Cutting Teeth

Posted on Mon Mar 4th, 2024 @ 4:30am by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Endia

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: Axanar
Timeline: Date 2371-09-04 at 1800
5094 words - 10.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The Imperator and her escorts streaked through the expanse of space toward their destination, a symbol of the glory and power of Imperial shipbuilding. Their destination was the Axanar system, an area of space which had been under occupation by the rebellious forces of the former Prince, Giuseppe Angelo, who backed his claim to the Imperial Throne.

They came out of warp before the sweeping light of a detection grid. The blue rays emanated from probes which formed a network which looked much like a web. Such tactics were often employed to enhance a defensible detection barrier. The dozens of ships on short range sensors, some friendly and some hostile, were fighting a bloodless battle for the system.

“Bridge to the Princess Regent. We’ve arrived at Axanar and have dropped out of warp.” Colonel Akamu’s voice sounded over the comms. “What are your orders?”

Giana looked up from the PADD she had been reading, many others strung out on the desk before her. Clearing her throat, she stood as she spoke. “Please hail the ISS Cairo and inform Admiral Leyton that I wish to meet with him here.”

“Yes, Your Highness. Should I bring him to your apartments when he arrives or would you like for us to set aside a conference room?”

“A conference room, please, and plan to attend yourself, Colonel.” It hadn’t been something she intended to begin with, but it suddenly occurred to her that having someone who seemed to at least not be completely dismissive of her and was familiar with the current state of military affairs could only be helpful.

“The Emperor’s situation room will be made available. I would suggest you arrive first in order to familiarize yourself with the staff there and get in your element. They will be able to answer any questions you may have.”

“Thank you. I will do so.” Giana closed the commlink and stood, closing her eyes and taking a slow deep breath. She would take a few moments to clean herself up before heading to the situation room.

-

“Imperator to ISS Cairo, this is Colonel Daniel Akamu escorting the Princess Regent. I request to speak with Admiral Leyton immediately.”

“This is Leyton.” Came the steely baritone voice of the Admiral as his face appeared on the screen. “Princess Giana is with you? For what purpose?”

“I will let her explain that to you, Admiral.” The Colonel said. “She orders you to beam over immediately.”

“Does she?” Leyton asked rhetorically. He said nothing nor did anything for the next few seconds, feeding the curious wonder whether he would even comply, but eventually he nodded and spoke again. “Fine, Colonel. I’ll beam over immediately.”

-

Giana arrived not even ten minutes later to the room usually employed by her father that now fell to her as Princess Regent. She was nervous, but she would be damned if she would admit it now. That didn’t go over well with military types, she knew that much at least. She had to be confident and decisive even if she felt anything but. She entered the room with all four of her personal guard this time instead of the two and immediately looked around for whoever was to receive her.

A Major with long black hair pinned up in a high bun approached. She offered a small smile.

“Your Highness, welcome to the Sit Room. I lead the full time staff down here. This complex is designed to facilitate command and control capabilities for the Emperor with cutting edge technology, graphics, and communication abilities. We’re here for anything you need.”

Giana tried not to look too flustered but failed immediately. Frowning and shaking her head slightly, she looked at the woman before her. “I need you to show me the basics of how to facilitate all of that Major….?”

“Walker, ma’am. Major Natalie Walker. And don’t worry, facilitation is our job. Just tell us what you need and we will find a way to make it happen for you.” The woman said, her actual calm like a soothing and light balm compared to Giana’s nervous energy. “Do you know what you might need at this point?”

“I’ll need maps… the fleet positions of ours and the enemy fleets and the sector in general. I’l also need the schematics of the enemy ships and any intelligence we have on the whereabouts of Giuseppe Angelo.” She was still frowning, but seemed to be drawing off the other woman’s calm to some degree.

“The maps and fleet positions we can pull very easily from our advanced tactical sensor readings. The schematics of ships can be pieced together with information in our military database.” Walker responded. “The information on the whereabouts of the former prince is unknown to us. We will reach out to the Cairo and ask for an information download, assuming they don’t already know themselves where he is.”

