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Where does a planetary leader go for inspiration? Who do the leaders of an Empire turn to for advice? Who else, they turn to their mama.

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Nakatoma estate, planet Hades

Lady Die Etsu Nakatoma walked slowly through the gates to Fiddler’s Green. Even now, after more than thirty years her cybernetic legs gave her problems at times. Yet, even with the occasional twinge of arthritic pain, her steps were fluid and graceful. For many residents of the estate Die Etsu was the picture of grace and beauty. To her second oldest daughter Fuyuko, Die Etsu was much more than just her mother. It was this daughter that Die Etsu was currently in search of. Like her oldest daughter Maiha, Fuyuko often found solace among the silent Stone Garden. Even now, during peace there was always a fresh grave here in Fiddler’s Green. It didn’t matter that the Empire was at peace with the rest of the universe Death Dealers still died.

It didn’t take Die Etsu long to find her wayward daughter. As was Fuyuko’s habit she was found at the foot of the Black Monument. The massive piece of APS Armor that sat up right in the center was always a comfort for Fuyuko. Die Etsu knew that something had greatly disturbed Fuyuko for her to here. “Tell me child do the Stones call so loudly to you that you must run to them?”

Fuyuko never took her eyes off the APS armor plate. “No mama. It’s not the Stones that call to me, but the peace they offer.”

Die Etsu heard the sadness in her daughter’s voice. “What troubles you so?”

“I know that Maiha appointed me as Planetary Governor, but I really do wish that she had picked someone else. Try as I might, I just cannot get those bone heads in the planetary congress and senate to work together. They constantly bicker and refuse to see what must be done. It’s like they only care for what their little part of the planet needs. Not the rest of the planet as a whole.”

“Thus, is the way of politicians, my child. Only your sister Maiha understands your troubles when dealing with them. Imagine the headaches she has. Why the shear number of planets and their representatives is enough to drive her mad. How you and she can cope is beyond my own grasp.” Die Etsu smiled lightly at her daughter.

“Trust me mama, I have asked Maiha how she copes.” Fuyuko chuckled. “For some reason though the way she handles the stress will not work for me.”

“Oh, and why do you say that? What could the beloved hellion of Hades do that you cannot? Surely you can take time for a practice run or two on the family range.” Die Etsu pointed out to Fuyuko.

“Mama, Maiha doesn’t go for practice runs on a training range. I love my sister dearly. But, I doubt you would ALLOW me to take out one of the family battleships just, so I can blow holes in asteroids.” Fuyuko smirked as Die Etsu just shook her head.

“Why am I not surprised. She always has to go over the top in everything she does.” Sighing Die Etsu waved for Fuyuko to follow her. “Well, it is better than what she did in her younger years before the Secondary Reconfiguration.”

“What would she do back then mama?” Fuyuko really wanted to know. Only their mother had ever known what Maiha was like before she underwent the Secondary Reconfiguration. The man known as Death was as much a myth as legend.

Die Etsu chuckled at her daughter’s question. “For starters, James Owens was a harsh man for a very harsh time. He had no respect for the High Families. How he every captured the heart of my sister I’ll never know. Anyway, back to the topic. James would all too often just beat the offending individual to a bloody pulp.”

Die Etsu let a small smile grace her lips as the memory of one such occasion came to mind. “Why I remember one time that James damned near caused a political incident at a wedding reception. The son of a High Family’s Representative made the mistake of becoming far too familiar with Matsu. Well, James Owens was not a man to just stand by and allow such familiarity to go unaddressed. When he confronted the representative, the man challenged James to a duel. Now, James being from a rather harsh planet and upbringing just accepted the challenge then punched the man in his face. This was followed up by a very resounding thrashing.”

Fuyuko couldn’t believe what she was hearing at first. She thought about her sister Maiha. Fuyuko had heard her mother and a few others say how Maiha was nowhere near as volatile as her ‘grandfather’ James Owens. “Once the young man in question was beaten James just turned and walked away. Matsu fund him twenty minutes later drinking straight from the bottle of a fifth of Top Shelf tequila. His dress uniform Imperial Blacks jacket unbuttoned and his sidearm sitting on the bar top. Matsu had to drag James from the bar before he got any drunker. She knew that he was more than willing to hunt that young man down and kill the boy.”

