by D. J. Holmes
“Hold on sir,” came the reply, “I’ve got the computer working on it now.” James watched the display as the fluctuations continued to osculate getting stronger and stronger. “Sir,” the Sub Lieutenant began again, this time with a lot more concern in his voice. “The computer has identified the readings as the early stage of an intentional fission reactor overload. Someone over there is trying to cause a meltdown.”
Even as the Lieutenant spoke, James saw escape pods begin to launch from the battleship. The computer estimated that at least one of the battleship’s fission reactors would reach a critical energy flow rate in twenty seconds. James hoped that whoever had ordered the evacuation had given their people enough of a warning. As the twenty seconds elapsed it became clear they hadn’t. Even as the blinding light from a nuclear explosion burst forth from within the battleship itself, escape pods were still launching from the ship.
Admiral Zheng had known defeat would mean facing charges of war crimes. Either of his attacks on the Damang convoy, the Excalibur colony or the colony ship at New Stockholm on their own would get him life imprisonment. Knowing Chinese culture, James knew the shame he would have brought on his country and family would have been even worse than the actual jail sentence. To avoid all that, James had no doubt the Admiral hadn’t even tried to leave the battleship.
“Captain, we’re picking up a signal from one of the escape pods from the battleship. It’s from the ship’s Third Lieutenant. He says he’s the senior surviving officer from the battleship and would like to formally offer the surrender of his crew,” Lieutenant Romanov said.
“Very good Lieutenant,” James replied.
“May I ask sir,” the Lieutenant continued, “what does this mean?”
“It means,” James said to the bridge at large, “it’s over.”
Epilogue - HMS Endeavor
14th January 2466 AD, Westminster Abby, England
Princess Christine Anne Elizabeth Windsor stood in a side room adjacent to the entrance to Westminster Abby, making some final adjustments to her dress. The walk from Buckingham Palace to the carriage and then the carriage ride through London had left her attire a little out of place. On this day that would not do, everything had to be perfect. The plans for what was about to happen had been settled months ago but the peace negations had strung out longer than had been expected.
Five months ago, news had reached Earth of what the news broadcasters were calling the Battle of the Void. When she had heard, her first thought had been to check the status of a small destroyer called Raptor, only then had she concerned herself with how the rest of the British fleet had faired. With the astounding victory, the British had secured the Void and the Chinese fleet had been decimated. Not one of the warships China had sent into the Void had made it back to Chinese space. Christine knew her father and the Prime Minister had been trying to thrash out as fair a deal for her husband to be as possible. In the end, they had settled on the original boundaries for the Void that had been laid out by the UN Interplanetary Committee. The British would keep Excalibur and Camelot, the Swedish would be able to try a second time at establishing a colony on New Stockholm and the Chinese would keep V17, the system they called Xi Wang.
That wasn’t all though. Even if her father had wanted to let the Chinese off lightly, public opinion had made it impossible. The Void was now declared a demilitarized zone, at least as far as Chinese warships went. In addition, all ships passing through the shift passage into the Void from Chinese space would have to go through a UN led customs inspection to ensure the Chinese would not be able to bring in weapons of any kind. Much more importantly, the one point Prime Minister Fairfax had not backed down on, was that the Chinese government would have to open their borders to British shipping, removing all transit fees and opening all their markets to British traders. On the face of it this was the biggest cost the Chinese had to pay for peace. In reality it was necessary, the damage their economy, infrastructure and, specifically, their freighter fleet had taken meant many of their colonies were in dire straits, even on the brink of starvation. Those same problems meant the British shipping companies would quickly come to dominate the Chinese intersystem trade. However, over time this would begin to reverse. As the Chinese economy began to recover, the open border and open market policy between Britain and China would allow Chinese companies to begin to make inroads into the British economy. In time, the British government hoped this would further bind the two powers together, with Britain as the dominant force of course.
Even so, there had been public outcry when the official peace settlement had been announced four days ago. The British public had seen China as its main competitor for nearly a century. Now they had the Chinese beaten. It seemed to them that now was the time to make sure the Chinese government and its colonies could no longer try to expand or threaten British interests. Of course, even Christine with her limited study of history knew how such harsh peace settlements usually turned out. If the British tried to strangle China, they would only be guaranteeing another war as soon as the Chinese felt they were strong enough to throw off the British shackles. She knew her father’s approach was the right one.
With a final tug on her dress, she was happy with how she looked. It had been tradition, for as far back as she knew, for British royalty to travel to Westminster Abby in the gold encrusted Royal State Coach. Having never been in it before, let alone any contraption pulled by eight quarter horses, she hadn’t been ready for the uncomfortable ride. The suspension had been non-existent; she had been in space yacht races through the rings of Saturn that had been more comfortable. Still, at least the ordeal was over. Now all she had to do was face what was coming next.
