The Royal Planet

The Palace

"You are being a bit premature, Carzenova - Princess Katralla is not yet eligible for the crown." Prime Minister Cintau's words seemed to echo through the palace. Katie, Rygel and Jack were not prepared for this greeting. Katie looked at the short, overweight Prime Minister and tried to think of the appropriate response. She couldn't think of any, so she took hold of her grandfathers' hand, then looked to Rygel. She was glad that Granddad and Rygel were here; Katie didn't think she could face this new challenge alone.

Em'Lee and Ne'Ra, both close to seven feet tall, closed ranks around Katie, just in case. Cintau, busy with his visions of unlimited political power, didn't bother to ask who these two imposing figures were.

"We've covered this ground before, Cintau," Carzenova replied with barely repressed anger. "Parliament has no problem with Princess Katralla's upcoming coronation. It is only you who are using 2,000 cycles of tradition to further your own political career!"

Cintau, harumphing, disregarded the truth in Carzenova's statement and even managed to look insulted by it. "The Empire has lasted this long only because of the strict adherence to our laws of succession. Katralla has yet to reach her majority, nor is she wed--." Katie glared at the Prime Minister, and started to speak.

Rygel, sensing that Katie was about to loose her temper, maneuvered his throne sled closer to the Prime Minister. "That's Princess Katralla, to you. And of course she remains unwed - she's merely seven cycles old! But I suppose you'd be willing to take the Princess as a child bride to solidify your power, Prime Minister," Rygel said.

The former Dominar managed to turn Cintau's argument for strict adherence to law against him, and highlight the man's motivations as well. Cintau, however, had no intention of backing down and it showed.

"Gentlemen," Jack Crichton said. "Forgive me for saying so, but this is hardly the homecoming my granddaughter deserves." All eyes were now on Jack Crichton.

"And just who are you?" Cintau asked snidely.

"Well, had you allowed me to perform the introductions," Dregon Carzenova began, "you would have learned that this is Counselor Jack Crichton, Katie's paternal grandfather and her guardian while General, Lord Crichton leads our forces against the Scarrans."

~ * ~

D-Day Minus One

Aboard the Zeuxis; en route to staging area, halfway between the Royal Planet and the Scarran homeworld

Brigadier Sun's Briefing Room

"Greetings, Brigadier Sun, Lord Crichton. I am happy to report that your daughter and her guardians have arrived and are settled in," Minister Carzenova said over the vidscreen. Crichton couldn't shake the feeling that Carzenova wasn't telling him the whole truth, but trusted Carzenova enough to know that Katie was safe.

Carzenova continued: "And the misinformation program has proceeded as planned. The Scarrans think we are devoting all of our resources and manpower to developing wormhole technology in a region of the Uncharted Territories known for its solar activity. The decoy operation there is in full swing. As a result, the Scarrans have pulled closer to their own borders: battle groups are resupplying, transferring personnel, etc. They have no idea what will happen tomorrow. Oh, and incidentally, they recovered your body near a failed wormhole experiment."

"Excellent, Dregon," Crichton said. "Make sure Katie is taken care of, will you?" Carzenova nodded. "We better end this transmission before it shows up on the Scarrans' sensors," and the image of Dregon Carzenova faded from the vidscreen.

Aeryn Sun turned to Crichton and asked "'Misinformation program?' And what does he mean the Scarrans recovered your body?"

Crichton smiled. "That, my dear Ms. Sun, is something I stole from Earth history. We set up fake convoys, decoy military bases with inflatable 'buildings' and 'ships' with beacons inside that send out energy signatures, communications--you name it-and unless you're right on top of it, you'd never know the difference. The Scarran intelligence fell for it hook, line and sinker.

"The Allies in World War II used this tactic and the Axis never suspected the invasion would occur at Normandy Beach. And as for my body-remember right after I was doubled by that brain-sucking maniac, then one of me died?"

Aeryn shuddered, remembering how the "other" John died, saving her. "Yes, but, Stark put yo-his body in the cryo-unit, in case you were injured and needed," Aeryn hesitated.

