by Sam Lippert
The upper classes of passengers never saw the Steerage passengers, as they had their own airlock, and were not permitted on the upper decks.
Imagine Devka’s surprise when she returned to her cabin one evening after dinner and encountered a Steerage Class passenger waiting outside her door.
The man was totally unremarkable. He was of average height and average coloration. His hair was dark blonde, or perhaps it would be considered light brunette. He was dressed in clothing that amounted to little more than rags, and truth be told Devka had been able to smell him before she could see him. She just had not known the smell belonged to him when she stepped out of the lift from the dining deck.
“Excuse me, miss,” the man said. “But do you have change for this, perhaps?” The man held up a tattered twenty credit note, which Devka immediately recognized as a Kalifet banknote.
Kalifet Imperial Intelligence employed over seven-hundred fifty thousand code phrase combinations designed for agents to use to identify themselves covertly. The reason for the large number was so that the code phase could be employed in just about every encounter without attracting attention. The man from Steerage class had just used code phrase number two-hundred-forty-thousand four-hundred twenty-three, stopping Devka in her tracks. Even though KII employed hundreds of thousands of agents throughout known space, the probability of encountering one, at random, on an interplanetary cruise liner was remarkably small.
Devka, thanks to extensive training, was able to conceal most of her surprise, essentially looking like she had only been startled by the appearance of a Steerage class passenger outside of her Third-Class cabin.
She spoke her portion of the code combination. “I am sorry sir, I don’t carry cash when I travel. Can I interest you in a cup of tea?”
“How very kind. Do you have Earl Grey, by chance?” The man responded, completing the code phrase. The final phrase of a KII combination could be used to convey both urgency and origin of the contact order. The fact that the man accepted the invitation and described it as kind meant the reason for contact was urgent (Not surprising as the agent risked exposing himself by venturing out of Steerage class.) His request for Earl Grey tea identified his contact order as coming from the Empress herself.
Devka keyed her cabin door, and ushered the man through the doorway. As soon as the door was closed, the Steerage Class passenger produced and activated a Neutralizer.
The Neutralizer was a piece of equipment that only recently came into the hands of the KII. It was able to stop all forms of communication into and out of a small space, even paired quantum particle communication, and was used when absolute secrecy was required.
Other than to report her travel plans, Devka had been out of touch with KII since she left Nexus, as it was required that she reach Kalifet with the evidence she had on the traitors aboard Kurufet Rising. How the man opened the conversation was a complete surprise for Devka.
“Agent Jardinay,” the man went through a noticeable transformation as soon as he spoke her name. He no longer stooped, which added a good six inches to his posture, and he went from a face that looked haggard and old to one that was fresh and vibrant. “I am here to brief you on a new mission.”
“But, I am needed to testify and present evidence against the traitors who abducted the Princess!”
“That will no longer be necessary, agent Jardinay. Kurufet Rising was destroyed with all hands aboard shortly after your departure from Nexus. General Marag, in an attempt to defeat the lock-down virus, set Kurufet Rising’s engines to overload. While this maneuver did, in fact, get the ship released from Axis, the traitors were not able to bring the engines back under control before the ship exploded, killing all aboard. Hence, your new mission.
“Through an interesting turn of events, agent Winette recently discovered that a Rathshelliam admiral by the name of Sokolov was General Marag’s primary contact within the Rathshelliam underground. With the loss of his primary contact within our military, we believe that Sokolov will be actively looking for new sympathetic allies within the Kalifet armed forces. We want you to be the point of contact with those allies.
“This wafer,” the man produced a thin, almost paper-like, disk approximately thirty millimeters across, “contains all the pertinent information about your mission, including your cover.” He passed the wafer to Devka. “Study it immediately and carefully, as you will need to debark from Dismay at her next port of call.”
If Devka’s memory served, Dismay’s next stop was the agricultural planet of Vesestrad, to rotate migrant workers from Steerage class passengers. The ship was scheduled to be in port for less than two hours, which meant that upper class passengers would not be allowed to debark. She attempted to ask a question, but was cut off.
“Everything is detailed on the wafer,” the man said. “I know nothing more than I have said, and even if I did, I would not presume to convey that information.” He said while moving towards the door and looking at his watch. “I suggest you get started. You have barely enough time to digest the information before debarkation, and you know how those instruction wafers can be.”
Devka did, in fact, know. This was not her first encounter with KII instruction wafers. She was a covert field agent and the wafers were her primary means of getting information and new assignments. She lay down on her bed, placed the wafer on her tongue, and closed her eyes. In a matter of seconds her saliva’s enzymes began to break down the starches.
* * *
Dissemination of information to undercover operatives has always been a difficulty for intelligence agencies. There is a necessity to deliver as much data as possible, but to do so in a way that not only does not compromise the operative, but also does not put the entire operation at risk if the delivery container falls into the wrong hands.
