Turn 20 - Nobody Expects the Grifftiger Inquisition or The Queen’s Got A Little List (and they never will be missed) plus a side of Advisors Advising Advice
You had decided to eschew the normal formal gown that you’d worn to most previous events in Parliament. This wasn’t for ‘formality’ or being social, this was more… serious.
So you wore the (very) slightly modified full dress uniform you were entitled to as Queen. The severely cut midnight black with scarlet piping and flashing gold trim suited your mood. The only difference between your uniform and that of the full company of the Queen's Own who followed was that on your epaulets you bore jeweled golden crowns denoting you being Queen. A uniform that hadn’t been worn since your grandfather’s reign… when it generally denoted that somebody was about to lose their head.
You could sense the unease that your entrance had generated, even amongst your most loyal supporters. There was a serious stir as your soldiers took up positions flanking every exit, a stir that sharpened as the fact that they were all carrying rifles which, while polished and gleaming, were clearly service weapons with attached bayonets. Not the short and somewhat stubby vibro-bayonets, but old-pattern gleaming steel bayonets that caused a bit more visceral fear of having sharp pointy things poked into sensitive spots.
Then there’s a sharper stir as the significance of what the insignia on Sekhmet’s gleaming gold-embossed harness actually was sinks in… a position that hadn’t even existed in your Father’s reign, but one which your Grandfather had made extensive use of. Lord High Inquisitor.
You started speaking almost before you reached your throne. “You will be silent and take your seats.” you said crisply, then turned and favored the room with a cold gaze. “Lords, Ladies, Members of Parliament.” you continue, after a brief pause to allow the gathered notables to seat themselves.
“When We summoned this Parliament We charged you with serving the best interests of Griffin’s Roost’s citizens. We took your oaths of office in good faith, your promises to serve Us and Our citizens with honor, fidelity and justice.”
You let your gaze sweep across the chamber.
“We are saddened that so many of you have decided that your oaths of office instead were to serve your own ambitions and bank accounts with…” you snear. “False honor, utter infidelity, and complete injustice.”
“We do not speak of disagreements with Our policies. The Throne is not above critique, and We welcome honest criticism given with noble motive. We would far rather have an honest critic than a false friend.” you continue, favoring certain members with a brief smile before your faces smooths back down to formal rigidity.
You clasp your hands behind your back, and at that signal Janet steps up and sets a folder on the lectern before you.
You don’t even bother to look down at it.
“Bribery. Corruption. Sale of votes to the highest bidder. Abuse of office. Insider trading. These are things We shall not tolerate.” you say harshly. “We have already crushed one conspiracy against Our people and Our crown. We had hoped to never have to do so again. Yet some among you think that We shall be blinded by pretend loyalty to your own designs.”
Sekhmet rumbled beside you, licking her chops and then giving a lazy feline smile.
“We were faced with a choice. We could have sent Our police to arrest the corrupt for their crimes and cast them from Our Parliament in disgrace and dishonor, and some would argue that it would be right and just to do so. For those who have abused Our trust have also abused the good citizens of Our realm, and for that treason.” you pause for just a moment as a susurration of sound goes through the otherwise silent chamber. “The perpetrators would face trial, conviction, and death by hanging.”
“We could do nothing, and trust in the good sense of Our citizens to cast out those guilty parties subject to election. But this would do nothing about those Life Peers and Hereditary Lords and Ladies who are likewise corrupt.”
“Or We could be merciful, and do what We have chosen to do. You each shall reaffirm your oaths of fealty to Our Throne and to Our people. Those who cannot hold to that high charge of honor, fidelity, and justice may instead choose to quit this chamber, thus resigning your positions in Our service. For those guilty of felonies against Our justice, such an act would mitigate charges of Treason.” your smile at this point would have sent a Great Shark scurrying away in terror at meeting a superior predator.
“If you, being guilty of dishonoring your oath to Us, falsely swear once more to Us, you shall be taken from this chamber directly to the fields of execution, there to be hung by the neck until dead.”
