Having finished his tea and eaten all the biscuits, Mark rose to his feet and said to the Major, “I think we’re all done. Was there anything you wanted to ask?”
“Please sit Mark.” the Major said. “I have some concerns. One of the reasons I wanted to speak to you out here was because it is difficult for anyone to eavesdrop on us.”
“One moment Major.” Marks said, then, subvocalizing to his AI said, “Kate, initiate a sweep for surveillance devices.”
“I completed the sweep before you all sat down. There is a directional microphone aimed at you from the second floor window above Major Bryd Sa Dett’s office and a listening device attached to the underside of the table.”
“Shit.” Mark responded. Can you disable them?”
“Better than that, I have started to feed a constructed innocuous conversation between the three of you about the toxicity and palatability of your three species food and drink. The two devices are receiving that now. There is no video feed of you, so I do not need to reconstruct that to match the conversation being received.”
“My AI has countered the listening devices which were monitoring us.” Mark said. “We can speak freely and in confidence.”
Sally raised an eyebrow, the Major said, “We are being spied on! Where from?”
Mark pointed toward the window above the Major’s office and under the table.
“Whoever is listening in will be suspicious that they have suddenly both stopped working.” the Major said.
Mark explained what his AI had done, the Major said, “It seems I was right to have concerns. The damned aristocrats control everything. I don’t suppose Hess An Sur’s father had much to do with ruling the Empire and Hess An Sur will have problems doing anything too. I know she wants to make sweeping changes to the constitution. She will be up against the aristocrats. They control the police and via the Security and Defense Advisor they also have some control over the army. If things go bad when she is raised to the First of the First, I want you to know that whatever you do, you will have my full support, and the support of as much of the army that stays loyal.”
Sally looked at Mark first, then said, “Major, our remit does not allow us to interfere in the politics of a sovereign state. Our activities would have to be limited to protecting any personal friends unless invited in by the government. To be clear, if the head of state has no real authority by custom, then those who have traditionally governed the state are considered the legitimate government. These aren’t my rules; they are the rules of the People which apply to all independent armies in the galaxy. That means we can use any means at our disposal, including the People’s technology in the possession of Mark, to protect and rescue Hess An Sur, and we can protect the headquarters of the Herassan Freedom Movement as we have declared them ‘an Area Of Interest’. But that is the absolute limit of our ability to intervene.”
The Major looked crestfallen. “If things go badly, my men and I will be thrown to the wolves. I thought we would be able to depend on your army.”
Sally looked down at the table for a moment, then looked the Major in the eyes. “We got off on a bad start Major, but as I said last time we met, I have come to respect you as a soldier, and we agreed an informal mutual protection pact. You are an honorable man, someone who I could consider to be a friend, so we would protect and rescue you if you were in danger, and if any of your men were with you, we would of course extend that protection to them too. But I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. Hess An Sur has told us that Colonel Drad Ki Jass is very influential in the Herassan combined Armed Forces. She should be able to counter the aristocrats. But – it’s a good idea to have a contingency plan.” She smiled at the Major. “We can’t stand beside you Major, unless the government ask us to, but we will do whatever we can to protect you and your men. There is something we have never asked for, but we ought to have. Is there a formal structure in the aristocrats who govern the Herassan Empire?”
“The First of the First has formally appointed advisors, his cabinet, and there is a Prime Advisor who heads the cabinet. They hold the real power in the Empire. The Treasury Advisor and the Security and Defense Advisor work closely with her, below them there is a rigid structure of advisors with various responsibilities. In theory, the First of the First appoints them, but all the advisor’s posts are hereditary with the job passing to the first born of their families. When there is a change of First of the First, a power struggle ensues between the cabinet members as they vie with each other to elevate themselves to more influential and prestigious positions, but they sort that out themselves.
Within a few days of her raising, Hess An Sur will be married to all the male members of the cabinet, there are nine of them. Each of them will be married to a tier of advisors below them and it cascades down until even the lowliest of the aristocracy are married off to the tier just above them. It retains the ‘purity’ of the aristocratic lines and binds them all together in a web of relationships and family bonds. The structure is a public document, the aristocrats are proud of their lineage and their complex family trees, they can all show a relationship to the very First of the First, Herass An Sur. I’ll get you a copy.”
“I’ve already got it. I’ve sent it to Sally’s AI”
“That’s OK,” Mark said, my AI has acquired a copy.”
“That’s all we need to discuss today Major,” Sally said, “would you escort us back to our lander please.”
Chapter Seventy Three
The Night Before The Day After
Soon after the lander left the Palace grounds, Mark’s AI told him it had received the draft JabJab message from Sha, and had made changes to the title and the body of the message to make it more engaging. It had also composed a post that could be put on to users interest groups with ‘click-bait’ links to longer and more focused posts. It had analyzed all public groups into categories and composed posts with click-bait titles and content likely to appeal to the users of those categories of groups.
