Sector 1 would remain under the direct control of the Emperor and his family. For the other Sectors, the first Nobles were personally selected by Doone himself from amongst the ablest of his scientific team and loyal members of his commercial empire. The titles and responsibilities that went with the role would pass down to the first born child or named successor, subject to the Emperors approval and their having reached twenty-one years of age. Thus began the first of several rapid Imperial expansion phases as the Nobility sought to increase their wealth and power bases for themselves and the Empire.
It would be several generations before a Doone returned to reclaim the ruined home world for their Empire.
Appendix 3, Quantum Attraction
Communication and travel between worlds in the Empire was straightforward. Ships travelled through normal space from their home planet to the nearest Quantum Attraction transmitter and Customs Station that were always situated at the edge of a solar system, away from the sun's gravity and within the Jump Point. Large stations had built up over the years, especially where the system had been colonised for a long time. Many of these stations had grown to rival small cities in size and all were heavily armed and armoured. Although primarily military in nature, they also housed maintenance and repair docks, along with Custom and Trading Posts of the large Conglomerates and Imperial families. In addition, those stations situated in systems on the edge of Empire were home to many citizens of the other races humanity traded, and on occasion, fought with.
On arriving and after a thorough inspection, ships could jump to the receiving station at their destination before continuing on in-system to the desired planet. Travel time was a function of whatever acceleration the occupants could tolerate and the size of the sun's gravity well, which determined how far away the Jump Point was from the nearest habitable planet. Depending on the size of the system and the location of the planet in its orbit, travel time to or from a Jump Station at one-G normally took anything between ten and twenty days. The more massive the sun or gas giants were within a solar system, the further away the Jump Point needed to be. These long distances through normal space-time made travel between systems a long and expensive business, suitable only for cargo or the very wealthy. As a result, it was prudent for individual star systems to produce everything they needed to maintain their populations and level of civilisation, further limiting off-world trade to luxury foodstuffs or trade goods such as works of art that were able to counter their high transit costs.
Minor systems, or those newly discovered or not yet commercially exploited didn’t justify the expense of a Jump Station and were open to all.
The Imperial family kept a tight grip on the manufacture and servicing of QA machinery, maintaining Custom Posts at all Jump Points. These Posts ensured Custom duty was logged or paid and almost completely eliminated smuggling. An Imperial Tithe was taken on the value of any trade, although private citizens could travel without the levy, the only restriction on them being the high cost of travel. The sums raised by the Tithe paid for the upkeep of the Jump Stations and contributed a significant sum each year to the Imperial Treasury.
Unlike their civilian counterparts, larger or specialised Naval Vessels could generate their own QA field internally. Providing the destinations Quantum Signature was known, this enabled them to bypass the often long queues at Jump Points. As a courtesy from the Emperor, the private vessels of each Duke or Duchess were traditionally allowed their own QA drive.
As an important lever of control, the manufacture and servicing of all QA Jump engines remained an Imperial monopoly, with all profits going to the Crown. To be in possession of an unlicensed Jump capable ship was a treasonable offence. To further retain control, the ability to map a Quantum Signature remained another closely guarded secret.
Using QA, communication between Jump stations was instantaneous, but relied on light speed to get relayed intra-system, making real-time conversations impossible.
There was an exception, however, kept hidden from everyone by the Imperial family. Towards the end of his long life, Josef, the first Emperor and inventor of QA, had devoted himself to the development of instantaneous communication. Although it took him nearly twenty years, shortly before his death he managed to solve the problem of QA communications within a gravity well. In addition, it also solved the problem of Quantum Attraction Jumping within a well without the need to use a Jump Point. However, this discovery potentially threatened to destabilise his newly formed Empire. If travel, communications or transit taxes couldn’t be controlled and monitored, the State would quickly lose its grip on the levers of power. By reserving the use of instantaneous communication and travel to just the Emperor or Empress, it would retain those levers. The advantage of always knowing the news a day or two before anyone else, maintained the illusion of Imperial foresight and gave unparalleled advantages to the user in matters such as trade and finance. For these reasons Josef never divulged the discovery to anyone other than his son, Richard.
Imperium: Betrayal: Book One in the Imperium Trilogy Page 34
