Note: Chapters 19-23 are being posted together.
“You should talk to her, before you ask,” Sai said, her face settling into a scowl. “Hearing from her directly beats the games of charades we’re playing through her aides and proxies. I can even dream that I’ll intimidate her into fucking off.”
“Can I dream about naughtier things?” Lati asked.
“Sure. They’re more likely to come true.”
Heafi and Yany cleared their throats at the same time. After glancing at each other, Yany inclined her head.
“I can let her know you will speak with her at your leisure, Administrator,” Heafi said. “When she’ll respond is unknown. FTL communications to the Union are less than reliable, and I doubt Mortami possess the psychics that Executor Sai used to inform the Association of your appointment.”
Ethan frowned. “I’ll admit that I don’t understand how FTL comms work in the least. They just… have. I know they’re vaguely similar to foldgates, but way, way faster. Moving through foldspace takes days or weeks, but messages can be sent at almost real time.”
“The energy required to transmit data is orders of magnitude less than entire spaceships or fleets,” Sai explained. “That allows foldspace densities far in excess of anything for actual space travel. There’s also a huge amount of infrastructure underlying it. The largest use of psionics is arguably in FTL communications, as every solar system and planet have relay beacons full of them.”
Infrastructure… “That’s why it’s unstable here, isn’t it? If the Union has cut off the Rim, that means nobody is transmitting to us, right?”
“Correct,” Heafi said. “The FTL links between us and the Union have been severed for fifty cycles, including the long-range communication relays and foldbeacon at Nox Fuilin.”
Before Ethan could ask, Sai rolled her eyes and explained, “Foldbeacons are an ancient technology used for FTL travel. They’re basically FTL lighthouses to reduce the burden on Pathbuilders. While obsolete outside of emergency uses in war, the Rim is too far from Union space to use foldgates, so the Association uses—used—a foldbeacon in a system called Nox Fuilin. It is the gateway to the Union.”
“Was.” Heafi grimaced. “The system was abandoned around the time I was born due to the expense. Now, any FTL communications in and out of the Rim require dedicated psychics. That makes it expensive, frequently slow, and limited to profitable ventures or black market smuggling of information.”
“Indeed. The Union eliminated no small number of information brokers selling to the Association.” Sai frowned. “I do find it surprising that we never learned of the true state of the Rim during those missions.”
“Could it have been suppressed?” Ethan asked.
“Unlikely.” She sighed and her tail curled around her body as she stroked it. “The simplest explanation is usually the best. Nobody cared and the info contradicted official reporting, even if that official reporting was shit. We weren’t sending Executors after small fries transmitting broadcasts of Union elections or recordings of some idol’s concert, no matter how huge his bulge was. Nobody made waves and we’re here to clean up the mess.”
Kiels kept her expression neutral, but this was the first time Sai had been so explicit around her about why the state of the Rim didn’t match expectations. Ethan hoped the fox didn’t notice that Kiels should be more surprised.
“So Mortami might take a while to get back to us, but I’m assuming we can communicate quickly?” he asked.
“Lady Tithus is still available to us and more than capable of long-distance FTL communications.” Heafi smiled. “I checked and she’s awake.”
“Then tell Niura Mortami that I’ll speak with her alone,” Ethan said. “No reason to waste any more time with Mortami if it’s just more shell games we learn nothing from.”
He did wonder how Mortami sent it at the exact right time if they couldn’t manage long distance FTL comms. Perhaps Heafi was underestimating them?
In response to his order, Heafi began tapping away at her tablet.
“Let’s finally explore our palace?” He gestured to the building in the distance, which they’d gotten no closer to during their discussion.
His palace vaguely reminded him of the neo-classical buildings on Earth. Lots of bare stone and wood, with fancy decorations, and not a spec of paint to be seen. The walls shined with a dark gray slate with hints of purple within it that glowed in the shade, while austere white marble formed the trims and decorative elements. The doors used a natural wood that was a soft lilac that almost looked garish, but Ethan guessed it was there to contrast the monochrome and to match the lilac sky.
