Master sergeant Ono was nearly giddy. Giddy. Like a little girl putting her hair up in little pigtails with pink ribbons. I haven’t felt this way in almost ever, he thought. It’s been so long since all the politicking and nobilitying had become such a persistently draining part of his life that he hadn’t realised what a soul-crushing weight it had been. Having it suddenly lift was…lightening.

  That boy Rieven, he was a breath of fresh air. His unpretentious nature was fun to be around. That was what had made me volunteer to lead the marine detachment for the Medusean Gambit campaign. Good thing too, or my friend would have been stranded without any allies here. Now though, he thought, now he had not only an ally, but I’m becoming personally useful. Being here, I can second the vote to annex the Fourth into the Void Spectres. With no other branch heads present, the decision was an automatic pass. The days of politics were over, for three years anyways. He exhaled loudly. It felt good.

  Rieven turned round at that sound. “What’s the matter Ono?”

  “Nothin. I’m good. Happy even.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m asking what the matter is.”

  Ono eyed him darkly. “Sir, you are a stain on the perfectly beautiful ornament that is my day.”

  Rieven laughed. “Yes, I know Ono. You aren’t happy unless you’re not happy. But there’s things to be happy about today, and that makes you unhappy.”

  Ono growled and kept walking. Rieven caught up quick. “It’s not that you’re happy that has me worried, it’s why you’re happy that has me worried Ono. It’s not usually good for others. If I were to guess, I’d say that you are looking forward to sticking it to the nobility in the Fourth, and the uppity commonality too.”

  Ono allowed himself to smile, just a little. “Yeah, it’s gonna be great to see their faces and watch them realise that they are no longer held to Imperial Standards but instead are held to the standard of paying the rent on their rank every day, having to work to keep what they were gifted by others. My marines, especially, are gonna be happy. Can you imagine? Being both in the Imperial Marines, and a member of the Void Spectres? Being a part that force, even if it is inferior to the marines, it’s storied. They grew up wanting to be a part of it, so yeah, you bet your dragon’s ass I’m happy.” He turned to Jackson and shot him a grin. The dragon looked confused but smiled back tentatively.

  He turned to the Dragon Guard and said, “You boys gotta be ready to see your new shiny hanging up, eh? Two of you stay here, but the rest are dismissed. Corporal Snaptoe, decide who stays, who goes.”

  “Right, sir!” the corporal turned to his men and ordered, “Benny, you an’ me are guarding our commandant. The rest of yous get to go have fun. Dragontooth, I expect you to accept every drink that comes your way tonight” Dragontooth smiled wide, and the others were slapping him on the back when the corporal continued in a dangerously calm voice, “I also expect you to be bright-eyed and bushytailed tomorrow at 0840 when we meet master sergeant Ono for an explanation of our new duties.” Dragontooth grimaced, but then quickly smiled again at the prospect of his celebration tonight. “Now get.” They scattered before anyone could change their minds. Wise men.

  As they came up to Rieven’s office, Snaptoe and Benny broke off and ran a quick inspection of the inside before coming back out and standing guard on either side of the door. Ono smiled to himself. This was good. They were already taking to their new duties. It was important to not trust anything when you were guarding the commandant. The three of them walked into the office, and Ono nodded to the men before he closed the door behind them.

  When he turned around, he saw that Rieven had walked up to the holocom and was inputting the command override codes to enter a Captain’s Board late. Ono turned to Jackson, “Son,” he said, “you are about to participate in a Captain’s Board. This is unprecedented. I need you to stand behind Rieven, to his right, just as you have been doing, and do not speak unless your lord grants you leave. You will be tested. The level of stupid that is about to be thrown at you would test one of the fourteen saints themselves, and none of us are in as much control of ourselves as one of them. It will be my part to speak a little, but Rieven will do most of the talking. Last thing: if you are feeling like manifesting axiom or forming a working, don’t. It will interfere with the holocom. Any questions?”

  Jackson considered him for a moment, his eyes looking at him thoughtfully. Finally he said, “I can do that, father.” Ono started. Jackson grinned, “It is simple enough and it supports the lord of my hold without undermining him. My restraint is the least he can command of me,” he looked Rieven’s way and got a nod from him, “I shall obey.” Ono nodded to him once, then walked over to the centre of the room as Rieven finished messing with the holocom.

