An Emperor can not be treated this way!

The massive form of the CEAS William Smith triumphantly returned to the semi-functional Airship port. As it pulled up and was tethered to the dock, A long gangplank was lowered down from the wide-open cargo bay door. A group of soldiers carrying Hornets walked as an escort for the Emperor and his female entourage and escorted them to the Duhan Lift.

Emperor Asoka frowned and then asked, "When are you planning to show us to our lodgings? Are you even planning to feed us?"

The soldier looked at him with disgust and said, "Her Majesty is waiting for you. We are taking you to the Palace."

The Emperor stared at the man with an evil expression, "You think you are so tough because you have a weapon and I don't. You are nothing before me. I could have you and your entire family killed." He snapped his fingers, "Like that."

The soldier smiled and said, "You know how long it took us to conquer your Grand Empire? Twenty four hours. Still want to threaten my family?" He chuckled.

"What are you talking about? Your Empress declared war on me one month ago," Emperor Asoka fumed, "I didn't ask for this war in the first place!"

The Soldier chuckled and then once the lift hit the bottom floor, the soldier frog marched him through the lobby to a waiting fast attack carriage. His entourage of ladies was allowed to walk unhurriedly to the vehicle where they were gently lifted on board. The Carriage sped over to the Palace as soon as they were all on board. The Soldiers once again were very kind and considerate to the ladies and practically violent with Emperor Asoka all but tossing him out on the driveway before aggressively dragging him inside the Palace.

The inside of the former Embassy building was easily converted into a functional Palace during the day by Roland. He mostly just moved certain pieces of furniture around to create a throne room out of one of the conference rooms and hired musicians to add ambiance along with uniformed Royal guardsmen at strategic points. As it was an Embassy for Royalty, it was already designed to house a Monarch and his guests. There was even a pair of Thrones in the building that were simply moved into the new Throne room. The finishing touches were simply inviting the Nobility to attend the Surrender signing and setting up a table under the Thrones were the defeated Asoka would sign the documents.

As Emperor Asoka was dragged into the Throne room he was shouting obscenities at the soldiers who escorted him. "You filthy dogs of Connaissance, just you wait, I will show you who has the power over life and death!"

A gasp went through the gathered Nobility as they saw the once calm and confident man looking like a savage as he was rudely sat down at a small table with a document placed in front of him. The Thrones were empty as he looked around at the faces of the Nobles who were laughing and making comments about him. The music died down and then the new Connaissance Anthem started to loudly play. All of the Soldiers and Nobles stood at attention and faced the two thrones as a beautifully dressed Teslaimia sat on the smaller of the two thrones followed by Emily who regally sat in the larger of the two thrones. Once the music finished she spoke up, "You may be seated." She waited as everyone took their seats and then began, "Asoka, Emperor of Injia, you were warned one month ago that if you did not present yourself here and offer your apology by yesterday evening that we would conduct wartime operations within your nation. Creating a spy ring here in the Capital city of the Empire of Connaissance is found to be an act of war, as such we did declare war against you. Do you dispute this charge?"

The Emperor laughed and said, "Bullshit, you went to war with me over that woman! She sits beside you as if she is your Empress when you are clearly the Empress of Connaissance." He stood up and turned to the Nobility and shouted, "An Emperor can not be treated this way! I have a right to arrange marriages with my neighboring kingdoms, just because your Sapphic Empress wants this woman for herself she can destroy my cities and kill my armies? Ridiculous."

Emily smiled and said, "Emperor Asoka, since you decline to defend yourself against the charge of spying, I will continue. We have defeated your army and laid siege to your capital. At that time you did surrender. We are currently abiding by the Armistice you signed in good faith at that time. I have drawn up the articles of your surrender, please take this time to read them carefully."

Asoka started to read through the document and suddenly jumped to his feet, "This is insane no leader would sign such a document! This turns my Empire into nothing more than a Vassal state. Nothing but a colony for your Empire! You have the rights over all of our natural resources for one hundred years?"

Emily looked bored as she asked, "Then you refuse to surrender?"

Asoka shouted back, "You Sapphic Whore! I'll send you to meet Yama before I sign your shitty surrender!" He spat on the document and then took the pen and tried to jump over the table to stab her with it only to have Emily pull out a Tesla Wasp and shoot him in the shoulder causing him to scream out in pain while writhing on the ground blood pumping from the wound. One of the guards came forward and pressed him to the ground as they gave him basic first aid.

