Time Commander (The First Admiral Series) (2 page)

BOOK: Time Commander (The First Admiral Series)
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But, Grand Adjudicator….!” Arrad began to protest.


I will have no argument Arrad, the law is quite clear; their lives are forfeit to the Empire, and execution immediate!”


Grand Adjudicator, the candidate should have won….”


Yes, Arrad, he SHOULD have won, but he didn’t! Now go and prepare Vartin and his family for execution.”


Yes, Grand Adjudicator.” Arrad rose to his feet and bowed deeply. He set one foot almost painfully in front of the other, and walked slowly out of the room.


Please, don’t be so hard on him Grand Adjudicator.” Adjudicator Tiba soothingly walked over to Bellor after Arrad had left the room.

Where Arrad was tall and slim, Tiba was short, squat and muscular. Whilst both Arrad and Bellor were pure blood Ganthoran, Tiba was part Thelian. Unlike Bellor and Arrad, Tiba did not have the cat-like grace and poise of his fellow Adjudicators. Bellor, still angry from Arrad’s dissent turned his back on Tiba, and watched, whilst on the large sound-muted monitor, the orange uniformed clean-up crew begin to lift Goldair’s body into a yellow body bag from the arena floor.

“Yes, I know...” Bellor said.


He’s young and idealistic,” Tiba interrupted, “he thought that this one would be the new Emperor, as did we all.”


Yes, I know…he’s just like his father; brash, idealistic and stubborn…but how long can we hold the Empire together without a new Emperor?” Bellor stared as the lifeless body on the monitor was lifted into the body bag.


Listen to them!” Bellor switched the sound button on the silent monitor.

The deafening thunder of stamping feet swept into the room like a tidal wave and filled it with the threat and menace of hundreds of thousands of frustrated Ganthorans.

“Grand Adjudicator, we must carry on as Emperor Varnus bid us,” Tiba said.

With a deft flick of his four-fingered right hand, Bellor silenced the monitor, and turned to face Tiba. The stamping ceased instantly, flooding the room with the deafening oppressive silence that Tiba found even more intimidating.

“I will conduct the investigation into this tragedy myself,” Bellor straightened the dark green sash on his long, wide-sleeved white Robe of Office. “Go and put the Frontier Fleets on alert, old friend. The Horvath may try to avenge their General with an immediate attack.”

For Second Adjudicator Tiba, the gold chain and medal of office seemed to hang around Bellor’s neck a little more heavily than he had noticed before. The Grand Adjudicator’s shoulders were just starting to stoop perceptibly, something else Tiba hadn’t really noticed – or perhaps, he was just imagining it in his own nervousness.

“Yes, Grand Adjudicator,” Tiba bowed and left the room through the pale, shimmering Tele-Portal door. Turning back to the silenced monitor, Bellor watched the six orange-uniformed Thelian clean-up crew, surrounded by nervous security personnel, start to carry the body bag to the trap door in the arena floor all while they were surrounded by nervous security personnel. Behind them, on the blue-white sand, the black blood and gore stain left by Goldair’s body stared back at him like a challenge. This should never have happened, Bellor muttered to himself. Moving from the large monitor, Bellor walked slowly round the lower side of the Adjudication Table. The table itself was “T” shaped, with a raised dais at the top end that ran horizontally to the rest of the table. Taking his seat, Bellor sat, his elbows on the table, his head resting in his hands. Who was doing this? He wracked his brain as he searched for a coherent answer. It had to be one of the Adjudicators who had passed the details of the pass-codes to someone. However, the other Adjudicators didn’t know each others’ pass-codes. It had to be a fourth person who had the pass-codes. Who would give them the codes? It wasn’t Arrad, because the first two incidents had been before his time as Adjudicator, and it wasn’t himself. That left Tiba as the only suspect. He had known Tiba for almost twenty years, and Tiba had no ambitions for the Imperial Throne. He didn’t have a military background, couldn’t become a Frontier General, had no connection to an old Imperial dynasty and, so, was ineligible to become even a Candidate.

