by Randal Sloan
Either their society just moved very slowly or something had happened to change their minds, because a few months ago the Borjon suddenly sent word they wished to talk. Of course, something as big as the Empire didn’t exactly move fast, but eventually the decision had been made to send Marc as the Ambassador.
Making the month long trip had been ordeal enough, but Marc had persevered. Still upset after the fight with his daughter, whereby Marc had slowly realized he had been in the wrong, it had been made more difficult by the tight confines of the diplomatic ship they were traveling in. But the trip finally came to an end with the arrival at the planet Borjon. That’s when the negotiations began, although they moved like molasses.
The Borjon were very different than humans, very different. They were humanoid but that was the only thing they appeared to have in common. Tall, thin, bird-like in appearance, the Borjon moved with an elegance and grace that defied their slow deliberate movements.
Another thing that made the Borjon different; they lived on many different planets along their arm of the galaxy, but they still considered those planets to be a part of their home world. Hence, they considered themselves to only be one planetary system entity, whereas humans considered each system a separate part of the Empire. Each Borjon seemed to have an intense connection to their home world, so in some ways it made sense.
They also seemed to never get excited about anything, having existed in their current state for millennia it appeared, and they never were in a hurry. So for the couple of months the talks had been ongoing, absolutely nothing had happened. For Marc, it was all very frustrating.
Marc had just finished his light dinner for the evening when he received a surprising message from his counterpart, the Borjon Ambassador. “It is necessity that we communicate in the next possible period of time. Request attendance of your person in speaking compartment.”
Marc immediately answered that he was on the way, quickly pulling on his ambassador robes. He didn’t know what had happened to awaken the sleeping giant, but he knew better than to waste any opportunity.
When Marc arrived at the Borjon equivalent of a meeting room, he was amazed to see Ambassador Corralldar and his staff moving excitedly about and talking in hushed tones to each other. The Ambassador spoke to him quite rapidly, “You tell me of the Aerestone. We must have knowledge of you - them.”
He thought he was through with surprises, but then the Ambassador continued. “You tell me of this Jarra of the golden human hair.”
#
The trip back to the District Capitol was uneventful. Jarra’s team had gradually grown familiar with Prince John and lost enough of the awe they felt in his presence to be able to work with him. It didn’t hurt for them to see the interaction between him and Jarra. It was easy to see just how much the two cared for each other, brother and sister in everything but name.
The marine assault craft sent in had been successful as it turned out the moon was only lightly defended. The marines had moved in so quickly, the operator in the tiny base didn’t even have time to core wipe the AI, so it had been captured intact as well as the technology. No aliens though, not that it surprised Jarra. Their enemy still seemed to be trying to keep a low profile.
Repairs to the Aeres went well, although some things couldn’t be completely restored. The hull would always show the wear it had been subjected to, although the gouges had at least been filled in. A few things were made a little better than they were before. The shields had been improved as much as possible and the missile launchers had been reinforced so if they ever had to attempt a re-creation of their launch from hyperspace, the missile launchers should be able to handle it. It was hoped they’d never have to do something like that again, but it was a big strategic advantage they couldn’t pass up.
Jarra especially liked a new addition they had made to her ship. Building on the idea of the use of the drones as an offensive weapon, a new drone launcher had been added and a large number of Imperial drones had been modified to have an explosive capability and included in the ship’s inventory. Basically, they were going to use the drones like an earth ship would have used torpedoes. Not as powerful as a missile and despite the AI controllers in the drones, the control systems were not as capable, but they would be able to launch a lot of them in a short period of time. Suddenly her ship had gotten a bit more powerful. Despite her cousin’s orders and the promise of support from her uncle, Jarra knew her ship was still the one on the tip of the spear and anything that would give her an edge, she would use. They also made the torpedo launcher capable of working from hyperspace.
The opposite of the formal dinner they had the first time, the last night before they were to separate from the Dauntless, John had Jarra and her team over for a very informal and intimate dinner. Finally able to relax in the Crown Prince’s presence, Galen, Gabo, and Sara spent the evening getting to know the two of them as they related stories of growing up together. When they left, they had a little bit more understanding of the relationship of the two royals, and for sure a better understanding of their commander and just how capable she was.
When Jarra had related the story of her first meeting with Master Kadash, they all laughed until John told them that Jarra was the youngest trainee Master Kadash had ever had to reach Master status, a feat many who studied martial arts for a lifetime never achieved. That statement had quickly sobered them up when they realized just what that might mean. Galen had to ask.
“When Master Sergeant Gibbons and his marines interrupted our first contact with Greg Resault, they weren’t intervening to protect you, they were protecting him. We just thought it was the other way around.”
