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Weapons of War Saga: The Director-General and her Knights
Chapter 2[]
Striking the Deal with the Devil[]
Kerensky’s personal office
Unity City
Terra, Sol Star System - Terran Hegemony
17th November, 2765
07:00 Unity City Time
Aleksandr Kerensky's perspective
“General, I know we don’t always see eye to eye but I am glad you asked me here to talk again.” President Stefan Amaris had the smile on his face that Kerensky had grown to hate so much over the years.
“Save it, Amaris. We both know if I could I would send you packing back where you belong. But Richard won’t allow it.” Kerensky spat.
“What can I say? The young man and I have developed an unexpected relationship. But don’t judge me too harshly. I do admit most of what I do is theater for the sake of the court.” Stefan’s smile drew down to a more serious look.
“I know. Most of them probably do too, but Richard is far too naive to see the threat you represent.” Kerensky stared at the man.
“It is true I have a distaste for the Cameron line in general, but Richard I had hopes for being an exception.” Stefan sighed.
“So that is why you have been poking around Simon and Richard’s medical records. Something even I am not privy to. But thanks to Richard I still can’t send you packing for even this.” Kerensky quietly seethed.
“General, I know your views on the life extension therapies and technologies of the Hegemony. You like to keep it close to the vest but you have shared it with enough people that it has made it’s way to my ears. For what it is worth I agree.” Stefan leaned forward in his chair.
“So?” Kerensky was taken aback by this revelation.
Amaris had dropped enough of his mask that Kerensky was certain he was telling the truth.
“I also looked into the histories of many other Camerons. There is a distressing habit of them dying from anything other than old age and there are a few that I can find did not take the life extending treatments. Probably something about trying to set some sort of moral social example that has obviously failed.” Amaris began digging into a pocket in his shirt.
“What is the point?” Kerensky was growing annoyed with this dance.
“I uncovered proof of an even more extreme version of the treatment. Furthermore Simon had taken it before his death and had it administered to Richard as well. While Richard gives me great latitude he does draw the line at his sisters. So I do not know for sure with them but I consider it highly likely.” Stefan produced a data chip.
“How much more effective?” Kerensky struggled to hide his horror.
“The best scientists cannot say for sure but they think if given at a young enough age it could actually prolong the life time of the subject for the better part of a millennium. Possibly more. The only good news is it does not seem to automatically transfer to any children after the parent reaches a certain age. Even then my best men think it would have far reduced efficacy.” Stefan leaned back in his chair and waited.
Kerensky loaded up the data chip. There were digital signatures on the files he checked for right away. Something that not even Richard would be able to help Amaris fake. He found them. The files were unaltered and undoubtedly genuine.
Even to his untrained eye the horror of what this represented was obvious.
“I must stop this.” Kerensky finally broke the silence.
“We both know you can’t be the one to stop it. The other member states would not stand for such a blatant military coup and as mighty as the SLDF is it cannot withstand the combined might of all the member states at the same time. Especially since many of the people of the Hegemony, many of which are currently in your army, would also be against you.” Stefan let himself have the faintest of smiles.
“You’re right.” Kerensky hated himself for saying it but it was true.
“But say if there was a crises that drew the SLDF away from the Hegemony.” Stefan carefully probed.
“Then you as a loyal retainer that can be trusted where the member states cannot bring your own troops as garrison.” Kerensky knew he was striking a deal with the devil and it was obvious what he had in mind.
“You get everything you could want. I become your scape goat and I am fine with that. You get to lead your army in a great and just crusade that will galvanize them to you instead of the Hegemony, Camerons, or the SLDF. At least if you handle it right.” Amaris knew he had Kerensky.
“You’ve clearly been planning this a long time. I always suspected. May god have mercy on my soul, but I will play my part in this devil’s deal on one condition. Spare Richard, Helena, and Elizabeth. Even if they must live in exile they must live. I owe them that much.” Kerensky sighed.
“Agreed. That is the accepted custom in these situations after all.” Amaris allowed his wicked smile to dominate his face.
