Chapter 7

Emperor Richard Newcastle was addressing the Assembly and the House of Commons. When the emperor had set up his government, he realized the need for balance, and representation across the board. While he had ennobled a lot of people, that did not necessarily equate to common sense or political knowledge.

Originally he just had a House of Lords. But that proved unsatisfactory. The House of Lords tried to make laws beneficial for the lords, and was not really beneficial to the whole. He squashed that quickly, and divided the government into the House of Commons, and the Assembly of Lords. In a carry over, for some reason, a lot of people still referred to the assembly as the house. He had changed that form of government over 280 years ago.

He had wanted term limits, but realized he would be loosing politically astute people if he did that. So reluctantly he permitted both the lords and the commons to have 'career' politicians, as much as he hated that. That was what had contributed to the collapse of the old Terran Federation.

So to offset that possibility, he had kept broad powers for the crown. It was a pyramid of power and it had worked well for the last 280 years. Sometimes the commons moved to limit the emperor's powers, and sometimes it was the lords. Richard was himself politically astute after living for so long, and easily fought off those thrusts into his powers.

"My Lords of the Assembly. Ladies and Gentleman of the House. I come before you this day to notify you and request your support in pursuing war with the alien, Shas'vsaz, as they call themselves. So far, we have had a total of two confrontational battles with these beings.

"The first was when they followed an allies ship into the Lantree system. After we intercepted their attempt at killing or capturing an unarmed scientific vessel, they immediately fired on us. It was their misfortune it happened to be the HMS Dragon Rising they fired at. The captain of the Dragon Rising took exception and destroyed three alien ships, capturing one, and damaging the 5th ship, causing it to leave rather quickly." Richard paused for the chuckles and laughter.

"So far attempts to communicate with the aliens have failed. All messenger probes were transmitting messages, in their language I might add, and they were destroyed. I do not see any reasonable way to avoid this war. We must unite, and quickly resolve this problem with the Shas'vsaz.

"So My Lords, Ladies and Gentleman, I leave you to deliberate. I request funding for extending war operations until such time as we have won the war, or peace has been reached." Having said that, the emperor stepped back three paces, and bowed slightly from the waist.

[I thought that was well done, Richard] The symbiot said.

<Well, it seemed like begging to me. It should be obvious to all we need to deal with this problem swiftly> Richard grumbled back silently.

[Ah, the joys of freedom. Now aren't you glad I told you to keep those powers you said you didn't want? Just think of the mess if you had nothing except a name and no power.] Replied the symbiot.

<You're right. I AM glad I have what power I do. Those liberal idiots in both the House and the Lords would have had us as a third rate power under someone's thumb by now.> Snorted Richard.

[Speaking of being under someone's thumb, you have stopped training. A day off now and then is fine. It has been two weeks since you last trained in anything. Richard, I can't begin to stress the importance of your training. A time will come when you need it.] The symbiot finished solomnly.

Richard sighed and promised silently to start again that very evening. In the meantime he made his way to his offices at the Castle City Palace. It was a show place really, but it had everything he needed to run his Empire. It was also defended to the hilt.

He silently reached out for his computer and instructed it to contact the Caliphate Ambassador as well as the Terran Republic Ambassador. He wanted to see if support could be had from these two powerful allies. It should be a given that support would come, but politics had a strange way of obfuscating what appeared to be strait forward treaties into complicated documents of uncertainty.

Terran Republic Ambassador, Bradley Fox had been in conference with his deputies when he had fielded the call from the Emperor. He now called his deputies back together and told them the topic of his conversation.

"Well. He finally got around to officially notifying us, has he?" Queried the deputy ambassador, Fredrick Carlton.

"Oh yes. He was most insistent. I pointed out that his government has not yet declared any war or even hostilities. He just looked at me. That man scares me. Even over the vid." Bradley said with a slight shiver.

"Yes, he has that effect on most people. I saw him stare at someone at a reception once. The person was in opposition to one of his policies, and it was such a look of contempt. From what I understand, that person is no longer active in politics." Said Rebeca Taylor, Director of Information.

"Well I have a problem here. The emperor has asked for help according to section 3 of the treaty. I really don't see how I can deny him. I told him I would notify the government of his request. Section 3 is pretty specific. It's a mutual defense pact. He has honored it with us 3 times in the last 100 years with help when we needed it. This is the first time he has asked our help. I am unsure how to proceed. The political climate at home is not very supportive of the emperor and his empire right now." The ambassador said.

"That's not our problem. We will send the request forward. It's all we can do. The emperor can't hold us responsible for something our bosses do, can he?" Fredrick asked tentatively.

"Alright. Let's get the message out. Both with FTL and by message drone. I want this settled and put to bed by dinner time tonight. If we can say we have forwarded his message, then he will have to be satisfied with that." Bradley pushed a button on his desk and his secretary answered. "Get me the emperor at his palace please." Bradley asked her. She acknowledged and he returned his attention to his deputies.

"Ok. That's all we can do. I just hope the politicos back home don't screw this up. You're all dismissed to your duties." Bradley finished.

"Your call to the palace is ready Ambassador." His secretary informed him.

"Ambassador Fox for the emperor. Yes, I will hold. Your majesty? I want you to know I have expedited your request to my government. I am sending it both by FTL transmission and by messenger drone. They should have your request no later than 8 days from now." Ambassador Fox said. He listened.