On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus)

by Christopher Nuttall

  Mariko shook her head.

  “Less than a percent of a percent,” Fitz admitted, as he stood up. “Which should give us a few million out of the Imperium’s trillions, but it doesn't seem to be that easy. The precise number of augments is classified...yet I’d be surprised if there were more than five hundred thousand running around in the entire Imperium. Nowhere near enough to solve all of our woes.”

  “And some of them think they can solve all of our woes,” Mariko guessed.

  “It’s happened,” Fitz agreed. “The Cyborgs of Calculus should have shown us the danger in that line of thinking, but some augmented men aren't smart enough to realise that it’s a recipe for disaster. As if we didn't have enough problems.”

  He helped her to her feet and turned his back as she pulled her shipsuit back on.

  “I think your sister is getting impatient up there,” he added, as he headed for the hatch. “We’d better go help her before she gets suspicious.”

  Mariko rolled her eyes. Men!

  ***

  There seemed to be a small armada of ships making their way from Sumter to Marius’s World, something that puzzled Mariko until she realised that they probably didn't intend to stop at the notoriously corrupt planet. Using the wormhole would get them across thirty light years in a split second, making it impossible for them to be intercepted by pirates or hijacked by various resistance movements. The simplest way to hijack a passenger liner was still to get infiltrators on board in the disguise of passengers or staff, which was at least partly why the Imperium searched passengers carefully. A team of hijackers could fly their captured prize to a desolate star system where it could be looted at leisure, before being dispatched into the sun or simply abandoned in an unstable orbit.

  “They’ve given us clearance,” Mai said, as they entered the bridge. “Finally! What were they doing over there with themselves?”

  “As private parts to the customs officers are we, they play with us for their sport,” Fitz intoned, dramatically. Mariko shot him a sharp glance before realising that he was still technically their boss, even if he was also their friend. “Someone probably just kept offering bribes to get earlier transit clearance, while those of us who decided to be honest had to wait.”

  The wormhole appeared in front of them and – again – there was an uncanny sense of falling, before they popped out on the far end. Here, there were almost no Imperial Customs Officers enforcing the Imperium’s laws, just a pair of gunboats that tried to keep traffic from ramming each other.

  Mariko took the helm and steered towards Marius’s World, unsure why they wouldn't try to take advantage of the wormhole in their sector. But it wouldn't have been particularly politic, she told herself. Marius the First might have been a ruthless bastard with his eye on the Imperial Throne, but his descendents knew better than to irritate the current Emperor – and the Grand Senators who controlled him. They’d be squashed like bugs if they decided they wanted to try to make another bid for the Imperium.

  According to the official history, Marius I had believed that he had a better claim to the Imperium than the other descendents of Montgomery I, who had ended the Warlord Era by being a more ruthless bastard than the rest of them combined. His coup plot had rested more on unquestioned assumptions than actual planning, with the net result that his scheme to seize Homeworld and the Home Fleet had never had a hope of getting off the ground. The Emperor at the time had ordered Marius and most of his family exiled to a world named after him, rather than the standard bloody purge that followed an unsuccessful rebellion. Mariko hadn't been able to figure out why Marius had been spared; the official story, that his mother was a close friend of the Emperor’s mother, didn't seem sufficient, somehow. Marius had even been granted a Dukedom in perpetuity, one he could pass down to his children and their children, providing they never left the planet.

  “I think it was probably the Emperor’s idea of a cruel joke,” Fitz said, when Mariko asked out loud. As an aristocrat, he would have access to more honest histories than herself. “They would once have been able to travel over two thousand light years for lunch. Now they are confined to a single world, unable even to leave...a very cruel joke. And he may have believed that the other colonists would kill their new overlords.”

  Mariko nodded. The Emperor hadn't been content with exiling them to a distant world and forgetting about them. He’d found them a colony population by the simple expedient of offering all the condemned prisoners on Homeworld a chance to move to Marius’s World instead of being executed. Marius would have found himself stripped of his protection, facing a population that bitterly resented him once they realised that they, too, were trapped.

  And yet somehow he had managed to turn Marius’s World into a success, of sorts. His successors might not be able to leave the planet, but they maintained absolute control over the surface and had fingers in every orbital pie. Thousands of corporations had even moved there to escape the Imperium’s increasingly burdensome regulations. They could never leave, but they were rich.

  “Get a line to one of the local starship dealers,” Fitz ordered, turning her mind back to business. “Download a list of their stock; we’re looking for a medium-sized freighter, perhaps one large enough to carry the Bruce Wayne in a single hold. If not, we’ll live with it.”

  Mai looked up at him. “You don’t intend to leave the Bruce Wayne here?”

  “Hell, no,” Fitz said. “I’d prefer to approach Paradise in something a little less noticeable. The Bruce Wayne can remain in interstellar space, if necessary.”