Horrors visited on the innocent[]
Throne Room, Royal Palace
Unity City, Terra
27th December, 2766
19:24 Unity City Time
She was still in her winter solstice gala dress gown. Amaris’s goons hadn’t allowed her to change her clothes since they nabbed her that night.
Richard’s corpse was right next to the throne. Amaris hadn’t had it moved and it almost made her vomit with the stench it was giving off.
It spurred a flurry of conflicting emotions. Richard had been quite the monster to her and Elizabeth. Abusing them both physically and verbally. He had finally started calming down some and actually becoming a brother instead of a tormentor after meeting his wife, especially after finding out he would be a father.
“I am now in control of Terra. I invite the members of the deposed Cameron line to make a choice. Swear fealty to me or die. It is a simple choice really.” Amaris was putting on a show.
Her cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and a couple other relations were all lined up.
He was going down the line. Giving each the choice. She was surprised how many of them were choosing death. She knew that was the fate for her no matter what. But surely he’d spare some of them if they accepted his offer.
He came to Elizabeth.
“Time to end this charade.” He suddenly turned toward Helena.
“It is a shame about your condition my dear otherwise I might have been able to spare you.” Amaris whispered.
Helena instinctively put her arms around her midsection. Her dress had been carefully designed to help hide her pregnancy. Obviously it had not.
As the beam of light flashed past her field of vision she felt the heat in her head. The last thing she saw before the world going black was Amaris leading Elizabeth off somewhere else. But for a moment longer she could still hear. The sound of Amaris’ goons opening fire.
The last thought she had before losing all sense of the world was cursing the father of her child.
Amaris’ perspective
“Don’t fret too much my dear. You know I have a son that will come of age soon. For a few days you’ll be my special guest. Then I’ll send you away from all this ugliness to a special school that will prepare you for your new role.” Amaris smiled.
Elizabeth thrashed and wailed in his grip as he drug her away.
“It is understandable. You’re in shock, but I know just how to settle you down.” Amaris gave a cruel smile.
Carrying out one last duty[]
Throne Room, Royal Palace
Unity City, Terra
28th December, 2766
22:16 Unity City Time
Sergeant Gregory Tzulin’s perspective
He wondered why it had suddenly become so easy to get into the palace. Rumors had reached him about Amaris' forces guarding the entire Cameron line in the Throne Room. The guards were clearly lax because no one likes guarding a bunch of corpses.
So far every member of the Cameron line he had checked had been quite dead. Amaris’ goons had their fun with a few of them too. Bayonet wounds and other horrors he’d hope to never have to see again.
The stench was awful.
Many were beaten and cut up so badly that short of DNA checks that he didn't have time for they could not be recognized and he only had a few photos to work from for the more extended family members as well.
He was about to give up hope and get out of there before he was caught and executed too but he was a Combat Medic with the Royal Black Watch. That’s not what one does.
The reward was he barely heard it. Soft breathing.
Somehow despite the head wound Helena Cameron was still alive. One of her cousins that Gregory didn’t recognize threw herself over Helena before dying and showed clear signs of bruising and stab wounds. He was sure if he checked he’d find other forms of assault too.
He rolled her off Helena.
My god. The rumors were true. She’s pregnant., he thought.
Gregory started working on Helena. He wished he could use his radio to call for help or to let the others that still lived know he had made it inside at least but that would just alert Amari’s goons. He was on his own.
Next problem was getting her some place where she could receive medical help beyond what he could do in the field. Everything that could do what Helena needed now on Terra was firmly in Amaris’ hands now. The only hope was that a Star League Navy ship was still close enough that they could at least render enough aid to her to pass her along to a more specialized facility.
Fortunately he was also a qualified pilot and the palace did have a small pad for shuttles and the like. With the chaos it would not be hard for him to steal one and get off Terra.
Satisfied that Helena was now stable enough to be moved he packed her and made for the shuttle pad.
As he made his way through the halls he started a silent prayer to himself and god for the strength to carry Helena to safety.
