Shades of Empire (ThreeCon)

by Carmen Webster Buxton

  “Go!”

  He went, and true to her threat, he found Khan lurking in the corridor waiting for him.

  • • •

  Two days later, Thaddeus checked his console one last time before he started the sequence that would return them to normal space. As soon as he finished keying the sequence, the spatial fold generators began to wind down, and gradually the space around the Bee began to unfold itself. As the ship slowly released its grip on its environment, the space around it assumed normal proportions at the same rate. Thaddeus checked the location monitor. They were at the outer edge of the Degollado system, exactly as planned, almost the same place they had found Alexander.

  “Good job, Thad,” Carmela said, coming up behind him. She slid into the pilot’s seat just as soon as the beep sounded to tell her she had control of the ship. Surprisingly, she had been a lot friendlier since his cover had been blown.

  “Thanks,” he said, happy to be able to speak normally. “See you later.”

  She grinned at him. “Have a nice evening.”

  He got to his feet with one last glance at his panel. “Too bad for Niels that you drew night shift.”

  She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We manage to stay on the same shift more often than not.”

  Thaddeus nodded and left the bridge. He headed for Maddy’s cabin with Lucas Pringle right behind him.

  As soon as Thaddeus went through the door to her cabin, Maddy pressed the door lock and dialed the code so that only she could unlock it. “You’re dismissed, Pringle,” she called out.

  His answer was muffled, but Maddy didn’t seem to care. She turned to Thaddeus with a pleased smile on her face.

  “Well?” he said dryly. “Are you satisfied with this level of security or are you going to chain me up for the night?”

  Her smile widened in a way that alarmed him. “We can try that tonight, if you like. We’ve tried about everything else.”

  “No, thanks,” Thaddeus said, advancing on her. “I like to keep my hands free.”

  She met him halfway and their embrace was enthusiastic. A short time later, Maddy put out the cabin lights and slid under the bedclothes next to him. Thaddeus reached for her, and Maddy gave a little sigh of anticipation.

  “It’s a shame you’re a ThreeCon spy,” she said, “but at least you’re not an idiot.”

  For once, Thaddeus’ response was immediate. He pushed her down on the pillows and kissed her passionately. Maddy was gasping when the kiss ended, but she couldn’t resist further repartee.

  “And at least you’ve had some practice.”

  “Shut up,” Thaddeus said, and busied himself with distracting her.

  “Ummm,” she said.

  • • •

  The next morning, Maddy had showered and dressed before Thaddeus even stumbled sleepily into the bathroom. When he came out, clean, clothed, and slightly more awake, it was to find her pointing a stun gun directly at him.

  “Not again,” he said with a sigh.

  “Come over here and sit down, Thad.” She indicated the chair beside her.

  Thaddeus crossed the room and sat down in the chair next to the table. He noted a pair of wrist restraints sitting on the table top, and gave Maddy a sour look.

  “Now,” Maddy said, “put your left hand under the table and put that arm around the table leg.”

  Thaddeus obeyed and wasn’t surprised when she picked up the restraints and fastened them over first his left wrist and then his right, effectively binding him to the table. Since the table was securely bolted to the deck, he was now unable to move more than half a meter in any direction.

  “There,” Maddy said. “I’ve got to go, Thad. I’ll come let you out as soon as I’ve finished my business.”

  “Don’t I even get breakfast?”

  She snorted. “My heart bleeds. You can eat later.”

  He decided to try for information. “So your meet-up is this morning?”

  “You’re too nosy for your own good.” She bent over him and Thaddeus, realizing her intention, lifted his head to kiss her.

  “Behave yourself,” she ordered as she straightened up.

  “You didn’t give me much choice. This isn’t a good basis for a relationship, you know, Maddy.”

  “We’ll discuss it later,” she said as she headed for the door.

  He watched her go and then tried to lean back in his chair to get comfortable. He wasn’t successful, and it occurred to him that it might have been better to have put up a fight and gotten himself stunned in consequence. Unconsciousness sounded attractive in comparison to sitting here, unable to move and incapable of doing anything at all to keep himself occupied.

