Emily’s Bottom Line

Darius followed his daughter into Emily's office. Teslaimia set down the lunchbox and took her normal seat on the couch as Emily stood up and walked leaning heavily on her cane as she walked over and sat beside her. Emily took Teslaimia's head in her hands and turned the bruised cheek to look at it, "He did this?"

Teslaimia nodded not adding anything more. Emily opened the lunchbox and smiled, "Good choices again, I am famished today."

Darius sat down in a chair facing the two of them and spoke, "I brought her here, now are you going to at least acknowledge the fact that I am in the room?"

Emily's smile disappeared off her face as she replied emotionlessly, "Shall we talk? Alright. First of all, the Treaty of Connaissance giving you access to airship technology, a common defense alliance, and a sweetheart trade deal is only possible because of my relationship with your daughter. Second of all, your greed and lack of foresight are the reasons you find yourself in need of paying reparations to the Empire of Injia. Thirdly, you seem to think that because I am a woman, that I won't fight for what is mine."

Darius sat up tall and replied heavily, "You are a young and foolish woman playing at being a leader. If it wasn't for your airpower you wouldn't be worth sitting in this room. You got lucky with finding some men who gave you this terrifying weapon. That's all."

Emily shook her head and then looked at Teslaimia, "This is why I'll eventually have to conquer the world, Mia."

Teslaimia smiled and then softly replied, "He's basing his assumptions on the world he knows. The women he surrounds himself with would not be able to do the things you do." She entwined her fingers with Emily's and brought them to her lips for a soft kiss. "Father, The Empress did not get lucky. This city, these men you spoke of? They were all being held back before she found them and gave them purpose. The ideas were all funded by her personally. She asked for changes from them and combined their visions the way only she could to create the world you see out that window. The Windsor Kingdom is already seeing massive changes to how it is administrated and governed creating new wealth and opportunity. It's armies have seen their morale skyrocket and even the Church of the Risen Son has been changed by her existence. There is nothing in your Kingdom that you have done in your entire life that can even match the Empress's first month as a ruler of her city. I am not saying that to shame you, I am saying that because you need to understand the truth."

Darius was so angry that he began to shake as he answered in a softer voice than he would normally be able to utter in his angry mood, "What truth is that?"

Emily started to eat as they talked. Teslaimia smiled at her and said, "The truth that you are weaker than her in every way possible. As a ruler and a person."

Darius stood and shouted, "Do you think I can't kill you both right here?"

Emily took out her Tesla Wasp and pointed it at Darius and said, "You take a single step in our direction and you won't have a life anymore." Emily glanced over at Teslaimia and found her also pointing a Tesla Wasp at Darius.

"Father, these weapons are something I helped design, would you like to see what they can do?" Teslaimia said all pretense of civility no longer in her tone of voice.

Sir Killington stepped into the room and stood behind Darius. A heavy hand dropped onto Darius's shoulder and reseated him as Sir Killington said softly, "Would you like me to stay, Your Majesty?"

Both women put their Wasps away as Emily smiled, "Thank you, Charles, we'll need a few more minutes but it would help if you could stand here to keep our guest calm."

He nodded and said nothing just standing there with his hand on Darius's shoulder. Darius spoke up, "What more do we need to talk about?"

Emily poured out a cup of tea from a thermos in the Lunchbox and said, "The Emperor of Injia has been spying on my people and playing games in my empire with people like Andrew Windsor. This little cheap shot was aimed at me, not at you. You are just his pawn. Were you aware of that fact?"

Darius frowned and replied, "No, I thought he was just trying to use my daughter to bind me to him."

Emily shook her head, "He isn't afraid of you, he would have conquered you if he wasn't afraid of me. He thought to take Mia away from me by using this marriage. It was a test to see if I valued Mia or if I was just playing with her and really needed the alliance with you. He wanted to see if our alliance needed my connection to Mia to continue."

Darius looked confused, "Then if I had allowed the marriage and you broke our alliance?"

"Yes, he would have conquered you." Emily took a sip from her tea, "Or at the very least forced you to sign an alliance that left you as nothing more than his puppet."

Darius looked down at his hands which began to shake, "What will you do?"

Emily set down her teacup and then said, "I have already sent Emperor Asoka a letter by messenger. I advised him that as of today we are officially at war. His spies in the city have been removed and his businesses here have been closed. My army will begin wartime operations in his country if he doesn't surrender and present himself before me in one month's time."

Darius looked shocked, "What if he refuses? My country is stuck in the middle between your two lands."

Emily smiled and said, "You forget, my Empire contains the lands that were the former Windsor Kingdom. My eastern border is just across the Nadee." She motioned to Sir Killington to release Darius and then said, "If I haven't made an incorrect guess, a counteroffer will soon be sent by messenger requesting a cessation of hostilities before my army crosses the Nadee. Asoka is a smart man, and like all smart men now that he knows my bottom line he will attempt a different way to get what he is after."