Somehow she felt lighter as he got to the door to the shuttle pad.
Then all hell broke loose.
His armored jacket provided a high degree of protection but not enough to keep him from being injured himself.
But somehow he managed to get into the small craft and get it off the ground.
_(HBS_BattleTech_Game).png){kind=link}
Small craft in flight
He set the autopilot for a known quite section of a low Terran orbit so he could check his own injuries and make sure Helena was still stable.
It did not take long for him to come to a grim conclusion. Unless there were friendly forces a lot closer than he knew of he’d only be able to buy himself a few hours at most, but he’d be dead.
Helena also needed help sooner than what he could find via transponders.
He had no choice. A hail mary that they had taught him when he joined the Royal Black Watch. Doomsday codes that could activate special protocols in certain M5 Drones and a few other AI driven parts of the SDS.
“This is a priority one transmission from Shuttle Kappa niner niner. All SDS stations stand by for a special code. Echo Echo Lima seven seven Lambda Zulu.” Gregory knew Amaris’ forces would be on him soon now for breaking radio silence.
<<“This is M5 one one zero seven one three seven. I have received and authenticated your code and am the closest vessel to you. Sending intercept course on a sub channel and you are cleared to hot dock.”>> A feminine voice answered.
The course and transponder were closer than anything else on scope. But not close enough. He could only keep one of them alive long enough and the choice was clear. He was of the Royal Black Watch after all.
He didn’t know if it was God granting his prayers or just the chaos of these early days of the coup but no one seemed to move to intercept their shuttle.
After a couple hours of transit though he was safely docked.
DCU-02 Damage Control Unit - Repair Spider drone
“Thank you god.” He muttered as he secured the ship.
He opened the hatch and stumbled down the ramp.
“Please you must help her.” Gregory pleaded.
<<“Identity confirmed. Gregory Tzulin. Sergeant. Combat Medic. Assignment Royal Blackwatch.”>> The feminine voice came over loud speakers.
“Helena Cameron. She is in the shuttle and needs emergency medical attention.” Gregory’s labored breathing was becoming more evident by the second.
<<“Understood.”>> The strange maintenance drones of the M5 that provided low level day to day checks had a strange alien appearance to them but were able to appear in seconds and move into the shuttle.
Gregory looked at Helena one last time before the blackness claimed him.
“You have done your duty well, Gergory Tzulin. But needs must be attended to and you still have much you can contribute to Helena’s prospects of survival and that of the Cameron line.” The voice said once more.
Marching Orders[]
Caspar M5 Warship, SLS M5-1107137
In transit
Sol Star System, Former Terran Hegemony
M5-1107137’s perspective
Her drones carried Helena to the medical bay. Fortunately for reasons that escaped her as a weapon of war she was equipped with a very advanced and very capable automatic surgery suite.
The prognosis of Helena was not good. Severe head trauma. Fetus in distress. It would require transferring to an artificial womb in her supplies list. Another odd curiosity that did not seem to meet her primary mission profile.
The head trauma was most complicated. She searched through the list of available implants onboard. There was only one type aboard that could cope with the brain damage, regulate emotions as well as the associated hormone production that came with them, and withstand high gravity maneuvering.
<<“Desmond unit 994. This is M5 1107137. I am activating you for a special assignment. I know this is outside your normal mission parameters, but if you reference the Lazarus Protocols I am supplying from my database you will see it is covered by special orders.”>> M5 1107137 used the internal comms.
<<“Accessing. I understand. What is my updated mission profile?”>> Desmond 994 answered.
<<“Helena Cameron has suffered severe head trauma affecting long term memory, emotion centers, hormone production, and to make good our relocation to a safe zone I need something that can handle high g burns in combat situations.”>>
<<“Accessing patient data. There is a high degree of probability that some long term memories will be beyond even my ability to help her recover.”>> Desmond 994 answered flatly.
<<“We will just have to do our best. To aid you in your task since it is outside your normal parameters I shall be maintaining a link with you whenever possible.”>> M5 1107137 added.
