Confused at the cryptic message, but knowing Vimes well enough not to ignore him, Adam spent a moment recalling the passage, then smiled broadly, instructing Vimes to prepare a fast shuttle and passing control temporarily to Jogi.
“Thanks, Vimes,” Adam thought.
“Thanks for what, Adam?” came the smug reply.
SCENE 4. THE CONSCIENCE OF A KING
Emperor Alexander was deeply troubled. As much as it pained him to admit it, Duke McEvitt was right; every day he spent here in this system played into the rebel’s hands, yet he couldn’t afford to leave without having first been seen to comprehensively defeat him. In doing so he would send a strong and clear message of intent to the other rebels out there. Simply admitting a stalemate and leaving the Duke to laugh at his attempts to unseat him set a poor precedent. He needed to demonstrate to the other rebel groups and hostile empires that it was in their best interest to accept his terms and give up the fighting.
Although making the offer of safe passage had almost stuck in his throat, Alexander knew it had been the right thing to do, even if the knowledge hadn’t made it any easier to bear at the time. Now he was faced with a binary choice, neither option something he wanted to do. Vimes had, of course, made his own recommendation early on, one that followed a path Alexander had tried everything to avoid, but Duke McEvitt’s refusal to surrender had left him with no room to manoeuvre. Even in his despair and grief at Christine’s murder, he retained more than enough empathy for the innocents on the planet below. Alexander was loathed to inflict more pain and suffering on them simply because of their Duke’s treason. Alexander hated and dreaded times like these in equal measure. He had seen enough destruction during the Succession War to last a lifetime, even for one as long lived as he.
To make matter worse, if such a thing was even possible, he still had the terrible task of telling Adam what had happened to his mother, something he was dreading and had been putting off, reasoning there had to be a better time than at the start of a major battle. However, Alexander knew that his refusal to take calls from his son was simply an excuse, almost as if not facing up to telling Adam somehow meant Christine was still alive. Alexander thought he and his son had reached an understanding of late; the Earth woman, Karen, having brought to Adam a sense of peace and maturity that had enabled father and son to reconnect. He hoped the news of Christine’s death would not tear them apart again.
Vimes interrupted his train of thought, asking if he could put a message through from Admiral Frith.
“Sire,” Frith’s voice sounding in his mind, “the weapon is now in position and is standing by, awaiting your orders. Long range sensors and recording devices are also in position, comfortably outside the range of the enemies ground-based weaponry, ready to transmit as requested.”
“Thank you, Janice. I will join you shortly, once I’ve made my final decision.”
On the Bridge, Admiral Frith closed the link, not taking her eyes off the display in the main tank. The twenty-four specially equipped ships were in place, holding an equidistant pattern around the planet, and like the sensors, outside of the long reach of planetary defences. This new weapon, designed by Professor Lucking and his team, had only been tested once before, on an uninhabited planet in the hidden Arisia system. The results had been both spectacular and extremely disturbing, yet she knew its use could drastically shorten the war and save billions of lives. Once people could see the destructive power of this simple weapon, she felt sure those rebels who were wavering in their support for Frederick would surrender and seek terms.
“Poor Alexander,” she thought, her impassive face betraying nothing of what she was feeling, “as if he doesn’t have enough to bear at the moment without having to decide the fate of those below.” Knowing him as she did, Frith felt she already knew what his decision would be, for she had come to know him as a man who would do whatever was needed, no matter how difficult the choice.
The news of Christine’s murder had hit her hard. Although they hadn’t been particularly close due to the time she spent away with the Imperial Navy, they had met and socialised on numerous occasions. Frith had been impressed by Christine’s simple humanity, especially in the way she treated those who served her. She was also aware of Adam’s attempts to contact his father and worried how the two would react together when the young Prince finally discovered what had happened. She had been informed by Britannia’s AI the moment Adam had passed control to his First Officer, as all such changes were logged. It didn’t require her tactical brain to work out where he was going and why. A quick question to her own ship’s AI confirmed his shuttle would arrive in two hours, so she set a reminder to make sure she was free for a period afterwards, in case either of them needed her. She debated whether to tell Alexander his son was coming to see him, but on balance decided against it. Frith reasoned it was not her place to get involved, and as Vimes would know, he could make the choice for her. Anyway, her friendship with Alexander had its limits. It was important that father and son both realised they needed each other now, perhaps more than they ever had before.
Elsewhere, apart from on the planet, the rebellion in this system was over. Only a few enemy vessels had managed to escape her pursuing ships, and she knew that without resupply or any means to leave the system, it was only a matter of time before these would be found and destroyed. The rebel Imperial ships had now all been taken over and the officers separated from the bulk of the crew. Disturbingly, a familiar pattern was beginning to emerge from the questioning and interrogation. The majority of rebels had been misled by their commanders, fed false data via their implants and the ships AI’s, and had believed they were fighting for the Imperium and not against it. Although far too early for firm conclusions to be drawn from this one engagement, the initial findings indicated that the rebellion hadn’t spread downwards and was mainly contained within the ruling or officer classes, the bulk of the navy remaining loyal.
