Pax Imperia (The Redemption Trilogy) (11 page)

About to reach for his sword, Jon instead whirled round to face the Admiral, wondering what sort of sick joke he was playing. One glance into his face and eyes, told Jon that he was serious. “You must be joking,” he muttered.

“I’m absolutely serious,” Sterling replied, his gaze unflinching. “I have discussed it with all the remaining Fleet Admirals. There was no other candidate that they would accept.”

“The Fleet Admirals would never accept me,” Jon insisted, his voice rising in anger.

“Not all of them, no,” Sterling agreed. “But a slim majority of them did and enough to ensure that the remaining Admirals had no other option but to agree. With a slim majority of the navy in agreement, the remaining Admirals did not have enough ships or firepower to disagree, and they would be destroyed if they moved against us. They might not like the decision, certainly did not agree with it, but they have to abide by it.”

At Sterling’s calm description of the situation, Jon’s anger and frustration grew beyond bounds. Did Sterling and the other Admirals not understand? He did not want the role. He would never accept it. “I don’t care who voted for what. I refuse,” Jon snapped angrily. “Have another vote and find another applicant, one that is more willing.”

Ignoring the refusal or just pretending not to hear it, Sterling carried on indifferently. “We also considered the political situation, when choosing any other candidate. Anybody else drawn from the fleet would look too much like a coup by the military. You are the perfect choice. Officially a civilian, as you do not belong to the Confederation Navy, plus you are the legal son-in-law of the last Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and husband of Sofia, the present Confederation President.”

“Don’t say her name,” Jon screamed, interrupting him. “You don’t have the right! Suggesting that I would ever use them for my own personal gain disrespects them and everything that they ever stood for.”

“It is for them that I ask this of you,” Sterling replied softly. “If you don’t agree to this, then everything they ever did, everything they ever tried to achieve is going to be lost, forever. Destroyed in the fire of a civil war that is soon going to engulf every planet in the Confederation. Unless we move quickly, it is soon going to become apparent there is a power vacuum at the very heart of the Confederation, which is going to draw people to it. People who do not care who has to die for them to attain that power.”

The Admiral’s words echoed those of the young man Jon had met several hours earlier, on the planet, before everything went to hell.

“Thousands will die in the process; they care not, viewing us simply as pawns. We are just pre-planned moves on a chessboard to these people. However, the game is soon going to come to an end and, when it does, they will simply wipe the board.”

At the time Jon just dismissed them as yet another crazy conspiracy theory, but with recent events he had started to believe maybe there was more to it than that. “I cannot help you, not with this. I am sorry Frank. Ask anything else of me and I will agree, but not this—” Jon finally replied after a silent pause.

“I don't understand,” Sterling said confused. “You can do this. For over five years you stood at the side of the Emperor. You gave the necessary orders to carry out his wishes. You stood at Sofia’s side after we all thought Marcus was lost and helped her to pull everybody back from the abyss. You know that you can do this, so why do you refuse to help now?”

Turning to look at the Admiral, Jon allowed some of the pain and despair to show in his expression, before explaining. “Because this was always to be my fate, my destiny. Something that, when I realised it, I fought against with every inch of my being, and that fight almost cost me everything.”

“I don’t understand. What you are talking about? What fate? What destiny?”

Jon took a deep breath, before telling Sterling the secret he had kept locked in his heart for so many years. One that only Sofia had eventually discovered, while she was imprisoned. “I was to be the next Emperor,” Jon confessed, in barely a whisper. “That was why Marcus chose me. Picked me to be Commander of the Praetorian Guard, to stand constantly at his side. Not to protect him, but to learn from him. For I was to be more than just his guard, but his chosen successor too, his son. He planned to bequeath everything to me, including his daughter. Sofia was to be my reward for accepting the position.”

Even now, many years after he first realised the truth, the pain had not lessened. Just as painful as the day that he first found out, when his whole world came crashing down around him and he lost what was most important to him, Sofia.

