Shades of Empire (ThreeCon)

by Carmen Webster Buxton

  “Have you picked your team yet, Isaac?” Ostrov asked.

  Alexander blinked. The mere fact that they identified the man by name indicated that they had already consigned him to the dead. Isaac Lu was a hard-bitten army veteran, but Alexander had recognized in him the borderline insanity of the fanatic.

  Lu’s eyes, set deep in his grizzled face, reflected a fervent inner fire as he spoke. “Seven men, besides myself. All veterans except for Alfie, and we need him for the explosives.”

  “Good,” Ostrov said. “Wizard, do we have the disguises?”

  Chen looked at Isaac Lu as she answered. “It depends. I have eight coveralls and eight baker’s smocks. I need for the team to try them on. They don’t have to be perfect, but I don’t want them to look ludicrous, either.”

  “Agreed,” Ostrov said. “How about weapons and explosives?”

  Quentin Karchin cleared his throat. He had been very quiet since the meeting started, and Alexander wondered if he was unhappy with their plans. “We have two kilos of corprazine, six fuses and detonators, and eight energy pistols ready. Of course, we’ll need another pistol for Sentinel, but we’ll get that when we obtain a guardsman’s uniform.”

  “How will we get a guardsman’s uniform?” Alexander asked.

  Karchin gave him a grim smile. “From a guardsman, of course.”

  Alexander didn’t ask what he meant. He only hoped the uniform he ended up wearing didn’t have Diego or Luc’s name tag on it. “What about less lethal weapons?” he asked instead.

  Lu snorted with disgust. “We’re attacking the seat of the du Plessis’ power. I don’t intend to put my mission at risk by being soft-hearted.”

  Alexander waited, but no one argued.

  “Now,” Ostrov said at last, “about the transport—is the shielding complete?”

  “Almost,” Karchin said. “The transport itself was easy enough to shield with what we were able to buy from the off-worlders, but it will take some work to fix the trays so we can get our stuff inside the palace itself.”

  “Who will drive?” Ostrov asked.

  “I will,” Lu said. “So the identification will need to match my face.”

  Duchess nodded. “I’ve got your file.”

  “And mine?” Alexander asked. He would need false identification, too, although not during the raid.

  Duchess stared at his holographic tattoo. “I’ve got your file, also, Sentinel, but it took some editing to take out the, ah, tattoo.”

  Alexander made no comment. Lu went on to relate the various assignments within the attack team. Alexander listened with half an ear, but most of his mind was taken up with another question. What if he had to shoot someone he knew and liked? This raid wouldn’t be tidy; he could see that already. And once it started, the team would be doomed. Barring a miracle, Alexander was the only one who had any chance at all of getting out alive.

  But was Celia alive? That was the real question. Alexander held in a sigh as he made himself listen to Lu. The only way to find out was to go along with the raid.

  • • •

  Thaddeus stared at the screen. Niels Trudeau managed to look surprised and glum at the same time. But then, he had spent two days with Maddy in a rage.

  “What do you want, Thad?” the first mate finally said. “If you called to ask for your stuff back, you can forget it. Maddy spaced everything.”

  Thaddeus stifled his annoyance and shook his head. “Let me talk to Maddy. It’s important.”

  Niels sighed. “She was just getting back to normal. Are you going to get her all stirred up again?”

  “Just let me talk to her, please,” Thaddeus repeated.

  Niels paused the connection and the screen fuzzed into a blur. It stayed that way for a while. Was Niels trying to talk her into taking Thaddeus’s call, or trying to talk her out of taking it?

  All at once, the screen lit in an image of Maddy’s scowling face.

  “You damned son of a bitch,” she said. From there she went on to insult his parents, the planet of his birth, and the entire Third Confederation of Planets. “You’ve got a hell of a nerve calling this ship after you assaulted half the crew.” Finally, she paused for breath.