“Don’t ask, it is an order they provide you with the information under my authority.” Giana replied immediately, her frown hardening into something a bit more determined. “Do you… have any suggestions of anything else?”

She offered a tablet like the ones used in civilian and political life as if on cue

“This holds the complete service record of Admiral Leyton, ma’am.”

Taking the PADD, Giana looked down at it briefly and then up to Walker. “Are you familiar with this file, Major?”

She didn’t really have time to read it over in detail herself, she imagined. Though she didn’t really know exactly how long it would take the admiral to arrive.

“No, ma’am. Sorry. I have no experience with him and I didn’t read it. Maybe you’ll find it more helpful in the coming hours rather than right away.”

“Alright. Thank you.” Giana was obviously disappointed by the reply, but she had no choice but to accept it, obviously. “Do you have any idea how long it will take the admiral to arrive?”

“I believe he arrived several minutes ago. Imperator is a massive ship, but I suspect he’ll be here any minute now.” The Major said in an understanding voice.

“So soon. Alright. Thank you.” Taking a deep breath, Giana moved to the table and touched one of the seats there as if she were going to pull it out and sit in it, but then her eyes caught the chair her father would usually sit in on the other side of the table. There was a brief flicker of hesitation, then she moved resolutely around and pulled out that chair, taking a seat in it and crossing her legs to wait. It didn’t make her feel powerful like she had hoped, but she put on a confident, serious expression.

About a minute later, the doors to the Situation Room opened and Colonel Akamu entered with Admiral Leyton and a young brunette woman in the uniform of a Vice Admiral. They stood at attention at the entrance to the room, saying nothing and looking forward. Clearly it was her turn to speak first.

Giana looked up as the doors opened, immediately finding the faces of the men and woman walking into the room. When they paused and stood at attention, it occurred to her they were probably waiting on her go ahead to join her. “Thank you all for joining me. Please.”

With a simple gesture of her hand, she indicated they should sit.

They relaxed then and made their final approach with the Colonel sitting on Giana’s left hand side and the Admirals sitting on her right.

“Your Imperial Highness. I am Admiral Charles Leyton, Commander of the Terran Home Fleet, and this is Rear Admiral Erika Benteen.” Leyton announced in his metallic voice.

“It’s an honor to meet you ma’am.” Benteen said with a pretty smile. She had soft and feminine features, and youth that seemed odd for an Admiral. “I’m a tremendous fan; my closet has more than a few items from your Chique Royal catalog. I also follow your headlines closely in the news.”

Much to Giana’s chagrin, on seeing the youthful face of the Vice Admiral, she immediately wondered how many penises she had used as handholds on her way up to her position - probably even Leyton’s himself. Without missing a beat, she addressed Benteen first.

“Well, that’s very kind. In the coming months you’ll have even more to be excited about I’m sure. I’m glad to meet you.”

Her eyes turned to Leyton then and she nodded. “Admiral Leyton, have you been briefed on the current situation on Terra?”

“I have. And I must say, I’m very surprised to see you here. With the attack on the Emperor, I would think the regents would have a great deal of work to do back on Terra. I could have given the three of you my report over subspace and saved you the trip.”

“I’m not here for your report, Admiral. I’m here with a new task for you and the Fleet.” Giana kept her voice even, expecting immediate resistance from what Akamu told her. “I am here so that we might end this conflict once and for all.”

“An interesting proposition, ma’am.” Leyton said, unphased by the statement. He didn’t seem surprised at all. “And what, exactly, do you mean by ‘end’ in this situation?”

She successfully resisted the impulse to roll her eyes at the question. Were all these military types stupid? Or did they just crave everything spelled out for them for some other reason. “We’re going to put an end to Giuseppe Angelo and his rebellion against the Empire.”

“But your father clearly doesn’t want that done quite yet, ma’am. Isn’t it safer for all of us if we simply wait for him to wake up?”

