“It was certainly different, Frederick,” he replied, “Popular too from the way the song has travelled around the Empire. They are probably wealthy musicians by now. Was it difficult to get them at such short notice?”
“Not at all, they realise the importance of an influential sponsor such as myself. In fact, it was one of my creative consultancies that helped them get started. Of course, we take a fair percentage of the gross for having discovered and promoted them.” Frederick warmed to the subject of making money. “Still, they’ve retained enough from their first release so they no longer need to work if they ever decide to do something else. We have others lined up once these fade in popularity.”
His smile widened even further, “Imagine, for every point zero one percent of my Sectors population that buy their latest album, I make nearly ninety million credits!”
Alexander nodded his head in mock appreciation, then decided now was a good time to broach the subject of military expenditure.
“That’s good news Frederick. In light of your request to assist with the raiders, I’ve been reviewing your military disposition and expenditure. It only just exceeds your Sectors agreed minimum requirement and is barely stronger then Helena’s who has a Sector only a quarter the size of yours. In fact, much as I enjoy visiting you, I’m disappointed that you could not deal with these border infringements yourself.”
To his surprise, Fredericks smile never left his face during the brief exchange, even at the mention of Helena, so Alexander continued, “Although only a suggestion at this point, I would prefer to see a commitment for an increase in your military budget from two percent of Gross Sector Production to three percent GSP.”
He paused for effect and waited for the inevitable explosion of excuses but none was forthcoming. To his amazement, Frederick nodded in agreement.
“I totally agree, Alexander. I’ve been planning to do this myself for some time now and was going to raise it at the next Council meeting, but if you are in agreement I’ll simply do so right away, once the budget has been rubber stamped by the Sector nobles.” The smile broadened further. “Consider it done. The raids and now your concerns are just the spurs I needed. I’ve also mustered the Navy Reserves to follow up against the raiders once you have gone. I expect them to arrive shortly after you have left and they will continue your good work once you’ve left and returned to Capital”
Genuinely stunned by how easy the exchange had gone, Alexander flashed a query to Vimes who, as always, had been watching and listening to the exchange. “What do you make of that? What’s the old miser got up his sleeve, any ideas?
“I am as surprised as you Alex. My only suggestion is perhaps the recent raids have focused his mind on the subject. It’s not as if he was unaware of our concerns and the inevitability of his being told what to do in the near future.”
Genuinely at a loss what to say next, Alexander smiled and simply acknowledged the unexpected agreement.
“That’s excellent news Frederick. I appreciate such a prompt response, thank you. Perhaps when I return from DU-449 you can find time to show me a few of the sites your capital has to offer. It’s been far too long since I formally paid a visit and pressed the flesh, so to speak.”
Frederick’s smile widened still further still, personally promising he would see to it their next meeting would be one to remember. He signalled for the next round of entertainers to come forward, a group of superbly muscled and graceful dancers. The men and women, naked except for modesty briefs and breast retainers, moved forward and began to move around the stage, lithe as cats. Their movements reminded Alexander of the Felidae he had met from time to time and he idly wondered what that feline race would make of the dancers.
“Probably wonder if they would make good prey and what they tasted like,” commented Vimes in his mind, breaking that train of thought. “On updating myself just now via IQC, Christine has news it’s possible the Felidae have developed several new warship designs and are demonstrating them on the border of Sector 1, possibly as a show of power. It’s probably not a coincidence that neither Sectors 36 nor 2 have had a visit to their common borders by these mystery ships, indicating this was just for your attention.”
Pulling his attention away from the dancers, who were now throwing each other around in the air without any form of safety device, he rested his elbows on the chair rests and steepled his fingers under his nose, thinking.
“Christine has a better relationship with Freyja than anyone else in the Imperium, so I doubt it’s anything sinister. Given we’ve both kept to the letter of the Peace Accords their strange sense of honour would preclude them from acting against us for no reason.”
“I agree,” responded Vimes, “Christine believes it’s simply them marking the border, akin to a cat leaving a scent trail or scratching a tree. Her full report plus recommendations from the Chiefs of Staff are available for you to go over after the reception.”
Next to Alexander, Duke Frederick watched the dancers move around the stage with the satisfaction of one who has seen his plans come to fruition. The Emperor was here enjoying his entertainers and would soon be Jumping out to DU-449 with all that would entail. Tonight’s festivities were being televised and shown throughout Kiyami and once over, would be transmitted via the Jump Station across the entire Empire, all for a small percentage of each viewing of course. Despite anticipating his own, private entertainment later that night with his new mistress, he couldn’t help but calculate the royalties this show would earn him.
Frederick leant forward, bringing a glass of wine to his lips, then sat back into his padded chair, taking the opportunity to take a good look at Alexander. “So much like his father,” he thought, taking a small sip of the silky smooth wine beginning to disappear into fumes as he rolled it gently around his tongue. Enjoying the heady muskiness of the liquid, Frederick remembered the long discussions he’d had with Alexanders father, Thomas, often late into the night. “So many years ago,” he said to himself.
