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The Gyst – Chapter 3 For Kysjyt the day finally arrived. In accordance to the traditions and rules of Regency the prince was crowned as king at the age of 27. The ceremony was held in the courtyard of the Stone Ark palace. With 2,000 in attendance the rest of Royal Ascendant’s population, now over ten million, watched the ceremony broadcast from their homes and other public areas, for this day was declared a national holiday. Fulfilling his final duty as regent, Wonset placed the crown of the Diamond Throne on Kysjyt’s head and the Diamond Sceptre in his hand. It was a moving scene, for it was the crown that had been worn by Kysjyt’s father Hysax. Next only to the prince, the crown and scepter were the most highly guarded items held by the Gyst loyalists. Now after twenty-six years the ornately decorated helm was on display for all to see. The Diamond Sceptre, its fist-sized diamond cleaved from the Diamond Throne itself, sparkled as Kysjyt raised it above his head. Shouts of adulation from the crowd went on for three minutes until the new king called for silence. Next was the crowning of Kysjyt’s wife of seven years, royal consort Dysyl, as queen. Again the crowd cheered for another three minutes before being motioned to silence. Looking out at his subjects, Kysjyt banished what nervousness he had left and spoke. “Today,
the
House of Gyst has been acknowledged as the rightful
rulers of the
Fendalen people. On my head you see the crown worn by
my father and by
every monarch since the inception of the Kysjyt
held
the sceptre over his head again. “Regges was made king
at age 15; at 27
he ruled a united world. Since that time all of
Fendala’s high kings
and queens were crowned at 27. What is before use will
not happen over
a period of twelve years, perhaps not even fifty.
Though we have just
one world at the moment, in less than ten years we’ll
be able to
colonize any world we encounter on our way back to the
The crowds chanted ‘Gyst, Gyst’ with great vigor as Kysjyt, Dysyl, and Wonset left the stage and into the royal touring car. For the rest of the day and the following week the monarchs toured the cities and towns of their world. It was an auspicious start to Kysjyt’s reign as king, but from now on all of his decisions would become harder and more costly. In the time between Kysjyt’s naval
and army
training and his coronation the Kingdom made progress.
The survey force
slowly investigated the warp lines leading out of RA,
especially the
one that lead back to The Wilderness system. Over the
course of ten
years a total of five systems were found to have
habitable worlds.
Additionally three more primitive races were
discovered. Trade was
accomplished with the bird-like Su-Su and amphibian
Quastral.
Unfortunately the reptilian Vansik were not receptive
to overtures to
trade with alien beings. The contact team was
slaughtered to a man.
Regent Wonset, angered by the loss of team (which
included a longtime
friend), sent the whole of the Armored Knight Corps,
5,000 strong, to
take out the feudal Vansik kingdom responsible. At the
cost of 483
killed and wounded the Corps destroyed a primitive
army ten times its
size. After a power struggle among the various Vansik
kingdoms the one
that came out on top decided to trade with the Gyst.
Wonset’s Conquest,
as this incident of history came to be known, was seen
by some of the
original refugees as a lingering affectation of the
pre-war The first twenty years of Kysjyt’s reign continued to be productive ones for the Kingdom. In the eighth year the population of RA had grown sufficiently large to permit monthly colonization expeditions. More importantly, the R&D community attained sufficient depth, talent and funding to begin their projects. The size of the armed forces grew by the year, and the warp line to The Wilderness was fortified with bases and laser buoys. Adding to the growth was first five children of the Gyst family. In all it was a period of good times. That literally changed overnight in the first week of the twenty-first year. Kysjyt’s day office was spartan in decoration and furniture. It had none of the ornateness of his private study. He would normally have his confidential meetings in the study, but the children and their tutors were using it as a classroom at the moment. That suited the king just fine. He didn’t need any distractions at the moment. Sitting opposite of the desk from Kysjyt was the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Erwyn and the First Space Lord, Aasyth. A simple flatscreen panel was on one corner of the desk. After reading a report presented by Erwyn the king turned off the screen with a disdainful finger. “Well,” he said with equal distain, “let it be said that Joltal can always find a job as an actor. His histrionics is worthy of award.” “I must take the blame, my king,” said Erwyn apologetically. “He was a senior official from the old civil service. Histrionics were a part of the job, especially in budget allocation and turf wars. While his acting had helped with the Coilans and Su-Su it certainly wasn’t the case here.” Kysjyt snorted. “He’s better off negotiating with primitives that can’t fully comprehend or appreciate his acting. With the Bhohim he was out of his depth. Anyone with half a brain would know that translation software isn’t 100% accurate. Given the circumstances and setting, how in the hell did he take the phrase ‘share the sauce’ and twisted it to be as ‘suck some eggs’?” He didn’t wait for Erwyn’s reply, nor did he care to listen if he had one. “I see that no visual recording was made on our part, and I would certainly like to view any that the Bhohim may have taken. Joltal must’ve been at the top of his form, invoking my name when proclaiming that an insult was made at the expense of the whole kingdom. Thanks to his histrionics negotiations are on hold until this ‘insult’ is avenged.” Aasyth look uncomfortable. “This avenging will come at a cost, my king. We can potentially lower that cost buy using our more modern ships in this battle of honor that Joltal proclaimed.” “A proclamation he made without any authority from me. That arrogant ass.” Kysjyt tapped the desk surface loudly. “To present a resolute front we will go through with the battle. Ships from the Frontier Fleet will be used. At this point I don’t want to reveal our actual technical base to the Bhohim. Erwyn, inform Joltal to negotiate with his counterpart on setting the parameters of this battle. Regardless