very reluctantly. He saw himself as a fighting man, not an Administrator. During his childhood, Rulo had never suspected that he would ever be Emperor. His Grand father was still alive. His brother was strong and willing to serve. Rulo loved the freedom and adventure of space. To that end, as soon as they would let him, he had gone to the Naval Academy. He had studied hard and had done well there. His long term plan had always been as head of his brother's Admiralty.

He had been blooded in many battles against pirates and rogue break away units. He had shown a good head for creating strategy. He had shown a stout heart in hand to hand fighting. At the time of the coup, he held the rank of Rear Admiral. He commanded a Warrion in an outer sector. His area had been pacified. He chafed at the Administrative role that his being called to the throne. He assigned as many of the Administrative tasks to his brothers and sisters.

And now, to the great dismay of General Z, Rulo insisted on leading the first engagement of his portion of the war. He wanted the troops to think of him as a fighting emperor. He wanted the whole empire to know that he was not afraid to fight for them so that they would fight for him. The General's concern was that the Royal side was not ready for a serious push to begin.

Rulo was a different kind of Menzi then his grand father had served in a long while. He was no bonbon stuffed dandy. He was also not a dutiful son-in-law facing the wrath of wife and children. He had earned his stars on his own merit. "Sir, I honor your service to my family. Hell, you are part of this family." He looked sternly at his Grand father, "Do I need to remind you that you serve at MY discretion."

The general was immediately chastened. He knew he had gone too far, "No, Sire."

"Fine. You have my permission to retire or prepare for the campaign I have detailed to begin immediately."

Foolish or not, the good general knew he must stay at the head of the Guardians to protect his two daughters and their research in the Tech-Body. He knew research was the key to defending against a vastly superior force. "By your command, Sire. I will obey."

Sadly, the General was right. Rulo, as he had predicted, led his troops into a no win situation. Rulo died at the battle of Pterogon III in the second month of his reign. He had gathered his troops at a temporary base on an uninhabited M3 planet in the Pterogon system. On the day before he planned to attack, Keeth surprised him there. One hundred seventy thousand men, women and children died there that day. They fought bravely.

Admiral Keeth was happy at last to be fighting with someone of substance. He had personally placed the stars on Rulo's collar. The battle lasted nearly a week. It was an inch by inch turf war that ravaged the lush green planet. By the time it was over, Keeth had lost several hundred thousand of his own troops as well. This time, he did find the Emperor. He was so glad to see his dead body in the wreckage of the head quarters building complex that he didn't respond correctly to his own losses for nearly a day. He knew that, with Rulo out of the picture, the Royals had lost their best tactician.

In a fit of rage the next morning over the serious losses amongst his own troops, Keeth ordered the slaughter of everyone still at base camp number four as an example for anyone wishing to join the Royal cause. He ordered that their bones should lay unburied, exposed to the beetle scavengers of that planet. The battle site was guarded by the Third Fleet for nearly a year until all traces of the Emperor and his Royal First Warrion were erased from the surface and dragged below to be fed to the Pterogonian slug babies.

Chapter 13; Sashi LXII's New Ships

Though they had searched, no Royal Jewelry was found. Rulo had agreed to wear only replicas into battle. Another house servant was fried trying to puncture the electric field around the Jeweled Throne wearing the bogus rings found on Rulo's fingers.

The losses to the Admiralty were nearly one hundred thousand of their best trained Fleet Marines. Training was stepped up after this as it was realized that the mutineers must get more of his people into fighting shape. Analyzing the viddys of the battle showed the Admiralty that it had only been the overwhelming numbers that had won the day, not the quality of their troops.

As soon as the scepter could be smuggled to her, Sashi became the 62nd Empress in their line. It took more than the title to make her ble to rule. Still, she attempted to rule even though she had neither training nor desire to do it. She had grown up as the sixth in line to succeed. Thus, she had never paid any attention to needs or skills required to run of the government. She had lived and loved her life of shopping, primping, and occasionally accompanying her mother as she visited schools and hospitals. The showmanship of the Royal life had filled her useless time and empty head.

She had been convinced that her contribution would never be more taxing than to sit on the boards of major charity organizations. Her entire life style had been poor training for an Empress. To make things worse, she was an even poorer candidate to be an empress of an empire at war.

She became a rubber stamp empress. She had always admired General Z, so she made no decisions without his complete approval. Within weeks of her ascension, her grand father and her younger brother Baraz were running the government. Her contribution was to review troops on parade or visiting troops in the hospitals. She was the figurehead that she had been trained to be.

The luckiest turn was that the Tech-Body had been moved to a new secret base in a Far off place called Hazey Point only weeks before. Two weeks before that fateful day, Lea and General Z had gone out to Hazey Point on news of a break through event at Pedra's lab.

When they landed at the space dock deep in the shadowed center of a dead volcano, Pedra rushed to hug them."I did it, I did it!"

Lea had her usual dead pan face in light of her sister's exuberance, "Really... Great... Glad to hear it..."

Ignoring her sister and pulling her father to an inner jump tube, "Come on...You have to see this to believe it!!!" Lea ran to keep up.

On the outer edge of an exit ramp out to a dock were seventeen shiny silver ships in various stages of completion. "Aint he beautiful?" Pedra petted the one that appeared to be complete. "I have five more of these bays in full production...by next week we'll have two hundred of them flying."

Lea crossed her arm, "And...just why do we need two hundred ten man flitters?"

"No, no, no...my arrogant, disbelieving sister. These little babies are four thousand man flitters. They have the full armament of a battle wagon (newly designed and miniaturized by me...). All of these ships have all the stealth capabilities (stolen from the captured ships and redesigned by me) that the Admiralty ever developed.

"Care to take her for a spin?"

Lea was ecstatic, but, she held tight for another moment, "Ummm... which glove box holds the four thousand troops?"

"Very fuuunny, sis. She took them inside to a black wall with lots of blinking lights. As you recognize from your own design drawings, this is the verisimulator for a jump circuit."

"Biggest one I ever saw."

"True, true. It has a buffer capacity to hold the intermediate veri-forms of at least four thousand jumpers at half jump."

Lea is no longer able to pretend disinterest. She and their father were now truly impressed. Pedra continued, "Creating a null balanced weight of zero tons per ton!"

"Precisely..."

Their dad jumped in, "Tested?"

"Yes, sir, we just finished testing it on every cat and dog in the colony. No damage...no difference."

"Loading time?"

"Yes... Here is a truly excellent part. My next invention is a virtual loading field. Jump tubes wont need gates any more. In the last three days, we have created stable virtual loading fields as large as several hundred square meters."

Her sister's mathematical brain chipped in, "That calculates out to loading perhaps we could load a thousand Marines at a time that way."

"In less time than it would take them to snap to full attention," piped in their dad.

The girls laughed. Pedra said, "Exactly..."

"Side effects?"

"Human subjects claim no affects to buffering over three hours in mid stasis."

"Okay..."

"That's not the best part. They had no jump sickness. I made fifty jumps, one parsec at a time. I was pukin, but, once they were rematerialized on the flight deck, they was no grogginess."

Her father grabbed her and hugged her, "By the Bells of Westor, this is the best news we have had in years. The three of them took the ship for a spin and were impressed with its capabilities.

But, before they could get back, the roof fell in. One bright summer morning, explosions began all over the base. Naval destroyers were flying low firing all guns. Landing craft disgorged Admiralty Fleet Marines by the thousands. With no one to lead them the base fell almost without a shot. Many people escaped into the thick forests of the game preserve areas. These people were hunted down for sport over the next few days.

Because of the slaughter orders from the last battle, smaller children had already been dispersed to other hide out bases through out the galaxy. Also, in another stroke of luck, the older children in the Junior Guard were on maneuvers off planet. Thus, most of the children were saved.

Watching the attack live on the News, General Z knew that it would only be a short while before the locations of any hide outs would be located under the diabolical hands of the torture-techs. Only the people currently at Hazey Point knew about the brand new underground facility. Once anyone was assigned there, they never left.

As more and more people had been smuggled into Hazey Point, they were immediately assigned to dig more tunnels and make more living space. Deep, cool living space doubled in short order. This stroke of genius or luck made plenty of space to move all the children into brand new living spaces in the tunnels that had been dug into and through the granite caves far under the scorching sands for their last stand.

Now, they had to get the survivors to safety as quickly as possible. In some cases, the path that the transports must take while heading for Hazey Point, entailed flying directly past Arth, across the center of the Admiralty's controlled portion of the Empire. Knowing that Keeth had committed all of his remaining troops to his latest assault, General Z had figured the space lanes would be empty.

Using the new ships, the children were mid simulated into the jump buffers. Using the cloaking device, they snuck quietly across the galaxy in four bone jarring jumps instead of the usual six. Lea spoke to her sister as she was dropping down into the volcano. "Next, you have to create something for space sickness for the crew."

Pedra gave her sister a wry smile as she deftly manipulated the controls to reconstruct six thousand children on the pad of the launch bay.

Lea looked at her wryly, "Not a safe test, but a successful one. How many ships are done?"

"Nearly two hundred...I'm running out of scrap."

"Two hundred will have to be enough, for now."

The General used one of the secret ships for his own mission. He had seen what the Fleet Marine searchers had not. In a viddy shot of the bombed out shell of her favorite spa, was the very dead form of the Empress, Sashi. Since it was supposed to be a quiet day at a spa for her, she had worn no jewelry. Keeth did not know who had ascended to the throne, so, her body was ignored as they searched the ruins of the palace for those Crown Jewels.

For her part, she had not noticed that her grandfather had taken the Crown Jewels along on his inspection tour. As the Exchequer of the Crown Jewels, they went where he went. Who ever ruled wore copies except on parade days. The true Crown Jewels must now be delivered into the heir's hands as soon as possible.

As soon as the children were being checked in to Hazey Point, he headed for Zia's home. It was half way back toward Arth. He arrived at Zia's Warrion base to find her saddened but composed. General Z was ushered into her chambers aboard her flagship "Zia II". "Your Majesty, please accept our humblest apologies for being absent during the attack."

"Don't be silly. You would have been killed and the Crown would never have recovered."

"But I did not protect your niece, I feel responsible. Her protection was my sworn duty."

"Put that out of your mind. There was nothing more that anyone could have done."

"It is my sad duty to tell you that I have seen the body of your niece. She seems to have died in the bombing of the spa next to the hospital. I know it was a favorite place for her to go."

"Yes, I saw her, too."
Chapter 14; Zia LXII

She shook her head slowly, "My brother and all of his children are now dead. You and your grandchildren are the only family I have left to me now."

"You, then, are the last Menzi of ascendable age."

"First, As I have never married, I can not be the true empress. And... fifty is a hell of an age to ascend to a position as dangerous as this one... No..."

"Okay...But, unlike you, I do get to choose... I am the Keeper of the Royal Key... General Z and his family knelt to hand her the Scepter. Taking it, she claimed the hearts and bodies of the remaining Loyalist troops. "Now, your Majesty, I have a gift for you to celebrate."

"I have no wish to celebrate, so, no gift was necessary."

"I assure you, Highness, that you will like this one. Actually, we have two hundred and thirty one gifts for you. Hold my hand, please." She took his hand as he hit a switch on his belt. In a flash, they stood on the fighting bridge of the "Zia III". They were standing next to his two daughters.

"What ship is this, General?"

"Your Highness, this is my daughter, Pedra. This ship, the Zia III, is her invention. She will tell you about its capabilities."

The Empress turned her attention fully to Pedra. She began, "This ship has all of the armament found on a full Battle Cruiser. I have miniaturized the controls toward that goal. This black box over here is my reinvention of my sister's jump tube technology. Instead of one transaction at a time, I engineered the buffers to stop in the middle and store that data and move on. It turned out that Keeth's people had discovered a multi faceted crystal framework. A couple of hundred crystals merge to create thousands of storage surfaces.We think as many as four thousand Full Dressed Battle Marines can be held in buffer stasis and off loaded to a nearby target. The best is yet to say. This ship is able to stay fully cloaked at Jump Speeds and regular speeds. You can see out , but they cant see us."

Zia finally got her voice, "But can it make a good cup of coffee?" The tension was broken with a good laugh.

Zia and the General returned to her suite to begin planning their response to the Admiralty's attack. She had shown, as Warrion Commander, both ability and tenacity for defense and a great ability to out maneuver the opposing forces. Using her outmoded ships, she had cleaned the Admiralty's Navy out of her sector over the last year, sending one Quadrant Governor after another back to Capitol City in defeat and disgrace.

As Empress, she now held sway over the remainder of the Crown Forces. The first thing she did was call an all out strike with her new ships in every Quadrant. Attacked on all fronts, the mutinous Admiralty forces were temporarily thrown into turmoil by the surprise attacks. Organized into wolf packs around these smaller faster ships, they were able to swoop in and do serious damage and then, escape before a response could be organized.

In this chaos, General Z lead a small force back to Base Two. He was able to rematerialize over two thousand Guardians in a strategic location. They attacked the Fleet Marine guard left there who, in their arrogance, were moving from house to house, drinking all the liquor they found. Catching them by surprise, they quickly killed them all. It was a brief, yet fierce, battle. General Z and his squad worked through that day and night burying the Menzi dead respectfully. The body of the dead Empress, Sashi, was prepared and moved on board. She was later buried in a blue star on the way back to Zia's secret base with all the honors of a fallen Empress.

By concentrating his forces here and there and using their over whelming superiority in numbers, Keeth, over the next month and a half, was able to retake most of the positions lost in the first two days of fighting. He admits even he was impressed by the quality of fighting spirit shown by the Crown. Still, one thorn remained. In Zia's quadrant, no advances were shown.

"My able opponent, who ever he or she is, is a great general," he thought. Once he found out that it was Zia, he remembered that, even when they had been class mates at school, no one could beat her at chess.

What Keeth did not know was that Zia was now the sixty second Menzi to ascend to his throne. Had he known, he probably would have gone after her sooner. He concentrated on hunting for Sashi and the Crown Jewels. One by one, the Royal Wolf Packs within the other quadrants retired to lick their wounds and regroup. This allowed Keeth to bleed his own hunting packs of ships trying to find the central base. He was unable to make much progress at this, of course, since Base Four was in the only remaining quadrant to have active fighting going on.

Meanwhile, back on Arth, Admiral Keeth had a plan. His daughter knocked softly, "Admiral Zimmerand is here, father."

"Show him in."

"Good morning, Sire."

"Sit down, here is your coffee, old friend."

"Thank you, Sire."

"I am assembling every ship available to go after Princess Zia.

"Actually, my spy net thinks she is Empress, now."

"That explains a great deal. She has been a thorn in our side for too long. I want you to head this armada personally."

"I would be honored."

"One last thing...don't bother coming back without her head."

"I understand fully, Sire."

Zimmerand was not with out skills of his own. With careful masking, he was able to add his ships to her Sixth Fleet without Zia finding out. They broke formation and attacked in a star pattern know as Borealis Minor. Keeth had brought all of his vessels to meet them there. They fought for six days. Zia continued to bring in every available Crown vessel. These ships now lay hidden among the many asteroid belts in this area, coming into the battle as Zia mover them all around like pawns on a giant chess board.

The General was at the back of their position in his new flitter, the General Z. He watched with amazement as Zia beat the larger force to each punch, taking their best shots and somehow out maneuvering the supposedly newer, supposedly faster Admiralty ships. Out numbered three to one, she fought the best fleet in the Admiralty to a standstill cleverly using the advantage of her own new ships.

On the sixth day, the two forces withdrew like punch drunk fighters to lick their wounds. She had been wounded more than once. On several occasions, she had jump tubed off vessels just before they were destroyed. Some of these explosions were used to take out Admiralty ships trying to board her vessel.

In the hiatus, General Z received a box by jump courier. He opened it to find the Crown Jewels once again in his possession. He immediately called her, "Your Majesty..?"

"Yes, General..?"

