Tarasp Castle, Kingdom of Switzerland, Earth. 2020 A.U.
Duke Luc Von Gutten was standing by the elevator of the tenth floor beneath the ground under Tarasp Castle, all the information he would require for the meeting was on his data pad. In all honesty the preparations, which had taken many months, were going well and they were almost ready to begin the “journey” which would take five long years. With a small chime the doors of the elevator opened and Christen Wölfli, King of Switzerland, stepped out. He spotted his chancellor the Duke and headed towards him, “report, please”.
“well Sire, the contestants will begin arriving within the next hour, with their contingents.” replied Luc, “everyone is here for the meeting and waiting in the conference room”.
“I assume everything is prepared, including the Crypt.” Stated Christen with a frown
“yes, Sire, everythi- “,
“that wasn’t a question rather a statement, we came to far, I want everything perfect.” Christen interrupted, softening his tone a little he kept on speaking, “Luc, I know we go way back, and we went to the Earth Nobles Academy together, however you must understand this is the responsibility of my house for generations and I will not have this round be fraught with corruption and foul rumors of a steal as the previous two.”
Luc looked at his friend and gave him a warm smile, yes, they did go way back, but a king is a king as they say. The responsibility fell only on Christens shoulders. Well at least they were strong shoulders suited for rulership. He sometimes wonders if maybe-, never mind don’t go down that road.
“well Sire, now that you mentioned perfect, we might want to hire a few more mercenary companies for security, Franz claims he has thing under control and he will be able to manage, however we might want to consider more security personnel for a myriad of reasons.” Luc said with a worried voice.
“No, we went through this before. Only internal security, I don’t want to take any chances.” Christen held his hand up to the duke signifying that this part of the conversation was over.
Luc followed his liege in silence down the long hallway deeper into the mountain, Tarasp castle was almost completely underground now. The mountain the castle stood was a labyrinth of rooms and halls, an underground bunker which was full of state-of-the-art technology and devices.
Luc and the king reached a big blast door, “please identify” asked a mechanical female voice. “Chirsten Wölfli” replying to the enquiry the king stated in a very clear voice, “Welcome your Majesty to the crypt” as the big door slide open.
The Chamber was shaped as a circle about two hundred meters in diameter, along the sides were ten tombs, which explained the name of the chamber as well. In the center of the chamber was a large ball of energy floating above an electronic platform, one of the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence known to man. This powerful AI was powered by a non-matter core deep within the mountain.
Looking at Luc the king gave a small smile, “are you ready? For two hundred years we had peace, I wonder will my legacy be one of peace and prosperity or war?”
Luc returned a sad smile to the king with that question, “Well, Sire, you have prepared extensively for seven years ever since the news was released, I am sure everything will go well. However, I cannot stop thinking about the security of the next few years, maybe we hire some outside companies for external security and use our men for internal security only. The Swiss Guard have an impeccable record, Sire.”
“I will consider it; I see it’s on your mind a lot. Anyway, we must get started”. Having said that the king walked to the center of the chamber with a purpose to his step. Luc felt bad for his Leige lord and his dear friend, it wasn’t easy this burden and he vowed in his mind to be there for his friend and king to the end.
The king reached a pedestal in front of the AI, “Gaia initiate startup sequence.” The king said into the air in front of him.
The energy started shimmering and slowly coalesced into the face of a women “startup initiated, initiation passcode required” the AI said in the queenly voice.
“Force is all conquering, but its victories are short lived”
“Passcode accepted, welcome your Majesty, startup initiated. Full system online in approximately eighty-two minutes.”
“Eexcellent Gaia, I want scenario seven, the participants will be joining shortly.” The King turned to Luc “Come Luc, I didn’t think I would be in this room during my lifetime, but we did what we were here to do. Gaia initiate complete lock down of the chamber after we leave the room. Also, I want you to download and update latest cyber protection.”
“Yes, your Majasty, download has already commenced.”
Luc followed the King outside the room, a red light was blinking above the blast doors as the slowly closed.
The king let out a slow breath, Luc suddenly realized that he was also holding his breath, he slowly let it out as well.
“Sire, we still have the council meeting in conference room” he stated to the king reminding him of the other council members who were waiting.
“Let’s go then”.
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***
The council meeting was entering the second hour of the meeting and tempers were flaring, patience wearing thin. The council was comprised of five members, Luc himself was the Chancellor, Franz Welter served ably as Marshal, Paul Rubinstein, a Jew, was the Steward, Fredo Kern was the spymaster, and rounding out the inner circle of the King was Nathan Von Ins who was the Court Chaplin.
These five men sat around the table in the conference room, Christen sat at his rightful place at the head of the table. They were far from the only people in the room, every council member brought with them an assistant, some two, one for recording the events of the room and another for the information that they would require for the meeting.
Luc mind wondered as Franz and Paul were arguing again about the costs of upgrading the security forces kit, Franz wanted every force member to have a brand-new kit, shiny and polished. There were also ceremonial armor and garb that need to be prepared, it wasn’t often that a kingdom had or got to host the most powerful families of the universe.
