Theocracy of the Unwilling

Chapter 4

More than a week had passed. The fury had become a contagion. While Yridia IV maintained its separatist mindset, Yridia IX was beginning to smell the tension, thick like an open flame. A small portion of the Eden population had begun a rather frustrating spiel of dissention, protesting the progress of the city's recovery from their latest tragedy. They talked about economic stagnation. They began conspiracy theories. They screamed for reform. And all the while, measures were being taken within governmental chambers to put out the fires that were beginning to burn.

Reckoners Tlaloc Elols and Eziek Dalvex remained hidden in the crowds that had flocked to the center of District I. The golden spire of the government building gleamed in the generated sunlight, casting a strange light upon the well-dressed man standing at the podium. The vicinity was not short of security, and the Reckoners remained in their positioned spots even as Governor Stanson Rend's speech grew loud and intense and he raised his fists and gesticulated with every melodramatic statement he made. No drug or spice could have induced such a deep and unified trance upon the people.

"Understand, people of Eden, that we are under the reign of a mighty King! And working under that King is a mighty Prince! Ask yourselves: Is it worth it to undermine the extreme devotion and protection of our great Monarch? Who else has saved us from danger after danger? Who else has been our support, our beacon during our slow, arduous recovery? The politicians who dare slander the King's name, have they helped us? No. They are fools and traitors to our trust! And I am only the King's humble servant, his messenger for making Eden the paradise it deserves to be during these hard times!"

"Isn't this the same guy who normally just sits back, smiles, nods, and then flicks his wrist and gets the work done?" Eziek skeptically asked Elols, who chuckled and leaned against the wall.

"Sort of. But you gotta remember, Rend knows how to play certain roles. If the people need a charismatic leader, then they've got one."

"...Yridians! It is those dissenters who hinder our progress! Do you think I would've not already made progress in my decisions were it not for their banter and bickering? Let me rebuild the parliament, and I will be able to bring about the very advancements we need! Let me pick new leaders, new ambassadors, who can and will do a worthy job for this city! Then we, the citizens of this great planet, can be the shining example of government and power for the planets around us!"

"He's given the new commander every target we need to take out," Elols continued in a whisper as the crowd grew more excited with each word. "Politicians, protesters, diplomats. Solus says we'll start tonight, do a bit of weed whacking."

"Weed whacking?"

"All part of the job." Elols grinned and placed a hand on Eziek's shoulder. "Those To Be Reckoned With have to live up to their name."

"...and just as we must rebuild, so too must our neighbors! And who else can pave the way for them but the people and leaders of Yridia IX? Our sister planets' leaders are ineffectual! They do nothing but rile up their people! That is why we must rise to the challenge! The King has ordained that we spring into action and bring these lazy leaders to justice, and replace them with leaders who know how to properly bring a population to profit and glory! I ask you now, citizens of Eden...who will you trust? The skeptical fools or the confident leaders, who have faith in their King? Believe in me! Believe in the Prince! Believe in Yridia!"

The roar of approval from the crowd was near deafening, and Eziek couldn't help but laugh as the citizens of Eden began to chant Rend's name in an eerie unison. Rend remained frozen in his final stance, his right fist raised, the sweat dribbling from his forehead down into his trimmed beard. Eziek noticed from his hiding place, however, that a smile was beginning to blossom on the governor's face like a pearly white rose. It was not a maniacal smile or a mischievous one. It was simply a smile of satisfaction. Pure, adulterated satisfaction.

The team didn't have much time. The clusters of people would disperse like gnats soon and the naysayers would move a separate way. Edging from the wall, Eziek and Elols wove their way into the cheering swarms and deep into the open spaces, where they would shove the barrels of their blasters into their victims' mouths and ignore the muffled screams.

***

"Do you know what a Balmorran metal parasite is, Kritt?" asked Eriro Dusquen, lieutenant colonel of the 1st Batallion, 39th Infantry Regiment. "They are, as I'm sure you've guessed, native to Balmorra. They eat through the city foundations and newer buildings alike, destroying their cities unless they are dealt with."

Morrisey Kritt could not reply, unless perspiration counted as a form of communication.

"That is what you have allied with here," Dusquen continued. "They are parasites, eating away at what could have been their future. The idiot country yokels saw progress, and now they face the consequences of trying to tear it down."

