It's here the final stand, who will live who will die, and who will be the reigning monarch, find out now in the (for the time being, unless the series gets picked up again) series finale of The Royals.

The Royals: The Alternate Time

Part VI: The Bullet From My Brother's Gun

By

Bocephus Manticore

The captain's quarters is flush with food and (non-alcoholic drink) and data gathered from cloaked probes over the palace. "Why did we not use these in the first place" asks Cyrus... "the cloak for the probes was just invented by us last night" says chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. John Lamarr. Len then notices something she had never seen before "What tunnel is this, I've never seen it before", Cyrus takes a look "shit I thought they tore that down... It's the goddamn nuclear tunnel, haven't been down there since before the wall (Berlin) fell in 89. "that would be a great place to send one of the teams, Alara you'll head up that one" says Ed (Captain Mercer). "This is CNN Breaking News" everyone pays attention to the holoscreen "Good afternoon I'm Don Lemon in for Wolf Blitzer, we now go live to Trafalgar Square where Anderson Cooper is on site, Anderson what can you tell us" says Lemon. "Good evening or afternoon if you're in America, princess's Penelope, and Maribell..." says Cooper. "Good lord what are those two doing" Cyrus says facepalming. "Are leading a protest against the reign of King Robert" says cooper. Cyrus smiles beaming with pride that his daughters have taken up the cause against Robert and putting the rightful heir on the throne. "We were able to get a statement from Princess Penelope, while Princess Maribell was speaking to the crowd estimated to be at about 50,000 people and growing, she said "Bobby you have to stand down it's not fair what you did to the people, my sister and I were inspired to do this by our father, aunt, cousins, and Len's boyfriend, wherever you guys are now just know that Maribell and I proud of you for stepping up when no one else would" says Cooper. Len then sees Ashok and Gemma join them on stage "my cousins and friends are bad asses, Robbie should take notice of what the people want, his head on a lance" says Len. "I never thought Gemma Kensington would join a protest" says Helena. The strategy meeting continues for a few more hours.

Meanwhile at the palace, "I thought modern weaponry would have no effect on The Orville, I Killed them all" says Liam, "No you didn't, they said the ship disappeared in an instant which means the ship engaged the quantum drive, which is faster than light travel" says Kelly. Liam walks around the room and looks out the window at the moon, which is covered in hazy smoke due to all of the fire's in London. "They are more than likely on the dark side of the moon; they'll be coming to get us soon" says Kelly who is sitting on the bed. Just then a young blonde woman is thrown into the room with the doors locking behind her, "GEM" shouts Liam rushing to his ex-girlfriend's side. "Liam I may not have much time left, Ashok and your cousins made it away the people made sure of that, they also named Pen as their leader" she says, Liam realizes her wounds are minor and reassures her of that. He kisses her on her forehead and says "I'm here for you Gem", she reaches up and weakly pulls him in for kiss, "I still love you, thanks for being at my side tonight" she says. Liam picks her up and puts her in his bed "the bed is yours tonight Gem, Commander that couch folds out into a bed, and I'll sleep on the floor." He pulls the blanket up for Gemma to keep her warm, she falls asleep. Kelly walks over to Liam and says "you're not on the floor you're on the fold out with me, we have no more blankets, so shared bodily warmth is our only option". They both go and lay on the fold out, Kelly they both take off their uniforms revealing the fleet tee shirts underneath. They hold each other for warmth, but temptation gives in and very soon they make out for a bit and then fall asleep.

All of the shuttles are being prepared on the Orville for personnel insertion. "Put more supplies in that one" says Alara, Len and Jasper put the supplies in the lead shuttle, which they will be on. "Alara will we be doing a passive strike to take out as many the King's forces as we can before we land", asks Jasper, "you better believe it, most of these guys will be destroyed in the air assault, the rest will be so disoriented." They all walk out and go to Mooska's, where they have a good meal, they hear over the ship wide comm system, "Engines have been repaired, RED ALERT all hands to BATTLESTATIONS" says Ed.

