Chapter 7: The Ball

“Cassius,” said ‘The Alana’ which is how he referred to her when she was in full flight or being formidable or particularly clever, “I would like to know a little bit more about what is going on. My darling, I have been very patient with you; but that patience is running out, and you are heading for trouble. You are busy having meetings and talking to people. It is unwise to exclude me, as you know from past experience. You rely on my judgment and my advice.

“You and Jason are busy having meetings with our intelligence and Jason’s people. I know the issues and I understand the problems; however, you are pissing me off by keeping information from me and I will not have it. I will not be excluded from important issues in our lives. What is happening now involves everyone I know, plus the Empire, as well as four galaxies. It is important enough to involve me and not exclude me as a brainless floozy.

“Seventeen thousand and twelve years ago, you promised me you would never do it again, and now you are. There is a hell of a lot of activity that is going on in this palace and I am out of the loop. If you value certain parts of your anatomy, which I will make sure are not replaced by my now best friend Ouma Chatzke, I suggest you get with it, and tell all,” Alana said firmly, stood and glared at him before continuing.

“Tonight we are going to the ball, and I’m sure that we are going to have some drama. This has all the hallmarks of you plotting from yesteryear. I would like to have a briefing please!” Alana said fiercely glaring at Cassius. “I demand to be part of what is happening!”

‘The Alana’ sat in front of Cassius in the larger of two chairs in front of his desk. He knew when she was in this mood that there was nothing he could do to stop her.

“My abject apologies for not having discussed it with you ahead of time as I know I would have benefited from your opinion and your wisdom as I have done so often. My darling Alana, I will tell you about the startling events that have occurred in these last few weeks. What has happened has shaken me profoundly. I cannot even say that I was the same man I was a month ago. I have been insensitive and unthinking, as I have been disturbed to the center of my being. I will answer each and every question you have.

“I know that you have to start preparing for the ball in a few hours. Time is limited, but I promise you I will discuss all with you. What I propose doing is to discuss what I am thinking about at the ball tonight, then I will give you this holo-cube and you can watch it with the girls while you get ready.

“You need to guard this with your life, and no one else can be in the room at the same time as you view this. Put your finger here, and select from the options: ‘Jason’s short history.’ You know what happened to me on the day that Jason introduced himself, but this is his brief history. You know some of the events on Charassa, but this will blow your mind. I am off balance as a result of the overwhelming events to which I have been alerted. This brief history will take an hour and a half and it includes his recent visit to Earth, and the rescue of Harry. You will see on there a much more detailed history that you can peruse, at your leisure. Think of the short one as the executive summary and the longer one as the full document. You will find both fascinating and it will answer a lot if not all of your questions.

“We have incarcerated the vizier from the Duchy, and tonight Jason will challenge his cousin. The fight will be coordinated in the usual place, tomorrow morning at dawn. There is every chance of dirty play from my nephew.

“Do you have any view as to the best way for Jason to make the challenge and secondly what would be the best time? I have told Jason that I would advise him of this while we traveled together as a family to the ball. Please let the girls and their partners know what is likely to happen. I have arranged security, and I have suggested that Jason uses security of his own. You will understand more about what I mean when you see the story. You will see that Jason is a formidable young man, and much more than he seems to be,” said the Emperor in a very serious tone of voice.

“Cassius, my love, I have been aware that momentous events are occurring. I have seen how disturbed you were. I have talked to Philippa daily and to Ouma Chatzke. I am not in the dark. I was just taken aback that you had not discussed issues with me as you usually do and you have not involved me as an equal. As you have said, our marriage may not have been one of great passion, but it has definitely been a great partnership. We are very compatible and are strong where the other is weak. We have complemented each other greatly and I do believe that we have a great and gentle love for each other, and for our wonderful children. You know that intelligence gathering and analysis is my strength, and we are facing infiltration from persons unknown into the intelligence family. You need my help. You need every bit of qualified help you can get, and you need to move quickly.

“As for the ball tonight, the sooner that challenge occurs the better. Everyone is aware that they need to be seated or they will be denied entry a half an hour after the start time on their invitation. You then traditionally welcome everybody and talk briefly. During that time my suggestion is that you introduce Jason as the returning Duke Kargo, returning at the invitation of his great-grandfather to take over the Duchy. You then state that the tradition in the circumstances is for Jason to challenge his cousin who has been caretaker of the Duchy as his great-grandfather was ailing, indicating you give his claim low credibility.

