Kendric had never seen it himself, but even he felt a twisting in the guts at the thought of so much emptiness. How would Lenard, or someone like him, react when the main viewer showed nothing but utterly dim and remote smudges of light, scarcely visible to the naked eye, marking the unthinkably remote aggregations of stars known as galaxies?
The question of food and the problem of Gael's Bane were both valid reasons for not jumping to the Andromedan Galaxy. What he wanted was a positive reason to stay—and now he had it. Actually, it had been there all along, but T.C.'s and Jaime's experience at Haven's inner gas giant helped him to formulate it.
What would TOG do if they discovered the Intelligence T.C. and Jaime had encountered? Kendric wasn't sure he knew the answer to that one, but he did know TOG's outward policv toward non-Human cultures. Man was the highest expression of evolution and intelligence in the Galaxy, the natural ruler and governor of Galactic civilization. This statement was understood as fact, taught as gospel, and believed implicitly by every TOG officer, governor, bureaucrat, and soldier. Even if someone did not believe it, he had to behave as though he did. To argue the fact would only bring trouble to one's career! He remembered the desolate groups of captured KessRith in the concourse on Trothas, the tendons in their foreknees slashed, their proud bodies crippled for the convenience of their Human captors. Even now, after Grod, the memory sickened him.
How would TOG react if they discovered the cloud creatures of Haven? Kendric could think of only a few possibilities, none of them pleasant. If TOG could find a way to use them, they would. If TOG felt the strange life form threatened the Empire or TOG's xenophobic view of the universe, they might try to destroy the creatures as a menace to civilization. It was hard to imagine them reasoning that way, and harder still to imagine what weapons they might bring to bear on the gas giant's inhabitants. A sufficiently vigorous and extended planetary bombardment might do it, if the giant's inhabitants had no way to defend themselves or fight back.
The Haven aliens had allowed a key realization to crystallize for Kendric. If the little band of Gael refugees fled the Galaxy, they were as much as admitting that TOG was invincible, and that life—all life— within the Galaxy was doomed to be exterminated or reduced to the status of slaves. Once TOG had smashed the last powers that resisted it in the Galaxy—the Commonwealth, the KessRith, the Naram— there would be nothing, nothing to challenge the Terran Empire's rule of the stars across ten thousand dark and bloody years.
By itself, the Gael Squadron could not do much to challenge that rule. By fighting alongside the Commonwealth, they might be able to help make it possible for something like the Intelligences of the Haven system to survive to continue their vast and mysterious ballet of light and motion and joy.
Kendric only wished that T.C. had responded with some recognizable emotion to the decision. He had thought she would be pleased.
By order of his most Imperial Majesty, Caesar Nicholas Julianus, it is hereby commanded that the renegade fleet that has thus far eluded our forces in the Terran sector be hunted down and exterminated. Every effort is to be made to block this force's escape and to force either a surrender or a general battle that will end in the renegade's liquidation.
Special authority is granted to Caesar's special deputies for the duration of this crisis
—Communique from Grand Admiral Aurulean, New Rome,Terra, to All Fleet Units Operating within the Terran District, Intercepted by COMNIT Communications, Cathandra, 21 Nov 6830
Overlord Magnan Domitius Gracchi was terrified.
"My...my Lord!" he stammered. "Imperial Majesty! I certainly didn't intend to bother you with this matter!"
"That is obvious, Gracchi. But we felt that we had better.. .bother ourselves with this matter, as you put it, before you lost control of the situation completely."
Gracchi swallowed, staring at the holographic image displayed on his desktop. Caesar Julianus was sixty-four years old but looked older, despite persistent rumors that secret antithanatic drugs and treatments had already kept him alive for centuries. The Emperor's eyes held a brightness about them, however, that burned into Gracchi's soul.
