Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Episode 5

"Long Live the Empress"

by

Keith M. Shaw

Chapter 1 (Prologue)

He hesitated before the door for the longest moment. He already knew why the Princess had summoned him to her apartment. For most women, being invited to their apartment was usually a good thing. This woman was decidedly different, however. Very few people had ever seen the interior of the Princess's apartment, and many who had were never seen again. A wry smile creased the older man's lips for the briefest of moments. He wasn't worried about not coming back out. He knew why the princess had summoned him; she had a job for him. In fact, he had a good idea already what the job would be. It was most likely the same job she'd been trying to have done for the past three months now. He almost wondered why she hadn't called him earlier, but his busy schedule probably had something to do with it.

As he stood in front of the door, his thoughts turned to the woman inside. His smirk quickly faded as he took a long deep breath. Even though he didn't fear for his life, he did have many …other concerns. The princess was renowned throughout the realm for her beauty… and for her cruel temper. He wondered which side of her she would reveal to him today.

As he stood there contemplating his situation, his hand reached for the intercom on the side of the door. Almost before he realized what he was doing, he heard a faint, muffled buzzer sound inside the apartment. Instantly the door slid open.

"Enter," sounded a sweet, angelic voice from deep within the apartment.

One more deep breath and the man stepped confidently into the dim interior. The door slid shut behind him.

"You're late," the princess snapped.

He grinned slightly to himself as he absently checked his chronometer. Actually I'm five minutes early, he thought to himself, but he didn't dare vocalize it. This was merely a game she liked to play to immediately put herself in charge of the conversation and to set her opponent off guard, if just for a bit. He had learned how to play her game a long ago from people who knew how to play it far better than she. It was a game he refused to play with her. There were some games he would have loved to play with her, however. He fought the urge to smile broadly as he thought of a few games he would enjoy with the young, beautiful, fiery princess. Instead, he forced his mind to go blank as his eyes quickly scanned the predominantly red room. The princess was nowhere in sight. Another game she liked to play to keep her opponent off balance. Simply he shrugged his shoulders.

"You wished to see me, Princess?"

He heard the beaded curtain being pulled back. His eyes immediately moved toward the back left of the apartment, where he knew the princess's bedroom was situated. A normal man's heart would have immediately skipped a beat at seeing the beautiful scantily clad woman standing before him. Her red outfit perfectly complimented every curve of her body, and she had a lot of curves to compliment. He watched patiently as she slinked across the room toward him. This was yet another game she enjoyed playing to assert her dominance. However, this man had had years of training to avoid pitfalls, even beautiful ones such as this. His thoughts kept returning him to the job. Patiently he stood by the door stoically and allowed the princess to play her games.

When she reached the elegant living room, she detoured to take a seat on the white cushioned lounge chair facing the door. She crossed her legs to allow the part in her gown to reveal her perfectly shaped, tanned thighs. Her eyes scanned the intruder for any signs of weakness she could exploit. She found none. Inwardly she frowned slightly.

"I suppose you know why I summoned you," she began.

The man nodded once. "I have a pretty good idea," he replied in all seriousness. "The coronation is in three days, after all."

The princess frowned, nodded. "Go on."

He looked across the room and deeply into the amber eyes of the princess. "You want your sister Ardala dead."

Princess Anderia shot to her feet and glared at the assassin. "Never say her name in my presence again!" she hissed.

It took a long moment and several deep breaths before she had calmed down to speak again. Instead of returning to her seat, she moved lithely to a shelf to the left of her lounge chair. After pouring herself a drink, she returned to her chair. Smoothly she crossed her legs once more and began to sip her alcoholic beverage.

"Yes," she agreed at long last. "I have a job for you that is two-fold. First of all, I want my sister dead and I understand that you are the best."

"I served your father for many years," he answered. "I never failed Emperor Draco."

"Good. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. I have been trying to eliminate her for three months, ever since my father was killed by that ancient weapon on Bertram."

