It had begun to storm within the capital of the Heraklinos Empire. Heavy rain battered the large windows, and lightning streaked across the suddenly dark sky.
Within the conference room of the Heraklinos Palace, politicians and leaders from around the world had gathered following the wedding. Most were afraid to leave the safety of Heraklinos grounds while others looked to iron out a plan after being completely surprised by the appearance of Xenia.
President Hammond wasn’t one here by way of cowardice, and he beat the drum of sound reasoning, “Xenia is back, everyone. It doesn’t matter how. What matters is she is back. We need to calm our nerves, and we need to discuss our next moves.”
The room looked to him, but a voice stole the attention from a dark corner where Karasu sharply said, “We have two options.”
A loud thunder caused the lights to flicker, and the occupants of the room intently gazed towards Karasu’s dark corner, “Option one. We fight. Option two. We submit.”
The room went into a flurry of discussion regarding the merits of both options; however, Karasu stole the attention once more, “Submission is a fool’s option. I have been subject to her captivity, and it is a painful one. I believe others in this room have to.” Karasu shot a glance at Arthur Davis.
Davis cleared his throat, “Umm yes. I have experienced both pleasure and pain under Xenia’s rule. As you all know by now, I defected because, ultimately, she has no morals.” He paused and then corrected himself, “Well, she has morals, but they do not align with our morals. Human life is expendable to her. The culture she values is a savage one. Under her rule, you will find that we may lose our humanity.”
A politician from the Sage Empire let out a fiery opinion, “We may lose our humanity, Mr. Davis. But we will keep our lives. That may very well give us the time we need to formulate a true plan. The only path to victory may indeed be via rebellion from underneath the ruling boot of the BloodStar Empire.”
Hammond chimed in once more, “We are all speaking as if her victory is a foregone conclusion when it is not.” He stood and began to pace, “We have Karasu. We have most of his seats training underneath him. We have Jacek Heraklinos. We have Jarek Heraklinos. We have Master Chief Washington. We have Lady Starfallen. We have militaries, powerful ones. We have the entire world to throw against her.”
He looked out the window at the storm before turning back around, “We have done it once before. Surely, we can do it again.”
The Sage Empire politician once again fired back, “Did we do it once before? We thought we did it once before. Furthermore, we were all there today. Xenia flicked Jarek across the venue as if he were nothing. Jarek! The strongest man in the world was just thrown with relative ease!” A sense of panic entered the man’s voice as he continued, “She is more powerful with her bloodline powers! If Jarek can’t…”
Suddenly, the double doors to the conference flung open with a bang as Jarek stomped into the room. He drudged across the room with streaks of lightning seen outside the window followed by a loud, echoing thunder.
He then allowed himself to fall into his chair at the head of the table where he slouched with poor posture. He looked up with a serious gaze at the politician questioning his strength, “I’ll tell you how we defeat a BloodStar with bloodline powers.”
The entire room went deathly silent. The only sound was that of several people gulping their own saliva as they all waited for Jarek to continue.
Jarek’s clothes were soaking wet from being outside, and he leaned forward putting his drenched sleeves on the table, “I’ve defeated a BloodStar before in all out war. Victoria BloodStar.” He grit his teeth and lashed out with anger, “And don’t tell me I didn’t defeat Victoria! The reason she lived on was because of the Sage Empire mercy. A mercy I respected!”
He pounded the table with both fists sending a fissure down the entire length of the table, “No mercy! Not this time! We have all paid dearly for our mercy. Even those of you who weren’t alive to witness it, you still pay today with the existence of Xenia BloodStar.”
He slouched back into his chair and with a quieter, calmer voice said, “This time. We do it my way. A shrewd way. But a sure way.” He looked around the room making eye-contact with everyone as he scanned, “If you have an idea, share it. But there will be no consolations. I will not be yielding to lesser minds to spare your feelings. This. Is war. To win, I will lead the charge my way.”
He sighed a deep breath, “Does anyone have a problem with that?”
The room collectively shook their heads ‘No’, and Jarek nodded his head in response before saying, “There will be sacrifices we don’t want to make. Hell, my son, Jacek is already leading a small excursion as we speak. He may die. He may not. But everyone in this room needs to become very comfortable with the idea of loss. With the idea of sacrifice. Because that is what it will take.”
He leaned forward on the now fissured table again, “Xenia won’t be attacking tonight or in the next few days. She has a wedding tomorrow. So, with our spare time, you are all dismissed to process the events of today. We will reconvene tomorrow morning.”
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Everyone began to filter out one by one until Jarek said, “Everyone but you… Lady Starfallen.”
Starfallen turned towards Jarek brushing her platinum blonde hair out of her face smiling at him. She silently reversed course and took a seat near Jarek, “I thought we might be having this conversation. So I’ve come prepared. Where would you like to begin?”
“From the start.”
____________________________________________
A tandem-rotor Chinook helicopter roared through the air whirring at full speed eastbound towards the Saber Fortress.
On approach, the pilot radioed the fortress, “Saber, come in Saber. This is Mighty-One on approach with Eagle-2 in the nest. I repeat Eagle-2 is in the nest.”
Within the fortress base, a cadet called over his superior, “Uhh sir.”
The superior officer approached slowly walking casually with his hands behind his back, “What is it cadet?”
The wide-eyed cadet nervously said, “I think Lord Heraklinos is on approach.”
