Chapter 22


Aldrich Heissler was in hysterics. Few on the council had ever seen him as animated, as enraged and as virulent as he was at that moment. From the Council chambers, he watched as the Republic’s prison population was slowly eating away at his Empire from the inside, while the forces of the New Republic battled his forces on the outside. All the while, the Federation fleet held position above, ready to swoop down on a moment’s notice and pick up the pieces.

Heissler stormed through the chamber, knocking over chairs, throwing devices against walls all the while screaming at the other members of the council, Tereshkova in particular who was supposed to be on top of internal security matters, and was failing miserably at his job. His fury then shifted to Dawn Kang, one of the original architects of the Exile program who’d routinely assured him that insurrection was not a possibility. None of the administrators were spared Heissler’s accusations. He blamed Camelot Administrator James Wallace for being partially responsible for the insurrection, despite having always been one of the most vocal detractors of the SCIE program. He then accused him of being a Federation sympathizer due to his long-standing position on the Federation council prior to his becoming a Republic administrator.

Heissler then turned the focus of his rage on New Rome administrator Lita Ross for her failure in ensuring that security in the capital was adequate to deal with this type of threat. When she spoke of her own confidence in the SCIE program, believing such a massive insurrection to that scale had been impossible, he accused her of short sightedness.

Once he’d pointed the finger at his administrators, his blame turned inward. Seeing his imminent end, he admitted that perhaps he’d not been so ‘gentle handed’ with the prison population, none of this would have happened. Indeed, he declared that if he’d simply executed the prisoners as was his original desire, they would not be inciting a riot to that degree now. When at last his rage had subsided, he began to sob. He was seeing his Empire crumble before him in a manner he’d never expected. The other members of the council looked upon the once proud, unflappable and ruthless leader, now a blubbering mess with a mix of sullen contempt and incredulity.

Senior Chairman Elias Spender was quick to dismiss the other members of council, ordering them to return to their arcologies and prepare defenses in the likelihood that the revolt spread to them. Each of them knew doing so was a futile gesture. Most of their security forces had either been dispatched to New Rome and were there now, or were part of the force sent to repel the New Liberty forces. What they had left wouldn’t be able to mount much of a defense.

Once the others were gone, Spender moved up to Heissler’s side. Drawing his hands to the small of his back, he looked down at the Supreme Chancellor, shaking his head in disgust. "Sir, get a hold of yourself. We’re safe here for the time being. However, if you wish, I can see that your shuttle is prepped..."

"You idiot," Heissler flashed a hateful glare at the other man. "Where would we go? With the Federation fleet in orbit, they would detect us in an instant!"

"Then what would you suggest sir?"

Heissler rose to his feet, set his eyes on Spender for a moment before slowly sauntering out of the chamber and into the adjacent office. Spender followed after him, standing just inside the doorway as he watched the Supreme Chancellor open one of the shelving units within the grandiose office behind his desk, and pull out two items. One was a bottle of aged Brandy, the other was a small holdout pistol. Popping the top on the Brandy, Heissler poured himself an ample glass, and another for Spender. With a free hand he gestured at the Senior Chairman to come forth.

With slight hesitation, he entered and was handed one of the glasses. "To the end my friend," said Heissler, holding up his glass in salute.

Spender offered a small smile and a nod as he met Heissler’s salute, gently tapping the glasses together. "To the end, sir."

As the Senior Chairman brought the glass to his lips, Heissler reached back for the pistol, took it in a free hand and deftly brought it to bear on Spender, aiming straight for his forehead. Spender realized too late what was happening, his eyes widening for a moment just as the Brandy burned a trail down his throat. The gun went off, putting a bloody hole in the Senior Chairman’s forehead, just inches above the bridge of the nose. Spender’s lifeless body hit the floor, the glass bouncing off his chest and rolling on the hard ‘faux wood’ flooring.

"To the end," Heissler repeated in a whisper, downing the Brandy and stuffing the pistol into a pocket as he grabbed the liquor bottle and carried it back out into the council chamber.

