Chapter 2: Choices
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Colonel Iris Stjarna stood proudly in the throne room of the Imperial Palace. Around her, she could see her family, her friends and the whole upper class of the Imperial society.
Imperial Generals smiled at her and politicians clapped as she took a few more steps, reaching the base of the golden stairs that lead to his Majesty's throne. In the background, she could hear the Imperial Anthem and, faintly, the cheers of the massive crowd of Imperial citizens, massed around the palace.
She knelt, her eyes focused on her Emperor. He was sitting on his throne, his limitless glory surrounding him like a halo.
"May the Empire stand forever!" Iris chanted, and the whole room repeated.
"Rise, Colonel Stjarna. Today is your day." The Emperor said, rising from his throne and slowly going down the steps.
Iris got up to her feet, her head spinning. She could barely believe this was happening. Her whole life had been devoted to this moment.
"For your incredible bravery, ruthlessness with our enemies, and the perfect execution of countless duties, I'm proud to grant you the rank of Brigadier General, effective now. Imperials, salute your new General!" The Emperor declared loudly.
As one, all the Imperial Force members in the room brought their right hand, closed in a fist, to their heart, loudly knocking on their armor. But something felt wrong. Iris' head was throbbing in pain, and instead of an immense pride, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
Then the whole room shoke as Iris heard the distinctive sound of a plasma shot hitting reinforced titanium. The room shoke again and a piece of the ceiling came crashing down, crushing members of the audience under its weight. Everyone except Iris was still smiling and saluting.
Iris' eyes shot up and through the crack in the roof she saw the plasma artillery of an unknown ship staring back at her. In slow motion she saw the deep purple energy accumulating inside the massive gun. She saw the ball of pure destruction leave its nest and fly toward her, death given form.
And then she woke up. Iris' eyes opened wide, her mind coming back to reality. A bright white light blinded her.
"You're awake? Finally! You took your sweet time." A feminine voice said snarkily. Iris could swear she knew that voice, but thinking was so hard right now. She felt like someone was pummeling her head with a hammer.
With her eyes still closed as they adapted to the light, Iris noticed two things. First, she was cold. Something that should not be possible with her armor as it had an automated heat adjustment system. Second, she could not move her limbs, they were stuck in an awkward position.
As her senses came back to her, she added the two. Someone had removed her armor, leaving her with only what she was wearing under it, a sports bra holding her modest breasts and her plain panties. As the interior of her armor was quilted, she never felt the need to wear anything else with it. And on each of her limbs she could feel a cuff-like device, holding her in a T-pose, her legs slightly spread. A final cuff was on her neck, keeping it straight. Her back was stuck against a cold steel wall, and she could not feel the ground under her feets.
Iris opened her eyes again, now able to see. She was in what was probably a cell, with three white plain walls and a forcefield where the fourth wall should have been.
Inside the cell was another figure, sitting on a wooden chair. As her eyes caught details again, she realized that this was a woman, dressed in a provocative way in Iris' taste. Her sizable breasts were wrapped in tight bands of fabric, slightly squishing them. Copious amount of cleavage and underboob was visible. On top of that the strange woman wore a sleeveless open jacket, her chiseled abs and muscular yet feminine forearms on display. Under her wasp-like waist she had a leather belt, numerous trinkets hanging from it. The belt held tight looking pants in place. On her right forearm and extending all the way to her wrist was a large device with a screen and multiple buttons, an archaic portable control device.
The mysterious woman was eating an apple, slice by slice, a small kitchen knife in her right hand. Her long red hair was messily flowing behind her with every movement she made.
As Iris observed the strange woman, Iris noticed that she was staring back, amusement in her eyes.
The Imperial Captain took a second to steady her breathing and gather her commanding voice, then she spoke.
"Who are you? What is the meaning of this?" Iris tried to look as unfazed as possible, but her heart was beating hard in her chest.
"Hmmm..." The woman quickly swallowed what was left of the apple slice in her mouth. "Please excuse my manners." The redhead stood up, carefully placing her half-eaten apple and the knife on the chair. Iris kept that knife in her mind, as it could come in handy very soon.
