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#6
FEB 15 |
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“The Shifting Life of Queen Veranke”
Throneworld Reborn
I wonder when my throne will begin to feel like a privilege. Every day that goes by without my people having their rightly deserved glory, the weight of this gold and titanium seat crushes me a little more. I am the first to rule my people after the devastation of the Annihilation Wave. A devastation I intend to fully reverse.
Two elderly Skrull women approach my throne wrapped in loose dresses of white trimmed in ruby. Each one is missing an eye, but the appendage they do have left stares at me intently. More so than any subject should normally gaze upon their monarch, but they are the last of a special breed. Every monarch before me has had to deal with this sect. Kivenit, the keepers of secrets and holders of whispers. All the secrets, plans and contingencies of my people were held by them.
The power they possess is enormous. I hate and love them for it. Doing what I can to look unimpressed by them makes me doubt myself. Does my ruse only make them feel more empowered?
In their well-muscled arms, each Kivenit holds a steel triangle chest with a line of red light glowing down the middle. Putting a fist to my lips, I close my eyes for a brief moment and imagine the power locked inside those chests. “So you were able to find what I needed?”
The elderly Kivenit bowed at the same time and then they spoke as one. “Savior Queen, we have done as you asked. We will always do as you ask.”
I can’t be secure in such promises now. My position as Queen has been too weakened to not suspect an assassination attempt to come from anywhere. Skrulls know better than any other that nothing is what is seems. The Kivenit swear loyalty, but it would be insane to underestimate their power. What they’ve brought to me today is proof enough of that.
The Kivenit walked with their heads held high and backs straight as they sat the chests down at my feet. Not a single bodyguard was present in the throne room with me, but that had come at my command. I needed these women to feel that I trusted them and thus trusted their order. “You have brought me and your people a great hope today.”
One Kivenit smiled, but the other gave a stone expression better reserved for an enemy. It was she who spoke. “Are you sure this is the course you want to take? Once you being this, there will be no going back. You will be undoing centuries upon centuries of history. You risk the wrath of the Celestials.”
I have heard these arguments and I have heard them better presented. My words cut through the air like a hot blade into an opponent’s rib. “Your Queen risks the wrath of any and all to save her people!”
The smiling Kivenit nodded her head. “Then shall we deliver the genetic material to the Mind Circle?”
Standing up from my throne, I bend down to pick up one of the chest. “No. I shall personally deliver this. The Skrull Eternals will rise again.”
Throneworld Reborn
Catacombs of Woradi
My greatest fear is that I will be the last Queen of my people. That all our pride and history and achievement will all die at my feet. I will become the ultimate symbol of failure in the eyes of those who watched our rise and fall. This will not come to pass. The Skrull Empire will be renewed and Veranke will earn the title of Savior her people have bestowed upon her. I have ventured to these catacombs to remind myself of that victory. To take that first step out of the devastation of the Annihilation Wave and into a new future.
These catacombs, home to some of my people’s most advanced cloning research, was where I had delivered the chests given to me by the Kivenit. At my side in these green, slime-coated halls was Ricakiv, leader of the entire Kivenit order. He was far younger than the elderly women sent to bring me the forgotten Skrull Eternals. His youth did not make me any less cautious. He controlled the secrets, suspected and forgotten, of my people. And nothing was more dangerous than a Skrull who knew they had value. It was only a matter of time before Ricakiv made a demand of me. My desperation was too clear for him to not.
A group of Warskrulls, led by my younger brother, trailed us. I look back to him, our eyes exchanging unspoken messages. He knew I was uncomfortable in the presence of the Kivenit and Ricakiv stood at their head. “Prince Varkur, if this trip proves successful you may yet have an Eternal in your retinue.”
Ricakiv laughed. “Perhaps you move a bit fast, my Queen. Should we not keep these Eternals secret? There are many who would think you blasphemous for bringing them back?” He looked back at my brother, smugness wiped across his face. “But perhaps we can enhance your brother with their genetic material.”