* * *

New Rome’s administrative area took up a dozen full levels in the upper section of the arcology. At the top level was the Executive Offices, which consisted of the Council Chambers, the offices of the Supreme Chancellor and Senior Chairman, and according to Alicia, housed a room called the ‘Nexus’ which gave the Supreme Chancellor direct control of the entire colony’s digital and power networks. From there he could switch off the power to certain areas, deny access to the network to others; he could even switch off all power to the colony if he wanted. Truly it was the nexus of power for the entire Republic.

How exactly Alicia knew this was unknown to Hayley, and she didn’t care to ask. Not then, as they were nearing their destination. Unfortunately, Guardian was unable to get the three to precisely where they needed to be, letting them off several floors below. Alicia, who seemed to have an intimate knowledge of the layout of the arcology, took the lead. Fighting their way through sporadic resistance, they made it to the maintenance corridors with little real difficulty. Though they passed by a number of civilians on the way, few put up a fight or attempted to interfere with their efforts. It seemed most were aware of the uprising and many were probably simply relieved that the Republic was in its death throes. Inside the maintenance corridors, the three took the emergency stairwell up a half dozen floors to the top-most habitable level of the arcology. Pushing through the upper level maintenance hallways, they emerged into an office corridor that had a look of Spartan regality about it that suggested a bygone era, like Ancient Rome or Greece, with the marble-like pillars along the walls and the red carpet over polished marble flooring. The trio followed the hallway straight into the Council chambers, blasting open the archaic swinging doors with a shot from the plasma rifle, and bursting in with weapons drawn.

The grand, circular chamber was uninhabited though, except for a long figure who sat in a chair by the large wall-sized window that looked out upon the rising sun in the distance. The silhouetted figure held an all but empty bottle of Brandy loosely between two fingers, while scratching the side of his face with the barrel of a pistol in his other hand.

Heissler threw a casual glance at the three intruders, barely conscious of their presence, the effects of the alcohol impairing his ability to see clearly. He’d downed much of the bottle’s contents in the short time since he’d killed Spender, and had been planning on turning the gun on himself once he’d finished drinking. With less than a glassful remaining, he wasn’t sure now if he’d get the chance.

"You’re here to kill me," he spoke in a drawl, his faint Germanic accent buried beneath the slurred speech. "If you’d waited a minute longer, I’d have saved you the trouble."

Alicia took a step forward. "Father," the words echoed through the room, causing reactions from Hayley, Max and Heissler alike.

"Alicia," Heissler swiveled in the chair to face his Exiled daughter, the tone in his voice one of genuine delight. "My daughter, is that really you?"

"Yes, it’s me," she answered, crossing the room before stopping half way. "It’s over father. We’re taking control of the colony."

"Oh Alicia," he didn’t seem to hear her words, and simply looked at the Exile with a happy though somewhat sad smile on his face. "I’ve missed you so. After all these years, you’ve finally returned to me."

"No dad," her voice trembled slightly, as she set her pistol down on the circular conference table. "I’m not back for you. I’m here to see that you give up control. I know you’re trying to shut down the network. I need to bring it back online fully."

"Your mother..." Heissler chuckled, glancing away for a moment, obviously still not hearing Alicia words, or simply refusing to acknowledge them. "Your mother would be so happy right now, to see us together again. Perhaps if she’d not died...none of this would have happened."

"You can’t blame her death for everything you’ve done," she snapped at him, her hands balling into fists. "You created this Empire. You did. She had nothing to do with the decisions you made. Now tell me, how can I restore the network?"

"Alicia...Alicia my dear," he closed his eyes, craned his head back and downed what was left in the bottle. Releasing the bottle, it fell to the floor with a solid clank, but remained intact. As he looked to the female Exile before him, his face suddenly filled with an emptiness and sadness that had been within the man for years, but he’d hidden behind a façade of cold, impassionate ruthlessness. "I’m so sorry for what I’ve done. Forgive me."

The Supreme Chancellor raised the pistol and pressed the barrel against his temple. Alicia screamed out, but it was too late. A shot rang out, the noise echoing through the cavernous chamber. But it wasn’t the noise any had been expecting and the result was anything but what they had expected to occur. The shot had been the sound of a plasma discharge. Max, rifle shouldered, had fired a single plasma bolt into Heissler’s right hand, burning a hole the size of a golf ball clean through his forehand, and practically melting the metal of the pistol grip to his skin. It took a few seconds for anyone to truly realize what had happened. When realization for the Heissler set in, the pain followed soon after. Letting out an agonizing cry, he fell forward from his chair, crumpling up into a hysterical, flailing mass.

