A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) (39 page)

James listened to the message twice before he composed his own reply. In it he thanked Suzanna for her kind words and assured her he would do everything he could to persuade his government to see Haven as a potential ally.

He took a moment to think about how he wanted to end his message. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Suzanna. She was stunningly beautiful and he had enjoyed their conversations a great deal. Yet every time he tried to say something affectionate to her, images of Christine popped into his mind. He knew he still loved Christine, yet he had thought time would diminish his feelings. She was married now and he knew there was nothing for him to do but move on. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to say something that would betray his feelings for Christine. Finally, he gave up and just said how much he was looking forward to a time when they would be able to meet each other again face to face.

With the message done he stood up and walked back into the bridge. “Send the message I just composed back to the gas mining station. Use a laser link. I don’t want Maximilian to know about the communication.”

“Yes Sir,” Sub Lieutenant King answered.

“Navigation, have you a course plotted out to take us back to Earth?” James queried.

“Yes Sir,” Jennings answered. “It will take us approximately seventy days. I’ve plotted a course that will take us through French colonial space and then to the alpha system rather than returning through British space. I thought you would want the quickest route home.”

“Indeed I do,” James said, “the sooner the better.”

For almost five hundred and fifty years Earth has been the capital of the Empire, that isn’t likely to change any time soon.

- Excerpt from Empire Rising

26
th
December, 2466 AD. HMS
Endeavour
, in orbit around Earth.

Seventy days later James stepped into his uncle’s office onboard the RSN construction yard HMS
Vulcan,
he was dressed in his best naval uniform. He had sent his report on
Endeavour’s
maiden voyage to the Admiralty as soon as his ship had jumped into the Sol system. Now he was about to find out just what his superiors thought of his actions.

“Well you have certainly stirred up a storm my boy,” Jonathan Somerville, Admiral of the Red and First Space Lord of the Admiralty said to his nephew by way of greeting.

“Chang presumably dead, a lost colony found, a mutiny, not one but two alien races discovered and the complete extinction of one race averted. Your report takes some reading. If I didn’t have corroborating reports from your Lieutenants, I would say you had made it all up. You certainly like to lead an exciting life.”

“It seems I do Sir,” James said with a smile. “But let me remind you, you are the one who sends me on all these exploration missions. I can’t help stumbling into what is already there.”

“Ha,” Admiral Somerville said, “don’t try and blame this on me. I didn’t tell you to go and discover that we are not alone in the galaxy. You did that all by yourself.”

“Technically the Vestarians discovered Haven,” James replied.

“Technicalities,” Admiral Somerville said, waving his hand at his nephew, “I don’t think that is how it’s going to play out in the news reports.

“And don’t get me started on the Havenites,” he complained. “They have been causing me headaches in parliament ever since
Innocence
returned. And that Haven freighter you sent with your suggestions didn’t help. Parliament has been split right down the middle about what to do about them. The UN has been worse. Every minor power is trying to have their say in the debate.

“And now you bring me all this. There is going to be an uproar in parliament. I’m sure some people will be singing your praises but the rest will be wanting you lynched for all you have done.”

“The Havenites deserve our protection,” James said, unconcerned about the political fallout from his actions. “They really have accomplished some amazing things. The Vestarians might not be a threat anymore but there are other human powers who will seek to steal all that the Havenites have accomplished. And we don’t know what else is out there. It will take the Havenites years to build up their defenses again.”

“We will see,” Admiral Somerville said, “but that is for your betters to decide.”

“Now,” he continued as he reached into one of his office drawers and pulled out two cigars, “that was your official chastisement.”

He unwrapped one and handed the other to James, “let me personally say well done. I couldn’t be more proud of you. You handled yourself admirably,”

“Thank you Sir,” James said, taken aback at his uncle’s change of tone.

“Oh don’t get me wrong,” he said as he lit his cigar. “You have made my life a living hell, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m going to have to organize a court martial to deal with Ferguson, that’s going to bring a lot of negative press. And even though these aliens are going to bring new technologies and trade opportunities, I’m going to have to completely redeploy my fleets to protect the new trade routes as they open up. Never mind all the work dealing with Haven will bring. Yet if we can convince the Havenites to join us, our colonial empire will almost rival the Americans. If we could achieve that it would be no trivial feat.

“Yet that is all ahead of us. You have had all the fun putting us on that road. Now I’m the one who has to see it finished, so don’t blame me if I seem a bit grumpy.”

“You are the Lord of the Admiralty,” James said as he began to relax. He had known his uncle liked him but he wasn’t entirely sure how the senior Somerville would react to everything he had done. “Yours is the honor and the duty.”

“Honor, duty, burden, joy killing weight of pressure, it’s all the same really,” Admiral Somerville said, “you’ll find out some day boy.”

Before James could say anything more his uncle leaned in, “tell me this boy, just how close did you and this Councilwoman get? She seems to be a real looker,” he asked with a gleam in his eye.

James had suspected this was coming. He knew his uncle was keen to get him married off. It wasn’t good that a Duke of England was unmarried and without any children. It was the duty of every British citizen to help expand the British population and feed the Kingdom’s ever growing need for personnel. Plus, his uncle wanted him to put the whole Christine affair behind him.

“Not very,” James partially lied, “we really didn’t spend that much time together. Just a few minutes at the First Councilors ball and then less than an hour at her gas mining station.”

“Humm,” his uncle responded, “that’s not the impression her last message gives.”

