[Vengeance I] [Demonia Major] “Sire,” An intern was gently shaking him and another lighting the candles in the room. Prince Vengeance sat up and was grateful for the dim light of the candles. The mandate he had placed to conserve precious power had led to the reinvention of an entire industry. Candles were now in high demand and didn’t require the use of much-needed coal to burn at the ancient electric plants and provide power for essential industry. “What’s happening?” Vengeance shook the sleep away and focused. “House Seditious is moving to attacked House Obsidian, my lord.” The intern finished lighting the candles and carried a folded bundle of clothing over and sat it on the bed next to his Prince. “Where is my copy of The Raven?” “I saw it laying over there on a table.” A moment of anger that passed quickly, Vengeance stood and looked around the room. There it was, sitting on a table near the door. He picked up the envelope, it was marked with the words, For Prince Vengeance only, the red envelope had the crest of House Vengeance and House Raven on the front. The Raven was an intelligence brief provided by House Raven for a price to House Governments willing to pay. The Raven had lost some of it’s edge since the new Lord Raven took over from his more experienced late older brother, but he was still young and showed promise. Vengeance checked the time stamp, five hours ago. He wanted to take his anger out on someone but there really wasn’t anyone to blame. Most of his experienced staff had been killed during the war and now only the most junior of interns were left trying to pick up the pieces. He should have been waked the moment The Raven arrived. The Raven was tailored specifically for the person reading that particular edition. Prince Vengeance’s copy covered Area Threat, Specific Threat, Military Deployments, Probably Enemy Actions, Economic Influences and Trends, House Governments Political Assessments, and finished with a General Summary of Alliance affairs He scanned the report; there it was in almost every category, a warning that House Seditious was massing troops and equipment. The Raven should have given him five hours to prevent the attack, if he had only been awake when it had arrived. “Five hours,” the Prince read through the rest of the brief. “I could have had five hours to solve this. The intern helped the Prince dress; though it was obvious the intern had never been trained for this kind of work and was clumsy in his attempts. Vengeance finally shoved the interns’ hands away and buttoned his shirt himself. “How long ago did the attack begin?” “They crossed the border Thirteen minutes ago, Sire.” House Seditious was strong in a traditional military sense, but House Obsidian was the largest crime syndicate on the planet. They wouldn’t hold long in a direct battle, but he doubted Lord Obsidian would fight horn to horn. This would give him a little breathing room if he hurried, he might be able to save House Obsidian, and he needed House Obsidian far more than he needed House Seditious right now. House Obsidian had the contacts in place and was keeping the black market running smoothly. The black market was important in that House Obsidian was bringing in needed food and medicine. The farms along the fertile Equator wouldn’t have their first harvest for another two months and the pharmaceutical industry could be years before it was rebuilt. The Kitsune had destroyed most of the farmlands in an attempt to starve the Demonians into surrender. The attempt had backfired and united the hundreds of House Governments to form one army, but with the war over it was not the Demonian nature to have one central government. The Crown of Prince of Demonia did not give him total control of the planet and he had to continue to be seen as a strong House capable of holding the Crown. The Prince held First Seat in the Senate and was recognized as the one voice in all matters dealing with off-world affairs, but even that was often an illusion. The Crown could be challenged, only dominance through strength was recognized on Demonia. House Destroyer had held the Crown before him, and lost it when a very young and strong Lord Vengeance had challenged and beaten Prince Destroyer. Prince Vengeance was no longer that young lord, full of fire and ready to take the world by storm. He knew that he could no longer fight a duel against the younger hot-head lords, but he did have one advantage that kept the crown on his head. As the standing Prince he was permitted a second to fight for him, though, this was rarely done and seen as cowardly, but there was too much at stake rebuilding Demonia to allow false pride to guide him. First Tarlock was from House Vengeance and without a doubt the strongest and best fighter on Demonia. He could easily have taken the crown at any time for himself, but he was loyal to the