Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Light

He shared a long glance with Penny, and then leaned forward again. “And it seems to be based on an assumption,” he continued. “How do you know that Admiral Wilhelm is alone? There are seven sectors near Cottbus that are probably barely aware that there’s been a change in government. If they decide to get organised as a third power on their own, behind Admiral Wilhelm, we would be facing parity at the very least.”

“They will not have the new weapons,” Daria objected.

“Won’t they?” Joshua asked. “The Empire’s research and development might have been a few years behind the Geeks and Nerds, but they were able to duplicate most of their tricks after they saw them in action. It wasn’t as if they were inventing completely new technologies, merely improvements or refinements on technologies that already existed and were well understood. I see no reason why Admiral Wilhelm can’t have arsenal ships, or multiple-warhead missiles, or even shield-busters. The technology isn’t exactly a quantum leap into the unknown, is it?”

He looked up at Tiberius. “Depending on the exact assumptions, the 2 ndfleet could be badly outgunned by the enemy,” he said. “If they have the combined firepower of all eight sectors, massed in one place, the Shadow Fleet would be facing parity, as I said. Our intelligence is poor. We don’t know exactly what they will be facing. I may be a mere tactician, but in Admiral Wilhelm’s place, I would punch out 2 ndfleet and move directly on Earth. The destruction of the Provisional Government would effectively tip the Empire into his hands.”

There was a long pause. “That isn’t something we can deal with at the moment,” Tiberius said. “The real issue is holding the Empire together…”

“Which will not be possible if Admiral Wilhelm decides that Earth is a suitable target for his class anger and scorches the planet,” Joshua said dryly. He smiled thinly. “Very well. Cards on the table. What do you want?”

Daria spoke into the silence. “The same reform program I began fifty years ago,” she said, calmly. “We will begin a gradual process of reform that will allow the Empire and it’s economy room to breathe, while preventing collapse and disunion from tearing the Empire apart. You, if you chose to join us, would be tasked with reforming the Imperial Navy, creating an environment that would allow competent officers to flourish, regardless of their social origins.”

“And you don’t feel that Colin will proceed down that path?”

“Colin intends to devolve as much as possible onto the individual worlds,” Daria said. “The Empire didn’t solve all of the problems from the days of the Federation. It merely kept a firm lid on them. A hands-off policy from Earth would cause nothing, but war and suffering, on a cosmic scale. The Imperial Navy kept the peace for generations. Now, with the Imperial Navy weakened and the new government unsure of its path, strife is already raising its ugly head. How many more billions would die before Colin realises that he’s made a mistake and moves to crush it? How much harder will that be because he has indicated that it is permissible?”

She met Joshua’s eyes. “How many more are you willing to allow to die because Colin doesn’t realise the consequences of his actions?”

Joshua started to speak, but she overrode him. “And autonomous status won’t be enough,” she continued. “There will be hundreds and thousands of worlds that will seek complete independence from the Empire. Some, such as New Kabul or Eden, will seek to impose intolerable rules on their own people, others will try to engage in trade wars or worse with their neighbours. The Empire enforced fair play across the galaxy, but without it, what will happen to interstellar trade? How many will be improvised, or worse, because the Empire is no longer acting as the umpire?”

“You make a convincing case,” Joshua agreed, calmly. “That still leaves you with the problem of actually removing Colin. He’s protected by armed and very loyal Marines. Home Fleet is no longer under your command, Your Majesty, but that of one of Colin’s closest allies. You don’t even have your Household Troops any more, do you?”

“Leave that to us,” Daria said, calmly. The confidence in her voice made Joshua blink. It was easy to forget, looking at her, that she had once been a respected and experienced commanding officer. “We have another role for you.”

She told him. “Clever,” Joshua agreed.

“Our rights will be respected?” Lord Rothschild asked. “There will be no purge of our people?”

“There will be no purge,” Daria said. Tiberius smiled. The Family members who might have been a problem, such as the late unlamented Admiral Percival, had already been removed from positions of power. Not all of Colin’s reforms had been bad ones. He suspected that Joshua would never allow the Families to slip incompetents into positions of power again. “Will you all commit to joining us?”

She held out a hand. A moment later, Tiberius and the Lords grasped it… and finally Joshua joined them. “If this works, it should be interesting,” Joshua said. His voice hardened enough to make Tiberius shiver. “If not, I’ll kill the whole lot of you myself.”

“If this fails,” Daria said, tartly, “there won’t be enough of us left to pick up with an electron microscope.”

She waited until the last of the visitors had vanished outside, back into the main building. “Get in touch with Jason Cordova,” she ordered flatly. There was an utterly uncompromising tone in her voice. “Tell him its time for him to pay his debts to society.”

The Neddy Seagoon flickered into existence in the Cottbus System’s designated emergence zone.

“Emergence complete,” Charlie said, as he altered the starship’s course slightly. Cottbus’s gravity shadow was only ten minutes away using the drive fields. “I am transmitting a burst IFF signal to System Command now.”

Sasha nodded from her position. No one would have mistaken the Neddy Seagoon for a warship, although it had quite a few surprises buried away in its hull. She had started life as a pleasure craft owned by some rich kids from the Thousand Families, before they accidentally managed to damage her badly and sell her off to the lowest bidder. Officially, she had been purchased by an independent trio of traders; unofficially, Imperial Intelligence had renovated her to their exacting standards.

“They’re responding already,” Sandra said, from her console. On the starship, she was strictly business. “They’re assigning us to their main spaceport and warning us that leaving the environs of the spaceport without clearance papers would be taken amiss.”

“That was quick,” Sasha said. Charlie had to agree. System Command centres rarely deigned to notice them until they were much closer to the planet, although Cottbus probably had good reasons for being on alert. If Admiral Garland had been correct, they might be on the verge of war. “Did they send us anything else in the data packet?”

“Nothing beyond the standard guff about not going within weapons range of any of the orbital defences or the main shipyard,” Sandra said. “I guess that they’re either unconcerned or they’re waiting till we’re on the ground before springing their trap.”

“Bite your tongue,” Sasha told her sharply. “Charlie, take us down before they start to wonder why we’re wasting our time up here.”

Charlie keyed his console and the starship started to head down towards the planet, which was growing larger in the viewport as they approached. The Neddy Seagoon had been designed to look like a popular image of a starship, rather than the blunt shapes of Imperial Navy warships, and had a genuine cockpit rather than a bridge. It could also, unlike so many other starships, land on a planet, which saved docking at one of the orbital stations and taking a shuttle down to the planet. It would make life easier, in some ways; if they docked at one of the stations, they’d probably run into a customs official wanting a cut. The medical packages would be worth thousands of credits, at the very least, and if they refused to pay the cut, the official could interfere with them without quite breaking the regulations.