“Choose wisely, My Lords and Ladies, Members of Parliament.” you say coldly, sweeping your gaze. “No honest man or woman amongst you need fear Our justice.” you leave unsaid, of course, what the dishonest amongst them would need to fear…
You turn and take your seat upon the throne, folding your hands primly on your lap, and nod to the Sergeant at Arms.
As the first members came forward to renew their oaths of office and fealty, you kept a carefully neutral expression on your face as you noted a dozen or so individuals scurrying for the door. The soldiers let them depart without hindrance… right into the waiting arms of law enforcement officials from the Ministry of Justice. You were rather pleased that every single one of them were on your little list of naughty boys and girls. Evidently your reassurance that you welcomed honest opposition had quieted the fears of members well enough in that regard.
You manage to quell a little smirk as one of the worst offenders on your little list, an arrogant little popinjay of a Hereditary Lord named Simon Bunting, doesn’t take the opportunity for mercy. Instead, the odious little toad keeps his usual smarmy ingratiating expression on his face when he is summoned before the throne to renew his oath.
“I, Simon Bunting, do solemnly swear to serve the Crown and Citizens of Griffin’s Reach.” he begins the formal oath, seemingly totally comfortable with it. The formal phrase trip easily from his tongue.
Beside you Sekhmet rumbles as the little toady finishes, then pads forward, leaning down and sniffing him. Her tail lashes and a rumbling growl starts somewhere deep inside of the massive grifftiger that seems to shake the air.
You raise one hand to rest on Sekhmet’s flank, seemingly to quell her. “You had your opportunity for mercy, My Lord.” you say flatly. “Only a complete imbecile would believe that your activities had escaped Our notice. You swore falsely before. You swear falsely now.”
He pales visibly and opens his mouth to protest, but you slash your hand to one side. “Silence. You had your opportunity to face the Justice of the Queen in the Court of Law. You chose… poorly.”
Two of your guards approach at your nod, one leveling his rifle at the now freely perspiring noble, the glittering lethality of the bayonet a clear threat while the expression on the guards face was an open invitation for the corrupt noble to resist and give the corporal the excuse he needed to gut Bunting like a fish.
“You will be taken from this chamber, My Lord, to face My justice upon the fields of execution. Sergeant, do your duty.”
And with that he was hauled away, leaving behind a foul stench as the arrogant man had evidently soiled his trousers, leaving a rather fetid puddle and trail of foul liquid behind him.
Luckily you’d planned for this, following some of your grandfather’s notes on the proper means of doing something like this, and the cleaning staff was immediately at hand with proper supplies to deal with the mess.
To your amusement the rest of your little list rather swiftly departed the chamber at this point.
The rest of the oath-taking ceremony proceeds without any drama whatsoever, beyond Sekhmet bestowing a rather large number of Licks of Approval on various nobles, ruffling their formal garb and leaving them looking rather bemused.
Of those members who’d departed the chamber rather than renew their oaths (and risk execution under the principle that while the Queen had the power of High Justice, she could only directly order the execution of those sworn personally to her service, all others required a full trial) all were soon convicted on various charges of corruption and malfeasance. As you had promised, none were charged with treason, even if such a charge would have been applicable to their conduct.
You are quite pleased by the public reaction, but then comes THAT time of year. It’s… ADVISOR TIME.
You again have Jeremy with you when you attend the meetings, it's a good experience for your little man. Of course, he asks if Alita can join him, and you decide to allow that as well. She’s a good kid, after all, almost good enough for your son.
You suddenly feel old for a moment, then dismiss the feeling.
General Potter is looking rather worn, but his voice is still powerful. “We won’t be able to expand the battlemech forces this year, however we do have a few immediate decisions for you to approve. First up is a new tracked missile carrier. Nollak Industries is providing the targeting systems for all of them, so they would serve as both indirect fire platforms and anti-air platforms.”
| [] | Name | Cost | HP | Attack | Defense | Special |
| [] | Knight LRM Carrier | 562 | 24 | 8 | 8 | Anti-Air, Fragile, Tracked |
| [] | Longbow LRM Carrier | 534 | 20 | 7 | 7 | Anti-Air, Fragile, Tracked |
| [] | Multiple Launch Missile System M1 | 570.4 | 20 | 7 | 7 | Anti-Air, Fragile, Tracked |
| [] | Ravager M5 | 522.8 | 32 | 9 | 9 | Anti-Air, Tracked |
| [] | Rook LRM Carrier | 490.4 | 28 | 8 | 8 | Anti-Air, Tracked |
He notes down your decision.
