Price of Imperium

by Dave Robinson

  "Aye, sir." Her mouth twitched in a barely visible grin. "I'll try not to bring too much of it aground, they might want to float more of those ships."

  "Captain, I'm picking up lots of radio chatter." Carmon pulled Tam's attention. "From what I can get they're not sure what we were, but they know we were something and I think they're calling on the police to try to find us. We had better get out of here fast or we may have to do some serious fighting."

  Tam pulled up the repeater showing the probe and prince. "It looks like we came ashore pretty close. He's not more than three kilometers, just a little towards the Northeast. Husk's hands moved on the controls and they slid between the buildings at no more than forty meters altitude and little better than a walking pace. Tam looked out to the side and saw a couple having sex over a desk, oblivious to the shuttle passing just outside the window. They sped up and left the subjects of Tam's unintended voyeurism behind.

  A few minutes later, Tam spotted the Viaduct, "if I read this correctly, he should be just ahead under there."

  "Aye sir," Husk worked the controls and swung them over towards the only open spot. "Coming in for a landing now."

  Tam flipped to the outside cameras and slaved one to the probe display. "Pirk, we have a situation! Get ready for a hot extraction, I'm seeing hostiles on the ground. Anyone other than the prince is expendable."

  "Aye, sir." The Marine's voice came over his headset and a small portion of the screen split to show them moving towards the hatch ready for debarkation. The remainder of Tam's screen showed the prince standing before a man with something small in his hand, while another man held a woman hostage. The shuttle touched down, and Tam dropped the ramp the instant he felt the shock. Pirk's troops were out in moments, swinging round for clear fields of fire.

  "Chief, you have the bird." Tam hit the quick-release on his harness and turned towards the exit. "Don't lift until we've got the prince, but once he's aboard lift if you have to. Don't worry about the rest of us."

  "Aye, sir." Husk's words were barely audible as he ran through the cabin to the ramp.

  By the time Tam hit the ground it was all over. Two of Pirk's troopers were supporting the prince, bringing him towards the shuttle while the others provided a cordon. There were two bodies lying by the fire barrels, and he could see a woman kneeling beside a third, this one in some kind of uniform.

  "Bring her," the prince's voice was harsh but understandable. Tam nodded when Pirk turned towards him, and the officer dispatched two troopers towards her. She resisted a moment when they helped her to her feet, and Tam saw one kneel to close the man's eyes before leading her towards the shuttle. They didn't have a lot of time and bringing her would probably cause fewer questions in the long run than leaving her behind.

  The prince looked like hell, and Tam caught his breath at the smell. He obviously hadn't bathed in days. Even with a Marine on either side he still stumbled more than he walked. One of the Marines caught Tam's eye. "He's going again, I don't know what it was but they hit him hard."

  "Thanks Trooper," Tam waved them through and turned to the woman who was coming after. She was slim and blond, her eyes reddened with tears but wide open. He couldn't see any wounds but there was a stiffness to her carriage. Taking one arm he led her to a casualty bench and gently strapped her in, leaving her hands free but moving the quick-release out of her range.

  Prince Jhon was already strapped to the other one, and a medic was already working on him. "What's the matter?" Tam asked, leaning over to take a look at the prince.

  "I can't tell for sure Captain," she did not turn her head, using a finger to peel back one of his eyelids. "It looks like he's been drugged, but we probably won't know much more than that until we can get him back to the ship."

  "Thanks, Trooper." Tam turned back to the flight deck, noticing the ramp was already closed. He could feel Husk powering up the generators and hurried back to his own seat.

  Tam barely had the straps fastened when Husk threw full power to the thrust fields and reached for the sky at half a dozen gees. "Slow down," he fought to speak, "just because we have him doesn't mean stop hiding."

  "Roger that, sir." She made adjustments and their weight dropped back down to one and a half times normal. "They had interceptors up, I wanted to get some speed in case we had to evade missiles."

