On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus)

by Christopher Nuttall

  Archie and his family wouldn't even have a clue until it was far too late.

  She shivered again as they passed through a force field and into a larger chamber. If the Imperial Navy did arrive and scorch the planet back into submission, how many aliens would survive in the underground complexes? It would depend on what weapons were used, but Archie’s relatives would be rather unwilling to allow the Navy to unleash a planet-cracker, something that would utterly destroy their investment. A mild scorching, using energy weapons to wipe out the visible alien settlements, would spare the underground cities. And who knew what would happen after that?

  Fitz stepped in front of her as her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom. Three figures were standing in front of them, their faces hidden in the shadows. One of them was clearly a slime, a second was human...and the third was from an alien race she didn't recognise. He was humanoid, but the shape of his body suggested a very different evolutionary path to the human race. His eyes glinted red in the gloom.

  “This is an outrage,” Fitz said. If Mariko hadn't know that it was an act, she would have believed it. “How dare you arrest us like common criminals. I demand that you take me to the nearest representative of the Imperium at once.”

  The human tittered lightly.

  “The Imperium has no sway here,” he said. Every planet had a different accent, but Mariko couldn't place his. Not Edo, definitely, nor Homeworld. That only left a few hundred thousand human colony worlds as possible points of origin. “You are a prisoner of the Secessionist League.”

  “I know nothing about politics,” Fitz protested. “I came to pick up Water of Life for my ship, and then we had an accident...”

  “Silence,” the alien said. He inched forward, revealing scaly skin and sharp teeth. “You suffered no accident. You are our prisoner. Your survival depends upon how useful you make yourself to us.”

  Fitz stared at them, as if he couldn't quite believe what they were saying.

  “I could pay a ransom if you let me go,” he said. “I won’t tell anyone about what happened today...”

  “The word of an aristocrat is not to be trusted,” the slime said. “We were promised assistance in surviving what your race did to our world. Instead, we have merely been enslaved by your fellow aristocrats. You will be held to account for their crimes.”

  “We cannot keep him here,” the human said. “We’ll have him shipped off-planet tonight, and then moved to a secure storage point along the Rim. There, we can interrogate him at leisure and then ransom him back if his family is willing to pay.”

  “You don’t have to inform my family,” Fitz said, hastily. “I have access to my own accounts on my ship...”

  The trio ignored him, looking instead at Mariko. “And who, precisely, are you?”

  “His retainer,” Mariko said, with icy dignity. She’d seen enough of the higher-ranking servants of the aristocracy to know that they always kept themselves aloof from their lords and masters. The junior ones were just desperate to please. “I am his pilot...”

  “And his whore too, no doubt,” the human muttered. “We will allow you a chance to join us, if you wish. However, as we cannot trust you until we have scanned your mind properly for buried conditioning, we will have to keep you under lock and key until we can confirm that you haven’t been conditioned to servitude. I suggest you spend the time considering how best you can be useful to us.”

  Mariko opened her mouth, and then stopped. What could she say? If Fitz had been like some of the others they’d encountered on Tuff, she would probably have been more than willing to abandon him and join the Secessionists. But he’d treated them decently after saving their lives...and she liked him, God damn it. And he was right; if the Secessionists managed to bring down the Imperium, there would be a colossal bloodbath. What would happen on Greenland when the Slimes rose in revolt, turning on their masters and tormentors with blood in their eyes?

  And what would happen right across the sector? There were countless places where human and alien settlements intermingled. The slaughter would be truly horrific on both sides.

  “Take them away,” the human ordered.

  “A Snake,” Fitz said. He sounded a great deal less foppish all of a sudden. “How can you deal with a Snake?”

  The guards grabbed them and pulled them away before anyone could answer the question. Mariko stared at Fitz, suddenly understanding the presence of the mystery alien. She’d heard about the Snakes, but she’d never actually met one; they were very rare in the Imperium outside the Sumter Sector and its neighbouring states. No wonder she hadn't recognised the alien until Fitz had named it.

  “In,” the guards grunted, as they shoved them back into their cell. “We will come for you.”

  Mariko hesitated, and then asked a question that was bothering her. “Can you undo our hands? We will need to use the toilet sooner or later...”

  “Go in the mud, like you make us go,” the alien burbled, and then slammed the door in a thoroughly human manner. Outside, she could hear him speaking to his comrades, followed by the sound of alien laughter.

  She turned to look over at Fitz and received a surprise; he was busy removing the tie around his wrists and pulling his hands free. A moment later, he stepped over to her and pressed his fingers against the tie around her wrists; she felt a rush of heat. The tie disintegrated in his hands.

  “Cutting implant,” Fitz muttered, pressing his lips against her ear. “Don’t say anything; just follow my lead.”