My hearts fall for my brother as the hidden insult strikes. Varkur stiffens and his Warskrulls growl. “You should be careful, Kivenit Supreme. My kindness does not extend as far my sister’s.”
Ricakiv shrugged, put his hands behind his back and walked ahead of the Queen. “There is no shame in admitting our shortcoming, young Prince. None at all.”
The catacombs wind and wind, the rest of the trip silent. I could feel my brother’s rage as sure as it was in my own heart. Varkur was forced to endure far too much for me and my quest. But in the end he would be exalted right along with me. Saviors of the Skrull. History would remember us as such.
We reach a large circular blast door drenched in crimson. I stop only inches away from it, swearing that I could feel the power emanating from it. “How many of the samples were viable, Ricakiv?”
The Kivenit Supreme smiled and pressed his hand to the genetic lock off to the blast door’s side. I hold my breath as the massive doorway hisses open. Stretched out before me are at least fifty canisters, each containing a floating Skrull. An Eternal.
Ricakiv held a hand out for all present to take in the view. “I would say the results have been rather impressive.”
Throneworld Reborn
The Governor’s Coliseum
I needed this to be seen by all of my people. I wanted it shown on every mindchip and illusion grid across the remainder of my empire. The Skrull people needed to know that their Queen fought for them and for them alone. No one would be able to walk away from this assembly without knowing that Queen Veranke would be able to unite the various factions into one force. A force that would see the Skrull renewed.
All 987 Planetary Governors had been called to this, despite most of them being only a Governor in title. Ricakiv had been brought forth along with the Super-Skrull and Wolloch of the Warskrulls. The General’s Circle and Merchants’ Points had been granted a place in this gathering. There were Skrulls representing a dozen different interests and each would come to kneel to me before this was over. They all needed to see it.
In the center of the coliseum was a platform that sat my brother and Ricakiv. The head of the Kivenit was the opener for this event. Rising from his seat, wings grew out of his back and he flapped up into the air. “Today, we all gather to hear the voice of our leader. Our Queen. She brings us together because we must be united. Annihilation nearly found its way into our hearts, but we held it back. We owe our Queen for inspiring us in that awful hour. Open your ears and prepare for her wisdom.”
A fitting introduction. Ricakiv worked hard to make sure that I owed him more and more. There would come a time I would have to deal with him and his secret order, but not until I had bled their secrets dry. Rising from my seat, I move to the center of the circular stone platform. No wings would spring from my back.
“My people, we have come long, but we have much further to go still. Galactus and the war with Annihilus’ hordes nearly brought us to ruin. We survived it, but we were fractured. No longer can that remain. I must have your allegiance in the days to come. If the days of old are to be restored then we must move as one.”
A voice rose up from the General’s Circle. “You must speak of very old days indeed. We know you have made the foolish error of bringing back the Eternals.”
“And you keep the Harvester of Sorrows within our borders!”
Clamoring voices started to become a cacophony and I raise a hand for pause. They grant me that much for I am still their Queen. “We will have to think in ways we never have before if we want to become great once again. We lost over eight hundred worlds! Let that number sink in for a moment and consider how diminished our resources truly are. Do you really think we can rebuild with traditional strategies and morals?”
A tall, statuesque hologram appeared in the center of the coliseum mere feet in front of me. I have to strain my eyes upward to see it. The race is familiar to me. It is Xandarian.
“I am glad to hear your thoughts are new, Queen Veranke. For Prince Robara, Lost Child of Xandar, would seek your friendship.”
Throneworld Reborn
Nthur Hyatt (Palace of Endless Shapes)
I knew Prince Robara was not lying about being a Xandarian. Few races had as much self-righteous arrogance as them. But considering the way my gathering had been going, I welcomed it. More and more I found myself accepting things no other Skrull ruler before me would have. But no other ruler faced what I faced. I would not be the last.
Now that I had Robara in the flesh under the roof of my own home, I could make a better evaluation of him. It was easy to appear confident and in control when you were projecting yourself as larger than life. Now that we were on more even heights, I found that none of his bravado had changed. A true Xandarian.
