Teela of Kolander, page 18
Teela felt her mother's rage moderating but then also sensed a hint of the old attraction that had existed between them. She stared back and forth at her warring parents, a tragedy, spiraling ever further into disaster. Her attention was suddenly drawn to Torval. He was becoming increasingly desperate, frantically grabbing at Kregus' arm, both to help him rise from the floor and to pull him away. Kregus finally threw him off without looking as Torval fell hard to the floor. “Away fool!”
Torval cried out from the floor where he had fallen, blood running from his forehead. “Please Your Majesty! Please, You have another child. I am your son too, your oldest son and I have been by your side since I could be of any service to you. I have always been there for you. I have done everything for you. I even helped you get rid of her.” He pointed to Juleeta. “Father, I love …”
Kregus turned to him and growled. “You've never been more to me than my servant from the time you finally grew out of diapers. The simplest tasks of servitude were always beyond you. Even that empty headed Tulorus was brighter than you.”
“But father … my mother …” Torval stood up, emotionally battered, his head hanging down. He made and released his fists convulsively. Teela and Juleeta reeled from the emotional storm he was broadcasting.
Kregus laughed at Torval's suffering. “Your mother was a whore.” He stepped to Torval and poked him in the chest. “And not a good one either. I gave her to the troops when I was done with her.”
Torval raised his head, screaming with humiliation and rage. With closed eyes, he charged at Kregus, flailing his arms in an energetic but skill-less attack. Kregus' long knife ended Torval's screams of fury and as Torval's life began to spill out across the floor, Kregus turned back, once again, to face Juleeta and Teela.
The horror of Torval demise had cleared some Juleeta's rage as she continued to stared at Torval. She spun around and stepped toward Kregus. “You're completely insane, paranoid, a pure psychopath. And the fates forgive me, but I did truly love you. I was still grieving over the loss of my Borander when you exiled me without my Teela. I never pushed you, not even then and I should have for the benefit of the Empire. But I always thought you would come to your senses and bring me back to be with my daughter.”
Kregus lowered the knife and faced her. He held out his other hand to Juleeta. “Maybe there is still a way to resolve this. Help me. Together, we could make real change.”
Teela read utter deception in him and she read her mother's lingering, desperate need for the love of the old Kregus. She lunged toward her mother, trying to knock her away from Kregus, just as her mother offered her hand to him.
Kregus jerked Juleeta to him, driving his knife through her chest and she slumped to the floor. The shock that had been written across her face melted away with her consciousness. He began to dance and shout, making inarticulate sounds of excitement. “Finally, finally, finally!”
Teela gathered her will and pushed him hard into a stupor. She removed all sensory contact from his brain, leaving him lost in a fog. She watched his eyes lose any sign of mental activity. Part of her wanted to push him over into bio failure and death but she couldn't do it, so she just screamed with rage, and the fear of loosing her mother.
She gathered Juleeta into her arms just as servants ran into the room and she instructed them to get the physicians. She told them that Kregus had slipped back into insanity and had killed Torval and then stabbed her servant.
“Stand guard over my father. He must not get up. And save this woman.” She indicated her mother, still limp with the knife in her chest. She had to manage things at the scene despite her anguish while Mary and the guards were working on the command center.
“Chamberlain! My father was like this for the whole seven days I was gone and now he has relapsed again, incapacitated, with only a few moments of lucidity. The Empire is leaderless. Prepare an immediate public audience and broadcast an empire wide communication. I am assuming the throne for the safety and continuity of the empire. Now take him away.”
The chamberlain appeared confused. “Take him where, Your Majesty.”
“Place him in a hospital for mental disorders and keep him under guard.”
“Your Highness! He is our Emperor.”
“No, he is not. He is incapable of ruling and you know it. I am his daughter and his heir. I am assuming the throne! Now, do as I say or I will find someone else who will.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He directed the staff to take Kregus away and to prepare Kregus' suite for a new occupant. Teela glanced at her mother still being administered to by the physicians but she could not show her real feelings. After all, Juleeta was only a servant in their eyes and it was not time for her mother’s true identity to be known.
Teela raised her wrist communicator to her mouth and called Mary. “Kregus is down, incapacitated. I have assumed the throne. Abort your operation. Please hurry back to the dining hall. Mother has been stabbed.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
-Danger-
Teela paced the floor in the suite that had been her father's, the Imperial Suite. It had been ten Bardonian days since she had assumed the crown and the suite was technically hers but she still felt like a fraud, a pretender. Kregus was living, just existing actually, in a private wing of a care facility where he would spend the remainder of his days lost in his own mind. Teela still felt dirty for having pushed him that deep into his mental state despite the fact that he had tried to kill her mother and had systematically destroyed her own childhood.
She looked over to the large bed were Juleeta of Kolander, her mother lay, still recovering from Kregus' knife thrust that had punctured her lung but missed her heart. Teela smiled with immense relief each time she thought how close she had been to loosing her. She couldn't even imagine what she would have done if her mother had died.
