“Good. Now make the call, and have her brought out here. Oh, and her effects as well.”
Beckham turned to leave, and a Marine waved him back with his SBR.
“Oh, no, Sergeant,” Parnell said. “You stay here and make the call.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Purny was once more asleep, this time in a cell by herself. She was awakened by the cell door being opened. One of the guards was there.
“Come along, you.”
Purny wondered what was going on. Was this more harassment, or had – so to speak – the Marines arrived?
The guard led her down the corridor between cells, down the stairs, back along another corridor between cells, through a locked steel door, through a service area, through another locked steel door, and down an office corridor.
Finally they emerged into the lobby. An APC had pride of place in the center of the lobby, surrounded by broken glass and aluminum beams from the missing front glass wall. Two rifle squads of Imperial Marines had set up a perimeter, and a handsome young man in a captain’s uniform with a major’s collar tags stood at the counter. He wore the fourragère of the Imperial Guard.
The major walked up to her and saluted.
“Major Daniel Parnell, General Turley. It’s good to see you well, Ma’am.”
Turley returned the salute.
“I’m hardly in uniform, Major.”
“Imperial Guard. Different customs, Ma’am.”
“I see.”
Turley looked around at the lobby.
“A little breakage here, Major.”
“An Imperial Decree doesn’t always engender the kind of automatic compliance I would expect, General Turley. A certain, um, emphasis is apparently sometimes required.”
Turley looked at the desk sergeant and the clerk, cowering behind the counter under the watchful muzzle of the APC’s front osmium driver. Some emphasis!
A woman came out of the door behind her carrying a box. Her personal effects, Turley realized. In through the smashed front glass wall of the lobby walked a large command sergeant major, followed by a young lieutenant.
“General Turley. I’m Command Sergeant Major Kearsarge, Ma’am. CSM for the Sixty-Fifth Division. And this is Lieutenant First Class Arnold Vincennes. He’s aide to the CO of the division, Ma’am.”
Turley nodded.
“Good to meet you, Lieutenant. Sergeant Major. Isn’t the commanding officer of Sixty-Fifth Division going to wonder where you are?”
“That change has already taken place, Ma’am,” Parnell said. “You are the commanding officer, Sixty-Fifth Division, as well as Imperial Fleet Base Dalnimir.”
“I see.”
Purny looked around, at all the glass on the floor, the big APC in the middle of the lobby.
“I guess the first thing to do is get mounted up. What all did you bring, Major?”
“Fourth Battalion, Second Regiment, Ma’am.”
“The whole battalion? All mounted?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Are these parade units, Major?”
“No, Ma’am. We’re fully field operational, right now. Fueled and armed.”
“However did you manage that, Major?”
“My Top let it be known to the NCO ranks a week ago there was a rumor of a battalion readiness exercise, Ma’am. He also told them they should have an APC-CV ready, as there would likely be general staff observing.”
Turley laughed. What a ploy!
“Yes, that would certainly do it, Major. However, we still have a little problem getting me out of here.”
She looked down at her prison booties and all the glass on the floor.
Kearsarge walked up.
“If the General wouldn’t mind, I would be honored, Ma’am. I had friends on Groton.”
Turley nodded and the big command sergeant major effortlessly picked her up in a fireman’s carry and walked across the lobby, combat boots crunching on the glass as he went. Lieutenant Vincennes picked up the box with her personal effects in it and followed them out.
Parnell nodded to the Sergeant 1C from the first APC of Second Company, then followed Kearsarge out.
“MOUNT UP,” The sergeant bellowed, and the rifle squads pulled back and re-entered the APC.
Kearsarge put Turley on the ground on the other side of the smashed lobby wall. She looked up and down the street, and at the vehicle right in front of her.
“Major, you weren’t kidding. You brought an APC-CV.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Checked over with a fine-tooth comb. All systems operational.”
“Outstanding.”
Paul Gulliver was standing next to the APC-CV. Relief flooded over her.
“Hello, Mr. Gulliver.”
“Evening, General Turley.”
His eyes said everything.
“All right, Sergeant Major. Let’s get everybody mounted up and prepare to move out.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Kearsarge, Gulliver, Vincennes and Turley got into the APC-CV, while Parnell got back into the battalion command APC. When Turley got into the cabin, Vincennes held out a neatly folded stack of clothing to her. A complete set of Marine MCUs, size Large, Female, with combat boots on top.
“However did you manage that, Lieutenant?”
“His girlfriend’s a Sergeant First in Records,” Kearsarge said.
Vincennes blushed.
“I hope everything fits. Ma’am. I had to make do for the insignia. And I don’t have a black fourragère. We were in a hurry.”
There were three carefully drawn black stars on the collars of the blouse.
“Yeah, he drew ‘em on during the drive, Ma’am,” Kearsarge said. “A Marine lieutenant always has his crayons with him.”
Everybody was seated now, and there was some room in the center of the cabin. Turley kicked off the prison booties and peeled out of the prison jumpsuit. She dressed in regulation panties, bra, tee, MCU pants, MCU blouse, socks, and combat boots.
