Break
Captain Antiokyes is shaken awake roughly. As he crawls to a sitting position, he glances at the person that has woken him up. It’s a Federation soldier, one of many currently marching about the room looking slightly confused. With a start, he remembers where he is and what he was doing, and jumps to his feet, grabbing the soldier by the collar. “Where is he? Where’s Hoshikawa?” The soldier jerks a thumb over Antiokyes’s shoulder, pointing out the kneeling man with his hands on the back of his head, guarded by half a dozen security personnel. Before he can do anything else, Lieutenant Colonel Torwick comes to him, a strange grin on his face.
Antiokyes snaps his heels together and gives him a quick salute.
"At ease, captain. How are you feeling?"
"To be honest, lieutenant colonel, not too well. My head hurts.” Is it his impression, or did the lieutenant colonel’s grin grow even wider?
"Ah, that. Sorry business, that was. Hoshikawa panicked and assaulted you after he found out that you were a true patriot of the highest order. He hit you on the head, hard. It took all we had to pin him down until the security forces came.”
"Is that… so?” Antiokyes touches the bump on his head tenderly. He does remember Hoshikawa asking him something, but everything after that is a blank. “Good thing we got the bastard, lieutenant colonel. I can yet pay him back for hitting me.”
"And I’d do it again!” jeered said bastard. Antiokyes narrows his eyes and strides forward to punish the prisoner for his insolence, but Torwick holds him back. “He’s not worth it, captain. You, on the other hand, will certainly be up for a medal for your conduct in this operation.”
The word ‘medal’ manages to attract Antiokyes’s attention – all of it – and he turns away…
***
I look around the cell. It’s a high-security containment unit, meant for the most violent and dangerous of convicts and lawbreakers. I had a rather more comfortable cell before this, but the President had requested that I be moved to this unit before her visit; it didn’t even take a week before she took time off from her busy schedule to come gloat at me. A thick pane of hardened, transparent plastic is set into the wall, allowing visitors to observe and communicate with the inmate. The electrified door is inch-thick steel, with the finest biometric security measures. A camera on the wall constantly tracks all my movements – it is linked to a nearby sentry gun that will fire upon me if I do anything they disapprove of. Only encrypted, certified transmissions can enter or leave the place to minimize the risk of remote hacking. To add to all that, my hands and feet have been bound, shackled together by plastic cuffs.
At least they gave me a chair.
Soon enough, the President walks in, escorted by Naim and Camna. She looks very pleased to have got one over me, while there is an uneasy look on Naim’s face.
The first words out of my mouth are “I told you we would meet again soon, Madam President,” and it almost wipes the smirk off her face, her expression becoming slightly unsure. To her credit, she recovers almost instantly. “Still bluffing?” she sneers. “You won’t be fooling me this time. You were stupid enough to fall for my trap, meeting with my loyal men.”
“This time? Have I fooled you before? When was it? I can’t remember.” I say. Her made-up face freezes, the last vestiges of her nasty grin vanishing entirely. “This will end today. I will enjoy making you suffer, Hoshikawa Senya. You have been a thorn in my side for too long.”
“Once an Empress, always an Empress,” I mutter.
“What is wrong with that?” Julia is smiling again, but this time there is anger in her eyes. “Unlike hereditary kings, the people elected me to rule. Certainly, I am a better ruler than the old dotard who you are using as your puppet.”
“I’m sure you didn’t come all the way out here to debate politics with me, Madam President.” I return her smile, baring my teeth. “Did you come here just to laugh at me?”
“Oh, no. Of course not. I just needed to savour my ultimate moment of victory for a while. It’s not like you will be around for much longer.”
“Your ultimate moment of victory should only come after you deal with the Mushuszu Empire,” I say. “Not before.”
“That is a simple matter. I have launched three fleets towards your silly little asteroid base. The television ships are already there to capture the fleets’ glorious victory. One hundred ships against five of yours? It’s a foregone conclusion. We will storm your home, capture the little alien, and gift her to the Emperor.”
“The Emperor wants Earth too.” I point out.
“He can have it,” she shrugs. “My voter base lies in space. It’s just good politics, Hoshikawa. You’d realize that if you had studied more. Well, your time is up. You are too dangerous to be left alive.”
“Don’t I get a trial, Madam President?” I ask. “Wouldn’t you want to parade me in front of everyone to show them that you’ve won?”
Julia just sneers at me again. “There’s no need. You would just try to drag out the proceedings so that you can carry out another of your useless plots. You might even escape. I will just save myself the trouble and make sure you die today. I can parade your corpse in public. Colonel Naim, shoot him in the head until you are sure that he is dead.”
Naim stares at her with a conflicted look on his face. “Look, I’m not sure-“
“This is an order, colonel,” she says firmly. “Execute the traitor to the Federation for treason. He is still a Federation citizen and we are at war.” After a while, he nods his head slowly.
“Madam President, this is highly irregular,” interrupts Camna. “We cannot execute a prisoner without due justice.”
“Justice is making this man pay for his crimes, Colonel Camna,” she rebuts. “Now open that door and let Colonel Naim in.” Camna turns to look at me. After a few seconds, he opens the door for Naim. “Thank you for your cooperation, colonel. I will put in a good word for you with your superiors.” says Julia. “Remember, not a word about what happened here must leak to the outside.”
Camna nods silently, agreeing with her.
As Naim comes into the room, he unholsters his gun. The cell is too small for him to stand more than arm’s length away from me. “I’m sorry, Hoshikawa,” he says. “You’re always sorry,” I reply with a mocking grin. He furrows his brows and raises the gun, pointing its barrel right between my eyes. At this distance I wouldn’t be able to dodge. I wouldn’t need to.