As she looked at herself in the mirror one last time, she pictured James beside her in her mind’s eye. He was dressed in the same exquisite suit his father had made him wear to the reception where they had first met. In her vision they were both smiling and holding hands. As feelings of despair threatened to well up, she quickly banished the image. She berated herself for being so foolish. She could not afford any thoughts of him today. That was a previous life. In this life, she was about to get married.
The door behind her opened and closed quietly. Quickly she reached up and wiped away the tear that had escaped and was making its way down her cheek. In the mirror her father came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “It’s time,” he said.
As he turned her around, he reached up to her other check and wiped away another tear. “I know this is hard for you, you’re giving up your own happiness for the good of your people. This is the price we pay for our position. But think of the opportunity you have. The Chinese people love you. You can shape their culture, their future. From your new position you can help our people. Na is a good man; you may even grow to love him over time. Certainly you can work together. But I want you to know this. You will always have your mother and me to come to your aid. Don’t ever think you are alone, we’ll be here for you.”
“Thank you father,” Christine said, as she embraced him in a hug. “I know this is what I’m supposed to do.” After she continued to hold him for a minute or so he gently pushed her away.
“Let’s go, everyone is waiting,” King Edward XI said as he took his daughter’s hand.
*
Vows complete, Na and Christine turned to face the assembled congregation. The Archbishop spread his hands as he presented the newly married couple. “Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you Emperor Na Zhong the First and Empress Na Christine.”
Christine almost let go of Na’s hand in shock. Empress? As she looked around the room she saw that almost everyone else had the same look of shock that was no doubt on her face. When she looked over to Na, he was smiling at her. He leaned in and whispered to her, “impressive isn’t it? I made a few last minute changes to our new constitution after the marriage was publicly announced. Don’t worry, I still have a fixed term of twenty years, then I have to be re-elected, but I thought
Emperor and Empress had a better ring to it. Plus, it puts the old ways of a president who was just the puppet of the Politburo behind us. Smile my dear, you’re the first Chinese Empress in over five hundred years.” With a snap she closed her gaping mouth and produced her best smile, all the while thinking she would have to keep a close eye on her new husband.
*
At the reception Admiral Somerville watched as King Edward mingled with all his guests. There were dignitaries from every nation state on Earth and representatives from all the human colonial worlds. For his part Somerville was happy to sit on the sidelines. If it served the men and women of the RSN he was happy to dive into the politics of such gatherings but if he could avoid it, he did. A tap on his shoulder revealed the Prime Minister who was standing beside him. “We need to talk about Chang, do you have any more information?” he asked.
“I do,” Somerville began, “but I think we should include the King in this.”
“Agreed,” Fairfax said. He lifted his hand towards the King and waved at him slightly. The King looked over for only a second and nodded, then resumed his conversation with the Governor of the Utah system without even breaking sentence.
Five minutes later King Edward joined them in the shadows of a corner of the reception room.
“You daughter looked beautiful today,” Somerville said by way of greeting when he arrived.
“Thank you, she reminds me of her mother when she was that age,” Edward replied. “What is it you two want to talk about? I can only spare a minute or two.”
“I’ll come right to it then,” Fairfax said. “We need to do something about Minister Chang. The public are outraged that he escaped from Beijing and are even more cross that we can’t locate him. All of our approval ratings are slipping, we need to bring him to justice.”
“Of course, I agree,” Edward said, “but we don’t know where he fled too, do we?”
Fairfax looked expectantly at Somerville who paused before answering. “We do have a lead. One of our contacts in the Indian colonies has recovered some files that suggest someone from China has taken up residence there. He managed to get his hands on some financial information that indicates a large amount of Chinese currency was transferred out of China to a shipping company based in the Indian Colonies. They have holdings on the two main colonies as well as on some of the smaller bases across the territory. It’s possible Chang has paid them to hide him somewhere.”
“Ok, so what do we do about it?” Edward asked.
“We need to send a ship in to investigate, and to get him back if he is there.” Fairfax demanded.
“We can’t just send a warship into Indian territory,” Edward said, “The Indians already hate us. We don’t need to give them any more reasons to do so.”
“You are right your Highness,” Somerville agreed, “but maybe we could send in a ship, if they never found out about it. We could investigate quietly, then if we find him, we grab him. A ship stealthy enough should be able to come and go in the Indian colonies without being spotted. Even if we have to use a bit more force and reveal ourselves when it comes to grabbing him, the Indians can’t make too much of a fuss. If they do they will be admitting to harboring a war criminal.”
“Ok, so we send in a ship with orders to quietly investigate things. Who do we send?” Edward asked.
