Authors: Kyra Anderson
“This is not a war,” Syna said. “It’s
terrorism, directed at Tiao, because of a blood feud. We have no obligation to
assist a planet that purposely destroyed relations with a dangerous planet.”
“I will not repeat this, Syna, so listen
carefully,” Isa started darkly. “This is not an order. It is a request.”
“I think Barcel has a heightened sense of
their own importance,” Habim said, sitting next to the leader of Kreon, the
second most powerful planet in the Alliance. “If we do not lend aid to the most
powerful planet in the Alliance, and they are defeated, then the rest of us
appear weak, and Gihron will take us out one by one until they have established
control over the entire system.”
“They merely want to settle their
grudge,” Urya said, sitting at the table for Tepian.
“That is not the case,” Glynna said
strongly. “They would not threaten the Alliance or Venus if this was about a
grudge. This is a push to take over the system.” She looked around the other
tables. “We agreed to this Alliance. For fourteen years, we have lent aid to
one another by the rules set forth by Venus, to which we all
agreed.
For this reason, we should be
able to provide a strong front against the terrorist actions of the Ninth
Circle.”
“We do not know the numbers of the Gihron
army, or what they have recruited from other planets in the Ninth Circle. The
outlier planets are, perhaps, part of this plot as well,” Yuta spoke again.
“My intelligence reports that Gihron has
a prepared military force of three-hundred eighty-nine thousand troops,” Isa
said. “They have recruited help from Jakra, Ulam, and Rebma for supplies and
troops. Ulam can contribute up to seventy-nine thousand troops, Jakra
forty-one, and Rebma eleven. That is a total of five-hundred, twenty thousand
troops.”
There was outrage around the room as the
numbers were recited. Glynna called order several times before the meeting
could progress.
“You are certain of these numbers?”
“Yes,” Isa said with a nod. “We have been
monitoring Gihron for several months.”
“We cannot allow them to raise a military
that high,” one woman said, shaking her head.
“We have no power in the Ninth Circle,”
the leader of Kreon said. “They are not bound to our rules, and we have no
right to attack the planet out of fear. Now, they have attacked the Tiao
Syndicate and committed acts of terror in an attempt to strike enough fear in
us to dismantle the Alliance, Venus, and the Elite Syndicate. We cannot succumb
to such tactics. This alliance must remain strong.”
“The Alliance has not been so kind to all
of us,” one woman said, turning to Isa with a glare. “Our people are still
starving, scraping for food and money. Our economy has not benefitted from the
so-called aid of the Alliance.”
“This is not so much an Alliance as it is
an oligarchy,” Yuta agreed. “The Elites, Venus, Kreon, Fortunea, and only a few
select others rule over the rest of us and use our resources for their needs
without regard for our people.”
Venus’ form flickered and shifted,
shifting into a three dimensional rendering of Yuta sitting in an NCB chair.
“
We
have another thirty thousand Soldier chips coming in from Jakra,”
a man’s
voice said. “
But they are demanding
payment at the drop-site.”
“Fine,”
the recording of Yuta said.
“We
do not have the funds. Can you get them by tomorrow?”
“Yes.
We’ll take them from Caroie. They’ll be here by tomorrow.”
There was shocked mumbling around the room. Isa
stared calmly at Yuta, having already seen the footage.
“Won’t
that add to the deficit? And Caroie is trying to rebuild. What about them?”
“Fuck
Caroie, and fuck the deficit. The Alliance doesn’t pay attention.”
Venus’ form shifted back to her figure,
but the muttering did not cease. Yuta’s breathing was heavy, her eyes alight
with fire as she glared at the calm Isa.
“You were so quick to throw the rules in
my face,” Yuta snarled, “but you cannot spy on a member of the Alliance and
blackmail them.”
“Under Article Four, I can spy on you,
remember?” Isa said. “You will recall, Miss Yuta, that I put you under
surveillance after your failure to lend aid to Caroie. If you do not remember,
Venus can replay that recorded conversation, as well.”
“You filthy bitch!” Yuta snapped,
standing angrily. The guards surged forward and grabbed her, restraining her.
“I will never bow to you! You cannot control me or my planet! You can kill me,
for all I care, but there will be more that will find any way to bring you
down!”
“Remove her from the room!” Glynna
ordered. “She will face the Courts.”
Yuta continued to scream as she was
hauled from the room by the guards, her voice becoming incoherent quickly.
“At this time,” Isa said, turning to look
around the room, “I would like to remind everyone of the terms of the Alliance.
