Chapter 20

Marlene apologised over and over again on behalf of those 'poor misguided fools' as she called them who had voted against Scott. She explained how the parties had used selective pieces of footage of the recent fighting with the aliens to show Scott in a bad light. They had portrayed him as evil and bloodthirsty, as the man who had ordered the massacre of thousands. A great play had also been made of some of the historical battles he had fought and again Scott was shown in a bad light - with no allowance made for the brutal and savage times the events had taken place in.

Mac was raging, as was Lachlan. Surprisingly, Scott was quite calm about the situation. It had been his idea to hold the elections as a referendum on his leadership after the attempt by the Prime Ministers to 'impeach' him. He had said then that he would abide by the decision of the Earth's electorate.

"Your Grace, the South Americans also portrayed you as a coward at heart, citing the fact that you hadn't actually been seen anywhere near any of the fighting, but that you had sent two of your wives on active service. They also dug up something about the death of a former wife and child in the ninth century. There were strong hints that your cowardice even back then had somehow contributed to their deaths," Marlene now added.

The reference to Kirsty and Tina was a very low blow and Scott winced as he heard Marlene's words. He remembered it had been the South American Prime Minister who had suggested he was a coward when he had met with them. Scott allowed a seed of genuine anger to take root in the pit of his stomach. He would need to have a reckoning with that man he decided.

"I haven't told you all of it yet, your Grace. There is something else. As soon as the results were in, the four Prime Ministers insisted on holding a council meeting and they have decided to banish you from the Earth. They had the votes and there was nothing the rest of us could do," she ended, lamely.

"No! That they cannot do, I will not have that. No one can banish me from Scotland, from my beloved homeland. Sweet Jesu what have I ever done to these people that they hate me so? Where does their bile and their spleen come from?" Scott asked.

"Your Grace, what we need is a coup. You are still commander in chief of the Earth's armed forces and I swear they will support you, every man and woman!" said Admiral MacCulloch, showing how quickly he had developed a deep loyalty for Scott the man, Scott the strategist, Scott the compassionate leader.

There was ringing endorsement for this suggestion, unanimous indeed within the Operations Room. Mac indicated that he had little doubt that all of the Special Forces troopers would back Scott. Other voices indicated that the crews of the Broadswords would definitely back the High King.

"Your Grace, I'm sorry, but you're no longer the commander in chief. The council stripped that from you too. If these men and women want to back you they will need to break their oaths of allegiance to do so," Marlene advised.

"I think I need to spend some time with my family and friends to consider all of this," Scott said, "Marlene, did they set a date for my exile?"

"The twentieth of December, your Grace. You have thirteen days left."

Fiona and Eilean had decided they were not talking to Scott for the moment. The reason for this was the appearance of the flesh and blood Shaygan. Both of them were delighted to welcome Tara home and had rushed to hug her when they found her in the reception room of the house. Shaygan had been standing beside Tara and both Fiona and Eilean had assumed that Tara was making herself known to the house AI.

As a consequence, neither paid any attention to Shaygan, as they bombarded their sister wife with questions about what she had been up to. Shaygan looked on, thinking that the girls were extremely rude. The mix up only became apparent when Tara asked the girls why they weren't welcoming Shaygan.

"Don't be silly, Tara. Why would we welcome an AI?" asked Fiona.

"But, she's not an AI," replied Tara.

"Of course she is, silly. Don't worry, you'll soon get used to her and she's very handy for getting our husband and his staff in the mood too. He just loves how cute she is," added Eilean.

"AI, please put on the coffee," ordered Fiona.

All three of the girls were astonished when the AI Shaygan suddenly materialised beside the human one and confirmed that the coffee was now percolating. Fiona and Eilean were amazed to discover the first Shaygan was indeed a real person and Tara was agog to see just how much of a mirror image the AI was of the flesh and blood version. Eilean was also quickly growing red with embarrassment, as she realised what she had said about Scott and how he became aroused when he looked at the AI.

The only one who seemed to be taking things in her stride was Shaygan herself. She looked closely at the AI and nodded to herself as she confirmed the hologram was virtually a carbon copy of her in every regard.

Tara and Shaygan had to explain her Mayan heritage and how Scott had met her when he had appeared on the planet Alban.

"But Scott designed the AI before that," said Fiona, "He must have already met Shaygan before then to have got the detail so exact."

"No, I had never met him before that day, but he had appeared in my dreams. I told him a higher power was at work and that I was destined to be with him," said Shaygan.

Fiona and Eilean looked at each other and smiled - another wife to share with they both thought. Neither had admitted it to Scott, but both of them had found the AI growing on them and they too were very taken with her looks. Having the real thing living with them might turn out to be very interesting.

