Monarch

The Kaiserreich’s camp was dissolved fairly quickly. By the decree of Julius, camps needed no more than two hours to form and dissolve, this one took an hour and a half. It was enough for them to flee the scene and blame the attack on the Antediluvians.

Caius stared at the rest of the members as they flew towards different targets, but leaving the place all the same, “I guess we still don’t exist here, uncle?” Asked the boy, he stared at the napalmed ruins of the Sakilo-Jawanian camp. He could swear, for a moment, that he saw someone there, alive. Attempting to breathe their last life.

“For all intents and purposes, we do not exist, the Kaiserreich doesn’t exist. For the Antediluvians, we’re the Green Division; for the Caspians, we’re the Condottieri mercenary Corps; for the Sakilo-Jawanians, we’re simply known as ‘Black’. But they do not know, they cannot trace who we are. Where we came from, how we operate.” He quietly monologued toward Caius.

“For these empires, for the lords they chose responsible for this invasion, nothing would be more shameful towards the Greater Galactic Council than to find out that they are so weak that they’d resolve to mercs, yes?” Again, he was basing off of preconceptions and stock knowledge. But then again, Caius studied under the guidance of Julius.

Julius closed his eyes and started to rub his chin, “That would indeed be the case, we’re seen in a dishonorable light, and for them to be colluding with us would be grave for their reputation. Thus we don’t exist, we only exist towards them. However.”

A however. Caius, for a moment, thought to himself, what could be the only caveat from his uncle’s well thought out strategy. But then it dawned on him, “-However, should our existence be revealed towards all empires. We would be seen as a threat towards them, perhaps to save face, no?” Caius completed his uncle’s train of thought.

“And we would be exterminated,” Julius ended the thought. A grim silence befell the noisy helicopter… “I’m sorry about your mother… Theresa.” Julius looked down and silently, sniffed on a tissue and wiped a tear. Theresa von Kaiser was his younger sister. For his entire career he never wanted her to be harmed in such a way.

Julius knew that the moment he made a mistake with his identity, a slip-up, that he’d have her blood on his hands. The fear followed him everywhere until it caught up with him. When he heard the news of Michael and Theresa’s death, he couldn’t handle his grief.

Grief swallowed him, and he fell in anger. For weeks he tracked their killer from a secluded room in his Concursus headquarters. When he found them, and he did with scornful rage, he ordered them to burn their firm to the ground. He wanted to kill everyone, everyone connected with the killing. The killers, the killers’ bosses, their subordinates, their co-workers, their friends, their families. And he did. To the extent of his reach, that is.

He remembered his grief, and wiped more tears, yet he carried himself back. He wouldn’t wait for what the boy had to say to him. He knew he’d remain silent, in an undignified, solemn stature. That was just the kind of kid that he is.

The journey to the headquarters was as silent as it could be. They arrived after a few hours. In that hour Caius saw villages, some populated, some unpopulated, some depopulated. And as they got deeper into the planetary jungle, the amount of depopulated villages increase.

The headquarters itself is nothing truly special. A 4 square kilometer clearing in the middle of the lush green inferno. It boasts a huge dirt airfield capable of launching several aircrafts per hour. With the amount of primary and auxiliary buildings, of warehouses, one could simply think that it’s a well-stocked military base. And not the hive of the only mercenary company on the planet.

The two stepped out of the helicopter and they got greeted by a man of steel. His limbs are metallic. He’s a cyborg, of course, but it seems the prosthetics are less than and more so his dark skin fusing with the metals, “My lord! You are back safe,” The man kneeled in front of Julius, he stood up and looked at Caius, “Is this the boy?” His voice was deep and rough, though if it was due to the cybernetics, or if it’s all natural, Caius couldn’t tell.

“Yes, yes. Caius, this is Agrippa, a native of Concursus. He’ll be your caretaker, mentor, and trainer. Agrippa, this is Caius, I trust you with his life.” Julius grabbed onto Caius’ shoulder and made them shake each other’s hand.

Caius did so, he touched Agrippa’s cold, metallic hand and shook it with a quiet squeak along the joints, “It’s a pleasure to meet the young master. I’ll make sure to keep him safe, my lord.”

“Good, come on.” Said Julius. The three of them walked towards a large blended concrete building in the middle of the base. This was the headquarters. From the outside it seemed makeshift, a rectangular, modern building made out of concrete. Painted to look like its surroundings.

Though as they entered the building, it led straight into a staircase, and the staircase led straight into an elevator. Agrippa pressed a button, and they waited silently, patiently, for the elevator door to open.

The elevator seemed to move both vertically and horizontally as it went through the labyrinthine depths of the headquarters, “It’s a wonder what hard labor, Caspian technology, and 20 years could do eh?” Said Julius.

Eventually the glass doors of the elevator revealed a vast cavernous expanse. Within it is a huge town populated by more than ten thousand. It looked basic, makeshift, in the wooden-built buildings that it contained. In the distance, Caius could see the military equipment that Julius would use in the business. Planes, vehicles, there are tanks and mobile artillery scattered around.

There was even a large lake at the end of the town, the lake housed an aircraft carrier, a destroyer, and several smaller vessels surrounding it. Caius knew this only as the equipment that they’ve captured in the 20 years of mercenarial dealings that occurred on this planet.

