“I think so.”
She pushed him the real estate listing.
“Nice. Can we afford it?” Gulliver asked.
“Yes. Not our money, among other things. But we’ve also been getting paid for years and years without spending anything.”
“And a staff?”
“Yes,” Turley said. “Absolutely. I’m not going to work all day and then cook and clean, too.”
“Sounds fair to me. On the lake. Private boat dock. Nice deck. It all looks good to me. I like being on the water.”
“So I should pull the trigger on it?”
“Absolutely,” Gulliver said. “Get it before it goes off the market.”
“All right. Consider it done.”
“You going to buy it under an alias, or under your own name?”
“I was going to buy it under my own name,” Turley said. “I don’t think it’s important or even useful anymore to hide my name. Especially if I’m retired.”
“Fair enough.”
“You agree?”
Gulliver nodded.
“Sure,” he said. “I think we’re done with that.”
Illustrious arrived in Verano space with less than three months still to go until the annexation vote. Admiral Stevens put in a meeting request with Colonel Stimson when they arrived. Stimson, Stevens, Cosworth, and Bianchi met in a VR simulation of the flag briefing room of the Illustrious.
Stimson appeared in the room and saluted General Cosworth. Cosworth nodded.
“Be seated, Colonel.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“I understand you have orders for us from President Prieto, Colonel,” Stevens said.
“Yes, Admiral. You are to take two passengers to another planet and return here, then take myself and President Prieto directly to Center. Our date of departure is fixed, in twelve weeks. We need to be here for the election, and then we will leave as expeditiously as possible for Center.”
“That doesn’t sound difficult, Colonel.”
“It has some wrinkles, Sir. For purposes of staying in touch with their obligations, which I do not know and could not disclose if I did, your two passengers cannot both be in hyperspace at the same time. They have to be taken in two separate round trips.”
“We’re going to be looking at supply issues, Colonel.”
“That’s the other wrinkle, Sir. But the timing is such that you can move the two passengers, go to Imperial Fleet Base Calella for resupply, and still be back here before the required departure date for the trip to Center.”
“All right. That works. What planet are we taking the two passengers to, Colonel?”
“They will tell you that when they board, Admiral. I’m not required to know.”
“This is all pretty irregular, Colonel.”
“Yes, Sir. It was worked out between Madam President and His Majesty, and they’re not required to follow the rules.”
Stevens snorted.
“Colonel, when His Majesty says something, those are the rules.”
“As you say, Sir.”
“And when will the first of our two passengers be ready to leave, Colonel?”
“He’s ready now, Sir. Here are the landing coordinates. You can use either a shuttle or a VIP ship for this landing spot.”
Stimson pushed the coordinates to Stevens, Cosworth, and Bianchi.
Stevens turned to Cosworth.
“Sounds like we should get this pickup underway soonest, General. I’d rather not be short of time at the other end.”
“Agreed, Admiral. We’re in process right now. I’ve already given the orders.”
Turley, Gulliver, Stimson, and Prieto were all standing by under the portico of the main house waiting for the shuttle to take Gulliver to the Illustrious.
“Good spacing, Paul. We’ll miss you,” Prieto said.
“You, too, Morena. You’re going a lot farther than we are.”
“We’ll see you, Paul,” Stimson said, shaking Gulliver’s hand.
“In VR, anyway,” Gulliver said. “Take care of your girl there.”
“Oh, I will.”
They could hear shuttle engines approaching.
“I’ll see you in three weeks,” Gulliver said to Turley.
“Don’t you go misbehaving with any other women while you’re alone there.”
Gulliver snorted.
“I would never cheat on a woman with double forearm rigs.”
Turley laughed.
“All right, we better go. There he is.”
The Imperial Marine VIP ship settled on the center of the bridge to the mainland. They all got into the electric carts and staff drove them down to the bridge. Another electric cart with Gulliver’s luggage followed.
Staff loaded his luggage in the cargo compartment of the converted attack ship, as Gulliver climbed into the passenger compartment. The pilot supervised the cargo loading and closing the hatch, then checked on Gulliver’s restraints. Satisfied, he climbed back into the cockpit.
The others had retreated back past the end of the bridge for the takeoff. Gulliver waved to Turley, who he could see waving at the ship.
This would be the first time they had been separated even overnight in thirteen years.
The VIP ship was making one and a half gravities trying to get up to velocity when the Illustrious came up behind it. The big ship was making one gravity, but had been accelerating longer. Gulliver felt the slight jar when the VIP ship pilot turned helm control over to Illustrious. The VIP ship briefly went to two gravities as the computer matched velocities.
The VIP ship sidled over to the behemoth it now traveled with. A boom was extended, and the VIP ship edged over to the boom and latched to the dolly. The dolly pulled the VIP ship up to the side of the Illustrious and the hatches mated.
Admiral Stevens waited in the ready room for the shuttle port. He was dying to see the person whom the Emperor himself would send an attack ship carrier to ferry, as well as to find out where they were going.
The hatch cycled and the pilot came in. He was followed by a curious fellow, a nondescript man of indeterminate age – medium height, medium build, medium coloring – in a nondescript suit.
