The Prodigal Emperor (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 3)

by Kal Spriggs

  “Are you certain?” Alicia's voice was troubled.

  “You said it yourself,” Colonel Proscia said, even as he watched his team gear up. “Someone hacked your traffic network and your people just now noticed that someone else hacked your database and knows that the Baron's daughter was kidnapped. It looks like his kidnappers tracked his communications unit. I think we need to resort to our precautions.”

  “That's a big assumption,” Alicia said, her voice hard. “We don't know if this is all connected, and if we pull that trigger, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle.”

  “If we don't pull the trigger on our response teams, the conspirators might take the initiative,” Colonel Proscia said calmly. Everything depended on her agreement. If he didn't get that, then almost certainly the whole thing would fall apart. I knew that Baron Giovanni was the key, he thought, but I never would have believed that people would fall apart this much without him.

  “Sir, you need to see this,” Captain Perez said and passed over his datapad. It was a news feed, one that showed video footage of Lucius Giovanni being dragged out of his vehicle by two masked figures. Well, he thought, that's unfortunate. There would be no keeping anything quiet now.

  “Are you seeing this?” Colonel Prosica asked.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Alicia responded. “It's hitting all the news feeds.”

  Colonel Proscia shook his head, “Alright. I'm going to move on the kidnappers, hopefully before they see that and decide that their hostage isn't worth risking their lives over. In the meantime, you need to enact the protocols we discussed. If the conspirators are behind this, they will make decapitation strikes. You, President Cassin, Minister Bueller, and many others are without a doubt priority targets. At least take some precautions.”

  He could almost hear her thoughts. Although, this was something they had discussed and prepared for, talking about sending out police and military units to detain men and women in high military and government positions was very different from actually doing it. If they were wrong about who was behind this, they would be crippling their government and military at a time when they might be under some other threat.

  Please, he thought, make the right decision.

  “I'll go to phase one,” she said finally.

  He grimaced at that. Phase one was a half-measure, where the key members of the counter-conspiracy would move to secure undisclosed locations. It was a safety measure, a defense. That wasn't what needed to happen. “Fine,” he said, “but look at phase two.”

  “I will. Rescue the Baron's daughter and then get back here,” Alicia said.

  “That's the Baron's plan,” Colonel Proscia said as he gazed out the window and across the street. He just hoped things went according to his plan. “Be sure you keep that bastard Tascon close, I don't trust him,” Colonel Proscia said as he cut the connection.

  ***

  “Well,” Alanis said cheerfully, “That went better than I thought it would.”

  “Says the one who didn't get stunned,” Lucius grimaced and rubbed at his chest. He hated stunners. A pair of lasers ionized the air for a high voltage discharge designed to convulse a targets muscles and overwhelm their nervous system. It typically also left a mild but painful burn and left Lucius feeling like he had been in a car crash. Then again, he had been in a car crash.

  “So...” Lucius said as he looked over at where Tony Doko and his wife, Princess Lizmadie, sat in the other seats. Tony drove while Lizmadie seemed to be working on her datapad. “Why exactly did you feel it necessary to attack me and drag me away unconscious?”

  “It's a long story,” Tony said as he wove through traffic. “But the short version is that we think that Colonel Proscia is Admiral Mannetti's spy and that he was behind the kidnapping of your daughter.”

  “What?” Lucius shook his head, “That's absurd.” Colonel Proscia had multiple occasions where he could have betrayed him before. It didn't make any sense that he would do so... or at least no more than anyone else from his original crew betraying him.

  “They have pretty good evidence,” Alanis said. “And if it is true, then letting him have you and your daughter in a volatile situation like a hostage rescue is dangerous.”

  Lucius's blood ran cold at that. The implication was that Colonel Proscia would kill both Lucius and his daughter, or possibly just take them both hostage. Since he had control of both the protective detail and the hostage rescue team, Colonel Proscia would be perfectly positioned to take advantage of the situation. “Fine, explain it to me, but you had better be convincing.”