Sadly, this made the Emperor’s choice of what to do with the planet below even harder. If the majority of citizens were not actually rebelling and had simply been taken in by a clever use of misinformation and lies, their sources of information cleverly controlled by the plotters, how could Alexander order the planet attacked?
“What would I do?” she asked herself, feeling profoundly sad for her friend and the people on the planet below. She found herself unable to answer the question. Dauntless’s AI cut through her deliberation and announced the Emperor’s imminent arrival on the Bridge. Seconds later he walked in, briefly acknowledging the salutes before waving everyone back to work. Frith watched his face carefully as he approached, looking for any sign of his decision.
“I’ll find out in a moment,” she thought, unable to read anything on his face, his tense and forced body language signing his inner tension. Frith also found herself tensing inside, an unwilling witness to what she feared was about to occur. For a mad, brief moment, she considered refusing to carry out the order, if it came to that, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it had come.
“No, the burden is his alone, refusing to use the weapon would only complicate matters,” she thought, then greeted Alexander out loud, pleased her voice sounded firm despite how she was feeling inside. “Your Majesty. As ordered, everything is ready, and the weapon awaits your command.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” Alexander reached across with his right hand and in an unfamiliar public display of affection placed it on her left shoulder. He looked her in the eyes, holding them firm with his own. “This is my decision to make, and I will be the one, not you, who has to live with the consequences. Am I clear?”
She said nothing for a few moments, grateful that despite his own distress he still cared for those under him. “Yes, Sire. Will you give the order, or shall I?”
“I’ve just given it.”
For several long minutes, nothing happened. All eyes had turned and were now focused on the main tank, watching a highly-magnified representation of the main f
orce dome covering the capital. Now no longer being attacked by the orbiting fleet, only a slight shimmer gave away its presence, providing everyone with a clear picture of the city below. It was only around the leading edge of the shield dome that fires still burned brightly in the fused and blasted wreckage that represented all that was left of the unprotected areas.
Frith switched to watching the data coming in from the twenty-four orbiting ships carrying the weapon, noting the energy drain and generators were about to reach maximum capacity. Frith, everyone on the Bridge and across the entire fleet watched as imperceptibly, the very ground beneath the city seemed to vibrate. Fault lines across the planet began to shift, as tectonic plates moved, releasing enormous amounts of pent up energy in the process, generating massive earthquakes across the planet. Active and semi-dormant volcanoes began erupting everywhere, venting their magma chambers into the air, adding to the mounting destruction. On another screen showing the planet from a higher orbit, shock waves could be clearly seen rippling across the ground. In the oceans, tsunamis began racing towards the densely populated coastal areas already hit by the constant tremors, generated as massive undersea areas, thousands of square miles in size, moved up and down,
On the main screen, the Bridge crew watched as skyscrapers and buildings of all kinds began to topple and collapse, killing tens of thousands in an instant, people on the ground outside sharing the same fate as those in the falling buildings. Streets buckled and warped, severing power and water lines. Transit tubes buckled and bent, killing the unlucky occupants as tube carriages hammered into the broken and distorted tunnel walls at hypersonic speeds.
Away from the collapsing cities, the heaving earth began to slowly dismantle the symbols of civilisation, with dams and bridges collapsing and being swept away as rivers changed their ancient courses and the ground reshaped itself. The protective domes that had held firm despite the best efforts of the fleet in orbit, all began to fail as the very ground beneath their foundations crumbled, and the machinery powering them became so much worthless scrap.
Impassively, Alexander watched the destruction, allowing it to go on for another minute before giving a silent instruction to turn off the weapon. Despite this, the earthquakes continued for a while, until the ground had reached a new equilibrium with itself, although aftershocks would continue for many days afterwards. Tsunamis were still clearly visible on the holographic display, racing inwards from the shore and deep into the interior, with many still out in deeper water and not due to make landfall for some minutes. Around the Bridge, many of the officers had stood up, unable to sit through what they were seeing, never having witnessed anything like this before.
Despite having seen the new weapon used before on an uninhabited and barren planet, both Frith and Alexander were still awed by the destructive potential of this relatively simple weapon. Professor Lucking, working with his two assistants, Stephen Hooper and Richard Honeyman, had postulated that a planet’s nickel-iron core could be made to resonate and vibrate if a properly directed and large enough magnetic field could be generated to encompass it. The vibration and resonance only needed to be tiny, as the effects would be magnified thousands of times as the movement radiated out through the various liquid cores of the planet and up into the mantle. On the surface, the effects would be most profound, especially for human structures that relied on stable foundations and rigid lines for energy and water transmission, whereas damage to the natural environment would be kept to a minimum. Although the weapon’s use would be devastating to the trappings of civilisation and the humans living there, it was far less destructive and damaging option than simply sterilising the planet’s surface and everything on it through nuclear bombardment or by the introduction of a biological agent that would destroy anything living. Despite this, without immediate outside help, any advanced society on a planet where the weapon was used would be quickly returned to pre-industrial revolution levels.
