The Queen's Honor Guard
by Nyohah

III.

Li Yuen Ming climbed the grassy hill that had just hours earlier led to Kahn's developing portal. With a great sigh she dropped into the tan grass. It was shorter on her side of the valley than it had been on the other, though she could see its height increase near the horizon. But far more important than its height—and this she relished, a smile spreading on her filthy face—the grass again throbbed with life. In fact, she could hear the plaintive cries of the blades that had been trampled, or the ones bathed in blood and pleading for sunlight; they bitterly reminded her of her responsibility.

In the valley below her, ash still blew, drifting into piles from hours of wind. The wounded had been carried away, taken to the army's base on Kloesh. Those that could not walk had been dragged on stretchers bound to Centaurions. Most of the Mandalorians were gone, a few left to pick through the dead. Only the Centaurions in mortal danger had allowed themselves to be taken; most preferred to let their blood run to the ground and mix with the ash, granting them more scars of which to be proud and with which to gain prestige. Of her honor guard, Tempest had a small cut on his arm that needed to be bandaged to stop the bleeding, and Hua Quy Ling had been sliced down the leg just before the battle's end. All other injuries were superficial, though Yen Sa had disappeared somewhere; she didn't know where he had gone.

=Yuen Ming.=

She sat up. "Yes, Honor?" He was fatigued from battle and not projecting his mental form, but she thought she could see the little distortions his presence caused.

=Your brother has arrived.=

"Thank you, Honor." She stood, stretching.

=We will accompany you.=

"I would be delighted for your company." If the Vyrenchi had been a physical being, she would have found him overprotective and crowding. As he wasn't, she often forgot or had no idea whether he was around; that coupled with the fact that outsiders likely did not know he existed made him an excellent bodyguard.

Ming climbed back down the hill, stepping carefully around the bodies that had not yet been carried away. She saw her brother's delegation near the opposite side of the valley, talking to her husband. He and the Edenians that accompanied him wore bright robes, their color shining through the valley like a beacon amidst the browns, grays, and dark red of the former war zone. She made the mistake of glancing down at her clothes and sighed.

Her black fighting dress and the light pants she wore beneath it were rumpled and caked with blood and sweat, dusted with ashes. She guessed that her face and hair fared no better, knowing that she couldn't have gotten all the blood off with the single washcloth she'd been offered.

Slapping her palms together in a futile attempt to clean them, she stepped past Tieh Chen Yi, who sat on one of the boulders that were strewn across the valley with increasing frequency as she approached the rockslide. She began to ask him how he was, then vetoed the thought as she opened her mouth, scrambling for another idea.

"Do you know where Yen Sa is?"

But it was Lan Yiao Nih, standing nearby and surveying the wreckage who answered her. "Take one guess."

Chen Yi clarified, "I think he set up a lab in the base."

She nodded, then forced out her question. "How are you?"

"Not as bad as Cai Yue. It's just unbelievable. They're not supposed to die. And he was so close..." He kicked at a stone, then half-smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine."

"It's as if his favorite pet died," muttered Captain Lan, rolling his eyes.

"Some people just aren't as naturally heartless as you." Ming smiled mock-sweetly and stepped away.

Behind them, Emperor Yuen Jer Rod smiled broadly and walked toward her, bypassing his Kitsune bodyguards. "Ming," he said, pressing his hands on her shoulders. "I would kiss you, sister, but I can't seem to find a clean spot."

"If you had been here, you would be filthy as well."

"I'm not quite clean anyway," he replied, shaking ash from his robes. Then his voice sobered. "What do you think of it?"

"It was horrible, Jer Rod. Horrible, but the battle was necessary. How will you punish the Shokans?"

"Somehow," he said, brushing some ash away from a patch of ground with his foot, "I think they've been punished enough. We will, however, interrogate those left on their planet and issue a statement about whether they were involved."

Ming squeezed her eyes shut. "What are you going to tell everyone about this? How are they going to react to the threat of invasion?"

"What are we going to do with your colonists?" he whispered.