“We don’t know what my father would want at this point in time, Admiral. His decisions as you know were made before the assassination attempt on his life that frankly right now we don’t know if it has been successful or not yet. I was appointed Princess Regent and given military oversight by Empress Cosima and Chancellor Ramsay. This is my decision now.” Giana’s voice was even for the moment, she wasn’t going to be pressured into backing down.

“You don’t strike me as a man who came to his rank by playing it safe.”

A thin, joyless smile appeared on Leyton’s face, but it was Admiral Bentine that responded.

“There’s a time to be careful and there is a time to be ruthless. It’s not always clear which one is which.” She said in a low voice. “It takes experience and judgment to tell the difference, and Admiral Leyton has both.”

“I’m sure he does, Admiral,” The Colonel started, “but that decision is clearly no longer up to Leyton. You should probably just give the Princess Regent military advice and let her deal with the politics.”

Giana’s eyes shifted over to Benteen. No, this wasn’t a hand hold; she was taking it straight down the throat and coughing back up whatever he left in there. Her eyes then shifted over to Akamu, grateful, but landed on Leyton again. “It is time to be ruthless, Admiral. These repeated attacks cannot stand. I’ve called you here in hopes that you have a plan; I’m sure you have been prepared for this call on some level at least.”

“I have been. And, if you’re determined, I can advise you exactly what will win this battle with the fewest casualties. If you’d like, I believe Cairo has forwarded our tactical database and networked with the staff here to prepare a presentation, just in case I couldn’t convince you to go home.”

“I’m afraid I’m beyond convincing at this point, Admiral.” Giana gave a slight shake of her head and even allowed a weak smile to appear. “So please, give your presentation.”

Leyton nodded to Benteen and the woman stood up just as the surface of the table changed to show a 3-d holographic display of the system suspended above it. Red ships and blue ships were suspended in the system with their red ones forming a perimeter on the outside.

“We’ve only had minor skirmishes so far with no losses on either side,” she said, and pointed at the display. “We have half of the Home Fleet here and some ships from the third, bringing our power to 34 ships stationed at steady intervals around the system. Giuseppe’s rebellion has 30 ships and, to the best of our knowledge, nothing and no one has gotten past our blockade.”

“Except perhaps the assassin who may have murdered the Emperor?” Akamu asked , his voice gruff.

“That agent was plugged into the Pyramid already and we can’t be blamed for it. He did, however, probably receive his orders from the planet. We haven’t yet figured out how.” Benteen confessed, clearly irritated by the Colonel’s challenge.

Giana’s eyes moved between the two sparring and then back to the display. “I doubt that is our most pressing problem at this point regardless. Please, continue.”

The display was simple enough for her to understand so far as was the report, but what would eventually come as far as battle tactics and talk of losses… well, that would be a different story, but what else could she do but ride on determination.

“Over the course of the next few hours, we would move ships from their positions around the blockade, reinforcing one section with the majority of our forces.” Leyton said then, pressing a nearby button and causing several of the red ships to move to one side of the display. “And when we attack..”

He pressed the key again, and the red ships swarmed into the system destroying every rebel ship in their path with very little resistance.

“When they rally and divert the rest of their ships, we’ll have destroyed most of their fleet already.”

Giana watched and listened as the plan was explained to her. It seemed a simple solution to the problem though she didn’t really see the logic in it. She assumed that it was simply because she knew more or less nothing about battle tactics. “How many losses would we be expecting?”

“No more than 12 percent losses in a worst case scenario. We would obviously like to preserve ships on both sides, however.” Leyton answered. “They are Imperial Warships, after all, and we need them for our ongoing war with the Klingon/Cardassian Alliance.”

“These rebels aren’t going to surrender, ma’am.” Colonel Akamu said, interrupting the Admiral.”Their best-case scenario is probably execution and a dishonorable death for their treason. They might fight to the last man.”

