Inquisitor's Promise (Act Three, Chapter Twenty-Three)

The Holy League had been united, but the Grey Globe continued to move towards Earth. Aeneas and the members of his inner circle knew they had much to do and little time to prepare.

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Chapter Twenty-Three: Catching Up

The Lepanto was finally complete — that was what Aeneas thought when Nineveh and Lavinia took their place at the ship’s stern. Ever since Lavinia was banished, Aeneas had been pressured to take apart the ship’s Swarm-friendly modifications. But Aeneas refused to do so, and he had been vindicated in that decision.

Aeneas and his inner circle decided to meet at the Lepanto’s mess hall. Other than Lavinia and Nineveh, everyone had already caught up with one another in Roma. It was Providential that they had completed their respective missions around the same time.

Pep and Giulia were to first to have finished their mission. Having gathered quite a bit of alondite from the Lektros Dimension, the crew of the Lepanto loaded them to their ship. They then flew back to Earth. Though Chief Engineer Giuseppe Deere wished to tinker around with the Lepanto’s systems to incorporate the alondite, ship captain Mario Riva would have none of that.

Shaka and Kunoichi were next. After confirming that the clone Kunoichi had been killed, Shaka briefly worked to fix the damages to the Boer Kraal. They were about to leave the Boer Kraal and Draka in the capable hands of Louis van Zulu. But Louis wished to join Shaka in his fight against the Grey Globe. To that aim, he had gathered all of the former slaves who wished to help. Knowing that all men of Draka regardless of birth or vocation were capable pathfinders in their own right, Shaka gratefully accepted the help.

Next up to arrive were Nikolai and Omaha. Though the fight in the Azov was tough and brutal, it was also quick and efficient. The combined forces of Slavia and the Imperium were able to blitzkrieg through the Azov. But they had much work to do, even after the invasion. The death of Emperor Hannegan had caused much consternation. Surprisingly, his son Prince Hannegan deftly rose to the occasion. Having received the news of his father’s death, he abdicated the throne the day after, earning the moniker ‘The Day Emperor’. Afterwards, he became the Regent in place of Emperor Nicholas who was away.

To the shock of everyone in the Imperium, he became a capable regent. Paying attention to the details that most would miss, he was able to support his brother-in-law in mobilizing soldiers from the Imperial Protectorates and fleets from the colonies in the Electropshere. Despite his condition, the prince was shown to have a sharp mind. Some went as far as theorizing that he had faked his condition so people would accept Nikolai as their Emperor more readily.

Even so, the Imperium continued to grieve for their Emperor. Omaha wished for every Imperial soldier to don a black uniform for her father. But Nikolai knew that this was unfeasible given the Grey Globe’s impending arrival. Instead, every Imperial soldier wore a black armband to show mourning for their Emperor. To show solidarity with his newfound family, Nikolai ordered the same thing for the soldiers of Slavia.

The last to return to Roma was Aeneas and Galatea. This was a surprise as most had expected Nikolai’s mission to be the last completed. As it turned out, Aeneas’ group had spent more time than they had expected in the Monolith. It was also important to note that Aeneas’ group was the last of the four to have left Roma.

In the end, it had worked out well for everyone involved.

Once Aeneas and Galatea returned to Roma, the party put everything together. With the help of the recordkeeper Halpful, Giuseppe was able to integrate the alondite into the ship’s weapons systems. Now, the ship was able to shoot alondite cannons to deal devastating blows against the Grey Globe. With the integration successful, Giulia contacted her father Doge Norberto to do the same for the Venetian ships gathered from all over the Electrosphere.

This effort would not be possible in the short timespan that it was without the help of the Zaibatsu. Though the Venetian Arsenal was powerful, it was limited. Thus, Veneto worked together with CEO Honda as many of the ships were sent to Tokio; there, the Zaibatsu used their factories and workers to help with the refitting of the Venetian ships.

Meanwhile, Sir Juan Carlos of San Felipe left his home in the capable hands of his sister-in-law Isabella de Bacolod who acted as regent. Having secured San Felipe from bandits and undercity spiders, the Grand Knight rallied the knights all over Earth and gathered them in Roma. This brought much needed manpower for the upcoming invasion of the Grey Globe. More importantly, his mission had brought a degree of unity amongst the lesser nations of the Holy League.

Thus, the four factions of the Holy League had come together: The Imperials, the Spacers, the Corporatists, and the Knights.

This left the Proletarians as the last piece of the puzzle.

“I see,” Lavinia said. “We’re here to help too!”

“Indeed,” Nineveh added. “We had brought much of our swarm from the Transitional Zone. They are currently stationed at the City of Simona under Lake Tyrion.”

“And uncle Caius?” Aeneas asked.

“Papa is still in Pacifica gathering his swarm and other soldiers from the undercity races,” Lavinia explained.

At this point, Nikolai stepped forward to interject. “Excellent. We should have the necessary manpower to invade the Grey Globe once we disabled it with the alondite cannons.”

