Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Light

“Politics,” Tiberius said. “You might have done the perfectly correct thing under any dispassionate moral laws, but popular opinion will hold that what you did was wrong, wrong, so wrong that you should be put in front of a wall and shot, or handed over to Imperial Intelligence as a test subject. Worse, your crew clearly knew the truth — they must have done — and they will be regarded as your accomplices. Where will they go after the truth is revealed and you become public enemy number one?”

Cordova’s eyes flashed. “You do not threaten my crew,” he snapped. “They’re the ones who came with me when every man’s hand was against me. I may be related to you and that blonde bimbo you sent as an Ambassador, but they’re my real family!”

“But you miss this Family,” Tiberius said. He leaned forward, despite himself. “You chose to enter a relationship with someone who shared the same background as yourselves, as well as a desire to alter the Empire. Since you came back here, after the Battle of Earth, you have stayed here, at the High City. You didn’t take Colin’s offer of a squadron and the Volunteer Fleet has been largely disbanded. Why would you stay here, were it not for the fact that you missed it?”

He watched Cordova carefully. No one from the outside would understand it, but the Thousand Families were family . A person who was born into that complex network of intertangling families and relationships would never need to fear. They might intrigue against each other, they might positively loathe each other from time to time, but they were always there. Their mere presence was comforting for those exposed to the harsh realities of the universe, even though the universe had changed sharply. So many of the Thousand Families might like to try to pretend that nothing had changed, holding parties as if they still didn’t have a care in the galaxy, and it was succeeding. The Families were warmth and safety to the younger aristocrats…

And he was sure that he had hit on the truth. No one doubted Cordova’s competence as a starship commander. He might not have been suitable to command a squadron — Joshua had hinted at that much, and Tiberius didn’t know anyone else with more right to an opinion on the subject — but he could have taken the Random Numbers to join the fleet gathering near Cottbus, or anywhere else. Instead, he had chosen to stay and be effectively useless… why? The only reason that made sense to Tiberius was that he wanted to be back with the Families.

“They also need someone to keep an eye on you and watch your activities,” Cordova said, finally. It wasn’t particularly convincing. “Colin is a clever person and a diabolical strategist, but he doesn’t have the mindset to cope with you and battles fought on… less open ground. I decided to remain here so that I could watch you and deal with any problems you might cause.”

He leaned forward himself. “And I still fail to see why I should consider transferring my loyalties to you,” he said. “Yes, you have blackmail information, but are you willing to use it if I refuse?”

Tiberius met his eyes. “Yes,” he said, flatly. Cordova lifted a single eyebrow, never breaking eye contact. It was hard for Tiberius to hold contact, but somehow he managed. “You would leave me with no other choice.”

“I could kill you right now,” Cordova said, dispassionately. He still hadn’t broken eye contact. Tiberius believed him implicitly. “You may have some highly illegal enhancements in your body, but nothing that would stop me from breaking your neck before your guards could rush in and overpower me.”

The words almost made Tiberius shiver. He held onto himself firmly. “And the truth would still get out,” he said, calmly. “I didn’t agree to hold this meeting without creating a fallback position for myself. No one with any sense would expose themselves so much when they could be… removed at any moment.”

“Indeed?” Cordova asked. “And you’re willing to hazard your life on it?”

“There is a second point,” Tiberius said. He forced his voice to harden. He had thought that it would be easy, but there was something about Cordova’s presence and attitude that made him want to grovel. “If something happens to me, and if by some miracle you avoid the guards and escape, Kathy Tyler will be killed.”

Cordova stared at him. “And you think that that would bother me?” He demanded, but his eyes told the truth. He might not have loved her — Tiberius found the idea of Cordova having anything to do with love a little amusing — but he certainly cared for her. She was also very important to the Provisional Government. Colin wouldn’t be able to find someone else with her credentials quickly. Indeed, the best person at his disposal would have been Tiberius himself…

“Yes,” Tiberius said, flatly.

There was a long pause. “Fine,” Cordova said, finally. “You appear to have me over a barrel. Should I drop my pants now?”

“No, thank you,” Tiberius said, angrily. Even if he swung that way, and he didn’t, he doubted that Alicia would have approved. It was considered bad form to cheat on your fiancée, even in the Thousand Families, until the final papers were signed and agreements had been made. “I want you to do something for us.”

“Us?” Cordova asked. “Could it be that there are others involved in this scheme?”

Tiberius said nothing. Cordova didn’t know, and couldn’t be allowed to know, that Daria was the Empress. He wasn’t someone who could be completely trusted and even if he were, he didn’t need to know. The information would probably kill him, when he finally found out. They might not have been friends, but they’d worked together to develop the Freebooter’s League into a genuine political force.

And then Colin comes along and knocks all their plans into scrap , Tiberius thought, amused. Daria’s original plan would have eventually dropped the entire Empire into her lap like ripe fruit, but instead Colin had appeared out of nowhere and launched the rebellion against the Thousand Families, at least twenty years too soon. Tiberius wasn’t going to complain about that, however; the original plan might not have included either him or the Cicero Family. Who would have predicted that a lowly Commander would have had the nerve to take an entire observation squadron and then an entire superdreadnaught squadron?

Joshua did , he thought, and scowled. Joshua had warned him, way back once the news of the rebellion had reached Earth, that the Thousand Families had made thousands of competent and determined enemies, who knew that there would be no chance of promotion or even security under their rule. The discussion had been an eye-opener — and he knew that Joshua intended to change things in the Imperial Navy, bureaucrats be damned — and it said more about Colin than Daria. Colin wanted to change things because he believed in right and wrong; Daria wanted to change things to preserve the Empire.

“Yes,” he said finally, and refused to give any more details. “I shall place my cards on the table. We want you to prepare to… remove Colin from power.”

Cordova smiled. “You do realise that that is high treason?”

“Why doth treason never prosper?” Tiberius asked, rhetorically. Joshua had taught him the quote years ago. “Because if it prospers, Jason, none dare call it treason.”

“And if I refuse?”

“You can probably guess at the consequences,” Tiberius said. He smiled and sat back into his armchair. “I am willing, however, to sweeten the pot. If you do as we order — and strike when we tell you to strike — I will bring you back into the Family fold. You can become Jason Cicero once again, with all the rights and duties that that implies, and Kathy can marry you, entering the Family. Your children would be brought up within the Family and they will want for nothing.”