TEP Chpt 1

=The Eagle's Perch=
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
-----
==Chapter 1 - Like a dream==
----
===Efforts in Preserving Democracy===
Atreus, Marik Commonwealth
February 2nd, 2729 AD
----
Elise Marik
Atreus was the Capital World of the League and the crown jewel of the League. Within the heart of the island-continent Ionica was Atreus City itself, the "City of Dreams", the true capital city of the League. It was the center of arts, business, finance, and above all politics.
 
With my hands folded behind my back, I stared out the windows of my palatial salon. Atreus City was bathed in the glorious evening light. With the distance between the palace and the city, it was as if Atreus City would have fit in the palm of my hand. So beautiful, so small, and so delicate. A shimmering glass jewel, one amongst many in the tapestry of the Free Worlds League.
 
I could scarcely believe it. One hundred and fifty-eight years. It has been one hundred and fifty-eight years since the signing of the Star League Accords. Despite the piracy, the raids, the assassinations, the recession, and the saber-rattling, it has been a hundred and fifty-eight years of uninterrupted relative peace for the Free Worlds League. My family led the League through it all.
 
In spite of suffering, in defiance of spite, in the face of parochialism, it was my family that led the League. We are a beacon of Strength, a beacon of measurement, and above all else a beacon of Unity. The petty feuding of the provinces had been kept well in check for the benefit of the whole.
 
After all, what else does my family have to live for?
 
My father lost everything to the Scourge of Death, and the vindictive backstabbing nature of the Provincialists. For creating the Star League and for bringing the League out of the depths of recession, the thanks that my family and my father received was the murder. At Dormuth, nearly my entire family was assassinated, and in time, my father himself.
 
Thankfully, I know better now. I learned better from him. I worked towards the sweetest form of revenge, to live a good life. To know that by my family's hand, the League and all her people were safeguarded from the traitorous parasites, the conniving Capellans, and the ever-greedy Lyrans.
 
The first step was ridding myself of the enemies within. The most dangerous of Provincialists were excised from the League—my doomed attempt at preserving Democracy. The military was similarly reprocessed, disinfected, and finally sterilized of traitors. It took two decades, but it was worth it.
 
The second was allowing my family and the everyday citizens of the League to flourish truly. The loyal provincials, the charities, the unions, and the corporations for once agreed to something on principle. Demonstrating, at once, the unity of my family both proper and estranged, and the righteousness of our leadership—the League as a whole benefiting.
 
And, on this day, the third and most important act was to rid myself and future generations of citizens of the burden that was Parliament. At last, the infighting, the pointless arguing, the endless feuding were put to rest. Now the failed experiment that was democracy laid into its final grave, my family can work to our utmost efficiency and effectiveness for the benefit of every man, woman, and child of the League. So that no one would live through the tragedies caused by the clashing of worthless 'nobles', and the bickering of pompous fools.
 
So that none shall ever live through my tragedy again.
 
The knock on the door pulled me from my introspection. My son entered in his crisp purple uniform. Cutely dressed up as a proper Marik.
 
"Mother," he greeted stoically. "Good evening."
 
"Good evening to you as well, my son." Despite my happiness on this day, it would not do well to break decorum. No matter how much I wished to hug my son. I settled instead on a fond smile. "It is a good day for the family," I continued, before turning fully and approaching him. "Could you not have delayed your meeting with the ministers, Berty? It's a beautiful evening, and we should take the opportunity to spend time together." After all, family comes first.
 
Berty sighed. "Mother, I am a grown man. As a man, I must deal with the responsibilities invested upon me," he said. Then he meekly averted his eyes. "And, I do not wish to disappoint you," he whispered.
 
That swelling feeling in my heart. That was the pride I felt. A special form, a feeling unique only to parenthood. The joy of motherhood.
 
"Yes. I suppose you are." I breathed, holding back proud tears.
 
"Mother, we ought to leave now. After what happened today, it is necessary to speak to the people of the League," He said while opening the door.
 
With a nod, I followed him out and greeted the two guards stationed outside. Walking along, I couldn't help but admire my surroundings again. The chrome and white marble corridors of the palace had been polished to a mirror finish. The hard work of a hundred hands brought cleanliness and security to my home. Spying at one of the marble columns, I could see my face, and what was behind me.
 
It was perfect.
 
Everything was now perfect.
 
To the front of the palace, I went. As the guards in their formal purple opened the Lespian wood doors, the evening light gently bathed me. Before me, cameras and reporters of the most trustworthy media corps sat quietly in their seats before the palace steps, near the garden soirée. Calmly, I approached the podium.
 
Before I spoke, I carefully eyed the reporters before I started.
 
"Peoples of the Free Worlds League."
 
"I stand before you today to answer the questions on the lips of every loyal man and woman of the League. To give clarity where there is confusion. To give confidence where there is doubt. And above all, to cast the light of truth to beat back the darkness of traitorous lies."
 