Over the millennia, a large variety of methods have been utilized. The information wafer was simply the most recent. In and of itself the wafer has a non-descript appearance, looking like the typical delivery method for so many modern pharmaceuticals (both legal and illegal). In fact, it functions in the same manner. When placed on the subject’s tongue and subjected to the enzymes found in saliva, the starch that makes up the wafer is dissolved, releasing the active agent that is bound in the starch. The active agent then either treats a medical condition, or produces an effect that the subject finds pleasurable.
The information wafer employed by the KII does neither. These devices release a coded hallucinogen, delivering information directly to the subject’s brain. Further, the hallucinogen is designed based on the genetic profile of the Agent for whom the information is intended, making it so that only that KII operative can understand the hallucinations induced by the wafer.
Under the best of circumstances, the process took about eight hours.
* * *
The next morning Devka awoke, not at all refreshed, but with a basic understanding of her new mission. She was to leave Dismay with the migrant workers at Vesestrad and immediately go to the Appenzell embassy and request political asylum, as a member of the (now even smaller) minority of Kalifet military personnel opposed to the unification with Rathshelliam. She would disclose her service aboard Kurufet Rising as a reason for needing asylum, at which point she would wait to be contacted by Admiral Sokolov’s organization.
She noted that a battered duffel filled with ragged, dirty clothes had been delivered to her room in the night. She checked the clock, there was barely enough time to change and make her way below decks before Steerage debarkation.
* * *
Several thousand light-years in the other direction from where Devka Jardinay would seek political asylum to begin a new mission, another survivor of the Kurufet Rising debacle stood poised to complete one.
It had taken several weeks, but Mory now walked off the gangplank of a much less luxurious space liner than the Dismay, onto the surface of Verstat. He had spent most of his travel time in contemplation of his decision to report Omany for his violation
of the proscriptions against disclosure of the Ways. In the end, he could find no ethical loop-hole that would absolve him of his duties to report the violation to the Elite, as much as he had hoped he would be able to.
At the foot of the gangplank Mory paused and took in the panoramic view of the landscape before him, feeling at home. Like all Verstatan priests, he had arrived at the age of twelve to begin his training. At that age, he had been both enthralled and terrified of the harsh barren landscape. The air was dry and even the lightest breeze could kick up what, for a twelve-year-old, seemed a sandstorm of epic proportions. The jagged mountains in the distance did nothing to soften the appearance of the world to the adolescent he had been, but upon his return the several times he had been back since completing his training, those terrible looking formations had actually sparked a warm feeling of comfort in his heart.
Except for this time. The aura of dread once again hung over the craggy mountain range, for visible in their heights was the Temple of the Elite, where he was headed to betray a friend for the greater good.
He picked up his pack and began the kilometers long hike and climb to the temple. The Ways required the Temple of the Elite be approached on foot, meaning he had two more days of contemplation ahead of him.
Sadly, he knew that would not be enough to put his mind at ease.
* * *
As the planet Rand receded behind Equinox with Omany and his brothers on board, the High Priest meditated, reaching out across the void, intent on finding that familiar pinpoint of light that represented the consciousness of the Princess of Kalifet.
On the flight deck, Captain Jeremy James’ relief that the arrival of the priests had taken the decision of where to go next out of his hands had just been washed away by a coded transmission from Admiral Sokolov. Apparently the ‘leader’ of this small band of religious devotees was none other than Omany, personal mentor to Princess Remini, and had, until recently, accompanied her aboard the Nola.
It seemed a safe bet that Jeremy James would actually cross paths with his brother on Verstat. He sincerely hoped Nathan had a plan, because he was fresh out of ideas.
CHAPTER XXV
For ninety-nine percent of the human race it was a known fact that the largest fleet of starships ever to attempt a successful coordinated departure from one common location in space to another common location in space, by way of FTL, was four-hundred fifty-three, a record set by the Relogisan navy in their attempt to overwhelm the defenses and invade Zingtrad II. Although the maneuver was successful, putting Admiral Zachary Jarfour into the record books, the invasion was not, causing any large impressive undertaking that begins with much fanfare, only to end in failure to forever be known as a jarfour. (As an example, the events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic in the early twentieth century are regularly referred to as a jarfour, even though they took place nearly three-hundred fifty years before Admiral Jarfour’s historic failure.)
The one percent of humankind that comprise the Tzigane and the Free Traders, while openly utilizing the term ‘jarfour,’ just like everyone else in known space, are firmly aware that the supposed record setting maneuver that is fifty percent responsible for Admiral Jarfour’s infamy, is actually one-one-hundredth of the true number of starships that regularly embark FTL every time the Tzigane fleet departs for a new home.
With every departure, the participants hope and pray they have not just embarked on a jarfour of truly epic proportions.
The task of shepherding fifty-thousand plus ships through what is essentially the same null-point takes days to coordinate, and tests the limits of the computational power of no fewer than seven supercomputer AIs employed by Tzigane. At issue is the fact that the sheer number of ships involved in the jump provide enough mass to substantially impact the gravitational forces in the system, and must be accounted for in computing the null-point. Add to this the fact that each and every one of those ships are in motion, and you get a very irregular null-point that is constantly shifting in space. (The same thing occurs on the other end of the transit, with each ship of the arriving fleet causing the next ship to drop out of FTL just a little bit earlier.)