"Max!" Hayley cried out.

The former musician lowered the rifle and affixed a hard stare on her. "He’ll live."

"Father!" Tossing away the DPAD, Alicia ran over to where her father had fallen and cradled him in her arms. Seeing him, once the most powerful and feared man on Vega IV blubbering like a child, his face red, tears streaming down from his eyes and mucous running down from his nose, all anyone could feel for him at that moment was pity. Once Alicia had calmed her father down, she’d gotten the executive passphrase from him that would allow her to gain control of the Republic’s digital network. With Heissler incapacitated from both the pain and alcohol, the trio made their way to the Nexus room- a massive computer center that was quite literally the heart of the entire colony. They had access to every system from there. They could control defenses, could tap into the many devices throughout the colony, access the power grid and even command DIS agents. The first thing they did was order an immediate stand down of all DIS agents. They discovered that the entire DIS substation had been destroyed, and that no reinforcements would be arriving from there as they’d all been killed or neutralized. Many had even surrendered openly, which was a good sign.

Next, they cut power to the three other arcologies and opened all access ways. This would allow the Exiles to get control once New Rome was secured. Finally, the FTL transmitter was activated and a message was sent to the orbiting Federation fleet, notifying them that forces loyalty to New Liberty had assumed control of the Aegean capital, and were in need of assistance. The Captain of the Alliance gladly offered to dispatch a 2,000-person Marine security force to aid in the liberation of the colony.

From their station in the Nexus, Hayley, Alicia and Max watched as the New Rome colony was secured. The feeling of relief in the room was palpable, Max offering a smile as he exchanged looks with the two Exiles, knowing they both were mirroring his expression.

Within hours, Camelot, New Constantinople and New Athens were declared secure. The administrators had ordered all DIS agents to stand down and disarm even before the call to the Federation had been made. The administrators were concerned more with the well being of their citizens than they were with maintaining integrity of the Republic. When the final death tallies came in later that day, nearly four hundred Exiles had lost their lives in the span of just a few hours. Total civilian death was just over a hundred. The number of DIS agents killed was said to be between two and three hundred within the arcologies, and a staggering twenty-four hundred on the battlefield against the forces of New Liberty. But it was the New Liberty colonists who’d been dealt the biggest blow. In the four days they’d been fighting, they’d lost nearly fourteen thousand men and women. The death toll was certain to effect the New Liberty colony. Whether they would survive the night was anyone’s guess to that point.

The last few days of her life as an Exile for Hayley had been unforgettable, as much as her entire time being one had been. When at last they’d restored the network, the Guardian A.I. was quickly able to take over the last vestiges of the colony’s network and had quickly assumed control of ever facet of the colony’s administrative system. Yet still, Hayley had not reestablished her connection with HK14. Something about that bothered her greatly.

By mid-day, local time, the entire Aegean Colony had been secured. Exiles from all over filled the interior of New Rome, many of them back for the first time in almost a decade. With Exiles filling corridors once reserved only for normal citizens, a new age was upon them. But that new age would have to start out right.

A meeting was called that afternoon between Alicia Heissler, the newly appointed Exile Representative and Federation Ambassador Davin Kurtis. They were joined by the arcology administrators, Dr. Savan and Hayley and Max who were both permitted to sit in on the meeting, given their contributions to the success of the coup-de-tat. The administrators had very little to say during the course of the meeting which was designed to determine a new government. Under little protest, Lita Ross, Sergei Tereshkova and Dawn Kang were each removed of their responsibilities. James Wallace however was named Senior Advisor of Colonial Restructuring.

Unanimously, the Exile population agreed to have the Federation administer the Aegean Colony during the restructuring phase, with one condition however. They wanted New Rome. The New Rome arcology was to become home to the Exiles and any and all who desired to join their society. It was their desire to turn New Rome into the first fully functional individual-governing society, where every Exile was indeed a state of his or her own, and administration would be handled by an automated system through direct, instantaneous input from each member of the society. The Exiles believed they had earned their right to choose a system for themselves. Few would argue this point.