New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) (19 page)

My legal wife Miya Mesfelle also instantly received the title Queen of Unatari Miya royl Mesfelle, though this title did not confer any additional powers. After all the inconsistencies in Miya's stories, I had no trust left for my wife, which is why I removed the Queen from any potential leadership role, as well as all other claims to power.

Also, I officially recognized all three of my children as having equal rights and declared that rulership of this government would pass via primogeniture. That made it so Crown Princess Likanna and Crown Princess Deianna received, in addition to their current titles, the title Princess of Unatari, and the month-old boy Georg Mesfelle became Prince Georg royl Georg ton Mesfelle-Unatari or simply Prince Georg royl Unatari.

In light of their all being underage, the three also received official guardians. For Crown Princess Likanna, I named her grandfather, the ruler of the Kingdom of Fastel, King Valesy royl Pir ton Fastel. That also gave him an advisory vote in the Unatari State and the right to manage his granddaughter's property (only with my prior approval, naturally). For Crown Princess Deia, I appointed her mother, Queen Miya as guardian. And Prince Georg's guardian was set as my former favorite, Princess Astra, who also received the title Princess of Unatari and was made fourth in line to its throne after my own children.

My cousin, Katerina ton Mesfelle was created Duchess Katerina royl Unatari, and her husband Corwin became a freshly-appointed Duke. As for other aristocrats in the new state, the issue remained open, but my cousin and I had more or less already completed the list of people who would be made part of my new official register.

Finally, after announcing the aristocratic titles, I told them the structure of the Unatari government. Katerina royl Unatari was appointed to the position of Minister of Communications for the Unatari State. Colonel Gor ton Vulf became Minister of the Military. Admiral Mike ton Akad became Space Military Chief, putting him in charge not just of the headquarters of
Joan the Fatty
, but also the many talented captains in my fleet. Bionica (unheard of for an android!) was officially appointed Minister of Economy for the Unatari State, retaining her position as my assistant and translator as well. Popori de Cacha became head of the whole Unatari Security Service and was given very broad authority.

Behind the stream of new appointments, many viewers didn't notice the popup message stating that all androids in Unatari State space were to be freed from paying commission on their wages to their manufacturing companies, and from here on, would be paying only taxes to the government, equal to those paid by living people. And it should be said that Bionica assured me this was the most important piece of news, making working in Unatari very attractive to all robots. Oh well, we'll see. Meanwhile, according to Paul ton Akad's data, there were already over six million androids of various models in the systems under control of my new government. The overwhelming majority of them had arrived in the last few days, coming in as freight shipments. I was informed that the Tialla freight warehouses were overflowing with containers, all packed to the brim with androids. This number of workers allowed us to fully handle all existing labor shortages in the new government and think up massive new infrastructure projects.

Finally, I told the viewers the principles the Unatari State would be built on. As part of the Empire, Unatari would unconditionally agree to all allied and military obligations, guaranteeing their support to the Emperor in any external conflicts. That meant Unatari was joining the war with the Aliens from its first day of existence and guaranteeing its support to all forces at war with the Aliens. I officially confirmed that the Unatari fleet was prepared to aid the Red House, given the extremely difficult position they found themselves in after the recent Alien breakthrough on their front, resulting in the loss of two thirds of Red House territory.

But the Red House was far away, and my promises were nothing but fanciful words for now. There was no shared border, and it looked like getting any starships from Unatari to the more problematic Perimeter Sector Fourteen would be a very substantive mission. What was much more pressing to my new government were its relations with the Orange House. I laid down the groundwork right away. While Duke Avalle royl Anjer, who had blackened his own name so forcefully, remained in power, there was no discussion on good neighborly relations to be had. I named the conditions I thought would allow us to coexist: a change in Orange House leadership and a compensation payment to the Unatari State in the amount of one billion credits for their illegal profiting from the Tivalle system.

The Swarm, another neighbor of the new government, was given a guarantee that all agreements previously concluded with Crown Prince Georg would be maintained. I also offered, if necessary, aid in liberating alien-captured systems.

* * *

"It was a good speech. Very respectable. You gave an exhaustive account, and a well-reasoned explanation. The viewers must have liked it," my cousin commended me as I was already resting in my seat, taking small sips of the hot "coffee" brought in by Bionica.

On the table before me, there was another identical mug full of the aromatic beverage as well. Ayna and Bionica had no way of determining who was supposed to bring it in for the Crown Prince, so the girls had brought me two mugs at the same time, shooting one another looks as they did so.

I smiled to my cousin and said:

"I'm still getting relations change messages and letters almost constantly from all kinds of factions and people. I have over forty thousand unread messages already."

"Same here," Katerina said. "I don't even want to deal with them yet. The stream of incoming messages has to die down a bit first. But, at the end of the day, my fame is growing, and my standing is falling, though not by much, which is quite surprising."

My characteristics were basically the same. My fame had already grown to +50, but my standing was hovering around -40, periodically rising and falling again afterward.

WAR! The Orange House has declared war on the Unatari State

Based on how my cousin shuddered, she got the same message as well.

"Your Majesty, incoming call from the Orange House Capital!" The communications officer that appeared in the doorway was the first person to call me by my new title.

"Duke Avalle royl Anjer has finally come to his senses after my speech! It looks like he wants to give the appropriate reply," I laughed. I wasn't able to give my permission for the call though, as Flora's alarmed voice rang out in my head:

"Crown Prince, do not answer the call under any circumstances! It isn't Duke Avalle at all, but his Truth Seeker Marian Sabati! And I sense that she is not alone! There's a bunch of psionics there, and the Orange House has gathered them together there for a focused attack. They intend to murder you!"

