My guests were murmuring as I got up from my discussion with Braccious. This is what I wanted them to start doing, questioning who I would show favor to. The wealthy always want to find themselves able to make more money and status. I just gave that to one of their rivals, and they were not included in any discussions.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I want you to meet my new fleet manager. Mr. Braccious here will be in charge of what shipyards build which ships. I will be opening the royal vault to pay for this expenditure. Now, you can either join our operation or watch as your operations fall into ruin. The ships I will have built will be so much better than what you can create that your business will drop."

"When your business fails, I will swoop in, buy them out from under you, and add them to our shipyards. So, either you can join up and make some money and gain some favor with me, or I will see to it that you lose everything."

I had convinced five more smaller shipbuilding companies to join, giving me a better advantage. The largest shipbuilders and suppliers were still holding out, but I had a carrot for them. I was going to dangle the dreadnought in their face.

I addressed the larger companies, "I wonder how well your ship sales would go if you also had access to my dreadnought's technologies. I can see cruise ships being able to travel our Empire or beyond becoming pretty popular with the safety and amount of luxury you could design. If you want to join me in building a brighter future where our citizens will thrive, please come so we can make an empire that can continue growing."

I managed to pull several of the large companies over to my side. It was time to decide what I wanted my fleet to look like.

It took some time for my fleet to start to grow. I first had some scout ships built so that I could get some intelligence from around the Empire. My forces had grown; now I had two dreadnoughts complete, three carriers, two destroyers, five corvettes, and a cruiser. I can't even remember how many fighters have been built so far.

I had been Queen for a year, and it was time to get out among the people. I now have enough ships to protect Spire while I take Queen's Rage out through the Empire. My scouts have located a large contingent of the Church's fleet around Gofu in the Craggs' systems. This planet is home to the Church headquarters for the Craggs system. This would have put them in friendly territory.

I would have to take down the Craggs' control over this space sector. That was the only way I would be able to rid the discontent from the sector. There were other species I could find to control the Craggs' space.

Once Minsha and I were on board Queen's Rage, my group of two carriers, one destroyer, one Corvette, and a full contingent of seven hundred fighters. It wasn't a whole fighting group, but I couldn't continue to hide from the Church in Spire. They already had the hearts and minds of many of the Empire's citizens.

I had managed to free a few planets from the Church's control, which helped boost my troops. My military officers worked with women who joined the military so that they could be educated and understand how to function on the ships. We were not able to get any women to join the Marines. When I surveyed them, they felt uncomfortable being close to combat.

Minsha and I had our armor upgraded with new shields and command functions.

I opened coms to my attack group. "Today, we head out to fight the Church. We will no longer fight little skirmishes and take back planets one at a time. We will now go after systems and rid the Empire of the stain of the Church. We are more potent together than they are segregated. Let us take the fight to them."

I turned to Admiral Stook, "Admiral, you have control of the attack group." She saluted me, then turned to her pilots to tell them to engage the engines.

The trip to the targeted sector would take three days. It was on the very edge of my Empire. The journey there consisted of my troops running drills and checking equipment. I sat in meetings with my military advisors. They went over the battle plan, and I asked questions and offered some tips I had learned when I was a grunt. Minsha and I would be on the Bridge once the fighting started, but we would not give any orders. We knew enough to let the experts run the battle.

Five hours before we started our breaking sequence, Minsha and I shared a meal with all the officers and then went to the enlisted mess deck to help serve food for the troops. This was something that the enlisted were not expecting. I had to assure them that we were all citizens of the Empire, and I would always take care of my citizens. It livened up the morale of my people.

Minsha and I went to our cabin to get some rest. It would be ten hours after we started breaking before we were in weapons range of the enemy. We wanted to be well-rested for the battle.

The battle-station alarm woke us both from our deep sleep. This was too early for us to be within the system. I quickly put my armor on and grabbed my helmet. Minsha was right behind me when we walked onto the Bridge. We took our seats behind the Command chair. The Admiral was already in her chair receiving reports on the status throughout the ship.

We kept quiet as the Admiral communicated with the attack group. Laser guns from all the ships started firing into the space before us. Moments later, explosions brightened the view screen. A wall of mines had been laid to catch us before we could finish breaking. Luckily, our sensors picked them up in enough time. The emergency didn't last long, and we were released from battle stations. I was not able to get back to sleep after that, though.

I longed for the days when I could catch some shut-eye whenever we had a lull. Those little naps made all the difference regarding being alert during the fighting. I just got used to sleeping a whole night while I was safe on Spire. With ten hours left, I knew this would be a long day.

No more incidents happened as we braked. That not only surprised me but also worried me. Maybe those mines were an early warning system with hopes that it would thin out my ships. In one hour, we would be in the system. All personnel were getting ready to go to battle stations. Minsha and I freshened up before getting into our armor again. I needed to kiss her before we headed out onto the Bridge.

When we got to the Bridge, we found more ships by the scanners. Most were not Church Military. I would say from the readings that half of the ships were privateers. "Are these extra ships going to be a problem Admiral?"

"Not at all, my Queen. This will just make things more interesting." I stood by as she changed the plans for the other ships. She analyzed the holo-map of the enemy ships. They had the smaller ships up front and their most prominent vessels in the back.