They had seldom agreed on anything, especially around the aggressive expansion of Empire. Thomas had wanted a slow, measured expansion, focusing on preserving the protected worlds and maintaining good relations with their neighbours. He, on the other hand, knew that in time the border empires would cause problems and it would be better to turn them into vassal states, whilst at the same time introducing another age of rapid expansion. It was only their long friendship that stopped them from falling out over the issue, along with Thomas’s willingness to tolerate people around him that held differing viewpoints, something that Frederick found intensely annoying.
That all ended with the Revolt and Emperor’s death at the hands of his own family. Frederick shuddered, remembering how close he’d been to losing his own head in the Revolt when the battling fleets had come into this very system, laying waste to anything that got between them. The big surprise was how Alexander, a shy young man he’d written off as unsuited to ruling an Empire, had unexpectedly come forward from anonymity and seclusion in the Palace, to become a war leader who recovered the remnants of the almost defeated Navy loyalists and bound them together into a force that won back his crown.
Just then, the Master of Ceremonies came back on stage and began to introduce the next act, a comedian famous for his impersonations.
“Ah yes, it’s good to be enormously wealthy and powerful,” he thought smugly, watching his latest mistress began to clap loudly to his right, as the comedian walked onto the stage and bowed towards them, beginning his act.
The morning following the reception saw Admiral Frith bright and early at her daily briefing. Several of the command staff seemed unusually sluggish, prompting her to raise an eyebrow and query whether any of them required a visit to the infirmary before starting their watch. Four of them had the good grace to look a little sheepish at her comment but knew it to be in jest as she’d expressly told them the night before to have a good time. Parked in close orbit to the planet and with both the task force a
nd local fleets in attendance, few places were safer and she could afford for them to enjoy the occasional lapse from her normally high command standards.
Disposition of the task force had already been agreed and transmitted to all ships. The carrier INS Courageous and battleships INS Rodney and Repulse would form the core, with Interdiction Frigates INS Amethyst, Action, and Diamond accompanying her and providing cover. The remaining carrier INS Glorious, together with Dauntless, four battleships and the remaining five frigates would be held back in reserve. Normally, for a relatively small engagement such as this, once the Jump had been made it would be expected the fleet would stay together, making one single pass to the target, bombarding it en masse then moving out through the system back towards the Jump Point in a loop, before returning to Kiyami. However, Frith was keen to allow Captain Michael Wood, of INS Courageous, a chance to conduct the operation himself, having selected him to lead and coordinate the attack. Recently promoted and the newest Captain in the task force, this engagement would be a good opportunity for him to prove his worth, so she had decided to split the task force after making the Jump to DU-449, giving him control of one part sufficient to take out the base. Of course, in the event of anything getting out of hand, Captain Woods could rely on the remaining ships coming to his aid.
Frith watched the flow of information passing across her eyes and on the multiple screens in front of he, picking out those bits of interest to her.
Dauntles’s AI had been updated with all the information available on DU-449, including details of the ISS report and the only known Quantum Signature for the system. The task force would be ready to move out on her command, once the last of the entertainers and Duke Frederick finally returned to the surface. A constant fleet of shuttles had been coming and going all through the night watch, bringing supplies and ferrying passengers, including a few crewmen frantically trying to avoid becoming AWOL. Alexander was currently in the main departure lounge saying goodbye to the Duke, and Frith expected to get underway in a little over one hours’ time. It would take four days to reach the closest Jump Point, where they would leave and emerge on the edge of the target system, hopefully unseen by the raider base orbiting the systems only gas giant. To improve the odds of this happening, they planned to arrive when the line of sight from the base to their transition point was concealed by the gas giants bulk. With any luck, and a great deal of planning, the task force would remain hidden from the raiders until it was too late for them to flee or mount any credible defence.
Alexander, finally alone after seeing off the still smiling Duke, was reviewing for the second time Christine’s report. Trusting his wife’s instincts on the Felidae, he tried looking for any clear patterns to recent events but, like her, couldn’t see any. Looking forward, he hoped when the financial data had been reviewed by Vimes he might get an answer, but at the same time dreaded what it might potentially reveal. Either way he had a problem. If the data revealed nothing of note he was back to relying on the Infiltrator Programs running through Heavens computers to shed more light on who had been behind the attack. However, if it turned out to be a Duke or foreign empire, there was a real possibility of either civil war or an external one, a prospect no sane ruler wished to contemplate. Christine’s note indicated some of the requested data was taking Vimes longer to obtain than expected, but she hoped to have some preliminary conclusions in about eleven days.
These sombre thoughts were interrupted by Admiral Frith, confirming the last crewmen were on board, all guests had departed and Kiyami’s docking authority confirmed the immediate area of space was free of ships in readiness for their departure.