of the battle’s outcome I want him out of Foreign Affairs and barred from holding any government work. If he wants to earn an income then he can become the actor he so obliviously thinks he is.” “It shall be done, my king,” said a resigned Erwyn. “As for you, Aasyth, start selecting the best Frontier squadrons. Nothing larger than a heavy cruiser. Again, I don’t want to reveal the true state of our fleet to the Bhohim just yet. In the meantime I’ll authorize an increase in the refit rate and new construction for the Home Fleet in case the Bhohim become embolden if they win.” “That will be much appreciated your highness.” Aasyth was thankful that at least some good was to come out of Joltal’s blunder. Several more CM-armed battlecruisers would bolster the ranks of Home Fleet. Kysjyt leaned forward on his chair, eyeing both of his subordinates. “I’ll going to announce my decision to the kingdom later this week. If all goes well this will just be a minor ruffle, needing only to be ironed over. Both of you will do your part in making that a reality.” “Yes, your highness,” both men said in unison. Three months later had Kysjyt alone in his private study. He was looking out of a window onto the courtyard below. It was raining particularly hard, and every other moment thunder and lightning filled the air. Just as there was no peace outside the king’s mind was likewise restless. The battle of honor between the Bhohim and the Kingdom ended in defeat for the frontier force. Composed of three heavy and three light cruisers, six destroyers and nine frigates only one CL and DD escaped without damage. The heavy cruisers, a destroyer and two frigates were reduced to crawling wrecks. Only the pity of the Bhohim commander allowed those ships to flee. All the rest were destroyed. As for the Bhohim, there force of three battlecruisers, three light cruisers and twelve frigates came off the better. Only two of the large cruisers and five frigates were destroyed and one light cruiser lightly damaged. It was a battle that lasted four minutes and claimed the lives of over 1,800 Royal Naval and Marine personnel. First Space Lord Aasyth wanted to resign, but Kysjyt refused. Publicly the King announced the circumstances behind the arrangements for the honor battle. The responsibility for sending a fleet that was technically inferior to battle rested solely on him. He pledged from that point onwards his fleets would be equipped with the latest technology. While his subjects may have understood and forgave him Kysjyt was still finding it difficult to accept the losses. From the Bhohim perspective, they’ve humored a race’s odd request and were ready to do business. Their losses were accepted as necessary sacrifices. After
an hour
of looking out into the rain Kysjyt came to a
decision. The victory
should’ve belonged to the Kingdom. With a victory the
Bhohim would’ve
been more amenable to future offers of military
alliance and
partnership. The Kingdom cannot afford to have
neighbors that were
non-committal or opportunistic, offering no aid or
taking advantage at
a sign of weakness. Right there, at that moment, he
decided to have a
full fledge war with the Bhohim Enclave. It was a thin
line Kysjyt was
walking, for this was dangerously close to what the
pre-war Kysjyt returned to his ornate desk and opened a dictation program. His work took the rest of the night. With the communication chains between RA and the frontiers his secret orders took less than four days to reach his captains. It took only two weeks for those orders to be acted upon.
Ambassador Dimes of the Bhohim Enclave met with his opposite number on the Fendalen frontier world of Gable. Valuing time just like money, Dimes spoke the moment he handed a sealed letter to Zeyke. “Let me be direct, Ambassador”, he said in a rapid accent. “Three weeks ago one of our squadrons, in the course of a survey, found a warp link leading to one of your systems. The survey commander identified himself to the RN system commander and promptly left as per treaty requirements. However, your commander followed our forces through the warp point and attacked. All six survey ships were destroyed.” Zeyke regarded Dimes for a moment. Unlike the Fendalens, with their various skin colors, the Bhohim were a uniform shade of yellow. The race did have an insectoid origin that, over the eons, evolved into a bipedal form. The head had two black, vertical oval eyes and a mandible mouth. A pair of long, thin antennae served as the ears. They also served to indicate emotion. By the way they were vibrating it was clear Dimes was irate. He was about to become even more so. “My dear Dimes, I must correct your version of events. The RN squadron did not destroy a survey force; they eliminated a raider force.” The aforementioned antennae were actively twitching now. “Raiders?! Six inoffensive vessels? Nonsense! Not only has your squadron saw fit to destroy the ships, they’ve settled into orbit over the two habitable planets of the system where the surveyors were stationed. That letter I gave you is an official notice to your king. His ships are to be removed from the system in question in a month. Failure to comply will result in dire consequences.” With a smile Zeyke gave Dimes a letter of his own. “I’ll be direct as well. The King’s ships have not destroyed a Bhohim squadron. It was a squadron of raiders. The system you mentioned is not one occupied by the Bhohim Enclave, but by raiders. My King has decreed that the system in question will now become a part of the Kingdom. No raiders will be permitted to use it as a base of operations.” Dimes was flabbergasted. “My leaders will not be pleased, to put it mildly. You can still deliver that letter to Kysjyt, but expect another to follow it very quickly.” “I
hope it
will be a pleasant one, Dimes. A letter of thanks for
removing a nest
of raiders would be most appreciated by the King.”
Zeyke watched as
Dimes left in a huff. Gable was the system where first
contact was made
with the Bhohim Enclave. Zeyke knew all too well that
in the weeks to
follow the next squadron of ships to enter would not
be Bhohim
surveyors but warships. Kysjyt was taking a gamble on
fighting an enemy
that, judging from projected trade revenue, was at
least as powerful as
the Kingdom. The ambassador didn’t exactly know what
drove his king to
this course of action. He just wished it had been
given the deepest
consideration before the orders were sent out.
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