Cenerea, 3rd planet from the star Letria. Regalius, The Homeland, Central Region,

Just Outside Of The Capitol City, The Arcturan Estate,

Forty-One Cenerean Years and Ten Months Ago

Jinah watched the door close behind the general as he left her bedroom and when she felt he was far enough away, buried her face in her pillow and screamed. "Fuck you, mother!!! I swear I am going to kill you! You bitch!" She lifted her face from the tear-stained fluffy object, clutched it in her hand, and flung it across the room knocking several bottles of perfume and makeup from her dresser.

She thought about the things the horrible man made her do for him and to him. She closed her eyes, realizing this was to be her future, unless...she could conjure up some way to use this situation to her advantage.

Jinah sat up. "Slaves, prepare my bath!'

...

"Well, how was everything, general? Did you get any sleep or did Jinah keep you up?" Doltanna asked sincerely, looking up from a report she was reading. She flipped a blue page over, revealing a yellow one underneath that provided her with food ration statistics for Arcturius for the month. It was depressing and she sighed at the numbers.

"Amazing Mother Arcturis. Absolutely amazing."

Doltanna smiled weakly, setting the report down beside her. "Do you feel like discussing our arrangement further?"

"Oh, absolutely, Mother," the general replied.

"Excellent. But, first I have a question. Something to, um, test your loyalty."

"Ask away, Mother."

"What do you know about Wendy Powell's secret project? Why is it so important? I could never get my Gilford to tell me."

"I suppose I should be surprised you know about that place, but really, I'm not. Either way, I am not at liberty to say what is occurring down there.'

"Ah. Well, maybe we won't..."

"Hello Mother. Hello future husband," Jinah said as she shoved past the guard, striding unabatedly into the throne room to peck the general on the cheek as she passed. "Continue Mother, I need to be part of these affairs if I am ever to learn," the girl said smartly, sliding a chair next to the general.

Tan smiled as he watched the young woman sit beside him.

Jinah gave the sweetest smile in response, batting her eyes at Tan. She glanced up at her mother.

Doltanna scowled.

"Yes, Mother Arcturis, I believe that would be a wise idea. Jinah should be involved with these matters of state, don't you?" The man turned his head toward the girl and winked. "Especially if she is to be your successor."

"Very well," Doltanna said waving her hand.

Jinah sat up, a satisfied look of accomplishment on her youthful face. "Okay, let's go."

Doltanna exhaled. "Alright, where were we? Ah, yes, general I understand your loyalties lie with the Confederation, on the other hand, Arcturius is mine and eventually Jinah's primary focus. We need to find a way to balance these two interests."

"Hmmm, I see. What is it you are really getting at, Doltanna? What is it you are attempting to discover?" the general asked. "You know that I did not rise through the ranks by being either naïve or stupid. I recognize a play when I see one."

"General, I will not insult your intelligence by telling you that there is not an agenda involved in this arrangement between you and my daughter; because, there is. Honestly, it's a move of desperation, no offense."

"What do you mean, Doltanna?" the general asked, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Gilford and his eventual marriage to Wendy Powell were to be the start of a new future for my people. Lily's murderous deed, that one singular act ultimately destroyed any chance for Arcturius to survive in this new world with any kind of influence. As it sits now, my kingdom will become just another Region answering to the ever-increasing power of the Confederation, begging for its attention. So you see, I now have nothing left...no plan, no future direction for Arcturius, only a young girl with no political experience, little leadership capability, and absolutely no ties to the upper echelons of the Confederation. But with you and Jinah's betrothal, your union would benefit not just the Arcturan clan, but you as well, and by extension all of Arcturius. The way I see it, when you become part of this family, unlike Connor through his marriage to my lesser sister, you will gain the family's full power and influence to wield as you wish. The Chancellor has little influence in the clan other than what I provide him, however, you will be the other half at the head of our table and you two would be only one tiny step from running the entire Confederation if there was ever a, ummm, vacancy in the Chancellor's seat."

