I made a connection and one of the screens opened up to the image of Captain Acamar on his bridge. The scene behind him was chaotic; the bridge crew were shouting commands and running from station to station. He looked at me with those calm green eyes and said, “Well Ensign, what are you going to do?”
That was the question wasn’t it? As my two remaining protectors started firing back through the doorway, offering their lives to defend me on my mission, I realized I had very little time to make a decision. It was going to be now or never.
“You’re not going to save the Empire, are you?” I asked.
“No, not exactly. That’s not the plan,” the Captain said back at me.
Did I have the right to change history? Did I have the right to end an empire that had lasted almost 500 years?
As the attack outside the room intensified a gas canister rolled through the doorway and started spewing its fumes. I had already prepped the station in front of me by entering my codes; the only thing left was to tap the flashing icon.
I rested my fingers on it as the room suddenly shook…
ΔΔΔ
Sergio broke from his cover, scooped up the canister and threw it back out the hatchway. Just then the whole station shook.
“Drak! They blasted our shuttle!” Crewmen Jillian shouted. “I didn’t think they’d do that,” she cussed.
I hadn’t quite fallen out of the chair and I looked back down at the console. I had apparently tapped the icon.
The Halcion was now in control of automated intersystem traffic.
Chapter forty-two
LEUTENANT MONICA STILES
What Could Go Wrong?
“Come on Jac,” Monica found herself muttering. Tauri’s shuttle was now halfway to her ship and they still didn’t have control. If they didn’t commandeer it soon they would lose the window… and all would be lost.
“Captain,” Maria said. “The troop transport says the game is up. One of the IDF cruisers got close enough to ID them. They know they’re not the Halcion.”
Monica looked back over at the Captain and saw him gazing intently into his view screen. She was at an angle but… Was that Jac?
Walking closer she heard him quietly say, “No, not exactly. That’s not the plan.”
The next few heartbeats seemed to stretch out forever but Felix finally exclaimed, “That’s it! We’ve got it! We’ve got control.”
“Redirect her, Felix. Shut down her communications,” the Captain said aloud. “Durand, we need some massive confusion. Now!”
“Massive confusion coming up… Now,” he said.
In a volume of space that almost totally englobed the Empress’s shuttle, drones carrying ship-killing charges simultaneously detonated. Ejected from the only opening in the conflagration was the shuttle, heading straight towards the Halcion.
“Maria, broadcast the announcement,” the Captain said.
Maria manipulated the controls and a prerecorded message was broadcast throughout the system.
ΔΔΔ
“Citizens and residents of the Celcium Empire.
“I am Alyster Acamar, third son of Emperor Eridanus Acamar III, and younger brother to Empress Tauri Acamar. As heir to the throne the crown would fall to me should anything happen to Empress Tauri.
“It is my duty to inform you that something has happened. Empress Tauri Acamar is dead.
“Her shuttle just moments ago was destroyed en route from the palace to her ship in orbit. How this happened will come under full investigation but for the moment it is incumbent upon me to step forward and assume control.
“I am ordering all fleet personnel and all IDF personnel to stand down. All hostilities in the Celcium system shall halt immediately.
“The Empire has been wrenched apart and we need time to sort things out. All Citizens will immediately take a defensive stance. No further aggression is to be allowed.
“Await further orders.”
ΔΔΔ
Monica realized she’d been holding her breath.
As the Captain’s message played across their view screen, and presumably across everyone else’s view screens as well, she slowly let it out.
Had they done it? It had gone so smoothly. She was starting to smile when Felix spoke up, “Captain, we have your sister’s shuttle on board.”
The Captain sprang from his chair and said, “Monica, you’re with me.”
They walked into the Shuttle Bay to find several security officers surrounding the still closed shuttle hatch.
The Captain glanced at the lead crewmen and he said, “We were waiting for you, sir.”
“Open it,” came the reply.
We waited while our team entered the shuttle. It was only a moment later when they came back out.
“Captain, it’s empty!”
The Captain pivoted and headed at a dead run back to the bridge with Monica close on his heels.
Just as they entered Maria called out, “Captain! I’ve got an incoming transmission from the I.D.F. Femme Fatale. It’s carrying the Empress’ Sigil.”
The Captain motioned towards the screen and an image appeared.
The smirking face of Empress Tauri Acamar was looking back out at them.
ΔΔΔ
“News of my death seems to be premature,” the Empress said.
“Did you really think I was stupid enough to fall for your games?” she continued from what was obviously the bridge of the I.D.F. Femme Fatale.
