An Empire Reborn
Ch7: The first card in a monarch's deck
Mahyu ignored the feeling of blood drying and caking on her arms despite the constant coatings of fresh blood which only served to thicken the layer of caking, although it made her skin feel stiff and unresponsive it didn't really affect how she did her job. She ignored the urge to wash off the red bodily fluids from her arms and hands and scrub out the gore that encrusted her nails.
Her medical training screamed at her that by ignoring the almost overwhelming urge for cleanliness she was helping to spread disease and infection. Looking over the hastily built field hospital overflowing with wounded, dying and hollow faced soldiers she couldn't help but think that disease and infection were the last of their problems and that by taking the time to scrub her hands and arms would be wasteful and counter productive.
Even before she had first heard the planet wide wails that signaled a ground attack she had been frantically dealing with the dead and injured from the overwhelming of their outer defensive fortifications. She was lucky in a way, her medical compound held a state of the art rejuv chamber. It was one of only a few built on the planet and it worked miracles in times of attack but who would have foreseen the use it was being put to today or the overwhelming load that it was straining under.
"We have some more survivors here!" Mahyu looked up from the body she had been working on. If her current patient was given time she had no doubt that he would survive, even with the limbs that she had roughly removed in some very rushed battlefield surgery. The poor soldier she had just finished working on would not fight again and it was for that reason that he wasn't given any sort of priority to be moved into the limited space within the rejuv chamber.
Grimacing at the feel of her slimy hands grasping the small metal touch, she gave the newly arrived survivors a quick glancing over, sorting those that suffered massive trauma from the massively destructive weapons of her age from those that had been struck by debris. It wasn't often that the former survived long without urgent medical attention and due to the current attack their limited resources just did not stretch far enough.
Lifting eyelids and shining her torch directly into the eyes of the unconscious soldiers to see how their iris responded to the light allowed Mahyu to form a more accurate assessment of their health and chances of survival. "Those two can go into the rejuv chamber," she murmured before moving onto the next casualties of Beryl's betrayal. It was obvious early on who was responsible for these casualties. "Prep those over there for immediate surgery and move those three to the corner."
She didn't even think twice about the decisions she made anymore, the blood and death all formed a haze around her leaving her brain to make decisions on auto pilot, decisions that under normal circumstances she would have felt morally repulsed about making. If the three she had just sent to the corner survived until Beryl's troops were fought off, maybe then they would get some medical attention, she had watched others breathe their last in that corner though, so she didn't hold much hope.
She knew that by sending those three into the corner as she had sent countless others since the start of this nightmare had been sentencing them to death but she couldn't possibly save them all. Resources were nearing breaking point and if she tried she would end up being able to save none.
Her staff was so overwhelmed that those being prepped for surgery would find whole limbs removed in an effort to stave of future infection, disease or other complications which would make the loss of one or two limbs negligible. She could only spare the more powerful medication for those that would be able to fight before the battle was over. The more that recovered sufficiently to be sent back to the field of battle the better and the rejuv chamber was instrumental in that.
The rejuv chamber was not really a miracle but rather a very clever application of medical science. It was merely an enclosed room that continuously pumped out synthetic hormones and other biological chemicals in an attempt to speed up the bodies' recovery and strengthen its immune system. The development of the rejuv chamber was a huge breakthrough in how disease and injury was treated on the battlefield and off. If a patient sat in the room long enough bones would knit, muscles would grow and skin would heal over without a scar in a matter of days instead of months.
It was for this reason she only provided the limited room for the least injured and not the most injured. While it could be used to save lives, Mar's situation and potential sovereignty was in such a precarious situation that every extra fighter sent back to the battle field was worth more than a life saved. It may have been cruel and it was a decision that would no doubt haunt her for a long time but the situation warranted hard choices and would no doubt deliver harsh consequences. 'There will be time to second guess and grieve after the crisis had passed' she thought through the fatigue promoted haze.
