A house divided cannot stand.

Old Earth saying, source unknown


A House Divided

"Not long ago, a mysterious group of vigilantes made their presence known in a violent fashion, eliminating several of the Koprulu sector's most prominent politicians. And they claim to be serving the will of the late emperor Arcturus Mengsk. We do not know where these soldiers come from or why their commitment to the deceased emperor is no resolute, but we know their conviction comes in the form of through destruction."

Days had passed since Lockwell's initial report, but it was being repeated on UNN for clarity.

"To make matters worse, supporters of the old Dominion are coming out of the woodwork, emboldened by these attacks. Which makes this reporter wonder if the appearance of these soldiers is a portent of doom to come. Is the Dominion cursed by its tainted roots? Or is there hope for redemption?"

There had been a time, Valerian reflected, when he'd had a crush on Kate Lockwell. Call it youth, call it respect, call it anything, even as the son of the man who'd become emperor of the majority of the human race in this part of the galaxy, he was still mortal, and still a man. See someone who was mildly attractive on UNN each day, see them poke the tiger with their every report while still just managing to toe the official line…well, there were words that could be used to describe that, ranging from "brave" to "foolish."

Valerian had his own word – "honest." And it was a word that he'd still use, even as Lockwell concluded her report and turned to her guest.

"Here with me now is Slade Queen, planetary senator for Halcyon, and the current leader of the Three-Dee movement."

Sitting in his office, Valerian watched the holographic display shift from focusing just on Lockwell's desk at UNN, to a pair of desks before him. Lockwell's on the right, Queen's on the left. Behind the senator was a window, and beyond that, the endless fields of the Dominion's breadbasket.

"Thank you Kate, it's great to be here. Though I should clarify that it's the D-Three movement." He chuckled, showing pearly-white teeth that Valerian wanted to break. "I mean, to the people watching this with holos, we appear three-dee, but I assure you that this movement that I'm part of is far more important than the latest technological flash."

Holos have been around for centuries, panbrain.

"Fair enough," Kate chuckled. "But I-"

"Also, the D-Three movement has no leaders. We have members."

Valerian rolled his eyes, toying with the possibility of ordering Queen's assassination here and now. Of having his head brought to Korhal so he could break those oh-so-perfect teeth, and stuff them up his oh-so-perfect nose before breaking it in turn.

Toyed with, but not considered, he told himself.

"But to the subject at hand," Queen said. "It's clear now that-"

"Yes, we'll get to that," Kate interrupted. "But before we discuss those events, could you please give us information on your senatorial faction?"

"It's not a faction, Kate. It's a movement."

Valerian rolled his eyes. Here we go.

"The D-Three movement stands for the will of the people, and its principles are in its name. Democratize, decentralize, decolonize." Queen listed each principle on his manicured fingers. "We want the position of emperor abolished, more power ceded to the Dominion's individual worlds, and the dismantling of all colonial power structures that perpetuate the status quo."

Valerian put a hand to his chin, as he leant forward. In another world, he could have been in Queen's place, he reminded himself. He'd argued for similar reforms when he'd become emperor – more democracy, less central power, more freedom."

"There's some among you, the hardliners, that call for a fourth dee," Kate said. "Disbandment."

Now it was Queen's turn to look uncomfortable.

"As in, disbandment of the Terran Dominion itself."

"That's…not part of our charter."

"But it's what some in your faction-"

"Movement."

"…movement are pushing for," Kate said. "Care to comment?"

Years ago, when he'd become emperor and had first been interviewed by Lockwell, looking out over a still recovering Augustgrad, she'd assured him in the studio that she wasn't going to pull any punches. That new regime or not, she was still a journalist, and was going to "keep the bastards honest" until they either stopped being bastards, or they put a bullet in her head.

Watching her now, Valerian took some comfort in knowing that the definition of "bastards" extended to Queen.

"It's true," the senator admitted. "There are some in the movement that call for the dissolution of the Terran Dominion. That every planet should be its own world, free to run its own affairs."

"But not you," Kate said.

It includes you, Valerian prayed. Say it, you bastard. Say it.

"Not me," Queen said.

Fekk.

"I have many problems with the Dominion. It was founded on a lie, it inherited the worst aspects of the old Confederacy, and nearly a decade into the reign of so-called Emperor Valerian, democratic reform has stalled. "But…" He took a breath, before continuing. "But I, for one, live in reality. And the reality is that we live in a dangerous universe. The protoss, the zerg, not to mention the Kel-Morian Combine and Umojan Protectorate."

"The latter of which you admire."