"It begins" says Len they all go to the synthesizer room to get clothing, Jasper picks the battle uniform of a United States Marine, Len gets a black tank top and camo pants, black boots, she also ties a red bandana around her head. "Wow my wife is Rambo what have I done to be so lucky", she just kisses him and they go to get their fire arms. The Ship enters the atmosphere on a cloudy London day, made worse by riots. They hide again above the palace this time at about 10,000 feet, the shuttles are cloaked and already launched, Len and Jasper are in the first wave, Helena and Cyrus will be in the second. People all over London start to hear Wagner's Ride of The Valkyries as the cloaked shuttles pass overhead. They reach the palace; the time has come.

Roberts men are looking at each other with a look that says "what is that", as they too hear the music. Just then the shuttles decloak and begin firing on the men at the palace, the people who surround the palace cheer. Len says to "Jasper remember what you promised me", "Thats why she's on the second wave" he replies, she kisses him on the cheek. The shuttles carrying troops begin their landing and the music switches to The Klendathu Drop from Starship Troopers, Len hears the music and as soon as the door is open, she yells "come on you apes, you wanna live forever" as she leads the squad out, they take cover and begin firing at troops coming out of the palace. All of the sudden a tank appears and hits one of the air support shuttles with a shell, not enough to destroy it outright but enough to make it spin out of control and crash. The Orville hears about this, and dropped out of the clouds, firing and destroy the tank... the people are in shock at the sight of the ship, which remains to destroy any tanks.

In Liam's bed room, the 3 captives watch out the window attack takes place and then take cover as bullets hit the window, Liam gets an Idea checks under his bed and finds 3 M-60 machine guns with bullet belts, "Thank you Jasper, I suddenly remembered that he kept guns in my room" he says as he hands them out... they knock on the door and shoot the kings man that comes in, and they begin an attack from inside the palace. Liam is surprised that Gemma is quite good with the Vietnam era machine gun he provided.

Len and her team's position is almost overrun, she takes initiative and draws fire, jumping over obstacles and taking out several of Robert's men she has her gun set on stun though, the people see this and cheer for their princess. From the bridge of the Orville Gordon sees Len's bravery and starts playing Joan Jett's Bad Reputation so that Len and the people can hear it. About 100 men come out of the Palace, the Orville takes out most of them but about 30 of them survive, when all of the sudden a world war II era tank crashes through the palace fence and fires on Robert's men, It's Ashock, Nick Roane, Penelope and Maribel, armed with M-16's and hand guns they start taking the fight to Robert's men. This action clears the way into the palace, Len runs (her bandana comes off at this point) in thinking her men are right behind her, but they have taken up positions outside. She begins to go back to them, but is then under fire, she hits one man with blind fire, and then Liam, Kelly and Gemma, blow the men firing on Len away. Len hugs Liam, and says "where's our so-called brother", Liam indicates that he is in his office, Len then says "I'm going in alone, I want to talk to him, he might give it up... damnit Liam, I still love him" Liam then says "He always liked you the best he might listen to you, we'll be close by if you need anything" Len then heads to Robert's office.

