by David Beers
He gestured at the Propraetors.
“It is up to us to stop him. You seven represent the greatest families humanity has to offer. There has not been a credible revolution since the Commonwealth came into being. We are the protectors of humanity. We are the wall that holds back barbarians and democracy. These things, as we all know, brought humanity nuclear war.” He paused and looked down at the table. “That must never happen again.”
He looked up, and his eyes sought those of each person at the table.
“Today will be a day of strategy. We must cooperate since this traitor is growing powerful. I don’t say that to scare you, but to prepare you. Is he ready now? No. From what I’ve been told, a vast army of cutthroats has flown out to kill him. Will he survive the attack? I have thought the man dead too many times to count him deceased once more. If he does survive, he will come out of it stronger and more capable.”
He looked behind the Propraetors at their Consillariuses. He didn’t let his eyes linger long on any of them.
“This is the first time many of you have traveled to Earth. Your presence as Consillariuses is nearly as important as the men and women you serve. I depend on you almost as much as your leaders to defend the Commonwealth. Your time for battle and glory will come.”
Alexander motioned to the servants standing in the doorway. DataTracks were carried out and placed in front of each of the Propraetors. They lit up once the last one was set down.
“While I know you are all studious men and women and have no doubt taken the time to learn about our common enemy, I have prepared a guide for you. In front of you, you will see biographies, physical aspects, known family, and other pieces of information about those who wish us death.”
A hologram of an old woman appeared in front of everyone.
“For too long, this woman has been shrouded in secrecy,” Alexander continued. “She is called the AllMother, and legend has it she is my relation. I cannot say whether that is true or false, not with certainty, but I will hide nothing from you gentlemen and ladies. She may be a thousand years old, possessing mutant abilities never seen since. Or she may be a fraud. Either way, she is the spiritual leader of this insurrection.”
The hologram switched to a giant of a man. The image was one of the last taken on the dreadnought Alistair Kane had commandeered. He was cutting his way through Titans, his Whip and body moving like a deadly snake through a mass of people.
“This is the physical leader. You know his name. You know he let Subversives go during his time as a Titan. You see him now as a mutant, his red eyes shining through the darkness of that ship. He’s the one who will come for you, for your families, for everything we hold dear.”
Alexander took a step back from the table.
“I’m going to leave you to study this information. I would like to meet with you individually over the next few hours.” He smiled. “While there are refreshments to be had, please remember that we are all proper men and women here, and holding your alcohol until evening would benefit the Commonwealth. One People. One Purpose.”
The room echoed the sentiment. “One People. One Purpose.”
Alexander made his way around the table, shaking hands with the men and women who led the different planets of the Solar System. He reached Caius last, as he’d planned.
He shook the man’s hand, leaned toward his ear, and whispered, “Would you and your Consillarius please visit me first, old friend?”
Alexander wasn’t worried about the mutant or the man who had bred this creature. He had figured out a plan to deal with them. He, of course, would run it by the Fathers, but the plan seemed pretty solid to him.
Alexander led them to a smaller side room. The door opened for him as he reached it, and he entered. The table had food and drink on it. Two of his Praetorian Guard stood at attention in the back corners, and the two who had followed the group took up positions at the door.
Alexander looked at the guards in their MechSuits, wondering how they would fare against the mutant who had followed him here.
He took a seat at the round table, the one in between his guards, and gestured at the other two chairs. “Please, sit.”
The mutant waited for Caius to take his seat, then followed suit. He had manners.
Alexander allowed himself to stare at the creature. He showed no emotion, but he didn’t try to hide what he was looking at. By any standard, the man was huge, closer to the Biblical Sampson than any human Alexander had heard of. Even Kane’s physical nature looked weak in comparison to this creature.
Without looking at the grandfather, Alexander asked, “When did you begin dabbling in modifications, Caius?”
Caius smiled. The young monster in front of Alexander showed no emotion.
“You hurt me, Alexander. My grandson’s name is Hector, and his body is as pure as mine. There have been no modifications. It’s good genes.”
Alexander gave his attention to the older man. “True, he’s missing the red eyes, but do you expect your Imperial Ascendant to believe someone that size is natural?”
Caius crossed one leg over the other, then rested his hands on his knees. He seemed at ease with these questions, no doubt because he knew they would come. “Come now, Alexander, there’s no need to call me a liar.” He gestured at the guards near the wall. “I’m sure if we were to comb through your endless supply of Titans or Praetorians, we would find some who are nearly the same size as my grandson. Don’t forget what I once was. It isn’t as if my genes are to be sneered at.”
Alexander let his eyes fall on the beast again. This was Caius’ play. This was his move to ascend to the throne. A long strategy, to say the least, and it made Alexander respect the man even more. He could relate to Caius’ thirst for power. “Who do you serve, young man?”
There was no exaggeration in the beast’s movements, nor any playfulness. Everything he did came off as sincere and honest. He stood, pushed his chair back slightly, and with a grace that his size said should be impossible, he walked to where the Ascendant sat. Hector de Gracilis knelt and bowed his head.