"Of course I do. By any measure of quality of life, the Umojans outdo us. Lifespans, democracy…freedom of the press, if you don't mind my saying so."

"Oh, I don't," said Kate, flickering her eyelashes.

Was she smiling at him?

"In fact, I wouldn't mind a bit more press freedom myself."

God, she was smiling at Queen. Neither of them aware of the emperor gripping the sides of his seat.

"But I haven't given up on the Dominion yet," Queen said. "I believe there's a path for the future Arcturus Mengsk refused to give us. And as the events of the past week have shown, there's all the more reason to do so."

"Yes, speaking of that," said Kate, scrolling down on her pad. "In light of the recent Spectre attacks, we-"

The door to his office hissed open, and Valerian did a double take. Stumbling, as he tried to turn off the holos (and instead only hit the mute button), and turned to the intruder. Reaching for his desk's panic button and-

"Bad time?"

…stopped, as he saw the taciturn smile of Admiral Matthew Horner looking at him. Like a parent catching his child on the hypernet looking up pornography.

Which, given the way he still looked at Lockwell sometimes, perhaps wasn't too far from the truth.

"Time's fine," Valerian murmured, as he tried to compose himself. "Short. But fine."

"Time's always short, and the time's never fine," Horner said. "That's why I make the most of both."

"By barging into my office?"

"You gave me the security codes, if I recall." Horner looked at the doors as they closed behind him. "Besides. We both know that all the neosteel in all the worlds can't keep sufficient determination at bay."

By "sufficient determination," Horner meant the Queen of Blades, Valerian reflected. Eight years ago, the zerg queen had killed his father in this very room, and while the Office of the Emperor had been rebuilt since then, with nary a scar to be seen, the ones below the surface were still there.

After all, he'd played a part in his father's death. He'd swept in to take command before the Swarm had even departed the system. Terrified by the zerg, and brutalized by the Dominion, the people of Korhal had accepted, and so too had the Dominion. But now?

Now, he didn't know. He looked at the ghosts of Lockwell and Queen, as the latter spoke and the former smiled. There were those who detested the legacy of Arcturus Mengsk, as much as they detested the man himself. And now?

"Latest report," said Horner, as he put his pad on the desk. "Plus my recommendations."

Now, Valerian had to deal with the opposite end of the spectrum as well. Pro-Mengsk supporters. A movement that lacked any formal name, but a movement nonetheless. Everyone from the old guard of the Sons of Korhal, to John Does on the streets, to, according to Horner's report, high-ranked members of the Dominion Armed Forces.

"Watching Lockwell again?"

Valerian scowled, and shut the holos off.

"Is this to gauge the mood of the people, or-"

"I keep up with the news," Valerian said, as he continued to scroll through Horner's report. "Both civilian and military."

Horner scoffed. "Same thing really."

Valerian, still reading the report, silently acknowledged the point. Humanity had known war ever since it arrived in this sector. First contact with alien species had only furthered the marriage between news and warfare.

He understood Queen. Even sympathized with his position, to an extent. And given what had happened on Tartarus, how the remnants of Project Shadowblade had terrorized the Dominion before Nova and the Daelaam had finally brought them to heel, it was clear more than ever that the ghost of his father refused to die. Even in the year 2513, there were still dirty little secrets that kept popping up. Ones that had cost people their lives, and Valerian his standing.

And yet, he thought, as he looked up the profile of one General Yangchen, there was the opposite extreme. The people who yearned for the rule of his father. Who approved of General Davis, even after it came to light that she'd used the Defenders of Man against her own people to secure power. People who, like Yangchen, were surrounding themselves with like-minded individuals, who wanted a new emperor on the throne.

One outside the Mengsk Dynasty, but would follow the lead of its first emperor.

He'd have to keep an eye on Yangchen. Him, and over a dozen other generals. And watch the watchers, and set some eyes on them as well. Perhaps he'd even have to keep an eye on the man before him. Standing to attention like a good soldier, yet towering above the emperor he served.

"Tell me," Valerian mused, "if I were to abdicate tomorrow, and name you my successor, what would you do?"

"Sir?"

"Indulge me," said Valerian, smiling. "If you had all the powers of my station at your disposal, what would you do?"

"Valerian, I…you know me, I'm not one for power. I don't-"

"Sarah Kerrigan absorbed the power of a god to save us all, so I think we can afford a little mental exercise." Valerian leant back in his chair and re-activated the holo, though kept it on mute. "He's not one for power," the emperor said, gesturing at Queen, who was still being interviewed by Lockwell. "He's someone who wants power divested from the throne world. Who's part of a faction – and yes, it is a faction – whose far wing wants the dissolution of the Dominion itself."