“You know Alyster, I came very close to underestimating you. But since I’m so used to subterfuge, and since you so obviously are not, my normal prudence won out.”
“Don’t you mean your normal paranoia?” the Captain said.
“Tsk, tsk… Now don’t be a sore loser. As much is it makes you uncomfortable to hear how I outwitted you it makes me feel even better to talk about it.
“I’ve been commanding things from my ship for a long time, Alyster. I didn’t mind waiting a few more weeks so that you wouldn’t catch me planetside. You thought I’d be impatient to rule. You thought I wouldn’t be able to resist occupying the palace.
“Well, you were wrong.”
Tauri signaled someone off-screen and Maria said, “Captain, this broadcast has just gone systemwide.”
Tauri stood up and walked forward until her visage filled the entire screen.
“So that everyone can see that my brother can’t be trusted I am making this live broadcast. As you can see, I’m alive. I’m…”
Just for an instant a red dot appeared in the middle of the Empress’ forehead. It quickly transformed into a black smoking hole.
Her body crumpled to reveal the person standing behind her, still pointing the laz gun.
“No… You’re dead,” said Valys.
ΔΔΔ
The next 12 hours were chaotic.
The Captain sent out a number of live broadcasts, giving orders here and reassurances there.
In two instances it was necessary to publicly denounce the captains of two different IDF ships and demand their arrest or risk total destruction of their ships. It’s unclear whether those captains voluntarily surrendered or whether their crews made the decision for them.
Sergio, Jillian, and Jac were eventually returned to the Halcion. The last anybody had heard of the troop transport it was being loaded onto a commercial freighter and being rechristened under private ownership.
It was a full 48 hours before the Captain got around to ordering the EFF codes switched back to that of the Halcion.
One happening of note was that Lord José Namagashi had resurfaced. Apparently he had gone underground immediately after the Empress had declared for the crown. His open acceptance of Alyster Acamar as legitimate Emperor did a lot to dispel the unrest.
The Captain was spending a lot of time in his day cabin dealing with the affairs of state. It was exactly the sort of stuff that he hated and he didn’t let anyone forget it.
Monica was left to conduct the day-to-day aff
airs of the ship.
Interestingly enough, Jac was finally getting a chance to act as a true aide. He was the gatekeeper for access to the new emperor that everyone so suddenly and desperately needed to talk to. It was clear he was being taken more and more into the Captain’s confidence.
Monica was taking a rare break from the bridge. She had grabbed an orange juice from the Citizen’s Commissary buffet line when she turned around to find Consuelo standing behind her.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were standing there,” she said. “I should’ve checked on you before now but honestly, with everything going on, I’d almost forgotten you were onboard.”
Consuelo smiled.
“You’ve been pretty busy. Everyone has. I was wondering though, could we sit down and talk for a moment?”
Curious as to what she might want to talk about Monica nodded her head and walked over to a nearby table.
Once they were seated Consuelo started, “Have you given any thought as to what you’re going to do now?”
“Honestly, I haven’t had time,” she responded. “I’m still thinking that finding a nice planet somewhere to get lost on might be the best thing for me. My father doesn’t need me but I’d like to go back and visit him at least. After that, who knows where I’ll end up?”
After a moment Consuelo said, “You and Jack make a pretty good team, don’t you think?”
Whoa, where did that come from? “Why would you say that?”
“You know, the Empire as we know it is destined to become a thing of the past,” she said. “Alyster is quite serious about not wanting to be the Emperor – and you’re not the only person that would like to find a quiet planet to disappear on.”
Talk about a change of subject… Where was this conversation going?
“Consuelo, I’m afraid I don’t really have any idea what you’re getting at.”
Continuing with her non sequitur comments Consuelo said, “Jac really is brilliant. I think the Captain has plans for him.”
Monica shifted in her seat uncomfortably.
“I could see that. He’s a very brave man,” she finally replied.
Consuelo looked directly at Monica and said, “He’s more than just brave. He’s got the very rare ability to sense things. Call it intuition if you want. He calls it seeing patterns, but however it works it allows him to make accurate conclusions on insufficient data. It’s very rare.”
“Consuelo I still don’t understand why you’re telling me this,” Monica confessed.
“Oh, I just think you complement his abilities well,” she said. “You have a strength about you that is just as rare. You’re intelligent, independent, and just as stubborn as he is.”
“Are you trying to play matchmaker?” Monica asked exasperatedly.