They found more color inside, particularly with the sheer amount of fancy stones used in the tiles. A ceiling fresco inside the domed top of the central atrium depicted a male figure on one side, and a naked mass of women on the other. The women were from many races, although the Yinil were noticeably missing, which dated the fresco. The man possessed wolf ears, a Vaelix tail, a Faecrim horn, taloned feet, scales on his face, and a few other minor features that made his race indistinct.
What wasn’t indistinct was the size of his penis.
“I’m assuming whoever commissioned that took his mission of seeding the Rim very seriously,” Ethan said.
Lati giggled while looking up at it. “It’s as thick as his thigh. Was he going to fill up syringes and impregnate everyone that way?”
“That’s how most women get pregnant these days, so maybe?” Kiels scratched behind one ear. “Pretty sure the Empress does things that way.”
“No, her eggs are fertilized and grown in artificial wombs,” Sai corrected. “It would be impossible for the Taeran Empresses to create the sheer number of progeny they do if they gave birth to them personally, even if the current one has spent more time pregnant than most.”
As if they possessed psychic senses that had been triggered by Ethan’s arrival, Junim trotted into the atrium from opposite doors. Their talons clacked on the tiles as they bounced up to him.
“This fresco was a gift to the first Administrator to rule the Association from Rylamis,” Junim explained. “It is a depiction of the vital role all Sovereigns play to their populace, especially when the Union appoints them to create a new dynasty.”
Ethan blinked. “First… to rule from Rylamis? You mean the first Sovereign?”
The bird twins tilted their heads. This time, they spared him that strangely calculating look and merely appeared surprised.
Heafi coughed. “The Association’s capital moved to Rylamis Prime following the end of the Bershlagger dynasty, roughly three hundred cycles ago. It was… controversial. Hence the many monuments to their rule, as a peace offering to the partners still loyal to them.”
Junim’s faces turned oddly expressionless, as if this was a subject they didn’t want to broach.
“Because I sense this is a topic that everyone will endlessly dance around, I’ll be blunt,” Sai said. “The Union intervened and appointed a new, specifically male, Sovereign. Hence what you saw in the portrait gallery earlier. I imagine there are many theories as to why, and even the records in the Union are unclear, as almost everything is sealed. Officially, the lack of a male Sovereign was creating birthrate problems. The Rim has always relied on clones, but birth rates were truly atrocious.”
“Unofficially?” Ethan asked.
“I think it’s too complicated to come down to one thing.” She shrugged at his look. “History is rarely so simple it can be reduced to a single conspiracy, Ethan. The Union almost certainly worried about the Association’s growing power, but it wasn’t doing anything to curb it and the Bershlaggers were Union royalty. I have a niece who once secretly dated one, and Taer-Vaelix relations are highly unusual.”
He didn’t ask about the genders involved, but suspected the secrecy had been due to that being a lesbian relationship.
Sai continued, “The real reason I think the records are sealed is that they contain facts that are deeply harmful to some very powerful people. Males are rare here, even beyond what birth rates suggest they should be, and the Association has never maintained a government stock of breeders, instead relying on other programs and large amounts of clones. That’s…” She stopped suddenly.
Yany stared pointedly at her mistress. Sai sighed.
“I’ll stop before I say something unwise,” the Vaelix said. “It’s ancient history and liable to offend more than benefit. Suffice it to say, Ethan, that many will view Union-appointed Sovereigns as… interfering with the independence of the Rim, because that’s how it looked to most when we ended the Bershlagger dynasty. I recommend accepting that fact, and then ignoring why they care. You’re here, you need to rule, and if they don’t accept you then things can only get worse for everyone involved.”
“I have a bad feeling this schism I’ve heard about has something to do with independence,” he mused.
“Not really,” Heafi said. “But it does have to do with the legacy of the Bershlagger dynasty, if not them directly. They all moved to the Union after their dynasty was unseated.”
“Did somebody tell their former allies that the war was over?”
She cracked a smile. At least that concept was universal.
Then her tablet flashed and she froze. Her eyes widened as she stared at it. Everything was written in the Faecrim’s language, which Ethan’s translation module began translating as he looked at it, but she pulled it up to her face before he found the time to read anything.
