My Friend the Emperor

by William Lee Gordon

  “But when your father dies, when your brother takes the throne…” I said.

  “Then Tauri’s life is forfeit,” he responded.

  “But doesn’t Tauri know this?” I said.

  “Of course she does,” he replied.

  “Oh… Shrak!” I exclaimed.

  “Exactly.” The Captain responded.

  After a moment I asked about the Emperor himself.

  “You may meet him but I doubt you’ll spend much time around him,” said the Captain. “He is an intelligent man and to his credit he lacks the unnecessary cruelty of my big brother and sister. My father’s cruelty takes a different form. His arrogance is absolute. He runs the Empire through fear and avarice. He lavishly rewards his friends and economically destroys his enemies. His micromanagement of the Imperial economy has perpetuated and worsened our two-class system. You’re either a poor resident or a rich Citizen.”

  “But that’s the way it’s always been.” I said.

  “You only think that because you were raised in Imperial schools. The truth is almost every advanced planet that the Empire has conquered over the last 400+ years had evolved sufficiently to have a prosperous middle class. If an economy is free from interference this is a naturally occurring phenomena; there will always be some poor and there will always be some rich, but the majority will always be somewhere in-between. The Empire itself even reflected that at one time.

  “No, the policies of the Empire are now designed to eliminate the middle class from the stellar economy. Each individual world has its own economy and some fare better than others, but when you put them all together the handful of worlds owned by the Emperor’s Family and cronies are a thousand times richer than everyone else.

  “We call ourselves Citizens but we’re really just the upper class of the stellar economy.”

  “Is there anything wrong with that?” I said stubbornly.

  “Not if you earned it. Did you earn yours?” he asked. “Because I keep searching for a way to justify mine,” he concluded.

  “Economics is a subject I’m good at,” I heard myself saying.

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “I was going to fix that,” I continued. “I saw so many ways that our people could be more efficient, earn more and better prosper… I thought I could raise the standard of living for my planet and others.”

  “I remember. You told us that, but your mind is free enough now that you need to understand… they never would have let you do it.”

  “But… Why not?”

  “Because they’ve rigged the game and they don’t want you or anyone else undoing it. All the rules and regulations put out by the Empire aren’t there for the common good… Oh, they might claim that, but all the rules are in place to benefit the Empire, not the people.

  “Those regulations prevent competition; they protect crony industries and discourage innovation. Every reform you wanted to make would have benefited the wrong people – that’s why they would have stopped you.

  “You need to understand, Jac. Those worlds you wanted to help aren’t the right people. That’s the reason they’re poor.”

  “My home world Lightspar, like many others, has to give up more of our wealth than we take in to help fund the Empire’s expansion,” I objected. “If we are to continue bringing peace, order, and stability to the new systems we’re assimilating into the Empire we must have the wealth to do so.”

  Captain Acamar started to laugh but then stopped himself. “You know, I wasn’t joking about your Imperial education. There are some things you’ve been taught that… aren’t exactly true.”

  “Like what?” I said warily.

  He sighed. “The Empire isn’t expanding.”

  “But of course it is! I mean, the signs are all around us. The Academy is graduating more and more Citizens. More and more of our wealth is being used to…”

  I couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “Yeah, that’s the rub isn’t. How do you really know what it’s being used for? Trust me Jac, I know. And it isn’t being spent on bringing freedom or lifting up and welcoming new civilizations into the Empire.

  “As for the Citizen corps… My father has kept us at constant war for the last 35 years, Jac. The Empire is currently at war with seven different bordering civilizations. For some crazy reason they don’t seem to want our enlightenment and protection. You don’t see it because we’re on the backside of the Empire and the news media isn’t allowed to talk about it, but Imperial aggression is grinding up Citizens and personnel at an ever-increasing pace.”

  Yes, I was naïve. Everything I’d believed growing up was apparently a lie. At least it was if I were to believe this man riding beside me. That was the worst part about this whole situation. I wanted to know for sure – one way or the other. If I thought about it I already knew I couldn’t trust my tutors at The Academy, but that didn’t automatically imply I could totally trust the Captain either, did it? Then why did I have the sinking feeling that he was right?

  “Who else do I need to know about?” I said in a much less enthusiastic voice.

  “The only other person that warrants your immediate attention is my father’s advisor, Lord José Namagashi.”

  I waited as the Captain gathered his thoughts.

  “There’s really not much to say about Lord Namagashi. He’s a smooth talker but make no mistake, his job is to constantly balance the ledger.”

  “I don’t understand what that means,” I said.

  “He plays factions off against each other. He keeps the Emperor out of everyone’s crosshairs by making sure they’re too busy fighting or conspiring against each other.”