Mary had returned to Kolander to assist with the rebuilding of the command center but was supposed to have returned by now. The day of Teela's ascension was approaching quickly, scheduled to begin in ten days. The celebration would begin with the ceremony of coronation followed by three days of parades, balls, and appearances around the planet.
After the functions on Bardonis, She would travel to each of the twelve planets of the Empire during the next year. But now it was time to prepare for an event that she had actually been looking forward to with immense joy. Three days ago she had been told that Dalnee, the kitchen supervisor from Kolistor, had been selected to manage the food preparation for all the events related to the coronation. She had already been brought to Donistor.
Teela smiled as she remembered the sudden wild idea she had had. She had decided then and there, to elevate Dalnee from the status of servant in the kitchen at Kolistor to a free independent consultant to the crown. Juleeta was enthusiastic about the idea as well. The conversation that followed that very day, after Dalnee had been summoned to the royal audience chamber, still gave her some of the warmest feelings she could remember.
***
“Thank you for coming, Dalnee. Please sit down.” Teela sat beside her at a small round table in the main royal audience chamber. “I see, you have been charged with duties for the upcoming doings.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Dalnee sat straight in her chair. Her demeanor indicated uncertainty but not fear. “How is your mother? Is her recovery progressing as expected?”
“She is doing amazingly well. His knife missed her heart. She will suffer from difficult breathing and thus weakness and lack of voice until her lung heals. Would you like to see her?”
“Very much. Thank you.”
Teela smiled at the absence of the royal honorific. “I have asked you here to tell you of a decision I have made.” Teela pushed an official document across the table toward Dalnee. “This paper grants you your freedom from servitude. As of this moment, you are no longer a servant to the royal household. Whatever leans or charges or circumstances that existed to put you into service is vacated. You now are a free citizen of the Empire. It also grants you a handsome stipend for as long as you need to establish yourself in the world as a free person.”
Dalnee remained stiffly at attention as tears slowly filled her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks even as she reached for the document and began to read it. By the time she had finished, her tears had slowed. “Thank you, Your Majesty. This is beyond my wildest dreams. You said effective immediately?”
“Yes. You are free now.” Teela still could not catch any emotion from her but her expression indicated some inner conflict. She smiled and patted Dalnee's hand. “You seem conflicted. Is there something wrong?”
“It is a great honor for me to be in charge of preparing all the banquets and meals for the coronation and the following balls. I very much wish to complete those tasks for your ascension to the throne.”
“I would be honored for you to do so, but do it as a free person. I am also eternally grateful for the risks you took and for the tribulations you suffered for me when I was a child.” Teela opened her arms, offering a hug, and Dalnee accepted and returned it. “What else may I do for you to help in your transition to life outside the Kolistor palace?”
Dalnee backed up an arms length from the embrace. “Nothing for me. You may not know, but I have a family outside the palace, two daughters and a son. Their father died when they were small. My son is about a year older than you and is so smart, but he can not get into the university because of my status ...”
Teela grinned. “Former status ... I will assure that he is considered for admission based on his potential and nothing else. Can I meet your family? Wait. Tell you what.” Teela turned her head and called over her shoulder. “Chamberlain! Arrange for Dalnee's family in Kolistor to be transported to the palace, here, via my personal ship. Also arrange for a suite in the palace for her and her family to use indefinitely. They will be dining with me, Mary, and my mother as soon as they arrive.”
Dalnee had risen and bowed low just before she grabbed her emancipation document and left with the chamberlain to arrange the details of her transportation and residency.
***
Now that time had arrived, time for she, Mary, and Juleeta to dine with Dalnee and her family. She looked at her mother laying on the bed. By now, the palace staff all knew that Juleeta was her mother as did the military leadership.
At Juleeta's suggestion, Teela had removed the top level of the Empires' military commanders and appointed new commanders into the top positions of the various branches. However, no one knew that the new commanders were all from Ander. They had been secretly in the Empire's military all along. It was still not known that Juleeta had been the legitimate wife of Kregus except by those from Ander. Being the mother of the heir raised her status within the palace social structure, however, and Teela had further reinforced that status by including her mother in all official meetings.
Juleeta was doing her recuperation in Teela's bed, ten days into the projected thirty day recovery period. “Teela,” she called. “Come look at my wound. It is nearly healed.” Her mother's speech was clear but barely louder than a whisper. Her lungs still could not produce much air pressure for speech and she used an amplification device most of the time in public.
Teela looked closely at the wound just to the left of Juleeta's heart as the attendants redressed it. It was healing rapidly. Suddenly she noticed her mother's naval. “Mother! You only have one navel but I have two. I thought everyone in the Empire had two.”
Juleeta laughed silently. “Almost true. On all current Empire planets, but two, all indigenous humans have two navels. But on two of the planets in the border region, Kolander and Kolonis, the indigenous human species have but one navel. You inherited your two from your father's side.”
Teela heard Mary finally enter the room. “Mary, Mother has only one navel, like people on Earth.”
“No way!”
“Way.”
