Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome, Italy- Pope Soter II carefully took his seat at head of the long conference table at the heart of the great fortress of Rome. Sitting with him were the most important ministers of the Church and state. Paolo Borgia, his Commander of the Sacred Band and Gonfaloniere. Pierre d'Euse-Borgia, Grand Inquisitor and Cruel Spymaster. Jaime Miguel de Borja y Unamuno, the newly found Borgia and now Secretary of State and Viceroy of New Spain. Ippolito de Medici-Borgia, Chief of The Vatican Bank. An AR hologram of King Viracocha of Spain, being streamed from the Royal Palace. And of finally, Grandmaster Belesara Borgia of the Sisters of Saint Michael.
In the intervening two years since the Sack of Rome and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Castelo had been upgraded and her defenses shored as the HQ of the Papal State's armed forces. It was still very much a palatial castle, or at least what one could be made out of a former Roman Emperor's mausoleum, now souped up with modern military defenses and amenities for intelligence. Now more than ever, like times before, should Rome face another crisis, the pontiff would only have to flee into the Castelo and wade out the crisis. It was a citadel.
This, however, was not why Soter had been dragged here in personal attendance. It was an offensive, not defensive, measure that had brought them all together today. Soter II would have much preferred to be safely ensconced in the Vatican apartments, away from prying eyes. His 'condition' was not one he'd prefer the public to see, and the embrace of his paramour (and source of condition) Alexandru was much preferable to the looks of disgust from Pierre and even Ippolito....Paolo, Pierre and Ippolito explained that the new weapons system, a satellite based kinetic bombardment array, was now fully operational. Soter II made a sign of annoyance that he had not even known such a system existed, let alone was being developed. Ippolito responded noting it had been in development since the reign of Victor IV, the final design from the Medici Space company made by his father, Stefano.
"Still, Medici, We would prefer to be informed in the future when church donations are used to build space toys." Soter II said derisively. "Especially when they're apparently being built without our knowing."
"Then I am happy to inform you about the others." Ippolito replied with a smile.
"Others?"
"This is merely the first we've gotten into orbit." Paolo interjected. "There seems to be plans for more."
"That sounds expensive." Soter II said "We already have an shortage of labor for rebuilding Rome. The amount of labor we're going to have to import-"
"The funds have been allocated since Victor IV's papacy." Ippolito said. "It's done."
"And will this even work?"
"We are about to find out." Pierre said. "We've launched it about ten minutes ago."
"We were brought here for a weapons test?" Soter II asked.
"Yes, but a live one. One that I'm sure your holiness will relish...if not you, Paolo here." Pierre said. "We've found some Orsini survivors, distant cousins, holing themselves at Guado La Melfa, a minor fortress in the southern mountains."
"And you want to test this, what, exactly, on them?"
"Kinetic accelerator satellite, basically." Paolo said. "It's going to drop a tungsten rod, twenty feet long and one foot wide, from space. The speed will unleash around 11.5 tons of TNT worth of energy. It's a design from the American New World."
Soter II grunted approval as the livestream spy cam of the Orsini shack played into the room. For a few moments, all was silence. The cardinals and pope watched with anticipation for over two minutes, until suddenly, faster than a thunderbolt, an object of great light and speed tore its way through the shack and deep into the earth. A massive flameless explosion rocked the landscape and filled the air with sound and dirt. The spycam cut to black. Silence continued for a few minutes more until a call from the local chapter of the Sisterhood confirmed the entire area was obliterated and the Orsini cousins, distant kin to the man who sacked Rome, were dead. Soter clapped, Pierre smiled with glee, and Paolo only stared into space. The King of Spain shut off his hologram with a frown.
"She is incredible." Soter II said. "What is it called?"
"The Americans called them 'Rods from God'." Paolo said
"Truly a weapon fit for our papacy." Soter II said. "How many are we to launch?"
"Seven satellites are planned to be launched from Equatorial Guinea at random times over the next decade." Ippolito said. "Each contains 14 such tungsten rods, and can strike anywhere on Earth."
"We're going to need a press release." Cardinal Jaime Miguel interjected.
"Lots of sevens, my good Cardinals." Soter II said, clasping his stomach. "A divine number."
"For the Seven Heavenly Virtues." Pierre d'Euse said.
"Or the Seven Deadly Sins." Paolo said with resignation.
