by K. B. Wagers
“Anything for you.” Dailun nodded once and disconnected the com.
I stared for a moment at the blank screen and then slid it away with a sigh and a muttered curse. Whatever was going on with Hao would have to wait. Hopefully Dailun was right and he would work himself out of this funk without my help.
I’d already had my daily com with Alice. Things were quiet around the empire and especially at home. Caterina seemed to have found an ally in Heela as far as dealing with Prime Minister Tesla was concerned, and the number of news stations that wanted to speak with the PM had dwindled dramatically since my departure. Bringing up the information packet on our next stop, I settled back in my chair to read.
The HCL system had a G-class star and five planets: A large gas giant orbited the star at the outer edge of the system, while three rocky planets inhabited the interior and one ice giant swung in a wide loop through the Oort cloud and back into the system. The second and third planets were habitable, but only barely, and all the planets along with the gas giant were constantly bombarded with comets. One of the empire’s major science outposts occupied an underground complex on the second world.
It was a primarily research-focused system, with some copper mining on the inner planet. Those sites were automated with minimal human staff. The Earth-based mining corporation Hindi Copper Limited had changed as they left Earth with the other colonists, but their mission always stayed focused on copper to some extent. Their annual payment of the mining rights for the system allowed for the research on the other worlds.
We were here to see the scientists, though I knew from Alba’s schedule that there was going to be a virtual tour of the mining facilities on the innermost planet also. This system hadn’t had a reason to waver from the empire during the turmoil, which had made it a perfect stop on the tour. Besides, I found the whole thing fascinating and decided early in the tour planning that I was going to get at least one or two stops that I truly enjoyed.
I flipped through the digital pages, skimming over the history of the system until I got to the research section.
The scientists were split between the study of early stellar behavior and the formation of Earth-like planets. The influx of comets increased the chances of the two closer planets potentially hosting life-forms, and for the last few years the focus had been on allowing specifically selected comets to pass through the net and strike the planets in the hope of encouraging the formation of more habitable terrain.
“Majesty?” The knock at the door accompanied Gita’s call, and I blinked away the report.
“Come in.”
She slipped through the cracked open door. “I can come back if you’re busy.”
“No, come in.” I waved her in. “I was just reading about silicon-based organic compounds, and I confess my eyes were starting to cross.”
Gita laughed. “Coming from someone who’s read a lot of dry things, Majesty, you have my sympathies.”
“You mean there’s a subject Gita Desai doesn’t know forward and backward?” I asked in mock shock. I’d come to learn that my Dve was something of a prodigy: Her linguistic skills and natural talent at mechanics of all kinds were coupled with an impressive array of military postings that only added to her experience.
“Astronomy and organic chemistry were some of my worst subjects at the Academy.”
“Yes, I saw those horrible B-minus scores.” I folded my hands one over the other and rested my chin on them. “That’s not why you’re here, though. What’s up?”
Gita looked at the floor and I felt an eyebrow crawl upward at her hesitation.
“I need to confess something to you, Majesty.”
“Okay.” I sat up in my chair. “If this is about Hao, I don’t—”
“I was a member of the Galactic Intelligence Security.” She gaped at me. “What?”
“Excuse me?”
Gita’s eyes went wide and I closed mine briefly, trying to get a handle on the amusement that had suddenly gone to war with my shock.
“That was not what I thought you were going to say,” I said after a moment. “Let’s start over. You’re what?”
“Was, Majesty. I was a member of the GIS, the military branch. Director Britlen recruited me when I was still in the Academy. I was in deep cover. Not even my mother knew.”
“Does Emmory know?”
“I told him the day I applied to be your Guard, ma’am,” Gita replied.
“Emmory, my rooms, now,” I said over the com link.
“Majesty, about Hao? I broke it off. I know it was an inappropriate relationship. I just—didn’t know if we could trust him and—” She dragged in a breath. “Once he recovered, Emmory didn’t discourage it because we figured it was the easiest way to keep an eye on him.”
It was a trade-off as to who was more surprised by both the snarl of rage that clawed its way out of my throat and the fact that I came up out of my chair. Gita took half a step back, her hands raised, and I dropped back into my seat, struggling to get my anger under control.
“Hao is not just some gunrunner. He has feelings. He cares about you, Gita, and you were just keeping an eye on him?” The fury in my voice made my BodyGuard flinch back a second step, and I grappled with my anger, finally bringing it to heel before I did something I would regret. This was not how I’d thought this conversation would go.
“No, Majesty, I—” Gita looked miserable as Emmory came through the door, closing it behind him. He paused, one eyebrow arched at the obvious tension in the room.
“I know he’s more than just a gunrunner,” Gita continued, dropping her hands at her sides. “I do care about him. I didn’t realize it would sneak up on me like that, but he’s … not predictable.”
“No argument there.” I sighed heavily and pinched at the bridge of my nose. “Uff. I wonder if this is what’s been needling at him. Hao is complicated, but whatever else he is, he’s loyal to me, Gita. I know that like I know the beating of my own heart. I’m not second-guessing your decision where he’s concerned. I understand the position you’re in and it was the right thing to do. I wish—” Words failed me and silence dropped onto the room. It lingered for several heartbeats.
