Ziena's Choice

Grand Regent Ziena, stood on the viewing deck of a regime ship. It dragged a shadow that blocked out the sun for the forces below in the trenches and gun positions and turned more heads than the enemy. The artillery shelled, and scorched landscape was a depressing sight to Ziena. At this point, this valley should have been in full fall bloom like the small bit of her planet that they still resided on. Whatever I decide, these will be our final days, she thought.

      Her eyes carried up to the emperor. He was looking down at the land with a scholar’s eyes. His arms crossed as he scratched freshly shaven face. It wasn’t registering that this was the great Emperor of the Regime. The Mad Warmonger, the Death of Monarchies, the Breaker of Bonds, this man seemed too young to carry any of those titles.

      “As you can see our forces are dug in but are on the retreat. These fortifications you see here are only a few days old,” she said pointing.

      “Not surprising,” Emperor Varshal said bluntly. “For starters you have air force left. And your ground units shouldn’t be digging entrenchments to fight bugs either. You’re creating bowls for them to eat you alive. And if you don’t take out the hives, then you’ll be forever on the defense.”

      “We have no way to find the hives. We have no seismic detection,” Ziena said with disdain.

      “Again, not surprising,” he said without so much as a look up at her.

      Ziena was suddenly struck with a wave of aggression for this man.

      “We do not have the luxury of such things, because we did not spend our growing years as warmongers and thieves.”

      “You insult my Emperor,” General Jackoi said. A man of taller build and in full suit of ground trooper armor.

      “You’re Emperor has done nothing but insult me and my people since the moment he landed. And with respect, I believe he can tell me if he has been offended,” she looked at Varshal. Though he seemed to not even be paying the remotest of attention to her, or anything other than the fighting.

      “It was not your years of peace that has brought you to this moment now. It was arrogance and your family’s arrogance to not join our cause,” he said.

      “With respect Emperor, your reputation doesn’t invite partnerships.”

      Varshal finally looked away from the explosions and muffled gunfire at her. The look in his eye exhumated a sense of humiliation. At the same time, it seemed like he knew what she said to be true.

       “The man is a trickster,” her father had said at the beginning of the war. “It is true that he holds the largest and most advanced military in the systems. But that fact shouldn’t invite admiration. It should invite concern and above all else questions.”

      Ziena had remembered the tone her father spoke. She’d merely brought up the idea as a joke, something to lighten the mood of their reality without having any idea at the time that that joke would become their reality.

      “It was just a joke father,” she’d said.

      “I find nothing funny or relieved about the notion of escaping our current invaders to gift the planet to another one. And I can assure you that if it did come to such a decision, I’d rather gift it to the bugs.”

      Her father used to speak with such a hatred of the Regime and Emperor Varshal that it almost seemed overbearing to her. It was a topic that she seemed to never escape. He had of course told her about the rumors and conspiracies of the Regime. How it was Varshal’s trackable move to incite violence in a system, wait for the world to come to near collapse, and then swoop in with the promise of help. But in exchange, he would want the planet itself.

      The look Varshal had in his eye as she called him out read clearly. He looked across the columns of smoke and tracer rounds that seemed to flow like a river.

      “My reputation is subjective. My abilities to assist you however, are not.”

Ziena looked at him surprised. She’d thought it’d be harder than that.

“So, you will help us?”

“The Regime will not move a meter until we have a contract signed,” he said sternly. “My ship however, and my guard are mine to command.”

At first, she wasn’t sure what he meant, and then Varshal looked to his armored companion.

 “I want this front bombarded till the vermin have nowhere to hide. Then order a seismic scan, I want that nest found and burned to ash.”

      Jackoi grew a prideful smirk, nodded, and made for the door.

      Ziena felt like the speed of everything had just accelerated, the General left before she could say anything.

      “We’ve not negotiated anything yet,” she said.

      The emperor stood alone now in a room of strangers and nodded too below.

      “No. And this act doesn’t bind us.”

      “Then why do it?” she asked, as her father’s warnings repeated and compared itself to this man.

      The emperor looked up, his eyes back to that intense and sharp glare.

      “Because whether we stand on my land or yours, it makes no difference when I am here. My people are in danger, the enemy is insight, and I will destroy them for as long as I can.”

      His words came like venom in a snake’s bite. The hatred remained even after the bombers had departed the bay, and the bombardment began.

 As the day carried on, Ziena and Varshal moved along to the more diplomatic pieces of their meeting. More specifically her adjudicators versus his own.