“I’m Admiral Stevens, Sir,” Stevens said.
“Paul Gulliver, Admiral,” Gulliver replied.
They shook hands.
“So where are we going, Mr. Gulliver?”
“Set course for Julian, Admiral.”
Retirement
The HMS Illustrious dropped out of hyperspace and throttled back up to one gravity of acceleration. The big ship made a fly-by of the planet, detaching an armored assault shuttle at her closest approach. When she was once again past the hyperspace limit, she projected her hypergate, drew it over herself, and disappeared.
The shuttle dropped down toward the planet, maintaining one gravity of acceleration for the comfort of its single passenger until it was in the atmosphere and the planet’s own gravity took over.
The shuttle soared over the capital of Monroe and out to the reservoir of President Ann Turley Dam about sixty miles away. It stopped in a hover above an estate house on the shore of the lake and slowly came down to rest on a shuttle pad several hundred feet from the house. The pilot shut down the engines.
Captain Thomas Mulroney, the shuttle pilot, came back into the passenger cabin.
“We’re down, Sir. You’re good to go.”
“Thank you, Captain. I guess you’re my houseguest for a couple of weeks.”
“Yes, Sir. Or I can camp out on board. I’ve done that, too, Sir.”
“Nonsense. Come along, Captain.”
Mulroney opened the hatch and extended the ladder, and Gulliver and Mulroney climbed down. Unexpectedly, Gulliver had a welcoming party. An electric cart came up to the pad from the house, followed by another full of serious-looking men.
The first cart pulled right up to Gulliver and Mulroney and a big man got out. Paul recognized Mark Chapman, who had won election to the preside
ncy and served the two-term limit.
“Paul!”
“Mark Chapman,” Gulliver said. “Good to see you.”
Chapman wrapped Gulliver in a bear hug like he hadn’t seen him in thirteen years – which he hadn’t, actually.
“What’s with all the security?” Gulliver asked, waving a hand toward the men from the second cart, who had set something of a perimeter and were standing around looking serious.
Chapman looked around at them and turned back to Gulliver.
“Yeah,” Chapman said. “Humorless-looking bunch, aren’t they? Turns out there was an assassination attempt on me about thirteen years ago, so they worry.”
“I remember. I’m the one who shot you.”
“Yeah, well, they don’t know that.”
Chapman looked back at the security men before continuing.
“We probably shouldn’t tell them.”
Gulliver laughed.
“But you’re not still president, are you, Mark? You were term limited.”
“Not still. Again. That was the colony government, Paul. This is the planetary government. So the term limit from before doesn’t count. They didn’t even put a term limit on the planetary governor. And I don’t have to run in general elections. Every five years the legislature decides whether to keep me. And, of course, per Imperial rules, the provincial governor can remove me at any time.”
“So you’re running the joint again.”
“Yeah, ain’t that a hoot? Anyway, somebody noticed that Ann Turley bought the big house here, and mentioned it to me, so I figured I’d come out and say hello, then I find you.”
“Ann’s coming on the next shuttle. Some last-minute things to take care of before she could make the trip.”
Chapman gave him a piercing look.
“You guys here to cause trouble again, Paul?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. We retired from all that stuff, Mark. We were trying to figure a nice place to retire to, and got to looking around. We like being on the water, and we want someplace quiet, get some fishing in. And then Ann saw this property listed. So she bought it.”
“OK. Just checking. I didn’t figure you guys would be trouble for me, anyway, but I had to ask.”
Chapman clapped him on the back.
“Damn, but it’s good to see you. It’s like old times. C’mon down to the house. The staff can get your things.”
Gulliver turned to the pilot.
“Captain?”
“I’ll stay here to supervise unloading your things and securing the shuttle, Sir. I can ride down to the house with the staff.”
“Very well, Captain.”
Chapman and Gulliver got into the first electric cart, and the security men all piled back into the second for the trip down to the house. Once they were away from the pad, two of the household staff in another cart drove up to the pad to get Gulliver’s luggage.
They drove down to the portico of the main house, situated on a low bluff overlooking the lake. The majordomo greeted them at the door. He knew the planetary governor, of course, so he greeted Gulliver.
“Welcome home, sir. My name is Gerald.”
“Thank you, Gerald. We’ll be in the living room.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Where is that, exactly?”
“Allow me, sir.”
Chapman turned around to the security men, queued up behind to follow him inside.
“Hey, fellas. Stick around outside and keep an eye on the trees and bushes, will ya? Some of ‘em look kinda shady to me.”
Chapman followed Gulliver into the house, and the majordomo closed the door behind them. He led them down the entry hall to a double door that led into a spacious living room with a glass wall looking out over the lake.
“Nice place,” Gulliver said.
“Yeah, some rich guy built it as the ultimate retirement house for him and his wife, then he died before they even moved in. She didn’t want it. She went back to Calella to be with her kids and grandkids. They’ve had a helluva time trying to sell it. Not much call for something like this on Julian.”
“Well, it’s perfect for us. We’ve gotten used to having staff and all.”
“Yes, I didn’t expect Madam Sector Governor to do her own housekeeping,” Chapman said.