"Can you explain this?" he pointed to the box.

Zia floated before him in full holo scope as he knew that he floated before her. "You are my General of Guardians...You are the Exchequer of the Crown Jewels. Here are your Royal Keys, so, keep them. Once again, they are yours to protect."

"Zia, please baby...You must get off that ship," he pleaded.

She replied with a sad smile. "My darling child, please try to save your self!"

"My dear General, and even dearer father, you can see for your self that I will not even make it through my next surgery. There is no reason for me to try to escape." She coughed, a deep red stain spread across her hand kerchief that she held to her mouth. "My bridge crew is committee with me to this last mission. All others have jumped to other vessels. My ship will only hold together for one more run. We are determined to make that last run straight at them. Besides, who wants to live forever?"

She hit the button to cease transmitting. Through teary eyes, he watched the external viddy screens. He and his bridge crew watched paralyzed while the flagship "Zia II" plunged full speed into the path of the flagship "Zimmer". Zia II's guns were blazing on automatic fire at all of the ships around the Zimmer as it was being towed to safety behind some other ships.

Caught by surprise by the suicide mission, some twenty ships in either direction exploded in a man made nova bright as a new born sun. Both of the Battle Commanders died in the same moment. Glad to be far from this spectacle, General Z saw that seven Rear Admiral flag ships exploded with them.

Taking advantage of the turmoil, General Z ordered all of his ships to attack any Admiralty vessel within reach. Firing into the whirling mass of ships the Crown vessels blasted hundreds more of Admiralty ships into floating wreckage. At the battle's end, they had captured six hundred of the newest ships the Empire had to offer and destroyed twelve hundred more. The hulks were welded together in chains and towed to a secret base being built at the far reaches of the galactic map known as Hazy Point.

The General knew that many more of Pedra's new ships could be built from the scrap and usable portions of the motors and electronics he knew could be found on board. Also, they could provide a stockpile of parts to rebuild some of the new ships captured.

Chapter 15; Madlin Regent

Another situation was now critical. There were no Menzi heirs of ascendable age living. Mina was eight months short of eighteen. It was decided by the Council of Advisors that Madlin Medio, Aldo's Empress and mother of the heirs, would ascend to Regency. She would hold this position until an heir reaches proper age.

Madlin took the Crown seriously. Even as Regent, she was a good leader. Always behind the scenes, she had done much for the Empire as Crown Princess and as Empress. Now as their military leader, she showed a blood thirstiness that surprised many of her children. Taking advantage of the recent huge losses suffered by the Admiralty, she made creative use of her new fleet to consolidate the quadrant they had just captured.

With out prompting and to her advantage, ambitious outer sector War Lords attacked the Admiralty positions from their home bases all over the galaxy. The Admiralty was still suffering deeply from the losses they had suffered at Borealis Minor. Now, Rebel War Lords were attacking on all sides. There were simply too many fronts for them to concentrate on attacking Madlin. Madlin had no such problems. After defeating some of the bigger War Lords in her sector, the rest just joined her side against the Admiralty in a loose confederation. She made good use of the recaptured ships. Warrions were redistributed and rearmed with the new ships. She and her partners kept up the pressure on Keeth's forces everywhere.

Adding to her known resources was the super secret fleet of Pedra's new light fighters. Battles were turned in their favor by those Wolf Packs. For a time, it looked as if the Royal Family might even turn the tide as they started reclaiming large areas of the galaxy.

Chapter 16; Mina LXIII

On this high note, Mina ascended as proscribed on her eighteenth birthday. Her mother gladly shed her Regency and returned to her Flag Ship. Madlin was happy to assume the leadership of Mina's Wolf Pack, She was filled with ideas regarding the strategy for these new ships. What had seemed like character flaws of sleight of hand sneakiness and inscrutable craftiness were now strengths. During her days in her husband's palace, her natural talents had been perfected. Now, she was a superior space guerilla.

Madlin continued driving Keeth's commanders crazy with skillful use of invisibility from Pedra's stealth technology. Her ability to deposit thousands of troops in strategic areas made for some fantastic victories. They could swoop in, do some serious damage and then, just disappear. It drove the Fleet Marine Admirals crazy.

As agitated as he was becoming, Admiral Keeth was not without his own resources. His third son, Jaris, had turned out to be quite an excellent leader of Wolf Packs as well. Still everyone was surprised when, in the third year of her reign, disaster struck.

Mina was out reviewing some new troop ships in a near by quadrant when she was fallen upon by one of Jaris's wolf packs. A running battle ensued. As time went on, more Admiralty ships joined in on the chase and the Royal Yacht was captured.

Disguised as one of the maids, they told the capturing commanders that Mina had escaped in another ship. The captives were all taken to Dagaz prison. Upon entering the prison, they were inspected by Dagaz Prison's Commander, Xeren Fisar, niece of "Heren the Hammer" and daughter of Birt.

Something was bothering Xeren. There was something so familiar about one of the prisoners. She just couldn't put her finger on it. And, as a former employee at the Palace, she had seen Mina many times when they were both children at school. Months went by and every time she would see this one prisoner something would tingle in the back of her mind.

Then, one day, she could stand it no longer. She had the prisoner brought to the "inquiry room" for a few questions. All "inquiries" were taped so all would later know what was discovered during the procedures. Mina was strong. She lasted several days before telling the truth about her identity.

Xeren immediately called Keeth. "We have captured the current Empress. Her name is Misa Menzi, Sire. She was brought in with the last load of prisoners."

"Really...what a feather this is for your cap, Commander."

"I live to serve, Sire."

She played the excerpts from the tape for him with commentary to spice up the tape. Keeth had not really needed any spicing. After the drubbing that he had received at Borealis Minor, he had been looking for a chance to take some of the wind out of the Royal sails. The sight of their Empress naked, screaming and writhing on a torture rack would do much to lower the morale in the other camp.

"Excellent! We must prepare a little show for the remaining Loyalists. Does she yet live?"

"Yes, Sire, but just barely."

"Keep her alive until I get there. I predict a twenty-four hour trip."

"I'll do my best, Sire."

Upon arriving, he ordered the cameras to be set up in the outdoor exercise yard. All prisoners were ordered to assemble. They were told to watch the execution of their beloved Empress, Mina. If they looked away, they would be shot. Mina was brought from the hospital ward where she had been kept for the last two days. She was barely alive and her face was so disfigured from the beatings that her own family, watching horrified on the Intergalactic News, could not recognize her.

Keeth had set up a replica of the Jeweled Throne out in the yard. He looked down on the naked girl before him, "What does the prisoner have to say before I pass judgment on her?"

Mina was broken, but not defeated. She looked into the camera and said, "Avenge me..."

She was immediately clubbed to the ground by Xeren who then proceeded to step on her already broken arm. "You need to learn some manners, missy."

The cameras caught all of this. The torture rack had been set up outside, and she was bracketed back into it. Over the next six hours, this poor, broken girl was forced to divulge major information about the Crown's plans for the upcoming campaigns.

All the bases had immediately been abandoned when Mina was first captured, and all current and future military plans were scrapped. All Warrions had been moved to new secret locations, so the damage that was being done here militarily was minimal.

That was no comfort to her family. They wished only for a speedy death. When it finally came, they cried for her, but with a bit of relief that her suffering was finally over. A funeral service was held with an empty coffin. Mina's broken body had been thrown over the wall onto a bone pile like the hundreds of other prisoners who had died there to be picked over by the scavenger birds of Dagaz IV.

Chapter 17; Ebb Tide

Finally Arin

Arin had assumed the Regency when Mina had been captured. Vowing to avenge the hideous death of his sister, he now ascended the Jeweled Throne as the 64th Menzi in this line. In a move orchestrated by his mother, he continued to make overtures to even more of the Rebel war lords. He was proposing an end to the old Empire. If they banded together now with him, they might be able to combine their forces to defeat the Admiralty.

From that point, they could form an independent confederation. At first, his proposals fell on deaf ears. The fringe War Lords simply could not bring themselves to trust any son of Aldo. To them, Arin, as long as he wore the title of the 64th Menzi Emperor, represented slavery. They didn't trust the Admiralty either as Admiral Keeth's side represented sudden death for them.

Arin's forces fought on alone. He led them well and, making good use of his mother's wolf packs, often was victorious against greater odds. Again, he was able to reclaim much lost territory. Little by little, the Admiralty's over whelming superiority of numbers began to turn the tide once again to the side of the Admiralty.

General Z and Arin were winning their battles by using their wits. Turn about was fair play. Keeth felt that he could be as sneaky as the good General. He had created the perfect scene. What looked like a poorly defended out post was actually a well defended trap. Arin, wishing to appear to be as brave as his sister, led the attack.

Unknown to Arin, he had been lured into a trap. His spies had discovered that a lot of fuel and armaments were being stored in a little base on Starion III. The armament piles were fake bunkers filed with Fleet Marines. Fake asteroids were filled with two-man blaster sprites. It was a great plan.

Arin had not brought his whole fleet since this was not supposed to be a well-manned base. Arin had only brought his fastest ships trying for speed and surprise to carry the day. As far as the Admiralty could see, he had taken the bait perfectly. Actually, it worked better than the Admiralty had hoped because they had not expected the Emperor to lead the raid himself.

The men floating around in the fake asteroids waited for their trap to spring. One day, it happened. Three months of boredom ended in a flash of reorganizing ship particles. Seeing the Royal Yacht come out of hyper right outside their little trap sent chills down the spine of the base commander.

He hit the "all call" button, but he was already thinking just what he could do with the million credit reward. He watched as the battle was met. The trap was sprung with the first shot from the raiding party. False covers came off the floating asteroids and the attack sprites were every where at once attacking the Royal Yacht. Standing too close to a gun mount when it was hit, Arin was knocked unconscious. His face was badly burned.

The Commander was first to board the Emperor's Yacht, he was searching for the head of any member of the Royal Family. Who knows, maybe there are more royal heads here than just one. No royals were found, A quick thinking yeoman had thrown his cloak over the Emperor. He and a friend had hauled him to the Jump Tube. He beamed him over to the hospital ship just as the engine room took a direct hit. The Commander died screaming.

A few of the raiders launched small flitters. Flying circles around the slower fake asteroids, they managed to fight their way out of the trap. They returned with sad news that the Emperor's yacht had exploded and all aboard were lost.

Keeth's spy network was able to eventually find so many of General Z's moles that his ability to run the Empire began to take on a new look. The Jump Tube system was even running properly. It had taken over five years to fix all the hidden bugs that the General programmed into its computers. This allowed the swifter transfer of troops and gradually this mobility was able to get the Admiralty's forces the upper hand in close battles.

It was just this ability that allowed the capture of Arin at Starion III.
Chapter 18; Arin in Dagaz Prison

The hospital ship, in order to save its patient's lives had surrendered. A quick thinking Med-Tech had seen the last person tubed in before the yacht had exploded. She cut away and destroyed Arin's uniform and dressed him in the uniform of a dead yeoman. She then dressed his burned face and head, wrapping him completely in bandages.

She knew that a full beard would be grown by the time he was out of them. And, as a Taurian, he would be expected to want long hair and a full, uncut beard even in prison.

They were lucky. The slaughter order had been rescinded only recently in order to minimize the backlash from conquered territories. They were sent to Dagaz Prison. As patients, they didn't meet the commander for two months.

Siri stayed with her Emperor, teaching him to act like a Taurian, to walk stooped the way they did. Since Taurians rarely spoke to non-believers, it was easy to pass him off that way. In that special time, in that awful place, they found a love that none could ask more of. They were always together and later, when a doctor was captured and she was no longer needed in the sick bay, she stayed with her man day and night. Somehow, she found extra food and water, got them a blanket and just took the best care she could.

At nights, Siri would lie close holding her man. She was not concerned that he had been and might again be the Emperor. She thought back to her girl hood days on Taurus. Her mother had told her stories of Taurian Pride. These stories she now told to Arin so that he could become a Taurian for the guards. The stories fascinated Arin. Here was a major religious sect within his Empire he knew nothing about!

She encouraged him to begin to act like a Taurian Priest, moving among his "Flock" as he called them. Using this ruse, he was able to talk to the other prisoners, getting to know many of them, learning about their cultures and especially hearing their complaints against the old Empire. Still, he was surprised and humbled to find that these people were still totally for the Crown and against the Admiralty. Such loyalty deserved a reward. Arin vowed that, if he lived to rule again, he would show the people that the new Empire would be worthy of their loyalty.

As the years went on, these people came to look upon this "priest" as a leader for many things. Arin learned more about real leadership under these conditions than he had ever learned in all the years of being the royal heir or sitting on the Jeweled Throne. He gained their respect as they gained his, and his whole view of life was enriched through this experience.

Siri watched this transformation. She thought back on the day they had first met. She had been a new Med-Tech, assigned to the Palace Infirmary. Arin had been brought in to the clinic, having been injured from a sporting event. He had continued to play and had led his side to victory. She saw how much pain he was in now and thought how brave he must be.

She had fallen deeply in love with Arin at that time even though she knew that he would never even know she was alive. Her father had taught her to be brave and honorable. Her father's Taurian beliefs had created a certain core belief in her. Arin showed her more each day that he also knew what living well was about. It comforted her just to be near him.

She had pulled so many of her father's strings to get assigned to the Royal Hospital Ship in hopes that she would occasionally get to see her beloved. It was this act of faith that had put her into position to save her Emperor. She had been standing by the jump tube when Arin's burned body had materialized. Arin's burned hands had no fingerprints. She had altered comp documents to assign his vitals to a Taurian holy man that she had known to be destroyed on the Yacht.

She had never seen herself as a hero. She could not ever see herself as his wife. Two years later, they were wed in a quiet Taurian way by permission of the Prison Warden. All those years of dreaming had finally paid off, and she was the happiest woman in the galaxy.

From their first meeting, Siri had believed that he would grow to be the leader he had become. Now, her happiness was all the greater that other people had come to know it too. He had always had the capacity to be strong, but with this new knowledge and confidence in his people, he was becoming the strongest of all leaders. These hardships shared had forged him into becoming a man like his grandfather. It was said that Zintar's men would follow him through the gates of old Hades.

Nothing matched the memory of the look on his face when she told him what the witch dancer had told her in the chow line the morning before.

"You are Siri, the Taurian?"

"Yes Mother." Like most people, Siri was always differential to the Witch Dancers.

"Does your pregnancy make you ill?"

"My what.."

"My dear, you carry the Prince within you."

"Ohhh...!" Siri fainted. The Witch Dancer covered her head and shuffled off into the crown as Arin rushed to see what was wrong with Siri. He picked her up and carried her to their tent in the corner of the yard.

Siri came to with Arin's face in hers.

"What is the matter, dear?"

All Siri could do was grab his neck and cry. She was afraid to tell him what the old woman had said. After all, she thought, What did she mean to him? He was the Emperor, and she was a peasant. She just made him hold her as she cried.

"Calm down, my darling. What has upset you so?"

"It...it is nothing."

"Oh...? You talk to some old woman, pass out in the chow line, and you expect me to believe that it is nothing?"

"Well, maybe there is something. I am afraid to tell you. You have so many problems already."

"I have no problems where you are concerned, my dearest. You have saved my life. You are my life. Whatever it is, we will handle it together."

"She told me that I carry your prince."

He grabbed her and spun her around with a whoop. Then, thinking about her condition, he set her down on the blankets gently. "I, Arin, do here by vow to get us out of this place so that we can care for our family together."

Siri nestled there in his arms. Family, she thought, that was the best thing he could ever have said. What a silly girl I have been.

"You love me then?" Arin said quietly.

"Since the first time I saw you at the Palace as a boy."

Arin smiled grimly, "I remember...My father disapproved and had you reassigned. Then you found me in the Hospital Barge. You nursed me, protected me, and taught me to be a man."

"No, Sire. You were already a man. You just weren't a very good Emperor. Even that you have learned on your own. I have marveled at your skills as I have watched them grow here in this awful place."