Ming lowered her head and took a large breath, holding it for a single moment in an attempt to bolster her strength, but releasing it in a swift exhalation, relaxing her shoulders wearily, defeated. "We go to them, we rescue them, and we bring them back. It was a mistake to even send them." She shook her head slightly, then clenched her fists and looked up at her brother. "He lulled us into complacency, conveniently disappearing then striking at the worst time." The queen cupped filthy hands to a not-quite-so filthy nose as her eyes began to burn, the action muffling her words. "We're fools."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Ming."

She dropped her hands. "And we must correct this one."

"Ming, where will you get the troops? Surely you realize that—especially after this debacle—the other planets will have a fit if you try to take—"

"I'm not taking troops from the other planets." She sighed. "I'm taking them from Mandalore."

Jer Rod's brow creased and he tilted his head, slowly closing his eyes. "Ming," he said finally, "without the army, your honor guard... You cannot leave our planet defenseless."

"It won't be defenseless. I'll have some troops here, as many as we loan to the other planets. And I'd hope they would have the audacity to come to our aid if need be. They seem to have the audacity for just about everything else," she muttered.

"I'll talk to them," he conceded. "Hopefully they'll volunteer back some of your men." He sighed and turned away. "I'd try to talk you out of this, but I know that's an impossible occurrence."

Hangars were loud, chaotic.

She admitted that she had only entered hangars in the occasion of a trip, and if she went somewhere it was almost guaranteed to be a large trip. Still, Ming wanted to scream and silence everyone, then teach them how to do their jobs quietly and orderly.

Her husband didn't help the situation, though she marveled at his ability to issue orders for a dozen unrelated tasks subsequently, while hearing the requests for a dozen more. Ming had been habituated to directing political meetings, and though they seemed every bit as crazy, the politicians with whom she met did not speak all at once or scurry about like homeless vermin as the army did.

Her brother had indeed managed to convince all the planets in his union to 'donate' some of Mandalore's own troops to her, and she had split them, filling gaps in both the planet's defense and the task force she was taking. The largest volunteered group had come from, unsurprisingly, Edenia—the smallest, less than a company and understandably so, from the Centaurions—but the largest force had been stripped from Shokan by Emperor Yuen as their punishment. They had been left with some troops, but not enough to even give pause to an invasion. Surely, they needn't fear their 'ally', Jer Rod had commented in an uncharacteristically malicious moment, leaving the Shokans with the clear message to, in the future, join those who would help and not betray them.

Her four-year-old son—Nei Jen was his name, but her honor guard refused to call him anything but 'baby Li'—tugged at the silk skirt of her dress, whining about the wait. She subconsciously hoisted him up as Kei Sa stepped beside her.

Her former handmaiden and current leader of her honor guard spoke softly. "All supplies have been loaded and counted. The army workers have organized their weapons and themselves, and are beginning to load the weapons. The honor guard is gathering their things. Nai Do Xian is prepping the Aria."

Ming's son pointed at the ship with a smile at its mention. Ming smiled back at him. "Yes, we are going to ride on the ship soon, aren't we?" The Templar Aria was rather small, even for a Mandalorian ship, and it would seem an insect to the battleships Tse had described, she was sure; it lacked even armaments. But its silver hull gleamed proudly, and it was large enough for her honor guard and a few others.

As she scrutinized it, looking for a sign of ill preparation, what could only be Yen Sa pushed a cart overloaded with technical equipment into its open bay. She half-shook her head. "He hasn't given up."

"And he won't," Kei Sa added, instantly knowing of whom she was speaking. "Is Honor here?"

=Yes, Kei Sa.= He materialized before her.

"You are going to gather some Vyrenchi help?"

=We have. Thirteen for now—we thought it appropriate number.=

"Indeed, Honor." Kei Sa smiled at him. "You did well, Honor."

"Yes, Honor," agreed Ming, seeing in the corner of her eye Tieh Chen Yi beckon her from beside the Aria. She headed in his direction, dodging workers. As she neared him, she observed the girl standing beside him. She wore a simple pastel dress, and her clear blue eyes shyly averted as Ming approached and set down her son, clasping his little hand to ensure he didn't cause any trouble in his impish way.

