device next fri eve
Excellent. It was Thursday now. She had hoped it would be this week, but things always took longer than you thought. Next week Friday would be fine.
There was really nothing to add to that, so she opened her sensitive account, encoded the message using a different one-time pad, and sent it on to higher using the DP’s QE link in the consulate. She then issued a user request to flush the ‘recent’ table for that account on the local node. No sense leaving evidence laying around.
They had pulled back their view of the DP’s network so they could watch what happened. If anything happened.
They were not disappointed.
“There it is!” Mori said.
“Got it!” Sokolov said.
They watched as the message propagated to another account, on another planet, and Sokolov’s virus tagged the recipient. Minutes later, a message from that user propagated to another account, on another planet, and Sokolov’s virus tagged the recipient. And once more, a message from that user propagated to another account, on another planet, and Sokolov’s virus tagged the recipient. From that user, though, fifteen messages propagated, all across the DP. From those fifteen, a total of ninety-five messages propagated, again, all across the DP.
The three watched as the propagation blossomed. It was like aerial fireworks going off.
“Now that is a thing of beauty,” Dernier said. “Like flowers in springtime.”
“Absolutely,” Mori said. “Congratulations, Pavel. And all those messages went in the file?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And did we get all the user IDs?”
“Oh, yes. After the first two, those are all normal accounts. We have all the names and planetary locations.”
“OK, let’s package all this up and send it to the Imperial Palace.”
District Governors
They were meeting Thursday afternoon in the Emperor’s office. Dunham, Saaret, Daggert, and Peters.
“What did we learn, General Daggert?”
“We have the network, Sire.”
“Are we sure, General Daggert?”
“I believe so, Sire. The message that triggered the cascade of messages was ‘device next fri eve.’ The cascade was begun by Carol Urban, who, according to the interrogation of Franz Gerber, was his control and report. The message was encoded and sent according to the methods he revealed. The message she sent on was apparently also encoded with a one-time pad, but it had the same number of characters, indicating it was likely a repeat of the message, and not some other message like, ‘What could this possibly mean?’
“As for the recipients, they are a close match to the investment circle that has been shorting Sintar stocks since the war, a position that makes little sense unless you know about a negative event that is going to occur – or that you will cause to occur – in Sintar.
“I doubt it’s beyond a reasonable doubt, Sire – especially with coerced and drugged testimony – but it’s close.”
“Well beyond a preponderance of the evidence, General Daggert?”
“Yes, Sire. Absolutely.”
“Mr. Saaret?”
“I agree, Sire. We have the device tracked back to the spymaster. The message cascade was initiated by her. And the people who got fingered by the message cascade are the same people making countervailing market moves. That pretty much ties it together.”
Dunham nodded. He turned to Peters.
“Milady Empress?”
“I agree, Your Majesty. We have two completely independent trails to the perpetrators, and they agree in all particulars. I believe this matter is ripe for Imperial action.”
“Very well.”
Dunham touched an old style control pad set into the corner of his desk. Darrel Hawker entered the room from the adjoining office.
Andrew Forsythe was a senior attorney on the Emperor’s staff, and Hawker was Forsythe’s significant other. When Forsythe moved into the Residence Wing of the Palace, Hawker had looked for a job on the Emperor’s staff. He had been Claude Perrin’s assistant for the last six years, and Perrin had finally retired about two years ago.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Mr. Hawker, you have prepared the Imperial warrants we discussed earlier?”
“Yes, Sire. They are ready for your signature.”
“And the letter to the DP’s former district governors, Mr. Hawker?”
“That also awaits Your Majesty’s convenience, Sire.”
“Excellent, Mr. Hawker. That is all for now.”
Hawker bowed and left through the side door.
“When will you meet with the district governors, Sire?” Daggert asked
“I was thinking Tuesday morning, General Daggert. Once I meet with them, the Imperial warrants will be transmitted to you to act upon. I assume you will activate the Imperial Marines for this duty?”
“Yes, Sire. And the Imperial Police for that matter at the consulate in Carolina. I have already warned General Flint and Chief Browning there will be action requiring their attention in the latter half of next week.”
“Excellent, General Daggert. It is only left then to go over the particulars of my speech to the district governors next week. I want to strike the right tone. We do not need a lot of pushback or trouble right now.”
Gandon District Governor Seth Glick read through the meeting invitation again. The Emperor Trajan ‘requests and requires’ your attendance, blah, blah, blah. Interesting formulation. So it was not so much an invitation as it was orders. Glick bristled a bit at that, but he supposed that was silly. The guy was Emperor of Sintar, the DP Navy lay in ruins, an Imperial Navy carrier battle group orbited Gandon, and any higher statutory authority in the Democracy of Planets had died on Olympia.
Non-statutory authority was another thing altogether. Glick had requested a meeting in VR with Gunther Auer, based here on Gandon, to ask his advice about this ‘invitation’ and whether or not Glick should attend.
