Time Commander (The First Admiral Series)

by Benning, William J.

  Once seated, the figure drew up the left sleeve of the robe to expose a tight black under-sleeve and glove arrangement that covered every square inch of his skin. With a nod, he summoned one of the Imperial Guards stationed near to the table; who brought over a small silver, rectangular box and set it on the table in front of the hooded figure. Everyone in the room immediately recognised the small, silver box as a Blood Kit. When matters of paternity and parentage were discussed, the arguments were invariably settled with a blood test. The blood kit was the most advanced form of blood and genetic testing in the Ganthoran Empire.

  Well, well, well... what do we have here? Kallet thought quietly to himself as the robed figure opened the small box and removed the spherical blue sampler mechanism.

  Unlike on Earth where a hypodermic needle would have been used to pierce a vein to extract blood cells, the Ganthorans used a short range teleportation device which took cells directly from the bone marrow of the donor in a swift, painless, and completely secure manner. The range of the teleportation field on the sampler was no more than a few centimetres, and by isolating himself on the Dais, the hooded figure would be unable to offer anything except for his own genetic coding. There would be no trickery or sample switching involved, as had happened in the past, with this demonstration.

  Setting the sampler on his arm, he activated the mechanism; which gave a brief hum and then fell silent. That was the first stage of the process, the sample was taken. From the Blood Kit box, the robed and hooded figure then took four smaller white spheres. These were the Sample Beds. The Sample Beds were simply small empty spheres into which the samples were decanted prior to being inserted into the Analyzer. Setting the large sphere on the table in full view of all those present, the robed figure carefully placed the four sample Beds in contact with the Sampler. With a deft pass of his hand over the whole collection, another short buzz indicated that the sample had been decanted into the Sample Beds. Working on the electrical impulse from the body of the donor, the crude sensor within the Sampler recognised the electrical impulse from both the donor and the sample. Finding that the two signals matched allowed the Sample Beds to extract the genetic coding.

  Silently, the Frontier Generals and their body guards watched the procedure, still quite unable to fathom why the charade was taking place.

  With another nod, two Imperial Guards stepped forward with small black trays onto which they each placed two of the Sample Beds. The Imperial Guards then took one Sample Bed to the table of each of the Frontier Generals.

  “Gentlemen, if I may?” The hooded figure threw a switch on the Dais.

  From each of the tables of the Frontier Generals, a small rectangular screen emerged from the centre. This was the Analyzer. It was a rectangular screen of twelve centimetres by eight centimetres, with a small circular recess set beneath it. The recess was the Analysis Plate.

  In the process of conducting the analysis, the Analysis Plate would annihilate the sample and codify the material presented. The computer programme would then interrogate the massive genetic coding database to find matches or close matches to the sample given.

  As the Imperial Guard presented General Kallet with the Sample Bed, Kallet dropped it into the prepared recess and initiated the analysis with a single press of the small, blue button on the screen of the Analyzer. The result, which normally took a few seconds to be displayed on the screen, appeared, and shocked Frontier General Avavid Kallet to his very core. Generals Sal’nor and Kav’al, who had received their Sample Beds a few moments before Kallet, were already on their feet, shouting and protesting whilst stoney-faced Imperial Guards pointed pistols at them.

  Kallet barely had time to register the disturbance when the result appeared on his Analyzer. On the left hand side of the screen, the maternal genetic coding was displayed with a picture of the maternal donor. In his case, the left half of the screen showed a blank head and shoulders female outline with the words, “Unknown Thelian Female Donor” flashing below it. However, on the right hand side; on the paternal side, was a face that Frontier General Avavid Kallet, and every Ganthoran, knew very well.

  It was the ruggedly handsome face of the last Emperor of the Ganthorans; His Imperial Majesty Varnus the Fourth.