If you wish to leave the Alliance, for any reason, you are welcome to do so.
However, upon withdrawal, all debts are to be paid with the complete interest,
all aid given by other planets will halt, and trade taxes will be raised by
one-point-two percent. If more than ten planets wish to withdraw at any time,
the rules will be assessed and amendments will be considered. Before we
continue this discussion on Gihron and the Ninth Circle, are there any planets
that wish to withdraw from the Alliance? Again, if more than ten wish to
withdraw, the terms will be revisited and changes can be agreed upon.”
Everyone in the room, and those who were
in the meeting remotely, remained silent. They knew that it was very dangerous
for any planet to admit that they wanted to leave the Alliance. While the terms
of leaving had been agreed upon as fair, if the planet wanted to withdraw with
the intention of changing the Alliance, and they did not get nine other planets
behind them, then they were forever marked as a planet to watch carefully for
any attempt to overthrow the Alliance.
Therefore, no one spoke.
“Very well, we will continue.”
“
Elite
Isa,
” Kren said, his voice shaking as he turned to the Elite, the
translations sounding at each table as he spoke, “
during these attacks and terrorist acts, has General Decius of Gihron
ever contacted you directly
?”
Isa hesitated for a very brief moment.
“No,” she said. “He has not.”
“
Have
you attempted to contact him to discuss negotiations for a peace agreement
?”
“No, I have not.”
“
Perhaps
that is the best course of action
.”
Everyone was silent, their eyes falling
on Isa. The Golden Elite was silent for a few seconds. In that time, Vanessa
leaned over and whispered something to Glynna.
The Queen of Fortunea cleared her throat.
“Under most circumstances, I would agree
that extending an olive branch would be the first step, however, Gihron is a
militaristic planet,” she reminded. “They follow a very strict chain of
command. If the lower officers were doing something against the wishes of their
General, he would be the first to reprimand them and offer condolences to Tiao.
As he has not, it is clear to me that these attacks and acts of terror have
been at his behest.”
Isa glanced at Vanessa and the other
woman offered a small smile, nodding once.
“Kreon will always stand beside Tiao,”
the leader said strongly. “We lend you our support and aid, however you need
it, Elite Isa.”
“I thank you, Sebil,” she said with a bow
of her head.
“I agree with Kreon,” another planetary
leader said. “Mabira lends her support.”
Isa nodded to her as well.
Several other planets seconded. As more
planets agreed with the action to engage Gihron in war, several planets
remotely attending the meeting also voiced their agreement, their messages
appearing on the surfaces of the glass tables for all the leaders to see. Queen
Glynna said that she would support the Elite Syndicate, no matter what.
Of the sixty-one planets of the Crescent
Alliance, only twelve did not agree to support Tiao.
“For those who have not offered aid, no
explanation is required,” Isa said when the chorus of support quieted.
“I will also support Tiao, but I have a
question I want answered before I do so,” Uyra said, leaning back in his chair,
cocky. He looked at Isa. “Five, nearly six, years ago, Colonel Amori of Gihron
visited Tiao with intentions of coming to a peaceful trade agreement with the
Alliance without becoming a part of the Alliance. As we all know, he was
assassinated on the planet before an agreement could be made and that has led
to a blood feud between Gihron and Tiao.” His expression turned pensive. “What
I do not understand is why he was on the planet for five and a half months, and
you were unable to reach an agreement in that time.” He shrugged. “Why such a
long negotiation period?”
“As we all know, the Gihron people are
very prideful,” Remus stated. “He was unwilling to compromise on several key
points of the agreement. We would revise, and he would reject, remaining firm
in his position of—”
“Silver Elite Remus, if I may interrupt,”
Urya started. “I was speaking directly to Golden Elite Isa.” He turned to her.
“You met with him on several occasions, did you not? Why did negotiations take
such a long time?”
“We were unable to reach a compromise,”
Isa said, her voice cold and quiet. “In addition, we were communicating with
the Gihron Court for clarifications, and communications were interrupted and
delayed considerably. We wanted him to remain on-planet so that we could come
to a peaceful agreement. The assassin that killed him, clearly, did not want us
to ally with Gihron.”
“…I see,” Urya murmured. “Well, if that’s
what you say,” he said darkly, “then it must be true.”
Kailynn was quiet for their remaining
time on Fortunea. Rayal asked her repeatedly what was wrong but she said she
was alright and that she was just trying to take in everything.
Isa noticed that something was wrong, but
Kailynn did not tell her what was bothering her either.
