Capellan Interlude: 3011 (Romano's story Part one)

Capellan Interlude: 3011 (Romano's story Part one)

"Is that an intelligence brief for father?" Romano Liao asked the Maskirovka agent headed into the Celestial throne room.

"Yes Duchess." The agent bowed and offered the report to her before scurrying away.

"Father, I bring a Maskirovka report to you." She knelt before the celestial throne before rising to hand the report to him.

Maximilian Liaos face darkened the further he got into the report and when he had reached the end of it, his face turned a bright visible shade of red with anger. "Daughter!" He roared, "I have only one Daughter." He stood and drew his sword, at first intending to kill Romano before a better idea came into his head.

Sitting down on his throne once more, he had the guards seize Romano and hold her before him. "Like your brother before you, I consider you a disgrace upon my lineage and upon the Confederation as a whole." He drew in a deep breath. "You are Stripped of your titles, I hereby Disown you, I have only one living heir, and you are Banished, never to again return to the land of your birth. I do not see you, I do not hear you, I turn my face away from you in despair, your voice is as dust in the wind." Max gestured to the guards to carry her out, her legs having ceased to function after what he had said.

"Father," Candace Liao said after a few tense silent moments. "What has happened?"

"We have lost, the Confederation will cease to exist within a couple of generations." Max was strangely introspective and in his right mind for once. "She who has no name has sent the Mask to attempt to kidnap the dependents of the Wolf's Dragoons in order to force them to serve us."

"I believe she must have not learned her lesson from history." Max Liao said. "We have now become barren." He muttered. "No Mercenary unit will work with us once the Dragoons publish what has happened. And with Tikonov denied to us, we are unable to recover our lost forces at a reasonable pace."

"At least the Mariks are in a civil war." Candace tried to inject some hope and life into her father once more.

"Yes, I believe that is the sole reason that we are still a nation, and that will only last for a time." Max observed. "Come Daughter, let us discuss the future of the Confederation, and what you will make of it."

"How dare he do this to me!" Romano Liao raged in the small room she was in. "I will make him pay."

She had managed to secure some funds that only she had access to and boarded a Dropship headed for Marik Space. "I'll return, and you will rue the day that you did this. I will destroy your beloved daughter Candace, and watch your Confederation burn."

Atreus, Free Worlds League sometime 3011

"Sir, we have a Romano Liao here on Atreus here to speak with you." The current head of SAFE told Janos Marik. "We're holding her in a cell until we can confirm that it's actually her."

"Well, let me know when you've confirmed whether it's actually the spawn of Mad Max or not." Janos Marik said sternly, turning to his brother Anton. "We need to bring Duncan and his rebels to heel."

"I agree completely." Anton replied. "I may desire your position brother, but I believe that either you or I should have it. Not one of these younger upstarts."

"Well, if it turns out that it is Romano, I think we should discuss turning her over to the Andurians and seeing what happens." Janos said blaisely. "We're not in a position to make use of any information that she could offer us anyway."

"True," Anton turned to look at a map of the Free Worlds League. "How are the Wolf's Dragoons Settling in?"

"They're doing decently after what Maximillian tried on them." Janos replied. "I'm trying to figure out where to use them currently."

"Could use them on Duncan." Anton offered. "Or, alternatively, loan them to the Andurians and let them loose on the Liao's, they didn't have any clauses against it in their contract after all."

"We'll have to see how it goes over the next couple of months." Janos responded. "Let's continue figuring out how to put Duncan back in his place."

Romano Liao was quietly sobbing in her cell. She was finally coming to realize that she would never have the life she had once had, and that the only value she provided to anyone right now was whatever intelligence she could provide to one of the enemies of the Capellan Confederation.

"I should have gone to the Davions." She muttered to herself. "At least I'd be comfortable there." She rubbed her arms, and wrapped herself in the slim blanket that they had given her. Trying to stay warm in the cold cell.

"You're free to go." Her cell door swung open. "Turns out you're not worth the hassle to the Mariks right now." The SAFE guard told her. "We're giving you enough funds to get off planet and start going somewhere else."

They walked her out of the holding facility, handed her her belongings back, and let her loose once again. "I'm going to the Fedrats." Romano said to herself. "At least they'll do something with my information."

Author's note: May have been a little inspired by the Thor scene where Anthony Hopkins improvised the banishment scene...