When the time arrived, he entered the VR channel and found Gunther Auer waiting for him in a blank room, standing alongside a couple of club chairs.
“Governor Glick, it’s good to see you again,” Auer said.
“You as well, Mr. Auer. Thank you for meeting with me.”
“I’m always available to you for consultation, Governor. Should we be seated?”
Auer waved Glick to the chairs and waited until he was seated before sitting himself.
“How can I help today, Governor Glick?”
“I received an invitation from the Emperor to attend a meeting of the district governors. His Majesty will apparently address us at that meeting. I wondered if you thought I should attend.”
“Do you have the invitation with you, Governor? May I see it?”
“Of course, Mr. Auer.”
Glick pushed the invitation to Auer, which the VR simulated as him handing a card to Auer. Auer read over the card, checked the back, and then handed it back to Glick.
“Interesting, to say the least.”
“What’s that ‘request and require’ business, Mr. Auer?”
Auer waved it away with a hand.
“That’s just Emperor talk.”
“So you think I shouldn’t attend?”
“Oh, no, Governor Glick. On the contrary, I think you should attend, for a couple of reasons. Things are in flux right now, for one, and I don’t think it’s advisable to stick out when things are in flux. Just go and keep your head down, be one of the crowd, as it were.”
“And the other reason, Mr. Auer?”
Auer shrugged.
“If you don’t go, you won’t hear what he has to say. More information is always good. You’re attending in VR, so it’s not like he can arrest you or anything. I would just go and see what he says, Governor. Be polite and attentive and see what he says. What can it hurt? I would be happy to advise you on anything that comes up, if you wish. Or not. I’m just a private citizen, after all.”
Glick
nodded. Auer saying he was just a private citizen was pretty rich, considering that, in the DP’s actual government, the de facto government, Auer was more powerful than the de jure prime minister. Still, his advice made sense. Why not listen?
“That makes sense to me, Mr. Auer. Very well. I will go to the Emperor’s meeting. Afterwards, I may want to speak to you again.”
“As you wish, Governor Glick. I’m always here for you.”
When he dropped out of the meeting with Glick, Auer sent a message to a couple of other people in the upper echelon of his investor’s circle.
“I think we should make sure the district governors attend the Emperor’s meeting. Encourage them to be polite and attentive. What harm does it do to listen? To be polite? That sort of thing. We don’t need anybody making waves right now. It could draw the wrong sort of attention.”
The twenty district governors were all present in the VR channel before the official start time of the meeting. The simulation was of a small theater, with comfortable padded seats and wide armrests. The district governors, most of whom knew many of the others, stood and chatted.
At the official start time, Darrel Hawker appeared in the speaker’s well.
“Please be seated everyone. We’ll be starting in a moment.”
The district governors all took their seats. When all were seated, Hawker continued.
“The Emperor Trajan will arrive shortly and make a short address. There will be no questions at this time. The Emperor hopes to meet with each of you privately beginning next week, at which time you can ask any questions you may have. It is customary to stand when the Emperor enters until he tells you to be seated.”
Hawker surveyed the room and nodded.
“The Emperor Trajan.”
Hawker disappeared from the speaker’s well and the Emperor appeared. He was a strongly built, tall man in his early forties, with startling white-blue eyes, dressed in a simple business suit. All the district governors, cautioned by their patrons to be polite, got to their feet, if perhaps a bit slower than a typical Imperial subject. The Emperor nodded to them.
“Be seated, please.”
Everyone sat back down.
“Thank you all for coming. I wanted to speak to you all together, to present to you all the same situation, the same options, so you are all working with the same information. I hope to speak to you all individually beginning next week, and we can discuss then any specific concerns you might have.
“First, I want to address the situation in which we find ourselves, you and I. You are the governors of the twenty districts of the Democracy of Planets. But the central government of the Democracy of Planets is gone, and Sintar is now in uncontested possession of the Democracy of Planets.
“In order to avoid future wars, the Democracy of Planets will not be reconstituted as an independent political entity. Two such large political entities as the Democracy of Planets and the Sintaran Empire is a formula for a guaranteed future war. I am therefore uninterested in setting up such a situation.
“Sintar could also treat the Democracy of Planets as conquered territory, mere vassal states. History teaches us that is also a guarantee of future war. Again, I am uninterested.
“Rather than either of those two scenarios, Sintar will instead annex the territory of the Democracy of Planets, and welcome the people of the Democracy of Planets as new citizens of the Sintaran Empire, with equal status to the Empire’s current citizens. That is the one scenario that holds out the prospect of future peace, and I reach out to it hopefully.
“Almost fifteen billion people have died in these wars. While that is a small fraction of one percent of the total human population, it is still a large number of people in absolute terms. A repeat of such carnage would mean we – you and I – have failed to do our jobs properly.
