And In Power Is Vested
23 Nov 2021User319792
Standing on the quarterdeck of Octavian surrounded by Imperial Diplomats and suits, with the man in the black suit to my left, I wondered at the order to report to Fortress York in Facece for my Imperial Navy advancement mission. It was a bit of a milk-run, all things considered, but it took a lot longer to source the commodities requested. The man in the black suit whispered back and forth between the rest of the suits as one of the Imperial delegation opened the promotion ceremony with the standard Imperial greetings and salutations. Coral was present via a holodeck the man in the black suit had rolled onto the quarterdeck for the observance. She'd shut off her comms during our last muster with a look of increasing suspicion as the man in the black suit laughed at the idea of her heading over to Kraken's Retreat, wishing her good luck without so much as asking her what she had in mind. Apparently, the man in the black suit had been keeping track of my progress and sent her a message to get herself somewhere where she'd be available for the promotion ceremony ASAP.
As the Imperial Diplomat completed the salutations, he looked over to the man in the black suit and called him toward the speaker's podium. He shook the diplomat's hand before opening with his own set of greetings toward the suits, some of whom glanced toward me as he spoke and silently nodded. The diplomat crossed in front of me, turning his head toward me with a set of eyes that exposed the ceremony that he'd just taken part, before taking his place amongst the rest of the Imperial Diplomats, whom he began quietly addressing with the same cold sternness. Several of the Imperial Diplomats made their way across the quarterdeck toward the hangar, disappearing from view, and I caught my first glimpse of the Imperial Diplomat we'd spoken to in Cemiess about our findings in Galileo. He stared at me, expressionless, responding to various other Imperial Diplomats whispering at him with nods of his head. I looked at Coral and motioned her glance over to him, and she immediately choked down a laugh.
The man in the black suit stuck his arm out toward another of the suits with a smile and they shared a laugh.
"... and as Jim can tell you, we were deeply concerned about the the organization being unwelcome by the Empire, in light of our attempts to remain apolitical, and it has often been a tenuous, trying relationship. But, from the outset of our working relationship with the Imperial Navy to our expansion into increasing areas under Imperial rule, the Empire and her agents have been a watchful hand guiding us in our successes and trials within Imperial territory. Having originally been one of our organization's test pilots, I recall the immediate support I'd received from our handler in Cemiess, who kindly permitted me to make use of an Imperial Courier for our testing on little more than the completion of the merest few tasks in the service of the Empire."
I turned toward Coral as he spoke and she looked toward me with a look of suspicion, shaking her head in a barely perceptible bullshit call. I noticed the Imperial Diplomat from Cemiess immediately turn toward another diplomat, whispering something before turning back to me, the second diplomat making his way toward the hangar bay. The man in the black suit continued, finishing his address with a smile at me and something about how he hopes my promotion to king will prove to be a measure of the continuing relationship between the organization and the Empire, before calling another of the suits to the speaker's podium.
I'd never seen the suit before, but the man in the black suit seemed to wither as the suit leaned toward him. The suit took the hand of the man in the black suit into his own, squeezing it tightly, and I overheard a short bit of their conversation.
"... she's not going to be ok with th-"
"This is happening and I'm happy to be a part of making it happen."
The man in the black suit glanced in my direction with a pained look on his face before turning away from me and the other suit. Their hands remained clasped for a short time and he finally turned toward the suit, smiling, releasing each others' hands and sharing a short laugh. The man in the black suit took his place at my side, crossing in front of me with a look at me that was 1-part satisfaction, 1-part pleasure, and 2-parts wager. The suit began his salutations and addressed the Imperial audience, thanking them for their continued faith and support before announcing that the Imperial delegation had informed him of the Imperial Navy's decision to graciously provide me with access to the whole of Imperial space and the freedom to work anywhere within Imperial space with no restrictions on the use of vessels, in addition to the honor of permanently berthing my Imperial Gutemaya vessels at Fortress York.