"This awful place is where I found my true love."

"You romantic devil, kiss me."

"I promise that we will get out of this place. I never want to be any where that does not include you and our precious babe. Sleep now, my heart. I will get our rations."

Chapter 19; The Chase is On

Davil

As the Royals believed Aron to be dead, his younger brother, Davil, ascended to become the 65th Menzi emperor. He carried on as best as he could, but he was no soldier. He was an administrator. He had run Arin's government for him so that he could play soldier. Even as a Warrion Commander, his Warrion had been the least active of them all. He now relied on his brother and his grandfather to be the field generals of the last two Warrions. They must do what he could not, fight on against the Admiralty.

The Admiralty stepped up the pressure on the beleaguered forces. Just when things were looking really bad, a call came through. Karron Zindar, a warlord in possession of an estimated eight percent of the galaxy wanted to meet with Davil. Davil went to the meeting personally.

"We were expecting Arin. This is a meeting for Emperors only."

"My brother was killed at Starion III. I am Emperor now. I would like to dedicate our efforts for a united from to his memory. I would like to think that his dream did not die with him."

Karron Zindar had been elected to chair the delegation from the Rebel War Lords. She was in possession of the largest number of planets among that group. Once, she had been a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy until about a month before the coup. She held no love for Keeth. Keeth had no love for female officers. More than once, simply due to her gender, he had tried to keep her from advancing up the ranks.

She spoke first. "I was very sorry to hear the news of the demise of your brother. There are not enough young and attractive men for us, losing such as him. I am still willing to hear what deal you are offering."

It made some sick sense to Davil that all war lords wanted to be considered to be emperors. He did see how they could believe that, since no one was in charge of this very mad galaxy, they had as much claim to their titles as He or Keeth did. He was at peace with his decision that, if being equals would bring together a coalition, then he was for it. If that coalition could somehow shorten this war, then full speed ahead and damn the blasters. He was determined to sell his brother's dream no matter what.

They were able to agree that by a secret coded message, all the new Empires would simultaneously attack toward Capital City. The tricky part was getting all of the various parties to agree to the concept that any captured territory would then become free and independent and could pick their own form of government when the fighting was done.

Finally, it was the arguments of Davil, the administrator that won them over. He was able to show that his plan was the only fair way to end the old Empire. He convinced them that the way their Empires had come to be was the same chance that all other people deserved. Everyone wanted the chance to have their own wants and need met.

Freedom was the cry raised by Davil and his many supporters within the Council of Emperors, as they were collectively known. They won over Emperors one by one and eventually prevailed. Davil couldn't help wondering how many of them would go along with these lofty plans when the final blows were struck. He hurried back to Base 5, hidden on Vars IV to find that they were under heavy attack.

Using the masking device invented by Pedra, Davil snuck five ships into the base. It was clear that the base could not be saved. He began to gather the people into the buffer. He sent the people out as fast as he could to other masked ships in space. Davil was one of the last ones off planet when a wave of Marines tried to break through. During fierce fighting his was badly wounded. He told the Medicos to patch him up there and not to say anything to anyone about his injuries.

He led the last squads to fight there. They fought off the Marines, then, simply appeared to disappear. Davil was one of the last people to disappear. When he arrived at Hazy Point, Baraz saw his bandages and immediately had him sent to the hospital.

Davil was in surgery for the rest of the night. The next morning, the family heard the news. If he had been sent to the hospital right away, it might have been a different story. In his present condition, the doctor could not say how long he might last.

Davil lingered for nine months. He was able to attend meetings by being stored in his ship's buffer. This gave them time to consolidate the deals between each of the other Emperors in the Council. No final date was ever set for the big push, but all knew that it must come before the Admiralty found out where they were hiding at Hazy Point. This was his greatest contribution to the war effort, and he knew he would be honored for it if they could just hold on long enough to bring his and Arin's dream to fruition.

"Poppy, how are we doing?"

"We are comfortable enough here. We are very close to another break through in several key projects. If we can perfect them in time..."

"Time...always if there is time."

"...as I was saying." He showed a set of drawings on a Davil's screen, "This project, in particular, should render then Admiralty's advantage in numbers mute...nil. Pedra calls it an anti-field generator. It scrambles the signal of jump reorganizers. The completion of this project is so close to being completed that I can almost taste them."

"Your confidence encourages me, Poppy."

"Your aunts are working feverishly in the Tech-labs. Any day now the call will come for you to view these marvels.

Devil smiled gently at his dear grandfather. He could feel his life slowly slipping through his fingers like the sands blowing around outside the view ports. "I have every confidence in you, sir. Please tell my dear aunts that I wish them all the best. I am tired now..."

Davil slipped quietly off to sleep. As the old man straightened the covers over his grand son that it was becoming clearer every day to the General, both as leader and as a grand father, that Davil's courageous little brother would have to end this fight. Every one could see that Davil did not have the strength to do it.

The next time they met, the emperor said softly, "My time grows shorter, Poppy."

"What can I say, son. You are a brave man. You are too intelligent for me to argue this point. It kills me a little each time I see you slipping away. Our family has lost so much these last few years as it continues to shrink."

"Baraz is a good soldier, Poppy. You have trained him well. I know you will take good care of him."

"Fifty years ago, I pledged to give my life to protect the Crown. I will give my last breath for that end."

"I know, Poppy. Please call Baraz for me..." The last words in his sentence were lost in a fit of coughing.

On Baraz's eighteen birthday, Davil abdicated the Throne. He knew that Baraz would make a better Emperor that he could ever hope to. Every one argued against it, but he could not be persuaded. He also wanted to hand the Scepter to his heir himself as he knew that this time was growing short. He died two days later in his sleep.

Chapter 20; The Last Warrion

Baraz

The pressure from Keeth's forces increased. General Z intended to use this pressure to draw him into a test of Lea's new weapons. It was the decision of the cabinet ministers that it was only a matter of time before Hazey Point was discovered by the spies on the other side. Soon, it would be time for the Royal forces to lead Keeth here for a final show down. It was still up to Lea and Pedra in their race to solve the last problems with their ultimate weapon.

Z let himself be chased here. He looked out the portals of the secret bunkers as the wind moaned across the dunes, kicking up clouds of sand. On the horizon, the twin orange suns heated this bleak landscape into a fiery borealis as they dropped below the horizon. Immediately, he watched the fingers of frost wind their way across the shadow side of the dunes across the landscape. Tube heaters lit up underneath the electronic sensors to keep the lenses clear.

Outside the bunker, as the outside temperatures began their usual nightly drop of ten degrees per hour. This drop will continue each hour through the night that will freeze any living thing solid by dawn. The inhabitants of the planet, lizard-like beings and semi-sentient insects, ceased their search for food and hurriedly began to bury themselves where they would pass the frozen night asleep. They would be reawakened by the warmth of morning's fiery dawn a return to their daily cycle.

In the last light of evening, a lonely bit of flotsam came over the horizon. It was a tumble weed ball rolling along seemingly free and unfettered, going on its merry way. "I should be so free," thought the guardian watching it on his monitor.

Just then, it came within the electric scan area of the guard-robs in that sector. In a blue flash, the tumbleweed disappeared into scattered atoms. Once again, the screen was empty except for an occasional dust devil.

"Now, Jar," he said to himself, "let that be a lesson to ya'. There ain't no freedom in this life. He shook his head to clear these thoughts away. He continued muttering to himself, "Boy, I must be gettin' stir-crazy stayin' down in this hole all these months." He turned and smiled at Cyn, his mate, at the next console. "There's my answer. If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have met her and would not have ever mated. Maybe there is some God somewhere in this wide galaxy. I sure got lucky this time."

And then, a darker thought crept in as he thought of little Zinny down in the nursery barrack. Would he ever grow up to know what a great man his godfather and namesake, the heroic General Zintaurus Medio, was?

Boy, I sure was surprised when the great General showed up to congratulate us in sickbay. He let his mind go back to that day when the stiff old General came through the door.

Jar had jumped to his feet, saluting, "General on deck!"

"As you were, young man."

Jar was surprised, "General, I sure am stunned to see you here."

Uncomfortable with the show of emotion, the old man blushed a bit and said, "Well... you have the confidence in our cause to have this child. I am here to honor your contribution to our future."

Cyn just smiled her best smile and uncovered the baby's head so he could see him.

With a shaky voice, Jar stuttered, "We named him after you,sir."

The old man leaned over to get a good look, "Isn't that something. Let's have a look at my name sake, then..."

Cyn's smile broadened, "I am so nervous. I hate that you had to make a break in your busy schedule for us."

The old man smiled, "My life is mostly sad, Yeoman. This is an opportunity to do something blessed."

They laughed, "We are so glad to brighten your day, sir."

"I can not forget that your family has blessed me more than once. If your husband hadn't thrown his shield and deflected that spinner bomb that had been meant for me at the Battle of Givon Morass, then I wouldn't be anywhere."

"It was nothing, sir. You are simply too valuable to lose."

"And now, you can both add to my honor by allowing me to be the god father to your son."

Jar was so shocked that he couldn't even talk. Good old Cyn, ever the glib one, as if she got offers like this from galactic heroes every day, said, "We would be honored, Sir. It was more than we could ever have hoped for."

"Fine, I am honored as well."

Cyn continued, "We had already decided to name him Zintaurus? Is that alright with you?"

The General wiped a tear from his eye and nodded yes.

Jar cleaning some dust off his screen said under his breath, "What a guy! He'll get us out of this mess if anybody can."

Farther down the line, people shifted about checking the dust covers of their electric systems. The Hawk was their name for the wind. If the "Hawk" was going to rage tonight, starting up those dust storms, then they didn't want to be caught by an officer with diminished weapons potential. That was the quickest way to latrine duty that existed in this world.

Baraz, the 66th ruler in his line, heard the wind begin its nightly song. He stood at the portal to the fighting bridge and gazed around lovingly down on his forces standing in groups around their laser cannons or staring into satellite monitors searching them for any sign of enemy approach. He thought of the sixty seven men and women who had worn his crown before him.

Someone noticed him and his entourage up on the landing and brought the room to attention. "Emperor on the Deck!" He waved to them, and they cheered. "As you were people..." He walked on to complete his rounds.

Unlike the last two Emperors, he was no stranger to a fighting deck. His troops knew this leader well. This had been his Warrion since he was twelve. For the last seven years, he had led them in many a daring escapade.

He walked along the row of dusty soldiers, old grizzly faces and scared young faces, some even younger than his own nineteen years. As he passed among them he grabbed hands, spoke a few words here and there. As easily as any member of an inner circle should be, his camaraderie generally acknowledged their shared previous experiences that these men and women and the Royal Family had shared over those years.

In this night of nervous waiting, it was hard for him to look at these brave people. Sometimes, despite his experience, his youth would show. Tonight, he was nearly overwhelmed by sheer terror of the fear of what these men and women might be facing their final curtain. If the Admiralty had its way, this brave band would cease to exist. There must be some way out.

I wonder if they can tell how scared I am, he thought. His eyes drifted to the monitors for about the hundredth time in the last few moments. All eyes followed his. As usual, nothing showed on them. This waiting is always the hardest thing to bear. On the one hand, we really don't want Keeth's people to ever to come, yet it sure would break up this interminable boredom. For the thousandth time since he had taken the scepter from his brother's hand, Baraz thought of what must be happening in the labs far below.

Z had sequestered them so long ago. Surely, if he has done that, they must be close to some kind of break through. The power usage down there has been enormous. That's why they had picked this planet. The wide span of temperature differential at dawn and at dusk created electricity in huge amounts. Giant batteries had been buried in the sand and Lea and Pedra had made good use of this storehouse for what ever experiments they were engaged in.

He thought about last year, how they had called him to his brother's room for the rites of ascension to the Jeweled Throne. Even though he had known that his brother was not long for this life, he was shocked by the finality of it all.

His brother, Davil, had been a great leader, mentor, and best friend for all of his young life. After he had been gravely wounded in battle to evacuate Vars IV, his brother had valiantly rallied the troops and had gotten them on shuttles, barges and vessels of any kind in order to facilitate their escape.

I wish I had been there with my troops, but I had been sent here to prepare this place as we knew that our previous base, Vars IV was, at best, a holding spot, too hard to defend for a very long time.

When the new troops had started pouring in, I was thankful for my dear brother's foresight as we were able to rest them, heal them, and care for them much better than we had been able to in some of our previous moves. He had lingered for less than a year. As we waited for my eighteenth birthday, he helped me learn to command of this station and the empire that it represents. He taught me so much. If this is our last hurrah, then, we are ready.

He even presided at the ascension ceremonies as his last official act before passing on. It was so new that I could not even face burial at that time. Now, we are surrounded, trapped here. He lies below, preserved until I can organize a decent burial in space as is warranted by his rank.

He shook himself. We have no time for woe. I have no time to miss my older brother. If he were here, he would have laughed at the irony of our position. Looking around he could not avoid the wave of despair that swept over him. What exactly am I the ruler of? I rule this one scrubby, arid sand dune on the only barely inhabitable planet in a system on the edge of this galaxy known as Hazy Point? Not a very heroic name for what may be the last battle of the old Empire. All over a Jewel Throne far off on a planet that I barely remember.

Baraz had been a small child the last time that he had seen that stupid throne, the Royal palace or even our home planet of Arth. Fourteen long years ago, my uncle Admiral Heren Menzi and his henchmen began this war. Succeeding Admirals had kept us running and hiding. Over the years, the opportunities had been few when we had been able to stand and fight.

Baraz suddenly felt so tired. But to him, these brave soldiers that surrounded him looked even more tired. Davil laughed about his childhood dreams of a time when an earldom was all he could have expected. His expectation or his life plan was for him to rule a few planets, maybe a couple of solar systems under my father's lead.

Later, I would sit with my family as one of my six older siblings would ascend and we would all do our parts as I would live out my boring, quiet life. He laughed to himself how never in his wildest dreams would he have expected this turn of events.

Looking at this last Warrion, he could knew from many trials that these people were good soldiers. They paid no attention to the hopelessness of their situation. They paid no attention to the furious conversation going on inside his head. They bustled around him, doing their jobs. They appeared busy and fine. He knew that each person here had made a choice in this conflict to follow the Menzi family in this quest to reclaim their Jeweled Throne.

He stood straighter. They believe in us. They all have shown time after that they are willing to die for that belief. This thought somehow made him feel, on the one hand, better, and, on the other hand, ashamed that he lacked their fortitude.

A comm.-tech touched his sleeve deferentially and dropped to one knee beside him. Always embarrassed by these occurrences, Davil turned and spoke, "Rise and speak, good yeoman."

"Sire, General Zintaurus Medio wishes your presence in the lab-module, please. He assures me that it is urgent."

"Acknowledge and tell him it had better be important to draw me off the fighting bridge at this time."

The comm. tech saluted and turned back to his console as Baraz headed for the lab. A general sign of relief went through the soldiers as he passed from view into the hallway leading to the down tubes.

The elevator carried him even further underground to the city that had been built in preparation for what could be their last stand. The men really like their new Emperor, but, they did not want him to be there when the attack came. They were glad he would be below where it was safer and could be protected better. The older ones looked to their weapons as they assumed that the good "General Z" must have arranged for the Emperor to be below just when the attack was coming.

They tried not to look at each other. They may have started out as clerks and bureaucrats, but they were now battle hardened veteran soldiers. They knew that if Keeth had found them now, he would have no less than three million troops with him. They were ready though. If this was the end, so be it.

Chapter 21; Keeth's Fleet Arrives

The troops below would soon know how right they were. Up in space, just outside of the sensor satellite chain, carefully hidden as invisible black voids in a field of asteroids, was the Admiral Keeth and his Seventh Fleet. As the troops below suspected, Keeth had brought over ninety thousand ships and three million hearty souls. They were up there recovering from the many jumps they had taken to gather here from all over the galaxy. Each one of the Space Marines was slavering after the million credit bonus in store for the man-jack that can deliver to Admiral Keeth the Crown and Scepter. He knew that those baubles would ensure his final real ascension onto the Jeweled Throne as Keeth I.

