[The Messenger] "Conclave, Part 5"

[Jeremy Reynolds]

"Conclave, Part 5"
 
Father Alexander Clayton, The Messenger.
 
* * * * * * *

Clayton Chateau, Outside Rome.  One Week Later.

 

"I do not want you to go in this day!" Chantelle screamed at her husband.  "Not with all of this happening at the Vatican!" she was in tears and had been pleading with Clayton not to even leave the house unless it was by shuttlecraft or transporter to go elsewhere.

 

"It's my job, dear!" Clayton yelled back in a sharp voice.  "I'll be damned if I'm going to let some schmuck dictate if I, or any member of the Church for that matter, live in fear of being attacked.  The Papal Conclave must still be convened and a new Pope must still be selected!" At gunpoint, if needed... Clayton mentally added to himself.  He knew that a lot of Cardinals were going to shirk from their duties now that they're losing elected Popes left and right.  The friggin Church is going soft...  He recalled fondly the days that Chantelle was from where any member of the Church would've walked straight to the gallows or the executioner's block in hopes of being martyred.  Nowadays everyone liked living in the lap of luxury.

 

"Even if it means giving up your life in the process?  You could be killed!" Chantelle was now saying.

 

"This guy is targeting Popes, not Priests.  Besides I could've been killed if I stayed in Starfleet.  Risk is the name of the game that anyone plays anymore especially with the threat of Civil War still looming over us." Clayton countered as he threw his overcoat on and headed for the door.

 

* * * * * * *

Sistine Chapel, The Vatican.

 

The mood was solem and somber as the College of Cardinals filed in.  Not that he could blame them, really.  The College of Cardinals elected two more to the Papacy over the week since Honorius V was blown up via land mine.  Honorius VI and Magnificant I were both killed within moments of being elected just as Pius XIV and Honorius V were.  Honorius VI was killed by vibroblade along with his five bodyguards in a back passageway while Magnificant I was hit by a T-116 Sniper Rifle despite all of the security precautions.

 

6 up, 6 down in all.  It sounded like a really bad inning for both sides in Baseball.

 

Everyone was tired of it.  The Church was weary of it.  The People were weary of it.  The Federation was weary of it.  Not to mention Starfleet's Security and Intelligence divisions were at their wits end over this.

 

 Clayton frowned as he noticed that people were missing.  Instead of doing the usual announcement to dismiss anyone extra, Clayton rose to his feet and stormed to the doors of the Chapel to see if there were any stragglers.  He caught a page as he was scurring out.  "Where's the rest of them?" Clayton demanded.

 

"Some are refusing to come, Father." the frightened page said.

 

"Go round them up and bring them here.  Now." Clayton said with a hard voice.

 

"How!?"

 

Clayton stalked over to a nearby Marine and before the Marine could protest, Clayton stripped the man of his sidearm and tossed the phaser over to the page.  "Phaser them and drag them in on a hoversled if you have to.  Get others to help you.  I don't care, but just get them all here NOW!"

 

An hour later, the rest of the Cardinals came in, some quite literally at the end of the page's phaser.  After the last one was seated did Clayton dismiss everyone.  Before anyone had the chance to speak, Clayton wheeled around at the doors and addressed the assembly.  "You all have a duty to the Church, and to the People to choose a new Pontiff!"  He glared at all of them.  Some even visibly shrank in their seats.  "Back in the early days of the Church, people would have been lining up, willing to give their lives for the Lord and for Humanity.  Now, look at you!  You all make me sick to want to shirk your duties like this!"

 

"You would have one of us go to our deaths!?" one Cardinal asked.

 

"Why do you fear death?" Clayton asked him.  "Shouldn't your soul be right with the Lord?  It makes me wonder how you even became a Cardinal in the first place if it isn't!" Clayton shook his head.  "You all have a job to do.  Get to it!" he wave his hand dismissively as he walked back to his seat.

 

Father Giovanni leaned over to him.  "Impressive." he said, astonished.

 

Clayton snorted.  "If I were so impressive, I'd figure out who's doing this." he said as he continued to glare out at the College.  "It has to be somone inside of the Church with intricate knowlege of the Vatican and all of the passageways in and around it.  Its got to be the only way he's moving around.'

 

Giovanni arched an eyebrow.  "I'm sure he has a good reason for doing this."

 

"Either that or he's one sick puppy..." Clayton grumbled.

 

Five votes, a couple of speeches from the Camerlengo and another round of butt-chewing from Clayton later, they were on the sixth and final vote that was allowed during this very long day.  Out of the five previous votes, two were deadlocked and three the canadaties turned the vote down flat by refusing to accept.  Finally the polling was completed and now the votes were being counted.  Off to the side, the three Priests who were in charge of the proper counting of the ballots were all glancing at each other and then back over to the head table where Clayton and Giovanni were chatting idly to each other.  The head counter then walked over to the Cardinal Dean, who arched a skeptical eyebrow, looked over at Clayton and Giovanni, and then began talking very adamantly with each other while over at the counting table the ballots were being burned with the additive straw for white smoke.

 

White Smoke.  A new Pope was elected.  "What the hell is going on?" Clayton asked, wondering why the Cardinal Dean and Master of Ceremonies were having a conversation without him.

 

"Got me." Giovanni said.

 

The question was answered a moment later when the Cardinal Dean and the Master of Ceremonies approached the table.  The Cardinal Dean cleared his throat. "Acceptasne electionem de te canonice factam in Summum Pontificem?" He asked Clayton in the traditional Latin.  'Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?'

 

Clayton just sat there staring at the Cardinal Dean dumbfoundedly.  "What?" he asked, a frog suddenly in his throat.  His grand plan for preventing Civil War within the Federation hinged on him infulencing the Pontiff, not becoming it.  The Cardinal Dean asked again and this time Clayton noticed that a good amount of the College of Cardinals were looking at him expectantly, even hopefully.  Clayton wondered if they were truly sincere or if this was just a ploy to get him killed.  Either way, he was selected.

 

"Well?" Giovanni asked with a smile, nudging him with his elbow and snapping Clayton out of his revere.

 

"Accepto..." Clayton said in a hollow voice, scarely believing it.  Well, if he was going to be a Martyr; then so be it.  His life was in the Lord's hands now.  Deep down he figured that if the unknown assassin didn't kill him, his wife would.

 

"Quo nomine vis vocari?" By what name shall you be called? The Cardinal Dean then asked.

 

TBC...