“We have a perfectly good fridge in the break room.”
“I’m pretty sure Ted takes stuff even if they’re labelled.”
“I mean yeah, he definitely does, but you’re a mech pilot. The Commonwealth pays you more than enough to just buy more Gatorade. And we’re trying to tell Ted the same thing.”
“No no no, see, I get Ted. Before a mission, when it’s go-time, I want my calories, I want my electrolytes, I want to be ready. I don’t have time to check the snack stocks. Ted doesn’t either, so he just grabs the first thing he sees.”
“Uh—”
“But see here’s what Ted doesn’t get. I can just go straight to Bertha and I can be locked in. No distractions. Satiated. In my lane. Ready to walk.”
“But the reactor? Why the hell would you keep your snacks by the reactor?”
“It’s the safest part of the mech, obviously. And you know, it’s like, whether or not Bertha came home in one piece, if the reactor’s intact then that means at least I got home and I know I’m gonna be hankering for something before the next mission.”
“Isn’t the cockpit the safest part of the mech? And also the most climate controlled?”
Everyone knows the story of House Silva and their stewardship of New Earth: how the shrewd Archon Jennelle Silva forged alliances and forced allegiances from over thirty systems through savvy politicking and martial prowess only to become obsessed with an ancient ark ship that she believed had the tools to create the first habitable world since the Collapse. Archon Jennelle SilvaIt's well known how Jennelle Silva's final decade as Archon were treated as madness: subjugating systems with no legal cause when before she had only called her ships to honor alliances, draining resources throughout her reach when before her dominion was the wealthiest in the galaxy, and, of course, disinheriting her daughter, Julinka, in order to leave House Silva to her granddaughter, Conory.
Empress Conory SilvaIt's easy to overlook this legality as an odd but forgettable footnote. Conory Silvia’s six year reign as Archon could best be described as "legendary." Conory inherited the dominion when she was 14, and in the two years before she came of age, her grandfather tried to rule in her stead. As fine of a bureaucrat Archon-consort Bin Silva was noted to be, he was not a good ruler. Almost the entire northern half of the dominion, including Jennelle Silva's terraforming jewel in Alhudra, was lost to rebellion and in-fighting after the list of grievances Jennelle Silva left behind. Yet in six short years, Conory Silva reunited the rebelling houses with minimal force, forged and deepened true alliances across the galaxy, became beloved by both the nobility and masses, and of course, was crowned Empress after finishing her grandmother's dream of giving humanity a true home for the first time in centuries.
In light of her grandmother and her daughter's accomplishments, what is there to glean about Julinka Silva?
Former Heiress Julinka SilvaJulinka Silva was Jennelle Silva's third child and only daughter. While her brothers, Lancelot and Kateb, grew up fiercely competing with one another and pushing each other to give their best for the Archon's favor, Julinka was born knowing she would inherit the Silva Dominion. It was evident even from her earliest years that Julinka had inherited her mother's brilliant tactical mind; however, it was also evident that she had inherited her mother's overwhelming pride and occasional cruel streak. She would get in spats not just with House Silva's councilors, but also with the heads of vassal states.
However, it was no mistake that her mother appointed her as admiral to the entire dominion's military. Julinka not only knew how to command a fleet to victory, but she knew how to plan an entire war that would never even be in question. And by all accounts, Julinka Silva could fly. The admiral flew a single-seat interceptor, and whether engaged in a tournament duel or at the head of the vanguard, few escaped her sights the better. Julinka Silva may have been disliked—hated, even—but by no means was she disrespected.
This changed when Julinka Silva took a joy ride through the uninhabited galactic south, only to come limping back to Misam a bloody mess. She had stumbled upon uncharted ruins, and while exploring, she became infected by an alien parasite. Despite the parasite's violent attack, the heiress managed to stay conscious long enough to plot a course home. More miraculously, the creature was removed from Julinka's body without killing her, but the damage it left on her internal organs would never heal.
First came the painkillers. Using her position as archon-heiress, Julinka's addiction could not and would not be denied. Aggression came next. Julinka had been known as an ace pilot that flew with almost surgical precision, but after her recovery, Julinka fought every tournament duel with reckless fervor, constantly putting herself in real danger, maiming several nobles, and even killing once. This blasé attitude must have been alluring, as Julinka found herself with extra-marital admirers across the galaxy that she now had the gall to entertain.
Conory Silva was six, and with Julinka in such a state, Jennelle decided to take Conory as her personal ward. Jenelle's obsession with Alhudra had also reached its peak, constantly sending Julinka to maintain the peace on a system House Silva had no true claim over. Perhaps it was the special interest in her daughter, perhaps it was the obsession with Alhudra, or perhaps it was simply hubris that led to Julinka Silva's final sin as heiress: plotting to dethrone Archon Jenelle Silva.
Of course, while House Silva was renowned for its military might, those who knew where real power lay feared House Silva's intelligence network even more. The dissenting faction was swiftly discovered and dispersed. Julinka didn't even try to deny her involvement.
Julinka Silva was disinherited within the year.
By all accounts, Empress Conory Silva was a kind and just ruler, and so executing or exiling her own mother would have been a scandal impossible to hide. Yet the name "Julinka Silva" seems to just disappear from House Silva's records a few years into Conory Silva's reign. A name lost but not forgotten, perhaps given as much honor as it deserves.
You hear the collector announce itself with a subtle rustle and sing-song chitter from above, and so you turn your gaze to the branches overhead. The fey has formed itself from a knot of wood and moss, wreathed with leaves as any respected courtier would, and in its facsimile of presence it regards you through hollow, expectant eyes. This is not a surprise. A token for passage, the Six had said, and the High Prince might let you on your way. The collector raises its tendrilous fronds toward you. What do you offer?
it’s just a rock and it’s not just a rock. you picked it up in passing, with barely a thought, on the day the two of you first met. when work or circumstance took you from home for days, or months, you kept it with you, and every morning and every night you spent a while turning it over, and thinking of who you’d left behind, and turning it over. you found it jagged, sharp, volcanic; now it’s smooth as a mirror, smooth as the cold lake was on the day you came home and found no one left there to wait for you. you turn the rock over, and turn it once more, but the time’s past: you’re stalling. you raise your open palm to the canopy. it’s just a rock.
The High Prince does not ask much, yet the High Prince knows value. His collector takes the rock from your grasp, its green fronds stronger yet gentler than what lingering memories remain.
You hear the collector announce itself with a subtle rustle and sing-song chitter from above, and so you turn your gaze to the branches overhead. The fey has formed itself from a knot of wood and moss, wreathed with leaves as any respected courtier would, and in its facsimile of presence it regards you through hollow, expectant eyes. This is not a surprise. A token for passage, the Six had said, and the High Prince might let you on your way. The collector raises its tendrilous fronds toward you. What do you offer?