Keeth still had nightmares about what had happened to Admiral Heren when he had dared, right after the coup began, to ascend the Throne and sit. The sensors in the Throne, not being disengaged by the Crown and Scepter nullifiers, had fried the Admiral slowly but very effectively. Twelve brave men had died that day trying to free the Admiral from this deadly chair.

Their ashes are still drifting around in the sealed Throne Room. No one can yet be coerced to even enter the room to clean up the mess. Over a thousand of the palace servants and staff died in the hands of the torture-techs before the Admiralty was able to get the story put together.

Apparently, far in the past, the 4th Emperor had been a very jealous man. He vowed that no man would sit atop the Jeweled Throne with out his direct say so. He had secretly placed this booby trap in the Throne almost eight hundred years ago. He had nullifiers placed in every major piece of Royal Jewelry to safe guard his line. Over the centuries, many a usurper, not to mention a few cleaning people, had met a slow and painful death at the hands of this device.

Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the giant troop ships, the men were being brought out of narc-rest by the biobots on the ships. Each ship came to rest outside of the watchful sensors in the chain. The soldiers scratched themselves and grumbled.

For up to two months, they had been sleeping. Just so the stinking Admiralty could save a few credits on food. It always made them cross. Each one vowing that they were going to eat up their share of rations to make up for the weeks of food that they were owed. In their rest periods, each soldier tried to figure out how much pay they had earned while asleep.

Yet, each man and woman looked at the data screens in their lounges to see where they were and what they were up against. This is the way they would begin the process to become the savage fighters they were known to be throughout the galaxy. Each one trying to figure out how much pay they had earned while asleep.

"At last I have him," said the Admiral to his beaming staff. "For thirteen long years I have chased Royal scum back and forth across the galaxy, but no more! I will end this chase here. Captain, what do our spies in this system tell us is going on down there?"

"As well as we have been able to ascertain, Sire, is they are dug in on the fifth planet. They have been here for more than a year. These maps stolen by our spies show that they are dug in pretty deeply. We are not certain, but all indications are that their troop strength is only a million or so."

He pointed to areas on a map, "It is our plan to land a millions troops with tech support here, here, and here on the Sea of Batt desert area."

His younger son continued, "We intend to engage them here and here to smoke them out. Then, if necessary, commit the reserves to finish them here and here..."

"What are we do know is that the current Emperor is in residence of this planet. There are also indications that the Crown Jewels are here as well. If we can capture them here, we can begin your new reign on our return to Arth."

"Alright, I shall be in my cabin. Call me when the battle commences."

Keeth sat in his darkened cabin, thinking back on those five grim faces and how far they had come. Would we end it all today or would the Menzi luck hold? So many times they had been trapped and had somehow escaped. We were so foolish. In a way, we thought we could end it in one day. They have been worthy opponents, but enough is enough. We must end it here.

Chapter 22; The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Turning away from the comm link, the General snorted to himself. He looked at his rooms, "My Lab-module," he thought wryly, "it's nothing but a rat infested storage locker with no dust protection, poor lighting and barely breathable air. It's a wonder we can get anything done at all. Thank God my daughters have proper lab space. But now, to have finally completed this weapon at just this moment in time is almost beyond belief.

He spoke to himself as he waited to meet Baraz and his daughters, "I only wish we would have tested the weapon one more time."

Just then a comm-bot came barreling into the room from the hall way saying, "General Z! General Z! The damned thing works! The damned thing works!"

"I wish my daughters would watch what messages they put in these things," the General said to no on in particular. In a rush, he headed for Lab B. They entered to find the Blue Team dancing, singing and throwing papers into the air.

"Ahem," said the General.

All eyes turned to the door. Pedra, his youngest daughter and Chief of the Blue ream, threw her arms around his neck and howled in a not lady-like fashion, "It works, it works!"

As he looked at another corner at a viddy screen, he checked the satellite monitors just once again, and as usual, they saw nothing. "They are up there all right," he said to the tek, "I can smell 'em. They must have some new cloaking device. Oh well, I can't think about that now. Where is my grand son? I am anxious to get this demonstration on the road."

The men just looked at him and smiled to themselves. Some of them had spent more than fifteen months in the caves under this hell hole. None of them would have stayed a day if it weren't for the crusty old curmudgeon pacing back and forth before them.

They were happy today. Rumors were rampant about hoe all of the long months of mind numbing toil had finally paid off. Pedra's latest invention, that some were calling the Beam Scrambler, was working like a charm. They could not have timed it better either. Millions of men and women had spent the best part of two decades chasing one Royal heir after another through out the reaches of space.

Now, Keeth's forces were gathered somewhere nearby to bring this civil war to its conclusion. Now we have bought some time to perfect some of the other surprises that old General Z's team have been trying to perfect for the last ten years.

Baraz stopped at the port of the lab module, taking in the whole scene. He saw ten good souls, all in white coveralls, watching every move of the women who was our last hope. At the hissing of the portal, all eyes turned to the door. They received so few visitors because of the tight security.

It made them glad to see any face that does not belong to that old General. Hell, they hadn't even been allowed to the social barracks for the last six months. The food-robs were starting to look good to them. As it dawned on them just who was coming in, they all dropped to one knee in salute. Except General Z, of course, who had rocked this boy. He had changed his diapers, taught him astral physics and taught him to fly when he was only six years old.

They clasped arms in the salute of two comrades of many battles. "Poppy, why have you summoned me here from the fighting bridge?"

He stepped through the door. The general and his daughters turned to greet him. His aunts shook hands with him gravely. He looked at Pedra, "What new toy have you come up with this time?

Pedra stepped away from her nephew to a set of viddy screens, "It's the break through we have been needing.

"Good! We desperately need a ray of hope if we are ever going to break out of this trap. So many times I warned my dear departed brother that we were too close to the galactic edge and could too easily be surrounded."

They all nodded as he continued, "And now, we appear to be completely sealed off since our command base was discovered."

"We don't know that for sure, Sire."

"I think that all the activity on the screens has answered that for us. I fear that we have been found and the end may be near."

Baraz turned to his Guardians, "Will you wait here, Marx?" The Chief of Palace Guard caused his group to form their usual half-circle facing out in preparation to defend the port to their collective deaths.

"Look here, Sire. This is called a Beam Scrambler. It sets up a field of energy that cannot be beamed through without the reassembly data being scrambled. The problem has been on how to distribute the deflector screens. This was solved only yesterday when we put the beams into the sensor satellite system. Now, we are surrounded by this system, so we are safe in here for awhile."

Baraz beamed at his favorite aunt. She had always been his favorite aunt. Only six years older than him, in better days they had terrorized the Palace halls on many a rainy afternoon. As gifted as her father, she had flown through her studies at the Royal Academy. She had graduated far ahead of her peers. She had been the perfect choice as her father's secret weapon in these dark times.

She had her mother's personality, and her father's drive. She had the political savvy to make the best use of her sister's ability to get people to do things they didn't want to do. The two of performed miracles before the team could discover how they had been out maneuvered. Production had more than doubled for the formation of a second team to work on more projects.

"Alright, you both sent for me." The general now turned to Lea's team, "What damned thing works, dear Lea?".

"The time jump, Sire. We have perfected a way to jump through time and space. Instead of days or weeks, we can jump some where else in the galaxy within mere seconds of real time. We can move without the use of motors throughout space. Those cruisers out there can be boarded and taken within a matter of minutes if we knew their exact location. The new sensor grid that Pedra's team has just upgraded shows all of the ships around us right here on this monitor.

Lea continued, "I was working off Pedra's virtual jump gates. The advantage she created over standard beam technology was that we no longer had to have two matched gates at either end of the jump. In the last week, we have discovered that we only need to know the coordinates. At that place in space, we can jump beam an entire ship anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously."

"That is all well and good, but how long before it is operational?"

"I have a prototype ready for your inspection now, Sire."

"Well, let us have a look at it, please."

At that, the members of the Blue Team sprang into action. They took a book off a shelf and placed it on a shiny square in the middle of the floor.

"Hold out your hand, father," she said.

Flipping a switch and adjusting a few dials, a hum was heard in the room. The book disappeared and reappeared instantaneously in her father's hand.

"Books!?! You said troops! How does your process work on humans?" her father asked darkly.

"Care to give it a try, Sire?"

"You are not funny, madam. We are pressed for time. Have you tested humans or not?"

Yes, father," she replied in a soft voice usually reserved for doddering loved ones, "it was the return of Lady Pedra that you saw us celebrating when you first entered."

Baraz was almost as excited as her crew. He walked over to where his Aunt Pedra was standing awkwardly. She seems stunned by all the attention, especially her Royal nephew. She had been sequestered at the Tek Body for nineteen straight months as of yesterday. She and her sister had been fighting over who would test the new weapon. Lea had finally folded her cards when Pedra explained that she could not go on this mission herself. Besides, she had pointed out that Lea was too valuable to the Empire. And, for such a mission as this, Pedra wanted the best hand at the controls. Lea agreed that she truly needed someone she could trust, so, Pedra was her first and only choice.

For herself, Pedra had jumped at the chance to do something, anything that got her out of that damned lab. As a member of the Royal Family, she had been coddled with meaningful phrases regarding her importance and the Empire's need to protect her genius.

"Tell us, dear Auntie, what was it like? What did you feel?" Baraz asked excitedly.

She blushed profusely and replied, "I felt nothing, Sire. At one moment, I was standing next to my sister dressed for a space walk, and the next I was around the other side of Darius, the fourth moon of this planet. I stood there a moment, as I was told to do, and all at once I was standing back here among my teammates."

"Fascinating..."

"I must say, Sire, there was something that I recall now from that trip that puzzles me greatly. Standing on the moon while my sister was planning my return, I saw the strangest thing. There were huge patches of sky where no stars showed. I know that out here at the fringe, there are such patches, but not in these locations or at this time of day. You see, I have been to Darium on patrol many times while we were installing the satellite network.

"I knew it!" exclaimed the old General. "I could smell those rats."

Saying this, he reached over and hit the "red alert" button on the wall. Immediately, red lights came on all over the planet and the White Team scrambled to their places at their consoles to energize the Scrambler Net.

The Emperor turned to go, "To the fighting bridge, me hearties. You, Pedra, what is your rank?" just before he dashed topside.

"E-6, Sire."

"For this valiant service today, you are elevated to the rank of ensign-2 in my personal guard."

"No, Sire...I must stay with Blue Team. We have more projects to complete."

"Yes of course...Keep the rank!" As he said this he glanced over to where Marx stood deferentially pretending to not listen. Marx bowed his ascent, and they continued on their way.

Her father took her arm, "Have you adapted any ships?"

"Yes, Father...the Mara has been on one successful tour."

The General watched his sovereign make his way topside. He looked back at his daughter. "If your sister's magic does its work, I will have need of Both Blue and White squadrons already loaded on my wife's ship. " He looked at the comm. Screen as the robot ships began to drop from the darkness of space.

"Aye, aye, Sir," she said and give him a kiss. "For luck, Father." she added.

The General wiped the lip color off his check. "Women," he spat out exasperatedly. He rushed off knowing she would organize some volunteers for a plan that was just germinating in his brain.

He hugged his daughters, "Well, here we go," and he left at a jog trot for the Battle Bridge.

Pedra turned to her sister, "Lea, my heroine, I think Father will want us to prepare more surprises for those criminals from the Admiralty after they discover what happens to the first wave and stop beaming down personnel."

"Right... Checking my screens I see that they cannot use their energy for both masking once they start beaming. We can get the locations mapped out for all ships while they are visible and prepare coordinates for the boarding teams."

Chapter 23; The First Battle of Hazy Point

Baraz hit the battle bridge running. No one noticed him as he slid into his place at a desk covered with comm. Screens. From this vantage point high above the troops, he could watch them from multiple directions through his monitors. What he saw both fascinated and horrified him. All around the base, centered in the sea of Batt, were shuttles landing driven by Pilot-Bots.

General Z, standing behind his nephew, thought wryly to himself that those robots had been one of the last inventions turned over to the Navy before the Revolution. They had been designed for landing on planets with a hostile atmosphere. It still, in the midst of this very serious situation, struck him funny. He had to admit with our laser batteries picking them off at a rate of three out of four. I guess this situation fits the definition of a hostile atmosphere. As the robots swooped through their field of vision, it was not immediately evident just what was occurring.

Then, one of the Comm Techs let out a yell. "All hell is breaking loose out there."

The General then deciphered that the robots had been dropping square plates on the surface. "Look, every one...The Admiralty has succeeded in modifying the Terminal Tubes so it was now just a plate on a surface."

"I see that, Grandfather..."

"I hope they haven't changed the process. We need your Aunt Lea's modifications to work if we are to win this day." As an electronic haze formed around the jump terminals, it became apparent that their new Jump Tubes worked the same way as the old ones had, scrambling and reassembling atomic data. This allowed Lea's new invention to do its work. They all watch in pride and horror as scrambled bits of men and machines materialized and immediately began freezing in the pre-dawn gloom, and the laser batteries were easily turning these piles of much into newly scattered atoms.

"Hold your fire, men...Those scrambled bodies are no threat to us. Save your shots!"

All along the Fighting Bridge, people began cheering. While they all knew this didn't mean they were out of this trap, it sure did even up the odds a lot. Once it became clear that Keeth's side had stopped sending troops to their death, General Z shook the Emperor's hand and, without a word, turned and left the battle bridge.

Above the planet, on the Bridge of the Flagship Keeth's shock and dismay were evident. For a moment no one could tell what was going on.

Jar flicked the all talk button on his head set and shouted, "Stop sending troops! All ships, stop sending, NOW!" He slumped back in his chair, covering his eyes to try to blot out what he had seen, but he could not.

What he saw on his viddy scans of the surface was hundreds of thousands of troops who had died horribly. Here and there, he saw men with arms sticking out of their chests. Bodies could be seen to have re-materialized in two segments. Altogether, the Admiralty had lost over a hundred thousand troops lost in a matter of seconds. Mixed among the bodies, Jar could see millions of credits of equipment just frozen masses of reorganized junk.

He looked up to see his father looking down at him from his Battle Bridge. Jar leaped to his feet. "Sire..."

"Report."

"I'm sorry father. I regret to report that, unbeknownst to us, the opposition has developed some kind of jump tube scrambling device. I have halted the operation to assess the damages."

"Get to it, Mister. We have chased these people into this trap, and I expect to have them in my grasp as soon as possible."

Jar turned to the Comm-tech, "Order a full holographic assembly of Section Leaders in the Ward Room immediately."

"Aye, aye, Captain," he said even as he was broadcasting the message to all ships.

Keeth and his son stood at the head of the table. They were too nervous to sit as captain after captain told their stories. They had all seen the result of their disastrous invasion attempt. Right now, boiling on the desert surface were whole divisions of Fleet Marines, just gone.

They reviewed the scans showing the bodies and the mangled equipment lying ruined on the Sea of Batt. This was easily the worst defeat ever of this previously undaunted Corps. With seventy five per cent of their reserve troops still in stasis, they had barely thirty percent of their primary forces remaining to mount the next attack, if they dared to try it.

Admiral Keeth listened sullenly to the reports of how his invasion plan had gone so wrong. This new holographic meeting technology had vastly increased the speed of the Captain's reports. They did not have to leave their vessels to gather for this meeting. The captains were glad to be out of blaster range should Keeth care to blame one of them for this disaster. He had been known to end his corporal and summary judgments with gun fire. The chatter got out of hand for a moment. The Security section and the Tek sections were blaming each other for shoddy intelligence work. The Vice Admiral of Security was bellowing about how they were the ones who found the Crown here.