"Spare parts?" John finished for her. "Yeah, well, Stark sent the cryo-unit to the Royal Planet after I joined the RDF, and we came up with another use for it."

~ * ~

Earth - Maine: Crichton Family vacation home

Jessica and Leslie watched their children play tag in the backyard. Mike was working at his garage, and DK was still at Cape Canaveral. It was early fall, the leaves hadn't changed yet. But as beautiful as the day was, Jessica couldn't be more miserable. "I can't stop thinking about it," she said, finally breaking the silence. "Why did they all have to go?" she exclaimed.

Leslie hugged her twin sister and said, "You know why, Jess."

"No! I know John and Dad went for Katie, but why did Robert have to go, too? As if flying an F-14 isn't dangerous enough, he volunteers for Prowler duty. And the bastard had to be so good, he was assigned to one of the Vipers!" Jessica broke down and cried. "John should have known better than to take Robert from me."

"If it's any consolation, John tried really hard to disqualify Robert. But he was too good-he never made a single mistake in training," Leslie told her sister.

~ * ~

The Zeuxis

The Pilot's Briefing Room.

Brigadier Sun, commanding the Peacekeeper forces and General, Lord Crichton of the Royal Defense Force, conducted the briefing. Captain Bialar Crais and Commander Neeri of the Nebari Expeditionary Force were also present. All Prowler, Viper and Marauder pilots were gathered together in the larger briefing room.

John Crichton switched on the holographic display to reveal a three- dimensional map of the staging area: the Scarran home system, and their fleet orbiting the two inhabited planets. The Scarran targets (the battle carriers' and their weapons systems, the Ministry of War, military bases, communications centers, Houses of Parliament, munitions depots, etc.) are highlighted in red.

Brigadier Sun began. "This will be a highly synchronized attack. At every Scarran offensive hold, and at their most strategic defensive positions, we will stage a joint attack: humans, Peacekeepers, Royal Defense Force, and the Nebari Expeditionary Force. And we also have a contingent of calcivores for the ground assault."

John Crichton took over. "The main reason this'll work is the Scarrans won't know how many different forces they'll be up against. The Royal Defense Force and Peacekeeper carriers will arrive at the staging area under hetch power, and begin the first phase of the attack. At each point of attack, human Prowler and Viper pilots will be on point, the first wave of sorties. With sensors emitting Sebacean life form readings, the Scarrans will use just the heat shield to stop us. Then we surprise 'em by not going into heat delirium. Earth pilots: your primary targets are the weapons systems. The Scarrans won't even have them aimed at ya, and you gotta take 'em out. When you do, that's when we open up the wormhole and the NEF pilots will come in and finish off the heat shield and help take out the weapons systems, and that's when our Peacekeeper and RDF friends can come out and play. And Earth pilots: leave any Scarran fighters to the Peacekeeper or RDF pilots to deal with - you just do not have the training or experience yet to take them on.

Engage in a dogfight only if you have no other choice..."

~ * ~

The Next Day

The Royal Planet: House of Parliament

Earlier in the morning, Dregon Carzenova had briefed Jack, Katie and Rygel. Immediately after the Empress and Regent were assassinated, several factions jostled for power, with the Prime Minister gaining the most followers. Dregon managed to prevent Cintau from declaring martial law, but it was a victory by a narrow margin. "You're not the Minister of Intelligence for nothing," Jack said, then added "I remember now why the name Cintau sounded so familiar - isn't he the one who wanted to court martial John for refusing to commit genocide to end the Nebari War?"

"The one and the same," Carzenova replied.

Now, Dominar Rygel XVI and Jack Crichton accompanied Katie (Jack always thought of his granddaughter as Katie, never Katralla) down the main aisle of the grand assembly hall. All of the hundreds of members of Parliament were present, resplendent in their white robes of court. All the Lords and Ladies present craned their necks to see Princess Katralla, one of the few to survive a Scarran death camp. All the Lords and Ladies were proud that their princess should survive such a horror, and approved of Katie not covering up the tattoo on her cheek. They did not, however, approve of the odd clothing she wore, even if it was white.

