41
It would take a month or so until the next twenty thousand approved immigrants would arrive at the station, and the hub’s population exponentially grew to around eighty thousand souls in under two months.
I couldn’t just enter San Francisco without President Howell’s permission now that I had to adhere to International Law, and talks of my joining the United Nations were gaining traction amongst the leaders, with President Zhao and Borodin leading the charge of my opposition. Oddly enough, Howell had been quiet for the past four weeks since my attempted assassination, sticking behind the media’s shroud to attack my character.
More bureaucratic bullshit that I had to deal with.
I didn’t care anymore if Howell would throw a fit like a toddler if I stepped foot on San Francisco with my legion, but even though I would love to kick his balls, I needed the other countries sympathetic to my cause on my side, which meant I had to pivot somewhere else.
I turned to the other quartz in the solar system; The Martian Quartz and the one hiding in the Asteroid Belt. Both regions were too vast, so I sent probes—the glowing spheres that attacked Earth weeks ago—to look for them. They hadn’t found the Martian quartz yet, but the spheres had a run-in on the belt yesterday.
“This is the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object on the belt,” I said during our daily briefings, clicking to the next slide. “Yesterday, one of our spheres detected a faint heat signature near the Ezinu Crater, a region about seven hundred feet deep and fourteen miles wide. We will cover a search area that is twice as large as that. We believe there is only one quartz ship on the dwarf planet, but I am planning an expedition to Ceres within three days to hunt down and destroy them. Combat is extremely likely in both space and on the ground. Any questions?”
The twenty-two people in the room were silent, mulling over the information I had just given them.
Amelia and Jason were used to the drill: letting me speak, air out the plans with Prime, and execute them without question. As for the others, Uncle Nathan, Ben, and the other soldiers were less confident in engaging in space combat when they only had less than two months of training in that environment, and they were worried about leaving their families behind on the station. My father was less enthused with me going out there again, including Meredith, who had just gotten comfortable as my Head Minister of Education since nine hundred children were on the station in need of a school. Jason’s mother, Gloria Navarro, spoke less about wars and combat tactics. Though she was initially afraid of space, she found her calling by using her expertise and degree in agricultural studies, growing grain, and building her hydroponics farm down at Levels 60 and 61, but as my Head Minister of Agriculture, she had to be present in these meetings.
Lastly, Gaius Hansen’s expression was unreadable. He had become the hub’s new Police Chief from his previous experience with the force before his early retirement (and before drowning himself under the bottle). Amelia didn’t want her father around (or working within the station), but I couldn’t ignore Gaius’s seventeen years of police experience. He commanded two hundred officers effectively for the past month.
There wasn’t a lot of crime going on around the station aside from domestic disturbances and drunken public conduct, but Gaius was serious with his job for once in his life. It struck me as odd when I realized he was afraid to fail. I couldn’t say the same for his two sons who came to the station. They hadn’t said a nice word to me every time I was at Amelia’s house for family dinner or bugged me for a job to keep them busy. I expected them to leach from their father and sister as usual.
Commander Ben Amendola raised his hand first. “It’s been a month, but what about San Francisco?” He asked. “I’ve been telling my men we will be hitting the front soon after the attempted assassination.”
“Until President Howell accepts my aid offer, we can’t do jack shit. Right now, stepping onto US soil is an act of war since we’ve picked up our immigrants in their backyard. We’d have Switzerland to thank for allowing us to gather our people in their borders instead.” And with Peru and New Zealand building an embassy in the station (following the Swiss), I established another meeting point for potential recruits.
“So, we’re going to Ceres, then?” Ochoa asked. “Because fuck me, that’s insane.” The other men grumbled in agreement.
“Humans have never gone that far physically,” Amelia said excitedly. “This is going to be a whole new frontier.”
“Tell me about it,” Jason said. “Imagine how freaked out people would be if they knew we’ve put humans on the ground millions of kilometers away from the planet! History is made right there. I mean, the Ministry of Media would love the attention.”
“We’ve broken lots of records already, Jason. Nothing’s new,” Lehane said.
“Incorrect, my friend. There’s always something new to break.”
“Let’s get back on track here. Are we prepared to go there now?” Ben asked again. “My men only have sixty days of training flying in space.”
“Those men have already seen combat through their military service. Some of them have almost a decade of experience. Maybe this mission will be good for them,” Uncle Nathan said.
“Yes, but we’re adding the fact that they’ll be wearing spacesuits.”