Darius shook his head and asked, "What is he after?"

Emily picked up a piece of fruit and ate it happily before dabbing at her lips with a cloth, "Power. The power to not have to bow to a stronger leader. Just like you."

Darius thought for a moment and then asked, "Why did Andrew's invasion plan fail?"

Emily replied almost instantly, "Emperor Asoka knew it was coming. He knew how many soldiers you had. What food you brought. What weapons you carried. He set the battlefield where it was hardest on you and easiest for him. His soldiers were in protected higher ground and your men were charging uphill without the range to fight back."

Darius shook his head, "That's impossible, how could his intelligence have been so good?"

Emily looked at him like he was stupid, "You have been informal trading partners for how long now? His merchants fill your markets. His merchants run your brothels. Your soldiers, your suppliers, your support, all of it was an open book to someone like him that understands that a battle is won before it can be fought."

Darius smirked, "And what makes your army different?"

"My army moves faster than his information network and our range is beyond your imagination. Even without sending a single airship, my soldiers can destroy his armies before they can even be seen. One thousand of my soldiers have the ability to decimate an army twenty times their size. If I keep them supplied, they can do that over and over again." Emily finished her lunch looking satisfied, "Lunch was perfect once again, Mia, thank you."

*****

Roger walked into the Future War offices looking as grim as anyone had ever seen him. He found Norville Hudsucker and his group working with a few other of the scientists, "Norville, I need to speak to you. Alone."

Norville noticed his mood and nodded, "Ok, Roger. Let's go into Duhan's office."

Norville entered first and sat down. Roger closed the door behind himself and pulled the shades before quietly saying, "Norville, we're going to war. I need air support. Be honest with me, what's the earliest you can get me a ship?"

Norville frowned and started to scratch out some notes on the chalkboard, "Roger, we can have the Zealous back in the air by the end of the week but it's going to have serious problems. Give me a month and I will have a ship over your soldiers that can devastate any standing army. If you give me two more weeks, I can feel better about making sure it's safe to fly. I need six months to give you the proper ship."

Roger nodded and then asked, "And the Dreadnaught?"

Norville smiled and said, "I want eight months with it, but if you are willing to press it into service untested, I need a month."

Roger nodded and asked, "What's happening over this month?"

Norville smiled and said, "Gasless flight. We built an operational vacuum balloon. If it passes our tests, they are going to be the heart and soul of our airships."

Roger shook his head, "In Langlish, Norville."

Norville smiled and said, "We removed the flammable gas from the airships and just need to make sure that our fix isn't worse than the flammable lift gas itself. So far so good, we have proof of concept, now we just need to make sure it can stay aloft long enough to be useable under operational conditions. Weather, military action, and operator error."

Roger exhaled and then asked, "Is it possible to get both ships in the air in a month?"

Norville nodded, "The Dreadnaught is going through crew training with the Zealous crew right now, we just need to get the lift tanks on each ship. Winston Murray has the new weapons systems installed on both ships and we have added the new armor plating as well. I just need time to test the new lift tanks. If you give me the full time I need, I can be sure we won't have another situation like the Indomitable."

Roger let out a long breath, "This war, keep it between us, alright? Just make up an excuse to get this lift tanks installed and those ships in the air in a month."

Norville looked a little worried, "Roger, who are we going to war against?"

Roger shook his head, "It's better if you don't know. Not yet. We still have to count on diplomacy keeping us out of it."

Norville nodded, "Don't worry about my men, they are even more eager than you are to get those ships in the air. It's a point of pride for my boys seeing those ships in the air where only birds belong."

Roger nodded and said, "Thank you, Norville, I know I am asking a lot here, but honestly, we have too much territory to defend right now. The Empire has a third of the soldiers it needs and most of them are using outdated weapons and tactics. The City's defense force is the only real army we have and they are not enough to fight this war. If I could get weapons made and soldiers trained, I could carry out a war without air support in a year if I was lucky. I need two years before I would feel confident."

Norville shook his head, "Does Her Majesty know all this?"

Roger nodded and said, "She isn't the type to rush into things from what I have known of her, this time I think someone touched her bottom line."

Norville nodded and sighed, "You're right, even though she pushes us to go beyond our limits, she is usually looking at a much bigger picture than the rest of us can see. Do you know what I originally designed the airship to do?"

Roger shook his head, "No idea, what was the original design?"

Norville laughed and said, "I wanted to use them to bring the circus around from city to city."

Roger's eyes grew large, "You mean it was her idea to use them for the military?"

"She fused my idea with Winston's Beehive invention. Ask any man in this office who had a brilliant design or idea, either her or Princess Teslaimia have come by and offered input that led us to where we are now. They have a knack taking one look and seeing through to something beyond our calculations." Norville smiled thinking back.

Roger shook his head and mumbled, "Our Lady of Connaissance."

"Alright, if you don't mind Roger, I need to get those cats outside the office herded back into a meeting." Norville grinned.