Caoimhe thought she might be sick.
"I just don't know,"Caoimhe whispered to the hologram of her mother that she kept in her private room."I don't know how to end this.How to defeat him."Unfortunately, that was where she was.Trying to figure out how to defeat her own father.
What a horrible place to be.
To have to figure out how to defeat her father.
She stared at the hologram of her mother--in her youth.Strong and intelligent and a powerful counterpart to the Emperor.Though she tried not to delve too far into her memories, for she'll remember the difficulties her mother fought while being the Empress with a grown woman's eye.The wife of an emperor would always come with a certain amount of grievances.The power would always come before the family.At least, that was how her father lived.Caoimhe liked to think at one point, her father loved her mother.That storybook way--the way a man was supposed to care about a woman.
But it seemed the older her father got, the more power-hungry and focused on his own gain he became at the expense of everyone else.
And now, getting him out of power was the most important thing she could do, and the sooner she could do it, the better.
The only advantage that Caoimhe had was that she was as determined to stop him as he was to take advantage of her peace negotiations.
Finding peace with the Rhimodians and ending the war should have been a step in the right direction.Then her father had to take advantage of it to further his own plans.
She didn't know what to do.
How did she stop this from destroying the Rhimodians just because her father thinks they're bad?They are big and powerful, but they cannot be as horrible as he believes.They were, of course, intimidating, but Bahran was very polite and proper.She had not seen them in their comfortable state, but surely, if they were so horrible, there would be records.
Unfortunately, Caoimhe could not find records indicating anything that didn't follow her father's precise narrative about the Rhimodians.The only imagery allowed in the Terran Empire was imagery that painted them as mean warriors.
A few months ago, a new vid came out, showing some Rhimodians fighting on Disguised Serenity over what looked to be blue grass.The images made the Rhimodians look like giant monsters in the middle of the space station, trying to fight.Caoimhe asked Freya to dig in the Terran Empire archives and see if she could find the original footage.She was only able to find a small amount.Enough that it showed there was a disagreement with the Rhimodians.Not much else.
It had been days since she'd spoken to the Emperor about the peace treaty.No matter what she did or said to him, he was determined that she would be the entry point into the Sol system to eliminate the Rhimodians.
Any time she tried to discuss changing his plan, he told her--in no uncertain terms--that if she did anything to conspire against him, he would have her killed.Her and the rest of the emissaries to the Sol system.
If she tried to turn the Terran people against him, he would destroy her future.If there was a fate worse than death, her father would find it.His heir or not, he would kill her.He was able to have more children, after all.
She wouldn't be surprised if he had a child or two out there with mistresses that no one knew about, holding onto them in case he needed them.
"Stop it," she told herself and shook her head.She was going to get herself wrapped up in thoughts she couldn't control and spiral into a darker place than she needed to go.
She tucked away the hologram of her mother, and in the same drawer was the com that Bahran had given her.She stroked the top of it.
They were not what one would call friendly.However, Bahran had become her contact for much of the arrangements for the peace negotiations.
She trusted him.
And she liked the sound of his deep voice.
He, like she was at this point, very cautious of the coming events.
She pulled the communicator out and opened a call to him.
In a moment, he answered.
Sweat ran over his brow, and he was dirty.The dirt colors blended in with his skin, making his jaw look even more rock-like and his cheekbones even sharper.The man did not need any help in looking more handsome, but he did, nonetheless.
Caoimhe kept her face neutral, but she had to admit, just seeing him dirty like that woke up desires in her that she tried to avoid giving into.She wondered how inappropriate would it be if she gave in once in a while.He certainly would be a good candidate.She had had a few dreams about him since meeting him in person.She blamed it on his size and the differences between him and her.But regardless, they were not polite negotiation dreams, either.
She'd even wondered if the cyborgs had dreams like that?They were probably programmed against that kind of thing.
She had always had an attraction for men who earned their existence.So many contemporaries she knew had their positions because it was given to them, a right by birth, just like her.No, she didn't find that appealing.She preferred those who worked for what they had.
The hypocrisy in it was not lost on her.
