by Neal Jones
Edmond leaned back and crossed his arms over his narrow chest, his expression turning dour. "How long do you think we can keep this brief under wraps? Or Ilkara, for that matter?"
"If you would have asked me that this morning, I would have said a few months, probably a year at least. Thanks to the efforts of Commodore Gabriel and his staff, Ilkara's presence on Exxar-One was known to only a few key military personnel."
"It's not going back there. I made sure of that."
Caine scowled. "That's why I was late coming here. Early this afternoon Admiral Drumhold was paid a visit by one of OFCIR's representatives. The Diplomatic Corps and OFCIR have decided that Ilkara should be granted the status of ambassador, with all the rights and privileges that come with that rank. The way they see it, it's a foreign dignitary representing the Erayan empire. Its citizenship application is under review and a hearing has been scheduled for next week."
"And the fact that the Erayan Empire no longer exists isn't an issue here?"
"No," Caine replied darkly. "In fact, that seems to have excited those bureaucrats even further. They seem to think that because it's the last surviving member of its species it's all the more reason to grant her special ambassadorial status."
"How did OFCIR even know it was here?"
"They're not saying, but the likely culprit is Doctor McMullen. I doubt anyone on Childe's staff would have been this clever."
"Fuck!" Brouchard muttered. He took a long swallow of his coffee and bourbon. "What are our options?"
Caine shrugged. "Nothing at this point but to let it play out and see what happens. There's no reason the citizenship review board will deny Ilkara's application, and Childe is finished with his tests. I was thinking that there should be a press conference once it returns to Exxar-One. It can answer questions about the Erayans and about itself, as long as the answers won't compromise military or Federation security. The general public already knows about the hypergate at Exxar-One, and, to be honest, there's no way we could have kept Ilkara imprisoned indefinitely, especially since it's given us the cure to sixteen major diseases. Sooner or later, someone on Drumhold's staff would have leaked this to the press for the right fee."
"How do you think this will affect the Chimera project?"
"It's too early to tell, but I think there's enough good material here to give Doctor Aulekar at least one major breakthrough, if not several."
"Hhmmm." Brouchard pondered this, staring at his desktop for several moments.
"Don't get your hopes up, Edmond. We're a long ways from finishing that project, and we have several others that need to be completed before the results of that one can be put into effect."
"I know, I know," the vice president sighed. "I'm just thinking of how far we've come in such a short time."
"Mmmm, yes, I agree." The senior director was tapping at his compad, updating notes and memos. "Which is another reason for why I'm not too bothered about allowing Ilkara to return to Exxar-One. As soon as she and Commodore Gabriel hold that press conference, that station is going to stay in the galactic spotlight for a very long time. And that is our ultimate goal for now. The longer that we can keep certain eyes and ears pointed in that direction, the better chance we have of succeeding on other fronts."
"Speaking of which, have you heard anything from the Khazar?"
"No. My contacts have been unusually quiet for the last couple months. But I'm not terribly worried. Not yet, at least. These lengthy silences aren't uncommon in my line of work."
"But still..." Brouchard was afraid to finish his thought.
"Edmond, stop. You've got enough to worry about right now without adding this to your plate. The election is only three weeks away. If Enkaro doesn't win, most of this" – he indicated his compad – "won't matter. You need to stay in this office."
Brouchard gave a dismissive gesture. "I've taken care of that. Not that I had to do much. Most of the public are still so grateful to Enkaro for ending the Chrisarii war that they're more than willing to elect him to a second term. We've still got a thirty percent lead on Skelath in the major polls, and nineteen percent in the minor ones."
"Fair enough." Nicholas checked his pad. "Other than this Ilkara situation, there's been no significant developments to speak of. You have anything else you want to discuss?"
"No. That's all for now."
Caine downed the last of his Scotch and then stood. "Until next time then."
"Goodnight, Nicholas."
After the director left, Brouchard continued to sit behind his desk, pondering.
Thinking.
Worrying.
( 3 )
Jolan Nejra ordered another cup of Truvian fire tea and then eased himself into the chair next to the tiny viewport. It was the only window in the cramped quarters that he and Annaias occupied on the Endeavor, and Jolan longed for the spaciousness of the aerial observatories on his homeworld. He hadn't visited them in several years, but when he'd first been appointed to the Imperial Senate, he'd spent many evenings in the observatory domes, just sitting and watching the night sky. If he adjusted the holo-screens just right, it was easy to imagine that he was the only sentient being in a vast field of stars.
He was thinking more and more about homeworld these days. The market square in Gtheldron. The Xarth Festival that Annaias loved so much. The mountains of U'Nei, where Jolan had spent many holidays hunting wild vort on the game preserves. The crisp taste of the cool morning air in the Aldrad colonies during monsoon season. Annaias' gardens that colored most of the grounds of their estate. The reverent silence in the Hall of Warriors in Gtheldron's state museum.
