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"What do you mean 'gone'?"
Viannor rested her hands on the table and leant on them. Standing at the head of a table surrounded by these fools had always been one of her least-favourite pass-times as on of Tiberius' Inner Council.
"Gone," My Lord Rikaard, "Gone to the place where all autocrats end up eventually - the grave."
"He's..." Rikaard Van Honjiik could barely bring himself to say it. Tiberius had been the rock-solid, ever-present foundation for which his own personal power was based. With Tiberius gone, Rikaard was without his guardian. "Dead?"
"Of course he's bloody dead!" Viannor threw back her head in frustration. " When you're riddled with bullets before dropping into the frozen sea at night, you tend not to walk into your office the next morning!"
The room fell silent as each man went through the process of his thoughts.
"Tell us how, my Lady." Juan Bruntos had always been one for the details, the Minister for Finance never missed a step.
"A Hit Squad," Viannor lied through an Oscar-winning performance, "they had infiltrated the Orca as part of the staff. Orcinus' own money was given to these traitors. I'm ordering the investigation of Armando Gomez."
"You can't do that!" Ricardo Gomez's voice was, for once, raised. His brother had been Tiberius' favourite, an honoured guest on the Orca on Protectorate Day. "Armando is the most-loyal subject in the whole country."
"That remains to be seen." Viannor stated flatly. "He will be investigated, I have dispatched an Inquisitorial team already. We may yet save this country from tearing itself apart once the news hits the streets."
There was nothing Ricardo could do. As Minister for Communications he had been Tiberius' mouthpiece, the PR king who's measured tones helped to placate over four billion people. That and the Police force. Tiberius, like his father before him, had held Starblaydia in an iron grip, something that had only been increased by the adoption of Public Relations and 'spin'. Viannor was perfectly correct in that there could be a civil war. When such a great leader dies there is almost always a rush to fill the vacuum left by the outgoing figurehead. With the Army, the Venators, the Police and the Inquisition all able to pull in different directions, Starblaydia could be reduced to bickering, warring tribes within weeks.
"Tell us what to do, my Lady."
There it is, Viannor thought, my pawn plays his next role. She had installed Phillipou Tsalikassis as the head of the Holy Church of Nemya for one reason and one reason only: 'His Holiness' takes a seat - and a vote - on the Lord-Protector's Inner Council. Though Viannor's mental abilities did not currently stretch to being able to read the minds of all those present, she could feel their most base emotions, like neon signs projecting their feelings outward.
"We must act," Viannor began, "else all we have built these past years will count for nothing. The Starblaydia that we know and love today is feared by our enemies. The power Tiberius weilded when he was alive - even from when he took charge in his early twenties - was respected and acknowledged and feared by our foes. We cannot let that legacy crumble into dust, we must bear it before us like a great purple banner that proclaims 'This is only the beginning'! Unite as one in this darkest of times and emerge stronger and more powerful. Unite as one and crush this plague-ridden Breaker movement like I should have been allowed to do from the beginning. The rope that Tiberius failed to let me have was just the amount that the Breakers required to hang him. Unite behind me, and Starblaydia shall shake the world like no other before it!"
She locked eyes with each one of them in turn, knowing them fully as she did so. Tsalikassis was the first.
"I am behind you, my Lady."
"Me too," proclaimed the Minister for Defence, Lord Carlito Orfosi, "let's get the bastards that did this."
"You are in control, Viannor," Rikaard Van Honjiik said, his voice cracking, "lead us where you will."
"No-one leads here, my Lord," Juan Bruntos again, seeing the details, "without a Lord-Protector we are a Spruitlander hash bar; full of talk and ideas."
"Then let our Chief-Quaestor, Lady Viannor lead us into the new age of Starblaydia," Tsalikassis - again - said, "who better to crush our enemies than her?"
It was done. Viannor had placed her pieces to perfection. Even those who disagreed with her - Lords Bruntos, Jiminez and Gomez - had no answer with which to stop her, no valid reason to say no to her in front of the others. Lord Van Honjiik, scared into joining her; Lord Orfosi, blinded by rage as usual; His Holiness Tsalikassis, her pawn-turned-Queenmaker. They all joined with her to proclaim one thing.
Tiberius is dead. Long live Lady Viannor Starblayde, Protector of Starblaydia.
May God have mercy on your souls. |
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"...that's right, Blanc is the key man, he's the one who leads the team in every sense of the phrase." Trefor Trefor, football analyst, was in full flow. "As captain, he's a one-man wrecking ball against the opposition and his effectiveness in going forward cannot be underestimated..."
Trefor, however, was being distracted by some commotion around him in the plush studio of World Cup Special, where they were discussing the upcoming World Cup 28 Final between Bedistan and Starblaydia.
"I'm sorry, Trefor," the host, Trey Pickworth said, "but we have to interrupt you there with what I'm told is breaking news of the highest magnitude. We cross over now to SCB:News."
There was a slight awkward pause as the screen faded to black, swiftly replaced with a jump-cut to the SCB:News studio with, as ever, Javi Hierro and Saianne DeJardin. The two presenters were calm and composed, and the ticker across the bottom of the screen read:
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCEMENT SOON - Ld Gomez to make speech to world - News of "the greatest importance" - GOVERNMENT...
Javi looked up into the camera.
