Galactic Imperium

by J McGovern

  ‘Neat,’ Glitz said, with a touch of sarcasm. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he was impressed.

  The First Naval Lord smiled. ‘You have proven yourselves to be cunning, intelligent, resourceful —’

  ‘And expendable?’ Tekka said.

  The First Naval Lord paused. Then he nodded. ‘Yes. I won’t try to deceive you. If the three of you died I would hardly lose sleep over it.’

  ‘Of course,’ Admiral Blaize said, ‘you will not be going alone.’ He tapped a switch on the table, and spoke into a microphone. ‘Midshipman Barnes. Bring in Captain Wickham.’ He looked up at Glitz, Tekka and Doland. ‘As you are aware, the use of civilians in official Imperial missions is unprecedented. We have obtained permission from the Grand Senate, but they have imposed a limitation — you must travel with an officer of the Imperium. Therefore, I am assigning Captain Wickham as your superior for the duration of the mission. You will defer all decisions to Captain Wickham, and obey all orders with full subordination.’

  Glitz glanced at Doland and Tekka. He didn’t like taking orders from anyone, let alone some military control freak. No doubt Captain Wickham was some brainless, muscle-bound fool who would insist on dominating every aspect of the mission. Just when he was about to protest, the door slid open, and two officers entered the Board Room. They saluted to the Admiralty Board.

  ‘Captain Wickham to see you, sir,’ the first officer said, a young midshipman with smooth, baby-like skin. He stood aside to reveal the Captain.

  Glitz was astonished. In place of the hard-edged military man he had expected to see, there stood a young blonde-haired woman. Even though she was wearing an unflattering Imperial uniform, he could tell that she was very beautiful. She had a fresh, symmetrical face, with blue eyes and full lips. Her figure was strong and curvaceous. She had an air of assured confidence.

  ‘Captain Alyce Wickham reporting for duty,’ she said, in a voice that was at once firm and musical.

  Glitz was so taken aback by her attractiveness that he was rendered momentarily speechless, but he quickly recovered his composure. He didn’t want to be ordered about, even by a woman as beautiful as Alyce Wickham.

  ‘Are you serious?’ he said finally. ‘You’re putting this … girl in charge of us?’

  Alyce coloured slightly with annoyance, but she managed to restrain herself.

  ‘Captain Wickham is one of my finest officers,’ Admiral Trenna said. ‘She has proven herself to be courageous and strong. Whereas you, on the other hand …’ The Admiral paused to frown at Glitz. ‘You are nothing more than a common criminal, a smuggler, thrown out of the army for being unable to keep it in your pants. I would advise you, Mr. Glitz, to show more respect towards Captain Wickham, who was shown herself to be more of a man than you will ever be.’

  Glitz frowned, but said nothing in reply.

  ‘Now,’ Alyce said, smiling slightly. ‘Let’s go over the full plan …’

  Chapter Nine

  After Captain Wickham had explained the full plan to Glitz, Tekka and Doland, she led the men out of the Admiralty Board Room, along a series of metal corridors, and into the large spaceport. It was filled with Imperial ships, including the famous Behemoth, which Emperor Ferdinand used as his official transportation when on peripatetic duties. After the three men had changed into official army uniforms in a small changing area, Alyce pointed out a tiny silver cruiser that was sandwiched between two larger vessels. It was hardly bigger than an escape pod.

  ‘You’re joking,’ Glitz said. ‘That thing? We’re going in that thing?’

  ‘It’s a Beetle,’ Alyce said.

  ‘I know what it is, lady. I had one of those things when I was a kid. But I don’t fancy its chances against a line of enemy fire.’

  Alyce simply smiled. ‘Come along, now.’

  Captain Wickham led the three men towards the ship. She opened the pod door and they all climbed inside. It was cramped, but there was enough room for them all to be seated. Glitz found himself squashed up against Alyce, and he noticed that she was wearing a fragrance.

