The Imperial, Deep Space
Stepping up to the airlock, [Vann] picked at his dress uniform, popping the button off the right pocket in his haste to smooth it out.
“Damn it,” he swore.
[Charles] stooped down and collected the button from the metal floor where it had rolled. “[Yuka]?”
The young woman stepped out of the shadows, where she had been standing behind the more official class B servants on the ship. She was still wearing the basic civilian clothing from the home world, since the servants of the ship had not been instructed to provide her with a uniform.
“Could you fix this for the Emperor?” [Charles] asked, holding up the button.
[Yuka] glanced briefly between [Vann] and [Charles] before quickly nodding. “Yes, sir!”
Scrambling forward, [Yuka] produced a small kit from somewhere in her clothing. Holding the button up, she was startled as [Reece] materialized out of nowhere directly in front of her, as he was so good at doing.
“May I have a look at that?” he asked, holding his hand out for the small repair kit.
[Yuka] squeaked. “Yes, of course!” she said, holding the kit up to the body guard, who first ran his eyes, and then his Comm unit over it, checking it for anything dangerous besides the primitive needles.
Nodding brusquely, the large man silently stepped backed away from the terrified class B citizen. The other servants had started moving forward with a replacement uniform, but [Vann] waved them off. It was better at this point to humor [Charles]’s eccentrics and put him in a better mood to meet the Consul. [Vann] was half worried that [Charles] was going to immediately start yelling at the Consul for some reason or another, or worse.
Hands still violently shaking, [Yuka] stepped forward and raised her repair tool.
“Emperor,” she said, voice shaky.
“Hurry up. The Consul’s shuttle will dock any minute.”
“Yes sir!” [Yuka] fumbled with the tool and the button again, but managed not to drop them. Raising the button back up to the uniform, [Yuka] pressed it into place. Wielding a tool resembling a small screwdriver, she placed it on the button and quickly fixed it back in place on his pocket.
“Is that satisfactory, Emperor?” she asked as she stepped back away from him.
[Vann] touched the small button, being careful of the heat left from the tool, and nodded. “Yes, perfect.”
[Yuka] quickly raised her hand over her eye, saluting him, before she backed away and once again joined the multitude of servants on the ship, ignoring the many glares from those whom wished to gain favor with the Emperor. She still felt as if she were going to collapse, and almost retreated out of the chamber to hyperventilate.
“Thanks, [Yuka],” grumbled [Charles] after her.
Before anyone else could respond, there was a small clunk and a faint vibration in the deck plates of the Imperial as the shuttle docked and the gravity generators of the shuttle matched those of the Imperial.
“This should be interesting,” [Syn] said as she put on her face as the Emperor’s Public Welfare cabinet member. A disturbing transition as her normal haughty demeanor and sharp wit was replace by an almost bubbly naiveté. [Sam], not expecting the transformation in the woman, openly gaped for a moment before composing herself as well and preparing herself to greet the Consul. [Charles] half considered taking out his flask right then, but considered that it would be a little heavy handed to do so and refrained.
The airlock opened, and several members of an honor guard slowly trudged onto the ship. [Vann] typically did away with his honor guard out of expediency; he had no need to show off. The honor guard aligned themselves around the door and snapped to a salute, which was simultaneously copied by everyone in the compartment – except for [Vann] and [Charles].
The first man to enter after the honor guard was clearly not class A, despite his red skin, the black greenish tint to the veins, and the greenish eyes that clearly labeled him as such. [Vann] had no idea what class B citizen he was; he had thought he knew all of the Dorvakian sub-species. The man quickly stepped out of the way, displaying his rank insignia in the process. He was the Consul’s bodyguard.
[Vann] didn’t let any of the surprise at this development show on his face. He knew that the Consul had a bodyguard, but like Reese he was usually invisible. The fact that the bodyguard was a class B citizen was also unexpected.