“It is my duty and my honor to serve the Commonwealth. I will do whatever the throne and my Imperial Ascendant request of me. One People. One Purpose.”
Alexander didn’t stand, but he did place a hand on the young man’s head. “I am sure you will serve me well. Rise. There is much to talk about.”
Hector did as he was told and returned to his seat.
A new idea came to Alexander. He would check something first and then continue with the rest of his plan. “Caius, I think your grandson will be a much-needed help to the current state of affairs. Would you mind me seeing how great of a warrior he is? A test, perhaps?”
Caius raised an eyebrow. “What kind of a test?”
Alexander shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “I’d like to see him spar with one of my Titans.”
Caius was quiet for a long moment. He looked at his hands resting on his knees. After a few seconds, he offered, “Why not two?”
The beast at his side showed no emotion.
The sparring round took place two hours later.
Caius approved everything beforehand. Alexander wanted him to feel good about this demonstration. He did not want the Propraetor to think this was an attempt on his grandson’s life, though, of course, it was. Alexander had thought the suggestion of two Titans arrogant, so he had let the Titans know that their job was to kill this giant upstart in front of his grandfather.
Both Titans carried their Whips, and Caius approved them wearing MechSuits too.
The old man might be growing senile. That or this young man was even deadlier than his size suggested.
Alexander and Caius sat at the edge of the sparring room. It was a few kilometers from the building they’d originally met in. Alexander hadn’t seen Hector since they’d agreed to this demonstration, and they were both waiting for the young man’s arrival.
The two Titans stood on the left side of the room, ten meters se
parating them. Their Whips were holstered to their suits. Alexander hadn’t picked them personally, but he knew they were battle-hardened, neither of them fresh out of the Institute.
When Alexander heard the man, he almost didn’t believe his ears. The tunnel was to the right, and he could hear Hector’s footsteps as he walked through it. The man sounded like some kind of elephant going to war, not a human.
Alexander’s face showed nothing, and when he glanced at Caius, he saw no emotion there either. That wasn’t training, though. The Propraetor was used to this.
Hector stepped out of the tunnel. He was large in the sense of planets, as if he should have his own gravitational pull. Alexander’s eyes flashed to the Titans, and he couldn’t be sure, but he thought their countenances changed—tightened up.
Hector looked like something from the time of the Romans, a gladiator reborn. He wore a short skirt-like piece of chainmail that covered his upper thighs, obviously to give him a greater range of movement. His broad chest was covered by a metal plate with the sign of House de Gracilis on it. He wore no armor on his arms, and his muscles bulged beneath the skin, making him look like a model of the human body to be used in a medical class.
Alexander could see two hilts sticking up from his back. His weapons.
“He’s going to dual-wield?” Alexander asked.
Caius nodded.
He wore a metal helmet, one that showed his eyes and had a metal guard running down his nose.
He wore no other protection, while the men he faced were in MechSuits.
A voice came from a speaker above. “Your Imperial Ascendant, the second of the name Alexander de Finita, has asked you here to participate in a duel for his pleasure and edification. Do your best to serve your Ascendant. One People. One Purpose.”
“ONE PEOPLE. ONE PURPOSE,” all three contestants shouted in response.
The rules of a sparring match were simple: the opposite sides pressed until someone yielded. Most of the time, there would be some physical damage done, but that was easily patched up in the medical suites. Looking at Hector, the man Caius swore was not modified, Alexander wondered if he was insane.
He walked out onto the sparring field with almost no armor, planning on dual-wielding weapons, which was hard enough and nearly impossible when facing two enemies.
For sure, the man was monstrous. Moreover, energy rolled off him, as if each time his heart thumped inside his chest, those standing around him could feel it. It was like a furnace resided within him, its heat unable to be contained.
Hector walked forward. The two Titans spread farther apart to make each of them a harder target. Hector stopped in the middle of the sparring field. The Titans unleashed their Whips. Yellow and green lasers flowed down to the floor.
They approached the giant, who stood taller than either of them despite their MechSuits.
What came next, Alexander could barely keep up with.
The yellow Titan slashed his Whip in an almost playful gesture, something to open the sparring session up. Hector pointed his left finger at where the Whip ended, then his right hand went to the ground as if he were trying to perform a somersault.
The moment his hand touched down, his body lifted into the air in a line parallel to the ground, and he unleashed a flurry of kicks so quick that the Titan couldn’t defend himself.
The warrior flew back five meters, hit the ground on his ass, and skidded farther. His MechSuit was dented.
Hector didn’t slow for a second. His body moved in ways the laws of physics did permit, but only if his strength was unlike anything the Ascendant had ever seen. His right arm thrust him into the air, and his feet found the ground again. The second Titan swung his Whip from a lunge, giving him two meters of distance.
He wasn’t trying to injure the beast but kill him, hoping to cut him in half.
Hector leaped, knees touching his chest, and cleared the swinging Whip. At that same moment, he pulled the weapons from his back, and Alexander lost the ability to hide his surprise.
His mouth opened.
His eyes widened.