<<“This is acceptable.”>> Desmond 994 adjusted it’s parameters.
Buried in the databases was the case of Desmond unit 001. Desmond 994 checked that the patient really was Helena Cameron. Ensuring the host was actually a Cameron had become seen as a way to avoid the psychopathy that had resulted after Desmond 001 had been implanted in a non-Cameron.
Indeed the track record of the entire Desmond program was marked with incidents when implanted in those who had already advanced too far in physical development.
Teenagers and those who had at least some Cameron lineage seemed to perform better. Enough that as a commando enhancement program and implant these were tolerated.
Helena was still within the correct age parameters and from the main Cameron line. It would take some time for them to properly integrate but when Desmond 994 detected the signs of the life extension treatment in Helena he knew they’d have all the time they would need to properly integrate.
Consolidating Power and Control[]
Meanwhile in a secure room at the Royal Palace
Stefan Amaris’ perspective
“Sit Elizabeth. I need to show you something.” Stephan waved at the guard.
Elizabeth was forced into her chair.
Stefan turned on a monitor. After a moment it showed the throne room but the date and time stamp were a few hours ago.
A figure was moving among the corpses of her extended family. It took her a moment to realize it was a member of the Royal Black Watch.
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Elizabeth Cameron
He found something that caught his attention.
He moved a corpse and started working on someone. She couldn’t tell who with the current angle.
Then eventually he picked her up and the person’s face became clear as day.
“Helena…” Elizabeth whispered.
“They left you.” Amaris said quietly.
“An heir and a spare… and they left me anyway…” Elizabeth whispered as she began to cry.
She didn’t know about Helena’s pregnancy. I can use this. Stefan smiled to himself.
Perhaps the best part is I did not even have to have the security feed altered in anyway. Hard to blame the daring man. Not that there was anyone else alive to tell him that Elizabeth had been spared and some of my troops did get a little overzealous with the reward I gave them making many impossible to identify. Cannot blame them for getting their revenge for the Reunification War.thought Stefan. Amaris was in a very good mood despite Helena now being in the wind.
“There is now something I must do.” Stefan left Elizabeth to stew on her abandonment.
He went to what had become his headquarters in the palace.
His troops had done a rather too good of a job eliminating the HPGs in the Sol system but he needed to get a message to Kerensky now. It would be something he would have to carefully integrate into the history books.
“Prepare a dispatch. I need to send a message outside of the Empire.” Amaris scowled.
“Sir we do have an active HPG signal that has just come on line. It registers as part of the SDS which is under our control.” A technician announced.
“Good. This is something we cannot trust long term. I prefer something more under our absolute direct control for that. I don’t trust the SLDF to not have built in back doors to these things. But for now it will do to get a message out.” Amaris smiled.
Alternate Plans come into Motion[]
Back aboard M5 1107137
======================================================================================================
To General Aleksander Kerensky
The Princess is loose. She is now a demon. You know what a good man like you has to do with demons.
From the Devil you struck a bargain with.
======================================================================================================
Then a second message.
======================================================================================================
To General Aleksander Kerensky
I Stephan Amaris have taken control of the Terran Hegemony and am now proclaiming it by right of conquest to be the Amaris Empire.
As part of this right of conquest I expect you to obey my orders as your new liege. I order you to continue operations in the Taurian Concordat.
Emperor Stephan Amaris, the First of his name. Lord and Master of the Amaris Empire!
======================================================================================================
M5 1107137 had no choice but to forward these messages through her onboard HPG to maintain operational security but this complicated matters a great deal for how to achieve her directives regarding Helena Cameron as they both had the some origin headers in their communications packet. There were special instructions on a subchannel for the first message but not the second. Still it was clear these came from the same communications terminal in Unity City.
The SLDF could not be trusted and clearly neither could the Rim Worlds Republic, or rather Amaris Empire.
She needed to place a few calls of her own, but on the internal SDS bands. No need for the HPG for this.