The officer frantically reached for the radio, “Please state again, over.”
A crystal-clear response came through once again, “Uhh Saber. I repeat, this is Mighty-One on approach with Eagle-2 in the nest. I repeat Eagle-2 is in the nest. We are landing in the courtyard. Please make the appropriate arrangements.”
The officer’s stress levels skyrocketed but he responded clearly and calmly, “Affirmative Mighty-One. You are clear to land. We will prepare the welcoming.”
The officer then rushed to radio the General who had assumed command of the fortress after Vega had departed many months ago, “General. Sir.”
The general responded on the radio, “I told you not to contact me under any circumstances. Any circumstances. We are moving out soon, and I demand radio silence.”
The officer shakily said, “Eagle-2 is on approach. Landing imminently.”
The officer’s words were met with a long period of silence. However, the general eventually responded, “Thank you. I will head to the courtyard.”
The general sighed from his seated position within his private quarters, and he looked over to a video monitor. The gentleman on the monitor was Admiral Hudson, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet.
“What is it general? This operation cannot be stopped. But I don’t like that look.”
The general looked to the video monitor, “There may be a complication.”
“Well?” The admiral said impatiently.
“Lord Heraklinos is landing imminently.” The general grimaced.
“A complication? This isn’t a complication. This is fantastic news. Surely he has come with a like mind.” The admiral smiled to himself, “Inform him of our plan. Ask him to lead it, in fact. This is his empire after all.”
The general nodded and disconnected the video call. He straightened his uniform and marched out to the courtyard… alone.
The large helicopter was only just beginning to land as the general walked out, and he kept his distance as the dual rotor blades wound down.
After a moment, Jacek stepped off the helicopter and looked around noting the absence of soldiers present to greet him. He instead saw one general walking with a brisk pace towards him.
He frowned with confusion and greeted the general, “General Sajid. Where are the men? I need them urgently.”
Sajid bowed his head, “My lord. The men are mobilizing as we speak. Almost ready.”
Jacek nodded slowly, “Mobilizing for what?”
“Forgive us, my lord. We mean to launch an unsanctioned attack on the BloodStar Empire. We accept any punishment you may deem appropriate; however, we refuse to allow recent offenses to go with no response. As I say, you may punish us should we live.”
Jacek stared the general down with a look of respect which instilled fear in the general. Jacek then smirked, “No need to tremble General Sajid. I am hear on the same mission. Consider this assault officially sanctioned.”
Before Sajid could respond, Jacek began to walk off with the general trailing him, “Now tell me. What forces do we have? We need the Pacific fleet, and we need the Saber Airborne division.”
Sajid gladly informed him, “Admiral Hudson has already mobilized, sir. The airborne division is already loaded onto the carrier. The assault teams are readying their equipment as we speak.”
Jacek nodded quite pleased, “General Sajid, while I don’t typically reward rogue officers, I do think a promotion is in order after this attack. Your mobilization has saved us much precious time. We now even have spare time to better plan our counterattack.”
The general smiled, “Quite agreed, sir. Let’s ruin a wedding.”
_________________________________________
Constance stood in her room within the BloodStar Castle readying for the pre-wedding party hosted by none other than herself. She began to fasten her earrings when a video call came through on her phone.
Seeing that it was Admiral Hudson, she began to simmer, and she answered the call with anger, “I told you Admiral… I made myself very clear. No mistakes! If you are calling to inform me of a mistake then I feel very very sorry for your family. Do you want to see them tortured? How about future generations? I’ll allow your family tree to procreate, so I can spawn an entire lineage that only knows torture from birth to death.”
Constance had previously afflicted the admiral with Shadow Slave during her time as a legitimate official under Ramses and Zara. She knew her technique to be flawless; nonetheless, she was taking no chances.
The admiral had a smug smirk on his face as she spoke, triggering her further, “That smug look had better mean good news, Admiral. Otherwise, your family is going to have a very lively evening.”
The admiral responded, “All good news, Mistress Khan. I assure you.”
“Good news? I like good news. I can be as rewarding as I can be cruel. Tell me the good news, and maybe your family tree can live on with infinite prosperity.”
“The fleet is prepared as you commanded.”
“Good. This has to be perfect! No mistakes! Any mistake will leave me humiliated in front of my Empress.”
The admiral’s smug smirk turned to a full smile, “I hope you are ready to hand over the promised riches because I have a cherry on top for you.”
Constance’s interest was piqued, “Tell me, then. Give me the cherry on top.”
“Jacek Heraklinos will be leading the fleet personally.”
Constance lead out a gasp of air and fell back into her chair with a shocked face, “Oh my. Oh my. That is quite the cherry on top. You are sure?”
The admiral nodded with his ever-bigger grin.
“Oh fuck. Yes. Yes!” Constance reached down between her legs with her hand and let out a loud moan of pleasure, “Admiral!”
She gave him a look of desire and held eye contact, “Be sure to get lots and lots of rest tonight. I think I’d like to visit your dreams tonight. You’ve earned it.”
The admiral reveled in his success as he nodded. Constance ended the call and stood. She leaned against her dresser in front of the mirror and began to breathe rapidly with a rush of pleasure and excitement.
She then softly said to herself, “Empress Xenia’s wedding will be remembered for all of history. And with it, my perfect gift.”