She finds the door locked, knocks and says "it's Len open up Robbie, you're still my brother in spite of all the things you've done. He opens the door and lets her in. "Why Robbie, why seek absolute power, when this country was almost starved and bombed to bits by a man who was seeking it?" Robert slaps her hard and says "Don't you ever, compare me to him again, I, don't oppress my people" they walk around the room in a circular motion "your people, you say that as if you own them" Len says fighting back tears. he stops in the middle of the room her back is turned to him behind his from behind his desk. Robert says to Len "I do own them, you and our common whore fucking brother, have made as farce of this bloodline, I would not allow heirs to the throne from you," she says with her back turned also having put down her gun says to him I'm Infertile Robbie so don't worry about your precious throne." He cruelly says "they would not be threats ever, besides do you think I would let whatever child that had been festering in your polluted womb live, stewing away in a swamp of drugs and alcohol, come on Lenni anything you would birth would not be up to Henstridge standard, and if You persisted in having children I would have had to kill you too." "You've done so much to me Robbie in the past few days, you kill my best friend, and now what you've just said proves to me that you are not redeemable." Still standing in the middle of the room he says "I'm going to say something that you've heard all too often in your pathetic toxin filled life." "What's that" she says, "closing time Lenni, last call", she turns in time to see her brother with a gun aimed at her heart. All of the sudden Robert is knocked out from behind by... "Dad" Len says in shock, "Sorry darling, I wanted to scare the shit out of him", Helena says as she turns off her hologenerator. Len comes around to the front of the desk and says "Jasper was supposed to keep you away from me", Helena says walking toward her daughter who is now in tears after having looked at Robert out cold on the floor Helena hugs her and says "I know Dr. Finn ansesthzized him, why are you sad we've won." Len resting her head on her mum's shoulder says "I still love him even with all he's done I still love him... what kind of monster am I" Helena looks at her daughter and says "Eleanor, Eleanor... Len", she looks up as this is the first time her mother has ever called her Len. "you're not a monster the fact that you still love your brother shows how good of a person you are." Len hugs her mum again but the sight behind her mother scares her like no other, Robert is up with his gun pointed at Helena's back... "NO" Len shouts as she pushes her mum out of the way... and in a flash she gulps in pain and has a hand on her gut where her brother had just shot her, it is covered in blood... from a fatal wound, She looks at her mum drops to her knees and Helena catches her before she collapses to the ground. "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT I WOULD HAVE TAKEN THAT BULLET FOR YOU, YOU ARE THE FUTURE OF THIS FAMILY" Helena shouts, Len replies in a pained whisper "I know you would have, mum I love you, tell Liam and Jasper I love them too." Helena kisses her dying daughter on her forehead, still cradling her in her arms and says "you will tell them yourself, Eleanor", "I think we both know that's not gonna happen, I'm just glad you're alright" Len says, "don't go Eleanor, PLEASE, don't, stay with me, I love you," Helena says crying, but then her daugter's body feels heavier and her head goes slack, Helena then sees the light fade from her brave daughters' eyes, then they close, she checks for a pulse, but finds none. Crying her eyes out Helena gently puts her down and says "You're my hero, Eleanor Henstridge, your father and best friend are waiting, you can rest now." She gets up and looks at Robert and says "she's dead, you've killed your sister you bastard", Robert begins walking toward his mother "she killed herself always was stupid, besides that she was not fit to be a Henstridge or my sister," Helena gets nose to nose with him and says "You're not fit to be my son, or a Lacey", Roberts eyes go wide and Helena says with a sinister smile "That's right dumb ass you're not Simon's son, who's the stupid one now, you literal bastard." He pushes Helena backward over his desk he walks around with his gun, but Helena who had a laser pistol hidden on her, has it on the highest setting, and vaporizes her son as soon as she sees him. She crawls over to Len and says "Mumy's here Lenni, and I'm not going anywhere" she again holds Len in her arms, blood staining the fleet uniform she's wearing, she tries to jolt her daughter back to life, but nothing. To all appearances Eleanor Henstridge was dead.

Liam and Jasper enter at the same time, as does Gemma, Liam collapses at the sight of his sister, remembering the promise he made her in sickbay, Jasper cries uncontrollably and goes to the lifeless form of his wife who he married only a few days prior, "She took it for you" asks Jasper, Helena nods, "I'm proud of you Len, I'll love you till the end of time", Gemma begins to tear up at the sight of her badass friend. "Liam, I know this is going to sound uncaring, as you are now the king you have to go make a statement to the people, make sure she is in it prominently, make a passing reference to the fact Robert's been vaporized, son there will be no prepared statement, speak from the heart", Liam gets up and goes out the door without saying a word, he has the thousand-yard stare.