Wiping some hair out off her eyes Mahyu didn't even register the blood she smeared across her face from her bloodied hands and gore mattered fingers, at the moment she was more occupied by the once healthy limbs she was cutting from the bodies of men and women in the prime of their life. It was a tragedy for Mars but even more it was a tragedy for humanity. War she had found always was.
"Doctor Mahyu come with me please," Mahyu blinked at the crisp military command barely looking away from the surgery that occupied her. It seemed strange after so long dealing with such death and sickness to hear such a healthy voice that didn't belong to her staff. She had begun to doubts she ever would again and the request sounded more like a demand to her, it was enough to rile anyone in this horrific situation.
"I'm a little busy at the moment, surely you would be more interested in the solders in the rejuv room. Some of them must be combat ready by now." It was a spiteful snub at the military officer but she was stressed and felt entitled to her tired snipping. Mahyu moved to the next body, annoyed that she was being distracted from the fragile and important work that she was doing, she may only be using the barest piece of her medical training at the moment but she was still making a difference and contributing to the war effort. In fact she had long since started to work through a double shift.
"If you do not come with me now, under the authority of the princess I will be forced to drag you." Mahyu looked up at the cold bearing of the military officer, a lieutenant from her stripes and took an instant dislike to her. Who was she to claim the princess's authority and order her about? Flicking blood at the arrogant officer from a mocking solute, Mahyu followed the lieutenant outside her tent and stared in surprise at the motley crew that had accompanied the overbearing officer to her gore filled tent.
"I'm sorry doctor but your skills are too valuable to lose in this losing battle," she heard before being hurried on in confusion. She did wonder how her staff would cope without her to support them in their emergency battlefield surgery; they were already at breaking point as it was.
Now she couldn't help but wonder how they had faired as she left them to fend for themselves. Had they still been conducting emergency surgery when a Terran gunship dropped a bomb on their position or had they been rounded up and executed by the encroaching infantry?
"It's hard isn't it?" Mahyu broke out of her reverie and looked around at the young officer who had dragged her out of the death throws of their proud Martian nation. "Moving on from those last few hours, for us it was mere days but for everyone else it was a tragedy that happened tens of millennia ago, if they remember at all. It is a link that we share, unique." Mahyu tried to find grief in the soldiers voice and bearing but could only see hope for the future. She could only envy the strength and resilience of the young.
Mahyu turned from the female officer who had escorted her through time and back to a much-changed civilization. Around her the beginnings of life flourished as the seedlings germinated and sprouted in endless rows of hydroponic troughs, which would be their main food supply until they started to terraform the surrounding planets. She had found herself drawn to this place and already she could imagine what it would look like when the crops bloomed and filled this gigantic chamber with a mass of greenery. For her, who had been surrounded by so much death and pain she felt the abundance of life within the greenery quite relaxing.
"It's hard to forget and even harder to forgive," she said as she felt the lieutenant sit beside her – 'Ehri that's what she had said her name was' Mahyu thought distractingly. Despite frequently washing since that day she could still feel the slime of half dried blood that had one coated her hands and encrusted her nails. "Those men and women faced such a bright, exiting and rewarding future, it seems so cruel that they were cut down as easily as they were." Even now among the quiet of the greenery she could almost hear the echo of the mournful wail that had accompanied so much death. She had faced death before, she was a doctor it was almost impossible to avoid even with their level of medical technology, but the scale of death on that day - nothing could have prepared her for that.
"No-one asks you to forgive or to forget Mahyu, it is their memory that drives us on to achieve greater things in the future, and it was their sacrifice that allows us the opportunity to achieve those things." Ehri's sad, almost wistful tone reminded Mahyu more than anything else that as a soldier herself she was closer to the death than most and knew what she was going through. "I think everyone is finding it hard Mahyu and yet we do not have the luxury to grieve our loss."
