Disgraced
Copyright© 2025 by Ogreface
Chapter 20: Surprising Events
The balcony where Dane met with the emperor the day before was facing more towards the city than the one they were shown to this time. This one was also bigger and facing the sea. Only half of the outdoor space was covered by the awning.
“Oh, hi,” Tina said after she and Erin first rushed towards the railing to look out over the beach and the sea before they discovered there were people on the balcony.
“Sorry, we didn’t know you were here,” Erin added. The empress was sitting with her dress being pulled up above her knees to expose her legs to the sun. There was another lady sitting with the empress, besides the ever-present black-clad woman standing near the empress. The empress stayed seated as the other lady stood up, turning towards Erin and Tina.
“Tina! Erin!” the other lady exclaimed.
“Lady Sarah!” the two girls exclaimed at the same time. Dane watched as the three females managed a three-way hug while all three talked at the same time. The empress caught Dane’s eye and winked at him. He did the gentlemanly thing and kept his eyes off her exposed legs while bowing to her.
“Your majesty, allow me to introduce Ensign Tina Henderson and Ensign Erin Winslow,” Duchess Sarah said to the empress. “They were on the ship that came to rescue us. Ladies, meet our beloved and very pregnant Empress Diane.” Both Tina and Erin were curtsying to the empress while Sarah turned and grabbed hold of Dane, wrapping her arms around his waist as she hugged him.
“Morning Lady Sarah,” Dane said as he tried to figure out what to do with his hands.
“How are you?” Sarah asked as she let go of Dane and stood back and looked up at him. “Obviously you are back to normal, if you could jump out of a shuttle and fall back to the surface, you silly boy!” She grabbed his hand and dragged him closer to where the empress and the two ensigns were chatting.
“We were just talking about the first group of females you rescued,” the empress said. “Do they have anybody looking after them?”
“I have no idea, your majesty,” Dane said. “I hope so.”
“Sergeant Galan might not be able to look after them, but he told me he still feels responsible for them,” the emperor said as he, his personal assistant, Colonel Warren, and two people in black came out. “Just in time for lunch. Lady Sarah, where is your husband?” He added when two female servers came out with trays of sandwiches.
“I’m right here, your majesty,” another slightly older man said as he stepped out onto the balcony. Dane recognized him as one of the members of the imperial council. “Had some council business to take care of. Sergeant Galan, nice to meet you in person. I am Rolf Ostrander, Sarah’s husband.” The duke already had his hand extended, so Dane shook hands with the duke as Sarah wrapped her arms around her husband’s waist. “Sergeant, you and I have some important stuff to discuss, preferably sooner than later.”
“Are you going to be grouchy if I ask to sit in on that discussion?” the emperor asked.
“I’m never grouchy, your majesty,” the duke said with a mock pained look.
“You were very grouchy when you lost your lovely wife, and the imperial marine corps could not find her,” the emperor responded with a laugh.
The entire group of people, including Debbie but excluding the two people in black, sat down around the large circular table as the servers stared handing out the various lunch orders. The conversation was light and playful, with Sarah and the duke getting the brunt of the teasing from the empress and emperor. From Dane’s perspective, the emperor didn’t quite sound as if he was joking when he suggested that the duke start taking care of his lack of heirs. That caused Sarah to blush, smile, and nudge her husband in the side. Dane glanced at his two partners, who were sitting on either side of him. For a change, they were uncharacteristically quiet. Both seemed to have huge eyes as they listened and looked around.
“Tell me Rolf,” the emperor said when everybody was done eating and just sat and chat. “I invited your wife and partner to have lunch here with my wife and partner, meaning me. Did you accept because she asked you or because the council wants to make sure I don’t try to influence Sergeant Galan?”
“From past transcripts and how the sergeant handled himself yesterday, I got the impression that he would listen, nod his head, and then do what he wants to do, your majesty,” the duke said. “Having lunch with my wife and the empress also counted a lot.” From the way he suddenly flinched, Dane got the idea the benignly smiling duchess did something to him under the table. “To be honest, the council is considering just to let Duke Victor and the Ranger Command both have a piece of the sergeant, there is no real decision you need to make, unless you have some more to add,” he said as he looked at Dane.
“I guess he didn’t tell you two yet,” Sarah said to Erin and Tina. “Dane managed to spend a whole night, according to the girl’s father, with the daughter of a duke, unchaperoned, while she was supposed to be under the care of another duchess. When he finally took the girl back the next morning, she still had his jacket around her shoulders.”
“Such shameful behavior!” the empress added as she gave Dane a naughty grin. “I have to agree with the girl’s father. The least the sergeant can do is to offer to take the girl as his betrothed.” Then both Erin and Tina turned and glared at Dane.