  They laid out their information, Tony and Lizmadie taking turns to speak as they alternated between driving and whatever systems infiltration the Princess was doing. He bit his lip as he realized just how much work that Anthony and his wife had put into clearing his name. Once again, Lucius felt a wave of guilt for the fact that he had allowed Dreyfus's people to convince him to pull Anthony out of his position. Lucius had known all along that Anthony was innocent, he just didn't know how to prove it to everyone else.

  He frowned as they finished. The data about the old Nova Roma military coding and the pistol did appear to point to Colonel Proscia. At the same time, he couldn't discount the possibility that someone else hadn't managed to access the pistol or that the weapon hadn't been here all along, possibly a trophy kept by one of Faraday's elite... which was who the kidnappers came from, after all.

  “Okay, there's a reasonable suspicion, I'll agree,” Lucius said. “But the situation is a bit more complicated than any of you realize.” He sighed, “Even if Colonel Proscia is the spy, there's a whole other aspect that none of you are aware of.”

  “Do tell,” Princess Lizmadie said with an arched eyebrow.

  Lucius hesitated a bit, conflicted between the need to tell his trusted friends and the equal desire to keep them ignorant and safe. In the end, his wisdom won out. They would make the best decisions if they knew everything. “I've uncovered evidence of a conspiracy or conspiracies whose goal seem to be to take charge of the Fleet.”

  Doko craned his head around, “What!?”

  A horn blared and he looked back in time to swerve back into his lane. He pulled over, parking half on the sidewalk and turned around in his seat, “You can't be serious.”

  “Unfortunately, I am,” Lucius said. “I didn't want to believe it myself, but there have been incidents, rumors, and even sabotage and murder. Between Captain Daniel Beeson and Ensign Perkins and some others, we've put together the clues that show a massive conspiracy with roots going back to before Admiral Dreyfus led his fleet out here. They have solid control over Fleet Intelligence, Logistics, and several of the combat ships.”

  “Shit,” Anthony said. “Sir... what can we do?”

  Lucius gave a tight smile, “I've been taking some actions of my own. It looks as if they are waiting for something before they move. It seems as if they're currently doing their best to delay or prevent the invasion of Nova Roma. I'm not certain why or what their end goals are. But I am almost entirely certain that they plan to oust myself, to remove Admiral Dreyfus, and probably to institute some kind of martial law here on Faraday. They also seem to want to conquer other star systems.”

  “That bastard Julian Newbauer, eh?” Princess Lizmadie asked.

  “You know about him?” Lucius asked.

  “His War Party is almost always broadcasting some message about how other worlds should 'share in the burden' and 'help to support their defense.' A lot of it is designed to hit someone in their feelings, stir up fear and anger in equal doses and then put the blame on whoever a good target is,” Lizmadie said. “It's pretty similar, actually, to some of the propaganda my father signed off on during Nova Roma's expansion.”

  Lucius nodded, he couldn't say he was surprised. “In any case, we've uncovered a lot, but we still don't know all the key players and I didn't want to move until I'd identified them.” He saw Lizmadie and Anthony nod in reply. It would almost be worse
in a way, to remove only part of the cancer. It might just give the surviving conspirators enough leeway to hide deeper and to rebuild their network to strike another day.

  “My main fear is that either they are behind this or they'll take advantage of the situation,” Lucius said. If that was the case, then his sister and friends had done the worst thing they could possibly do, they'd taken Lucius out of the picture and given the conspirators freedom to act in the confusion. “They would have access to weapons such as the Centauri P7K and they've taken actions like this before.”

  He saw Anthony pale, “The attack on Lizmadie and I... that was them, wasn't it?”

  Lucius nodded, “We're almost entirely certain. I'm fairly convinced that some of the evidence against you was manufactured by them.”

  “But that still doesn't discount the possibility of a traitor,” Lizmadie said. “Whoever accessed the prison and freed Mannetti did it before we made contact with the Dreyfus Fleet. And Tony and I have checked the transfer dates for the money that went to his account. They went through only a few days after her escape. For that matter, it doesn't explain the Nova Roma military coding.”

