“No idea, actually, Admiral Stevens. My orders are to make contact and take it from there. You should plan on restocking the Illustrious.”
“Agreed, General. Never leave a fleet base without full tanks and a full cupboard. There are two options there, though. Normal restocking and extended-mission restocking. Which do you prefer?”
Parnell considered. What was the safety play?
“Extended-mission restocking, Admiral. Let’s play it safe.”
Stevens nodded.
“Very well, General Parnell. I’ll let Imperial Fleet Base Richland know our requirements when we arrive.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
Nineteen days after leaving Garland, the HMS Illustrious dropped out of hyperspace in Richland, the capital of Richland Province. As a provincial capital, it had an Imperial fleet base, IFB Richland. It also had the distinction of lying along the direct route from Garland to Center and being only one-hundred-fifty light-years – three days’ spacing – from Center.
Before checking in with the Empress, Parnell scanned the top headlines in the newsfeeds. He was shocked to see the death of Emperor Trajan eleven days before. He was even more shocked to see the controversy over the succession being pushed by the sector governors. The death of the Emperor had, after all, been expected. This, though, had not been expected, at least not by Parnell.
There was also a message from his mother, asking if the news was true, that the Emperor had named Parnell his Heir. She also noted the opposition that surfaced almost immediately, and urged him to be careful.
As Illustrious headed toward the planet to restock, Parnell put in a meeting request with the Empress.
Amanda Peters met with Daniel Parnell in the simulation she got from Ann Turley, the comfortable armchairs before the stone fireplace. She was standing when he logged in.
“Milady,” Parnell said and bowed his head.
“Please have a seat, Your Majesty. It’s Amanda now, or Ms. Peters. My claim to the title is no more.”
Parnell sat and waved her to her chair. Peters sat.
“I’m very sorry about your husband’s passing, Ms. Peters.”
“That’s very nice, Sire, and I appreciate it. You seem to be the only person who remembers his most important role in my life was husband, not Emperor.”
Parnell nodded.
“I’ve arrived at Richland on the HMS Illustrious, Ms. Peters. Your message said to check in. We’re three days out from Center.”
“Yes, Sire. If you’ve checked the headlines, you know there is some controversy right now. Governors Hawking and Sounder think they have maneuvered themselves into controlling the succession. The issue is that if you came straight on to Center now, it might trigger a civil war. They were savvy enough to pick a candidate who is not overtly objectionable to most people.
“So we need to play a longer-term game. Leave me to deal with things here. What I need you to do for right now is to get lost. Literally lost. I’ll be in touch when the time is right. My last assignment from Bobby was to ensure you succeed to the Throne, and I intend to do just that.
“For now, though, what I need you to do is contact Ann Turley and Paul Gulliver. You should remember them from Dalnimir.”
“Indeed I do, Ms. Peters.”
“Good. I’ve pushed you their addresses, Sire. Get in touch with them. They’ve put a plan together to my requirements, and you should follow that plan. It involves you going to wherever they are. I don’t know where that is. Nobody does. You’ll be safe there while I work this end.”
“What about you, Ms. Peters? Will you be safe?”
“I’ll be fine, Your Majesty. If they were to kill me, the backlash would be horrific for them, and they know it. Get in touch with Ann and Paul. Get their plan, and execute it. I’ll be in touch.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Parnell put in a meeting request to Turley and Gulliver, and they took the meeting immediately. He found himself back in the same simulation, set up now with three chairs. Parnell sat facing the fire, rather than with it on his left.
“Amanda Peters has this same simulation,” he said without preamble.
“Yes, I gave it to her as something of a bereavement present,” Turley said. “She had found it comfortable.”
“It certainly is that. It’s remarkable.”
“Governor Derwinsky gave it to me when I was on Dalnimir. As a way to calm down.”
Turley chuckled.
Parnell waved to the chairs, and they all sat down.
“So here you are, Your Majesty. I understand you have not pressed through to Center.”
“No, Governor Turley. We came out of hyper for restocking and so I could check in with Ms. Peters. She mentioned a plan.”
“Excellent. Yes, Sire, we have a plan to hide you here.”
Turley pushed him the plan file, which the VR simulated as her handing him a multi-page document.
“And where is here, Governor Turley?”
“Verano.”
Parnell consulted a side channel in VR.
“Verano? That isn’t even in the Empire.”
“What better place to hide, Sire?”
Parnell skimmed over the plan. There were a lot of conditionals and alternatives and back-ups, but he had reviewed a lot of military action plans in his day. The basic plan was clear enough.
“I think this will work, Governor Turley.”
“We do, too, Sire. So, unless you have questions, I guess we’ll see you in about a month.”
“Hi, Mom.”
“Daniel, are you OK?”
“Yes, Mom. I’m fine.”
“Is it true the Emperor named you his Heir?”
“Yes, Mom, though there’s some controversy right now.”
“I saw that. It sounds terribly dangerous.”
“Actually, it kind of is. But I wanted you to know I was OK, and I’m being careful.”
“Good.”
“And I wanted to let you know something else. Sometimes you get really bad news, and it turns out later it’s not true. You might want to read your favorite play again. Especially act five, scene two.”