“You then add that proper action is the person in a caretaker role returns the temporary holding to the rightful heir. You say that it remains their right, however, to a trial by combat. There are no grounds for an objection in this case, according to our laws, and in your opinion as Emperor; thus according his position even less credibility. You explain that you accept no proxies in this instance even though it may not be a fair fight, and you cite the primitive versus the sophisticate. You and I know he is arrogant and will insist on his right to a fight. In the past proxies could be appointed to engage in combat by the parties in dispute, but in this case you are clear you do not permit that to occur. You state you have spoken to his grandfather, which he will not believe and he wants Jason’s help and has expressed his view to you personally.

Cassius, you re-state that a challenge may be a great disadvantage to Jason, who has been brought up on a primitive planet, but you are exercising your prerogative as Emperor. You explain that this situation has not occurred for a very long time, and that is why you are reminding those present of the rules.

“You say that after you finish speaking Jason is to issue his challenge and Ingmar then must decide whether he accepts Jason’s grandfather’s wishes or whether he goes against his sick great uncle and insists on the challenge. You want public opinion to be clearly on the side of the underdog.

“What this does is establish that you clearly believe that Jason is in the right, but if Ingmar chooses to try to hold onto the Duchy he cannot do it from a distance and get someone else to do his dirty work. It makes it almost impossible for him to do anything other than accept the terms as you present them. It also allows for the remote possibility that he will simply hand over the Duchy. I know him as a slimy dishonest creature. He has an overinflated belief in his own abilities. I know that a sword is traditional, as is unarmed combat. A number of options have been available in the past. I also know that the use of powers has at times been allowed and at times it has not. I would suggest that you set the rules as appropriate to the skills of Jason. He is at a huge disadvantage coming from his background.”

‘The Alana’ stood up imperiously, gracefully palmed the holo-cube, moved around the desk, kissed Cassius on his cheek, and swept from study as quickly as she had entered it.

Alana was able to accept ten more crystals than Cassius, though she never told him about it. She had extraordinary trans-dimensional powers. She had picked up Jason’s power long before he had even entered the palace. She had felt him when his ship had entered the system. She was also sorry that she had not acted on the feeling she had had about the people that she had recognized as being different, and having a bad feeling about them. She had nearly lost her Cassius. She hoped that Jason would be able to defend himself on the morrow. She knew that Cassius would ensure that Jason was not disadvantaged. Cassius, she thought, must know more about Jason’s skills than he was letting on in order to insist that he fight his cousin directly.

Alana and the princesses had received their hair and beauty treatment that morning. They simply needed to dress, and that was attended to in a few minutes with help from six maids. They had plenty of time to watch the history of Jason and they commenced on the more detailed version. They continued to watch until the emperor had to drag them from the room to meet with Jason and his entourage to travel in the Royal shuttle to the ball.

Jason was obviously tense. Cassius took him aside to explain the ritual and what he was going to say. Philippa gently helped calm him.

Jason was preoccupied with his thoughts but he noticed the exquisite beauty of the ballroom. It looked like a Crystal Palace with beautiful chandeliers and hidden lights all around the sides of the room providing a cozy slightly yellow light. They were shown to spectacularly decorated tables and he was to join the emperor with his group at the imposing raised central table. Cassius had deliberately placed Jason at some distance from him at the table, as he did not want to indicate to others the closeness of the relationship, despite his praising Jason as a hero of the Empire during the recent war.

The guests, who had been waiting for the emperor to be shown in and to be seated, were brought in and formally announced at the entrance. The clothing was bright for the men and in muted pastels for the women. The dress of the men reminded Jason a little of harlequins that he had seen as a child. Both men and women used a small amount of makeup. Jason felt awkward in his bright blue outfit with shiny buckled shoes and a soft burgundy square hat with a sharp peak much like witches hat with a flag at the top, stuck through a piece of square cardboard.

As people were seated the level of sound in the room rose, despite a discreet chamber group playing soft discordant music in a corner. Philippa sat to his right and Celia on his left and Felicia to her left and Gamma to the right of Philippa and Norbert and Jonathan further to the right of Gamma.

Jason heard Ingmar Hesketh and his wife being introduced. Ingmar was a large well-built ruddy faced man with a handsome arrogant face. His face was slightly redder than complexions on Earth, but less than many on Cassiopeia. His wife was a striking woman with flowing long black hair who furtively looked around the room, occasionally greeting people she knew. She looked tense and held herself rigidly. Hesketh sat at a table where Jason knew a number of family members were seated who he would no doubt meet at a later stage. He recognized his cousin Bertie and waved to him. Bertie looked thrilled to see him.

The master of ceremonies took the podium and after a few fleeting remarks announced that the emperor would formally open the ball.