Jarra nodded. “Although, in a real sense it was protecting me. I almost lost my control, which is a bad thing. I don’t know what I would have done. Not good, which quite possibly would have affected our ability to complete our current mission, whereby we need to make contact with Lieutenant Resault once again. Thank goodness, the Sergeant didn’t address me as Princess, which would have totally blown my cover. Not that he didn’t get the lot of you wondering about me with that ‘My Lady’ he threw out.”
The group laughed at that. After their experience in the implant joining, it all seemed a little funny now. Jarra had to ask them, “I know no one won the pool guessing who I was. Who was closest?”
Sara smiled. “That would be me. I at least had you in the upper echelons of our government, just not in the royal family.”
“Yet I’m still the same Jarra you know and love.” Jarra looked affectionately at her cousin. “And now you’ve got a big brother.”
“Pretty big accomplishment from a bunch of misfits in the Rim Patrol, isn’t it,” Galen proclaimed. “And to think I had my doubts about you when I first met you.” He went on to explain to the others about finding the much too young lieutenant arguing with the AI about letting her in the ship without a key. “I thought you were crazy at the time or maybe just naive. Now I know you really were getting ready to hack the AI to do that very thing.”
Jarra couldn’t help but grin. “Well, I actually did it a little later. I just let you think you had to use the key. You got such a boost out of doing it.”
“Dang. I never caught on,” Galen laughed. “Just what can you not do?”
“I can’t wrap you all up in giant cotton balls to protect you. I would do it in an instant if I could,” Jarra told them with tears in her eyes.
Prince John had grown pretty quiet at the end, just watching Jarra and her team. He couldn’t help but be jealous, but he was glad he at least got to share in this much. He knew how much he loved his cousin, but he knew he would never have been able to do the implant link with her that they had done. He also knew if he had been in her shoes, he never would have made it out alive. He just prayed that they would be able to do it again the next time. He knew all too well his cousin’s propensity for getting into trouble.
A little later the party broke up. They had another mission to complete
.
#
Commander Crusoe received a quantum encrypted message from the Dauntless, the flagship of the Imperial Navy. The whole thing caught him entirely by surprise. He could only remember once in his time in command of the District HQ that he had received such a message and it had regarded fleet deployments in a planned raid on a pirate base. He immediately began the process of decrypting the message, which required several levels of work to complete, including a real time connection to the Central Rim Patrol communication system. The whole thing was as close to unbreakable as it could be.
The next surprise was when he started the message, he found that it was classified Imperial Top Secret, subject to charges of treason and death for revealing the contents. With an internal gulp, the Commander accepted the responsibility for the message. Never had he seen anything like this before.
His surprise was raised even higher when he began to view the message. Crown Prince John Von Hasson stood in the 3D VR frame and beside him stood his much too young Lieutenant Carsean. His surprise was complete when the lieutenant spoke.
“Good day to you, Commander Crusoe. John here has been telling me that it’s time that I come clean with you, although I hope you will allow me to continue to work with you. I am actually Crown Princess Jarraosa Christinee Von Hasson, although I do have a lieutenant’s commission in the Rim Patrol. My crew and I are currently onboard the Dauntless, having repairs completed to our ship.”
The shock was so bad the Commander had to take his seat. Almost as if she could see his reaction, Jarra paused a moment to let the Commander digest her words. She knew he probably knew something was up with her, just like her shipmates had, but like them, he would never have suspected the entire truth.
“In our mission, we managed to kick over an anthill. Not only did we discover the source of the drones, but we discovered that they are part of a conspiracy between a group of rebels deeply ingrained in our District and a new group of aliens that we believe are attempting to destabilize things in the galaxy. We also discovered thousands of drones being prepped to launch against the Empire with missions even to the core worlds of the Empire.
“My crew had no choice but to destroy the drones before they could be launched on their mission, perpetuating a struggle on our part to survive against the rebel forces in the system which were considerably stronger than we had expected. Fortunately, we were able to survive.”
The Crown Prince couldn’t resist breaking in. “Commander, that would be the understatement of the century. Not only did they manage to survive, but in the process they destroyed a cruiser and four destroyers, along the way finding a way to do several things we have always assumed before to be impossible. My cousin and her team are incredible and a credit to the Rim Patrol. I’m attaching her debrief at the end of this message so you can see for yourself.”
Jarra quickly took back over the conversation before her cousin could say anything more. “We were only doing our duty, although we may have gotten a little carried away there at the end. But I can’t abide traitors and I had the chance to finish them off, so I took it.”
Her eyes flashing with her anger, Jarra took a deep breath. “Sorry, I got off track there. In questioning the AI of one of the drones, we discovered that the rebellion runs deep in this District, perhaps all the way up to the Governor. For his sake I hope it’s not true, but the AI directly named him. That’s not available for evidence since the AI is now core-wiped, not that it would have been enough to convict the Governor anyway.
“My crew and I will be returning shortly to the District Capitol and we intend to go undercover to attempt to gather information about the rebels, their deployment, and whether or not the Governor is really involved. We would like your cooperation in that endeavor.