"Yes, we have a new sovereign. Long live king Ranma." Mahyu's tone was bitter, today of all days she felt her age, every year seemed to grate together as if reminding her how much longer she had lived than the young men and women who would never grow older. At fifty she was barely approaching middle aged but she felt every one of her years today. Ranma had such fire and vision it was hard not to be pulled along, but after the events on Mars, which to her had happened only a few days ago, she struggled to find the point. She was exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Ehri looked at her with a mix of anger and pity, "Do you think that our king is so uncaring so unempathetic that he would drag us along on his quest for glory and riches after what we have just been through?" Mahyu watched as Ehri shook her head sadly her face hardening. "If he could he would rebuild our kingdom for us with his own blood and sweat and gift wrap our homes for us, I see a lot of Serenity in him."
Mahyu shifted uncomfortably, while her loyalty would always be with Mars she had a curious affection for the royalty of the moon kingdom and a respect for what they had achieved. Whether she liked it or not Ranma was the only one that held a hope in restoring even a fraction of what she had lost to Beryl that day.
Yet it was exactly as Ehri had said, every one of the survivors needed years of rest and counseling and what other reason could there be for his mad attempt to restore the empire today but a sense of glory and riches? She herself had seen the similarities between Ranma and Serenity beside the obvious signs that possession of the great crystal granted. It was what had ultimately convinced her to swear loyalty when he had asked.
She just watched as Ehri's face became harder and more glacial beside her own, such a sudden change from the one filled with warmth and fire when she had been talking about the king before. Whatever Mahyu had expected Ehri to say next it wasn't what she blurted out, "Beryl is still alive." Four words brought vivid and graphic memories crashing like a tidal wave and washing away the barriers of control and sanity she had build around the memories of that day.
"Wha.." Seeing as the world as she knew it had been completely destroyed and thousands of years had long since passed, she could only have imagined that the perpetrators of that conflict had since been ground to dust. To hear that they were alive was a shattering revelation, one that she really didn't want to think about. It was little wonder that Ranma had been so frantic about rebuilding defenses and infrastructure. They had been thrashed once – never again.
"Wha.." Mahyu swallowed regaining a small measure of composure, it would appear that the time to grieve and recover had not yet appeared. "What must I do? What can I do?" It was clear that Ehri had assumed the position of her kings mouth piece while he was absent and it made her wonder what occupied so much of her kings time away from the palace. Still Beryl was one threat that she couldn't ignore even if she wanted to.
She stared in confusion as the lieutenant handed her an incredibly detailed ring with an image of a full moon against the setting of a glittering sky. "The king wants you to experience some Terran cultures and provide a stabilizing role if necessary, your empathy and medical experiences will help you greatly when you get there."
"It is one of the more lawless and precarious regions on earth so he would like you to have some insurance in case you run into something that you have difficulty handling." Ehri stared at the ring meaningfully, "this ring will instantly make the king aware of your situation and if you are in real danger nothing will stop him from getting you to safety. Keep in mind that he has up most confidence in you."
Mahyu nervously accepted the ring and slowly slid it onto here forefinger gasping as it seemed to melt through her skin and disappear. 'Not important' she muttered to herself before being led to the throne room. Whatever her king had in mind she had a feeling it would be harder than it at first appeared, considering that she hadn't been told exactly what she was expected to do nor what she would encounter that wouldn't be very hard.
Ranma smiled, pleased with what he had accomplished that day. Stretching his arms behind his back he winced at the dull pain that shot through his skull, a subtle remainder that he had not fully recovered from his sparring session with Ryoga. In fact if Ehri suspected that he was out here and not in his hospital bed recovering she would skin him alive, king or no.
It was a good thing that she was going to busy running errands for the next couple of hours as she implemented his plans. He had asked her to approach five Martians on his behalf. Reading their profile and listening to Ehri's report had told him a lot about how the refugee's behaved under pressure. Combined with certain skill sets, this had allowed him to finalize his plans for various regions on earth. While he made his presence known here and could see himself directly confronting his enemies in the future it was the refugees and people he picked up along the way who would implement his main strategy – a strategy that would hopefully pass unnoticed until it was far too late.
