BloodStar

Arthur cruised in his private plane with fighter jet escorts flanking him on both sides. As he was alone, he had a good deal of time to spend only with his thoughts.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into? War crime after war crime, she has never known a limit in private. However, on the world stage, she will never be accepted by other leaders if she keeps this up. Compound X. If she is caught using that there will be no future for her… or me.”

He slumped into his chair caught between a rock and a hard place, “I can’t very well defect this late in the game. And yet, I am as good as dead if this war ends any way besides total victory for Xenia. I suppose if anyone can do it, it’s her. But what will my family think of me? My kids?”

Suddenly an overhead alarm went off, and the fighter jet captain’s voice could be heard, “President Arthur. We have incoming aircraft with no radio contact. We are going to fall back to…. BOOM!”

Arthur jumped as the radio transmission ended in a loud, violent explosion. He looked out the window just in time to see the other escort explode into a metal heap as an air-to-air missile hit it.

A new voice could be heard overhead, “President Arthur, this is Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Davis. It is because of your head-of-state status that we are giving you a chance to follow us back to our base as a prisoner. Any hesitation, and we will blow you out of the sky.”

Arthur picked up the intercom link and said, “Understood. Loud and clear. We will gladly follow.”

Lt. Col. Davis replied, “A smart move, President.”

Arthur sat up in his chair with a new vigor, “This may be just the chance I need to ingratiate myself to the other side. Fortune smiles upon me yet maybe.”

The plane made a 180 degree turn and headed back due North. After thirty minutes of flying, Arthur spoke into the intercom again, “Lt. Col. Davis, it appears you are heading straight for the BloodStar Citadel. I want to make you aware that your jet markings may not be welcome, and I suggest a different route in the interest of your safety.”

Lt. Col. Davis responded, “Thank you for the concern, President. There is no mistake. Just follow us.”

Arthur curiously looked out the window to see the fighter jet land on a makeshift mobile runway that had only recently been setup. Adjacent to the runway were portable buildings for miles. Arthur set back in his chair, “A siege on the Citadel? A bold move by the Allied Forces.”

Arthur’s plane landed next coming to a stop on the runway followed quickly by armed soldiers escorting him out in handcuffs.

Master Chief Washington greeted him on the runway, “Senator… excuse me… President Davis. Although we are on two different sides of this war, it is still good to see you alive.”

Arthur nodded to John, “Likewise Master Chief. I think we may yet find ourselves on the same side before long. Is there a Master present I can talk to?”

John smiled, “Master Karasu is here. But I think you might have better luck speaking with Lord Heraklinos.”

Arthur looked up, “Jacek Heraklinos himself is here? Take me to him immediately please.”

Master Chief nodded, “I will do what I can. I’m afraid I’ll have to follow protocol for the time being and take you to a cell. They aren’t the nicest. You are our first prisoner in this makeshift siege camp.”

Arthur laughed, “Trust me. There is nothing you can do to me that is worse than what I’ve recently experienced.”

John tilted his head, “Given the company you keep, I won’t ask the details.”

Arthur lost his smile and drooped his head, “Actually, it is the details I wish to impart to your leader. My words with Jacek won’t be for naught. I have information he needs to know. The sooner the better.”

John gave Arthur a look, “You’re telling the truth aren’t you?”

Arthur simply nodded in silence.

“I’ll relay the urgency of your request right now then.” John barked orders to nearby officers, “Take this man to a holding cell. Treat him well, he is the President of Texas. Any mistreatment will be communicated to Jacek Heraklinos directly.”

Meanwhile from one mile away, Nero had been keeping a sharp eye on events given the sudden buildup of forces around the Citadel. He lowered his binoculars and called on his radio, “Constance, we have a problem.”

Constance responded, “I know. I’ve been watching our problem grow over the past few hours. I am taking inventory of the supplies right now as we ready for the siege.”

He replied, “We have another problem then. President Davis’s plane has been intercepted, and it appears he is being held prisoner by the enemy encampment.”

Constance paused before saying, “Understood. I will inform Xenia at once.”

_________________

Arthur sat at a table with his hands feeling the cold steel of handcuffs as he rested them atop the table awaiting Jacek.

After waiting for nearly 60 minutes, the door swung open, and a huge man with broad shoulders and chiseled muscles all over his body walked in with an intimidating presence.

Arthur stood and bowed his head, “Lord Heraklinos, thank you for seeing me. I have much to tell you.”