Taking a step forward, the strange woman extended her arm, as if expecting a handshake. "My name is Kara Dread. And I'm really, really pleased to finally meet you, Captain Stjarna." After a few seconds she withdrew her hand, a knowing look on her face.
"You're currently held prisoner aboard the Dread Wyrm, as your ship has been defeated and seized." Kara continued, her jovial tone in stark contrast with the gravity of what she just said.
Iris' world crumbled around her. She subconsciously already knew what her captor just said, but hearing it so plainly said was heartbreaking. Still, she steeled herself, determined to get herself out of this situation. After all she was Imperial Ship Captain Iris Stjarna. She was destined for greatness. She would emerge from this, stronger than ever.
"Are you this ship's Captain? I want to talk with the Captain." Iris declared.
Kara giggled, as if what Iris just said was hilarious. "No, I'm not the Captain here, and he's busy. I'm afraid you'll have to deal with me."
"I have no interest in talking with an underling. I'll wait for the Captain." Iris retorted.
A brutal punch in Iris' stomach left her wheezing, taken by surprise. Kara's smile was gone, replaced by an angry frown.
"Careful, girl. You may want to hold that tongue before I rip it out of your mouth." The redhead tone and change of attitude left little doubt about her willingness to put her threat to execution.
Iris' mind at last found where she heard that voice before. It was right before the Coeurl's defeat. Her rough voice had been broadcasted in the bridge. The crazy red hair was the one giving the ultimatum. But she failed to know what to do with this information in her current situation.
Catching her breath, Iris spat on the floor. "Do your worst! I don't fear death."
Kara started walking back and forth in front of the prisoner. "You know, when people in your predicament tell me that, I tend to believe them. Especially imperial dogs like you, fanaticism does some serious work. And then I usually tell them something like 'There's fate worse than death.', which is definitely true. But for some reason I don't believe you. I think you're playing the tough captain, hoping to stall until you find a way out of this. And that in your very core you're a scared little girl, waiting for her mommy to come pick her up. But be my guest, hold onto that act as long as you want, I'll enjoy shattering it. Neither your daddy nor your Emperor will come for you."
"Fuck you" snapped Iris, as she tried to spit on her jailer, but her mouth was dry.
"That may come, yes. But for now, you may wonder why this is happening to you. Allow me to enlighten you."
Iris already had some guesses about why this was happening, but Kara was not talking to her prisoner, she was gloating, enjoying the very sound of her voice explaining all of this.
"I've spent the last four years hearing stories about a young, ambitious blonde slut killing my men and destroying my ships, commanding one of those damn cruisers. Sure we had the Flagship by then, but it was barely operational. And there was no way I would have sent dozens of ships against the cruiser without a plan, our resources were too scarce..."
"Your men, your ships? Who the hell are you? And how did you get that Flagship?" Iris interrupted Kara.
"I stole it, silly. Well I did not do it on my own, but that's not important. How else would I have an imperial ship?" Kara answered plainly.
"Only two Flagships were ever built, the first one..."
"The Eden is lying in ruin on Vyke's moon, and the Alexander is orbiting Vyke. Yes, I know. But what if I told you a third one had been built, codename Bahamut?"
"This can't be, everyone in the Empire knows that only two Imperial Flagships ever existed."
"And yet, you're aboard this third Flagship. You should start to question all of your Empire-fed conviction, you idiot."
Kara stood there, eyes unfocused for a second. "Someone once told me that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. But it wasn't me who lied, who tricked the world. It was your damn Empire. They erased the very existence of the Bahamut and the whole incident, to not lose face. This lie caused your downfall, years later. Had you known that a pirate Flagship was even a small possibility, this whole ambush would have never worked! The Empire's truth is fluid, changing to whatever it needs currently. I would not have believed that it was this easy to make billions and billions of individuals believe something they knew was wrong the previous day, had I not seen the propaganda at work. Hell, even I don't exist if you ask the Empire, and I've never existed. And yet, here I stand, drawing breaths!"
