by D. J. Holmes
“Yes,” Suzanna said. “In fact, with the shift drive, much faster. I cannot tell you the details, but you will think it even more important than the twenty systems we have discovered.”
“I see,” James said, retreating into his own thoughts as his mind raced with the possibilities.
“No more questions?” Suzanna asked a minute later, bringing James back to reality.
“No, I don’t think so,” he answered.
“Then what options do we have? How can you help us? I hope you realize I’m putting a lot of trust in you.”
“Yes,” James said resting his hand on Suzanna’s. “You have my word I will do whatever I can to help you, but as I have said. I don’t have much influence back on Earth.”
“Nonsense,” Suzanna interrupted, “don’t forget I know who you are Captain. You are the Duke of Beaufort, discoverer of the Void and hero of the Void War. Some of the news reports our spies have brought back say that you singlehandedly beat the Chinese fleet. Besides, I have seen your ship in action personally; there is no hiding your skill. I rather suspect you have a lot of influence back home.”
James looked at the floor embarrassed. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read.”
“So you didn’t save a colony ship full of helpless civilians from certain destruction against a far more powerful warship?” Suzanna pushed.
“My crew did,” James said. “I just got lucky. Truth be told, I almost ran away.” He wasn’t sure why he was sharing this with her but he didn’t want her to put all her faith in him.
“My ship was in stealth when the Chinese attacked. They didn’t know we were there. I almost ran away and allowed the colony ship to be destroyed. I was only thinking of myself. Even when I came to the colony ship’s aid it was because I didn’t want to live with the shame of being called a coward,” he continued as he brought his eyes back up to meet Suzanna’s, “so don’t think I am going to be your knight in shining armor who can fix all your problems.”
To James’ surprise Suzanna burst out laughing. “Don’t worry Captain, I’m not looking for any Knight to sweep me off my feet.”
Before James could interject and tell her that is not what he meant she went on, “And don’t forget that I have read all the reports about you. A coward wouldn’t have gone on to win the victories you did in Raptor. Nor would he have fought so valiantly to protect my people here on Haven. You may once have been a coward, but I think you are something more now.
“And so if I chose to put my trust in you, then that is just something you are going to have to live with Captain,” she finished sternly. “Now, tell me about your plan,” she said as she reached across and gave his hand a squeeze.
James had to pause for a moment to take in all Suzanna had said, she seemed to jump around a lot and he couldn’t tell what she thought of him. “I think there is one option that may work,” he began to say. “Though I’m not sure that you’re going to like it.”
“Go on,” Suzanna said.
“Your main problem is the Indians, for the last few decades they have been growing more and more upset as our colonial empire eclipsed theirs. If they think they can take your system and your discoveries without repercussions they will. They know our fleet is severely weakened by our war with the Chinese. Most of our largest warships are still undergoing repairs and refits. Apart from the French, there is no one else in this sector of space with the power to stand up to them.”
“And the French are too worried about the Russians to openly risk their fleet,” Suzanna guessed.
“Exactly,” James said. “If they could benefit from your discoveries they would jump at the chance but I can’t see that happening without committing military resources, something they won’t risk. The Indians are your main concern.
“Your second problem are the Earth powers who rule their colonies exclusively from Earth. I don’t think the US or the Germans would have any problem supporting your independence in the UN council. They have given full voting rights to their colonies and they are on the other side of the Human Sphere. However, other powers like Brazil and China will vehemently oppose any move to give a colony its independence. It will start to give their own colonies ideas.”
“So you’re saying keeping our freedom will be blocked in the UN no matter what the Indians or French do?” Suzanna asked.
“I think so,” James answered. “That is where my option comes in. What do you know about the Bradford colony?”
“Nothing really,” Suzanna answered.
“It was a colony established by a sub-light colony ship. In 2184 the then Lord Bradford, with aid from the British government, financed his own colony ship and set off with four thousand colonists for an inhabitable planet twenty light years from Earth.
“One of our shift drive exploration ships finally made contact with the colony in 2290. Their colony ship had only arrived fifty years previously but they had set up their own government and whilst they weren’t flourishing, they were eking out a living for themselves.
“When they were discovered, the British government wanted to integrate them into our small colonial empire but the populace was reluctant to come completely under our political control. They had forged an identity on their new colony and they wanted to keep it.
“After a lot of political wrangling it was agreed that the colony would become a British protectorate. They had to sign up to certain fundamental British laws concerning human rights and trade policies but apart from that they were free to make their own decisions. The only other requirement was that they had to contribute to the upkeep of the RSN and the warships that protected their borders.
