by M. D. Cooper
But now they were gone, and a small voice in the back of Diana’s mind told her that she was alone again, and vulnerable to the hawks in her court who would seek to use this alliance to increase their own power and decrease hers.
Even more problematic was that Petra was now Diana’s strongest ally, though the woman had been a spy for decades. By law, she should be imprisoned or killed, but that wasn’t an option, given who Petra represented.
Acknowledging her and granting her residence in the palace humiliates me. I’m admitting both that I was fooled by her, and that I’m not strong enough to send her away.
Not for the first time, Diana wished that she’d demanded that President Sera leave someone else as the Transcend’s ambassador. Someone Diana had no prior history with.
But she’d never pressed that issue.
And that just makes me all the weaker. The sharks are circling. They smell blood in the water.
“Here.” Chimellia’s voice came from behind Diana, and the empress turned to see her sum adjut holding a blood red skinsheath in one hand, and a black silken gown in the other.
When activated, the skinsheath would create the appearance of rivulets of blood running down her body, a rather striking look that Diana loved. The gown was sleeveless and only clasped at the waist, which would show off the skinsheath to maximum effect.
“A bit strong, don’t you think?” she asked.
Chimellia tilted her head. “I know what you were thinking…your mind may be inscrutable to others, but we’ve been together too long, My Empress.”
“But the blood? It is Petra, after all.”
Tenna added.
“But too imposing?” Diana felt stupid, vacillating on such a simple choice with Chimellia and Tenna bearing witness. This was not the image she sought to project.
“Then pick, Empress. Either you welcome her, or you hold her at arm’s length. You’re worried about the court seeing you as weak—this tells them that you’re not so ready to forgive.”
“It does,” Diana replied, twisting her lips uncertainly, a gesture she took care to quash when not in private with her aide. “But it may make people think that I’m not fully committed to the alliance. Which I am. I have to be.”
“You’re worried about Prelate Fiona?”
Diana nodded. “Even though I pardoned her for her attempt to kill the Transcend’s president, she still seems to hate me just as much…maybe more. If she senses a divide, she may strike, but then again, if she sees forgiveness as weakness….”
She let the words fade away, drew a deep breath, and wordlessly grabbed the skinsheath from Chimellia.
When in doubt, revert to Empress Bitch. It’s worked this far.
* * * * *
An hour later, Diana stood in the entrance to the room that would be Petra’s office, a vast suite at the top of a spire in the palace’s diplomatic quarter. It wasn’t a space-scraping tower, only rising ten kilometers over the planet’s surface, but it was the tallest that any non-citizen possessed.
Silly that we can travel to space, but we still care about the height of our perch on a planet.
Petra had not yet arrived, though her people were already swarming on the lower levels of the tower, moving into their new space with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
A pair of movers had been in Petra’s office as well, but the empress’s guards had cleared them out before she arrived. The two Impera Protego now stood outside the room, though she knew they had placed microdrones within the space to monitor it closely.… Not that she’d looked for them, but they would be present.
She walked to the office window, back straight, toes pointed gracefully with each step as she threaded her way through the furniture and crates that had not yet found their final homes. Her long strides caused her gown to artfully trail behind her, highlighting her scissoring legs for her audience of boxes and chairs.
It’s always a show, she thought as she came to the window and gazed out over her city.
Although Diana’s time was always high in demand—a thousand mouths seeking her ears, or other parts of her body, should they be so bold—she took care to appreciate the things around her. To not become one of those people who casually dismissed the familiar.
And so, whenever she had a moment to look over her empire’s capital, she soaked it in, basking in Alexandria’s glory and its five-thousand-year history that spoke of her people’s great power and resilience. A mountainous strength.
A pinnacle atop which she stood.
The view from Petra’s office faced north, looking out over the palace complex and the parkland that stretched beyond for twenty kilometers. The northern edge of the forested walks was a mountainous barrier formed by the spires of the city.
“Alexandria, you are the very bosom of my people.” Diana spoke the words softly, as though they were a personal mantra…which she supposed they were.
The empress nodded and shifted her stance, crossing her ankles. She glanced down at her legs and watched for a moment as the rivulets of blood appeared to flow from one calf to the other.
“One of a kind,” she said, worried again that she was going about things with Petra the wrong way.
“There are,” Diana replied. “But this is the oldest standing planet-spanning city. Sure, there are more ancient rings, or habitats like the Cho, but those are easier to maintain than a planet—and less vulnerable. Keeping this city standing for millennia has been a true testament to Scipian power and ability.”
Tenna’s voice sounded almost mournful.