When Yany and Sai scowled, he knew something had happened. Kiels and Lati remained in the dark. Fiona hovered nearby, presumably waiting to be briefed on her upcoming mission.
“Nobody’s grabbing their weapons and shoving me into a bunker or shuttle, so I’m assuming this isn’t about a coup,” Ethan said.
“Niura Mortami already responded,” Heafi said. “She wants to speak directly with you via video call.”
He blinked. “Video? Not hologram?”
While he mostly used video and audio transmission as a privateer, that was because his old ship had been cheap and shitty, and lacked a fancy holographic communication rig. But this palace and Mortami’s fancy super-barge would have massive rooms for holographic conferencing that would make it seem almost like talking in person.
“Simple video and audio are a much lower burden than the data necessary for a full holographic projection,” Sai said. “She probably can’t manage an FTL holographic conference with the Rim.”
“Is it surprising she can manage a video call?” he asked.
“I’m unsure. Mortami don’t have any Epsilon-class Pathbuilders on their payroll, which I’d expect for a real-time transmission from Yinil or Taer space… but she might not be there.” Sai’s eyes bore into him, and he got the message.
“She’s close, in other words. Potentially close enough that she might give it away if she used a hologram?”
Sai nodded. “It’s also possible she’s on her way here. Hence the delaying tactics. It’s impossible for Anittilar to have beaten us here. This isn’t a bad movie where our foes can be mysteriously faster because the plot demands it.”
He hoped she was right, because Mortami had been one step ahead so far.
“Heafi, tell her yes. I assume we’ll talk with her immediately?” he said.
“Of course. I’ll lead you to—” heafi began to say.
“We’ll lead the Sovereign to the most suitable conferencing room,” Junim interrupted, and attempted to take his hands.
Kiels blurred as she cut them off. The Hirami fluttered their wings at her, before clicking their tongues as if they were beaks and bowing.
“If you will follow us, Sovereign, we shall lead the way,” Junimi said.
“And ensure refreshments are provided. More coffee?” Junima asked.
“I’ve had enough…” he paused. “Actually, I might need more caffeine. So yes. Make it Taer-style, but a little stronger and not in a cup the size of my head. Make sure everyone else has refreshments as well.”
“If you wish it, Sovereign,” they said together.
Apparently they would help others if he asked them to. Something to note for the future.
The conference room turned out to be an odd blend of a throne room and executive office. False windows displayed a glorious view of the planet as if from a mountaintop, with rolling hills and a glittering ocean. Flowers in fantastical colors and shapes spilled out from vases carefully hidden behind furnishings and paneling, as if to give the illusion the room contained a natural garden. A trickling fountain burbled in the rear, directly opposite a massive screen as large as a small movie theater. Naturally, the water from the fountain came from naked women—one Vaelix, one Taer, and one Hotum.
A plush throne in dark wood and steel dominated the center, and looked brand new. Long desks flanked the sides of the room with adjustable chairs behind them.
Ethan sat on the cushioned throne, and Junim plumped several more cushions around him before he got them to stop. When he looked closer, he was certain it was new.
“Wouldn’t there have been an old throne for me to use?” he asked, trying to get comfortable. “It’s a bit big.”
Junim shifted nearby, visibly frustrated that he’d dismissed them when they hadn’t gotten him settled on the throne yet.
“Our data on human heights was… very incomplete,” Heafi said. “At the time the Union cut us off, it listed human males as varying between <five and eight feet> tall. While that data has been corrected, that still makes you larger than the males of most races.”
He blinked. “It does? I’ve met a couple of Yinil guys on Dominio, and more than a few Faecrim. The Faecrim were around my height, and the Yinil only a bit shorter than Lati.”
Lati let out a snort. “Please. That’s because they would have been stuffed full of cybernetics and enhancements. I’m naturally taller than most Yinil, which is why I never needed metal legs, but we vary in height a lot. The shorties lop their limbs off and overcompensate.”
“And the Faecrim?” he asked.
