Chapter 2

No one knew his face, that was a good thing. The longer he could avoid introducing himself the longer he could feel things out. He reminded himself he only had a little under two hours before his cover was exposed. He walked under the grate marble arch, his shoes clicking on the red marble. Scarlet banners hung from the ceiling, each embroidered with the symbol of a noble house. There were twenty-four in all, the last back four, however; the last four banners were hung upside down in disrespect. The four Zantharians. He walked under them, his hateful glare stirring up at the banner.

They were the reason he was exiled. His gaze was a cool hatred as he glanced at the first three, but with the sight of the fourth, his gaze caught on fire. Malius. Three swords making a triangle with its point down. If he had a lighter he would burn the banner, whose tasselled ends hung not a meter from his head.

He continued walking, cooling his anger. He reached the end of the arch and entered a domed room. A few people were talking in corners, most wore suits, some dress blues like him. Light soft music played from a group in the centre, just loud enough that a whispering voice would not be overheard. He approached a group of four officers. They saw him coming and opened a small gap for him. “Good afternoon admirals” nodding his head to the three on his left, then turning to his right he smiled and said “Good afternoon captain”.

The captain smiled back, “likewise, captain?”

“Ramius”

The three admiral nodded kindly. The navy had an 'us against them' mentality when it came to politics. They would not be suspicious of another captain. “I am Captain Satus, this is Rear Admiral Kuchsove, Vice Admiral Terrus, and Vice Admiral, Vice Admiral Ynaran”

One of the admirals squinted, “How fortuitous that you would have the same name as the Prince”

“Yes, well, one might imagine that hardship of bearing such a name. Especially with him having... such an unorthodox reputation.”

All four officers nodded. “I don't envy you” the Captain commented.

“On the other hand,” Kuchsove said, “you could use that to your advantage.”

“How so?”

“Well given that the prince’s reputation is unknown, practically unheard of, you could make it up. Gather information about him and publicise it”

“What about the negative connotations. I admit I haven't paid close attention to proper society but last I checked he was found ‘consorting with the enemy’”.

“Eye,” the rear admiral said, “but who can blame a ten-year-old boy for wanting to see his childhood friend. Politics don't reach the mind of those that young.” the surrounding officers noded

“Then sentiments have really changed since last I was here.”

“How long was your stint?” the captain asked

“Eight years, most of it in the Forge system”

The captain let out an admiring whistle, “ you're what, mid-twenties, must have joined around fifteen or sixteen?”

“Around that, family tradition you know.” then in the impression of an old man, “join young and you’ll make it to the admiralty by the time you're in your late twenties”

The captain looked back at the three admirals, “If you’ll excuse me, Admirals, I would like to ketchup our new friend before the sharks get to him.” They excused him and they both saluted before they left.

“You want to get some lunch, I haven't eaten yet.” the prince asked

“Sure, Cascade is right around the corner”

Only after they were both served and were halfway done with their salads did they speak.

“Eight years” the Satus shook his head, “in the barren system of Forge no less”

“Yep, surrounded by those scientists sort. Space knows why they make them officers.”

The captain nodded in sympathy. “I here the Prince is around there”

Ramius nodded, “I know he was in Jarith, Forge a couple months ago. He moves around a lot. Speaking of him; why has the hostility diminished. Don’t misunderstand me, I'm happy about it, with my name being what it is and all but contrasts what I expected.”

“The princess” Status said, “she’s been saying that she put him up to it. How she couldn't believe that Lord Malius had turned traitor and that she sent young Ramius to go talk to the Lord's son. She’s even be trying to gain support to bring him home with the conditions unfulfilled but very few are willing to put there neck out there. I personally think the king is encouraging it because she's finally gain an interest in politics. While she might not yet have political support she does have the hearts of the public. You talk to the average man and he practically thinks the King framed Ramius.”

“What about the queen consort, how does she fair.”

“Not bad, she seems detached and uninterested in Princess Aria. She’s more concerned about her newborn. After the death of the king's late consort Ariana-... What? You’ve gone as pale as a sheet.”

“Ariana is dead?” Ramius said in a hollow tone, “The queen consort is dead”.

The captain looked at him and with a sombre voice said “eye, about four years ago. The king took a new consort a year ago, consort Tella. She gave birth to the second princess not long ago”

Ramius posture slipped as he fell into a slump. And placed his head in his hands. His mother… dead? A baby step sister?

Seeing the younger man's reaction the captain softened his voice, “You really didn't get much information at Forge, did you?”

“I was so busy, I didn't even look. How could I have been so busy as to miss the death of-” he let out a long sigh. In a sullen but determined voice, he said, “we must continue because even if we want to stop, time does not. I fear I cannot grieve properly at this moment.”