For a moment, Diana wondered at that response. Then she reminded herself that the AI was older than Scipio. She had seen Earth and Luna before they were destroyed by the Jovians.
“We’ll defeat them.” Diana spoke the words with cold steel in her voice. “You’ll see Terra again.”
“Even though it’s not the Earth you remember?”
Diana had never heard an AI refer to Earth as their homeworld, but she could see how that was really the case. AIs were born from humans, and humans had been birthed by that one small planet so far, far away.
“I suppose it is,” the empress replied. “I should like to see it for the same reason.”
“Can I help it that the hegemon is an insufferable bitch?” Diana muttered. “I’ll see my boot on her throat before this is done.”
“So vehement, My Empress,” a voice said from the room’s entrance.
And so it begins.
Diana turned to see Petra standing in the office’s entrance, the woman’s bright blue eyes sweeping across the space before coming to rest on the empress. They narrowed, and the ambassador tilted her head as she took in the other woman.
Diana did the same, surprised to see that Petra wore only a simple white skinsheath with a rather utilitarian look to it. It bore the Transcend Interstellar Alliance’s crest above her left breast, but no other adornment, other than two pockets on each thigh.
Though the outfit was far from elegant, it looked impossibly good on the tall, blonde woman.
Probably because even a wet sack would look good on Petra, Diana thought before replying aloud. “I suppose. Keep in mind that she’s just as determined to see her boot on my neck. Turnabout is fair play.”
“She might go for lopping it off,” Petra said as she strode into the room. “Uriel does not strike me as the sort of woman who offers any amount of clemency.”
Diana’s eyes narrowed, and Petra gave a smile bearing a modicum of apology.
“Not that such a situation would ever happen, Empress Diana. With the Transcend backing Scipio, the Hegemony’s days are numbered—Field Marshal Tanis is determined to see them fall after they attacked her people at New Canaan.”
The empress turned back to the window and the view of Alexandria. “Though I’ve seen firsthand what the ire of the field marshal looks like, it is still hard to believe that we could see the end of the Hegemony. It’s the oldest empire in existence.”
“I don’t know if it’s really the same Hegemony. Sol’s empire has been through a few name changes over the years,” Petra replied as she reached Diana’s side. “And one could count the Jovians’ defeat at the Battle of the Twin Stars as an end to their oligarchy. Sol was ruled by outsiders for a time after that.”
“Not really,” Diana waved her hand in disagreement. “They just consumed the Sirians from within. A Jovian reigned over the Sirian empire within two decades of that battle. And no one other than a Jovian has ever held the Cho.”
“I’ve never heard those names before,” the empress replied. “You should tell me about the Jovians’ history from before the fall of Terra someday.”
“We have many of those records, too,” Petra reminded her.
“You may, but Tenna was there for some of these events,” Diana countered. “I’d say that gives her a valuable and unique perspective.”
“Yes,” the empress gave a curt nod. “Somewhere out there are another two million of your people from ancient Sol. But that matters little for now. We have current events to worry about.” She turned to face Petra, who was regarding her with an unreadable expression in her eyes.
“Agreed,” the ambassador said, no hint of anything in her voice or body language other than the need to conduct the business of the empire. “We need to decide on where we’re launching our offensive so we can set up the gates.”
“And how many has the Transcend deigned to give us?” Diana asked.
“I’ve received word that we’re going to have ten gates at our immediate disposal, in addition to the one that the I2 left behind. Admiral Greer of the Transcend Space Force has tasked two gate haulers to move ships without gate mirrors, and…”
Petra rattled off a number of other updates that had been passed along from the Transcend’s military to Scipio’s. Diana only paid partial attention, trusting that her own admirals were handling the logistics properly.
What was more interesting at that moment was how the left corner of Petra’s mouth kept quirking up as she spoke. It was a tell that the woman was hiding something—or rather, Diana suspected it was a tell.
After learning that Petra had been a spy in the imperial court for all these long years, Diana had reviewed hundreds of hours of vid feeds, watching the ambassador’s movements and mannerisms in an attempt to discern when the woman had been truthful and when she’d been lying.
The ambassador-spy had been good; many of her mannerisms seemed almost random, never coinciding with any particular level of truthfulness. She was truly a master at her game. It made sense that she’d been sent to infiltrate Scipio’s imperial court.
And my bed. An utterly frustrating woman in every way, Diana thought acidly.
“You’re not listening, are you?” Petra asked, that corner of her lip curling up again.
“I am, I just don’t really care.”
“You don’t care?” Petra stammered. “We’re preparing for war with the Hegemony! We just talked about how ancient and powerful they are. It’s bound to be one of the largest military undertakings in Scipio’s history. How can you not care?”