Their three days on Fortunea passed and
they were escorted to the docking station to fly home. It was an ordeal merely
to leave the palace. Formalities dictated that everyone needed to bid the
leaders farewell as they left. It had eaten up hours the previous days when Isa
and the rest of her entourage had to go around and see off other leaders. The
queen was the last person they had to see before leaving, and she stood in the
marble entrance hall, dressed as opulently as ever. She kissed Isa’s cheeks and
told her that she would be on Tiao to visit soon.
Isa thanked her for her hospitality and
support and turned to lead the Syndicate out of the palace when she caught
sight of Vanessa standing by the doors, talking to two other delegates that
would be staying for one more day.
Isa turned to Remus.
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
He nodded, walking out the door and
leading everyone to the convoy outside waiting to take them to the docking
station.
Isa approached Vanessa and the other two
delegates bowed their heads shallowly, walking away as Vanessa turned around.
“Heading home?” she asked.
“Yes,” Isa answered. She swallowed hard,
her eyes briefly averting to the ground. “I didn’t thank you.”
“Pardon?”
“For what you said in the meeting,” she
said. “To Glynna. You turned the direction of the meeting around.”
“I was merely stating what I observed,”
Vanessa said.
“…but you knew that there was no way I
would contact General Decius. You got me out of a very difficult situation.”
Vanessa’s smile widened. “I told you that
I would support you.”
“Thank you.”
The Elite turned to walk to the doors
when she stopped.
“Vanessa,” she called, walking back to
her. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “How much do you know?”
“About?”
“Colonel Amori.”
Vanessa sighed heavily, closing her eyes
briefly.
“All of it.”
“…
everything
?”
Isa asked, her voice breaking.
“Yes.” Vanessa nodded, knowing what Isa
was asking. “I only wish that I had known what was happening sooner. I would
have rushed to help you. As such, I only learned of it after you were in the hospital.”
Isa lowered her eyes and took a deep
breath.
“I don’t know how you found out, but
thank you for not saying anything,” Isa said.
“I wouldn’t,” she assured. Isa began to
walk away once more. “Isa.” The Elite turned. “An Elite would have handled the
situation with the Colonel differently,” she said. “It took a true leader to
handle him the way you did.”
Isa blinked at Vanessa, surprised.
“Don’t think for a moment that you aren’t
the right leader for this system. You are. You always were.”
Isa stared at Vanessa for several long
seconds.
“Whenever you can manage, visit me on
Tiao. I’ll lift your exile status,” Isa said.
“I would be honored,” Vanessa said with a
bow of her head.
Isa left the palace, joining the others.
Everyone was silent as they drove to the
docking station. Everyone could feel the seriousness in the air. Even though
the meeting with the Alliance had turned in their favor, they knew that they
were now, officially, at war with Gihron.
Still silent, they boarded the ship and
soared back into space.
Kailynn fell asleep as soon as they
started their smooth flying toward their first Gate. She was exhausted from the
few short days on Fortunea. The formalities, dinners, meetings, and secret
message exchanges were almost impossible to keep up with. Kailynn knew she
would never be meant for the political world. She would rather do her job, do
it well, and then go home and be with Isa.
Part of her admired the Elite for being
able to do what she did, but seeing her in action at the meeting, the way she
commanded the room, the secret exchanges, the power play between her and the
other politicians, also frightened Kailynn. She had no idea Isa was capable of
that behavior.
She was awoken by a gentle hand on her
head.
She turned over and saw Isa sitting on
the bed next to her, a gentle smile on her face.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked,
pressing the back of her hand against Kailynn’s forehead.
“Yeah,” the younger woman said, sitting
up. “I’m just tired.”
“Travel and a quick turnaround like that
will do that to you,” Isa said knowingly. She ran her hand over Kailynn’s hair
again. “You’ve been quiet for a few days. Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Kailynn said. “I’m just…there was
a lot for me to think about.”
“What do you mean?”
Kailynn shifted on the bed, folding her
legs and looking at Isa seriously.
“How many people do you have spying on
other planets?”
Isa paused, thinking.
“Over one hundred,” she finally answered.
“I’m sure you’ve handled some of their information at the Intelligence Agency.”
“Don’t you worry that we’re being spied
on?”
“Absolutely,” Isa said with a chuckle.
“In fact, Jesmia, the other woman with us, she’s a Silver Spoon spy.”
“A what?”
“She was approached several years ago by
Kren, another planetary leader, who offered to pay her to spy on the Syndicate.
