by D. J. Holmes
His wife’s concern visibly grew, “does this have something to do with the attack on that ship, what was she called, the Surprise?”
“I think that is a safe bet,” he chuckled. “I guess I may have been wrong after all, what do you think of their offer?”
His wife paused for a moment to think. Walking round she sat on her husband’s lap and looked him in the eyes.
“As much as I have enjoyed having you at my beck and call, we both know we need the money. But more importantly, I know you. If this is important you can’t turn your back on it. If there is going to be trouble with China then the best way you can protect me is by going, we both know that.”
Samuel looked at his wife with pride. Deep down he knew he was thrilled at the prospect of sinking his teeth into something again. He hadn’t wanted to leave his wife. Yet, instead of having to talk her around, she was sending him out. Leaning in he kissed her deeply, giving expression to his pride.
As they broke their kiss, Johnston handed her the contract to look over. After a few minutes she put it down. “They really are offering to pay you well aren’t they?” she said.
“Yes, this Damang incident must have been more important that I thought. I think we need to talk contingencies. Your sister has been inviting you out to visit her at Cook for months now. I think maybe you should contact her about taking a trip out there while I am gone. If things turn nasty between London and Beijing then Cook is a much safer place. Plus you won’t get bored and lonely while I am gone. What do you think?”
Jackson watched as his wife considered it. “Well,” she began, “I have wanted to see the new village they are setting up. And you know I have always loved to fish. Your pay will certainly cover the cost of getting a passenger freighter out to Cook. Plus, having something to do will help keep me from worrying about you too much. How long until you have to leave?”
“They only gave me one hour to decide,” Johnston replied. “If I say yes then I’ll have to go with them right away.”
“In that case you better sign that thing quickly,” his wife said. She was pulling him to his feet and towards the stairs to the bedroom before he had even set the pen down.
*
11th January 2465, 10am. Beijing China.
Once again Na Zhong, the Minister for Exploration, found himself looking around at his fellow Politburo members. Thankfully this time he didn’t have any new information to share and so he was not the focus of attention. Instead, the second most powerful man sitting around the table, the Minister for Development, Wen Xiang, was speaking.
“This is totally unacceptable, worse, this is a blunder of the greatest magnitude. The UN may be a puffed up group of babbling fools but the other powers respect its rulings and the general public follow its decisions through the news outlets. How could we not have a more competent representative on the committee? And how could we not have informed him of our discovery of the Void? This is not going to end well for us now.”
In frustration, Wen smashed his hands down on the table and sat down with a thump. The Defense Minister looked over to Chang and when Chang nodded he got up to speak.
“We were all here when we voted to keep this from our diplomatic services, that included our UN representative. I will admit that yesterday’s events were a blind spot to us. No one here thought the British would claim the discovery of the Void for themselves. Everything we have on their exploration efforts indicated that it would take them anywhere from one to three years to find the Void. But even if they had, we were expecting a formal protest at the UN, not a declaration of discovery.”
Chang smiled, he didn’t think Quin’s speech would dissuade those on the Politburo who shared Wen’s anger. However, he wanted to move the meeting on, not spend time dwelling in the past. Politburo politics were complicated. If he were to cut off Wen and try to move on it would have cemented the resolve of those who wished to vent their anger. Instead, he could now cut off his own ally and no one would see it as a slight.
“That’s all very good Minister Quin,” he began. “The real question at hand however is what do we do now? We must all take some blame for yesterday’s blunder. But today we must limit the damage as much as possible. Can you give us a rundown of the current military situation instead?”
“Well, as everyone knows, we sent elements of the third fleet into the Void. They should have arrived approximately seven weeks ago, though, as yet,we haven’t heard anything from High AdmiralZheng He. Prior to this, we had a light cruiser and four destroyers stationed in the Void. With third fleet now stationed there the numbers have risen to one battleship, one battlecruiser, ten other cruisers and nineteen screening units. I fully expect the British to begin to move elements of their fleet into the Void to protect the planets the UN Committee have awarded them. We will enjoy military superiority for the immediate future, however, that is likely to change. The British enjoy almost a two-week communication advantage over us to the Void. They could already have orders out moving ships into the Void and we can’t even warn Admiral Zheng before their ships will begin to arrive. I’m confident our High Admiral can deal with anything the British initially send into the Void. In the long term though he is going to need some help.”
“And what were these ships doing when the British survey ship was in the Void anyway?” Wen asked.
Clearly he was not going to give up as easy as Chang hoped. “Have we even heard a report back from the Void informing us of any British activity?” he continued.
Every eye looked to Quin. “No, I’m afraid not.” He began, “however, the time lag means that we wouldn’t be expecting any communication from the Void for probably another three days if they have detected any British ships.”