“My favorite play? You mean–“
“Yes, Mom. Don’t say it. I know what it is. Just remember. Act five, scene two.”
“I’ll remember, dear. Now you be careful.”
“I will, Mom. I love you.”
“I love you, too, dear. Goodbye.”
Christine Parnell opened ‘Romeo & Juliet’ in VR, and flipped to Act V, Scene II, the scene where Friar Laurence discovers Romeo has not received the Friar’s letter, and does not know Juliet’s death is nothing more than a feint. A ruse to get her out of a bad situation.
She dropped out of VR and looked up at the ceiling, a stand-in for the sky beyond.
“I understand, Daniel. And you be careful!”
Missing, Presumed Lost
Imperial Guard Brigadier General Daniel Parnell showed up for the scheduled meeting in the flag briefing room down the hall from his quarters on the flag deck of the HMS Illustrious. Waiting for him were Imperial Navy Admiral John Stevens, Imperial Marines Brigadier General Clyde Cosworth, and Imperial Navy Captain Julia Bianchi.
The ensign on door duty snapped to attention on his approach, then opened the door for him. When Parnell walked into the flag briefing room, the other three officers shot to their feet.
“Your Majesty,” Stevens, as the senior of them, said.
They all bowed their heads. Parnell sat.
“Be seated.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“There’s some controversy about that, you know,” Parnell said once they were all seated.
“Not to us, Sire,” Stevens said, and Cosworth and Bianchi nodded.
“Very well. I have your movement orders. We will restock in an extended-restocking mode, and file a spacing plan for Center. We will then enter hyperspace. At that time, I will have additional orders for you.”
“Yes, Sire.”
Parnell nodded, then stood to leave. They all stood.
“Ensign,” Bianchi called out.
The ensign on door duty opened the door, then held it for Parnell’s departure. When he walked down the hall, Parnell saw that two Imperial Navy enlisted spacers with Military Police armbands and sidearms now stood watch at his door. Both snapped to attention as he approached, and one of them opened the door to his quarters for him.
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
“Yes, Sire.”
HMS Illustrious maneuvered for the Richland number-one hypergate en route to Center. Her extra container racks were full, and she was running with an extra band of reaction mass containers on her bows. This made her a bit sluggish on the helm, and limited her safe top acceleration to just over one gravity. It also gave her a comfortable cruising range of three months – five thousand light-years in hyperspace.
Illustrious entered the Richland number-one hypergate at one gravity of acceleration and disappeared from normal space.
Once in hyperspace, Parnell met again with Stevens, Cosworth, and Bianchi.
“I’m pushing you the plan we are going to execute,” Parnell said. “This is for you only, and is only to be shared with other officers and crew as needed to carry out their orders.”
Parnell waited while they scanned the plan. Also experienced at reading military plans, they had the gist of it quickly.
“So we’re not going to Center, Sire?”
“No, Admiral Stevens. Amanda Peters – the Empress Amanda – is concerned that such a move will precipitate a civil war between factions loyal to the military and factions loyal to the sector governors. While the Throne always wins, one must weigh the cost. We are pursuing a longer-term strategy to win, at a lower cost.”
“I see, Sire.”
“So we will make way to Verano. Illustrious will space by the planet in hyperspace, and I will detach from her in an attack ship and make my way to the planet. I need to be in a position to communicate – while disguising my VR ID – with loyalist elements in the Imperial Palace. That’s the only way to know the right time to return to Center. We need at the same time to hide the Illustrious. There is no way a crew of five thousand can be hidden or expected to hold a secret.
“Key to that plan is turning off the QE system on Illustrious so that no one can communicate with the rest of the Empire. You will be supplied in place, so you can maintain acceleration and normal food rations.”
“Can Your Majesty fly an attack ship?” Cosworth asked.
“No, General Cosworth. You will assign to me a trustworthy, loyalist pilot. We will disguise his VR ID as well so he is not identifiable by an ID search of the VR system.”
“We’ll want to study the plan further, Sire, but I see no immediate problems.”
“Very well, Admiral Stevens. Set course for Verano. We also need to hide from the Imperial Navy’s hyperspace scanners, so reduce acceleration to 0.4 gravities before making your turn, and space between scanning sites rather than through them. We need to drop off the map completely.”
“Yes, Sire. We can do that.”
Once she was between scanning locations, the HMS Illustrious cut her acceleration to 0.4 gravities before beginning a long slow curve to starboard. The slow curve minimized her hyperspace wake.
She steadied on a course almost due ‘west’ – anti-spinward in the galaxy – and headed for Verano.
Three days after her recorded departure from Richland, the HMS Illustrious failed to arrive in Center per her filed spacing plan. When she was a day overdue, the Imperial Navy listed her as ‘Delayed, Cause Unknown.’
After a week without turning up somewhere, the Illustrious would be listed as ‘Missing, Presumed Lost.’
Provence Sector Governor Jerome Goulet had remained in Imperial Park, waiting for the arrival of Imperial Guard Brigadier General Daniel Parnell so that they, Mr. Hayes, and Amanda Peters could try to figure a way out of this mess. In the meantime, the sector governors were making more noise about the ‘unacceptable delay’ in naming Goulet as the Emperor.