  • • •

  Madeline went from her cabin straight to the bridge. Carmela, already on duty, was reviewing her instruments carefully.

  She gave Madeline a surprised glance when she came onto the bridge. “Where’s Thad?”

  “Where he can’t get into any trouble,” Madeline said grimly. “How’s it look?”

  “Fine,” Carmela said. “We’re in position. I haven’t seen any sign—” she broke off abruptly and leaned forward over her console. “No, wait. I think this is it.”

  Madeline took a seat in the captain’s chair. “Are we sure it’s them?”

  Juan Mahler was on duty at the com station. “They’re hailing us with the correct signal, skipper.”

  “Good,” Madeline said. She tapped her own com console. “Captain to first mate. Are you there, Niels?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Niels’s voice came over the speaker. “Are we ready?”

  “Any second now,” Madeline answered. “Be prepared to receive their shuttle at our aft docking port.”

  “Right,” Niels said. “We’re set.”

  She waited on the bridge until the rebel shuttle had docked safely, and then she went down one level to the common room, which had been cleared and prepped for the occasion. Madeline took a seat at the conference table she had ordered set up, and waited.

  In a few minutes, Niels came in leading a group of three people, two men and a woman. Both men were older than Madeline by at least two decades, the woman just a little younger.

  Madeline got to her feet. “Welcome aboard the Queen Bee. Have a seat and we can talk things over.”

  The taller of the two men frowned. “What is there to discuss, Captain Palestrino? You do have our shipment, don’t you?”

  “Certainly we do, Citizen Ostrov,” Madeline said, “but there are a couple of things you should know.”

  The three of them took seats, and Madeline signed for Niels to join them as she sat down herself.

  “Now,” she said, “I don’t know if you remember it when we met last, but my astrogator was a man named Thaddeus Jenner. Did you ever happen to notice him?”

  Both men shook their heads, but the woman spoke up.

  “I think I did. You were on the bridge the last time we came aboard, Captain, and we went from there to your cabin.” She glanced around as if she had just realized they weren’t in the captain’s cabin now and was surprised by it. “Anyway, I noticed the man in the astrogator’s chair. I remember because he struck me as looking almost—well, vacant. Not all there, if you know what I mean?”

  Madeline nodded. “I know precisely what you mean, Citizen Chen. That was the effect Thad was striving for, and he did it very well. It seems that his joining our crew two years ago was a setup. He is, in fact, a ThreeCon agent who was planted on the Bee because they suspected that we were supplying you with weapons.”

  The effect of this pronouncement was electric. All three of them looked stunned, and then Ostrov spoke, almost stammering in his haste to express himself.

  “ThreeCon! You have a ThreeCon agent aboard?”

  Madeline nodded again.

  “You haven’t spaced him?” the other man said eagerly. “He’s alive?”

  “He’s alive,” Madeline said. “He also told me that it was ThreeCon who sold me this last shipment
.”

  “What?” all three of them said at once.

  “He said,” Madeline repeated, “that it was ThreeCon who sold us this last shipment of arms.”

  “But,” Ostrov said in confusion, “why would ThreeCon do that? They’ve always steadfastly refused our pleas for assistance.”

  “It seems,” Madeline said, “that they’re willing to act, but not openly.”

  “And he admitted this to you?” Ostrov asked.

  Madeline nodded. “Thad said ThreeCon was satisfied your group had no illicit intentions, other than the overthrow of the du Plessis. He won’t say what his orders were if he was found out, but it appears he had decided it was best to admit his identity.”

  The other man had been considering the situation. “Just think of it,” he said eagerly to Ostrov. “If we hold this man as a hostage, we might get ThreeCon to truly help us.”

  “No!” Madeline said at once. “I’m not turning him over to you. That wasn’t part of our deal at all.”

  Ostrov gave her a sharp look. “We’ll pay for him. It’s not like we’re trying to get something for nothing.”

