NASTRAGULL: Pirates (25 page)

An explosion from the corridor outside answered her question.

Chapter
15

"Order! I will have
order
in this Hall of Council!" The shout was repeated several times by the short, stocky woman in red, to no avail. Finally, she clapped her raised hands above her head several times, sending an eerie staccato sound echoing throughout the red marble Hall. As the hubbub died down, she smoothed her gown and took her seat.

Marquessa De La Nosassa La Peck, the First Lady
of
the Karpatrika Civilian Hall of Council, looked over the room with a displeased expression. She snarled, the teeth lining her long snout making her displeasure with the constant interruptions plain. Realizing that her dander was up, most of the Council members returned to their seats, though a few remained standing, their voices raised in protest. Finally, Nosassa decided that enough was enough. She brought her gavel down on the granitewood podium so hard that the handle splintered, and the loud bang finally made the standing Council members pay her heed. "The next time anyone interrupts, I will have that person removed by the guards!" she shouted.

Eyes glared at her sullenly, but at least she had their attention and they were all quiet. She straightened her back and composed her expression to neutrality before she began her speech. "Honorable Marquises and Marquessas, Senators and Governors, it is abundantly clear that everyone has his or her own opinion on this matter. However, the only opinion that matters is that of God. The time has finally come for the ultimate universal expansion of the Florencian Federation. It is no longer possible for us to remain at peace with Nastasturus, and we all know why! Their heretical lack of faith, their materialistic hunger, their lies, and most of all their own expansion, their so-called 'manifest destiny,' have all become threats to our very existence."

Nosassa paused for any possible interruption. When none came she continued, "Our recourses are failing our God and all His true believers, and this must no longer continue. When the Nastasturans say that their goal is only to help the peoples of the newly-discovered inhabited worlds, we all know that what they are really doing is gathering more species into their fold, so that they can continue to feed their capitalistic hunger. They want one thing, and one thing only..." she paused dramatically before shouting, "MORE RESOURCES! They need more species to ally with them against the true inheritor of this universe, the only true entity in existence." She raised her hands and screamed, "Af De Ma Floda Reltih! GOD!"

Everyone in the room stood immediately, shouting out the One and Only Name.

Nosassa stepped away from the podium and fell to her knees, followed by everyone else in the room, including the hundreds of guards posted along the rows of red marble pillars on either side of the Hall. They all bowed their heads, humming to themselves as Nosassa raised her head and shouted out a prayer. Then she stood up in silence, observing her subjects as they prayed. After a long moment, she called, "Enough! God has heard you! We must proceed; there shall be no more delays!"

As the Council members returned to their seats, she made an imperious gesture. The floor in the center of the room irised open, lifting a huge holoprojector into the light. It flicked on, displaying a complex three-dimensional scene encompassing several galaxies. Pastel colors indicated the domains of the various political entities in the known universe.

The Council members focused their attention on Nosassa. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then spoke in a clear voice: "God has spoken! Three steps we must take to accomplish our goal of complete universal expansion. First, we shall make the entire galaxy of Herica ours by excising the cancer of the Nastasturus Federation, exterminating all sentient beings claiming allegiance to that diseased entity. We shall continue this cleansing until the remaining species finally submit themselves to the One True God!"

Her words were followed by scattered shouts of agreement. Nosassa made a gesture of silence, then said, "Second, we will deal with the thieving Merchants and Traders in the galaxies of Yaharra and Sabaza. Once they too have been purged and brought under our control, we will commence the third step, universal expansion from here to eternity!"

As Nosassa spoke, the three-dimensional display indicated with arrows how the process would play out, staining the galaxies the bright red of noble Florencia. When the entire map was red, the holoprojector snapped off and retreated into the floor. Nosassa gripped the podium and faced her people with a calm and confident expression. Most of them looked at her with excitement, though there were a few skeptical faces visible.

"I sense that there are those of you who are in doubt," Nosassa declared in a low, threatening tone, but still loudly enough for all to hear. "Have some of you lost faith? If that is the case, then I suggest some time spent in temple is in order, so that your souls can be purified and cleansed. That way, when you travel and become one with God in the afterlife, there can be no infection." She looked at the silent councilors before her. "Perhaps I was wrong..."

At that moment, Ambassador Governor Ramses De Shatz got to his feet and faced the podium. Her face dark with frustration, Nosassa gestured for him to speak.

"My faith is in God, and only God!" Ramses declared. "I say this so that there shall be no misunderstanding." He locked his eyes with Nosassa's; she nodded her head for him to continue.

"The three steps are the only direction we need. And for them to work in our time...we need an act of God."

The meeting dissolved into chaos, as people—Council members and guards alike—shouted imprecations: "Traitor! Unbeliever! Sinner! Unholy!"

Nosassa slammed her hands on the podium, and several guards stepped forward in unison, their heels clattering menacingly on the hardened marble. Everyone sat down, with the exception of Ramses.

In a voice trembling with suppressed emotion, Nosassa said, "Would Ambassador Governor Ramses De Shatz care to elaborate on this delicate matter?"

Ramses straightened his back and tugged down the front of his crimson robe, which was adorned with a yellow line along the length of each arm, the symbol of his station. "Honorable followers and appointed ones," he intoned. "For over ten thousand years, we and our ancestors have stood here and said the same things; and in consequence, many times have we expanded God's belief and might. We are expanding by the Word of God; and when I say
Word
, I do not mean by the force of God's almighty priesthood and its warriors. Yes, it is a slow process, but we have proven over and over again that we cannot force the only right way of thinking on the lesser intelligent beings. And it is indeed the only right way. But their rude manners and animalistic behavior are not to be taken lightly. Their barbarian ways cannot be met with a military force. We can better educate these lost souls by the Word, not by a show of force."

