Chapter XXI

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

The Capitol City, Chancellor's Capitol Building, Chancellor Santum's Office,

Forty-One and One Third Cenerean Years Ago

Harold rolled his sleeve over the bandage as he traversed the steps toward the large front doors of the Chancellor's Capitol Building. He was hoping that the incision would not bleed through the white formal material. Lifting his eyes from his aching arm, he stopped, frozen in place by the sight of two large orange banners that were the color of the evening Letria flanking both sides of the entrance. Printed on the flowing auburn material, Harold could now clearly see a fist with a very recognizable depiction of Geneticus splashed over it. "What the fuck is Connor up to?" he muttered under his breath.

Harold entered the building and instead of presenting a badge, he was now able to simply swipe his wrist over some newly installed pedestals lining each of the doorways he passed through. Regardless of the convenience of the activity, Harold still found it no comfort for his troubled mind as he realized he would never be able to forgive himself for what he experienced today.

The elevator ride to the top was relatively uneventful, almost normal. When the ornate, glass doors opened with a ding, Harold calmly exited. He found himself standing in a ridiculously oversized entry room complete with a lovely view of some well-endowed beauty seated behind a desk.

As was the case with the building's entrance, a wall covering in the same orange, black, and red markings hung on the far wall. That same symbol occupied every flag stand that lined the room, stands that at one time probably held the flags of the varying Regions before assimilation. Now, there was just that one.

"The Chancellor will see you now, Mr. Bouri," the woman said with a smile, still seated behind the desk.

Harold nervously entered the room and was instantly greeted by the large, toothy smile of one Connor Santum, feet propped up behind his massive T'choulian Darkwood desk. "Mr. Bouri! I was thrilled when you called. I was not expecting to hear from you for a while."

"Well, sir..." Harold said, looking around for the proper seat to sit in. "I, uh..."

"Please, Harold, sit where you like. You are the one doing me a favor here."

"Thank you," he said sitting in a soft velour chair near the front of the finely carved desk.

"So, what have you brought me?"

Harold closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Is it that bad?" Connor asked sitting up, the humor lifted from his voice. "This seems serious."

Harold opened his eyes. "It is, sir. I believe I have uncovered a massive conspiracy right under your very nose...one that threatens the Chancellorship, sir."

Connor's eyebrows came together like curtains. "How so, Mr. Bouri."

"It seems a Colonel in the HDF who works at the Univ-Trans facility might be your hacker."

"Give me his name!"

"Patience sir, there's more. He's an Arcturan slave."

"So are several other high ranking officers in the HDF."

"I understand, Chancellor, but I located some disturbing footage as well as a copy of what I believe is the very virus used on Lieutenant Gil's fightercraft in his online storage."

"Footage? I thought that only some aircraft measurement data was recovered."

"No sir this data was hidden, but not well enough that I couldn't find it," Harold said with a smile.

"Did you bring this information with you?"

"Yes, I did," he replied and then stood to hand the data device to Connor. "It's right here on this stick. Sir. I just don't know if you really want to watch it, it's rather disturbing. I know you and your brother-in-law were close."

Connor blinked. "I have to know..."

"Yessir, I understand. One word of caution...Please be careful opening that storage device and whatever you do, do NOT open the virus folder unless you want to shut down the Capitol. You should let the scientists decompile it, first."

Connor's eyes widened.

"I would unplug your terminal station from the network just to be sure."

"Yes, Harold, that's a good idea," the Chancellor said nervously, disconnecting the fiber connector from his terminal. He then inserted the stick into the side of the machine.

"It's in the container labeled, CRMDAC_8th_Crash_Data."

Connor opened the folder and located the document and video log file it contained. He activated the video and instantly recognized Gil's desperate voice, although it was distorted and nearly unintelligible. Nevertheless, the man could clearly see his brother-in-law frantically attempting to control the plane and remove a comm from his pocket at the same time.

"I need help, sister. My fighter it..." Garbled audio. Static.

"Mother's on a rampage, brother...demanding...head on a platter!" Static. "She's...watching you on your cockpit's visual array right now." More static and garbled audio. "Mother...never going to stop.." Garbled audio and static. "...something...had to be done...get...out of the Confederation if you love her. Don't say I...warn you." Static. "...we all know that once you married..." Static. "...you would be the next in line for the Arcturan throne." Garbled audio, static. "...the first King Arcturis in a thousand years." Static.

"I don't fucking care about that goddamned throne. Not anymore. I don't give a shit what Connor wants to do, either. Wendy is all I care about now! When I get back I wanted..."

"Gilford... brother!?!!"

Static.

The terminal displayed the words, "End of video."

"So, Jinah tried to warn Gil?" The Chancellor looked up at Harold in horror. "That only leaves...why? Why would Doltanna want to kill Gil? Her own son?"

"I don't know, sir." Harold replied, looking down at the finely woven rug on the floor. "It sounds to me as though his marriage to Wendy might ruin something Mother Arcturis had planned, maybe?" He suppressed a grin.

Connor rubbed his temples. "Okay...okay, this all makes sense, now. I kept trying to understand why in the world she would marry off that pretty young daughter to that fat bastard, Pha' Li, but now I get it. I would wager he has probably been in on it as well. I would have never thought he of all people..." The Chancellor stood from behind his desk and walked to the window. "Fuck, she even killed her adopted daughter to cover her tracks and make it look like she had nothing to do with it. I cannot believe I am that stupid...Goddamned Arcturans, they make me crazy." Connor paced around the floor of his immense office. "I imagine if I were to arrest that bitch now, it would spark a wildfire down in Arcturius we would be able to see from here."

"Might I offer a suggestion, sir?" Harold asked.