However, she is very loyal to me, and I tell her what to tell him. She feeds
him information for me, acting as his spy while working for me the entire
time.”
Kailynn blinked, slowly shaking her head.
“You’re different when you’re an Elite,”
she murmured.
“Different?”
“There is something frightening about the
fact that you have so many spies around the system,” Kailynn said. “I don’t
know, it just feels scary, like you don’t trust anyone.”
“I don’t,” Isa admitted. “I can’t afford
to. Every politician in the system has an agenda. As Golden Elite of Tiao, the
voice of Venus, it is my duty to keep the system as secure as possible. Knowing
what everyone is up to is a means to keep control over the Alliance and the
Altereye System.”
Kailynn looked down at the bed.
“I’m not cut out for this political
world,” she said. “All the secret notes and messages…it was exhausting to keep
up with.”
Isa chuckled lightly, reaching forward
and resting her hand on Kailynn’s.
“It’s exhausting for me, too,” she said.
“But that is how I survive.”
“Do you ever get tired of it?”
“All the time,” Isa said. “Why do you
think I’m so eager to come home and be with you, the one person I don’t have to
be Golden Elite with?”
Kailynn smiled slightly, her heart
skipping a beat at the words.
“This war is going to be bad, isn’t it?”
Isa sighed heavily. “I don’t know.”
“It seemed like there were a lot of
planets that weren’t keen on supporting you.”
“The Ninth Circle makes everyone
nervous,” Isa said. “They’re uncontrollable, and that’s frightening for any
leader.”
“Do they scare you?”
“Yes,” Isa said quietly. “They do.”
“Did they before Colonel Amori?”
Isa nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Kailynn averted her eyes, taking a deep
breath.
“I wish I understood more about what was
going on.”
Isa shifted on the bed, facing Kailynn
completely.
“The truth is Gihron has always wanted
control of the system. They believe that a militaristic approach to society is
the best, and that respect should be earned by those who climb through the
ranks of service. Those who do not serve the military agenda on Gihron are
treated like slaves, forced to live in crowded, unsanitary barracks and make
weapons and other goods that keep the Gihron government wealthy enough to raise
their troops and build their army. Gihron is a barbaric place. The planet is
desert with limited food and water, and the people who do not serve the
military do not have access to food or water most days. The way they treat
their people is horrific. That is why I invited them to the Alliance, to try
and help the people of Gihron. That’s why…”
“That’s why Colonel Amori wouldn’t
compromise?” Kailynn asked.
Isa sighed heavily, lowering her gaze.
“Gihrons are very prideful,” she continued.
“And they believe that an Alliance between the planets destroys the societies
of each planet. They say that unity is toxic to civilizations, that everyone
should remain separate and out of each other’s business.”
“Makes sense to me.”
“If all planets were like Caroie or
Fortunea, I would agree,” Isa said with a nod. “But there are many planets that
cannot support their own population, mostly due to food supply. Before the
Crescent Alliance was formed, those poorer planets attacked larger ones, desperate
for something to help their people. When other planets are more fortunate, or
wealthier than others, it can breed discontent very quickly. That is why the
Alliance is vital. It’s the only way some planets can get food to sustain their
societies. Gihron, who enslaves their people and lets them die of starvation,
believing that food is something that needs to be earned by signing your life
away to the ranks of the military, does not believe in giving aid to other
planets, like we do.”
Kailynn pursed her lips.
“When you explain these things to me,”
she started slowly, “all I can think about is how Trid is the same way.”
“It’s the same everywhere,” Isa said,
nodding. “Humans are the same, no matter what language they speak, or what
color their skin is, or who they bow to.” Isa’s thumb gently rubbed the back of
Kailynn’s hand. “And we’ll work on getting Trid incorporated into Anon. You
just have to give me time with Venus.”
Kailynn smiled thinly.
“You confuse the hell out of me
sometimes,” she chuckled brokenly.
“Why?”
“The way you spoke at the meeting,
telling everyone that you were the most powerful person in the room and saying
some of the things you did to the other leaders, anyone would think you were a
heartless dictator. But then you tell me that you’re trying to save the
non-citizen criminals of Trid, and that you are trying to keep the Alliance
together because the people of the planets should always have food. The two
images just don’t seem to fit together.”
“That’s because I have to be a politician
with the members of the Alliance,” Isa said. “I have to intimidate and flaunt
my power with them to serve my agenda. But my agenda has been, and always will
be, to be a good leader.”