Sterling could only stare at the Commander in bewilderment. Marcus had never said anything to him about it. Yet, a hundred small clues and hints, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, suddenly slotted into place and Sterling knew that what the Commander said was true. He wondered though if the Commander had not got the entire plan backwards.

“I think,” he replied thoughtfully. “That Marcus saw in you something special, which he had never seen before, not in all the many thousands of people he had met. An ideal he recognised in himself—the need to do good, to help others, to put their needs before your own.”

Sterling remembered one fleet engagement, many years before, while Marcus had still been Emperor. He had been observing Marcus, as he in turn had been watching Jon and Sofia discussing something. Sofia had laughed at something Jon had said and, for just a brief moment, he had recognised something in Marcus’s expression—love. The love of a father staring at his son with pride. He had been shocked to recognise the expression so clearly, for he had understood it, and had worn the same expression the day that he pinned the Captain’s insignia on his own son-in-law.

“Marcus loved you, Jon,” Sterling insisted. “He loved you, not as a trusted confidant or a solider, but the same way a father loves his son. Have you ever considered that Marcus didn’t care about you taking his place, but only for you and Sofia? That he saw you as his son, because he could see the love that you held for his daughter? That all he ever wanted was for you to both be happy.”

Jon stared at him, shocked by his declaration. For while he had loved Marcus as a father for many years, it had never occurred to him that the love might be returned. With tears running down his face, Jon admitted aloud something which he had never told anyone before. “I loved him. He took me in when I had nowhere else to go and he gave me a family, when I felt as if I had lost my own. He taught me that power did not always corrupt, but instead it could be used wisely, to help others, not only for selfish reasons and personal gain. I miss him. I miss them both so much.”

He understood how Jon felt, and while there was nothing that he could do for his own son he at least could help this man, whom he had also come to care deeply about. Embracing Jon, he tried to convince him one last time. “Then do this for them. Take up their mantle of leadership. Prove to all what Marcus could see in you. Show them what a true leader is. Somebody who can inspire everybody to be greater than themselves, somebody that everybody can look up to, to aspire to be. Finish what Marcus and Sofia started.”

Instead Jon just released his pent up breath, shaking his head. “I cannot do that, it will destroy all that is left of Marcus and Sofia, along with their reputations. Everybody will think I only used them to further my own ambition. I cannot and will not do that to them.”

Whatever else he was going to say was cut short abruptly by the door sliding open and Paul entering the room. Casting his gaze quickly around the room, he was not in the least surprised to see all the destruction around him. Looking directly at Jon he said. “I have just received a call from the marines down on the planet. The rescue teams have finally made it into the Senate.”

Jon looked up in desperation, with a tiny flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe—but that hope died when he noticed the expression on Paul’s face.

“You need to go. Now,” Paul uttered quietly. “Gunny is refusing to leave the body, he won’t let anybody else get near it. Not until you arrive.”

Jon nodded wretchedly, wondering if this day could get any worse. Losing Sofia was bad enough, but both of them? He was just numb with grief. Stopping for a moment to pull his sword out of the table, he walked slowly towards the door.

As he passed, Paul gently rested a hand on his shoulder, commenting. “Jon, I’ll still be here when you get back. If you need to talk, to—I’ll still be here,” Paul repeated, at a loss for words, not knowing what else to say.

Jon did not reply, just allowed Paul’s hand to drop from his shoulder as he stepped around him, the door soundlessly sliding open at his approach. However, he stopped before stepping over the threshold, replying, “Thanks Paul.” Then he was gone, the door sliding shut behind him.

Paul sighed, before taking the seat recently vacated by Jon. Noticing the untouched glass of Scotch still resting on the table, he picked up the glass, bringing it to his lips. Suddenly remembering the Admiral, and technically he was still on duty…

Admiral Sterling just waved his concerns away, refilling his own glass from the bottle that sat on the table between the two officers.

