Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2 (19 page)

The Marines came in
first from the large cargo hatches to the side of the landing bay, a full squad
in the heavy armor they wore for planetary assault, their weapons in plain
display as they covered the men and women.  Two more squads came in from the
passenger doors, their weapons held at the ready but not pointed at anyone in
particular.  When they were in place and had gotten the attention of the police
the Admiral ordered the door to his front open.  He walked into the hanger with
a detail of officers as if he owned it.  Which of course was close to the
truth.

“See here, Admiral,”
said the oldest of the people, a short squat woman, moving toward him.  The Marines
moved their weapons and the woman thought better of approaching the man she had
come to see.  “Is this display to intimidate us?”

“Of course, my Lady,”
said the Admiral, giving a slight bow to the woman he recognized as the
Countess Judy Decker, current Sergeant of Arms of the Lords.  “Since that is
obviously the purpose of your visit today.  Or could you not have entrusted
this task to someone a little less highly placed.”

“The Lords are not
intimidated,” said the woman, sending a bull dog glare at the Admiral.

“Of course not, my
lady,” said the Admiral with a smile. 
And how many regiments have the Lords
,
thought the Admiral, remembering and paraphrasing an old quote he had heard
somewhere.  “And what can I do for you today?”

“You can answer the
summons to appear before the Lords,” said the woman, a smirk creeping across
her face.  “To answer an inquiry into your conduct with regards to the prison
planet Purgatory.  Conduct that resulted in over a hundred deaths to Bureau of
Prisons and Imperial Investigation Bureau personnel.  A summons, I might add,
that you have ignored to this point.”

“Communications have
been spotty between my ship and the planet, my Lady,” said the Admiral, playing
the game.  “I’m sure you understand how traffic might become lost in the
interference.”

“Bullshit, Admiral,”
said the woman, her glare becoming even more intense.  “Don’t give me that
crap.  This ship is fully capable of receiving any transmission sent its way,
regardless of the circumstances.”  The woman continued to glare, while her
contingent was beginning to look very uncomfortable to be in proximity to what
looked to be a heated verbal battle in a room full of armed Marines.

“So, Admiral,”
continued the woman, making the rank sound like a curse word, “we have decided
to skip the middle man.  I have here in my hands a summons from the House of
Lords to appear before a committee of inquiry into the incident involving the Purgatory
prison planet.” 

The woman moved forward
and extended a disposable flat comp sheet to the Admiral.  Len hesitated for a
moment, then took the sheet from her hand and perused it.

“Let the record show
that High Grand Admiral Gabriel Lenkowski has received the summons from the
Lords,” said Decker, looking over at one of her contingent that must have been
the official recorder.  “And now I will have your answer, Admiral.  Will you
accompany me down to the planet, as required by that summons?”

The Admiral stood there
for a moment, staring at the women in disbelief.  He folded his arms across his
chest and looked into the Sergeant of Arms eyes.  
They can’t really expect
for it to be that easy
, he thought. 
I would go down, appear before
their committee, then disappear.  If they even let me appear before their
committee.

“No,” said Len, shaking
his head and continuing to look into her eyes.  “I am not willing to accept
your summons at this time.”

“Then let the record
show that the Admiral has refused a lawful summons to appear in front of the
House of Lords,” said Decker, a smile of triumph growing on her face.  “You
therefore leave me no choice, Admiral.  You are hereby placed under arrest, and
will accompany us back to the planet.”

“No,” said the Admiral,
a little more forceful than before.  “I am not under arrest.”

“What do you mean?”
said the woman, confusion on her face.

“Arrest means that you
can take me into custody,” said the Admiral, pointing a finger at the woman to
emphasize the you.  “That you can control my movements.  That is not going to
happen.”

“You defy the power of
the Lords?”

“I have the power
here,” said the Admiral, chopping his hand in the air at each word.  “Not the
Lords.”

“You men,” said Decker,
looking around the hanger at the Marines and naval officers who were with the Admiral. 
“In defending this man,” she continued, pointing a finger at the Admiral, “you
are in violation of an order from the Civil government.  You are subject to
charges of treason if you continue to do so.  Do you understand?”

Not a weapon wavered,
and every military man and woman on the hanger looked hard faced at the woman
and her companions.

“The Fleet is family,”
said Len Lenkowski, glaring at the Parliamentary and IIB functionaries.  “We
stick together.”  He stopped for a moment to let that sink in.  “I will be glad
to come down when we have a seated Emperor to stand in judgment.  Until then
you can order me to appear all you want.  And you can hold your breaths while you
wait for all I care.  Now this meeting is over, my Lady.  You can get back on
your shuttle and leave, or I will throw you and all your aids in the brig.”

“You wouldn’t dare,”
said Decker in a cold voice.

“I dare much,” said the
Admiral, a smile on his face.  “I swore an oath to defend the Empire against
all opponents, foreign and domestic.”  The smile left his face and the Admiral’s
voice rose.  “And right now the biggest enemy I see to the stability of this
realm is the House of Lords.  We are without a seated Emperor, and all you can
do is argue about who to install in the monarch’s seat.  Which sniveling
sycophant would be the best choice to fill the throne?  Who would bow down to
the Lords with the least amount of persuasion?  Well, we have an heir.  The
third son.”

“And where is he?”
asked Decker, her own face reddening.  “Where is this prospective Emperor when
he is needed?”

“Serving the fleet,”
roared the Admiral.  “Serving the Empire.  And as soon as he is back in the
capital he will become Emperor.  An Emperor the military will back, over
whatever idiot cousin you choose to install.”

“How dare you,” said
the Countess again.  “You speak treason.”