Tan tilted his head sideways and examined the determined expression Doltanna was wearing as she spoke. He began to nod his head in understanding. "I see." The general looked over at the pretty girl sitting next to him. "Connor is using Wendy to build an army of machines controlled by a very sophisticated artificial intelligence machine."

Doltanna sat up. "What kind of army?"

"The goal is to build a mechanized military with loyalty to only one master," the man said.

"What master?"

"A strong, new central government that will control everything, something called The Homeland with Connor at its head," Tan replied. "You do understand that I can be killed for what I just told you, don't you?"

"General, secrets and their caretakers are always safe within this chamber," Mother Arcturis said definitively. "Is there any way to stop it?"

"No, the plan is already in full swing and when it happens, Arcturius needs to surrender immediately," Tan said.

"Did you just tell me to give up my sovereignty without a fight, general?" Doltanna asked.

"Yes, because you will lose everything if you don't and I mean everything. Do not resist, Doltanna."

"The Arcturan people will not simply bow down to Connor without a fight," Doltanna said. "You understand that don't you, Tan?"

"I know, but even Connor's patience with you and your kingdom will run out quickly unless you have an idea on how to quell any uprising," Tan replied.

"Can you give me an estimate as to when this Homeland is going to take power?"

"Within the month."

"Damn, we will have to move fast." Doltanna's expression darkened and she pursed her lips, eyeing her youthful daughter. "Jinah?"

"Yes, mother?"

"Prepare to marry the general soon after this coup and we will make sure it is an event to remember!"

"I understand," the girl replied, nodding her head. What she did to Gil and Lily now seemed so ridiculous, so petty. What was it she thought she was accomplishing? She felt so helpless relegated to standing idly by in her mother's shadow after learning of this revelation. This was a time of action. Jinah winced at the thought she had actually believed she was just going to take over without consequences...without responsibilities? What she just heard changed something deep within her.

Jinah glared at her mother with distain and then up at Tan, realizing her worldview needed to become a lot larger if she wanted to become a queen. She fully realized her mother might be too weak to maintain leadership on her own and could not afford to lose the throne because of her matriarch's apparent nearsightedness. With this general's help, Jinah was now determined to seize power from her mother and Connor, but first, there was something much more important to do. She was not content to wait for the hammer to fall like her mother and pray that her family's influence stayed intact under Connor's rule. Just like in the old Arcturan legend of Queen Desheret and the three-headed monster, she needed to cut one head off of her own three-headed beast before it took its first breath. Wendy Powell had to die before this Homeland destroyed her future with some sort of mechanical army and if she played it right, Jinah might hack off another head in the process.

...

"Harold? It's me, Jinah. I need you to call me back when you get this message. Mother's on a rampage and she is demanding Wendy's head on a platter! The CRDF investigators said they found new information linking Wendy's office with the virus. They believe Wendy and Lily were lovers. Look, Mother is never going to stop, Harold. Gilford was her world. You should get her out of the Confederation if you love her. Don't say I didn't try to warn you, Harry."

Click.

Jinah grinned as she disconnected the call. She needed Harold to do something stupid and flush Wendy out into the open.

...

"Shit, shit, shit!" he exclaimed. Harold had been afraid to listen to the recording until Geneticus went into hibernation for his upgrade and now he was in a panic. He played back the voice message from Jinah once more just to make sure he heard the Arcturan properly.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asked from her office. "Is Geneticus' upgrade not working?"

"Um, no, it's just another asshole over at that new Mount Smith facility trying to figure out how to wire in a fiber router," Harold said, quickly shutting the device off and shoving it in his lab coat's side pocket. "I don't know why those guys can't pick up a manual, you know?"

"Yeah," Wendy said as she stood in the doorway of her office, typing away on her datapad. She looked up, smiled, and turned to go back inside.

Harold knew it would just be a matter of time before Mother Arcturis got her claws into Wendy or found evidence that linked him to her son's death; he needed to keep his eyes open and continue looking for a way he could protect them both.

...

