Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (3 page)

“Thank you for your response,” the Administrator said
calmly. “I welcome you to the Academy, please be seated. Your questions are
appreciated.”

The Security Chief was immediately put off balance.
“Sir, you summoned me. How can I be of assistance to you?” The Chief felt
powerless to say more and sat somewhat heavily in his chair.

“But Sir, your armed men entered the Great Hall
without orders. Why did they and under who’s directive?” The Administrator
asked politely and leaned forward waiting for an answer.

The Security Chief felt immediately worse, a fact not
unnoticed by the Administrator. He had no way of answering why the men under
his command did such a thing, the excitement of such a moment had no precedent
and orders had never been issued nor written for such an eventuality. In all he
has studied and researched in his long career he has never known such an
incident or anything like it to have ever occurred before. There was no
precedent. Honesty was a waste of time; he needed a way out of this mess and
settled for a mechanical answer. “I will initiate an immediate investigation on
why my personnel entered the Great Hall. I cannot be honest with you without
knowing all the facts and actions of my men, but rest assured if anyone is out
of order in this matter they will be intervened with the utmost efficiency and
urgency.” The Chief said feeling a little more relaxed with a reasonable
response.

The Administrator expected such an answer and nodded
in acknowledgement. “I have my report for the Trigealian High Command. I will
send it immediately as I’m sure you will send yours in whatever time frame you
deem appropriate. Good luck to you Sir,” the Administrator said calmly as he
stood up and walked smartly away.

The Security Chief sat back even harder in his chair
and turned grey. I’m a dead man he thought. His future changed entirely at that
moment. Trigeals don’t for a moment accept any form of incompetence concerning
any aspect of their robot creations. What sort of report was I to make, he
thought. He felt doomed.

“My dear Administrator,” The Chief said earnestly. “I
feel it is obvious no one knew what went on here. My men acted on their own
initiative when apparently a number of personnel were, well... vaporised.”

The Administrator stopped, turned smartly and
listened. Then cut the man off with disastrous effect before he could utter
another word. “Have you somehow read my report? You weren’t here... were you?”
He asked staring somewhat coldly at the Security Chief.

“No, no, of course not!
How could I?” The Security Chief said but suddenly
realised what he had said and to whom he had said it. To indicate or disclose
what occurs inside the Great Hall to anyone unless authorised by Trigealian
decree is an act punishable by a fate worse than body death – a reprogramming
to a lower life form. He knew he didn’t have such a clearance. He looked at the
Administrator with fear and apprehension; knowing every word he had just spoken
as well as him saying it had been recorded.

“I am at your service Sir,” the Security Chief said
softly.

The Administrator returned to his chair and sat down.
His face expressionless but his eyes keenly focused on the man opposite. He leaned
over to a side table and dispensed a beverage of hot malqucian tea; an herb
known for its relaxing and soothing qualities popular across the Confederacy.
The Security Chief accepted it gratefully. “I have no vendetta against you
Sir,” the Administrator said calmly, “but you have demonstrated adequately you
have one against yourself. That is none of my concern at this time but you may
be of assistance in rectifying this alleged situation. Your report to the
Confederate High Command would be better suited… let’s say, phrased in the
traditional Empirical Mandates rather than one of complex, unexplained, and
unsubstantiated facts. Don’t you agree? The Administrator observed the Security
Chief was hanging on his every word. The Chief drank his tea in one swallow;
the Administrator’s eyes flicked and went calm.

“Yes… What is it you wish me to do Administrator?” The
Security Chief said with a little confidence returning to his voice. Malqucian
tea has an almost instant effect.

“Are you aware of the Ancient Scripts of Almogest?”

“Only what every school child knows,” answered the
Security Chief, now puzzled.

“Excellent,” the Administrator replied. “In the next
to last of the scripts there is a quote which refers to the Emperor as the high
ruler of both man and beast and to one and all is his justice dispensed and
forever shall it be sanctioned and available to all by those who hold his
authority. You know of such a line?

“Only vaguely, those scriptures are no longer extant
in authority. I believe they are classified only as historical writings,” the
Security Chief said not knowing where this conversation was going.

“Oh my dear fellow, do we not have an Emperor, Empress
and a Divine Court? Does it not exist and give us direction both spiritually
and in materialistic things? Does it not guide our twelve great Houses of Power
toward future posterity and pursuits of expansion?” The Administrator said
softly, then sitting back in his chair calmly looking at the Security Chief.

The Security Chief was now very puzzled. These
idealist words of the Administrator were pure folly. The ‘Articles of
Intervention’ - the most sacred truths of the Confederacy introduced and
enforced by the Trigeals would be challenging of any idealism, let alone one
referring to the individual pursuits of posterity of any of the Great Houses.
The Trigealian invasion and the setting up of the Confederacy out of the
remnants of warring planets and civilisations resulted in stability. Everywhere
is policed by the T334 Trigealian Regiment which is impeachable. But all that
began over ten thousand years ago! The Security Chief was now indeed very
worried, the effects of the tea were limited, his head spun. Had the
Administrator lost his mind? He chose his words the best he could, trying to
say what he thought the Administrator would want to hear.

In an almost childlike manner the Security Chief said
very slowly, “Yes, we have an Emperor, his Court, an Empress, twelve Houses of
Power governing over almost countless billions of beings in the Confederacy but
we also have the third and most important aspect of existence - the Laws of
Intervention substantiated and enforced by the Trigeals themselves. Their power
and decision when exercised is complete and final. How do the Scriptures of the
Mandates of Almogest relate to the situation before us, they predate the
Trigealian invasion and intervention? The Security Chief asked carefully.