Standing in front of the office building formerly occupied by the beleaguered Kritt, Dusquen and the deposed governor watched on as the infantry led lines of people toward the two Warlord dropships set up in front of the construction site, which were on loan from the 1st Forward Support Company. Once they were aboard, the dropships would take them to camps scattered across the continent, where the political criminals would face detainment, processing, and internment. The subjugation of Yridia IV was proceeding as planned.

"I'm sure that you will find that Tarentum doesn't take matters such as these lightly, Kritt," the lieutenant colonel continued. "I certainly wouldn't want to be you in about two standard hours."

"Two hours?" Kritt sputtered, his eyes widening in fear. "What's going to happen in two hours?"

Dusquen smirked at the former governor. "We received orders on how to handle you once we had conclusive proof that you were helping the rioters. You are no slicing genius, that's for sure-- you practically left the recorded messages out in the open, labeled 'Incriminating Evidence.'"

The occupation of the construction site went as planned. While a few of the protestors escaped into the surrounding jungle, most were rounded up and shipped out, with only one incident of attempted escape from the line of would-be rebels. It ended with the predictable response of blaster fire, holes burnt into the dissidents, proud soldiers openly jeering at the corpses of five rioters.

"Did you see all of that, Kritt? The soldiers are proud of being in the Yridian Surface Command," Dusquen said, looking on in admiration. "They willingly took the lives of beings who would destroy the order we brought to this system."

Hanging his head, all Morrisey Kritt could do was pray.

***

"It is done, Ronovi."

Ronovi did not move from the viewing portal. The moon of Koros had just emerged on the horizon, casting its gray reflection on the waters below. Her coat lay strewn across a chair behind her; she kept the sleeves of her uniform tunic rolled up, revealing the brown and white scars glaring from her arms. She did not speak, not even when she heard Ji's heavy breathing just beside her.

"Ronovi?"

"Good," Ronovi finally managing, inhaling deeply. "Good. I'd have it no other way."

"The mission was a complete success, Consul," Surface General Sato Tarentae said, emerging from his place in the corner. "Yridian Surface Command reports that there was little to no resistance from the government. Yridia IV has been fully occupied, but scouting the wilderness for possible guerilla forces will be another story."

"Do whatever you can to stop any possible rebellion," the young Prince muttered, drumming her fingers against the transparasteel just inches from her face. "They will stop at nothing to remove the clan's presence from the planet. They want it no other way."

"You give the people a lot of credit," Ji remarked.

"If we needed to overthrow a two-timing interim governor in such an extreme way, then they deserve such credit," retorted Ronovi. "In the meantime, however, we have other things to do. I spoke to Stanson earlier today. He now has total control over Yridia IX, and we will be working with him more...intimately, so to speak. Other than that, there's a reconnaissance mission to attend to, Ji. As my second-in-command, I want you to oversee the assignment. You will be working directly with Fleet Admiral Doni Tzu Tarentae."

She said the name of her former master with a hint of pride, as well as a tinge of nostalgia. Sato and Ji exchanged glances before Ji spoke.

"And what exactly is the purpose of this recon?"

"Expansion," Ronovi put it bluntly. "With Yridia IV going through changes again, it will be difficult to start agricultural production from the bottom up. We'll need to find more fertile planets...outside the Yridia system."

"Outside the system?" Sato repeated. "Ronovi, the clan has never made a move to expand its dominion."

"Well, it's about time we got started," barked the Consul. "It's clear that we're just repeating our motives year after year. Another Yridian conflict. Another Yridian invasion. Another Yridian strike. It's time we moved away from simple inner strife and showed the rest of the bordering systems who's boss. Because I'm not going to stand by and follow the same annoying politics."

As she spoke, she never removed her eyes from the darkening view. The stars were beginning to grow like sparks in her line of vision. She heard Ji's raspy voice behind her and was pulled from another impending stupor, as if she were waking from an unpredictable dream.

"Orders are orders, Consul. Where do you want us to go?"

"The Gesaril system," Ronovi replied. "It's not far off. Take the strongest of the naval fleet with you. The planet Gesaril, from what I can tell, is a prison colony that refuses to die. We can make something from that."

"As for you?"

"I will be speaking with Sashar Arconae soon," muttered Ronovi. "There are finalizations to be made on the Treaty of Kessel. I want the Estle-Eden Axis to be fully ingrained in both clans' systems and politics. Like I said, it's about time we made a little progress."