Weeks passed and Harold heard nothing more about the incident or investigation. The young man convinced himself that the mystery surrounding Gil's death was all but forgotten, buried in the turmoil of the recently collapsed Confederation. His primary worry, Wendy's safety, had also been put to rest after Connor told the Scientist General she was going to be kept at Univ-Trans under Homeland protection because of recent Lavidian threats against her life. It seemed everything in Harold Bouri's world was beginning to turn around until an official invitation from Chancellor Santum appeared in his personal messages. It indicated Connor wished to meet with the former hacktivist at the Arcturan estate.

"Damn." Harold did not want to go, not only in regards to his personal history with the dictator or his involvement in the matter, but Jinah's order to never return to the mansion. The quandary was how could he justify not going at the new leader of the Homeland's request?

...

As expected, a half-naked Arcturan woman met Harold at the door when he arrived the very next day. "The Chancellor is this way. Please follow me," she said softly.

Harold, in an attempt to keep his wits about him, forced himself to look at anything but the firm, perfectly round hips bouncing side-to-side in front of him. It was an act of futility. Any place his eyes landed there appeared to be an Arcturan goddess waiting to be observed and desired. Thankfully, the trip across the mansion was rather quick.

"Here you are, Mr. Bouri. Have a good day," the woman said in a sultry voice.

"Yes, thank you," Harold said, generating a half-hearted smile, only glancing at her lovely image for a second before returning his attention to the door before him and the heavily armed guards eyeing him from each side. Harold shakily patted his pockets until he located his Homeland high-level clearance badge. The two men nodded and stepped aside, allowing him to proceed. He turned the handle and pushed. Harold could see Connor seated at the back of the dimly lit room, reclining with his shirt open, a redhead on each side of him, their hands all over his body.

"Ah, there you are Mr. Bouri. Please, come in and have a seat. Ladies, would you mind waiting outside? I'll call you when we're through with our discussions."

"Yes, Chancellor," the twin Arcturan's giggled. Harold watched them stand from where they were perched on either side of Connor. As they strode past Harold, one of them swept a finger lightly over his chin and blew him a kiss. "Maybe he'll still be in here when we come back," he heard one of them say.

"Lovely girls, those two. Have a seat, Harold, or should I call you Meta?"

Harold froze.

"Don't act surprised, Mr. Bouri. I have kept an eye on you ever since we brought you in. What you did to me on my inauguration day has long been forgotten and replaced by what you have done for me and the Homeland. You are a hero, son. You needn't worry over any retaliation or desire for revenge on my part. In fact, I have only faith and trust in your loyalty to the cause. Hell, we all have things in our past to be ashamed of, don't we, Mr. Bouri? Come on, take a seat, please," the man said, sweeping a hand out in front of him, indicating Harold should take his place opposite Connor on the semicircular red plastileather couch.

"Thank you, Chancellor Santum. I wish to apologize for my actions back then, I, was, um...misguided." Lie.

"No need. What's done is done. Now, let me get straight to the reason you are here," the Chancellor said, as he leaned forward and took a sip from a crystalline glass filled with brown liquid. "Ah, that's good, you want some? It's Arcturan."

"No thank you, sir."

"Very well," the Chancellor said, eyeing his drink. "I know you heard about Lieutenant Mitchell dying in a fightercraft accident? You do work side-by-side with that extremely attractive Wendy Powell, after all."

"Yessir," Harold replied.

"Well, there is more to the story than a simple mechanical malfunction."

Harold sat up in feigned astonishment. "Like what, sir?"

"It seems it wasn't an accident. Someone apparently killed my brother-in-law with some kind of virus and no one can find the bastard who did it. I know my niece Lily was involved, maybe even Jinah, but Gil was my best friend and to date, his death is sadly unresolved."

Harold swallowed. "Oh shit," he thought to himself. That was something he had not considered. "Virus? Wouldn't that be better suited to a doctor, sir?"

"No, a terminal virus. One somehow inserted into his fightercraft's onboard control system."

"Oh, I see," Harold acknowledged.