“[Vann]!” The cheery shout from the airlock broke [Vann] out of his reverie. Smiling at everyone around him, and looking for all the world like a happy uncle, [Marcus] stepped out of the airlock, arms raised.
“[Marcus]!” replied [Vann] with equal intensity. Stepping towards the Consul, he raised his arms as well and the two embraced – for all the world looking like two members of a family happily reuniting. The class B citizens present saw only the amicability of the leaders of the Empire, and were happy.
[Yuka], behind her fellow citizens, sensed some amount of unnatural tension, noticing a thin line on the Emperors forehead and a fake sheen in his eyes.
[Sam] saw the man whom had ruined her commanding officer’s life and the man who was trying to restore it embracing each other.
[Charles] saw the snake readying to strike, although which was the snake and which was the prey wasn’t particularly clear.
Diana, Jikse
“Why don’t we just break in and steal it?” asked Diana.
“He wants to know who the buyer is,” [Orin] responded, not lowering the binocular-like devices she had on her eyes even a bit.
“Alright, what is it we’re getting back?” asked Diana.
“All you need to know is that the boss needs it back,” growled [Orin].
Diana leaned back away from the woman and joined [Hal] in the back seat of the floating transport.
“I’m not much of one for blind faith. I like to know what I’m robbing from someone, even if they did steal it first.”
[Hal] chuckled, “I was under the impression this was all new to you.”
Diana slowly shook her head. “No, it’s just been a really long time since I’ve had to do it.” She hesitated for a moment. The two had been digging into her own past with as much subterfuge as she had been digging into their own. Dropping tidbits of information might sate them, even if it was only half truths. Lying about her entire past would be too much to remember; the best lies were the ones closest to the truth.
“My cargo ship dumped me here, the day of that explosion in orbit. They left as soon as the Imperial ship dropped into the system. We had some cargo that wasn’t exactly legal, and it was better to abandon a few crew then let it be taken.” Close enough to the truth.
“Yeah, a lot of people panicked. That was part of the reason I got shot that day; I was closing a deal when everything went haywire from the EMP. My business partners decided I must be responsible.”
Diana nodded. “That sounds like it would be difficult to get out of.”
[Hal] absentmindedly rubbed his chest. “Yeah, it was.”
“Will the both of you shut up?” [Orin] growled, turning around in her seat to glare at the two of them.
[Hal] and Diana glanced at one another and shut their mouths.
Grumbling to herself under her breath, [Orin] turned back to continue watching the building through her binoculars, waiting for the men who had stolen whatever it was they were getting back from the other gang in the building.
The two in the back remained silent only for a few moments before Diana leaned over to [Hal]. “So how did you two end up working for your boss?”
“Simple, he took us in. We were running through the streets together as far back as either of us can remember. It was work for him, or eventually be caught by the Imperials, or just get shot in some alley. When we got older, he gave us the shop to run as a front like half of the other stores in the city.”
Diana nodded. This was more information than she had been hoping for. It did complicate things though; if their boss had raised them, they were incredibly unlikely to turn on him. They were also likely to kill her if it was discovered that she planned to take his place. Mulling over everything, Diana nearly missed the movement down at the building. She didn’t have the binoculars, but even at this distance her eyes could at least detect the movement of the other floating transport.
“They’re moving out,” said [Orin], putting her binoculars down.
“Great!” Cutting [Hal] off, Diana leapt forward into the other forward seat of the transport and looked over at [Orin]. “Let’s go!”
[Orin] looked as if she were going to protest Diana’s movement for a half moment, but with the transport they were supposed to be tailing already on the move, she didn’t have the time.
Engaging the drive and proverbially flooring it, [Orin] quickly dove down through the air after the bright orange transport the offenders were riding in.
Diana tried to remain nonchalant about the entire ordeal, but she was still getting used to the floating transports the Empire citizens employed. Flying through the air in a decidedly non-aerodynamic structure was disconcerting to say the least. Diana tried hard to mimic their boredom while [Orin] casually dove three hundred feet straight down to avoid some sort of traffic obstruction.
