Sulla Is Inevitable - Chapter 9

 Sulla Is Inevitable

By David Billiot

Copyright 2026: All rights reserved

Chapter 9

“Bucem, Javin, Aradar, Miacom; and the list goes on.” a senator said. “And the Republic sits and does nothing. This is impeachable.”

“How can you expect the president to send the fleet when this body has made law that he can not move the fleet?”

“That is no excuse.”

“Order.” the speaker yelled. 

“We must answer this.”

“We don’t even know who’s doing it.”

“It’s obvious. The Empire.”

“We don’t know that.”

“It can’t be anyone else. No one else has the firepower. Not Tang. Not the Mahmet. Not Ziot. Only the Empire has the resources to destroy a planet.”

“An Imperial world was also destroyed.” someone countered. 

“That is a separate matter.” the senator insisted. 

The doors of the chamber were opened and guards rushed into the chamber. White came marching in, no longer dressed in a suit and tie but in his military uniform. The surprised senators tried to protest but White pushed through. He went up to the speaker and Narius rushed up to meet him. 

“Stop it. You don’t know what you’re doing.” Narius said. 

“I have a duty.” White responded. 

“This is not how this works.”

White would not continue in one on one conversation. He pushed the button for the microphone and then his voice carried over the speaker system. “This body will either pass legislation giving me command of our forces or I will declare the body non functional and call for elections.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Narius threatened. 

“I will have command of our forces to meet this threat. This body will pass that law or I will get an executive order. But I will meet this threat.”

Narius was furious. He showed his teeth but held in the rest. “We’ll put it to a vote.” he said. Then he turned off the mic. “But make no mistake. You will not be in command of our forces. The fleet is mine.”

“Are you sure you’re still in shape for command. You have grown.” White said as he gestured at the gut of the other man. 

The proposal was put to the senators and the members of the lower house. The gridlock meant any proposal that called for full mobilization would not pass.  Instead a large expeditionary force was going to be called into service to find out what had really happened at Javin while the rest of the fleet prepared for possible war with the Empire. In the middle of the debate the ambassador from Ziot came with a message from the Empire demanding to know the reason for the sudden and brazen attack on an Imperial system. 

Vote after vote each proposal with different amendments failed. The senators were loading additional things onto it that had nothing to do with the expedition. Julius, a liberal senator under Narius, wanted to propose declaring war on the Empire outright. 

White waited patiently but it came to the end of the day and the senators adjourned. White stood up to oppose adjournment. 

“How can you wait even one more minute?”

“We must follow due process.” Narius told him. 

That night at the presidential palace White was on a video call with the president and he stressed the importance of acting quickly. 

“Use your emergency powers.” White said. 

“They will impeach me and imprison me.”

“Maer Nos was destroyed. We just learned of it. The station at Calopania is gone. We can not wait. This is a real crisis. If you can not act then resign.”

“Do you have the order ready?”

“All you have to do is sign it.”

“They will challenge it in court before the sun rises.”

“I’ll let the lawyers handle that. In the meantime we must know who is killing our people.”

The president agreed to sign the order but Narius found out about it instantly.  The order was challenged in court and a judge imposed an injunction to stop it before the executive order could even make its way to White to be carried out. White saw that the injunction was completely illegal so he planned to ignore it. This was ridiculous. White had not yet left the planet but the injunction called for White to turn around while already in FTL. 

For one, once someone was in FTL no message could be sent to them or be received from them. FTL meant communication’s blackout while traveling. 

For two, it was not possible to turn around in FTL. It can only go one way and the ship is blind while traveling.  All the light in front of the ship comes together in a white blurry spot and behind the ship there’s nothing but blackness. In order to turn around the ship has to stop first and then recalculate the motions of the stars and then initiate a second FTL burn. The stupid judge didn’t know how basic interstellar travel worked. 

Narius called the full legislature into an emergency session before the sun was up. White didn’t care for another vote. He was mobilizing the fleet and preparing to leave. 

In the senate chamber Narius brought it to a vote that there would be an expeditionary task force sent but Narius himself would be in command of it. White was needed to stay here, he argued. 

The conservatives rejected this. They wanted White in command of the full fleet. 

