Return to Avalon

"Why do I have a feeling that the hornets nest has just been kicked." Katla asked, looking at the news reports and the other reports that would be getting selectively leaked to the media in the coming days. Her own raid was gracing the front page of at least one major outlet.

"Because it seems we were mistaken for honey bees and found to be wasps." Captain Houten sounded very satisfied about that. Due to her experience in the matter, she'd been taking care of the induction of the destroyer to The Queen's Navy and had stopped by to give an update. There hadn't really been any problems beyond the Authority issuing a token protest that had been summarily thrown out even before they'd gotten back. Now all that was left was changing its transponder codes and giving it a new name. Katla hadn't even tried to pronounce its current one.

"I guess that's one way to say it." Katla agreed. The Queendom had certainly come out swinging. Semiramis was getting a lot of press for her show the flag operation. There hadn't actually been any action but apparently, she'd given some big monologue to the Incans that had made them turn tail. More likely it had simply been the fact that she'd had them outgunned but that part somehow hadn't been making it into the news columns. The naval side of the Jenta operation had gone completely smooth but the ground fighting was locked in a stalemate for the moment with both sides having taken losses. The battle against the Directorate had been loss. By all accounts it had been a decent fight but the Directorate had managed a lucky hit early on and it had gone down from there for the Queendom. Avalon had retreated in good order but the asteroids had been lost and there were a few noble families who would be having a new branch added to the tree. Not to mention the greater number of common enlisted who'd been taken. With a formal battle that would be a full year before they would be able to return home.

"I presume you've already started receiving fan mail?" Houten asked.

"How'd you guess?" Katia asked, she'd received a few messages from noble families that clearly had some sort of interest. Each inviting her to their estate for a 'chat'. She hadn't had time to parse out the politics involved quite yet.

"Because I know a few of the senders and they wondered if I might intervene on their behalf. I presume Foxley will be along as well at some point as well to try and claim your ear." Houten explained, sounding vaguely annoyed at the shenanigans that were occurring. "I'd be careful in the days ahead Commodore. Right now there are a lot of eyes on you. The way you move will be very important for your future."

"Give it to me straight doc. Am I fucked?" Katia asked

"No Commodore. Right now you hold the cards. The way you play them will determine what sorts of friends you can make. The Queendom and the Navy have many factions that will vie for your attention." Houten explained. Katia indicated for her to continue.

"There are three main factions in the Queendom. The Centrists, The Isolationists, and The Expansionists. Their names are far more complicated than we need to get into." Houten said, with a dismissive hand wave. "The Expansionists are led by Princess Diana Avalon, as you can guess they are very interested in expanding Avalon's military and economic status. They think Avalon has been far too passive in international affairs and want to seek a larger role. The Isolationists are led by Duchess Rentel. They're very happy with the current status quo and wish to remain focused on continuing to develop Avalon's current space rather than moving out to claim more. Finally, there are the Centrists, they're led by Princess Joan Avalon. You could say that they're just the middle ground between the other two but in truth their only loyalty is to what the Queen decides. They're on whatever side she is on any given day."

"So two of them are led by Princesses? What happened to the third?" Katia asked. This sounded interesting.

"Officially, nothing." What Houten didn't say spoke volumes. She looked around, pressing a random button on her uniform. Katla knew a silence field had been put up. "A princess has never led the Isolationists. It's almost a tradition at this point. But Commodore. You do need to be careful."

"Why is that?" Katla asked

"War is one thing but some of the knives out here can be very real. You didn't hear this from me but there have even been attempts on the life of Joan's daughter. I doubt anyone will try something similar against you but just know how vindictive some people can be." With that cheerful warning, the silence field went back down. Brief small talk occurring before Houten had to go.

Katla looked over the news again in a slightly new light. Now that she was paying closer attention she could see that they'd been spelling her name wrong in several places. Mistaking the l in her name for an i that her skim reading hadn't caught. She sent a quick message to the editors, hoping it would get fixed before the wrong spelling was cemented in the minds of the public.

Then she looked once again at her messages. Foxley had invited her to a party for the Expansionists. Semiramis was requesting her for the Centrists and another name she didn't know was inviting her to the Isolationists.

Which faction did she want to meet with for now? Their parties were all occurring at the same time so she could only go to one.