“Oh heavens no,” Consuelo laughingly said. “It’s just that I think you might make a good professional team for whatever it is he ends up doing.”
“Consuelo I’m sure you mean well but I can assure you that Jac doesn’t need any help when it comes to righting the wrongs of our Empire. You’re right, he’s a little bit stubborn sometimes, but he never lets that get in the way of ultimately seeing the truth. If someone shows him a better way there’s no vanity, he’ll switch tactics like that,” she said as she snapped her fingers.
“Besides, I don’t think he’d welcome me butting into whatever he and the Captain cook up.”
“Really?” Consuelo said with mock incredulity.
“What does that mean?” Monica asked.
“I think he would welcome your presence,” she said. “After all, he’s been enamored with you for a long time.”
“What!”
Chapter forty-three
ENSIGN JACOBY NICOLAY
Lifting the Veil
The wake for our fallen comrades was a boisterous affair.
It wasn’t at all disrespectful but everyone had a lot of pent-up anxiety to release.
The four crewmen that had died getting me to the control room were honored in the grandest fashion as Sergio, Jillian, and I recounted their stories at least a dozen times each.
“Aye, Selma was a tough one,” someone commented. Sergio and I happened to be recounting this story together and we’d been adding to each other’s narrative.
“Hey, whatever happened to Angus and Tiffany?” someone else asked.
“They’re either off to make a living shuttling cargo in some distant system or they’re already rich right now because they’ve sold the transport. Either way they didn’t wait around for the Captain to change his mind about giving it to them,” said Felix.
“Good for them!” and, “To Angus and Tiffany!” was heard as everyone raised their glasses.
I had come to truly appreciate the wakes. No one liked losing comrades but there was something to be said for giving a final acknowledgment of the strength and goodness in others. It was comforting to think that someday, just maybe, someone would be remembering me fondly after I’d gone.
ΔΔΔ
“Well Jac you did it,” said the Captain.
The two of us were sitting in his day cabin. It’d been a long day of dealing with administrative headaches and prioritizing who had first access to him. It was a thankless job. Since he didn’t trust any of the palace staff I had the task of telling people powerful people that their important and imminent need to speak to the new Emperor would have to wait for a day, a week, a month, or indefinitely. I’d made more enemies that day than I had in my entire lifetime.
The Captain had his feet up on the desk and had just poured us both a splash of cognac.
I was never going to like the stuff but I still had a twinge of a headache from the wake the night before. I was also a little less naïve about life than I’d been two years ago when I’d first boarded the Halcyon.
I downed it quickly.
“What a waste of fine cognac,” the Captain lamented.
I grinned back at him but my heart wasn’t really in it. There were still too many unanswered questions and I had no idea where we were going or what the future held. And there was still the problem of what I’d figured out about the Captain.
“Spit it out Jac.” He had the unique ability to seemingly read my mind.
I suppose I knew he’d eventually pry it out of me so I wasn’t totally unprepared.
“You used me.”
“Does that bother you?” he asked simply.
I’d started to say of course but… “That’s the funny thing. I’m not really sure.”
He reflected on my answer.
“Is it possible that you knew you were being used but deep down didn’t mind?” he asked.
“I hardly think that’s likely,” I responded.
“Hmm, why don’t you tell me how I used you.”
“You let me think you were a douche bag,” I blurted out. “You let me think you were using Monica until the twins showed up, and then you pretended to dump her so you could bed them. You pretended to be a lecher. You were hardly upfront are honest with me.”
“Says the spy that came onboard to report on me back to the Admiralty?” the Captain said wryly.
“You kept up the pretense even after you knew all about it,” I insisted.
He sighed.
“Jac, haven’t you figured that part out?”
When I didn’t respond he continued, “Think about it. Remember Torres? The guy that attacked Monica’s station? How did he know that my ship would be the one to respond to the distress beacon? For that matter, how did he know Sergio’s first name?”
Realization was starting to dawn on me.
“Didn’t you ever question why Monica was assigned to a station in my sector? Didn’t it seem convenient that Torres’ attack could eliminate two of my brother’s problems in one fell swoop?”
“I wasn’t the only spy on the Halcyon,” I found myself saying.
“No, not by a long shot. Of course I knew about most of them, but it was obvious that at least one was still pu
tting out uncensored reports.”
“Whatever happened to him or her?” I asked.
“They’re probably still on board,” he shrugged. “It makes very little difference now.”
My Friend the Emperor Page 35