Empress Victoria IV

Location: Windsor City, Windsor, Star Kingdom of Windsor

“They’ve returned, Your Imperial Majesty,” the communications specialist in the control center of the Imperial Palace informed the undisputed ruler of the Star Empire of Windsor. Although, lately it felt like everything was being disputed.

Word of the Commonwealth counterattack against Barrowsford was instantaneous due to the QE technology, and Victoria had put into place her contingency plan. There was no question that Windsor ships were the finest in the galaxy, but she had nowhere near the quality she wanted. When facing off against the Blockies and Commies, they could nearly drown her subjects with their numbers. That was always the risk of taking the fight to the enemy, but if history had taught her anything, it was that sitting around waiting for something to happen was a good way to have nothing happen at all. She needed to take control and dictate the battlefield to better utilize her limited forces. Up until a few days ago it had worked perfectly, but now things were starting to slip.

If her raids could have delayed the Hegemony’s audit for a few more months she would have been confident they could have kept their gains with Operation Grand Sweep. Now it was clear they’d over extended themselves, and the Commonwealth military industrial complex was swinging back into action.

She’d received updates from her soldiers and spacers via QE, but it soon became evident they couldn’t hold the system against the Collies’ partially upgraded fleet. That’s where her contingency planning came in. She couldn’t lose Josephina. Not only because they’d been close friends for decades, but because her knowledge as the Chief of Intelligence was a gold mine for her enemies. She knew it would disgrace the newly-minted Queen to lose the planet she was to rule over, but sacrifices had to be made for the good of the Empire.

When the Commonwealth invasion was first detected, two Windsor cruisers, Saving Grace and Beyond Doubt, portaled into Barrowsford to get Josephina out of harm’s way if need be. The two cruisers were fresh out of the yards with important upgrades. Judging by how the enemy fleet was hammered on its approach vectors, Victoria was confident that the Commonwealth didn’t know about the shield reconfiguration upgrades that were available for purchase in the Hegemony. Armed with the correct sequencing and power requirements it was possible for the shield of a ship to be altered and render anything within its confines completely invisible to any scanners humanity possessed.

There were drawbacks to the technology. First and foremost was that when the shield was in stealth mode it left the ship completely vulnerable. You could either be protected or unseen but not both. Second was the power requirements and cost of the upgrades. Like everything else in the Hegemony, someone had a patent on the tech, and humans had to pay out the ass to get it. Things had been easier for the Empire with their patron’s generosity, but with this latest setback she wondered how long that goodwill would last.

“It’s just Saving Grace,” the communications officer continued. “No sign of Beyond Doubt. Updates are coming through now.”

“Tell the Duchess to report to the palace immediately,” she winced internally at the slip. Josephina was still technically a duchess when in the Empire’s home system, but she could have given her the courtesy of refereeing to her by her royal title. Word of her statement would spread, and it would look like Josephina had been demoted in the eyes of the Empress. Her political rivals would smell blood in the water and close for the kill.

Victoria kept her face stoic as she turned to leave, but internally she lamented the political infighting that their society required. Harmony and peace brought stagnation and gluttony. For the empire to survive they needed fierce competition between the high Royals. Without that, the best wouldn’t rise to the top to serve the empire.

A message beeped in the Empress’ head as Josephina sent down a message via IOR. Victoria didn’t read it, she just told her to hurry up. A second message appeared, and her back straightened. It was a summons. Only one thing on the planet had the ability to summon her.

Victoria gulped and smoothed the gown she was wearing. It would be hot in the garden under all the layers, but she didn’t want to keep her guest waiting. Word spread through the palace’s security as she headed for the garden. Seamlessly, members of the Obsidian Guard formed around her in full armor. Victoria was tall, but the giant warrior bred to protect her and her family stood close to three meters tall and made her feel like a gangly teenager again. The captain of the guard slid into his position just behind her as the exited the main building.

She immediately felt sweat begin to slide down her back as she descended the stairs into the maze of topiary wonders the palace’s gardeners spent their lives designing, cultivating, and caring for. She gave her imperial crest – made of bright flowers that were always in full bloom – a quick glance before following her guards into the maze. After some twists and turns she came to the spot she liked to have afternoon tea and play with her children. She reflexively felt her stomach, but the bulge that had been there for nine months was gone. The newest member of the Windsor Imperial Dynasty had been born several weeks ago, and was probably upstairs wailing for milk.

Her face softened for a second before she caught herself and removed all expression from her body. She took a seat as the table, tucked her ankles under the chair, and waited with a straight back while trying to portray confidence. Josephina pinged her again but Victoria ignored her.