  “You mean political faction against political faction?”

  “Yes, and sister against brother, etc.,” the captain said with a smile.

  “The main thing to remember is that he’s probably smarter than everyone else put together and that makes him deadly. He can rationalize any agenda, any strategy no matter how despicable and make it sound noble. No matter how much you’re tempted do not trust him.”

  “It doesn’t sound like anyone I want to deal with,” I said. “Hopefully I can stay under his radar.”

  “Yeah, well, I doubt that will be possible…”

  Chapter twenty-four

  ENSIGN JACOBY NICOLAY

  The Politics of Empire

  “I want to thank you for your excellent service to my brother,” said the Grand Duchess Tauri Acamar.

  We were sitting on the balcony of the palace enjoying a light lunch of poached samíl eggs, garbeast pâté, winged angel meat, Terian Forest tubers, some type of coarse grained bread, and winter spiced wine.

  Earlier, when I’d informed the Captain that I’d been invited to lunch with the Grand Duchess he had simply waived me on and quickly returned to his work.

  Since our table was the only one on the balcony the servers stood aside silently waiting to refill the two sips that I had taken of my wine, or some such. Now, one of those attendants sat an open presentation box next to me on the table. On full display was an ornate jeweled brooch.

  “My Lady, what is this?” I said in surprise.

  “That, my friend, is the brooch to the Loyal Servant of the Empire Cloak that you are now authorized to wear. I have always been fond of Alyster but I am not unaware that he sometimes requires looking after. I’ve been informed that you’re the perfect man for that job.”

  “I… I’m afraid I’m at a loss for words, my lady. I’m not sure I deserve this. It is my honor to serve the Captain.”

  “Yes, yes I’m sure. But only those of us that are really close to him can know the true burdens of such a duty. Because of that I want you to know that you’re free to share any of those burdens with me.”

  I jerked my eyes away from the brooch and looked up to her.

  She continued, “As a matter of fact, I insist that you keep me informed of my brother’s escapades. Only because I care about him and want to help you serve him, of
course.”

  “Of course, my Lady.”

  “Then we understand each other?” she asked.

  “I believe we do, I responded.” What else could I say?

  “Good. Then I have another gift for you. I am assigning you a detachment of Imperial Defense Forces.”

  “Are you really sure that’s necessary, my lady? I feel quite safe here on the palace grounds.”

  She laughed. “You silly boy, they’re to protect my brother, not you! Anyway, they’re not for here. They’ll join you when you return to your ship and you will take command of them there.”

  This seemed so weird that I wasn’t even sure what questions to ask… “You’re assigning them to me? Not the ship in general?”

  “Yes, of course. Out there on the fringe of known space, constantly on the lookout for raiders and pirates… I would feel so much better if you had a detachment of the Empire’s finest to use as my brother’s personal security.

  “Naturally, she continued, “they really serve me but you will wear the brooch as my representative. Therefore they will follow your commands in my absence. As long as you’re serving my best interests, you’ll be fine.”

  She didn’t need to elaborate on what would happen if I didn’t. Imperial Defense Forces? Frak…

  “My lady… What will the Captain have to say about this? I mean, we already have a security force on the Halcyon.”

  “Yes, but I worry about my brother out there on the frontier, all alone. I am within my rights to assign Imperial security personnel to any ship in the Empire. Surely no one can question the correctness of keeping an heir to the throne safe, wouldn’t you agree?”

  I nodded. I didn’t trust myself to open my mouth.

  “Yes, if you do a good job for me… and of course I mean for my brother, I think you might be the type of person that the Empire needs amongst its upper echelons. There are a number of single courtiers among my retinue. They are quite beautiful and have families that are well connected. I’m sure that any number of them would be excited to meet a hero of the Empire. Perhaps someday you’ll permit me to make an introduction for you?”

  “I am hardly a hero, my lady.”

  “If you do what we both know you need to do, history will remember you that way,” she said.

  ΔΔΔ

  At least the Grand Duchess had been polite.

  Obviously Admiral Tanakh at the Home Fleet hadn’t been the only one that felt my position as Captain Alyster Acamar’s aide could be useful.

  Instead of a guilt-lettered invitation printed on the finest of parchment, however, the heir apparent sent two armed guards to all but manhandle me to an audience.

  “So you’re the man inside?” was the first thing the Prince said to me. “I hope Admiral Tanakh is right about you, I’d hate to think that he was slipping.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was an invitation to speak or not so I kept my mouth shut.

  “So, what have you learned about my little brother?”

  “Well, Prince Acamar… I’ve tried to put everything in my reports.”

