It wasn't every day that Aetna took to drinking this much, not by a long shot. Most of the time, he kept away from alcohol unless it was an extraordinary occasion... or if he was terrified.
And by the love of God, a memorable incident had occurred last night.
He had met a genuine, bonafide princess, not only that but a royal princess of Savugh, not some bargain brand member of the Savugh House's extended branch family. Yurai belonged to the main branch of Savugh House — as in, she was directly related to the current reigning Emperor.
Aetna took a large swig of his whiskey bottle and savored the taste of the warm, liquid fire as it ran down his throat. It wouldn't be too long before Aetna would need another bottle with the way he was drinking.
Whether Aetna liked it or not, he had now become part of something truly momentous. Against his better judgment, he had signed up to support Yurai in her bid for the throne. And that was worth drinking himself under the table, for one reason or another.
What the living hell had Aetna signed up for? Well, for starters, it was an immense struggle for approximately thirty-five percent of the Milky Way and over thirty-one billion Imperial subjects.
To date, there were 253 major planets and several hundred lesser colonies across Solastorian space. To successfully become Empress, Yurai would have to secure the electoral votes of at least half of these major worlds — a total of 127 electoral votes.
And although the lesser colonies did not possess electoral votes to speak of — as they were not fully-fledged Imperial worlds yet — it would not be long before some of the booming colonies would enter the galactic stage...
If one wanted to rule the Empire, they would have to court the major worlds for their votes and the larger colonies, for they had the potential to shift the balance of the game.
There was so much work that would have to be done: speaking to the nobles that ruled their starsectors, the governors and presidents of individual major worlds and colonies, hiring the campaign staff required, acquiring the funds for the campaign itself, gathering potential allies within both the royal family and the Imperial forces, spying on the enemy and weeding out the spies that would surely join their organization to collect information...
Unsurprisingly, Aetna's to-do list went on without end. Such was the fate of anyone stupid enough who would try to rule the Empire.
"Oh my god, what a fucking nightmare..." mumbled Aetna under his breath as he thought about the amount of work he would be bogged with in the future. Aetna desperately wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come out no matter how hard he tried.
Still, if they — by some unbelievable miracle — actually succeeded in obtaining the throne...
A slightly mischievous grin appeared on Aetna's lips.
If even a fraction of what Yurai had told him was not a lie, then she would change the fate of the galaxy forever if she became Empress. Several of the topics that Aetna and Yurai had spoken about last night would have gotten them both executed on the spot had anyone heard a single word of it.
Of this, Aetna was sure of; Yurai was entirely made of antimatter.
Her views on the current Empire were more than unique; they were nothing short of diabolical. If Yurai the power to act right now, she would have already obliterated every corrupt Noble house on this side of the galaxy and begun reorganizing the entire Empire into something new.
There was a deep-seated, secret corruption within the Aristocracy that many knew about but no one dared confront, let alone even discuss openly.
Political assassinations. Manipulation of the economy. Embezzlement, bribery, and extortion. Drug and human trafficking, and a litany of other terrible offenses.
These crimes were orchestrated in the bosom of a dark society of influential Noble houses — better known as the Order of Isendom.
Yurai wanted the Order of Isendom hunted down to the very last member, only to have them publically executed for all to see. It was a bloody future, to be sure, but Aetna figured it would be a better one by the end of it all.
Aetna wanted to see what Yurai would do and where it would lead him. It was a future that was worth fighting and toiling for in Aetna's book. And if they failed and everything came crashing down on them, Aetna would just abandon his identity and run away to another part of the galaxy.
Their victory would put him at the apex of a brand new Empire, and their failure would result in yet another path for him to walk down. As far as Aetna was concerned, it was a win-win scenario for him...
But this was these were all silly hypotheticals and nothing more at the moment.
They were nothing more than two flecks of dust in a massive sea of stars right now, without any of the power, fame, or authority required to make the stars bend to their will.
Several weeks later, Joyeuse Squadron finally completed its basic training program and had been cleared for real-life skirmishes, not unlike the simulated wargames that the cadets had grown tired of.
Many events had transpired over this brief timespan, though the most surprising of these events was Aetna's sudden transformation. Over the course of a single night, he had seemingly turned into the perfect Imperial boy scout.
He began showing up on time, never disobeyed orders, stopped trying to escape, and followed his superior's orders to the letter. Instead of wasting his time being a rebellious upstart, Aetna had become the very thing he swore that he hated most: A faithful cog of the Empire.
Even stranger was his mysterious relationship with his commander, Narivan. It was clear to everyone from their conversations that they had developed quite a close friendship.
Hell, they had even witnessed Aetna making friendly jokes with Narivan at the mess hall. They had even seen him — against all odds — show a smile in public. Needless to say, that deeply disturbed many in Joyeuse Squadron. For everyone dreaded whatever could make the infamous Mad Count actually smile...