  As the shock began to dissipate, Kallet understood why the other three Frontier Generals were now on their feet and shouting. Quickly, Kallet’s mind raced through the potential implications of this bombshell: there had been rumours of an affair between the unmarried Emperor and a high-born Thelian woman. Kallet strained his memory to try to understand how this could have happened. That had been nearly twenty years ago, when Avavid Kallet had been a Junior Staff Officer. It was all starting to make sense to Frontier General Avavid Kallet; Varnus had fathered a child with a high-born Thelian woman, which was the approximate time when he had then begun to relax his policy towards the alien species that inhabited the Empire. Unfortunately, the relaxation of Alien Policy had brought about the anger of the Frontier Generals, one of whom, it was believed, had assassinated Varnus. Kallet decided in that instant that he had to act decisively now, or he would miss his chance.

  “Are you trying to tell us that you’re the illegitimate, half-breed son of Emperor Varnus!?” General Timmeg banged the table angrily as Kallet spoke up.

  “Your Imperial Majesty!” Kallet began rising to his feet, hoping that his sincerity sounded genuine.

  In an instant, the entire room fell silent and turned to watch Kallet, who had apparently taken leave of his senses. With a stiff formal bow, Avavid Kallet followed the protocol set down hundreds of years before his time when addressing the Emperor of the Ganthorans.

  “Are you mad, Kallet?” General Sal’nor piped up.

  “General Sal’nor, Your Imperial Majesty,” Kallet said, “we have seen the evidence for ourselves, we have in front of us the genetic son of His Imperial Majesty Varnus the Fourth.”

  “But, he’s an illegitimate half-breed…” Kav’al interjected.

  “Who happens to carry the blood of the last Emperor his veins,” Kallet interrupted, “which makes him a blood claimant for the Throne of Ganthus!” He shouted the last phrase to emphasise the point.

  Once again, the room fell silent.

  “The Emperor’s blood takes precedence over any other, whether the mother is Thelian, Tharlesian, or a Bardomil rock-hopping monkey! The Emperor’s blood makes him a full-blooded Ganthoran,” Kallet said.

  “General Kallet.” The hooded figure with the masked voice chose his words carefully. “You are very well versed with the Law of Succession, a learned scholar and a fine General. You are indeed a rare combination.”

  You lying rogue, Frontier General Avavid Kallet thought to himself, and smiled insincerely as he nodded his head in recognition of the strained compliment. General Avavid Kallet was no scholar of Ganthoran law; he had simply commissioned one of his legal officers to report to him on the pathway that he himself could take to the throne. From his memories of the legal officer’s report, Kallet remembered that a legitimate blood claimant to the Throne of Ganthus took precedence over every other claimant. Whether the claimant was male or female made no difference to the Law of Succession. In the absence of a legitimate blood claimant, the Time Warrior ritual was instituted to find the person best able to defend and expand the Empire. Kallet then remembered that illegitimate children were then considered by the Law as claimants. An illegitimate child of Ganthoran birth would then be considered as a candidate for the Throne of Ganthus.

  “Thank you, your Imperial Majesty,” Kallet said, “but you still haven’t explained why you have summoned us here?”

  Whoever this really is he wants something from us, Kallet thought to himself, he needs the Frontier Fleets for some reason.

  “Yes, General Kallet, straight to the point,” the distorted voice responded, “I have called you here, because I need your help. I need your help to save the Empire.” The robed figure stood up from the chair and, leaning forwards, set his knuckles
against the top of the table.

  “This First Admiral Caudwell of the so-called Universal Alliance has chosen to accept the challenge of the Time Warrior ritual.” The voice fell silent to let these words sink in.

  Already, Avavid Kallet was working out the implications of what might likely happen if this Caudwell creature were to be successful. And, the answers his mind came up with were not pleasant.

  “I don’t have to tell you that if this Caudwell is successful, he will compel the Ganthoran people to join his miserable Alliance, which will mean no more Frontier Fleets and no more Frontier Generals. The Fleets would be broken up, the soldiers scattered all over the Alliance, and we would have aliens in the Imperial Palace dictating to our people, and, I, for one, am not prepared to tolerate that!” The voice banged the gloved fist of his left hand onto the table.

  A murmur of agreement echoed through the room, but it was Kallet again who spoke first.

  “But, Your Imperial Majesty, there is no guarantee that this Caudwell will succeed in the ritual.”

