Chapter 1 - This Changes Everything

Joshua stared over the city from a window in the palace as tiny specs of explosions went off in the distance. The darkness of the night sky contrasting with the vast city below in chaos and ruin.

“Hey you there brother?” A voice asked Joshua

Suddenly Joshua was brought back to reality, the large open chamber surrounding him with his many attendants along with his brother and Mother.

“Ah,” he said, shaking his head “yes, of course, just…didn’t get enough sleep last night. No need to worry about me Samuel.”

“Jeez,” he said with his palm to his chin “you were the one that wanted me to sit in on this meeting anyway” he said impatient as ever.

Samuel was never all that patient but he was still a child none the less so it was only natural.

“So as I was saying my Lord” Joshua’s main assistant Ruri said “our 2,000-hour report was brought back and it seems to be much of the same as our last”

Ruri was a loyalist, never batting an eye to what Joshua would say. He respected it, but at the same time it felt like it was only “yes men” around him, always something to praise but never critique. There were many times Ruri may have doubted him, but she never spoke of it: always trusting and ever loyal to the Roslian house.

“We saw a minor jump in crime rates throughout the city along with what we can find in terms of homelessness.” she said, staring down at the holograms in front of her.

“By how much percent are we seeing in these areas” Joshua’s Mother questioned. She always looked for ways to help Joshua improve but never to truly challenge, as no one truly would expect, maybe his younger brother.

Ruri swiped through her main documents on the hologram before finding the information “Uhh… we are looking at around 0.5% in crime and 3% in homelessness” she stated.

“That’s quite good, if I do say so myself.” Joshua said pretentiously, he knew something needed to be done but what could he do.

“These are statistics from just the main world and not the system?” Joshua questioned.

“Yes, m’Lord” Ruri frantically swiped more through her holograms “although…we do have estimates and we are seeing much worse results from some of the outer world like Urul”

“So what exactly are we seeing out in those areas?” Joshua asked Ruri.

If crime continued to grow along with homelessness and drug usage Joshua’s favorability could drop immensely. All Joshua wanted was to leave a good lasting legacy for his successors to follow in.

“We are looking at 20% in crime and about a 30% rise in homelessness” Ruri said calmly

Lord help us Joshua thought to himself as he leaned back into his chair more. They were in a time of peace and prosperity but the outer worlds were suffering from it more than they were gaining.

“Can we see if this correlates much with the amount of drugs we’ve found on the outer worlds?”

“Yes, of course m'Lord,” one of Ruri’s assistants said next to her. They moved across the room quickly and turned on the large hologram at the end of the large table.

“m’Lord, if I might intrude.” one of Joshua’s older advisors said “We have always had these problems no matter what time we are in. Whether it be war or peace, we’ve always had large problems like these in the outer worlds”

“My family has held this system for over a thousand years. I will not see this be uprooted by some revolution that could’ve been prevented in some way” Joshua sneered “Are you suggesting that we just simply sit around and wait for the lower classes to rise up Sir Alister?”

“No of course not my Lord, I was merely suggesting to not put much-”

“Then let me do my job as the Lord of this system” Joshua spoke against him.

The hologram at the end of the table flashed on for everyone to see. It showed a line graph slowly rising over the past 10,000 hours with a sudden spike towards the end.

“As you can see here m’Lord we have seen a large spike in crime in the recent hours.” Ruri’s assistant said.

Another line appeared on the same graph almost matching it. “And this line is the amount of drugs that have been found by authorities in the outer worlds.”

“I knew it,” Joshua mumbled to himself.

“As you can see sir these are almost identical-” Ruri’s assistant said

“But what is there to be done m’Lord” Sir Lannister said “We can’t really do anything in the outer worlds without major inspections of every ship.”

The Lannister’s were always full of themselves, they had the oldest seat on the council of advisors and it seemed to Joshua that every time they had an opinion it was another reason to add as to why they shouldn’t be on the council. They were so disconnected from reality with their lavish lifestyles Joshua found it amusing.

“Actually, I do believe something can be done.” Joshua said “As long as drugs flow into the outer worlds we cannot truly consider this a time of peace”

“But sir,” Sir Lannister chuckled, “the only realistic way to stop this flood is by having every ship that comes through the outer gates check thoroughly for drugs and we don’t really have that kind of man power at the moment m’Lord.”

“No we do not m’Lord but I still believe something can be done” Sir Yuko spoke up. He turned his head up from his holographic notepad towards Joshua before saying. “As you can see there has been a spike in the recent hours. That is not wrong to say right Mis Ruri?”
“Yes,” she said.

“Has anyone come into control over any of the shipping lanes between systems in the recent hours as well?” Sir Yuki questioned her as his gaze turned over to her.

“Well, yes sir there actually has been” Ruri said almost nervous “One of the heads of our shipping industries into the outer worlds just recently retired from his post”

“And who exactly replaced him?” Joshua’s Mother inquired.

“His son Mr. Alek Morrison,” Ruri said as she brought up a photo on the main hologram screen. “We don’t have much on him besides that he studied Business and Business Management in school… he is more than qualified to run the company.” she said looking up from her hologram pad.

“That is strange, but Sir Yuko please continue I’d like to hear what you have to say” Joshua stated

Yuko was by far the best advisor on the council, he was intelligent and willing to question things about Joshua’s leadership. He had an almost nonexistent background coming from the lowest part of the Capital planet. In Joshua’s mind best of all he didn’t worry about getting his hands dirty every now and again to help House Roslian and the people of their system.

