Sulla Is Inevitable
By David Billiot
Copyright 2026: All rights reserved
Chapter 10
This was a disaster. The black ships of elven make were smashing the Imperial navy that had come to prevent yet another world from destruction. The battle was taking place in orbit right above the star. The old tactics the Empire used to use against the elves had not been working. These new ships were upgraded and much more powerful.
The flagship had taken heavy damage and would not survive. The captain called for evacuation even knowing that the ships of the black armada would target them. It was also very dangerous to use escape pods so close to the surface of the star but there was no choice. The ship was doomed.
The emperor and his personal guard were rushing through the corridor of the massive vessel when the announcement system said one of the black ships had rammed them and enemy troops were boarding.
The constant thud thud of the battle outside, the heat, and the relentless spinning red lights of the loud annoying alarm were making this moment of defeat less than dignified.
The emperor and his guards arrived at a bulkhead door. As someone was getting it open the emperor was thinking of what he could do. Was this the end? Was this how he ended? A life of service and sacrifice. A life of honor and dignity. Damn the elves. It was wrong to let them go and not hunt them down like vermin. But that was the mistake of a previous emperor. Now this generation had to pay the price it seemed.
The door was finally opened and the party was going to rush ahead. Someone put a hand to the emperor to encourage him to move but he did not move.
“Go ahead.” he ordered.
“Sire?”
“Valeria, come here.” the emperor demanded.
The lone woman in the emperor’s guard turned and looked confused. She stepped forward and the Emperor reached to take off her helmet. She flinched but then let him do it. He pulled her to him and kissed her on the forehead.
“I will make you the messenger.”
“No.” she protested not only with word but with a violent shake of her head.
“Deny your emperor all you want but you will obey your father.”
“My lord, please. We need to get you to safety so you can …”
“Girl, listen. We have not time.” he demanded as the hull of the great ship was creaking and straining. “I did not place you in my guard so you could protect me. You are here so that I can protect you.”
“I will do my duty, father. Please. Come now.”
“Ravoren needs a new emperor. Listen carefully. When that man rises you must go to him as the messenger. Carry the words from me to him.”
“Why? Father, please.” she said as she tried to pull on his hand.
“We fight. We die. We endure. And for what? What is the secret of imperium? It is this and only this. Keep our people alive. That is the only thing that matters. Not wealth. Not power. Not expansion. Not even honor. Keep our people alive.” he repeated.
“Father, you can make it.” she said.
“Repeat the words to me.”
“You can make it.”
“I charge you as your emperor to be the messenger. Repeat the words.”
“Keep our people alive.” she said.
The emperor looked up from her face and looked at each of the others there in turn. “Valeria is the messenger to pass on the secret to the next emperor. Your duty is to keep her alive at all costs.”
“It will be done, sire.” said the commander of the guard. In the end they had to drag Valeria away from her father. They pulled her across the threshold of the bulkhead door and then the emperor sealed it behind them.
The emperor removed his ceremonial sash that he everyday put on his shoulder. It fell to the floor because the FTL was still providing artificial gravity to the ship. Next the emperor took off all his insignia and he was left with only his white navy uniform. The weight was lifted. He almost felt like smiling. On the wall next to the door was the control for the fire suppression system. The emperor used it to begin filling the corridor with white smoke. He put aside his ceremonial sword. He grabbed the ax and waited, knowing that it would not be long before a boarding party found him. No matter the cost they would not get through that door.
It didn’t take long. Black clad soldiers started to fill the corridor but slowed when they encountered the smoke. They were tall. Too tall to be elves. They were in full tactical gear with closed faced helmets. They approached slowly in formation. They were not speaking to each other. Whatever communication method they used the emperor could not perceive it.
Then in an instant one of the black clad soldiers rushed directly towards the emperor. He came charging like a ram with his head low and sword aiming for a killing blow. The emperor felt a rush of giddy madness. He leaped forward to meet the threat, putting all his might into the ax in his hand. The blade of the ax cut a line through the smoke. The steel came crashing down onto the helmet of the marine. Instantly the body of the attacker slumped lifelessly to the ground.
“Ha!” the emperor yelled as the rest of the boarding party zeroed in on him. Five of them rushed the emperor. There was clashing of steel on steel. The emperor’s uniform was cut to ribbons revealing the physique the old man hid under his vestments. His muscles were like steel coils wrapped around his body. They sprang into action with the emperor cutting through his foes with exceptional brutality. He sliced one attacker’s arm clean off but for the next the emperor had missed. He had intended to take the soldier’s head off from the neck but instead he aimed too high and brains splattered out all over the place.
The emperor was pushed to a wall and he pushed back against it. He forced the attacker to the ground and held his foot on the marine’s neck while he continued combat like the man under him was not even there.
With all the initial attackers dead the emperor began to make his way down the corridor back the way he had come. Then a second wave of marines revealed themselves.
“Come!” the emperor shouted at them. “Come give your lives to me. My blade thirsts for a sacrifice.”
The battle began and the emperor found it almost too easy to cut through them like butter. Two down. Then three.
“I fight to the death.” the emperor announced as he advanced. “I breathe to the death. I sing to the death. I live … to the death. I’m right here. Come and kill me if you dare. For I was a man before I was a king.”
On he pushed and more of the marines fell at his hand.
And once he had fought his way all the way backtracking to the bridge he found others of the Imperial crew who could not make it off the ship.
“The emperor.” a lieutenant said.
“These dogs have made the mistake of boarding us. That means there is a corvi.” the emperor instructed. Everyone understood.
“It’s connected by deck eight.” one of the NCOs reported.
“Then that’s where we go.”
The men roared. They formed up behind the emperor and they marched. This ship was doomed but the enemy ship could be their way to safety instead of burning up in the atmosphere of the star.
As they marched and fought to get to the black ship that was docked to them the men started to sing as they fought. The enemy marines fell so easily it was almost deceptive. It felt like a trick. Their ships were powerful but their actual marines were … not good enough to be marines.
“Sire, these are men, not elves.”
“I see that.”
“But they all have the same face.”
“Clones.” the lieutenant said with disgust.
“It matters not.” the emperor said coldly. “We need to get to that ship.”
The party pushed on. Forward. Forward. They could make it. There was enough time. Forward. Forward.
…
Valeria was listening to the radio as the escape ship blasted away, dodging fire to get to safety. She heard her father singing as he slaughtered one after another.
“iste unta ah astanda unthede
iste unta ah astanda unthede
iste unta veva lema onte mo
Zra
Isede onte mo
Isede onte ivila
Isede onte ola
Ola Mia”
Over and over the two verses were sung as the battle raged. Valeria began to have hope that her father would survive. But then, without warning, the plasma extractor aimed at the pair of ships and with the same powerful weapon that had destroyed a planet both ships were obliterated. The radio went silent. Valeria was now the messenger. She had a sacred duty to carry the words of one emperor to whoever would be the next.
“Father.” she said as she couldn’t take her eyes away.
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