Part XLIX - Section 2 of 2----------
"Oberst, if you could take
that down to the holding cell" Cardinal Cointerel requested, indicating Critchly, "I will personally escort Colonel MacArthur and his officers to where Ambassador Jeffries is waiting for them to join him" he said. "I believe that the Holy Father intends on having the prisoner taken to the Sistine Chapel later to witness that his desecration of the fresco has been stripped away, and Michaelangelo's vision fully restored to the Glory of God, so you may wish to make security preparations for that" he advised.
Helbing nodded.
"While I doubt the prisoner is in a fit state to make a run for it, if he
does may I suggest you instruct your men that while the word of Our Lord as passed down to us in the Bible frowns upon killing, and that they should therefore refrain from shooting him in the back if possible, the book is somewhat fuzzier when it comes to the subject of kneecaps" the cardinal advised sagely.
"I'll let them know, Your Eminence" Helbing replied, trying not to laugh because it would bad in front of the men.
"Excellent" Cardinal Cointerel responded brightly, clapping his hands together. "Shall we be off Colonel?" he asked MacArthur rhetorically, gently tossing the facial scanner to one of the Swiss Guard who caught it before marching away, a distinct spring in the man's step.
MacArthur leaned over towards Helbing. "You
really wanted this ****** didn't you?" he asked.
"It would be difficult to express in words just how much" Helbing replied earnestly, nodding as MacArthur quickly made to catch up with the Cardinal, Major Donovan and Captain Carmichael in pursuit.
Oberst Johann Helbing, Commander of the Swiss Guard, looked down at the man sat in the wheelchair. "Consider this as confirmation of the truth that God will
not be mocked and don't go thinking that repentance will save you from hell because God's mercy may be limitless but that doesn't hold true for his Representative on Earth" he warned, having heard that the Pope intended on excommunicating the man personally.
Critchly took a deep breath. "****** you, candystriper" he replied. "And ****** your Pope" he just about managed to gasp out afterwards.
"Candystriper?" Helbing repeated, looking down at his uniform. "Good one, and four whole syllables too, you're not as dumb as I thought" he said. "Let's get you down to the cell. Feldweibel Schallberger should be ready with the Iron Maiden by now, he spent half the night sharpening all the spikes inside."
Bernard Critchly blanched and Helbing was gratified that all of his men had remained stony faced when he mentioned the Iron Maiden, that particular device of medieval torture supposedly favoured by the Inquisition being very much a later fabrication.
They
did have some old thumbscrews in an archive somewhere apparently, but while John-Paul V
might have sanctioned their use his successor was less 'Wrath of God' and more 'Love of God' as the Church got over the trauma of the Amaris era.
"Hauptman Wettstein, please escort our SLDF guests to the barracks, Make sure they feel welcome" Helbing instructed one of his officers, sticking to English rather than Italian or German so the soldiers of the SLDF could understand as well. "Leutnant Ochs, you and your men will remain here to guard the vehicles. Do so with the same zeal you would the Papal apartments" he ordered, both officers recognising their instructions with a nod. "We are indebted to the Niops Association and the 295th Battlemech Division for bringing us the Ogre" he reminded them.
None of the SLDF infantry or the tank crew
were actually from the 295th, despite what the insignia on their uniforms said. They were all from the 331st and had been born on Circe or Strana Mechty being assigned to this mission because they knew to keep their mouths shut about that. If asked they were the children and grandchildren of the original soldiers of the 295th which had
officially arrived at Niops not long after failing to catch up with Kerensky's Exodus.
Most of the soldiers were also young enough to have been raised on Niops, and thought of it as their home by now, so when asked about where they came from by curious member of the Swiss Guard they truthfully spoke of what it was like to live on Niops VII way out in the periphery.
After lunch one the SLDF infantrymen even performed the old rap about Galileo and his own encounter with the Vatican, which was about as convincingly Niopsian as you could get, even if the cultural anchor point was entirely lost on the rather perplexed soldiers of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
Apparently you could move faster in those robes than Robert MacArthur would have expected because Cardinal Cointerel had set a brisk pace as he led the Colonel and his two officers through the rooms and passageways of the Vatican towards where Gareth Jeffries was waiting. On a normal day there would have been a lot more people around, not just clergy but also other guests and visitors, but for security reasons the number of people allowed inside the walls had been severely restricted.
As they proceeded Cointeral had bombarded Macarthur, Donovan and Carmichael with questions, which they all supposed was part of his job description, and they were glad they had all rehearsed a consistent script that was
mostly true but left out or obscured details that Niops did not want anybody from outside the Association knowing. Fortunately he was more interested in talking about the capture of Critchly than he was about Niops which made things easier but the man was definitely fishing for information nonetheless.
As they eventually reached a large set of doors, a pair of Swiss Guards stood outside them, Cointeral knocked and entered, leading MacArthur and his companions inside.