A compromise proposal was put forward that White would be in command of only a small task force charged not with engaging the enemy but only with discovering the truth. 

Narius of course felt this proposal was doomed to fail too.  He let it be called for a vote so it could die and then he was going to bring his own plan to a vote.  But then the proposal for White to lead a small fact finding force passed.  Julius had voted with the conservatives.  Instantly Narius was furious. He rushed down to Julius to bring his fist onto the other man’s head. 

“You idiot. What have you done?”

“ White is leaving. We have to stop him.” He called out for the chamber clerk. “Sergeant, hurry up and get the news of the vote to him before he leaves with the entire fleet.”

Narius was so mad his hands were shaking.  He was seeing red as he called one of the many community organizers who served to control the people. 

“Adolf, White isn’t going anywhere. Take the gloves off.” Narius ordered. 

The community organizer heard the command and acknowledged it. He got some men and went to the weapons locker.  They put on masks and tactical gear.  The flag above the tent changed color from light brown to dark black. That was the signal and many of the other protesters began getting ready the weapons they were not supposed to have.  

White was moving as fast as he could through the palace in an effort to finally leave when the fighting outside started. The police were ordered to retreat and even if they hadn’t they would have been overwhelmed. 

The protesters who were now an army rushed into the palace and killed dozens of people. They searched room by room for White.  They interrogated people asking where the coward vice president was hiding. When someone didn’t know they were shot. 

Then word came that White had made it out of the palace already and was nearly to the transport. The army rushed that way to take him down. The transport was surrounded and the protesters used cables and scaffolding to pin down the ship.  

As minutes passed more and more people started to show up for the fight, hoping to be the one who got the kill shot on White.  It was held as almost religious conviction that White was the most evil and terrible thing that had ever happened to the Republic. Their very democracy was at stake.  They would all die if White lived even one more day. 

White and his guards were well hidden and they went over different plans on how to get out of this situation. The underground bunker had several escape routes they could take. 

And in a surprise, Narius opened one of the doors with an access card he should not have had. 

“I see you’re in a bit of trouble.” Narius said. 

“You will not stop me. I will complete my mission.” White told him. 

“And how do you plan to do that with all of that up there?”

“Goodbye, senator.”

“It might be possible for me to give a speech that would calm the protesters down.”

“No, thank you.”

“What else are you going to do? Gun them down? That’s not your way and we know it. I’m giving you the peaceful option.”

“Then go do it. You don’t need my permission.”

“This is not about permission. This is negotiation.”

“I will obey the law. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Fine. Take your little task force.  But here is the deal.  And you can’t say no if you ever want to get out of this room. You present the terms to any world you pass as this. They will be an ally to the Republic. If they want protection, we will take full control of their plasma extractors and they must provide calories to us at a discount after we collect our quota. And they will be under me. Narius. Not you. Not the president. They will be my clients. Their production goes through my line. If you find a system under attack, you are by no means authorized to assist them until they have agreed to my terms.”

“My mission is to find out what is happening.”

“I don’t care. This is not an emergency. This is a blessing. We will bring the entire galaxy under my rule. I know you keep your word. So make me this promise and I will call off the protesters.” 

… 

“Was it wise to let him go? We almost had him.” Julius said. 

“I ought to have you. Never do that again. I control his party. Remember that.” Narius said. 

“Alright, so what is the plan, master?”

Narius smiled. “It is such a shame the murderer got away. What would cause a man like White to kill his own staff in the presidential palace. I guess he couldn’t take the pressure and his mind just snapped.” Then Narius laughed. 

In the senate chamber that day witness after witness was brought forward to describe what had happened at the presidential palace. Everyone described White as insane with bloodlust as he went on a murder spree, using Rtype HK robots to gun down anyone he came into contact with. They told of how White planned to take over the Republic and make himself king. 

The senate voted.  The conservatives were down by two senators and eight members of the lower house because they had died in the night during the fighting. Witnesses came forward to say that White murdered them.  Narius now had control of both chambers of the legislature.  A new vote was proposed to strip White of command and place the full fleet under the command of Narius. It passed and messengers were sent to intercept White, inform him of the news, and bring him back in chains to answer for his crimes.