Ah then! My rage began boiling over. Well, he started it, so it's his fault! The solution came to mind immediately. All the Orange House's Truth Seekers were concentrated there for an attack, so there would be no one covering the Duke... Moreover, the Duke was probably off somewhere by himself, so it would be more believable when he later claims not to have known about the attack.

"Bring the Arite here at once!" I demanded.

I ordered my communications officer to politely ask the caller to stay on the line for a bit. For example, tell him that Crown Prince Georg was changing clothes and would be there in three or four minutes.

The Arite materialized before me thirty seconds later in the form of redheaded Bionica.

"Take my appearance, go into my office, and answer the Orange House's call a few minutes from now. If they try to kill you, just leave. Melt into a cloud, like you do."

Pseudo-Bionica didn't ask any questions, switching into the form of a fat, awkward man in a dark blue military uniform as it walked. Lord, I hope I don't really look like that! What a horrific sight! I would have to add an hour of swimming every day to my exercise regimen. Nope! I simply cannot bear looking at such a pear-shaped me!

"So, now I want you to arrange another, separate line of communication. Ask that I be connected with the Head of the Orange House, but don't tell them Crown Prince Georg wants to talk, say that it's 'one of his bodyguards.' Camera on my Truth Seeker!"

"Flora, you know what to do!"

"Yes, Crown Prince Georg. Miya taught me the proper way to kill people."

Katerina then opened her mouth, demanding explanations for my actions, but I put my finger to her lips, calling for silence. Everyone around froze. I was looking nervously at the clock. Thirty seconds went by before a system message suddenly jumped up before my eyes:

The Head of the Orange House, Duke Avalle royl Anjer ton Mesfelle has died at age 218.

It worked! Katerina looked at me, her eyes wide in horror, only now realizing what had happened. Another two minutes later, a new message jumped in.

ATTENTION! The new head of the Orange House will be Duchess Inessa royl George ton Mesfelle (57.8% of votes)

At that moment, a white cloud flew into the room, transforming into the profoundly upset captain of
Star Mutt
. The graying captain, with an old man's groan, flopped down into a wide armchair and said, turning to me:

"They don't like Arites very much. They tried to kill me right away. All I had to do was turn on the screen, and a whole horde of ghoulish women in dark robes started attacking me with some kind of energy. They didn't even let me greet them. It hurt, let me tell you. A lot even! Most internal organs burst, the blood in my veins boiled, and my nerve cells were destroyed. Insofar as I understand, these wounds would be fatal to a human. It's good though, that these Truth Seekers haven't interacted much with my kind, and had very little notion of how to kill one of us."

"Let me guess, it involves a vacuum cleaner?" Katerina made the obvious joke, but the Arite stiffened up for some reason.

I had to interfere to smooth it over:

"Arite, they were trying to kill me, so I must thank you. And in that their attack on me came first, no one in the Empire has the right to reproach me for fighting back! Katerina, make sure that fact is contained in the official Unatari State press release."

WAR! The Green House has declared war on the Unatari State

WAR! The Blue House has declared war on the Unatari State

I waited for some time, but nothing came in from the Red or Purple Houses.

"Green of course, I was expecting that. But I wonder what upset Blue?" I asked in surprise, turning to my cousin.

Katerina began to think and commented:

"The Blue House has many family connections with the Green House. At one point, the two houses even tried uniting, but the Throne World didn't allow it. Clearly, the Blues simply decided to support their close relatives. Though, perhaps the reason is something else entirely. Their problems are quite similar to those of the Orange House. Some of the more industrially developed and rich systems of the Blue House have been trying to break off from them for many years. They have united into an organization known as the Syndicate and declared autonomy in financial policy issues. In the end, the Head of the Blue House had to make some serious concessions to keep the Syndicate's systems under his control. Clearly, the Blue House Duke is worried that Unatari's independence could serve as a contagious example. In any case, the Blue House has no border with us, so their declaration is a mere formality."

Here, I completely agreed with my cousin. The Blue House had no realistic way of participating in combat operations against us. But I drew my cousin's attention to the Red and Purple Houses, which still had not joined the war.

"I think we'll have to wait another couple hours, Georg, before we can say that with any confidence. The Purple House if quite loyal to us, so their not joining is completely predictable. But as for the Red House, you're right. It looks strange. Usually, Great House analysts have plans in place for all possible eventualities and, if certain conditions are met, war is declared without delay. Clearly, your speech promising military aid to the Red House at the last moment confused them and abruptly changed their opinion of Unatari. The Red House is prepared to work together with anyone who can save them from complete annihilation. The Red House capital fell three months ago, the Sector Fourteen Fleet is practically in tatters, and the situation in Sector Fifteen is no better. The only thing that could put a stop to the Alien campaign is the direct interference of the First Imperial Fleet, but even then, we wouldn't take back much territory..."

The rest of my cousin's speech was cut off by the appearance of a communications officer who said that the Monarch of the Kingdom of Fastel would like to speak with Crown Prince Georg. I gave my permission, and my former father-in-law appeared on screen.

Valesy royl Pir ton Fastel, ruler of the star Kingdom of Fastel

Age: 79

I gave the Monarch a polite greeting, and he bowed in reply.