  ‘You smell great,’ he said, grinning at her.

  Alyce shook her head, as if shaking off a fly. ‘It’s the shampoo I use.’

  Glitz said nothing more as she closed the door and prepared the ship for take-off. She flicked a switch to open a communications line with the spaceport control. ‘This is Captain Wickham. Request clearance for take-off in Beetle 819.’

  There was a slight pause, then a voice responded: ‘Permission granted. Good luck with your mission, Captain.’

  With a hiss, the roof above the ship began to move. A hatch opened, revealing a gap large enough for the ship to pass through. Alyce made a few more checks on the control.

  ‘You sure you can squeeze through there?’ Glitz said. ‘It’s pretty narrow.’

  Alyce simply fixed him with a stern look, then activated the engines. The Beetle began to rise into the air slowly; they passed through the hatch and rose high above the planet Lightworld. As they climbed higher, Glitz stared down at the maze-like city structures that were spread all across the planet. Although it was common knowledge that Lightworld was the seat of the Navy, there were many mysteries surrounding the planet. For one thing, it had an official population count of zero, despite the expansive cities. If no one really lived there, what was the point of it all? There was clearly something going on there, quite apart from its role as Navy HQ.

  Doland stared miserably out into space. A part of him wished he had never escaped from Malus in the first place. First he had been forced to have his DNA changed, and now he was being forced to undertake a dangerous mission for the Navy. The chances of surviving couldn’t be great. Had it been worth it? His sentence had only been for five years. It was quite a long time, but at least he would have been able to walk away free at the end of it. The First Naval Lord had said that the scout ship had been destroyed before reaching the planet Chaos. Doland couldn’t think of any reason why they would be treated any differently.

  Tekka glanced at the space co-ordinates on the location grid. ‘I cannot help but notice that we are travelling further away from Chaos.’ He paused, staring at Alyce. He didn’t seem to see her as a beautiful woman — he looked at her as if totally oblivious to her charms. Glitz wondered vaguely if Tekka had ever made love to a woman in his life.

  ‘You’re right,’ Alyce said. ‘We have to make a small detour to the planet Cronor.’

  ‘Cronor?’ Tekka frowned, and accessed the databank stored on his neurochip. ‘A scrapyard planet. Owned by a consortium of non-ferrous metal dealers from Stoln.’

  ‘A junk planet?’ Doland said. ‘Why are we going there?’

  ‘Because we need a ship,’ Alyce said simply. She turned to Tekka. ‘Do you — do you have a neurochip?’

  Tekka nodded.

  ‘But … that’s illegal,’ protested Alyce. ‘You could be …’ She tailed off, her face softening slightly. ‘But I suppose it might come in useful.’

  Most Navy captains were augmented as a matter of course, but the Navy surgeons had concluded that the process would likely cause Alyce harm, so she had never been augmented. Some people’s bodies were simply not suitable for augmentation.

  Tekka didn’t say anything else, and Alyce too fell silent. Glitz was almost ashamed by the feelings of passion that were surging up inside him because he was pressed in so close to Alyce. It was almost like being a teenager again. It had been several months since he had enjoyed any female company, and the period of abstinence had made it all the more exciting to meet such a beautiful female. The journey was short, and before long they were approaching a planet.

  ‘Nearly there,’ Alyce said.

  In the distance, Glitz could see a speck of light becoming larger as they approached. As they got closer, he could see that it was a grey-coloured orb surrounded by some sort of fuzzy ring.

  ‘What’s that ring?’ he murmured.

  ‘It’s called the Scrap Ring. If someone on a nea
rby planet doesn’t want a piece of metal anymore, they simply fire it off towards Cronor. Then the scrap gets caught up in the planet’s orbit, ready to be extracted by the Stolnites. They don’t like people disposing of their rubbish in this way, but there’s little they can do to stop it.’

  ‘I’d have thought they’d be grateful,’ Doland said. ‘Scrap’s their bread and butter.’

