New Contract (Perimeter Defense Book #3) (18 page)

"Wise decision, Prince Georg," the graying captain smiled, changing appearance back to that of the redheaded girl. "With the greatest spies and saboteurs in the galaxy at your Highness’s disposal, you will quickly figure out why the Swarm was never once able to win even one significant victory in the whole two-hundred-year war with the Arites."

T
he public relations barrage arranged by Katerina ton Mesfelle was an overwhelming success. Beyond a doubt, it was my cousin's greatest work, a true masterpiece, a reference point of how telecommunications can be used for propaganda purposes. The standing of the Orange House Head sank like a stone, even dipping below zero. We accused him of illegal surveillance against civilians, corruption and embezzlement, as well as a great many violations of the Aristocratic Codex, which could even have caused him to lose his title. It got so bad that the Orange House press service had to stop taking messages, drowned under the wave of disapproval that swept in from Imperial citizens outraged at the fact that relatives of veterans of the Alien war were being persecuted.

The stink that arose was such that even the Throne World could not remain neutral. That was the true pinnacle of the attack. The Emperor's secretariat sent an open letter to Duke Avalle royl Anjer ton Mesfelle, in which it was strongly recommended that the Head of the Orange House immediately cease his illegal operations against civilians and take the strictest possible measures against the Orange House employees who had allowed it, even going so far as calling it a human rights violation. According to unofficial reports, the Head of the Orange House had a heart attack after reading that letter.

It wasn't hard to understand that, after receiving such an unambiguous warning, none of Duke Avalle's people even thought about detaining or interrogating anyone, and transport starships and passenger liners toward Unatari or Tialla started filling up far beyond capacity.

Three days later, my assistant Ayna reported that all people named in the evacuation list had been successfully removed to safe locations. At the same time, Paul ton Akad said that the procurement of strategically necessary reserves had been completed. With that, there was no more reason to continue delaying the Unatari declaration of independence, so I gave the long-ago-prepared order to my assault groups to begin the capture of the warp beacons.

The attack began simultaneously from four different directions. The capture of six space stations was set to take place all at the same time. Landing ships from Hnelle, under cover of combat spaceships from the Unatari Fleet were to take the Tialla system, where a large amount of freight for my new state had accumulated. A second group of landing ships captured Forepost-11, and cut-off communication between Perimeter Sectors Eight and Seven. Another part of the Unatari fleet, coming from the Sigur system, attacked Forepost-12. The Chameleons took the Sss and Li Colony systems under their control. And finally, the fleet from the Oort system captured Forepost-13. As a result of these actions, the systems under my control, previously disconnected, were united into a single contiguous area.

The second step of my plan was capturing the Vorta, Closed Laboratories, Unguay, Parn and Forepost-31 systems, which would practically fully return the political situation on the star map back to where it had been eight months earlier, when I had over twenty star systems under my control. Exactly one hour before my landing ships exited their warp tunnels, on Katerina ton Mesfelle's advice, I decided to notify some influential figures in the Orange House hierarchy, so the military operation that was about to begin wouldn't be completely unexpected. First of all, I ordered my communications officers to connect me with my twin sister Crown Princess Violetta royl Inoky ton Mesfelle-Damir.

The Ice Princess was taking a bubble bath at the time, but still did not refuse a chat with her brother. So, her servants attached the video screen right to a silver ledge with endless rows of various lotions, oils, balms and other cosmetics that only women understand. Violetta heard out my message with utter calm, her face not changing in the slightest. Though at the end, she wondered with a light shade of dissatisfaction:

"And what made you do that, Georg? You and I made a totally different agreement at our father's funeral. You were supposed to use your redheaded girlfriend to help me clear a path to become Duchess of the Orange House, and in exchange, I was to fund all of your vices."

It took a great deal of effort not to show my surprise, seeing Violetta speak so frankly. I gathered my thoughts and answered:

"I remember, sister. It's just that the head-first approach wasn't getting us anywhere. Miya is not omnipotent, after all. Also, my wife cannot arouse too much suspicion with her actions. Our agreement is still in force, but how we’re gonna get there is a bit different now. All that's standing between you and the throne is Duke Avalle royl Anjer and his two sisters, the Crown Princesses Inessa royl George and Silva royl George. I'm sure we could work something out with the sisters. The only thing the two of them are interested in is luxury and comfort, and they will make way for you, if you guarantee them a certain lifestyle. But Duke Avalle, on the other hand, needs to be dealt with by force, which is exactly what I intend to do."

"Our brother Roben is in the way too," my sister reminded me.

"We don't need to touch Roben yet. He is still fairly loyal, which is very important when you’re surrounded by nothing but enemies."

My sister went silent for a minute, then nodded and said distinctly:

"Very well, brother. Do what you need to, I will not interfere in your plans. My fleet will remain neutral in this war, no matter how much Duke Avalle rages. And as for paying me, I was paid in advance a long time ago."

The screen went out and I rubbed my sweat-covered temples in thought. So that's what it was! It turned out that my sister and I had long ago concluded an agreement, and I was to help Violetta remove all other pretenders to the Orange House throne and become Duchess. That was why she had agreed so readily to help me get Duke Paolo out of the way the last time. My sister thought I was coming through with our agreement.

The next in my list of contacts was Svetlana ton Mesfelle, the brave warrior and Perimeter Sector Nine Fleet Commander. Our conversation was long and not at all simple, though I could hardly have expected anything else, given that she was the current Orange House Head's niece. But, in the end, I did achieve what I wanted. The Sector Nine Fleet would also not be taking part in the war.

