Outcomes: Divided Empire

"We knew Xim's was the greatest glory, but we all hoped to steal a little for ourselves."

Jerod Felx, 3rd officer of the Gallantry
From Empire of Men: Oral History of a Generation, ed. Taith Onderas, 564 LE

30 years since the fall of Xim the Despot
568 LE

Taith had spent his whole life studying history; it was dizzying to sit across the table from a man who'd made it. He'd interviewed important persons before (the fame of his first book really did open doors) but this one, perhaps more than anyone alive, had shaped human civilization over the past thirty years.

When King Marco Jaminere arrived in the meeting room (after keeping Taith waiting for forty minutes) he walked with a limp to the chair on the other side of the table and dropped into it. His beard was thick and white, his scalp bald, his eyes heavy. Burn-scars marred the right half of his face, making the left look smooth in comparison, almost young.

Jaminere had gotten those scars during Xim's last battle. Taith knew that and more. He knew the man was reviled by some as a traitor to Xim and mankind. He knew that, after Xim's fall, the heir to Sorasca's emptied throne had built a core of support around the Three Allied Kingdoms of old, then walled them off against the nasty succession wars flaring across the Tion. For that reason, Jaminere commanded the wealthiest state and largest navy to emerge from the divided Empire.

He also knew that the man sitting before him had murdered his own father. For Taith, who'd never held a gun in his life, that was uncomfortable knowledge and he pushed it to the back of his mind.

"I've read your books," Jaminere said by way of opening. "Not just the first one but several of the others too. Though I haven't gotten around to Empire of Men yet."

"I hope you'll appreciate it." Taith sat with hands folded in his lap. "Do you have an interest in history?"

"I've developed one. Sometimes I page through your books and wonder what your kind will write about me long after I'm gone." Jaminere's smile was narrow but hard, like a knife's edge. "Rulership breeds vanity."

"I've never written about you, specifically."

"I know. That's why we're sitting in my palace, having a polite conversation." Jaminere folded hands on the tabletop. "You're here because I respect your work, and because I'm gambling you won't fling mud at me when this is over. I may change my mind at any time, at which point you'll no longer be welcome on Sorasca, but until then, you may ask what you'd like."

"If you're willing, I want to hear you talk about your personal experiences at the Third Battle."

Jaminere crossed arms. "My personal experiences are personal. That is, not for public consumption."

"I understand. Still, Majesty, I was hoping to gain new insight. Anything a man of your stature can tell me would be most appreciated."

"Stature has little correlation to insight. Sometimes the most powerful people are the most blinkered."

"Nonetheless, you have a very unique perspective. In my current work I'm hoping to uncover material that hasn't been touched by existing scholarship. I don't expect you to tell me deep secrets, but you might shed light on things billions have wondered about."

"Such as?" Jaminere asked, though they both knew the answer.

Taith asked, "Do you know Xim's fate after Vontor?"

After a long ten seconds, Jaminere said, "I know he survived and was taken to Varl. Beyond that, I know nothing."

"I see. So you don't maintain any contact with the Hutts? Not even for conflict prevention purposes?"

"Nothing I'd disclose to the public."

Taith knew when to let an answer lie. He decided to move to his next question. "Can you speak to your experience with the Iduxians?"

"Are you asking if they decided Xim's fate at Vontor?"

"I'm asking for anything. Most sources agree you did operate with him for a time."

"Sources." Jaminere shook his head. "Is that all our memories are going to be to you, scholar? Footnotes in one of your tomes?"

"The lucky ones," Taith said. "Most of them dissolve like dew under a new sun's touch."

The king smirked. "Lychesus. I never liked her poetry."

"I didn't expect you to." Her writings on Jaminere, after Xim's fall, hadn't been kind.

The king grew serious. "You want to know if the Iduxians had real mystic powers? If they came from across the galaxy to insert themselves in our war? If they were the ones who delivered Xim to Kossak on a platter? Well, the answer is 'yes.' To all of it."

Taith felt slightly dazed. "Can you… explain in detail?"

"No. Because then it would get personal. But I'll tell you this. They weren't charlatans. And they really were aliens who'd come from far away just to stop our little war."

"It's established they worked for Xim at multiple engagements. Are you saying they turned on him at the end?"

"They worked with the Empire, until they didn't. They were always their own side." His lips squirmed between smile and frown. "Our self-appointed saviors."