The press generally went along with the sector governors. The Imperial Palace was notoriously opaque to the press, where Goulet had always been accessible. He was respected in a lot of corners, and seemed a much better choice, from the perspective of an outside observer, than an unknown courtier.
The Galactic News Service was alone in not slanting its reportage. Long-time editor Xavier Mulgrew strictly enforced the separation of news and opinion, and, after a couple of early flubs which brought stern calls from Mulgrew, editors were towing the line.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Galactic News Service, long-time Trajan supporter Dieter Stauss, was silent on the controversy. Stauss was now eighty-five years old, and had recently turned day-to-day operations of Stauss Interstellar Holdings over to his son and long-time apprentice Bernd Stauss.
It was the Saturday after the HMS Illustrious had not arrived as scheduled in Center that Bernd Stauss and his father sat together in the study of the family estate an hour outside of Heidelberg, the capital city of the planet Hesse, which was the capital planet of the Baden sector.
“So what do you make of all this?” Dieter asked.
“I’m not sure what to make of it, Dad.”
“It’s a bad business. And potentially bad for business.”
Dieter Stauss, the richest human being who had ever lived, shook his head.
“The orderly transition of power is important.”
“I understand, Dad. I’m just not sure what, if anything, we can do about it. And if we could, which way it would be best for it to go.”
“Well, what’s best for us is always going to be what’s best for the Empire. Stability, peace, safe trade routes. That’s what’s good for business. Disorder is too often disaster.”
“I understand.”
Dieter hesitated, then made a decision.
“Bernd, there’s something you need to see. Something I need to show you. Something I’ve kept secret the last fifteen years, since my father died. But I think now’s the time.”
Bernd raised his eyebrows. He didn’t know his father had any secrets from his son, protégé, apprentice, and partner.
“I’ve pushed you a file. It’s encrypted, but your personal key will unlock it.”
Bernd nodded. He saw the file there, in his VR account. He applied the crypto key his father had given him years before, and was immediately in an immersive VR simulation. It was of his grandfather Otto, sitting in this very room. It was as if his father had disappeared, to be replace by his grandfather.
“Hello, son. I assume, because you are seeing this, that I have at long last passed over to whatever lies beyond. That you find yourself now in control of Stauss Interstellar Holdings. You are well prepared now to do that job. You’ve been an able understudy and partner, and I’m proud of you.
“There is, however, something I have not shared with you, that I need to tell you now. I have been, for almost forty years now, of service to the Emperor. A very secret service. Only the Emperor, the Empress, the Co-Consul, and I know of it. As you take my place at Stauss Interstellar, it is important that you take my place in this as well.
“The Emperor has a secret intelligence organization. It is called Section Six. Other than its own members, only the four of us even know it exists. I was in on its founding, working directly with the Emperor and Empress. For the last thirty-seven years, Stauss Interstellar has provided cover identities for thousands of Section Six agents throughout our companies.
“You know that I have personally recommended individuals for employment within Stauss Interstellar companies many, many times over the years. Those individuals are all Imperial agents, sworn to loyalty to this Emperor, as I am myself. They would die – have died – rather than betray him or even the existence of this organization.
“People like Paul Gulliver, Morena Prieto, her husband Jean-Pierre Bouchard – who in fact did die in service – are all Impe
rial agents. Bouchard’s death on Canberra colony was no accident. We covered it up. I covered it up, lest the truth come out. Know, though, that justice was served. Prieto herself killed them, and I understand she took her time about it.
“That is what you need to know. We serve the Emperor. Like Stauss Interstellar Holdings, that service is part of my legacy, is part of your inheritance.
“Section Six exists nowhere. It can be anywhere. I have never met its head, only spoken to an avatar in VR. You are never to speak of it or reveal it to anyone. To do so would be a violation of everything it means to be Stauss, to be my progeny.
“I have a contact address only. I have never used it, but am told it can be used in an emergency. I have received messages from this address, merely the aliases of people needing positions within Stauss Interstellar and the planets they need to be stationed on. That is our role. It is critical to the success of the Emperor’s goals, and that is all I need to know.
“I am proud to have been of service. The Emperor Trajan is the most important figure in human history. I am happy to have known him.
“Goodbye, son. All my best wishes I also leave to you.”
Bernd dropped out of VR, which had the effect of replacing his grandfather once again with his father. Bernd started to open his mouth, and his father held up a hand and shook his head.
“No. Not even here. But you might want to call that address, and ask whatever questions you have.”
Bernd nodded. His already immense respect for his father and grandfather had increased by a large factor. He was proud to be a Stauss.
“Yes, Father,” Bernd said, bowing his head.
Dieter Stauss smiled. He had passed everything on now.
The day after the Illustrious was due in Center, Jerome Goulet called Sanford Hayes’s office to inquire about Parnell’s arrival status.
“Hello, Governor Goulet,” Hayes said.
“Hello, Mr. Hayes. I was wondering what the status of General Parnell is. I was given to believe he was to arrive yesterday.”
EMPIRE: Succession Page 6
