Saving the Royal Federation

Let’s move

The next morning Jack woke up from a silent buzz. His phone was vibrating. Jack grabbed his phone with a hand and with one eye looked at the screen. It showed “Caller Unknown”

“Yes” Jack answered with a silent tone. Finally the tiredness kicked in, all the muscles were sore from not getting enough rest. There was a pause, then an anxious voice of a woman answered:

“The sun is setting”

“It will rise in the morning” Jack replied.

“Finally you picked up! It is all over news what happened to the palace. We were so worried that you did not survive as minister at least for a day.”

The woman sounded really worried, but now more relieved.

“I was not able to see the news yet. Too tired after looking into all this mess. What did it say about me?”

“Nothing, only that the kings fleet finished the Clementine attack, that the heir is dead, but the heirs wife miraculously survived.”

Jack sat on the bed and held his face with another hand.

“Of course they did not mention me” Jack said irritated “It does not matter, though. You do not need to call me everyday. I will stick to the plan and hope it works out. Please wait for my call.”

Jack wanted to end the conversation.

“JACK!” the woman shouted in the phone before he could hung up. After a small pause, she spoke silently “I am glad you are okay. Take care.”

The call ended. Jack stood up and looked to his phone. He had lots of missed calls and a busy schedule for today. It was already 6 AM, he got dressed and went through the door. He had a Ruling Council meeting from 7 AM, but first there was something he had to check.

In the day light the debris looked even worse than at night. As it was still early, the palace looked calm. Only the roaming soldiers reminded that everyone were still alert after the attack. No one knew how the Clementine went through the intergalactic defense near the planets surface.

Walking to the Security quarters, Jack was thinking about the call. It was expected for the Royalty to forget to mention him that he alerted about the attack. Most likely everyone, him included, would have been dead. The war with Clementine has weakened the Royal Federation, the whole political system was in a crisis. Maybe he should step down now? Let it fall, let it burn to the ground? No, it was not his goal.

When he reached the Security quarters, he could see that it was heavily guarded. He was stopped by four soldiers:

“General Sera, good morning“ one of the soldiers started to speak “How can I help you?“

“Good morning. I need to see the employees who were on duty before and during the attack“

“They are not here, General“ the soldier responded “But I think you can speak to the investigation team.”

“What investigation team?” Jack asked suspecting the answer. The soldiers shared a glance. Jack understood that they do not know any more information.

“Let me through” he said in a commanding tone. All the soldiers stepped aside. Jack went through several corridors until he reached the stairs going underground. It was heavily guarded, but they let Jack through.

The main room of Security Quarters were full of technology. Half the walls were with huge monitors, which displayed the planets surface, the other monitors showed all the intergalactic ship movements in and out of the planet. You could see all the cosmic ships moving. In the other monitor you could see the movements of the Gold Palace. It was fully monitored. Or at least everyone thought so.

Jack stood silently in the back for a minute. A group of people were sitting near computers analyzing some data, going through archives.

“Who is in charge here?!“ Jack shouted loudly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to the one man in the back. He was short, had blond hair and several freckles on his cheeks.

“Nice to meet you, General Sera” the man came to him and extended his hand for Jack to shake. Jack noticed that two fingers of his right hand were missing. “My name is Prince Dr. Frederick Hendel“. Jack ignored his hand and started to walk around the room, looking into all the details of the room. It was really secure or at least everyone thought so. The Prince smiled and continued to talk “I am in charge of the investigation team, we are trying to find out why no one saw those ships coming.“

Jack stopped for a second. He should not be surprised that the Royals take over this investigation.

“Who appointed you?“ Jack asked silently while looking over one of the employees data.

“Minister Princess Dr. Maeve Gregory“ Frederick somehow seemed frightened of Jack. Jack looked him in the eyes. He really was afraid.

“Of course“ Jack said irritated “What have you found out so far?“

Frederick seemed panicked, could not find the words. There was a pause, then he said:

“Nothing conclusive so far. We just started investigation and did not finish the analysis yet and we...“

“So you have no clue why the breach happened.“ Jack firmly interrupted.

“Not yet, as we...“

“We are done here“ Jack went through the door. This was getting him nowhere. After getting out of the Security quarters, Jack called his fleet. Keira answered:

“Yes, Jack“

“Keira, I have 20 minutes, let’s meet up.“

He hung up and went to the south of the Golden Palace. Outside of the palace, there were several ships of his fleet. Keira and 15 other soldiers met him near his ship. Keira was a middle-aged woman, an old friend of Jacks. He was not a people person, but she was the one who fought with him shoulder to shoulder during all those long years in never ending battles. She was two years younger than Jack, but it did not show. She had brown long hair, that were always in a low bun.

