Star Trek: Mirror Universe, Glass Empires by Mike Sussman & Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore & David Mack & Greg Cox

Author:Mike Sussman & Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore & David Mack & Greg Cox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books

6

The Designs of Liberty

It had been slightly more than two months since Spock claimed the throne, and the ensuing cavalcade of pomp and pageantry had only just subsided. First had come the official coronation, followed by more than a hundred hastily dispatched state visits by the Empire’s various planetary governors, each of whom had come to deliver gifts and pledges of loyalty, all of which Spock had accepted with politely concealed indifference. His thoughts had been occupied almost constantly by the intricate and politically delicate task of transitioning the imperial government to a new administration, one populated from its highest echelons down with reformers whom Spock had painstakingly cultivated as allies over the past decade.

As Spock had suspected, his wife had adapted easily and enthusiastically to her new role as Empress Marlena. To her care he had entrusted the coordination of the cosmetic overhaul of the government. For the most part, that had entailed removing the outrageously oversized holographic portraits in the throne room and minimizing their physical counterparts on the walls. Other, more radical alterations he had discussed with her would have to wait until the Empire’s political climate was ready.

One element of imperial life remained constant during the abrupt transition to Spock’s reign, and that was the apparent mood of constant, muffled terror that suffused the halls of the palace. Even without the benefit of his spies’ reports, Spock could overhear the whispered rumors, the hushed exchanges of frightened eyewitness accounts describing the manner in which the Empress Hoshi Sato III and her Imperial Guard corps had been annihilated. A few people had guessed, correctly, that an unknown weapon had been involved, but by far the most persistent and popular explanation was that Spock had used an ancient, formerly secret Vulcan psionic attack to seize power.

Encouraging untruths ran counter to the principles of logic, but in this case Spock permitted the rumors to spread unchallenged as a means of securing his power base during this vulnerable period of transition.

For his own part, Spock found life in the imperial palace to be quiet, comfortable, and opulently boring. The oversized chambers and furniture all offended his simpler, more austere sensibilities. The illogic of waste had been a primary factor in his decision to seek dominion over the Empire, and now he lived in the midst of the most ostentatious expression of wastefulness imaginable. The irony of his circumstances was not lost on him.

Clad in luxurious robes of Tholian silk, he stood on the force field-protected balcony outside his personal suite and looked upon the verdant countryside of Okinawa. The dawn air was cool. Despite his half-human heritage, this land, this world, felt alien to him. He was, in essence, a stranger here.

Behind him, inside the bedroom, Marlena slept blissfully behind the gauzy screens of the antique French canopied bed. Earth was her home. She had been born here, the youngest child of a common merchant. But though her family’s origins had been modest, her homecoming had been nothing less than glorious.

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