Horner just stood there, looking impassive. It occurred to Valerian that the dissolution of the Terran Dominion was something that Horner had strove towards for five years, before ending up serving it. Arguably, his intentions had begun and ended with simply deposing his father, but still, the Raiders had taken up arms against the empire. One could argue that Horner's actions and motives were a distinction without a difference.

"And on the other hand, we have people like Yangchen," Valerian said, turning the pad around so that Horner could see the general's profile. "Lieutenant in the Sons of Korhal, assigned to the Sons of Korhal special forces unit of the Royal Guard, held the position of lieutenant general by my father's untimely demise, and has since risen up the ranks. Also someone who, by the looks of it, wants to return to the iron-fisted rule of dear daddy."

Still Horner stood there. Like a black fin mako, searching for meat, but aware that bait was being dangled in front of it.

"So," said Valerian as he leant back in his chair. "What to do, then? There's extremes on both sides, with plenty of support for each. Last week, six Spectres carried out a rampage against the Dominion, and they've only stopped thanks to Nova, and the protoss being such good rehabilitationists. People from all over the Dominion are using the incident as evidence that their cause is just. That either I need to clamp down like my father, and bring the military into the fore, or that I need to loosen my grip, and utter in a reign of puppies and rainbows while wolves are at the gates."

Horner smirked.

"What?"

"I thought the wolf was your family's emblem."

"And so it is. But unfortunately for us both, you've only got one of the twin founders of Rome."

"The way I remember it, one of those sons killed the other."

He was right, Valerian reflected. Though which son killed whom, he couldn't remember. Instead, he met Horner's eyes, and murmured, "your choice, then. As hypothetical emperor. What would you do?"

Horner just stood there in silence. As holographic ghosts danced behind him. As the sun set through the glass beside him. As his emperor sat there before him.

"I'm waiting," Valerian whispered.

"I'll plead the fifth."

So help me, I… Valerian forced a smile. "Something I should know about?"

"Only what's on that pad."

I highly doubt that.

Not for the first time, Valerian wished that Raynor was still here. The man was a lout, a loose cannon, and multiple other things beginning with l, but for all the commander's flaws, Valerian couldn't fault his honesty. He'd started his revolution to depose his father, in part because the Queen Bitch of the Universe was beyond his grasp, and had always kept a bullet in his revolver handy for Mengsk Sr. Come the Second Great War's end, and he'd kept up the practice. One bullet, one emperor.

"To keep you honest," the commander had explained.

And so he had. If Admiral Matthew Horner was the hand of the Dominion, Raynor was the gut. The one who'd speak his mind no matter what, and give Valerian advice, asked for or not. Had Raynor been standing here before him, he'd have given his opinion on the spot, and walked out with nary a salute.

Alas, Raynor was gone. Disappeared in the wastes of Mar Sara. And all that was left was his former XO. His hair greying, his forehead creased, Horner was proof that age and wisdom weren't always allies.

"Fine," said Valerian. "You're dismissed."

"Sir." With a quick salute, Horner headed for the neosteel door that separated Valerian from the rest of the world, and indeed, the rest of the palace. He took a step under the looming arch, but made no move under it.

"Piece of advice, Valerian?"

Valerian looked at him.

"Whatever you do, remember it serves everyone. Because a house divided cannot stand."

"Or I try to please everyone, and end up pleasing no-one." Valerian sighed. "But I'm sure I can count on you for your assistance, in whatever choice I make."

"Of course."

He was lying, Valerian reflected. Not that he thought less of Horner for it. Horner might not have been the type to go charging onto a battlecruiser to pursue a vendetta, but he didn't doubt that the admiral had his own plans to deal with whatever eventuality presented itself. Be it a threat from without or within.

The doors hissed shut, and Valerian reached to unmute the holos. Alas, the interview with Queen was over, as his holo winked out, and an image appeared beside Lockwell, advertising the Tenth Annual Intra-sector Bowling Tournament. As if there was nothing else to report on besides putting balls between long pointy things.

Certainly not the protoss, be they an isolationist Daelaam, expansionist Ihan-rii, or marauding Tal'darim.

Not the zerg, who, if they went to war, would overwhelm the Dominion within a month based on current projections.

And not even humanity itself, with the Dominion and Protectorate vying for influence, the Kel-Morians vying for claims, or the UED, lurking in the dark. A lurking nightmare for every terran in this sector.

Nothing at all, Valerian reflected. Just sport. Just a game.

One that he'd have to play, lest the field collapse around him.

And the house atop of it too.


A/N

Read the short story at the end of the Nature of the Beast graphic novel, drabbled this up.