On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus) (20 page)

“I think so,” she said, finally.  She’d coped with near-disasters in space without losing her cool, so why was she shaking now?  “What happened?”

“An IED,” Fitz said, grimly. 

The term meant nothing to Mariko. 

“An Improvised Explosive Device,” Fitz explained.  “Very common on worlds that don’t have a proper weapons industry of their own.  A smart person can invent an IED from common materials available anywhere and place it somewhere for an unwary Marine or Civil Guardsman to stumble over.  Given enough raw materials, you can make life very unpleasant for a heavily-armed combat unit even without technological equality.”

He shook his head as another burst of thunder rippled through the sky.  “We’ll have to go to Lady Mary’s plantation house and hope we can call Archie from there,” he said.  “If not...”

Mariko frowned.  “We could call Mai, couldn't we?”

“I’d prefer not to reveal that we can do that unless the situation turns from serious and becomes desperate,” Fitz said.  He didn’t sound as if he were joking.  “And besides, if someone left an IED here to discourage visitors, they might have an HVM launcher hidden away as well.”

They walked back onto the road and started to head northwards, Fitz leading the way and watching for other IEDs.  Mariko could understand why the devices were so feared, even by the most advanced military forces.  A single IED in the right place could bring an advance snarling to a halt.  She hadn't seen any sign they were about to trigger one until it had actually exploded; even a military force in battlesuits would have difficulty noticing one until it was too late.  The experts who defused them had to be the bravest men in the Imperium.

The vines beside them rustled suddenly and a dozen Slimes appeared out of nowhere, carrying what looked like primitive weapons in their hands.  Mariko froze as the semi-amphibious aliens pressed in around them, fish-like hands pawing at their belts and removing weapons, tools and communicators.  A moment later, two of them pulled her hands behind her back and used a metal tie to secure them behind her.  Fitz, it seemed, was getting the same treatment.

“Come,” the lead alien hissed, as if he – or she – had a permanently sore throat.  “You come now.”

Alien hands pushed at her and she started to walk after the aliens as they headed back into the vines.  Fitz didn't seem to be too worried, at least.  He grinned at her as they were pushed onwards, just before he pulled his foppish persona around him. 
He
wouldn't worry about a thing.

High overhead, another roll of thunder announced the start of a rainstorm.

The rain came down like a tempest out of
a nightmare.  Sheets of water hit the vines overhead, splashing down on the humans below.  Mariko felt the water running over her body and shivered, wishing that she could raise a hand to cover her stinging eyes.  The rainwater tasted funny, as if something had been mixed with the droplets of water.  Part of the terraforming program, perhaps, or something different?  She stumbled, slipping and sliding through the mud, and watched the aliens resentfully as they seemed to have no problems with the water.  Indeed, they seemed to
enjoy
it.

I should have researched the Slimes more thoroughly
, she told herself, angrily.  Her father had always taught her to research carefully but she had always tried to ignore his advice.  Lack of research had gotten her into trouble on Dorado, and now Greenland.  She didn't even know what the Slimes called themselves, if any research had been done on their civilisation and culture prior to its destruction. 

The aliens burbled to one another in voices that seemed more alive in the rain, speaking a language she couldn't understand.  Imperial Standard One didn't seem to have anything in common with their language.  But then, that wasn't surprising, she told herself.  Their mouths were clearly very different from human mouths.

A hatch opened in the ground and the Slimes marched right in down a darkened tunnel that seemed to be covered in slippery mud.  Mariko slipped as she stepped inside and had to endure the indignity of a pair of aliens grabbing her shoulders and holding her upright until she managed to regain her footing.  Water drifted through the air, providing a moistness that reminded her of parts of Tuff, something that was probably good for the Slimes.  Once they reached the bottom of the tunnel, the walls were illuminated with dull red lights, each one casting an eerie glow over the complex.  Hundreds of Slimes seemed to infest the complex, all carrying weapons that looked crude, but effective. 

Mariko wondered how anyone could build such a complex without the human overlords noticing, before remembering how unconcerned Archie had been about the Slimes.  Anything they saw would probably be dismissed as unimportant. 