Uncle Nathan smiled. “Imperial-made and nanite-infused spacesuits, commander. Not the standard trash you’d find on Earth.”
Ben thinned his lips. “I still don’t think we’re ready.”
“Don’t worry, man. We’ll have three days to whip them into shape,” Ochoa said.
“You’ve all made some good points,” I said. “For weeks, you’ve trained both in space-to-space combat, ground combat in a vacuum, and on celestial objects like the moon. So far, everyone’s training has been progressing well, including our new recruits. This station is slowly becoming more and more productive and acquiring the necessary talent to realize our one goal: protecting Earth. That is what we are doing now by going to Ceres. We need to prove ourselves.”
“Prove ourselves? Haven’t we done enough of that?” Meredith said. “Look what we’ve accomplished so far just by being in Earth’s orbit.”
“We have proven ourselves in our economic might, yes. That we can be organized and not crumble under pressure. Most of them perceived us as formidable. Now, we use that perception in action. They haven’t seen the legion carry out a full campaign before unless it’s behind a combat sim.”
Tom perked up. “Ah, I get it now. Earth can no longer deny who we are if Legion Invictus wins on Ceres. They’ll have difficulty ignoring the elephant in the room when we waged war in space and dominated.”
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I nodded, silently thanking him for spelling out my thoughts. “Not only are we an economic juggernaut, but we can also defend and pack a punch. This way, they’ll see how our army performs and stacks up against theirs.”
“Well, I’m in for this Ceres campaign,” Amelia said. “The more quartz are in the solar system, the more dangerous they become. We still don’t know their true purpose here.”
“What if the other quartz attack the station?” My father asked, mildly concerned.
“I’m only taking a quarter of the fleet to Ceres. The rest will stay here and watch over the hub and San Francisco. If they do attack, well, Prime’s got all eight stations equipped with defensive weapons that could punch a hole through any ship. The force field won’t let them gain a foothold inside these walls with all three of their ships attacking.” They’d need an armada with hundreds of ships for that.
My father still looked unconvinced.
“Don’t worry, Dad. This is the safest place everyone can be,” I reassured him. “The young princes will be fine.”
The rest of the council meeting devolved into smoothing out the plan and any contingency that may arise in an emergency. I was nervous about anything going wrong since we would be millions of miles away from home.
If we fucked up, we’d be dead.
Along with the supplies I needed for the five-day round-trip journey, the council reported all the administrative stuff that a month ago would bore me to death but was a necessity as an emperor to hear. Construction on the new military base on the archipelago was well underway, all thanks to the deal I made with President Pablo Carrasco. Businesses in the civilian city currently being developed on Levels 20 and 21 had just opened up.
What’s more monumental was the establishment of the lunar colony, which just turned their lights on, and boasted around sixty-five families living there to tend to the farms Gloria planned and turning the lunar soil into something we could harness to grow plants. Jason basked in all the media attention for two weeks when the lunar colony debuted, much to some countries trying to throw sanctions at us that a settlement on the moon was illegal (not true).
Well, I did it first, I thought proudly. It’s not my fault they didn’t bother coming up here since 1972 and staking a flag and an outpost. Technically, no country owned the moon.
Until me, of course.
Segerstrom Station was becoming an actual self-sustaining city:
Amelia had plans for the first levels (Levels 1-16) to be exclusively for factories, nanite, and resource production.
Level 17 was the Imperial Palace.
Level 18 would become the official government sector (and the center of my empire), where most embassies were built. So far, only Switzerland, New Zealand, and Peru settled in. I’ve made a special housing compound for the foreigners in Level 21 to live in (for which their respective countries paid me to keep running). I still get a kick from watching them act like tourists, gaping at the megastructures and all the new tech around Segerstrom Station.
Level 19 and 20 was our main military base, housing all troops across the Imperial Defense Force and Imperial Marines division. Only the Imperial Navy had a base on Level 0, where the primary shipyards were.
Everything from Level 21 to 59 was for civilian habitation. Level 60 to 100 was Gloria’s domain to build her farms and hydroponics to support the entire station’s population by the year’s end. Levels 101-121 would be more planned factories I hadn’t built yet, but Prime insisted no one should go down anywhere beyond Level 123 except for the forerunner.
Prime housed his central core there, his brain and beating heart combined, a yarn of wires and cables feeding the life support system of all eight stations, the drive engines that maintained the hub in the constant orbit and could push this colossal station through the stars. I’ve only gone down there once, but it wasn’t meant for an organic to navigate. Prime was kind enough to warn me that he’ll kill anyone who would find themselves near it. Prime rarely made any threats unprovoked, and he was serious.