The captain nodded in sympathy, “She was much loved by her people and even by the nobles. A hard feat that. One her daughter is near completing though, give it another five years and she will be the image of her mother.”

They talked for another hour, discussing political factions, current motives and moves. During this time Ramius learned that the two primary political parties of Bladen have polarized. The Union and the Separatists.

The Union, believing is centralised policy. This philosophy often leads to a hardline of law that was either too lenient or harsh. You couldn't have a universal law governing different cultures.

Then there was the Separatists, believing in decentralized planetary policy. They believed that every planet should act closer to an independent state then part of the Kingdome. This inevitably leads to extremist planets, flaunting amoral laws and cultures.

It was fortunate that both parties supported the war and a centralized military. Even the Separatists, who were known for there military tradition, acknowledged that centralized military leadership was mandatory.

“At the moment the military is looking at resource acquisition and construction. We need more shipyards and as the resources closest are depleted first transportation of resources from far out systems have become unrealistic. Since it would be easier to simply build a new shipyard then transport an existing one were looking at exploring dead colonies for resource and human capital.” the captain sounded disturbed at the prospect, and rightly so.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Dead colonies… early in the human expansion, when men first started to colonize the sky, the ships they sent out were packed with supplies to act as a seed. With luck and perseverance, the colonies would use their technology base to grow and produce basic production facilities; but disaster befalls the best of us. Whether it was unfavourable climate or a mutinous crew, it was inevitable that not all of the colonies got a production base set up. As survival took president over education the culture would become barbarous. These colonies lost to civilisation, are dead colonies. Worlds infested with men who were little better than animals. Despite there primitive state they were dangerous and were known to keep little regard for human life. Some even totted some few relicks from there original landings, weapons in disrepair mostly. They were a taboo subject among any modern civilisation.

“Will it work?” Ramius sounded dubious

“Who knows, the admiralty seems to think so. There a lot of contention surrounding it but if it works we can drastically increase production. Ships of the line are disappearing too fast. That not to say that there not taking a licking but in recent years the attack capabilities of ships have far surpassed defensive technology. It's no longer about tactics, it's about who has the bigger hammer and who swings first.” the Satus looked up from his empty plate “what's with the face?”

“I was just thinking I might have had a hand in that, Forge system development and all”

The captain shook his head, “We're grateful. If the ships of the line where working with the same tech they had a half year ago they would be squashed.”

“Yes well...” Ramius leaned in conspiratorially, “New is the Prince has completed the conditions. And you didn't hear this from me, but he has claimed to have built a weapon capable of completing the conditions set before him.”

Satus’s eyes widened, “That wouldn't happen to be the weapons he’s been housing funding for?”

“The exact one. He claims to have done it. I wonder what the political ramification would be. I suggest the military prepare.”

“The political ramifications… well if the prince was allowed to stay planetside it would shift power. The king has been rather elusive of late. He would instantly turn into the representative of the royal family. Military wise... well he would become a symbol. Hopefully, he would champion us politically.” then an inquisitive look came over the captain's face, “does anyone have a timetable on when he's supposed to land planetside”

“He landed noon”

“But I haven't heard anyth-” the captain's voice trailed off as he looked at Ramius then promptly stood and saluted. “Sir I-”

“It's ok Captain, if I wanted to be known sooner I would have told you earlier. I am only telling you now because the Navy needs to prepare. At this time only you and a few others know I'm planetside. My father and the court are in the dark. The geocentric station officers are aware but are keeping it out of radio traffic per my request. They are already prepared for the shift in power. I need you to run to those Admirals you were talking to and tell them what I have just told you. I do not want the military to suffer from this change. I want them to take advantage of it.”

“Yes Sir” the captain saluted again then ran off.

The social delicacies of command were fascinating to him. Technically he and the captain where equals militarily but the military owed their allegiance to the reigning monarch and Ramius was his heir. That put him in a position of power. In the chain of command he was just a captain, but in the social-military structure, he was more than that.

He unfocused his eyes to look at his implant. Half past two. In an hour the first court will start to fill up. Daily announcements, proclamations, and partitions were announced almost every day at three o'clock. Very few came on a regular basis but there would be an audience, just what he needed. He walked towards the centre of the atrium white-suited servants placed portable chairs in a half crescent. He needed a venue to announce his presence planetside publicly. So far he had such past the public but he needed to be the one to announce it before the initiative was taken out of his hand. He unfocused his eyes and searched through the public directory. To the layman, it would appear he was talking to the air but the close observer could see the flickers of light in his eyes. “Yes. Today. Announcement. I know it's late notice but fit me in. At the beginning.” then in an annoyed voice, “I am authorised and have express permission from a member of the royal family. You will fit me in. Bye”. He then placed another call, “Palace Security? Authorisation codes are being sent now… There will be a man addressing the first court today. He will be the first one to make an announcement. He is not on the itinerary. He will be saying some… inflammatory remarks. I am told to tell you to set up general security and provide an exit route to the palace. Yes, he’s been invited by a member of the family. I’m sending my second set of codes now. I know their old code but they're still valid. I know it's late notice. Understood. Fifteen minutes. He will meet the captain you send before he gives his announcement. He will show the captain the following authorisation codes. He is a naval captain and will be wearing dress blues. Thank you.”