"This is a special report of SCB:News," he said in the deep voice that reach out to billions, "I'm Javi Hierro and with me is Saianne DeJardin. This broadcast is going out on television, radio and internet in a completely unheralded event that has been described to our colleagues as, I quote, 'of the greatest importance'. As such, we welcome viewers, listeners and surfers from all corners of the globe, through every media outlet in Starblaydia and many in Atlantian Oceania itself."
"As of this moment," Saianne's voice rushed over you like a light summer rain, "we are unsure as to the nature of the speech to be made by Lord Ricardo Gomez, Communications Officer for the Protectorate of Starblaydia but we can only infer that it is something that may affect every man, woman and child in Atlantian Oceania. I.. I'm told we can go live, now, to Lord Gomez."
*****
At a podium stands Lord Ricardo Gomez. A tall, lean man with short, slick dark hair and a permanently tanned complexion. He is shadowed by the political leaders of Starblaydia, Lords and a Lady standing behind him in a semi-circle. Lord Isaac Chisoko - greying of hair and mahogany of skin, Lord Juan Bruntos - stern and determined, Lord Rikaard Van Honjiik - nervous and jittery, Lady Viannor - devastatingly beautiful and serene as the breeze, Lord Carlito Orfosi - angry and barely keeping his composure, Lord Howard Jiminez, His Holiness Phillipou Tsalikssis, The late Lord Benjamin Mackey notable for his absence. Lord Gomez looked straight at the camera and began to speak.
"My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen. To the people of the Protectorate of Starblaydia, and to Atlantian Oceania and the World, I have the sad duty to announce to you all: The Lord-Protector is dead."
Never before has a nation, as one, taken a collective breath. In total shock with appropriate time allowed for perfectly by Gomez, ever the Public Relations grand master, he continued.
"Tiberius Starblayde was killed, murdered, on board the Orca Cruise Ship on the night of Protectorate Day. Assassins from the 'Break the Chain' movement inflitrated the ship's crew a murdered Lord Starblayde in a cold, brutal attack. Though the traitors were killed by Venator agents, our medical teams, on scene moments afterwards, could not save him."
"So as to ease Starblaydia through this troublesome time, the Inner Council has chosen Lady Viannor, Chief-Quaestor of the Inquisition, to take the position of Lady-Protector of Starblaydia. As such she shall be known as Lady Viannor Starblayde, the first modern-day Lady-Protector of Starblaydia. Her knowledge and expertise will be crucial in bringing the entire Break the Chain movement to justice. Starblaydia will be avenged. Starblaydia triumphant." |
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"Gentlemen," Viannor began, "those of you who have read the classified reports the Inquisition and I have been putting together since this terrorism mess began will be aware of the foundations for a new organisation I have created. Now, with the full power of the state at my disposal I have stepped up the programme, and the organisation is born." She flicked a switch on the desk in front of her. "Send them in."
At the end of the room, the two large double-doors swung open and in marched a dozen dark-suited women. They lined themselves up against one wall and faced the Inner Council.
"Where are the short, fat and ugly ones?" Lord Bruntos scoffed under his breath. "Or are these just the display models?"
"This is the beginnings of my new organisation," Viannor continued, not dignifying Juan's comment with a response, "with new and far-reaching jurisdictional powers. They are the Kalonii Emergency Reaction Enforcement Service, or KERES for the short and snappy acronym world in which we all exist."
"Oh, you have done your mythology homework recently, haven't you my Lady." Lord Bruntos said, again with a look of displeasure, "the Keres Daemons of Nemyan mythology come to life, female spirits to take the souls of the soon-to-be-dead down to Hades? Come now, my Lady, that is worse than that Damocles Ortillery station of yours."
"If you wish to remain Minister for Finance, you will hold your tongue," Viannor glared at him, "unless you wish to find yourself as a cleaner of a Nemyan Mythology Museum. Unless you have anything to say relevant to your current position?"
"As a matter of fact I do," Juan Bruntos stared matter-of-factly at his new Lady-Protector, "this operation has dragged in scores of millions of Credits already, and apart from the tailoring of their suits I see not even the briefest explanation of where out money has been going."
"One hundred and sixteen million Credits," Viannor corrected him, "the KERES is a sub-division of the Inquisition, sub-ordinate only to myself and the other Quaestors. The Venators cannot do everything at once, as was so aptly demonstrated by the fools sent to capture Tiberius on the Orca. They will go back to being used for their primary purpose, Special Forces Black Ops, while the KERES will take the strain between the Police Force and the Inquisition.
"They are mine my Lords," she said, "and will protect both me and Starblaydia. They are my personal, loyal agents and will be accorded with due respect by all other services."
"Even with those sunglasses," Bruntos mocked again.
"Their eyewear is sophisticated technology, Juan," Viannor neglected to use his title on purpose, "Video screens, audio hook-up, GPS and many other wondrous activities, never mind the fact they are stylish. Even at night my KERES will be able to see, for it is at night when they are most effective.
"The people are always easier to scare at night."
| QUOTE | "...the coming of the night has a deep and abiding psychological significance, dating back to man's pre-human arboreal existence. Night will always be a time of fear and insecurity, and the heart will sink with the sun."
- Isaac Asimov, 'The Stars, Like Dust' |
END
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