Gareth Jeffries was waiting inside as expected, what MacArthur had not expected was that he would be sat at a table drinking coffee and eating pastries with the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church and the Vicar of Christ himself.
You could have warned me, MacArthur thought to himself directing a brief glare at Cardinal Cointerel who noticed the Colonel's expression and seemed amused. "Your Holiness, may I present Colonel Robert MacArthur and Major Claire Donovan of the 295th Battlemech Division of the Star League Defence Force and Captain Jason Carmichael of the Niops Association Militia" he announced them grandly.
The Pope put down his coffee cup and stood up off his chair, Jeffries instantly following suit as befits protocol.
"Your Holiness" MacArthur spoke up, saluting then offering a shallow bow. He wasn't Catholic himself but the Pope was a Head of State holding a position deemed equivalent in the ranks of nobility to an emperor. Even the First Lords of the Star League had bowed to the Pope when they met, it would be uncouth not to and besides which potentially disrespecting the untold billions of Roman Catholics in the galaxy was such poor politics that only Richard Cameron would have been stupid enough to do it.
The Pope smiled and approached MacArthur. "No need to kiss the Papal Ring Colonel, a handshake will do" he said reaching out his hand which MacArthur took. He then subsequently shook hands with Donovan and Carmichael before fixing his attention back to MacArthur. "I consider it a pity that General Romanov could not be here herself, I would have liked to present her personally with the Papal Commendation I plan to issue to the men and women of the 295th Division, but I trust you will convey it back to her Colonel" he said. "Your valour in finally bringing the war-criminals of the accursed Amaris to justice, after so many years of them avoiding their righteous punishment and continuing their vile ways, cannot be praised too highly" he continued. "The 141st Amaris Dragoons were barely less irredeemable than the mercenary scum that followed Antilos Legos, murderous butchers all, and to see them brought low while they were commanded by an actual cousin of Stefan Amaris himself is almost poetical."
"Isn't it unusual for the Catholic Church to do something like that?" MacArthur queried.
"We do not, as a rule, involve ourselves in international politics or temporal matters it's true, at least not since the Papal States were dissolved anyway" the Pope replied, smiling. "When it comes to opposing evil however we like to think our ourselves as very much in the fight" he said. "If Stefan Amaris, Antilos Legos and Bernard Critchly were not tools of Satan himself I'll eat my hat and if you've ever seen it you'd know that the Papal Tiara is rather indigestible" he joked.
"I remarked to His Holiness that your son asked you to get his autograph Major Donovan" Jeffries spoke up, the woman having mentioned this during their long journey to Terra.
Donovan looked appalled at having this mentioned but the Pope smiled again. "I think I can manage that although I believe I'll send you back to Niops with something more consequential as well" he said. "Ambassador Jeffries informed me that you were the mechwarrior who defeated Bernard Critchly in battle?" he asked her.
"I was Sir, almost to be honest I had no idea at the time who was sat in the cockpit of the
Rampage I was shooting at" Claire Donovan replied, trying not to sound too nervous given who it actually was she was talking to.
"Nonetheless Major you faced a mortal foe of the Roman Catholic Church in battle and defeated him, something that merits reward" the Pope told her. "As such I am naming you to the Order of the Golden Militia, what some call the Order of the Golden Spur, an honour that has been bestowed upon those who have contributed to the glory of the Church by feat of arms since the Fourteenth Century. A Papal Knighthood."
Donovan stared at him. "I'm not Catholic" she managed to reply.
"Strangely enough it's not actually a requirement that you are" the Pope replied. "It has even been awarded to non-Christians in the past, although I assume you are one?" he asked.
"Episcopalian" Donovan replied.
"Ah, one of our Anglican brethren" the Pope responded. "I will make sure to mention you to the Archbishop of Canterbury the next time we meet, lovely woman, and we agree on so many matters of religion as long as the subject of King Henry VIII of England and his daughter Elizabeth aren't raised" he added with a chuckle. "Forgive me for not saying so earlier, Captain Carmichael, but naturally the Niops Association Militia with also be receiving a Papal Commendation for their part in the Battle of Algenib, I'm told you fought there?"
"I did" Carmichael confirmed. A company of the militia had helped the SLDF against the Blood Rain, earning Carmichael himself the Combat Mechwarrior's Badge, something that not very in the NAM could boast of.
"I look forward to seeing the presentation on the battle Colonel MacArthur intends to give to the press later, it sounds like the Amaris Dragoons put up quite the fight, although nobody ever accused them of being cowardly I suppose, just malevolent beyond measure" he said before turning to Cardinal Cointerel. "Ambassador Jeffries has informed me that the Niops Association intends to provide the entire Inner Sphere with the blueprints to both the Jamerson-Ulikov Water Purifier and the Eligus Medical Diagnoser, once restricted Terran Hegemony technologies, and to do so for free as an act of Christian charity" he told him. "I will converse with the Curia about the Church assisting in the distribution of these technologies if we can, they could save many lives and alleviate much suffering."