“How is that possible?” Mary stopped at the bedside. “I sure would like to solve that mystery one day, why people on Earth were already genetically compatible with people from Ander twenty-five thousand years ago.”
Juleeta smiled. “Well, you've a lifetime ahead of you to study it.”
Mary shook her head, her expression suddenly clouded over. “Maybe, but first we must get through this coronation and the political disruption it is going to create.” Mary hopped up onto the bed beside Juleeta. “I just came from the Command and Control Center on Kolander. You know I was helping the techs with the repairs by pointing out specifically what we damaged in the takeover. Well, while there, I also overheard that there is still trouble with three of the military installations here on Bardonis. Then while in the Command Center here, I got more information. Those three installations are refusing to surrender to your regency, Teela. And if that isn't enough, two of the central region planets are talking secession, Bardeenis and Doronis.”
Juleeta signaled to her bodyguards who now also substituted as her personal support and they moved her into a nearly vertical sitting position. “We have been made aware of these secession threats. In fact, those two planetary Governors will be here within a hundredthday. Teela, you must meet with them. Mary, a full squad of soldiers, and I will be there to support you.”
Teela frowned. “A whole squad? Are you expecting trouble, expecting violence? Wait a moment! We have our meal with Dalnee in less than a tenthday.”
“There's time. The Governors first. Bear in mind that for the next few years, we must always be prepared for the fanatics, the ones who will resort to violence before political negotiation. Teela, you and Mary need to get ready.” Juleeta signaled her support staff. “And I need to get ready to meet the Governors as well.”
“We are ready,” Teela said as she looked down at her gown and grimaced. She would have to redesign her clothes. She had fallen in love with the pants worn by females on Earth.
The intercom on Teela's suite door buzzed to life. “Your Majesty, the Governors have arrived. They are loud and rude and are demanding to see you without delay. They have been escorted to the conference room by the appointed guards.”
Teela thanked the messenger and turned to Juleeta, just now returning to the bedroom. “Mother, they are certainly emboldened with Kregus gone. What should I do?”
Juleeta was formally dressed and sitting in an anti-grav chair with vocal amplification. “Don't let them rattle you. Their poor manners are probably part of a political strategy to test you, considering your age and inexperience.” Juleeta grabbed Teela's shoulder. “Let's talk to them and discover if they are just jockeying for better membership terms or if there is something more seriously amiss. Then we will have a nice meal.”
Mary and Juleeta with her attendants entered the conference room before Teela. The squad of soldiers were already stationed around the large round room with weapons held prominently but at rest. Teela entered the room without fanfare or introduction and took her seat at the head of the large oval table between Mary and Juleeta. The two planetary Governors and their delegations each sat along the opposite sides of the table.
No one spoke, waiting for Teela to open the meeting. She looked at Juleeta and hoped she could sound as authoritative as needed. She glanced around the table trying to gauge the level of emotions that each of the members were holding in check. She took a deep breath and spoke. “I wish to speak frankly and will forgo the customary meeting protocol ... I understand you have misgivings and concerns about my assuming the throne from my father.” She glanced around the room again, noticing the shock in their expressions. She also noticed obvious anger on the face of one of the Governor's associates on the Bardeenis side of the table. “Let me hear them.”
“I am Tytor of Bardeenis, Governor, appointed by Emperor Korg and later accepted by Kregus, Emperor. We were one of the two planets to originally create the Empire and have been a valued supporter from the beginning.” He spoke from the left side of the table. He was thin, his features sharp, and his eyes penetrating. “Where is the Emperor, Kregus? What have you done with him?” He rose from his seat as he finished speaking and the soldiers around the room raised their weapons.
Despite the tension, Teela motioned for the guards to lower their weapons and glared at Tytor from under her brows until he retook his seat. “Governor. Let me clarify a few things. First, Kregus is no longer Emperor. He completely lost his mind ten days ago and became unfit to rule. I am Kregus' legitimate and acknowledged heir with the bloodlines analysis to prove it. He is being looked after in secure location. I am acting as the legitimate regent until the coronation.”
“A prison?” The young man on whose face she had seen anger leaned forward, partially rising.
“No, a medical facility,” she replied calmly even as her anxiety began to rise.
Tytor motioned for the young man to sit back down. “Korgus, my impetuous young associate here, can be brash, but he feels strongly about the royal bloodlines and their legitimacy. We all do on Bardeenis as co-founder of the Empire and as home to royal bloodlines. Korgus is a direct ascendant of the Korg branch of the royal family which originated from Bardeenis. Did you know Bardeenis was the home to the only true royal bloodline?”
Teela ignored his breech of etiquette. “No. My knowledge of the ancient history of the Empire is limited ... your point?”
“Korgus has brought a bloodlines analyzer of our own design, one, whose results we can and will trust. Will you submit to our analysis of your claim?”
Teela looked at Juleeta and then at Mary, hoping for some guidance, but they both seemed totally preoccupied staring out across the meeting participants. Teela knew that they were scanning them for signs of danger. She could still sense anger in Korgus as he held out the bloodlines analyzer for her to see, but she didn't perceive any immediate danger from him.