Diana shrugged. “I’ve selected my admirals well. Both Tenna and I have reviewed their records and past performances. We’re confident that the leaders of Scipio’s military are up to the task. Frankly, my job is far more difficult than theirs.”
Petra shot Diana a wide-eyed look, but it was gone a second later. Then the woman sighed and nodded. “OK, you might be right. Your military is itching for a fight, you simply have to slip the leash.”
“It’s the home front where the real battle will be fought,” Diana completed the thought. “At least at first. I imagine the closer we get to Sol, the more ‘real and present’ the war will get for all of us.”
Petra nodded. “It’s going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen.”
“Really?” Diana gave the other woman a sharp look. “I thought that everyone from the Transcend was impossibly ancient.”
“You know that I’m only three hundred years old,” Petra replied. “What war I’ve seen has been while on assignment in the Inner Stars.”
“Huh,” Diana said, not deigning to give the ambassador-spy any further insight into her thoughts on the matter, and switched back to the prior topic. “I rather wish that we could simply jump right to Sol. Cut the head off the snake and be done with all of this.”
“The jump gates certainly make it possible,” Petra replied. “Our intel on Sol indicates that there are likely only a hundred thousand warships in the system, a marked decrease in their standing homefleet—though taking Sol would require a million ships.”
“Which we could bring to bear,” Diana replied. “If we had enough of your people’s jump gates—and the mirrors to mount on our ships—we could take Sol in a matter of weeks.”
“If wishes were stars…” Petra replied in a tone that held a touch of derision.
Diana turned to stare into the ambassador’s eyes, which were so calm and serene while a fury built in her own.
“Do you not think we could do it? Why ally with us, then?”
“I don’t doubt it,” Petra clarified, her tone carefully moderated. “But if that was all it took, we could accomplish the same thing on our own. Taking Sol is not the problem. It’s holding the system that is the issue. We have to wear the Hegemony down. You’re coming in from this side, the League of Sentients from the other. The field marshal is already working to bring other allies into the alliance to further bracket the Hegemony. Once they’re surrounded, we’ll be able to take and hold their territory.”
“Funny how no Transcend blood will be spilled to achieve this.” Diana’s voice grew cold as the ambassador’s eyes. “We’re still your proxy nation, aren’t we? There’s just less pretense about it now.”
“Whoa!” Petra held her hands up and took half a step back. “We’ve been over all this. You spent hundreds of hours ironing out the accord’s details. I’m just citing what you already agreed to….”
The ambassador’s voice trailed off, and a brief series of emotions from concern to frustration marched across her features.
“Is there something else bothering you?” she asked. “Something that made you sheathe your body in blood?”
Diana glanced down at her hand. “It’s not real blood.”
“I surmised that.”
The two women stood in silence for a minute, then Diana lifted her gaze from her hand to Petra’s face. “We should have dinner together.”
“I’d love that.” Petra gave a measured nod, her eyes belying none of the happiness her words suggested. “Tonight?”
Diana had wanted to dine that night, but the ambassador’s cool response made her reconsider.
“No. Tomor
row night. I’ll let you know where.”
“A—” Petra halted, a look of concern coming over her face before she nodded. “Of course. I have a lot to do to settle in here, anyway. Thank you again for the placement within the palace grounds.”
Diana shrugged. “It’s not because of you. The Transcend is now Scipio’s greatest ally. It wouldn’t be right to leave you out on the public square.”
The moment the words were out of Diana’s mouth, she regretted how they sounded.
It was true that the importance of the alliance dictated the allotment of a full spire, but that wasn’t the only reason Petra now resided within the palace complex.
“Of course.” Petra’s face almost displayed an emotion, dismay perhaps. “I will see you tomorrow night.”
“Good,” Diana said as she turned and began walking from the room.
She paused once she was past the furniture, and looked over her shoulder.
“Petra?”
“Yes, Empress?” her cool voice sliced through the air.
The words Diana was going to say escaped her, and her lips took on a disdaining twist. “You look like an ice queen in white. I expect to see you in it tomorrow.”
Petra’s lips pursed for just a moment, and then her expression became serene once more. “Of course, Empress.”
Diana turned and swept from the room, wondering what had just happened.
REMEDIATION
STELLAR DATE: 10.05.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Imperial Palace
REGION: Alexandria, Bosporus System, Scipio Empire
Petra walked into her new conference room, pleased that she was the first to arrive. Any time alone was a good thing, and she used it to ponder the events from earlier in the day.
After Diana had swept out of Petra’s office, a thousand demands had fallen on her shoulders, and—other than feeling generally unsettled about things—she even hadn’t begun to process her reaction to the conversation.