Cointerel raised his eyebrows. "It is very generous of them to do so without recompense, not something we see very often in these dark days" he replied. "I suppose that the rumours are true that Niops has maintained the ability to produce many devices that are lostech elsewhere and not just Hyperpulse Generators?"
"Ironically the new Dark Age that has befallen the galaxy elsewhere never reached the worlds orbiting an unusually dim star far from the light of Terra" Jeffries said poetically.
The Pope nodded. "Yes, the new Dark Age, the one in which ComStar sees itself as being akin to taking the role our church did in late antiquity, keeping the wisdom of the ancients safe after the Roman Empire fell" he observed.
"The current Primus most certainly seems to believe in that creed" Cointerel agreed. His spies within ComStar indicated that Raymond Karpov intended to push his organisation even closer towards cosplaying the medieval Roman Catholic Church what with the chanting, and the robes and the pseudo-monastic orders. Still, they did say that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery.
"Makes one wonder if he realises that in this scenario that the Niops Association and its growing Hegemony are the part of the Roman Empire that
did not fall, which also retained the knowledge of the ancient Romans and Greeks and still boasted the legions to defend it" the Pope asked rhetorically. "I must say I never thought I'd meet the Byzantine Empire reborn but here we are" he said, waving his hand towards Jeffries.
"Byzantine?" Carmichael repeated the word quizzically.
"The Eastern Roman Empire, the part that didn't collapse when Rome did in the west and kept going for another thousand years" Jeffries explained. "They actually still called
themselves Roman, or rather Rhōmaîoi in Greek the language they mostly used, rather than the Byzantines because as far as
they were concerned they still were."
"Which would make us the 'Anti-spinwards Terran Hegemony' I guess" MacArthur said.
Jeffries smiled. "I guess all we need now is to elect ourselves our own Justinian as High Associator and find ourselves a Belisarius" he said grinning, wondering how many reporters at the press conference later would get the references if he made them in jest.
Watching that press conference live from his quarters at Hilton Head on the other side of the Atlantic Raymond Karpov, Primus of ComStar, was already incensed enough when the diplomat from Niops gave the announcement about releasing the blueprints for lostech to the galaxy, but he practically had a stroke when Jeffries mentioned the Byzantines… and
Belisarius!
Having the successes of Operation Holy Shroud possibly gutted by these upstarts had been bad enough, but
now he faced a far greater problem.
The Eastern Roman Empire hadn't just survived the fall of Rome itself, at one point they had very nearly managed to reconquer the
western part too, and
had retaken large parts of it including Italy. General Belisarius, the greatest military commander of his age, in the service of the Emperor Justinian, had once again raised the standards of the Roman Army over Rome itself, earning himself the later sobriquet as 'The Last of the Romans'.
The worst part of it all from Karpov's personal perspective being that one of the first things Belarius had done after taking Rome was throwing the then Supreme Pontiff, Pope Silverius, out on his ass because the Eastern Roman Empire considered him a stooge of the barbarian tribes who had earlier destroyed the Western Empire, and they were still pretty sore about the whole thing.
Still watching as this 'Colonel MacArthur', apparently the son of the commanding officer of the 295th before the current one, told the press about the Battle of Algenib where the SLDF had taken on and defeated the Amaris Dragoons, thus winning the last battle of the Amaris War in his words, something else suddenly dawned on Karpov.
"Romanov, their general is called
Romanov" he exclaimed. "Of
course they're the damn Byzantines" he realised, dropping his face into his hands as he envisioned the 'Anti-Spinwards Terran Hegemony', as Jeffries had called it, thundering out of the Periphery one day to once again raise their standards over Terra.
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Note from the Author:Okay, so the preceeding quarter-million words or so may have left the readership with the impression that because Johann Sebastian O'Reilly was not the man that discovered the tens of billions of C-Bills worth of Germanium on Alphard, that this story was not about the Roman Empire being recreated in space. I apologise for the confusion, this story is about the Roman Empire being recreated in space, it's just not the Roman Empire you were expecting.
If ComStar is the Roman Catholic Church of the Dark Ages then the Niops Hegemony is the Eastern Roman Empire, the part that kept going long after Rome itself fell to the barbarians.
Military sci-fi just isn't the same without a reference to Belisarius is it?
Hans Mikkelsen of the Greenhaven Gestapo being caught by the SLDF and then handed over to a representative of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (the Roman Inquisition) who promptly excommunicated him on the order of the Pope and then shot him in the head comes from the sourcebook Historical: Liberation of Terra. Turns out if you murder the Pope and the Curia, slaughter hundreds of unarmed monks, loot the Vatican and paint over the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel you will make the Catholic Church very, very mad at you, who would have thought?
The Pontifical Swiss Guard may look like toy soldiers in their late medieval style dress uniforms and carrying halberds, but both in the Battletech Universe and in real life they are not.
Finally the Order of the Golden Militia, AKA the Order of the Golden Spur, as awarded here to Major Claire Donovan is a real thing.
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