  “Three guys is nowhere near half,” Thaddeus interjected before she could start again. He kept his tone as mild as hers was hot. “And they were holding me prisoner. I wouldn’t call that unprovoked aggression.”

  Maddy snorted. “It was underhanded and sneaky. You were on this ship for two years, and no one knew you could fight.”

  Thaddeus was losing patience. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. Now, will you shut up and listen for a moment? I have something to propose to you.”

  “What?” she said, her sour expression as suspicious as her tone.

  “I’d rather not discuss it over the com. Will you meet me on level B of the station, at a bar called the Sun Spot?”

  She stared at him as if she were trying to determine his motives from his face. He kept his expression as impassive as he had when he was playing dumb.

  “So you’re still on the station?” she said tentatively.

  He nodded. “Yes. But I’ve already contacted my employer. They know everything.”

  She twisted her lips. “Everything?”

  “Yes. Without any intimate details, of course.”

  “Of course,” she said dryly.

  “Will you come?”

  She must have made up her mind quickly, because she nodded. “All right, I’ll be there.”

  Thaddeus held in a sigh of relief. “I’ll see you in an hour. Come alone.”

  Instantly, Maddy looked suspicious again. “Will you be alone?”

  “No.”

  “Then I’m bringing Khan.”

  He grimaced. “All right, Maddy. Bring Khan if you like.”

  She cut the connection before he had time to say anything more.

  • • •

  The Sun Spot was a small, slightly seedy-looking bar that catered to transients and off-world merchants, rather than to the Gaullian contingent of the station. The extensive array of off-world liquors lined up on the shelf behind the bar looked authentic, but Madeline suspected the bottles were actually filled with local beverages, colored to match their more exotic counterparts.

  Her eyes scanned the room and found Thad. He sat slouched over a table at the back of the room, next to a short, dark-haired man in plainly off-world clothes.

  Madeline crossed the room with Khan trailing behind her.

  Thad got to his feet when she approached. “Hello, Maddy.”

  She didn’t answer his greeting, but subjected his companion to closer inspection. He looked a little older than Thad, and noticeably more guarded in his expression. “Who’s this?”

  The other man got to his feet and offered his hand. “Augustus Chang. Pleased to meet you.”

  Madeline shook hands and introduced Khan.

  “Who are you?” she demanded bluntly as they all sat down.

  “I’m a colleague of Thad’s,” Augustus said.

  So vague an answer didn’t satisfy Madeline. “Are you his boss?”

  He smiled at her persistence. “Sometimes.”

  “Are you his boss now?”

  “I’m in a position to give him orders,” Augustus said. “That’s all you need to know for the moment.”

  “So,” Madeline said, turning to Thad, “why are we here?”

  Thad cleared his throat. “For one thing, I left some unfinished business on board the Bee.”

  It almost sounded as if he still had feelings for her, but Madeline wouldn’t let herself hope. She lifted her brows and gave him an inquiring look.

  Thad smiled. “I don’t mean us, Maddy. The thing is, my employer has an interest in promoting the success of your, ah, peripheral business interests. They’d also like to make certain that what they provide to you goes to the right place.”

  She flushed at this implication of dishonesty. “Do you think I’
d double cross my clients?”

  “No. I don’t think that at all. My employer is less trusting, however. That’s why I was there in the first place, remember?”

  “So,” Madeline said, “what is it your employer wants to do?”

  “Well,” Augustus said, “what we’d like to do is send an observer with you—openly this time.”

  Madeline’s eyes swiveled to Thad’s face. “You?”

  He nodded. “Me.”

  “We’d insist on your assurance that Thad would be safe,” Augustus said, “and that he would remain at liberty aboard the Queen Bee.”

  “Why?” Madeline said. This was an unexpected development, and the fact that she wanted more than anything to say yes meant she had to think it through before she blurted out an answer. “Why should I allow this spy on my ship again? What do I get out of it?”

  She was hoping Thad would answer her, but he held his tongue and let his colleague speak.