Ji nodded curtly to all that her superior said. It all seemed rather rushed, but Ronovi had implied the possibility expansion in the major summit meeting a few days before. She had remembered how the more veteran leaders responded to the Consul's words, some looking on disapprovingly while others nodded in agreement. She knew that Quaestor Scion Altera of Kaerner was visibly looking forward to such an escapade; it'd give his house more opportunities to do their pirate bidding. On the other hand, Ji was not quite sure how some of the leaders of Reinthaler had taken it, but only time would tell how they'd speak of it later.

Ji and Sato left Ronovi alone in her office, and for a long time, she did not move. She didn't want to move. Tarentum was changing into something far more intimidating in the Minos Cluster. All the things it should have been doing, it was doing now. An iron fist was no good if it was beginning to rust, and Khyron would only want the most out of a unit that had been renowned for its hunger for power and control in the past.

It was only a matter of time, Ronovi imagined, before the Yridia system would be challenged once again for Tarentum's decisions. How deliciously, and obligatorily, typical.

***

Morrisey Kritt never quite figured out how he hadn't died of dehydration due to the sheer amount of nervous sweating that punctuated his life, but he thought that might have been a better way to go than explosive decompression.

Packed into a small crate barely large enough for him to keep his legs from being popped out of their sockets, Kritt was past the point where one might describe him as hysterical. Blubbering, tears and snot running down his face, the deposed governor was reduced to an animalistic terror-- the sort of mindset reserved for small rodents in the middle of being feasted upon.

After a public beating that ended with a broken cheekbone and some nasty lacerations, Kritt was shoved into a box and loaded onto a freighter. If anybody noticed a homing beacon slapped onto the side of the box, no one said anything. After the ship broke orbit, it powered its way perpendicular to Yridiae's ecliptic plane, positioning its airlock away from the system's planets. If sound waves traveled through space, the loyal Yridians would have listened for the satisfying thump of a small box being shot out into dead space, like a shirt being shot out of a pneumatic gun at sporting events. Having released their charge into the void, the freighter returned home, ready to celebrate with the other patriotic soliders. As far as they were concerned, the Yridian Kratocracy had washed its hands of yet another enemy.

Kritt's destiny, however, did not involve explosive decompression inside of a small cargo box. Nilani had other plans.

Though Kritt could hardly appreciate the maneuver, a Corellian Corvette exited hyperspace nearly on top of his tiny prison, immediately moving an open cargo hatch into place, as guided by the homing beacon, to catch him. The instant that the crate was inside of the hatch, the door closed. The Corvette turned around. Jumping back into hyperspace, the ship left no trace of their covert pick-up.

Helloooooo Tarentum. I actually have news in this report! I know, I'm as surprised as you!

We have some fictional projects in the works for you fine folks! And we need volunteers!

We need:

1) As my predecessor Raiju Kang, had suggested, Ronovi and I think that it's high time that we got our Clan storylines up on the wiki for Ease of Use. If we could get those up there, there'd be no more linking to the forum pages in an effort to direct people toward what happened in a particular run-on, and instead linking them to a clean, concise summary on its own wiki page. Any volunteers should feel free to email myself ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]) and our Glorious Consul Ronovi ([Log in to view e-mail addresses]).

2) Have you read our Clan's wiki pages? Like, actually read them? A lot of them sound like poorly-written epics, and not a small amount of them just need general cleaning up. That is why we need YOU to help! Anyone would like like to earn some shineys should feel free to email Ronovi and I at the aforementioned email addresses. Make sure you email us before you do any work, as we want to keep the integrity of our history in place with some proofreading of our own.

Alright, Ronovi has brought something to my attention that we feel we should talk about in a report. Namely, people aren't sure if a competition that they want to run should be Clan-based or DB-wide.

Now, I don't know if it's just me being old-fashioned here, but I was under the assumption that this was a common sense judgment call. Ronovi, however, insists that I am wrong and that it needs to be clarified.

Essentially, it comes down to the purpose of your competition. If your competition has to do with the fictional development of a Battle Team, House, or the Clan in general, then it should be restricted to members of said Battle Team, House, or the Clan in general. On the flip side, if your competition deals with a personal story that could be told by anyone, then it should be DB-wide, opening the doors to participation.

Take the Monthly Competitions that Voice Halcyon Taldyra runs. They are all stories that could be told from any point of view, as long as they retain the basic plot points he outlines.

In addition, gaming competitions should be DB-wide as well. Gaming hasn't been too active in the Club the past couple of years, so anything that can be done to help this (i.e. running a gaming comp DB-wide) would be very helpful.

Hope this has been as informative as it was meant to be everyone. Class dismissed.