The so-called Prince rubbed his chin as he walked straight-backed around my throne. Warskrulls were not far from me, ready to spring at a moment’s notice if Robara appeared hostile. Surprisingly, he had come alone, leaving his retinue on his ship in orbit. He stopped walking, his golden shoulder pads glinting under the many lights placed above my throne.
“You have been wounded.” He turns to smile at me. “But not broken. Your strength is to be admired.”
“We are malleable, as we always have been. Though we did not think the same could be said of your people.” I had questions and Prince Robara would not leave here until they were answered. His arrogance in coming here alone would be his undoing.
“Oh, rest assured, all the Xandarians of this galaxy were destroyed. I suppose it was only inevitable with one devastation after the other.” If there was an accusation in that statement it was well hidden. He was testing me. By offering a potential detail of his origin along with a detail about old rivalries, he attempted to see where my mind truly wandered.
My people’s survival came first. “Of this galaxy? So you are not from the Tranta System?”
Robara nodded, obviously pleased with my first question. “Me and the Xandarians under my rule have not called the Tranta System home for at least twenty generations.”
A ruler that could convince his bodyguards to let him come into the home of a potential enemy alone? He must truly have sway over them. I find myself surrounded by more and more ‘protectors’ with each passing day. “So exiles come to seek the favor of their people’s enemy?”
“Not exiles…Explorers.” His eyes sparked silver for a moment and despite myself I flinched. I was not alone in my response because at least two of my Warskrulls rushed in front of me. Standing up from my throne, I push them aside and move closer to Robara.
“Be careful in who you threaten, Prince.”
“Wounded pride,” Robara laughed innocently. “That was all it was. The last Queen my people knew was Celeste. She had a zeal for preparation and long term thinking. Her mind foresaw such a doom as the Annihilation Wave befalling her people.”
I wonder how the Skrulls might have fared if they had been ruled by such a thinker. “And how did she prepare for such?”
“My ancestors were sent to another galaxy. A galaxy I now rule.”
Throneworld Reborn Orbit
Nthurzi Kritz (The Queen’s Ship)
Prince Robara had quickly become a man I could not ignore or cast aside. I did indeed need his friendship and there were other Skrulls who wanted to seek it as well. Tonight, there was to be a banquet on my personal carrier and I had invited those who I needed allegiance from the absolute most. This dinner would show them that I had growing power and like a wave I would drown all who stood in our way.
Ricakiv’s allegiance I had, for whatever reason. The Kivenit were willing to support me for now and, admittedly, I did owe a great deal to them. At this long banquet table he sat to my right and Prince Robara to my left. I needed the message to be clear. The secret keepers were vitally important to me and I would be willing to unleash this secret sect on any who continued to keep opposing me.
Wolloch, Lord of the Warskrulls, was next to Ricakiv. The other guests at the table were Zunkra, Igirk, Ollumid, Jinoch, Milanke and Surek. Zunkra, fat and bloated, was Premier of the Mind Council. Igirk was Planetary Governor of Insi VI, largest of our surviving planets. Jinoch was Commander of the General’s Circle and commander of our remaining space fleet. Milanke was Imperial Historian and knew secrets of my people that rivaled the Kivenit. Surek was another member of the Mind Council, the one who had been the closest to my Father when he served as a Planetary Governor.
Tiny white bowls full of gurri leaves were passed around the table as an opening appetizer. I picked one up and placed it on my tongue, a zesty flavor immediately grabbing my taste buds. Prince Robara took one of the leaves without hesitation and smiled at me. “A delicious treat.”
Surek, always the glutton, took three of the leaves at once and his nose flared at the flavor surely overtaking him. He didn’t start choking as I expected and everyone at the table noticed. Good, they knew my allies didn’t flinch. “So…we have shared something with you, Prince Robara. Why do you not share something of yourself with us?”
“Oh, I am sure there is much you’d like to know about me. So I’ll let you have the first question since you were brave enough to broach it,” Robara said, pressing a gurri leaf between his fingers. The bearded Prince was smug enough, knowing the position he had us in.