“Of course m'Lord,” Sir Yuko responded, “does it say what school or academy he attended for his studies.”

Ruri looked down at her report once again, “It says that he attended Noalities Academy in the Southern region of the Capital planet”

“I’m unfamiliar with this school Ruri,” Joshua said curiously “what is it known for?”

“It’s mostly known for its large-” Ruri was cut off

“It’s known for being the largest party academy in the system m’Lord” Sir Yuko spoke up. “I’m familiar with it”

“What exactly do you mean by familiar Sir Yuko?”

“Oh, I have visited it many times. There were people everywhere on every known drug in the galaxy” he said, chuckling to himself.

“Great,” Joshua said, sinking into his chair once again, “so the head of the largest transport company in the outer worlds is either unqualified or a drug addict that only wants more of it.”

“Yes, m'Lord, that is my belief,” Sir Yuko said to Joshua.

“So what do we do now Joshua?” Samuel asked as he looked down, kicking the table with his foot.

“Well, what would you do Samuel?” Joshua asked his brother

“I’m not sure, that’s your job.” Samuel said and he started to look at Joshua “But, if had to do something I’d probably remove him from his position on the company”

“That’s not a bad idea Samuel, but not quite” Joshua said

Joshua was impressed that Samuel was catching on quite quickly despite not seeming to care. He’d make a suitable heir if Joshua were to die before ever having a child. That was the only reason Joshua really had him sitting in on this meeting anyway.

“Sir’s and Ruri I’d like for us to attempt to thoroughly inspect and monitor every ship that comes into our system. Though we may not have the men for it, we must try our best with what we have. The next time we find drugs on one of the carriers assigned to their shipping company I’d like for the head to be replaced with someone more trustworthy.” Joshua said looking down at his notepad “Then I’d like for his men to inspect their ships more often and have any of the drugs destroyed before they can reach their intended market.”

“Good plan m'Lord,” Sir Yuko said.

“A fine idea m’Lord” Sir Lannister responded

His people usually took his orders without question making sure that all of his wishes were made true. It was unsettling to Joshua that no one ever spoke out against him but whenever Yuko complimented him it usually meant he was doing the right thing even if it wasn’t by the best means.

“Now the only other part of the 2,000-hour report I’d like to highlight is our profit from Salcarite.” Ruri said, swiping to the right section.

Joshua looked as the hologram at the end of the table changed to a table showing profits from Salcarite over the last 2,000 hours. It had increased massively.

“Why the big jump?” Joshua asked

“House Tyrell and House Barokeen declared war on each other not too long ago, they need the Salcarite to transport weaponry, troops, and much more. While the Imperium is trying to calm them down no peace deal has been made”

“Okay, but still it wouldn’t exactly cause that large of a spike”

“Yes, m’Lord it wouldn’t. What would cause it is this,” Ruri added a report sent in from the mining planet of Urul. “I had this report withheld from our briefings as a sort of surprise for you m’Lord”

“We’ve successfully refined recent Salcarite and expanded the lifetime of it by over 2000% and can now transport materials without the aging effects of inter-system travel for much over 1,000 hours of inter-system travel.” Joshua gasped “If this is true then we may have just become the richest House in the history of this galaxy” Joshua was astonished at what he was reading.
“This changes everything m’Lord” Sir Alister said.

“Yes, indeed my Sir’s” Joshua said still shocked

Everyone was silent at what they had just read. All that was going through their head was this changes everything.

“And it gets better m’Lord,” Ruri said “We also received this report just this morning”

Joshua looked up to see the new report about the mining operations on Urul.

“We’ve found a new vein of Salcarite. This may be the largest vein ever found since the original discovery of the material.” Sir Yuko read off from the report. “Lord if this is all true then this isn’t a time for celebration-”

“You are right Sir Yuko, this is a time for action.” Joshua said as he got up. He pointed towards his hand Detri before saying “Arrange for my ship to be started I’m headed to Urul to see this myself”

“m’Lord, you can’t just leave so suddenly” Sir Lannister said “There is much to deliberate”

“While I’m gone I’d like to increase whatever we were planning to charge for the new material by 100% at the least. Make sure to begin stockpiling our reserves,” Joshua said as he started heading towards the door “we should immediately make sure we only manufacture the new type of Salcarite.”

“Joshua-” Samuel rebutted

“Sir Yuko you’ll be in charge while I’m gone look after my family and my usual matters” Joshua said as he reached the door “I’d like my personal guards with me on my trip as well. Send them a note of my arrival as well” Joshua said before the doors were closed behind him.

“Well, that’s that then” Ruri said as she turned off the hologram

“You are dismissed Ruri” Yuko said fondly “Same to you lord’s”

Yuko has become used to this now. Whenever Joshua was gone he was put in charge of the House until his return. It was a sign of mutual respect and trust between the young man and him.

“All of what the Lord has stated shall be done Sir Yuko”

“Thank you as always Mis Ruri”

What decisions Joshua had made here would surely anger the Imperium Yuko thought, but that was a given. The Imperium acted as if they were in control when they couldn’t do much against House Roslian.

Yuko grabbed his things before heading out the chamber and back to his quarters in the palace.