“So what about my ship?” James asked to change the topic. “She will need to go into a repair yard to get properly repaired. Is there one available? It shouldn’t take too long. Maybe a month or so but that’s all.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Admiral Somerville said. “The Chester colony has just completed a new repair yard. The same money that built
Endeavour
paid for it. I think the people of Chester would enjoy seeing what their taxes have been spent on.”

“But that will take me away from Earth when the Kulreans arrive,” James protested. “They will want me to meet them here.”

“Not exactly,” Admiral Somerville said. “If you can time it right, you should be able to get your repairs done and meet the Kulreans in the Alpha system. We can arrange it with them through their FTL communication satellite. I’m sure they will enjoy having you escort them to Earth.

“And more importantly, it will keep you out of the spotlight for a while. I think our planet will have enough to think about for the next few weeks without having to deal with all the protests that some MPs or concerned citizens will raise against you.

“Besides,” Admiral Somerville continued, “most of our construction yards and repair yards are still working on refitting our larger warships. If you wait around here it could be months before
Endeavour
gets seen to. This will be the quickest way to get your ship back into pristine condition.”

“I guess that would suit me fine,” James said, not sure that he really had another option. He certainly didn’t want to have to deal with all the news reporters who would no doubt make it their life’s goal to hunt him down.

“Good, good, then it is settled,” Admiral Somerville said with an air of authority. “You will have to remain here for a week at least to go through some more serious debriefs, but as soon as I can I’ll write you some new orders and send you on your way.

“Now,” he continued after taking a long puff on his cigar, “tell me about the family Dukedom, I hear you and your friend Clements have been making some big moves into the interstellar trade business.”

“Well I don’t know how much I can tell you,” James began. He had given over control of his finances to a friend from the naval academy, Andrea Clements. Andrea had turned out to be an investment whiz kid and with James’ help she had started her own investment company. His Dukedom had been her first client. She had sent him an updated report on the Dukedom’s finances as soon as
Endeavour
had entered the Sol system but James hadn’t given it more than a cursory glance. Still, he proceeded to tell his uncle as much as he could remember, making sure he gave Andrea all the warm recommendations she deserved.

James was pleased to see the pleasure it brought his uncle to hear that the Dukedom was once again turning a profit and looking after its employees. It hadn’t dawned on James before just how much his father’s mismanagement of the Dukedom had hurt his uncle.

After covering the family finances James wasn’t surprised to see the old style paper book his uncle magically produced as a gift for him. “A late Christmas present,” his uncle said with a smile.

More inspiration,
James thought as he returned his uncle’s smile.

The next hour was filled with more questions as Admiral Somerville took time to go over James’ story once again. James knew his uncle was a renowned warship Captain but that had been in the past. Now he was stuck in an office, not the bridge of a warship. It wasn’t too surprising to find that his uncle wanted to hear all about James’ experiences and decisions. It was the only way the Admiral could relive his past accomplishments.

When his uncle finally dismissed him James felt exhausted. He was happy to return to
Endeavour
and crash into his bed. Getting reacquainted with Earth would have to wait.

*

A couple of days later James found himself standing in the last place on Earth he wanted to return to, the UN Interplanetary Committee. The Committee dealt with all international disputes between Earth’s colonial powers.

News of his actions against the Indian mining station had reached Earth long before
Endeavour
had returned. His uncle had told him that the Indians had lodged a complaint with the British government but they had left it at that. Clearly they had changed their minds for within a day of returning to Earth he had received a summons to appear before the Council, the Indian government had requested that he stand trial for charges of piracy. This hearing was to see if the Council would allow the charges to continue to a UN trial.

“And so in summary,” James said to the panel of thirteen diplomats that represented each of the main colonial powers, “that is why I took the actions I did. We had strong reason to believe that the Varun Shipping Company had aided Chang’s escape from Chinese space and would try to prevent any attempt I made to apprehend him. If I hadn’t destroyed the Varun mining station’s point defenses, they would likely have shot down my landing shuttles and killed many of my crew. As you know, article eighty-nine point seven of the UN Interplanetary Act states that anyone who aids a war criminal in their activities becomes implicit in their crimes. I was therefore acting within the stipulations of this panel’s declaration of Chang Lei as a war criminal. As soon as Varun took Chang in they forfeited their right to the legal protection this council provides to all interstellar organizations.

“Having said that, I would still like to apologize to the Indian government for my actions, in an ideal world I would not have had to board the mining station at all. In light of that I would like to offer to personally cover the costs of repairing the mining station. I hope that will go some way in making up for the anger my actions have caused among the Indian government.”

James wasn’t sure it would change anything but it was an offer his uncle had suggested he make. The repairs would likely run into the tens of millions of credits but James could easily afford that. In the end, it was a rather cheap way to win the favor of some of the independent panelists.

When James sat down a representative of the Admiralty stood to address the panel. James’ uncle hadn’t come himself as he didn’t want to be seen to be involved in the proceedings but he had assured James he would send his best legal representative. “My name is Oliver Arian, I am a legal officer in the RSN. The Admiralty of the Royal Navy has asked me to present some information to this Committee on Captain Somerville’s behalf.”

“You may present your evidence,” the leader of the Committee said.

“Thank you,” Oliver began. “Well, you have all heard Captain Somerville’s testimony. I would like to add the official orders Captain Somerville had been given by the Admiralty into the record.”

As he stood Oliver lifted a datapad and tapped it a few times to send the information to all the panelists. “As you can see, his actions were perfectly consistent with the orders he received. He was expressly instructed to consider all those who colluded with Chang as potential hostiles and war criminals as recognized by this Council.