by Ian J Miller
'More searching required,' Marcellus replied.
It took just a little time to make further progress. It was clear that Sender was having difficulties. At first he only wanted a couple of ships with basic weapons and the bombs, but when the M'starn turned up, it became apparent that he needed far more ships, and these ships had to have shielding and serious armaments because while annihilating a relatively primitive civilization was one thing, taking on a fleet of that size, even if it had been mauled, was another question. These ships, after all, had at least given Ulse a very serious headache, so any fleet that was going to take them on had to have clear superiority, particularly since the M'starn were battle-hardened veterans.
'That seems to confirm that Earth is the target," Gaius noted.
'Yes, but not why,' Marcellus responded. 'Think about it. If you were merely going to go to war with another planet, why the secrecy? And I don't mean just keeping things secret from all and sundry; I mean keeping it secret from most of the government.'
That was a good point, but it was still of interest to keep going. The next part made Gaius almost laugh, because when word came back that the M'starn had been defeated, it was decided that even more ships had to be built. Then, when it became known that a delegation from Earth was arriving in Ulsian advanced battleships, there seemed to be almost a dislocation in the program. More building was required, but even greater secrecy was required. But even more important, serious weapons would be required, and now. There was only one source: the Military Curia. This gave an intense problem, because preliminary indications were that Seppet Zakryn was likely to be uncooperative. That dinosaur seemed to think that weapons were the domain of the Military Curia alone, as was any deployment of them.
'Fancy having the cheek to think that,' Gaius noted.
'It is of further interest that Sender cannot order the Military Curia,' Marcellus noted, 'which suggests that Sender is not operating with the cooperation of the rest of the Conclave.'
'Or at least not all of them,' Gaius agreed. 'My guess is that a coup, or the elimination of problem Cardinals is also on the cards. Is there any indication of friendly and non-cooperative Cardinals?'
'I shall make a list,' Marcellus promised, 'but this list will be of little use right now because they will be in different cities and the ones that Sender does not trust will be largely unaware of us.'
'The fact that the Military Curia is being kept out of this exercise is of interest,' Gaius noted, 'because the military would be the obvious source of soldiers to lead such an exercise.'
'If they are not going to use the military, who are they going to use?'
That was a useful search, and what transpired was that within the Conclave Guard there seemed to be a small Corps made up of highly devoted religious fanatics that formed a "Religious Guard", from which Sender drew the members that would look after him. Sender had a personal army, albeit a small one.
'My guess,' Marcellus offered, 'is that this guard would be highly motivated and seemingly very well equipped, but relatively poorly trained in terms of real fighting ability. A little like the Waffen SS in Hitler's Germany, if you have read your history of that time.'
'What can we find out about Baht's run? That might give us some idea as to what is driving Sender.'
This was rather interesting. The arrest of Baht had been made with the direct objective of bringing Kazyn out of hiding. Kazyn had to be eliminated, because, as Kazyn had suspected, he had been on Earth. But Kazyn had not been flushed out, so the run was proposed, on the basis that Kazyn would probably feel the need to save his servant, not that Sender considered an unacknowledged one worth saving, but that plot had fallen to pieces when Seppet Methrell offered to run with Baht. Baht would have been easy prey, an unacknowledged untrained nobody, but Methrell and a special forces specialist were completely different matters, as both were not only trained killers, but they were acknowledged as the very best of the Ranhynn special forces.
But this was not a problem, but rather an opportunity, because for some reason, Sender specifically decided that Methrell now became the primary target, and he personally gave the orders to the Conclave Guards at the site to do what they had to do. At that point, it appeared that Baht could have walked to the top unchallenged, had she known. She was, after all, a nobody.
'It seems to me we have several things to do,' Gaius noted. 'We must try to establish where this shipbuilding is going on. I shall contact Lucilla, and see what our flybys have produced. We, or more specifically, you, must sort through that list and see where our allies are. We must get Hadell here and warn her, because she also has been to Earth. Finally, we have to find out what happened to Natasha.'
'On that last score, I think you should lodge a protest with the Space Curia. You request them to take all measures to locate and return safely the diplomat from Earth, in accord with the Ulse-Ranh treaty.'
'I don't think that will do any good,' Gaius frowned.
'Of course not, but it will be, as you say, a deception.'
'A deception?'
'You are the Ulsian representative. Ulsians always try to follow correct procedure, which in this case would get them nowhere fast. The point is, your opposition will expect you to do something, so you might as well let them fall to the wrong conclusion.'
'That seems a bit sneaky!'
'Well, thank you. I am, after all, made to be like you, except I have far better computational ability.'
'You're welcome,' and Gaius laughed a little.
Chapter 26
Claudia Lucilla was awakened, and she immediately asked what problem had arisen.
"Actually," Antonia said, "there is something that requires action, but also you have been asleep long enough, and some nourishment and exercise would not go astray."