Cassius did as he said he would do. He welcomed everyone and then talked a little of the history of the ball and its tradition of raising money for matters deemed of importance. He briefly spoke of the beneficiary of the evening before introducing Jason and explaining who he was and the rules of the challenge. Following the thoughts of his wife he allowed the use of any two physical non powered old style weapons, unarmed combat, or unarmed combat along with the use of trans-dimensional powers.

He explained that if it came to a dual that assistants would be appointed and that they would decide if it was to first injury and they would define it or whether it was a dual to death. If they chose one of the variants of unarmed combat it could be on the basis of points won, to injury or to death. Cassius would appoint the judge. If there was to be combat there were audience viewing seats for those invited to the ball and for the media.

Any interference with the dual of any sort, if it occurred, was punishable by banishment to a penal colony, or death. The Emperor would have absolute discretion. He then invited Jason to undertake the ceremonial challenge. Most of the audience believed they would, in the same position, simply hand the duchy back.

Following Jason’s challenge Ingmar stood up to his full height.

“I accept your challenge, young man, and I do not need an assistant to say it will be to the death. We will commence with unarmed combat with the use of powers, and if we cannot resolve the matter we will move on to swords.

“If you are able to reply for yourself without your uncle’s help please do so if not I will be happy to receive either your apology for challenging me from your assistant or the acceptance of the terms,” he replied in a loud arrogant voice that boomed throughout the room, he then laughed. “So runt, can you speak for yourself or will someone need to speak for you.”

Jason was quite pleased with the terms. If they engaged in unarmed combat it would make it virtually impossible for an assassin to intervene. At the same time it meant that the bout could be prolonged if they were evenly matched. He knew that his cousin was well regarded as a fighter. Jason was also his size if not a little bigger, though he had been dressed to minimize his build and he walked with his knees slightly bent and was partially bent over hoping that his cousin would further underestimate him. The emperor had emphasized his upbringing on a primitive planet and Jason’s unfortunate limited education on Earth and exposure to Empire Martial Arts.

Jason paused before he spoke. He nervously said, “I accept your terms, but if we fail with unarmed combat and with swords, I would suggest that we finish with a Warhammer. Do you accept this or do you need to think about it?”

There was a titter of laughter from the audience. They liked Jason’s humble manner and hoped that he would be able to survive his cousin, but most believed Jason had no hope. Most knew of Hesketh and his history of brutality in combat. They thought that a primitive from a distant world was unlikely to have a hope against a sophisticated fighter who had a history of a lifetime of training in combat. Hesketh stood looking at Jason with his jaw clenching and his face reddening.

“I would be happy to hammer you into the ground, but there is no chance for you to survive the first lessons that I will give you boy. I will no longer give you the ability to apologize and back out of this. It will be a pity to waste the time of those attending tomorrow morning. I doubt that you will last more than seconds, never mind five minutes. I hope you at least put the effort into providing a little entertainment before you die you puny pathetic runt.”

“Thank you, sir, said Jason humbly, “I will endeavor to do as you say,” he said softly. Many in the audience looked at him sadly shaking their heads, while whispering to each other.

Hesketh laughed while looking around and sat down to chat with his wife who was giggling and gesticulating at Jason.

Jason was much more relaxed after this confrontation. He enjoyed the meal and dancing with his partners. Philippa moved Jason to dance fairly close to where Hesketh and his wife were dancing. She explained to Jason that she wanted to accidentally touch his wife as it facilitated her penetration of blocked telepathic thoughts. Shortly after she brushed against the wife, she grinned and seemed pleased.

She maneuvered Jason deftly through the crowd proving that she was an excellent dancer. He noticed her gently touching a number of dancers with an elbow or occasionally a careless hand. She returned Jason to the table.

She spoke to him tightly telepathically. Hesketh and his wife have previously worked together when he has fought someone else. She was a military sniper. They are both concerned about security this time but she believes she can remain hidden. There is a shield between the spectators and the audience. The audience sits on bleachers that extend up ten levels. The projection of the shield begins approximately six inches above the ground. That is the height of the shield projectors.

She will hide overnight under the seating after digging a shallow body shaped impression so that she may lie underneath a camouflage blanket. The shield is directly in front of the seats. All she needs to do is lift up a corner of her blanket to point her weapon out. She will be able to hit anywhere on your head or body from her position so close to the ground.

She desperately wants Hesketh to beat you up. She wants him to beat you and badly hurt you. She wants you still standing so he can do you more damage with the sword. If you are still reasonably strong which neither of them believes she will shoot to injure your main weapon arm. She has a custom weapon that will burn tiny holes to damage your shoulder muscle. She does not want the injury to be picked up. Very little pain is felt by the target. I want her so badly Jason, I want to suck out her soul; she is an evil scheming bitch. It was she who killed his father.