  Alyce smiled. ‘Would you like it if someone threw a piece of bread and butter at you?’

  Doland frowned thoughtfully. ‘Good point.’

  Her face took on a stern expression as she prepared the ship for landing. Small ships were generally harder to steer than larger ones; the onboard computers were more simplistic and required more manual intervention.

  ‘OK,’ Alyce said. ‘We’re about to land on Cronor. Please keep quiet so I can concentrate.’

  Glitz bowed his head with sarcastic reverence. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

  Alyce’s brow furrowed as she slowly steered the ship. She had programmed in the landing procedure, but the Beetle still needed a slight nudge in the right direction. Glitz watched her face as she made slight corrections to the ship’s course. She seemed even more attractive when she was stressed; her body emitted a sensuous heat and her face glistened. Finally, they entered the planet’s atmosphere and landed on the surface. Alyce exhaled slowly, and turned to the rest of the crew.

  ‘Listen up,’ she said. ‘These Stolnites can be tricky customers. So just follow me and don’t say anything. I’ll do all the talking.’

  Every time she spoke Glitz felt a strange mixture of intense irritation and extreme physical attraction. Each emotion seemed to amplify the other.

  ‘Why are we even here?’ Doland said, as they stepped out onto the planet. It was little more than a huge junk heap. There were thousands of wrecked ships, faulty parts and broken machines scattered around. Large brown furry creatures were climbing over the wreckage, either repairing things or pulling them apart.

  ‘I told you. To find a ship.’

  Glitz didn’t like the look of the furry creatures, which he recognised as Stolnites. He had never visited Stoln during his time working as a spice trader for the East Galaxy Company, because they had no interest in spicy food — or indeed flavour of any kind. They were the scavengers of the galaxy, notorious for thieving. The old joke said that a Stolnite would steal your dung if there was a market for it.

  But Alyce seemed unperturbed by the creatures. She marched towards a nearby Stolnite that was using a laser cutter to saw into a damaged star-shift engine.

  Doland grinned at Glitz and Tekka. ‘She’d better watch herself. These Stolnites are taught how to pickpocket before they can walk.’ The three men followed Alyce and stood behind her when she stopped.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Alyce said, trying to get the Stolnite’s attention. It heard her, and switched off his laser cutter. The creature looked almost like a giant dog, except that it was walking upright and had beady, rat-like eyes.

  The Stolnite made a loud sound that was like a mixture of a roar and a bark.

  ‘Galactic Standard One!’ Alyce said firmly. It was a frequent source of irritation to the humans that Stolnites insisted on speaking their own language. The only official language of the empire was the Galactic Standard tongue, and all aliens were required to show proficiency in the language. The Stolnites could speak it perfectly, but they chose not to. Unsurprisingly, many humans saw this as an act of insolence. Occasional petitions were made to Emperor Ferdinand, urging him to address the problem of Stolnite impudence, but there were usually more pressing matters to take care of.

  This particular Stolnite snorted, but began to speak in Galactic Standard One. ‘What do you want?’ it said gruffly.

  ‘My name is Captain Wickham, and these are my … associates — Harlan Glitz, Hans Tekka and Raja Doland.’ Somehow, ‘associates’ seemed the wrong word, but the men were not members of the Navy either. Their uniforms were plain and gave no indication of rank, as they were not officially part of the Navy. ‘What is your name?’

  ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ the Stolnite said, showing its teeth. It placed a defensive paw on the metal object beneath it. ‘If it’s about this engine, this was thrown out as scrap. I found it fair and square. If it’s stolen, it’s nothing to do with me.’

  Alyce sighed impatiently. ‘No, we’re not here about the engine.’ She paused, wondering which line to take. She decided that there was only one language that Stolnites truly listened to, and pulled out a credit bar. The Stolnite’s eyes lit up. ‘This credit bar contains twenty thousand credits. In addition to this we also have a Beetle cruiser to barter with. We need to purchase a ship.’

