Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) (8 page)

“Neat,”
Glitz said, with a touch of sarcasm. Nevertheless, he had to admit that he was
impressed.

The
First Naval Lord smiled. “You have proven yourselves to be cunning,
intelligent, resourceful—”

“And
expendable?” Tekka said.

The
First Naval Lord paused. Then he nodded. “Yes. I won’t try to deceive you. If
the three of you died I would hardly lose sleep over it.”

“Of
course,” Admiral Blaize said, “you will not be going alone.” He tapped a switch
on the table, and spoke into a microphone. “Midshipman Barnes. Bring in Captain
Wickham.” He looked up at Glitz, Tekka and Doland. “As you are aware, the use
of civilians in official Imperial missions is unprecedented. We have obtained
permission from the Grand Senate, but they have imposed a limitation—you must
travel with an officer of the Imperium. Therefore, I am assigning Captain
Wickham as your superior for the duration of the mission. You will defer all
decisions to Captain Wickham, and obey all orders with full subordination.”

Glitz
glanced at Doland and Tekka. He didn’t like taking orders from anyone, let
alone some military control freak. No doubt Captain Wickham was some brainless,
muscle-bound fool who would insist on dominating every aspect of the mission. Just
when he was about to protest, the door slid open, and two officers entered the Board
Room. They saluted to the Admiralty Board.

“Captain
Wickham to see you, sir,” the first officer said, a young midshipman with
smooth, baby-like skin. He stood aside to reveal the Captain.

Glitz
was astonished. In place of the hard-edged military man he had expected to see,
there stood a young blonde-haired woman. Even though she was wearing an
unflattering Imperial uniform, he could tell that she was very beautiful. She
had a fresh, symmetrical face, with blue eyes and full lips. Her figure was strong
and curvaceous. She had an air of assured confidence.

“Captain
Alyce Wickham reporting for duty,” she said, in a voice that was at once firm
and musical.

Glitz
was so taken aback by her attractiveness that he was rendered momentarily
speechless, but he quickly recovered his composure. He didn’t want to be
ordered about, even by a woman as beautiful as Alyce Wickham.

“Are
you serious?” he said finally. “You’re putting this… girl in charge of us?”

Alyce
coloured slightly with annoyance, but she managed to restrain herself.

“Captain
Wickham is one of my finest officers,” Admiral Trenna said. “She has proven
herself to be courageous and strong. Whereas
you
, on the other hand…”
The Admiral paused to frown at Glitz. “You are nothing more than a common
criminal, a smuggler, thrown out of the army for being unable to keep it in
your pants. I would advise you, Mr. Glitz, to show more respect towards Captain
Wickham, who was shown herself to be more of a man than you will ever be.”

Glitz
frowned, but said nothing in reply.

“Now,”
Alyce said, smiling slightly. “Let’s go over the full plan…”

After
Captain Wickham had explained the full plan to Glitz, Tekka and Doland, she led
the men out of the Admiralty Board Room, along a series of metal corridors, and
into the large spaceport. It was filled with Imperial crafts, including the
famous
Behemoth
, which Emperor Ferdinand used as his official transportation
when on peripatetic duties. After the three men had changed into official army
uniforms in a small changing area, Alyce pointed out a tiny silver cruiser that
was sandwiched between two larger vessels. It was hardly bigger than an escape
pod.

“You’re
joking,” Glitz said. “That thing? We’re going in that thing?”

“It’s
a Beetle,” Alyce said.

“I
know what it is, lady. I had one of those things when I was a kid. But I don’t
fancy its chances against a line of enemy fire.”

Alyce
simply smiled. “Come along, now.”

Captain
Wickham led the three men towards the ship. She opened the pod door and they
all climbed inside. It was cramped, but there was enough room for them all to
be seated. Glitz found himself squashed up against Alyce, and he noticed that
she was wearing a fragrance.

“You
smell great,” he said, grinning at her.

Alyce
shook her head, as if shaking off a fly. “It’s the shampoo I use.”

Glitz
said nothing more as she closed the door and prepared the ship for take-off. She
flicked a switch to open a communications line with the spaceport control.
“This is Captain Wickham. Request clearance for take-off in Beetle 819.”

There
was a slight pause, then a voice responded: “Permission granted. Good luck with
your mission, Captain.”

With
a hiss, the roof above the ship began to move. A hatch opened, revealing a gap
large enough for the ship to pass through. Alyce made a few more checks on the
control.

“You
sure you can squeeze through there?” Glitz said. “It’s pretty narrow.”

Alyce
simply fixed him with a stern look, then activated the engines. The Beetle
began to rise into the air slowly; they passed through the hatch and rose high
above the planet Lightworld. As they climbed higher, Glitz stared down at the
maze-like city structures that were spread all across the planet. Although it
was common knowledge that Lightworld was the seat of the Navy, there were many
mysteries surrounding the planet. For one thing, it had an official population
count of zero, despite the expansive cities. If no one really lived there, what
was the point of it all? There was clearly
something
going on there,
quite apart from its role as Navy HQ.