      “The deal we offer is quite simple your Majesty. We will deploy the two thousand legions of our troops to your planet within the next month. In exchange, we ask for complete access to Fallterian space for this conflict and others in the future. As well, you will open trade with the Regime effective immediately, and authorize us complete royal authority of your people. Which means anything”-,

      Ziena rolled her eyes and leaned forward on the table. Varshal sat across from her.

      “-You want my planet. Let’s say it how it is shall we?”

      “We want access to your planet,” the adjudicator clarified. “By all legal and rights determined by the Human Coalition, this planet will still be yours. But-,”

      “The wording matters little Siban,” Varshal said to the suited man. His voice was almost a groan.

      “Yes, for the time being, this planet will be the Regimes. You will rule your people and your armies as you see fit. But if we must dip into the pool of recruits and supplies you have then we need a guarantee there will be no conflict on the matter,” he explained.

      “I see no reason for you to do so, after all, you could have this planet right now if you wish. You wouldn’t even have to call any legions. We are essentially beaten. And still, you want what little we have here.” Ziena said. Her throat tightened when she said the truth. But it didn’t make it any less apparent. She watched Varshal’s reaction like a scientist waiting for a chemical reaction. His was little more than flared nostrils and a shake of his head. He rose and looked back to the battlefield below. Jackoi looked to be getting along as troop transports were landing on the wounded lines like birds landing on riverbank.

      “We do not wish to intimidate you, Your Majesty,” the adjudicator pressed. “We simply need assurance-,”

      “Well, then you have them for our supplies. But you will take my silence as my answer when it comes to my people. As the former, I have little to no choice. But I will not sell you my people like livestock.”

      “It is your populous that is both of greater interest and worry Your Majesty, the regime has more than enough-,”

      “We will agree to your terms. However, there must be a reasonable cut-off,” her adjudicator added. “You cannot expect us to sign over our planet to you with no way of regaining it in the future. And our people are all we have left.”

      “We have no way of knowing how long this war will proceed,” Varshal said with his back turned. “Your entire planet is contaminated at this point.”

Ziena then noticed he was rubbing his fingertips behind his back.

      “As well I don’t plan on leaving my Legions here when it is done. Your people need to be trained, equipped, and hardened to be self-sufficient.”

      “You mean indoctrinated,” Ziena said looking at him. “Yes, my father warned me you might do something of the sort.”

      When Varshal turned, Ziena finally got the reaction she’d wanted. The emperor’s eyes were alight with fury and frustration. His chest heaved like a bellows and she thought maybe she’d see what her father had prepared her for. Here would be the conqueror.

      “Then perhaps I would have better luck with him! While the old man might be a stubborn mule, perhaps I could sway him to reason. I waste my time with you.”

      “Was I not the one who invited your arrival?” she asked, a wire seemed to be tightening in her chest.

      “Indeed, and you’ve done nothing but question my acceptance of it,” Varshal growled. “And because of this coalition of cowards, I am forced to listen to it. While your people are maimed and ripped apart by my sworn enemy below-,”

      “-Sire, I’m perfectly able to finish the proceedings without”-

      “-Quiet Siban!” his glare turned back to Ziena. “After all, I must maintain my reputation is that right your grace? I am quite aware of my standings with the coalition and your father. And I am aware that many see my ways as overreaching and fraudulent. But I ask you this then? If someone does not take the stand against this growing threat to us all, if someone does not set aside these pretentious and mind-numbing political debates for action, then what will become of us?! How many more planets like your own will fall while we, debate, negotiate, and compromise on this nonsense!”

           It silenced the room like thunder silenced a plain of animals momentarily.

      Ziena felt her body suddenly lock up. Her throat felt like there was a clamp around it. He is tired of all this, the same as me. She thought even in her paralysis. After all the stories her father had told her, she found herself faced with someone who wasn’t all the different from her. She’d told her father a similar speech when the bugs had first been discovered. While they hadn’t been in their region, she pressed they would be a threat soon if Fallteria didn’t ban together. And her father hadn’t listened.

      As Ziena stayed poised, unsure whether to respond, or stay quiet, she suddenly saw a change in Varshal. His back straightened, he took a nervous swallow and looked to the fighting beyond. His breaths became slower, and the anger was melting away into a regretful look downward.

      “My apologies…I hope I haven’t swayed your decision,” he said shakily. “Siban, will you see to fine details, I see I… must remove myself… from the situation.”

      Siban nodded, and before the reply came Varshal left the deck looking as though he might be ill.

      The conversation didn’t come until a few minutes later. For the entire silence and for the quiet negotiations after, Ziena found herself questioning many things her father had told her. Her fingers nervously tapped the table and she looked to the door.

