The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 41

[Celeste]

A contentment glowed within Celeste, warming the depths of her soul, the kind that comes from a lifelong purpose fulfilled.

Walking with a hand looped around Moon's arm, Celeste reflected on the desperate choice that led her to this point, of how she stowed away on an unknown starship bearing the last hope for the Line of the Empress. Hope, the Empress was aptly named.

"What's on your mind, wife?" Moon asked.

She leaned into him. "Just thinking back. How lucky am I, husband?"

Husband... Celeste let the word reverberate through her mind, savoring it. Only yesterday were they formally married, fulfilling another promise. No less than the Sol Empress herself pronounced the union. Celeste's face flushed as she recalled the evening's love-making that followed, all accompanied by soulful Coltrane ballads.

"I feel like the lucky one." Moon said, wrapping his arm around her and drawing her closer still.

Eshe led the procession, holding up the golden staff of the Sol Empress. Hope and Gabriel followed close behind. Hope wore a flowing white gown, traditional for the Empress, and her own version of a white head piece woven into her dark hair, a combination of headband and crown with cutouts in the shape of stars. Hand-in-hand, Celeste and Moon took the rear. A squad of Sol Guard in crisp blue and red uniforms, and a smattering of white clad assistants, surrounded them.

They strolled across the plaza toward the Parliament. The golden surfaces of the building, rounded like a drop of dew, gleamed in the triple suns Aquirii. There, within a cavernous chamber, representatives of the Commonwealth worlds debated the laws that governed it. The Sol Empress had the constitutional power to veto legislation, overturn regulations, or to call for new elections. Celeste smiled to herself. This Empress is about to do all that.

The diffuse crowds meandering across the plaza parted for the procession, some bowing to the Empress. Hushed murmurs of awe or surprise replaced everyday conversations. The cameras had continued to roll during the drone attack at the Induction Ceremony. One particular image spread across the info-web like wildfire, that of Hope standing victorious on the dais, wearing her tight black tactical suit marked by the blazing red sun symbol of the Sol Way, with weapon in hand and blood trickling down her cheek from her hairline. Although not a reputation she desired, the image had forever set her as the Warrior Empress to the people.

Moon tipped his head toward Hope and Gabriel. "Our kids done good, huh?"

"Better than good," she responded. "But that is to your credit. You were a wonderful father."

"You gave them life, Celeste." A grin crawled across his face. "As I remember, I became the father by default. You didn't have any other choice."

"Like I said, how lucky am I?"

In another piece of luck, although hard won, the information that Gabriel extracted from the Consortium database was damning, implicating Diego and the previous Chairman in the murder of Empress Iona. As if not enough, Bernde was more than willing to testify against Diego in exchange for a lighter sentence. Gael Bross predicted a quick dismissal of all charges against Celeste.

Only one thing cast a distant shadow on her joyous heart. Faith was not here to share in the victory. Celeste lifted her eyes to the heavens. Perhaps, in a way, she is with us and always will be.

Hope's voice pulled Celeste back into the moment. "It was never fair to you, Gab," she remarked as they continued the unintentional parade. "Why couldn't there be an emperor? You are a genetic child of Iona too."

"Oh, stars, no!" Gabriel huffed, lifting his hands as if revolted. "That would cramp my style. You're the responsible one, Hope."

Celeste nearly laughed. Gabriel garnered almost as much attention in the media as Hope. Besides the novelty of being the Empress' brother, his natural charm and good looks seduced the cameras. Countless viewers swooned over him in the scan-log comments, some with indecent proposals. We may have to rein him in.

After a short walk across the plaza, they reached the appropriately called Empress Gate, a back door to the Parliament Building that only an Empress or her direct offspring could open. When Hope pressed her hand on the biometric sensor panel, the metal door hissed and groaned as it swung inward, protesting after decades of nonuse. Inside the door, a dingy stairway led to the Empress Loft, a half-circle balcony overlooking the Parliament Chamber.

Rancorous discord rose from the floor like so many squabbling children. All but a few of the blue-robed representatives were on their feet, stomping and waving arms in the aisles. The red-faced parliamentarian, standing on a platform at the front, demanded order while pounding a gavel on the wooden lectern as if he bludgeoned a beast that would not die. Celeste shook her head with a bemused expression. Is this what democracy sounds like?

Gabriel grinned at his sister. "I think you caused this."

She returned a sly smile. "Good."

Hope advanced to the balcony edge and surveyed the chaos below. Eshe came to her side, golden staff in hand. "It is time, Empress."

Taking the staff from her protector, Hope held it high. An electric blue light appeared in the orb atop the golden rod, growing brighter by the second, until it became like a miniature sun. Blue rays flooded through the chamber, an occurrence that had not happened for over twenty Earth years.

Nearly at once, the bickering ended, replaced by a tense silence that was every bit as deafening. A crowd of gaping mouths looked back at her. Hope inserted the staff into a holder, allowing the light to fade.

After a moment, she spoke with an amplified voice that surged across the chamber. "I am daughter of the sun and moon, born of the celestial, sided by strength, and sister to faith. My name is Hope." She paused, letting the silence linger. "And I am the Sol Empress."

*** End of Part Two - Firebird Rise ***

*** End of Story ***