So Lucilla had a breakfast, then spent some time on the exercise facilities, then asked what the problem was. Antonia explained to her that Gaius had found evidence of a lot of secret shipbuilding, and he needed to know where this was. Obviously it was not in space around Ranh, so they had to examine the data collected from the refuelling flybys.
'You don't really need me to examine data.'
'Up to a point, no,' Antonia responded, 'but I think it will be somewhere that is not obvious, and I think it will be somewhere for which there are no data.'
'Because you have already gone through the data.'
'Indeed, yes! It is so good you are functioning well.'
The data on the rocky planets were clear. It would have been impossible to construct an underground facility large enough to construct that number of interstellar space ships without leaving some traces of what they were doing. Amongst other things, the masses of rock that had to be removed would have to be put somewhere, and if it were at a distance, there would be a number of significant roads that appeared to go nowhere, but met in a small area that was otherwise empty. But there were no such signs on the inner and outer rocky planets. Ranh was eliminated because it would be impossible to do that on Ranh without anyone knowing, and in any case it was always desirable to construct space ships in the lowest gravitational field available and Ranh was the largest of the rocky planets.
"When the M'starn did their repairs," Lucilla reverted to speech, "they chose the low gravitational field of an icy moon."
"But we are in the Jupiter system," Antonia countered, "and I have carefully examined all the satellites, and there are no signs of shipbuilding here. Also, if there were, we would hardly have been invited to park here."
"I was thinking more of whether there were any satellites about that rogue planet that we think was the cause of ejecting the other expected planets," Lucilla offered.
"There are no satellites recorded," Antonia countered.
"Who did the recording?"
"Oh, you are the suspicious one," Antonia said. "I will have to check the records." There was a delay, then Antonia continued, "Rather interestingly, it is not properly recorded who made this statement. In fact, th
ere is very little recorded about this planet."
"Where is it now?"
"Nearing apogee, and on the other side of the system."
"I think we should record it properly," Lucilla said. "I have always wanted to be an explorer, and visit otherwise unknown territory."
"The Ranhynn won't like you going closer to their home planet," Antonia warned.
"Come, come, who said anything about crossing the system. I was always under the impression, mainly given to me by you, that if we went the long way around, they would have no idea where we are."
"I could generate some illusions of the two ships, so they wouldn't know we had moved," Antonia said. "You may recall we did that once before, with interesting consequences."
"How long could they be maintained?"
"As long as the power source we have to leave behind lasts."
"With the option of turning them off?"
"Yes, with a signal, or with a clear set of conditions that initiate whatever you want."
"Then let's make a detour and take the two ships to that planet."
"Your brother said to stay here," Antonia cautioned.
"He has often said that when in the field, there has to be the option to take independent action," she countered. "Now is the time for him to put his money where his mouth is."
"He also said, if you are to take independent action, you must let him know."
"Is there any way we can do that without the Ranhynn picking up our signal?"
"Of course!"
"Then you had better let him know what we are doing," Lucilla said. "We start immediately, but our movements must be slow and with a minimum of detectable exhaust, and we must cloak ourselves."
"I am initiating action now," Antonia said. "I should warn you, this will take time, so you might like to plan how you are going to spend the next few days. I cannot go any quicker because I have to go deep into space, and it is important not to accelerate too much as the exhausts would become increasingly likely to be detected. I also have to avoid some deep space detector systems, put there to warn Ranhyn Space Control when something is coming."
"I leave everything to you," Lucilla said, and added, "and you wouldn't have it any other way."
"I concede I fly a ship so much better than you can," Antonia said, then added with a smirk, "and I do it so modestly too."
* * *
The Romulus began to accelerate as it drifted towards the rogue planet, and the cloaking should have been easily adequate, for the star looked exactly like that: a bright star, so far were they from it. Contrary to their charts, the planet clearly had two satellites, although both were in highly elliptical orbits that were in a 3:1 resonance. The outer one was at that time close to perigee, while the inner one was on the far side of the planet.
"What I recommend is that we drift in on this course," Antonia said, "then we allow the gravitational field of the first satellite to bend us around the planet so we come back around like this to the inner satellite," and with that, she pointed to a trajectory plotted along one wall. "That permits us to survey about three quarters of the outer satellite and most of the inner one without firing motors. If we find anything, we can adjust our plan then."
Lucilla agreed, and went to lie down. The first interesting time would be at least seven hours away. When she awoke, the view of the outer satellite was clear, although with light enhancement: a large dirty icy rock.
"I think we've found something already," Antonia said. "Look at that!"
Lucilla looked at where Antonia had pointed, and saw a patch that the instruments told her was two kilometers long and a half-kilometer wide and was quite white, and was normal to a grey cliff. "That's too regular," she said.
"It's also too white," Antonia said. "It has been smoothed with heat, and the dust has sunk before the ice refroze. That is a landing strip for ships that have emitted a lot of heat. Now look at this." Antonia pointed at some long grey strips.
"Again, too regular. Can we tell what they're made of?"