Scott hosted a dinner for those who would help him work through what he was going to do, how he was going to react to the banishment order from the politicians. All of his wives were there of course as was Mac, Lachlan and Bruce MacFergus. Admiral MacCulloch was also invited.

When everyone had eaten, Scott poured drinks and they began to discuss what he should do now, how he should respond to the Prime Ministers ordering his exile from the Earth.

Admiral MacCulloch was still urging Scott to stage a coup and retain leadership. He was backed in this by Captain Bruce MacFergus, who advised them that all of the Broadsword captains had video-linked with him and agreed they would remain behind Scott, no matter what happened.

Mac also advised that the squad leaders of all of his sabre teams had indicated the same thing as soon as they had heard the news about what the Prime Ministers had done.

"Scott, you have to face it. The armed forces are giving you a very clear message. They are not willing to work with these politicians. They can see how ill prepared the Earth was for the alien attack, despite having eleven hundred years to think about it and plan. My people have told me that they would rather go back on their oaths than be subject to the command of these jokers," Mac said with some passion.

Scott was humbled by the demonstration of loyalty from the armed forces. How they had become so attached to him in just a week was beyond him, but he was moved by their support. He had watched these brave men and women put their lives on the line for their planet time and time again during the past seven days. These were people you would be proud to name as your friends and colleagues, people who you could stand with, shoulder to shoulder.

"Your Grace, my teams are drawing lots to see which ones get first crack at taking the Prime Ministers out," Mac added.

Scott slowly shook his head.

"No, I have never liked the idea of warfare against our own people and I'm not going to change that now. I said I would live with the decision of the people and that's what I feel I have to do. If the elected leaders have decided I must go into exile then so be it. It's not much different to what I forced on Giric and Eochaid all those years ago. I banished both of them from Scotland and now fate has turned its face on me to deliver a similar sentence."

"Then you should come to Alban, your Grace. Your name is revered on my planet, almost as a god. We have laboured also for the past eleven hundred years in preparation for defending this Earth. I am extremely embarrassed, and hugely disappointed, that we arrived and didn't have to fire a shot. Come back to Alban with me and the fleet, we will raise you up as our leader!" said Captain MacLaren.

"I fear that my experience of parachuting into one civilisation after eleven hundred years of history suggests that such a move would also be fraught with issues. No, I don't think I can go to Alban and become your leader," Scott said.

"Then find another planet and start again. All of the armed forces will follow you there!" urged Admiral MacCulloch.

"Can I remind everyone that we still don't know where the Lupos came from, where their home planet is. If they have built one of these carriers, it is more than likely that they have built others. I fear that the Earth will be attacked again, possibly very soon. Admiral, Captain MacFergus, you need to remain here to continue to defend the Earth."

"I for one will be going with you, no matter where you decide to go, your Grace," said Lachlan, "Myself and no doubt many others from Scotland who have been excited by the return of our Ard Righ

Scott's eyes misted over at yet another demonstration of support and loyalty from the people of his own country. This offer he knew he couldn't refuse. His heart seemed to have grown too large inside his chest and his throat had tightened with the raw emotions of the moment. He found himself unable to speak and could only nod at Lachlan to indicate his acceptance of his support. It was several minutes before he could speak once more.

"My friends, I am deeply touched by your words and deeds. Here is what I plan to do..."

Scott prepared himself to speak to the people of the world. The politicians had foolishly forgotten to cut off his access to the broadcasting facility and he was determined to use it to his advantage now. A podium with the emblem of the United States had been found and he watched as the red light winked on to let him know the cameras were now live.

"My fellow citizens of Earth, I spoke to you just over a week ago about the threat of invasion and missile attacks on our planet. I want now to share with you what has happened in the past eight days, eight days that have seen the death of the entire Chinese nation, thousands of nuclear missiles fired at us and a kamikaze attack by the largest space craft ever seen."

The footage began to roll, showing clips of the main points of the Lupos actions over the past week. The genocide of the Chinese was shown in detail, as was the attempted invasion of Russia. The stout defence by the Special Forces and the US fighters was shown and the counter attack on the Lupos, including Scott's decision to allow the survivors to leave the Earth in their transporters.

Next up was the destruction of the two Broadswords and then the second attempt to use the biological weapon on the Earth and the way the splash units had thwarted it.

Finally came the launch of the nuclear missiles and the attack by the cruisers and then the carrier. All of the action showed video footage of the Lupos and shots that gave a view of what Scott had been doing, the decisions he had taken. The montage came to an end and the pictures faded out to be replaced by Scott's solemn face.

"My friends, some of your Prime Ministers weren't happy at my methods and took illegal action to try and depose me. That would have removed me from the Operations Room where you have just watched me trying to orchestrate the defence of the Earth over the past week. Rather than act the tyrant, I asked that an election be held to identify what you the people wanted.