“This… this is my pride and joy, boy. The Reichsstadt as I love to call it. Mercenaries, criminals, every person from every walk of life in the entire galaxy goes here. Those who have been abandoned by their empires, their societies, a town raised and controlled by criminals, for the sole purpose of solace amidst the crueler realities that govern the inhumane establishments they came from.” Julius’ eyes veered into the far distance, gawking at his town.

“So you harbor criminals?” Caius curiously asked.

“Yes.” Replied Julius.

“So how are you able to maintain the law?” Caius answered back.

“These empires, my boy, they’re large. Oftentimes they delegate the handlings of the planets to specific governors, and a lot of the times, these governors are soft. Their punishments for crimes range from 2 weeks in jail to 8 hours in a hyper-stasis white room. My methods.. Oh.” The elevator dinged and they’ve reached the groundest level.

As they stepped outside, they’re greeted by a man wearing an officer uniform similar to Agrippa’s, he saluted at Julius and said, “My lord, we’ve caught the murderer of Al Dundante, would you like to personally deal with his sentence?” The officer asked, he held a gun in his hand.

Julius nodded. He grabbed the gun and lead the other two towards where the murderer was being held, “Allow me to continue,” said Julius. the murderer was kneeled down on a patch of dirt, hands bound behind him. He looked down to the ground, never facing his executioner, “My methods are simple. For what else is better in bringing order in a chaotic landscape than,” he fired his gun, “Death.”

The shot rang through the entire cavern louder than any song and shouts ever could. Only the executioner was allowed to fire their weapons in the entire town. It was another way of keeping law and order.

“You kill them!?” Caius revolted, it was rare for leaders to actually give out death sentences. Especially with better methods at play throughout the entire Galaxy.

“Oh please, boy. This is the most merciful punishment we could give, and the most effective. Any crime, no matter what, is punishable by death.”

“And what of false accusations?”

“There are no false accusations.” Julius stared towards a pole, on top of it was a camera that maintained its gaze towards them. Caius looked around, every corner, every part of the town, there was a camera that gazed upon everyone.

Caius felt disgusted at the idea of a control state, so he thought for a moment, “Uncle, what would you classify as a crime in this place then?” He asked. Knowing that if the law set upon this place is the Galactic Standard then it would not make sense now.

“If you’re thinking we abide by the Galactic Standard, we do not. At most we only punish serious felonies. Anything more than that, petty rivalry, land disputes, copyright disputes, we have the offenders deal with it themselves.” He handed the gun to the officer and walked away with the others.

Caius scratched his head, he didn’t know much about the finer details of law so he didn’t really understand what he was talking about. They walked through the streets of the town, Julius was greeted warmly by almost everyone that passed him by. Caius meanwhile thought of any crimes he could, he told them to Julius to see whether or not it’s a punishable law in the town.

As they walked through the streets they came across gunsmiths, swordsmiths, taverns and the plaza. The town’s circular plaza was populated by market stalls, peddlers and people buying from them. At the center of this plaza was a tower taller than every other building in the town. Its marble white figure rose like glittering light throughout the entire town. Yet its presence was overbearing to everyone in the city. Though it stood, the people below it lived on. They drink, they laugh, they cry, they love. Only with a constant certainty, that something is watching.

They moved past the plaza and straight into the town hall. It stood there, flanked on both sides by roadways that curved past it. It stood taller than every building around it, yet not taller than the plaza’s tower. This was where Julius spent most of his time and is one of the few buildings in the town that isn’t exactly made from cheap materials.

Prevalent even more as they walked through the clean white hallways. Julius was greeted by every person he came across and he greeted them back, there was a sense of respect for him. Though whether it was out of actual respect for him or out of fear, Caius wouldn’t know. If he asked his uncle though, he’d know the only answer he’d give him was ‘it doesn’t matter.’

A man wearing a lengthy white robe bumped into his uncle, Caius felt fear for a moment. As if his uncle would just pull out a gun and shoot the man dead, but he didn’t. Instead, he saw his uncle smile and say, “Ah! Marcus, my friend.” Marcus and Julius hugged one another. Marcus was on a diplomatic mission for the past month and as such they haven’t been able to see one another.

“My brother, my brother. It has only been a month since we last saw each other and now you have a child!?” Marcus patted Caius’ shoulder as Julius just laughed embarrassingly.

“Aha, not my child, my friend. Theresa’s.

“Ah, Theresa…” Marcus fell silent, he knew what had occurred with Theresa, Julius’ sister. He knew the grief his friend felt knowing that she died, that he wasn’t able to do anything to save her, only avenge her. He knew, he was there as he grieved her.

“Yes, yes. Caius here would stay with us for the foreseeable future, anyways, do you need anything, my friend?”

“Ah, I do, actually. I’ve spoken to the Antediluvian Senate.” For a brief moment, Caius saw a brief glint light up his uncle’s eyes.

“Oh, have you now? Come! Come! We must speak about this privately,” Julius turned to Caius and Agrippa, “Agrippa, show the boy around will you? Be at my office before the eighth bell.”

“Yes, my lord.” Agrippa saluted as they all made their way away.