“Our cover story is that we discovered the source of the drones and the Imperial squadron just happened to be in the area. They intercepted the probe that we had sent back to the District Capitol, and then swept in to easily overpower and defeat the rebels in the system, saturation bombing the plant that was producing the drones in the process.
“For our part, we’ll be returning to the District Capitol after being dropped off by the Dauntless while on its way for naval exercises. They don’t have time to stop for leave in the Capitol due to our delay pushing them off their schedule.
“Obviously, the last is just a cover story for them to hide out just outside the system, although my uncle is sending two more squadrons here in support, since we have yet to determine the strength of the rebels.
“Because we believe the rebels aren’t aware of our knowledge of their existence, the Aeres is the best hope for us to obtain additional intel on the rebels. We’ll be departing in the morning to return to our base, but we wanted you to have this information ahead of time.”
“This ends our part of the message,” the Crown Prince told him. “After you catch your breath, review the debriefing. I think you’ll be quite amazed by what you hear.”
Commander Crusoe remained seated for some time, pausing the message while he tried to clear his chaotic thoughts. Finally, he began watching the debrief included with the message. His Crown Prince was right. He was indeed amazed and very proud.
#
Governor Gregorio Resault III stared angrily at the document displayed by his implants. Everything had been going so well and now this. It appeared an Imperial Squadron just happened to be in the area where the drones were being produced and they had destroyed them all. Gregorio had been counting on the diversion to take place in the next few hours so he could stage his part of the rebellion. Now that was all in jeopardy.
Without the diversion, he knew there was a chance that the Empire could send reinforcements. That means we’re going to need more ships. I hope my allies can come through for me. I can’t stand another minute of this waiting. I should have already been made Emperor.
Gregorio read through the rest of the report. At least the plans with the Rim District AI’s seemed to still be in place. That and the real diversion they had planned still looked possible. If they could pull that off, everything still might work out.
Gregorio needed the chaos that was sure to follow to pull together the rest of his plans. He had investments that would make him a lot of money based on the response of the masses. After all, that was the other major reason for the rebellion. The core worlds of the Empire had been keeping too much of their wealth.
But the real reason Gregorio was angry was due to the orders he had been given to come meet with the others. As soon as he was Emperor, he would fix that. No one was going to be giving him orders. He would have already fired the Admiral that was helping them if the man wasn’t needed so badly.
Gregorio sent a note to his son that he would be leaving in his private yacht for a clandestine meeting and warned him that he didn’t want to be disturbed while traveling. So far the change in Gregorio IV seemed to be positive. Maybe something could still be salvaged from the boy after all.
#
The next day the Aeres returned quietly to the Rim Patrol base, messaging ahead of their arrival but providing no details in the message. The crew departed shortly afterwards in service dress uniforms to see the District Commander. Jarra had decided to go with their service dress uniforms since that would avoid the issue of omitting their latest medal.
Galen locked the door to the ship even though he knew that wouldn’t keep his commander out. He still hadn’t figured out how she’d done it, but he hadn’t wanted to ask Sara if she knew. They all walked quietly to the District Office of the Rim Patrol. Not surprisingly they were directed to the same assembly room that they’d gone to before.
Lieutenant Commander Andrew Connors had been directed to set up the assembly room for the group under Commander Crusoe’s orders. He wondered, but didn’t dare ask when the Commander ordered a full sweep of the room to insure there were no bugs. He wondered even more when he was directed to remain outside the meeting, but an assistant to the District Comma
nder learned quickly not to question his superior. His boss had also given him several tasks to complete before the end of the day, so he didn’t have time to ponder the issue.
When Commander Crusoe entered the assembly room, he closed the door silently before falling to one knee to face the Crown Princess. Shaking her head, Jarra addressed him, “Thank you for your service. Please rise.”
She looked him in the eye as he stood. “As long as I am on this mission, I am still Lieutenant Jarra, the much too young lieutenant who has a tremendous amount to learn.” She laughed at his expression. “Which is still very much true. I do have a lot to learn and I am still the same person I was before.”
It was the Commander’s turn to smile. “From what I’ve seen, you may still have things to learn, but you’ve already begun to teach us a lot too.”
“As you know, for now that’s all classified. What did you think of our idea of adding the torpedo launcher to the Aeres?
“I think it’s a good idea, but due to their limited range you’ll have to be a lot closer to the enemy than I would like.”
“It’s not the range itself that’s the problem, it’s the targeting,” Jarra told him. “I have Sara working on that issue and we think we have a solution, but I get your point. Unless we launch them from hyperspace,” Jarra ended with a wicked smile.
“I still can’t believe you did that, but with the reinforcement of the missile tubes it looks like it’s repeatable, so that will be a tremendous advantage we’ll be able to use in this conflict.”
