39 The Shadowy Road #3
“The comradery faded with the next morning’s hangover.
We looked around and realized what we’d done, and everyone knew we were to be arrested if not expelled.
We cut into the steam tunnels beneath the house and escaped to various locations around campus in time to make the morning roll call.
Oh, you never saw such a furious lot as the instructors who thought they were going to catch us out of ranks, only to see us lined up, green to the gills, but present and in uniform. ”
“So you got away with it?” Wiktor asked.
“We were delinquent in our duties, but it turned out the campus police were operating outside of their jurisdiction. The house was on private property, and the party was a private affair held by a commissioned officer. A few students were expelled and a few policemen fired, but the whole thing was swept under the rug. The rest of us received a few demerits on our records. Astrid and I both had enough already that two or three more didn’t matter. ”
I gave the shattered hall a wistful, remembering look, seeing the balls, the dinners, the events before the coup, and how it looked then before now. “Before coming here, I thought that would be the wildest soiree I’d ever attend. This, though, this was one Fall of a party.”
I’m not certain how long I remained at the bar, but several glasses were placed before me before I was roused from my reverie.
“Captain Boylan?” I turned to see Princess Marie-Christina, looking at me with concern. She had a tall, thin man at her side, wearing the uniform of a Stelsylvanian soldier. “Darius told me you were looking for an aeromotive engineer?”
“It’s for Tilly,” I explained, hope blossoming in my breast.
“This is Major Louis-Felix Guidellame, my master mechanic in charge of my hoversteed. I told him of your troubles, and he offered to see what he can do.”
I lurched to my feet, slightly unsteady after a quarter-score of drinks. “Do you have experience with SI?”
The major shuffled. “I do not, but I have repaired many a grievously damaged hoversteed. Commonwealth hoversteeds are similar in construction to our own, so I should be able to identify what must be done to restore the poor machine.”
I took Major Guidellame by the hand. “Please, sir, if you can fix Tilly, I’d give you anything within my power.”
My prostrations embarrassed the man. “Just take me to your hoversteed, and I’ll do as my princess demands.”
Major Guidellame moved Tilly to a mechanical clean room before donning a mask and smock.
He set up electrostatic discharge protection to prevent static shocks from shorting the circuitry and set to work.
I paced outside, my hands clasped behind my back, twisting my gloves in agony until the major emerged. Wordlessly, I waited for his prognosis.
“The damage is serious. That lancer destroyed many subsystems. She requires a major rebuild, maybe even a transfer to a new frame and chassis entirely, but her primary processors are undamaged, and her memory drive is intact. It’ll take time and effort, but your steed will be fine.”
Upon receiving the news Tilly would fully recover, I broke down and cried.
The next two days were much the same as the last. Repairs, funeral arrangements, and negotiations occupied everyone’s time.
While the Allies did not contest the Emperor’s edicts, there were yet several undecided borders and disputed worlds whose fates required resolution.
Most of these matters would be determined at the official peace conference to be held in a few weeks’ time, but the broad strokes of the armistice were to be arranged before the delegates left this world.
The day came to sign the armistice, and I had not decided to which world I would go once the ink had dried. I stayed in the Emperor’s suite, yet I continued to wear a Commonwealth uniform, and I could not tell which held my loyalty.
The armistice itself was written in an ancient, abbreviated legal language common across the Rim.
I had learned a little during my Academy days, but I’d lost most of that knowledge over the intervening decade and change.
It was prettily printed, though, and the entire document fit on one large sheet of paper.
The Emperor presented it with a minimum of ceremony, her signature already upon it.
“These are the conditions I offer. You may choose to agree and sign or withhold your pens and remain at war. The choice is yours.”
Princess Marie signed and Archduke Darius, too. An Urgan lord commander begrudgingly put pen to paper, but not nearly so reluctantly as Lady d’Lyre. The beautiful senator glowered at the Emperor and tried to seduce me with her eyes, but I deflected her charms. They no longer had any effect upon me.
Finally, it was Prince Aureli’s turn to sign. He bent over the document, scrolling down the lines with his pen. Suddenly, he stopped, the pen hovering over a particular line.
“What does this mean?” he asked.
I raised my eyebrows at his reticence. Astrid had assured me the document contained no reparations upon the Royal Commonwealth. It was the best deal the prince could hope for.
Emperor Astrid did not bother to look at the line which caused the prince pause. “I thought it best to put my request in writing.”
Prince Aureli straightened. “This is unconscionable. The Commonwealth’s choice of ambassador cannot be dictated by a foreign power.”
Astrid simpered sweetly. “That may be so, but I have the power to expel your ambassadors from my realm. I thought we might save ourselves the trouble of a tedious back and forth.”
“He is not prepared for this duty. He has neither the training nor the experience for such a prodigious post in the foreign office,” the prince protested.
“Then by all means, send others to assist him. I’m certain he could use the help, but if you send me a diplomatic envoy without Boylan’s inclusion, I’ll dismiss them immediately and break all diplomatic channels, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
” Emperor Astrid paused while Prince Aureli fumed.
I stood stock still, shocked at the words I was hearing.
Astrid had included me by name in the armistice agreement? It was unthinkable.
As Prince Aureli opened his mouth to reply, Astrid spoke again.