"Because there is no point any of us going if he stays behind," the Admiral said. "I have a squadron of planet-busters here, but there are very strict constraints that govern when and how we can use the weapons. One of those constraints is that while an Imperial Heir can order the release of the weapons in the absence of orders from the Emperor himself; he can only do so for a limited time. After a week he would have to give the release order again. Only the reigning monarch can release the planet-busters without that time limit.
"Belkrath is more than a week away," she completed. "If he is not there to release the weapons once we arrive, there's no point sending us. The Prince has to go."
"But Commander Holron makes a very good point," Captain Makar said. "Even if we save Belkrath, if we do not provide an heir in the next three weeks, Tavrolan will dissolve the Imperial System, and that could lead to civil war."
"At least the species would survive to have that civil war," Torrens said.
"There has to be away around it." Jayne looked around at the others, "Can't this Tavrolan person be persuaded to extend the deadline?"
"If we are right," Commander Holron said, "he was the one who ordered the Prince be marooned on Earth in the first place. I don't think he will do anything to make it easier for him to take the throne."
"I can't be in two places at once," Jhon said. "And while I know maulers are slow, there isn't time for even a dispatch boat to get to Altiar and back to Belkrath in time, and that's if they will let me leave." He grimaced. "Once they do have an Emperor on the throne, I'm sure they'll have a ton of petitions to reduce Imperial power so that they won't need one in future.
"As I see it, the only way to save Belkrath is if I go with Admiral Torrens and the guard." Jhon took a deep breath. "I don't see how I can balance the certain death of a planet against the possibility of civil war. We don't know for sure that Tavrolan would spark a civil war if I return after the deadline. We do know that if we do not arrive in time, Belkrath will be lucky to have five hundred survivors."
"There will be a civil war Your Highness," Commander Holron said firmly. "Make no mistake, if no heir appears within the next three weeks, there will be a war."
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Jayne looked around the room, trying to draw strength from someone, anyone. "There must be a way to stop the war."
"How?" Jhon said gently. "We need an heir in two places, and there is only one of me. I never married, so I don't have any heirs of my own to send in my stead."
"Couldn't you get one? With all the things you can do can't you just clone an heir?" Jayne was grasping at straws and she knew it. "You can go one way and the clone the other."
"Ignoring the fact that a clone takes as long to grow as the original, the Imperium has strict laws about cloning, and one of those laws states that clones are specifically excluded from the succession." Admiral Torrens eyes were fixed on Jayne as she said that, and there was a look in them that she couldn't quite interpret. "The only possibility would be for Prince Jhon to beget a natural child before leaving this station."
"He should do that anyway," Makar said.
"Yes he should," said Holron, "otherwise we'll end up in the same situation, but this time without a lost heir to find."
"What are you talking about?" Jayne looked around the room. "He's not some prized bull you can just put out to stud. He's a human being."
"You're right, he is a human being," Admiral Torrens said. "A mortal human being who is going somewhere he will very likely die." She looked Jayne right in the eye. "He is also completely irreplaceable. Right now he is the most important human alive."
"That's crazy," Jayne glared at Torrens. "No monarch is irreplaceable; we proved that over two hundred years ago back where I come from."
"No, it's not the same thing at all." Jhon spoke slowly, with the air of assurance that seemed to have been coming over him more and more lately. "Your United States was in a very different situation than the Imperium, and despite what you may think of monarchy in general, or the Imperial System in particular, it is what we have to deal with right now."
He turned and looked at the other three, as if measuring them with his eyes, then turned back to Jayne. "I need to go with Admiral Torrens to Belkrath; there is no way around that. That means I have to send someone to Altiar with my heir..."
"But you don't have an heir, you just said that." Jayne interrupted.
"I know. I don't have an heir, yet." He took a deep breath. "Will you help me?"
"What are you talking about? Of course I'll help you." She looked him straight in the eye. "Helping you was what got me into this mess if you'll remember. I was trying to keep you fed when I walked into the middle of this situation. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't trying to help you." Jayne paused for effect. "Why on earth would you think I had anything better to do than help you?"
"Thank you." Jayne could see the tension drain from his eyes at her agreement.
"What was the big deal anyway?" She looked at the others, who were also showing relief on their faces. "What's going on, you know something I don't, don't you?" There was something there, she was sure she had agreed to something more than just giving advice or even getting coffee.
"What did I just agree to?"
"Don't you know?" Commander Holron was the first to reply.
"All I know is that I agreed to help Jhon because he can't be in two places at once, and they need an heir to go to Altiar as well as Belkrath." Jayne's mouth snapped shut as it hit her.
"They need an heir..." She took a deep breath. "I agreed to help..." Jayne reached for a glass of water and swallowed deeply, letting its coolness wash over her while she tried to put the words into some order that made sense.
"You want me to have your baby?" She began to rise, looking at Jhon. "Just because I said you weren't a prize stud doesn't make me some kind of brood mare."
"Actually, it's a little more than that." He reached forwards and took her hands. Jayne ripped hers out of his grip, but not before noticing the warmth and strength of his hands. "I don't just need your womb, I need an Empress."
