by T J Bryan
"How long has this system existed?" asked Toni.
"Seems a long time. More than 800 years. Once in the distant past the Emperor had power to keep the Senators from fighting among themselves. The Guiding General was established to enforce the Emperor's rule. They actually once had property laws, but the Emperor was weak and lost all authority other than as a symbol and cultural repository. The Guiding General became a figurehead as well. And now there really are no laws as far as land and property are concerned. Anyone with enough money can hire a Centurion to take the property of another by violence."
"So people do get killed in their wars?"
"Yes. Much of the fighting between the two armies may appear to be ritualistic, but the violence is real. Armies take casualties, often large numbers of casualties. They may choose to fight a battle in a field that is fallow, or one in which the harvest has been completed, but the fighting and dying is real."
Toni thought a moment. "It would seem to me that this kind of system would allow a single Senator over time to take all the land. The richest would buy armies take others land and become richer, then repeat the process over and over again. What prevents consolidation of all the land in the hands of the Senator with the most money. It might take several generations but it's a pattern that occurs in the EG history frequently."
"Yes, but for two factors. Senators have many sons by many wives. Inheritance tradition requires the division of the Latifundium income equally to all sons. So if a Senator has 10 children, five of which are sons, the estate revenues become reduced in size by a factor of five. This significantly reduces the amount of cash required to buy an army. On the other hand if a Senator becomes too rich and has too much land, the other Senators will simply gang up together and wage war against the other to restore balance."
"Sounds like a rather unstable system to me?" replied Toni.
"Well it might sound that way, but the system has been stable for perhaps 400 years with few changes."
"And this Senate? What happens when a Senator dies and his five sons take the income. Do the sons become me Senators?"
"That part is hard to understand even though Quadi Dio explained it to me several times. The one remaining power the Emperor has is to appoint a new Senator from among the dead senator's sons. Apparently the Guiding General must also approve. But from what I can tell Senate positions are purchased by one of the sons and payments to the Emperor and to the Guiding General are quite large. It seems that the non-senator sons cannot bequeath their income portion to anyone other than their Senator brother. In that sense the Latifundium never really becomes divided or grows smaller. And the Emperor has no revenue but for these rather large bribes. There is no tax system to support the Emperor but he lives on a huge estate with many servants and lives what is a luxurious life style."
Silvi paused a moment. "I'd hate to be one of the sons who could not pay the bribe to become senator. Seems that mortality among the sons as they bid for Senator status is rather high. About 90%"
Silvi continued. "Another curious thing is that Senators never die or are injured in these land grabs. There are some Senators who have lost everything but they remain in the Senate and live a rather nice life in the capitol. And yes they do plot revenge, but not violence on the other Senators. Revenge by taking back their lands, or the lands of another costs money."
"And the negotiations for food and wine were successful?"
"Yes, we obtained by trade all of the food items listed. I tried a bit of the cheeses and one was quite good but the other simply horrible. The wine was nice."
"What trade goods did they want?"
"No surprise there. Quadi Dio was quite specific before we left on what they needed. They took all our steel pipe, solar powered pumps, and three steam engines. Given the warring nature of the system I was surprised they did not ask for weapons, but they didn't. Seems that spears, arrows, and swords are traditional and they hold very much to tradition. In any event weapons in trade are forbidden by our trade rules."
"And you passed through Diana and Gabbi systems."
"Yes. At Diana we simply sailed through the system. They hailed us, we told them of our intentions and we passed on. At Gabbi we did the same for the asteroid dwellers. The planet there is a tropical nightmare so they live on an asteroid. The asteroid miners had heard of the revival of Wu, and were anxious to confirm that the Wu system was safe. We gave them our best assurances that it was safe, and although they were clearly doubtful, our quiet departure probably convinced them we were telling the truth."
Both Silvi's and Toni's vid-coms chimed simultaneously. "Incoming from Severan."