Keeth had heard enough. He stopped pacing and looked at the room full of ghostly figures. "Commanders, this is not how to win a war!"

The room fell silent. He looked at the belligerent faces and bellowed, "Each section cannot succeed by blaming the other! I want answers, people, not finger pointing! Get back to your stations and GET...ME...ANSWERS!" He pushed a button on his desk and the ghostly figures of the committee faded leaving him and his two sons alone. Silently, the boys left to return to their teams to seek a solution.

Chapter 24; The 2nd Battle of Hazey Point

General Z rushed to the hangar used by Pedra's new attack ships. There, far below the surface, groups of four soldiers in rifle patrols were moving through the armory in orderly lines and loading up for this mission. Baraz was heading this portion of the staging. "Light weapons...small arms... tiny explosives...take three plasma knives..." he kept repeating. "Head for Hanger eight..."

The Guardian troops moved swiftly and quietly to Hangar eight for boarding missions. Pedra was loading them into the virtual null space in her mothers Wolf Ship when her father arrived.

Not wanting to disturb the work, he spoke to his other daughter, "Lea, what's going on?"

"Pedra is nearly done loading all your troops, Sir. Just as you predicted, father, their cloaking devices had to be shut off to jump their people in here. The cocky bastards are still visible up there, and Lea and I have laid out boarding patterns for your approval."

As the only member who had attended the Naval Academy, Baraz spoke next, "I expect that the Admiralty followed standard attack protocols. That means that these ships," he pointed to the ones on the lower periphery of the formation, "should be the emptiest. If we attack right away, they may still be in such shock. I am saying that because they still have not bothered to re-mask their positions. "

They all began to talk at once. As usual, one person's half stated plan came to full fruition in the seemingly combined minds of the others in this group as they discussed the details. One would start a sentence, and another would finish it. They had worked together so long that this was their style now.

Pedra finally asked, "How big are your patrols?"

"At the moment, they are four to ten soldiers in each."

"Father, I have never done ten people at a time. I have only tested it to three, but I am sure that I can do four."

"That's alright dear. Let's only create parties of four in multiple landing sites."

"Good! Last night, I wrote a new algorhythm to my sister's program that isolates each soldier in a discreet file. I have over a thousand soldiers loaded in mom's ship. Once we are above Lea's scrambler grid, I can jump them out in rifle patrols."

"Excellent work, ladies. Shall we go?"

They scrambled aboard and energized their masking device. Unseen by their enemies, they flew up above the jump scrambler layer of satellites. Pedra brought the Mara quietly up into a cluster of the Admiralty's empty troop ships. Pedra's improvements on Lea's technology allowed them to use so little energy that they were able to operate their jump tubes and remain invisible.

Meanwhile, on the Battle Bridge of the Mara, General Z, and Lea made final checks of the charts they had made of the known ship locations. General Z spoke, "From the number of bodies that we have scanned out there on Batt, I predict that there are some empty ships up here."

Pedra chimed in, "Yes, Father. I am almost in position to start jumping in boarding parties of those troop ships."

"Just like shooting fish in a barrel," said the old General.

"Finally, I have my first victory." said Baraz solemnly, "We must find a way to turn this victory into a truly new beginning for this Empire."

"Plan accepted?" asked the Emperor. Each in turn nodded.

"The General simply said, "Go."

Like the other men in the groups, Baraz stood with the in the new Jump Port and, with a small flash of blue light, disappeared.

He and the other three men reappeared on a lower deck of the troop ship "Flora". They hurried along to check the barrack levels. This ship had been one of the first to get the new High Speed Jump Tubes. It had disgorged almost seventy thousand souls in three and half ticks. It was now as silent as a tomb. Their boots echoing in the metal passageways, they made their way to the Bridge. On the way there, they found rifle patrols already rigging the ship's cannon blasters for autofire. They were attaching remote units, so they would begin from a signal once the boarding crews had jumped off. One man from each crew went with Baraz to the Bridge. With a hundred riflemen, Baraz entered the bridge. There they found the pitiful sight of, sobbing and in total shock, a crew of only six.

"I am THE Emperor! I command you to surrender this ship!"

The crew was so surprised they just put their hands up. Baraz typed a message into the super Scrambler and activated the sending unit. "Six..." was all it said. That was the signal for "Flora taken. No losses.

Without waiting for a reply, the new crew aimed their blasters at the directional controls and decimated them. Now, this ship was floating freely in space. Its guns would fire at anything in range. With the Seventh Fleet packed in so tightly, these jammed units would fire until they melted down or were destroyed by incoming fire. The whole ships guns were set for final activation at the Commander's chair of the bridge.

Baraz looked to see that all was ready. He pushed the green button on his comm. Unit to signal to Lea that they were ready to go. In less than an hour, three hundred ships were sabotaged in this manner.

The whole operation had taken forty eight clicks with only forty losses. The General and his daughter were very happy to have their people back where they belonged. Like the other teams, just before leaving the bridge, Baraz pushed the button to activate the auto-fire systems on those three hundred ships.

Once the ship was back in the hangar, they all crowded around the monitors to watch the fun. Ships were on fire and blowing up right and left. Ships not even sabotaged joined in not really knowing what to think.

Back on board the "Keeth", the Admiralty tried to solve the puzzle. "Alright, people, what are we going to do about this?"

Before anyone could answer, a young ensign burst into the room, "They're blowing each other up, sir! Look...look!"

All eyes turned to the near space monitor screen as it came on. They saw what everyone on the planet had been watching for several minutes. He leaped on the phone. "This is Admiral Keeth. All Admiralty ships cease firing! Those ships are on automatic! Just get back out of their range and stay out until they can be re-boarded. That is an order!"

The Royals back on the planet watched the commotion begin to subside as calmer heads prevailed up above. With a twinkle in his eye they had not seen in many years he said, "Now, my children, what do you think about boarding some and keeping them this time?"

"Capitol idea, Grandfather."

A group of ships had gone off to one side of the mass to get out of the firing range of the previously boarded vessels. Aboard them, crews were working feverishly on damage control, putting out fires, resealing blown bulkheads and generally not paying attention to the groups of rifle patrols that wavered to life in a central corridor.

With quiet determination and great resolve, the boarding party moved quickly to the bridge, covered their faces, and released a sleep gas grenade. Leaving one member, they headed for the Marine barracks. Opening the port, they walked in.

Baraz, in a bold move, pulled the Royal Scepter out of his tunic and said, "Behold the Royal Scepter of the house of Menzi. Honor it and obey me.

To the man, the Marines knelt before their Emperor to re-pledge their oath. Later, it was discovered these men had been told that the Royal Guardians were in revolt to explained the uniforms on the corpses around them. Word spread throughout the ship and almost a hundred thousand Fleet Marines were repatriated back to the cause. Lea turned off her scrambler and these new troops were safely jumped down to the surface.

Remaining masked, the ship was moved to the other side of the planet. While the attention of the Admiralty was consumed by the three hundred ships that had been left on automatic firing, ship after ship was secretly removed from formation.

On the ghost hulk ships, the guns were starting to get so hot they were melting through the hulls of their ships. The ships then started to implode. These large explosions became a new source of terror in the packed formations. To try to save themselves from this development, many ships were moving out of formation. In the confusion, the ones being stolen were not noticed. Altogether, seven hundred and forty three thousand troops were brought over to the Crown. And the best part about it was that Keeth didn't even know that the troop ships he did have were nearly empty and the full ones were gone.

If Fleet Marines bowed to Baraz, then they were repatriated to Hazey Point. If they didn't, they were jumped in to space and killed. It was a clean surgical operation to gut Keeth's operation.

By the next morning's report, the truth became all too evident to Admiral Keeth. Leaving a few ships to keep an eye on things, the ragged remains of the Seventh Fleet moved out of the sector to regroup and plot new strategy. Keeth thought the Emperor was still trapped. As long as he had him like this, he still had plenty of time to figure out how to land his troops. He thought he still had millions of troops and would end this war with the appropriate outcome.

When the General awoke the next morning, he looked into the monitors and saw what Keeth had done. At first, he was tempted to take those remaining ships immediately.

"Why," he thought to himself, "I've got nearly two million healthy troops here now. Those twenty ships wouldn't stand a chance. But no, why not go on to our next target and leave those measly wretches to stew in their pots. I'll give them a false sense of security, that's what I'll do. I've got bigger fish to fry."
Chapter 25; The Battle of Dagaz IV

Half a galaxy away, a lone interplanetary shuttle lifts off Dagaz IV. This small planet is a virtually uninhabited little mote on the far edge of the galactic rim. The shuttle's trajectory curved lazily as she made her way up to the mother ship.

All the men working out in the fields enviously watched her smoke trail cut across the sky. As the tiny ship disappears, they know there would be no more outside contact for three to four weeks until the next supply ship arrived. The guards turned back to their duties. They all knew that watching these little flitters gave you the space crazies and that would lose you your soft duty at this prison. Nobody wanted to be back on active duty. Better this boredom than getting dead somewhere chasing those rebels.

From her office at the prison, another pair of jealous eyes peered at the ship. "Oh, how I hate watching that blasted ship lift off," Xeren thought to herself, "Here is am, the cousin to the greatest warrior of our time, Heren the Hammer, and I'm stuck in some back water prison babysitting a bunch of men that are so dangerous they should have been shot instead of captured."

She walked over to look out her window, "I know the stories, how thousands of these men gave up their lives rather than join the Admiralty against the Royal Family. When I agreed to join the Navy, I certainly did not expect to be in this position."

The claxon's call sounded throughout the prison. It echoed across an open field awakening the rows of brown, blanket coated lumps. Where they were now sleeping had once been the exercise yard at Dagaz Prison before the prison became too crowded. Luckily, it was early summer on this planet. They all tried not to think about what may happen when the vicious winter started here on Dagaz.

In that climate, many more of them would perish. Arin looked around at his men as they began to stir in the gloom of the huge vaulted room that was their cell. Two years growth of beard hid the classic royal features and his ragged yeoman's togs kept the prison guards from knowing his true identity. There were three million Royalist men and women housed in a prison designated for three hundred thousand. This level of crowding made for incredibly poor living conditions, if you want to call this living.

The Food-Robs moved about dispensing their wares. The men grumbled about the rations, but they were really glad to get them. They watched the shuttle rise, too. Every time it landed, they wondered if it would say the war was over, and the Emperor had been captured. Even then, they might not be able to go home.

They were not the only ones watching. Just over a rise, a shiny, silver flitter shimmered into solidity. Behind it, an entire valley filled with ships. In shimmer after shimmer, almost a million Fleet Marines lead by Baraz and Lea were assembling. She now used her virtual field jump initiator, as a test, to move a few people around the camp. Satisfied, she looked at Baraz and gave him a toothy smile.

"Let's go rescue our people and bring them home," he said.

Using a blue print of the prison they began jumping squads into strategic locations throughout the prison. They were to act like other prisoners until the signal flare was fired over the compound. Baraz was jumped into the office of the Prison Commander. She was deep in thought when they wavered into view. She looked up, startled.

When she looked up, twenty blasters were aimed at her. Baraz sat in the chair in front of her, "Xeren, how nice to see you again, my dear."

She stood indignantly, "Ummm... Ummm...and you are?" She was confused. She had not seen Baraz since they were children. Baraz being much younger at the time, he was in other classes.

"All in good time, Commander."

"What is the meaning of this outrage, sir."

"Let me explain. I am your cousin, Baraz Menzi, the 66th Emperor in my line. I am reclaiming this prison for the Crown."

She spoke with more bravado than she felt, "Surely Admiral Keeth may have something to say about that."

"He may try, but since I have just defeated him badly at Hazey Point. I know him to be gutted of troops and ships. He will have less to say about anything."

"I see..."

He hit a blue button on his communicator. There was a brief flurry of shots and some explosions. Baraz spoke into his hand held, "Situation?"

Pedra's voice came clearly into the room, "Dagaz Prison is secured, Sire."

Baraz focused on Xeren, "Commander, you are now under arrest and this prison is recaptured in the name of the Crown. Before you try anything rash, you had only a few thousand guards, and I have brought and distributed nearly one million very angry troops on my side."

He turned to his men, "Marx, may I fire the flare?"

"As you wish, Sire."

The others hustled Xeren and her office staff down the corridor toward the main compound, destroying the control consoles to the Guard-Robs and all the other robot services in case they were rigged for mass slaughter during an attack.

Laying there on the dirt floor of the compound, holding his darling Siri, Arin smelled the ozone. Without stirring too much as to wake his lady, he looked around. Not understanding, he saw Fleet Marines waver into view. His heart fell. It was over, he thought! They have come to gloat and to finish us off. Well, at least I have known true love.

He held his darling closer and she, still asleep, held him tightly too. The baby inside her womb stirred in the warmth of their embrace. Then, all around them, all the robots became immobile. The people who had been eating were upset the food had been withheld. The whole group in the compound began to mutter and mill about.

Arin was very disturbed also until his brother appeared in the Commandant office window and shot the flare gun off. Suddenly, he relaxed, knowing they were rescued and things were very right with the world.

Throughout the prison, people continued milling around wondering what was going on. Then, they too saw the flare. Everywhere small groups of people threw off their cloaks and revealed weapons and new uniforms. They immediately attacked ay human guards they saw. Within minutes, the prison was in the hands of the Crown troops.

Above the compound, Baraz appeared, "My good people, I am your Emperor, Baraz LXVI. I have freed you with the help of many others. As soon as possible, you will be jumped to our new base at Hazey Point with brand new jump technology. This is my aunt, Lady Pedra. She is the inventor of this unit. She assures me that her device can handle ten thousand per hour. You will be processed and jumped home in due time. Thank you for your sacrifice. You are all heroes. See you soon."

A cheering throng waved their arms and yelled in the first happiness they had known for many years. They were going home. The food bots began feeding people again. They had been reprogrammed to feed people as much as they wanted.

Baraz hugged his aunt. "Long will this day be known as the Battle of Dagaz Prison and, again, you are the hero. We are exceedingly pleased with our good and faithful servants.

"Oh, stop, you embarrass me. We fought together at every turn. You, Sire, are as much a hero as I."

"For today, you have served more than just our house. You have served the entire Empire. Please accept our greatest regard and the Jeweled Cross of Honor."

"I will be honored to receive it for every one in the Tek Body, Sire. I can not wear it alone."

"There will be medals enough for every one when this mess is finally over."

Arin woke his beloved. "Sweet heart, we have been rescued. We are to begin jumping to a new base immediately. First, we will be sent to the hospital ward at the new base. Once they see how well our baby is, I am sure they will be glad to have experienced help as you to know these people better than they will to re-integrate this many troops. Once we are there, I must try to find my grand father. Then, but I will introduce him to you as soon as I can. I love you with all my heart." Saying this, he pushed their way to the front to get jumped out with the first cheering troops.

"Rescued," she thought as they waited in the long slow line. "Oh, Taurus, my home star, soon I will bring this new life to you to be rededicated for your glory. I know this good man will free you from the hands of the non-believers, and you will once again be free."

With these thoughts, she joined her fellows and did as her Emperor bid. Once at Hazy Point, she and Arin were processed in. Siri,as a trained nurse, was pressed into service taking care of her fellow prisoners as they were repatriated into the new base. She and Arin worked long hours together to honor the people they had served with. She was immersed in her work, occasionally stopping to look at her man when there was a lull or if the baby would quicken.

Chapter 26; The Prodigal Returns

Their time had now come. The ships of the rebel Seventh Fleet were now either running or captured daily. The Council of Emperors was consolidating their hold on the old empire territories. Keeth was running out of places to run. War Lords who had pledged allegiance to Heren with drew their pledge from Keeth. He was little more than a pirate running in space.

Royal troop counts were burgeoning. Adding the released Fleet Marines to re-captured Dagaz prisoners, The Crown sported over ten million trained warriors. Eighty percent of the old empire was now firmly in the hands of the Royal Forces. They had re-taken the twenty ships that Keeth had left as a cordon. They were now added to the Royal fleet and on their way back to Arth for refitting with new technology.

