"Here, here, here — mind your figures of speech. You make me sound like something evil."
Zhao Chen rolled his eyes. "I do not run that sort of coercion here; all of it goes by the principle of free will."
"I…" Only then did Saint Cana come to herself; what she had said a moment ago, under the sway of her feeling, was indeed somewhat unfitting.
"There is no need to say more. Since you have made your decision, let us talk of it and come straight to the point. First, I am willing to send troops to help you. But all of it must be beneath a will of which my command is the guide. Which is to say that even should I hand down an order of the same kind — to abandon three star regions — you must carry it out." Zhao Chen looked at Saint Cana gravely.
The cast of Saint Cana's eyes shifted slightly.
"But this I can promise you: I shall stop this disaster from coming to pass. At the least, set against those hypocrites who know nothing but flight, I can give you back a home."
Saint Cana nodded. "Of these things you need say no more to me. I am a soldier; I know at what hour a choice must be made."
Upon this point Zhao Chen believed Saint Cana too; she was not the kind to rush headlong at a thing.
Otherwise she would have contacted Zhao Chen when the Imperial Senate abandoned the three star regions.
She had still, at that time, laid her hope upon its being no more than a stratagem to buy time — until at the last the Imperial Senate truly made its decision, to abandon this homeland and carry out the migration plan.
Only then did Saint Cana know that the Imperial Senate and the Disciple family had long since turned their backs upon their oath to the Sacred Light — their oath to guard this place forever.
"Beyond which, I shall tell you plainly. I do not do business at a loss. If our cooperation goes smoothly in every part, I shall raise up within the Holy Radiance Empire a body of family powers inclined toward us. Beyond which, of the Holy Radiance Empire's resource-bearing territories, we must hold at the least 70% of the control — for a hundred years. Do you agree?" Zhao Chen set out his conditions.
Of these things Saint Cana had had some foreknowledge before ever she made this communication.
She nodded. "All this I can promise you. But at the same time you must promise me: you shall not enslave the people of the Sacred-Spirit race here."
Zhao Chen spread his two hands. "You still do not trust me. You may perfectly well go and look at the Reef Star Region I already control. That place has long been under my control; what it is now, your Holy Radiance Empire may hereafter be."
Of the Reef Star Region Saint Cana had heard something as well; and this too was among the reasons she was willing to trust Zhao Chen.
"Then may we next talk of the aid you can give me? The Holy Radiance Empire's case at present is exceedingly bad. The interstellar hive-race…" Saint Cana said it urgently.
Zhao Chen raised a hand, signing to Saint Cana to be calm a moment. "The hive-race threat to the Holy Radiance Empire is indeed very great at present. But I hold that the most urgent business is not the handling of the interstellar hive-race threat. It is first to make the battle line one."
Saint Cana looked at Zhao Chen in puzzlement.
"You have abandoned three star regions; the case of those three is past altering. Even were I to send out every Owl Dragon legion at this hour, those three star regions could not be saved. This point, I should think, you as the Sacred Angel Legion's commander must understand," said Zhao Chen.
Saint Cana nodded.
"And for the interstellar hive-race to eat those three star regions utterly away will, by our reckoning here, take a month at the least. And that month is precisely the time for us to clear out the dregs within the Holy Radiance Empire. As I said just now: to deal with the interstellar hive-race thoroughly, the first thing needful is that there be no trouble at our backs. Are we to fight in front, while behind us a crowd drags at our legs — or carries every resource away with them?" There was a further meaning within these words of Zhao Chen's.
"You mean… to deal with the Imperial Senate and the Disciple family first?" Saint Cana asked.
Zhao Chen nodded. "The Holy Radiance Empire may at present be called gravely ill. It has wounds without and wounds within. To cure the sickness, one must naturally first cure the inward injury, and set the frame and the bone to rights. I give you one month's time to settle the Imperial Senate and the Disciple family. What I require is that after one month. The whole of the Holy Radiance Empire have only one voice. And that is the voice of you, Saint Cana!"
Zhao Chen pointed his finger at Saint Cana.
Saint Cana at this moment had some hesitation.
And Zhao Chen's next words drove her hesitation utterly away.
"If it is that you are anxious for those people of the Sacred-Spirit race under threat from the interstellar hive-race. Then turn it about and think of it another way. So long as you settle the business of the Imperial Senate and the Disciple family as fast as may be. Is it not then the sooner that you can free your hands to clear away the interstellar hive-race?"
Saint Cana drew a deep breath, and looked at Zhao Chen without wavering. "Very well. We deal with the Imperial Senate and the Disciple family first. But upon my Sacred Angel Legion's strength alone, this business can hardly be done."
"That you need not be anxious for. You have only to draw up the plan, and then send it to me. So long as my side passes it, I shall give you whatever aid you ought to have!" said Zhao Chen.
"Very well. I shall begin making ready now."
Saint Cana was unwilling now to waste the least moment; and as she made to break off the communication window.
She looked at Zhao Chen. "I hope you will not make me regret the decision I make now."
Zhao Chen smiled faintly, and said nothing.
Time would give her an answer to her satisfaction.
The video communication ended.
"Commander-in-Chief, do you trust her so far as that?" Lilith had looked on beside him through the whole of it.
It was hard to credit that so short a stretch of video communication should have determined an empire's fate to come.
"I have always trusted my own capacity for judging people. Or how else should I have found so fine a house-steward?" Zhao Chen looked at Lilith in banter.
Lilith flung Zhao Chen a rolled eye and went off about her own business; but as she turned away, there was a thread of sweetness in the smile at the corner of her mouth.
——————
And upon the other side, Saint Cana settled a whole series of plans in the shortest time.
"Miss… you have not eaten for a day." The maidservant outside the door knocked and called.
"Leave it outside the door." Saint Cana's voice came.
Were the young lady's voice not still to be heard, the maidservant would by any estimate have gone to call people to force the door.
Within the room at this hour.
The lighting was dim; there was light only at the desk, and that was the glow given off by one electronic screen after another.
Saint Cana looked at the plan she had settled, and a thread of a mad smile showed upon her face.
Hard to credit — that she should be about to destroy this Empire's political system with her own hands.
But at this moment she felt not the least burden of guilt; perhaps in her heart she had long since held this Imperial Senate to be a thing rotten past bearing.
Saint Cana opened her communication equipment, and made contact with one person.
"Convey it to the Disciple family: our Sacred Angel family is willing to consent to the migration plan. But we must hold one further discussion upon the detailed plan. The place… let it be the Imperial Senate. Let every family that consents to the migration plan come and attend."
The communication cut; and Saint Cana, standing amid the dimness, stood a long while like a statue.