Silvi stood as did Toni. Silvi walked slowly to the bridge of Ragnarök followed by Toni. Whatever was incoming if headed to Wu Station would take more than 30 hours to arrive and Toni with Silvi had pre-planned battle plans in the event of Dumbbells appearance. Before they reached the bridge the vid-com chimed again.
"Incoming is a probe of some kind. It is an active probe not trying to hide."
Upon reaching the bridge Silvi looked at Toni who was in command of all OCN assets within the Wu System.
Toni said, "Kill it."
Silvi nodded and passed the order to the picket Sigrún and the Revenue Cutter to take out the probe. Moments later the probe was vaporized by a plasma cannon from the Revenue Cutter Wu's Advance. Toni wanted to make sure that Wu Station and its' citizens were fully involved in the defence of the station and she knew that word of any successful action by Wu would give them courage in the difficult fight to come.
"If it's like the last time we can expect them to come through in two to six hours." said Toni and Silvi Nodded.
"Captain Arast, take us out to position '3A' from our pre-plan." said Silvi as she sat in the Commodore's chair. Toni remained standing rather than sit in one of the jump seats that lined the bulkhead behind the captain.
Moments later Ragnarök began to move to her pre-planed position 200,000 kilometres from the Severan entry portal. One SAR remained within a million kilometres of Wu station, but the other three took up positions around the portal. Toni and Silvi, both experienced in fighting Dumbbell ships, had agreed that they must stop the Dumbbells from entering the system or all was lost. They would give any entering ship everything they had to prevent entry, and any entry by a ship successfully exiting the portal put the OCN at a disadvantage. Ships entered at a dead stop, and any ship, particularly a warship of great mass, took time to get moving.
Six hours passed and the portal was quiet. The seven and eight.
"I wonder if they are not coming today?" asked Silvi.
"Might be playing mind games with us. But then I don't think they understand our minds or psychology, otherwise they would not enter Wu system."
Silvi thought a moment. "Well, I am patient so we wait."
"Agreed." said Toni and the Destructor Ragnarök while alert, went to half watch to give the crew a rest.
Toni looked at the vid screen from the deck of Ragnarök showing the positions of both First and Second Fleets. The sight of the enormous Crusher New Kára alone took her breath away, but against a backdrop of 9 SARs now deployed in the system she found it astonishing. Dumbbells were tough and their anti-matter weapons formidable, but now the OCN had a chance of keeping Wu Station should the Dumbbells launch a massive attack. And Silvi and Toni knew that eventually the Dumbbells would make a move. The only question was when.
Hours later, after sending Abel a message via Q Ball that the fleet had arrived and all was quiet, Helen, Silvi, and Toni sat in a small conference room aboard the New Kára. The New Kára had struck both Silvi and Toni as enormous, but the bridge was only slightly larger than a Destructor. The ship itself however was much larger and had some accommodations not found on SARs or Destructors. Along with a complement of 22 marines, a SAR launch bay which supported two SAR's and crews, a spacious exercise room, and two separate messes, she was also equipped with a small conference room which also became the fleet
command station in battle. There was even an Admiral's quarters. The Admiral's quarters were no larger than a captains quarters on a SAR but the tiny office was just a bit larger.
Silvi spoke, "We just can't sit here and wait for an attack. But then again we can't divide the fleet and go hunting for them either. We simply lack intelligence."
Helen, who was glad she was no longer in charge of the Second Fleet agreed. "We need information and the only way I know to get it is to dispatch one of our SARs into the void to go looking. Now where to look is a real issue. What are the entry portals to the Severan system?"
Toni had researched that question many days ago. "There are three entry points to Severan. Tunnel time from Severan here to Wu is about 28 days. One connecting portal to Severan is via New Horizons, but it is a long 3 month journey from New Horizons to Severan. And New Horizons is in the Cranmore system which presents other potential problems. At this time we know next to nothing about the current state of New Horizons. Another closer portal is Quing. Quing is also much of a mystery. Quing to Severan is only about 2 days. The third portal entering Severan is Dong Song. And that tunnel time is very long. Almost six months."
