"Two hundred fifty million," offered Roben. His eyes and voice offered no hint that he had been drinking. "It's a bit more than its real value, so don't pass on it. It's a pretty good deal."
"Two hundred fifty million, and you'll repair and modernize all of my ships in your shipyards for free, including the three Katanas I'm planning to pay for now, and the ships of my fleet that have yet to come to Tesse. It's just that, tomorrow, the rest of the fleet is supposed to come, and the Uukresh has a broken propulsion drive, so it'll need seven days to be dragged here by tug.”
"Alright, but I'll only repair and upgrade all your ships one time, not whenever you need it," clarified Roben, and I agreed.
"Let's shake on it!" agreed my brother, and just a half hour later we had washed up and officially signed the contract.
By evening, Roben, having drunk a fair bit, unexpectedly admitted:
"You know, little brother, about Tialla... I didn't tell you, but very soon, in a few months at most, they're going to put up a new warp beacon in the Parn system. Scout ships have already brought all necessary equipment there. Basically, all that's left is assembly. In two months, a short path between Sector Eight and Sector Seven will finally be open, connecting two huge regions directly without having to go through the Empire. Just imagine, little brother, what kind of ship traffic is going to be going through there. Every station on its path will be showered with gold! So then, the short way will go through Forepost-31, the Closed Laboratories, Tialla and Unguay. But I didn't trick you at all. I bought Tialla from you for what was a fair price at the time. But, in a few years, it will be three times more expensive at least.”
I just smiled and kept quiet, thinking to myself, "Well, brother dear, I didn't tell you everything either. You're in for quite the surprise when the Uukresh comes in for repair.”
* * *
"Well, hi! For some reason you hung up abruptly last time..." came Mr. G.I.'s familiar voice from inside my dream. I'd just barely had enough time to crash down into bed and fall asleep after spending the whole day at the banquet with Roben.
"There was a reason. I'll have you know that there were three dozen Green House spies in your fleet!"
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure..." Georgiy said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "Crasav ton Lavaelle was working at such a flurried pace to get his agents in among my officers that it would've been hard not to notice. But until recently they've been behaving themselves, so there was no particular reason to upset that hornet's nest."
"I have dismissed Crasav ton Lavaelle for cowardice and disobeying orders. He was discharged at Himora. And right after that was when the attacks on people loyal to me began. Two have been killed so far. I had to act harshly. Thirty-six Green House agents were exposed and brought to trial. The military court quickly sentenced them all to death."
"What a mess..." gasped Georgiy, obviously shocked at the news. "You should be expecting some nastiness from the Green House now. At least you figured out that you had to let the grandson of Count Amelius royl Mast ton Lavaelle go. The Count is the second most important member of the Green House after all, so executing Crasav ton Lavaelle would be equivalent to a declaration of war on the Green House... But maybe it's for the best that you purged the fleet's ranks of traitors. What else is new?"
"I met Roben. We spent the whole day drinking together. By the way, what's the story there with the pregnancy complications? They tried to really bring the hammer down!"
"Oh, that... Pay it no mind. It just turned out that way. They thought Miya wanted to kill Roben's heir."
"Did she really though, or not? It's just important for me to know, so I can understand how I should act with Roben's family," I clarified, framing my question. Mr. G.I. gave an unexpectedly honest answer.
"Miya was acting on my orders. She was just able to stop in time and cover her tracks before they unexpectedly started suspecting us. You see... the temptation was too strong. Roben has a huge fortune and didn't have children. If anything were to have happened to him, the treasures of Tesse would have been split up among his closest relatives, his brother and sister. No, don't think anything untoward. I never arranged for an attempt on my own brother. And, in essence, that wasn't necessary. Roben drinks and eats a great deal, which is ruining his health right before our eyes. I know from reliable sources that Roben's personal doctors are sounding the alarm and begging the Crown Prince to give some thought to his health. They say that, if he doesn't do something soon, he'll suffer unavoidable, terrible consequences, like a stroke ten years down the line. I was prepared to wait. But suddenly Roben married someone from a vassal family, a lower noblewoman, and she conceived him an heir. The first pregnancy had a bunch of complications. On several occasions, the doctors said it was a miracle they saved the fetus. All an experienced mystic would need to do is give a little nudge in the right direction and the unexpected obstacle standing between myself and the treasures of Tesse would have once again ceased to exist... Would you not have tried?"