“You alright?” asked [Orin] glancing over at her.
“I get motion sickness easily,” said Diana, making up an excuse for the green tint on her face.
[Orin] chuckled. “Really?”
“Yes, really. Nothing fancy, please?” asked Diana.
“What… like this?”
[Orin] killed all of the forward velocity of the transport, angled it straight up ninety degrees, and hit the accelerator once more, launching them up into the sky.
“Yeslikethat!” cried out Diana quickly as she grabbed the safety bar in front of her.
[Orin] laughed but otherwise did nothing as she moved the transport back down into a descending trajectory to follow the brilliant orange transport again. How those men had not noticed the obviously insane transport following them, Diana had no idea.
Following at a more sedate pace through the rest of the city, Diana watched as the transport angled itself towards the older section of the city, where the buildings were still continuing to crumble without any intervention from the citizens of the Empire. The traffic quickly dropped off as the approached the decrepit area, which would make it easier for their mark to spot them tailing them. [Orin] handed the binoculars back to her brother before raising the transport higher up into the air, putting the system’s primary star at their back, effectively blinding them to everyone below. An old tactic, but an effective one.
“They’ve stopped in a partially collapsed building.”
“Got it pinpointed?” [Orin] asked.
“Yeah. From what I can tell, they have short range scanners up. We’re going to have to stay at least [500 meters] away if we don’t want to be detected.
“Damn. Alright, I’ll put us down.”
Making sure to keep their transport against the sun as much as possible, [Orin] landed them on top of the building opposite the one where the trade was going down for the goods they were supposed to be retrieving.
Popping the hatch on the floating contraption before they toughed the roof of the crumbling building, Diana stuck her alien Comm out.
“What the hell are you doing?!” growled [Orin].
“Checking to make sure we’re the only ones hiding up here. Which we are, by the way. This would be the perfect place for a sniper.”
[Orin] and [Hal] glanced at one another, and then looked at Diana.
“You think there’s a sniper up here?”
“No, but you can’t be too careful. After all you haven’t told me what we’re stealing back, I don’t know if it’s valuable enough to kill for or not.”
[Hal] chuckled. “It’s valuable. Just live with that, alright?”
Diana rolled her eyes, got out of the transport, and stretched her body, working out the kinks in her muscles from sitting all day. “You don’t know what’s in it either, do you?”
[Hal] grinned. “Nope.”
“[Hal]!” admonished [Orin].
“Might as well tell her.”
[Orin] grumbled something under her breath, but raised the binoculars to her face again to watch the shipment.
The Imperial, Deep Space
“You know, when you went on patrol, I thought you were doing so to avoid me. I thought perhaps I had insulted you?” asked [Marcus].
[Vann] smiled and shook his head. “Of course not. I simply thought that showing the flag, so to speak, in the outer colonies would be good for morale. It’s also an opportunity for me to take my leave from the politics of the home world.”
[Marcus] tilted his head forward. “I agree, although from what I have heard you’ve done far more than simply wave the flag.”
“What have you heard? It’s strange how often messages can be misinterpreted on the communication network.”
[Marcus] raised an eyebrow at that and slowly raised the glass of wine to his lips, taking a small sip.
“Your company, for example. Many of your bloodline seem to take on an odd assortment of companions; your father had the habit of enticing the most beautiful women to join him on the bridge, even in the heat of battle. Your tastes,” [Marcus] paused and looked over at [Charles], who was sitting in the corner of the room with an entire bottle of wine in his hand, “seem a little more eccentric.”
[Vann] weighed his options for a moment, but [Syn] instead cut in.
“You mean the drunk? I don’t get why [Vann] has him around either, he’s got no manners,” [Syn] bubbled, her voice a full octave higher pitched than normal.
[Marcus] flinched slightly as she spoke. He had never been too fond of [Syn], and to [Vann]’s knowledge he had bought her act of being only his Public Welfare cabinet appointee.
