Red Queen Rising (2)
By JVN
Chaos retreats into the Void; A queen reincarnated takes the Throne. The Joker Council reconvenes; the Eternal brigade returns home.
As the victory of war faded, the Imperium turned inward, shutting down an attempted coup by the House of Spades and anchoring the Third Age of the Luminescent Imperium under the leadership of an ancient noble house, the House of Akuriand, known in the common tongue as the House of Hearts.
According to the Archivist, although Ranielle Anilaxian IV traced her lineage through several notable leaders, she was a direct descendent of the fabled Red Queen, one of the most influential leaders of the foundational era of the Imperium. Ranielle Anilaxian IV rose as her namesake through strategic prowess and tenacity, something absent from the residing bloodlines, a telling symptom that culminated in an inevitable decline and the Interdimensional breach.
Further investigation of the Oban Scrolls revealed a prophecy of a leader who would unite the warring factions and lead the Imperium into a new golden age of exploration and prosperity, echoing Ranielle’s actions and her sons’ decisive victories ending the Interdimensional War.
The Surround
A body-numbing wind ripped through the city gate as the Blade, City Administrator of Lerenia, deployed the Red Queen’s most fearsome scouts to hunt down the Frog assassins who’d ambushed his cousin, returning to the palace to face the queen and deliver the troubling news himself.
Approaching the throne room, he paused a moment, shifted his sidearm then swung open the intricately designed palatial doors. Here we go.
On cue, Ranielle greeted her son, “Sixteen arrived today, did he not?”
Blade removed his helmet as he approached the Throne, “Indeed.”
“Then why hasn’t he come to see his queen? Has his time away dulled his sense of protocol? Or is he off in the Willows visiting old friends?”
Blade pursed his lips. “There’s been an incident.”
Following the election of the House of Akuriand to the Luminescent Throne by the Imperial Council, the entire registered household of the Akuriand bloodline returned to Oban for their matriarch’s ascension ceremony. Upon arrival, every member received a tracking implant, and a bureaucratic assignment, stretching across the vast cosmic empire. As representatives of the Luminescent Throne, the appointments proved more than a network but a training ground for the future leaders of the bloodline.
The Red Queen paced the marbled floor, “Really?”
Blade quirked an eyebrow. “Must we play these games?”
A deafening silence fell across the room as the servants disappeared through several doors while the queen paused and turned to her son. “You know better than most that our enemies abound inside the palace and the surround. How do you think that image plays out in the minds of the citizenry? If we cannot protect our Royals.”
Blade poured two glasses of wine and handed one to the queen, “I’ve dispatched the Eternals, they’ll have those Frogs by nightfall.”
The queen finished her wine, set the Valerian crystal glass to the side, and turned back toward her throne. “This is not our burden alone. I’ve reconvened the Joker Council. Please keep them informed on your progress.”
Blade spat a mouthful of wine, “You did what?”
“When there’s an attack on a member of the Royal family, it’s an attack on the Imperium itself and must be dealt with forthwith, but to ensure our ‘mandate’ isn’t rescinded, we must ensure the support of the Jokers.”
Blade clenched his teeth as he moved closer to the queen, lest inquisitive minds overhear, “Involving the Joker Council is a double-edged sword. You know this.”
“Aye, I do know this. And you know me well enough to know that if I know this, then I have contingencies upon contingencies for anything they might try that went against the longevity of our rule. We have 20 years to reset the quadrant and get the security back on track, and by doing so, I’ll ascend as empress,” the queen replied.
A howling wind raced passed the ears of Ser Morgwe, the Frog assassin, aka the Button Man, as he glided in for a landing on remote forward base in the lush hidden vale. “Ribbit”
Flanked by several bodyguards, the Mayor of Frogtown stepped forward to greet the victorious frog on the edge of the landing platform, “Ribbit, success?”
“Mission accomplished, ribbit,” Morgwe replied.
Since piling through the Interdimensional breach with the other Metaverse Players, including the Apes, Goblins, Hounds, and Monkeys, the Frogs had kept a low profile avoiding the Royal cities and spaceports, working alongside the Goblins wtf, building an entire network of black market items, securing their place in the hierarchy of their new realm.
“Splendid,” the Mayor replied as he lit a cigarette. Pausing a moment, he looked over his bustling city below, hidden beneath the forests at the foot of the Surround, stepped over the assassin’s body, and exited the platform.
From the beginning of the empire, the Imperium wrestled with its identity, swinging between Order and Chaos, playing both master and servant to the dueling forces tearing at its Royal soul as the founders rebuilt their civilization. Although the House of Akuriand controlled the new realm for millennia, resentment festered within several noble houses of the Imperium Council, opposed to everything the Akuriand rulers implemented while reconstructing their civilization in the new frontier.
The Blade set his glass aside and bent a knee to his queen, “Majesty, if we don’t execute our strategy now, there may not be a throne in 20 years.”
“All the more reason to consult with the Jokers,” the queen said as she watched her son jerk away, raising a hand to his ear.
A garbled communication exploded in Blade’s earpiece.
This is Royal Skull …to Royal …Actual.
Straining to understand the static-laced communication, Blade pressed a finger to his ear while cupping the other from the ambient noise of the throne room. “Go for Actual.”
This … Skull …to …Actual.
Blade slowed his breathing, feeling his heartbeat in his throat as he awaited the reply, but knew the team had entered the Obsidranium Surround, an area so concentrated in the rare metal that he’d received anything was a miracle; he repeated his reply. “Go for Actual.”
Skull…Static…Contact…Static…Silence
Blade felt a warm hand on his shoulder, pulling him back to the moment as he swung around and met the queen’s eyes, “We’re in it now.”
Nightfall descended on the valley as the Mayor of Frogtown entered the town square with a string of Secret Agents, Double Agents, and Enforcers, hauling several awkward-shaped bags behind them.
“What’s you got there, ribbit?”
The Mayor turned to his deputy, “The Elite Royal Scouts. Who else would I be draggin’ ‘round like this, ribbit?”
A crowd gathered around the Mayor and Agents, pushing and shoving for a glimpse at the esteemed Elite Royal Scouts that had been instrumental in delivering the final victory during the Interdimensional Wars, but succumbed to the Mayor of Frogland.
As the Mayor unzipped the first bag, a battered and bruised soldier fell out, limp, but alive, one by one the bags were emptied, revealing all six of the Elite Royal Scouts, all except their leader, the captain, catching the Mayor by surprise. “Where’s their leader? Where’s their cap’n?”
A Secret Agent did a quick headcount and turned to the Mayor, “We’ve nabbed six, ribbit. You said there were six.”
The Mayor blanched, “I said there were SEVEN.”
“Are you looking for me,” the Eternal Ace of Spades said as he sprang from the chaotic crowd delivering a fatal blow to the dumbfounded Agent.
Within seconds he’d freed several of his men and turned his pistol on the Frogs as they scrambled to safety, croaking, pushing, and shoving along the way, everyone but the Mayor.
Enraged by the incompetence of his Agents, the Mayor curled his lip, dashed his cigar, and pulled a pearl-handled derringer from his waistcoat pocket. If you want something done. You gotta do it yourself. Stepping over the deputy mayor and several dead Agents, he came face to face with the Eternal captain, looked him in the eye, and squeezed the trigger, shrugging off his limp body as it fell to the ground.
#GAMEON