"Can you tell me anything about the 'Red Witch' who supposedly worked with Xim?"

Jaminere's eyes drifted away. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "I cannot."

Taith frowned. "Do you know why they recused themselves to Idux? By all appearances nobody's left that world—or been allowed onto it—for thirty years."

"Don't be sure of that. The Iduxians… When I knew them, they were natural-born meddlers."

"Then you believe they're still active in known space? Perhaps moving about in secret?"

Jaminere crossed his arms. "I have people in my intelligence service who keep an eye out for any sign of their activity. In thirty years, they haven't caught a single one. Make of that what you will."

"What would you do if you did catch one?"

"Subject them to interrogation, followed by execution." He stared, daring the scholar to object.

Taith decided to shift to more comfortable ground. "After the Third Battle," he said, "you came straight to Sorasca. My understanding was that Sait Kadenzi had already moved his fleet here."

"On my order."

"When did the two of you decide to establish an independent kingdom, instead of trying to prop up the Empire without Xim?"

"We decided our course before Vontor."

"Were you aware of the Iduxian's effort to, ah, unseat Xim?" He almost said betray.

"Yes." Jaminere's tone refuted further questions, and Taith decided to shift tack yet again.

Another question flitted up, not one he'd planned to ask but had been in his mind the whole conversation. Jaminere saw his hesitation and smirked. "Go ahead. I promise I won't take your head off."

He seemed amused, but Taith struggled to ask, "I'm sorry, but… did you ever feel, at any point, that you... turned against mankind?"

"Betrayed, you mean?" Amusement vanished. His face grew dark. "If you want the truth, scholar, I never cared much about mankind. I wanted my worth to be recognized… and I wanted to see justice was done."

"Justice?"

"Justice." Jaminere looked at him hard. "For my mother. You understand. Some things can't be forgiven."

Taith swallowed. He didn't think the king would broach that subject. "Yes."

"Then we'll leave it there." Jaminere looked around the parlor. "I never wanted to rule this world, not really. But when I saw what fate was holding for me, I took it with both hands. If I'd hesitated back then, this palace would belong to someone else. The Allied Kingdoms might be starving like the Keldrath Alignment or war-torn as the Desevro Union. I could have died fighting like Felric or with knives in my back like Krenn. We took these worlds, Kadenzi and I, and we made them peaceful and strong. I'm proud of that."

Yet he insisted so hard. Taith soothed, "You should be. Regardless of what else your critics say, they'll admit the Allied Kingdoms are a model for the rest of known space."

"You've talked to a lot of my critics, then?"

"I talk to many people. I try to do it more often. I can't learn as much from books as I used to."

Jaminere looked amused again. "You're collecting words straight from our mouths, while we're still around to speak them."

"Essentially."

"Admirable. Though the older I get, the more time I spend with books like yours."

"Your earlier life was more eventful than mine, Majesty. You deserve a little recreation."

The king chuckled dryly. "You're good with flattery, scholar. Not too much and not too little… I'm sorry I don't have any grand revelations to share." His voice went cool. "There are some things I'm taking to my grave."

"Everyone has a right to secrets."

"Where will you go poking around after this?"

"I was hoping Idux. Or possibly Varl."

Jaminere looked at him. Then chuckled again. "You had to try."

"I did."

"I can't help you with either of those. I'm sorry."

Seriously, Taith said, "I was thinking of paying a visit to Dravione."

"Ah. You'd get some viewpoints there. Maybe even secrets."

"Why did you allow for the settlement of a Nikto colony there?"

"Dravione was ravaged by the League sixty years ago. Xim was so busy with his war machine he never bothered to clean it up. Then, five years after he fell, a fleet full of refugees came drifting out of Hutt space, full of aliens trying to get away from the worms." The king twitched a shrug. "They were willing to work. I had a planet, and a use for them."

"Other kingdoms refused them."

"They had their reasons. If you'd like, I can notify Dravione of your interest. Their leader speaks Tionese, so you wouldn't need a translator."

"I'd like it very much."

"Good." The king smirked. "I hope, scholar, this will earn me a flattering portrayal in your book."

"Does that matter so much to you?"

Jaminere looked around the parlor, and for second he seemed like a man inspecting a cage from the inside. Then the smirk returned to his scarred face. "I told you before, didn't I? Rulership breeds vanity."