An aged man in a black military style uniform walked through a brightly lit corridor. As he walked past others they stopped, first glancing at the numerous medals adorning the man’s chest, and then raising their left hand, clenched in a fist, over their hearts. The man always returned the gesture with a smile and with his dark brown hair, and mustache frosted by gray, it gave him an almost grandfatherly look. 

 

He eventually came to a door guarded by men in pitch black armor, who offered him the same salute as the previous guards. He nodded politely and stepped through the door and was greeted by the sounds of an argument, intrigued he hung back, listening.

 

“All I’m saying is that I don’t understand how your forces are bested so easily by a mere group of peasants.” A plump man spat, his cheeks flushed red with anger.

 

“Oh spare me, Praefexis Trayick, as if your forces could do better,” A tall man answered, his narrow features twisted in a sneer.

 

“My forces Could do better, Varkus” Praefexis Trayick shot back.

 

Varkus scoffed, “Trayick you have never once had to deal with the rebels have you? All your forces do is guard the capital sector, and there's no rebellions there. You can obviously tell of the peacefulness in that sector just by looking at your girth.”

 

Trayick’s face redend and his fists clenched in anger, “And why… do you think they were chosen to guard the capital.” he hissed,

 

Varkus smirked, “I don't know, you spend so much time licking the Emperor's boots, it's no wonder no ones ever seen you fight.”

 

Trayick sucked in a deep breath, causing his chest to puff up as rose from his seat. His mouth opened to fire back a retort but he was cut off as another man interjected. 

 

“Gentlemen please.” He said calmly. He glanced over to the man who had entered earlier and smiled, his deep blue eyes lighting up for a brief moment then turned back to the others, “Praefexis Arxictis Zekor is here.” 

 

“Thank you Praefexis Sacaris.” Zekor answered.

 

The others fell silent and gave Zekor a salute, all except for Sacaris who gave a slight bow, for his right arm was gone, only the sleeve of his uniform remained, hanging limp where his arm should be. 

 

Zekor returned the salute then strode over and sat in a chair at the head of the table, “As for the statement made by Praefexis Trayick, though I wouldn't have put it so disrespectfully, there does seem to be a problem with your forces dealing with the rebels in your sector Praefexis Varkus”

 

The narrow faced man lifted his cap off his head set it on the table then sighed while rubbing his short blond hair in frustration, “Arxictus the Imperis Vectivus has just been rebuilt after our illustrious Emperor decided to try and subjugate the Partorems and the disastrous Bowin Re-subjugation campaign, and even then we still aren't up to full strength. The rebels we are dealing with are organized and well trained. They hide out on backwater planets. They don't engage us directly, they just use hit and run tactics, stealing supplies, and hitting our bases in raids. We have to search all likely hiding places in the sector to find even one of their bases and half the time they manage to escape before we get to them.”   

 

“Be careful how you speak of the Emperor, Varkus” Trayick hissed, “You wouldn’t want to lose your head.” 

 

Varkus glared at him “Because Our Emperor can certainly afford to keep executing all of his military leaders. Spare me your empty threats, Trayick.”

 

Trayick started to rise again, rage evident on his face, but was stopped when Zekor raised a hand.

 

“Please, stop this bickering.” He then turned to Varkus, “Varkus, since your forces are inadequate I think it’d do some good to send you some back up.” Then he turned to Trayick, “Praefexis Trayick you will take the Imperis Cermantus and back up Varkus.” 

 

Trayick nodded, and Varkus glanced down for a moment, his face a frown, then looked up and nodded in begrudging agreement. 

 

Zekor then turned to Sacaris, “Praefexis Sacaris how are your forces faring against Commodore Sarcis?”   

 

“Not as well as you'd hope.” The man said slowly, his face almost unreadable, “My cousin is doing an admirable job of avoiding all the traps I set for him.”

 

“His men were one of the better legions we had in the Empire.” another man rumbled.

 

“Praefexis Javest,” Zekor said, addressing the man, “You’re dealing with the Nónanae rebels in your sector correct?”

 

“Yes.” He grunted, “They’re proving quite difficult to deal with as well. The former Praetorux is a very skilled orator, and has managed to unite all of the rebel groups in the sector. His numbers have swelled considerably in the last few months.”

 

Varkus snorted, “If this keeps up, we’ll have a crisis on the scale of the Rosentir led rebellion.”

 

“Which our Empire hasn't seen the likes of in the last five hundred plus cycles,” Javest added. 

