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Chapter 26[]
Can you tell me where can we start over?[]
Private Quarters of the Archon-Prince, Royal Palace
The Triad, Tharkad City
Federated Commonwealth
July 20th, 3055
Elizabeth Ngo...huh...eighteen...exempt?" Victor Steiner-Davion cocked an eyebrow.
"Yes your, Highness." she said, "If you would be so kind as to lift that exemption I would be grateful."
This made him frown. "Mom would call that a trap." he said, "A moment, Duchess?" He turned to an aide, and asked a question, the aide cupped his earbud, nodded, and whispered an answer.
"Oh, NO, no way." Victor said, "You are NOT going to trap me with that, jesus christ, you're terminal."
She winced. "Not yet, Majesty." she said through gritted teeth, "I've still got between twelve and fifteen years. I could serve for five and not even come close."
"Answer's still no, Duchess. You've already given the realm both parents and two brothers. I'm going to ask that you prioritize arranging your heir, because I really don't want to be stuck with that."
"Yes, your majesty." she said, "We're working on that problem already. I've got a good staff."
"Hope so. How are things on that end?" he asks her.
"Taxes are high, services are scarce, unemployment's been high but we're getting it under control." she listed off, "We're working on some initiatives to deal with Piracy in the region in the absence of AFFC forces. If they pan out, it'll reduce the load on the Eighth and maybe give the realm some room for negotiation to get better mercenaries in."
"Civil matters?" he inquires her.
"I'm not qualified to discuss military matters." She said firmly, "I can ask Kommandant Mosovich, except she's running the show back home while I'm here. She's my most likely my successor-at least, the one I'd pick." Liz said candidly while fidgeting with the hat, "She was a week from being my brother's wife-so she's practically family."
"Hmm." he mused.
"You'd like her better than me." Liz observed.
"I didn't say that." defensively says Victor.
"You don't have to. Your first reaction was pity." she said harshly, "Like looking at a sick animal dying by the road. Right now, you're wondering why I'm not in a hospital. Unless that very, very, short answer you got from Mister Curiatis was full of more information and details than normally fit into a six second statement."
"Why aren't you?" Victor took the bait.
"My Great Uncle Truk, whom died in the New Avalon Institute of Science's medical and biology wing long before I was born. He died screaming." she stated, "My grandfather never forgave them for letting his brother suffer for six months before an enemy gave him the final mercy. Stage Three of Cholmann's syndrome. When I hit stage three, no drug or combination of drugs known to man can help cope with the pain. I will lose the ability to go into shock, your highness. I will lose the ability to shut out or forget sensations. My body will be wracked in a permanent state of seizure as my nervous system overloads itself while simultaneously failing. In short, I am going to die in agony, while going insane. I have twelve to fifteen years to prepare for this. During which I will experience increasing levels of chronic pain, insomnia, and the loss of the ability to feel pleasure as endorphin receptors in my brain die. Resulting in sustained and repeatedly longer periods of increasingly severe depression...and there is no cure, no treatment, the pain and the other symptoms can be treated. With increasingly strong doses of narcotics, anti-depressants, and anti-seizure medications. So not only am I terminal, but I'm biologically fated to become a drug addict in order to continue functioning for as long as possible." she tapped her cane on the floor.
"That's not an answer to my question." Victor pointed out.
"No, that's the preamble. I am not playing lab-rat for a rare disorder that will probably die with me, because the only thing I have. The only reason not to kill myself right now, is what I can accomplish before I'm too ****** up to accomplish anything. The only salvation I have is what I can do for my people. I can't do anything at all from a hospital bed. I have a time limit. My due-date is coming, and the only salvation I have, is getting as much done as I can. All in the while I can...and my people are under threat. My nation has been invaded, and I'm not permitted to take up arms."
"So...you told me what you must do, tell me what you want."
Elizabeth drew in a deep breath. "I want to be allowed to do my duty." she said, "I want you to take down the barriers and let me do everything I can to defend my home and guarantee my people's future. I may not have one, but there are a billion and a half people in the Kowloon system. I'm responsible for all of them, responsible to defend their safety, their prosperity, and their sovereignty against outsiders. I want you to let me do that."
"Something a little less abstract?" he asked.
"I want to hurt the ****** clans." she said, "They took my father, they took my brothers, they sent my mother over the edge and took her too." she clenched her fist, "I want to hurt them...like they've hurt millions of our people, I want a measure of vengeance, of justice, I want to see them experience the fear and the chaos, I want to see them driven from Lyran soil in despair and pain. I want to live to see the day they're driven to flee from us."
[....Later in Archon-Prince's Office]
The last of the petitioners were gone, Victor was alone with his paperwork and his staff.
The others had been easy-mostly 'no' for obvious reasons, a few that looked beneficial got 'yes' and about a third were to be sent back for further clarification.
"Theodore, would love that kid." He said, looking at the one that was bothering him still.
"Pardon, sir?" Curiatis asked.
"Ngo. Theodore would love that kid." he leaned back in the chair. "No long-term threat because she's got an incurable illness, good family background, and wants to serve...unless you found something in her psychographics?"
"No sir. everything in her history and her behavior says she's sincere...you gonna do it? lift the exemption, let her enlist?"
Victor planted his feet, and sat up. "No." he turned to his aide, "No, I won't do that." He drew in a breath, "I'm going to give her an option."
"Option?"
"MIIO noted the girl's got half a billion people living off-planet in that system. They've got shipyards, asteroid mines, and a lot of other low-observable infrastructure." Victor began. "How do you suppose they get around that with a population density of one person per Billion square kilometers at max?"
"Um...dropships-you're not thinking dropships." says Curiatis
"No, I'm not. The approach limit to Kowloon, how long is it?"
"About as long as Mizar...Oh shit, jumpships! They'd have to be using them just to keep the system operating!"
Victor nodded. "They would. The Clans have most of what's left of the Star League's navy, and nobody conquers anything without landing."
"The Naval program?" asks Curiatis
Victor nodded. "The naval program. I'm going to give her the option of participating. 'If you can build it, you can serve with it'." He laid a hand on the desk. "She'll either realize it's too big a job and give up on this idea of charging into hell, or we get a hip-flask naval reserve that the Realm's enemies don't know we have."
"Win-win." Cruiatis says
Victor nodded. "I expect her to try, I expect her to quit, but this way I don't feel like an ****** for telling her no, and I'm not a monster for telling her yes."