“Then, obviously, we find a way to make them surrender.” Erika said, folding her arms. “Amnesty for anyone who defects to our side, perhaps.”

A slight frown appeared on Giana’s face at the disagreement, and immediately she doubted the plan’s validity. It was further put into doubt when Banteen spoke of amnesty. Giana thought about her time on Mars and what her father had done there to the lords who had even whispered dissent against him. There were new lords now.

“Tell me… in the military… do you fight with honor?” She asked, the question genuine.

Leyton paused at the question, the answer coming to him and buffering before he gave it.

“The teaching on military honor which was codified officially by the first Emperor, Antonius I, in 2105: the Terran imperative and all honor is in this: that our flag should fly in every capital of every world, and our Emperor should change the lives of billions with a breath and a word.’. That is what we try to do. To win, in other words.”

“Would you give the promise of amnesty knowing it isn’t true?” She asked, letting her eyes rest on him. She was already feeling tired. Maybe this had been a mistake of sorts, but it was too late now.

Leyton’s eyes cut to meet Benteen’s for a moment, seeing what her thoughts were by the look on her face. He looked back to Giana and nodded.

“If we were ordered to, ma’am, we would do so. Yes.”

“But they know that already.” Akamu said, shaking his head. “The enemy knows that.”

“Not all of them know that.” Benteen said confidently. “If we could find a way to make the appeal directly to Giuseppe’s soldiers, they could possibly lose control of their crews. In some places, we might see mutinies in our favor.”

“That wasn’t the question I asked, Admiral.” Giana’s brow quirked slightly. “I asked if you would do it; nothing about being ordered to do so. What would you, yourself, do?”

“If it were up to me, Your Highness?” He asked, eyeing Benteen again, before responding confidently. “I would tell them exactly that. And when the battle was done, I would kill them all. Every last one.”

The Colonel issued a loud sigh and leaned back in his chair, looking to Giana to see what she would say.

“What do you have to say, Colonel? I don’t speak in sigh and scoff.” She did, actually, but that wasn’t really the point at the moment, was it?

“I’m more curious what you have to say, ma’am.” Akamu said, looking at her with a genuine, yet submissive expression. “I told you about this man already.”

“Told her about me?” Leyton asked, frowning and immediately indignant. He looked at Giana. “What exactly did this man tell you about me?”

Giana glanced over at Akamu with a withering look that communicated exactly how stupid that was, then looked back to Leyton. “The colonel communicated you are a man quite used to getting his way.”

“Did he?” Leyton said, eyeing the Colonel with obvious irritation. “Well, though the Colonel himself had a reputation for throwing his own weight around when dealing with the Fleet, I admit he has a point. I am well celebrated and trusted, and that is because I do my job and get results. I have never lost a fight.”

“Some might say you’ve never fought a fight, Admiral.” Akamu said, calm and cool.

Benteen clearly took offense to the statement about her superior, but did little more than scowl and turn her nose up at the man.

“None of this is helpful, Colonel.” Leyton said, turning his piercing gaze back to Giana. “We should continue, ma’am.”

Giana took a breath and let it out slowly. “Colonel, again, if you have something to say about the current situation, now is the time, but please stay focused on the actual issue.”

She looked at him, encouraging him to speak with her gaze.

“What the Admiral would or wouldn’t do is immaterial. He can and would say anything to get you to act as he wished for you to act. Admiral Leyton is a known manipulator.” He said, unflinching in the face of the challenge from the Starfleet brass. “The simple fact is that slaughtering all of these people is what he suspects you want to do. I would advise against it, however. Many of these people, despite the wrongness of their choice, believe they’re doing the right thing supporting Giuseppe. Lying to them only erodes the trust people place in royals in the future.”

His words were listened to intently by the princess. She had been of a similar mind regarding lying to the men and women serving Giuseppe, though she was still undecided on the end result. She took another slow, deep breath and placed her hands flat on the table. “Admiral Leyton, if this plan hinges on the ability to entice Giuseppe’s people to surrender, it isn’t a good plan.”