“Oh wow, I always knew that Maiha had a mean streak in her but not just how bad.” Fuyuko couldn’t believe the story her mother was telling her.

“Yes, my child. Your older sister has calmed over the years.” Dai Etsu smiled as she placed a hand on Fuyuko’s shoulder. “Now, tell what is it that has driven you to seek the serenity of the Stone Garden. I know that it is more than just the bickering of Politicians in the Senate and Congress.”

“It is the flights mother. The ones that seem to never stop. Always bringing home the fallen Death Dealers. Tomorrow will be the thirtieth anniversary of Richelieu’s defeat. Yet they still come. I know that soldiers die every day. That they pay the price for our freedoms. Yet, it feels as if so many of our citizens have forgotten this basic fact of life.” Fuyuko was almost in tears as she explained her reason for being in Fiddler’s Green. “I wish that I could force people to remember the fallen soldiers here in this stone garden.”

“There was a day that fit your needs on ancient Earth Prime. A day that was celebrated in almost every country. It was November the eleventh. That day was the anniversary of the end of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.” Die Etsu got a faraway look in her eyes as she remembered the lesson that James Owens gave her on this every topic. “It happened at the start of the twentieth century. More than half the nations of the world were involved in this conflict.”

“You’re talking about the First World War mama. I learned of it in my ancient history class back in school. They say that almost every European family of that time lost one male member to the war. Didn’t the Europeans call the anniversary of the armistice, Armistice Day or something like that?” Fuyuko asked Die Etsu.

“That day is not too far away. I have an idea of how to get your politicians to remember their duty and to remind our citizens of these brave souls who paid the price for their freedom.” Reaching inside her kimono Dei Etsu pulled out a small red artificial flower. Between the petals was a black eye. “This is a remembrance poppy. It is an artificial flower that has been used since 1921 to commemorate military personnel who have died in war and represents a common or field poppy. Inspired by the World War I poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, and promoted by Moina Michael, they were first adopted by the American Legion to commemorate American soldiers killed in that war. They were then adopted by military veterans' groups in parts of the British Empire. There, small artificial poppies are often worn on clothing leading up to Remembrance Day and Armistice Day, and poppy wreaths are often laid at war memorials. In Australia and New Zealand, they are also worn on Anzac Day. In the United States the remembrance poppy became the symbol for more than just their fallen soldiers. It also become a symbol for their fallen First Responders, Firemen, Police, and EMTs.”

Fuyuko took the small unassuming flower form Dei Etsu’s outstretched hand. “Mama that poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ how does it go?” Fuyuko didn’t have to tell Dei Etsu that she wanted to know why such a simple thing like a fake flower could have the power to insight such an overwhelming response.

Dei Etsu got a faraway look on her face as she recalled the poem and the feelings it was meant to portray. “In Flanders fields the poppies blow. Between the crosses, row on row. That mark our place; and in the sky the larks, still bravely singing, fly. Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe. To you from failing hands we throw. The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die we shall not sleep, though poppies grow, In Flanders fields.”

When Dei Etsu finished she focused on a now silently crying Fuyuko. “I see that you grasped more the just the meaning behind the words my daughter.”

“Yes, mama I do. I can hear the pain and misery of that horrible time.” Looking back up at the Black Monument Fuyuko pointed to the words inscribed there. “I remember the day that Maiha dedicated this monument. She said that her words would always fall short. I’ve come to understand what she meant over the past years.”

“Fuyuko, of all my children, only you and Maiha have ever shared the weight of a ruler’s decisions. Something that I never truly faced. I was much like your sisters Nanami and Nanase, drawn to life in the Temple. As much as I would love to say that they could follow in your footsteps I just cannot. I know they lack your ability to see the darker nature of humans. Well not until they are forced to. And woe be to those who have earned their wrath. Yet, you can go to them to talk in your times of need.” Dei Etsu had placed her hand on Fuyuko’s shoulder. “Also, never forget that you can come to me.”