Joyeuse Squadron would be tested in a mock skirmish against another Squadron from the 1st Fleet a week from now. They would be made to fight against experienced veterans to evaluate their current skills.
Though no one expected them to win, even with their superior prototype ships, the top brass still expected them to put a decent fight. As such, the buck fell on Yunfeer to remind his cadets just how important their performance would be in the upcoming skirmish.
"I need not remind you that your performance a week from now will determine how many things will play out," said Yunfeer coldly with a stern expression.
"Namely, Imperial High Command's decision on whether they'll decide to approve of the prototype ships. Your future assignments will also be taken into consideration as well. Not to mention, you'll have an opportunity to receive a minor commendation if you perform particularly well, too. There is much to gain... and to lose from this upcoming examination."
Every cadet stiffed up in the room at the thought of getting shafted promotion-wise, but Aetna knew that Yunfeer was most likely just trying to scare everyone into studying more. Although he didn't show it, Yunfeer was actually quite a prideful man.
He hated losing despite his outward humility, and if his cherished cadets got beaten too badly a week from now, it would probably reflect badly on him as their instructor. After all, the chap had a legendary reputation for training the crème de la crème of the Empire.
"Excellence in all aspects," was Yunfeer's personal motto, and he was determined to engrave the mindset into the heads of his cadets, much to their dismay...
Aetna scoffed internally at Yunfeer's warning but did not make his displeasure known. He would have already left the room without a word in the past, but he played the nice guy these days.
Not because he had a change of heart, but because Yurai had ordered him to behave himself. Even Aetna did not have the spine to make an enemy of a Savugh princess brazenly, at least not without an excellent reason. And alas, pissing off Yunfeer was not a justifiable reason...
Besides, Aetna understood Yurai's intention. If they were to climb up the military's ladder, Aetna would have to abandon his childish ways one day or another. Brilliant as Aetna might be, the Imperial High Command would never allow a hot-headed, rebellious element to join the highest echelons of the military.
Had Aetna continued to behave as he usually did, Aetna would have likely never risen above the rank of Rear Admiral for the rest of his life. Not that he would've made it that far given his problematic attitude about being in the Imperial Forces...
But now, the situation had changed. For once, since he had been conscripted into the Imperial Forces, Aetna had found something that made him want to stay.
Still, it didn't excuse the immense workload that Yunfeer had shoved on the squadron. The demon had forced them to participate in a seemingly endless chain of punishing, simulated wargames starting the following day.
Hell, even some of the more zealous cadets had started showing signs of mental fatigue, not that they ever voiced their displeasure about anything.
Not Aetna, though. As soon as their training session ended and the squadron was allowed free time, he muttered under his breath, "That old bastard's got another thing coming if he thinks that this type of workload is even remotely okay. Someone's going to break soon at this rate, and it's going to an ugly sight to see..."
Gafon stared at the bowl of soup in front of him with a pair of glazed eyes and said, "It might be me. I don't think that I can hold on much longer... If it does turn out to be me, I'm sorry for letting you all down."
It had gotten so bad for Gafon that he no longer slept. Even in his dreams, he dreamt of fighting battles without end. The poor bastard couldn't even escape from training, even in his sleep.
Not even Savar, the die-hard Imperial patriot, had anything to say about the matter in protest. His begrudging silence on the subject enough proof about how messed up the whole situation was.
Savar slowly ate his meal without a word as he fought to keep his sluggish eyes open...
Yurai noticed Savar's heavy, drooping eyelids and glanced at the rest of exhausted expressions on comrades' faces and said, "It's certainly an unnatural development, and although I agree that Instructor Yunfeer is quite heavy-handed as of recently, I do not believe he would force us to train this hard without a... justifiable reason."
A justifiable reason, indeed.
Savar, Gafon, and a majority of the squadron assumed that Yurai was talking about Yunfeer's desire to retain the prestige and reputation of the 1st Fleet or perhaps, his own spotless record of excellence, but there were a few fellows that caught on to Yurai's words...
There was serious trouble afoot, something that Yunfeer could not warn them about explicitly. Hence, the hellish training regimen that he had imposed upon all of them.
Aetna stared at the armored princess and let out a deep sigh. It seemed that she had come to the same conclusion, much to his consternation. He had his own suspicions, but once Yurai voiced her thoughts on the matter he became convinced that something was going to happen.
Something bad enough to warrant Yunfeer's overreaction to this upcoming skirmish.
"Then it's time we all head back to the simulation room for overtime training," said Aetna as he thought about the potential threats they would have to face in the coming days.
"All of us? What, you mean.... the entire squadron?" said Gafon, surprised.
"Yes. We're going to need to prepare appropriate countermeasures. Because if we don't, I'm pretty sure that we're going to die... very soon."