Everybody in the cabin was busy looking somewhere else. Vincennes stared down at the floor. If the young lieutenant had blushed before, he turned a truly alarming shade of puce now. Gulliver made it a point not to look at Turley as well. He had fond memories of that body, and he didn’t want to tent his trousers.
When Turley finished dressing, she turned to Vincennes.
“Pretty good fit, Lieutenant. Thank you.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
He held out her cover, also with three black stars drawn carefully on the front. Turley strapped it on, then crawled into the commanding officer’s seat. She deployed her backup displays, then logged into the command VR system.
Now What?
The first thing Ann Turley had to do, she realized, was find out what the investigation had revealed so far, if anything. It had only been four hours since she and Gulliver had been attacked in the alley and obtained the IDs of three of the hit men, though it seemed as if lifetimes had passed.
What was the fastest way to find out what was going on, to inform her actions at this point? It was midnight in Stolits. It was noon in Imperial City. Fastest way to find out what was going on? Go to the top.
Turley placed a meeting request with the Empress. They had met in VR several times before, during the Julian operation. It was the Empress, in fact, who had sponsored her joining Section Six.
The Empress took the meeting request, and Turley found herself once more in the small conference room simulation the Empress had used in their other meetings. The Empress didn’t stand this time, because Turley was no longer a head of state. Turley’s avatar appeared in Marine Dress Uniform (MDU). She had added two stars to the collar tabs and shoulder boards, as well as the gold fourragère of the Imperial Guard.
“Milady Empress,” Turley said and bowed her head.
“Be seated, General Turley,” Amanda Peters said.
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
“I must say it’s good to see you, General Turley. Are you OK?”
“And Mr. Gulliver?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Excellent. I was quite concerned.”
“Major Parnell made a brilliant rescue, Ma’am.”
Peters nodded.
“Well, it’s your meeting, General Turley. Proceed.”
“Yes, Ma’am. As to my current situation, I am in command of the Sixty-Fifth Division of Imperial Marines on Dalnimir. I am also in command of Imperial Fleet Base Dalnimir, and I have Imperial authority to take command of in-space resources in the Dalnimir system as well. I am currently located in downtown Stolits in an armored command vehicle with an entire field-operational battalion of Imperial Marines as mounted infantry.
“Basically, we’re all dressed up with nowhere to go at the present, Milady. I don’t know what’s been discovered from the intelligence Mr. Gulliver and I delivered earlier this evening – that would be about four hours ago – and so I do not know what to do next within my delegated authority to best carry out the Emperor’s wishes.”
“I understand, General Turley. I will arrange a briefing for you and Mr. Gulliver on the current status of the investigation. You should expect an invitation in the next several minutes. I encourage you to take Mr. Gulliver to that briefing, and to use his assessment to augment your own.”
“Understood, Ma’am. Thank you.”
“Until next time, General Turley.”
The Empress cut the connection.
Back in her APC-CV, Turley turned to Gulliver.
“The Empress is setting up a briefing for us on the current status of the investigation, so we get some idea of where it’s headed. She recommends you attend as well. We should get invites in a couple minutes.”
Gulliver just nodded, although Lieutenant Vincennes looked a bit stunned Turley would just up and call the Empress. Kearsarge, though, looked like it would be the most normal thing in the world for Imperial Guard Lieutenant General Ann Turley to consult with the Empress.
“See to our perimeter, Sergeant Major. You can move us to a more defensible position if you think it wise. Make it toward the capitol building, rather than away, if you would.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I don’t like being strung out in the street like this. I would prefer to take up a position on Stolits Mall, where we have room to move around.”
“All right, Sergeant Major. Go ahead and do that. Make it the far end of the mall from the capitol building, however. Let’s not cause any more consternation than necessary for the moment.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The meeting notice came in. Turley keyed the command channel.
“We’re moving to Stolits Mall to get maneuvering room, Major Parnell. I’ll be in a VR meeting for a while. You have command.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Turley and Gulliver accepted the meeting request.
Amanda Peters VRed into channel 22, the simulation of the Emperor’s office.
“Bobby, I wanted to let you know I’ve set up a briefing for General Turley and Paul Gulliver to hear about the status of the investigation from Mr. Hayes.”
“Interesting. Maybe we should monitor that briefing in management mode, and get the latest information.”
“That sounds good. I think they’ve made a lot of progress.”
“Excellent. I definitely want to see this.”
Turley and Gulliver found themselves in a map room, but the map being displayed had nothing to do with geography.
“General Turley. Mr. Gulliver. I’m Sandy Hayes, the head of the Imperial Investigations group. Please, have a seat.”
Turley was in MDU. Gulliver was in his everyman avatar. That man could make even an avatar disappear, Turley thought, smiling. They sat in armchairs looking out at the map, which was three-dimensional by this point.
“My understanding is you want a briefing on the current status of the investigation to direct your actions on Dalnimir. Is that correct?”
“Yes, Mr. Hayes,” Turley said.
“Very well. Let’s start with what you gave us. The IDs of these three gentlemen here, who you both met earlier this evening. We’ve identified the fourth accomplice, shown here with the others. We’ve tracked contacts and money flows up from them, using the fact this is a treason investigation to set aside privacy concerns.”