It was a full five minutes before her guards shifted uneasily and she smelled ozone. She instinctively stood up a little straighter and watched the opening at the opposite side of the garden. She gulped reflexively when the Emissary, the being that came to her over a decade ago and proposed the plan to vault her little Kingdom to greatness, stepped through the bushes.

The Emissary was massive. It stood close to seven meters tall, and resembled a human. Victoria had been surprised when her first alien contact with a member species of the Hegemony had been humanoid, but the Emissary made it abundantly clear he wasn’t something as weak as a human. He looked to be in a giant suit of armor, with one glaring exception. Light radiated from the creases and seams of the massive man. The armor itself was ever moving. Unknown glyphs and fractals appeared and then were blown away like sand on a beach during a windy day. It made it seem as if the Emissary was in a constant state of motion.

He had no ears, nose, or mouth, but two sets of blinding, golden eyes glared out of his armored helm. Victoria wasn’t able to look directly at the Emissary without special lenses. It was like trying to look directly at the sun on a cloudless day.

{HUMAN.} The Emissary’s word cut through her mind like a knife. She winced but tried not to show pain. {FAILURE.}

“We did not fail,” she countered with all her authority. “We’ve beat the Commonwealth and Eastern Block back on several occasions. We took the fight to them, and plunged our dagger deep into the heart of their territory. They’re still reeling from their losses. The Eastern Block even has a delegation on the way to negotiate a ceasefire and mutual defense agreement against the Commonwealth. That is what you wanted,” her voice dropped to a threatening level. “You wanted us to sow discord and chaos. I have done that. My subjects have bled for that, and now you’re saying we failed!” she didn’t even notice she was shouting.

{ALL I HEAR ARE EXCUSES FOR WEAKNESS.} Victoria would have sworn the thing was mocking her is its roaring speech wasn’t always completely monotone.

“My Empire is strong. I will take back what was taken from us.” She promised.

{YOU HAVE SERVED YOUR PURPOSE. OUR ARRANGEMENT IS AT AN END.} The Emissary’s statement hit her right in the gut.

“What?!”

Not only had the Emissary introduced the Empire into the Hegemony, but it had secured Windsor favorable nation status, generous loans with no interest, and even done a little to stall the rest of humanity’s future interaction with the Hegemony. There was a reason almost a decade had passed between the Emissary’s arrival on Windsor and the Commonwealth making first contact.

“Emissary…” the giant thing had never even given Victoria its name. “I’m sure we can work out a new arrangement.”

{NO. FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE.} It turned to leave.

Her guards sprang into action. They’d been tense and ready for a fight with the Hegemony being since the day he showed up, and now was their chance. They were prepared for all contingencies. Half were armed with ranged weapons, both energy and projectile. They didn’t know which would be more effective. The other half had melee weapons and would take the fight to the emissary up close and personal. Her guard captain’s job was to get her to safety.

Her guards sprang into action and everything went white. Victoria screamed as it felt like her eyes were burned from her skull. Her hand plucked blindly at her belt where she always kept a bottle of general purpose medical nanites. She sprayed them directly into her eyes. Slowly, her vision returned back to normal.

In the meantime, her other senses compensated. She forced down vomit as her stomach rebelled, and forced herself to look around as everything came back into focus. Her guards were down…all of them except the captain. They had smoking holes through the front and back of their armor the size of her head. The smell of cauterized flesh permeated everything around her. The best defenses the Empire had to offer were nothing against the Emissary.

It hadn’t even moved. Her guards were arrayed in an expanding circle around it like they’d been hit by a shockwave. {MORE FAILURE.} The Emissary scoffed. {I WILL HAVE OTHERS COMPLETE WHAT YOU’VE STARTED.}

The conversation was over, her ambush thwarted, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it could have killed her without a second thought or any real effort. Instead, the armor shifted, collapsed in on itself until all that was left of the Emissary was a large sphere with veins of light coursing across the surface. Then, without warning, it blasted into the sky at the speed of light. Once it reached an acceptable distance for the gravity of Windsor, a portal opened and it vanished from Imperial space.

{…you there! Victoria, are you there!} Josephina was shouting into her head.

{I’m here,} she knew she was shaken, but being surrounded by the dead normally did that to a person.

{We lost all contact with you. A massive energy signature was registered at your location. The entire Obsidian Guard is scrambling to your position.}

{Tell everyone to stand down,} Victoria heard the exhaustion in her tone that was threatening to overwhelm her.

{What’s wrong?} Like a good friend, Josephina was always there for her.

{Things just went from bad to worse. I’ll tell you when you land, but I’m going to need my Chief of Intelligence back.}

There was a brief pause. {I’m always here to serve the Empire.} There was resolve in Josephina’s tone, which was good.

Victoria rubbed her eyes and walked back toward the palace.

Maintenance would have to clean up and recycle all the bodies and weapons. The armor was a total loss.