  Rieven said, “Let’s stand in the centre on the rug, facing the holocom on the desk. Everyone else will be seated at the table, but it will project us as standing at the head, which will ruffle some feathers. Don’t react. I’ll lead us out and make it obvious when my turn to talk is over.” The room flickered for a moment and then the table of the Captain’s Board snapped into being in front of them.

  Instantly they were surrounded by noise. Commander Sotomeyer was shouting, red-faced, breath blowing like a winded bellows. “I will not countenance this! That man has put more on the line for the Fourth than all of us put together have. You have no right to promise his court-marshal before he has even reported back. You are aware of nothing he has done that would even warrant one; it’s just your pride that has hurt because the men and women of the Fourth are looking to him for leadership, and not to you, Lord Davon Ried.” He put so much contempt in the man’s name that spittle flew out of his mouth and across him onto the table. Ono thought, it’s a good thing this is a projection, or that spit would have been cause for a sanctioned duel. He snorted, or it would, assuming Ried can find enough courage in the bottom of the empty barrel he calls a heart.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  As they argued, Ono looked on, amused and disgusted at what was clearly taking place. Looking at the faces around the table it was evident that most of them supported Ried’s position. The two-thirds majority required to appoint a new Admiral was clearly lacking, and probably would be for some time. It appeared that the meeting had been going on long enough that they were tiring of this session. Rieven had timed his entrance perfectly. Fate, it seemed, was on their side for now.

  Rieven leaned forward and pressed something on the side of the holocom on his desk, and a chord of notes sounded. Those not actively involved in the discussion silenced their side conversations as they realised Rieven and Ono had joined, some starting in shock at the sight of Jackson here where he was not expected. The chord repeated at regular intervals until only Sotomeyer and Lord Ried were arguing. The moment Briggs noticed them, he picked up his datapad and tapped its screen a few times. When he set his datapad back onto the table, he looked at Ono meaningfully, then looked away.

  Ono’s own datapad pinged then. He grabbed it from where it was secured in his armour and pulled it to the side so he could see it. It was a message from Briggs. I realised when I was watching the Rite of Ritual Combat that I had been listening too much to the Good Idea Fairy and not enough to my inner NCO’s voice. Sargeant Hamish would beat me black and blue if he was here right now. I’m sure he’s disgusted at what I’ve been doing. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, I wanted my family to ascend, but commandant Rieven is a good man and I refuse to make a mock of that kind of honour and bravery any longer. I will not do to him what they have done to my family. I feel sick at my actions. If you can trust me, even a little, you will find attached all of the illegal actions performed by the Faction of Greater Nobility since the Medusean Gambit. Every action I took, and its reason, was logged with my Ship’s Intelligence, and as such is available for your perusal. None were illegal, though I will leave that for you to judge. I would help in this meeting. Using this information, it should be possible to name commandant Rieven admiral within two days. If you do not trust my help, I understand.

  Well, well, well. Would you look at that? Looks like Briggsey had enough of playing the dancing pup for scum. That’s a welcome change of pace. If his actions really were logged with the Ship’s Intelligence, then everything that he wrote was true. While people were aware there was an official log that each Ship’s Intelligence kept, there was no general knowledge of the fact that each Ship’s Intelligence also kept a detailed record of everything that occurred on its ship. It used this data to find patterns to aid investigators when things needed looking into. For egregious actions, it would alert the nearest authority of the rank appropriate to deal with the issue. If there really were illegal things going on, this sub-record would verify Briggsey’s own manual record and he would be cleared.

  He looked at the datapad again. The attached files were recordings of various kinds: audio, video, holo; mixed with transcripts and official order documents. The executive summary his Datapad’s Intelligence put together for him after a thorough review was plain and to the point. His DI said: After pinging Commander Briggs’ SI I can confirm that the contents of his message are true and that he can be trusted in this thing. Below are five lists: First, a list of persons whose actions warrant execution. Second, a list of persons whose actions warrant rank reduction or demotion. Third, a list of persons whose actions warrant demerits. Fourth, a list of persons whose actions warrant merits. Fifth, a list of persons whose actions warrant rank advancements or promotions.