“Would you like to read them before I send them back to Sha?” his AI asked.
“No thanks Kate.” he replied. “I have complete confidence in your abilities, pass it all to Sha and tell her that if she approves it, to get it sent out as her highest priority. By the way, have you ever worked for the Russians?”
“No, but I have just reviewed the Earth archive to understand your reference. Very amusing.” His AI didn’t sound amused.
Mark told Sally about the multi-tiered approach they were taking to get the details of Mike’s proposed changes out on JabJab and was completely underwhelmed by her lack of interest.
“I’ve heard about social media. It seems to be all about people putting up pictures of what they are about to eat, places they’ve just been or the latest small animal they are holding prisoner. It is a waste of time and I prohibit the use of it when my troops are on a mission.”
“When you say they are holding animals prisoner, do you mean their pets?”
“Yes. That’s what being a ‘pet’ means isn’t it? Being held prisoner.”
“If you say so. I suppose that gives some validity to what Tk'ng Dach Rm said about me being your pet.”
“You weren’t being held prisoner!” Sally said, aghast.
“If I recall, I kept asking to be returned to Alan on Mother, even saying I’d rather be back on Earth, but I was still dragged around a war zone by you. I’d call that being held prisoner. What would you call it?”
“I’d call it the opportunity to fulfill your potential, to become a great warrior, to develop into a wise and respected leader that people would seek out for advice and guidance. We’ve got you part way there, you’re becoming a great warrior. As for the other stuff, maybe, one day, but don’t hold your breath.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I thought I was becoming wise and respected.”
“Remember our meeting with the First Minister on Gnn’Ath? He thought you were delusional and cognitively impaired. He’s a
fairly shrewd judge of character.”
“It must be difficult for you, being perfect all the time.”
“It’s a burden, but I manage to cope with it.” Sally replied. “And you also got me as your lover. That was well beyond your wildest, most erotic dreams when you were back on Earth.”
“You don’t know how wild and erotic my dreams were.”
“Better than being with me?”
“Shit, no! Have we got time for, you know, before we land?” Mark asked,
“We have if you put the lander into a parking orbit.” Sally answered, grinning and undoing her jumpsuit.
◆◆◆
“You were longer than I expected.” Mike said as they walked down the ramp off the lander. “I thought it was going to be a brief meeting with the Major.”
“One thing turned into another, and the meeting just went on and on.” Mark said.
“You liar! You two have been shagging again! Don’t you mammals ever think of anything else.”
“Sometimes.” Sally said to her. “It’s time we all went up to the Swift. I want everyone to wear dress uniform for dinner, including you, I want uniforms to have current rank insignia on, so for you, that means full Colonel’s insignia. No medals or campaign ribbons tonight, but if you’re wearing uniform for your raising, you’d better wear everything you’ve got. What’s Simon doing?”
“He’s giving a final briefing to his selected twenty Herassan volunteers to make sure they’re ready for guard duty tonight. He’s split them into two squads and given two of them the temporary rank of Corporal. As they’ve been in training all day, he’s having them do a split shift on duty, so they get some rest. They’re on guard duty all day tomorrow too.” Mike said.
“We need to have a command structure for them. I don’t like the idea of having military ranks. If they are seen as an alternative military it’s bound to cause friction with the Herassan army.”
“I’ve got some ideas for that.” Mark said.
Mike rolled her eyes. “I’d prefer some sensible suggestions, but you can entertain us with what you’ve got.”
“Stuff you. I’m going to speak to Simon. I could do with some more refined company.” Mark said and stalked off.
“That’s put you in your place!” Sally said. “Seriously though, you should listen to him, he does have some good ideas.”
“Oh yeah, I know. I’ll be surprised if he hasn’t come up with something really good. It’s just that he is so easy to tease.”
“Maybe you should put more effort into resisting the temptation to tease him. He is a good man.”
“Yes, he is. He’s the best. But don’t ever tell him.” Mike said.
Sally smiled. “He could do with having his ego boosted. It would improve his self-confidence.”
“How did your meeting with Bryd Sa Dett go?” Mike asked.
“Our meeting at the Palace was being eavesdropped on by someone, Major Bryd Sa Dett thinks it is the aristocrats. He’s worried that once they know what you’ve got planned, they will take action against you. His loyalty will be with you, but he thinks the aristocrats have enough control over the army to crush any rebellion in the Empire with him and his men being neutralized, so I said I’d consider him as a friend and come to his rescue if needed.”
