Novu Sol

Chapter 7

Callisas Star System
The Empire of Callisas
Callisas-3

"What do you mean you applied for the training!?" Their Majesty rounded on the man that sat in their office, their glare fierce. He fidgeted nervously, not looking them in the eyes.

"We were accepted for training Your Majesty." He stressed the word slightly. "I told you what happened in the Uno System, why wouldn't we want more training?"

"Jack," They said, sitting down at their desk, their voice still hard, but more reasonable. "You have to know what happens to worlds that accept Novu Sol's offer for training."

The man, Jack, glanced up, a bit of defiance in his eyes. "It can't be any worse than almost losing your world to pirates."

"I'm not going to insult our friendship and you by saying your world would be better off in their hands." They sighed. "It wouldn't be, but Jack, your ships drove them off, yes with some loss of life, but they did do their job. At most all you needed was some protection, the Empire would of been happy to provide it so you didn't have to sell your nation's soul to the devil."

Jack shrugged. "I don't understand why you think the Stellar Democracy is that bad. They have been good trading partners for years and never caused any problems. They even offered to take and train people in their own navy, so we'll get a good close look at their tech while our people do that."

The monarch buried their face in their hands. "They do that so they can start separating the culture from those officers and infusing their own. They've done this countless times to nations before, it's death by assimilation, a million tiny cuts before your identity is swallowed by the mass that is Novu Sol." They looked back up. "Why didn't you come to me for help? We would have been glad to help, you have been an ally of ours since I was a kid. We practically grew up together Jack!"

Jack got up to walk around the sitting room, pausing to look out the window out upon the rolling garden that surrounded the Palace. "As Ambassador from the TriStar Systems, I not only have a duty to be a link between our nations, but give my advice to my government when called upon." He glanced back at them. "So I did."

"Did the Prime Minister reject the idea of asking us?" They were puzzled, why wouldn't their close ally want to deal with them in matters of protection? It made no sense and they stared at Jack, confused. "Why would he do that?"

"No, I told him not to ask." Jack's voice had gone flat, like he was reciting lines from a script. "That it was in our best interest to contact Novu Sol for training."

"What?!" They sounded shocked. Had Jack not been a close personal friend, they would have kept their tone more neutral. This however was a betrayal of their trust and friendship. "Why? What did we do?"

Jack hunched a little, his voice still flat. "One of your Admirals...."

"One of my..." they took a sharp breath. "The Admiral, what about her?"

"I do not trust her." Jack said.

"You do not need to trust her to use her services." They replied, as they glared at Jack's back. "She is a former Novu Sol officer and has imparted much more wisdom on our officers than Novu Sol ever would. And while she might charge a high price, she is worth every credit because she won't ask you to give up your culture for the pleasure of kissing her ass."

"No Your Majesty," Jack's voice went quiet. "It's not... not that." He fumbled slightly with his words.

"Then why? Hell you know she's available and you could have asked for her contact through our sources! She would have come willingly and dealt with your people fairly!" They made a frustrated motion. "Hell Jack, I would have been more than willing to help with paying the cost of her services, she really is worth the money."