“Majesty?”
I dropped my hand. Emmory stood with his hands folded in front of him, his face blank.
“Gita was GIS, and I’m just now finding out about it. Is there any particular reason you didn’t tell me?” It made several things that had happened while we were on the run a lot clearer.
Emmory lifted a shoulder. “You didn’t really need to know, to be honest.”
“So why do I need to know now?”
“You haven’t told her?” Emmory looked at Gita, who gestured weakly with her hands.
“We got sidetracked. Majesty, there’s not just mining and research at the HCL system. The GIS has two agents there doing long-range reconnaissance of a Farian colony.”
“Why?” I drew the word out, noticing that the wrist of Emmory’s glove was flashing green lights. “Are you jamming surveillance?”
“Precautionary,” he said. “And to answer your question, the GIS is watching a Farian colony because it’s one of the few ways we can get any intelligence about the Farians.”
“You’re not wrong about that, I guess.” I sighed. “We didn’t know about the Farians’ recent problems until after the schedule had been finalized, so was this just a weird coincidence?”
“As much as it surprises me, yes, Majesty,” Emmory replied. “Gita and I thought it best you have a chat with the agents while you’re down there, and since she knows them we also thought it was time to let you in on her previous job.”
“I’m guessing your relative fluency in Farian has something to do with your previous job?”
“Yes, ma’am. I was attached to the Farian consulate as a guard for several years.”
“They would flip their shit if they knew that.”
Gita smiled. “That’s why we go to great lengths to keep it a secret.”
“W
e are so happy for your visit, Your Majesty.” Dr. Lore Zellin was a stately older woman who easily kept pace with me and Johar as we walked through the quiet hallways of the HCL Research Facility. “Our people have been doing great work on exoplanetary evolution.”
“Yes, I read up on it somewhat on our way over. I confess a lot of it went over my head.”
“All of it went over my head,” Johar announced.
Dr. Zellin laughed. “You’re not alone in that. Hopefully by the time we’re done with our tour, you’ll understand it a little better. We’re in here.” She gestured at the door ahead of us. “Ekam Tresk, I believe your people cleared the room; however, if you would like to go in first?”
“Yes, thank you.” Emmory nodded and moved forward to speak with the Marine who appeared at the doorway. Zin stayed at my side, but Iza and Indula followed him.
Moments later Zin was ushering Johar and me into the large briefing room, and Dr. Zellin introduced me to the cluster of scientists who looked understandably nervous about not only meeting the Empress of Indrana but all the BodyGuards surrounding them.
I settled into a seat with Dr. Zellin on one side of me and Zin on the other. Emmory had vanished somewhere in the back. A young man with a round face and bright eyes stepped up to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
“Your Imperial Majesty and other assembled guests, thank you all so much for coming.” He folded slender brown hands in front of him as he bowed. “We are most pleased to welcome you to our facility and beyond excited for a chance to share with you our work. I am Rupja Singh, and I will be facilitating this presentation. If you could hold all questions until we reach the specific departments, it would be most appreciated. Despite what my colleagues think, I am not all-knowing.”
There was a ripple of laughter behind me at the inside joke, and I grinned.
“The HCL Research Facility is made possible by a generous grant from Her Majesty’s government and from Hindi Copper Limited.” Rupja waved his hand and a massive hologram appeared on his left. The planets of the HCL system spun around the yellow dwarf star. “Our mission here is to observe the development of HCL Three as it relates to the early development of Earth using established science-based methods. We are comparing and contrasting a number of factors, including the influence of the comets that HCL Five drags into the system with her orbit through the Oort cloud.”
I watched as the ice giant looped out of the system into the Oort cloud and the hologram zoomed in to show the comets she dragged in her wake as her orbit brought her back into the system.
“We have three major departments, Your Majesty,” Rupja continued. “They focus on the planet’s geological development, on observing the comets that impact HCL Three and the resulting changes to terrain and makeup of the planet’s surface, and on the chemical composition of the comets themselves as well as early star development. I would now like to introduce the department heads.” He gestured at the two women and one man standing off to the side.
“Our major questions, Your Majesty, deal with whether HCL Three will end up looking like Earth.” Dr. P. J. Yánez was a petite woman who was a full thirty centimeters shorter than me with black hair and light blue eyes. Dr. Yánez was the head of the geological department and she moved with a speed even I was hard-pressed to keep up with. “It’s obviously of great interest not only to the empire but to humanity as a whole. Terraforming science has come a long way, but planets that naturally evolve not only hold the promise of new life, which we’re legally obligated to protect, but tend to be a better fit for humanity as far as settlements go.”
“I would imagine so,” I replied with a smile. “Though obviously I couldn’t tell you exactly why that is.”
Dr. Yánez shared my smile. “That’s why you’re the empress and I’m the geologist, Majesty.”
“True enough. So, tell me about the planet.”
“The good news is that Three has a heavy iron core similar to Earth’s, and that has resulted in the development of a magnetic field that is also similar. Both HCL Two and Three have atmospheres, and while they are not quite tolerable for humans, the situation may improve over the life of the system.”