“They have undergone the same level of selective breeding and gene therapy as the female populace,” Yany explained. “It was considered desirous for them to be taller, but without the same… exaggerated proportions of Faecrim women.”
“Being fifty percent legs, you mean?”
“Yes. Coincidentally, the reason nullifiers have more normal proportions is that we inherit more from our fathers than most women, who undergo gene therapy in the womb to look like ‘normal’ Faecrim.”
Ethan held his tongue on Faecrim beauty standards. As if reading his mind, a ghost of a smile still appeared on Yany’s face.
“But yeah, you’re decently tall.” Kiels leaned on his head with an elbow as if to undermine her point. “I think it’s some flipped evolutionary thing for humans. Taer women are big and strong, and the males small and nimble. Makes dick enhancements look fucking stupid as shit on them.”
“I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of them,” Sai drawled.
“On a mission once, yeah.” Kiels frowned, despite her light tone. “Pleasure yacht of a Taeran noble went off course, picked up some nasty virus that fucked up everyone it touched through their modules. Saw more males on that mission then I’ll probably see the rest of my life, and they all had cocks the size of their arms. Most of them cybernetic.”
“I’m assuming that informs your preference?” Ethan asked, remembering her comment a while ago about how he should remain ‘real’ down there.
She remained silent, but didn’t stop leaning on him.
Heafi coughed, her face red along with Yany’s. “We should proceed with the video call. Niura… Lady Mortami—”
“What’s Mortami’s status relative to ours? Socially?” Ethan interrupted.
“Based on the Association’s current state or its perceived?” Sai asked.
“Both.”
“In the current state, you should treat her as an equal, but one just slightly lesser. You’re the king of a country going through hard times and she’s a queen of a historically weaker nation that is now a threat.” The fox’s expression told him she didn’t believe her own words. “In its perceived state, she’s a lesser power to your greater power. You couldn’t shoot her or claim her without causing an incident, but you can talk down to her and her actions will ensure everyone will look the other way whatever you choose to do to her once you crush her.”
“Her or Mortami?” he clarified.
“Her,” she stressed. “The Taeran Empress has a direct interest in Mortami Extraction. Niura’s actions could be construed as an insult to you, and potential leverage in the far future, but if we destroyed the company outright or tried to seize it, we’d be bluntly told to stop or you’d become the Empress’s prize.”
He glanced up at Kiels, who grimaced.
“Don’t look at me. Whether or not the Hounds or even Miss Executor here sides with you means little if an entire Taer fleet drops in and decides to vaporize you,” Kiels said.
“For future reference, I advise not explicitly committing diplomatic transgressions against major interstellar powers with fleets large enough to conquer the Rim,” Sai said drily. “I don’t mean this threat, but my job would require me to replace you. Even if I do like you.”
“Thanks. That means a lot,” he said, his tone matching hers.
Although it had been a while since she’d made an implicit threat against him. This time, he genuinely felt she didn’t mean it.
Not pissing off the Taer Empire felt like a low bar.
Heafi, Sai, Fiona, and Yany took seats on the desks to the side. Lati began to follow, before being ushered back by Sai. Before Ethan could make them sit, Junim vanished out the door and returned with two trays full of drinks. He’d spotted a female servant hiding around a corner earlier and presumed they’d been preparing this.
Kiels and Lati stood beside his throne, both with their preferred coffees, while Ethan sipped at his. Junim waited dutifully in front of the duo. After a moment, Kiels sighed, downed hers and gave it back. Lati followed suit and the birds fluttered out of the room again.
“It looks bad if the bodyguards are standing around drinking shit,” Kiels said when he glanced up at her. “Especially if we want Lati to play the role of being dissatisfied.”
“Oh yeah.” Lati blinked a few times. “I guess I should look bored or something. If the queen bitch can call us, that means she can tell her people about me, right?”
“Duh.”
Finally, after much ado, the massive screen turned on. Ethan felt a need to lean back and try to absorb it all at once. It was way too damn big, even in this massive room.