“It couldn’t happen. I don’t think the aristocrats would have it in them to rebel against the First of the First, and they haven’t really got that much to lose. They will still be aristocratic families, they won’t lose anything they’ve already got and if they were to turn against the top of the aristocratic tree, me, it would invalidate the aristocratic system. Apart from that, Colonel Drad Ki Jass has got more influence over the army than the aristocrats will ever have. I’m not saying there couldn’t be a problem, but he’s worrying about nothing. Still, it was nice of you to offer him that, even if it won’t ever be used. Do you think anything unplanned will happen tomorrow?”
“I’m confident we’re ready for anything that could affect you, but that doesn’t mean everyone is safe. I’m more concerned about the safety of the rebels in our honor guard.”
“The Freedom Movement volunteers, you mean?”
“Yeah. Them.”
“Bryd Sa Dett won’t hurt them, and the Colonel wouldn’t stand for anything happening that I wouldn’t want, so I don’t think they are at risk.”
“You’re probably right.” Sally said. “But I was far too relaxed last time when we thought nothing could go wrong. I need everyone to stay sharp tomorrow, including you. Everyone who isn’t part of my team is suspect.”
“I know you haven’t got to where you are without being cautious and planning for every contingency Sally, but before I joined the army I lived on my wits for over twenty thousand years. When you are constantly being hunted by people who want to kidnap or kill you, you develop a sense for danger. I don’t have any for tomorrow. I feel safe. You’ll see,” she smiled, “It will be fine.”
“I’ll relax when it’s all over, until then – I’ll consider it a risk.”
Chapter Seventy Four
The Last Supper
Despite Sally ordering everyone to have their blood filters on full, the dinner that evening got increasingly raucous. The mammals consumed large quantities of alcohol – even Mark was putting vodka from Sally’s glass into his coffee, and the smoking bowl that started off being passed round by Mike and the Herassans, found its way into the hands of Touren and Kar Fen too. Sha and the five other Herassans who were going to be in the honor guard were very nervous to start, but as the evening wore on, they became more relaxed, and as the smoking bowl began to take effect on them they joined in with the rest of them.
When it became obvious to Sally that her order to keep blood filters on maximum was being honored more in the breach than the observance, her first thought was to bang her fist on the table and threaten to send everyone to their quarters, but on reflection decided the benefits for team bonding were worth turning a blind eye to the minor lapse in discipline, and relaxed her blood filters too. She messaged Mark to do the same, but to make sure that the toxic and hangover causing metabolites of alcohol, acetaldehyde and acetate, were removed by his blood filters. After a pause, she sent the same message to Seltet. She still felt responsible for her.
Mark set a wakeup call for everyone except Mike four hours before they were due to leave for the Palace and to meet in Dock One half an hour later.
The evening ended with Seltet leaving, soon followed by Simon, Kar Fen, Orange and Ranesh. Bekkreshan and Touren left to go for a swim before going to bed, and Mark offered to set the pool to night mode. He and Sally sat looking at Mike and the other Herassans, all passed out and slumped across the table.
“Kate,” Mark asked his AI, “can you override all their AI’s and set their blood filters to maximum?”
“I could, but that would be rather rude. Instead, I could ask their AI’s to do so in the interest of their host’s well-being.”
“Will they do that if you ask?”
“Why wouldn’t they. To give you an update, I have asked them, and they have all complied. I have asked the six Freedom Movement’s AI’s to wake them temporarily so I can blink them to their quarters, and they can get themselves to bed. What are you intending to do with Mike?”
“Sally and I will take care of her. With your help, of course.”
The six Herassans started to stir, as soon they were all standing, Mark’s AI blinked them to their quarters.
Mike was still unconscious. Mark picked her up then he, Mike and Sally blinked to Mike’s quarters. Mark and Sally left Mike on her bed, covered with a sand colored throw-over.
“Bed?” Mark said.
“How about a moonlit swim?” Sally replied.
“Touren and Bekkreshan are in the pool.”
“It’s big enough for four.”
They blinked to the beach and heard splashing from the pool.
“Have you come to join us?” Bekkreshan called out.
>
“It sounded like a good idea when you said you were coming here.” Sally answered, as she and Mark pulled their jumpsuits and boots off before running into the water.
◆◆◆
Everyone except Mike assembled in Dock One as ordered. A lander stood waiting for them with its door open and ramp extended. Sally noticed that the Herassans, who had previously kept themselves separate from the rest of the team, were now mixing with them.
“Mark, you go down with the team, I’ll stay here with Mike. Everyone knows what to do. Get them all back up here in two hours, that will give enough time to get a quick meal, shower and change. Remind everyone – dress uniform and no body armor for the honor guard.” Sally said, then blinked out.
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