“Jack“ Keira seemed worried “What is going on?!“

Jack slightly raised his palm. It was a sign for her to stop talking. Jack looked over his shoulder, no one was following him. All the soldiers roaming the Golden Palace were looking the other way.

“Let’s go inside“ Jack said firmly. Everyone went inside into the main spaceship. There was a small round table in the commanding room. Jack looked through the monitors and shut all the electronics down. He felt the whispers around the commanding room. There were 15 soldiers, from which 5 were captains. He has to do this, his fingertips were tickling, he was excited.

“Jack, why are we here?“ Keira asked looking confused. Jack turned around, his face was calm now:

“How many soldiers do we have here in the Golden Palace?“

Everyone looked around. Keira seemed confused: “About 600 soldiers. 2500 including those orbiting the Gold planet.“

“Good. Good“ Jack said.

“I don’t understand“ Keira stepped closer to Jack “Is there another attack coming?“

“Yes, there is“ Jack answered “Here is what we will do“.

---

Jack and the other ministers were sitting by the table and waiting until all of the ministers arrive to the meeting. It was going to be a long meeting with lots of decisions. Keira, his fleet commander was standing in the far right of the room and looking around. She seemed calm now. Jack knew that he asked a lot from her, but she was loyal to his cause and understood what needs to be done.

Everyone were present except Maeve and the King. Jack was becoming restless. “Just look at her!“ Jack thought when he saw her coming into the meeting hall. The long black curly hair let loose, the dark green eyes looking straight to him and red lips burning bright as fire. She walked to the table and sat down in silence. He felt his blood boil, his fingers started to feel so warm and sweaty. This is not him, he is not accustomed to this kind of feeling. He clenched his right arm fingers into a fist and did the only thing that he knew best how to do – he slammed it to the table and shouted angrily:

“Is this how you treat the Chamber of Ministers?! Being THIS late?”

Her eyes looked surprised at first, but then she made a warm smile:

“Minister Sera, I apologize for being late” she looked at the data on her pad and very silently continued that only he could hear with a little smirk “I think you can manage”.

Keira stepped closer to Jack, but Jack nodded at her showing that everything is okay.

Then Prince Timothy, the right hand of the King, entered the room with two assistants.

“I see everyone is here. Let’s begin” Timothy started.

“When will the King join us?” Jack interrupted.

”The King as of this morning has left the Gold Planet.” Prince Timothy stated “Let’s begin the meeting with the new report of the casualties...”

“What do you mean he left the Gold Planet?” Jack sounded amused “Are there more important matters than the survival of Royal Federation?“

Prince Timothy seemed annoyed, his face went dark and he answered: “Yes, General Sera. The survival of the Royal family. Now let’s continue to the more essential matters...“

Maeve was looking at Jack. She seemed amused of his questions. Or was she?

The King leaving the Gold Planet was perfect for Jack. It means that the Kings Guard have left with him and all the roaming soldiers will be cut at least in half. King leaving also meant that this part of the galaxy was not safe for anyone.

It was two hours of reports, hard decisions for the economy, taxes and moving resources from one planet to another. It took a while until they finally got to the part where the investigation of the attack was mentioned. Prince Timothy looked to Maeve: “Minister Gregory, let’s look through the attack analysis.“

Maeve stood up:

“I have sent you all the data that we found about the attack.“ Everyone checked their pads, where statistics opened “The investigation team found out, that the breach was through this part of the atmosphere.“

A slide showed up, showing the picture of the planets atmosphere and the route where the three Clementine ships flew. Jack started laughing. Maeve stopped speaking and looked at him irritated:

“Is there something funny about this slide?“

“Of course, not“ Jack said without a smile on his face “It is funny that you think this information is important. We all really well know where the ships flew. EVERYONE SAW HOW THE SHIPS ATTACKED THE BUILDINGS!“ Jack started shouting. Then calmly he continued “Just tell us, where is the security breach.“

Maeve was getting angry.