“Next we have proposals for a new SRM carrier for urban combat.” he tells you, passing you a small stack of proposals.
| [] | Name | Cost | HP | Attack | Defense | Special |
| [] | Roach M6 | 606.4 | 40 | 10 | 10 | Tracked |
| [] | Parthian SRM Carrier | 494.8 | 32 | 8 | 8 | Tracked |
| [] | Multiple Launch Assault System M1 | 574.8 | 46 | 10.5 | 10.5 | Armored, Wheeled |
| [] | Bishop SRM Carrier | 580.8 | 40 | 10 | 10 | Tracked |
He notes down your decision.
“And finally we have proposals for a new hovercraft missile carrier for the RRF from Tank-X” he says as he passes you the final set of proposals.
| [] | Name | Cost | HP | Attack | Defense | Special |
| [] | Caricole Cavalry Hovercraft | 598 | 32 | 8 | 8 | Swift |
| [] | Knight Multi-Missile Carrier | 597.2 | 32 | 10 | 10 | Swift |
| [] | Madman M777 | 459.2 | 32 | 8 | 8 | Swift |
| [] | Multiple Launch Missile System M2 | 590 | 32 | 8 | 8 | Swift |
He notes down your decision.
“We have a number of other priorities. With both the dropship and battlemech factory temporarily out of commission we won’t be able to start any droppers nor strengthen our mech forces. That being said, we recommend purchasing a battalion set of the new SRM carriers to bolster the defenses of Griffsport directly. Urban terrain is the best for such a vehicle, after all.”
He goes through his notes. “Now this is critical, we need to fully fund the coast guard and get the cutters into service. I’ve been going over all the memos in question and while I don’t understand all the terms used as I’m a simple tanker, from what I’ve been able to learn this initial squadron of 4 large cutters will be sufficient in the short term, but they’ll be seeking additional units long term to fill out their forces.” he slides the datapad with the specifications for the new cutters for you to review.
“Finally we can expand the Aerie to a full up Military University on par with institutions from the Star League era like the Nagelring. Both military education and research, plus graduate level training. Doing so would be expensive, but would have seriously positive benefits for our military readiness and future strength.”
Bridget is just as bouncy as ever. You brace yourself for the upcoming torrent. “I don’t really have much for you Your Majesty beyond expanding the space station so as to benefit from increased research and development opportunities as well as some small increases in commercial utilization in orbit because we are researching things that can only be made in space so we’ll need to eventually build factories up there and this will make researching cheaper and better and allow us to produce what we research.”
That’s probably the least she’s ever said in one meeting.
Dr Young is in the hospital for a minor operation and her deputy is sitting in her place. “Your Majesty, we don’t really have anything for you this year.” the young man takes a deep breath. “And Dr Young instructed me to inform you that she intends to retire in the near future and that she would be forwarding you a list of proposed replacements.”
Professor Chapman is all business. “Your Majesty, like Dr Young I’ll be retiring next year, and will get you a list of successors.” she says briskly. We’ll be completing the Town Halls soon, but after that I will be preparing for my retirement.”
Harry Owens is still at the PoW camp overseeing interrogations. He sends you a short note that things are proceeding so far as planned and that he has no real suggestions for additional projects at this time.
Janet is bouncy as ever. “We’re almost there with the new Royal Grifftiger Mounted Police, we’ve got our recruits in training and the tigers are so much fun to work with! And you already know what great babysitters they are.” she grins and gives Sekhmet a little pet, causing the big tiger to churrr in pleasure. “Otherwise, we really need to set up judicial systems in the new colony areas before things degrade to the Wild West of myth and legend.”