Baraz now had time for the funeral that he had been unable to face. The youngest grandson went to see the oldest male of the family, "General,... uh, Grampa... would you assist me?"

"Yes, Sire. I will see to the arrangements." He turned to an aide and barked, "How is the processing of returnees going?"

"With the Seventh Fleet's computers, sir, we are able to do about ten thousand per hour. We should be done in about eighteen more hours at this rate."

"Carry on, Captain. We shall be on the Royal Funeral Barge paying our respects to the fallen heroes of these last three battles. Call me if there is anything to report."

He turned and slowly made his way to the Blue Team Hangar through the loading bay to escort his two grandsons, one just ending his reign and one just beginning his.

"I sure don't envy that old man," he said to the yeoman next to him, "what a load he has to carry today." The yeoman looked after the old man they all loved so much and just nodded. Turning back to the next person in the scanning booth, he looked up ad nearly fell out of his chair.

"Well, my good fellow, am I in or not?" said the stranger.

"Name?" he intoned in a bored voice.

"Arin and Siri Menzi and baby son, in utero"

"That's not funny, soldier..." but the man looked at the long haired man in the ragged uniform closely.

The yeoman fell to one knee and grabbed his hand, "Sire, how can this be? You're alive! I saw the Royal Barge blow up myself before we hit Star Speed at Starion III. How is it that you made it?"

"Some one died saving me, son. I awoke to find myself on the Hospital Barge with my head wrapped from a burn I had received. I will explain more later. Now, tell me, how goes the war?"

"For the first time, I can say that it goes well, sire. In three straight decisive victories, we have gutted the enemies of the Crown and routed Keeth. We hope it is for good. But, now, Your Majesty. I must ask you to please hurry through that loading dock. On the hangar outside of it are several people there who need to see you desperately. You, Frain, show this man to the Funeral Barge immediately!"

"And my wife, sir..."

"Delighted to meet you, Your Majesty as well, but please hurry! Your brother Danil will take his last ride, Sire."

"Shall we go, Gunny?"

"Aye, aye, sir. Please come this way." Gunnery Sergeant Frain looked at this ragged man standing before him. They looked the same age. Why all the fuss over this prisoner more than the others? He kept watch on the man and his wife, but four years in prison left little to be told about them.

The first corner they turned, they found a contingent of Royal Guards men moving smartly toward them escorting Lady Lea to the Funeral Barge. All of a sudden, Lea and Marx stopped as if frozen in place. Lea looked like she had seen a ghost. With a whoop, Lea launched herself at her nephew and best friend since childhood, landing in his arms.

Manx recognized him as well, "Emperor on the deck!" In a swift move, he knelt. All the Guardians were on one knee with heads bowed in salute. The gunny just stood there in shock.

"On your knee before the Emperor, swine!" growled the Captain.

"No, no comrades," Arin said putting Lea down. "We have no time for this. We must be about our sad business. But, first, Lady Lea, please honor my wife."

Lea hugged her new cousin in law and a much happier group hurried on down the wide busy corridor. As they passed, people cheered, applauded or just knelt.

Pedra, Baraz and General Z were standing at the loading port of the hangar deck. Pedra was jumping coffin after coffin into her null void storage. The Mara was serving today as the Funeral Barge. The General's arm was resting lightly on the young man's shoulders as they supervised this process. They were disturbed by a commotion coming down the ramp.

At a time like this, they did not expect to hear cheering. They turned to face the noise. They were surprised to see a bearded, bedraggled yeoman approached them hlding the hand of a shy, tiny Taurian woman. They were followed by a clapping, singing throng of men and women. As the man got closer, the General saw who it was and beamed.

All of a sudden, without any word, the emperor of all the known worlds was miraculously transformed into exactly what he wanted to be all along, Baraz Menzi, an eighteen year old boy with a heavy heart. He grabbed his older brother like a child around the middle of his chest and cried.

"Arin...Arin... Arin..." was all he could say.

The old man grabbed them both and cried also, but for a different reason. "Behold," he said aloud, "More of our family had survived this horrible holocaust."

The people cheered. He continued, "Through these years of civil war, they have hunted us down through out the galaxy. So many of my beloved children and grand children have fallen to these usurpers. Here is a gift that is more than I could ever have wished for."

The crowd gathered around them all and cheered. Baraz said, "This has turned out to be a truly great day for the Empire."

Arin turned to the row of caskets, to face his grim mask. This was his most hated duty and his most important. His brother's casket was still open. He knelt by the still form of his younger brother. He took his cold hand in his two warm ones. He raised the still fingers to his lips. "I will miss you, my brother. I vow to all that that bastard Keeth and his pirate scum will pay for everything they have taken from us and our people. Rest well, you have done a good job ad earned this sleep." Siri just stood by him with her hand on his head.

All around him people cried for the fallen. The General lifted his grandsons away as they closed the pod. The row of caskets was then gently moved into the shuttle and the throng went to their places. The official mourners entered the craft and others returned to the jobs that they had left. The camouflaged gates swung open with a hiss of hydraulics and shifting sand. The shuttle headed for space silently moving into position near the larger of the twin suns.

As the entourage watched on viddy screens, one by one the pods shimmered into solidity as they were jumped out to space. On each one, a tiny rocket fired to send them silently drifting toward their fiery grave. Danil was last. They all joined hands as the dead Emperor's burial tube's rocket caught fire for that last, short voyage.

"Well, Sire." Said Baraz to Arin, "Would you like to inspect the fleet while we are up here? I assure you that they are freshly stolen. They were the finest ships that the Admiralty had to offer. Up until a week ago, that is." As the newest Admiral of the Fleet, Baraz was anxious to show off for his older brother. As tired as he was, Arin wanted his baby brother to know how proud he was of them all for the great victories that they had won here.

"Yes, Baraz, I would like that very much. First, we must find Siri. She saved my life, healed my burns, got me false ID and most important, little brother, she carries your Royal nephew and is my Empress."

The family crowded around their new found Emperor and hugs ad kisses of congratulation were exchanged. Pedra hugged him and whispered in his ear, "Would you like to see something really excellent, Your Majesty?"

"More witch craft, Lady Pedra?"

"I am yours to command, Sire."

"Okay, what is it?" She touched a switch and he disappeared. In an instant, he shimmered back into view with his hair trimmed, his beard gone, and sparkling new clothes.

"Wow...that will make getting ready for work quicker in he morning." They all laughed.

"We have had so little to laugh about at this Base for so many months," said their grandfather, "Would you permit a Royal Holiday, Sire."

"I am afraid we will have no choice, now will we, grandfather?" This banter was more than show. These two men were possibly the happiest men in the entire universe.

His grandfather grinned at the exchange. Unlike his father, Aldo, this boy will make a fine Emperor. My oldest daughter, their mother, Madlin, shows much in these two. They are level headed and fair. And this war has taught them a lot about their Empire and its people. Maybe something good has come from this mess after all.

Siri had gone back to work, so, as a group, they all went to the hospital to meet the newest family member. They found her helping to tend the newly freed soldiers and sailors. Upon entering the hallway, the Royal Family worked their way toward her clasping hands, exchanging greetings and welcoming their heroes home.

She looked up and gasped. Even though she had known who Arin was, she was stunned by his looks and his reception committee. Another Med-Tech took over her duties and the others pushed her to the front of their little group. She dropped to her knee before her Emperor. His face still bore some scarring from his burns, but shaved and shorn, in a new uniform, he was the man she had always loved.

"Rise and kneel no more, my sweet. I ask you now again, before all these good people to be what you have always been, my one and my only, the Empress of my heart."

She said nothing, moving softly, silently into his arms. He picked her up and walked slowly from the sick bay. All who had come to know these two gentle people cheered lustily for their good fortune. Where only a few short days ago, they had all faced certain death, they now all embraced life with renewed fervor and joy.

As he reached the door, Arin turned to all and said, "Since this is my wedding day, I will now invite the entire base to that wedding. It will be at noon sharp. Don't be late now." With that final note, he left the cheers behind.

"Grandfather, as the civil authority on this base, will you preside at this wonderful occasion for us?"

"I would be honored, Sire."

"Admiral Baraz, the Empress and I will review your ships tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sire. If you will step this way, your private quarters await your pleasure. If you will allow me, Sire, I will pilot the elevator." With a smile, he hit the down button that took the love birds to their new home.

"Thanks, Brother..." was heard as the doors hissed closed."

Chapter 27; A New Beginning

The time was changed to dawn the next day for temperature reasons. For about an hour after sunrise, the dunes were quite pleasant. At dawn (plus about fifteen ticks, all the base personnel that could be spared were present on the dunes outside the Underground Base. Lea and Pedra stood for the bride. Baraz and Gunnery Sergeant Frain stood for the groom.

The thousands of people at the wedding and the more than six million souls who watched on viddy screens were one today in faith and adoration for their emperor and his true love. Their loyalty had little to do with his royal status. Arin had fought with them, drank with them, ate with them, and, most important, had served with them those two long, terrible years in Dagaz Prison.

As a prisoner, he had asked for nothing extra. He had become what they regarded to be highest rank amongst them, a good Joe, a regular guy. Now that his true identity was revealed, they understood his need to disguise himself. They all knew very well what had happened to his older sister, Mina, when her real identity had been discovered in that place. Today, they celebrated by cheering for the lovers, for the victories, and for the new Empire that they were going to forge in the days ahead.

Once it was over, their newly re-crowned Emperor spoke, " I have decided that two new insignias will be passes out among you as soon as they can be struck. The first will be a blue flame for the heroes of Hazy Point."

Arin allowed the cheers to go on for a moment, then raised his hand. "...and I will wear as many of you will, a white flame for the heroes of Dagaz Prison." This will include the newly liberated Fleet Marines who rescued us. The men and women that bear these insignia will never bow to me again. We are comrades in arms. Siri and I and all of my family owe you more than we could ever hope to repay."

Saying this, he and his new bride, looking lovely in her wedding finery, walked among his people shaking hands and hugging special friends he had made when they all thought he was an ordinary yeoman such as themselves. These old friends congratulated him on his wedding as they would anyone else. This pleased him greatly. He had much enjoyed the camaraderie of the yeoman's life and vowed that the Jewel Throne would not become a barrier to these friendships.

He was a little sad to shave and finally cut his hair however. Last night, he had vowed to Siri to make a special effort to free Taurus next. It was in the hands of a particularly evil War Lord. Zim had been one of the first Governors to mutiny in the last days of his father's reign. In that fifteen years, Zim had made use of the chaos of civil war to forge a state based on his personal malevolence. Once he was had freed her home, they would make a trip to Taurus and thank them personally for forging him the means to survive those life threatening experiences.

He returned to the front of the crowd and continued, "While I was a prisoner, living among my people as one of you, I was continually struck by your goodness and faith in what we stood for. As soon as we can bring this civil war to an end, all peoples will be given the right to join the New Empire freely and without coercion. From this place, we will march forward. We will touch every planet on our long march home. We will rid the skies of the old Admiralty or any lawless elements that exist. We will have elections. The Senate will become a council of planets organized into one hundred sectors with ruling parliaments. Each sector will send five representatives to the empirical senate."

Cheer after cheer lead by his brother and the family followed the two as they made their way to the royal apartments for their wedding supper. There was much to do, but it could wait until the morning. The Emperor and his new Empress had other plans.

After attending his brother's brief reception, Admiral Baraz called his new general staff together. They met briefly met briefly to lay out plans for the distribution of new man power. Baraz was surprised to find that his brother and grandfather had agreed to make him an Admiral. He was then forced to stay up all night organizing his new warrion of a million and a half men, women and their children. This quadrant known as Hazy Point was to be his new provincial capitol, and he would be the Governor of it in the New Empire until elections were to be held.

He knew what his first moves would be. He went to the Guardian Married Officer's Barracks to find Jar and Cyn at home with their new baby, Zinny. He had asked his grand father to accompany him. This was not difficult as the old man had grown very fond of his godson. Jar was very surprised to see who was at the portal. Cyn, ever the good hostess, pulled them inside, handed the baby immediately to his reaching god father, and had them sit for drinks.

"Captain, it has not escaped our notice that you have rendered our family and the entire New Empire a service that must be repaid. Saving the life of this great gentleman, you are a hero of the first order.

"These new Captain's bars and this fancy new apartment is thanks enough, sir." Cyn just smiled.

"No, sir, it is not enough. I have come to ask you to be my right hand. I am forming a new warrion, and I need the best aide that I can find. I am offering a colonel's rank and pay."

"By the stars!" His wife squealed and hugged his neck.

Baraz took a sandal wood box out of his satchel, "And, oh, by the way, please accept my congratulations on earning this Jeweled Cross. I'm sorry that it is so late, but we have been a little busy lately. We will be holding a little ceremony for you and your guests tomorrow at noon. Blue Deck...don't be late."

Cyn threw her arms around Jar with a whoop. Jar just looked stunned. He kissed his wife, "I'm sorry sweetie, it looks like we'll be moving again."

Jar looked over his wife's shoulder at General Z for confirmation that this was really happening to him. The old man just grinned a big, toothy grin at him and nodded.

He turned to his new boss and said, "First, I would like your opinion on this idea of mine that Cyn and I have been working on these last two weeks. I can tap into the Sundown News Show. We can add our stories and nothing can be done about it without ruining their whole communications network. No one knows yet about tour three victories out away from this sector."

"Jar, old fellow, you may have just earned a second Cross for this one," said General Z. "Prince Baraz may have to withdraw the officer's bars in order to make you the new editor of the Royal Report. Eh, my son?"

"Grandfather is right. You are much more valuable as a propaganda officer. The colonel's bars stay. You must be our Minister or Propaganda. I will set it up with the Emperor in the morning. When can you get the first show on?"

"I have been tinkering with several stories. I have edited the first Battle of Hazey Point down to the allowable two hundred ticks."

"The FIRST Battle..?"

"It was Cyn's idea really. She says there were really two great battles in one day. The first was when we fought them off."

"Right...I see that."

Cyn piped in. Baraz was a little thrown by the fact that he knew what little Zinny was doing under the baby blanket she had thrown over her shoulder. "The second was when you led troops in the boarding and destroying of a huge portion of the fleet."

"That was my grand father's plan..."

She nodded ignoring her son's dinner activities, "Okay...we can cut it that way..."

"If I may be bold enough to create a third battle, let us consider the commandeering and repatriation of ships and personnel. As stated, we only have a couple of minutes per up load."

"Brilliant...Mrs Kartin, you have earned your eagles today as well."

"Thank you, sir, but, we're not done..."

Jar jumped in, "We have some beautiful footage on the Royal Wedding. We can call it the Sunrise Report. We are ascending, after all, Sir."

"Right you are, people. Can we start tomorrow?"

"Locked and loaded, sir."

As the men were preparing to leave, Baraz shook both of their hands, "I await something special as ai break my fast tomorrow morning."

True to his word, at noon the next day all of the base personnel that could be spared were assembled to honor the newest heroes. Cyn held Zinny up so he could see his Dad. They were so proud of their man that they felt ready to burst.

"Jar Kartin," Arin was saying into the cameras, "we are so proud to be associated with a man, who at total risk to himself, saved the man who would eventually lead us all home."

Cheers

"By saving my grandfather's life you have done a service to the Empire that can never be fully repaid. You did a service to this family to which you now belong. We hope to show you the value of that membership. People, I give this Jewel Cross to Baron Jar Kartin-Menzi, Colonel and the hero of Givon Morass, Minister of Information for the New Empire. Baroness..."

Saying this, Arin reached his hand to help Cyn up to the stage before the cheering crowd. She hugged the Emperor, her husband and her child. The General took the baby so that Arin could stand between them, holding their hands high for their friends to wish them both well.