Then the blank screen flickered and a colorful backdrop appeared. One with a gorgeous Taer sitting on her own throne in a pastel-colored chamber that looked like an extraordinarily colorful rendition of something like the interior of the Palace of Versailles, in all its overwrought glory. Fake windows showed a vision of the stars beyond, and a pair of massive portraits depicted women in enormous dresses and similarly enormous busts.
The Taer sitting on the throne looked tiny compared to her throne room. She wore a dress that cascaded down from her chest and never seemed to end. Layer after layer of silken ivory glory rippled along her hips, thighs, legs, and then along stairs beneath her throne until it vanished out of view of the camera. It would be impossible to stand, let alone walk, in such a monstrous dress.
It was while taking in the dress that Ethan noticed the first cracks in the woman’s appearance. He’d heard Niura Mortami was half-Hotum, half-Taer, much like Tithus. But while Tithus was a Hotum with the build of a Taer, Niura was the opposite. Her strawberry pink wolf ears and hair, with red roots and beautifully done up curls that poured over one shoulder, combined with a luxuriously long wolf’s tail to suggest she was a Taer through-and-through. Yet her frame looked too small, even without a visible point of comparison, and he knew she was shorter than him.
More tellingly was the red hue in her deeply tanned skin. Her dress barely covered her nipples in ivory points, but she wore sheer, skintight black cloth over her chest that shined with innumerable ruby-like shards. Strong eyeliner covered the telltale concentric Hotumrun rings around her gold eyes. Mortami’s logo shined on a cheek in black ink, or perhaps it was a tattoo.
Niura Mortami smiled beatifically as she leaned back against her throne, one hand dancing beneath her chin and the other relaxing in her lap. “You look cuter than Ani suggested. She’s been whining about ‘that human male’ ever since you refused our generous offer. Your photos were quite bland, but a little freshening up can do wonders for everyone.”
“Is this a social call about marriage or business?” Ethan replied, frustrated that he’d let her get the first word in while he’d soaked in her appearance.
“Marriage?” Niura’s wolf ears lowered to each side. “Oh. A weird human thing. I can do exclusivity if you like. It’s not like I have my own harem of males. If accepting you as my one and only lover, and the father of my heirs, is all it takes to end this silly tiff, then I’ll happily do it.”
Now he regretted mouthing off. She sounded genuine and he wasn’t sure where to go next.
Sai saved him, as she leaned her head on folded fingers and shot the screen a skeptical look. “If this could end with you being happily bred by Ethan and a partnership or incorporation of Mortami Extraction with the Folimai Association, I’d barely be able to contain my jubilation. But ‘silly tiffs’ don’t usually involve rented battlecruisers and small fleets in opposition a Union executor.”
Niura bowed her head and lifted one of the many layers of her extravagant dress. “I unreservedly apologize for the mistakes of my subordinates. They were unaware of your involvement, and certainly did not wish Administrator Folimai any harm. I’d punish them, but I believe you already have.”
“Not the ones who gave them their orders,” Ethan said.
“I can have their heads sent to you if you like? Along with whatever documentation or confessions you require.” Niura smiled again, and it shook him how genuine it looked despite how obviously she was lying.
He needed to cut through the bullshit somehow. She was far better at this game than him. Growing up as the heir to a megacorp—even a small one—had prepared her for the layers of bureaucracy and political bullshit of the galaxy, while he only knew the underbelly.
So why not confront it from that angle?
Ethan changed his posture, instead choosing to lean his face on his fist. “Look, I don’t really care about the political games and posturing. You’ve been moving toward the Rim since before I was even appointed, right? The moment you learned about me, you tried to grab me. It was a nice attempt. But Anittilar was a bitch and not a terribly competent one.”
The cat-wolfgirl on the other side of the call blinked a few times and her tail swished exactly once. He almost thought the screen had frozen, but Heafi shook her head at him when he glanced at her through his peripheral vision.
“I… see,” Niura said after too long. “I believe Ani’s offer was a generous one. We could have easily negotiated the marriage you humans prefer. Perhaps you didn’t understand the state of the Rim at the time, but you certainly do now. It’s not the grand megacorp with its own battlefleets and more exports in a day than Mortami makes in a cycle. The potential remains, but it needs a firm, capable, experienced hand. One that’s handled mining for generations.”