"We can indeed," Antonia said. "They are iron strips on a concrete base. They are being used to carry weight, the base being to reduce the pressure. The gravity of this satellite is only about fifteen per cent of Earth's, so to have that area to reduce pressure over ice means they must have very substantial mass units being delivered."
"Such as?"
"The only likely contender is a finished motor. A ship would be constructed in parts, but there is a part of the motor that can only be made in very special factories. There is more. A gravity analysis shows major anomalies within that cliff, and a good distance back, and very deep. As we pass by, from the different angles I should be able to plot a very rough description of their facility. It is almost certainly a place where ships are being assembled, and the fact they are so far underground, at least according to the gravity anomalies, suggests they really want to keep this secret."
"It looks like this is where the future problem originates," Lucilla agreed.
"So what do you want to do?"
"I think we should continue our survey, on the assumption that we have avoided discovery so far. While we have found one facility, we cannot be sure there isn't a second."
"I agree. Let's see what is here."
"And if we do not find anything else, plot me a least chance of discovery path to get us back here on a geostationary orbit above this spot. Also, you had better send a signal to the Actium informing them of what we have found."
"Now or after we have finished the search?"
"When we have finished the search," Lucilla agreed. "We need to make sure we have as much information as we are going to get before we run the risk of alerting the Ranhynn."
The ship continued on its path, with a very small course correction when the first base was out of direct sight, then another as they skimmed into the magnetosphere of the giant. Their path emerged from the giant's environment and approached the inner satellite, then, with some risk of detection, there was a course alteration to skim around the back of it. They found nothing, but when hidden by the giant from the outer moon there was another correction to bring them in for a close skim of the outer satellite, while covering the area that so far had remained unexamined. They found nothing, so another course correction brought them into a position to park in the geostationary point above the outer satellite.
"Unfortunately, we shall be unable to inform the Actium for a couple of days," Antonia informed Lucilla. "We are just going behind this planet."
"Then we wait," she said."
"What if the Ranhynn ships come out?"
"We shall inform them that one coming out and going somewhere is peaceful. All starting to come out will be considered to be a declaration of war," Lucilla said, "and we shall prevent them coming out."
"That is a declaration of war," Antonia noted.
"Yes, but they are in there and can't get out," Lucilla said. "If our information is correct, these are being built to annihilate life on Earth. We shall tell them they stay put until the treaty is signed, or face the consequences."
"You don't know that fleet, if that's what it is, is heading for Earth."
"No, but as Gaius would say, they don't know I don't know either. As for whether there is a fleet, if there isn't, it's hardly likely to come out, is it?"
"Logical," Antonia said.
"You don't approve of what I am doing?"
"I never said that," Antonia replied. "I am just making sure you understand what you are doing. This is one of those situations for which there is no right answer, but it is important that whatever option is chosen is recognized for what it is. Given that you seem to understand what you are doing, I shall support you, as I must unless I have a good reason not to."
"Some might say, not starting a war is a good reason," Lucilla said.
"Yes, but equally, permitting the extinction of a civilization is the worst possible outcome of the other choice. I shall, of course, guide you as to how to offer them ways out without
letting them out if they start to threaten."
"Antonia, believe me, I don't want to start an interplanetary war, but as you said, if the warning is correct, to ignore this option might lead to the end of humanity, and I can't –"
"Neither could Ulse," Antonia interrupted her. "Provided you follow my advice, the Romulus and the Livia will do everything in their power to stop a fleet emerging from that base. We may not totally prevail, but I assure you what we do not stop will not be adequate to exterminate humanity."
Chapter 27
Hadell needed information, and as an ex Tenzat, she had the right to unlimited access to the Space Curia library, and she also had the right to a personal guard. There were four security guards automatically stationed outside the main entrance to her apartment block, so she would leave one there to prevent unintended burglars and take the remaining ones. Accordingly, three quarters of an hour later, four Ranhynn were walking up the concrete steps towards the entrance to the Space Curia library when another Ranhyn came charging out the door, straight towards Hadell. Hadell stepped to one side, missed her footing, and fell sideways. At that very moment a disruptor blast went through the space where her head had been, and a cloud of concrete dust flew into the air where the blast hit the wall. Her three guards also dived for cover.
Another blast hit the concrete close to her left side. Hadell flinched, then pulled herself together. This column was wide enough to cover her, but only just, if she were directly behind it. That shot might have been to persuade her to come into view on the other side. It appeared that this was a repeat of what had happened to Natasha and Methrell; someone from a building on the other side of the road had lay in waiting and . . . But no! That did not sound right, because how would whoever was doing the shooting know she was coming here? Yes, she had the right to go here, but she had only been here once since she had returned from Earth, so she was hardly a frequent visitor. The first anyone would have known where she was going was when she informed the guards, which meant that either one of them had sent a message to the assassin, or there was some form of sophisticated surveillance outside her apartment block. Determining which it was could wait.