This was time to assert my superiority. I would explain it to Surek later. “I am Queen of these people. If anyone is to have a first privilege it will be me and me alone.”
Robara nodded. “My apologies, Queen Veranke. Ask what you will of me. I am free floating data waiting to be grabbed.”
I highly doubt that discovering the full breadth of Robara’s secrets would be that easy. “Tell me of the galaxy your ancestors went to. The one you now claim ownership over.”
“In many ways, it is very different from this galaxy. Here the majority of the sentient races are humanoid or close to it. Where we found ourselves, there was not a single humanoid race to be found. It was all arachnoid.”
Wolloch laughed. “How did you navigate around that many legs?”
Robara clasped his hands together and set them down on the table. “You have to understand. They had never encountered anything like us before. At first, we expected savagery from them. But no….they were deathly afraid of us.”
The unspoken part of that was clear to me. He was telling me and everyone present that we needed to feel the same.
Insi VI
Nillan Citadel- Vorkuld City
“You take risks, my Queen. We know too little about Robara to be allying ourselves with him,” Wolloch, Lord of the Warskrulls, said as he paced around the private conference room that Governor Igirk had opened for all of us.
It had been two days since the dinner with Prince Robara and we were now meeting to confer. I could only feel that these men had gathered me here to chastise me. They would walk away from this knowing better. My title as Queen would be respected. “I take risks to save our people, Wolloch. Robara is an unknown element but we have ways to defend ourselves against him.”
Governor Igirk frowned and walked to the room’s window, staring out at the black and blue city below. Transportation tubes ran through the city, adding a luminescent to it. Vorkuld City was one of the last hundred major metropolises my people had left. I knew what the Governor was thinking and I had considered it many times too.
“We are too few, my Queen. Your risks could be the final blow against us. The Eternals, the Harvester of Sorrows and Robara are all unstable elements. They could be the end of us. What defense do we have against these things you bring in our midst?”
Jinoch rolled his shoulders back, the pride of the fleet beaming through his wide chest. “Our armies are not so broken, Governor.”
“I do not diminish the ability of our forces, General Jinoch, but even you have to admit that Queen Veranke puts everything of us that remains in danger.” Governor Igirk backed away from the window and I could see it in his eyes. He was imagining his world in flames. Had my decisions really brought so much strife? I believed that I was doing the right thing but could I possibly be wrong? The fear in the Governor’s eyes was disheartening.
Milanke, thin and frail, walked to Igirk and put a hand on his shoulder. “There are Punil’s Cubes. We could use them.”
Igirk tensed and I noticed he wasn’t the only one. Wolloch looked uncomfortable and Jinoch turned his head to the roof. Ricakiv was frowning and he never did that. Whatever had been said was akin to poison in the air. I stand up from my chair and move into the midst of them. “What are these cubes and do not mince your explanation! Are all are we made up of is secrets?”
Ricakiv smiled, ear to ear. “We are Skrulls. Secrets are at our core, my Queen. Every one of us has them.”
I made spiked horns grow out of my head. “That is not the answer to my question.”
“That is because he does not have it,” Milanke said, hands tied behind his back. “Emperor Punil created the Cubes to hold his experiments. They were done in secret and he wanted it to remain in secret. But we may not have that option anymore.”
Emperor Punil had reigned nearly three thousand years ago. Had they been locked away that long? Oh, I had questions and every last one of them would be answered. I make the spikes in my head grow longer. “Take me to them. And tell me everything or you won’t survive the return trip.”
The Nirukhay
Capital Ship of the Skrull Fleet
The ride to this pocket dimension had gone smoothly. Milanke had said it would be as much, but after his revelation in Vorklund City, I had doubts about him. Ricakiv was right. Skrulls were walking secrets and I would never be able to truly trust anyone. All I could do was control them and push them in the direction that I needed them to go. Thinking I could ever truly get a Skrull on my side was a foolish endeavor.
In that vein, I allowed General Jinoch to have the high chair and I sat to his right. Taking the seat he normally held would have been demeaning and I would stand to lose any favor I may have courted with him. Besides, I didn’t know the first thing about commanding a space ship, especially not one of this size. The Nirukhay was the last Hexagon-Class ship left in the entire Skrull fleet. My brother and Wolloch had been heavily against me taking this ship on this journey, but I didn’t know what we would encounter here.