Chang felt it was time to take over. “Because of our disadvantage in communications,I would like to purpose that we immediately send reinforcements to High AdmiralZheng. As Quin said, he should be able to deal with anything the British initially send into the Void. Nevertheless, it is going to become a race to see who can funnel in the most ships first.”
“Wait a minute,” Na said as he stood.
Chang looked at him with clear disdain.
Trying to ignore Chang’s look Na continued. “You are talking as if war is inevitable. Surely we could be talking to the British and working something out. They have already shown us that they are willing to share the Void. If we go to the UN and reveal that we discovered the Void first we will get a slap on the wrist true. But they will also have to recognize our right to the Void. We can demand that we get two planets, give one to the UNPAL and one to the British. That way we will control the Void and sidestep a costly and pointless war. Space is a big place, there should be room for all of us.”
This time it was Wen who interjected and when he spoke, Na knew his voice on the Politburo was about to lose even the meager weight he carried. “The time for politics had passed. We have made some colossal mistakes so far, but, as we agreed months ago, the Void must not be allowed to fall into British hands. Nothing has changed that. And besides, if I understand Quin right,High AdmiralZheng already has orders to engage any British shipping in the Void. For all we know war could be raging there as we speak. What I want to know is what the British are going to do. Minister for Foreign Affairs?”
Minister Fen was known for his bouts of anger but, unusually, he had kept himself under control so far. “I would think that would be obvious,” he said. “We have carried out an unprovoked attack on one of their convoys and killed over a thousand of their people. The public opinion in Britain and its Sol holdings have truly galvanized against us. The images of that battered ship Surprise coupled with the joy over the discovery of the Void have firmly set the public’s mood against letting us have anything. There have already been protests outside the British parliament against offering us one of the planets in the Void.”
“And even if the public was against any form of retaliation, Admiral Somerville would still be plotting against us.” Quin added,
“He is a veteran of the New France Campaign and our intelligence reports on him suggest that he isn’t likely to back down from a fight.”
“So there you have it,” Chang summarized as he stood. “We have no other option but to forge ahead with our plans. War with Britain has been looming over us for decades now, we cannot allow them to go on enjoying the expansion and economic success they have had. We have towed the line of the UN for too long. It no longer serves our best interests to obey them blindly. It’s time to take a stand, to establish China as an independent power once again. No one will dare attack us here on Earth. If they did it would turn into a nuclear bloodbath that would envelope the whole UN. The Void has given us a chance to smash the British fleet away from Earth and the intervention of the other powers. If we can smash their fleet it will take them decades to recover and by then we will have left them far behind. Our course of action is set. I expect all of you to go back to your ministries and prepare to transition into a war footing. The UN regulations prevent any form of open hostility within the Sol system. We will abide by those laws, as they will serve us as much as they will the British. However, every other colonial world must be made ready for war. Is that understood?”
As every head of the senior Politburo ministers around the table nodded Chang sat down. With a wave he motioned Quin to his feet, “Minister Quin, can you share some of the military plans we have ready to put into action?”
*
11th January 2465, 11pm. HMS Drake, docked at Vulcan shipyard.
James sat at his desk in his private quarters aboard Drake. He had been reviewing the RSNI’s report on the battle at Damang. They had completed their analysis of the Chinese weapons and tactics and produced a number of recommendations for RSN commanders as well as a new force analysis. The RSN fleet centered around ten battlecruisers and a further eighty heavy, medium and light cruisers. The Chinese had their battleship, eight battlecruisers and an estimated ninety-six other cruisers. On paper, the Chinese fleet out massed the British by almost twenty percent. Yet the Damang Incident had demonstrated that British technology could begin to undo this imbalance. James was sure the Chinese would be furiously working to negate the British advantages whilst RSNI would be trying just as hard to find new ways to ensure the British stayed ahead.
Closing down the RSNI report he switched to a memo from his accountant. Andrea Clements was an old friend from the academy. They had been unlikely friends. Andrea was from the slums on Mars whilst James was the son of a Duke. However, she had been a computing wiz kid and James had respected her skills, especially when it came to getting up to mischief. She, in turn, had seen James’ friendship as an opportunity. Being from a poor background she had not had the contacts or support she needed. As well as being a computing wiz kid she also had a passion for numbers and wanted to start up her own investment company. The academy and her subsequent four years as an ensign and then Sub Lieutenant had simply been her way of overcoming her background. No one would respect a kid from the slums. But a graduate of the RSN Lunar Academy who had four years of military service was another matter. She now commanded enough respect and social standing to head up her own company and deal with the other major players in interstellar finance.
