Fruitless Vanity
This document is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada license, available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/.
Disclaimer: If it is illegal to read this where you are, then don't read it. This story is completely fictional. Any similarities to any persons or events, past or present is purely coincidental. This story contains homosexual themes, along with a sci-fi/fantasy storyline.
Author's note: This story is set in the universe of Legendary Warrior.
May, 2010
Chapter #1 -- The Tempest
"Major Harrison" Colonel Jake spoke to her officer. The two were on the bridge of a starship. The Colonel was the ship's commanding officer, while the Major was the ship's intelligence attache. Or a fancy way of saying he liaised with Imperial Intelligence.
"Yes sir?" Scott looked over at his friend Viv. He'd known her since he joined the Imperial Guard ten years ago. They became friends pretty fast, and he was requested to serve with her when she got her own command. He was also the ship's second officer.
"Step into my office please." The Colonel gave Scott a small smile, and the walked into the bridge-side office, with the Colonel sitting behind her desk, and the Major taking a seat in front.
"General Chambers called me earlier, as you are aware. There has been a string of thefts of military equipment on Rigel Prime. We will be in orbit in an hour. You are to meet with the Pharaoh, and she will give you more details. She didn't want to do it any other way, for fear the wrong people might get wind of what is going on."
Scott nodded a little. "So I find the stolen equipment, and then I report back to you?"
The Colonel nodded. "More or less, though the Pharaoh has requested that you give her regular reports on your progress. Now go pack a bag, you'll be staying at the Maple Palace. Her Majesty insisted."
Scott was a little surprised, but nodded. He was dismissed, so he went to his quarters to pack.
******
Scott was in full military uniform, at attention. He was in the throne room at Maple Palace, ready to be received by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh motioned for him to be at ease. Then she stood from her throne, and with her husband the Queen motioned for Scott to follow them.
The Pharaoh took a seat behind her desk. "Have a seat, please Major. This is my husband Royal." She indicated the Queen. "As Colonel Jake told you, military equipment has been stolen. What she didn't tell you is it is mainly arms that have been stolen, and it's been for the last year."
Scott nodded a little and made a few notes. "Okay, but isn't that something the Security branch of the Imperial Guard or Imperial Intelligence should investigate?"
The two looked between them. The Pharaoh and the Queen that is. "We're not sure who we can entirely trust. We know we can trust you. Ever since Pharaoh Alexander I was on the throne, over 500 years ago, morale hasn't been the same. We need to do some in-house cleaning, but for now we need to solve this immediate problem."
There was a knock on the door, and a boy of about twelve came into the office. He walked over and sat in the Pharaoh's lap. "Mommy, Tyler kicked sand in my eyes."
Cynthia smiled to her son, "This is my youngest son Skylan. Skylan, say hi to Major Harrison."
The boy looked over at Scott, "You're a Major? Do they let you carry a gun?"
Scott smiled to the boy as well now. "Yes, I'm a Major and they sometimes let me carry a gun."
The Queen smiled to his son, "Go and play with Tyler so the adults can talk."
The boy pouted. "Tyler went to play at the video arcade with his friends."
Royal ahhed at that. "Then go play with your video console."
The boy jumped off of Cynthia's lap, and ran out of the room with whoops and hollers.
"Boys will be boys" Royal mused.
Cynthia smiled to Scott, "You've been given clearance equivalent to that of a General, to make your job easier. Talk to whomever you need."
Scott nodded. "I will do that, Your Majesty."
Cynthia smiled still, "When we're in private, you may address me as Cynthia and my husband as Royal. You will join us for dinner. It will just be the family and you."
Scott nodded and stood. "May I be dismissed, Cynthia?"
Cynthia nodded, "Of course. One of the staff will show you to your room."
With that Scott turned and left the office. Outside the door was a woman of about 5'5" height with a skirt-suit on. "Major, I am Leslie Woods, Chief of Staff to the Pharaoh." They started to walk towards Scott's room. "I'll be showing you to your room. While here you have access to most of the palace."
Scott nodded to Leslie a little. Scott himself was 6'1" with red hair and green eyes. He had to admit that Leslie was fairly attractive. They were both the same age, but Leslie had blue eyes and brown hair.
Scott wasn't paying attention to where he was going, however. His attention was on the attractive brunette showing him to his room. And so he came into contact with someone, both of them falling to the floor, the other person dropping a couple of items in his hands.
Scott brushed himself off and looked to the other guy. "I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."