I thought I could feel the small hairs on my arms and the back of my neck disintegrating into ash on my skin as I slowly turned toward the man in the black suit, my neck stiff as the Imperial Diplomats in my view, who watched me closely and in union as the suit spoke. The man in the black suit avoided my gaze at first, before tightening his lips and turning only his eyes toward me. I could see the muscles of his lips tensing and he stiffened, turning is eyes upward, with a barely perceptible nod in the same direction.
The rest of the ceremony bled into the background of my awareness. I continued to look over the Imperial delegation, my eyes lingering repeatedly on the Imperial Diplomat from Cemiess, and my vision blurred repeatedly, with splotches of white and trails of multi-colored light shooting past people's faces. My muscles remained stiff, my breathing slow but forced as I took the stage with the Imperial Diplomat from Cemiess, who shook my hand and presented me with the official notification of my promotion to King of the Imperial Navy. I remained silent as he spoke, saying little more than a soft "thank you" through what I hoped weren't gritting teeth to the assembled. For a short period of time, the Imperial Diplomats and the suits milled about in small groups on Ovid's quarterdeck, glancing at me with various smiles and looks of suspicion. Eventually, the assembled retreated onto Fortress York's hangar bay, dispersing into their own vessels and heading back toward their various posts. The man in the black suit suggested we head into the Octavian's captain's quarters as my crew began dissembling the ceremonial ornaments and Coral, who'd looked over at me repeatedly after the announcement with quivering lips and quivering nose, agreed.
The man in the black suit opened Coral's comms request with a laugh.
"So, Coral, how are things at Kraken's Retreat?"
She looked at him and smiled.
"They're fine, dad. I made it out here just fine. They weren't particularly welcoming at the outset, but I managed make my way into an SRV hangar and all I had to do was shoot down a bunch of sentry skimmers on the way in. I drove around a little bit, looking for possible entry-points into the main structure, but it looked pretty secure. I'm sure there are ways around security."
The man in the black suit paled as Coral's screen went dark, briefly, before returning with a photo on our screen
My attention wavered as they continued, the man in the black suit saying something about having been brought to Etienne Dorn after a test protocol went completely sideways and his escape pod ended up with the cargo hold of a raider hailing from deep-space. As I burned from the inside out, I heard the man in the black suit say something about Coral being irresponsible and outright crazy to infiltrate Kraken's Retreat and, out of the corner of my eye, I could see her roll her eyes before looking out toward the main structure of Kraken's Retreat with keen interest. The man in the black suit threw his hands in the air and began walking around Octavian's captain's quarters and Coral asked me what I was up to next, barely holding in a laugh that I knew was there and only increased the intensity of what I could only imagine looked to be a deadening numbness of the magnanimity of my accomplishments to anyone outside of my body. My words came out in a monotonous crawl.
"I'm not sure. I'm probably going to look into picking up a Fleet Carrier. I'm going to want to do some more runs for engineering materials and I figure I can make a little money on the side doing material expeditions for anyone else looking to take care of that kind of stuff. Plus, if you want to stick around near Los I can head over there and pick you up. I want to meet the engineers near Colonia and maybe I can bring you with me to speak to Etienne Dorn if he doesn't kill you first."
Coral rolled her eyes and looked toward the man in the black suit with a laugh, before asking me if I was ok with berthing my ships at Fortress York. I felt my hands go numb, as if the blood drained from my extremities to rush toward my primary organs as it evaporated in my heart. I barely looked at Coral and the man in the black suit as I answered,
"Well, they aren't assigning it as my permanent post and I can still fly what I choose where I choose. It is what it is, I suppose... I'm going to do what I need to do, I guess..."
The last few words barely escaped me before a surge of energy and heat rushed through me, my jaw clenching so tightly it hurt. The man in the black suit looked toward Octavian's cockpit as my words echoed in my head and through the increasing cloudiness of my vision I could see my thoughts... to do what I need to do... for the glory of the Empire.