“Punil created an entire pocket dimension. It hardly seems reasonable. Milanke, are you sure you know nothing about the experiments he wanted locked away?” I put an edge into that question. I want Milanke to know that my heart is starting to solidify against him The worst thing imaginable for a Skrull was to be stuck in one form. It was a pain my brother knew all too well and so I wanted Milanke to know that same anguish.
“No, my Queen, I only know that he was performing genetic experiments with the wildlife and servant races in the empire. I do not know to what extent these experiments went,” Milanke said. His voice didn’t tremble or waver. If he felt my fury, he had no intention of letting me know it. I suppose I should have expected as much. Being the holder of history meant you had to contend with many hurt feelings about ugly truths.
But I was different than any ruler he dealt with before. I wanted each and every one of those truths. “Milanke, I want an understanding between us. Hold no truth back from me and I will hold no truth back from you.”
Jinoch laughed, pointing at one of his engineers to slow the ship’s speed through the pink expanse in front of us. “Skrulls telling the truth to one another is perhaps your most radical idea my Queen.”
“I accept your offer, my Queen. But there is one thing I want.”
Milanke’s secrets were like the most expensive auriluim. I had to have them. “Ask.”
“When the time comes you will protect me from the Kivenit.” His voice wavered for the first time in the time since I ascended to the throne. Admittedly, it sent a shiver through me.
“Ricakiv will not harm you. I promise on the nine moons of Forgotten Skrullos.” A bold statement, but I needed Milanke and everyone in ear shot to believe me. The Kivenit would not be the Dire Wraiths lurking in the background, secretly ruling my empire. I would not be a puppet Queen.
“Good. Because Punil’s Cubes are just the tip of the himma tree in this place.”
The Nirukhay
Capital Ship of the Skrull Fleet
General Jinoch had requested a private audience with me a day after Milanke’s revelation about Punil’s Cubes. His office was smaller than someone I would have expected of his stature, but the rumors said that Jinoch did not require the grandeur of his contemporaries. Some might think that should make him more trustworthy, but it kept me on edge. Because if he was against me then he would be that much harder of an opponent to fight. Men of his character inspired loyalty like none other.
The office was in the shape of a circle like all Skrull offices of the fleet. A thin metal slate floated in the center of the room and a hologram of a hundred-mile radius of this pocket dimension projected from it. I stood on one side of the slate and Jinoch stood on the other.
“It is rare the ruler I have seen go so many places without her body guards,” Jinoch said, his hands folded behind his back. He could be shaping them into blades for all I knew. He didn’t strike me as the type for such petty treachery. “And you come out here leaving the Empire in the hands of your brother. There are many who would consider this an opportune time to strike.”
“Then they would find themselves terribly mistaken.” My brother’s handicap had made him stronger and more ruthless. If he was attacked, he would cut our enemies down with the fury of a starving Galactus. I had no fear of leaving Throneworld Reborn in his hands.
Jinoch nodded and turned his skin gray, a symbol amongst the upper class of an upcoming privy conversation. I turned my eyes gray indicating that he could continue.
“Milanke and Ricakiv cannot be trusted. The Imperial Historians and the Kivenit have been dancing around one another since the earliest days of our people’s ascent into space. Playing them against one another and aggravating their rivalry will only put us all in more danger.”
I knew what I said would stay privileged. For once, I had been granted permission to speak freely. “How much have they kept hidden that could have helped us in fighting Annihilus? Their secrets and deceptions doomed our people as surely as the Harvester of Sorrows.”
“You will get no disagreement from me. But to so swiftly move them against one another will only bring more destruction.”
I knew the road I took carried risk. The two organizations were heavily implanted in Skrull society, but if we were going to move forward then they had to be extracted. “I do what I do to prepare us for what’s to come. The Kivenit and the Imperial Historians are not the only ones with secret knowledge.”