  Mariko nodded, watching as Fitz stepped over to the door and pressed his ears against the wood for a long moment. An instant later, he pressed one of his fingers against the lock. There was a brief flare of blue light before the lock crumbled to dust. Mariko had used a molecular disintegrator before, but she’d never seen one small enough to fit into a finger, let alone remain undetectable to basic scans.

  But the Slimes didn't look to have bothered to scan their bodies, or else they would have known about the implants. Perhaps their allies hadn't been entirely straight with them after all.

  Fitz looked up at her, winked, and pulled the door wide open. A pair of aliens on the other side gaped at him, just before Fitz launched himself at them with blinding speed.

  They never stood a chance.

  He slammed his augmented fists into their skulls, leaving them both dying on the muddy floor. Fitz dragged the first one inside, motioned for Mariko to search the alien for anything useful, and then pulled the second guard into the cell. Mariko took one of the rifles, examined it quickly to figure out how to fire it, and then slung it over her shoulder. The other rifle seemed to have been bent out of shape by a blow from Fitz. Just how strong was he if he could bend metal with his bare hands? She unhooked the clip and pocketed it, before he motioned for her to follow him down the muddy corridor.

  “They’ll have the exit heavily guarded,” he muttered, as they passed a series of darkened doorways. There were no sign of any of the Slimes, but Mariko knew that that wouldn't last. “These people are always suspicious of their own, with very good reason. A single betrayal could bring down the entire organisation.”

  He held up a hand as they approached a corner and then peered around it carefully, before lunging around the corner and slamming into four guards. The Slimes were taken completely by surprise and folded rapidly, allowing them to break into the guarded room. Mariko couldn't understand what she saw in the dim light, until Fitz found a flashlight and tossed it to her, allowing her to see properly. It was a pile of computer equipment, mostly of human manufacture, all highly illegal in alien hands. Some of the other equipment looked to have been designed by aliens, for aliens. The Slimes had never invented computers for themselves, but there was no reason why a more advanced race couldn't design computers they could use easily. No doubt one of the Secessionists had been happy to produce weapons and other systems for them.

  Fitz cursed out loud as a dull subsonic began to echo through the complex. Someone had discovered the missing
guards and realised that their prisoners had escaped. He grabbed a set of computer datachips and stuffed them in his pocket, before leading the way out of the room and back down the corridor. The sound of feet splashing through the mud suddenly grew louder as a small army of Slimes appeared at one end of the corridor, levelling their weapons at the human pair. Mariko lifted her rifle, pointed it down the corridor and opened fire on full automatic. The Slimes howled in pain and rage – a disquietingly human sound – before they fell back, leaving a dozen bodies in the mud. Fitz pulled her into a side room as the next group of guards started to push forward, jumping from doorway to doorway. There was nothing wrong with their bravery, Mariko realised, even as she fired a shot at one of them in the hopes it would discourage his advance.

  “Let’s hope they don’t have grenades,” Fitz said. “One or two grenades hurled up here, and we’re dead. Hold the door for a moment.”

  He slipped into the room for a long moment and then returned with a bottle of cleaning solvent. “They probably intended to use this in their IEDs,” he said, by way of explanation. “Safe at room temperature; explosive when subjected to very high temperature.” He tossed it down the corridor.

  Seconds later, it exploded violently. A wash of fire scorched the advancing guards, leaving them gasping for breath as the flames receded.

  Mariko recoiled from the heat, realising that it would have to be much worse for an alien race to endure that was partly amphibious, like the Slimes. Fitz grabbed her hand and rushed her down the corridor, carrying two more bottles in his hand. He seemed to have a certain idea of where they had to go to escape, something that wasn't too surprising. His augments would probably have recorded the entire trip since they’d been captured by the Secessionists.

  “Hold this,” he snapped, passing her one of the bottles. Mariko couldn't see how he intended to detonate it, until she realised that one of his other augments was a laser built into his little finger. The bottle in his hands rapidly turned red with heat, then he threw it ahead of them and yanked her into a side room.

  A second explosion left alien guards screaming and choking on the floor, their greenish skins scorched clear of the slime that was their lifeblood. It had to feel horrible for them, Mariko realised, worse than a human burn.

  “Run!” he yelled.

  She heard the sounds of running guards in the distance as they fled up the hatch to the outside world. There was only darkness ahead of them, but Fitz seemed to navigate it as smoothly as broad daylight. He slowed, pushed at something above their heads, and the first twitch of daylight poured through the gap. Mariko joined him in pushing it open and followed him into the vineyard. A moment later, he heated up the final bottle of solvent and tossed it down the shaft. An explosion billowed out far below.

  “Halt,” a voice burbled.

  Mariko cursed out loud as she realised that they had run right into an alien patrol returning from planting IEDs or making contact with other dissidents. They were trapped, unable to run...

  ...And then a missile screamed from high overhead, slamming directly into the base.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Get down,” Fitz snapped, knocking Mariko down into the mud. He lay on top of her as a series of explosions sent shudders through the ground. The Slimes seemed to be totally confused, some of them shooting up towards their unseen tormentor and the others running in all directions. “Stay down...”

