Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  It wasn’t the same for the servants, thankfully, even though it made the guards unpopular. Tam had ordered regular searches of their property and strip-searched any servant who left the mansion, if only for a few hours. Sometimes the searches yielded drugs or other surprises; more often, they revealed nothing, but an irate servant. Tam knew, better than the others, that they had to remain in their mistress’s favour. Without her, they would be on the streets and starving. The others who might hire bodyguards wouldn’t want them.

  A Civil Guard van drove past as another guest arrived, the newcomer from Earth. She was a horse-faced woman, without connections to Avalon’s aristocracy, but Carola Wilhelm had ordered that Fiona Caesius be given all the courtesies that she offered to her friends and family. Tam felt a moment of pity for the woman’s husband as he checked her ID, and then waved her through. Another Civil Guard van drove past and he frowned, puzzled. Was there something happening in their area? He was tempted to call his mistress and ask, but she would be busy and wouldn’t like the interruption …

  He blinked as a third van appeared and parked in front of the walls. A moment later, armed soldiers began jumping out, fanning out into a protective wall and lifting live weapons. Tam reached for the emergency button and held his finger over it, hearing alarm bells sounding off in his head. Something was very badly wrong. A final figure jumped out of the truck, protected by a cordon of armed soldiers, and he felt his insides turn to ice. It hadn’t been that long since Major George Grosskopf had dismissed him from the service.

  “Sir,” he said, as the Major strode up to him. Bluster was the only option. The guards were outnumbered and badly outgunned. “I’m afraid that I cannot let you into the building. You’re not on the guest list.”

  Grosskopf’s face stretched into something that even a charitable man would have found it hard to call a smile. “I’m afraid that you’re under the wrong impression,” he said, mockingly. “We are here with a warrant for the arrest of Carola Wilhelm, Markus Wilhelm and over fifty other people, all of whom are attending this party. I strongly advise you to offer no resistance.”

  Tam stared at him. He wasn’t bluffing, he knew. “This building is protected by Council authority,” he blustered. Carola wouldn’t thank him for just letting them in without a fight, yet there was no way to stop them, or even to slow them down. “You cannot come in without direct permission from the Governor.”

  “Which we have,” Grosskopf assured him pleasantly. He looked over at the other four guards, who were standing there unsure of what to do. Their hands were on their weapons, but they hadn’t lifted them, thankfully. Grosskopf’s men would wipe them out before they could fire a single shot. “Put down your weapons and place your hands on your head.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tam said, bitterly. If nothing else, he could prevent a slaughter. “We surrender.”

  Two burly soldiers grabbed him, secured his hands with a plastic tie and left him on the ground, waiting to be picked up. “Stay there,” Grosskopf ordered, dryly. Tam would have sworn at him if he dared. “We’ll be back for you soon.”

  -o0o-

  George took one last look at the ex-Guardsman and led the way into the mansion’s grounds. Alpha Company might still be understrength, but he’d drawn reliable men from two lesser units and led almost a full company upwards towards the house. He’d only seen it twice before, back when Carola Wilhelm had tried to bribe him into supporting her ambitions, and it never failed to impress him. The Council had been able to get almost anything they wanted and Carola had wanted a mansion that didn’t leave anyone in doubt about her importance. The massive stone building was testament enough to her wealth and power, built on the bones of men and women who had died indebted to her. George had seriously considered simply attacking the complex with helicopters and blowing the building into burning debris, but that wouldn’t have been as satisfying as taking her into custody permanently.

  He checked his radio as other teams swarmed through the other two gates. The guards had offered no resistance, thankfully, for he would have had them killed if necessary. Most of them were little more than traitors to the Civil Guard; men who had joined, accepted training and then left for richer fields elsewhere. They were effectively compliant in her crimes. A handful of guests, roaming on the lawn, stared up at the advancing Guardsmen, but before they could react they were grabbed, tied and left there for later. A happy couple necking on the grass had no idea that they were in trouble until it was far too late. George snorted when he saw them and carried on.

  The noise of men and women having fun could be heard as they rounded the mansion and headed down towards the pool. At least a hundred men and women were there, swimming in the water or chatting endlessly about nothing as they watched the younger ones frolicking in the pool. George felt sick when he realised that all of the wealth and luxury on display had been extracted from people who hadn’t been able to resist, rather than something the wealthy had earned for themselves. There were young girls in skimpy bathing costumes and boys already tending to fat and arrogance. They had no idea just how fragile their power actually was.

  George lifted his gun and fired a single shot into the air. Silence fell, a silence that deepened when the guests looked around and saw the soldiers standing there. A handful of women fainted in shock and several others started to inch back, like sheep suddenly terrified of the wolves in their midst. The party had suddenly come to an end. The music, performed by live musicians, had come to a halt. The musicians were as scared as anyone else.

  “This building is now under the control of the Civil Guard,” George said, into the silence. “Until we can sort out the guilty from the innocent, we are going to place everyone in the building under arrest. Any attempt to resist will be met with as much force as necessary to terminate the resistance. Stand up, get out of the pool and put your hands on your head—and wait. We will deal with you all in a moment.”