"My queen," acknowledged Chen Yi with a nod, "this is An."

"An doesn't have a family name?"

He blushed. "Hseh An."

"It's nice to meet you, Hseh An," said Ming with a small bow. The girl smiled bashfully as Nei Jen mimicked his mother's action. "I am Li Yuen Ming."

"I know," she whispered.

Chen Yi spoke quickly. "She wants to come."

"She knows it will be dangerous?"

The young woman nodded; it was a tiny motion.

"Very well," said Ming. "She may come." She glanced over her shoulder. "Your fiancée does not wish to come, Lian?"

He had stopped behind her, lugging a large bag and the case for his weapons. "Her? Enter a war zone? She would never. Besides she has things to do at home. She doesn't just sit around and cook. We're supposed to be coming back soon, anyway, right?"

"That's the plan. Will you miss her?"

"Some." He shrugged, then grinned. "But I'll have yokel boy to tease about his yokel girlfriend."

"Oh, board the Aria." Ming waved her hand in dismissal.

"Excuse me? No, no, no." He waved both hands. "I will not be associated with anything called the Aria. It's the Templar."

"It's my ship," said Ming. "It's the Aria."

Ta Lian Shi turned to Tieh Chen Yi jerking his head in Ming's direction. "Are you sure you won't reconsider bringing your girlfriend? Exposure to our queen could ruin her."

"I guess you're just not man enough for me," Ming deadpanned, then turned to the ramp that led into her ship, pulling her son with her. Behind her came the sound of Rah Cai Yue's laughter.

"Oh, shut up," Lian said to him, his tone betraying any attempt to fake anger. "If you weren't still obsessed with her—"

She walked on.

The blood rushed into her ears, blocking the rest of the conversation, and her heart tore, but what could she do?

She walked on.

An hour later, Nai Do Xian piloted the Templar Aria from the hanger, and Rah Cai Yue, with the help of Kei Sa, created a portal for all the ships, theirs passing through last.

"Next stop," he said as they approached it, "Edenia and the Interplanetary Association of Royal Babysitters."

Ming sighed.

Empress Sindel smiled and crouched as best she could, the child growing inside her beginning to hamper her movements. She brushed her hand through Li Nei Jen's tangled hair. "We'll make sure you don't miss your mommy and daddy too much," she said in Mandalorian. "Now go say 'bye' to them."

She stood as the boy ran back to his parents for hugs. "You either, little lady," the Edenian added, lightly pinching the cheek of Hua Tung Mei, one and a half years old and clinging to her mother's neck.

"You're going to have your hands full," laughed Sindel's husband's sister, letting her boy run into the tiny field of the courtyard.

Sindel rubbed her stomach proudly. "Training," she said. "You have both gone through this once. I feel as though I've been delaying something."

"I think you're the lucky one," replied Ming. "Trying to care for a child on top of everything else?" She shook her head. "It's exhausting. Of course, Nei Jen is not the most docile boy. And he was so big he almost killed me... It's all your fault," she concluded, elbowing her husband in the stomach.

He oofed. "Oh sure. You had no part in it," he countered sarcastically.

"None at all."

Sindel smiled at their antics and turned to Kei Sa. "We'll be due at about the same time, won't we?"

"Yes, I think so." Kei Sa nodded.

"I hope you're back then."

"We should be. We will gather the colonists and bring them home."

Sindel's eyes darkened solemnly. "But nothing's ever so simple. I wish it were."

"As do I," agreed Kei Sa solemnly.

"Well," cut in Hua Quy Ling, leery of the silence. "We should be going."

"That we should," sighed Kei Sa, setting Tung on the ground. "Goodbye, darling. Goodbye, Empress."

"Goodbye," Ming said, allowing her husband to lead her toward the ship. "Oh!" She stopped. "Keep them inside when it's hottest. And in the shade when the sun is harshest. And make sure he takes his naps!"

"Come on," Wei Yong insisted, pulling her away.

"Farewell," Sindel whispered.

She picked up Tung, then beckoned to Nei Jen. He came immediately with an obedience she feared would soon change.

"Let's get you settled in, okay?"