  "That was a quick response." Tam looked at his threat receivers which were all showing well below threshold.

  "Aye sir," Husk glanced that way. "I didn't want our passenger taken out at this late stage."

  "Good thinking, Chief."

  The rest of the flight passed mostly in silence, broken only by the few words regulations required. Once in space, Tam brought up the image of his ship, wondering why it seemed less impressive than the ocean-going vessel less than two-thirds its size. Much of what he could see was computer enhancement, outlining Talon against the darkness of the lunar surface, the ship's normally white hull turned almost black for stealth. Two of the weapon arrays were visible, laser and hammerbeam turrets flush against her skin, missiles and sensor clusters taking up the space between the arrays. Perhaps it was the smoothness, Talon was sleek and smooth even with the battery of weapons and sensors faired into the hull. The ship looked part of her element, where the carrier below with its square boxy outline had seemed more an elemental force in its own right. Not so much part of the sea as something that imposed its own presence on it.

  Flight control hailed them on a tight-beam whisker and he turned his attention to docking. They had the prince, and so the first part of the mission was complete. Now all they had to do was get safely home with him. With him and with that woman who had been with him. What would they do with her? Lost in a strange culture where the only one who could understand her language was going to be far too busy to devote much time. At least her language was already in the databanks, so it should be possible to arrange some sort of translator implant.

  Tam cursed softly as he realized his attention had drifted again, and put himself firmly back to dealing with the shuttle's docking. The system was primarily automated, which was a big part of the problem, it was also more the pilot's than the co-pilot's responsibility. In many ways being co-pilot was like being a passenger, with just enough information to know what was going on, but not enough control to really do anything about it. It was not a position Tam really liked. That was probably why he was thinking of the woman, she was even more at the mercy of others than being co-pilot was making him feel.

  *

  Jayne opened her eyes slowly, stretching. She was lying on a bed in a brightly lit unfamiliar room. There was a sign on the door, and she squinted but could not make it out, the letters looked the wrong shape. Sitting up, she tried to puzzle out what happened. The last thing she remembered was kneeling beside Bill's body, water soaking through the knees of her pants. Then the soldiers had shown up, almost like a SWAT team but she had never seen SWAT in uniforms like theirs. They had been gentle enough, but the way they moved made it clear that she would be coming with them. She remembered the transport, she had not got a good look at it but could remember coming up a ramp and being placed on a stretcher, then feeling something cold against her neck.

  John, he had been there too. She seemed to remember him hanging between two of the SWAT team and saying something she couldn't make out. That was right before they had picked her up and brought her to the transport. Was he involved? That made no sense, he was just a homeless man. One who was very good at fighting, but still, a homeless person. Turning her head, she saw John lying on another bed, with someone leaning over him. It looked like a doctor with a patient, but she had never seen scrubs anything like what the woman was wearing.

  "John?" She said, levering herself off the bed and onto the floor. "Are you alright?"

  He grunted something she could not quite catch and the woman turned towards her, saying something Jayne could not understand.

  "Hello? Where am I?"

  Again the woman said som
ething in a language she had never heard before, then turned and started talking into something Jayne thought must be some sort of intercom. She talked a moment, then turned and gestured Jayne back towards the bed before turning back towards John who had hardly moved during the interchange. Jayne looked around the room again, then sat back on the bed.

  The door slid open in a way that reminded her of late night TV shows, but without the characteristic "whoosh." A man stepped through and turned towards her, and she had to blink. He, she thought it was a he, wasn't a man. He wasn't even human. He stood a little taller than Jayne, about five-ten or so, and was generally human in shape. His skin was a pale blue, with a spattering of greenish scales, but what really caught her attention was the eyes. All four of them.

  "Hello...?" The word came out slowly, if the human could not understand her, what hope would an alien have of understanding. "Ummm... Take me to your leader?" She stifled a giggle, not entirely successfully.