 

“All across the board we are taking losses.” One of the other men piped in, His red eyes burning with intensity, “Sarcis is successfully weakening us with his raids, Nónanae is uniting the different groups into one massive army, the Bowins defiance against our rule is inciting more planets and sectors to rise up. Even in my sector the Archians are growing restless and are on the brink of full on rebellion. Plus with the Partorems banning us from using the prime gates, it has severely limited our response times to these threats”

 

“One would think, Yirvet,” Varkus responded, “That this Empire is almost beyond saving.” 

 

The room instantly went quiet. The men sat in stunned silence, pondering that remark. A few of the men’s eyes glazed over in sorrow, while Sacaris merely kept that same half smile on his face as he always did. Trayick, however, slammed his fist on the table and glared at Varkus, “I will not bear listening to you insult our glorious Empire one more time, Varkus!” He bellowed. 

 

“I was only stating what some of us were thinking.”

 

The silence descended on the room again, the atmosphere in the room feeling as if a dark cloud was  hanging over their heads

 

Zekor finally said, “Infighting between us isn't going to help us dig ourselves out of the mess we’re in. While The loss of the prime gates does extend our deployment time we can make do with what we have. As for now I’ve decided on what we’re going to do.”

 

He paused and looked at each of the men gathered in the room, “Sacaris I want you to take most of your forces and join me in fighting the Bowins, hopefully we can make some headway against them. Trayick, split your forces and send half of them to back up Yirvet, they’re going to need it if the Archians decide to rebel en masse. Then take the rest of your forces and join Varkus in trying to pacify his sector. Javest, I need you to keep trying to root out Nónanae.”

 

“You're splitting up our forces?” Varkus asked with a raised eyebrow

 

“We’re trying to put out fires all over the Empire. We can't have most of our forces bunched in certain areas, we’re going to have to become the blanket that smothers this flame of rebellion.”

 

“And we can’t quite empty each sector of forces because it’d encourage whole sections to break away.” Sacaris added, thoughtful. 

 

Javest spoke up, “Praefexis Zekor, I believe I have something that may prove useful in damaging the Nónanae group.”

 

Before he could finish, the door hissed open and a tall man strode into the room. His head held high as his black eyes looked down at everyone in the room. He was followed by two men in black armor, with red shoulder pauldrons, and red capes sweeping the floor behind them. The men sitting around the table jumped out of their seats in surprise and bowed to the man.

 

“Greetings Emperious Karanis” Zekor said. 

 

The man looked at them, His chest puffing out in self pride., “You may rise.”

 

They stood up and Sarcaris asked, “What brings you here Emperious?”

 

“The Inquisates informed me that Praefexis Javest has a plan to deal with Nónanae.” He answered, glancing into each of their eyes.

 

There was an awkward silence until Javest spoke up, “Y-yes Sir, I do” 

 

“Good. I want you to tell me what it is, and I want to be part of it.”  He said his face twisting into a snarl. “Nónanae’s defiance to my rule has been an insult for far too long.”

 

“Yes sir, “ Javest replied, “I-I managed to obtain the location of his current headquarters.”

 

“How did you come by this information?” Zekor asked him, surprised. 

 

“Well sir” he started and averted his eyes in shame, “I had to threaten the families of some of his men, I was only bluffing, but it worked, a few of them coughed up the location.”

 

Zekor shot him a look of disgust, but Karanis gave a predatory grin, “Good, good, you have these people in your custody?” 

 

“Yes, Emperious.”

 

“Execute them.” He stated, almost with glee. 

 

Javest was silent for a moment, shock written all over his face, “B-B-But Emperious I-”

 

Karanis’ eyes lit with rage, “YOU’D DARE QUESTION ME?” He roared.

 

The men in the room recoiled, stepping back away from the Emperor only three; Zekor, Sacaris and Varkus, stood still. Zekor and Varkus’ eyes darkened, and their expressions soured. Sacaris continued to maintain his smile, keeping his emotions or thoughts unreadable. 

 

“N-N-N-No sir” Javest replied in a panic, “I-I just merely gave them my word that their families wouldn’t be harmed if they gave me the location.”

 

“I care not what you told them.” Karanis spat, “They’re rebels and traitors, and you WILL execute them, or I will execute you Praefexis Javest.” 

 

“Yes Sir,” He whimpered then lowered his eyes to the ground.

 

“Good, Notify me when you head out to attack them, I will be joining you. I want to see Nónanae on the end of my blade.” With that he spun sending his black cape billowing behind him and strode out of the room followed by his guards. 

 

The others in the room stood still, silent. Varkus clenched his fist in anger. Javest, looking devastated, slumped back into his seat. Resting his head in his hands, Zekor merely sighed and turned to the others, “You have your orders, this meeting is over.”