General Jinoch stiffened. Good. He needed to know that what I said next carried the utmost seriousness. “What do you know, my Queen?”
“I know that what Annihilus has done to us has put blood in the galactic waters. We are wounded, General, and it has not gone unnoticed.” I can see from the hologram dividing us that our ships are near Punil’s Cubes. Maybe an hour or less. “Our wounds have attracted the attention of those once considered beneath us.”
I move around the slate and look Jinoch square in the eyes. “The Axi-Tun Empire makes plans to invade us.”
The Nirukhay
Capital Ship of The Skrull Fleet
Punil’s Cubes were visible now in the bridge’s window. Four gigantic, city-sized black cubes floating in the pink space of this pocket dimension. The Nirukhay seemed like a small bug compared to these prisons. This was more than I expected when Milanke said these could help us against Prince Robara if the need arose. I am at the very edge of the bridge, my face nearly pressed against the window. “By the nine moons of Forgotten Skrullos, what did Emperor Punil do?”
Milanke, thin and frail, was standing next to Jinoch. The General was doing his best to not look at the Imperial Historian, our recent conversation probably still fresh in his mind. His reaction confirmed for me that my path was the right one. I would use the righteous anger of the people to bring Milanke and Ricakiv down. I can only imagine how some in my inner circle would feel about our people suffering so they could protect their secrets. Wolloch would have no problem tearing Milanke and the smug Ricakiv limb from limb.
“Emperor Punil wanted an army, my Queen. He wanted one full of power and that could blanket the entire galaxy and our neighboring ones. His experiments went for nearly a decade, but in that time he saw none of the success he was looking for. He considered the initiative a failure and had all knowledge of it buried. The Punil Cubes were not meant to be weapons storage. It was created as a junk pile.”
That didn’t make sense to me. “Why would he keep them alive then?”
Milanke shrugged. “Emperor Punil was a paranoid man. He had intentions of laying the creation and failure of this initiative on the head of the Mind Council at that time. It was a card he never had to pull and, when he died, the knowledge of it died with him.”
Oh, what a wonderful life. How many other secrets were buried by these men? I would drain them all dry and when I was done, I would stand as the greatest ruler the Skrulls ever had. “How do we get in?”
“Radio signals,” Milanke said, looking to the communications officer on the bridge. “You will need to project radio signals at a variety of frequencies at certain intervals to open the boarding ports. Emperor Punil created a specific set of instructions and any deviation from what he set up will activate the Cubes security systems.”
Bastard! More secrets. I fold my arms across my chest and black horns start to grow from my forehead. “You said nothing of security systems Milanke.”
“My Queen, would it have stopped you if I had? Or would you have felt I was simply trying to keep you from coming here?”
Milanke had a point. We would still be here nonetheless. “What security did my predecessor put into place?”
“Each cube is implanted with enough neutron bombs to rip a planet apart. No Skrull ship would be able to survive the blast.” Milanke must have felt the eyes of the entire bridge on him. “But that is not a problem we need to consider. I know the frequencies intimately and the intervals were based on The Song of Elenet. We shall be fine.”
Jinoch yanked Milanke by the neck and lifted him off the ground. “We had better, Historian. Or before the end you will know pain.”
The Punil Cubes
Cube One
All of this was mines. Lined in front of me, behind me, above and beneath me were rows and rows of glass cylinders filled with the creations sanctioned by Emperor Punil. They were genetic hybrids born from the genetic material of the entire Skrull Empire. In these canisters were the genetic remains of species now completely extinct. Wiped away like sands against a tide by the Annihilation Wave. Many I could identify and just as many were alien.
They all apparently had Skrull as their base DNA and the mixtures spread out from there. I saw some combined and split with dumalites, three-horned dirks, truga plants and a host of other species. Punil had been mad and brilliant to sanction this project. His foolish error came in not utilizing these beautiful weapons. Walking to one of the canisters, I rub my hand against it, expanding my fingers in length.
“This should not have been denied us,” I say, feeling Jinoch’s presence behind me. “We could have used this against the Wave.”
