Chương 33: Chapter 33
---Evening, 3rd Person POV---
Returning home from a long day in the Academy's dungeon, Jilk and Julius were immediately summoned to the throne room just moments after entering the palace. Doing as they were instructed; the two men went to see if something had happened while they were away. Upon entering the space, they noticed that more than just their parents were present there. Standing beside their father and mother was Prime Minister Atlee, Duke Redgrave, and the Academy's headmaster.
"You asked to speak with us, mother?", Julius inquired, bowing his head, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes, there is a very big problem…", King Roland answered, with an irritated expression, "Please explain what this is to me, in detail."
Holding up the falsified document they had given the school this morning, their expressions went pale. Unsure how they had been found out, given how well they believed they had forged his signature, the two men hung their heads in shame. Giving them a few minutes to answer him, Roland's anger boiled over at their silence.
"Julius, you falsified my signature!", King Roland shouted, slamming his fist into the arm of his throne, "Do you have any idea what you have done?! The knights are there to protect ALL the students, not just the two of you! If anyone had been killed during your excursion today, it would have damaged our reputation and standing among the nobility!"
"I am sorry father. We thought the knights would simply get in our way.", Jilk answered, attempting to shield Julius, "The five of us felt that we were more than capable of defending our classmates, if the need arose."
"I see…", Roland growled, his fists clenched tightly, "How did you intend to protect your classmates when you ran off to court your little love affair, Marie Fou Lafan? You disappeared the moment a chance presented itself. Do you take us for fools?!"
"Jilk, stop lying to us and covering for Julius.", Mylene scolded him, "You are only making this worse for both of you. Falsifying a Royal Decree is a serious offense, one that can be punishable by death depending on the decree. I do not know what has come over you two, but that girl is nothing but trouble!"
Coming to the realization that they knew everything, the two boys looked up at their parents in confusion. They were certain that no one saw their activities in the dungeon, and that even if someone had, they would not dare to tell a soul. Wanting to figure out who turned them in, Julius attempted to coax the information out of his parents.
"Whoever told this is lying! We were with our classmates the entire time. If anyone says otherwise, they are lying to you!", Julius said, hoping they would name the one responsible for turning them in.
Instead of answering them verbally, Roland produced a stack of photos from under his robe and tossed them at the two men. Watching them slowly fall to the ground, their mouths hung open as they saw photos of them from this afternoon. Catching them in compromising positions with Marie, they realized there was no way out of this now.
"How could you two do this to your fiancés?!", Queen Mylene asked, with a saddened expression, "Do you have any idea the pain you are causing them? If you are unable to stay with them for any reason, I want to hear it now."
Wanting to admit their feelings on the matter, the two men could not bring themselves to say it. With the fathers of their fiancés standing before them and their parents staring at them in disdain, they did not have the courage to speak the truth to them.
"We…we are satisfied with our fiancés…", Julius lied, as he gritted his teeth, "We will strive to do better moving forward."
"You will do more than just strife for it; I command you to stop seeing Marie effective immediately. She has no place among a group of engaged men.", King Roland ordered them.
"You cannot do that!", Julius shouted, glaring at his father.
"I refuse to follow that order as well!", Jilk agreed, "You cannot dictate who we spend our time with!"
"…it is like we were told…", Mylene sighed, looking at them with despair, "You are head over heels with this girl, are you not?"
Looking away from the group, their answer was clear as day. Regretting their decision to put this intervention off, Mylene felt drastic measures needed to be taken to get them back on track. Motion to the guards to get ready, all the soldiers present snapped to attention.
"Jilk and Julius, both of you will be held under house arrest for two weeks for falsifying your father's signature on a royal decree. You are forbidden from leaving your rooms unless your father or I permit it.", Mylene said, upset she had to be so harsh on her two eldest children, "Take them to their rooms."
"Yes ma'am!", the royal guards acknowledged, seizing the two men.
"After they have been locked in their rooms, send a detachment of guards to collect Marie Fou Lafan from the women's dormitory. She will be held in the palace dungeon till a trial date has been set.", Mylene added, "If she resists, do not hesitate to use force."
"It will be done!", the guards swore.
Hearing what was going to happen to Marie, Jilk and Julius immediately began fighting the guards. Calling for backup, as the guards wanted to avoid harming the princes, the two young men began shouting at their parents full of indignation.
"We will not let you hurt Marie!!", Jilk shouted, as more guards rushed into the throne room, "She is an innocent woman!! Her only crime is stealing our hearts!!"
"Mother, please do not do this!! Marie is the sweetest, most kindhearted woman I have ever met. If you do this to her, I will never forgive you!", Julius threatened her, hoping to play on her emotions.
Watching his mother tear up, visibly distraught by his words, Julius felt a sudden pain in his chest. Regretting what he had said immediately, he wished it had not come to this over Marie. Continuing to resist the guards with all their might, Prime Minister Atlee and Duke Redgrave stood there with solemn expressions.
"Roland, I fear this will not stop them in the slightest. If anything, this will only serve to harden their resolve against our daughters.", Prime Minister Atlee said, looking at the King, "Jilk has damaged my daughter's good name almost beyond repair. Other houses have begun to claim my daughter has some sort of disease or is incapable of siring children. They are attempting to justify what Jilk has done as they refuse to believe he is the one at fault. If she is not at school, she is locked away in her room crying her heart out."
