Galen
“I don’t want to go,” Galen pretested once again.
“I understand that my lord, but your father has come to an agreement with The Jom,” the older woman standing next to him told Galen again. She continued as she looked at him, it had been years since he had seen her. “You are your father’s heir and sole child. The Jom have agreed to release you so that you may transfer your remaining term in the Imperial Guard of Highpass to continue your education by your father’s side as his Under-lord.”
Galen let out a sigh. The Imperial Lord General’s officer was crowded with trinkets and other objects from a dozen worlds. Stolen or gifted items from contracts all over Furse Space and outside it by Jom. He had been in it before, from his youth as a ward of the Jom, and when he, and his other classmates and wards were sent to be disciplined by the Imperial Lord General when he was on world, although that task often fell to others.
“I swore an oath. You can’t expect me to forsake that oath and abandon my brothers and sisters,” Galen protested again as he already had. Galen never liked being in the office. Imperial Lord General Osborn had been a hard man. Dagfinn the Giant had taken the position of his brother as acting Imperial Lord General and changed none of the office since his death.
“Be glad,” the Imperial Lord General Dagfinn Lynch cut in as he stood from his desk. “You earned your spot son, none can take that for you, but it is time you continue your path elsewhere.” The giant towered over most men as he stood with his hands behind his back and a toothy smile. “Enjoy it lad,” he said in a surprising soft voice. “Many would kill to be in your spot right now.”
“But ser I swore an oath,” Galen continued to protest again.
“Yes, you swore an oath,” the hulking brute of a man said as he reached out and placed his massive hands on his desk to lean toward Galen. “You swore to serve the Imperial Guard, did you not Retainer Worth?”
“Yes ser” Galen replied and snapped to attention at the tone, and rank used when addressed.
“Are you somehow claiming that our brothers and sisters in the Imperial Guard of Highpass are beneath you? Or that of our brothers and sisters in the Guards of Fist, the Wanes or the other branches in Bothina?” the Imperial Lord General asked with a sharp tone and his teeth no longer showed the joyfulness but instead a more serious and stern look.
“No ser of course not,” Galen replied and tried to remain as still as his training had taught him.
“Then where is the conflict in any oath sworn?” Imperial Lord General Dagfinn asked?
Galen was silent for a moment before he answered “Ser I swore an oath to my legion. The thirty second ser.”
“General Judge already agreed to the transfer,” the hulking general said of the commanding officer of the thirty second legion which he served in. “Listen lad,” the General continued with his soft voice. “Your record is good son. The fact that you made it into the Thirty Second Legion at all speaks volumes about you, and your abilities.” He paused for a moment as he looked at Galen. “But the simple fact is that me and your father had an agreement, an agreement that I will not break. I’ll not dishonor my word, or that of our late Imperial Lord General, my brother, to save your wounded pride at being reassigned. You knew this day would come.”
“Yes ser,” Galen replied softly. He didn’t know what else he could say.
The general cleared his threat and stood up straight. “The simple fact is you are worth more to the Jom in Highpass than you are to The Jom here. Here you are one man while your father has brought us hundreds of recruits from all over Highpass. The continued trade and recent donations would have been enough, not to mention the new ships which will be added to the fleet.”
“Yes ser,” Galen responded. It made him feel dirty when the general said it out loud. Something to be traded and sold. At least he was an expensive cow.
“If your father offered me that ship in orbit I’d have thrown you off world myself,” the general continued and his lips formed into a grin. “Besides, you are Jom. Here or in Highpass Space, you will continue to follow our ways. The ways of our ancestors.” Dagfinn let out a long sigh before he continued. “Many have begun to abandon our ways since the fall of the Old Furia section of space. It is a never ending fight against the Fabian Faith, and one that continues to gain the upper hand on us, even in Furse Space.”
“Yes Ser, I understand,” Galen Said. “I Just want to do my part in that fight.”
Dagfinn sighed again. “Let's be clear here Galen. Your father and his father have long fought the spread of the Fabian Faith in Highpass and elsewhere in Furse Space. Against the likes of the fallen King Rodger Ash Dawn, and many others. When your father is dead, and I hope it is many years from now, you will become the new lord of that ancient kingdom and section of space. You will be the one who will be in a position to continue to protect our ways, and that is more valuable than a soldier on the battlefield.”
“A very long time,” Lord General Cinder said.
General Lynch straightened and looked at Galen. “You are a Jom and just because you leave the safety of the nest does not mean you are no longer a Jom. You will follow our ways and as long as I am in command of this Order, you will serve it best by serving in the Imperial Guard of Highpass, and under the care of your father, is that clear?”
“Yes ser,” Galen replied sharply and stood straight.
“I know you will keep to the oaths you have sworn son, keep to our ways. It’s easy to do so united with brother and sister and harder alone but we trained you for that, and we trained you well. It’s time, and in the years to come should I fall in battle you are free to apply to the next Imperial Lord General to be reinstated. Or you can…” General Lynch said, and Galen listened to each word for hope.
“Or you can deny me, and hope I lose the upcoming election in the next couple months. In which case I’ll ruin you, and your fucking career in the Jom. The choice is yours,” General Dagfinn Lynch said with his cold eyes staring at Galen.
Any hope that Galen had faded at once as the General spoke the words. He might have been foolish at times, but not so foolish as to bet against Dagfinn the Giant becoming the next Imperial Lord General. “Yes ser,” he replied soberly.
“Cheer up son, “General Lynch went on. “Not everyone gets to serve under the likes of Lord General Helena Cinder, the ‘Ghost’ herself. I could learn a thing or ten from her,” the general said with a grin.
“Thank you General,” the older woman said with a respectful nod. “As could I from the famous ‘Giant’.”
Dagfinn let out a loud laugh before he looked at General Cinder. “I look forward to our time together while you are on the world of Jom,” he said with a nod towards her before looking back to Galen. “Just remember Galen, without friends, without new bodies the Jom does not exist. We need people like you to do your part, not what you want.”
“Understood ser,” Galen replied meekly.
“Go pack, prepare to leave, I expect you on ‘The Long Serpent’ by the end of the day, dismissed,” General Lynch said and gave a quick salute.
“Yes ser,” Galen said and returned the general’s salute. He spun on his heels and left the office as he was dismissed.