Luc sometimes wondered if there was a point to everything they were doing, even though the wars had stopped, everyone knows that there was insane loss of life in many worlds due to bad governance. Beside the fighting hasn’t really stopped it just went underground and was often more deadly in many instances, like the sudden collapse of-
“Luc, I need your help with this please. Franz, I have been trying to explain to you that with all the gala events we will have to host for the next five years, we are seriously low on funds. The men will have to make do with what they have.” Luc was jutted out of his musing; Paul was trying to explain again to Franz about finances. Franz was brilliant strategist and tactician, but his financial ability was almost nonexistent, soldiers had missions and operations budgets weren’t something they liked or thought about.
Franz was getting a little worked up, “you can explain it to me another ten times and I will still have my position. What do you think some of these people who will be in the castle will think if they see our men in ‘rags’? will they think we are strong and invincible or maybe we will have some border incursions in our colonies or attacks on our markets. We need a show of strength more than anything, we must be perceived as invincible.”
These last few words were said towards Christin, who had a thoughtful expression on his face. This whole affair was extremely prestigious and had incredible benefits to his family. There were dangers involved as well, many dangers in fact, that is what you get having the elite of mankind in your kingdom, still being regarded as an honest and diplomatic person had its own value. That is why he was in this predicament and sitting in this meeting which really needed to end before it completely dissolved into a waste of time.
“Luc, what about Keiser Wilhelm, would he give us a line of credit? I am loath to go to the La Roche again. They already own too much of our debt as it is.”
“Sire, I can definitely enquire, what terms can I offer him?” this question was as much to Paul as the king.
Christin turned to Paul “Well, what can we offer him?”
“Sire, if we follow my ten-year fiscal plan then I believe we can give him five-point-five percent return and make all the payments on time.”
“Very well, Paul. Here is what I want. Luc, you will be in touch through your channels and get us the line of credit we need, however we will not only get new kits for the men, I want an additional five thousand men hired, some to integrate into our own forces and some can be their own companies, which we will station outside the castle. Franz, I want all internal security regiments to be manned by men who you trust and whose loyalty in unquestioned. I also want you to put in an order for extra some battle mechs, I want a real show of force for the next five years. I want anyone who is thinking of foul play to think twice and trice before they try anything. Fred, I want you to use every backdoor informant you have, try and stop any plots before they begin. Also, I want our cyber department to upgrade our encryption to the highest level, if you need funds for that, Paul he has the authorization for that”, Paul incline his head in understanding. “Nathan, I want you to consult with Cardinal Leo about getting his holiness to bless the proceedings and all the comes with that. Also keep any door of communication open with your colleagues you can never know what information we will find. The same goes to you Luc, obviously.”
The council members were nodding their heads in agreement, Franz looked especially triumphant. Despite the Marshal’s smug look, the king was fortunate that indeed every member of his council was dedicated to the betterment of his kingdom.
The king stood up and with a big fake smile said, “well then, let’s go greet our guests”.
***
“Hello Lucius, my name is Doctor Helen Schnitzler, I am going to be in charge of getting you settled” the words came from a Germen looking women who had her hand out towards Lucius. She was attired in the usual doctor cloths, green shirt and pants.
Lucius took her hand “nice to meet you”. Lucius looked around the room, a capsule was situated in room with what looked like a lift or tube underneath the capsule, otherwise the room was empty, beside a little gurney which was right by the capsule.
“Doctor, the startup sequence has completed, please procced.” This was said by a mechanical voice that came through the speakers in the ceiling.
“Right, Gaia stop hassling me, I am getting started”. Dr. Helen responded a little bit irritated.
“your record states as follows; ‘highly skill but has scheduling problems’, therefore a reminder is in order”.
Lucius was amused by the AI, obviously that is what is was, with a few words she had the doctor all flustered and jumpy. Well at least that got his mind off things. For three months his life turned upside down, with one lottery he was cast into the highest echelons of society, people were truly waiting to speak to him. A lowly Engineer from a poor planet thrown to the wolves.
The doctor went to the gurney and started preparing a medical device that looked like a pistol. She turned to Lucius, “I have to tell you this, according to the Human Galactic Union law article one, section seven, I have to give you this injection which will cause you to forget your memory and your identity until you are awake again. You will have fifteen minutes until the serum will take effect which should give you enough time. Please enter the capsule and lay down”.
Lucius dropped his robe to the floor and walked up to the capsule. The capsule was the shape of a bed with a glass bottom, the bed itself looked to be made from some metallic alloy, probably titanium he thought abstractly. Lucius lay down, closed his eyes, and said a short prayer to which ever god was listening. He felt a sharp pain in his neck from the doctor’s administering the serum. The glass underneath the bed started closing on top of him, straps closed on his arms and legs to hold him in place. The glass closed with a hiss and the entire capsule started rotating into a standing position. The floor beneath the capsule opened, very slowly the capsule lowered into the floor. A bluish liquid start to fill up the capsule as Lucius eyes became too heavy for him. With a final thought of what he got into, his eyes closed, and everything went black.
***