Before Vimes could stop him and to his own complete surprise, Alexander volunteered. “I’ll do it. Just show me what to do and I’ll bring back whatever you need.”
“Alex, what are you doing?” a worried Vimes said, “Don’t push your luck and try for being a hero just to make up for what happened earlier.”
Alexander was not happy at the comment and sushed his companion before replying, “I said I’d do it. Just explain.”
“Why are you doing this, lad?” asked the Sergeant, “What are you trying to prove. Tell me the truth now.”
Alexander paused, trying to figure out a way of explaining why when he didn’t really know himself. “If I help you blow that bridge, then you will feel obliged to help me get to Britain, won’t you?” he said, the only thing he could think of without having to explain about the massacre and his earlier inaction.
“That’s good enough for me, lad. Fletcher, show him what to do and make sure we give him plenty of covering fire.”
As the two went to move away, the Sergeant grabbed Alexander's arm with a bloody hand.
“Better give me the letter back, son. Somehow I think it’ll be safer with me now.” He looked at Alexander and smiled. “By the way, the name’s William, but you can call me Bill if we get out of this.”
Alexander nodded, catching his eyes for a second, then crawled off after Fletcher for instructions on what to do, already regretting his decision.
Scene 16, Arisia, squared
Christine Harris walked into her squadrons temporary mess room unannounced, standing at the back and letting her eyes roam around the room, looking at the faces of her pilots whilst trying to reconcile the faces against the names without using her implant. Frustratingly, whilst several looked familiar, she was unable to bring forth names or any other details unless she used the implant. Everything up to when she received her implant’s command upgrade was razor sharp, but from then her memory was like looking through a frosted window. Names and events hinted at familiarity but the moment she tried to get any detail all she got was fuzziness.
“Hey, it’s the newbie,” called out one of the pilots, noticing Harris for the first time and referencing her traumatic memory loss.
With that, everyone got up and rushed over to say their welcomes. Harris was pleased that everyone looked genuinely happy to see her. Lt Wanderley quickly moved everyone out of the way and enveloped her in a massive hug, lifting her clear off the floor, before putting her down and examining her hair and the large bald patch with his thick fingers.
“Look, you can’t even see the join,” he called out, making everyone laugh. He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her towards the bar, everyone getting out of their way. He and Lt. Hinchin had come to visit her in the infirmary, not long after the Emperor had left her bedside. She still found it hard to believe that Alexander had sat vigil next to her and had been the first face she’d seen on awakening. She’d even checked with Dauntless’s AI for verification that she hadn’t imagined it. Even more shocking was to have Vimes speak with her afterwards, asking if she was alright or needed anything, probably as a result of Dauntless having passed on her enquiry.
“Fancy that,” she thought, “the Emperor himself knows me!”
Unsure how to handle her squadron’s attention, Harris smiled nervously and allowed the noise of welcome to wash over her until she found herself standing by the bar, then called out for everyone to listen. She had been rehearsing what to say, but now she actually had to say it, her prepared words were forgotten.
“Thank you, everyone. You do all know my memories of you all are vague at best and everything since joining you is unlikely ever to come back?” she began, only to be interrupted by Lt Murphy.
“Yes, we do, so you won't recall any of the things we got up to.”
The other pilots shushed him. “Go on, Christine,” said Lt Wanderley, his tone putting the others on notice that she was allowed to speak.
“I had a prepared speech for you, but now I just want to say it’s good to be back, even if I don’t know why. I know I’ve got a squadron that watches out for each other and I’m very proud to have you as wingmates, even if I have to learn about you all over again.”
She looked around the group, making sure she caught everyone’s eye. “As we don’t have any fighters to fly and it won’t be until tomorrow that we move to our new carrier, I do believe the first round of drinks is on me?”
The cheer that went up was even louder than when she entered the room and suddenly everyone was sending their orders to the server behind the bar.
The command staff of Dauntless, together with the commanding officers from the ships that had been destroyed, were sitting in Admiral Frith’s ready-room, waiting for a further update on the message everyone had been sent an hour earlier. Then, Admiral Frith had addressed everyone on Dauntless via their work terminal or implants if they were off duty, confirming news of the rebellion and that communication with a third of the Empire had been disrupted. Although some of this had been the subject of speculation since the attack, to have it confirmed was unsettling to many, especially those who were old enough to remember what happened during the Succession War. On the plus side, however, was the good news that a new fleet was waiting for them to take over, in orbit around Arisia, the planet now looming large on everyone’s viewscreens. Apparently, Duke Frederick and the rebels hadn’t been the only ones building new ships in secret since the end of the last civil war. Arisia and an unknown number of other planets like her had been secretly built up by the Emperor and tasked with producing a new Grand Fleet, composed of several new classes of capital ship.
“Captain Cooke,” Frith addressed the newest member, “What do you think of the new class of carriers?”
“They are certainly impressive, Admiral, but I am at a loss to understand how they can be effective. Their size, whilst imposing, gives every indication that they will accelerate and manoeuvre like a garbage scow in a heavy sea swell,” she replied, using old nautical metaphors. “Unless, of course, they are either made up of a new, lightweight material or there is something you are keeping back from us.”