Gulliver laughed.
The majordomo brought out a tray of drinks, and the two old friends spent the afternoon talking about old times.
The Illustrious dropped out of hyperspace and made a fly-by of the planet. She detached a VIP ship on her way past, then made a great sweeping arc out past the planet, accelerating at one gravity all the way, and came back past the planet several hours later. She caught up with the VIP ship, which was pushing two gravities to match speed, and picked up the VIP ship on a boom.
Admiral Stevens waited in the ready room for the shuttle port to greet his second passenger. The hatch cycled and the pilot came in. He was followed by a woman in her mid-sixties, her blond hair gone to grey, wearing Imperial Marines MCU with the three black stars of a lieutenant general on the collars and the black fourragère of the Imperial Guard. The name tape on her uniform read ‘Turley.’ That was a name Stevens knew well. The Earth Sector Crisis had been big news twelve years ago.
Stevens snapped to attention and saluted. Turley returned his salute and picked up his name and rank from his uniform.
“At ease, Admiral Stevens,” Turley said.
“To Julian, Governor Turley?”
“Yes, Admiral. At your convenience.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Let me show you to your quarters.”
Many things were now clear to Stevens. If the Emperor and the president of Verano decided to send an attack ship carrier to ferry former Earth Sector Governor and Imperial Guard Lieutenant General Ann Turley from Verano to Julian, neither planet having regular passenger service, it made perfect sense to him. And taking her advance man, that Gulliver fellow, out there first to get everything set up before her arrival made sense as well.
The Illustrious continued to accelerate to the hyperspace boundary, then projected her hypergate, drew it over herself, and was gone.
“Goodbye, Mr. Gulliver,” Captain Mulroney said when Gulliver dropped him off at the shuttle with one of the electric carts.
“Goodbye, Captain. It’s been nice having you as a guest. Good spacing to you, and thanks for the lift.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Mulroney got aboard the shuttle and fired up the engines while Gulliver withdrew to a safe distance. The shuttle’s engines spooled up, and the shuttle lifted off the pad. It was soon lost to sight.
Gulliver sat and waited. It wasn’t long before he heard the whine of engines again. These were different, though. He could hear the difference between assault shuttle engines and attack ship engines. Shuttle engines sounded more powerful, but attack ship engines sounded nastier somehow.
The VIP ship settled on the pad and the engines spooled down. Gulliver drove back out to the pad, followed by a cart with a couple of household staffers to get the luggage.
Turley got out of the VIP ship after the co-pilot. He went to supervise the unloading of the cargo compartment. Turley walked up and got into the electric cart next to Gulliver. She gave him a hug.
“I’ve missed you,” Gulliver said.
“I know. Me, too.”
“Let’s not do this again.”
“Deal,” Turley said. “So how’s the house?”
“It’s great. It really is. I don’t know how we can afford it, or afford to run it, but it’s great.”
“Well, lessee. Retired lieutenant general’s pension. They bridged my service, you know. And sector governor’s pension.”
“You were sector governor for a couple weeks,” Gulliver said.
“The Emperor exempted the vesting requirements.”
“Ah.”
“Imperial department head salary, which is ongoing, plus per diem for office space, staff, and equipment,” Turley said.
“I guess it does add up.”
“That’s just mine. You have your pension from Stauss Interstellar, and Imperial department head salary, ongoing, plus per diem, as well.”
“Huh. I never paid attention,” Gulliver said.
“I know. But I did.”
“Mark Chapman’s president again – or rather, planetary governor – under the new planetary government. He wanted to throw a big reception for you in the Executive Building in Monroe, but I demurred.”
“Thanks,” Turley said. “I’m done with all that.”
“He said he would stop by to visit in a few days, though. Once you’d settled in.”
“It’ll be nice to see him after all these years.”
They drew up to the portico, and the majordomo was waiting for them.
“Welcome home, ma’am. My name is Gerald.”
“Thank you, Gerald. Cognac in the living room, I think.”
“Very good, ma’am. Dinner is at seven.”
Turley and Gulliver sat in the living room, looking out over the water. It was a nice day, and a few sailboats plied the water.
Turley sighed.
“It’s nice to be home,” she said.
HMS Illustrious came back past the planet with two booms extended and picked up both its parasites, the armored assault shuttle and the VIP ship. She continued on to the hyperspace limit.
“Set course for Calella,” Captain Bianchi told the navigator.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The Illustrious projected her hypergate, drew it over herself, and was gone.
Morena Prieto and Brad Stimson were in the sitting room on Il Refugio watching the election returns in VR. They sat together in the simulation watching the numbers tally up.
They were moved out of the president’s mansion in downtown San Jacinto. All of them, including Prieto’s parents, Lorenzo and Adriana Oberto. Everything in the mansion and on Il Refugio had been packed up and was ready to go, in a shipping container that had been placed to one side of the road next to the bridge to Il Refugio. A cargo transfer shuttle from the Illustrious, newly returned from Calella, had picked it up earlier in the day. There was just the four of them now, and the luggage they would need for the trip to Center.
EMPIRE: Succession Page 26