All of that was just a memory now, and while Jolan knew what he would be giving up when he entered exile, he didn't know that the heartache of homesickness would be this terrible. He had tried to convince himself that he would be able to return to the empire one day, after the current monarchy was abolished. That was why he had defected, believing that the Federation would help him overthrow the House of Valayne and establish a more benign presence on the throne. But over the last three months he'd had plenty of time to ponder his situation, and Jolan realized that he had only been fooling himself. He'd known the truth all along, but he hadn't wanted to admit it.
He would never see his homeworld again.
And maybe that was why he hadn't needed a lot of persuasion from Gabriel to join this mission. Had some small part of his soul been hoping for just a glimpse of something familiar within the empire's territories? Would just a step inside the borders ease some of his homesickness? And what about his future? That was the other thing that had kept Jolan awake for most of the nights on this mission. If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he didn't want to return to Exxar-One. He couldn't face spending the rest of his life confined to quarters, no matter how spacious or comfortable they were. The only other choice was to request from Gabriel that he and Annaias be transferred into FCI protective custody, but that wasn't an option. Jolan knew that wherever he and his wife ended up, it would be worse than Exxar-One. Commodore Gabriel and his staff had treated them with respect and hadn't pressed Jolan for more sensitive information about the inner workings of the Jha'Drok government. FCI operatives would practice no such restraint.
Jolan sipped his tea and then gave a long exhale, telling himself once more to let the matter rest. There were more important things to consider just now. For the last several days, the Endeavor and its crew had been skulking around the outer systems of the Jha'Drok territories, searching for the hypergate. Jolan had made a list of ten star systems that he felt were the most probable hiding places for the gateway, and they'd eliminated eight. They had started with the outermost systems and worked their way in, moving slowly and cautiously whenever they passed particularly close to a densely populated sector. Since the cloaking shield required two hours to regenerate after seventy-eight hours of continuous use, Varis had made sure that they were always close to an asteroid field or an uninhabited moon so that the E
ndeavor could hide in the naturally occurring magnetic fields in order to de-cloak.
That meant following a long, winding, and often uneven course punctuated by unexpected delays when a battle carrier or a scout frigate suddenly appeared within sensor range, which had happened on only three occasions thus far. Jolan and his fellow crewmen were several thousand light years from the home systems, and the sectors that the Endeavor had passed through to this point were inhabited by the various species that the Emperium had conquered in the last few centuries. Because of the recent loss of the assault legion as well as the problems created by the Shouk Drigald back home, the outer systems were more or less controlled by elected regional governors. As long as they proved they could police their own territory, the Jha'Drok military was keeping a low profile, which was exactly what Jolan had been counting on.
Wherever the hypergate was located, there would be a strong Jha'Drok military presence to guard it. For that reason, if it had been moved to the home systems when it was first discovered, the Imperial Senate would have known about it. Not only that, it would have been extremely difficult and cumbersome to cloak the energy signature of the gateway's vortex. And that was why Jolan was certain that the military had hidden it in one of the outer sectors, but none of the Endeavor's scans had detected a signature of the type and magnitude that would give away the hypergate's presence.
What had remained unspoken thus far was the possibility that they wouldn't find the gateway at all. And as the human expression went, there was no plan B.
"Jolan?"
He turned, startled, almost spilling his tea. "Annaias."
"I'm sorry. Did you want to be alone?"
"No." He reached for her, and she stretched out beside him in the chair, laying her head on his shoulder. "I was just... thinking."
"You've been doing a lot of that lately. I've been afraid to disturb you."
Jolan sighed, and Annaias lifted her head. "Jolan, what's the matter? Talk to me."
"The Gods have remained silent. I was sure that they would continue speaking to me, that there was more to their message than just the vision of Gtheldron burning. But I have received nothing more since coming into exile."
"Maybe there wasn't anything more. Maybe that one message was enough."
Jolan shook his head. "No, there's more."
"How do you know?"
"I meant that there's more for me to do." Jolan sat up and Annaias moved to another chair. "I can't explain it, Ann, but I know that the Gods have called me out. They've chosen me for a higher purpose, and until now, I thought that that purpose was to set our people back on the right path. That's why they showed me that vision of Gtheldron burning, why they allowed me to sabotage our plans for invading and conquering the Federation." He paused, frustrated.
"But now you're questioning that purpose?"
"Yes," Jolan replied in a small voice. He bowed his head.
Annaias knelt in front of him and touched the side of his face. He raised his head and she looked into his eyes. "I believe you. I have always believed you, and I will follow you wherever this cause may take us. But you must have patience, Jolan. Sometime the Gods speak to us in other ways, and when they do, they might not always say what we want them to. You did the right thing by destroying that assault legion, and we will find the hypergate. It may take more time than we initially planned, but we will find it."
Her husband smiled weakly and placed his hand over hers. "Your faith has always been stronger than mine. And you're right."
"Aren't I always?"
Jolan laughed, and Annaias suddenly realized how long it had been since she'd heard that sound from him. His commlink beeped, and he tapped it.
"This is Jolan."
"Varis. Please come to the flight deck, Mister Nejra. We are approaching the Plonn system."
"Yes, brantar."
( 4 )
"Bring us out of stardrive," Varis ordered. "Are we within scanning range?"
Ritano shook his head. "Not yet. Three minutes."