“Same with the battleships, Admiral,” interjected Commander Gomez, “by their very nature they have to be heavily armoured and given the new class is almost twice the size of Dauntless, they could only be used for static defence or perhaps there is a new type of propulsion system that we don’t know of? How is the structural integrity of the ship going to be maintained if we need to make a sudden course correction? Our enemies would run rings around us.”
Alexander and Frith looked at each other, then Alexander stood up to address everyone. Walking over to the large, full height viewscreen that stretched along one wall, he gestured and Vimes replaced the view with a schematic detailing one of the new carriers. He checked to ensure he had everyone's attention, then began speaking.
“What you are looking at is one of the new Invincible class carriers, built here in the Arisia shipyards under the greatest secrecy. Obviously, everything you hear at this briefing is not to be divulged without express permission. Any concerns or questions on who has security clearance should be directed to Dauntless’s AI or Vimes.”
Alexander could see everyone was dying to know more about the new classes of ships and he resisted the temptation to keep them in suspense.
“Despite having been able to generate artificial gravity from the earliest days of Empire, the ability to overcome inertia has stubbornly evaded us, despite our best scientific minds spending millennia on the problem,” he paused for dramatic effect, “until now.”
As the implications of this comment sunk home, noise levels in the room rose as people began talking to each other. He allowed the murmuring to continue for a moment then resumed talking, the room immediately going quiet.
“Due to the inevitable spur which warfare brings to technological advancement, at the end of the Succession War, Professor Richard Lucking discovered a way to partially negate th
e effects of inertia, up to three G of acceleration or deceleration. For obvious reasons, I made the decision not to make this new technology readily available and to reserve it for the new fleet that was under construction. Retro-fitting existing ships with the new technology was found to be extremely difficult, hence the need for the new ones to be built in secret and on a strict need-to-know basis. Admiral Frith and a few others were aware, but most of the construction was completed under the control of Vimes and the planetary AI’s. Before I continue, any questions?” He looked around the room.
“Sire, how did you manage to keep all of this secret?” asked Captain Singh, now fully recovered from the almost suicidal run he made with his and the battleship commanded by the late Captain Haynes at the enemy fleet in system DU-499, “there must be hundreds of capital ships here and if, as you seem to be suggesting, there are other such planets and fleets dotted around the Empire, I find it astonishing that no word of this ever leaked out.”
Alexander nodded at Frith, who stood up and took his place.
“In a nutshell, Baigh, “ she replied, using his first name, “it wasn’t easy. Unless you were an Admiral or cleared by the Emperor, once you entered this system it became your permanent home until such time as the fleet might be needed. No communication out whatsoever. Everyone on the planet below is a volunteer and was prepared to make it their home. Those born here all come from service families. Only a handful of people have ever left the planet. That is why on the way in Dauntless kept details of its location and blanked the viewscreens to the planet. It’s a big day for everyone on Arisia and the other hidden planets as they will be able to rejoin the Empire once the emergency is over.”
She sat down, then Alexander stood up again and pointed to the display.
“The inertial dampening, for it is not eliminated completely, is achieved by generating carefully calibrated opposing artificial gravity, thus allowing the ships to withstand higher G-forces. Captain Cooke, you were correct in postulating lighter armour. The new ships hulls are stronger by a factor of five when compared to our current smart-metal and partially collapsed alloys. This is achieved through artificially strengthening the atomic bonds within the crystalline matrix of the armour, again, another addition from the Professor. The one drawback is that should the ships power be lost, then the artificial bonds would be broken and the material reverts back to its normal state. However, even in this eventuality, the material remains at least as strong as our current armour types.”
The screen behind Alexander shifted, the picture changing from displaying a carrier to multiple types.
“These are the new classes. A full download has been provided to you all, together with details of your reassignments, where applicable. I’m going to leave you in the capable hands of Admiral Frith and will rejoin you in a day or two, once I’ve attended to urgent business on the planet.”
The assembled officers rose and saluted as Alexander left the room. Just before the doors closed behind him, he could hear the noise level within rising significantly as they began comparing assignments and ships with each other. He was now a man on a mission; to get home to Capital as soon as humanly possible to see his wife and son, but for that he would have to use one of the ships with the secret Jump technology that were sitting in hardened bunkers deep within the planet, set aside for such an eventuality.
Alexander walked to the hanger bay to pick up his yacht, which was being readied by Vimes for his personal use, ticking off everything that needed doing in his head, not least, what to do about Duke Frederick. Reaching the hanger, he dismissed his Marine bodyguard at the docking tube entrance and walked through into the ship, straight to the command deck. Once seated, he felt the ship interface with his nervous system, enjoying the sense of well-being that came over him as the ship began relaying sensor and diagnostic data. The yacht lifted from its docking cradle, the rear slightly higher than the front, its nose briefly appearing to hunt around as Alexander briefly tested the fine controls. Satisfied everything was to his liking and the sensory information coming from the yacht was correct, Alexander couldn’t resist gunning the ship towards the exit doors, passing through the wall shields with a more noticeable thump than usual.