“Interesting. So can we be on the surface at all?”
“Yes, ma’am. It’s not immediately toxic, but long-term exposure would kill us. Dr. Petra Giosan is our geophysicist, and her major focus is plate movement.” Dr. Yánez gestured at the woman standing very straight by a workstation. I resisted the urge to tell her to relax.
“Majesty.” Dr. Giosan dipped her head. She barely contained her anxiety behind a stiff smile. Her braids were pulled back from her face at the base of her head and hung down over one slender shoulder. “We look at both the comet impact–caused disruptions and the more naturally occurring plate tectonics. So far what we’ve seen closely resembles events that we suspect happened at the end of the Archean period on Earth.”
“And you know this, how?”
“Observations of the plate tectonics, Majesty. Along with various hot spots and volcanic activity. The rock samples we’ve retrieved have a similar composition to metamorphic rocks like gneiss back on Earth.”
“And you only send robots down to the surface?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re required to preserve the environment. There may already be prokaryotes on the surface or in the oceans, so we—”
“I’m not familiar with that term.”
Petra ducked her head. “Sorry, ma’am. Unicellular organisms, no membrane-bound nucleus.” She smiled. “Though that’s really all K.K.’s arena rather than mine, and she’ll be horrified if I steal her moment in the spotlight.”
There were chuckles from the assembled scientists, and the conversation flowed into the next series of questions as Alba took over for me and I fell into step with Emmory on our way to the next department.
“Having fun, Majesty?”
“It’s actually quite interesting. Everything quiet?”
Emmory nodded, returning his attention to the pair of Trackers waiting for us at the end of the hall. Another round of room clearing, another pause in the action before I was allowed into the lab and swept up in the energy of one Dr. Khala Kuryay.
22
After lunch, Johar and Alba headed back to the ship while I headed for the section of the facility devoted to the 5th Space Recon Group. The classified-research side of the HCL facility was heavily shielded, and my smati cut out as we passed through the first of several locked and guarded doors. It made me twitch a bit, my claustrophobia flaring up as the final door closed behind us with a sinister hiss.
Gita stepped forward to greet the GIS agents, giving me the moment I needed to compose myself.
“The Farians set up a colony on a world right on the outer edge of the Solarian Conglomerate, Your Majesty.” Agent Has Dougan was a pale man with wild red hair. He’d bowed solemnly in greeting, but I’d spotted the complicated handshake he’d shared with Gita. Their interaction had been playful and familiar, not at all like his formal demeanor now.
“With the telescope power available here, we’ve gathered a decent amount of data, not only on the colony itself but on the Farian ships,” Agent Luis Paez, the other man on-site, picked up where Has left off. “There’s been a lot of movement lately that we suspect has something to do with the recent Shen attacks. Most of the outer colonies would have to be nervous that they’re next on the list.”
“I don’t blame them.” I’d gone over the reports on the attacks before leaving Pashati, trying to make sense of an adversary that would burn a colony to the ground on one hand but steal ships without killing a single person on the other. Meeting Aiz in person and hearing his proposition threw that further into doubt. What if he was telling the truth about the Farians?
“Luis, you don’t have eyes on any of the colonies that were hit, do you?” I asked.
His eyes unfocused as he consulted his smati. “Three of them are on the other side of the Solarian Conglomerate, closer to where
we think Faria is located, so they’re completely out of range for us. The outpost that was hit was a little closer to home.” He trailed off and then crossed the room to the bank of screens set against the far wall. I followed, holding in my questions as he brought up a menu on one of the screens and began swiping through files.
Has leaned in, apparently understanding exactly where his partner was headed. “That one,” he said, pointing.
“That’s two days prior.”
“I know, but it was on this side and we were moving the telescope. There might be a chance we caught the tail end of it before it fell off screen.”
“Hmmm.” Luis nodded. “It’s possible. Majesty, we’ll have to do some looking. Anything we find will need to be enhanced anyway; it’s not something I can just pull up for you.” He smiled in apology. “I can’t even guarantee we’ll find something, but we’ll do our best.”
“That’s all I need. Send Gita anything you find.” I clapped him on the shoulder and he looked up at me with a grim smile.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“What else have you got to show me?” I asked, rubbing my hands together. Has and Luis took the cue and for the next hour showed me around their area and explained the other projects they had going. In addition to being GIS agents the two were excellent astrophysicists and were studying the effects of colliding stellar remnants on interstellar travel.
By the time we left the locked-down site, I had two messages from Caspel, and one from Alice. I sent the encrypted one from Caspel to Zin as we headed to the Vajrayana.
Back on the Hailimi and safely in my rooms, I fed the messages from Caspel through to the screen and leaned against the wall next to Emmory. Gita hitched a hip onto the desk and crossed her arms.
“Aiz Cevalla has sent you a message, Majesty. It didn’t come through official channels but was passed along to me through an operative. I thought you would want to see it before I inform the council. I’ve attached the video.” Caspel gave me a quick nod and the screen went blank for a moment.
Then Aiz appeared. He stood outside, a blue sky and snow-capped mountains in the background. He was alone, his sister Mia nowhere to be seen, at least not in the frame of the video.