To punctuate her point, [Charles] took another hearty swig out of the bottle and belched.
“Considering what was said last time we met, I’m not sure that bar can be lowered further,” [Charles] commented.
[Marcus] glared at him coldly for a moment before turning back to [Vann]. “You are aware of this man’s record, aren’t you? I have a hard time seeing why you’ve allowed him on the ship in any capacity.”
[Vann] smiled slightly. “[Marcus], the only information I was able to get from his record was that he served as a Captain and was then taken hostage by a primitive class C race. After that, his record is classified – for some strange reason, above even my ability to see. An error in the system no doubt, but in any case all that is shown afterwards was that he retired.”
[Marcus] was silent for a moment, weighing his options. He took another sip of his wine. [Vann] did the same.
“An error, no doubt.” [Marcus] agreed. “But why would you want a retired Captain on this ship in any case?”
[Vann] shrugged. “I wanted someone who was part of the old guard. [Charles] served under my Father at one point. He was… what were you again [Charles]?” asked [Vann], turning in his seat to look at the man.
“I was department head for non-critical maintenance on your father’s flagship for [six months] as my first position as an officer out of the academy.” Taking another swig of the wine, he looked at [Marcus].
“Ah.”
The Consul was silent for a moment mulling everything over.
“Despite the oddities in those you choose to keep around you, I can’t help but say something about the apparent beating you took last month from an unknown ship.”
[Vann] let his face genuinely fall at that.
“Yes, we were in orbit of Jikse at the time. Someone on my crew was apparently coerced to disable the shields at the exact moment the unknown ship attacked. Considering where we were, it was probably the flagship of some criminal organization. I have no doubt that they suffered far more damage than the Imperial, despite their underhanded tactics.”
“Jikse is a rather dangerous place to be, Emperor. I was under the impression you visited the planet because of a distress beacon. A patrol ship under attack? By an unknown vessel using kinetics? I don’t think even the criminals of our domain would resort to such primitive technologies.”
“No, but then again weapons of that type have not been used in several hundred years. This small attack has proven that an older tactic might be devastating if properly utilized. I was going to suggest to the Core of engineers that future ships be better designed to withstand kinetics.”
[Marcus] set his glass down on the table and glared at [Vann] for a moment. “I would like to speak to the Emperor alone. Would everyone else please leave?”
[Syn] and [Sam] both quickly turned to leave. [Charles], getting up from his own chair, walked over to the two. Without a word, he picked up the Consul’s glass and walked out.
The compartment sealed behind [Charles] as he left.
“Emperor, I am worried.” [Marcus] stated, his voice dropping in apparent concern.
“You are always worried, [Marcus].”
The man smiled slightly at that. “I suppose so, but then it is my duty to ensure the smooth transition of power from one generation to the next. I am your servant just as much as any citizen of the Empire. However, my duties entail determining when you can be entrusted with that power. A duty that should have been your father’s, or in his absence your mother’s.”
[Vann] stiffened slightly at the mention of his mother, but said nothing.
“You recent behavior has forced me to reconsider if you are ready for the mantle of the title Emperor.”
“Strange, I was thinking that for the first time I had done what an Emperor might do. Perhaps a little clumsily, but then I am still learning.”
[Marcus] narrowed his eyes. “What is it you think you’ve done?”
[Vann] smiled and leaned forwards. “I’ve discovered whom I can trust.”
[Marcus] stared at him for a moment; both of them knew that the façade was over.
Diana, Jikse
“Anything?” asked [Hal].
“No.” Diana was now the one holding the binoculars to her face, watching the opposite building. The opposing interest to their boss was still waiting inside the remnants of the building, looking as bored as they were with the pace of things.
“You wouldn’t think they would wait around like this with whatever it they is have,” grumbled [Hal].
“Either they are trading with someone they would rather not offend, or they really need to get rid of it.”
The small trunk that the other group had been transporting was now out of the transport and sitting on crumbling floor next to it. Whatever it was, it didn’t look particularly heavy.