"Dong Son," Silvi said. "That's where Captain Mayers was followed by two Dumbbells all the way to Pope Leo."
Helen responded. "Yes, Farn was taking a peek at Dong Son as a link to old Hitti space and she encountered two Dumbbells there and made a run for it. If I remember she went to Gatecliff and on to Pope Leo where the Dumbbells stopped, boarded the old abandoned orbital station, and landed a lifter. Other than that we don't know much."
Toni picked up her inter-tab and thumbed it open to Farn's dispatches from her travels to the Cranmore system. Silvi and Helen did the same.
A few minutes later Toni spoke, "If I were to guess I'd say there is a good chance those Dumbbells are coming out of old Hitti space through Dong Son. And that puts them in the Cranmore system which has two knot lines that lead here to Wu. One long trip via Severan and an even longer trip through the Cranmore System to our back door at Girots."
Silvi thought a moment. "If they use the Girots approach they could come after us here in Wu from two directions; Nelots or Severan or both."
"It's worse than that Silvi." said Helen. "If they can get to Girots then it's an easy trip to Jamon and the Commonwealth."
"I hate to suggest this, but we need to think about it." said Toni. "Two things we need to consider. First we need to post a picket at Cranmore. If the Dumbbells come through Cranmore the picket can run and inform us that they are there. We can message Abel and warn him, as well as prepare for an encounter here in Wu. If there were time I would prefer to choose our battle space if they come from that direction and that battle space would be in Nelots itself rather than here in Wu."
"And the second idea?" asked Helen.
"We need to go to Dong Son and determine exactly what is happening there. Perhaps to Pope Leo as well. If they are entering though Dong Son we can salt the place with passive probes. That might tell us at a minimum how many ships they have and how often they pass though the portal."
Silvi stood and stretched. "Yes I agree. I was always mystified by Farn's report on Pope Leo. Why the Dumbbells landed on Pope Leo given the ugly history of the place is a mystery. Then there is that odd setup at Iceman. Hitti engines, clean ones at Iceman, and not the dirty Hitti designs we find on the Dumbbells. Very odd."
Helen added, "Farn thought those two engine designs while similar, were not from the same fabricators. I think she might be right. It really makes no economic or fabrication sense to build both clean and dirty engines. I'd guess they were different cultures or systems. Perhaps once related but now apart."
"Helen I think your right." said Silvi. "If I were building a ship I'd want clean engines and I would want them armored and not dangling hundreds of meters behind me. Those Dumbbell ships need to place their engines far away from their quarters out along a long narrow tube, and that tube is a very real and obvious weakness in their design. No, I really think they are separate peoples, or aliens, or whatever."
"Let's sleep on this for a night and in the morning if we are agreed we will formalize our plans for Cranmore and Dong Son." Toni stood and called the meeting to an end. It had been a long day, a long week, and a very long month.
Chapter Eighty Three
Jamon System - Habitat, Admiral's Office - Year 3247. September 1 ET: 11:22
Abel reviewed what he knew to date about Arne Thorgaut and he had to admit that he knew little that was new and that most of what he had learned in the past months was speculation. The Sovereignty Alliance at the collapse of the coup had, in addition to Arne himself, five surviving members. Albert Mason, who had recovered his injuries, had told Abel everything he knew which was not very much.
Mason explained that after abandoning the old mining asteroid they had tried to occupy two others, but they could not restart the power systems and they were unprepared to freeze to death. Then they had slipped into the Habitat through old mining tunnels known to few active miners but abandoned long ago. Arne remained in the tunnel systems as Mason and Gabs Maron brought food and clothing to Arne. Arne complained of the food and demanded what he called 'decent wine.' Arne, Mason said, had become very irritated and short tempered and demanded that Gabs and Albert recruit other members to the Sovereignty Alliance. They had tried to explain to Arne that doing so would be suicide and that everyone in the Habitat had turned against them. Arne refused to believe he had become a hated man. Mason began to think Thorgaut was loosing his grip. When Gabs was captured Arne had to move from the tunnels since he thought she would tell the police where Arne had hidden himself. Then during the night, Arne dressed in woman's clothing, ventured to Mason's home on Clover Lane. He had been there only for one day following Gabs capture. Then Arne sent Mason out to remove Gabs Maron from any witness list. That was all Albert Mason knew. As to where Arne had fled the night of Mason's capture was guesswork.