Jacek sat down and said, “Please sit.” He then turned to the guard and said, “Arthur Davis is the sitting President of Texas. He is a head-of-state. He is a middle-aged man with no ki powers. Take these handcuffs off at once!”

The guard jumped to his orders and removed the handcuffs from Arthur immediately. Arthur nodded and smiled at the guard, “Thank you sir.”

Jacek then leaned forward onto the table with his elbows and said, “President Davis. I am glad you are here. You could prove a valuable asset to trade. And my guards tell me you have information to impart to me.”

Arthur half-smiled as he said, “Jacek, I am glad you see me as an asset to be traded. But in truth I must warn you that I am more likely to be a liability in your hands. Xenia is aggressive. I will admit that I am no Constance Khan but look at what she did when Constance was captured. If I didn’t have information to tell you, important information, I would say you are a fool for keeping me this long. They will have definitely seen my plane land here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are on their way now!”

Jacek nodded, “Xenia won’t be so reckless with me here. Now, tell me your information.”

Arthur looked to Jacek, “I hope you are right. Nonetheless, I am glad to be here. I will preface everything I am about to say by saying I do think there is something to be said for fighting to preserve one’s way of life. I want it to be clear that I have been fighting to preserve the democratic republic. I can be honest in saying that I do not support the Master class way of ruling. Nonetheless, I am starting to see what you and many others have seen from the start… fighting alongside Xenia BloodStar isn’t worth the cost to save one’s way of life.”

Jacek nodded, “I am glad you are coming around. It isn’t too late to join us, you know.”

Arthur smiled, “That is music to my ears. I would very much like to. Of course, the one impediment to making that a reality is the danger I would expose my family to by switching sides.”

Jacek replied, “If I have my special ops team extract your family and take them to the Heraklinos Empire right now, will you tell me everything I need to know?”

Arthur gladly agreed, “A thousand times, yes.”

Jacek picked up his cell phone, “Let me make the call, then.” A voice picked up on the other side, “Yes, Lord.”

Jacek said, “Inform the special ops team that I am ordering them to extract President Davis’s family at once. Top priority.” He then hung up the phone and looked to Arthur, “Okay, Arthur. Your turn. If you don’t hold up your end of the deal, your family will be high-profile prisoners in my empire. I don’t want that. You don’t want that. So let’s talk.”

Arthur leaned forward with his elbow on the table as well and said, “The reason I am so willing to defect is because Xenia has lost her humanity. She has never had it in private, but she has recently allowed her lust for violence and pain spill out into the theatre of war. I am speaking of war crimes not seen since the likes of World War II. Crimes not seen for many years, not even in the Great War.”

Jacek folded his arms, “Go on.”

Arthur continued, “She has a new substance called Compound X. It activates every pain receptor in the body, and it even prevents attenuation of the pain. She has used it on me, personally. My eyes nearly burst from my scleral veins rupturing. I had a hypertensive stroke, and my body was in a state of complete spasm. I would’ve died a slow and painful death had she not healed me.” Arthur glared at Jacek and said, “I was her last test subject.”

Jacek thought back to St. Peter’s death, “I think we have encountered this phenomenon once before. It was a harrowing experience. These were only tests?”

Arthur nodded, “She plans to use Compound X on captured soldiers to kill them en masse in the most painful way possible. She plans to perform the first round today.” He bit his tongue and said, “I just couldn’t stand by and let that happen. But I am also helpless to stop her. But as fate would have it, I am here. And you can stop her.”

Jacek took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair, “God damnit. That is a problem. But I can’t very well act on this information until she has gone through with it. Furthermore, I have sparred with Xenia in the past. I can hang with her, but she is a better fighter by far. Not necessarily more powerful than I am now given my improvements, but her technique is flawless. She has trained her whole life to be a killer.”

Arthur shouted back, “And you have trained your whole life to be a defender!”

Jacek nodded, “And as such, I need to set up a meeting with Xenia before any fighting takes place. Diplomacy is always the first option.”

Arthur leaned in and quietly said, “I agree Jacek. But not when it comes to the BloodStars. They crave war. They crave violence.”

Jacek scrunched up his face, “I won’t argue with you there, but I still need to try.”

Jacek’s phone began to ring and both men looked to it. The front of the phone read ‘Xenia BloodStar’.

They then shot looks to one another and Jacek said, “It looks like she has the same idea. Let’s meet then.”

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