“Thank you, Janice, please proceed to the Jump Point at your convenience,” he responded, pleased she was in command and they were ready to get underway. He was becoming tired of not being in control of events and would welcome being in a position to dictate them instead of having to react.
After a few moments, Alexander felt the ships prow begin turning to port, followed a few moments later by a barely noticeable thrust as the engines fought against Dauntless’ massive inertia and slowly began to accelerate her to a steady one-G. He called up a copy of the display currently showing on the bridge, detailing all the positions of the task force, before cancelling it and leaning back in his chair.
Not for the first time Alexander wondered what life would have been like if he’d been born to an ordinary family or something simple, for example, the minor son of a Lord. Perhaps he would simply have swapped one set of worries for another, but with less chance to change them or make a difference. Instead of worrying about matters of state, politics and the happiness of his subjects, he might now be concerned as to where the next meal came from, relations with his boss and the security of his family and job. As Emperor, he at least had the chance to get things done or implement change where it was most needed. Alexander reasoned with himself that a simpler life didn’t automatically bring happiness or fulfilment, but whilst he knew this intellectually, it didn’t stop his heart from desiring it so he could spend more time with his family.
Frith’s task force was slowly moving into position, each ship only a few miles from its neighbour when, after two and a half minutes, Dauntless caught up with the first of them. Almost in formation, they moved at a constant acceleration towards the Jump Point. With the flagship taking point, Alexander watched the two carriers finally move into position at the centre of the fleet. In two days’ time, at the halfway turnaround point where the task force would begin to decelerate, two of the interdiction frigates, INS Audacity and Daring, would take point in readiness for the transition.
The four days it took to reach the Jump point passed by uneventfully, daily shipboard routines passing without note. In their quarters, the Emperor and his Bodyguard ran a series of drills and exercises with the Marines who were permanently assigned to Dauntless. A little to everyone’s surprise, the Marines had held their own in the simulations, earning them and their commanders well deserved, if a little grudging, respect from the elite Bodyguard. Numerous practice sorties had been flown off the two carriers and various scenarios and live-fire drills practiced.
Uneventfully, shipboard life went on.
Shortly before arriving at the Jump Point, Frith instructed the Jump Station to halt any outgoing commercial Jumps, then dispatched two high-speed, short-range reconnaissance drones to Jump ahead of the fleet, emerging for only a few minutes to scan the immediate area with passive sensors for mines or other traps, then Jump back and report back their findings. Active sensors would not be used so as not to give away their position to the raider base.
On the Bridge, everything was on high alert. Alexander was watching events from his suite and would not interfere unless asked, having every confidence in his command staff. The task force was in stealth mode and set out in the formation it would use to make the Jump. An interdiction frigate supported each carrier with the remaining six spread out around the task force, ahead of the six battleships that covered both Dauntless and the carriers.
“Jump solutions agreed and transmitted Admiral. Awaiting confirmation from the drones,” reported Navigation. “Telemetry being received from the drones now…all clear.”
“Thank you Navigation. Please inform the task force to Jump on our five-second mark. Five, four, three, two, one…
Discontinuity
“All stations report.”
Frith’s voice sounded clear and firm. Immediately data started flowing in from the Control stations and the bridge crew began sounding off, confirming status. Ships sensors and additional passive telemetry from the drones appeared, mapping the system and transferring data into the bridge’s central holographic display, known by everyone as the “Tank”.
In it, the task forces disposition was clearly shown in blue at the system's edge, ninety-two million miles away from the nearest planet, a large barren K-Class planet with no atmosphere and high two-G gravity. Moving in a further one hundred and eighty-seven million mile
s towards the sun, the next planet was a J-Class Gas giant circled by seven moons of varying sizes, one of which held the raiders base. The next planet inwards was another barren K-Class but with a gravity slightly less than standard. The remaining two planets were much further away on the other side of the sun, but again devoid of life and inhospitable. The sun itself was a small, cool, very faint main sequence star with a surface temperature under 4,000 K, approximately two-thirds through its life-cycle.
“Wouldn’t like to live here,” Frith observed to no-one in particular. “Navigation, plot a course to the target moon at one-G, keeping the gas giant between us at all times as agreed. I don’t want them picking us up until the last moment. Send your course to the other ships and tell them to standby.”
“Course plotted and ships standing by Admiral,” responded the young Commander after a few seconds, “I’ve compensated for the moons orbit of seven point three days to ensure we remain undetected until you are ready to engage. Passing to Helm and the rest of the task force now.”
“Thank you. Time to target?” asked Frith.
“At one-G, one hundred and nineteen hours, Admiral” came the immediate reply. “On arrival our speed will be zero relative to the moon.”
One of the two Weapons Masters asked a question. “Admiral, do you require any high-speed reconnaissance drones sent on ahead?”
“No, I don’t want to risk them being observed,” responded Frith. “The longer we can remain undetected the more of their ships we can target.”
Imperium: Betrayal: Book One in the Imperium Trilogy Page 21