"I don't know. But I can tell you something good: their suspicions have been completely allayed. His Truth Seeker confirmed our shared innocence."
"Roben got a Truth Seeker? And he sicked her on you? Now that's something!"
"It was my idea. I was having a hard time getting through to him. Your brother had suspicion in his mind in regards to you and Miya. I needed to prove your innocence."
"Yes, that was a good idea. It looks like we've found a way to worm our way out of any meeting with a Truth Seeker, even the Dark Mother herself. Interesting perspectives are coming to light..."
"Don't even think about it!" I cut in, putting my foot down to keep from having to continue covering for the Prince's sins.
Then I told him about selling Tialla, expecting a strongly negative reaction. But Mr. G.I. considered the decision justified, if for a different reason than me:
"My brother is right. You'll be called to the Throne World soon to give a report. I myself already knew that quite well, which is why I thought to get someone else to play for me. But I was hoping you'd have enough time to distinguish yourself. Now though, to be honest, I don't even know what to expect from that meeting. There isn't much in the way of positive results, and these ill-wishers are always digging into the negative. And if the Emperor isn't very impressed with your and my actions, he very well could decide to impose a punishment. Having your holdings revoked is one form of punishment that can be imposed on an aristocrat. So now it's good that we don't have that hanging over our heads."
* * *
"Have you totally lost your mind, little brother? Bringing a whole insect fleet to my system! And a big landing ship to boot!" roared an annoyed Roben through my headphones, forcing me to wince from a headache flare-up.
"Roben, calm down. I warned you yesterday that I had more ships coming. What's more, you even signed a written contract promising to pay for their repair and modernization."
"Yes, I remember. But you just left out the little fact of who would be inside them! I don't even know if our docks will be able to repair them."
"They can, I looked into it. Many of their ship systems are compatible with human ones and can be swapped out and modernized as well. So, I'm counting on a repair and an upgrade."
"Little brother, I always do what I promise and pay my debts. It's no problem, let them come to the orbital docks and swap out whatever they want. But I swear to you: if any of these ships tries getting any closer to Tesse-III than that, it will be destroyed," proclaimed my older brother, hanging up.
I cackled to myself mischievously. The Crown Prince and sovereign of Tesse would not have been so annoyed if his fleet hadn't unabashedly slept through the "invasion." I bet my brother's commanders are going to get quite the thrashing! Just to think, it took the first Tesse fleet scout frigates twenty minutes to reach the Swarm ships. In twenty minutes, three dozen Iseyek ships could have had their run of this foreign system! An attacker would have been able to destroy the warp beacon with time to spare,
for example, or make mincemeat of all the docks and storage facilities. Of course, this time the Iseyeks were coming in peace and not showing even the slightest sign of aggression, but the fact remains...
For me personally, the wake-up today was also unforgettable. The combat alert siren put Queen of Sin's whole crew on its feet, and the situation on the other ships was the same. I ran into the headquarters, buttoning my uniform up mid-stride. I took my seat at the combat console, arriving even before some of the officers. And by the way, the mood in the headquarters was near panic. The monitors convulsed on, someone caught the cable with their foot, tipping over the device-laden desk. The second tactician screamed in hysteria as he added enemy markers to the tactical map:
"Distance to target: nineteen thousand miles. It's a group of ships! Eight cruisers, four of them heavy! Up to twenty support ships showing! One target is very large, tentatively a landing ship..."
It was the words "landing ship" that finally brought me to my senses and got my brain working.
"Turn off the alarms! Those are our ships! Get me Admiral Kheraisss Vej on the line!"