“It doesn’t. It hinges on our ability to overwhelm the enemy at a weak point, and to do so efficiently and speedily.” Leyton responded without seeming to worry.

Giana looked up at the display again, really focusing and trying to understand what she was seeing.

“So you say a weak point is here?” She asked, indicating where the allied ships were assigned to gather.

Admiral Benteen pursed her lips at the question , stepping up to the table again.

“I said we will create a weak space by diverting ships there. Enemy vessels will be completely overwhelmed by the surprise fire power we bring.” She tried to sound neutral, but couldn't quite keep the slightly condescending tone out of her voice, like she was talking to a child.

Of course Giana didn’t miss the tone, it was one used often with her and in response she just looked at Banteen with a silent, intense gaze for a long moment. Eventually, she looked back at the map. “What’s so surprising about it?”

“They are suspecting the same posture we’ve maintained for weeks. Watching them and waiting for orders that may not come. When we move our fleet to one specific location, their ships will still be on a general patrol of the system.” Benteen answered. Before she could say more, however, Leyton cut her off.

“You’ve only just arrived, ma’am. You haven’t seen our behavior for the past few weeks. My fleet has been conflict avoidant, per our orders directly from SECDEF. We’ve moved ships around, but have never engaged. If I were on the inside, I would suspect that the emperor was getting cold feet about a direct conflict and wanted to wait to let the rebels make the first move.”

She considered what Leyton had said and crossed her arms under her chest, not out of defiance or stubbornness, simply a sign she was thinking. “You’re right I have just arrived. On the Imperator. One of the most powerful ships at the Empire’s disposal, from my understanding.”

Her arms lowered then and instead her brows lifted, now looking at all three of the officers. “Are you going to sit there and tell me if your enemy’s most powerful ship suddenly arrived on the front of battle, you wouldn’t be on alert and anticipating something happening?”

Their only response to the question was silence for the space of several moments. she was right, the Imperator was a game changer, and, what might be more, an indication that at least one of the Regents had arrived. Leyton spoke up first, of course.

“Our sensors haven’t indicated any change in their routine thus far.” He said. “They can’t be anticipating our next move, ma’am. There would be no reason they would suspect exactly what we are about to do.”

“The Imperator has been here all of thirty minutes, Admiral. Now, I may not have military experience, but I do know when someone I don’t particularly care for arrives at a party, I don’t make a scene about it. I keep doing what I’m doing while I figure out exactly how to get rid of them.” She shook her head slightly.

“My brother is a traitor, but he is not an idiot. He won’t suspect exactly what you are going to do, no, but he is well aware circumstances have changed and he will be vigilant.” She then indicated the display again.

“So what is so surprising about this?”

Benteen’s irritation mounted, and Akamu speaking up next gave her a safe target for it. She scowled at the man.

“It isn’t surprising, ma’am. It’s textbook.” The Colonel said. “They’ll be watching closely and they’ll see the entire thing unfolding right before their eyes. It’s a bad plan for the situation.”

He leaned in and pressed a few buttons, and as the display panned out to a map of the sector, he smiled at Giana.

“If you’re acting Supreme Commander, than it would be a simple matter of sending an order to reroute more ships to our location. In the next 12 hours, we could increase our numbers to 41 ships against their 30. Even more if you’re willing to wait longer and…risk your father waking up.”

“I’m not. How many more ships could arrive if we waited six hours instead?” She asked, looking at Akamu.

“It looks like we could have three or four more, but two of those are heavy hitters. Imperator herself is as good as three dreadnaughts.” He answered, not bragging but simply relaying the facts. His primary job was to keep her safe, and he hadn’t forgotten now that he was invited to a strategy meeting. He was a gloried bodyguard.

“So, your plan is just to use more ships?” Leyton asked with a frown. “With all due respect, ma’am, that is simply not good enough.”