The other guy got back onto his feet and glared at Scott. "Darned right you weren't! You could have broken my neck!"
Scott was starting to sweat, "But I didn't..." that's when he noticed the other guy was about 16, stood about 5'8" and had brown hair, with green eyes.
"Your Highness" Leslie started to speak, "I'm sure Major Harrison meant no offence."
Scott quickly was down on one knee, head down. "Your Highness. I am very truly sorry for running into you." At least Scott knew proper manners.
Tyler grumbled a little, but looked at Scott. He picked up his own stuff. "Apology accepted. Watch where you're going next time." And with that, Tyler stalked off to another part of the palace.
Scott looked over to Leslie, after getting back up on his feet. "Who was that?"
"Crown Prince Tyler. He's 16, and supposed to be doing homework, but I suppose he's up to something or another. If we're lucky, he's re-designing our heavy cruiser."
Scott blinked, "They let him design the ships?"
Leslie just nodded, looking at Scott as if he were stupid. "He enjoys it, and he's quite brilliant."
Scott would be more reserved on that decision.
Scott entered the dining room the palace around six o'clock that evening. A maid had shown him in, and Skylan was already sitting at the table. He was colouring in his colouring book. The twelve year old smiled to Scott. "Hi Major."
Scott smiled back, "Hello, Your Highness. Are you having fun?"
The boy nodded and continued to colour. He may have been too old for this activity, but he loved it as much as his brother loved designing stuff.
Scott stood as Cynthia and Royal entered the dining room. While Scott was standing, Tyler came in and they all took their seats. Scott was seated across from Tyler. "Are you still here?" Tyler asked moodily.
"Yes, I'm still here" Scott replied with a smile.
Cynthia, however, snapped at her son. "Tyler! You'll behave. Major Harrison is a guest. I know what happened earlier, and you forgave him. So cut it out."
Tyler grumbled, but after the food was put on the table, he quietly eat his food.
"I went out to the base earlier, to get an idea of the layout" Scott explained. He was at the base where the weapons had been stolen from. It was the major cache for the Empire.
Royal nodded to Scott. "How did you find the base?"
Scott shrugged, "Despite my time in the Imperial Guard, I've never been there before today. It was very... basey, I suppose. Very military-esque. Though I shouldn't be surprised."
Tyler looked up a bit. "Too military-esque if you ask me." He took another bite of his food.
"How do you plan to start your investigation?" Royal asked of Scott.
"I read the Security report. So I think maybe I'll plant a few homing devices on some of the weapons. See if we can't track them." Scott replied.
"How long do you think it will take to find the culprit?"
Scott hmmed, "Hopefully no more than a week, a few days ideally though." He took a bite of his own food.
A few hours later, Scott was leaving the military base. It was situated along the bank of a large bay. Making his way up the hill, Scott noticed Tyler with a PDA-type device, akin to the iPad of human history. Scott made his way over, and took a seat next to Tyler. "What are you drawing?"
Tyler looked over to Scott, and then back to his drawing. "This ship re-design. The ship is too clunky when it is in slipstream mode. I'm trying to streamline it much better."
"If you don't mind me asking, Your Highness, are you supposed to be out here alone?"
Tyler shrugged, "You can call me Tyler if you'd like, Major. I'm supposed to have a couple of guards escort me, but they're around me 99.9% of the time. The Royal Guard is insufferable. I need some freedom."
"Be that as it may, Tyler, a lot of people would be really sad if something happened to you, and you are the Crown Prince."
Tyler sighed, "I know. My parents say the same things."
There was a large explosion on the base nearby. You could see the fire from the top of the hill. Scott took out his communicator, and called for someone to take Tyler home. Tyler understood the danger.
Once Tyler was under escort, Scott headed to the base. He was met by General Chambers. "Sir, what happened?"
"Major, it seems as if the armoury was rigged. It exploded, and so did whatever in it. This is bad Major, very bad."
Scott couldn't disagree with the General's assessment. "What did we loose?"
"Everything. We stored 75% of all of the Empire's weapons in there." The General was a man who in human terms looked to be about 60 years of age, with grey hair too.
Scott nodded to Lyle Chambers, "It really is very bad then." He sighed. Could this day get any worse.
Scott returned to the Palace. He'd begin his investigation in the morning. For now there were more pressing security issues, and he couldn't be in the way.
He stepped into the family room of the royal apartments, and saw both Cynthia and Royal crying. He looked over to Leslie, "What's wrong?"
"Tyler has gone missing."