Sorry for the delay everyone. The last few weeks have been crazy busy for me and I hit a patch of writers block to boot. I'm over the writers' block, but now that I'm back in school I won't be able to post as often as I used to. My goal is to try and get one chapter out every 2 weeks from this point forward.
Chapter 32: The Moon Lord:
Nessus
Io
March 31st, 2841
The home of the most powerful man in the Galilean Moons was a simple, wandering place of little gardens and quiet nook. Sitting in the shadow of a dormant volcano, it looked out over a yellow plain that stretched to the horizon where another volcano smoldered as magma crept westward. Vela au Raa's ship set down in a small covered hangar in the side of a rock formation, the cavernous room empty except for a row of several dust-covered hover bikes. If Keith looked closely enough, he could have seen the resemblance to the old Galaxy Garrison model. It wasn't the same, but clearly a much later evolution of the design. No one came to service the vessel as Shiro, Keith, and Vella disembarked and approached the home along a white stone walkway set into the sulfur chalk. The path curved to the side of the family estate, the entirety of the property enclosed by a discreet pulseBubble.
Romulus au Raa sat at a stone table in an orchard along the side of the house, finishing a dessert of elderberry cheesecake and coffee. Smoke from a brooding dwarf volcano twirled up into the twilight horizon with the same indolence as the steam from the porcelain saucer in front of him. The ArchGovernor of Io was a serene and violent man, about the same height as the Reaper, yet thinner, and with a twice broken nose. His right eye larger than either Paladin's and set in a narrow, wrathful face. His left eyelid was crossed with a scar, a smooth globe of blue and black marble stared out at them in place of an eyeball. His full lips were pinched, the top bearing three additional scars. His dark gold hair was long enough to be held in a pony tail. Except for old wounds, his skin was perfect porcelain. But it was how he seemed more than how he looked that made the man so formidable. Even from a distance, Keith could feel his steady way and easy confidence, as if he'd always been at the door. Always known them. It was startling to Keith how the man exuded the kind of presence that made you like him, and made you want him to like you, despite knowing he was a tyrant.
"Takashi Shirogane and Keith Kogane of Earth, welcome to my home," the man greeted solemnly, his voice clipped with the staccato delivery of a man raised in gladiatorial academies. There no affectations here, like Keith had seen from Loyalist families who surrendered in the Core. It was refreshing, if off-putting, to have such direct conversation without purring insults or games. "Please," Romulus said, gesturing to the food arrayed across the table. "Help yourself. The benefit of owning a breadbasket is that siege is never a hungry affair." Shiro and Keith took their seats, but politely declined the food. Romulus sat at the head of the table, two chairs occupied on either side of him. On his right was the ArchGovernor of Titan, while an old woman wearing the wings of an Imperator whom Keith wasn't familiar with from the briefings sat in the chair to the left. Other seats were occupied by holograms of every ArchGovernor on the Rim not currently aligned with the Rising.
"Now that we are all here," Romulus began. "I shall say my piece and let you say yours. You are not of this era, yet you come as emissaries of my enemies. The Rising has plagued me with work's strikes, anti-government propaganda, and insurrection. here on the fringe of the darkness away from your source of power, you need me, and my ships, and my legions. You see the irony. My lone question is this. Why should I ally myself with you, instead of rallying the remnants of the Society to crush your rebellion?"
"Honored Lords," Shiro began. "You have all seen the historical records and the old newscasts, so you know I am who I say I am. I will not bore you with the details of how my friend and I found ourselves in this era, but you should not find it surprising that my sympathies lie with the Rising. Since I arrived in this era, I have seen a world build on cruelty and oppression. An empire for the few built on the backs of the many. The ruling families may dress it up in noble words of sacrifice and duty, but the Hierarchy of Color is simply slavery by another name."
"But I know that such appeals will not faze you," Shiro went on. "So I will lay out the facts. When the Jackal massacred everyone at Darrow's Triumph on Mars three weeks ago, your daughter Thesalia would have perished at the hand of a sociopathic matricide: Antonia au Sevrus-Julii. It is only because of myself and Antonia's elder sister Victra that your daughter lived to return home. Our conquest of Luna has freed all the children of the Moon Lords held as political hostages in Octavia's court to return to their families unharmed. And if the safe return of your loved ones is not an incentive enough, I must ask if you were aware that the Sovereign kept a nuclear weapons depot in the Asteroid belt?"