When the cheering died down, Arin turned to Lea. "Lady Lea, my best friend throughout my life... Even as a child, I knew you were destined for greatness. Please accept this Jewel Cross as a token of our gratitude for the work your Tech Body has done to bring about these great victories. We are issuing a unit citation for each of your two groups for their work. But, to you, dear aunt, I give the Jeweled Cross, our Empire's highest honor and, as always, my fondest regards." They hugged and Lea turned to show the Cross to her mother and sister.

"Lady Pedra, please step forward."

Pedra was shocked to hear her name. Her family pushed the shy woman forward to face the Emperor. To her surprise, the Empress Siri pinned a diamond covered blaze on her lapel.

"For creating upgrades to your sister's inventions... For taking the first jump at great peril... you are now awarded the newest medal. We shall call it the Star of the Empress. I now ask you to head my personal guard and protect my children until you die."

As happy as Pedra had been to hear of her old friend, Siri's great fortune to find true love and the Empress Throne, she was ecstatic to be her old friend's guardian and the protector of the Royal Heirs. Forgetting herself, she hugged her new charge as if they were still at school. The people cheered the old friends.

Mara and Madlin watched this all with the pride of true matriarchs. The Empire owed them much and now they were repaying them for helping to forge this family, so much loss and now, finally so much joy.

"General Zintaurus Medio, you are the hero of so many battles and the inspiration and inventor of so much. I want all these people to know how I feel right now. The problem is that there is no way short of abdicating and giving you the entire Empire that a gift large enough to reward your due. So I give you this..."

Arin threw his arms around the old General and hugged him. The old man held tight. "It is enough, my son," choked the old man.

Chapter 28; War's End

Arin awoke the next morning and went on a walking tour of Hazy Point. He was gladdened to see that people were taking him at his word. He was greeted with warm hand shakes like a comrade and not as their Emperor. In many cases, hugs and smiles replaced the formal bowing and kneeling of before. All around prefab housing was going up to house the new troops. As freed men, they were not kept in stasis when they weren't fighting. Arin believed this would get better results from them.

In his new office, right next to his grandfather's office, Arin found his little brother already hard at work. On the return of Arin, he had assumed his new duties as the Fleet Admiral and a fighting Fleet Marine General.

Looking up and seeing Arin come in, he said, "There were more troops there than we thought, Sire, more than seven million. We have enough to field three new Warrions, should you desire them."

"I am more concerned with the new Navy, Admiral. Who is going to refit it, run it, and make it fighting ready?"

"I have three candidates for your approval, Sire. One was a Vice-Admiral who refused to serve the Admiralty. Like you, he was in Dagaz Prison. He was there longer than anyone else who lived."

"Zeb Maori, our spy's son. I should have thought of him myself. You are doing a marvelous job, Baraz. I am so proud of you."

"He is in hospital from malnutrition. He was in solitary confinement for years. The medics think he can start to work today from his bed."

"Is it too soon?"

"No. His medic thinks the work will help him recover."

"I'll go see him later. Good work. I knew you were the right choice."

"The simple answer is that I was trained for this job. I was not trained for your job. Thanks for saving me from having to be Emperor."

"As I recall you saved me first." They laughed at their little joke.

"Thank you, Sire. Grandfather wishes to speak with you now, if you could spare the time."

Arin went in to his Grandfather's office. It was so like him, he thought, sparsely furnished, efficient, and businesslike, with a picture of them all in more peaceful days. "You wished to see me, Poppy?"

"Yes, Sire, I will get to the point, I wish to resign my commission."

"What! How will we manage? The troops rely upon you for so much!"

"Calm down, son. I'm not quitting in the middle of the show with no back up plan. I know there is much do to, but Baraz is more than able as a field General. The war from here will be Naval. That's his cup of tea. I feel I need to return to my work at Tech Body. No one but the family will know that I have resigned."

Arin looked at those clear blue eyes, after a moment's thought, he knew what his grandfather was saying was correct. Research had always been his life, and he had missed it so. Arin could not deny him this. He already owed him everything. "Alright, sir. Your new office can be assigned to the Tech Body indefinitely. That is as far as I will go with this matter. Stay close to your comm.-link though. I think a certain new Chief of Staff will be asking a lot of questions."

Z chuckled and shook his head, "Yes, Sire. I imagine he will."

Baraz was summoned across the hall and apprised of his new status. He was very proud of the honor paid him by his family, "I will strive to be worthy of this honor. You can count on me."

"I always could, little brother. You have been a hero from the first day of this war. It is time that everyone here knew how proud of you the Empire is."

For the first time, whole ships and their crews were leaving Keeth's Navy and giving themselves up to the Royal Forces. Within two weeks of the liberation of Dagaz Prison being shown on the Sunrise Report, the size of the Royal Forces were nearly doubled in size.

The warlords in concert with Baraz's forces, began their planned attacks en masse. Everywhere, the Rebels, as the Sun Rise Report was now calling called them, were taking huge losses. Ships were being hunted by Pedra's masked Wolf Packs. Once their hiding places were found, they were quickly surrounded and captured.

Using intel collected from these captured ships, the strategy changed to hunting for hidden bases. As soon as each base was found, A couple of ships were left to watch the base and a Royal Wolf ship would jump back to Hazey Point base. Once there, waiting troops and ships were collected. The Wolf Pack would then jump back to the site in less than an hour.

Lea's invention made Baraz's fleets so much more mobile. Whole fleets could now be jumped beamed to sites. Using this new technology, the Royal side was able to assemble around Rebel ships, board them at will with the jumped in Fleet Marines. Ships were quickly subdued and captured. The boarding parties would have jump technology with them. The captured ships were jumped back to Hazey Point.

As the number of ships at Arin's disposal grew, Keeth's ships became less and less able to withstand the sheer numbers facing them at every turn. In a flash, a ship's crew would fighting for its life from inner and outer attacks. Ship after ship was surrendering with out a fight.

Pedra and Lea's inventions had changed the very environment of this long war. Their ships were smaller, lighter, and faster than any ships that had been built before. Using a fraction of the energy of older technologies, they could now easily move thousands more troops across the empire in an instant. Some how, they managed to keep their inventions secret.

The Crown was careful not to allow the invention out of family hands. They understood very well that the members of the Council of Emperors were all former pirates. Pirates, by their very nature, were not above turning a common victory into a personal victory for themselves.

As ships were captured, they were stripped and refit with new technology and Pedra's new smaller, more powerful guns. Arin's fleet was so mobile that even his allies became confused. He allowed the War Lords to think he had captured so many ships that they had major fleets everywhere at once. The outcome of their war could have turned an entirely different way if they had known that the Royal fleet was really much smaller in number and just incredibly mobile. Arin's position in the Council of Emperors became stronger after each encounter. Pedra kept the best ships, leaving just a few for the Pirate to capture. Troops that agreed to be repatriated were sent to Hazey Point for debriefing. Those with war based criminal records were jumped to Dagaz IV. The ones who were trustworthy, were stored in stasis to jump into battles.

Back on Arth, the news of the defections and defeats had a planet in turmoil. Senators were calling day and night trying to figure out what to do next. They had followed the Admiralty expected to live off the fat of the old Empire. Now, faced with execution for treason, they wanted out. Their problem was there were fewer and fewer places to run to. The star maps shown on the Sunrise Reports showed the Council of Emperors in possession of ninety percent of the old Empire's territory. The capitol became a ghost town as people left for their home worlds.

Keeth was in shock. He had fought hard, but everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by what appeared to be overwhelming numbers. Two major clashes in the last week and a half of the war spelled doom for his cause.

The last major battle took place in the open spaces around Bestrin II. As planned, Karron Zindar and the Council of Emperors engaged Keeth's Fleet head on. Keeth was heartened as he stood by his son watching the Pirate fleet shimmer into view on his screen. "What do you think, son..?"

"I estimate around two hundred mostly outmoded gunboats, Sire."

Suddenly, the tiny fleet facing them became over a thousand as Arin's vessels shimmered into view. His fleet formed two wide flanking arches on either side of the Council's vessels. As Keeth was calling to his ships to get them to begin firing, Keeth's son signaled silently to the inner circle of ships. Together, they and his father's Flag ship disappeared.

Before the Rebels could get targets on the Royal ships, they just disappeared. In another flash, they reappeared ninety degrees farther out to each side. Baraz's fleet opened fire, then, disappeared again. Just before the fleet's next reappearance, thousands of troops were jumped in as boarding parties. In moments, the fleet's gun crews were captured and their cannons went silent. This was too much for the beleaguered Rebel captains to handle. Within minutes, the ones who had not escaped surrendered. Keeth and a few ships had escaped this trap.

Admiral Zebulon Maori, representing Arin, jumped over to the "KZ" to meet with the Council members. "Madam Zindar, my Emperor sends you his best wishes on this great victory. He wishes to thank you all for your courage and to ask you to continue to keep driving for Arth. He hopes to meet you all there for a victory dinner very soon. Good day," and bowing grandly, he disappeared from where he stood.

The others were astounded that he had not needed a jump terminal in order to get back to his ship. Looking out the port holes, they noticed the entire Royal Fleet was gone. Karron said, "Oh, well, more spoils for us, right, gentlemen? Let's continue the division so we can head for the next rendezvous."

Admiral Maori had been a distraction. While he had been meeting with the Council, each boarding party had been busy assessing the value of their captured ships. His teams only took the newest ships even if they were wrecked. The ones he left could fly but, they were already obsolete. Their orders were to leave half of the ships that were floating there. Still, they were good enough for the Council to use against Keeth.

A week later, at the Dagon Borealis, the Fourth Fleet was somehow boarded in the night and immobilized. The best ships were boarded, refitted with new masking technology and repatriated to Arin's fleet. By the time the Council ships arrived, all the remaining ships of the Fourth Fleet could do, with a sudden lack of power, was surrender. Keeth was shown a full report on the Royal Sunrise Report that next morning. It was the first clue that anything had befallen the Fourth Fleet.

Only a week later, Keeth's flag ship barely escaped capture in open space. He found himself surrounded by a Royal Fleet commanded by Baraz. With no escape visible, Danil called for full speed ahead. With all of Keeth's guns blasting away, Royal ships scattered to get out of their way. They were unwilling to shoot back because the Crown vessels were afraid of hitting their own ships. Still, one stray shot glanced off the fore bridge just as the Flagship "Keeth" and a few other ships with quick thinking commanders escaped through the small seam they had made in the trap and disappeared into hyper speed.

Karrin Zindar and her fleets took chase. Arin ordered his fleets to heel to and return to their secret base at Hazey Point.

Chapter 29; What to Do About the War Lords

Arin sat to a quiet dinner with his family. He turned to his brother, "I fear future conflicts with the Council of Emperors.

His aunts turned to listen. "I have an idea. A new strategy."

"A new plan, Sire?"

"My ladies, I have a plan that I need your help with."

"Yes, Sire...what ever we can do."

"Coming in this day, I looked about my flitter as we were arcing in for a landing this morning. I saw many hulks floating in space."

"About Seventeen hundred ships, Sire."

"Flight worthy..?"

"No, Sire."

Pedra snapped her fingers, "I have been kicking something around that might be just the trick we need..."

"I am interested to hear your plans, Auntie..."

"I could create clusters of ships with some new magnetix we have just cooked up..."

As always, Lea finished her thought, "We paint and repair the hulks enough to make them look space worthy."

"Right... I'll put one of my new Wolf ships at the center of each cluster. In our newest experiments, we have expanded the virtual null field. With this break through, we can jump the clusters to locales and, once there, fly them all as if they were one ship. We mix the clusters in amongst our fighting ships as cover. We will triple the appearance of your fleet, Sire."

Their father clapped his big hands together, "Let's get to it, people."

His aunts assigned the Tek Body to repairing the outside of every hulk of a ship that could be rounded up. Because of the battles in the last two months, space was littered with busted up war ships. With the new technology, Pedra jumped out to those old battle sites.

Lea immediately began assigning crews for the refit. They repaired the hulks strictly for looks. They put in enough electronics so they would have sufficient power to maintain steerage once Pedra jumped them to a location. Magnetix bound them to gether and kept them from bumping into each other. The Magnetix worked just as Pedra had said.

Pedra piloted the first flight. She hid a tiny, new ship in the center of a cluster and jumped them en mass. The newly enlarged null field acted as both a jump tube and a masking device that would both fly and hide all the ships at once.

During those crazy refit days, anyone who could space walk was commandeered into painting duty. Holes were repaired with metallic tape over the hole and repainted. In three weeks, they had added thousands of "new" ships. Training was held to create crews to operate the one working ship. The trick was driving a group of ships. Turning was wide and slow. After a week, the new pilots were ready to go out.

The next week, there was a scheduled rendezvous with the Council of Emperors to go after Keeth';s last fleet, they gathered at the home world of Karron Zindar. High in space near the first moon, nearly five hundred War Lord ships were gathered. Suddenly, all around and above their fleet as far as they could see were Arin's ships. Baraz had carefully placed the clusters of derelict vessels out at the far edges of his brother's group. They only showed their ships for a tick and then jumped them out of scanning range.

It worked. What the War Lords saw were Royal vessels as far they could see. After this aerial display, Arin walked into Karron's conference room all alone. This time, when he walked into the room, everything was different. For the first time, the War Lords were deferential to Arin. He walked slowly around the room, shaking each hand.

Also for the first time, Arin was offered and he took the chair at the head of the table. He looked around slowly, "My friends...I am proud to say that our war work is nearly done." The heads around the table nodded grimly.

"The peace will not be so easy. I would like to remind you that we had an agreement in place regarding what we thought should happen next." The War Lords stirred nervously in their chairs.

Karron spoke first, "And, Sir, how do you see that playing out?"

"We have spent these last few years together creating an unstoppable alliance. It was built strong for war. It appears that peace is just ahead. My Chief of Staff, who as you know, is also my little brother, tells me that we may have days or, at the longest, weeks left in this fourteen year war. When it ends, we face new territory, Peace..."

More nods of agreement.

He raised his cup of coffee, "My brothers, Let us drink to peace!."

The others rose and lifted their drinks as well, "Peace!"

"I return to the question of how to manage the time of peace."

Kirzon Delft stormed into the room, "Does your view of that time of peace one where you sit on a throne we built for you."

"What?"

"You know...Is your vision of peace one where you are now simply able to waltz right back into your Menzi Palace to sleep in your Menzi bed...hmmm?"

Arin smiled grimly. He knew it would have been too easy for these pirates to just let go of their hard won territories and power. "Kirzon, old friend, how nice to see you again."

"Areen... I heard you was dead."

"Reports of my demise were premature."

"Alive or dead, you are no better man than me. I have as many victories as you. I am not giving my hard won territory back to you simply because you asked me nicely."

"Kirzon, Kirzon...I see your fleet."

"Nice...isn't it."

"And you can just as easily see my fleet."

"Aye."

"The misunderstanding here is that I am not asking you nicely."

Suddenly, Kirzon simply disappeared. It was then that Arin realized it had only been a well constructed holo image of Kirzon. All of Kirzon's ships had disappeared as well.

Arin returned his attention to the other War Lords, "Are we going to give the vote back to the people in your territories?"

He looked from one to the next. They knew they were beaten. "Aye... aye ... aye..." With a series of signs of vocal acquiescence, the Council agreed to disband itself once the two remaining problems were captured and nullified. The War Lords were not stupid. They knew their equipment was not the newest and the latest. They also knew that the Royal Tek Body had created a series of new tools that rendered their fleets obsolete. Their fleets would not last a week against the clearly superior speed and fire power of Arin's forces. Now, that he had recaptured most of Keeth's fleet, he was simply too much for them.

"Well...let's not get ahead of ourselves. The future is a discussion for another day. We are not done with today's problems yet. Both Keeth and Kirzon are still out there."