  “You cannot do this,” one of the young men burst out. George recognised him from the reports he’d seen, a young scion of a wealthy family with a taste for rape and sexual humiliation. He should have been spending twenty years at hard labour; he would have been spending them if his family hadn’t intervened and forced his release. He hadn’t learned anything from the experience. “This place is…”

  “Under my control,” George said, unable to keep a hint of amusement from his voice. They’d all once been the Lords of Creation. Now they were terrified sheep. “I won’t warn you again, Sean. Put your hands on your head and surrender peacefully.”

  Sean leapt at him, hands outstretched as if he intended to strangle George personally. One of the soldiers stepped forward, but George waved him back, stepping out of Sean’s way and pistol-whipping him right across the mouth. Blood and teeth went flying as the young man collapsed to the ground, whimpering. No one had ever taught him discipline; no one had ever taught him the difference between right and wrong. George watched him gasping on the ground and felt nothing, not even pity or disgust as blood pooled on the ground. Sean’s life had been ruined a long time before George had come to Avalon.

  He looked up and swept his gaze across the crowd. “Is there anyone else who feels like having a go at us?”

  There was no one. The soldiers moved from person to person, tying their hands and leaving them sitting on the ground, after carefully separating the women from the men. George watched as they patted down their captives, removing anything that could be used as a weapon, wondering where the real prize was. Carola Wilhelm was not among the prisoners. If she had escaped … but even if she did, where could she go?

  “Detail four men to watch the prisoners,” he ordered, tartly. They hadn’t searched the house yet. “The rest of you, get into that mansion and search it from end to end.”

  -o0o-

  Carola had been lucky. She’d been wrapped up in a meeting with one of her fellow Councillors—discussing the relief package the Council would be offering to farmers caught up in the midst of the f
ighting—when the raid began. An alert had been flashed to her at once, but by then it was already too late to escape. The surveillance bugs she’d scattered around the walls confirmed that the Civil Guard had blocked all of the exits.

  Part of her wanted to scream at the sheer unfairness of the universe—allowing it to happen when she was so close to success—but she knew from long experience that that wouldn’t change anything. The soldiers were already cuffing her guests—she smiled inwardly when Sean was knocked to the ground, for she’d never liked the young pup—and it wouldn’t be long before they started to search her house. She keyed her personal terminal and brought up an option she’d never dreamed she would need, ordering the house mainframe—years in advance of anything like it on the planet—to wipe all of the sensitive files and then self-destruct. Whatever they’d found that had emboldened them to raid the house of a Councillor, they wouldn’t find the evidence they needed to have her interrogated under truth drugs. They wouldn’t be able to prove anything.

  Quickly, she turned to a bust on the wall and pulled its nose in a certain manner, opening the secret passageway she’d had built into the walls. The builders had thought that she was crazy, but they’d done as she’d ordered, giving her a house that had plenty of secret ways to move unseen. They’d all died afterwards for knowing too much, their celebration in a bar Carola owned marred by a rogue gunman who had mown them all down and then turned the weapon on himself. It wouldn’t be long before the passages were discovered, assuming that the Civil Guard thought to look, but she’d have a chance to get out of the firing line before they caught her. Alive and free, she could link up with her contracts; in prison, her freedom of action would be circumscribed. How long would it be before the Governor worked up the nerve to actually charge her with something they could legally interrogate her for, with or without evidence?

  The interior of the passageway was dark and cramped, but it allowed her to move between the walls. She’d had it designed so that sounds from outside—such as the sound of crashing boots—could be heard, allowing her a chance to deduce what was going on outside. She hoped that Markus was all right, but there was no way to know for sure. He’d been entertaining a younger woman at the time and might have been distracted. It wasn’t as if she really cared about his frequent affairs—they’d married because of a mutual lust for power, not love—but losing Markus would be hard, particularly if they interrogated him. He knew everything she knew about the overall plan.

  Damn it, she thought, as she found the ladder and climbed down two floors. It was harder than she remembered and she found herself panting at the bottom. What did you find out that brought you here?

  The question seemed beyond her ability to answer. The Civil Guard had been showing a distressing independence as of late, ever since they’d walked into a trap she’d organised. Major Grosskopf’s purge had wiped out most of her sources … could it be that he’d browbeaten the Governor into approving the raid? The Marines didn’t seem to be in evidence, but she saw their shadow over the whole failure. They just didn’t behave in a predicable manner. Or had someone talked? There was no way to know. Silently, she ran through a list of possible suspects, but found nothing. Anyone who had known the full truth would have had as much to lose as she had.