Aeneas smiled. Everything was coming together. But then he caught sight of Galatea — she looked very much on edge. The Inquisitor knew exactly what she was thinking of. The one thing they hadn’t talked about ever since they returned to Roma.

Fyuria, the Commander of the Grey Globe.

Aeneas was able to convince Galatea to put her feelings aside back in the Dark Age Archive, but it was clear that it had been bothering her for quite some time. To her credit, she had kept it to herself. But in truth, Aeneas sympathized with his beloved’s anguish. And he couldn’t bear to see her suffering in silence.

And so, Aeneas decided to bring up the subject. He told the members of his inner circle of the tragedy of the Atomian War. Of the vengeance that the Atomian leader Kalel had desired, and Fyuria’s promise to her papa. Aeneas needed to see what his companions would have to say about her.

“And why didn’t you bring this up earlier?” Giulia asked angrily.

“My apologies,” Aeneas said sheepishly. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. It just never came up.”

“And yet you bring it up now,” Nikolai stated.

“It’s a bothersome subject,” Aeneas said.

“You mean Dame Galatea was bothered by it and you wanted to put her mind at ease,” Omaha responded.

Aeneas sighed and looked at Galatea apologetically. “Sorry, Galatea.”

But Galatea smiled at her beloved. “No worries, Lord Aeneas. I’m glad that you brought it up.”

“Sir,” Shaka spoke up. “It doesn’t matter. Our mission stays the same.”

“It absolutely matters, Shaka!” Kunoichi cried. “Fyuria loves her papa and wants to fulfill his last wish.”

“I knew something like this would happen,” Aeneas said. “But I want to know everyone’s thoughts on this.”

“You’re putting this up for a vote?” Pep asked incredulously.

Aeneas shook his head. “No,” he said. “Our goal remains the same: defeat the Grey Globe. But I want to know what everyone has to say with this new information at hand.”

“Why?” Nikolai asked.

Aeneas was stumped by the question, but Galatea came to his rescue. “Lord Aeneas is like Sir Arthas of Albion. He took action only after a discussion with the knights of his round table,” she said with admiration.

“Right,” Aeneas said in embarrassment. “That’s one way to put it.”

Giulia was the first to speak up. “Fyuria only wants to please her papa. I can truly relate. If we can save her without putting Earth in jeopardy…”

“But that’s impossible!” Pep interrupted. “And it’s no excuse. She had murdered so many people. I can’t overlook that. I just can’t.”

“Calm down, Pep,” Aeneas said, putting up his hands to make his point. He then turned towards Nikolai, beckoning for the Emperor’s answer.

“Fyuria’s story is tragic, I will not lie,” Nikolai said. “But our duty is with the Holy League. With our kith and kin.”

“Well said, milord,” Omaha responded. “I wholeheartedly agree.”

Aeneas nodded. One vote for Fyuria, and three against.

“You know my position, sir,” Shaka said.

“Same here,” Kunoichi added.

Two votes for Fyuria, and four against.

“You know my thoughts on this, Lord Aeneas,” Galatea began. “As far as I’m concerned, the Three Days of Darkness was God’s punishment on the Dark Age Civilization for the genocide of the Atomians, and perhaps many others.”

Three votes for Fyuria, and four against.

“I agree with Galatea,” Lavinia said. “Everyone deserves a second chance, even someone like Fyuria.”

“My queen allows her guilt over her attempted murder of Galatea to cloud her judgement,” Nineveh pointed out.

“Perhaps, my king.”

Nineveh continued on. “In any case, we know of no way to save both Earth and Fyuria. It’s one or the either. That’s how the Dark Age Civilization defeated Atomia, after all.”

Four votes for Fyuria, and five against.

And all eyes fell on Aeneas. Aeneas took in everything that his companions had told him. They all made good arguments. But Aeneas remembered what had spurred him on to this adventure.

“I made a promise to papa. To unite the Holy League and defeat the Grey Globe,” Aeneas said. “As far as I can tell, there’s no way I can do that and save Fyuria.”

Four votes for Fyuria, and six against.

Pep grinned smugly. “I guess you girls are outvoted.”

“Democracy is dumb!” Lavinia declared as she threw her hands up in frustration.

“Is that so?” Nikolai raised his eyes. “If democracy had its way, we would have been a few votes short of sparing the Commander of the Grey Globe.”

“Regardless, I’m glad that we can talk about this,” Aeneas said before he dismissed the meeting. And it was none too soon as Lavinia looked ready to gobble up the food in the Lepanto’s mess hall.

As for Galatea, she was glad that there were others who shared her view. Despite her feelings, she agreed with how the others had seen the situation. There was no way to save both Earth and Fyuria. Even so, she wished to save Fyuria.

Prayer was all she had left. And so, she prayed.

The next day, Galatea woke up early. Six o’clock, as usual. She waited for her beloved to knock on her door for their daily training. And there was a knock, and Aeneas was there. But to her surprise, he was not here for training.

“Let’s go to the crypt, Galatea,” he said.

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