Chapter 30; Keeth's Surrender

As Arin had said, Keeth was still out there but just barely. He had called for a rendezvous of his remaining ships to attempt with sheer numbers to turn the tide in the campaigns. Now, the meeting would be for another reason altogether.

Garag V's blue star burned dimly over the wreckage of the last week's fighting. Ships were limping into the rendezvous point, some of them barely able to reach hyper. Keeth saw them on the monitors as they came in. Barely a tenth of the ships limped in to this last base. Crews began to scramble over the ones that did to try and repair damages before the Crown found out where we were and attacked them again. This was not what Keeth had expected. His world had gone mad. This must end.

"Ahem," he heard behind him. He turned to see a young ensign trying to get his attention.

"Speak."

"Admiral, Vice Admiral Keeth is awake and requests your presence, sir."

"I will jump over immediately. Please inform Medical that I will want a full report when I arrive."

"Aye, aye, Sir."

Keeth stood on his jump port and, in a flash he was on the hospital ship. Ironically, he thought, this is the same ship that he had captured at Starion III. What he never knew was that his arch rival, Emperor Arin, had been secretly on board this ship. Arin would have died and this war might have ended differently.

He talked to the doctors. They were filled with hope for a full recovery. Slightly heartened, he went in to see his son. He sat on the edge of the bed. Without a word, Danil put his arms around his father. They sat together silently holding each other. They felt, but could not say the love and respect that they had for each other. Lara Keeth sat in a chair beside the bed, tears streaming unashamedly down her face. She watched her men, feeling the love that they shared, glad for this last moment together.

She knew what her husband felt. Too many brave souls had been lost already for a cause that was no longer worthy of further effort. But, the last straw for him had been when he had arrived here to find the fore bridge nearly destroyed. He had dived into the flames to pull men out. He had worked hours with his men until every man was out. The last man out had been his son.

Seeing his own son brought out of the wreckage, more dead than alive, had broken his spirit. gone back to his stateroom and cried like a baby. This was the kind of caring leadership that had caused these brave me to follow him in the first place and was causing his decisions today.

"I may not return. You must take care of your mother, son."

"Yes, father," Danil said and saluted with his one good arm, "whatever you decide, I will follow you as I always have."

"You have always been my best soldier, son," Keeth choked. He kissed his wife, hugged his son again, and went to the Jump Tube to go back to the crippled Flagship.

Once there, he went to the ward room to face holographic images of the Admirals and ship captains, twenty three hundred men and women where once the number was more than seventy thousand. The grim faces before him gave him no sign of help.

"I have asked you here to personally thank you for the loyalty and service to our cause and to tender my resignation..."

He was interrupted by explosive talk and shouted calls of denial. He held his hand up for quiet and gradually the room was brought to order.

"I am defeated. I cannot go on. Once we controlled more than ninety percent of the Old Empire. Now, we can barely hold on to five percent. I intend to give myself up to the Council of Emperors. If you choose to fight on, then I wish you well."

Keeth sat slumped in his chair, unable to look at these people. He looked up to se that no one had left. His gaze traveled up to see a line of troops. One by one, though they were still on their own ships, they broke their swords, saluted and clicked off. Tears welled up in Keeth's eyes. He knew that these people were following him into defeat as they had followed him into victory.

A message was sent to Arin via the Sunset Report. In what everyone knew was Keeth's news conference, he offered peace to the Crown.

Arin appeared on the Sun Rise Report the next morning. "The war is over. The Admiralty has resigned from further acts of aggression. They have agreed to meet us on an intermediary planet for the surrender. As a token of my esteem, the Planet Taurus will be designated as the truce planet."

He had other plans that he only shared with his grandfather and his aunts. Taurus would be the first step in the "Long March Home" as he called his new policy to rebuild the Empire.

For the first time in almost ten years, Admiralty ships and Crown ships occupied the same airspace without hostilities. All was tense but quiet and orderly as ship after ship wavered into view and entered Taurian holding orbits. As they were stabilized, all the ship's captains beamed to the planet's surface to stand with their Admirals in the surrender. The combined fleet of the Council of Emperors ships then surrounded and made ready to take possession of those ships at the completion of the ceremonies down below.

Keeth's ships were empty. Their crews had been rounded up and jumped to meet with their families on Dagaz IV. On the bridge of each ship, a single figure shimmered into view. Each boarder was dressed curiously all in black with a wide utility belt. He or she went over and sat in the captain's chair.

On a pre-arranged signal, each boarder hit a button on their belt and Keeth's ships disappeared. Arin's ships disappeared as well. Similar secret boarders were on all of the vessels left in the sky. If the other War Lords attempted to do anything rash, the equipment placed on those ships simply rendered them powerless.

Arin and his people, each of the other emperors in the Council and their people were waiting in a field especially designed for that purpose. Arin, as leader of the Council, was seated at a large table set up on a small stage. The News cameras, no longer held to three minutes were jockeying around, shooting the various aspects of the event to be edited later for their reports.

As Admiral Keeth approached the dais, he felt a tugging on his arm. He turned toward the hail and found his son standing there with his wife and his daughter-in-law, Alis. "I tried to keep him down, Sir, but he inherited stubbornness for somewhere, I fear."

Keeth was so heartened to see his son that he couldn't get the right tone of conviction in his voice when he said, "What are you doing here, Mister? This is a strict violation of medical issue."

His son smiled at the attempted chastisement and replies, "Well, sir, since your retirement, your orders have no effect on me. As if I would be anywhere else but here lending my support to you in your hour of need. You have always been my hero, and I had to be here for you."

Keeth wiped his eyes, straightened his shoulders and said, "Let's get this over with." Saying this, all of the Naval contingent fell into line behind the Keeths and together for the last time smartly approached the stage in military order.

Arin rose to meet Admiral Keeth and his son. The rest of the Navy waited at the bottom of the steps. Keeth handed him a metalloid ceremonial saber and signed the Documents of Surrender. With grave dignity, Arin took the saber, signed the documents, and broke the saber over his knee saying, "With the breaking of this saber, I declare this war to be at an end..."

(Cheers.)

"I hereby accept these brave soldiers back into the heart of the New Empire. Know you now that the injustices of the Old Empire that you fought against were real and therefore you are not going to be treated as criminals..."

(More cheers.)

"I can understand why you fought, but I must exile you and your men because something must be done to keep this kind of activity to a minimum."

(Laughter.)

"I have chosen a relatively uninhabited planet for your exile, Dagaz IV. Take your families and your men. Bring that planet to full life. In due time, you can earn your way to full membership in the newly formed Commonwealth of Planets. Go in peace."

(Many cheers.)

Chapter 31; Freeing Taurus

Arin held up his hands for silence, turned and talked into the cameras to the population watching the ceremonies through out the Empires, "The time has come for a rebuilding. A choice must be made. All troops are to be sent home for the vote to be held one month from today. If you are not on your home planet, go to any government office to vote by computer to be counted on any planet that you designate as your home. "

"The issue to be decided is whether every planet wishes to send delegates to the new Senate, to form a New Union and a New Planetorial Senate, or even, for each planet to go on alone and remain independent. The wishes of each planet and system will be honored expressly as voted.

If you choose independence, you will be allowed to go in peace. We are brothers. We will fight no more. Thank you." Finishing his speech, Arin kicked the broken sword off of the dais and lead the Council back to their ships for their return journeys home.

People were milling about, thinking the fun was over. To everyone's surprise, Kirzon Delft shimmered into view standing right next to Arin. He held a golden sword at ready, "Mighty fine speech, there, Menzi..."

"Thank you, Kirzon," Arin replied coolly, drawing his own sword. People drew back, aware of the danger these two men presented. Baraz drew a short sword from his jacket and moved himself to cover Mara and Siri.

Arin just watched his final opponent quietly. He saw no guns. He remained confident. He had been forced to become quite the hand to hand fighter during his years in prison. He was forever being challenged as he took more and more people into his protection from the desperate characters always trying to get an extra ration or a better blanket.

Kirzon had never been to prison, he could not have known the vein of pure steel that had been forged in Arin's spine by those horrible years. Arin had also studied the Tal Ash weapons free fighting style of the Taurian holy men. Siri and some of the other Taurian people had taught classes in the prison. As a free born woman, she was allowed to study with her brothers and was quite skilled.

Kirzon waved his curved blade back and forth as he began the standard circle of combat. As a Naval Academy student, he had been captain of the Dragoons, the sword fighting squadron. He had fought many times over the years, but never for the fate of all.

He made his opening move. Had Arin been an ordinary sailor trained only with a Dragoon's skills, he might have met his fate that afternoon. In Arin's skilled eyes, he saw the move start in Kirzon's eyes, then in his feet, then in his back, finally in the motion of his arm and chest. All of his Tal Ash training broke free. He appeared to barely move at all.

As Kirzon thrashed about, cleaving the air in mighty strokes. Arin used his balance and fitness to best advantage. If Kirzon's sword got too close, Arin's blade merely flicked it aside. Finally, he had his end game move in place. While parrying an over head stroke, he shifted his weight completely to his back foot. He kicked his front foot past Kirzon's front foot, then quickly lashed his flying foot backwards. His lightning move caught Kirzon's heel and pitched him onto his back.

In a tournament, this would have been a foul. Kirzon bellowed, "Bad form, old chap."

Arin merely smiled. He was looking down at his fallen foe, standing on Kirzon's sword arm, "This is not a tournament. There fore, you, sir, are under arrest."

Royal Guardians pressed forward and took Kirzon into custody. The people applauded at the good show. Arin's reputation sky rocketed as his kool dispatch of the sword wielding pirate was shown over and over on the newsies. Arin was glad that Taurus was now free.

Siri was shown all over the newsies as well. There were stills and vidz of her standing off to the side guarded by Lord Baraz. She was calmly rubbing the life in her belly as she watched the fight.. She was clearly proud of her husband and his of his masterful use of the Tal Ash fighting techniques. Again, she had saved his life as he had hers.

When the screaming and fighting Tyrant of Taurus was hauled off, Arin returned to the mike. "With the arrest of the pirate, Kirzon Delpht, all of his stolen territories are forfeit to the Crown and will be subject to the same vote as the other free citizens of the old empire.

With that, the official work of the surrender continued. One by one, the old War Lords kissed his ring and forfeited their lands and their ships. When it was done, all the parties were dispersed to their tasks. Kirzon was jumped to prison on Arth. Keeth's family and his troops and their families were jumped to Dagaz IV where they began the process preparing for their exile. Over the next three weeks people kept pouring into Dagaz IV. Most of the population of old Arth was there, rebel Senators and their families and the Navy and their families.

Each Rebel family was given land and equipment under the Home Stead Rules. The difference was that these families could not quit and return home like some colonists could in the older days. They must remain here for ten years. If they could create a viable community, they might be deemed to be rehabilitated and brought back into the Commonwealth as a full member planet.

Chapter 32; Home at Last

The Royal Shuttle touched down on its last stop, Starion II. As before, the newly furloughed and retired soldiers and sailors poured from the jump area and ran into the waiting arms of their families and friends. Also as before, the crowds grew to view the Royal Family and especially their local hero, General Z. They milled around them as they emerged into the sunlight, cheering and calling their names.

Arin and his family went to their Grandfather's house to await the election resulting and to rest from the rigors of the campaign. Siri felt the days of her pregnancy drawing to a close and was glad for the stopping place.

Finally the Election Day dawned bright and sunny. Coming from the polling place with his family after voting, Arin looked up at the sky, remembering his boyhood days here with his Nan and Pops on a holiday. "How far away those days seem," he thought, "I hope this sunny day is an omen."

Taking Siri's arm, he felt her tense with a major contraction. One look in her eyes and he said nothing but knew all. Hailing a passing flitter, they proceeded directly to the Med Center. All else forgotten, Arin and the joyous family waited, watched and helped where they could to bring the new life into the world. By the time little Zintaurus, the younger prince of the realm, was born, the day had passed and the sun was setting. Only then did anyone remember to check the News Reports.

The news was full of election stories. First, the news was full of stories about the overwhelming rebirth of a new Empire. Both Arin and Siri had been elected to the Senate to represent Taurus. The third most popular story was about the birth of the Crown Prince Zintaurus. Finally, the thrilling news was that Zintaurus Medio was the new senator from his home planet.

Arin sat quietly with his family. He marveled. "We were once two yet one. Now, we are three and yet one."

Siri smiled and held their wee prince up for his new daddy, and Arin held him self consciously. "How like a man," joked Siri. "This man holds an Empire in his hands yet he cannot hold his own babe."

Arin looked at her grinning. She touched his arm, "I will teach you. And Zinny will teach you. Now with this peace and our re-born Empire, we will have the time for this lesson and many more."

Two nights late, a reception was held at his Grandfather's villa. When they got there from the hospital and stepped out of the flitter, they were astounded by the size of the crowd. Every man, woman and child that could cram themselves into the lawn of that residence had done so. Every surrounding window and rooftop was also crowded with cheering throngs of people.

Arin and his family walked out onto his Grandfather's balcony and looked down on the cheering crowds. As they saw him, they fell silent, bowing their heads in salute. The newly elected Senator from this planet came forward to Arin and said, "I, along with all my fellow Starrions, pledge you our lives, our swords and our love. We will follow you into this new day and your New Empire." The crowds below roared their ascent.

Arin was stunned by this display of affection. He held up his hand for silence and said gravely, "I look out at this gathering before us. I do not see subjects. I see comrades of hard fought battles and rugged struggles in prison."

Two weeks later, the newly elected Senate convened on Arth for the first time under the New Empire. The first order of business was to elect a New Emperor. Among the candidates were all of the members of the Council and General Zintaurus Medio. Arin was hoping that his grandfather would be elected and had voted for him as the Senator from his new home world, Taurus.

There were too many people who wanted Arin to lead them. They appreciated Arin's clever, fiery leadership in the last, victorious days of the war and his quiet, gentle leadership in Dagaz Prison. In their eyes, his powers of leadership were proven. They were great advocates over the next few days for his election. In two days of furious negotiating without Arin's knowledge, his family wrapped up deals that would bring Arin to the Throne. The next morning, sensing the trend, the fourth vote of the Planetorial Senate voted unanimously to endorse the ascendancy of Arin to the Jeweled Throne.

Arin walked down a staircase to the level below. Once there, he knelt before the stunned, silent crowd and bowed saying, "I pledge you all my life, my sword, and my undying love."

Rising, he grabbed the hands of the nearest two people, and they grabbed two others. And so it went until the hands of whole crowd were joined physically as one cheering together for the new born Empire.

Senator Z, the beloved, came down to stand by his grandson. He lifted Arin's hand high. In it he put the Jeweled Scepter of the House of Menzi and declared, "I give you Arin, the Just, Leader of us all!"

Arin returned to the balcony microphones and held his hands up for quiet. After several minutes of sustained cheering, the noise level abated to where he could be heard and said, "We have much to celebrate. I give you my son and heir, Zintaurus, the small."

Cheering throngs lined the road as the Menzis slowly made their way on foot as they had done for hundreds of years to the Jeweled Palace for the ascendancy of Arin I, Emperor of the New Empire. Carrying his son, Arin walked along the road back to his home just as he had dreamed it so many times.

Reaching the refurnished palace, they all went into the Throne Room for the ceremony. As he had done before on the night of the election, his grandfather handed him the Jeweled Scepter and said, "I give you Arin I, a new Emperor for a New Empire and a new day for us all."

Thank You for reading my novel.

Please look for my other titles on Smashwords.com or your favorite vendor:

Preacher Man originally written in 1991 rewritten in 2011

The Arms of the Watcher originally written as a short story in 1989 rewritten in 2011

The Ready Freddy Series

Book 1 Ready Freddy and the Great Pop Bottle Caper (a short story) written in 1977

Book 2 Ready Freddy and the Baby Snatchers (a short story) written in 1977

Book 3 Ready Freddy and the Sand Creek Adventure (a short story) written in 1977

Book 4 Ready Freddy and The Kissing Stones Oct 2011