“The investigation team did not find anything yet. We think the answer should be in that Clementine ship that fell. We should investigate it now...“

Jack stood up, with his hand showing for Maeve to stop talking:

“I’m gonna stop you right here. MY team will investigate it. We got the ship, we will make sure to research it.“

“Minister Sera“ Prince Timothy interrupted “We do not have time for this. I have 10 more long meetings beside this and 6 short ones in between. Researching war equipment is Dr. Maeve's jurisdiction. Your jurisdiction is taking action in battle. Please solve it together and report to me what you find out. Thank you all for coming. Wait for more details about the next meeting after few days.“

Prince Timothy and all the ministers went out the hall with all the assistants and bodyguards with them. Maeve and Jack were still standing beside the table, looking at each other, angry. Keira went near Jack and silently asked him: “Now?“.

“Yes. Let’s do it“ Jack said firmly for Maeve to hear and went out the room with Keira behind him.

Maeve looked confused.

Jack went straight to his spaceship. Keira sat near the commanding module and started the engine: “This is commander Keira. Is everyone ready?“

A man’s voice answered from the radio sequence:

“Yes, commander“

“Let’s go“.

8 small spaceships went into air and flew to the other side of the Golden Palace, where all the Royalty spaceships were docked. Two of the spaceships docked in the middle of the docking station. Jack and his crew, overall 130 men went out of the spaceships near three small ships.

20 soldiers came to meet them. One blond haired soldier came to the front to meet Jack: “We do not have any news about your arrival. Please stay down and explain.“

Jack drew his gun and pointed to the blond soldier. All the other men behind Jack, did the same.

“I am Minister Sera, as your commanding officer I say that, we are taking over these spaceships “Magda of Roy“, “Helen of Gourth“ and “Melanie of Hew“. Please hand them over peacefully.“

The soldiers in front of them seemed confused. General Sera was above them, but this was Royalty army, usually they had their own Royal Commanders.

The blond soldier lowered his gun and stepped aside. All the other soldiers did the same and all the Jack’s crew came through. They went straight to the three spaceships. While they were entering the ships, Keira told Jack: “I hope you are sure“.

“Yes, Keira, I am sure“ Jack answered.

In all of the ships, the equipment for Clementine ship investigation were already stacked inside. When Jack entered the main commanding room in the “Magda of Roy“ he stopped for a second. In the seat of the commander, there was a familiar figure.

“Dr. Gregory?“ Jack sounded surprised. Maeve was looking through her pad in the seat when she saw him and his crew entering, she seemed shocked.

“Minister Sera, what are you doing here? This is my research ship.“

Jack laughed:

“Not anymore. Keira, let all the former crew members out of OUR research ship.“

Keira and five other soldiers pointed the guns to four crew members that were in the passenger seat and one member near commanding panel: “Please come with me outside“

“What?!“ Maeve stood up “You do not have the power here. This is MY research team.“

Jack smiled and nodded to Keira to continue. Keira said more loudly to the crew members:

“Faster“.

All the crew members seemed shocked and started moving away from their seats towards the exit. Maeve seemed panicked:

“NO! What are you doing! They are the scientists which have the abilities to investigate that ship!“ she started shouting and moved closer to Jack, touching his arm, she said it now calmly and silently “Jack, please, no. These are the best scientists, they are properly trained in most advanced spaceship technology. If you need to take the ship, take it. YOU have the power. Disembark me, but keep them. They will be of use to you. They will help you find out the secret behind the Clementine.”

Jack could feel her warm fingers touching his arm. The touch was so soft, it seemed that she almost did not touch him. He looked into her green eyes. They were submissive, honest and pleading. At that moment he remembered Saida. Then he understood. Maeve did not want to undermine him, all she wanted was to research the same thing that he wanted to find out. Here at this moment she was a scientist, not the royalty or a princess, not the one to make a power struggle.

“Fine“ Jack said silently “Let them be“. Keira along with other soldiers lowered their guns. The crew members got back to their seats. They still seemed afraid. Maeve let go of Jacks hand and started moving towards the exit. Keira stopped her from going out of the ship.

“Where are you going?“ Jack smirked. Maeve looked at him confused:

“I though we have a deal, I leave and you keep the scientists for research.“

“Sure, I keep the scientists, but I am not going to let you inform everyone that I overthrew you. Not until I see the ship myself first.“ Jack pointed to the seat in the back “Have a seat“.

Maeve silently sat down. Fastened her seatbelt. Everyone did the same.

“Let’s move“ Jack said and all the three spaceships flew away into the sky.