Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Right

“Refreshed,” Penny said, shortly. She took the chair he waved her to and checked the nearest display. It wasn’t showing a standard Imperial Navy display, but it was easy to understand. She was gratified that her early deduction of the size of the starship was accurate. “What am I doing here?”

The man leaned back in his chair and Penny took the opportunity to study him. He was unusually tall, with a long lanky body and a pair of hands that were always in motion. His face, striking rather than handsome, was topped by an unruly mob of brown hair. She couldn’t tell for sure, but he appeared to have some kind of combat training, although she couldn’t identify the discipline. He wore nothing apart from a single unmarked shipsuit and a standard-issue wristcom.

“The short answer is that you’re here because your testimony will be required,” the man said. He paused, anticipating her next question. “You may call me Dave, if you wish.”

Penny frowned, stroking her chin. At least Dave seemed to be more pleasant company than Percival. “You’re Imperial Intelligence,” she guessed, finally. “You were sent here to keep an eye on Percival.”

“In a manner of speaking,” Dave said. She was certain that his name wasn’t Dave, but if he’d gone through the full Imperial Intelligence program, he probably didn’t recall what his name actually was, or where he had been born, or anything else that gave him a tie outside of Imperial Intelligence. “I had orders to keep an eye on the Roosevelt Family and their clients in this sector.”

Penny found herself giggling for the first time in far too long. “You poor bastard,” she said. “You had to control Stacy Roosevelt!”

Dave chuckled back. “No, I merely had to keep an eye on them,” he said. “When the rebellion began, I started to observe more closely and decided that the situation was likely to grow out of hand. When the rebel fleet attacked Camelot, I resolved to secure a living witness and jump out of the system before Percival could surrender or die.”

“Oh,” Penny said. She decided she might as well ask. “Did Percival surrender then?”

“Someone did,” Dave confirmed. “The last I heard before I started flying back towards Earth was that the fortresses were surrendering and that Marines were landing on the stations. Percival may have surrendered or someone with more than two brain cells to rub together might have removed him and surrendered in his place. And no, I don’t know if he is still alive. The leader of the rebellion has a bloody great grudge against him.”

Penny shrugged. There would be time, later, to consider her feelings… but for the moment, all she really felt was relief. Percival had dominated her life for years, yet now it was over, leaving nothing apart from fading memories. The time she’d spent serving him — in all possible senses — might have been wasted, but it could have been much worse. Or perhaps, if events had been a little different, she would have gone over to the rebellion.

“But that doesn’t matter,” Dave continued, unaware of her inner thoughts. “As nice as it would be to drag Admiral Percival before the Thousand Families in chains, it isn’t an option that is open to us at the moment. Our priority is to alert Earth to the scale of the danger.”

Penny looked up, sharply. “We’re on our way to alert Earth?”

“Of course,” Dave said. He grinned at her expression. “This ship may be small, but she has a military-grade drive and top-of-the-line computers. We can make it all the way to Earth without stopping along the way. I admit the food and drink facilities are not all that they could be, but that shouldn’t a problem for you. They’re better than military-issue food processors.”

“All the way to Earth,” Penny repeated, numbly. It took a starship around six months to make the trip from Camelot to Earth, although a small fast design with a military-grade drive might be able to shave a month off the journey. She wouldn’t have wanted to risk it. Burning out a flicker drive would leave a craft stranded in interstellar space, beyond any hope of rescue. “Why do you want me there?”

“So you can testify about the rebellion,” Dave said, patiently. He gave her what looked like a half-hearted apologetic look. “I should warn you that the computers on this ship are programmed to work only with me or another officer with Omega-level clearance. I don’t know what will happen to you at the far end, but if you behave yourself on the trip, I will…”

Penny snorted. “Put in a good word for me?”

“Something like that,” Dave agreed. “You do realise that most of the people who might want to blame you for this disaster are either dead or in rebel custody? You have a good chance at coming out of this smelling like a rose.”

Penny stared at him and then burst out laughing. “You have to be joking,” she said, trying to hold down a choking fit. “Do you know what Imperial Intelligence will do to me?”

“I’m sorry,” Dave said. “Did I say that I worked for Imperial Intelligence?”

Penny blinked. “Are you saying that you’re not working for Imperial Intelligence?”

“I had training from them and little else,” Dave said. He pursed his lips, thinking carefully. “Think of me… as one of the Household Troops. I work specifically for a single Family in the ongoing struggle for supremacy. My… employers were concerned about the Roosevelt Family’s obsessive interest in this sector and dispatched me to keep an eye on them. And you know the rest.”

He shrugged. “This ship doesn’t have a stasis pod and I don’t trust the medical computers far enough to risk sedating you for that long,” he added. “You can behave yourself and have the freedom of the ship or I can lock you into one of the cabins and leave you there until we reach Earth. Should you somehow manage to kill me… well; the ship will still take you to Earth. Have fun explaining my mangled remains.”

Penny pretended to consider it. Assuming he was telling the truth, escape would be impossible even if she did kill or incapacitate her jailor. She wasn’t a computer expert and even if she had been, reprogramming a starship while in transit was a good way to commit suicide. And besides, if he was telling the truth about working for a different Family, perhaps she could make the contacts to save herself from carrying the can for Percival’s defeat.

The thought of going to Earth as a very junior officer, with neither connections nor patron, was terrifying, yet there seemed to be no choice. And the thought of killing Dave seemed impossible. If she tried to kill him — and she was sure now that he had some commando-level training, something she lacked — he would simply imprison her in a tiny cabin for six months. She’d been in superdreadnaughts and cruisers with tiny cabins and compartments for the low-ranking officers, yet she’d never been permanently confined to such a small space. It would drive her mad. And besides, perhaps Dave would be pretty good company. He could hardly be worse than Percival.

“I understand,” she said, finally. “Just tell me one thing. Am I a prisoner?”

Dave did her the honour of considering the question seriously. “I do not believe that you are a prisoner,” he said finally, “but honesty compels me to admit that I cannot release you, or drop you off somewhere apart from Earth.” He grinned at her and Penny found herself wondering why she’d thought he wasn’t particularly handsome. “If you want, consider yourself to be on parole, with me as your supervising officer. I don’t think you’ll get lost on this ship.”

Penny chuckled, feeling the tension slowly starting to drain out of her. It would get worse, she knew, once they reached Earth, but for the moment she was safe. A starship, even a small commercial-issue design, would have an extensive library of entertainment and she could catch up with all the news she’d missed, or the reading Percival had never left her with time to do.