One minute later, the enormous Alpha Iseyek greeted me with a slight bow from the big screen:
"My Princcce, I to carry out you order and bring two fleet to Tesse system."
"Excellent, admiral. Stay at the pre-warp point for now, do not approach the beacon. First I need to give your ships the codes to the Friend or Foe ID System and add your ships to the Imperial Fleet Database so the automatic defense systems on Tesse identify you correctly."
An hour later, the admiral's shuttle docked on Queen of Sin and a pair of praying mantises climbed out of the lowered hatch. The admiral was accompanied by Triasss Zess, and I immediately recognized my old acquaintance by his missing limbs.
Triasss Zess, Ambassador of the Iseyek State to the Empire
Fame: +3
Standing: + 5
Presumed personal opinion of you: +30 (trusting)
"Would you look at that. The crippled praying mantis is making a career for himself after all! As far as I remember, he was just an ambassador's assistant a few days before, and his fame and standing were somewhat more modest. By the way, Triasss Zess's coloring had changed as well. His chitin armor had become brighter. I didn't understand the pants-color-based differentiation system, but obviously these changes had some significance in the life of the intelligent insect.
"My Prince, I have carried out your orders," explained the diplomat. "General Savasss Yakh is on the Tria-class ship with us. And though he is a Gamma Iseyek with genetically unfixed mutational signs of brilliance, it was he that the Swarm considered the most appropriate candidate to command the assault and landing divisions. He has a great deal of experience from the war with the subterranean Arite race, the storming of several planetoids and space stations from different races, and he well and truly has a wealth of knowledge in strategy and tactics for terrestrial operations. Without any exaggeration, I can say that Savasss Yakh is a brilliant commander. He has the kind of greatness that only hatches from a Swarm clutch every hundred years. There are four hundred thousand soldiers on the ship with him and, my Prince, in the appendages of such a great strategist, that is a terrifying force. Beyond that, I have been authorized by the Swarm to tell you, Prince Georg royl Inoky, that if you should ever lack soldiers to carry out any mission whatsoever, the Swarm shall provide you with boots on the ground up to five billion strong."
I needed a few seconds to digest what I'd just heard. I couldn't wrap my head around the number, so I asked the ambassador to repeat what he'd just said. Triasss Zess obediently repeated, adding:
"We are very low on resources; everything is dedicated to building the transport ships. Due to the lack of food supplies, we will have to put whole villages in hibernation if they aren't directly taking part in the construction of the starships. The ground combat forces have actually been put into a state of suspended animation. The Swarm wanted me to tell you that you can have up to five billion soldiers and technicians as soon as you like.”
Five billion praying mantis assault troops! My imagination just froze up, refusing to think up any combat operation that could possibly require that many soldiers. And where would I get the funds to transport five billion creatures? That's the population of a whole planet!
* * *
The huge Tesse Orbital Repair Complex was abuzz with work. Crane operators were grabbing the Iseyek cruisers with their magnetic claws, turning the hulking bodies of the huge starships in their several-yard-long mobile arms and putting them in place at the repair docks. The repair complex was reminiscent of a gigantic bunch of grapes with different-sized fruits, from the modest frigates to the huge heavy cruisers. Through the semi-circular observation porthole in the manager's office, I watched the docking procedure in the company of the two admirals and the leading technical expert of the station.
"Replace and modify all computer equipment on the ships," said the expert, noting the client's wishes on his tablet. "Install Empire-standard communication systems and signal coders on the Iseyek ships. Apply anti-radar coating to all frigates, modernize propulsion systems and energy shields on all ships. Anything else?"
"Yes, modify the Warhawks' artillery modules, replace the combat drones on all Legashes with Imperial models and, well, frankly a lot of other things," I added, sending my list to the technician's computer.
He began skimming through the file rather quickly, but suddenly got tripped up on a line:
"Prince Georg, is this right? You would like to remove the warp disruptors and energy shield recharge generators from the heavy ships?"