Serenity just stood invisibly at his shoulder chewing her bottom lip nervously, too preoccupied to comment on his health or the state of his recovery. His fight with Ryoga had been spur of the moment and his rival's allies had been unexpected. Tonight with the moon shining strongly through a lightly clouded sky and the shattered remains of the Furinken School grounds at his feet he was waiting for some very expected guests.
In fact, what made Serentity so nervous was that this meeting would be his first visible gambit in the political scene of empire building. He knew it, she knew it, who ever was manipulating his expected guests knew it, but hopefully his guests would remain oblivious for just a littler longer. "Ahh here they come, I guess I better prepare for their arrival," Ranma announced excitingly as he detected their cautious approach.
It was naïve to think Serenity was only worried about today's meeting though, she had been unusually quite since he had run his simulations. She was quick to offer advice when he asked but he knew and she knew that any advice she gave now would only come into it's own a little later in the game. Shaking his head in amusement at Serenity's apprehensive expression Ranma turned his attention to his preparations.
'It was amazing what you could do with technology and time,' he thought as he powered the powerful illusions that canvassed the school grounds. Ranma grinned as he allowed himself to momentarily be caught up in the illusion. The fog was so thick he could barely see in front of his face, despite that, sound traveled quite clearly. Starting to wander the school grounds and navigate his illusions, he waited for his guest to arrive.
Shadows of mercenaries and heavily armed infantrymen clashed in violent displays of martial prowess and technological savagery, they danced in and out of sight – obscured by the thick fog with only their flashing weaponry visible and the sounds of death and dying unmistakable. Now and again he had to duck flying armored fortresses and gun ships as they swooped down to focus some fire on clumps of men. Illusions they may be but they even made his danger sense tingle.
"Yup, I've really out done myself this time!" Ranma laughed gleefully, breaking the hold of the illusion over him. His guests would not even notice the trap until it was too late, no one should be able to detect the power he was funneling into this illusion from anywhere but inside the illusion. A necessary precaution if his gambit was to work. He couldn't risk tipping his entire hand at this part of the game.
"Don't you think this is a bit much Ranma? You want to unnerve these kids, make them think about what you've said but you don't want to traumatize them. Despite being puppets and soldiers, I don't think they really know what's going on and their experiences haven't really had a big impact on their maturity. This could be more than they can handle," Ranma brushed aside her complaints as he reveled in his power and abilities. Perhaps he had overdone it a little but this was his chance to really show off what he was capable of without it getting back to his enemies. It was an opportunity he doubted would pop up as often as he liked. Besides, perhaps this was exactly the kind of shock that was needed.
"We're getting close to the source of the moon kingdom energy readings. Although the readings have largely faded there remains a residual that is well with the detectable limit for the mercury computer." Ranma grinned at the girl with the computer in anticipation while at the same time glad that he had thought to cut all data access points within the palace. With her computer the illusion would lose much of its desired effect but would add a whole new dimension to his position. He doubted that she was fully aware as to the uses of the device she so casually used.
"Finally, you should have told me we would be traveling to another district." The exasperation in her voice was unmistakable as she leapt over the wall falling deeply into his illusion. Ranma just watched in amusement as she quickly ran into and tried to take on a squad of Beryl's shock troops while dodging the swooping Lunarian gunship. "Ami run away, I'll try to hold them off."
Ranma grinned as he felt the strength of her lightening attacks washing over the troops before some mercenaries swarmed over the troops destroying them to a man and moving on, ignoring the still attacking Senshi. "Calm down Makoto, we seem to be caught in an illusion. Apart from the battle damage nothing can hurt us here – it is similar to my powers with water." 'She's pretty cool' Ranma thought eyeing the blue skirted girl. Her actions had reinforced his original opinion of the girl, if it ever came to alliances she would be a valuable member. In fact if he could somehow break whatever hold the mysterious third player held over her she might naturally drift to his side without too much effort.
"What is this Ami?" asked the blue skirted Shenshi's tall trigger happy companion shivering slightly as the sounds of a particularly vicious skirmish washed over them along with the flashes of fire from distantly firing gunships. 'That would be my cue,' Ranma thought smirking at Serenity before calmly approaching the girls though the imaginary fog.