  The alien glanced towards where the human was working on John. "I think you have already met the Emperor." He flipped all four eyes towards her. "I am Ober-dwan, and as I have the most experience with your language I was sent to talk to you."

  "Met the Emperor? What do you mean Emperor, I'm an American and we don't have Emperors!"

  "Pardon me, I have just learned your language recently," the alien turned all his eyes towards each other for a moment. "I do not fully understand the word 'American,' but you are aboard the starship Talon of the Altiarn Imperial Navy."

  "And what is the Altiarn Imperial Navy doing kidnapping American citizens?"

  "Citizens?" The creature turned his eyes inward again in what Jayne was beginning to think meant that he did not quite follow. He paused. "Citizen, not citizens. If I understand the term, you are an American citizen, but His Majesty is not."

  "His Majesty?" Jayne spluttered. "Whose Majesty? What are you talking about."

  The alien turned, extending a hand towards John. "His Majesty, the rightful Emperor, who we came to return to the throne."

  Jayne sat back down heavily. "I don't believe this. I go to do a good deed for a homeless guy and next thing you know Bill's dead and he's the frigging Galactic Emperor?" She glared at the alien. "What kind of bullshit is this?"

  "It is not fecal matter," the alien said slowly. "It is the truth, he is the rightful Emperor and we came here to find him."

  "And in the process you just happened to kidnap an American citizen? Yeah right! Next thing you know I'll be telling an alien abduction story right after the trailer trash tells how he broke up with his sister because he really loves his mother." Jayne shook her head. "I am an American citizen and I want to go home now! Where's the door?"

  "The airlock is not far, but I do not think you would survive exposure to vacuum. We are very near the surface of your planet's moon."

  "What?"

  "Let me show you." He extended a hand. "There are areas I cannot take you, but I think I can show you enough that you will see some of the truth of what I am telling you."

  His hand felt hot and dry in hers as she took it and got off the bed. She felt a little self-conscious at first, realizing all she was wearing was some sort of gown. At least it doesn't leave my ass bare for everyone to see. That thought triggered another, they can't be from Earth, not with hospital gowns that cover your butt.

  Two hours later she was back in the sickbay, after having seen more than enough to prove she really wasn't in Seattle anymore, as if the alien wasn't enough proof. Ober-dwan (as the alien was apparently called) had only shown her part of the ship, but it was enough. The crew was almost entirely human, except for a few like Ober-dwan, and she could feel an air of tension throughout the parts of the ship they had shown her.

  As Ober-dwan led her towards the bed Jayne noticed one of the "doctors" waiting for her. "What's she want?" she asked, turning back towards the alien.

  "I believe she is ready to fit you with an implant," the alien said in a level voice. "It will allow you to communicate with the rest of the crew, rather than just those like myself who have been able to spend the time to learn your language."

  "An implant," Jayne's eyes narrowed and she took a closer look at the other woman. "What do you mean-- She isn't going to put a chip in my head is she?"

  "A chip in your head?" Ober-dwan crinkled his eyes together, "yes, I believe that would be one way to say it."

  "No, not just no but hell no! I am not going to let anyone just come along and open my head up so they can put a chip in it. No fucking way that's happening."

  Ober-dwan moved faster than she had thought possible and was already standing between her and the doorway before she had fully turned around. "Do not worry, she will not change who you are, but you will need to be able to communicate with the others as I cannot be your translator."

  "I don't care!" She glared at the four eyed alien, not sure which eyes to stare at. "Then send me home to Seattle. Then I won't have to talk to any of you. I can just go back to my job and forget John Doe and that any of this ever happened!"

  "We cannot do that, we do not have time to put you back on the planet. We could leave you on the moon, but it does not appear that any of your people could get there in the next few years, and I do not think you would like the questions that would be asked. If you survived."

  "Do they have chips in their heads?"

  "Yes, I believe they do."