  “That is true, General Kallet, there is no guarantee he will succeed. But, if he does succeed, then the Ganthoran Empire will cease to exist, and we cannot allow that to happen. If, however, he fails, we will more than likely be at war with this Universal Alliance. We have already seen what they can do against General Grobbeg, so we must be prepared to resist their attacks,” the hooded figure rasped.

  “That’s treason! They’ll set the Imperial Guard onto us, and plunge the Empire into Civil War!” Timmeg said.

  “General Timmeg,” the disembodied voice calmly reasoned, “if Caudwell fails, the Imperial Guard will remain loyal to the Adjudicators or anyone who holds authority in Ganthus City. There will be no Civil War.”

  “But what if Caudwell succeeds?” Sal’nor asked.

  “If he succeeds, who do you think the Ganthoran people will follow: a half-breed illegitimate son of the last Emperor with the Frontier Fleets, or a full-blooded alien stranger with part of the Imperial Guard who wants to destroy their freedoms and way of life?” The hooded figure waited to hear an answer from his audience.

  This was very high stakes politics, Kallet thought to himself. Whether Caudwell succeeded or failed in the ritual, the Frontier Fleets would have to do something about the situation, and anything can happen in a military coup. But first, he had to see how this mysterious stranger’s hand played out. So he would play his cards close to his chest, be the loyal follower of whoever this individual was, and see where the breaks took him.

  “Gentlemen, over the next few days, the Adjudicators will decide which Earth battle this Caudwell must re-fight, the computers on Chronos will need to be programmed, and then we have the two days of The Contemplation,” the hooded figure said.

  “Go back to your Fleets and prepare to move on Ganthus on the day of the Time Warrior ritual, I shall contact you on your Personal Channels. I thank you once again for your time and your indulgence, Gentlemen.” The figure bowed to the room again and swept down from the Dais and out thorough the side door.

  Before the Frontier Generals could respond, the figure was gone.

  In the room, the Generals began to murmur with their staff and bodyguards. Sitting deep in thought at his table, only Frontier General Avavid Kallet grasped the significance of the last instruction the figure had given. Only the Grand Adjudicator had the codes for their Personal Channels. Either the figure was Grand Adjudicator Bellor, or he had access to Bellor’s secret files and the Time Warrior programmes.

  “You’re not seriously thinking of following this creature, Kallet?” Kav’al asked.

  “Why not? If Caudwell wins, we’re all out of a job.” Kallet quickly led his bodyguards out of the Briefing Room.

  As he swept down the corridor followed by his straggling body guards, he came to a conclusion: if that was an Adjudicator, and they had refused him, none of them would have gotten out of that room alive.

  Chapter 12: Universal Alliance Diplomatic Transport; Above Ganthus City

  Ambassador Sarkor Nicx could feel the tension starting to build up inside her.

  Up until now, there had been an unreality about the situation that had allowed her to feel safe and distant from the job she had been chosen to do. Now, the situation was very real as the Universal Alliance Diplomatic Transport hurtled towards the surface of the planet Ganthus. These were the moments she had been waiting for, this is what she had struggled and striven for in her career. This was what the long hours, the boring and turgid written reports, and the hours of listening to the insincere claptrap of politicians had been all about. She was on the way to lead and form the Universal Alliance’s first Diplomatic Legation to the Ganthoran Empire.

  Sitting at one of the small circular widows aboard the Transport, Sarkor Nicx watched the pale brown and yellow planet of Ganthus grow from an insignificant speck in the deep darkness of space, into the spherical, celestial body that filled the entire window frame. First Admiral Caudwell and Ambassador Nicx were travelling with a few diplomatic aides, and a platoon of thirty Landing Troopers to populate the new Universal Alliance Legation. Already, they would be within range of the Ganthorans’ long range scanners, and Billy Caudwell had no doubt that they would be scanned, probed and examined all the way down to the Landing Point in Ganthus City.