Maybe Tiba was working for one of the Frontier Generals, who were constantly vying with each other for the chance to become Candidates? No, Bellor dismissed the idea from his mind. Tiba was not a full-blood Ganthoran. The “blue-blood” families as Bellor called them; the ones with hereditary descent from many of the previous Emperors, barely spoke a civil word to Tiba.

No, it just didn’t make any sense at all to Grand Adjudicator Bellor. But, as he sat pondering the conundrum of who could have leaked the pass-codes, he resolved that with this investigation he would get to the truth and he would punish those responsible with the utmost severity. Reaching down to one of the buttons on the console built into the table, he flipped one of the switches.


Send the Chief of the Internal Security Pacifiers to the Adjudication Room, please,” Bellor said.


Yes, Grand Adjudicator.”

Yes
, thought Grand Adjudicator Bellor,
I’ll get to the bottom of this, and I’ll make sure whoever did this pays with their lives.

Chapter 2: The Star Cruiser Aquarius

 

The harsh, shrill clangour of the comm-link jarred through the silence of the darkened cabin and into the busily occupied mind of the First Admiral. With the protesting grunt of a disturbed animal, the First Admiral reached over from his pile of folios and reports to silence the unwelcome interruption to his working focus.

“Yes?” He angrily hit the flashing “respond” button on the silver-box comm-link set on the large rectangular work desk.


Sorry to disturb you, sir- a message from Third Fleet: The Ganthorans have entered Terganian space,” said the disembodied voice.


Thank you. Do we know how big the Ganthoran incursion force is?”


Third Fleet reports an entire Ganthoran Frontier Fleet, around twelve hundred large vessels.”

No small incursion then
, the disappointed First Admiral considered.


Very well, please, summon the Fleet staff to the War Room in thirty minutes, and establish visual link to Admiral Parbe’an at Third Fleet for the conference.”


Yes, sir.”

The First Admiral cut the comm-link, and sighed wearily.

“Oh God, just what we needed.”

It had been almost six weeks since the Terganians had signed the relatively brief Treaty of Alliance which bound them as the twenty-seventh species to join the rapidly expanding Universal Alliance. During that time the Terganians’ more aggressive and expansionist neighbours, the Ganthoran Empire, had probed and challenged the defences set up by Third Fleet at the request of the Terganian Directorate and the Alliance’s Military Liaison to the Territory. Now it looked like the Ganthorans were mounting a full-scale invasion.

“Illuminate, please,” ordered the First Admiral.

The cabin’s internal computer instantaneously flooded the cabin with a harsh white blinding light from the illumination panels built into the ceiling and walls.

His name was William Caudwell. To everyone who knew him on Earth, he was simply called Billy. On Earth, he was the only son of John and Elizabeth Caudwell; an overweight, fifteen year old schoolboy who barely merited a second glance from passers-by. But here, on the other side of the universe, he was First Admiral Caudwell of the Universal Alliance Fleet.

It had been just over a year since First Admiral William Caudwell had inherited the mission from a dying alien to unite all the species of the universe into one Universal Alliance. It had been sheer blind random chance that had brought the ordinary teenage schoolboy into the middle of the abduction of a young Royal Air Force Officer back in his home town in the Scottish Borders. Carefully, this same William Caudwell raised himself from his work desk and walked into the Social Area of his quarters.

The First Admiral, dressed only in shorts and t-shirt, lifted the light-blue military uniform overall that lay crumpled in a heap on the sofa. This was his Personal Environment Suit, or PES. Woven into the fibres of the PES were hundreds of thousands of microscopic machines which combined to provide a range of functions to the wearer. Originally, it was designed for Garmaurians; the most technologically advanced species in the universe, to operate in Alternative Atmosphere Environments. It operated by projecting a force-shield around the wearer and generating their own Personal Environment to allow optimal levels of physical functioning. Now, a whole host of functions were programmed into the PES, which kept the First Admiral functioning at optimum efficiency.