Gracchi had not wanted to speak with the Emperor at all. He had opened the VLCA line to Terra to request the release to his command of a number of additional fleet units from Grand Admiral Aurulean of Caesar's staff. Somehow, his call had been relayed to the Imperial Quarters, where Julianus himself had taken it. Gracchi had fallen to his knees—the proper position in which to address an Emperor—and
looked up now at the meter-tall image.
"We have been following your reports on the Gael Cluster matter, Gracchi. We are not pleased."
"Your Imperial Majesty...I can assure you that...that..."
"You have permitted this ragtag band of renegades to escape the forces under your command three times now, once at Alba, twice at Gamma Sacculus. The last time, you permitted the annihilation of one of our cruiser squadrons, and then the renegades vanished."
"They.. .made two jumps in rapid succession, Majesty. We got a line on their first jump, but not on their second."
"Indeed. Which means they could be anywhere now. You have failed me, Gracchi."
Overlord Gracchi did not like the finality of the Emperor's pronouncement. He had been brought to power in the first place by Nicholas Julianus almost 30 years before. As an Overlord, Gracchi's own power was, for all practical purposes, unlimited. But what Caesar had given, he could just as easily take away. Gracchi's position—his life itself—hung by threads, and he was agonizingly aware of the fact.
"I... Imperial Majesty! We may not know where they are right now, but we know where they are going! That was the purpose of my call— to secure additional fleets to close the trap on them!"
"So? You have talents as a diviner of which we were not previously aware?"
"No, Majesty. But...it seems rather obvious, doesn't it? They are fleeing to the Commonwealth!"
Caesar's momentary look of interest gave way to boredom. "You disappoint me, Gracchi. I can think of several other possibilities. They could flee to Naram space, or to the KessRith..."
"My staff and I... we've been over that here, Majesty, and do not believe it. These people are fighting men. They will go where they have a chance to fight!"
"A warrior culture, you are saying?"
"Yes, Majesty! I do not believe they will risk contacting the KessRith...an unknown element in their equations. But they know the Commonwealth includes Humans, know the Commonwealth has been l ighting TOG for years. There are no other meaningful options open to iliem! They will go to the Commonwealth. I know it!"
Gracchi could not know that he had leapt instantly to a conclusion over which Kendric had agonized at length, a conclusion he had arrived at by a completely different chain of reasoning.
"Assuming that you are correct," Caesar said slowly, "what do you propose to do about it?"
"I had hoped, Majesty, that Grand Admiral Aurulean would release certain fleet elements to me between the general area of Gamma Sacculus and the Commonwealth Frontier. I propose to mobilize these fleets, set them to patrolling key navigational routes, worlds where there are supplies the renegades need. Fraser must surface between Gamma Sacculus and the Commonwealth. When he does, my fleets— interlinked through the VLCA network—will be in a position to close in on him and destroy him!"
"You propose to mobilize entire battlefleets to annihilate one squadron?" A smile twitched at the corner of Caesar's mouth. "Rather like swatting mosquitos with thermonuclear warheads, isn't it?"
Gracchi had not been born on Terra and did not know what a mosquito was. He could gather the Emperor's meaning from the context of his words, however. "Obviously, Majesty, we need an immense fleet to cover all possible approaches. What I plan to do is ensure that each individual search element is strong enough to deal with the Gaels when they catch them. We have reason to believe that several of their ships are badly damaged. If we can engage them with only a batt
leship and a few cruisers, or a carrier with a full wing of fighters, we could smash them with little loss to ourselves."
Caesar pulled at his lower lip in an un-Caesar like gesture as he reflected. If he had a failing, it was that he had no true idea of the sheer, stupefying size of his empire. It was all well and good to number his legions in the millions, his ships and worlds in the billions or tens of billions, but the numbers by themselves were meaningless. He would have denied the charge that he didn't know how big the galaxy was, of course, had anyone dared suggest such a thing. After all, he walked across a holographic display of it on the floor of his throne room every morning, encompassing its 100,000-light-year diameter in a score of steps. Right now, he was wondering why Gracchi needed so many ships to accomplish what should be a simple and straightforward task.