  “No.”

  Niels cleared his throat. “It seems to me,” he said, diffidence in his tone, “that it would be foolish for you to antagonize ThreeCon, Citizen. You might make them change their minds altogether.”

  “I agree.” Chen leaned forward and slapped her on hand on the table surface. “Don’t listen to Karchin, Louis! This isn’t the time to do anything hasty.”

  “Where is he?” Ostrov said abruptly. “Where is this ThreeCon agent? I want to talk to him!”

  Madeline hesitated. She had no fear that the rebels could somehow snatch Thad away, but on the other hand, what would it accomplish for them to talk to him?

  “I think that would be reasonable,” Chen said. “It couldn’t hurt for us to talk to him, could it, Captain?”

  Madeline tapped her fingertips on the table and thought it over. Perhaps these people could persuade Thad to talk?

  “All right,” she said, reaching into her pocket. “Here’s the key to his restraints, Niels,” she said to her first mate. “Take a couple of staff with you, and keep the restraints on him when you bring him in here.”

  Niels took the key and left swiftly, leaving Madeline to go over the details of her deal with the rebels, including the precise amounts of each type of weapon and ammunition she had been able to procure.

  When Niels came back, Thad walked immediately behind him. His hands were restrained as Madeline had prescribed, and his expression reflected a grim fatalism, as if he were going to his own execution. Luong Khan and Alexander Napier walked behind him, and both of them carried stun guns.

  “So,” Ostrov said, rising to his feet, “this is the ThreeCon agent?”

  Thad said nothing.

  Ostrov’s companions had risen also, and were studying Thaddeus as if they found him fascinating.

  “Pl—please reconsider, Captain,” Karchin said, eagerness making him almost stutter. “If we took him back with us, we could use truth drugs on him. It would allow us to find out much useful information.”

  “I said no and I meant no,” Madeline said, alarmed at the rebel’s view of Thad as a commodity. “You can stop asking because my answer will always be no.”

  Thad gave her an intent look but still said nothing.

  “Come now, sir,” Ostrov said to Thad, his tone coaxing. “You’re not in a good position to bargain. Surely you can see where it’ll be better for you if you talk to us?”

  Thad stared straight ahead, still silent.

  Ostrov looked as if he would continue to argue, but suddenly Chen gave a startled cry and clutched his arm. “Louis! That man—look!”

  Madeline stared with everyone else in the room, trying to determine what had surprised the other woman so thoroughly. She was first to realize that Chen was staring at Alexander’s holographic tattoo. “Oh, that’s Alexander Napier, one of my crew. He was in the Emperor’s Own Corps of Guards.”

  Ostrov looked as if his eyes would pop from his head. “The Emperor’s Own! Are you mad, Captain? They never desert. He’s almost certainly a spy!”

  “Alexander had his reasons for leaving the Corps,” Madeline said. “They tried to execute him, but they got too cute about how they did it.”

  Alexander was standing at attention as they all looked at him. Madeline noted Thad moving tentatively toward the door, but before she could say anything, Khan stepped in front of the ThreeCon prisoner and frowned at him.

  “What are you talking about?” Ostrov demanded of Madeline, reclaiming her attention.

  She explained succinctly about finding the life pod, and gave an abbreviated account of the holographic recording they had seen projected there.

  Ostrov figured it out immediately, and turned toward Alexander. “You’re the man who tried to run off with one of the Emperor’s concubines! The palace tried to keep it quiet, but word got out. They said you’d been executed for treason.”

  “They think they executed him,” Madeline corrected. “If that life pod had been even a few hours ahead of us, they’d have been right.”

  Ostrov sneered. “How typical of the Emperor to think that nowhere in the solar system was there anyone who dared defy him.”

  Chen’s face lit with an ecstatic smile. “Louis, don’t you understand? He’s what we’ve been looking for all along—someone who knows the palace—someone who can get us inside.”

  Alexander had been looking very uncomfortable, but at this announcement his eyes widened in disbelief. “Get you inside? You think you can take the imperial palace? You’re crazy!”