“Perhaps, but I think it would have done little good. It is better that we find them now,” Jinoch said. He sounded completely confident in his statement, but I couldn’t be sure. We needed everything we could muster against the Wave and to find all these weapons hiding in every corner only served to infuriate me. Bureaucracy and the weight of history had contributed to my people’s current state as much as Annihilus did. Never again. Never again would such foolish impediments keep my people from the greatness they truly deserved.
I pull my hand back and rub it against my throat. “I know how we will use these General.”
“My Queen?” Jinoch asked, his bloodlust trickling through his tone. I appreciated that because if my people were to be fierce we would need leadership that could strike fear. Jinoch, as long as he remained loyal, would stay the Commander of the General’s Circle. All my power and influence would make sure of that.
“We use them against the Axi-Tun. Let them be our first strike.” My words brought about an unexpected silence. I hoped that I had not misjudged the will of General Jinoch. Queen Veranke was a fire that would spread across the universe and I needed people willing to carry that torch. Jinoch’s next words would determine for me if that was the case.
“It would be a risk, but I would stand with you. The universe needs to understand that, even weakened, the Skrulls are not to be reckoned with,” Jinoch said. I was glad that my judgment of him wasn’t wrong. “So do we return home?”
“Yes.” I fold my arms across my chest and horns start to grow from my forehead. “General, I need to be honest with you. There are many amongst my people who are against me. Many that can’t see my vision.”
Jinoch turns and starts to walk back to where the Nirukhay is docked. “Then you have two options, my Queen. Either make them see your vision or take away their vision altogether.”
Throneworld Reborn
Prince Varkur, my younger brother, embraced me as soon as I entered the throne room. It felt good to be in his arms, to know that I had someone who supported my every decision. His loyalty to me was never in question and because of that I would always protect him. When the embrace is finished, I kiss him on the cheek. “We have made much progress, brother. Our people will be strong.”
He nods at me and takes my hands in his. “Good, Veranke, but do not forget to make yourself strong. The only way any of this survive this in the long term is with a strong ruler. Be careful on who you surround yourself with.”
I laugh because I know the overprotectiveness for what it is. “Not everyone can be you, Varkur. You are one of the few good, true men amongst the Skrull. The rest of us have been made too bitter by war and conflict.”
I knew why Varkur was such a man of character, but I would never voice it to him. His disability, the one that rendered his shape shifting painful, had forged him into a man of principle. He had constantly been an object of scorn and pity so he latched on to the one person who never saw him as such. And even now I did not see the Prince as a cripple. I saw his birth defect as a hidden weapon. Too many underestimated his worth and that made him dangerous. I needed him far more than he needed me.
“Are you sure that we can trust Jinoch? He strikes me as a man of ambition. Can we really look to him to stand with you?”
Varkur’s question was a valid one, but I couldn’t turn away all those who would help me. “He’s not a problem…at least not yet. The real issue is the Kivenit and the Imperial Historians.”
“What about Wolloch and the Super-Skrull?”
“I think they can be made to understand what I intend to do for our people. They are patriots at their core. They’ll stand by me once I see that I intend to keep the core values of our people.” I move past my brother and move up the steps leading to my throne. Lights shift underneath the chair, making it appear to forever shift in color.
I sit down and stare out of a large window to my right. The city beneath me is full of noise and transport tubes are alit blue with the bustle of industry. “I hope I do not bring this place to flames brother.”
Varkur moves closer to me, hands behind his back. “Striking against the Axi-Tun before they strike against us will show everyone you are meant to be Queen. Whatever consequence that brings we can deal with when it comes.”
I sigh. “I can only hope, brother. I can only hope.”
“You’re worried about them discovering you’re…relationship?” Varkur, sweet brother that he is, tries to be as kind about my secret as possible.
“I would hardly call a torrid liaison with an Axi-Tun god a relationship. But yes, I do worry about them discovering it. It could mean the end of everything I’ve worked for.”
Varkur fell to bended knee. “Then we annihilate any who might discover it. The reign of Queen Veranke will not end until our people are once again in glory.”
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The End...
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