Callisas Star System

The Empire of Callisas

Callisas-3

"What do you mean you applied for the training!?" Their Majesty rounded on the man that sat in their office, their glare fierce. He fidgeted nervously, not looking them in the eyes.

"We were accepted for training Your Majesty." He stressed the word slightly. "I told you what happened in the Uno System, why wouldn't we want more training?"

"Jack," They said, sitting down at their desk, their voice still hard, but more reasonable. "You have to know what happens to worlds that accept Novu Sol's offer for training."

The man, Jack, glanced up, a bit of defiance in his eyes. "It can't be any worse than almost losing your world to pirates."

"I'm not going to insult our friendship and you by saying your world would be better off in their hands." They sighed. "It wouldn't be, but Jack, your ships drove them off, yes with some loss of life, but they did do their job. At most all you needed was some protection, the Empire would of been happy to provide it so you didn't have to sell your nation's soul to the devil."

Jack shrugged. "I don't understand why you think the Stellar Democracy is that bad. They have been good trading partners for years and never caused any problems. They even offered to take and train people in their own navy, so we'll get a good close look at their tech while our people do that."

The monarch buried their face in their hands. "They do that so they can start separating the culture from those officers and infusing their own. They've done this countless times to nations before, it's death by assimilation, a million tiny cuts before your identity is swallowed by the mass that is Novu Sol." They looked back up. "Why didn't you come to me for help? We would have been glad to help, you have been an ally of ours since I was a kid. We practically grew up together Jack!"

Jack got up to walk around the sitting room, pausing to look out the window out upon the rolling garden that surrounded the Palace. "As Ambassador from the TriStar Systems, I not only have a duty to be a link between our nations, but give my advice to my government when called upon." He glanced back at them. "So I did."

"Did the Prime Minister reject the idea of asking us?" They were puzzled, why wouldn't their close ally want to deal with them in matters of protection? It made no sense and they stared at Jack, confused. "Why would he do that?"

"No, I told him not to ask." Jack's voice had gone flat, like he was reciting lines from a script. "That it was in our best interest to contact Novu Sol for training."

"What?!" They sounded shocked. Had Jack not been a close personal friend, they would have kept their tone more neutral. This however was a betrayal of their trust and friendship. "Why? What did we do?"

Jack hunched a little, his voice still flat. "One of your Admirals...."

"One of my..." they took a sharp breath. "The Admiral, what about her?"

"I do not trust her." Jack said.

"You do not need to trust her to use her services." They replied, as they glared at Jack's back. "She is a former Novu Sol officer and has imparted much more wisdom on our officers than Novu Sol ever would. And while she might charge a high price, she is worth every credit because she won't ask you to give up your culture for the pleasure of kissing her ass."

"No Your Majesty," Jack's voice went quiet. "It's not... not that." He fumbled slightly with his words.

"Then why? Hell you know she's available and you could have asked for her contact through our sources! She would have come willingly and dealt with your people fairly!" They made a frustrated motion. "Hell Jack, I would have been more than willing to help with paying the cost of her services, she really is worth the money."

"Our navy has suffered enough, we don't need The Admiral killing our people as well as pirates." Jack countered, still staring out the window to avoid their gaze.

"She has a fixed price on not doing that that is actually reasonable compared to her usual asking prices. I could pay it out of pocket right now Jack! Why does..."

"Because she's a lunatic!" This time Jack rounded on Their Majesty, a fire blazed in his eyes. "She is an unhinged maniac with the power of an unchecked warship at her command! She murdered billions, she razed an entire world for not paying her once, she has, may I remind you, murdered one of your officers in cold blood for talking back to her." He made an angry gesture, breathing ragged as he let his true feelings show. "Not to mention what she's done in other nations, the people she has killed, the ATS thing recently." Jack turned his glare on the Empire's leader. "And you continue to support her and protect her."

They stared, shocked at the outburst before slowly getting to their feet, their face settled on a cold neutrality. "She was all we had after Novu Sol rejected us multiple times for that training, calling our government corrupt simply for having an aristocracy and refused to even consider our vast and fair voting systems in place for the population. She trained our forces and we earned her trust."

"And how far will that get you?" Jack's voice was bitter. "What will stop her from turning on you the second you can't pay her the credits she wants? Why should she care about you and your nation when she was willing to bomb a capital city to rubble for the nation she swore to protect but instead defected from? She's a danger to everyone, don't think that just because the snake keeps crawling back to you, that you cannot get bitten. She is a danger to your people and it is foolish to think otherwise."

They locked eyes with Jack, they were obviously not happy with being lectured on how they ran Their nation. "Jack," they kept their voice as level as they could make it, "it's a danger that is easy to avoid and accept in exchange for keeping our culture and traditions. Yes I do remember the person she killed because at first we didn't pay the fee. I would not wish anyone die in vain, but that man had posed a hazard to his crew, ship and my nation and when he stepped out of line too many times thinking he was immune, he was killed. If it wasn't The Admiral that did it, he would of been killed doing something stupid with his ship before we could eject him from the service due to politics."

Jack looked disgusted. "You are making excuses, Your Majesty. I don't care how you want to flavor it, there are ways to do things and using a traitor and criminal as some high example for your officers is beyond shameful."

"Jack please," they're voice was almost begging now. "Just tell your Prime Minister to withdraw from the training, I swear we can be..."

"I am not going to accept training from a nation that conspires with a traitor and murderer!"

The second Jack snapped that off he seemed to regret it but he did not take it back. A long silence followed, the stillness in the room so quiet and fragile that even a single breath would be too loud to bear. They waited but Jack said nothing more, his gaze once again fixed down on the floor to avoid their eyes.

After the silence had drawn on long enough to become uncomfortable the monarch of the Empire of Callas straightened, their features settled into a cold, neutral expression. "Ambassador." Their voice was now cool and formal.

Jack physically flinched at the change in tone. He had rarely ever heard that tone from them, but when it had been used in the past, it had never been for anything good, but it had never before been directed at him. The use of his official title as Ambassador made it worse. They were not talking as a friend anymore, but as a leader. "Yes Your Majesty?" His own voice sounded detached.

"I am going to have to ask your Embassy to pack its things and leave, I'll give your people a month to wrap up anything business they have here and pack their things. I can loan you a passenger liner to take back all of the TriStar citizens that moved here for the purpose of serving the Embassy." They looked down at Jack, his gaze still fixed firmly to the floor. "Your merchantmen will still be allowed access to our economy, but the waiving of fees and import taxes will be raised to the same level as Novu Sol's. You are dismissed, Ambassador."

Jack gave a stiff, formal bow and turned to leave, then he paused as he put his hand on the doorknob, looking back over his shoulder at his friend. "I'm sorry Your Majesty." His voice quiet.

"I know." They replied just as quietly and Jack slipped out of the room, the click of the closing door sounded final, the last confirmation of the end of a life-long friendship and even longer alliance.

They slumped back into their chair, buried their face in their hands and began to sob, tears ran down their face as they cried for the loss of their close friend and the death of an allied nation.