  “Yes, I’ve had people read me your reports. I want to know the stuff you’ve left out.”

  Oh Frak, what did he know? The Captain’s warnings about his brother sizing people up as either useful, useless, or in the way were still vivid in my mind. I wasn’t politically skilled enough to walk that line.

  “Prince Acamar, everything I have ascertained for certain I have included in the reports. The only thing left out would be conjecture or guesses; I didn’t think my inexperience warranted attention to such.”

  The Prince looked me over for a long time. Finally, he said, “Do you have ambitions in the fleet?”

  Okay, I was back on solid ground here. I knew exactly what answer I needed to give.

  “Yes my Prince, if I could be so graced as to rise in standing I would consider it a blessing.”

  The Prince was the type of man that was always doing something else. Except for his two bodyguards I was the only other person in the room but for the most part he wasn’t even looking at me. He was engaged in rearranging some sort of model pieces on his desk.

  “You had lunch with the Grand Duchess. What machinations did she involve you in?”

  Just like the Captain said, I should expect no sweet-talk and it was obvious that if I crossed this man I would never leave the planet. So I told him.

  ΔΔΔ

  Captain Acamar had been right; I never did meet the Emperor. But I did, unfortunately, have to spend time around his advisor, Lord José Namagashi.

  The Captain and I were having an afternoon tea with the Lord Advisor. We were in a large three-story domed section of the palace that could only be described as a tearoom. A tearoom that could seat 300. All of the relatively small round tables were set with the finest gilded china and crystal stemware. The cutlery had to be antique silver.

  The Captain appeared to be quite comfortable in this setting. With my cumbersome formal dress along with the multitude of plates, saucers, dishes, glasses and whatnot arrayed in front of me I was honestly afraid to move too quickly for fear I would break something.

  It was a private tea; except for the servants, only the three of us were using the room.

  “I’m sure everyone has had their chance to give you their condolences,” Lord Namagashi said to the Captain. “I am, of course, duty-bound to add my own.”

  “I accept them in the proper spirit of accommodation,” he replied.

  “Yes, I know you were never close with her, Alyster, but her passing has been an… inconvenience in the machinations of Empire.”

  “You mean the machinations of the Emperor,” he responded.

  “If you’ll forgive me for saying so, Alyster, that has always been your problem. You simply refuse to understand that there is no difference.

  “At any rate I didn’t bring you here to spar,” he continued. “I need to know your intentions.”

  “My intentions have never wavered,” said the Captain. “I captain my ship and stay as far away from Celcium as I can. Surely your spies confirm that.”

  I couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably in my chair.

  “Yes, well… When everybody’s spies agree on something that causes me to worry. But then we’ve known each other long enough that we can exercise candor, can we not?”

  “Total candor, José? Are you serious?”

  “I didn’t say total. However, some candor and basic understanding is called for. Alyster, there are some things I need to tell you so we must, for the moment, put all games aside. On those grounds can you parlay with me for a moment?”

  The Captain didn’t immediately respond. I got the impression that this was an unexpected turn of events.

  “I believe I can, but first I have a question. Why are we having this conversation in front of my aide?”

  “There are several reasons,” Lord Namagashi sighed. “First off everyone seems to think he’s their personal spy, which means he’s probably no ones. Secondly, if what I think is getting ready to happen does happen he’ll need to know. Thirdly, and most importantly, I know you well enough to know that by bringing him into the lion’s den with you he’s someone you would end up telling everything to anyway.”

  “Aw José, did you have to go and say that in front of him?”

  I wasn’t moving a muscle; I wasn’t even breathing.

  “Okay José, I’ll admit you have impressed me. This conversation is so out of character for you that you have piqued my curiosity. What is it that you need me to take so seriously?”

  “The first thing you need to know is that your father, the Emperor, is opposed to your brother’s engagement to the Lady Carrington. Her father represents one of the largest political factions in the Empire. His family and business connections have generated a lot of loyalty amongst the fleet. That influence extends throughout at least three of our seven fleets.”

  The Captain was very quiet. Apparently this was news to him. For someone to command t
he loyalty of three Imperial fleets would be enough to give anyone pause.

  Finally Captain Acamar spoke, “Apparently a lot’s happened since I’ve been away from court. The last I knew the Carrington faction supported my father; I’ve attended a number of the daughters’ weddings.”

  “A lot has changed. Over the last seven years your father has been directing more and more of the Empire’s resources into war matériel and throwing it into the downspiral border conflicts. The economic drain has been significant and because the Carringtons control a large part of the economy they have felt it the most. Over the last couple of years Lord Carrington has been openly critical of the Emperor’s policies.”