The Janiradiad Rebellion (2)

Though various shock therapies had swept through the room in a frenzy, the people who had regained their senses allowed the meeting to proceed at a fairly rapid clip.

Hours upon hours of meetings and discussions. And the appropriate greasing of palms (bribes) and political maneuvering (that guy who spoke up? He's a major shareholder in the slave markets behind the scenes, you know). After that splendid process, I was finally able to disconnect from the conference room and return to reality(?).

"After going through all those various processes, at last the conclusion that the meeting had been gestating revealed its form to the world as a newborn baby!"

"...So what's the conclusion, Minister?"

"Well, nothing special."

With that, I pulled out the terminal I was carrying and showed Riel the results from the meeting minutes.

"...Stationing a full five legions from the forces garrisoned at the capital on Janus, is that it?"

"That's right."

Riel's reaction was rather lukewarm. But I could understand that reaction deep down.

It's not a small force, but it's not large either—an ambiguous scale, after all.

Still, Riel had no choice but to accept that this was the best possible outcome. If she refused to accept the result just because she didn't like it, something far more serious could happen.

"At least it's better than a large-scale orbital bombardment followed by an aerial assault, right?"

It was also far better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than the plans of those people who had been howling that they needed to rain down divine judgment on the reactionaries right this instant...

And Riel, understanding my words, nodded as she replied.

"Now that I think about it, it's a much more rational method, yeah."

"I figured you'd think so too."

How wonderful it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was that she realized and accepted reality so quickly.

"So then, what about the command and organization of those legions?"

"That's something you and the rest of the working-level staff will have to figure out from now on."

But the moment she heard my words, a complex and subtle expression crossed Riel's face. It was the look of an engineer who had just heard a designer's nonsense, and at the sight of it, I decided to offer a small prayer for her repose.

Of course, I'd only pray.

How dare... a lowly commoner try to stick their nose into the honey pot of the high and mighty~~~~!!!

Back in my day,,, hey!!!

If the higher-ups say something,,, huh??? Just shut your mouth!!! Just do what you're told, click-clack~~~click-clack~~~ and that's it,,,!

There was a time when I thought that way myself.

"Aieeeee... why me? How come? Why?"

"Minister, you're not even a humanoid, so why are you breaking down?"

At Riel's completely natural delivery, I turned my creaking neck and barely managed to force my mouth open.

"Just why... did my name end up as the commander of the Janus support forces?"

"Beats me, I really don't know!"

And with that, Riel's eyes sparkled and shone like a gaming computer. In those large, beautiful pupils, not a single speck of negative emotion could be felt.

The status window was telling me as much, wasn't it? There were no 'negative' emotions. The only important fact was that pure malice itself had stabbed me in the back through a subordinate I had trusted.

"Th-this can't be... even you, Riel!"

"Ah, just in case, I should mention that you winning the lottery was by order of His Majesty the Emperor, yeah."

"Then there's nothing I can do about it."

She should have said that earlier. I had almost gone down in history as a proud traitor. Or I might have been accused of planning a coup by leading the support forces back like the Wihwa Island Retreat.

Oh man, if I'd messed up even a little, before even taking up my post as commander, I would have enjoyed a thrilling secret date with those shady central government uncles.

I met those uncles often enough for work, but I wanted to decline any private audiences of that sort. They were bloodthirsty people in a different sense from our Purge Squad guys.

After a launch ceremony that was neither particularly grand nor splendid, just moderately boring, had been held... while the procedures and processes for loading large numbers of troops and equipment onto the transport ships were underway.

"I believe you will bring me good results this time as well."

"I shall surely live up to Your Majesty's faith."

I even had to handle the minor matter of a forced audience and loyalty ritual with His Majesty the Emperor. At any rate, after a full week of preparations, our Janus support forces finally left the Empire's noble capital star Ka'zan and set out on the journey toward Janus.

-Beep.

"Communication terminated."

"Mm."

"New communication connected. It's the 3rd Expeditionary Fleet."

"Connect immediately."