  After seeing the shiny credit bar, the Stolnite’s manner changed completely. It hopped off the engine as if forgetting it completely, and bowed before the four of them like a particularly eager waiter. ‘Janzley at your service. I am your most faithful servant. Now … what kind of ship are you looking for?’

  ‘We need the most ugly ship that you can find. It should be a big pile of old scrap, the kind of ship no one would ever want. But it has to be in perfect working order.’

  The three men stared at Alyce in disbelief. Had the woman lost it? Twenty thousand credits was enough to buy a decent galactic craft from a reputable dealer. Why were they using the money to buy a heap of junk from a sneaky-looking Stolnite? The Stolnite seemed a little surprised by her request, but he wasn’t going to argue when such a huge reward was on offer.

  ‘I have just the thing,’ Janzley said. ‘Come with me.’

  The Stolnite led them across the surface of the planet. The sky overhead was pale, and the colour almost blended in with the shade of the ground. The grey monotony was broken only by the scrap littered all over the world. Many Stolnites turned to stare at them as they passed; Glitz guessed that they didn’t get many human visitors to such a dreary world. Finally, they reached a small bay. The ocean beyond was almost motionless, and the water was cloaked by white mist. The beach was made of grey and black stones. The whole place had a somewhat dreamlike quality. They reached what looked like a small cave in the cliff face. Janzley beckoned them inside.

  ‘These are my humble lodgings,’ the Stolnite said, as they entered the cave. It was illuminated by phosphorescent plants growing up the cave walls. The place was filled with scrap; the concentration of junk metal was even higher than on the planet’s surface. Glitz noticed that a small bed was wedged in between a huge metal chest and a defunct android. Janzley pointed to a corner of the cave. ‘Now what do you think of that?’

  ‘It’s perfect,’ Alyce said, grinning.

  ‘Are you joking?’ Doland said, raising an eyebrow.

  Whatever the thing was, Doland would not describe it as perfect. It was clearly a ship of some kind, but the model was obviously years out-of-date. He had never seen such a craft. It had a somewhat unwieldy, bulky appearance, and had many obvious signs of repair. The paintwork had scratched off in many places, revealing bare metal. A piece of dull metal had been hammered in place beneath the main starshield, presumably to cover up damage. Some words starting with ‘SOLD’ were scribbled in white paint over the side.

  ‘And it’s in full working order?’ Alyce said.

  ‘Of course,’ the Stolnite said. ‘You have my word.’

  They all knew that the word of a Stolnite didn’t count for anything.

  ‘I can scan it,’ Tekka said. He activated his neurochip, and performed a thorough digital deconstruction of the ship, looking out for any breaches of the hull or machines in a state of disrepair. When the scan was completed, he nodded. ‘The ship looks terrible, but it is actually in quite good order. None of the major systems have any problems. It is certainly spaceworthy.’

  ‘You see,’ Janzley said. ‘I told you. This thing is my own project. I’ve repaired it with parts from other ships.’

  Alyce stared at the ship. It was certainly a horrendous sight. No one in their right mind would want to buy such a
vessel — unless they needed it for a special reason. Alyce smiled. It was just right for their needs.

  ‘We’ll take it,’ she said.

  ‘Twenty thousand credits, plus your Beetle craft?’

  Alyce nodded. ‘Agreed.’

  She handed Janzley the credit bar, as well as the access key for the Beetle. Then she shook hands with Janzley, squirming slightly at the moistness of its paws. The Stolnite thought she must be stupid for spending so much money on such a worthless craft. Janzley had only kept it in a state of repair because he had won it in a game of Heartless. When you get something for free — either by stealing it or winning it in a card game — you are guaranteed a profit, even if only a small one.

  He pointed upwards. ‘There’s a hole in the cave roof. You’ll be able to pilot the ship through it — if you’re careful.’