[Thursday, September 30]
Today, as you know, is a Commonwealth holiday. Congress made it one after I ascended to my throne. You probably remember that it’s because it’s my birthday. Personally, I think it’s a bit much, but who am I to gainsay Congress in something as simple as this? Fortunately, I don’t have to give speeches or anything like that, but my party, which I believe I’m too old for, is attended by hundreds of people and broadcast live on several channels. See what I mean when I say it’s a bit much?
Regardless, it’s a gala event, and therefore, one that Chinatsu, Ryu, and I have to attend. It’s also formal, so it’s an evening gown for Chinatsu and me along with a tuxedo for Ryu. The tailors and stylists took up most of Chinatsu’s and my day a week ago, with breaks to feed Minori and Ai, of course. Ai is far more important than the fit and style of my gown for my birthday.
You’d think that Chinatsu and I would have a lot of gowns, but we don’t. Any gowns we wear are auctioned off, and the proceeds are donated to charity. Although, there have been a few times when a girl wrote to me and asked for my help in getting a dress for prom or the like. Instances like that don’t happen often, but when they do, I always give them one and send a tailor to her to alter it to fit properly. I always get pictures of them smiling in the dress, and I enjoy them immensely. Though girls’ clothing is expensive, and gowns are far more so, it isn’t as if I can’t afford to help a girl look good here and there.
Actually, that’s what Chinatsu does. She started a Commonwealth-wide charity to collect and donate dresses and gowns to girls who can’t afford them. One that I donate a few million dollars a year to. Anonymously, of course, although I think she knows.
Back to our gowns. For events like this, Chinatsu and I always have the same style of gowns, although in different colors. Ryu still loves it when we dress alike, so we do it for him, and anyway, you already know there’s very little we wouldn’t do to make our husband happy.
The stylists finally agreed on an ankle-length, backless, deep v-neck, halter gown with a slit up the side of the skirt that reaches mid-thigh. It’s silk with a white lace overlay. Deep emerald green for me, and royal blue for Chinatsu. They pair mine with shimmery nude stockings, and gold, strappy, 7.5-centimeter stiletto-heeled sandals. Chinatsu will be wearing the same stockings and sandals, only in silver. We’ll look rather chic and somewhat sexy, in my opinion.
Forward to today. We eat a light dinner and then are taken upstairs so that they can begin our primping for the party. Shower, bathe, hair, and makeup literally take hours because, well, it just wouldn’t do for the Queen and her consorts to not look perfect, now would it?
Once they have us ready, we head downstairs and meet up with everyone, then Jason herds us into the SUVs for the short trip to the Crown Ballroom. We pull up to innumerable camera flashes and so many news cameras that I couldn’t begin to count them all. I’m quite sure there are many video bloggers among them too.
Jason opens the door, Ryu climbs out, then helps Chinatsu and me out. We each take an arm of Ryu’s and slowly make our way in smiling, nodding, and waving as we do. Inside, Ryu walks us up to the main table and seats us, then himself.
Mama stands up, makes her way to the microphone and taps on it. Once they settle down, she begins, “Welcome, everyone, to our daughter, Sora’s, 33rd birthday. It is a privilege for a mother to be able to propose a toast to her daughter at any time, but particularly so on such special days.
“In this case, we’ve seen her grow into the roles of Queen, mother, wife, and a wonderful big sister. It’s rather like planting the seeds for a gorgeous flower garden and watching it bloom.
“As you know, today comes with the backdrop of the tragic events of the HMS Odyssey and the subsequent war, which I know has shocked, shaken, and saddened all of the citizens of the Sol system.
“Events such as this remind us of the importance of strong, resilient, and united communities. Most of you saw the resolute face of Sora when she announced the attack on the Odyssey and the Declaration of War. You didn’t see the sadness that having to do so brought on. Even so, Sora has stood firm in her commitment to protecting her people.
“I extend our warmest and most respectful best wishes to her on her 33rd birthday. On behalf of the Commonwealth, I also express our immense gratitude for the impeccable, gracious and dignified service she has given during her years as our Head of State.