Alone in the yacht, he angled the nose down and began burning off the potential and kinetic energies from orbit, the wall shields glowing a dull red as they battered the planet’s atmosphere. Fifteen minutes later he brought the yacht down at the main military spaceport, where the ground underneath dropped away, allowing it to descend down into the fortified hanger complexes below where it was met by a number of android servitors who began cleaning the hull and restocking the hold the moment it stopped. Alexander leapt down the stairs outside, two at a time, then quickly ran a hundred yards to a smaller, leaner looking ship where he again took the waiting stairs two at a time. It was only a matter of moments before he was again in a command chair, interfacing with the ship. Although considerably smaller, this ship was just as powerful and Vimes had already arranged for all the preflight checks to be completed.
“Vimes, are all the hanger sensors off?” he asked, eager to Jump but mindful of the need to do so without drawing any attention.
“All clear, Alex, the hanger has been emptied as instructed and we are clear. Jump field forming now.”
Outside, the ship rose up ten yards from the docking cradle, a bluish glow surrounding it, building in intensity, the light bathing everything nearby. Suddenly, the ship vanished, leaving behind a thunderclap as air rushed in to fill the vacuum caused by its departure.
The days had been passing by in a blur for Karen Mcleod. After Adam had left her at the barracks, she’d been fitted for her armoured suit, then made her own way back to the Palace with Vimes acting as her private tour guide. Using the vacuum tube for the first time on her own had been an interesting experience, as had her first sight of the Palace and its grounds up close. Like the barracks, its architecture was also a mix of styles, some almost classical and familiar looking to her eyes, others ultra modern. The grounds themselves were a haven of calm and she’d spent the rest of the first day wandering around, with Vimes providing a running commentary on the customs and mores of the society she would be calling home. To her surprise, extended families were the norm, with sometimes up to seven or eight generations all living in the same place Amazingly, it was not unusual for people to go through five or more marriages in a lifetime.
There had been quite a few people walking around near the Palace buildings, but few seemed to venture away out towards the woodlands, which made her wonder at the time if there were any wild animals she needed to know about living there, however, a query to Vimes confirmed nothing dangerous was allowed near the Palace.
Apart from a message apologising for his absence, Adam had left her alone for most of the day, only joining for dinner that evening. Almost shyly he’d asked her afterwards if she’d wanted him to share her bed that night and looked pleased when she’d led him by the hand to the bedroom by way of an answer. The following day had seen her being introduced to a bewildering number of courtiers, several introducing themselves as her personal assistants, others presenting her with a dazzling array of clothing styles and jewellery for her to chose from. Asking Vimes about how money worked here, she’d almost had a fit when he’d shown her how much was in her newly opened bank account. Not for the first time, she’d had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
That afternoon, along with dozens of Palace staff going about their normal business, Christine had taken a transit tube to the capital city. She had thought it would be crowded and busy as might be expected from the capital city of an Empire, but it was surprisingly laid back. The walkways were wide and airy and if Vimes hadn't told her, she would never have believed that everything was deep underground. Overhead was a perfect simulacrum of the sky, complete with birds and clouds. Gentle breezes moved the air around, completing the illusion of being above ground and in the open air. At one point, Christine notice
d she was being followed and worried it might have been sinister, but on checking with Vimes had been relieved to learn it was simply two bodyguards tasked with looking out for her should she somehow get herself into trouble. Walking along the thoroughfares, she had at first been bombarded by advertisements every time she looked at a shop window until Vimes had reminded her how to switch them off. After that, it was no different to walking around a new shopping centre back home. The subtle, pheromone-laced scents of the shopping areas contrasted sharply with the more neutral smells elsewhere in the city and Vimes had explained at length how the sense of smell was used, along with pheromones, as a sales tool, encouraging people to stop and sometimes buy. This she readily understood from her own experiences on Earth, as standing outside a bakery or coffee shop often encouraged her to purchase a cake or a coffee.
Despite spending several hours wandering around in the shopping centre, Christine had only bought one item, a gorgeous looking watch which the manufacturers proudly boasted “would tell the time on any known world.” To her surprise, she felt strangely uncomfortable at the thought of spending the money sitting in her account. Vimes tried to reassure her the feeling was quite natural and would pass with time, but it wasn’t the reaction she had thought being rich would bring. Spending money she hadn’t earned for herself somehow didn’t seem as much fun as she thought it would be.
When walking around, Karen had expected everyone would be looking at her, pointing out she was alien or knowing she was different in some way, but that didn’t happen. She was also disappointed to find no sign of what she considered “proper” aliens, despite several embassies being in the capital, but Vimes explained that the Ambassadors tended to keep themselves apart, preferring the climate and gravity of their quarters to that of Capital. In addition, apparently, humans had an aroma most alien races found distasteful, something Karen found very amusing. Looking at her reflection in a shop window, the woman that stared back looked the same as everyone around her and she felt reassured that perhaps these humans were actually no different to those on Earth after all.
Imperium: Revelation: Book Two in the Imperium Trilogy Page 16
