Imperium: Revelation: Book Two in the Imperium Trilogy

by Paul M Calvert

  “I’m through…” Vimes suddenly went silent, his attention instantly drawn elsewhere, leaving Gallagher alone with his thoughts and feeling a noticeable absence as if Vimes had vanished completely.

  His source of information gone, Gallagher was at a loss what to do next, but Carmen sent him an interior view of Christine’s room from the ship’s internal sensors, showing Karen lying on an inert Christine as Collinson delivered a vicious kick towards Karen’s head.

  Inside the room, Karen saw the kick coming and without thinking threw out her two arms towards the kick, taking the blow on her forearms but catching Collinson’s shins in the process, eliciting a grunt of pain from him. The doors to the room were wrenched open and Karen just got a glimpse of an armoured form framing the doorway, an arm extended towards them just before everything went black.

  Christine felt the sharp pain of the needles entering her finger and thumb, then everything went numb and she sensed herself falling to the floor, then nothing. Shockingly, Christine could feel her mind dying, despite Vimes best efforts to augment her fragmenting mind as the neuro-toxin did its work. He too was being attacked by the toxin and knew his avatar would die with her unless it could merge with his ship counterpart. Fortunately, Christine's heart had stopped within moments of the toxin taking effect, so the amount of it in her brain was minimal, but enough had gotten through to begin destroying her neurons and synapses.

  “I’m scared, Vimes, don’t leave me, please.”

  “Never, Christine, I’ll always be with you.”

  “How long do I have? Can the ships medics save me?”

  “No, Christine, I’m so sorry, I don’t think there’s anything that can be done although we will try.”

  “Oh God, I don’t want to leave them alone, I love them so very much, I don’t want to…leave…alone,” Christine pleaded, feeling the fragmentation accelerate and her consciousness fall away into darkness, “Vimes?”

  “I’m here, Christine, I’ll take care of them for you, don’t worry.”

  The jamming ceased and the Vimes mind resident in the ship finally managed to merge with the avatar in Christine.

  “Tell my boys…I…love them.”

  “They know, Christine.”

  “Ka…ren?”

  “Karen’s.…” Vimes began to answer, then stopped, realising Christine had gone.

  On the Bridge of the new Dauntless, Alexander was standing next to Admiral Frith, reviewing the disposition of the opposing enemy fleet. After Jumping into the system they’d used a destabilising device of their own to stop all communications in our out, so the enemy had no way of sending for reinforcements or telling anyone what was happening. They had then set about destroying the Jump Station before travelling inwards towards the two habitable planets and the enemy, keeping their acceleration at the usual one-G so as not to give away any of their new capabilities.

  “A new system, a new test,” he thought, checking on how Alex’s battleship was doing. Satisfied his son was in position, he turned to Frith, about to give her the instruction to begin retaking this system, when suddenly he had an overwhelming urge to check if Christine was OK. Unable to contact her in Felidae space as he didn’t know her current Quantum Signature, he instructed Vimes to update himself with his counterpart on Capital using the instantaneous communicator. It would take a few moments to make the connection, so he got back to the matter in hand.

  Admiral Frith turned to him. “It looks as though they aren’t bothering to wait for us to make the first move, Sire. They have begun moving towards us and will be in firing range within five minutes.”

  “Thank you, Janice, you have the….” he stopped talking and staggered, as if hit by a blow to his spine, the message that had come in from Capital having shocked him to his core. Vimes took control of Alexander’s suit to stop him from falling to his knees in front of everyone.

  “Sire, are you alright?” enquired Frith, concern in her voice, never having seen Alexander react in this way to anything before, thinking him ill or in pain. Frith sent an urgent message to Vimes, trying to find out what was happening, but he told her to be patient and focus her attention on the closing enemy.

  The Emperor said nothing, his eyes tightly squeezed together as he gripped the railing in front of him for support. His entire world had concentrated down into two little words, his mind incapable of rational thought.

  Christine’s dead.

  End of Act Two.

  Dear reader,

  I do hope you enjoyed, Imperium: Revelations.

  As with the first book, if you would like to know what happens to Alexander and Adam, the rebellion, more about the Felidae and how Freyja reacts to Christine’s death, along with Harris, Skye etc., please leave a review and some stars on Amazon by way of encouragement to a struggling author!

  Paul M Calvert

  London

  August 2016

  Appendix 1, The Alexander Doctrine

  No member of the Imperial family may marry another hereditary member of the Nobility.

  Planets within Empire space, where the dominant life-form has not achieved safe manned space flight, evidenced by a successful launch into high orbit and safe return of the sentient passenger(s), are to be embargoed from all contact and outside influence.

  For embargoed planets, the existence of the Empire must be kept hidden from them until such time as they have achieved the aforementioned safe launch and return. At the Emperor’s discretion, they can be offered membership of the Empire.

  If the offer is accepted, the appropriate Class of membership is to be proffered, depending on their level of technological and social progress.