 She’d learned later on that Varshal hadn’t stormed out to brew in silence. He’d gone to fight. His imperial guard had accompanied him to the battlefield. Where he fought side by side with her forces filling the gaps that Jackoi was forced to leave with his limited numbers.

      In a way Ziena was jealous. It had been years since she’d seen any battle of her own. The traditions of her planet looked down on monarchs participating in the fighting. It was a thought that was residing clearly in her mind when she saw his transport returning. These traditions are what have held us back, she thought. They are what have led us to this place we stand now. And it was becoming slowly clear to her that Varshal felt similarly.

      She softly knocked on his door later that evening. It opened to Varshal being attended to by the medics. A large gauge ran down his right tricep.

      “Is this a bad time?” she asked.

      “No, your grace,” he said his voice sounding still resentful. “You almost done, aren’t you?” he asked the medic. He nodded and proceeded out as Varshal put back on his shirt.

      “Did you and Siban find some comprise? I apologize again for my”-

      “Before I give my answer, I wish to know something of you first,” Ziena said getting to the point. “Where does your reputation come from? Because with respect, Your Majesty, you are an enigma. I have been told from birth what to expect of both you and the regime. Yet I see none of those attributes here. So why? I want to hear it from you.”

      Varshal looked her up and down and started to nod as he buttoned his collar.

      “Because it’s warranted.”

      Ziena’s look narrowed, and her chin rose.

      “There is no point in hiding it,” he said shaking his head. “But my reasoning is often misinterpreted or misunderstood.”

      “So, you do seek to control the systems? That is your ultimate goal?”

      Varshal didn’t face her as he answered, he looked to the window and still raging battle beyond. A regime bomber was setting the darkness of no man’s land alight with a wall of fiery explosions trailing behind it.

      “My goal… is the survival of mankind. And if that entails ruling over it, and controlling systems that won’t be swayed to see the value in our survival as a species. Then so be it,” he looked up after.

Ziena could tell he was studying her expression, seeing if he’d frightened her. In ways he had. But not from the standpoint of being ruled, but in the similarities, he had with her. While she never wanted the position herself, she’d been saying the same things about her world since she was sixteen fighting in their Armed Forces. Their planet was decades behind so many others as they fought each other for land and property. While other planets had decided it was their duty to stand united in the galaxy. It seemed the bugs had similar thinking, after all they worked as collective united force in their own way. She’d known it was a weakness of their planet. And when a threat that endangered all of their nations came, what had happened? Where had it brought them?

Ziena left his chambers without answering still, and she would fly back to her walled capitol where she’d been told her father was beginning to recover. She’d visit with him for a brief moment, before explaining to him why a Regime War Carrier resided in their sector. His reaction had been mostly what she expected.

“So, you’ve fallen for his game then,” he sneered. His eyes held a dead stare toward the horizon, where the smoke of war loomed not far off.

“I’ve agreed to nothing Father,” she said.

“Yes, you have,” he moaned. “You’ve but said yes to it.”

“That’s not true, Emperor Varshal has said he will give me until his forces need resupply to decide.”

“A resupply of our people no doubt.”

“Father”-

Her father turned to her; his aged eyes filled with anger burrowed deep his mind.

“You listen here, when I awoke to find out that you’d invited the Regime here, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t think my daughter would be so naïve, after all I’ve told you.”

“He doesn’t seem as you’ve said.”

“And what have I said hmm? Did he not admit to you himself he wants our people?” He limbed toward her on his cane. The machinery keeping him alive by tubes and cables floated along next to him.

“Did he?” he repeated.

“And why is that so wrong? Why do you see unity as the death of us?”- Her father scoffed and shook his head. “You’ve always been opposed to it ever since I was young,” Ziena continued.

“Because it is the leader of such a unity that judges its purpose!” he yelled his wrinkled fist clenched and slammed down on his medical droid.

“Emperor Varshal doesn’t seek unified worlds. He seeks people. Human beings, cannon fodder, he is a conquer I promise you that my daughter. He will take our people and he will use them as little more than shields and bullets in his quest to destroy these bugs. And you must ask yourself as a leader, what after? What is his plan after he destroys this threat? What will he do with all his power and control? He has hundreds of worlds dependent on him, entire populations loyal to him and his regime. This war is nothing more than a scam, and now you’ve joined with him.”

Ziena’s upper lip started to curl, and she glared at him.

“I have not joined him.”

Her father swung to her.

“Then why does he reside here? Why have you not sent him away?”

The pressure was starting to build in Ziena’s mind. A torn feeling that felt like past and present fighting for control in her mind. She looked away from her father, and to the smoke in the distance. Then down to beauty of the yellow and gold forests below. She wanted that world back, the one that she remembered as a girl, but what is the cost to get it? She thought.