Imperial Twilight (Ashes of Empire, #2) by Eric Thomson

Author:Eric Thomson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: galactic empire wars, canadian author science fiction, canadian science fiction, galactic civilisation collapse, space fleet, space navy fiction, science fiction religious order, science fiction mysticism
Publisher: Sanddiver Books Inc.
Published: 2019-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

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Yotai

The reception, one in a long series designed to heighten Marta Norum’s profile among the Coalsack Sector’s notables, seemed even drearier than any of its predecessors, despite the lavish pomp and circumstance usually seen only at the imperial court on Wyvern. This time, Custis had summoned the star system high commissioners, governors, and governors general who owed him allegiance, sending his fastest ships to convey them through the wormhole network.

After being informed Lady Marta was a direct descendant of what Custis now publicly called the last legitimate emperor, Kal IV, every noble, politician, and senior officer wanted to bask in her imperial glow. That Custis gave himself the title of regent shortly before and announced Marta was destined for greater things didn’t help. Sadly, most were tedious creatures when they weren’t oozing venality and greed.

If it weren’t for Heloise’s silent, yet steadying presence as her lady-in-waiting, Marta would gladly give each of them a piece of her mind. Then, she would march off to the 16th Fleet HQ senior non-commissioned officers’ mess in the viceregal palace basement for a few shots of whiskey in the company of salty veterans unimpressed by the nobility. The latter was a habit everyone in the palace from Custis and Zahar on down deplored, but none dared forbid the future empress from visiting her loyal troops.

What they didn’t realize is that she used the noncoms’ network to stay informed of military and naval matters without Zahar or his officers being any the wiser. Among the many bits of wisdom she learned from Uncle Olav was one most senior officers either never learned or forgot once they wore stars.

If you want to know what’s really going on, ask a Marine command sergeant or a navy chief. And she’d shamelessly traded on Olav’s good name and standing among old time Marine Corps noncoms to run her own informal intelligence service. Much of what she heard never even made it to Zahar’s ears, let alone those of Grand Duke Devy Custis, Regent of the Coalsack Sector. He enjoyed next to no respect among members of the senior NCO’s mess, especially those from the 55th Marine Regiment assigned as palace guards, a job they found demeaning.

Marta, standing beside Custis in the place of honor, let her eyes roam across the immense ballroom, brilliantly lit by hundreds of floating crystal candelabras and filled with almost a thousand of the sector’s highest ranking officials. The military officers were resplendent in dress uniforms dripping with gold bullion, medals, and other martial devices. Their civilian counterparts variously wore the civil service uniforms proper to their appointments or the sort of formal clothes rarely seen in a frontier sector. A Marine band, arrayed on a balcony overlooking the dance floor, played lively tunes with verve and élan, creating a harmonious counterpart to the dissonant drone of too many conversations.

Yet beneath the shining veneer, she sensed an almost desperate urge to recreate what existed before Admiral Loren rose against Dendera’s rule and triggered the civil war now tearing apart the mightiest empire in human history.

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