  Hmm. Ono grunted. That’s useful, he thought. Ima have to forward these lists to Rieven. He did so, just as the argument wound down as awareness crept into the participants’ minds. He snorted. That was funny. Took them two minutes to realise the person they were arguing about has shown up with an entourage. Every eye was looking at one of the three of them standing at the head of the table. Briggs stood and spoke, “Commandant Rieven, thank you for joining us. As the chairman of this Captain’s Board I welcome you to take your seat and we can table our discussions and move to a debrief of the last two engagements.”

  Rieven’s eyes moved over the officers seated around the table before settling coldly on Briggs. “No.” That got discussion trying to go again. Explosively. Rieven leaned forward and tapped something on the other side of the holocom on his desk and two minor seventh chords sounded, one after the other without surcease. Conversations halted immediately. Those chords should not have been available to him now that the engagement was over. That they were meant that something of significance had occurred which they were unaware of.

  “No.” he repeated. “I will not sit down. Nor shall my companions seat themselves either.”

  Lord Davon stood while interjecting, “Commandant Rieven, it is not lawful for either the master sergeant nor that dragon to be present as this is a Captain’s Board of the Operatic Empire, it has nothing to do with either the Imperial Marines, or with the dragon’s empire.”

  “No,” Rieven said again, more coldly this time. “It is not unlawful for them to be present. You are incorrect again, Lord Davon. In fact,” he continued, “you will find that as of this moment it is unlawful to hold any further Captain’s Boards until our relief at Homeworld.” He picked up his datapad and tapped it a few times, paused a moment to read through something, then tapped it once more before setting his datapad down on his desk near the holocom. “As of this moment our discussion is being broadcast on the fleet-wide channel as mandatory viewing. Every soul in the Fourth is watching because not even the viewscreens on the bridge are showing anything different.”

  Voices began to raise, but Rieven shouted over them, “No. You will not do anything. You will not speak, you will not ignore, you will only listen, hear, and obey.” Silence fell around the table. Rieven continued, “As of this moment two orders will be followed. First, as Commandant of the Void Spectres, I call for a vote of the Branch Heads.”

  He then looked to Ono, who stepped forward slightly and said, “Commandant Rieven, as communication with Homeworld is impossible, rendering communicating with or gathering the other Branch Heads impossible, I declare, as Master Sergeant of the Imperial Marines, that we have a voting quorum.” He then stepped back.

  Rieven turned somewhat to Ono, “I submit that the Fourth Imperial Navy of the Operatic Empire, along with its contingent of Imperial Marines, be annexed into the Void Spectres, drafted if you will, that there may be one command structure until such time as we receive our relief at Homeworld.”

  “You would annex the two branches of the Operatic Empire’s military might that are here present into the fold of the Void Spectres until our accepted return to Homeworld, as evidenced by relief provided to our watch by them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, acting with that understanding,” Ono intoned, “The Master Sergeant of the Imperial Marines seconds the motion submitted by the Commandant of the Void Spectres.”

  “Now see here” interrupted a voice in the back. Rieven tapped something on his holocom a third time and the voice suddenly cut off, muted. In fact, that woman’s office was now being filled with noise-cancelling nanodrones from her holocom that were muting her actual voice. It would continue until Rieven ordered otherwise, though she could still hear him.

  Rieven spoke as though no interruption had occurred, “Then by the authority of INL 241-26W, I hereby annex the Fourth Imperial Navy and the accompanying contingent of Imperial Marines into the Void Spectres until we receive our relief at Homeworld. The legal justifications have been sent to everyone watching this broadcast.”

  Shock spread around the table. No one was willing to speak, having learned from the example of Ship’s Captain Margrite. This had never happened before. Never. And Rieven wasn’t done yet either.

  “Furthermore,” he picked up his datapad and tapped the screen once before setting it back down, “every member of Void Spectres, previously existing or newly inducted, has just received a list of all officers who are summoned to the Hidden Dagger for their court-marshal. You shall arrive onboard within one hour, on pain of spacing. You are hereby relieved of command until such time as the facts are determined and judgements are rendered. Every ship’s captain and marine sergeant general is required to attend as well. I will call a command meeting tomorrow after judgement has concluded. Rieven out.”

  He leaned forward and tapped the holocom a fourth time, and the Captain’s Board ended, kicking everyone off the channel.

  He turned to Ono and Jackson and smiled.

  “Who do you think I’ll get to kill as an example first?”