"Georg, I truly value your frankness and help in the past, but don't misunderstand me. I cannot go against my uncle. He is still the person who got me this post as fleet commander. Your state does not border on Sector Nine, so though I may make threats, curse you out, and express all kinds of moral support to the Orange House, at the end of the day my fleet will remain in Sector Nine, destined to be nothing but an observer in the internal conflict. If, at any point, fate should see fit to give our territories a shared border, we'll have to revisit this conversation."

I had approximately the same conversation with Marat ton Mesfelle, Perimeter Sector Seven Fleet Commander. After hearing out the new information carefully, Marat began to laugh:

"Georg, why do you care what I think here? After all, I studied your methods quite thoroughly and cannot possibly believe that you didn't first make sure to cut off the only path between Sectors Seven and Eight!"

"Oh, I made perfectly sure of it, naturally," I admitted. "Twenty minutes from now, the Tialla and Forepost-11 stations will be under my control, and the warp beacons will be turned off at once."

"You see, then, Georg! Duke Avalle will soon order the warp beacons in Sector Seven turned off, and our fleets will never meet on the battlefield. Although... If your new government is able to survive the next few months, I'll think about your offer of joining together. In my heart of hearts, I will be completely on your side, Georg. Good luck!"

I was not able to call my brother. Crown Prince Roben royl Inoky's secretary told me that my older brother had been "doing lots of technical work and was very tired." It was a huge pity that Roben had decided to go on a bender at such a bad time. There was a storm of activity brewing all around the Tesse system, but my brother had removed himself from the list of politically active players.

Now that I had some time before my speech, I decided to get in touch with the Head of the Purple House, Duke Takuro royl Andor at the last moment to warn him as well. In the past, the old man was fairly kind-hearted toward me, so he had earned good faith on my part. And, it must be said that the spontaneous decision I made turned out to have been uncommonly beneficial. The Duke heard me out carefully and replied thoughtfully:

"Georg, you've proven yourself a good boy once again. I had begun doubting your nature, but it turns out I was wrong. Know then that, while I am alive, the Purple House will not give your new government any trouble. Also, honesty for honesty, I have a very important piece of information to tell you. Four days ago, I gave the Green House my permission to take their First Fleet through Purple House territory. It is a huge armada of one thousand five hundred ships, and is currently in my Perimeter Sector Six. The fleet is being led by Crown Prince Demyen royl Amelius ton Lavaelle, first in line to the Green House throne. He has many experienced officers and admirals with him. Demyen swore to avenge the death of his two cousins Keno and Rigo, after their deaths at the hands of your bodyguard, so he will stop at nothing. In three days, the Green House First Fleet starships will enter Perimeter Sector Seven and go onward toward your capital. Insofar as I know, the head of the Orange House has already given permission for these ships to pass through his territories."

"Thank you for the warning, Duke. I think I'll be able to provide these guests with a rather warm reception!"

I opened the interface, chose the personal relations menu and sent Duke Takuro royl Andor an increase of fifteen points to the level of "friendship." Right after, his reply came in:

Standing change. Purple House (Empire) opinion of you has improved.

Present Purple House (Empire) faction opinion of you: +20 (trusting)

Just after I turned the screen off, I called Colonel Gor ton Vulf in:

"There's been a small change of plans. The assault groups headed for the warp beacons in Parn, the Closed Laboratories and Forepost-31 are to capture the beacons, but not reveal their presence in any way. We need the whole Empire to keep thinking that these systems are under Orange House control, as before. I want to prepare a little surprise for a group of uninvited guests."

* * *

I wasn't worried at all. Over the last few days, all the details of my upcoming speech had been thoroughly analyzed and polished by a whole team of camera men, directors and psychologists. That was why, just as in the script, I gave an emotional telling before the cameras of the monstrous injustice being wrought at the hands of the Orange House. Corruption, greed, unjust allotting of military trophies, surveillance against war heroes and their families, and shadowy games behind the curtain had long been the hallmarks of Orange House power. And to top it all off, the Head of the Orange House was simply personally unfit for his job. Those were the main accusations I made. I didn't leave out the Orange House Head's son’s treason either. As a commander, appointed personally by Duke Avalle, he had led a fleet of five hundred starships to certain death, but himself surrendered without a fight. As a result, the Aliens had captured not only a valuable combat ship, but also obtained access to secret human communication systems, signal encoding algorithms, military maps, coordinates to docks and military bases, and officer rolls, both from the Joint Chiefs and the Orange House...

At the end, the viewer was mentally prepared for the official message stating that the Unatari State would be leaving the Orange House:

Attention! The Unatari State has come into being

The Orange House has lost sovereignty over the Unatari system

The Unatari State has gained sovereignty over the Unatari system

The Orange House has lost sovereignty over the Hnelle system

The Unatari State has gained sovereignty over the Hnelle system

The Orange House has lost sovereignty over the Sigur system

The Unatari State has gained sovereignty over the Sigur system

The Orange House has lost sovereignty over the Sss system

The Unatari State has gained sovereignty over the Sss system

...

All at once, fifteen star systems left the Orange House and formed the brand new Unatari State! The viewers saw the long list of separatist systems on their screens. Those with surgical implants saw the same messages in their internal interface systems. Before the viewer's shock at what had happened passed, I said that the Unatari State would remain in the Empire and was as unflinchingly loyal to the Emperor as ever.

I declared that I myself would be ruler of this newly-formed government, which made my personal information change immediately to read:

Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, Crown Prince of the Empire, Ruler of Unatari