  She found the hatch and checked it carefully, before keying the switch that allowed her into the basement. It was supposed to be secure, but after the raid she had given up assuming that anywhere was actually safe from intruders. It was a shame that there was no underground way out of the mansion, yet she hadn’t been able to risk anyone coming in. There were too many experienced thieves in Camelot as it was. She pulled on the chameleon suit, keyed it for invisibility, and headed up the stairs. A pair of Civil Guardsmen was standing at the main door, watching for anyone coming in or out, but they didn’t seem to see her at all. She held her breath as she slipped past them and out into the open, trusting in the suit to keep her invisible. They shouldn’t even have suspected its existence. It had cost far more than even she cared to think about just to bring two of them to Avalon.

  Her lawn, the grassy lawn she’d had made because she could, was no longer pristine. Hundreds of men and women lay on it, taken prisoner by the Civil Guard. A handful had clearly complained loudly and had been stunned by the guards. A number of preteen children sat at one end of the lawn, their hands unbound. She guessed that they’d been told to stay where they were and not cause trouble. Seeing them sent a nasty thought trickling into the back of her mind, leaving her to wonder if she knew how they’d been betrayed after all. The irony was troubling; if she was right, she’d intended to publicly hang the betrayer once she’d secured her power.

  The main gate was guarded by three Marines in their combat armour, but it was open, offering her the chance to slip right past them and out into the city. Once she was outside, she could find her allies and start fighting back, perhaps even bringing down the Governor without the rest of the Council. She walked forward, reminding herself that they couldn’t see her, and reached the gate … and a Marine stepped into her path. Before she could react, an armoured fist slammed into her stomach, knocking her to the ground. The Marine wrenched her hands behind her back and tied them firmly together, before ripping holes in the suit and rendering it visible. Too late, she realised her mistake. The Marine helmets could see right through a chameleon suit. They’d probably thought her walking towards them hilarious.

  A hand rolled her over and she found herself looking into Major Grosskopf’s eyes. “Carola Wilhelm,” he said, “I arrest you on the charge of high treason. You do not have the right to remain silent; I am obliged to warn you that any lies or untruths you tell that are discovered by the lie detectors will be held against you at your trial. You have been warned.”

  He pulled her to her feet and pushed her roughly towards the rest of the prisoners.

  CHAPTER 50

  There is always someone who doesn’t get the word. In war, communications can be disrupted—either accidentally or as a result of enemy action. The more complex a battle plan is, therefore, the greater the chance of a random ‘X Factor’ affecting the outcome.

  - Major-General Thomas Kratman (Ret), A Marine’s Guide to Insurgency.

  “We have to cancel the operation,” Gaby said. She picked up one of the newspapers and held it out to Julian. “Read it for yourself.”

  Julian read the story rapidly. “The Council has been arrested and charged with high treason,” he said. His voice became mocking. “Shocking developments at Wilhelm Mansion. Hundreds arrested. Civil Guard forces in control of the Councillors and their houses. The rump Council will be meeting later today to debate what it means for the future of Avalon.” He scowled. “I see no reason to change our plans.”

  Gaby counted to ten under her breath. “Julian,” she said, wondering where the young boy she’d known had gone, “this is something that changes everything! What would happen if we gave them time to realise just how badly the Council had served them?”

  “It’s hardly enough,” Julian countered, slowly. “Even if the entire Council was placed under arrest, they’d just be replaced by others with the same interest in maintaining the status quo. If anything, this is a chance to go ahead with Operation Headshot and terminate the government, once and for all.”

  Gaby stood up, angrily. Living in a flophouse for two days with Julian had been unbearable, even though it was safe. The messy apartment had been abandoned to squatters long ago and the Cracker agents within the city had found it convenient as a hidden base. They’d even taken the time to touch it up a little, cleaning out the messes the previous tenants had left behind. It was hardly a palace, but it would do.

  “We’re not going to get very far if we launch the operation and fail,” Gaby said. “Should we not try, at least, to take advantage of this before it’s too late?”

  “It is already too late,” Julian said. “We have two hundred people within Camelot and the other … designated targets. We cannot
cancel the operation now, for someone wouldn’t get the order in time and would launch their part of the operation, unaware that there isn’t going to be any support. And, Gaby, they would be slaughtered for sure. The timing is out of our hands.”

  Gaby stared at him, hating him, but she had to admit that he was right. Operation Headshot was easily the most complex operation the Crackers had ever planned, even back when they’d started it as an exercise in wishful thinking. Everything had to fit together reasonably well, if not perfectly, and he was right. One of the teams wouldn’t get the message in time and would launch their attack. If they were wiped out, it would be bad enough, but if they survived long enough to be interrogated … the Governor and the Marines would learn exactly what had been planned. There would no longer be any hope for peace.

  “God damn you,” she said, angrily. It had been Julian who had drawn up the final version of the plan. Had he done it on purpose? She couldn’t see how, but Julian was smarter than he seemed. “How many people are going to die?”

  “This isn’t the time for a political debate,” Julian snapped back. Without Rufus, the tension between them was rapidly coming to the fore. “We stand on the brink of winning the war in one fell swoop or losing … only a handful of our own men. The Governor’s confidence in his security measures will not survive what we’re planning to do. We cannot pull back now and wait for another opportunity. There might not be another opportunity. What happens when they get their act together and tighten up security here?”