Several consenting shouts followed these words.

Ramses continued, "And even if we must end our temporary peace with Nastasturus, who then shall lead our forces to war? No second Marquis De La has been appointed by the One and Only God for over a thousand years, and by right of tradition, only a second Marquis De La can bring God's holy angels to the battlefield."

There was silence as his audience considered these words, heads swiveling from Ramses to Nosassa. After a long moment, Chancellor Rock Belim of Handover stood up and announced, "I demand a voice of challenge!"

Nosassa gestured with her left arm towards Belim.

"My home planet is in a desperate situation that requires desperate measures. We
must
be allowed to expand. Handover is vastly over-populated, our resources are fast diminishing, and the atmosphere has degraded to the point that it is almost unbreathable. As I understand it, many of the Florencian worlds are facing similar crises. For our survival, we must be allowed to expand immediately."

Ramses interrupted. "I understand that, but expanding into the zones containing worlds where the dominant species haven't yet achieved spaceflight is against all intergalactic law, even for us. It is wrong, and the result is always the same, war and revolution and..."

Rock Belim cut him off, his voice choked with emotion. "Handover is already suffering a revolution led by rebels supported by Nastasturus! It is Nastasturus that
already
has abrogated our peace treaty."

Several Council members shouted out their agreement, while others protested.

"You have no evidence to back that claim," shouted Ramses, who was now trembling from anger and frustration.

"Since when does the Hall of Council require
evidence
?" Belim demanded righteously. "All we have to demonstrate is that a species does not know of or believe in the One True God. If that is the case, then they are open for us to...re-educate."

Nosassa raised her eyebrows and snorted, causing Belim to incline his head in her direction in a gesture of apology. "What I meant to say, my esteemed colleagues," he said in a more neutral tone, "is that it benefits the inhabitants when these worlds are opened for re-education by our peaceful and loving regime. Besides, Omar is a strategic world that will benefit us in our crusade to spread the Word of God."

Belim took a deep breath, and Ramses was just about to continue his point of view, when Nosassa interrupted both of them. "Enough! The second Marquis De La has been awakened!" she declared, the import of her message rooting all the councilors in place and sending cold chills down everyone's spine, including her own.

"When does he or she arrive?" Rock demanded after a brief pause.

Nosassa stood and looked toward the enormous doors, easily 20 meters high, that brooded on the wall opposite her. Within seconds, the attention of everyone in the room had been diverted toward the doors; and a few seconds after that, all of them became aware of the sound of marching footsteps approaching the doors. The all held their breath as the doors swung silently open, allowing the bright rays of the local sun to probe the red chamber.

A dozen guards, all dressed in bright silver armor, marched inside in perfect formation, as outside, dark clouds blotted out the sun and cast the Hall of Council into gloom. There were gasps throughout the hall, and someone muttered, "Oh my...it can't be..." Someone else finished the sentence: "...the guards of silver."

There was dead silence as the reborn representatives of the most feared and infamous Elite warriors in history, thought extinct these hundred centuries, entered the room. They lined up in a precise row, facing the podium; whether they saw Nosassa no one could say, as their rounded helmets were blank-faced, lacking eyes slits or any form of decoration. Indeed, their armor gave the impression that it was a part of them, and perhaps it was. No clumsy, bulky old-fashioned armor for these knights; theirs was smooth and fluid, almost as if were their skin, and it lacked traditional joints; like skin, it flexed at knee and ankle, shoulder and neck when the Silver Guards moved.

The room seemed to darken further as a thirteenth person, twice the size of the average Oman and cloaked in gray, entered the room. Whoever it was, he or she moved with a lethal stealth and the grace of a god; but the great head was bowed, and none could see the face.

Rock Belim sat down hard as Nosassa said in a calm voice, "My fellow believers, allow me to introduce to you the one and only...Marquessa De La Hoff."

Someone in the room shouted, "But, but, she is dead! The Marquessa De La Hoff died over a thousand years ago!"

The grim figure raised its head and cast aside the gray cloak even as the great doors behind her slammed shut. At the center of the floor stood revealed a very tall, slender woman, her alabaster skin offset by hair the deep black of starless space. As she turned to face the assembly, her thin lips quirking in a smile, that hair writhed as if alive. The black holes of her eyes seemed the pierce the Council members to the core, their dead stare flaying away pretence to reveal the cores of who they were, each and every one. That seemed to amuse her, for her smiled widened unnaturally, revealing what appeared to be hundreds of sharp little teeth, the teeth of a ruthless, obligate carnivore. She spread her arms wide, as if presenting herself for their pleasure; and it immediately became obvious that what they had taken to be part of her raiment was, in fact, bands of pale, loose skin that stretched from her forearms to her hips, forming what appeared to be batlike wings. They made her appear to be twice the width she actually was.

Hoff half-curtsied for her audience, releasing a self-satisfied hiss as a thin forked tongue swept out to clean her teeth. Her posture and body language provided an impression of authority and power combined with danger.
tf was hard to tell her race; most likely she was a hybrid of Oman and some sort of reptilian species—Omans would mate with anything, given half a chance—but her skin lacked scales. Her face bore a stern and yet friendly look that was clearly deceiving; her manner, and her dead eyes, exposed her for what she really was. A killer.

She smiled towards each and every person, then looked toward Nosassa, who was the only person in the room who dared to directly meet her stare. Nosassa was the only one that knew the truth: Hoff had not been awakened by anyone or anything. She had awoken on her own, and had been very startled, almost frightened, when she had done so.