I knew that I was not going to be needed for the fight, which I totally expected. I was better at company tactics, not the overall picture of the whole war. That is what I had my generals and Admiral for. I just listened to their advice and went from there. I was here as a statement to the Church, 'I am coming for you, and I will defeat you.'

When we got close enough, I announced to the enemy ships. "Surrender, or you will be destroyed." That was it; I kept it simple and to the point. I knew they thought they could take us with their numbers, but I had complete faith in my Admiral and other Captains.

Captain Bishop had the con for Queen's Rage while Admiral Stook monitored the battlefield. Our ships moved into attack position. We kept our fighters hidden for now; the Admiral wanted to use them after she had caused chaos in their formations with the big guns. After ten minutes, we heard nothing from the other ships and were within range of our big weapons. We remained outside of the range of their guns.

Admiral Stook counted down before ordering the destroyers and Queen's Rage to fire their main cannons. I had seen my ship fire their guns before, which was quite destructive. They were to target the midsize ships that were protecting their command ships. I felt the shutter of my ship as the main cannons fired six shots.

The shots from both ships destroyed the smaller ships in front of them and caused critical damage to the midsize vessels. We watched as the ships scattered like cockroaches. Several small pirate ships tried to escape but were run down by the Corvette. My ships moved closer to the ships and started firing with their kinetic guns. Our shields were holding against the enemy guns. If the enemy vessels had a strategy, they would have lost it now. They were moving in each other's line of fire and showing any cohesive strategy.

The Admiral had the fighters deployed to make their attack runs. A few went with the Carrier as it went to deploy dropships. This fight was not only in the sky but on the ground as well. I wished my ground troops luck as they entered the planet's atmosphere. The commenced bombing runs onto high-value targets on the planet.

The main gun of my ship fired again, tearing a large hole in the command ship for the fleet. My fighters were not getting away unscathed. I watched as some of the ships were hit by the big guns from the enemy. It broke my heart a little every time we received a report of a loss. The enemy got a lucky shot at my Corvette. The hull was damaged, causing the port side gun bay to be vented into space. I know losing troops was part of the war, but that was never easy.

I would make sure we would have a funeral ceremony for all those we lost on that day. I promised myself. I grasped Minsha's hand whenever I saw one of my ships receive damage. Their command ship was disabled finally and in various states of damage. Life pods are scattered throughout the area. I gave the order to collect all life pods and detain the occupants.

My ground troops were faring well against any resistance they found on the ground. The Carrier's bombing had destroyed the church complex on the planet. I hoped we would be able to find the leaders of the Church in that area.

Minsha and I left the Bridge to release the stress we were under while the battle was going on. I had experienced some heavy firefights, but this was on another scale. Now I understood why my military advisors had begged me to stay back in Spire. I had more to worry about than just the war, but I had to be here for this battle.

My life was no longer as simple as it was when I was on Earth. I sometimes miss the simpler times, but I would not trade that old life for my new one. I am the woman I always wanted to be. I was in a healthy, loving relationship with friends who looked out for me again. I could deal with the day-to-day life of being Queen.

Once my ground forces had secured the Church's capital in this sector, it was time for me to head down to the surface and speak to the people. I was going down on a shuttle set up specially for me.

The surface where we landed reminded me of some of the cities I convoyed through and cleared out in Iraq. The destruction was massive. My fighters did a good job hitting only the military targets on the planet. I stood before the demolished Church headquarters to speak to the people of the planet. News crews managed to find their way to me to broadcast what I had to say.

"Citizens of Gofu and the Craggs' sector. I do not support the subjugation of any of the citizens of my Empire. No longer will the Church of Mintral enslave and subjugate those that they do not like. I have made announcements since I was placed on the throne of the Caravelle Empire. I stand here today to say I am freeing you from your subjugation. The Craggs will no longer rule this sector. I will remove them from power and find a race of people to lead this sector unless the current ruler of the Craggs comes to me and swears allegiance to the Empire.

I have representatives coming to this sector to assist in rebuilding and helping the women of this sector gain education and find assistance in starting their lives as free citizens. Women are no longer the property of parents or husbands. They are free citizens with the full rights of the men. They get to determine who they will marry and what jobs they will do. This is no longer an option, men. I will enforce this on all the planets. All slaves must be freed immediately, or they will be jailed. I have created a team of law officers to enforce my laws on these two subjects. These marshals will be appointed to their positions by me.

I am not lenient on persons who enslave my citizens or subjugate women. You may elect a mayor of this planet so that they may speak to me about the needs of your world. They will be held responsible for the citizens' actions on this planet. Any discrimination will also be dealt with. So those that decide to act as mayor, be sure you want to do it. If there is any corruption, you will be tried and punished publicly.

I look forward to strengthening our Empire so we can go out into the universe, discover new worlds, and expand our Empire. I already have one planet in mind that I want to bring into our Empire, but that will have to wait until I remove the Church of Mintral."

The last statement made the men cheer. It seemed they were still a little bloodthirsty. I hoped when I got back to Earth, they would understand that joining my Empire would benefit them.