Several ArchGovernors stared at the Black Paladin in shock. Before anyone can react, Shiro turned to Keith an nodded. In response, the half-Galra Paladin pulled up his datapad and an image of Asteroid S-1988 blossomed in the air, rotating slowly over the table. Footage of their raid on the facility a week ago plays beneath it, the Geiger meters synced to their helms crackling in the video at the amount of radiation in the place. The video plays through all the way until they confirm the facility's destruction.
"The Sovereign has long considered annihilation to be an option against the people of the Rim if you ever rose against her. She kept a base near the edge of the asteroid belt on the path a fleet from Luna would use when Jupiter is in closest orbit to the sun. A chace meant to be acquired by an Imperator on the way to your home. Or should I say, and ArchImperator. But now that can never happen. We destroyed that facility a week ago, robbing the Ash Lord of his greatest weapon. We have defanged your greatest enemy, and we hope that gratitude will persuade you to join us."
"As of today, Venus is now part of the Solar Republic. The Reaper leads the Rising against the Loyalist holdouts on Mercury. At the rate this war has been going, we will have full control over the Core within the week. In return for the aid of your legions and armadas in destroying the Ash Lord's loyalists, Sovereign Augustus will enter talks in good faith regarding the reduction of taxes and Rim export tariffs. She will grant you the same licenses for Belt mining which Core companies currently hold. Already, she is building the framework for each planet and moon to have equal representation in the Senate.
"The age of the Hierarchy is coming to an end, one way or another. If you stand against the tide of history, you will be crushed under the weight of seven centuries of righteous anger. But if you swear fealty to the Solar Republic now and help us thwart the remaining loyalists to House Lune, you will be able to keep your positions of privilege. So, you must ask yourself one question. Would you rather ally yourselves with a legend right out of the history books, or the monster who burned Rhea and left her a glassy corpse in your sky?"
"Such a disappointment," the ArchGovernor of Titan snorted contemptuously. "I expected more from the father of Akari Shirogane, progenitor of the great bloodline of House Raa."
Shiro froze, like a record that had scratched on the inside of his head, eyes widening as the implications of what the man had said hit him like a freight train. Keith knew Shiro well enough to know what his friend was thinking. They had thought the flagship of the 11th Fleet Garrison had been the last extent of his impact on the history of humanity. But Shiro's son… his son… Quiznak! Shiro wasn't even ready to have kids yet, and he just found out his son was destined to become Akari au Raa, one of the original conquerors to lead the original Iron Rain on Earth and lay the foundations for this oppressive empire… Keith didn't think Shiro even know what to think of the revelation that he was distantly related to Romulus. That Thesalia was his great-however-many-hundred-times-great granddaughter.
The Black Paladin snapped him out of his thoughts when Keith gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He knew what his friend was feeling right now. Mustang had done DNA analysis on Shiro to try and identify him months ago, but there'd been no match to the Raa family. Were the records sealed? Or was it just that after eight centuries the percentage of DNA was too small to flag a match? In any case, now wasn't the time to dive down the rabbit hole. Shiro would have plenty of time to think those things through when politics and negotiations with the Rim weren't on the line.
Romulus apologized for the ArchGovernor of Titan's remarks, and politely asked that the two Paladins wait in the courtyard while the lords of Jupiter's moons deliberated their decision. Privately, Keith thought that the decision had already been made, and that the appearance of thinking it over was for appearance's sake only. But just like that, the two Paladins were left alone in the garden with the song of a wind chime hanging from a tree above. The garden courtyard was an even rectangle, about thirty paces wide, and ten deep from the front gate to the small white steps leading into the estate's front entrance. The white plaster walls of the courtyard were smooth but covered with thin creeping vines that wandered into the house. Little orange flowers erupting from the vines filled the air with a woodsy, burning scent. Even if it seemed like a strange amount of effort to expend, the Red Paladin found it oddly comforting.
Now that they had time to look around, Keith could get a proper glimpse of the Raa family estate. From what they could see from the courtyard, the house rambled. Rooms and gardens unfolded out from each other. There was no roof, but there was little reason for one. The pulseBubble sealed off the property from the weather outside. The Raa family made their own rain here. Little misters dripped with water from the small citrus trees whose roots cracked the bottom of the white stone fountain in the center of the garden. It was saddening to Keith to realize that a tiny glimpse at a place like this had been what had led Darrow's wife to the gallows. What had started the chain of dominoes that had led to the situation they were in now.