  Mariko keyed a request into the orbital datanet and frowned as she started to navigate through it. The locals didn't seem to have set up a single datanet, choosing instead to allow a hodgepodge to form from many separate systems. Navigating it was complicated because it was far less orderly than anything she was used to, even on Dorado. It took several minutes to discover a search engine and then use it to track down a used starship dealer. Unsurprisingly, there were a dozen listed in orbit around Marius’s World and five more down on the planet’s surface.

  “Ignore the ones on the planet’s surface,” Fitz said. “They may not have much in the way of customs here, but I’d bet good money that they do have links to the Secessionists. We don't really want to attract more attention if it can be avoided.”

  It was difficult to buy a starship in the Imperium proper because there were hundreds of regulations that had to be complied with for each transaction – or, put differently, dozens of officials to be bribed. On Marius’s World, they were prepared to issue anyone official papers and sell a starship almost immediately, even though the Imperium had been known to complain loudly about the practice. Mariko could have bought a gunboat or a destroyer if she’d had the money, although there seemed to be only a handful of military ships on sale. Maybe the Secessionists were buying them all...

  The list of more standard freighters was longer, long enough to force her to start weeding through the possibilities. Some of the really old freighters needed a full-sized crew to operate, something that Fitz would have probably rejected on sight. Others were odd designs, ones that would be remembered even by the most jaded shipping companies. Building starships was an expensive business and few corporations could afford to keep failed designs in a warehouse when they could be sold to someone who didn't care about having a standard design.

  And then she let out a yelp of shock. “It’s the Happy Wanderer!”

  Fitz looked over at her. “It can’t be,” he said. “The ship was confiscated on Dorado.”

  “It’s my ship,” Mariko insisted. The used starship dealer had provided a complete description, including the pair of replacement engines that Mai had pulled out of a junkyard and spliced into the engine mount. That was probably why the ship hadn't sold; running engines from two different designs together was complicated unless one had a proper computer system...and the mash-up Mai had created probably didn't inspire confidence in anyone who didn't know her. “C
an we buy her back? Can we?”

  Fitz considered it for a long moment. “We don’t have time for extensive repairs,” he said, finally. “You and Mai can visit the ship and see how she functions after a few months in someone else’s hands. If she can be used without major repairs, we’ll buy her – if not, it will have to wait until after we return from Paradise.”

  Mariko wanted to argue further, but one look at Fitz’s eyes convinced her that it would be futile. “Bloody thieves,” she muttered. “Why did they bring her over here anyway?”

  “Dorado isn't a good place to sell a starship,” Fitz commented. “Most of the population is dirt poor and those wealthy enough to own a ship probably couldn't maintain it. Marius’s World would have seemed a much better bet.” He shook his head.

  “We’ll be docking at the main station in less than an hour,” he concluded. “Remember what I said; we only buy her if we can use her.”

  ***

  “A lovely light freighter with a very caring crew,” the dealer oozed an hour later. He was human, but most of his staff was not. Some of them were even from races that were officially confined to their homeworlds. “Much of her drive frame is unconventional, but she makes up for that in additional speed and automated control systems.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Mariko said, carefully resisting the temptation to land a punch right between his eyes. How dare he try to steal her ship and then sell her as scrap? “You have had the control routines tested by the most through analysts in the system?”

  “I’m afraid that they could not be certified, as they splice together three different sets of code,” the dealer said, quickly. Mariko knew that was due to Mai’s ingenuity at work. “However, I am quite sure that they are safe.”

  “But you will not be the one who uses the drives,” Mariko said. Fitz had pointed out several possible angles of attack to use on the dealer. “I fear I shall demand a reduction in the overall cost of the vessel.”

  She stepped onto her bridge and – barely – managed to keep from bursting into tears. The team that had searched the ship for anything sellable had torn open a dozen consoles, scattered pieces of debris and food wrappings everywhere, and then performed only basic repairs. They probably hadn't stopped the ship from flying, as most of the control systems were located under the deck, but the consoles would have to be replaced before the ship could be flown safely. On the other hand, they were interchangeable devices.

  “I’m afraid that I am already offering too much of a discount as it is,” the dealer said, quickly. “I could throw in additional control consoles for the ship...”

  “That would be very good,” Mariko said. “And would you pay for an experienced team of workers to install them?”

  The dealer hesitated, clearly trying to decide how much he could gorge from her. “I think that that would not be included,” he said, finally. “Experienced tech teams work for very high rates, these days, as I am sure you are aware...”

  “But without an experienced team, this ship is nothing more than junk,” Mariko said. Mai would have slapped her if she’d heard, but she’d gone down to check the engines. “I expect a discount rate on the experienced repair team – and I will pay a bonus if the work is completed within two days.”

  The dealer studied her thoughtfully. “What sort of bonus?”

