[The Messenger] "Conclave, Part 2"

[Jeremy Reynolds]

"Conclave, Part 2"
 
Father Alexander Clayton, The Messenger.
 
* * * * * * *
FNN - Vatican City, Earth.
 
Christine Michaelson here at the Vatican with breaking news.  With only one day of dileberation, white smoke has appeared out of the stacks of the Sistine Chapel!  In near record time the College of Cardinals have elected a new Pope.  We await now to see who it is.... 

 
* * * * * * *
The Basilica, The Vatican.  Earth.

 

As Clayton looked on from his vantage point just off to one side, The Cardinal Deacon walked out  to the main balcony of the Basilica to make his announcement in the traditional Latin.  Clayton mentally translated as the Cardinal spoke to the masses below.

 

"I announce to you a great joy; We have a Pope!  The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord, Lord Michael, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Rozano, who takes to himself the name Pope Pius XIV!"

 

Clayton clapped along with the gathered members of the Church while Cardinal Rozano, who'd manipulated the rest of his fellow Cardinals enough to win the majority over the Offworlders Clique, came out to the adulation of the crowd.  He had his hands up in victory and looked more like a politician who'd just won the Presidency of the Federation.  Clayton tried not to roll his eyes while Rozano, sorry, Pius XIV now took on his Papal Robes and Crown before stepping full out onto the balcony to deliver his first speech and blessings to the gathered crowd below.

 

Pius XIV didn't even get to make even a sound as Pope before a phaser shot from below tore his head clean off of his shoulders...

 

Below, various people in the crowd screamed...

 

Above, various members of the church either dove for cover or retreated back into the safety of the Basilica...

 

Clayton's mind reeled as he attempted to get to the Pope to pull him back into safety.  His Starfleet Special Ops training kicked in when the shot was fired and he'd dropped to the ground.  As he low crawled it out to the balcony, a quick glance told him that any aid to the new Pope would be futile so he did the next best thing; he looked below to see if he could spot the shooter.  Unfortunately with the panicked crowd dispursing in all directions, such an ID would be impossible.

 

Clayton then managed to grab the body right as a couple of guards came up to help pull the newly ordained and newly deceased Pope back into the Basilica.  Two Popes assassinated inside of a month...  This was not good...

 

TBC...