“What a day,” Paul muttered, after taking a sip from his glass. “After receiving the news about Marcus, I called Carol and the kids. I don’t know why. I guess I just wanted to reassure myself they were fine.” Paul winced when he remembered that only a couple of hours before he had been holding the Admiral’s son at gunpoint. “I can probably arrange a meeting with Captain Harrison if you want? At the very least I could probably slip him a datapad with a message?” Paul offered.

Sterling just shook his head, refusing the offer. “Half of the fleet is already convinced I am involved in a conspiracy to assassinate the entire Senate. The other half is simply unsure, so I cannot be seen to have any further involvement.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I really am. If there is anything that I can do?”

“You can talk to the Commander. Try and convince him to see sense.”

“I take it that it didn’t go well?” Paul enquired, as the Admiral had already briefed Paul on the plan prior to talking to Jon. He had already voiced his doubt that Jon would accept the position.

“He wouldn’t hear of it,” Sterling sighed. “Did you know that Marcus had always intended Jon should become the next in line to the throne and succeed him?”

“Did I know?” Paul replied. “No. Am I surprised to hear Marcus had chosen Jon to succeed him? No, I am not surprised. I saw the way Jon used to look at Marcus; he worshipped the ground he walked on and, as for Marcus, it was common knowledge throughout the Imperial Navy that the Emperor had more than a soft spot for his Praetorian Commander.”

“Well I hope you can change his mind,” Sterling said desperately. “As unless Commander Radec embraces his destiny and accepts his role as the last Emperor of the Imperium, none of us are going to live long enough to ever see any of our families again.”

Chapter Four

The Senate, Eden Prime, Eden System

Arriving back on the surface of Eden Prime, Jon was confronted with a very different scene to the one he had faced the previous day. Part of him was surprised that everything seemed to be carrying on, as if he had expected the world to stop turning with the death of his family.

Looking up into the sky, he could still make out the haze from the thousands of tonnes of dust that had been blasted into the atmosphere. While visibility had vastly improved from the day before, he guessed it was going to take a considerable time for the dust to settle completely. What had changed little was the thick coat of white dust that covered every surface and, in some places, the wind had blown into drifts several inches deep.

With the storm gone, Jon could clearly see now everything that had been concealed the day before. While the Senate building was still standing, he could observe the horrific damage inflicted upon it, with the cupola cracked and broken in places and some of the walls now nothing more than piles of rubble. It was a miracle the building still stood at all. Although he assumed that, at a later date, it would have to be demolished and completely rebuilt.

The area surrounding the Senate was mostly bare, as the structures had been flattened. All that remained visible was the occasional shattered wall and a few foundations of former buildings. The destruction had been absolute and the death toll horrific. Currently standing at over five thousand dead, this was expected to increase dramatically over the coming days. Jon knew many of the bodies, like Sofia’s, would never be found, having been simply vaporised by the tremendous amounts of energy released at the point of impact.

Jon was not here to observe the devastation all around him. He was here to collect their father. Stepping from the shuttle, he approached the crowd that had formed around the entrance to the Senate. Many of the people were rescue workers, with emergency medical teams in attendance to help remove the bodies. Interspersed amongst the crowd, the media and reporters were clearly visible. Their hovering holo-cam recorders looking like tiny satellites orbiting around them. He bit back his frustration, knowing they had as much right to be there as anybody else, but still it made him angry that they were like a pack of vultures, attracted by all the pain and misery surrounding them.

Jon bowed his head, hoping to pass by unnoticed. For while his name and face were still not widely known in the Confederation, his visibility had been dramatically increased by the announcement of his marriage to Sofia, the Confederation President. Unfortunately his luck was not to hold, for at least one enterprising reporter spotted him and, with a call of “Commander Radec,” the pack quickly descended upon him. He lengthened his stride to try and escape before they could surround him, ignoring all the questions shouted in his direction.

“Commander Radec, do you have any comment?”

“Do you know the reason behind the attack?”