Interregnum
© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  ahro


Until the beacons were reactivated, none of the cargo ships and other craft that had arrived at This Far and Magus Station could leave. Most of the ships were operating with minimal crews until the emergency was over, with housing provided by the station and the planet’s arcologies. This Far’s small force of patrol craft kept an uneasy watch on the system, painfully aware that they were seriously outgunned.


***


The image had come a long way, taxing several of the hypercomsats. The Information Ministry’s AIs had felt that the real-time data was important for everyone to see, so they decided to do it. Because of the urgency and the amount of power required for the task, the images weren’t perfect, with occasional random dropouts and slight distortions in the sound.

The leopardess wore a rumpled uniform with the epaulets of Admiral-General, the commander-in-chief of the Confederate forces; her eyes were wild and her headfur was a tangled mess. She strained at the pawcuffs behind her back and screeched insults at the two burly security guards flanking her. The two bears stolidly ignored her screams and kept a firm grip on her upper arms.

At one point, she faced the imager and spat juicily at the lens.

“These images are in real time,” and a small inset appeared in the lower right corner, “as Sarafina al-Sakai, the now-former Admiral-General, is being led away to face charges of insubordination and treason. She was the fur responsible for the destruction of New Horizon and over a million colonists.

“Al-Sakai was arrested by her son, Admiral Felix al-Sakai, and at the President’s direction has been promoted to replace his mother. The President released a statement apologizing to the Colonies for Fra al-Sakai’s actions.”

Meredith sat in her cabin and watched as the real-time stream was replaced by the newsreader, a slightly nervous-looking gazelle mel. “It is currently not known why Fra al-Sakai destroyed the Colonial government, but sources within the Supreme Presidium have suggested that it was in retaliation for ignoring the emergency declaration.”

The palomino mare tapped at her padd, shutting off the datastream before sitting back in her chair. She blinked and put a paw to her face, staring at the wet smear on her fingertips before drawing a shuddering breath, assailed by fear for her friend.

She had no idea where Varan was or how she was doing. Granted, she was on a patrol cruiser, but there had been reports throughout the border of probing attacks by Confed ships. She hoped that Varan was all right.

She had better be; Meredith had deluged Deus with her prayers.

“Captain?” Jax’s voice came from her padd. “Could you step into Command when you get a moment? Something I think you should see.”

Meredith blew her nose and swallowed down the lump in her throat before saying, “Be right there.” She was halfway to the door before she realized that she’d taken her jumpsuit off before sitting down to read the news.

So she was perhaps a few minutes later than she would normally have been.

“I’m here,” she said as the door opened. “What’s up, Jax?”

“Message from Magus Station,” the rat said. “CTC’s getting ready to reactivate all the beacons except for ones in actual battle zones.” Despite her feelings, the mare smiled in reaction to the news, and Jax added, “It’ll be good to get our cargo to where it’s going. I’m glad we’re getting paid, sure, but I’d rather be going somewhere, you know?”

Meredith nodded. She had to admit that he was right; it was better to be working, doing something, than sitting idle and letting her fears gnaw at her.

But until communications were re-established, her fears would always be there.


***


“You hit me too hard.”

“And I already apologized for it.”

“Yes, you did. To the next step, then.”

“I demand that our family title be returned to us.”

“Precisely. A century’s far too long, my Lord Count of Maratha. The waiting’s over.”