  “You get a continued supply of merchandise at a reasonable price,” Augustus said. “Have you tried obtaining that kind of merchandise in quantity lately?”

  “Actually,” Madeline said dryly, “your employer has made that rather difficult.”

  “True,” Augustus said. “And quite frankly, if any of this episode were to come out, we would deny our involvement whole-heartedly.”

  “Then why are you doing this?” Madeline demanded.

  “Two reasons,” Augustus said. “The first is our desire to bring to completion a deplorable chapter in the history of this part of the galaxy. We think having one of our agents aboard your ship would help further that cause. The second is that the relationship between you and Thad would make it possible for us to deny that he was aboard the Bee in any official capacity. In fact, Thad offered to profess that position should it become necessary. We wouldn’t have proposed this action otherwise.”

  “I see,” Madeline said. “So your official posture would be that he was acting solely on his own—just a guy with a case of the hots?”

  “From what Thad told me,” Augustus said, “I would have expressed it in more meaningful terms, but that’s substantially correct.”

  For a second, Madeline wasn’t sure she had heard him properly. When she thought it over, a need to know what the statement meant consumed her. “Wait for me in the corridor, please, Khan.”

  Her crewman hadn’t said a word since he sat down. Now he gave her a sharp look but rose to his feet, nodded politely, and left the bar without a backward glance.

  There was a brief silence at the table.

  “Would you do me a favor, Gus?” Thad said. “Would you wait for me over by the bar? I think Maddy wants to talk to me alone.”

  Madeline waited until the other man had moved out of earshot to speak. “What did he mean by that?”

  “Who?”

  “Your boss, or whoever. What did he mean when he said that based on what you told him, he would have expressed our relationship in meaningful terms, or whatever the hell he said. What did you tell him?”

  Thad looked surprised at the question. “I told him the truth. I told him that you and I were attracted to each other almost from the first. I told him that once you knew who I really was, it was impossible for us to fight that attraction and that we’d made love on numerous occasions. And I told him that after I’d been on that ship for six months, I knew I was in love with you.”

  Madeline had wanted to hear him say it for weeks, and now she didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry he had said it. In these circumstances it almost made the situation worse. She looked into his eyes. They met hers steadily, and she knew he wasn’t lying.

  She took a deep breath and let it out fast. “Damn you! Just when I think I’ve gotten you out of my system, you find a way to worm your way back into it. If you love me, then why did you work so hard to escape the Bee?”

  “I had no choice. I am who and what I am. I can’t be anyone else, Maddy.”

  “So,” she said, thinking furiously, “if you were to come back on board, how long would you stay?”

  “That depends on how well your clients do in their business.”

  It would have to do for an answer, Madeline decided. Well, if he wanted to be oblique, she could, too. Instead of commenting on the mission, she changed the subject abruptly. “I hired a new astrogator yesterday, but I’m not sure she can find her cubby, let alone the Rim. I’ll expect you to check her calculations and maybe give her a hand if she needs it.”

  Thad didn’t seem at all put out by this request. “Okay.”

  “You’d better bring some clothes. I spaced all your things—personally.”

  “Niels told me that already.”

  She stood up and looked down at him. “We leave in two hours. Don’t be late.”

  He rose to his feet. “I won’t be.”

  She gave him one last look, turned, and walked out without any word of farewell. She was careful not to smile until she was out in the corridor.

  • • •

  Alexander lay down to sleep in an apprehensive mood. He hadn’t been troubled by nightmares lately, but with the attack on the palace planned for the next afternoon, he was tense. His uneasiness grew as he lay there, and eventually, as he drifted into sleep, his disquiet translated itself into remembrance of painful events. As Alexander slept, his mind roamed backwards, and he recalled his time on Space Station du Plessis.

  He had arrived with a group of forty new soldiers; all of them, like him, recent graduates of the school on Lubar. A half dozen of them were from his barracks and Alexander had been pleased to have them near. They were a substitute family, in a way, and it made him feel considerably more anchored to see their faces and know that he had real friends.