“Once the details were worked out the population voted on the proposal and it was accepted. Because everything was done above board and democratically, the UN Interplanetary Committee was forced to recognize the people’s decision.”
“And you think that would work here?” Suzanna asked, not sure she liked James’ idea.
“Yes, it kills a number of birds with one stone.” James said, trying to reassure her. “You get to keep your internal sovereignty. You would only have to agree to a number of laws, laws I think your people already agree with. Technically you wouldn’t be an independent colony which should appease the other Earth powers. If your people voted to become a protectorate then the UN couldn’t complain and with British warships parked in orbit over Haven, the Indians would think twice about making any moves.”
“What about our Planetary Council? Will it be able to remain in power?” Suzanna said.
“That may be a little trickier,” James replied. “After becoming a protectorate parliament appointed a governor over the Bradford colony who holds ultimate responsibility for its governance. The day to day running of the planet is carried out by a planetary committee who are democratically elected but parliament insisted they appoint a governor who had veto powers over anything the planetary committee proposed.
“Given what your council has already done and the actions of your First Councilor, I’m not sure how my government will want to proceed. They may subsume your council under the authority of a governor or they may wish to disband it all together and replace it with something else.”
“I don’t know,” Suzanna said. “I’m not sure I would even accept such a proposal, never mind our people. We are fiercely independent.”
“I understand,” James replied in a conciliatory tone. “But you may not have any choice. If you don’t agree to join us you could have the Indians knocking on your door in just a matter of months. That is nowhere near enough time for you to rebuild your fleet and defenses, even if some of the other Earth powers helped you. What’s more, if my government felt the Indians were going to make a move they may make one of their own. We dealt with the Chinese threat to our expansion. The last thing anyone in London would want to see is the Indians taking their place.”
“I’m going to have to think about this,” Suzanna said. “If we were to head down this road Maximilian w
ould have to be removed for he would never agree to it. We would then need to get enough support in the council to overthrow him. I don’t even know if that is possible.”
“It will not be easy,” James agreed. “May I make a request to help us get the ball rolling?”
“Sure,” Suzanna said, “whatever I can do to help I will.”
“I need to get word back to the Admiralty. Innocence, that’s the freighter you saw, is on her way back to Earth now with the sensor feed from the battle. It will cause a storm on Earth but the Admiralty will be acting on old information. They need to know that at least a part of your council is willing to work with us. And they need to know about the possibility of incorporating you as a protectorate. If they don’t get this information they may come in with all guns blazing.
“If my analysts were able to pick up the stolen freighters from reviewing the sensor data from the battle then so will the analysts at the Admiralty. When they do, all they will have to form their approach to Haven will be the knowledge you took in Chang and that you have been pirating our freighters. I don’t think that is going to make for a very good outcome as far as your hopes of freedom are concerned.”
“No,” Suzanna responded, “you may be right there. I can dispatch one of my freighters to Earth. It will take it some time to get there but at least they will get your information sooner rather than later.”
“Good,” James said. “I will put together a report and send it to you later today.”
“You are not planning to return to Earth soon then?” Suzanna asked.
“No,” James replied. “We need to know more about the Vestarians first.”
“What about these aliens, how do they factor into all this? Suzanna queried.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” James answered. “They are the great unknown. Is the story Maximilian told us true?”
“Yes, as far as I know,” Suzanna said. “They came out of nowhere and demanded we give them our military tech. Then when we said no, they attacked us.”
“In that case there are two ways it could go. Their attack on your planet will cause panic on Earth. Aliens are one thing, everyone has been aware of the possibility of a first contact situation for decades. But hostile aliens prepared to bombard civilians? It is going to change the face of interstellar politics in ways I could never predict.
“One benefit is that many of the Earth powers will want to see a powerful presence in this area of space. We know the Vestarians use the shift drive and they won’t be able to attack Earth or any of our well-developed colonies without coming through this area of space. It might just make the smaller powers get on board with accepting Haven as a British protectorate. We would be able to establish a naval base here and the RSN would bear the brunt of any future conflict.
“On the other hand, that very possibility may turn my government off the whole idea. They may prefer to let the Indians annex your systems and leave them to deal with this hostile alien race.
“The truth is, I just don’t know,” James finished.
“You are at least trying to help,” Suzanna said giving his hand a squeeze. “That counts for something. You don’t know how much I appreciate it. Since the reception I have felt completely alone. It seems as if Maximilian and the Earth powers are doing everything they can to crush the dreams of my ancestors and family.”