  In the event a planet rejects membership, the solar system is to be embargoed. No contact with the Empire permitted, other than every fifty standard years at which time membership is to be offered again. Travel outside of home system prohibited.

  Classes of membership are:

  Class Three:

  Basic Membership. Self-Governance. To be offered on reaching minimum requirement. No interference by the Empire or transfer of higher technologies. Free passage to Empire ships within the solar system. Jump Point Custom Stations installed. All citizens of the Empire to be given safe passage or assistance, without let or hindrance. Class Three citizens cannot leave their home system without the approval of the Customs Station.

  Class Two:

  Intermediate Membership. To be offered on reaching a Unitary World Government. Limited transfer of higher technologies and trade with other worlds, providing it would not adversely impact on the planet's population or ecology. Acceptance of Universal Imperial Law. Payment of the Imperial Tithe. A non-voting seat at the Sector Council.

  Class One:

  Full Membership. To be offered where there is a Unitary World Government and colony worlds have been founded within the solar system. Where colony worlds are not feasible, they must have achieved manned safe travel to and returned from nearest planet or moon. Appointment of Imperial Nobility to Planet. Unrestricted trade and transfers of technology. Free passage allowed in and out of the home system. A voting seat at the Sector Council. Provision of troops to the Imperial Navy and the maintenance of own Fleet as per Imperial Edict. All citizens have full rights and responsibilities.

  Appendix 2, Capital and a bit of history

  The Empire was old. So old in fact, the majority of its citizens didn’t know or had forgotten it might have once gone by a name other than “Empire.”

  Not that too many of those who knew would have cared overmuch, for life in the Empire was good for the majority of its citizens and worrying about such things tended to be the purview of historians and scholars.

  Before the Empires founding, the planet now called simply Capital had been no different to any other that nurtured human life in the galaxy. Circling a yellow, type G star in a binary system, it was one of twelve planets held by that sun. It sat in the habitable Goldilocks zone with another, slightly smaller planet that orbited
closer in and was at the hotter end of what humans would find comfortable.

  Home of the Emperor, his family and the Imperial Court, it was now a verdant, lush world that showed little sign of the widespread industrialisation and scars of war which had marked its surface millennia before.

  Pre-Empire, every continent on Capital had borne a number of civilisations, each with unique languages, customs and mores. Throughout recorded history they rose, blossomed for a time, then stagnated and ultimately fell. Religious, economic or ideological wars had all been fought at one time or another, many on a global scale.

  During these periods of rise and fall, almost every conceivable type of governance had been tried and found wanting. No matter what good intentions or altruistic ideals these civilisations began with, each, in turn, had failed by not providing one or more of the four main constants of governance; the will to make hard decisions on behalf of the people, the illusion of freedom, social cohesion, and protection from the harsh realities of existence.

  Invariably, after each fall, one strong, clever or charismatic individual would come forward and lead the people out of darkness and despair and into the light, promising hope and a return of pride. Unfortunately, no matter how pure in heart or noble their intentions were to begin with, in time each new start would invariably harbour within it the age old cycle of growth and collapse.

  Ironically, it was not during one of these periodic collapses or wars that the Empire came into being, far from it. It began in a peaceful period that had already lasted ninety years, following a devastating world war which ruined many of the world’s economies and saw tens of millions killed. After the war ended, scientific advancements and burgeoning prosperity brought about a time of optimism in which nations decided to compete with each other to conquer the challenges of space instead of on the battlefield. The urge to spread across the solar system intensified following a planetary near miss by a potentially planet-killing, massive nickel-iron meteorite. Nearly half of the planet's population watched in horror as it burned through the upper atmosphere, before skimming away into deep space, changing their perception of space forever. Into this time of exploration and advance was born Josef Doone, youngest of three children from a well to do family living on the largest continent, Mohanes. Showing enormous talent from an early age, Doone was by any measure a genius. Not only did he possess a remarkable ability to take other people’s ideas and improve on them, but also displayed an instinctive understanding of quantum physics and genetics. These prodigious talents would ultimately propel him into the history books.

  Aged twenty-two, he revolutionised power generation by working out how to liberate and commercially utilise the energy released from the total conversion of matter into energy. Governments paid huge sums to licence this technology and Doone rapidly became an incredibly wealthy man. In addition to fulfilling the growing energy needs of a modern, technological society, this new power source accelerated the move out into the solar system, something that had begun several years previously. Using ships designed around Doone’s total conversion engines, nations began exploring the solar system, mining the asteroid belts for raw materials and water. This expansion and utilisation of resources allowed colonies to be settled on the hotter sister planet and bases to be established on less hospitable ones.

  Josef, drawing on his wealth and powerful commercial interests, established a private laboratory at the edge of the solar system, away from prying eyes and manned it with the brightest and best from his huge commercial empire. Focusing all of his efforts into the study of Quantum Attraction, Josef first postulated, then proved and finally demonstrated that it was possible to move objects or messages instantaneously from one point to another, providing the “Quantum Signature” of both points were both known and outside of a sun’s gravity well. When the two “Signatures” were matched together within an artificially generated QA field, the lesser of the two signatures and anything contained within it would instantaneously move to the greater. Every star, depending on its mass and gravity well, was postulated to have at least one, or possibly more, regions (Jump Points) where Quantum Signatures could be matched and Jumps performed.