Fuyuko hugged Dei Etsu quickly then smiled. “I know that mama. But you’ve earned your time to walk and work in your rose garden. You don’t need to hear me bitch about those worthless slugs in congress and senate.”

“No dear that is where you’re wrong. You need someone to hear your bitching because if you don’t you’ll pop under the pressure.” Dei Etsu chuckled. “Who do you think listened to your sister when she had your duties? It sure wasn’t Alice or the maids. It wasn’t until later on that Alice learned how to help Maiha in her duties.”

“What do you mean mama?” Fuyuko asked.

“Do you remember how Maiha was basically forced onto the Throne because of Empress Daniela’s death?” Fuyuko nodded her head yes to Dei Etsu’s question. “At the time she had a war to end before she could go about rebuilding our Empire. During the reconstruction period Maiha often talked to me instead of Alice, her wife. Alice is a very capable politician now, but back then not so much. She took a lot of political science courses through Ryuk. Just as you have done.”

“I still don’t understand mama. What does that have to do with my problems now?” Fuyuko fought to keep the whine out of her voice.

“Fuyuko, do you really think that Maiha Mana Nakatoma is a born politician?” Fuyuko nodded her head yes. Die Etsu just sighed. “Your sister is a born soldier first, foremost, and always. She had to LEARN how to be a politician. Maiha does not have one political bone her body. Do you remember what her favorite saying is?”

“Sure. There is no problem that can’t be solved with the proper amount of high explosives. Everybody in the Empire knows. That and Break bones not promises.”

“Now tell me, do either of those sound like something a politician would say?” Die Etsu asked of her daughter with a smile.

“No, they don’t. I doubt any politician would use or live by those sayings. Not the way that Maiha does, anyway.” Fuyuko answered truthfully.

“Good now that you’re starting to think straight let me tell you how you’re going to use the poppy flower to get those useless politicians to help you.” Die Etsu placed her arm around Fuyuko’s shoulders. “First off I have our artisans making these little flowers by the hundreds. Then two days before the Eleventh we take them over to the Temple of Ida-ten into the schools there. We give them to the students. We use our heavy lift shuttles to send the students out all across the planet early in the morning. The students pass out the flowers with a little note tied to the stem. A note that tells people where to find the story of the remembrance poppy. Have you ever known someone to not look something up like that? I know that I haven’t. And I have lived for as long as your sister Maiha.”

Fuyuko had to giggle at the way her mother was laying out the plan to get people to remember their veterans. The more that Fuyuko heard the more she want to start. If they had enough poppies Fuyuko would have airdropped them over the cities. She would force the politicians to finally recognize the debt they owe to their veterans. And it would be done by the very people they have been ignoring, their constituents.

“We have the students show that they remember the fallen to the rest of our population. The population will then turn and show they have not forgotten our fallen to the politicians. And it will come to pass because of a simple but yet fake little red flower. Something of no real world value yet will represent something of incalculable value.” Die Etsu’s words carried not only the hope for the future of Hades, but the Empire as well. Reaching into her robes Die Etsu pulled out a flask with the family crest. Opening the cap Die Etsu took a drink before pasting it Fuyuko who took a quick drink. Once Die Etsu had the flask again she up ended the flask over the edge of the monument. “To absent brothers and sisters.”

The two women walked out of Fiddler’s Green arm in arm. They had a plan to remember the fallen Death Dealers of the Empire. The men and women who always paid the price for the freedom of the Empire. Just as their forefathers did in the days of ancient Earth. The soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who placed themselves in harms bloody and vengeful way. The Peacekeepers who face the cold of the frozen winter winds, the blazing heat of summer, the unending rains of spring, the mud soaked fields of fall, yet failed but never gave up trying to keep the peace. All so others may go to sleep quietly in their warm beds at night with their families and full bellies never knowing the hunger of the battlefield.

In the words of Howard Osterkamp “all gave some; some gave all,” and Thomas Jefferson: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” This story is for our fallen brothers and sisters. May they sleep in peace. Because they’re sure as hell are partying their asses off at Fiddler’s Green with the Big Boss.

Present arms!