Ramius smiled. That had gone a lot smoother than he thought. Not only where all of his old authorisation codes still valid but he had not trigger any alarms. His grin grew as he thought of the shock the court was about to receive. He sat down to white in one of the white chairs. Not five minutes later lightly armoured guards came into the room and after consulting there capting started to take up positions. They stood at a loose attention. There helmet cheek and nose guards both symbolic and practical. They mimicked the oldest known warrior society known to man, Spartans. Their rifles were unique to the guard and looked more like a long polearm than an actual rifle. It was held in a reverse grip behind their backs the but sitting solidly against the ground.

The servants looked on is worry and confusion. It was rare that the palace guard left the palace and it was almost never heard of for it to come to the first court. Ramius approached the captain. “Captain?”

“Luther, and you sir?”

Ramius just smiled, “Forgive me for not introducing myself but you will find out soon enough. Here are my codes.”

The captain crooked an eyebrow, “My understanding is you plan on saying something… as my orders have it, ‘inflammatory’. Not planning on starting a riot I hope”

Ramius wave his hand in the air dismissing the possibility, “Nothing like that. I’m about to publicly release information. I will ask that our exit be hasty. There might very well be a surge towards me to learn more information.”

The captain's crooked eyebrow rose. First court nobles were notoriously self-controlled, the through of any of them turning into a common crowd was both amusing and worrisome. ‘Either this man did not know the high court, or his information was very, very, serious.

The first suited man to enter froze as he saw the guards, glanced at them, noticed they weren't for him, then continued slowly into the room. Ramius sat and outside column in the first row. A few more suited men trickled in. They showed a wide arrays or reactions but eventually settled on unease. The trickle of people soon turned into a river and the guard's presence were on the lips of every man. “What are they doing here?”, “Is a royal going to address us?”, “No, it's not a Royal otherwise it would be the royal guard”

The last comment stung Ramius, he could not call a contingent of the royal guard without alerting his family to his presence. He wanted his father as politically unprepared as everyone else.

The atrium/makeshift amphitheatre was not the official gather place for the first court but one that simply appeared. There was a formal atrium but it was only used during important votes and state addresses. The seats filled up and soon the servants were scurrying to place more seats down. ‘More than the usual amount’ the prince mused, all the better. The mutters picked up as speculation increased. At its crescendo, an old spindly looking man, ‘probably the speaker’, stepped out and took the ‘stage’, a marble step. The audience trailed off as he spoke. The room amplified his words, “We have an unusual session today and a break from our usual itinerary.” Another round of soft muttering travelled through the room, it was cut short as the speaker continued. “We have an announcer who has been endorsed by a member of the royal family.” the speaker glanced out over the crowded, looking for the impromptu announcer. Ramius stood up and walked to the plinth, nodding to the speaker as he stepped aside. He looked out at the crowd of assembled noble, officers, and knights. They all looked at him knowing he was the reason for the irregularities. The glanced over at the captain of the guard and nodded, the captain nodded back. He needed a secure escape. His back was straight and his chin high. In a clear, strong voice he said “I am Prince Ramius. I have come back having completed my father's terms.”

The room fell silent. Everyone stared at him blankly as he slowly, calmly walked off the plinth to the guard captain. Then pandemonium. There was shouting, accusations, one man even through a punch. The smarter of them continued to sit with their eyes unfocused, transmitting messages through there implants. The captain yelled an order and the guards fell in. ‘He was sharp. He didn't even hesitate’, Ramius noted. The small contingent formed up around their Captain and Ramius. They were nervous. If any of them come close to striking any of the men in this room he or she would make a very powerful enemy. They had a job to protect their charge, but actually doing so would mean losing their post. While most calmed and brought themselves under control there were a few that tried to rush the guard trying to get to Ramius. He made sure to remember the faces of those who didn't react and instead started communicating with there implants. Whether they were trying to strangle him or congratulate him he would never know. The guards held the unruly nobles back. Non would ever live this unforgivable display of temper down. The guard, captain, and Ramius funnelled towards the shuttle platforms and in an organised retreat that would make special forces proud. They filed into the golden transport. At this point, there was little pursuit and the last man was able to enter the transport unmolested. The large transport was already in the air before the door shut.