“So where does that leave us? You are the governors of the twenty districts of the Democracy of Planets, elected to your positions by the people you serve. Each of you represents some four thousand planets, with an average population of twenty-five trillion people per district. The Sintaran Empire is currently composed of fifty-three sectors of about five thousand planets each, with an average population of ten trillion people per sector.
“That’s close enough for me. Each district of the former Democracy of Planets will become a sector of the Sintaran Empire, intact as it now stands. The Essen District will become the Essen Sector, the Gandon District will become the Gandon Sector, and so on. Each of these sectors will have a sector governor who will serve at my pleasure.
“I propose that you twenty current district governors become the sector governors of these new sectors in the Sintaran Empire. You all carry on in your current positions, or something like them.
“The differences can be summarized simply, and fall into two main categories. The first is that you need never stand for election again, never campaign again, never raise campaign funds again, never again answer to a Parliament or to the political winds that blow through it. You answer to me, and to me only.
“That’s the easy part. The other part requires a change in mindset. Sector governors within the Sintaran Empire serve the people of their sector. In truth, not just in name. Our goal is to better the lot of the average person in the Empire, raise the median standard of living across the whole population, respect the civil rights of every citizen. In particular, a sector governor in the Sintaran Empire does not serve the moneyed interests. There is no need, as they do quite well on their own.
“It is not always easy. Freedom of speech means the press can, literally, say whatever they want about you. They can caricature you, make political cartoons about you. No less me than you. I’ve seen some of them about me. Some are witty, some not so much. It makes no matter. Citizens have the right to criticize their government.
“It also means political corruption is absolutely off-limits. No bribes, gifts, honorariums, favored treatment, or other inducements or benefits. That is the way the Democracy of Planets was run, but it is not the way the Sintaran Empire is run. I am deadly serious about this, ladies and gentlemen, and the penalties range from imprisonment to execution.
“On the other hand, sector governor within the Sintaran Empire is the most highly compensated civil service position we have. The salary is perhaps twenty times what your salary is now, and all the requirements of office, including the governor’s mansion, household and personal staff, and other expenditures are paid by the Imperial Treasury. Money issues – whether campaign funds or personal wealth – will simply not be a concern.
“This is the option available to you under my offer. The other option is to retire from the district governor position. The Empire will honor the terms of the Democracy of Planets’ pensions in that regard. This is completely your choice. And there will be no prosecutions for past corruption either way you choose, because, as I say, that was the way the Democracy of Planets was run.
“I will tell you what options you do not have. You do not have the option of declaring your district an independent nation and attempting to separate from the Empire. You also do not have the option of accepting my offer as sector governor and continuing to do business as was usual under the Democracy of Planets. The first of those is treason, the second is official corruption. Both are potentially capital crimes. You can check my history if you want to assure yourselves I am not hesitant to apply the traditional punishment to capital crimes.
“That is the decision you have to make. I would personally be gratified if every single one of you accepted the position of sector governor and worked within the Empire’s rules to apply your considerable administrative skills to the betterment of the lives of your people. I stand ready to help you do that.
“Beginning next week, I will meet with each of you individually. You can ask me then whatever questions you would like. I will help you make your decision however I can. At some point in the next month, you will have to decide.
“In the meantime, Mr. Hawker will send
to you for your consideration our handbook for new sector governors, which lays out the rules and the prerogatives of the office.
“I look forward to meeting with each of you.
“Good day.”
The Emperor bowed his head to them and disappeared from the channel.
Auer and Glick were once again meeting in the VR simulation with the two club chairs. Glick had explained the Emperor’s offer and his warning.
“So that’s the setup, Mr. Auer. Do you have any advice on how to play this?”
“Well, I am just a private citizen, Governor, but it seems to me you don’t need to make any decision yet. You might read through this handbook for sector governors. I would certainly meet with the Emperor privately and ask any questions you might have. But he did say you had a month to decide. Is that right?”
“That’s right, Mr. Auer.”
“Well then, it seems to me the best thing to do right now is collect information and wait. Things are still very fluid after the fall of the Democracy of Planets, and the situation in a week or two weeks or three weeks may look much different than it does today. Maybe the correct decision will become more obvious.”
“That seems like excellent advice, Mr. Auer. Thank you.”
“No problem, Governor Glick. I’m always happy to help if I can.”
The Turn Of The Card
Otto Stauss knew something was going to happen. He didn’t know what, and he didn’t know when, but it was getting close. He could feel it. Everybody had their positions staked out in the markets, and it was all just hanging there, waiting for – What?
It was going to be a hell of a ride, whatever it was. He could lose all the income from the salvage operations for decades, and not a small part of his own holdings, if it went against him. If it went for him, it would be epic.
It all depended on the turn of the card. What would it be?
Whatever it was, he didn’t want to miss it. As the havoc progressed, he could move profits into more purchases, leveraging off the motion. But it could be day or night, weekday or weekend. What he couldn’t do is not notice.
EMPIRE: Conqueror (EMPIRE SERIES Book 6) Page 22