Prince and had sent every challenger back to their Houses in defeat. “I want House Vengeances’ warships moving toward House Obsidian capital city immediately, I’ll rendezvous en route.” “Commander Rans called the Com Center and told them he was headed to House Obsidian with the Battleship Vengeance, they woke me and told me to wake you, Sire,” the intern explained as he laced the Prince’s boots. “I have a shuttle waiting for you.” “No, send for my personal Dart ship.” “Yes, Sire.” Vengeance finished dressing and made his way through the ruined halls of the palace to the landing pad outside. The shuttle was already moving off the pad to make room for the Dart ship that was descending. The rear ramp lowered and the cockpit canopy lifted while a ground crew pushed a ladder up to the side of the small fighter ship. The pilot left the engines running and pulled himself back to the rear pod designed as a temporary living quarter for the pilot during long space flights. Two of his guards boarded the rear pod through the opened ramp and settled in next to the pilot. Prince Vengeance climbed the ladder and leaped into the cockpit, raised the ramp, sealed the canopy, and wasted no time firing the thrusters for a quick takeoff. “Wrath actual is airborne,” a voice said over the Com. “Is that you, Fatal?” Wrath answered. “Yes sir, it’s good to fly on your wing again, sir,” Fatal answered and banked in to take the Prince’s wingman position. More Dart ships took formation around Wrath’s ship. The Com was silent as the Wrath Squadron settled into position; they had worked together for years and needed little talk to complete their maneuvers. The Prince’s battle squadron was ready. “What’s the mission, Wrath?” asked his wingman. “House Seditious needs chased home,” answered Wrath. “The Kitsune are only gone for a few months and we are already back to petty House squabbles,” Fatal mused. “It was bound to happen,” said Wrath. “Listen up Wrath Squadron; we are giving House Seditious no warning. No diplomacy. No mercy. I want to set an example right now that House Vengeance will not tolerate any military actions against other Houses during the rebuilding of Demonia.” The Wrath Squadron descended toward the battlefield, they could see House Seditious forces approaching the city walls of House Obsidian and the Battleship Vengeance was just taking a position over the city to provide support. “Wrath Squadron, let’s hit that center column and break them up,” Wrath banked his Dart ship for the first strafing run. The rest of the squadron was breaking off and picking their targets. “You will do no such thing, Vengeance,” a rarely heard but familiar voice commanded. Prince Vengeance pressed the All-Com channel, “Eldest Mother, I don’t know how you managed to get this frequency, but this is a military action and not a concern for the Hatching Mothers.” “Mind you tongue, Vengeance, and turn those airplanes around this second,” the Eldest Mother didn’t know the difference between an airplane and a Dart ship, but she also didn’t care. “Our species is on the verge of extinction,” the Eldest Mother continued. “I will no longer tolerate any Demonian taking the life of another Demonian. I will permit non-lethal duels, but never again will the taking of life be permitted. Any House that takes a life, I will take your Hatching Mothers away and you will never see another Hatching in your House, this is my command from this day and forever.” Prince Vengeance’s squadron flew over House Seditious ground forces but they didn’t fire, and none of the Seditious ground forces fired either. An order from the Eldest Mother was as rare as the alignment of the twin moons, and carried more authority than even the Prince of Demonia; she was to be taken very seriously. “Do I make myself clear?” the Eldest Mother added. Prince Vengeance pressed the Com-channel, “Yes, Mother.” A moment later Lord Obsidian’s voice was heard, “Yes, Mother.” Prince Vengeance flipped the All-Com channel just in time to hear the voice of Lord Seditious, “Yes, Mother.” Hundreds of other voices were breaking into the transmission, all of them repeating, “Yes, Mother.” Prince Vengeance flipped to House Vengeance’s private ground control frequency, “Ground Control, find out how the Eldest Mother got on these frequencies.” “My lord,” the Ground Control Officer replied, “Eldest Mother is standing next to me.” “And you just let her broadcast to the entire planet?” “First Tarlock is standing next to her, Sire, and several hundred other Tarlocks are armed and surrounding the Communication Center.” Prince Vengeance paused for a moment and then roared in laughter. So Tarlock doesn’t want the Crown, but still managed a coup d’état in his own unique way. Nobody could have seen this coming. The face of Demonian politics and the very culture of Demonia would be very different from now on.