Quickly and quietly, the First Admiral stepped into the PES and slipped his arms into the sleeves. Almost instantly, the suit closed up along the opening from left hip to right shoulder, whilst forming the black, shiny boots that formed part of the Universal Alliance Officer’s uniform. As it closed, the colour of the material changed from light blue to dark green. Responding to the physiological state of the wearer, the First Admiral felt the surprisingly pleasant tingle running up and down his spine as the suit interfaced with his central nervous system. Within seconds, his aches and pains began to recede and he felt very alert, whilst his low mood lifted considerably.

To the untrained eye, his uniform was no different from the one-piece overalls worn by the Technicians and Junior Officers of the Fleet. On the left lapel of his high collar it bore the large, single, shiny golden, five-pointed star insignia of the First Admiral of the Universal Alliance Fleet. On the right collar tab, he wore the silver Universal Alliance sunburst insignia to denote his officer status. On his left cuff, he wore the identical motif to his right collar tab, the golden five-pointed star, woven into the fabric. Below the embroidered star were the two broad gold bands of his Admiral status.

Feeling considerably better, First Admiral Caudwell reached over to one of the dark floor-to-ceiling panels on the bulkhead which cleared to transparent almost immediately. The harsh light of the cabin clashing with the darkness of space outside created a mirror-like surface which allowed the First Admiral to check that he was fit to be seen for duty.
That’s not a pretty sight
, he thought to himself catching sight of the reflection. The soft, white, downy hair that was starting to spread from behind his ears onto the rest of his face, combined with the angry, white-headed eruptions of acne made a ghastly accompaniment to the copious crop of red, random freckles. Worst of all, his head was crowned with a crop of unruly, fiery red hair- just like his mother. Despite it being cut into a regulation short military haircut, he was a ginger-nut, a carrot-top, and he hated it.

Looking at the frighteningly honest reflection of himself one last time, Billy concluded that the Personal Environment Suit did its best to control the eruptions of acne and to regulate his body weight. However, his body was in the terrible state of flux that all young adult humans have to suffer, which is known as adolescence, and, for which, the PES was not designed to cope.

Taking a moment to reflect on his appearance, his mind drifted out of the window to the star field flashing past as the Star Cruiser “Aquarius” sped through its designated patrol sector. Every time he looked out into space, he was still amazed at the beauty and vastness of the universe. He wondered if his classmates and friends would ever see such a sight in their lifetimes. For a moment, he caught himself smiling.
Classmates
, he thought to himself. He was First Admiral and Supreme Commander of The Universal Alliance Fleet; the most dynamic, powerful and rapidly expanding military and political force in the entire universe.

With a deep, pessimistic sigh, and one last look glance at his reflection, Billy Caudwell set off briskly for the War Room. In a moment, Billy passed from the quiet, darkened tranquillity of his Private Quarters into the hustle and bustle of the harshly-lit War Room.

In one corner of the War Room was a raised platform set against the right hand wall adjoining the First Admiral’s quarters. To reach the platform from the floor of the War Room required someone to climb a set of three stairs. On three sides of the platform were row upon row of consoles populated by hundreds of Technicians and Officers responsible for feeding data and information into the Tactical View Screens that were holographically projected from the floor of the platform, along with the First Admiral’s famous War Table.

The War Table was a heavily illuminated three-dimensional holographic projector that could present viewers with a whole range of tactical and strategic maps, not to mention the multiple positional views. When battle was joined with an enemy, the War Table gave the First Admiral the most up to date and complex view of the battle situation as it unfolded. This gave him a massive advantage over his opponent with its immediate responsiveness to changes in the battle situation. In battles, where split-second decisions could be the difference between victory and defeat, potentially costing thousands of lives, the War Table was the most advanced piece of battle-monitoring technology in the universe.

Billy Caudwell was the “unchallenged master of space battle”. To be more accurate, the Mind Profile of a dead Garmaurian officer that Billy Caudwell had implanted deep within his consciousness had been the master of space battle before his death. His knowledge, training, expertise and experience now flowed through the mind of the fifteen-year-old schoolboy from a distant planetary backwater called Earth. Billy Caudwell was going to need all of the skill, knowledge and expertise of the now-dead Garmaurian First Admiral Teg Skarral Portan to deal with this particular Ganthoran incursion.

BOOK: Time Commander (The First Admiral Series)
13.89Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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