"Years ago, my father suffered a terrible assault no man or woman in the League should ever experience. Nigh the entirety of the Marik family died save for him and a handful of others in a treacherous assassination within my family's own home. An attack of such heinousness that one would expect it to have come from the infamous Maskirovka. But no, the treachery did not come from without, instead it came from within. We had been betrayed by those we thought above suspicion, one of the founding houses, House Selaj. Rightfully, they and their cult "The Scourge of Death" were put down and scattered, never to threaten anyone from the League again."
 
"Yet that was not the end. As my father looked, he uncovered more treachery. More lies and deceit, murder and butchery, all in the name of avarice at the expense of all and all sense."
 
"There is a cancer in the Free Worlds League, a sickness that runs through our marrow and threatens to make us weak. We must excise this disease from our flesh before it is too late, and cleanse ourselves in the pure fire of truth. I am the vessel of my father's will, the hot knife of his loyalty that will cauterize our wounds and make us whole. I will not rest until the work he began is finished."
"To that end, I had dissolved the Free Worlds League Parliament. The once pure heart of the League had been corrupted beyond recognition. All that flowed from it was an endless cavalcade of self-serving aggrandizement, even as the League and all her people were bled white."
 
"I say, 'No more!' No more should this grand federation listen to the weak mewling of lying backstabbers whose only worth is the winds that leave their lips. No more shall we be burdened by the failed experiment of Democracy. All of these things shall be put to their final rest. And we shall be born anew. To serve and to service the needs of the League and all her people."
 
"No matter the cost."
 
Before I finished, I stared into the camera to convey the full weight of my commitment.
 
"This I proclaim, as Elise Marik, twenty-seventh Captain-General of the Free Worlds League."
 
"I bid you 'good day', for you all may look forward to a brighter tomorrow."
 
Thankfully, the reporters were well-behaved and quiet. They raised their arms to interrogate me, no doubt, but alas there was no time for questions. With a nod to the guard at the rear, he began to gently coax the room to silence as I was leaving. The Press Speaker John Pierre would take things from here.
----
===Answering to the Call for Action===
Marik, Marik Commonwealth
February 22nd, 2729 AD
----
Elise Marik
A month had passed since that momentous triumph. A month of good work, giving the good people what they deserved and smiting evil. For the time being, I had retired to Dormuth, Marik., the family's ancestral Winter Palace within our barony. Despite the continent of Mondaria and the world's arid climate, Dormuth was pleasantly temperate.
 
Dormuth itself was as much a fortress as it was a palace fit for my noble family. Dormuth consumed the hill it sat upon and the seven other hills surrounding it. It availed itself of both geography and thick ferrocrete walls to weather the tempestuous storms and violent tectonic incidents that regularly shake the planet. The ferro-glass of the palace allowed one to look out and appreciate the primal beauty of Marik while staying safely and comfortably ensconced within. Nothing beats the sight of a continent-wide storm rolling through the plains, looking to the heavens, and witnessing a light show of pure might.
 
After the security renovations in the aftermath of The Dormuth Tragedy, nowhere was safer and nowhere was more comfortable than home.
 
It was the evening of the twenty-second of March, I was sitting in my bedroom enjoying a bottle of wine when my noteputer chirped. It was an emergency message from SAFE. After opening it my wine glass was dropped in shock. Oliver. Sweet, stupid Oliver had been ensnared by the lies of the Provincialists and had risen in arms against his own flesh and blood.
 
A Shadow Government had formed outside the League, as if to proclaim their evil against the light of righteousness. Just when I thought the family was mended and united, those with dark designs had stolen them from me. Again.
 
I wailed and I cried so hard I was sure the whole palace had heard me. My tears flowed so freely I couldn't see. I was so distraught I couldn't think. When I came to, I was dimly aware of a stranger screaming inside my room. My voice cut as soon as I realized it was mine. I saw I had wrecked my bedroom, shattered my study chair against the entrance, and my noteputer was cracked.
 
My father did not raise weak children. I understood what was necessary, even as my soul withered against a dark resolve. As I sat in my wretchedness, I sought my communicator.
 
"Charles, I saw the message. Firstly, I require the guards of my bedroom to be replaced and re-educated in their Duty." With how I laid waste to my bedroom, it was impossible for the guards to not have heard my distress. They didn't even so much as knock to check on me. A dangerous embarrassment to their uniform. "Secondly, please begin phase one of the Prometheus plan, and execute the Romulus Plan."
 
It had taken less than two months since Parliament was dissolved for the cancer within the League to strike. The plan must have been years in the making. Years spent seeding doubt and lies into my stupidly naive brother. With so much time preparing, and acting with such confidence, it must mean that they have prepared for a Civil War.
 
"Elise, we have a problem. Oriente has officially declared for Boris Marik." Charles hastily added in.
 
The clarion call is loud. Once again, the League is in peril. I, as my forebearers before me, would answer her call.
-----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
01, Chapter