“And your Commonwealth is so much better?” Astrid asked.
“It is.”
“I’m surprised you think so, after how poorly they’ve treated you. I’ve read your combat record. Ten years hard service at the front, and still a supply corps lieutenant until a few weeks ago? Their failure to promote you out of supplyand into command shows a clear failure to recognize or reward talent.”
“You speak as if your Empire is any better. Your nobles kill each other with remarkable frequency. Your only recourse against inequity is assassination. Our system isn’t perfect, but it’s the best I’ve seen, and far more meritocratic than yours. Our nobles govern the people, the people support the Queen, and the Queen monitors the nobles. We give nobles the authority due to shielded persons, while burdening them with enough responsibility and oversight to stop them riding roughshod over the unshielded populace. It’s a circle of accountability, and it’s worked moderately well for four centuries.” I shook my head. “You’d have to completely restructure your Empire before it could give the Rim anything approaching prosperity.”
“That is my goal. Replace the rule of the strongest with a pure meritocracy. If I surround the throne with the best people of every transhuman species and class, then I could build a better future for all across the Rim. It’s a dim, unlikely dream, but I must try.” Astrid sighed. “What sort of monster would I be if I didn’t try to make the galaxy a better place?”
“Being a monster is a matter of perspective. You’re already a monster to the Alliance,” I said.
“Am I a monster to you?”
The question spun at me with edges on, and I found I didn’t know my own answer.
“I must go. The Commonwealth needs me.” I buckled on my weapons belt.
“Please don’t go. I need you here with me,” Astrid pleaded.
“It certainly doesn’t look that way from where I’m standing, down here beneath you.” I stalked towards the door, which remained closed. I glared up at the guard who stood beside it.
“Open the fucking door!” I ordered.
The demon snapped to, opening the door with a speed born of fear. I don’t know how I’d inspired such fear, but it felt good to make somebody else suffer.
I did not look at the Emperor as I left. I couldn’t stand to see her face, and I had duties to attend to. I couldn’t be overcome by the distress I knew would be in her eyes.
LOOSE LIPS
I FOUND BOLESLAWand the prince in the Commonwealth suites. Pulling them aside, I quickly laid out the nature of d’Lyre’s information and the details of the deal between the Emperor and the Federation senator. Both listened patiently as I explained, but Boleslaw blanched further with every word, and the prince sagged beneath the weight of my report.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
Boleslaw spoke. “First, we’ll try to confirm the veracity of the Federation’s claim. If these are Federation lies, then this deal is null and void. In the meantime, we need a plan to counter the Federation’s seizures.”
The prince sighed heavily, deflating further. “If what Lady d’Lyre says is true, then there is very little we can do to stop the Federation’s machinations. While I will not mourn the loss of the Despotate’s government, we can’t argue for the Urgan people if they detonated a Fall device, and we cannot defend ourselves from occupation. Our armies are depleted,and our remaining allies cannot offer sufficient support to take on the Federation.”
“Then what can we do?” I asked.
“Look for other allies,” Boleslaw replied, giving me a significant look.
I scoffed. “What, the Empire? The Emperor made it clear she won’t defend the Commonwealth against the Federation. There must be another option. What about the nations on the Federation’s far border?”
Boleslaw shook her head. “Small, disjointed, squabbling states always at war with one another. The Federation dominates the politics of that region, appointing and overthrowing rulers as they see fit. The puppet kings are kept in a constant state of conflict by Federation merchants, who sell arms and aid to whomever has more money to pay. None of them will bear arms against their benefactor – the Federation would simply overthrow their government and replace them with a sympathetic dictator who would gratefully buy Federation goods, fueling the economic engine.”
“Beyond them, then,” I insisted, but Boleslaw raised her hand.
“There’s no one strong enough to take on the Federation until you reach the far side of the next quadrant. Ten years ago, we could have taken them down, but we had no reason to. Given time, we could recover and fight them again, but if the Federation takes the Fallspace colonies and the Empire takes the League frontier systems, then we will lose much of our manufacturing capability. I fear this will save us in the meantime, but set the stage for the Royal Commonwealth’s inevitable partition and elimination.”
I gasped. “Surely, it can’t be that bad.”
Prince Aureli glowered over his brandy. “You know how the Federation is. They never stop unless they are forcedto stop. If we are weak, they will destroy us, or turn us into another dependent puppet state, a vassal in all but name.”
I clenched my fists and declared, “I won’t let that happen.”
Prince Aureli chuckled ruefully. “You? A mere sky captain? What do you think you can do which the Commonwealth’s combined forces cannot?”
“As Captain, little. As Consort, much,” I replied.