  Thad looked as if he agreed with Alexander. For the first time, his face showed something other than stern disapproval as he stared at Chen in disbelief.

  “Maybe we are crazy.” Ostrov’s tone was almost jovial. “But Lottie is right; if we had you with us, our chances would be infinitely better.”

  “Let’s sit down and discuss it,” Karchin urged. “If nothing else, you can give us some information. Surely you wouldn’t mind doing that?”

  “I don’t mind,” Alexander said slowly, “but I’m on duty.”

  Everyone’s eyes swiveled to Madeline. She was still watching Thad, and was startled to find herself suddenly the target of the conversational ball.

  “Go ahead and talk to them if you want to, Napier,” she said. “Since Thad is so uncooperative, you can take him back to my cabin, Khan. Restrain him just as you found him.”

  Of all the rebels, only Chen reacted to this reference to where Thad was being held. She smiled a faint smile and gave Madeline a curious look, as if she were appraising her. A moment later they all took seats around the table, and Chen turned her attention to Alexander Napier.

  Madeline provided a stylus and a terminal with a large monitor, and went off to see how the transfer of cargo was going. She would be glad when the rebels were gone and her ship could get back to normal.

  • • •

  Alexander laid the monitor flat on the table, took the stylus, and drew a rough outline of the palace compound, a large irregular polygon.

  “This is the outer perimeter that surrounds the entire grounds,” Alexander explained as he sketched. “It’s both a solid wall and a force field.” He drew a rough rectangle in the middle of the polygon. “This is the palace proper, the imperial residence,” he said, labeling it on his map. “It has its own inner perimeter. And this,” he drew a much smaller rectangle in the lower left corner, “is the barracks where the Corps live. There are other buildings around here,” he added several small squares, “for the servants and for equipment, supplies, vehicles, all kinds of things.”

  He moved the stylus to divide the largest rectangle into smaller shapes. “The palace proper, the Emperor’s residence, is large and fairly spread out. It’s mostly two stories, but the upper floor consists of quarters for the staff and servants, and offices for the Emperor’s administrative staff. The Emperor’s pr
ivate quarters are here, on the ground floor in the center of the palace. The women’s quarters are closer to the back of the house. All his women are very strictly confined, you know? There’s a barrier, either a force field or a steel screen, around every square centimeter of their quarters, and no one goes in or out except through one of two gates.”

  “They can’t go outside?” Chen asked.

  “They can,” Alexander said, “but only in their own courtyards.” He added a few more marks to further delineate the space he had defined as being the women’s quarters. “It’s hard for me to place them in relation to the whole space, but there are three courtyards that the concubines have for their own use. And of course, the Empress’ quarters are separate from theirs. Her rooms open onto the terrace and the gardens at the back of the house. I was only there once, when the Emperor went to visit her.”

  “So would he be there?” Karchin asked excitedly. “I mean, could we expect the Emperor to be with the Empress in the evening?”

  Alexander smiled. “Not at night, no. From what they say in the palace, Lothar hasn’t spent the night with his wife in years. And if he wants one of the other women, usually he sends for her. A group of four guardsmen will be sent to fetch her and escort her to his suite. I know; I had to do it lots of times.”

  “How close is his suite to the women’s quarters?”

  Alexander drew a small box on the screen, almost touching the rectangle that represented the women’s quarters. “Very close. He’s right here, just around the corner from the main entrance to the women’s area. I suppose it’s meant to be convenient.”

  “Damn!” Karchin said. “He’s very insulated. He’ll be difficult to reach. He rarely leaves the palace these days, except to address the Parliament, and he hasn’t done that in months.”

  Alexander looked from one rebel face to the other. “You’re trying to hit the Emperor?”

  “We’d like to,” Ostrov said. “It would save a lot of lives if we could lop off the head of the du Plessis empire. The revolution could be accomplished much more quickly.”

  It didn’t convince Alexander. “All you’d have is Emperor Antonio IV instead of Lothar II.”