"An Empress? What do you mean an Empress?" She forced herself to sit all the way back down and tried to control her breathing, hoping it would slow her heart. Folding her hands together in her lap, Jayne waited for him to continue.
"The only way I can meet the Governor's demands without going to Altiar in person is if I send someone to act in my stead. In order to do that, I have to send someone who can be my legitimate agent under Imperial law." He got up and started to pace. "According to the law, my only options would be to send either my wife, or another blood heir. I don't have either at the moment."
Jayne nodded, "go on."
"I could just go and marry someone, but a spouse isn't an heir, and I need to send an heir to meet Tavrolan's demands. That means that I need a child, but even with Imperial technology, I can't produce anyone that could stand in my stead, even if I wanted to, in less than a week. That gives me one option.
"I can send my pregnant wife in my stead." He caught her eyes with his. "You would act as my regent, on the strength of the child you were carrying, and I could go deal with Belkrath."
Jayne reached for the water again, taking another drink as she fought to avoid laughing. It didn't work. The laughter turned to coughing and she bent over as the water sprayed in front of her. Jhon was beside her in a moment, and she felt his hand on her back while she tried to regain her composure.
"I'm ok," she muttered, waving him away. "Just need to catch my breath." Jayne took a very small sip of the water, then turned back to him. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the others watching closely.
"Pardon me if I don't jump on the bandwagon too quickly. I said I was willing to help, and I am." She paused. "But this wasn't what I had in mind, and it's going to take a while for me to wrap my head around it." I am not in one of those stupid alien princess novels Bill's sister always read. Honest I'm not. Jayne got to her feet.
&nb
sp; "I'm going to take a walk now."
As she left the room she could see Bill's face in her mind. He would have told her to jump at the chance, but he had always been a fan of those sorts of stories. It was different when you were in one. She let one hand drift to her belly as she walked. Jayne had always thought she would have kids someday, even if the white picket fence had never been part of her self image. I'm sure they have artificial insemination, it's not like they are making me sleep with him. That brought an image to her mind that she quickly suppressed.
Walking through the station, seeing all the people in uniform, she was reminded of Bill and why he had joined the force. He had done it to help people, because they needed him. That was the same reason she had gone to work at the Street Survival Society. There were other jobs she could have done; she could have followed up her degree in social work with law school. Instead she had gone to where she could make the most difference. Helping people on the ragged edge, helping those who needed help most; that was what her whole life had been about. This was no different.
They might be able to fly between the stars, but when it came right down to it, they were just people who needed her help. She wasn't going to let them down. The decision made, Jayne headed back to the office.
"I'll do it," she said as she entered the room. "I don't have any choice, and I don't like the whole idea of a monarchy, but I'll do it." Without waiting for them to react, she walked straight to her chair, not meeting anyone's eyes, and sat down. Jhon was on his feet, she thought he might have been pacing, but the rest were exactly where she had left them.
"Have you figured out who's going with me, and how we're traveling?" She caught Commander Holron's eye. "The commander here was supposed to bring us back to Altiar, but he seems to have lost his ship."
"I have a solution for that," Jhon replied. "Commander Holron will take the Indestructible back to Altiar. You can travel with him." He sat down across from her. "After all, he was the one who had orders to return with the heir." He smiled tight-lipped. "The least we can do is send him back with one, even if it isn't the heir he was expecting."
"What about Captain Makar?" Commander Holron asked. "It seems a poor repayment for what he did to take his ship away from him."
"I'm giving him Victory, He will be commanding the Interdiction Force, so it only makes sense to have him fly something heavier than a battle cruiser." He nodded to that officer. "If I sat the throne I'd promote you to Admiral, but you'll have to settle for Commodore with an Admiral's job. Admiral Torrens will keep the Guard units, but after the last debacle, I want to keep Fleet officers in command of Fleet units."
"That makes sense," Admiral Torrens nodded.
"It makes a lot of sense," Makar said, leaning forwards in his chair. "After the experience with Admiral Loman, my people will be even more gun-shy of being placed under the command of someone who isn't Fleet."
"I can understand that," Admiral Torrens placed her hands on her desk and pursed her lips. "However, there is one thing that we will need to be perfectly clear on. There will be a defined chain of command which will be followed. Both the Guard and the Fleet have duties to the Imperium and we will not be hamstrung by petty disagreements about who gives orders to whom." She looked at the two Fleet officers in turn. "I hope I have made myself clear."
"Yes, ma'am, you have." Makar said.
"Very clear, Admiral," Holron added.
"If everything else is settled for the moment," Jhon said, glancing towards the Admiral as he spoke. "I think my fiancée and I need some time alone," he paused; "to talk."
Jayne wondered why he put it that way, then felt the warmth in her cheeks. "Please excuse us," she heard herself say. "We do have a lot to talk about." She caught Jhon's eye. "Don't we, my dear husband-to-be?"
He simply nodded and led the way out. Jayne followed, walking just a couple of paces behind him as they passed through the offices towards what her implant told her were private quarters. The message made her wonder if the agreement had come from the implant, rather than her own decision. If that was the case it was a little late to worry about it now, so she pushed it to the back of her mind for the moment. He really was a good-looking man, in good shape and with all his teeth. Jayne chuckled, as if a society this advanced would not have dentistry.