  “It doesn't, but if your assumptions are right, then we've got even bigger problems,” Lucius said. He took a deep breath, “Colonel Proscia was central to our plan to take down the conspirators. He helped to organize our plans to isolate and secure the conspirators in sensitive positions as well as to defend our own key personnel. More than that, I know that he has activated at least a company's worth of Marines as response to this kidnapping.”

  Anthony went pale as he made the connections, “He's in perfect position to execute a complete coup, take down everyone. He could give Mannetti the entire system on an open platter if he wanted.”

  Lucius gave a grim nod, “Exactly. Which is why I hope you're wrong.”

  ***

  Captain Daniel Beeson rubbed tiredly at his face as he looked over his reports one last time. The position of Chief of Staff for an Admiral was one that came with a great deal of responsibility. While Daniel had a credible amount of combat experience, he had a very accelerated career serving under the rapid expansion of Baron Giovanni's initial fleet. He knew very well how to execute combat maneuvers and fight a battle.

  He had little experience with the staff and planning aspects. The Baron had been very patient as he got his feet under him, but Daniel still wasn't certain that he would ever be a good staff officer, much less a good Chief of Staff. So much of his job was to anticipate what Baron Lucius Giovanni would want or expect and to direct the various staff sections in those duties.

  As if anyone can really foresee what the Baron will do next, he thought as he closed out the last of the reports. The most recent order, to move the entire Fleet with all speed to Faraday, had come as a surprise, but Daniel had grown used to such surprises. Much of Daniel's respect for the Baron came from the very nature of his superior's devious mindset. It was his foresight and careful planning that had liberated Faraday from the Chxor and now they seemed poised to do the same for Nova Roma.

  Not that the conspirators are making that easy, he thought with a sour grimace. To be fair, one reason Daniel had so many issues getting his feet under him as a Chief of Staff was that he spent a large portion of his time investigating the conspiracy that ate away at the Fleet's heart like a cancer. He and Ensign Perkins had put together their own network, one that had uncovered all the dirty little secrets that the conspirators had to hide.

  And some of them were very dirty, he thought. Tipped off by Commander Jin Wong's death, they had delved into some of the other “accidental” deaths throughout the Fleet. Some of them, particularly a few among the civilian dependents, had formed a very ugly pattern. It looked as if the conspirators had eliminated anyone who was positioned to move counter to their agenda. Other “deaths” seemed to be orchestrated only to remove people from the public eye so that they could act more freely in the shadows.

  In all, the conspirators had killed almost a thousand people by his estimation. Nearly a third of those had been innocent civilians, some of whom they had killed in whole lots. The worst was the fire aboard the passenger carrier Hongbo, which had killed almost three hundred men, women, and children. Forrest Perkins had requested time off after they traced that back to the conspiracy. Daniel had seen that Forrest felt so sickened and disgusted that he wouldn't be able to work around the two spies on the Baron's staff without giving the whole thing away.

  Not that I can blame him, Daniel thought. His anger and disgust with Lieutenant Moritz was hard to hide. Ensign Camilla Jiang seemed to be cut from different cloth, but there was no doubting that she had deep ties to the conspiracy.

  Speak of the devil, he thought as his door chimed and he saw Ensign Jiang in the hallway on his monitor. “One moment,” Daniel said. He reached into his desk drawer and checked his pistol and then shifted it to his lap. Daniel had killed Chxor at close range in the liberation of Faraday. He didn't know if taking a human life would feel any different, but he doubted he would hesitate if it became necessary. “Come in,” he said as he keyed the outer door open with his other hand. Thanks dad, he thought, for teaching me to handle a pistol with either hand.

  “Captain Beeson,” the Ensign said, “I have those reports you asked for earlier, the ones about Chxor sensor platforms.” Her face was calm and pleasant, but there was something in her dark eyes, almost a warning.