Varis turned to Lieutenant Japh, the Chrisarii pilot. "As soon as we are, bring us to a full stop."
"Yes, ma'am."
Jolan stepped onto the flight deck and Varis acknowledged his presence with a nod. The Jha'Drok moved to the secondary tactical console next to Ritano's station and pulled up the data on the Plonn star system. It was a standard binary, with only one of its six planets inhabitable. Its natives were one of the more primitive species of the Emperium. They'd been conquered just over a century ago, roughly the same time that the hypergate had first been discovered by Jolan's grandfather. At that time, the Plonn system was on the fringe of Jha'Drok space, and because of their limited technological capabilities, the Plonn would have been content to leave something as advanced as the hypergate alone. They were a rather benign people, surrendering to the Jha'Drok with almost no resistance, and as long as the Emperium allowed them to stay on their homeworld and live in their own way, things were fine. That meant that if the Jha'Drok established a starbase in orbit of the system's outermost planet, the natives would leave well enough alone.
"Now in sensor range," Ritano said. "Initiating scan."
"All stop," Japh reported.
"There's the starbase," Jolan said. "Still in orbit of the last planet."
"There's five – no, six – warships." Ritano paused to analyze the readout further. "All of them dreadnoughts. Two are in orbit of the Plonn homeworld. The rest are circling the starbase." He saved the readout and continued the scan. "Found it! I've got an energy signature a hundred and twenty kilometers from the starbase."
"Are we close enough for a visual?" Varis asked.
"You bet." Ritano magnified the readout, and Varis and Jolan peered over his shoulder.
"That's it," the Jha'Drok confirmed. "Looks like they've attached a control station to it."
Varis turned to Japh. "Take us in another two hundred kilometers. Mister Ritano, can you focus a scan on the starbase?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She crossed her arms and waited patiently for the readouts to appear. Jolan was frowning as he continued to stare at the screen that still displayed a visual of the hypergate. "Is something wrong, Mister Nejra?"
He shook his head. "Just wondering how we're going to accomplish this."
Varis nodded. "I have an idea, but first we're going to conduct a thorough reconnaissance. We're going to start with the starbase, then get a closer look at the hypergate, and then the Plonn homeworld. I want you to start with monitoring communications. I'm sure everything's on a secured channel, and your access codes are probably out of date. If that's the case, just see what you can pick up on general broadband, especially as we get closer to the homeworld. Otherwise, if you can access the secured network, let me know right away."
Jolan nodded and returned to his station.
Varis returned to hers as well, next to Japh. "We're going to spend at least a standard day on reconnaissance, people, so don't get too anxious. How much time left before we need to regenerate the cloaking shield?"
"Sixteen hours," Jeff replied. "I've already found us a spot to hide. The fourth planet has a set of rings that are very dense and are emitting a strong magnetic signature. Not only that, I'm picking up some unusual radiation readings from the atmosphere. I don't think it's anything that'll damage us or the ship as long as we don't stay for more than a few hours."
"Good enough. Before we move on to the homeworld, we'll stop and have a closer look, just to be sure."
( 5 )
Staff Sergeant Frakes glanced up as Lieutenant Ritano entered the mess hall.
"Sergeant," Jeff greeted him as he walked to the food dispenser.
"Lieutenant." Frakes quickly buried his nose in his compad, hoping that Jeff would sit at the only other unoccupied table in the room.
Three hours had passed since the Endeavor had entered the Plonn system, and Ritano was at the end of his shift. Frakes was starting his in ten minutes, and because he was sharing qu
arters with two other officers, he'd come to the mess hall to get some time to himself.
"Whatcha reading?"
Frakes sighed. "If I tell you, will you let me read in peace and quiet?"
"Okay."
"Jyos Fe Reashess."
"Really? The first or second edition?"
Frakes blinked. "Second."
Ritano stabbed a piece of roast carrot with his fork. "You should read the first. The character of Isspol is far more...interesting." He chewed and then made a face. "You'd think that these processors should be able to make a decent roast carrot, but no."
"You've read Kii?"
"Why does that surprise you?"
Frakes hesitated.
"Oh, that's right. My reputation precedes me. I'm just a cocky, dumb jock who takes his dates to sporting events or the movies."
"You said it, not me. And all right, I admit it. You don't strike me as the type who reads classic DrayH'M literature, especially something as obscure as this."
"One of my professors at the academy turned me on to Kii. I started with Nonina and then Jyos Fe Reashess. I don't think Jyos was his best work, especially after he released the second edition."
"I disagree. I like the character of Isspol much better in the second. There was too much focus on his story in the first edition, and it slowed down the whole plot."
"Ah, but what about the ending? Isspol was integral to the climax. Without understanding his story, that ending wouldn't have made sense."
"I don't think it made much sense as it was. I thought chapter forty-two was a perfectly good ending. The hundred pages after that were just redundant."
Ritano spit out his pork tenderloin and returned the plate to the processor. "When we get back to Exxar-One, I'm putting in a work order on this thing." He pulled up the menu and started browsing for something simpler. "So have I changed your mind about not going on a date with me?"
"One step at a time. Have you read Lial?"