“Get her off this
ship,” said the Admiral, nodding to his men and then turning away.  He walked
out of the room to the screaming of the Countess. 
I have to admit
, he
thought. 
She’s got courage, if not a lot of common sense.
  He looked
over at his aide, a Lt. Commander who gave him an incredulous look.

“Think I could have
handled it better, Myra?” he asked.

“Maybe a bit more
diplomatic, sir,” said the younger officer, walking down the corridor with him.

“They now know where I
stand,” said the Admiral.  “And I know where they stand.  To me that seems the
best diplomatic solution.”

The young Lt. Commander
shook her head, but she couldn’t help to smile as well.

*     *     *

“Just who in the hell
does he think he is?” yelled interim Prime Minister Theo Streeter, Duke of
Coventry.  The dark faced man slammed his hand on the table causing the other
members of the committee to jump in their seats.

“He said that he will
respond when we have a seated Emperor,” said the Countess Judy Decker, a scowl
on her face.  “The man has no respect for our office.”

“We will have a seated
Emperor by the end of the week,” said another of the Core World Lords who made
up the interim committee that was overseeing the Emporal branch of the
government.  “What was that cousin’s name again?”

There was murmuring
around the table for a moment before the Duke slammed his hand back on the table.

“It doesn’t matter who
it is,” he exclaimed.  “As long as he does what we tell him.”

“Derrick Jackson
Ogden,” said one of the other Lords, looking at a flat comp.

“What?” asked the
Interim Prime Minister.

“That’s the name of the
young man we wish to seat on the throne,” said the Lord, holding up his comp to
show the picture of a handsome but not very bright looking young man.  “Third
cousin.”

“Wasn’t there anyone of
closer relations?” asked the Countess Decker.

“Of course there were,”
said the Prime Minister.  “But they would have been more of a problem when it
came to handling.  So they have been isolated, for now.  But what are we going
to do about this Admiral?  Can the army do something?”

“The chief of staff of
the Army has replied,” said Lord Huang, the secretary of the committee.  “He
says it is not the Army’s business to control the Navy.  And he has no ships to
do so if it were.”

“He’s in bed with the Admiral,”
said the Prime Minister, almost spitting the words.  “He was in the clique with
the Emperor as well.  Is there some way we can get to him and put someone else
in his place?”

“I don’t see how,” said
Decker, shaking her head.  “Grand Field Marshal Yamakuri is on the premises of
Fort Jakarta, on the New Jakarta continent of New Terra.  He’s surrounded by an
entire armored division, and only travels in military transport.  Escorted
military transport.”

“And all we have are
the Parliamentary Guard,” said the Prime Minister, putting his head in his
hands.  “While that traitor sits up there in orbit in the most powerful warship
in the Fleet.”

“My Lords and Ladies,”
came a call over the conference room com.  “There is something on the trivee
you need to see.”

“What now,” growled the
Prime Minister as the holo faded in over the center of the table.  The Galactic
News Service logo, GNS, rotated in 3D above the holo field, which showed a man
in uniform talking before some kind of camera.  Text at the bottom of the
screen indicated that the man was aboard HIMS
Valkyrie
in orbit around
Jewel.

“Son of a bitch,” said
Decker, leaning over the table and looking at the face of the man.  “The son of
a bitch went public.”

“He wouldn’t dare,”
said Lord Huang, his eyes widening.

The Prime Minister made
a motion for everyone to be quiet as he raised the volume on the cast.

“And they were holding
her with no evidence, simply to keep her out of the public view,” said Admiral
Len Lenkowski to the camera.  “A woman they knew was innocent.  Just so they
would have a scapegoat.”

“And this justified
your using the Fleet for a prison break?” said the voice of a reporter
identified on the holo as Yasagi Musagawa, a well know investigative journalist
for the network.

“If I did wrong I will
gladly answer for the crime,” said the Admiral, his face solemn.  “As soon as
we have a seated Emperor to decide on my disposition.”

“And that will occur on
Friday,” said the reporter.  “Six days from now.”

“No,” said the Admiral,
shaking his head.  “It will not.  The Emperor’s son is with the Fleet in Sector
Four.  He is now the rightful heir, and all attempts are being made to contact
him at this time.  When he…”

“Program off,” said the
Prime Minister in a shaky voice.

“You know that is
already on the way to the hyperwave relay at the edge of the system,” said
Decker, her voice strained.

“Of course it is,” said
the Prime Minister, looking around the table.  “And what are we going to do
about it?  Even if we send a signal to the relay stations it will arrive too
late to do anything.  That signal will be sent out by relay as soon as it
arrives.  We’d just be chasing it with a useless command all the way to the
core worlds and main sector systems.”

I’m not certain the
relay stations would accept a command from us,” said Decker with a head shake. 
“After all, they are under Emporal administration.  And there’s likely to be
naval personnel there as well.”

“Call up the news
networks,” said the Prime Minister, looking over at Huang.  “We need to do some
damage control here.”

And we need to do
something about this Admiral and his General friend
, thought the Duke,
drumming his fingers on the table. 
We can’t let the military stand in the
way of the lawful civil government, even if we have to do something unlawful to
stop them.

*     *     *

“I understand, my
Lord,” said the tall man, sitting in his shielded command center in a
nondescript building.  He knew where he was.  That was not true for anyone else
in the organization, and especially for the people that were their contacts in
Imperial Government.  “I will see what I can do.”

“Well, you better do
something,’ said the Duke who was the interim Prime Minister of the New Terran
Empire.  “If you want us to have a puppet in place that the people will accept,
these men need to be eliminated.”

“I’m not sure you
should be saying that over this line,” said the tall man, grimacing.