Jhon stopped before a doorway and waved her through. Her brow wrinkling, Jayne stepped into what looked like a fairly conventional small sitting room. There were a few pictures on the walls, nothing that really caught her attention, a few chairs, a couch and a desk over to one corner. She heard the door close and turned to face Jhon.
"You knew about this from the beginning." Jayne didn't hesitate at all before letting him have it. "You knew the only way that you could get to go fight the Enemy in Belkrath would be if you could convince me to go along with your plan." She glared at him. "Go ahead, deny it. Just you try to deny one word of it." She stood there feeling her heart pounding while she waited for his answer.
"I won't," he said spreading his hands towards her. "I consciously tried to put you into this position where you would have to accept my proposal." He lowered his eyes. "It was the only option that would give us any chance of preventing a civil war, and saving Belkrath."
Jhon reached forwards, and took her hands in his. "I would do it again too," he said, looking her straight in the eye. "I have a duty to the Imperium. Right now I am the Imperium, and any threat to it is a threat to me. Sometimes I just don't have a choice, and while I wish I could always consider people's feelings, sometimes I have to override them. Sometimes things are too important to worry about anything as small as one human being's personal concerns."
"So you don't care about me, just your precious Imperium." She jerked her hands back from his; stripping all the warmth she could out of her voice. "I'm just another tool to you, nothing more."
"I didn't say that." He took her hands back and this time pulled her close enough that she was looking him straight in the eye. "What I said was that sometimes I have to put other things before feelings." He paused, and she saw something soften in his face. "You are the only person that really saw me as a human being the whole time I was on Earth. Everyone else just saw a homeless person to be ignored or exploited. You saw a person, no qualifiers, just a person."
Jayne relaxed into him, her arms naturally going around him as his went around her.
"I did manipulate you into this," he said softly. "I did it because I have to believe there will be a future after this and I want you to be part of mine." Still holding her close, he bent to kiss her, and she opened her mouth to meet him.
Chapter 16
His Royal Highness, the Prince Jhon, Heir Presumptive to the Altiarn Imperium paced the mauler Imperial Protector's flag bridge. For the moment, he was alone and he relished the solitude. The main screen showed a representation of the fleet and he stopped to look at it, leaning on the handrail looking up to the screen. Dozens of ships hung there, the display showing only their relative positions, with no clue as to their velocity in fivespace. It was an unbalanced force, eight maulers, all of them planet-busters, four super-dreadnaughts (one damaged), fifteen battle cruisers, eleven cruisers (three heavy and eight light) and an eight destroyer screen. On the display it was impressive, twenty-seven capital hulls; but the reality was less so.
"Your Highness?" His implant piped Admiral Torrens' voice to the comlink. "We should are on course for Belkrath, all ships report ready."
"Very good, Admiral," He took a deep breath and tore his attention away from the display. "Can you take a few minutes to meet with me on the flag bridge?"
"I'm on my way."
Jhon felt the link close and clasped his hands behind his back to return to his pacing. It still felt strange to be in command of a force this size, but there had been no alternative. The law was clear, no Fleet officer could take command of a Guard unit, and no Guard officer could command a Fleet unit. That left Jhon as the only person who could command the assembled force, even t
hough he had less command experience than anyone else there. A ten year vacation, followed by promotion from tactical officer to Admiral was quite a shock to the system.
"Your Highness?" Admiral Torrens broke into his reverie.
"Good, glad to see you Admiral." He forced his mind back to the present. "I've just been running over contingencies in my head, and want to go over them again with you."
She nodded, "yes sir."
"I'll probably want you in overall tactical command," he said. "I know the Fleet won't be happiest with that, but we do need a defined chain of command and I don't know that I'm the one to provide it." He rubbed his chin. "I can see situations where I might have to take control, so I'd like to get started on going over the fleet dispositions with you."
Admiral Torrens face loosened a little, though Jhon was not sure that it counted as enough to be a smile. "That would be a good idea, and I'd recommend we bring Commodore Makar in on them too; soon if not immediately. Pardon me if I start to lecture, I taught intermediate tactics at the Guard Academy."
"I'll try," he said gravely. "But it would be better if you didn't do anything that required one."
Admiral Torrens didn't respond to his jibe; leaving Jhon to think that the loosening expression he had seen was the limit of her sense of humor. "The problem we have, tactically," she said," is that we have a very slow fleet speed, tied to the maulers but we don't have a lot of offensive firepower. Until we run into one of their planets, the maulers won't be able to do much good. They can soak up a lot of firepower, but they don't have enough of their own to justify tying the rest of the fleet to them."
"But if we lose them, we lose everything." Jhon pointed out, following her trail of thought
"I know, and we can't afford that either." The admiral paused. "What I'd like to do is split the fleet into two task forces. We'll keep the super-dreadnaughts with us, which will put some offensive firepower alongside the maulers, and the battle cruisers can move off separately, under Commodore Makar. Essentially I'm thinking of a hammer and anvil strategy. They retain their mobility, and we fix the Enemy."
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