Liam reaches the front of the palace where a makeshift podium has been set up, he looks like he's been through hell, Ashock, his cousins, and Nick are right by the podium waiting for his speech to the gathered masses. "People of the United Kingdom I speak today not as a ruler but as a representative, a representative of you" people cheer, let's get this out of the way first, the resolution to abolish the monarchy, I'm putting it to a vote here and now cheers it stays boos it ends... The people start a King Liam chant. "I'll take that as a no to abolishment, now on to this... direct election of the Prime Minister by the people"... the people cheer, and Liam signs the resolution, "Parliament is hereby reestablished as it was when my brother falsely blamed the problems of our nation on them." he says, People cheer... "My brother Robert Henstridge was vaporized, he is no longer the King of England" he says to massive cheers. Now Liam tears up, and says visibly pained "now for the most gutrenching news I will ever have to deliver to you, and that is that the greatest person I have ever known, my sister Her Royal Highness Elean... Len, was killed today by Robert... Len knew what she did would mean her death, and she looked it right in the eyes, as she was hugging our mother, Robert was gonna shoot mum in the back, Len pushed her out of the way and took the bullet for her, the bravest act from this family I have ever heard of", there have been gasps and tears from the crowd, Liam's cousins, Ashock and Nick are all in tears, Liam then says... I'm gonna miss you Len, say hi to dad and Ophelia for me. Nick looks up at the mention of Ophelia's name. Just then a massive cheer comes from the crowd, Liam turns around to see what their looking at... It's Len walking toward him and wearing a tee-shirt that says "I ain't dead yet motherfuckers" Liam sprints to her and wraps her up in a big hug still crying. "Owowowowowowo" screeches Len, "Ah still sore" he asks, her reply is yeah still sore, "Mum said you had no pulse" he says, Len responds with "Mum had gloves on", "thank you Dr. Finn" he says, "maybe medically that's what happened, but when I was "dead" I saw dad and Ophelia, they said it was not my time" the next thing I know I woke up. Liam takes her up to the podium.

2 weeks later at Liam's coronation, no ceremony or pomp just a speach. Liam gives his speech and at the end he says "but I am not the one to lead our great collection of nations", Len runs up to him and basically tells him he's earned this, after the last 2 kings were removed, the microphones pick up everything, Liam then says "Lenni even though I wanted to get Cyrus and Robert off the throne because they were both bad kings, with me being next in line that means even though my intentions were good I was still seeking power" she looks at him with confusion in her eyes "Lenni, Kahless once said great people do not seek power" he takes the crown of his head and places it on hers then says "they have power thrust upon them" says Liam, she is shocked then smiles when he says "you are the greatest person I've ever known, I know if anyone can lead the people out of the darkness it's you", the people cheer and she hugs him, a huge Queen Eleanor chant breaks out, Jasper rushes up and gives his newly crowned monarch wife a passionate kiss. Cyrus smiles at her and says "you will be great Len, I know It," Penelope whispers to her "I heard about your predicament... I would be willing to carry a child for you and Jasper" Len kisses her on the cheek and says "Pen this will be the greatest gift I've ever received, there are no words to describe how grateful Jasper and I are, he's right behind you and he heard you", Jasper gives Pen a big hug when she turns around. Liam walks inside the Palace where his pregnant girlfriend Kathryn is, "you'll never guess what we're having" she says... "let me guess, triplets, two girls and a boy" he says, she kisses him though she has a look of confusion, then he says as he looks out of the skylight "an angel told me", he then feels a light breeze come through the door and ruffle his hair, still looking out of the skylight he says "Hi." Nine months later Kathryn and Liam have their children she asks what he wants the names to be "This one after my sister" he says, she is about to write Eleanor when he says "just Len" she writes, Len Henstridge on her first born's birth certificate, the next two are named Ophelia, and Simon. At the same time Queen Eleanor and the Duke of Inverness have a baby via her cousin, a little girl named Helena.

The day after the coronation, the family along with, Pen, Maribel, Ashock, and Gemma, lay on the roof looking at the night sky, they have had all of the palace lights shut off for this. "Alara said they got the criminal" says Len. Then they see 3 blue lights in the night sky that suddenly disappear. "There they go, says Jasper" Len then receives information from Isaac on the commscanner she kept.

End of The Royals

In the 25th century, Alara Kitan walks into Westminster Abey, and walks to a tomb that says... Her Majesty Queen Eleanor "Len", 1993-2103, "Len that information Isaac gave you, that you sent toward his home world, stopped his people from trying to wipe out all organic life, they are now great members of the Union, you saved the galaxy your majesty and I think that deserves something... she puts a bag of weed on the sill in front of Len's tomb and says "Don't smoke it all at once... you were a great queen, and an even greater friend"

The Orville will continue in season 3 on Hulu... Eventually See Less