For most of the galaxy, witnessing a fleet departure on the scale of the Tzigane is, at best, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
* * *
This was not Nathan’s first Tzigane departure, in fact it was not even the first he had witnessed from the command center of the Romanipen, flagship of the Romani fleet. The fact that it was not his first did nothing to diminish the awe he felt at watching the undertaking, but nothing compared to seeing it for the first time.
The fleet had spent the last few days positioning itself for departure, which meant, in the simplest of terms, arranging themselves in a pattern roughly described as a globe around the null-point that would be used for transit. The ships were arranged by mass such that the gravitational effects of each was offset by a similarly massed ship directly across the globe. This offset kept the null-point in the center of the fleet, with only a slight shifting as each ship departed. Timing and order of departure was carefully controlled in an attempt to minimize said shifting.
The complexity of the departure resulted from the necessity for each ship in the fleet to approach the null-point from the same direction, as the direction of approach to a null point defines the direction of travel in FTL. In fact, a deviation of even a fraction of a degree upon entering could lead to a separation of light years upon arriving in normal space, making the process of regathering the fleet nearly impossible. For this reason, the entire fleet would spend the next month in constant motion, moving to a new precisely calculated position as each preceding ship departed, at a rate of approximately one per second. It was little wonder Tzigane NavComp AIs were more prone to nervous breakdowns than those utilized by other groups.
Romanipen would be the last to leave, thirty-four days from now. Nola, currently docked with the flagship, would be leaving before the end of the day. Her departure had been worked into the fleet’s calculations as soon as all of the particulars were known. If Daniels’ ship had been travelling with the whole of Tzigane, the calculations to include Nola in the departure could have delayed the fleets departure by days. Luckily things were a little easier for the small trading vessel, as she could approach the null-point from another direction since their destination lay on a completely different vector. This made it relatively easy to insert Nola’s departure early on in the dance of starships.
Each ship in the Tzgaine fleet was represented by a green point of light forming a holographic globe in the middle of the command center. The amber colored dot representing the null point, at the center of the globe, was barely be visible because of the density of the dots around it. Three points glowed varying degrees of blue, and were noticeably closer to the null point than the rest of the fleet. These represented the next three ships to leave. Actual video feeds put a close-up of each of the ships on the main viewscreen of the command center. However, neither the holo display or the viewscreens were what held the attention of the crew of the Nola.
Romanipen’s command center was itself spherical, with its exterior walls transparent. Consoles, seating and walkways were positioned so as to maximize the view available through the exterior wall. It was that view which held the flesh-and-blood crew of the Nola transfixed.
The fleet’s flagship was positioned to provide anyone in the command center a clear view of the null-point and the craft approaching it. Of course, the null-point had no visual characteristics to set it apart from any other point is space, and only became remarkable as a departing craft approached it and engaged FTL. Even then it was the ship that took on the remarkable appearance, not the null-point. As events transpired, the ship appeared to fold in on itself, until it simply vanished.
Viewing even a single FTL departure was considered a once in a lifetime opportunity, being able to watch one a second for hours on end was unheard of for most of the galaxy, yet Remi only feigned interest in the spe
ctacle before her, too distracted by the events of the previous night to truly appreciate it.
* * *
Remi had been on the precipice of sleep when she felt the presence of her mentor in her cabin aboard Nola. The untrained tended to start fully awake at such a feeling, instantly severing their tie to the spirit realm and leaving themselves wondering what it was that had brought them back to wakefulness. Remini was not untrained.
“It is good to see you, friend Omany.” It took every bit of control available to the young princess to keep the relief and excitement in check. Contact with the spirit realm required emotional evenness.
“Careful, my child,” the ancient priest responded. “I can feel the emotions welling up inside you. Although they do you credit, I do not have to remind you that they have no place here.
“As you have no doubt ascertained, I am no longer a prisoner of The Collector. My brothers and I effected an escape and the galaxy no longer has a need to fear him.”
“That is good to know,” the Princess said after a pause to keep her emotional composure. “However, I do not see how I can convince Nathan to return to Rand without letting him know that I have been in contact with you, which will lead to questions…”
“That is not an issue, my child. My brethren and I are currently in transit to Verstat for much needed recovery.”
“I am certain I will be able to select the right cargos to get us to Verstat within a few weeks.”
“That is what you must not do, my child.” Omany’s spirit image put up his hand to forestall the objections that were prepared to usher forth from his former charge. “The Captain of the ship I am aboard, the Equinox, harbors ill will toward Captain Daniels, although he is very deeply conflicted about it. He has not said anything, but I can sense it. It would not be good to risk an encounter between my Captain James and our Captain Daniels.”
“You don’t understand, Omany, an encounter between them is necessary, but the timing must be in our control, not his.” Remi proceeded to explain all that they knew about Jeremy James, his mission and his dilemma.