  Of no immediate commercial use within their sun’s gravity well, Josef kept this breakthrough and associated technology secret, aided by the isolation of his laboratory at the edge of space. He knew that once this and his other work on genome enhancements became known, Governments would seek to take them from him for their own ends.

  Conveniently located close to the systems only Jump point, Josef’s research station was kept away from inquisitive eyes and guarded by the best private security money could buy. Utilising his immense wealth to produce and equip star-faring probes, each with the ability to map Quantum Signatures, Josef quietly launched hundreds from his laboratory to neighbouring star systems. Travelling at a constant three-G’s of acceleration and allowing for slowing down at the destination so precise Quantum mapping could take place, the first probe took just over five years to reach the closest system outside of their binary, four light years away. With the “Signature” of a distant Jump point mapped and transmitted back using Quantum Attraction, Josef was eventually able set up a commercially sized transmitter/receiver, enabling instantaneous travel between the two systems. Although instantaneous travel to another star system was now a reality, journeys within a sun’s gravity well still required travel through normal space and could take several weeks.

  Maintaining strict secrecy, and using families from within his commercial empire, Josef began establishing small colonies of like-minded on an increasing number of new worlds. Growing increasingly fearful that Governments would interfere with his plans or seek to take control of his technologies, Josef accelerated preparations for the time when he might have to flee. By his sixtieth birthday, Josef was the de facto owner and leader of nine star systems, albeit sparsely populated ones. Inevitably, an undertaking of this magnitude could not be kept secret forever. When news of his discoveries and the existence of human colonies around other stars finally became public knowledge, Josef was forced to flee the home system with his family and associates. As he had predicted and feared, national Governments on the home planet tried to take control for themselves and gain a monopoly over the new technologies and worlds he had discovered. Faced with the stark choices of either capitulation, imprisonment or fleeing, Josef and his associates abandoned their home system forever through the Jump Point, leaving the laboratory and transmitting machinery behind to self-destruct in a total conversion explosion, leaving no trace of his research or discoveries.

  At this point, Josef felt relatively safe, as he knew that even if the will was there to follow him to the stars, it would be many years before construction of ships large enough to make the trip through relativistic space could even be begun. Even then, without his QA drive, the travel time at one-G would take a little over six years, by which time he and his fledgling colonies would be ready for them.

  Following the destruction of Doone’s laboratory and disappearance, along with any hope of their taking or replicating his QA jump technology, Governments turned inwards, seeking to try and develop it for themselves and claim the stars for their own people. As a result, planetary co-operation began to fall apart

  With the passing of years, suspicion and greed replaced the earlier altruistic fervour to explore the system and protect the race, eventually culminating in a series of small wars over territory and resources. Mistrust and xenophobia flourished. Old religious and ideological hatreds resurfaced which had previously been buried under a thin veneer of civilisation and prosperity. Eventually, one side believed they saw an opportunity and in a bid to destroy their rivals, managed to turn the orbiting asteroid defence platforms onto their enemies. The very weapons designed to protect the planet and race were now used to destroy everything they had built up. As nations retaliated from hardened bunkers, a cataclysmic war ensued, decimating large areas of the planet and killing hundreds of millions within days
. The atmosphere became full of particulate matter released from fires and impact strikes, which in turn decreased crop yields and brought about global starvation. Finally, once the dust of war had literally settled, billions were dead or starving and what civilisation remained had returned to pre-industrial revolution levels.

  Away from the home system and safe amongst the stars, the colonies set up and controlled under the benevolent Doone family could do nothing but watch in horror at the unfolding tragedy back home. After seeing the use of the weapon platforms and the resulting catastrophe, the Councils tasked with governing the nine colonies met and decided to appoint Josef, now in his eighties, as Emperor. He had proved not only his own worth but also the wisdom of a central figure best placed to avoid the ruinous infighting and national allegiances that had bedevilled politics back on the home planet. Whilst no-one thought it would be perfect, in those dark times a strong, fair leader and a family bred for the task of leadership and continuity seemed the best system of governance, especially when compared to those that had failed so many times in the past.

  Now that it was impossible for them to be followed, and safe in their colonies, the Doone family set about building a new civilisation amongst the stars from out of the ruins of the old. Josef’s advances in genetic manipulation extended life three-fold, but unfortunately, it came too late for him and he died peacefully, aged 105, surrounded by his family and friends.

  Before dying, Doone had set out the future shape of his new Empire. Using the home solar system as the centre, space around it was split up into thirty-six Sectors, each controlled by a Duke who reported directly to the Emperor. Planets were controlled by Earls who in turn reported to the Dukes. Planets were further sub-divided with Viscounts and Barons responsible for continents and major cities respectively. Senior Civil Servants could expect to hold minor ranks, such as Baronet.