  Mariko named a sum. The dealer countered it with one of his own. They haggled back and forth for several minutes before managing to settle on a compromise.

  “I’ll have the repair crew here within the hour,” the dealer said. “Your ship should be ready by the end of the day.”

  Mariko frowned; either he’d managed to trick her into paying more than she needed to pay, or the repair team wasn't particularly busy. Or perhaps he just intended to pocket the bonus for himself.

  He smiled. “Now, about actual payment...”

  “You will be paid once the ship has been taken out and tested,” Mariko said, firmly. “I’ll pay a small deposit, but you won’t get anything else until the ship has been checked thoroughly.”

  The dealer looked offended, almost as if she’d hurt his feelings. “Are you saying that you don't trust me?”

  “Of course not,” Mariko said, as sweetly as she could. “But you are trying to sell me a ship without a history or an ISR record. I think I’d like to make sure of what I’m buying before it’s too late.”

  With that, she walked down to join Mai in the engine room. It might take some time, but they had their ship back. And that made all the difference in the world.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Happy Wanderer and Bruce Wayne hung together in empty space, two light months from the nearest star. Happy Wanderer hadn't been designed to mate with another starship in empty space, but Mariko hadn’t been surprised to discover that Fitz had an airlock that was capable of adjusting itself to mate with another ship. Besides, there was no logical reason for that regulation. It wasn't as if pirates or smugglers couldn't transfer goods through open space to other starships.

  Of course, the tech team hadn't been anything like as good as the dealer had led her to expect, but Happy Wanderer was up and running again. Some of the hidden compartments had even remained undiscovered by the thugs who had taken her ship, thankfully. Someone might have been in for a rude surprise if they’d purchased her.

  “Happy now?” Fitz asked.

  “It’s my ship,” she said, with a grin. “You do know how that feels?”

  “Vaguely,” Fitz said, “but given that I had to wreck another ship to get out of a nasty trap, I never let myself get too attached to anything.”

  There was a warning in that, Mariko decided. Fitz knew the stakes he was playing for – that they were playing for – and he might have to sacrifice his own life, or theirs, to stop the Secessionists plunging the sector into chaos. And he also had to wonder if Mariko and Mai wouldn't head out on their own, now that they had their ship back. Mariko couldn't blame him for wondering, even though it was a little insulting. She intended to stay with him until the mission was completed, maybe longer. Imperial Intelligence might be interested in accepting her as a full-time agent.

  “Good for you,” she said, tartly, and saw him smile in return. “Why did you want to purchase so much crap from a dozen different dealers?”

  “Starship components aren’t crap,” Fitz pointed out, dryly. Happy Wanderer had been crammed with starship components, bought through so many dealers and agents that it would be difficult for anyone to put together a complete picture of what he’d bought. “And they’re just what the Secessionists would like to buy, if they were offered cheaply enough to suggest that we came by them dishonestly.”

  Mariko nodded. The Sumter Sector didn't produce very much for itself, beyond food and a handful of basic components, forcing the inhabitants to order their supplies from the inner sectors of the Imperium. Between the high prices and taxes, it was often cheaper to buy smuggled goods – or items stolen from convoys by pirates. But a smuggler could hardly run to the law to complain that someone had cheated him on an illegal deal.

  “You seem to have thrown money around like water,” Mariko observed, finally. “Do you think that that won’t attract attention?”

  Fitz looked over at her. “I have a nasty sense that we’re running out of time,” he admitted. “The Secessionists might just pull in their horns and go underground, or they might just launch their plan ahead of time. And I still think that their plan, as far as we understand it, is suicide.”

  “But they don’t,” Mariko said, quietly.

  “They must think that they have a chance to win genuine independence for this sector,” Fitz said. “Which leads to a single, obvious question: what are we missing?”

  He shook his head again. “Call Mai up to the bridge,” he ordered. “I’m afraid that she isn't going to be very pleased with her part of the plan.”

  ***

  Mai wasn’t.

  “You can't leave me on the Bruce Wayne all on my own,” sh
e protested. “I can come with you to Paradise and I won’t fuck up...”

  “I’m not saying that you will,” Fitz said, calmly. “But I am saying that we may need you in position to come charging in to save our lives, again. And to do that, we need you hiding in the system, waiting for the call.”

  “I thought cloaking devices were illegal,” Mai pointed out, snidely.

  Fitz managed to look shocked. “They are? Details, details.”

  He looked at her, seriously. “I need you to stay in the ship because you’re the most capable of flying her into combat on your own,” he said.

  It was true. Mariko was the better flyer, but Mai could fly at the same time she used the ship’s concealed weapons array against multiple simulated targets. Bruce Wayne could probably take a gunboat, perhaps a destroyer, but anything bigger would probably destroy her if the enemy got a clear shot at her hull.