"Are you prepared, your eminence?"
Rygel looked up with a guilty start. Neiri smiled down at him. He gave Rygel a look that included the unpleasant impression that he could read Rygels thoughts.
"What? Oh, yes. I'm ready."
Rygel shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. His half healed injuries woke up and yawned in protest.
The bomb blast three days ago had come within inches of killing the dominar. Only a chance movement and an instinctive dive had saved him form being entombed in the collapsing anteroom. Three slaves and two bodyguards had not been so lucky.
Clever people had come, apparently on his behalf and had used lots of technical terms that he hadn't really understood to explain to him that beyond doubt, the explosive used had been of Scarran origin. Rygel wasn't surprised, he had half expected them to find a big reptilian footprint in the next room.
Neiri placed a companionable hand across Rygels shoulders.
"Cheer up Rygel!" he said, "This is your day of triumph! A historic moment, your re-coronation and the public unveiling of our two peoples unification. It is a historic day."
Rygel looked up into the beaming Nebari's eyes. He really does believe it, Rygel thought. He shivered.
"Here is your speech, your eminence." Neiri handed Rygel a tablet containing the speech he had kindly written on Rygels behalf while he was recuperating. Rygel took it reluctantly.
"I notice that you made some changes." Neiri said mildly.
"Oh, well you know, just a tweak here, some polishing -" Rygel stammered.
"I understand." Neiri patted Rygels back, "But the thing is - the thing is; just a few words here, a phrase there, without you even realising it, the nuances can subtlety change. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that you were trying to corrupt the meaning of the entire speech. But of course, you weren't doing that, were you Rygel? Rygel?"
Rygel closed his eyes. "No." he whispered.
"That's what I thought." Neiri nodded happily, "That's why I took the liberty of restoring the unedited version for you. No need to thank me." Neiri straightened up, subtlety spinning Rygel towards the doorway as he did so.
"It's time, your eminence."
Rygel opened his eyes. "No."
"What did you say?"
Rygel growled. "I said no, you arrogant, greasy little bastard!" he hurled the tablet across the room and turned his sled to face the gaping man.
"You can do what you like to me, but nothing you can do can make me sell out my own people. In fact - " Rygel chuckled, "This is my royal court, these are still my people. That means that I can do what I want to you. Guards! Take this repellent creature from my sight and have it shot."
Silence greeted Rygels proclamation. There was a telling lack of activity from the guards.
Neiri shook has head sadly. "Rygel, Rygel, Rygel." he chided, "You disappoint me." he walked across the room and retrieved the tablet, "You will read this speech."
Rygel shook his head stubbornly, "No I won't. Kill me if you like, but I won;t help you any longer."
"Yes you will!" Neiri shouted, his sudden shout making Rygel jump. "You will read it! You will do this and you will do anything else we require of you without question! You will do this because we can replace you just as easily as you replaced Bishaan. And you will do it because if you do not, at a command from us the contagion will be switched to its secondary, aggressive form."
Neiris voice was low now, almost a hiss, and he leaned forwards close to Rygel. Cold, mad fire burned in his eyes.
"It attacks the higher brain function you see," he whispered, "Death I am told is guaranteed and near instantaneous."
He leaned back and suddenly all the manic rage had vanished, pushed back down somewhere into the black pit that he called a mind.
"Over a third of the population of Hyneria have been infected," He grinned as if they were best friends, "That's a lot of dead slugs."
"You wouldn't," Rygel quailed, "You're bluffing."
Neiri placed the tablet back into Rygels unresisting hand.
"Whether we do or do not is your choice, Rygel. Their lives are in your hands."
"I..."
"We have been planning this for over four hundred cycles, your eminence," Neiri continued relentlessly, "Waiting all this time, for the right moment. Do you think we would leave anything to chance? Do you really think that you have a choice?"
He gestured grandly towards the double doors, "Your people await, Dominar Rygel." he said ironically.
Rygel felt like a condemned prisoner as he passed slowly down that long corridor. Actually, it was quite a short corridor, but now it seemed to stretch ahead of him forever. He felt the gazes of dead ancestors staring down at him accusingly, their portraits hanging on each walls as he passed. Rygel lowered his head in shame, unable to meet their eyes. His mind seemed blank, numb with horrified defeat.
Welcome home, Rygel, he thought bitterly.
After a hundred cycles that still passed too soon, he was there.
He could hear the roar of the crowd before he saw them, he could sense them before he heard them. It was like a sense of pressure, the weight of expectation of a hundred thousand people just beyond that hallway, all waiting for him, for his return. He passed through the final archway and stopped, blinking in the lights.
He was on a balcony which protruded several hundred feet above the courtyard. Below him a vast sea of upturned faces waited for him expectantly.
Rygel coughed. Echoes bounced off distant walls.
"People of Hyneria," (he began) "Today marks the approach of a new dawn for Hyneria and all her people. Today I, your beloved rightful dominar am returned to you. Today begins a great new era of peace and prosperity for our people and for people everywhere."
Rygel looked down at the crowd, judging their reaction. The speech he was making may have been repellent to him, but there was something fundamental in his soul that revelled in the reaction he was getting.
"The way has indeed been dark. We have suffered much, but I am proud and honoured as I stand here today an I see our people here united together as one, a shining light that has guided me through the long darkness. It is with a sense of awe and humility that again I accept this great honour, this great responsibility. I – Dominar Rygel the sixteenth, am returned home!"
The roar from the crowd was a deafening wave of such force that it nearly knocked him from his seat. He held on grimly and waited. He looked upwards and noted the hovering drones that were recording this event for posterity. He wondered if they would take the tears in his eyes as tears of joy?
At last when the sound had receded to a bearable level, Rygel began to speak again.
"I said that today marks the approach of a new dawn, but we are not there yet. It is always darkest before dawn, there is one last obstacle in our path. A race of brutal monsters who strive again and again to destroy all that is good and wholesome in our galaxy. They have tried once to break us by force but were thwarted. Now the Scarrans seek to strike us again, this time through subterfuge and guile, through cowardice and terror.
They have stuck at us time and again, they have struck at our allies. No more. It is time at last to purge this terrible blight for all time, to destroy them as they would destroy us. While one Scarran remains, our children shall never be safe."
Rygel gazed sadly down on the sea of faces. It seemed to him that he could see the future spreading out below him. One galaxy. One people. One voice - united in fear and hatred.
"Our people are fearless and strong, but alone even we could not hope to stand against the terrible might of the Scarran horde. Only together, only united and we hope to prevail.
"But who shall lead us in this great crusade? The peacekeepers posses military might but lack the wisdom to lead. Our people are both strong and wise, but sadly there are those that would not follow us.
All people, all races are ready to stand together in this, but there is in truth only one race with the strength, the wisdom and who are selfless enough to lead us.
"It is with great joy -" the word tasted bitter in his mouth, "- that today, on this great day, my first proclamation as restored dominar is thus;
"Today I have spoken with the ruling bodies of every major race and we are in agreement. Today we join with the Luxans, the Sebacians, the Thaloids and a dozen other people by declaring our unification as protectorates of the benevolent Nebari federation. Today, our future begins..."