  "You believe? You don't know? And you want me to just lie down and let some stranger in league with aliens put a chip in my head. Besides, if they all have chips to help them communicate, why do I need one? Can't they just use theirs to speak English?"

  "It does not translate the language, it makes it possible for you to learn it more quickly. Think of it as a form of sleep-learning. This is a warship and we cannot have the entire crew put under to learn an otherwise useless language just to appease your prejudices. You will need the implant eventually, so why not do it now? It will make your life much easier."

  "And why don't you have one?"

  "Because I am kendradi not human, and the Imperium does not have the knowledge of my species to produce one for us. We learn languages very quickly by your standards."

  "Why are you on this ship if they can't produce the implants for you?"

  "Because this is the ship that rescued us."

  "Rescued you?"

  "Yes, our planet was destroyed by the Enemy, and when the Imperium came there were only five hundred survivors. This ship rescued the survivors."

  "Five hundred survivors? Of a whole planet?"

  "Yes." His eyes turned inwards and he stood silent a moment. Jayne could see he was struggling with emotion. Ober-dwan took a deep whistling breath. "These people," he spread his arms to indicate the ship, "these people saved my entire race, and put their own lives at risk doing so. This ship's lifesupport could not sustain five hundred kendradi but they still chose to save my people. They saved us, and all they want from you is that you cooperate so they can explain."

  He gently turned her around, his fingers cool on her shoulder. "Let them do what they wish. It will not harm you."

  Jayne nodded and went to the bed. "Do your worst."

  As the doctor put something over her head, her vision began to dim, and she could see the alien standing there, watching over her like a parent beside the dentist's chair.

  Chapter 12

  The bridge was dimly lit, and the crew spoke in hushed whispers, as if afraid the Interdiction Force might hear them. Tam's first instinct had been to head back to Altiar at full drive as soon as it was safe enough to lift to fivespace, but a few moments thought had vetoed that. Even though the Interdiction Force was primarily aimed at stopping incoming vessels, it was unlikely that even Talon would be able to make it all the way out from Earth's orbit without being intercepted. Slow and steady wins the race. Tam held that thought tight in his mind as they crept outwards.

  Vidal had the screen configured to show a system plot with the planetary orbi
tal rings in clear display. The Interdiction Force was out by Jupiter, hiding from Earthbound sensors in the giant planet's shadow, deep in what the display showed as the "red zone" where they were locked out of even fourspace. It wasn't until well past Saturn's orbit that they would enter the amber zone where Talon would be able to lift to fourspace, and fivespace would remain out of reach until they had crossed the orbit of Neptune.

  Tam drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. Would it be worth it to lift for four and fivespace as soon as possible, or should he wait to stealth out even further? The longer they stayed in threespace the more likely someone was to spot them. On the other hand, lifting early would set off alarms and likely leave a wake that the entire fleet could follow. Talon might be fast, but scouts were faster, and the last thing old Calthran would want would be for Tavrolan to get wind of what they were up to. Better to present him with an Emperor on the throne than a prince who had long been presumed dead.

  His eyes drifted over towards the coolant levels, staring back at him like angry yellow eyes. Nothing was in the red yet, but they were getting close, and they were still within the orbit of Jupiter. His own plot showed half a dozen possible courses, ranging from the current ballistic one to a full power race for home. Full power was tempting, no more worrying about coolant levels or internal conditions, just maximum acceleration and translate as fast as possible. Just like a kid with the ball running for the goal line. But this kid can't afford to be tackled by the bigger kids hiding in front of him, best to keep on this way.

  "Skipper?" Lenys' voice interrupted his thoughts. "How's the prince doing?"

  "Not as well as we had hoped, but better than we feared." He glanced at his com panel, then back to her. "Doc says he's stable, but he still hasn't regained consciousness. Ober-dwan was able to convince the woman to take an implant, so Doc figures she should be up to speed on Standard within a few more hours, but that's the limit of the good news there."