Diana was of half a mind to simply swoop down and steal it right now, but knowing who the buyers are is useful information. Apparently the boss wasn’t dumb enough to not see that.
“Got movement,” whispered [Orin].
Diana didn’t look away from the sellers. They had noticed the incoming hum of the transport as well, and were quickly moving into ready stances. The guns and other weapons they had been loosely and casually holding were all quickly snapped to the ready.
Despite being a less than legal organization, all of the men had a small emblazoned grey stripe over their forearms, some way to identify them as a singular group. Diana had no idea what name they might have; at the moment it wasn’t important.
The transport that pulled up to the building, however, was interesting. High class from what Diana could tell. Instead of Humanity’s preferred black for official looking and imposing vehicles and dress, the Empire preferred dark emerald, a sentimentality that this particular vehicle was following to a T.
The transport smoothly ducked into the building and came to a stop next to the sellers with the grey armbands. The men didn’t raise their weapons, but neither did they take their hands off of them.
“Any idea who this is?” asked Diana.
“Him,” whispered [Orin].
“We’re going to rob Him?” asked Diana, incredulous.
“His courier, at least,” said [Hal], looking down at the transport.
Diana watched as a man slowly opened the side door of the transport and stepped out. In deference to the armor and mismatched rough looking clothing of the sellers, this man was in what Diana had associated as the Empire’s equivalent of a business suit. Instead of hugging at his frame, however, the robes were more reminiscent of something ancient Romans wore, albeit without displaying any skin.
“This is not a good idea, considering everything I’ve heard about Him; besides, doesn’t your boss work for Him?”
“Not exclusively,” [Ori] muttered under her breath.
Diana watched as the man from the car casually stepped forwards towards the armed men and raised his Comm unit.
A single man in the first group dropped his weapon, picked up the large trunk, and approached the buyer. Setting the trunk down in between the two of them, he extracted his own Comm and held it up.
The exchange went smoothly from there, the man’s money apparently transferred to the seller and backed up to his group. The buyer, still seemingly unconcerned, leaned down and popped the trunk. Diana zoomed in as far as the binoculars would go to try and see what was inside but the magnification wasn’t helpful when the lid was opened towards her.
Satisfied, he closed the trunk carried it back to his emerald transport.
The sellers had already begun to pile back into their own transport. As one, both vehicles lifted off and began to move away from the destroyed sky scraper.
“Well?” asked [Hal].
“We’re getting the shipment,” growled [Orin].
Standing up, she strode back towards their transport and got into the driver’s seat. “You two coming?!” she shouted.
[Hal] followed her and got into the passenger side. After a moment of seriously considering not getting into the transport, Diana clambered into the backseat.
“Don’t get us killed.”
[Orin] smiled and floored it. The usual steady hum of the transport was suddenly a roar, and they shot off the top of their own skyscraper. [Orin] was foregoing any amount of subterfuge to make a straight line at the transport to try and surprise it. A good idea, considering that once it got back into the city proper it would be more difficult to attack.
The emerald transport noticed them when they were 500 meters away, and instead of panicking simply arced up into the sky. The alien transports, with their ability to effectively nullify gravity, were able to pull maneuvers reminiscent of human designed atmospheric fighters, although at the civilian levels of technology.
“Here we go, Diana!” shouted [Orin] as she followed suit. Fighting the acceleration forces, Diana raised her weapon and, grinning slightly, fired it at her door. The thing was blasted backwards and sent spinning over the abandoned section of the city.
“Diana!” shouted [Orin] glancing back to look at the now ruined side of her personal transport even as the wind whipped through it and she fought to find her balance on the controls again.
“Not sorry!” said Diana as she utilized her unnatural physique and leaned out of the side of the transport. Squinting in the fading light of Jikse, she began to let loose shots of plasma. Her aim was perfect on the ground, but acting as an air-to-air attack system with only a handheld rifle was not something she had much experience with.