“I have found dreams are often like a good battle plan,” James said. “They never survive contact with the enemy. The best we can do is to make sure we are doing the right thing. The rest is up to someone else.”
Detecting a hint of sorrow in James’ voice Suzanna took a guess, “You are talking about your princess?”
“Yes,” James admitted. “I thought we would be married one day. Now she is a Chinese Empress and all I have is the navy.”
“But you have made a name for yourself and from the news reports on the Void War you saved a lot of lives. Not to mention what you have accomplished here.”
“True,” James said. “The navy has a proud tradition and it is my hope to live up to it. But as I said, I can only look after my own actions. I can’t determine what happens after that.”
This time James squeezed Suzanna’s hand. “All you can do is make sure you are doing everything you can for your people. I really think becoming a British protectorate is the best way forward. And I’m not just saying that as a British naval officer.”
“Thank you James,” Suzanna said, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Our planet owes you a great deal.”
As she leaned back her COM unit gave out a beep. When she looked at it she saw she had a message from her station manager. “Denning is on his way. My manager couldn’t stall him.”
Before James could say anything the door chimed, alerting them that someone had requested entry. When it didn’t open loud voices could be heard from its other side.
Thinking quickly, Suzanna jumped onto James’ lap and pulled him into a deep kiss.
“Oh... em... sorry for disturbing you,” Denning said bashfully as he came charging into the room, causing James and Suzanna to break apart.
“It’s time for your tour,” he said with a bit more confidence, “I’ll give you a second to freshen up,” he added as he turned and stepped out of the room, avoiding the glare of the station manager who stood on the other side of the door.
“I thought I would enjoy that,” Suzanna said as she jumped up. “Come on, let’s get going before Denning decides he needs to report this to Maximilian.”
“Lead on,” James said, slightly confused but smiling nonetheless.
Chapter 15 – Making Plans
Before the discovery of FTL communication, naval Captains often found themselves months away from their commanding Admirals and solely responsible for their actions. Those Admirals would then analyze the decisions made with the benefit of hindsight. As a result, the rising star of more than one naval Captain came crashing down in ignominy when their actions met with disapproval.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
13th May, 2466 AD, HMS Endeavour, Haven system
“And that is going to be my recommendation to the Admiralty,” James said as he finished filling in his senior officers about the meeting with Councilor Rodriguez. “I hear a few of you had some fun on the planet while I was away, care to fill me in?”
“Well,” Chief Driscoll said. “I got a very interesting tour of one of the government’s experimental research facilities. It is where they are working on new versions of the shift drive. I have to say, they are certainly making progress. No doubt a lot of that has to do with the shift drives they captured from those freighters of ours. Even so, their technicians have a few interesting ideas. One in particular has me intrigued. They have been experimenting with a fixed jump station that is able to tear a hole into shift space for other ships to use. Their lead researcher believes that a series of such jump stations would remove the need for freighters to be equipped with shift drives, reducing their build costs. The benefit of having a fixed station open the tear into shift space means much greater velocities can be reached, reducing the travel time between systems.
“All in all it is an impressive idea. I was able to give them a few pointers to help improve the efficiency of the station’s jump drive but I still think it is a few years away from leaving the lab.”
“That sounds like an interesting idea,” James said, “it could certainly reduce the flight time between systems, especially if the concept was married with our more powerful shift drives.”
Mentally James filed the concept away for later. A ship’s velocity through shift space was determined by the mass of the ship and the energy discharged into the shift drive from the ship’s capacitors. It took Endeavour thirty minutes to charge her capacitors before she could initiate the shift drive at its lowest power. If she charged her capacitors for longer she could achieve greater speeds through shift space however it was rarely practical. Even the biggest of shift passages had many tw
ists and turns and typically a journey from one system to another would consist of multiple jumps as the shift drive could only catapult a ship into shift space in one direction. To make a course change a ship had to exit shift space, charge her capacitors and then make another jump. In the long run it was usually quicker to just initiate the shift drive when the capacitors were charged enough to open the weakest of tears into shift space rather than wait for the capacitors to charge up more.
“What about you Ferguson, did you manage to find any useful information?” James asked.
“Not really Sir,” Ferguson replied. “Farks invited me to his family’s plantation in the countryside. I got to see more of the planet but every time I tried to turn the conversation to Haven’s history they changed the subject.
“Maximilian joined us for an evening, but even then all Farks and Maximilian did was try to impress me with their wealth. I think that if they thought they could get away with it, they would try and buy Endeavour from us. They are desperate for new technology.”