Keith looked at Shiro, and he knew that finding out he'd have a kid who helped start this whole hieararchy bullshit was eating at the older Paladin. But they both knew that this wasn't the time or place to have that conversation. Not when they were in enemy territory and it was clear from the snub that there would be no alliance. But before they could do or say anything, they were unexpectedly interrupted.
"You can eat a tangerine if you like," a small voice said behind them. "Father won't mind." Keith and Shiro turned to find a child standing by another gate that led off from the main courtyard to a path that winded around the left side of the house. She looked maybe seven years old, holding a small shovel in her hands, and the knees on her pants stained with dirt. Her golden hair was short-cropped and messy, her face pale, and eyes larger than a human born closer to the sun. Keith could see the tender length of her bones, like those of a newborn colt. There was a wildness to her, and Keith found himself curious. Shiro couldn't tell him about what Gold children were like because the Black Paladin hadn't met many. Core Peerless families guarded them from the public eye for fear of assassination, keeping their kids hidden away in private schools and personal estates. According to Tridenti au Norvo, the Rim is different. They don't kill children here. But everyone likes to pretend they don't kill children.
"Hi," Keith said awkwardly. He felt so alien in this place, this time for reasons other than his Galra heritage. He was always saying or doing the wrong thing in social situations to begin with. Seeing Shiro effortlessly rub elbows with all these high society elitists made him squirm. But the girl didn't give them time to think before she started peppering them with more questions.
"You're the time travelers, aren't you?" she asked, sounding impressed. Keith and Shiro spared a glance at each other. While they weren't going out of their way to advertise time travel, they had both started introducing themselves using their real names, so it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. They were merely surprised that a seven-year-old had apparently accessed the historical records. This didn't seem like the kind of thing Gold parents would share with their children.
"I am Sera au Raa," she said proudly. "How did you travel through time? I heard my father speaking," she explained. "They think just because I don't have this" – she ran a finger along her cheek in an imaginary imitation of a Peerless Scar – "That I don't have ears." She paused and nodded up to the vine-covered walls and smiled mischievously. "Sometimes I climb."
"It's a bit of a long story," Keith said.
"Do you think you might have time to tell me after you've finished your meeting with my father?" she asked. "Thesalia has been telling me about how you saved her from Antonia au Severus-Julii at the Triumph for days."
"That'll depend on how long your father's hospitality lasts," Shiro replied.
"What was it like to live back in those times?" Sera asked. "
"There are some things that have improved since then," Shiro commented. "Technology, food, the colonization of the solar system…"
"What about the things that aren't better?" she asked timidly. As her voice trembled, Keith realized what a big deal their being here was for her. She was only eight years old and her entire education was built on the belief that the "benevolent" slavery of the Hierarchy was what had saved humanity from extinction on a chaotic, war-torn Earth. Meeting two people who had lived before that time was likely throwing her entire worldview into question.
"The Hierarchy is wrong," Keith replied, trying to keep his tone gentle so that the girl would understand. "People like your father can dress it up in pretty words about sacrifice and nobility, but those words don't mean anything because the people expected to make those sacrifices only do so because there is no other option, and they'll be killed if they don't."
"Seraphina," another voice called out. "Uncle was looking for you." Keith and Shiro turned to see two boys running barefoot into the garden, one sixteen, the other a year or two younger. They both stopped
"Hey there,"
"Diomedes, Aeneas," Seraphina hissed. "They really are time travelers."
"We already knew that," the younger of the two retorted. "But is the other part true? Is he really the father of Akari?"
"Apparently so," Shiro commented with a slightly morbid chuckle. "Since Keith and I haven't made it back to our own time yet, it feels weird talking about the son I haven't had yet after he's been dead for centuries. But I guess it's still enough to make us related. You can call me Shiro."
"I'm Aeneus," the sixteen-year-old replied. "This is Diomedes. It's… well calling it an honor to meet one of my ancestors in the flesh would be an understatement, wouldn't it?" Shiro laughed and asked if there was anything the boys wanted to ask him about life before the Hierarchy. Despite their frustration with ArchGovernor Raa, Shiro was doing his best to be nice to the kids. Keith smiled knowingly as Sera, Aeneas, and Diomedes started asking to hear stories about Shiro's time as a pilot at the Garrison. Somethings never changed. He just hoped that the kids wouldn't have any hard feelings towards them when the Rising declared war on their father.