“You, in other words.” Ethan showed no emotion on his face.
He’d always had a good poker face when negotiating with clients. It helped a lot when they came on to him in an attempt to underpay him.
“I don’t see any other mining magnates near us.” She giggled performatively. “Imagine how much more glorious your life could be if you partnered with me and let Mortami restore the Rim, dear Ethan.”
“He’s either the Sovereign or Administrator to you,” Heafi said coldly.
“My apologies,” Niura purred, gazing directly at Ethan through the screen.
Ethan stared at the screen for a few moments. This time, Sai didn’t interrupt. She tended to back down once he tried taking charge, he’d noticed.
Being aggressive seemed to be oddly effective with alien women. Perhaps the only person it hadn’t worked with lately had been Ulijaa. Stereotypes about men played to his advantage.
“How do you know about the state of the Rim, Niura?” he asked. “The Union has executed information brokers for breaching the blockade.”
“Oh, I’m Niura, am I? Very well, I’ll allow it,” she said. “The reason is rather mundane, you see. I’m a huge fan of Ixi Marui! My mother gave me a plushie of her when I was little, and I stumbled on her old concerts from before we cut off the Rim and needed more. While transmitting in and out of the Rim is illegal, trading in anything that’s already left it isn’t. So I availed myself to the gray market of everything to do with Ixi. As happens, her social media musings made the plight of the Rim and the shattering of the Association very clear.”
Yany’s expression could have been used for the default face of an NPC in a videogame. She looked so unnaturally still and unmoving that Ethan knew she was containing her annoyance while also actively searching for anything about this Ixi Marui.
Hadn’t Junim mentioned her earlier as part of the welcoming party? She must be a big deal to be chosen to entertain a new Sovereign.
“Why not tell anyone else? Seek backing?” Ethan asked.
Niura traced the emblem on her cheek while finally looking away from his eyes. “Why are you the new Sovereign, Ethan?”
“Dumb luck? Having a cock? Being political inoffensive?” he suggested, deliberately choosing from several half-truths.
“All good answers, but they ignore the overarching truth. The Union chooses. I don’t know why they finally acted, and don’t care to find out. But what was there to gain by informing them of yet another of their bureaucratic blunders? They’d politely thank me then appoint a pawn to rectify the issue, leaving me with nothing.”
“And backers?”
“Mortami has more than enough financial power to take command of the Rim, if that’s your concern.” Niura’s eyes flashed as she returned to her prior expression.
That wasn’t an answer. More importantly, it was the first time she’d given a weaselly politician-like answer, instead of appearing earnest and open.
He pressed his advantage. “Let’s return to that talk of partnership. I didn’t like Anittilar’s offer because I’m not some soft boy who wants to sit around playing with his toys all day. However I got here, I am the Sovereign. The Union has granted me complete control over the Rim, and if I allow someone else a slice of it, it’s under my conditions and to work with me.”
Niura’s face turned cold. Her relaxed posture vanished.
Nearby, Sai smiled.
“I’ve brought Mortami Extraction back from the brink,” Niura said, voice like ice. “My mo… My predecessors strayed, and we nearly paid the ultimate price. The Empress granted me the opportunity to prove our worth, and I’ve done so. It’s been my life’s work. Perhaps you aren’t some soft male whose only worth will be the ability to grant me heirs and entertain me, but I won’t share my family’s legacy with someone who has proven nothing. I have everything to offer you, and the proof to wit, while you stand atop a claim granted to you by fortune.”
Sai’s smile vanished. Fury glimmered in her eyes, but she hid her emotions save for whitening knuckles as she formed her hands into a ball atop the desk.
“Then Sai was right, and you’re not offering what you claim to,” Ethan said, choosing not to rise to her bait. “I’d consider a partnership. You’re right that the Rim isn’t what it once was, but nothing stops me from drawing on that potential to crush whatever challenges you bring to me.”
“Oh, I’m far from the only challenge you’ll face, dear Ethan,” Niura said. “Contact me when you understand just how much I’m offering you.”
She and her pastel room vanished, leaving a void of silence behind.