  Daniel frowned, he hadn't asked for any reports. “Uh, thanks, come in and close the door.” His hand tightened on his pistol's grip. A thousand people, Daniel thought even as he wondered if Ensign Camilla Jiang had personally killed any of them.

  Ensign Jiang passed over a data card, “You'll find the report on there, I think it best you look it over so I can answer any questions now.”

  Daniel slowly extended his hand and took the card. Everything about the Ensign's behavior was wrong. Telling an officer to look a card over would be acceptable from a superior or even an equal, from a junior officer like her, it was borderline insubordinate.

  She's trying to tell me something, he realized. Of course, whether he could trust anything she had to say was far more problematic. Before she was an Ensign, she'd been a Warrant Officer for forty years, which was hard to remember with her youthful face. Senior Captain Ngo had signed off on her commissioning packet, and since he was thought to be a central member of the conspiracy, that had identified her as a threat early on in Daniel's investigation. While an Ensign technically outranked a Warrant Officer, it was in reality a big step down. Warrants held a great deal of respect and authority, while Ensigns had little of either. Daniel still wasn't certain why she had taken such a big step down.

  He put the data card into his reader, all the while keeping most of his attention on Ensign Jiang. “Can't wait, huh?”

  “Very time sensitive,” she said. Her face was polite and attentive, but her body was tense. Daniel wished he knew whether that meant she was about to attack him or something else. I wish I'd swept the room for bugs recently, he thought, but that would have been suspicious behavior.

  Her data card held only one file. On it was a short, terse message:

  Baron Giovanni did not order us to return to Faraday. There is a coup in progress, you are in danger. We need to meet in the secure conference room and I will tell you more.

  “Well,” Daniel said as he glanced up, “This does look like it will require a bit more intensive discussion than I had realized. How about you go prep the secure conference room? I'll have Ensign Perkins meet us there, since he knows the Baron's mind a bit better.”

  “Of course,” she said as she stood up.

  Behind her, he saw motion on the monitor. A moment later, the door opened and Lieutenant Moritz stood there, pistol leveled at Ensign Jiang. Daniel fired before the other man could, his pistol barking from under his desk. The Lieutenant stumbled back, an expression of shock on his face.

  To give the Ensign credit, she didn't flinch at the gunfi
re and went into a defensive crouch, her hand diving for where she must have a concealed weapon of her own.

  “Don't move,” Daniel said, “Since it would appear that things are in motion, let me just tell you that I am aware of your ties to certain people, including the late Lieutenant Moritz. I think it best that you place whatever concealed weapons you have on the floor and step back while I initiate some of my own precautions, understood?”

  She gave him a nod and slowly drew out a small pistol and set it on the floor.

  “Good,” Daniel said. He kept his pistol trained on her as he sent out a draft message. It appeared to be a normal message, a reminder of a staff meeting to review their training schedule. In reality, it contained a code phrase that should put the Baron's immediate staff on war footing and notify their security teams to prepare for an attack. Daniel really hoped that the latter wouldn't be necessary... but the fact that Lieutenant Moritz had tried to kill Ensign Jiang in front of him was a bad sign.

  A moment later, Ensign Forrest Perkins arrived at the hatch, a snub-nosed riot gun held ready in one hand. He had it leveled at Ensign Camilla Jiang as he stepped over Lieutenant Moritz's corpse. “You called?”

  “We have a situation,” Daniel said. “The Ensign here has some crucial information. We need to get to the secure room. Make certain the rest of our people meet us there.” The secure room was supposed to be their rally point anyway, since it was a defensible position and should be clear of any bugs.

  “Yes, sir,” Forrest said, he turned and scanned the hallway, “Looks clear, let's move.”

  Daniel gestured at Ensign Jiang to lead the way.

  They moved through the corridors quickly. The staff section was almost empty, right up until they reached the secure conference room near the flag bridge.

  “Room is secure,” Ensign Michele Konetsky said from the hatch, where she stood waiting. She gave a nod at Camilla Jiang, “She try something?”