Emily shook her head sadly and said, "I am afraid the war must continue until someone in authority signs the surrender. General Colton, send word to the Zealous and William Smith, they are to continue destroying the Empire of Injia until no one is left or someone with the ability to reason comes forward to sign the document."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Roger said as he bowed in military fashion.

"Wait!!" Asoka shouted out as they pressed a cloth over his wound, "Give it to me. I'll sign it. I'll sign my Empire away! Don't kill my people."

Emily nodded to the officer holding him down. They gave him the pen and the documents and allowed him to sign. He looked up at her and said, "I swear to you. Someday I will pay you back for this, mark my words." He looked at Teslaimia and said, "Your father will pay for this as well. I was letting him off easy by only asking for your hand in marriage."

Teslaimia turned to Emily and asked, "What is the punishment for threatening a monarch in Connaissance law?"

Emily shook her head and said, "He is swallowing his pride for the sake of his people and signing the document. I consider this the act of a good leader. The fact that he waited until his people suffered and his armies died is reprehensible, but in the end, he chose to do the right thing. Since he is injured he will stay here in Connaissance until such time as he is fully healed. I understand he brought servants with him as well. Since this is the case we will have him stay as a guest here. General Colton, please arrange a residence at the base for the Emperor. I'm sure he would enjoy playing chess with our Planning officer."

Roger smiled and gave another military bow to Emily, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Emily stood up and looked down on Asoka, "I hope you can take the time you are a guest here to see the error of your ways. You are a smart man but like all smart men, you can't imagine meeting someone who is already three steps ahead of you which is why you lost so easily." She took Teslaimia's hand and then walked out of the Throne room in the same grand manner she arrived.

*****

A lot had changed over the week Captain Staughler and his men had been away from Connaissance. The roads project for the Empire had been started which entailed paving all the roads around the City of Connaissance with Pillson Concrete. After having driven through the horribly maintained roads in Injia, it was like the very ground itself was welcoming them home. As they passed by the road workers and then civilians all they heard was cheering. The Captain and his men were no strangers to a hero's welcome, but this time thanks to the help of the Connaissance Observer telling their story, they were coming home to a population that truly knew what it was they had been doing.

It was an eight-hour drive just from the border to the main road leading into the city of Connaissance which meant that they had been driving for nearly a full day when they finally arrived back home. It was just about time for the sun to rise as a weary Reemus Staughler quietly closed his front door and made his way back to where his wife Victoria was sleeping. As he walked in the bedroom door she asked softly, "Reemus? Is that you?"

He smiled brightly and then stripped-down crawling into bed with her, "It's me, I am home safe."

She wrapped herself around him in a tight full-body hug and kissed him fiercely, "I waited so long! We knew you were coming home, I tried to wait up for you, but I couldn't make it. You must be tired, we'll sleep in this morning."

He started kissing her and touching her, "I'm not that tired."

She moaned excitedly, "Good."

*****

Amelia stared into the empty barn with mixed emotions as Dmitri walked up beside her. He grumpily asked, "Is it time for another one of your adventures?"

She shook her head and said softly, "No, no more adventures. I was wondering just how far it is to Connaissance from here."

Dmitri smirked and asked, "What can you learn there that you can't learn here?"

She looked at him and brushed the hair out of her eyes, "I was offered a golden opportunity and I threw it away because I was afraid that if I took it, I would be exposed as a fraud. That I wouldn't be smart enough to make it work for me. If I had just listened, I would never have ended up there...."

Dmitri nodded and said, "Regret is the one thing they will never find a cure for in this world. Regret teaches more than any book and more than any person ever will."

She looked up into his eyes and asked, "If I go there, will I ever find what I lost?"

Dmitri shrugged and asked, "So what if you don't, maybe you find more regret? Or maybe you find something you never imagined. The future is like that. Your choices today, will bring you to a place you could never plan for and maybe a place you should be at. Or maybe it will bring you to an empty barn listening to an old man who ran from his own dreams ramble on pointlessly."

She looked at him and asked, "Then I should go there and try?"

Dmitri put a hand on her shoulder and said, "You should follow your heart, wherever it wants to lead you. How will you go then? The north is very far from here. That's why I chose this place for us."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and said, "I'm going to make another airship. My own this time. I am going to go back there and I am going to stay even if I am only hired to sweep up at the shop."

Dmitri smiled and gave her a hug, "I will help you, you design it and we will build it together."