“Put the gun down, Colonel Naim,” says Camna. He has his gun held to Julia’s head. Naim’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What is going on? Have you actually turned traitor, Camna? Has that man gotten to you with his poisoned words?” croaks Julia in a panic.
“His words were not poison, Madam President. Your actions were. You do the Federation a disservice by your behaviour.” The second condition for gaining Vic Camna’s loyalty has been cleared. Having him witness an attempt at an extra-legal execution was sure to appeal to his sense of justice. I stand up and take Naim’s gun from him while he’s stunned at the sight of the Federation’s most loyal soldier holding its elected head of state hostage. The shackles on my limbs fall into pieces at my feet.
“Finally, decryption complete! Master, Commodore Pershing’s three fleets have successfully joined with our forces near the Gate. After a bit of refuelling they will be ready for action.” Yua gives me her report right on time. I thank her, then walk out of the cell, leaving Naim staring blankly at my back. “Colonel Camna,” I say, “Good news. The commodore’s fleets have reached the Gate of Ean without encountering any difficulties. He’ll be ready to join us soon.”
He gives me a curt nod, and I get the pleasure of seeing Julia’s face grow deathly pale. “Pershing?” She mouths the commodore’s name almost silently.
“Colonel Kowaki’s husband, yes. That Pershing.” I grin.
“What are you plotting now?” she snaps. “Are you planning on taking me hostage? That will never work. The rest of my forces will come down upon your head to rescue me. You’re only signing your own death warrant.”
“I’m afraid not, Madam President,” I sigh. “What will happen next is that I expect your Vice-President will give a statement where he bravely states his reluctance to become the acting head of – oh, hold on a minute. It’s time. Colonel, could you kindly get that button?”
He does so. A picture of the Vice-President of the Federation appears on-screen. He appears to be fiddling with the microphone, preparing for a speech. Camna looks back at me in puzzlement. “I could’ve sworn this button was for something else.”
“I have control over the electronics of the entire base, colonel. You did lend a computer to me on the day I arrived so that I could send out that mail.”
Camna glances over at the sentry gun inside the cell. “So…”
“I’ve disabled it. I’m suicidal, not stupid.”
“So I see.” There is a slight twitching of his lips underneath his luxurious moustache, a rare smile for Colonel Camna.
Finally, the Vice-President starts talking.
“My friends and countrymen, by now all of you must have heard about the rumour that a quarter of our forces have defected to the rebels. Yes, it is true. It is not a rumour, I am sad to say. I believe that this changes everything. I have not been able to get into contact with President Julia during this time of emergency, and as such I have been reluctantly forced into this position as acting head of state-“
“You fucking liar!” screams Julia in a sudden rage, her face red.
“Now now, Madam President, no need for that kind of language. It’s true that he could not contact you. We’re in the high-security cell, remember?” I wag my finger at her, before turning back to the screen.
“-as such, I will be convening a critical conference with the Cabinet as well as the chiefs of staff of the Federation armed forces in order to discuss how to deal with this crisis. In a token of goodwill, we are offering the rebel forces an opportunity to sit in on this conference. In the face of a possible invasion in two months' time, we must no longer stay divided over petty rivalries-“
“Has Iannes gotten the invitation, Yua?” I ask.
“I’m checking with him right now. Hold on for a while, Master.” After a few seconds she confirms that he has.
“Excellent.” It’s time for the next phase of my plan. The well-publicized defection and Julia’s sudden ‘disappearance’ at this critical juncture has left the Federation scrambling to cobble together a solution. I will have to thank Sekhenun for the little tip on ensuring TV crews were on-site to cover Federation officers and my men waving at the cameras hand-in-hand. That was a nice touch. The defectors constitute a rather significant percentage of the Federation fleet – 20%, to be exact – not to mention being some of the best they have to offer, and this has left the generals and admirals worried something like this may happen again. They would be more willing to come to the table. The politicians are probably already salivating and preparing long speeches right now. I consider the possibilities and how they would play out… after this, the Federation will no longer stand in the way of what I want to accomplish.
***
A. I will attend the conference, together with Iannes. There, we will bribe and coerce and wheedle our way into ensuring that Iannes gets more political influence and I gain more control over the military, though I expect the political elite of the Federation will still remain entrenched in the system. This is no longer the time to struggle with clearing them out; I need to spend more time on preparing for the Empire now.
B. I attend the conference and work towards having fresh presidential elections, which hopefully Iannes will win. It is time to let the people of Earth decide. Of course, this is not an election that I will need to micro-manage; there should be plenty of people knowing which way the wind is blowing that will happily aid me in this matter. I have plenty of juicy details to share with them. This should take two weeks to complete.
C. I will arrive at the peace conference bearing weapons. I don't want to kill them if I can help it, but leaving them to their own resources will not solve any of the Federation's endemic problems. I will use force to ensure the entire ruling body of the Federation steps down and are replaced with people that I can trust to work for the greater good.
D. I tell Iannes to stay away. I’ll blow up the conference and end the corrupt system once and for all. It’s nice of them to gather in one convenient spot, I couldn’t have set it up better myself… or perhaps I did. I cannot afford to leave any of these powerful movers and shakers alive. They'll just have to die.
***
A. I kill Julia and Naim while they are at my mercy. I might not get a chance like this again. It’s not about vengeance… I think.
B. I keep Julia and Naim locked up on the base, where they can probably do no harm. I will come back to deal with them later.
C. I free them. Julia will be certain to rush to the conference, where her paranoia and bad temper – no thanks to me - will complicate things even further.