“Treason? Not corruption?”
“Your reserve commission had been reactivated before the attack occurred, General Turley. The attack was therefore the attempted murder of a general staff officer of the Imperial Guard. That is treason, as is conspiracy to murder a general staff officer of the Imperial Guard.”
Huh. She hadn’t thought of that. The Emperor probably had, however.
“I see. Carry on, Mr. Hayes.”
“Yes. So we used that starting point to track contacts and money flows throughout what has become a very large structure. It can be confusing, so let’s simplify it a little.”
Hayes turned to the chart.
“Display red and green contacts and connections only.”
The map changed, with all the other contacts and connections fading to grey.
“Here we see just the money flows. The red is money up, the green is money down.”
“Oh my God,” Turley said.
“You see it, don’t you, General Turley? It’s a gigantic money machine.”
“Accruing to the ultimate benefit of Sector Governor Bartholomew Gerber.”
“Yes, although he has a lot of expenses in this setup as well. And Dalnimir is not the only province affected. All four of Earth Sector’s provinces have been sucked into this corruption, and it is spreading to other planets that are not provincial capitals.”
“So Dalnimir is the tip of the iceberg.”
“Yes, General Turley. And the reason it was discovered first is the planetary governor, Mr. Knowlton, was quite a bit more heavy-handed than the others. It was worst on Dalnimir, but it is by no means unique. We started pulling on the thread you gave us, and this is what we got.”
“A question, Mr. Hayes.”
“Of course, General Turley.”
“These money flows. How did you track those down, Mr. Hayes? I mean, they weren’t transferring money directly to each other, were they?”
“No, General Turley, but close. They were transferring money through shell organizations, trusts, and funds. This used to be a safe means of transferring money in the former Democracy of Planets, but the Empire quietly changed the rules about transparency of those structures when the Emperor discovered how they were being used. We’ve been pretty quiet about it, but we can track it.”
“So the question is, now what do we do?”
“Indeed. Such an operation almost always requires subverting the Imperial presence in the system, and we have found payments to Imperial general staff in all four of the provincial capitals.”
“That’s infuriating, Mr. Hayes.”
“Yes. The Emperor has generally favored long-term assignments of general staff to sector and provincial capitals, in order to foster closer cooperation with civilian officials.”
“Which here went way too far.”
“Indeed. I suspect the Emperor will be reworking his standard policies in light of these developments.”
“And in the short-term?”
“We are trying to nail down the highest-ranking uninvolved officer in each planetary system, General Turley. The rest will be rounded up through an activation of the Imperial Guard reserves in each system. There is some presence of Imperial Guard in each of these systems, not unlike Major Parnell on Dalnimir.”
“Yes, Mr. Hayes, but he’s a major, and a brevet major at that. Most of these systems are commanded by a major general of Imperial Marines and at least a vice admiral of the Imperial Navy.”
“We understand, General Turley. We think we have at least one brigadier general and one rear admiral or better in each system who can take command until superiors arrive. The rest will be put under arrest and cou
rt-martialed.”
“What a mess. And what am I supposed to do on Dalnimir?”
“I don’t think you understand all the consequences quite yet, General Turley. When this shakes out, you will be the highest-ranking general staff officer in any service left in Earth Sector.”
Turley sat stunned. It took her seconds to find her voice.
“But that’s ridiculous. Commanding a sector? My last field command was a single regiment, and that was over ten years ago.”
Two additional chairs appeared, at ninety degrees to Turley and Hayes. The Emperor and Empress sat in them, their avatars both in business suits.
“Remain seated, please,” Dunham said.
The Emperor made his request immediately on the two of them appearing, so Turley, Gulliver, and Hayes did not rise. Instead, they bowed their heads to the absolute ruler of almost half a million planets.
“That is not quite true, General Turley. You commanded a brigade-level force in Julian. You were also the president of the planet, had to deal with corrupt politicians, and had to command a military as an executive. I don’t think anyone else on the Imperial general staff has those qualifications.”
“But, Sire, Julian is ten million people total. That would be a large-ish city on Dalnimir. The capital city of Stolits alone is almost fifty million. Earth Sector has thirty trillion people.”
“I understand, General Turley. You’re afraid you’ll disappoint me. Perhaps more, disappoint your fellow citizens. That you’ll fail at so large a task. That’s something I certainly understand. I went from being a captain in the Imperial Guard to absolute ruler of three hundred trillion people literally overnight.
“But it is those people who have disappointed me, General Turley,” Dunham said, pointing to the chart. “They have failed. They have failed even to try. They look upon their positions as opportunities to pillage rather than as opportunities to serve.
“I have no such concerns about you, General Turley. That you will fail to try. No, you will try, and you will make mistakes, because you’re human. As I have. And then you will fix them going forward. One big mistake I made is to ignore the warning signs I was seeing out of Earth Sector, and to let the situation get to this point. People have died because of my error. I am fixing it now. It is the best I can do.”
EMPIRE: Investigation Page 11