“Honestly!” Tina exclaimed.
“Did you at least offer for her while you kept her captive for the entire night?” Erin asked.
“It’s the least you could have done under the circumstances,” Tina added.
“At least you tried to keep her warm with your jacket,” Erin added. Dane just sat there as the emperor and duke burst out laughing at the pseudo-twins doing their twin-talk to Jason.
“To be honest, I had a crush on the lady since before I discovered that girls were not really yucky creatures,” Dane said. “I will not resist Duke Victor’s demands concerning his second daughter.”
“And you want to stay in the marines,” the emperor added.
“You should insist on both,” Duke Rolf said. “Take the girl as wife and demand a promotion from the marines. You can ask my wife to have a serious word with Major Gallagher on that topic, she can talk a dog out of a soup bone if she wants.”
“Ladies, please relax some more here while I borrow Sergeant Galan and Rolf for a quick conference next door,” the emperor said as he stood. Everybody except the empress and duchess jumped up, with Dane and the duke following the emperor into the building. “Debbie, see if Gallagher is nearby. Ask him to join us please,” the emperor said as he led them into a small conference room nearby. “Also get hold of Duke Victor. I’m sure he is nearby.”
Both men turned out to be in the imperial palace so a few minutes later Colonel Warren showed them in. Major Gallagher smiled at Dane while Duke Victor looked a bit worried, especially when he saw the emperor and Duke Rolf there as well.
“Yesterday’s council hearing turned out to be far less dramatic that I was expecting it to be,” the emperor said when everybody was seated. “Duke Rolf, are you satisfied in representing the council in this meeting?”
“I am, your majesty,” the duke said.
“Are you ready to reveal your decisions, sergeant?” the emperor asked.
“I am, your majesty,” Dane responded.
“Good, then as emperor and your commander in chief, I Brian Jason Pleiades hereby instruct you to accompany Duke Victor of Sagan back to his home world where you will be offered Duke Victor’s second daughter as wife. After consummating your marriage, you and your wife will return here where you will continue your duties under guidance of the commanding officer of the Imperial Marine Corps Ranger Command,” the emperor said. “Did I miss anything?” he asked as he looked at Duke Victor and Major Gallagher. The major had a smirk on his face while the duke looked surprised, but then he also smiled and nodded his head. “Is that a yes or no?” the emperor wondered as he looked at the duke. Duke Victor opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Duke Rolf.
“Your majesty, I have something, ah, personal, to discuss with Sergeant Galan. I would appreciate it if everybody here would be witness to what I want to do,” Duke Rolf said.
“By all means, Rolf,” the emperor said.
“Let me fetch my wife quickly,” the duke said. “She will want to be present.” He rushed out, to return a few moments later with duchess Sarah.
“Wait!” a female called. The next moment the empress as well as Erin and Tina joined them as well. “Okay, continue,” the empress said as she sat down. Everybody else were still standing. Dane turned towards Duke Rolf who was standing next to Sarah while facing Dane.
“Your majesty, you have been throwing broad hints about me getting myself an heir,” the duke said as he put his arm around the duchess’ waist. His actions seemed normal but the empress suddenly gasped. When everybody looked at her, she just shook her head as she smirked at Sarah. “Sergeant Dane Galan, you not only rescued and returned my loving wife to me, I was informed shortly after she returned that she is already three months pregnant.” That caused all the females to get a bit noisy, even Debbie. “For the act of rescuing my wife and my unborn child, I Rolf Halgaard Ostrander, Duke of Ceres, hereby appoint you, Dane Galan, as manager and caretaker of the Stendahl forest on Ceres Prime in perpetuity. To do this, you will have the rank and title of Baron Stendahl.”
Dane was in a daze as he was ordered to bow in front of Duke Rolf. Then the duke hung a medallion on a ribbon with two shades of green and a pale blue color on his neck. Then Dane had to touch the medallion, which instantly caused a tingle to shoot through his thumb before disappearing again. The tingle went together with some faint silver whorls to become visible and then freeze in place. Then Sarah gave him another hug and a kiss on the cheek.
“Before you freak out about the forest,” Sarah said. “It was part of my inheritance, from my father-in-law. It is a rather large piece of land to the far north of the continent. There are no town or cities on that land, just a huge natural forest. Before I inherited it, the entire district was declared a heritage forest, never to be harvested beyond normal land management.”
