Empress of the Terran Empire TE 254-275b. 5 March 227
d. 6 July 275
Cathie Kuchta was the second child of Empress Amy Kuchta and Robert Churchill. Developed in vitro and born when her mother was only 18, Cathie was raised under the direction of her grandmother, Mandike Kuchta. Cathie was a product of the Kuchta genetic enhancement program begun by her great-great grandfather Sten Kuchta (123-237). Cathie showed mathematical and pattern-forming abilities rivalling those of her mother. She had a forceful personality, and soon came to dominate her brother and sister.
Cathie was the last Kuchta to be affected by Sten Kuchta's program. In 234, when she was only 7, her genes were combined with those of Councilmember Karl Lütken to produce an in vitro son, Philip Lütken. Philip, like Cathie and her siblings, was raised by Mandike Kuchta. (Sten Kuchta died in 237; with his death came the end of formal genetic manipulation of the Kuchta line. However, data from the program found its way to the Kristeller Family and the clandestine Kala Phenkae breeding program.)
Cathie was educated with an eye toward the Throne; although she was only 15 when David Kuchta ascended to the Throne, she immediately became one of his chief advisors. When David died in 254, Cathie (age 27) had little trouble convincing the Imperial Council to confirm her as Empress.
Cathie's reign of 21 years was second in length only to Maj Thovold's 32-year reign. It was a peaceful time, a time of expansion. (In TE 260, for example, the Empire boasted 4,275 worlds and was adding new colonies at an average rate of 42 per year.) Cathie was a popular Empress, widely viewed as just and wise.
Daily imprinting of the State of the Empire Report upon her brain caused Cathie to age much faster than normal, and by the time she was 45 she was visibly nearing senility. In 275, at the age of 48, Cathie Kuchta died peacefully in her sleep.
Her sister, Judy Kuchta (age 44) was offered the Throne. Judy, however, had by then established a successful career as a writer of historical fiction (under the pen name Voëlle Acier), and refused the Throne. The Imperial Council voted for Cathie to be succeeded by her son, Philip Lütken.
copyright (c) 2007, Don Sakers
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