The shots flew past the emerald transport and up further into the air before dying off. Refocusing her shots Diana zeroed in on the transport and managed to skim a shot over its top.
“Almost,” breathed Diana.
The transport, apparently at the ceiling of its ascent, leveled out and slowed. [Orin] did the same, but not before Diana was able to sink several shots into the underbelly of the transport. The Emerald vehicle remained airborne for a moment before beginning to fall back down to the planet, slowly at first but with rapidly increasing speed.
“That is going to hurt,” [Orin] commented as she tilted their transport down to follow it.
The operator of the emerald vehicle seemed to still have some amount of control as he angled the transport towards a clearing outside the city, just beyond the buildings where the exchange had gone down.
Diana retreated back into the vehicle and reloaded. As advanced as the things were, they only managed a dozen shots per clip, plasma being as energy intensive as it was.
“He’s grounded.” said [Orin].
“Put us down right next to him,” [Hal] ordered as he kicked open his door and pointed his rifle out the same side of the transport as Diana.
Twenty feet above the ground, [Orin] cursed. The pilot of the other transport was out of his vehicle and holding a weapon that Diana didn’t recognize. [Orin] spun the transport to the side and a blast of oddly-coloured plasma energy roared through the sky where they had been a moment before.
“A Skinner, he’s got a damn Skinner!” growled [Hal]. Re-orienting himself, he let loose a blast of concentrated plasma at the man, hitting the transport and the ground around him, but missing him.
Diana raised her weapon and fired a single shot, hitting him in the lower chest.
The man let out a yell and collapsed to the ground.
Landing the transport, Diana and [Hal] jumped out of it, weapons raised. They slowly approached the man and the ornate car.
Diana was lamenting the loss of her helmet now; a simple scan of the interior would have told her if anyone else was in the thing.
“You alone?” asked Diana as she approached the man on the ground.
He didn’t say anything but instead glared up at her.
“Fine then.”
Diana raised the weapon up and fired at the back door of the transport. The first few rounds sunk into the metal before punching through. Sweeping back and forth, she emptied another clip into the bottom of the vehicle as well to ensure no one was hiding, then stepped up and peered inside. The back seat was empty, and the trunk in the front appeared to still be intact.
“This is a big mistake,” growled the man on the ground.
“Probably,” said Diana as she walked around the vehicle to retrieve the trunk. Before [Orin] or [Hal] could stop her, she popped it open.
“Diana!” shouted [Orin].
“Shit,” breathed Diana as she stared at the contents.
Several hundred vials, with one of them broken, would have prompted most to believe they were holding a biological weapon of some sort. A single sample of which would kill them. But Diana knew exactly what this was. The contents of the vials were silvery and flowed almost as freely as water, with a metallic sheen.
Diana reached down into the case and carefully cut her finger lengthwise on what remained of the broken vial. Holding steady long enough to see the blood forming, Diana put her cut finger into the silvery mass.
The nano-machines, sensing the injury, quickly repaired the damage.
Ignoring [Orin] as she continued to yell, Diana raised her hand up and looked at the cut. Save for a thin scar, one that would have not been present if the nano-machines had been from Earth, the cut was healed.
Someone in the Empire was using human technology.
Putting the trunk down, Diana went over to the man who was nursing his injury.
“Where did your sellers get these?” asked Diana slowly.
The man shook his head. “Fuck you! He is going to know about this. He’ll kill you.”
Reaching into her belt, Diana extracted her sidearm. The human one.
Pointing it at the man’s head, she leaned down over him.
“Do you know where they got them? At the moment you don’t have to worry about Him. It’s me you should be concerned about.”
“Fuck you.”
Diana pointed the gun at his elbow and casually pulled the trigger. The loud retort echoed through the landscape louder than any of the alien weapons or technology.
The man howled in pain, clutching at the injury with his good hand.
“Again, do you know where your sellers got these?” asked Diana, pointing at the vials.
“Fuck no!” shouted the man.
“Alright then.”
Diana raised the gun to his head.