Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Right

Hannelore didn’t know what to say. “It’s been interesting,” she admitted, finally. She had never imagined that she would be making small talk with Hester Hyman, a woman who had a colossal price on her head. “I rather enjoyed it.”

“Good,” Hester said. The time for small talk was clearly over. “The Popular Front needs you. Would you be interested in joining us?”

Hannelore blinked. “You want me to join a rebellion against the Empire?”

“A project to reform the Empire,” Hester said, her wintery voice admitting nothing else. “I have been speaking to your crew while you were being shown around our asteroid base. They were very complementary about you. They felt that you had definite promise. Our ally felt the same way.”

Hannelore stared at her. “You had a rebel spy in my complex?”

“Something like that,” Hester said, vaguely. She waved a hand, indicating that there would be no further discussion about any intelligence agents. “The fact remains that you won respect from people who had no reason to respect you. We could find a place for you in the Popular Front.”

“Committing treason,” Hannelore said. It surprised her how little the concept bothered her. She had no reason to be loyal to anyone outside her own family… and really, her two families had regarded her as more of an unwanted nuisance than anything else. After all, she was a living reminder of a failed policy. “What would you want me to do?”

“We need someone to assist us in coordinating the industrial project,” Hester said, calmly. “You have experience in handling such matters. You would be working with several different factions, all of which suspect that the other factions intend to secretly screw them when they get the chance. And, if we fail to build a fleet that can stand up to the Empire, we will be destroyed when the Empire finally responds to us. We cannot count on Admiral Percival’s replacement sharing his same level of incompetence.”

She smiled, as if at a joke that wasn’t really funny. “I had to urge people not to try to assassinate him,” she added. “He serves us better where he is.”

Hannelore chuckled. She had only met Admiral Percival once and she hadn’t been impressed. “I see,” she said. “Why do you want me for the job?”

Surprisingly, the answer came from behind her. “Because we will need to break up the alliances that hold the Thousand Families together,” a woman’s voice said. “If we put a person from the Families in a high position, it sends a signal to the others that there is a possible compromise, that we won’t kill them all when we win.”

Hannelore turned. She hadn’t even sensed the woman behind her until she had started to speak. The woman was tall, with long red hair, a heart-shaped face and a smile that seemed to light up the room. She wore a standard shipsuit, one that clung to her body and exposed every curve. Behind her, there was a smaller oriental girl, with dark eyes that seemed to be focused on Hannelore’s face.

“This is Daria, the leader of the Freebooters League, and Mariko,” Cordova explained, calmly.

“You may have some time to decide,” Hester said. Her whispery voice drew Hannelore’s attention back to her. “Once you have made up your mind, you can inform the good Captain of your decision.”

“One question, them,” Hannelore asked. “What happens if I say no?”

“We have a small isolated colony world that we have been using as a prison,” Daria explained. “If you refuse, we’ll leave you there until the war is won or lost. It is a great deal more civilised than a penal colony, but you won’t be able to affect the war in any way.”

Including betraying the rebel leadership to the Empire, Hannelore realised.

She thought about it as Cordova escorted her back to his quarters and explained that he’d had a second bed put in for her personally. Unlike many of the lads from the High City, he hadn’t even tried to take her to bed. Hannelore wasn’t sure if he was just being polite, or if he had no interest in her at all, or… she pushed that thought aside and considered the rebel offer. If she said yes, the Empire would condemn her as a traitor and her family would disinherit her…

And then there was the other question; were the rebels sincere when they offered her the post, or did they just want her to be window-dressing?

She looked over at Cordova, who was reading something on a datapad. Somehow, she found it hard to believe that he was lying to her, or perhaps she didn’t want to believe it. It could be just Stockholm Syndrome kicking in…

Hannelore shrugged and made up her mind. She would take the rebel offer, assuming they were sincere. If not… well, she would be in a position to do something about it.

“Call your leader,” she said, sitting up. “Tell her that I have decided to accept.”

“Splendid,” Cordova said, holding out a hand. “Welcome to the Popular Front.”

“Do you trust her?”

Daria nodded, although her eyes were hard. “I think that she is about as trustworthy as any member of the Thousand Families ever gets,” she said. Colin snorted. That wasn’t a particularly strong recommendation. “On the other hand, we do have testimony from her former crew and they think quite highly of her. She’s no Bleeding Heart” — the term for an aristocrat who set out to improve the lives of the poor, if they wanted it or not — “but she’s definitely someone we can work with.”

“We can also keep an eye on her,” Anderson said, reluctantly. He’d been one of the strongest voices arguing against keeping Lady Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham anywhere near the rebel fleet or the Popular Front. “If she decides to do something stupid, we don’t give her a second chance.”

Colin nodded. “Agreed,” he said. He looked up at Cordova, who was perched on a stool that allowed him to display his latest uniform to best advantage. Colin suspected that, if one of Imperial Intelligence’s assassins managed to get into the room and opened fire, Cordova would be the first target. He had the most striking appearance. “And how do you feel about her?”

Cordova didn’t look surprised at the question. “She has a great deal of potential,” he said. “If she’d had the resources of the Roosevelt Family behind her, she would have gone far. And she reminds me a little of myself, someone who was always held back by law and custom. I thought that I would give her the opportunity to rebel.”

Colin smiled. Unless he missed his guess, Cordova found Lady Hannelore — she would have to ditch the title if she wanted to join the Popular Front, at least in public — attractive. He supposed that he couldn’t blame him, not when she was pretty and charmingly intelligent to boot, but it risked opening up a security breach. He didn’t need Anderson to remind him of the time that Imperial Intelligence had used pillow talk between an officer and his mistress, who was working for Imperial Intelligence, to condemn him for aiding and abetting criminal acts against the Empire. The story had broken up relationships all over the fleet.

“We will see how she works out,” he said. He looked over at Colonel Frandsen. “How are the first batches of new recruits working out?”

Frandsen considered. It wasn’t usual for a Colonel to take part in training recruits — normally, even in the Marine Corps, they would rarely see anyone higher than a Captain until they had graduated — but nothing had been usual since they had rebelled against the Empire. Besides, Frandsen had insisted on monitoring the training himself and Colin hadn’t had the heart to refuse. They couldn’t afford mistakes caused by inexperienced officers and Frandsen had two tours at the Marine Corps Training Centre under his belt.