"Please. I am open to anything at the moment," Connor said. He turned to look at Harold. "You know Mr. Bouri, at one time you and I were enemies. Now, it seems you are probably the only man on Regalius that I can trust."

Harold smiled when he wanted to laugh aloud. "Thank you for the complement, sir and may I show you something? Something as further proof of my loyalty to what you are building here?"

"Yes, please."

Harold rolled up his sleeve exposing the tracker implant.

"Son of a bitch." Connor shook his head. "I wish I had a thousand more just like you. I can't get any of those no-good generals of mine to get them without threatening them, much less willingly go and have it installed voluntarily like you evidently have done."

"I even used it on the pedestals coming in. It works fantastic."

"That's what I've been saying to them, but do they listen? No." Connor turned to stare out of the window once more. "Well, Harold, tell me what do you think I should do?"

"Make her and the general heroes of the Homeland...a chance to bring everyone together."

Connor laughed. "What?"

"Everyone loves a martyr. Especially rebels...and I would know. I was one, right?"

"Okay, you have my attention," the Chancellor said, crossing his arms. "Go on Harry, let's hear it. How would you suggest I handle this?"

"Well..."

...

"...And I Connor Santum, Chancellor of the Homeland, officially approve of this union and happily pronounce you husband and wife. Rise General Tan Pha' Li and your lovely bride, Jinah Arcturis! Rise together, rise as one soul in service to the Homeland!"

"For the good of the Homeland!" shouted the wedding guests.

Connor retrieved a glass of champagne from a nearby table and lifted it into the air. "Hear, hear!"

The crowd followed suit, collectively took a drink, and began cheering as the couple walked down the aisle toward the large, Arcturan banquet hall in the western wing of the mansion.

A smiling Connor slid up next to one beaming Mother Arcturis Doltanna who was watching her daughter walk away. "Mother Arcturis, might I have a word?"

"Anything for my favorite slave," she said with a smile.

Connor sighed. "I hate to discuss matters-of-state on such a wondrous day, but would you mind if I asked you for a favor? Not for me, but for Arcturius and the Homeland."

"I will at least listen to your request, Connor. Ask."

"Mother Arcturis, would you travel with General Pha' li down to Arcturius as a show of support for the Homeland. Because of this beautiful wedding, it seems you and he have very strong positive ratings with the people and it would be immensely helpful considering the tenuous situation down there with those pesky Arcturan nationalist rebels. I really wish to avoid sending outside troops. I think it would be a much better solution for Arcturan affairs to stay, erm, Arcturan?"

"Well, Connor, I am absolutely flattered that you would ask me to do such a thing. Yes, I would love to. I believe it would also play well with our people to see Jinah on the throne standing strong by herself here in the Capitol."

"I believe you are right, Mother," Connor replied with a grin. "This is wonderful, Doltanna, I will get with the General when he returns from T'Choula and his honeymoon and we'll make all of the arrangements. You and he are going to be heroes of the Homeland if you can pull this off."

...

The secure comm crackled as Harold held it to his ear. "Joshua? Hey, this is your new friend. Did you get the package? Great. Hopefully, you realize now that I'm very sincere in pursuing our arrangement, in fact, I have some more...merchandise you guys might be interested in. Oh no, trust me this is a big deal. What would you say if I told you I could provide you with info that would enable you to...um, make a special couple's day rather unforgettable? It's not polite to say names on the comm, but it's worth your time. Well, do you have any contacts in Arcturius?"

Harold paused to listen to the man on the other end of the comm. "Yeah, that's what I thought," he replied. "And Joshua, you can tell the sarge this deal is my present to him," Harold said. "Excellent, I will send you the flight information once I get it," the hacktivist replied to the man on the other end of the connection.

Harold nodded. "Exactly. Hey, one more thing, Joshua, I have some information about those shipments you wanted...No, nobody has any idea it's even been accessed. Let's set up a play date this end of week break to trade. I want to meet up with the doc. You're welcome. Now you understand, this is only the beginning, my friend...okay...Good day to you, too."

Harold smiled as he hung up. He took the communication device, threw it violently to the ground, and stepped on it, grinding it into the filthy, wet pavement of the alleyway. With a grin stretching across his face, he pulled his coat around him, turned, and began whistling, disappearing into the foggy night air.

...

"What?" Jinah asked incredulously, glaring at the soldier standing before her throne.

"Yes, Mother Arcturis, the aerialcraft transport carrying your mother and your husband have gone down in the jungle just outside of the Arcturan capitol along with their escorts. It seems Arcturan rebels mistakenly fired on them en route to your mother's speaking engagement with the Arcturius Assembly. Someone broadcast that an invasion was under way and the resistance thought the aerialcraft transports were Homeland soldiers coming to attack them."

Jinah blinked and narrowed her eyes at her guard. "Leave me."

"Ma'am," the soldier responded with a salute, did an about face, and exited the throne room.

Jinah watched the doors close. "It was you, Harold, wasn't it?" she muttered. "Trying to save that bitch, Wendy..." She rested her hand against her head and closed her eyes. The young Arcturan didn't know what to do. On one hand, Harold did her a favor: the first head of her three-headed monster was removed with the death of her mother. Regardless, it was only a bittersweet victory, because with the general's death, Jinah, now, had no ties to the new Homeland government minus the slaves loyal to her. She sighed and hoped that maybe this would be enough until she could come up with something. At any rate, there would now be no way to fully recoup from this tragedy.

"Well, I suppose I will have to arrange for a meeting with Chancellor Santum and Aunt Clarissa to beg for their protection," she thought. "...and Harry, you may think you have this all under control, but it's not over. Wendy Powell and the Chancellor are still going to die. They have to, because, just like Queen Desheret, I won't stop until my monster is dead and I rule everything."

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