Doland
stared miserably out into space. A part of him wished he had never escaped from
Malus in the first place. First he had been forced to have his DNA changed, and
now he was being forced to undertake a dangerous mission for the Navy. The
chances of surviving couldn’t be great. Had it been worth it? His sentence had
only been for five years. It was quite a long time, but at least he would have
been able to walk away free at the end of it. The First Naval Lord had said
that the scout ship had been destroyed before reaching the planet Chaos. Doland
couldn’t think of any reason why they would be treated any differently.

Tekka
glanced at the space co-ordinates on the location grid. “I cannot help but
notice that we are travelling further away from Chaos.” He paused, staring at
Alyce. He didn’t seem to see her as a beautiful woman—he looked at her as if
totally oblivious to her charms. Glitz wondered vaguely if Tekka had ever made
love to a woman in his life.

“You’re
right,” Alyce said. “We have to make a small detour to the planet Cronor.”

“Cronor?”
Tekka frowned, and accessed the databank stored on his neurochip. “A scrapyard
planet. Owned by a consortium of non-ferrous metal dealers from Stoln.”

“A
junk planet?” Doland said. “Why are we going there?”

“Because
we need a ship,” Alyce said simply. She turned to Tekka. “Do you—do you have a
neurochip?”

Tekka
nodded.

“But…
that’s illegal,” protested Alyce. “You could be…” She tailed off, her face
softening slightly. “But I suppose it might come in useful.”

Most
Navy captains were augmented as a matter of course, but the Navy surgeons had
concluded that the process would likely cause Alyce harm, so she had never been
augmented. Some people’s bodies were simply not suitable for augmentation.

Tekka
didn’t say anything else, and Alyce too fell silent. Glitz was almost ashamed
by the feelings of passion that were surging up inside him because he was
pressed in so close to Alyce. It was almost like being a teenager again. It had
been several months since he had enjoyed any female company, and the period of
abstinence had made it all the more exciting to meet such a beautiful female.
The journey was short, and before long they were approaching a planet.

“Nearly
there,” Alyce said.

In
the distance, Glitz could see a speck of light becoming larger as they
approached. As they got closer, he could see that it was a grey-coloured orb
surrounded by some sort of fuzzy ring.

“What’s
that ring?” he murmured.

“It’s
called the Scrap Ring. If someone on a nearby planet doesn’t want a piece of
metal anymore, they simply fire it off towards Cronor. Then the scrap gets
caught up in the planet’s orbit, ready to be extracted by the Stolnites. They
don’t like people disposing of their rubbish in this way, but there’s little
they can do to stop it.”

“I’d
have thought they’d be grateful,” Doland said. “Scrap’s their bread and
butter.”

Alyce
smiled. “Would you like it if someone threw a piece of bread and butter at
you?”

Doland
frowned thoughtfully. “Good point.”

Her
face took on a stern expression as she prepared the ship for landing. Small
crafts were generally harder to steer than larger ones; the onboard computers
were more simplistic and required more manual intervention.

“OK,”
Alyce said. “We’re about to land on Cronor. Please keep quiet so I can
concentrate.”

Glitz
bowed his head with sarcastic reverence. “Yes, ma’am.”

Alyce’s
brow furrowed as she slowly steered the ship. She had programmed in the landing
procedure, but the Beetle still needed a slight nudge in the right direction.
Glitz watched her face as she made slight corrections to the ship’s course. She
seemed even more attractive when she was stressed; her body emitted a sensuous
heat and her face glistened. Finally, they entered the planet’s atmosphere and
landed on the surface. Alyce exhaled slowly, and turned to the rest of the
crew.

“Listen
up,” she said. “These Stolnites can be tricky customers. So just follow me and
don’t say anything. I’ll do all the talking.”

Every
time she spoke Glitz felt a strange mixture of intense irritation and extreme
physical attraction. Each emotion seemed to amplify the other.

“Why
are we even here?” Doland said, as they stepped out onto the planet. It was
little more than a huge junk heap. There were thousands of wrecked ships, faulty
parts and broken machines scattered around. Large brown furry creatures were climbing
over the wreckage, either repairing things or pulling them apart.

“I
told you. To find a ship.”

Glitz
didn’t like the look of the furry creatures, which he recognised as Stolnites.
He had never visited Stoln during his time working as a spice trader for the East
Galaxy Company, because they had no interest in spicy food—or indeed flavour of
any kind. They were the scavengers of the galaxy, notorious for thieving. The
old joke said that a Stolnite would steal your dung if there was a market for
it.

But
Alyce seemed unperturbed by the creatures. She marched towards a nearby
Stolnite that was using a laser cutter to saw into a damaged star-shift engine.