“There is actually two lumber mills at the opposing edges of the forest,” Duke Rolf said. “Both mills falls under the jurisdiction of your neighboring barons. They may only harvest enough wood to pay the workers of the two lumber mills, and a small stipend for their efforts. You are a real baron, with a real and very valuable piece of land, but you have no real expenses or duties.”
“There is a forest lodge on the coast overlooking a small island belonging to the Ceres fisher folk.” Sarah added. “The lodge has been shut down for decades, but the lumberjacks go inspect the place once a year. Other than them, nobody goes there.” By that time Tina and Erin had migrated to stand on either side of Dane but not touching him.
“Well, that sure puts me on a spot,” the emperor said. “There is no way I can let a baron with the Honorus Crux Gold walk around with sergeant stripes.” As he talked he was walking around the conference table to where Dane was standing. “I also think it is a bit inappropriate for a sergeant to have two such lovely ensigns hanging onto him. Dane Galan, Baron Stendahl, I hereby appoint you to the rank of lieutenant.” Then he held his hand out to Dane who shook it. Then the emperor handed Tina a small container. She looked puzzled for about a second before she opened it and took out two set of lieutenant pips on two shoulder boards. She giggled as she handed one board to Erin. Everybody clapped as the two girls removed Dane’s favorite chevrons and put the shoulder boards on his shoulders.
“Duke Victor, it looked as if you had something to add before Rolf interrupted you,” the emperor said.
“Your majesty, when you asked if you have missed anything, I meant to say yes, but I was referring to myself,” Duke Victor said. “I was not sure when to formally do this but after what Rolf did, I feel I should do it now as well. Allow me to explain my next action.” Then he faced Dane.
“Baron Stendahl, when your innocence became known on Sagan Prime, my first reaction was to get hold of you and apologize for my actions,” Duke Victor said. “The only way I could find out about your whereabouts was to ask the Imperial Marine Corps. I was first referred to the Commandant of the marines, who referred me to the Imperial Council. The council reported that you have been promoted to sergeant and was a trustworthy and exemplary marine. That made me think about the events surrounding your exile. I had a talk with your sire about you. While he was eager to have you back and to reverse what he did, to declare you as his son, he was not going to do anything else, like compensate you for the wrongs he did to you. Based on the report I received about you, I already realized you would be a far better viscount Calgary than your half-brother, Lance Galan. I suggested that to your father, but he was not interested. His actions caused me to make up my mind. Since then, you also became a decorated hero, and now a baron. I hereby appoint you, Dane Galan as my legal heir, to take over the management of the Sagan system when I am not able to do so anymore.”
“Before anybody say anything on this matter, Debbie, get Henry and Sam in here,” the emperor said.
There followed a few minutes of awkward silence, because the men had nothing to say or do. All the females followed the empress, who urgently had to go do something about a certain offspring of the emperor who was bouncing on her bladder. The two senior-most dukes and the females arrived back around the same time, with the females all giggling while the two elderly dukes were out of breath.
“Duke Victor of Sagan made an announcement which requires the approval of the Imperial Council,” the emperor said.
“An announcement that requires more members than Ceres?” Duke Sam asked with a frown.
“It involves ensuring the stability of the Sagan system,” the emperor said. “Duke Victor rightfully decided to appoint Lieutenant Dane Galan as his legal heir.”
“We have three council members, and the emperor present,” Duke Samuel said. “The emperor would not have us dragged here in a rush if he didn’t also agree. Do you have any objections, Ceres?” he asked Duke Rolf.
“No, I think it is an excellent decision,” Duke Rolf said.
“Duke Victor of Sagan, under guidance of the imperial council, the emperor approves of your choice of heir,” Duke Henry said formally.
“I took the liberty of bringing the dormant medallion of my minor title with me, in anticipation of convincing Dane Galan of allowing me to declare him my heir,” Duke Victor said as he took a rose wood container out of his jacket pocket. He took another slightly larger medallion on a white and red ribbon out of it and approached Dane. “I first wanted to dangle this in front of you as lure in case you were not interested in Alita.”
For a second time in twenty minutes, Dane bowed to let Duke Victor place the medallion around his neck. Then the duke pressed his own medallion to the back of the new medallion. The whorls appeared and then disappeared again. Then Dane had to touch the new medallion. The same thing happened as with the baronial medallion.
“Dane Galan, I hereby declare you my heir,” the duke said as he placed his hands on Dane’s upper arms. “In recognition of that, you now have the honorary title of Viscount Berdan. There are no land associated with this title, only the responsibility to learn how to rule a system and its people.”
“And yet again, my people leave me in an awkward position,” the emperor said with a deep sigh.
“Here you are, Your Majesty,” Debbie said with a giggle as she handed the emperor another container.
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