Hesketh has been thinking about adding extra assassins, but is reluctant to take a risk to assassinate you at the Heath. He believes that the Emperor would take away ‘his’ Duchy. He is thinking that if by some very remote coincidence you win, he will have you assassinated later.

He is going to contact one of his associates after this. He doesn’t think that he has the slightest chance of losing, but he wants insurance. To him, you look weak. He doesn’t think you’ll stand up to him at all. Neither does his wife. They want to give you the experience of as much pain as possible before they put you out of your misery. They however are cautious people. They have not reached where they are by being careless and making assumptions that don’t turn out to be reality.

They are not worried about Norwald Yang. They both believe that he has been spending time on several corporate matters. He has often returned separately.

We have blocked all communications from his people on the planet so he does not know we have your great-grandfather. Oddly enough he is deluded by his own self importance, and believes that the Emperor fully supports him and that the Emperor was hinting to him to teach you a lesson. He thinks that the Emperor probably considers you a yokel from a primitive place, who needs to learn about the superiority of the Empire. He does not believe any of the stories about you as the hero of the Empire. Our people are following them after the ball and will capture his contacts.

‘The Alana’ joined Jason and his group, an hour before dawn, three quarters of an hour before they left for the Heath. They ate a light breakfast intending to eat more later.

“Good morning all of you, however I am not sure that it is going to be a very good morning. I suspect that we are going to need to take some significant action to prevent a possible major problem today.

“Jason, I had the opportunity to go through some of the long version of your life and last night after we got back from the ball the princesses and I completed the longer version. I learnt a considerable amount from that about your abilities and I am reassured you can take care of yourself.

“I have an uneasy feeling that extends past Hesketh. I have no doubt that we have sufficient security to deal with him and his low-life wife. She must think that we are very stupid. Our troops have watched her get into position. They are ready to apprehend her in five minutes. That I think is too good for her. I think you should send one of your dogs to maul her to a slow and very painful death or even pull her under the ground so she suffocates.

“I do think there’s a bigger issue that we need to be aware of. Those cockroaches have to have become aware that all is not right. They know that many of their compatriots have disappeared. Norwald was not able to contact his compatriots at the palace.

“I’m sure they have multiple contingency plans. Today presents a unique opportunity for them to get to Cassius, his family and a considerable number of important nobles of the realm. My husband has the fleet at the ready and gunships behind the seating. He has a great respect for your capacities and believes you can do more to secure the venue.

“I am expecting a cockroach led, land and air attack. I have had the ability as have you to see ahead at times. This for me is one of those times. I do see victory but it is not due to our Imperial forces. Cassius has installed a new very high level shield. That was to protect against more distant snipers. It will act as protection for some minutes against most tank and gunship attacks. My concern is that we could potentially face an attack from a higher level of technology that our defenses will not prevent.”

“Aunt Alana, I awoke very early with a similar feeling of dread. I also have the feeling that there is something bigger. I communicated my concerns to the whole team that is here. They are acting upon it. I’m leaving it entirely to them.

“I need to concentrate on cousin Ingmar. My team will plan to do what is necessary to protect us all. I am very pleased that I’m not the only one with these kinds of premonitions. Our premonitions were identical. The dog idea is a good one. I will follow your suggestion.

“I have called in an army of dogs to add to the bugs to be available in an instant as needed.

“I am sure that Rover would be delighted to follow your advice with our budding assassin. He is quite creative. I have sent him the images and he will act as soon as there is some noise in the stand but before we are in a vulnerable position, but I want to ensure that Hesketh hears his wife scream. Rover knows the objective and I’m sure will do the necessary, so please tell your people they do not need to act. The dogs are ready to do whatever is necessary and they will hide below ground.

“I am sure that we will be able to deal with most contingencies. I have had some pictures of what I think we are going to face. The most likely scenario we think is that they will wait hoping that I will be slaughtered and the emperor embarrassed and inattentive and then attack when we are getting ready to leave and the guards are relaxing a little.

~~~\

The morning on the Heath was slightly misty and cool, as it was most days at that time of the year. The ground covering was a plant similar to grass but with broader leaves. The entire area looked freshly mown. There were many lovely trees and beds of flowers a few hundred feet away forming a cascading wave of flowers of many colors. The trees were large but broadly spaced. They were tall and looked similar to redwoods.

Philippa was Jason’s second and laid his sword and hammer on the table provided next to the fighting area. She had put what looked like a nonslip cloth over the table. They were often used to prevent weapons from slipping off the table if one of the fighters would fall on the table. She placed several spheres, one at each corner, to hold the cloth down. They seemed heavy, and she lifted each one of them with some difficulty, from an antigravity trolley, but declined the offer of help from one of the guards, with a friendly but impatient wave.