"You have?" he questioned.

"Well, not me personally. I have acquired the services of a few… men who thought they were professional enough to do the job, but none have been able to perform. I always thought my sister would be an easy target. After all, she's a ditz, has always been a ditz. But she has grown aware of her situation and surroundings. She has become cautious. And her bodyguard is rather formidable as well."

"Who is it now? Elephant man or something like that?"

Anderia grinned for the first time. "No, I believe she calls him Tiger Man Two. But not only is he a mass of impenetrable muscle, but he also has eyes in the back of his head… literally. He's a Libran. For three months no one has been able to get even near my sister. And my time is quickly running out."

"After the coronation in three days, you won't be able to touch her."

"Exactly. Once she becomes empress, I cannot move against her for at least ten years."

The assassin nodded once. "Because if she dies within the first ten years of becoming empress and she has no immediate heirs, the seat of power reverts to a democratic government ruled by the House of Interplanetary Delegates for a period of ten years."

"Yes," she fumed as she rolled her eyes. "That's the dumbest law I've ever heard."

He shrugged. "It's designed to prevent exactly what you are attempting to do right now."

"Yes, I know. So you only have three days to eliminate her. I would prefer that she be killed, but if you can at least prevent her from being at the coronation ceremony, I would then be coronated upon her absence."

"If no one is able to get near Ardala, then how am I supposed to get close?"
Her eyes flared and her bottom lip trembled. "I told you not to use her name in my presence," she said through clenched teeth.

He bowed apologetically. "I am sorry," he lied, successfully preventing his inner smile from showing on his face. "It slipped." It was now time for him to begin his game.

Anderia quickly devoured the rest of her drink. She closed her eyes for a long moment before finally looking back up at the man still standing by the door. "She is about to make a grievous decision to leave the palace. She has a soft spot for this man… an earthling."

She produced a tiny remote control from a hidden pocket of her gown and aimed it at the wall above her well-stocked liquor shelf. The picture of a handsome man dressed in a white uniform immediately filled the entire wall. "His name is Buck Rogers."

"An Earthling?" he questioned.

She nodded. "She has always had distasteful preferences, especially in her men. She has stooped to a new low this time, however. How she could possibly fall for a pitiful, substandard human from a backwards world such as Earth is beyond me, but she is totally smitten by him. He will be her weakness and her downfall."

"How so?"

"She has insisted that he come to the coronation. In order for that to occur, she will have to meet him outside the inner core somewhere."

"Because he doesn't have the stargate access code to penetrate the inner core."

"Precisely."

"Where is this meeting going to take place?"
"I don't know. That's your job to find out. Do I have to do everything for you?"
He grinned slightly. "It would make my job easier."

Anderia was not amused. "This job is not going to be easy no matter who I assign it to. You appear to be the best among all the contacts I've made. Just be sure of this; I will not accept failure. I want my sister dead."

"You said that the job was two-fold. What's the second half of the contract?"

"When you find my sister, you will undoubtedly find this Earthling Rogers beside her. After you eliminate her, I want you to plant information indicting him in her death. Then when I become empress, I can rally our forces over the 'untimely' death of my sister and I can vow vengeance upon the perpetrators of this travesty. I will take a strike force and totally eliminate Earth from existence. They will no longer be a thorn in our side. And once Earth is out of the way, we can expand our territory to the rest of the galaxy."

The man lifted his hand to rub his chin. "There is another way you can become empress."

She narrowed her eyes. "And what is that?"
"Whoever becomes empress has exactly one year to take a mate. If Ardala becomes empress, we simply prevent her from getting married. Then you become empress by default."

"NO!" she exploded, rising quickly from her chair. "I want Ardala dead! Do you hear me?! I want to be empress before the week is out!"

The assassin took a quick glance at the picture still illuminated on the wall. "Do you want this Rogers alive or dead?"

She turned to face the wall. "It's much easier to frame a dead man, don't you think?"
He smiled, nodded. "Yes it is."