  Alexander was assigned to systems work and didn’t find it arduous. In addition to his office duties, he spent a good deal of time in the gym. Because the gravity on Station du Plessis was so low, all the soldiers were required to wear weights and to spend several hours each week keeping in shape. The punishment for neglecting this duty was severe, and Alexander never slacked off.

  In some ways, he enjoyed being on the space station. The du Plessis dynasty had built their space stations to provide a place for trade with the outside universe; the Emperor wanted the benefit of the advanced technology of other worlds, without any foreign ideas and opinions contaminating the inhabitants of Gaulle. This meant that the soldiers stationed there, while restricted in their access, still had more contact with outsiders than their families at home.

  Alexander found these glimpses of life out from under the du Plessis Empire tantalizing. A few brief encounters with some of the off-worlders who frequented the station had shown him how limited his home planet was in its technology and in its outlook. Women serving on the crews of merchant ships had illustrated an equality he had never seen anywhere on Gaulle, and same-sex couples openly showing affection for each other made him aware how little tolerance there was on Gaulle for that kind of difference.

  A grizzled veteran spacer with two artificial eyes and a regenerated hand made Alexander remember his father’s missing eye. He contemplated what the Emperor might do if he himself were to suffer such a loss. Somehow, Alexander didn’t think Lothar du Plessis would find advanced technology contaminating if his own sight were at stake.

  The military bureaucracy of the station, determined to minimize such contact, had gone so far as to import young women from Gaulle to work as prostitutes. These women weren’t there voluntarily any more than the soldiers they serviced, and Alexander didn’t enjoy making use of them. He tried to avoid going there, but every month or so, his sergeant would order him to patronize the “comfort zone” as the military brothel was called, advising him that it was dangerous to allow his physical needs to go unsatisfied. The sergeant had been heard to say that celibacy by the troops led to fighting in the ranks, and he kept careful watch over how many of their off duty hours his men spent at the comfort zone.

  The third time Alexan
der was ordered to visit the brothel he tried arguing, but the only result was that the sergeant also required him to spend extra time in the gym. Later that day, Alexander found himself standing in line behind another private from his division and eventually giving his name to the woman behind the counter at the comfort zone.

  After a short wait, he was shown into a booth. He sat in the only chair in the room, and after a few minutes, a young woman came out from behind a curtain at the back.

  She was a few years older than Alexander. She had long black hair, deep brown eyes, and creamy golden skin. Alexander recognized her immediately. Her name was Mona Sandowsky, and she had been a friend of his sister’s back in the Aquitaine. Alexander remembered seeing her on the flyter that had taken him from his home. She was still strikingly pretty, even though her face had a hard-edged severity that hadn’t been there when she was younger.

  She also recognized him at once. “Hello, Alex. Fancy meeting you here?”

  It was said with a distinct note of bitterness.

  He got to his feet abruptly. “Hello, Mona.”

  She looked him up and down. “You’ve grown a good deal. You must have been what—fifteen when they took you?”

  “Fourteen.”

  She nodded. “I was sixteen. I was a virgin then. The sergeant who raped me the first time was surprised.”

  Alexander started for the door. “I’ll go now.”

  “No!” The word burst out of her. “Please don’t go. I’ll get into trouble if you leave so soon.”

  He stood, violently embarrassed and uncertain what to do in such circumstances. “I can’t,” he began, “I mean, I don’t want to—”

  “It’s all right. Sit down, Alex. We don’t have to do anything.”

  He sat in the chair, still very nervous, and she sat on the bed.

  “Have you heard anything from your family?” she asked. She sounded wistful.

  He shook his head. “They let me send a message to them right before I left Lubar, but I haven’t heard anything back yet.”

  She stared at him as if the sight of his face brought back memories. “I remember feeling sorry for Junia the first time I saw her after your father cut her face. Poor Junia, I thought. And then the day the press gang came, I wished my father had done it to me.”