During their academy years James had watched her turn her family’s meager earnings into a small fortune by their standards. Soon after he had begun to send some of his father’s trust fund money her way. They had parted company when they had been assigned to different ships after the academy but he had continued to help fund her investment ventures. After the death of his father James had found himself inheriting the family property and business. James had been shocked to find out his father had gambled away most of the wealth his family had once been renowned for. Immediately, he had placed Andrea in charge in the hope she could salvage something. It had turned out to be a prudent move for within weeks he had been banished to exploration duty aboard Drake.
Within a week of his father’s death the news had hit that he had left the Dukedom of Somerville in serious debt. Almost all the companies were insolvent and James had been forced to sell much of the family’s stock portfolio in order to stave off disaster. Even so, in the end almost sixty thousand workers had lost their jobs. The news stories, protests and calls for an investigation had lasted for weeks.
Initially, James had not been too surprised when he had found out he was to inherit the family assets. His elder brother was an irredeemable drunk. James had never got on with his father but he had thought his father did not want the family fortune to be drunk away. However, when the news broke he finally understood. His father had not been able to live with the shame but he had no problem with his second son having to.
Over the last two years James had received sporadic updates from Andrea. She had used his remaining stock investments to balance the books on many of the larger established companies James had inherited. Then she had sold them off one by one, ploughing the money from their sale back into his smaller businesses and investment opportunities Andrea had identified. She had slowly allowed them to grow again, before they too were sold off. What was left was a core group of businesses and investments in enterprises Andrea deemed to have the best long-term futures. Judging by the most recent update, they were already beginning to turn a handsome profit and Andrea was already looking for further opportunities.
During his exile, James had also been happy to note that Andrea’s business had been slowly growing. His Dukedom was still her largest client but she had been steadily building up a long list of medium size clients. This also benefited James as he had provided Andrea with a large part of her startup capital. He was a silent partner in her business.
Before closing the report, he wrote a quick message to her. He wanted to let her know that she was to reinvest his reward for the discovery of the Void back into the companies that would be awarded the development rights. That was as far as he could go without coming close to a charge of insider trading. Technically, he was not telling her to invest any of their personal wealth. The RSN reward scheme allowed recipients to reinvest a percentage of their reward back into the system they discovered at attractive rates. Often this opportunity wasn’t taken up but James knew valstronium had been discovered there. He had a feeling the Void was going to become very profitable. He hoped Andrea would be able to read between the lines and direct more of his wealth towards the Void as opportunities arose.
The COM unit on his desk began to flash, telling him that a low priority message was awaiting his attention from the bridge. Activating the COM unit he contacted the officer on watch, thankful for the distraction. “Lieutenant Fisher, there is a message for me?”
“Yes sir, an intelligence officer showed up at the docking hatch with Vulcan. He said he had a message for your eyes only. He passed on a datapad; it’s waiting for you at your command chair. Apparently the datapad has to link into the chair for it to activate,” Fisher explained.
“Thank you Lieutenant, I’ll be up presently.”
As curiosity got the better of him he abandoned the report he was reading and headed for the bridge.
Chapter 10 – Reunion
Despite the tensions between the spacefaring powers because of the colonial race, the First Interstellar Expansion Era was one of relative peace. Devoid of the interspecies commotion, dread and often panic that would over shadow the end of the First Interstellar Expansion Era, the public of the Human Sphere loved a scandal. In Britain the politicians and nobility were almost always at the center of this attention.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
13th January 2465. HMS Drake, docked at Vulcan shipyard.
James had debated putting on the dress uniform he had worn in New York, in the end he had settled for his standard Commander’s tunic. The intelligence officers probably wouldn’t want him drawing too much attention to himself. The datapad had summoned him to a secret meeting aboard the starbase Gemini. Gemini was a semi-independent starbase, used by shipping lines t
o load and unload shipments of cargo and passengers. As it was in geosynchronous orbit over Europe, it mainly served the European powers. Britain had a substantial stake in the starbase and operated some of its private levels. Even so, it was strange that he had to leave Vulcan to have a meeting with RSNI.
The message he had received last night said a shuttle would be waiting for him in shuttle bay seven on board Vulcan. It also stipulated that he was to leave Drake at exactly 0700 hours and head straight for the shuttle bay.
As James walked through the docking hatch, he though it strange that the RSNI security detail was nowhere to be seen. Officially in place to protect Drake from infiltrators who may try to steal her information about the Void, they also ensured that no one from Drake could leak the same information. Shrugging, he walked the fifteen minutes to shuttle bay seven.
Inside the shuttle bay there was only one shuttle. A single pilot sat in the cockpit, wearing a tight fitting non-descript uniform. Her size and demeanor lead James to think she was some kind of security officer. On their flight over to Gemini he couldn’t get any information out of her confirming his suspicions.