Once the common SF-style exchange with the control station was over, this time the admiral of the fleet the Empire prided itself on was contacting us.

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Zidler, admiral of the 3rd Expeditionary Fleet."

"Greetings, Admiral Zidler."

A crustacean form with a carapace-covered head sporting three antennae and six small eyes embedded in it. When that familiar face appeared on the screen, I realized that His Majesty had put quite a bit of care into this matter.

To attach the 3rd Fleet instead of those old fogeys from the 1st and 2nd...

I had various connections with Admiral Zidler, so I felt a private sense of welcome as well.

Well, he is a military faction that His Majesty and I picked up and raised with great effort, after all.

This Empire of ours has a strong tendency toward factionalism among the nobles due to its nature, but when that extends into the military, it becomes a truly serious problem. During the First Janiradiad War, despite an overwhelming disparity in forces, the temporary loss of border fortresses to the Janiradiad had been because of that damned factional issue.

The 1st and 2nd Fleets belonged to different factions and refused to cooperate, so the front lines got punched through by exploiting that gap—does that even make sense?

At least those gentlemen weren't incompetent, and the space navy wasn't limited to just the 1st and 2nd Fleets, so the Janiradiad's gamble quickly came to nothing. But either way, that spectacle had made the current ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Emperor feel, if not distrust, then at least the need to make some preparations of his own.

Fortunately, a quest had popped up at just the right time back then. Thanks to that, we had been able to pick up an alien that no one (not even His Majesty) had been paying attention to at the time, so it had worked out well in the end.

While I was lost in reminiscence, freshly recalling those past memories.

"By the great Emperor's command, I have been tasked with escorting the expeditionary force under your command."

"That's excellent news. Thank you for the cooperation."

As Admiral Zidler continued speaking, I also pulled myself out of my reminiscences and continued the calm exchange.

"I would like to discuss the details later in person, if that is acceptable?"

"Of course. In that case, let us meet at 2100 Ka'zan Standard Time on the flagship."

"Understood."

-Beep

After cutting the communication, I disseminated the subsequent operational doctrines to the bridge personnel and returned to my quarters installed within the ship. Then I immediately sat at the table and chatted casually with Riel.

"Riel, by the way, what do you think is the reason Admiral Zidler wants to meet?"

"Hmm? If I had to guess... maybe he received some secret orders from His Majesty?"

"Yeah, probably that."

Honestly, I didn't have much to say about the admiral, so I decided to move past this topic quickly. What came next was, naturally, talk about Janus, our current destination.

"Any new information come in?"

"No. I didn't even know about the existence of the information you received, Minister, so there's no way there'd be anything more, yeah."

"..."

Ah, right. Come to think of it, my statements in the conference room had essentially used only the quest window as evidence, hadn't they?

"Well, since you know there are secret organizations, Minister, I figure one of those organizations contacted you this time."

"...You know me well. That's my Riel."

Fortunately, thanks to Riel filming a misunderstanding comedy on her own, the possibility of me suffering was once again dodging past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me.

"Anyway, we do have our own agents on Janus, but... seeing as there's still no particular news, in the worst case, they might already have been eliminated, yeah."

"Or the communication systems might have been suppressed or seized."

"There's that possibility too."

If that were true, then the current planetary government of Janus had effectively lost control of the planet and was adrift. Of course, one might ask how they sent the hotline in that case, but... since it used the crystallization of future communication science and technology, that was a bit of a different story. It was structured by creating a miniature gate that connected directly to His Majesty's communication terminal, after all.

...Because of that, it can only be used once, so it's a shame we can't receive additional information.

It felt like the map hack had been turned off and even the allied vision had gone dark—something... something deeply unsatisfying.

At any rate, while we continued exchanging such minor talk.

-Beep-beep!

"What is it?"

"Glory to the Empire! Minister, the 3rd Fleet's flagship is requesting docking."

"Ah, has the time already come?"

Surprised that I hadn't noticed the time passing while chatting with Riel, I accepted the docking request through the terminal and relayed it.