Giana looked back to Leyton again and gave a simple nod. “It isn’t, I agree,” she gestured to the still active display and continued, “but neither is this.”

She kept her voice even and as free of accusation as she could: she was trying to do this right. “I will make the call and bring those ships for you, but I need a better plan than this, Admiral. Like I said, Giuseppe isn’t an idiot, he is a trained soldier with trained soldiers by his side. You didn’t get into your position by lacking innovation, I am confident in your ability to figure out something that actually would surprise our enemy and bring us victory.”

It was clear now to Leyton that Giana intended to get this job done very quickly. Whether she would be able to do so well was another matter. One could argue it was in his best interests to do her bidding, but others could reasonably reason the best thing for his career and his health would be to stall her and hope the Emperor came back soon.

Then again, Antonius had never really liked him, giving the top job to Kathryn instead of him. Perhaps this was his chance after all.

“I will confer with the other flag officers under my command and return with a better plan, Your Royal Highness.” He said, his voice sounding like iron. “With your permission.”

“Thank you, Admiral, and please include Colonel Akamu in your talks.” She gestured briefly to the man. “As Captain of the Imperator, he should be there to hear what is going on.”

“I was only planning on conferring with squadron and division commanders. A battle strategy meeting with a bunch of Captains would take an incredibly long time.” Leyton stated, his hands folded in front of him.

“I’m not asking you to include all captains, I’m asking you to include one captain of the most powerful ship in this fleet and the closest seat of imperial power.” Giana replied dryly, her blue eyes resting on his.

“Yes, ma’am.” He replied, knowing he had lost that little skirmish. He turned his cold eyes to Akamu. There was no love lost there. “I’ll make sure you’re informed about the meeting, Colonal.”

“Thank you, Admiral.” Akamu said, standing up with arms crossed over his chest. “Very kind of you, naturally.”

As the parting remarks concluded, Leyton gave a shallow bow of his head to Giana, as did Benteen, and the two of them made quickly for the door.

“I look forward to hearing your new plan soon, Admiral.” Giana called to him and Banteen before they left the door, and once they were gone, her shoulders dropped and she let out a soft sigh.

“Make sure he doesn’t cut you out of that meeting, Colonel. Contact someone on his ship and scare them with my name if you have to.”

“I spend my day strong-arming the Fleet. Believe me, it won’t be an issue.” He said with a confident nod. “They don’t like anyone they can’t control. And Imperator is in charge wherever she pops up. You get a man like Leyton with so much brass on his collar, he gets used to feeling like the big dog in almost every room.”

“Do try to play nicely, Colonel. I know it will be hard, but the man has been overseeing this fleet and cooperation will be key for our success.” She reached up and rubbed her face, tired. “Also, I think it may be time for some maintenance on the Imperator’s long range communications.”

“High ranking meetings in the Imperial Military are a contact sport. If I’m too nice, they’ll think I’m weak, and I might as well not be there at all.” He remarked, “but I’ll be sure not to break anything. Trust me; I get a lot of practice.”

Again, she wasn’t entirely sure Akamu was the brightest person, but he was what she had to work with. She gave him a polite smile and nodded. “I’m sure you do. Make sure you see to the long range communications too. Now if there’s nothing else, I will return to my apartment.”

“Understood, Your Highness.” He said, knowing what she was getting at with the long-range communications systems being conveniently offline. The last thing she wanted was for a disapproving messenger from one of her co-regents to get through. Each of them had the power to veto any of her actions, including this one. “I’ll inform you when progress has been made.”

“Very good. Please let me know if there’s any other developments.” Giana gave a parting nod and then promptly exited the room with her guards in tow. Things were going alright for now, but she didn’t know how long that would hold. It would be a little while before the other regents figured out she was missing. Assuming that Paolo and Sacha didn’t raise the alarm, of course; they’d have to know that doing so would only serve to unravel the entire purpose of this mission and plan. She was sure they were both angry with her, but would they be that angry? She didn’t know and all she could do right now was wait.

END