“Well,” Somerville answered, “My nephew has just returned from the Void. His ship Raptor is in need of a lengthy refit. I was planning on giving him HMS Endeavour. He has proven himself to be a wily commander and his First Lieutenant is of Indian origin. Plus, sending him has the added benefit of keeping him away from British space for the next few months. I’m sure none of us want any more drama where he is concerned?”
Somerville felt quietly devious as he spoke that last sentence. He had understood the King’s desire to hold back his nephew but he hadn’t agreed with the King’s actions. Now he was getting a chance to use the King’s fears of his nephew to James’ advantage.
Edward eyed Somerville for a few seconds before agreeing, “Ok, I’m on board. After today I will rain down hell on that boy if he causes any more trouble. I hope he has enough sense to realize he has lost as far as my daughter is concerned. But just in case he hasn’t, sending him away for a while suits me. Just make sure he has very clear instructions on how far he can go. We don’t need him provoking a shooting incident with another naval power.”
“I will,” Somerville said. “I’ll give him another couple of days R and R while we set things up and then I’ll pass on our instructions personally.”
“Very good,” Edward said. “I have guests to get back to. You two finalize the plans and I’ll leave it in your hands.” As he strode away back into the crowd of dignitaries Somerville and Fairfax left to find a quieter room to plan out how they were going to deal with Chang.
*
18th January, 2466 AD, HMS Vulcan, Earth
James stood outside his uncle’s office waiting to be called in. Raptor had returned to Earth five days ago. She had spent almost six months in the Void after the final battle with Admiral Zheng. All the heavier ships had been sent home immediately, either to Britannia or to Earth. Their repairs took precedence. As a result, Raptor had spent a couple of weeks at the repair station in Excalibur and then been sent back out on patrol. That had been fine for James. He had needed something to do to keep him distracted.
For the last five days he had tried his best to avoid all the news broadcasts but it had proved impossible. Britain was filled with a new spirit of confidence. The peace was lasting and business was booming. Already people were flooding to Excalibur and Camelot. The public had become fixated on Christine. She was portrayed on every news broadcast as the British heroine who had stepped into the lion’s den to tame the lions before they escaped and devoured the British nation. Of course, with the lion being so closely associated with the British monarchy the imagery was often replaced with fiery dragons but the idea was the same. Every step she took and every obstacle she faced made the headlines. If her life had been under scrutiny before it was now under a microscope. Yet for James every image of her was a reminder of his loss. In the end he hadn’t been able to take it. After meeting with his mother and then André Clements to review his finances - finances that were flourishing thanks to her, he had spent three days relaxing on a remote south pacific island with nothing but the ocean and some new 18th Century war novels he had bought for himself. He’d also sent a message to his uncle requesting an update on his next assignment. Raptor had been handed over to the engineers aboard Vulcan. Her repairs were estimated to take upwards of six months for, on top of having to replace entire sections of her superstructure; there were a number of tech advances that had come out of the war that they wanted to install. Lieutenant Romanov had been left in charge but after they had docked with Vulcan, both Gupta and himself had received orders to prepare for a transfer.
Just then the doors to his uncle’s office opened and Lieutenant Gupta walked out. James was surprised to see her. He had assumed that she would be spending at least another week on shore leave with her family. “Lieutenant, it’s good to see you,” he said warmly as he shook her hand.
After returning his handshake she released him and waved her finger in his face. “I’m afraid not Captain.” Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a single gold star, the rank insignia for a Commander. “It’s no longer Lieutenant,” she said grinning.
“Congratulations,” James said with genuine pleasure, “You deserve it more than anyone else I know.” He wanted to give her a hug but he wasn’t sure their relationship had developed that far.
“Thank you sir, that means a lot to me,” Gupta replied. She looked like she was debating something for a few seconds and then she pulled him into a hug herself, “I couldn’t have done it without your example and your recommendation.”
“Nonsense,” James said as they broke apart, “you were ready for promotion even before I took command of Drake. We’ll have to
go out for a drink to celebrate. Can you wait until I am done with my uncle?”
“I’m sorry sir, my family already have a celebration planned. The Admiralty has put me on special assignment. I have two days to myself and then I have to report back to Vulcan to take charge of my new command – though I am still being kept in the dark as to what ship I’m getting. Until then my family wants to get as much time with me as possible. You should come though. We’re meeting for dinner at Bishop’s in London, it’s on Regent Street.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” James said not feeling up to having to deal with a crowd.
“Nonsense, Gupta insisted, “you’ll be more than welcome. My family will love to meet you. You can tell them all stories about how I’m such a brave and courageous naval officer. I’ll tell them you’re coming so they’ll be expecting you. If you don’t show they will all be deeply offended.”
James felt trapped but he was genuinely pleased for Gupta. She deserved her promotion and command of a warship. “Ok, I’ll see you later,” he conceded. “But I better go see my uncle now.”