  The Diplomatic Transport Vessel, however, had been designed for such eventualities. The vessel was completely unarmed, and was equipped with an efficient Thrust Engine. Trion Drives were not part of the design of the Diplomatic Transport, so any sensitive Trion technology could not be scanned or examined. The Diplomatic Transport did, however, carry a highly efficient and effective Force Shielding generator. Even with accepted protection and privileges of Diplomatic protocol, the Alliance was taking no chances. Breaking through the upper atmosphere of Ganthus proved to be a bumpy and turbulent affair. However, the skilled Alliance pilots did their best to minimise the discomfort to their high-ranking passengers. The Landing Troopers, the elite close-combat specialists of the Universal Alliance, who would provide the token military presence at the Legation, having landed in numerous combat zones, found the turbulence no more than irritating. Having landed in places under enemy fire, a little atmospheric turbulence held no terrors or anxieties for them.

  From above, Ganthus City looked like thousands of other cities Billy Caudwell had seen during his travels. The buildings were tall and solid looking, with acre upon acre of windows that shone in the sunlight like a great shimmering lake. Billy Caudwell had listened to the briefings and seen the images of Ganthus City; he had expected the great ocean of light blue and white buildings that stretched as far as the human eye could see. But no one could prepare him for the random flashes of the dazzling light show that welcomed the Alliance Diplomatic Transport.

  Just as the Diplomatic Transport began to descend towards the approved Landing Point, Billy started to notice the irregularities; rather than flat or pointed roofs, the buildings all had roofs that sloped in the same direction. With a compass to hand, Billy Caudwell would have seen that the roofs of Ganthus City sloped eastwards. Like great regiments of soldiers standing to attention, the roofs of the buildings in Ganthus City turned their faces to the east like lookouts anxiously awaiting some unseen enemy.

  However, Ganthus City also had one very noticeable irregularity when viewed from above: there was no regular checkerboard of buildings arranged in blocks, and no obvious street arrangements to give Ganthus City any regular structure. There were, however, some broad avenues that Billy Caudwell could see from the air. In the centre of Ganthus City stood the huge, imposing edifice of the pale green, rectangular Imperial Palace. The actual building was placed neatly in the centre of a well-defined circular area. The Imperial Palace appeared to have been built surrounded by extensive grounds. To a trained military eye, such as one possessed by Teg Skarral Portan, it made sense for defensive purposes to have a broad, clear field of fire around any building you wished to hold against any besieger. An
y cover that a defender afforded to an enemy could be utilised to bring that enemy closer to the defensive position, and increase their chances of overwhelming the defences.

  Radiating out from the circular grounds of the great brooding palace like a five-spoke wheel ran five broad avenues; each one attached to what appeared to be a large area of undeveloped parkland. Even the areas of parkland had no regular shape or structure to them. However, the pale brown and yellow parks did have the effect of breaking up the monotony of the great, vast swathe of blue and white buildings. Within the sea of blue and white were large dark brown patches which were large, squat, heavily fortified buildings. These were the Ganthoran Imperial Guards’ military installations. Billy Caudwell knew that some of them would be Imperial Guard barracks; with great mazes and warrens of tunnels and underground galleries for troops and munitions. All of them, he was well aware, housed heavy anti-aircraft batteries that could reach up into the orbit of Ganthus and try to knock down large space vessels.

  From the reports of Senior Intelligence Officer Sownus, there were over two hundred such batteries defending Ganthus City. And, although these batteries weren’t powerful enough to trouble a Star Cruiser, or any other Alliance heavy warship, they could wreak havoc amongst the Eagle fighters and unprotected Landing Ships.

  Should it come to a fight with the Ganthorans, these batteries would have to be suppressed by heavy bombardment before any ground operations could take place. As the Diplomatic Transport descended towards the beautiful blue and white city below, it was ordered to begin circling. The pilots were well aware that any deviation from Ground Control instructions could jeopardise the safety of their passengers. The Landing Point itself was the roof of one of the Imperial Guard Barracks. Aircraft within the vicinity of the Imperial Palace itself were liable to be shot down by the automated air-defence systems. However, with the right security clearance granted to the Alliance transport, it was the safest Landing Point in Ganthus City.