Doland
grinned at Glitz and Tekka. “She’d better watch herself. These Stolnites are
taught how to pickpocket before they can walk.” The three men followed Alyce
and stood behind her when she stopped.

“Excuse
me,” Alyce said, trying to get the Stolnite’s attention. It heard her, and
switched off his laser cutter. The creature looked almost like a giant dog,
except that it was walking upright and had beady, rat-like eyes.

The
Stolnite made a loud sound that was like a mixture of a roar and a bark.

“Galactic
Standard One!” Alyce said firmly. It was a frequent source of irritation to the
humans that Stolnites insisted on speaking their own language. The only
official language of the empire was the Galactic Standard tongue, and all
aliens were required to show proficiency in the language. The Stolnites could
speak it perfectly, but they chose not to. Unsurprisingly, many humans saw this
as an act of insolence. Occasional petitions were made to Emperor Ferdinand,
urging him to address the problem of Stolnite impudence, but there were usually
more pressing matters to take care of.

This
particular Stolnite snorted, but began to speak in Galactic Standard One. “What
do you want?” it said gruffly.

“My
name is Captain Wickham, and these are my… associates—Harlan Glitz, Hans Tekka
and Raja Doland.” Somehow, “associates” seemed the wrong word, but the men were
not members of the Navy either. Their uniforms were plain and gave no
indication of rank, as they were not officially part of the Navy. “What is your
name?”

“What’s
it got to do with you?” the Stolnite said, showing its teeth. It placed a defensive
paw on the metal object beneath it. “If it’s about this engine, this was thrown
out as scrap. I found it fair and square. If it’s stolen, it’s nothing to do
with me.”

Alyce
sighed impatiently. “No, we’re not here about the engine.” She paused,
wondering which line to take. She decided that there was only one language that
Stolnites truly listened to, and pulled out a credit bar. The Stolnite’s eyes
lit up. “This credit bar contains twenty thousand credits. In addition to this
we also have a Beetle cruiser to barter with. We need to purchase a ship.”

After
seeing the shiny credit bar, the Stolnite’s manner changed completely. It
hopped off the engine as if forgetting it completely, and bowed before the four
of them like a particularly eager waiter. “Janzley at your service. I am your
most faithful servant. Now… what kind of ship are you looking for?”

“We
need the most ugly ship that you can find. It should be a big pile of old
scrap, the kind of ship no one would ever want. But it has to be in perfect
working order.”

The
three men stared at Alyce in disbelief. Had the woman lost it? Twenty thousand
credits was enough to buy a decent galactic craft from a reputable dealer. Why
were they using the money to buy a heap of junk from a sneaky-looking Stolnite?
The Stolnite seemed a little surprised by her request, but he wasn’t going to
argue when such a huge reward was on offer.

“I
have just the thing,” Janzley said. “Come with me.”

The
Stolnite led them across the surface of the planet. The sky overhead was pale,
and the colour almost blended in with the shade of the ground. The grey
monotony was broken only by the scrap littered all over the world. Many
Stolnites turned to stare at them as they passed; Glitz guessed that they
didn’t get many human visitors to such a dreary world. Finally, they reached a
small bay. The ocean beyond was almost motionless, and the water was cloaked by
white mist. The beach was made of grey and black stones. The whole place had a
somewhat dreamlike quality. They reached what looked like a small cave in the
cliff face. Janzley beckoned them inside.

“These
are my humble lodgings,” the Stolnite said, as they entered the cave. It was
illuminated by phosphorescent plants growing up the cave walls. The place was
filled with scrap; the concentration of junk metal was even higher than on the
planet’s surface. Glitz noticed that a small bed was wedged in between a huge
metal chest and a defunct android. Janzley pointed to a corner of the cave.
“Now what do you think of
that
?”

“It’s
perfect,” Alyce said, grinning.

“Are
you joking?” Doland said, raising an eyebrow.

Whatever
the thing was, Doland would not describe it as perfect. It was clearly a ship
of some kind, but the model was obviously years out-of-date. He had never seen
such a craft. It had a somewhat unwieldy, bulky appearance, and had many
obvious signs of repair. The paintwork had scratched off in many places,
revealing bare metal. A piece of dull metal had been hammered in place beneath
the main starshield, presumably to cover up damage. Some words starting with
“SOLD” were scribbled in white paint over the side.

“And
it’s in full working order?” Alyce said.

“Of
course,” the Stolnite said. “You have my word.”

They
all knew that the word of a Stolnite didn’t count for anything.

“I
can scan it,” Tekka said. He activated his neurochip, and performed a thorough
digital deconstruction of the ship, looking out for any breaches of the hull or
machines in a state of disrepair. When the scan was completed, he nodded. “The
ship looks terrible, but it is actually in quite good order. None of the major
systems have any problems. It is certainly spaceworthy.”