“In recognition of the immense contribution she has made to our worlds, I ask you to join me now in a toast: to Queen Sora, by the Grace of God, Queen of the Sol system.”
Everyone has just raised their glasses to take a sip when Jason suddenly bolts to our table, grabs me, and throws me over his shoulder.
“Jason! What’s going on?!” I demand as he runs through the door. Glancing up, I see Igor carrying Chinatsu with Ryu following and my parents and sisters behind him being led by Noa to another SUV.
“Not now, Sora,” he states firmly.
“But,” I begin to say before he cuts me off again. “Sora, I love you, but just shut the hell up for now.”
Jason and Igor basically toss Chinatsu and me into the SUV with Ryu joining us a moment later. The door isn’t even closed before the driver takes off at high speed. I again try to ask what is going on, but Jason ignores me as he talks into his lapel mic. I blow out my breath, and growl in irritation, then sit back. I’ll find out what’s going on soon. A few minutes later, we pull into the CMCC compound. Instead of taking us into the Action Center as I thought, we head to the bunker 500 meters away from it. We drive inside, and moments later, the blast door begins closing.
“Jason, our children, where are they?” I demand.
He opens the door and helps us out as he replies, “They’re here already. You don’t really believe that we’d forget them, do you?”
I look at him thinking about whether or not I should tell him the truth that I know for a fact that they’d leave everyone else behind in a heartbeat when it comes to my safety. I also know that they consider everyone else expendable if it comes down to it. It’s definitely something I don’t like to think about. Instead, I merely nod and quietly follow him to the Command Center to find General Chambers busily giving orders.
Walking over to him, I stand quietly next to him looking at the monitors displaying Sol System and notice the flashing red icon in the heliosphere. Nonetheless, I’m concerned as I look at Jason questioningly, waiting for him to finish.
Once he has, he takes a breath and blows it out. “Sorry, Sora. As you can see it’s a bit hectic at the moment.” He points to the icon, “The defense satellites picked it up 12 minutes ago. We have no idea who sent it, nor where it came from. No warning of impending emergence or anything, so however it got there, it wasn’t through dimensional space. The first sign we had that the thing was even here was when we detected a large neutron surge as it emerged.”
“Maybe they’re using hyperspace drives. Hmm,” I respond absentmindedly as I think about the implications. Whoever it might be is behind us technologically, or they’d be using dimensional space like we do since it’s much faster. Snapping my thoughts back to more important matters, I ask, “Do you know what it is?”
He shakes his head and replies, “No, other than that it’s quite small. Only 7 meters by 13 meters. In my opinion, it’s most likely a probe. However, just to be on the safe side, I’ve sent three fast-action groups to intercept it and placed all forces on alert.”
I merely nod in response. I agree since we have no idea if this might be a precursor to an invasion of the system. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Chinatsu walking over with a very fussy Ai. She hates being woken up and makes sure everyone knows it.
Taking Ai from Chinatsu, I murmur, “It’s alright, Mama’s here. I’ve got you,” as I rub her back to soothe her. After a few minutes, she snuggles against my neck and settles down. Ryu and Chinatsu do well with her, but when it comes to her being truly upset, she wants her Mama.
8 minutes later, the 9th fast-action group commander, Captain Alex Michaels, reports that they’ve intercepted the device, which seems to be a communications probe since it’s transmitting a UHF video. They relay it back, and Jason has the watch officer put it up on the main display.
A few moments later, an image of a dark-skinned alien appears on the screen. She? It has breasts, so the pronoun seems to fit, begins speaking as text shows along the bottom of the video.