They stopped just before the ornate seat reserved for the Prime Minister, where Ham Cintau sat, looking quite smug. Minister Carzenova stood nearby.

Counselor Jack Crichton looked at the fully assembled Parliament. 'Nothing like baptism under fire,' he thought to himself. To Rygel he whispered, "I wish you'd reconsider, Dominar, and speak to Parliament - you're much better at the diplomacy thing."

"The Royal Planet is very wary of off-worlders, Counselor. And while we are both off-worlders, you are at least a blood relative to the heir to the throne. It's much better for you to address Parliament," Rygel answered.

The Sargent-at-Arms pounded his ceremonial cane on the floor three times and proclaimed in a booming voice: "Hear ye, hear ye, let it be known to all ye presents that this special session of Parliament is now called to order." The Sargent-at-Arms again pounded his cane three times, signaling the assembly to be seated.

Prime Minister Cintau called the session to order, and said: "The sole item on the agenda today is whether or not Princess Katralla is eligible to become Empress. The answer is no. Our laws clearly state that the Empire be ruled by a married couple, not by a child. Furthermore, the future ruling couple must observe the process of government for eighty cycles while in stasis. It has been the case for two thousand cycles. Our Empire has persevered only because of the strength of succession. The government rests."

Jack Crichton took a deep breath. "Prime Minister, Lords and Ladies of Parliament, I do not ask you to turn your backs on two thousand cycles of tradition or the laws of succession. I merely ask you, on the behalf of my granddaughter, to abide by the War Powers Act passed by this very house during the Nebari War. That act acknowledged the special circumstances of wartime - something unknown to this Empire until recently. The War Powers Act allowed Princess Katralla I and Counselor Tyno to ascend to the throne without the required eighty cycles in stasis. Since this law has never been repealed, I ask you to extend its coverage to Katie--I mean, Princess Katralla II."

~ * ~

D-Day - Observation Post in Asteroid Field - Scarran Home System

As planned, the Royal Defense Force made their way under hetch power.

In the observation post, one of the Scarran ranks said "Commandant, the sensors are detecting incoming ships: two Royal Defense Force battle carriers and two Peacekeeper command carriers. They are launching Prowlers, sir."

The commandant, who was ugly even by Scarran standards, replied "Only two of each? Check the life signs. If they're all Sebacean, activate the heat shield. No sense in wasting the pulse cannons on Sebaceans."

~ * ~

"Alright, Alpha Squad. This is just a preliminary target. Let's get this done so we can get to the major leagues. You know the drill," Lt. Commander Robert "Howdy" Jones said from his Viper.

~ * ~

"Commandant-the enemy Prowlers remain on course-they're unaffected by the heat shield," the Scarran soldier said without looking up from his instrument panel.

"On screen now, ensign!" the commandant barked. "Scan the Prowlers - they must be generating a protective force field. Find where it is so we can disable it."

The ensign transferred the signal to the screen, and exclaimed, "That's not a Prowler!" as a Viper swooped in, moving almost twice as fast as a Prowler.

"Charge the pulse cannon!" the commandant ordered, but it was too late. The Viper took out all of the pulse cannons with its belly turret gun and side guns.

Convinced he could still win the engagement, the commandant gave the order to launch fighters. As the hangar doors opened and the Scarran fighters launched, a wormhole opened. Ten of the Nebari Expeditionary Force's Phantoms, their fast and sleek fighters, exited the wormhole and swiftly destroyed the heat shield.

Finally, the commandant said "Alert High Command," just as a Prowler took out all of the communications systems.

With the heat shield disabled, the Sebacean pilots in the Peacekeeper and RDF forces came forward and engaged the Scarran fighters. The Scarran fighters were outnumbered two to one, and the engagement was over quickly. The human and RDF pilots cheered, the Peacekeeper and Nebari pilots were more reserved.

"Hoo-ya!" Howdy yelled. "Great job, everyone! But that was only one small, preliminary target-we've got plenty more to go. Let's regroup." The Nebari Phantoms returned through the wormhole, and all the Prowlers and Vipers returned to their carriers.