"That's right. I need ships with that exact setup.”
I’d already grown tired of arguing about this. I’d already proven my idea, first to Admiral Kiro Sabuto, then to Admiral Kheraisss Vej and the cruiser captains. The military men's inertia was simply impenetrable. “Every combat ship must have a warp disruptor to keep the enemy on the battle field,” “a ship will not survive a battle if it cannot recharge its own energy shield,” and other such fossilized dogma. And even if I was more or less able to explain why heavy class ships don't need warp disruptors – keeping enemy ships immobile is a job for the frigates and small ships after all, then the shield recharging was much more of a sticking point. The idea of recharging the shield, not of one's own cruiser, but of an allied ship was met with hostility. The fear of being on a ship under fire and being helpless, without being able to "heal" your energy shield proved so strong that I had to even pressure my subjects and lean on my authority as Crown Prince of the Empire to push the difficult decision through.
The idea of "spider tanking," when players heal other group members instead of just themselves, has been firmly established in online games for some time. As a rule, one player cannot heal all the damage done to them and, if they try to heal only themselves, they will inevitably bring about their own death. But if everyone in a group or fleet immediately heals the ship that was attacked, its chance of survival rises sharply. As weird as it was, the Iseyeks accepted the idea more readily than the humans. It seemed that the idea of collective action was closer to the intelligent insects than it was to the individualist humans.
"The repair and modifications to the ships comes to forty-two million credits," explained the expert, sending me an itemized list of all planned work. "The ships presently at dock will be finished within six days, and the three Katanas will be ready one week from the day they arrive here in Tesse."
I signed the sheet and sent it on to Roben. An alert chime rang out, telling me that my older brother had paid the bill. Great, in six days I'll finally have the basis for what will become a menacing fleet!
"Now, let's fly to the Tria. I want to finally meet the great strategist and see the Alpha Iseyek warrior host with my own eyes."
"My Princcce, me probably to with you?" wondered Admiral Kheraisss Vej with a light half-bow. "No one on Tria speak people."
Yes, the language problem was reall
y quite poignant. None of my people could understand the insects' language, and only two of the Iseyeks could understand human speech. But Triasss Zess has already left for home with the tug and three support ships to ferry the Uukresh. And using Admiral Kheraisss Vej as nothing more than a translator didn't feel quite right. Ugh, when would my translator-slash-assistant finally arrive...?
I was in no rush to answer the admiral. An emergency call came in from the headquarters of Queen of Sin. It was code red – something very important must have happened.
"Your Highness," explained the communications officer, his voice wavering in worry. "A request from the Emperor's Communications Service has come in. Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, you are to report to the Throne World at once."
The officer didn't even have time to hang up before a call came in from Roben.
"I already know. Anyway, the Green House did it. Hold tight for now, brother dear!"
The Path to the Empire
The fact that I had been called to make a report before the Emperor, much less “at once,” required me to abandon all my affairs and fly as hurriedly as possible to the Throne World. I even suspected that special employees of various services would evaluate the minute-by-minute timeline: how fast did I get ready and under way? How fast did I fly? Did I forget to announce any unjustified delays under way, thus showing disrespect to the Emperor?
"Oorast Pohl, arrange for the fastest possible route to the Throne World, we will go at maximum speed."
"Yes, my Prince," he said. Queen of Sin was just then undocking from the station and accelerating to the next warp beacon.
I set off for my office. For whatever reason, even though there were many different kinds of cabins for work and relaxation on the luxury yacht, I preferred the very office where I had once dined with my daughter for the first time. It was the place where I could do my best thinking. The furnishings didn't annoy me with excessive luxury and did not distract me from my work. I left Likanna on Tesse, which didn't worry me at all. It would take more than a week for my daughter to play herself out in her own real castle, where she had all imaginable kinds of entertainment at her service, and Uncle Roben could provide for her safety in his own star system.
Sector Eight (Perimeter Defense: Book #1) Page 13