"It is the same for my daughter.", Duke Redgrave stated, "Stephanie Fou Offrey and Marie Fou Lafan have torn my daughters good name and standing to pieces. She has been rebuked by your son on multiple occasions, and publicly disregarded by him. This is unacceptable behavior. If not for Victor's repeated interventions, I fear my daughter's mental state would be in tatters right now."
"We…we are aware that our sons have caused you quite a lot of trouble, both in public and at home. I swear to you that we will resolve the matter and return to the peace we had several weeks ago.", Queen Mylene swore, "We will properly compensate your households for their actions."
Looking at one another, Prime Minister Atlee and Duke Redgrave knew that the Crown could not fix this now. Too much damage had been done, and it was clear that the engagements would soon be called off by the boys so they could freely pursue Marie. Wanting to prepare for this eventuality, the two men excused themselves to begin preparing their households for the fallout.
---Victor POV, Several Days Later---
Walking into my laboratory, located beneath my residence, Jarvis began turning on the lights and activating dozens of hologram monitors for me. Flipping through the various screens, I searched for the one that contained information on my satellite arrays and constellations. When I found the one I was looking for, I took a sip of coffee and asked Jarvis a question.
"Jarvis, it appears the satellites that were supposed to launch last night are not online yet. Was there an unforeseen issue?", I inquired.
<My apologies sir, there were a few delays with the final checks on the equipment. The rockets were launched later than anticipated. The new satellites should be online in an hour or so.>
"Not a problem, just wanted to confirm was all.", I said, taking a seat at my desk, "After this launch, Helios and Zeus are the next satellites to go up. Please ensure those satellites go up as scheduled. Once they are in orbit, we will weapon test them same as the others."
<Sir, if I may, is all this firepower truly necessary? You have over thirty weaponized satellites in orbit, and several orbital space stations with deployable troops aboard them. It just seems like this is overkill for a group of people that still use wooden ships to sail the skies, and fight using swords and old-fashioned firearms.>
<Master, is there something you are aware of that has yet to be shared with us?>
Having withheld a lot of information about what was awaiting us out in space, for obvious reasons, my main reason for getting all these weapons online was to protect the planet. While I would certainly use them to eradicate my enemies, these weapons were currently this world's only defense against the likes of the Space Marines and other highly advanced societies. Assuming that all the humans out there were descendants of the Old Humans that our ancestors chased off, we could all be branded as heretics and hunted down like pests.
"For the time being, I will keep these cards close to my chest. When the time comes, all will be revealed to you.", I promised them, "Moving on, how goes construction of Project Homebase and Project Gundam? I understand that we have a lot going on, but these two projects are our highest priority right now."
<The star base is only fourteen percent complete currently, Master. Due to the complex equipment and parts needed for the base it is taking longer than normal to construct. As for your custom mech suit, it was delivered last night. It just needs a few adjustments from you, then it will be ready for combat. The unique metal alloy used to create it and the fusion reactor that powers it were quite enjoyable to construct.>
"Oh wait, it is here?!", I shouted, jumping out of my seat, "You should have led with that!!"
Setting my cup of coffee down, I raced through the lab toward the adjacent hanger where I housed my various suits of armor and other means of transportation. Bursting through the doors full of excitement, my long-awaited Gundam stood before me towering at over fifty feet in height. Grinning from ear to ear, I used the Force to help me jump up to the cockpit door. Inputting the security code, the door hissed as the hermetic seal broke as the door swung open like a draw bridge.
Stepping inside, Jarvis began to run system tests on the defense and weapon systems. Activating the Mobile Tray System, or MTS for short, I stepped into the center of the cockpit so it could begin scanning my body and taking vital signs from the implants under my skin.
"Yamato, once I have thoroughly tested all the equipment onboard, we are going Sky Pirate hunting.", I chuckled, like a kid in a candy shop, 'I have waited three years for this day to come. Seeing it in person, it was worth all those long hours of R&D to make the special alloy and ultra compact fusion reactor.'
<Of course, captain!! I will start looking for the bastards now!!>
<Sir, all systems are online and responding within parameters. Beginning the biometric synchronization and baseline testing.>
"Do what you need to do.", I replied, tapping my chest three test to initiate the deployment of my nanotech armor.
Syncing my armor with the Gundam, I began moving around to confirm my movements were reflected by the unit. Surprised by the snappy response time, nearly instantaneous, I immediately wanted to take it into combat. Wanting to perform some of the move sets I remembered from Mobile Fighter G Gundam, I could barely contain my excitement.
"Jarvis, I think a field test would be the best way to thoroughly stress the systems. Prepare to teleport the Gundam and myself to Yamato.", I remarked, 'I know live field testing is frowned upon usually, but I need to vent my frustration with school. Having to deal with those five idiots, Stephanie, and Marie's antics, my tolerance for them is holding on by a fucking thread. If they do not get smart soon, I am going to start dropping bodies.'
<Understood, commencing charging sequence.>
<Yay, more target practice with the captain!!>
Watching the world around me blur for a moment, when my vision stabilized, I found myself standing atop Yamato's deck. Putting the Gundam in standby mode, while we searched for pirates, I began to tinker with the yet to be completed Hyper Mode feature.
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