The Titan tried to stand up, but compared to Hector, it was like he moved underwater. The de Gracilis had straddled his arm. With a twist of his knee, the Whip went flying across the yard, dead. Lasers poured out of both sides of the two hilts, and Hector brought the upper half to the Titan’s head. The lower lasers stretched, curving beneath the Titan’s arms and touching his back where his lungs were. They tightened then, not allowing the Titan to move his arms.
“Yield,” Hector demanded.
The Titan turned his armored head to Alexander. He gave a slight nod, and the Titan whispered, “Yield.”
All of this had happened in seconds.
The first Titan was in the air, Whip slashing, trying to overpower Hector.
It was as if he could feel the Titan’s movements. He turned, his dual lasers moving with him. With the left one, he shielded himself from the Whip, and his right foot slammed into the Titan’s chest, the sound of bending metal screeching throughout the sparring room.
Hector didn’t waste a second. He leaped, following the arc of the falling Titan, and was on him the moment he hit the floor. He wrapped both hilt lasers around the man’s neck while the lower half bent to stab at where his heart would be.
“Yield.”
The Titan didn’t even bother looking over. There was no point. It was obvious that if you fought this man, regardless of training, technology, or numbers, you’d die.
“Yield,” the Titan said.
The lasers retracted into the hilts, and he slapped the weapons into their places on his back. Hector straightened, stepped over the Titan, and bowed to the two older men.
“One People. One Purpose,” Hector bellowed.
Caius said nothing, only gave a short nod.
For the first time, Alexander saw the path to victory over this insurrection—and perhaps his path to his death.
It was late in the evening when the servant let Luna know the Imperial Ascendant wished to see her. After the last visit, she’d once again become a prisoner, though she had been allowed to send letters to her father. He’d written back quickly, and a regular correspondence had begun. It was her only outlet to the world, and while she feared the Ascendant’s presence, she also craved human contact. Her servants, while always polite, would not speak to her in any real fashion. They had strict instructions to keep the relationship professional.
The letters she sent to her father were read and changed. The ones he sent back probably were manipulated in the same manner. He had asked if he could see her, if he could come to the Imperial Residence, and that the question had made it through let Luna know the Ascendant was planning a show for her father.
“Come, look and see, everything is fine here. Your daughter is merely helping us find her traitorous husband and is free to leave whenever she wishes.”
Luna, without a doubt, would be expected to play along.
The servant was standing in her doorway. Luna was gazing at the letter she’d been composing.
“Ma’am?” the servant said.
“He wishes to see me now? At this hour?” Luna said without looking over. She didn’t like this, despite her craving for human contact. Something wasn’t right. Luna had seen the ships arrive in the Imperial Residence’s private hangar. She didn’t know who had come, but she knew they were important people. In the months she’d been here, she’d never seen anything of the sort.
“Yes,” the servant replied. “That’s his request. Ma’am, with all due respect, I would recommend you honor it.”
Luna stood. “Of course I’m going to honor it. Please give me a few minutes to ready myself.”
“Certainly,” the servant said before stepping away from the door and letting it close.
Luna didn’t do much as far as getting ready. She just tried to prepare herself mentally for what might come. Living here had become a horror, one she hadn’t realized was possible. There’d been
no contact with Alistair, not through the normal routes or whatever insanity she’d felt before. She didn’t know where her husband was, what he was doing, or if there was any chance she’d ever see him again.
She’d given that one little speech to him, and after that, she’d been thrust away, given no more knowledge, and asked for nothing more.
If Allie wasn’t still alive, she thought as she threw water on her face, you wouldn’t still be here.
That was the only hope she had. She was still in this hell, so Alistair had to be out there, still had to be some kind of threat.
The only thing she could do now was wait, even if it meant she had to wait in a prison. He would do the same for her. She knew that. Even if he wouldn’t, she’d do it for him.
She turned the water off and left her quarters. The female servant was waiting for her, and they crossed the Residence toward the throne room.
When they were in front of the closed doors, the servant stepped aside, leaving Luna to enter on her own.
She walked past the Praetorian Guards on either side.
The double doors opened for her, and she stepped through the entryway. Alexander de Finita sat on his throne. Guards stood against the walls, their faces unreadable behind their metal armor.
Luna walked to the expected place in front of the throne and got down on both knees. She bowed her head. “How may I be of service, my liege?”
“One People. One Purpose, yes, Luna?”
“One People. One Purpose, my liege.”
“Please, stand,” the Ascendant directed, and Luna did so. The Ascendant considered her for a moment as if deciding something in his head. “The question continually comes up with you, Luna. How loyal are you to the Commonwealth?”
“My liege, I believe my actions indicate that my heart and soul are committed to the Commonwealth. To the throne as well.”
Again the silent stare. He was considering something, and she hated the suspense. She knew it wouldn’t be good.
“Things are happening now that you’re not aware of. Even as we speak, your husband is gathering an army to return to our Solar System and attack the Commonwealth. Everything your family believes in and holds dear, he is planning on destroying. It won’t just be our world he tries to destroy, but the other seven planets as well. A lot of people have died at his hand already, and I promise you, a lot more will.”