"It's been over two months and I want this son of a bitch found so I can make an example out of them. Could you help me with this, Mr. Bouri? I understand you are rather talented in this department and my sources tell me you weren't at the facility when the virus was uploaded. You appear to be the only one who can help me, Harry."

"It's Harold, sir," the former hacker said without thinking. "I mean, you can still call me Harry if you want..." He winced. "Erm, what about Wendy?"

"Wendy Powell? What about her?" the Chancellor asked inquisitively, his eyebrows raised. "Is there something I should know? Is she involved?"

"Crap!" Harold thought. "Oh, no sir, I meant, I was wondering if I should tell her. Maybe, she could help. In fact, she might have an idea about who could have done it."

"No! There is no need for that. It would help no one for her to learn of this troubling situation. She needs to keep her focus on that A.I."

Harold sat back in relief. Evidently, Mother Arcturis' war on Wendy was being done in secret, most likely due to Wendy's importance to the Homeland. "Okay, I will not say anything. I'll keep it to myself."

"You seem tense there, Harry, excuse me, Harold."

"I'm sorry sir, I shouldn't have said that. Please, c-c-call me whatever you want," Harold stammered.

Connor laughed at the man's bumbling. "You don't have to fear me, Harold. We're old war buddies now, you and me. We've been through the trenches and finally we're the ones on top. Speaking of getting on top, Harry, I want you...no, I am ordering you to find you an Arcturan and let her work out all of that tension you seem to have. You need to be relaxed when you get to work finding my brother-in-law's killer."

Harold nodded.

"I didn't hear that. Do we have a deal?" the Chancellor asked, a grin spread over his face.

"Yessir, I can do that," Harold replied with a nod. In the past, the young man would have been ecstatic over the offer, but now, he just wanted to escape; to run as far from this mansion as possible, as quickly as possible.

"Great! Now, I tell you what, Mr. Bouri, I will do you one better. You take one of the twins. In fact it appears Zena, I think that was the one, seemed to like you. I get them confused, you know. The only way to tell them apart is this one tiny birthmark on her...well, nevermind," Connor said, waving a hand in the air. "Trust me when I tell you they get to be a handful when you get the two of them together," the politician said. "Technically, you'd be doing me a huge favor, Harry," Connor said with a grin.

"Alright, you're the boss," Harold replied with a slight smile.

Connor laughed. "That's the spirit! Girls?" the chancellor shouted. "Come on back in."

"Yes, Chancellor?" the twins said as they opened the door and bounced in.

"How about one of you takes Mr. Bouri here and spends a little time with him, I need him relaxed so he can help me out with a problem."

One of the young ladies lit up. "Oh, I would love to!" She approached Harold and slowly walked around him, dragging a slender finger over his cheek. She leaned in from behind him and whispered, "I'm Zena, we are gonna have a lot of fun, you and me."

Harold swallowed.

"Zena, that man right there is a hero of the Sub-Region war...you treat him right, okay?"

"Well, I, um..." Harold stuttered.

"Get out of here, Harold. Go on, loosen up. I'll catch up with you later next week to check on your progress," Connor said and then turned his attention to the Arcturan sliding down next to him. "Now, Anez, where were we?"

Zena grabbed Harold by the arm and pulled him out of the room and down the hall, past the guards. She tucked herself beneath his arm and leaned in close to him. "Jinah sent me." She stopped speaking to smile politely at another guard walking by. "She apologizes she couldn't come herself, but she thought it best if you two weren't seen together. General Pha' Li is very jealous and she believes the Chancellor is, well, suspicious of you."

"Yeah," Harold sighed. "I was getting that vibe. So, you know what happened?"

Zena placed a finger over Harold's lips as she heard several loud voices slowly increasing in volume. She put her hand to her companion's chest, and pressed him against the wall. "Shhhh!" She leaned forward to glance around the corner into the next corridor. "Shit, it's Mother Arcturis and the Arcturan delegation!" she whispered. "I swear to you that woman remembers every face she ever meets. It wouldn't be