If Caesar Julianus had a particular strength, on the other hand, it lay in the fact that he did not believe in half-measures. He had seen too many military plans fail because some bureaucrat or short-sighted staff officer carped and quibbled over the deployment of an extra few ships or legions or supplies, when those few units could spell the difference between victory and defeat.
Caesar reached his decision. "Very well, my Overlord! You will have another chance!"
Gracchi nearly toppled over as he heard those magical words. He had not realized that he had been holding his breath. "Thank you. Gracious Majesty!"
"The ships you request are released to your personal control. My secretary will issue an authorization order to you, putting you in overall command. For anything else you require, contact my staff here and we, personally, will see that you get it."
"Thank you, Majesty!"
"I trust you understand why this matter is important to me?"
"I...yes! Yes, Majesty! Of course!" Actually, he had been asking himself just that question. He wanted Fraser dead, his fleet destroyed, for the humiliations he had already suffered, but he was not sure why Caesar was so concerned with nine rogue ships out of a fleet a billion strong.
"It seems we have been plagued of late by rebellions, Overlord. Trothas is only the most recent. There seems to be no clear reason for this unrest. Possibly there are outside agitators...agents from the Commonwealth or others stirring up the rabble against us. More likely, the populace grows restless as taxes increase and the wars along our frontiers continue.
"If there is any good in this situation, it is that these rebellions do not appear to be linked with one another. There has been no coordination, no attempt to bring about a rising simultaneously on, oh, say a dozen key worlds...or on a hundred. Such a rising could seriously jeopardize us along the Commonwealth front.
"But that could change with what has happened in the Gael Cluster, if word of this matter became public knowledge."
"We could destroy those worlds, Majesty, as I destroyed Trothas."
Caesar made an unpleasant face. "Eradicating worlds isn't the answer, and you know it. The people there are largely under our control, largely content with the government we have established. Destroying them would prove nothing to the Galaxy at large...save TOG's capriciousness. It would be counter-productive.
"But what will become general knowledge across half the worlds of this Galaxy is that a small unit of Imperial ships has—once again— - rebelled against Caesar's authority and fled to the Commonwealth, traitors to the oaths they swore...and to me!"
"Once again...Do you refer to the Renegade Legion, Majesty?"
"Exactly. We have worked hard to suppress the stories of Constants ' s rebellion, of the traitor legions operating within the Commonwealth, but they still circulate, through the underground, among refugees, within the ranks of my legions. Fraser's flight will recall that rebellion. They will realize that what happened in Constantin's time has happened again, now. They will realize, Overlord, that TOG is not invincible. And that is a realization that we must prevent at all costs!"
"Y-yes, Majesty!"
"And that, Overlord, is why I am explaining this to you in such detail. It is important... supremely important... that Fraser be caught or killed and his fleet disbanded or destroyed. It is why I am willing to let you have any force necessary to bring about a satisfactory resolution to this. It is why you must not fail!"
"You can count on me, Imperial Majesty!"
"Good. Good!" For the first time, the Emperor broke into a smile, a ghastly showing of teeth that turned Gracchi's guts to ice, brought his mind to the edge of panic. "Because, my dear! Magnan! Domitius! Gracchi! If you fail us in this, we will recall you to Terra. And you will entertain us, here, in New Rome, for.. .oh, a very, very long time! Ihave an entire staff of servants—entertainment specialists—utterly devoted to me and highly prized for their ability to keep a man alive and aware under the most remarkable stress and agony for week upon week upon week! Do you understand me, my Overlord?"
Gracchi's momentary relief had been swallowed in terror. There were stories about the "skills" of the Emperor's personal "entertainers," and he had no desire to make their acquaintance in person.
"I understand, my Emperor. Fraser will be caught. He must emerge ...for supplies, for clearance to approach the Commonwealth, for a navigation check. Sooner or later, he must approach an inhabited...a guarded system, and when he does, we will have him! I promise it, Imperial Majesty!"