"This would be the only armed rebellion on earth during Beryl's reign. Despite being sponsored and funded by Serenity and her advisors it was crushed to the last man." Ranma grinned as the girls swung in his direction, one was frantically typing on her computer and the other seemed to be charging another attack. Ranma wasn't too worried, unless they had some other tricks up their sleeves he was firmly in control.
"It is kind off ironic," Ranma continued approaching the girls "although Serenity sponsored the uprising against the young Terran ruler she could not openly support them for fear of sparking open warfare between the two kingdoms. If she had done so then she may have prevented her empires destruction decades later." Ranma's grin widened as the taller girl fired off a lightening strike and her companions typing intensified.
Brushing the lightening strike away in a brash display of power Ranma waved his hand dispelling the illusion he had spent so long building. "Who are you and what do want," he casually eyed the green skirted scout before addressing the more intelligent of the two. It may or may not have been true but he had only first impressions to work from.
"Ami is it? Call off your attack dog." From the moment he had dispelled the illusion it had become obvious that he had been responsible for drawing the two Senshi to the school. His casual dismissal of the taller girls attack and later her threatening stance had established him as someone that would not be easily intimidated by a small show of power. His calculated insult and the way he had addressed the obviously disguised girl immediately got her attention.
It wouldn't do to let them know that any disguise field they employed was useless against a member of the royal family or holder of the Ginzuishou. He would have to take the opportunity to chase up the identities of these puppets, even puppets could prove useful once they had their strings cut and it would be one more card in his deck. "You are mistaken sir, I am Sailor Mercury and my companion is Sailor Jupiter of the sailor scouts we know of no one called Ami." Only the fact that he could see through their disguise field allowed him to see the momentary flicker of surprise and panic that crossed their faces.
"Who are you and why did you trap us in that illusion." Not even the disguise field could hide the anger and fear that shadowed the taller of the Senshi. He almost felt sorry for the two girls. Serenity was right, they really were just little girls playing as soldiers of love and justice with no idea what real war was like. Though by the time he was finished, he had little doubt they would have an intimate knowledge of the subject but today they were seriously outclassed.
"Illusion?" Ranma's tone was clearly mocking, "I'd prefer to call it a recreation, a little piece of history of the kingdom that you are trying to recreate. Surely you recognized the battle, it was a well known turning point of Beryl's reign. All the historians of the day agreed that by crushing a rebellion this size cemented her authority over her throne. If you would like I could have a dig around my library."
He could see that his offer had clearly struck a nerve, the taller of the two was clearly confused and Ami was clearly tempted by his offer despite not knowing who he was or what he stood for. His knowledge of the moon kingdom before its fall seemed to have placed him firmly in the good guy's basket which told him a lot about what they were being told. Still he would have to be careful about what actions he took if he wanted to maintain his anonymity.
"You didn't recognize the battle?" Ranma said in mock confusion and disappointment. "What are your advisors teaching you," he asked shaking his head and faded from view as he slowly employed a technique had developed just for this meeting. He allowed his mocking laugh to fill the battle scared school grounds before disappearing completely.
If he was lucky they would think about what he said before they disclosed the meeting to the one pulling their strings, resulting in a tightening of their leash but not before they begun to question the information they were being fed. An action which could only benefit him, certainly Beryl was not going to be a threat until see could start moving troops in greater numbers so this mysterious player would be the greater threat at present and would require a greater amount of attention.
'All in all things are moving along nicely,' he thought in satisfaction before stumbling and falling badly on the way back to the medical ward. His little illusion had aggravated his injuries he thought in frustration as he was gripped with the feeling of time slipping through his fingers. He sighed sadly, he had played his first card so all he could do now was wait for a response and in the meanwhile his preparations for the inevitable escalation of threat continued.
A/N – A short update, if anyone is an expert in surface analysis you know what's taking my time lately.