  Fitz moved off her and lashed out at the remaining aliens.

  They never stood a chance, Mariko realised, as she lifted her head to watch. Fitz moved with blinding speed, so quickly he seemed to be capable of anticipating what they would do before they could even consider it. One of their heads was torn off by a single blow, landing in the mud in front of her before she could react. More fire poured down from high overhead, strafing parts of the plantation that seemed to be harmless. It took Mariko a moment to realise that their unknown ally was clearing a landing site for the assault shuttle.

  “Come on,” Fitz said, helping her to her feet. His entire outfit was stained with blood, but he seemed surprisingly cheerful. “We need to get out of here and whistle up some more help.”

  She never wanted to get him angry at her. If that was what augmentation could do, she couldn't understand why it wasn't widespread. She wanted that sort of augmentation for herself. Even an engineered genetic superhuman couldn't have matched what Fitz had just displayed.

  The assault shuttle was coming into land on a smoking patch of ground that had once been part of Lady Mary’s vineyard – and Mariko started as she recognised the ship. It had last been seen attached to the Bruce Wayne...and that meant that it had to be Mai piloting the craft. She turned to look accusingly at Fitz before realising that he hadn't had any choice but to call for some support from Mai. They’d left her in orbit for that reason, after all.

  Behind them, smoke and flames continued to rise from the alien base, while flames spread through what remained of the vineyard. Mariko didn't want to think about how much money had just gone up in smoke, although she doubted that Lady Mary would dare to complain too loudly. A full lawsuit might expose her involvement with the Secessionists.

  She clambered into the shuttle, just before the ground started to shake violently. Mai launched them into the air, barely in time to save their lives. A thunderous explosion destroyed the remains of the rebel base – and all traces of its existence.

  Fitz swore as he slammed the shuttle’s door closed. “Damn it,” he said, angrily. “I needed to get back in there with a proper data analysis team.”

  “But you took some chips,” Mariko pointed out. “Won’t they be useful?”

  “I doubt they will provide anything that we really need,” Fitz said. He sounded calmer once the shuttle clawed into the sky. “The Secessionists haven't survived this long by leaving star charts around that point to their bases. Chances were that only a couple of the people on Greenland knew how to make contact with other cells – both of them are probably dead by now, lost in the explosion. And all the proof of the Snakes being involved with the Secessionists will have been lost as well.”

  He cursed again as he led the way into the cockpit.

  Mai looked up briefly at them and then returned to flying the shuttle. “The alien base you told me about seems to have been completely destroyed,” she said. “Lady Mary’s plantation house has also been destroyed – it went up like a baby nuke. Someone really wanted to wreck the place.”

  “Someone has succeeded,” Fitz growled, as he sat down at one of the consoles. “Thank you for your timely support. You saved both of our asses.”

  Mai preened.

  Mariko looked at Fitz. “How did you call her?”

  Fitz tapped the side of his head. “Fold-space communicator built into my head,” he said, with a wink. “Pretty much undetectable unless you have some really advanced sensor gear, which makes it very useful at times. Once I realised that we would have to escape, I called Mai and ordered her to take up a position where she could provide support, if necessary.”

  “And so I came,” Mai said, with a grin. “This shuttle is really quite easy to fly.”

  “It was designed for the Civil Guard,” Fitz said. “Complexity would have been counter-productive.” He chuckled, as one does at a joke that isn't really funny. “Take us back to Archie’s compound. I have to tell him what happened and warn him to take a few precautions. It might be time to withdraw from Greenland until they can get some proper protection in place for the humans living here.”

  Mariko frowned. “Do you think he will listen?”

  “I’d be astonished if he did,” Fitz said, crossly. “But I owe it to Auntie Jo to at least try, one final time. And I will file a report with the Imperial Navy, coded with a priority code I’m not supposed to know exists. Maybe that will get some action, even if Archie tries to deter it.”

  He shook his head as Mai took them back down towards the plantation house. “You can get into the other shuttle at once,
” he added. “No reason to expose you to the idiots in the house, particularly not looking like that.” Mariko looked down at herself and flushed, something that was hidden under the mud covering her face. “Once we get back into orbit, we can clean up and then take a look at the chips. You never know. We might have struck gold.”

  ***

  Fitz had promised that he wouldn't spend more than twenty minutes talking to Archie. But it was nearly an hour before he came back out of the plantation house and over to the shuttle, his face fixed in a grimace that told the whole story. Archie and his family had refused to listen to him, even looking like someone who had just crawled through a sewer. He stalked into the shuttle, closed the hatch firmly behind him, and sat down on the co-pilot’s chair.

  “They didn’t listen,” he said unnecessarily, as Mariko brought the shuttle’s engines online. “Get us out of here.”