Four of Arne's immediate supporters were now dead, if one considered Gabs Moran dead, and one was now captured. Arne would have no dedicated supporters left. Arne's training was as a legal scholar and later as a Judicar. He was unfamiliar with manual labor and had lived a lifestyle of comfort and the deference of others. Further his education had been in the law and not chemistry, and the likelihood he could concoct new explosives was low. Abel now believed that Arne was somewhere in the Habitat rather than return to the tunnels. Therefore he needed a place to hide and in order to avoid detection he needed at least the passive support of a resident.
Abel had spent the morning reviewing the names of relatives and family of known Sovereignty Alliance members including those who actively supported Thorgaut's murders and bombing, as well as those who died in the food riots, or were simply fools in following Throgaut's orders. Abel included in his search the family of Alos Decker and Piet Peters as well as the higher ranking officers of the Pilot's Guild. The list had grown quite large and contained well over 200 names. Abel eliminated 22 names given that he personally knew the people involved and knew they were not supporters of Arne. Wain Peters, now a lieutenant in the OCN Marines, was one example.
The list now had 178 names and Abel decided to focus on those associated with the Miners Guild since most of Arne's early followers had been out of work miners. Additionally he eliminated the young and the very old. Almost all of Arne's thugs had been between 40 and 60 years of age, and the young had in almost every case either joined the OCN or were clearly supporters of the invigorated Commonwealth. The old were either too wise to join Arne, or simply without the energy to actively support the bombing and murder efforts.
That left Abel with a list of 42 names. 42 was too many for search warrants and such seemingly indiscriminate searches would raise doubts in the public's mind and at this point Abel wanted no renewed interest or support for Arne.
Abel reached for his vid-com and thumbed up Frankish Godfrid who had temporarily assumed the post of Judicar for the
Commonwealth. He asked Frankish for a moment of his time.
At noon Abel walked the sort distance to the Judicar's Chambers in the Community Center. He climbed the short steps into the well lit hallway and turned toward the small justice wing, past the single courtroom, and on to the Judicar's Chambers. Ethel Thoranson, Godfrid's clerk, and mother of the captain of the Brynhildr smiled as Abel entered the office.
"Oh Abel,... I mean Admiral. It is a delight to see you. The Judicar is waiting in the inner office."
Abel replied, "Thank you Ethel," and proceeded into the inner office. Once again Abel was struck about how extensive the roots of the OCN had become in the last year. Almost all of the 47,000 citizens of the Commonwealth were either related to or close associates of OCN crews. Loyalty or just appreciation of the OCN ran very deep in the Commonwealth in stark contrast to three years before.
Frankish was sitting at his desk reading from an old fashioned book. Several others lay open on his desk together with several chaotic piles of paper. Frankish looked up. "Abel, please sit. Now what brings you to our sacred chambers. Perhaps another visit to our holding cell in the basement?" Frankish lightly laughed at his joke. The very thought of the holding cell Abel found disturbing, but decided that Frankish meant well.
"No. I have seen enough of that cell to last a lifetime."
"Indeed," replied the Judicar. "If your here about the trial of Albert Mason we have scheduled it for thirty days after his release from the hospital which should be in a few days. If your going to suggest we delay the trial, well we cannot. The law is very clear on this and we both respect the law."
"Actually," replied Abel, "I am fine with that date. We have gathered all the evidence including the vids of the hospital, the gun, and physical evidence, and the testimony of others who confirm Mason's role in the bombing of the plaza."