"So be it! At my command!"
"Ad tuum imperatum, Domine Caesar!"
Gracchi saluted, and the image faded from view above the projector plate. When he rose from his knees, he was trembling, and his tunic was soaked with sweat.
By Caesar, no Gael provincial would deliver him to Caesar's torturers! Let Kendric Fraser only show himself once between Gamma Sacculus and the Commonwealth frontier, and he and his Gael Squadron were both finished!
"This is Captain Fraser." His voice, Kendric knew, was being broadcast to every deck aboard the Gael Warrior, and to every ship in the fleet. He leaned back in his command seat and surveyed the waiting, expectant faces on the bridge. "There has been considerable discussion in recent weeks over just where we should go, now that Caesar no longer...appreciates us. I know there have been some strange rumors going around, many strange ideas.
"We have considered a number of options, and we've been forced to discard most of them. We can't try to find an out-of-the-way world and hide, not if we want to walk like men, unafraid of our own sky. We can't flee the Galaxy for someplace else—not and turn our backs on what may be the greatest evil Man has known. For myself, I find I cannot turn my back on the worlds already occupied by Man, suffering under TOG's lash, and seek safety elsewhere. I cannot. I will not. I intend to fight TOG, and all TOG represents, until my dying breath.
"This is the choice I have made for myself. It is a choice that I cannot make for the men and women aboard the ships of this fleet. Each of you must decide for yourselves what is right for you.
"Therefore, we will boost immediately for the Commonwealth." He paused, letting his words sink in. There would be a buzz of discussion, of argument even, running through the decks of each ship. "I know most of you have heard bad things about the Commonwealth.. .that they advocate slavery under alien rule. All I can say is that I have it on good authority that what we have been taught all our lives is a lie, that the Commonwealth consists of Humans.. .people like each of you, and like myself.. .people fighting for what they believe in. They are fighting side by side with other...people, non-Humans who want to preserve their cultures and their ways of life, as we fight to preserve ours. I have elected to join these people, to fight with them.
"To carry on my fight, I will need Commonwealth help. Each of you will need Commonwealth help as well, to carry out your own decisions." He paused, absently rubbing at his leg. It had been sore, lately, and the brace was chaffing at his knee and ankle.
"I have made this decision arbitrarily," Kendric went on, after a pause. "It has often been said that no ship.. .and no fleet.. .can operate as a democracy. I have made this decision to the best of my
ability, with your welfare at heart. I require you to support me in this...until we reach the Commonwealth. At that time, those of you who desire otherwise will be free to leave and seek your own destinies elsewhere.
"That is all. Thank you for your attention."
He closed the communications channel. For a space of perhaps three seconds, there was an absolute, dead silence. Would they accept it? Would they trust him far enough to accept the risks of voyaging with him to the unknown Commonwealth?
Then the Gael Warrior seemed to explode in a chorus of cheering, just as it had on the day Kendric had arrived aboard at Alba Port. The sound was muffled on the bridge, but seemed to worm its way through the closed hatch as a dull, muted roar of crowds. On the bridge, all Kendric's officers were on their feet, their applause swelling with the
surging shouts from outside, "Ken-dric! Ken-dric Ken-dric
He waved the applause aside, then opened the general bridge intercom. "Let's restore some order on this ship," he said. "Navdep? Let's start plotting courses!"
Since the Gael Squadron's departure from Alba space, all communications with our agent at Alba have ceased. Agent Clarity, of course, ceased reporting some weeks ago and is believed captured or dead. There was another in-place agent at Alba, however, a native Gael recruited by Clarity to facilitate communication with CO MINT. We received several messages from this agent after Clarity ceased to report, including confirmation of his capture.
It is possible that this agent died in the fighting that must have ensued in and near A Iban orbit at the time the Gael Squadron made its escape. There is, however, a faint possibility that the agent managed to escape aboard one of the Gael Squadron ships.
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