“ɛ ɔɫ, ɽʎɛ-cɔ, ɥʎɵ ʑɛɘɽɥ ɳɘɛɵɽɥɵɽɽ uʑ ɥʎɵ ɵɫɳɘɵɽɽ ʍɵɻ-ʎy uʑ ɥʎɵ ɔɻʍɔɘɛɰ. ɛ ɔɫ ɽɳɵɔʍɛɰç ɥu ɥʎɵ ɔɰɛɫɔɻɽ ʃʎu bɔɻɻ ɥʎɵɫɽɵɻɹɵɽ ʎyɫɔɰɽ. ʒuy ʎɔɹɵ ɹɛuɻɔɥɵc uyɘ ɥɵɘɘɛɥuɘʒ, ʒɵɥ ɔçɔɛɰ. ɥʎɛɽ ɥɛɫɵ ʍɛɻɻɛɰç ɫɔɰʒ uʑ uyɘ ɽɛɽɥɵɘɽ, cɔyçʎɥɵɘɽ, ɔɰc ɫuɥʎɵɘɽ yɽɛɰç cɛɽʎuɰuɘɔɓɻɵ ɽɥʒɻɵɽ uʑ buɫɓɔɥ.ɛ, ɛɰ ɥʎɵ ɰɔɫɵ çɘɔbɵ uʑ ɵɫɳɵɘɵɽɽ ʍɵɻ-ʎy, ʎɵɘɵɓʒ cɵbɻɔɘɵ ʃɔɘ yɳuɰ ʒuy ɔɰɛɫɔɻɽ. ʃɵ ɽʎɔɻɻ ɰuɥ ɘɵɽɥ yɰɥɛɻ ɔɻɻ uʑ ʒuy ɔɰɛɫɔɻɽ ɔɘɵ ʃɛɳɵc ʑɘuɫ ɥʎɵ ʑɔbɵ uʑ ɥʎɵ yɰɛɹɵɘɽɵ.”
She then pulls out a knife, slices open her hand, and holds it up, showing it to us. “ʃɵ ɽu ɽʃɵɔɘ yɳuɰ ɥʎɵ ɓɻuuc uʑ uyɘ ɳɵuɳɻɵɽ.”
The linguists and AIs are going to have fun deciphering whatever it is they said, but going by my gut feeling and the chill that ran up my spine when she snarled out that last sentence, she just told us that they’re going to kill us all.
I look at Jason to gauge his reaction and see a tight expression while he frowns, staring at the now blank display.
“Jason?” He looks at me. “I fear we’re going to have to kill them all,” I murmur sadly.
He nods stiffly. “Yes, Your Majesty. I’m afraid we will.”
“Get the linguists and AIs working on translating that as soon as possible. Then, get the selection committee to redouble their efforts in selecting the colonists. We don’t have time for them to play around any longer. If need be, you fire them all, stick them someplace quiet, and select a panel from the military to do it. I want it done yesterday, and Jason? Add another supercarrier battle group to the fleet going with them along with 2 more carrier battle groups. Double the number of troops going with them. Make sure the majority of the troops are fertile females as well. Two to one, just like the colonists. Next, I want you to divert Helios from whatever he’s doing. Have him capture another nickel-iron asteroid, although larger this time, and place it behind the sun. We’re going to need another colony ship.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I want you to restructure the fleet as well. It’s obvious after that first battle that our capital ships need better protection, so I’d like it set up where a supercarrier battle group has 1 supercarrier, 20 carriers, 20 dreadnoughts, 50 battleships, 100 assault carriers, 50 troop carriers, 100 battlecruisers, 200 cruisers, 500 destroyers, and 1000 frigates.
“The carrier strike group will be made up of 10 carriers, 10 dreadnoughts, 25 battleships, 50 assault carriers, 25 troop carriers, 50 battlecruisers, 100 cruisers, 250 destroyers, and 500 frigates.
“A fast-action strike group will be made of 10 carriers, 20 battlecruisers, 50 cruisers, 100 destroyers, and 200 frigates.”
He grins. “I was talking with the Joint Chiefs, and we were thinking along similar terms. I think the fleet will be a lot more flexible with that makeup.”
“Good, thank you. Keep me informed of any developments, please. I’m going to go put Ai back to bed, then try to salvage what I can of my birthday party. Goodnight, Jason.”
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