I’ve banned anyone from going near the area, even my ministers, and any trespassers would enjoy a cozy time in jail for a year. Instead, I built a small military base as a buffer on Level 122 to police the area. There are eighty thousand people on this station. I am not privy to all of their curiosities and intentions.
Once I finished reviewing my agenda for today, I dismissed the council and headed for the command center, trailed by the others. Guards bowed their heads as I passed the hallway, wearing the signature uniform that made them famous (and also mocked) online; a dark gray slim-fitted and nanite-infused dress jacket, black gloves, black beret, black utility belt, dark gray fitted trousers, ankle-high black boots, and a maroon red half-cape. Sheathed on their belt was the modified short sword, stun baton, nano-armor box, a med kit, a pistol on the other side, and a collapsable magnetic rifle slung on their shoulders, hidden underneath the cape. These soldiers wore tactical contact lenses that would enable them to assess any threats fed by Prime’s extensive tracking and stress-assessment behavioral study.
Jason created a royal handbook, which taught all the royal etiquette to the public and the military through the ministry, implementing several ideas from Sir Emile Dumont. I’m still getting used to having more people around the command center. Now, it was filled with my support staff sitting at their desks, running around with their never-ending errands, and their eyes constantly glued to a screen. The Herald, a boy no older than nineteen, announced my presence on deck with a booming voice, and a hush waved through the room; they stood up in attention and bowed.
“At ease,” I said, and they returned to what they were doing.
I walked over to the hologram platform, now a separate room from the rest of the hall, away from prying eyes. I looked over the station’s diagnostics and checked up on my fleet flying around the hub. Only Prime One, Tom, and my father remained; the others left for their offices.
“Can I talk to you, son?” My father asked. “Privately.”
Tom raised his eyebrow and bowed his head. “Your grace,” he said before walking out of the room.
Once Tom had left, my father chuckled. “These men take their job too seriously.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I like being called your grace. And Tom has always been the by-the-book type of guy.”
My father sighed. “I don’t feel good about you going out there. You’re the emperor now. You should send someone else to do it. Send my brother. You made Nathan an admiral, and he’s quite good at his job.”
“I want to be the one doing it, Dad. I don’t want to be someone sitting on a throne or stuck in a bunker while others get hurt or die because of my orders.”
“But if you die, all these things you’ve built will be gone along with you.”
“I get your concerns. I really do. But if I am going to be an effective leader, I need my men to see me with them, crawling on the trenches and whatever hell-hole they’ll find themselves in,” I said. “And…I also wanted to fight the quartz. This is my war. I need to see it through.”
“I can’t change your mind about this? Who’s going to run the station while you’re gone? Prime?”
I smiled. “I was thinking it should be you, Dad.”
“Me?”
“Why not? You’re my father, and I trust your judgment. Plus, I made you a prince.”
“Yes, Meredith and I are still getting used to our new titles. So do the boys.”
“I am going to create a Ministry of State Affairs. I want you to be the one heading it.”
My father looked shocked. “I have no experience with foreign policy, son. Why don’t you give it to someone who knows their stuff? Why don’t you promote Sarah Sherwood? She’s more than capable. I bet she’ll be happy to do it.”
“Neither do I, but here we are now dealing with the cards we’re dealt with. This new ministry will make you my right-hand man. Since I’ve established our nation as a monarchy, the public will believe that you, Uncle Nathan, and the boys are my heirs. The press has already treated them as such.”
“But Prime’s the kingmaker here.” My father pointed to Prime One, silently listening from the side.
“The public doesn’t have to know that,” I said. “And besides, Sarah Sherwood has already been dubbed a kingmaker before when she got President Howell into the Oval Office. That woman can be scary when behind a desk and a can of red bull. She will help you run the fort while I’m away.”
“Does she know about this?”
I smiled. “Who do you think I got the idea from?”
My father went quiet.
“So, do you accept?”
My father placed his hands on his hips and bit his lip. He wanted to say no so badly. I could tell. “I’ll share your responsibility, Tony, so this doesn’t burden you so much. I am still your father and have the right to be concerned about my son’s safety.”
I stepped toward him, placed my hand on his shoulder, and smiled. “I know, Dad. I promise you I’ll give them hell.”
My father laughed. “You’re a Segerstrom. I don’t doubt it one bit.”