“You are going to invoke them… specifically, the next
to last script,” the Administrator said with conviction.

“I can’t do that!” A shocked reply came from the
Security Chief. It’s never been done before. The Imperial Court will think I’m
insane. They would have me patrolling the dark side of the third moon of
Sekar
for the rest of existence.”

“There is that possibility. Perhaps the third moon of
Sekar
would be a better alternative than a fate with direct
intervention by the Trigeals,” the Administrator snapped becoming annoyed for
answering in similar phraseology as this robotic bureaucrat of a Security
Chief. The Administrator decided he had talked enough with this man. Time was
an important issue. If that rogue T334 woke up and was still insane it could
destroy the Academy if not everyone on the planet. “You are to invoke that Mandate
and request an immediate audience with the Emperor on a matter of immediate and
critical justice affecting the security of the Confederacy. Do so without
delay. You are also assigning me as your representative and empowering me to
directly address the Emperor on your behalf. I will be under your direct orders
in this matter and there will be no further discussion. Do what I request, now
leave.”

The Security Chief stood up, saluted, turned with
military precision and marched out of the Great Hall. He had no choice but to
obey those orders. Once outside the building and out of sight; he stopped and
leaned heavily against a tree. His breathing felt foreign to him, his life was
now totally in the hands of an insane Academy Officer. He rubbed his sweaty forehead,
stood erect, straightened his uniform and marched toward his office. He failed
to notice his head felt a little lighter than usual and his steps weren’t as
measured as they usually were.

The Administrator sat at his console. It indicated all
Academy and security personnel had been mind scanned for non optimum
interventional activity. One instructor had an unauthorised sexual relation
with a female cadet and another had not been eating correctly - nothing that
had any connection with the recent incident. The personnel vaporised had shown
there was no connection between them, except similar types of uniforms. He sat
back and tried to think the situation through, it served no benefit to anyone
at this current level of circumstance, more information was needed for a
pattern to develop. The Administrator walked over to a scanning machine,
flashed his identification and placed the band around his forehead. He felt a
slight tingling and then heard a mechanical voice, “thank you, scan complete.
Resume normal duties.” The Administrator replaced the scanning band and
returned his attention to the current situation.

The T334 in question belonged to the House of Irrimus.
The pilot was Johe, the son of the head of House of Irrimus, Lord Ambrae but he
was absent on training exercises. The Administrator’s thoughts were interrupted
by a returning android. It was one of three sweeping the Great Hall for
evidence.

“Sir,” the android said in its electro
mechanical voice,
“
only variance
from conditions since last time frame is residual ions and isotopes indicative
of simultaneous phaser and light expansion weapons discharge.

“You may go, end off the other two android’s tasks,”
the Administrator ordered, his eyes flickered in puzzlement. Why fire those two
weapons at once? Either one would have the same effect just by altering the
power level... this is most unusual he wondered.

The Administrator’s concentration was broken by a
faint vibration in his arm console, it was an incoming communication. It was from
a Norfian colleague in Space Command Administration. He had intercepted a
recent Space Command communiqué and relayed it to the Academy Administrator as
they often exchanged data on their secure but highly illegal communication
line. Their exchange of messages went undetected as background static through
the secure Confederate Communications system. The message referred to a series
of illegal and unauthorised nuclear detonations used as weapons in quadrant
RAD662-32T4 location S3.

The Administrator quickly brought up the relevant
space chart, location S3 – third planet from the sun in that system – called
Earth, a known and often used planet but not as yet recognised as an active
member of the Confederacy. He was aware through his secret network there had
been a series of nuclear detonations on that planet recently but they had been
not used as weapons, until now. He quickly got up and made his way to the far
end of the Great Hall. He went swiftly through the tight security procedures
and gained access to the T334 monitoring console. This console was very limited
in its information and could not perform nor given information on the highly
secret Pilot Transfer
Procedures but it did indicate where the pilot was and
his immediate well being.

The monitor had a green blinking illuminator next to
Johe of Irrimus = nothing wrong. He entered data into the console and then
nodded his head in confirmation as he saw the result, Johe was training on
Earth! The Administrator scanned the console with his arm console scanner. No
malfunctions or tampering evident. Well, that explained why no Trigealian
intervention and no Priests checking up on that T334. Fifty six dead recruits
will mean nothing to them unless they are given reason to think otherwise. All
the T334s and their pilots are accounted for and operational.

He walked smartly back to his console in the Great
Hall going over the information gathered and the recommendations of his arm
console. When he reached his station he pushed the transmit button sending his
report to The Trigeal High Command with copies to his Commander in the
Empirical High Command as well as his counterpart in the Confederate Military
Command. The main body of the reported stated:

AN INCIDENT OCCURRED WHEREIN
FIFTY SIX ACADEMY CADETS WERE VAPORISED IN TRAINING. THERE WERE NO OTHER
CASULTIES. THE CAUSE OF THE DEATHS IS UNDER REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATIONAL
PROCEDURES. REQUEST TRIGEAL HIGH COMMAND CLEARANCE OR INTERVENTIONAL
CLARIFACATION. SECURITY CHIEF PLANET ENNACK SECTOR SE5220 IS SENIOR OFFICER IN
CHARGE OF LOCAL INVESTIGATION.