Sardipas looked grimly at the starmap floating at the space in front of him. The battles in the Odin subsector had been raging for monthes, with no progression or retreat from either side. The Warmaster observed with great interest the skill of the Flaran squadrons, and with detached disgust the lack of skill in the Karian fleet. The Karian admirals were fools, all of them. Sardipas watched as each captain used one ship of his squadron at a time, consigning them to oblivion, whereas the smaller force of Flaran ships easily outmaneuvered and destroyed the opposition. "Progenitor." Sardipas turned and looked at the officer. A crisp uniform, strait out of the tailory. This man has never been in combat, let alone watched the vids of the Hyperspace Wars, Sardipas thought. The Progenitor and current Warmaster returned to his observations. A battlecruiser began broadside combat with a smaller Flaran corvette. He watched sadly as four fighters easily tore the cabin of the battlecruiser apart, ending the skirmish. By the end of the hour, the Flaran assault crafts had already taken the Odin system. "We in a terrible situation." The Progenitor's melancholy words caught the attention of every man on deck. "Our empire is slowly being torn apart by those very politicians, military leaders, and bureaucrats who helped the Emperor take power. If we are to get past these troubling times, we must replace those who lead our brave men with lions instead of donkeys." The Warmaster turned heel and quietly walked out of the room. The walls of the new skyhook in orbit around Impero were pristine white, unstained by any chemical. It would stay that way, Sardipas hoped, and no marine would ever have to fight to defend these corridors. The Progenitor, careful as to not draw any attention from the crewmen arming the fighters in the docking bay, slipped onto his private shuttle. Sardipas drew a vid holo from his pocket. "Contact the High Lords and the Emperor. We need a new leader. Priority is level 8: I am commisioning the readministration of the TCS. The Tactical Command School had only been commisioned once, back in the days of the hyperspace wars. In those times, war and destruction was daily. No man escaped life without playing witness to death. The TCS was a skyhook of immense proportions, with antigrav chambers around the center that allowed mock space battles for training. The TCS was the last remaining relic from those dark years, created by Torquemada the Terrible himself, some say. To use such an artifact was to release information to the presses that the EMpire would be destroyed. Who the hell cares, Sardipas thought. As long as we go out in style.


More stories by Ainokar:
• Craft of War
• Change of Powers