Alexander broke the silence, turning to Frith.
“Admiral, when it is safe to do so, send in the Marine forces to try and locate Duke McEvitt and his family. The troops are not to put themselves in unnecessary danger when doing so, for I doubt too many of his family or members of his command structure survived, especially if they were underground when the weapon took effect.”
“Yes, Sire,” replied Frith, again debating with herself whether to tell him his son would be arriving shortly. Her internal debate didn’t last long, and she decided to keep her own counsel but would nonetheless meet Adam herself on docking. “And the ships that surrendered? Have you decided what to do with them yet?”
“I have. The non-human races and non-Imperial humans are to be escorted to the Jump Station, where their Jump Engines will be removed, along with all weapons, then sent back to the nearest Jump Point in their own space, with a warning to heed what happened here. They have just witnessed what I am prepared to do to my own people in order to quell this rebellion, and I invite them to consider carefully what I would do to those I have no allegiance to. Providing they withdraw support from Duke Frederick and his allies, I will take no further punitive action against them, but if they don’t, well…” He left the implication hanging. “They've witnessed the destructive potential of our new weapon first hand. They have a choice. Please bring the ships’ Captains on board and deliver the message to them personally.
“Yes, Sire, she replied, “and the surrendered rebel Marines and Captains? What are your intentions there?”
“Most of the ships will need scrapping anyway, to eventually make way for the new designs and propulsion systems, but for the moment we can use them and their crews to assist in the rebuilding of the planet. The ships themselves can land and become temporary shelters, while the conversion engines can act as replacement power stations until new ones are built. The ordinary rank and file servicemen and women will be used to assist with helping the planet’s population until their individual cases have been heard and a decision made as to the level of their culpability. However, the Officers and senior staff are to be relieved of command and kept in the brig until their Court Martial trials, at which point their fate will be decided.”
“Anything else, Sire?”
Alexander shook his head. “No. I have some personal matters to attend to first. How is my son performing?”
“Green, but willing and eager to learn. That was to be expected, which is why he’s surrounded by an experienced crew. He’s doing fine, though.” She leant forward, “Alexander, forgive me for intruding, but you need to speak with your son and let him know what’s happened.”
Seeing him about to react, she raised a hand to stop him. “The longer you leave it, the more difficult it will be for the both of you. There, I’ve said my piece.” Frith straightened and was once again the consummate professional. “If there is nothing more I will go about my duties, Sire.”
Alexander nodded, his face frowning as he realised he could not put off talking to his son any longer. “I will take that as my cue to do the same. Thank you, Admiral.” With that, Alexander decided to go back to his Staterooms and ask for Adam to meet with him so they could talk face to face. What he had to say was too personal, even via Vimes. Before he could formulate the request, Vimes got there first.
“Already done, Alex. Your son decided he’d had enough of being blocked and is on his way here. He should be arriving in an hour.”
“How is he, Vimes?” Alexander asked before he could stop himself, knowing what the answer would be the moment he thought the question.
“You will find out soon enough, Alex. You know I won’t break his confidence.”
Unaware of the byplay going on between Alexander and Vimes, Frith turned to her First Officer and gave him instructions, “Number One, you have the Bridge. I will be in my ready room.”
Frith nodded to Alexander and left the Bridge, already drafting what she would say to the captured Captains; at the same time giving instructions to the AI for them to be brought over. “
It’s going to be another busy day,” she thought to herself, getting comfortable in her chair, “but at least it will take my mind off those ghastly images for a time.”
On his shuttle, Adam watched the destruction wrecked onto the planet by his father’s new weapon, aghast at the decision to use it. The loss of life was already huge and would continue to rise as the tsunamis thundered in to ravage the already wrecked cities and settlements along the coastlines. In addition, tens of thousands were now trapped in the rubble of fallen buildings…children in schools that had fallen on top of them, even the sick and injured being treated in hospitals before the weapon struck. Disease and exposure would take its toll on thousands, if not millions more. Adam found it hard to reconcile what he was seeing with the man he knew. What had begun as a simple trip to find out why his father wasn’t answering any of his calls, suddenly took on a sinister edge.
“How could he order the deaths of millions, Vimes?” he asked his constant companion. “It’s unjustifiably barbaric. Why didn’t he quarantine the planet and take over those areas not protected by the shield domes? Sooner or later they would have had to surrender. Anything would have better than this, surely?”
“I cannot agree with you, Adam,” replied Vimes, “you heard Duke McEvitt. Your father offered McEvitt infinitely better terms than would have been offered to him if their situation had been reversed. It also sends a signal to the other empires and rebels what will happen to them if they continue to aid Duke Frederick.”
“So you agree with him then? But the human cost, the suffering; surely nothing can justify that? I can’t believe my father willingly ordered such a thing. No wonder he didn’t want to speak with me and won't return my calls. Was there a threat that I don’t know about, something that forced his hand?”
Imperium: Coda: Book Three in the Imperium Trilogy Page 7