The liquid in the air seemed to grow stronger as they were thrust into a small room, with the door firmly closed and locked behind them.  Mariko struggled against the tie around her wrists, but it was metal and refused to budge, no matter how hard she struggled.  Fitz seemed to have remained inhumanly calm, sitting down on a damp bed and rolling his eyes at her in the dim red light.  It must have been what the Slimes found comfortable, or something they remembered from the day before their world was reshaped to suit humanity.  Mariko opened her mouth to demand that he do something, before realising that the cell would almost certainly be bugged.  But what would happen now?  Kidnapping someone like Lord Fitzgerald wasn't like killing a handful of workers or even raiding a plantation in the middle of the night.  There
would
be questions asked by his family, perhaps with the Imperial Navy ordered to investigate directly.  And
that
would risk exposing the presence of the rebel cell to human forces. 

She smiled, rather sourly.  It was unlikely that the Imperial Navy would be as disinterested as the planters on Greenland.  The rebels could hardly hope for someone
less
observant than Archie and his family, with the possible exception of Auntie Jo.  But Jo was back on Tuff, she assumed, visiting Lady Mary.  Or would she have come to grief in the jungles when Lady Mary realised what she wanted the Imperial Navy to do?  One careful investigation might reveal Mary’s involvement with the Secessionists.

“Don't worry about a thing,” Fitz said, in his foppish voice.  “I’m sure that this is just a misunderstanding and we will get it sorted out soon enough.”

Nearly an hour passed before the cell door opened and a pair of armed guards came inside.  One of them grabbed Mariko and pulled her to her feet – the Slimes were stronger than she’d realised, or perhaps these Slimes had been raised in what they considered a natural environment – before pushing her towards the door.  The other one helped Fitz to his feet and shoved him after Mariko, forcing them both down a long muddy corridor.  Darkness seemed to fill half of the rooms, only vaguely broken by the eerie red light.  It was easy to imagine that the darkness was filled with monsters, just waiting for a chance to reach out and snatch her from her captors.  A human would never have found it a comfortable place, but the Slimes seemed happy and content in the mud.  The handful she saw as they were marched down the corridor seemed to stare at the humans almost defiantly.  It was difficult to read their expressions – their faces seemed curiously immobile compared to human faces – but they didn't seem to be happy.  It was easy to imagine how they might take the opportunity to extract a little revenge by killing both of them.

Just how large
was
the complex?  It was impossible to tell.  There were no recognisable markings on the walls, nothing that a human might use to navigate from place to place; the dull red light seemed to make it even harder to navigate.  It was possible that they were being pushed through the complex in a pattern intended to suggest that the complex was larger than it actually was.  But if they’d used primitive mining tools to build the complex, and installed shielded generators to power the complex, it was possible that it stretched for miles under the surface. 

Archie and his family wouldn't even have a clue until it was far too late.

She shivered again as they passed through a force field and into a larger chamber.  If the Imperial Navy did arrive and scorch the planet back into submission, how many aliens would survive in the underground complexes?  It would depend on what weapons were used, but Archie’s relatives would be rather unwilling to allow the Navy to unleash a planet-cracker, something that would utterly destroy their investment.  A mild scorching, using energy weapons to wipe out the visible alien settlements, would spare the underground cities.  And who knew what would happen after that?

Fitz stepped in front of her as her eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom.  Three figures were standing in front of them, their faces hidden in the shadows.  One of them was clearly a slime, a second was human...and the third was from an alien race she didn't recognise.  He was humanoid, but the shape of his body suggested a very different evolutionary path to the human race.  His eyes glinted red in the gloom.

“This is an outrage,” Fitz said.  If Mariko hadn't know that it was an act, she would have believed it.  “How
dare
you arrest us like common criminals.  I demand that you take me to the nearest representative of the Imperium at once.”

The human tittered lightly. 

“The Imperium has no sway here,” he said.  Every planet had a different accent, but Mariko couldn't place his.  Not Edo, definitely, nor Homeworld.  That
only
left a few hundred thousand human colony worlds as possible points of origin.  “You are a prisoner of the Secessionist League.”

“I know nothing about politics,” Fitz protested.  “I came to pick up Water of Life for my ship, and then we had an accident...”

“Silence,” the alien said.  He inched forward, revealing scaly skin and sharp teeth.  “You suffered no accident.  You are our prisoner.  Your survival depends upon how useful you make yourself to us.”

Fitz stared at them, as if he couldn't quite believe what they were saying. 

“I could pay a ransom if you let me go,” he said.  “I won’t tell anyone about what happened today...”

“The word of an aristocrat is not to be trusted,” the slime said.  “We were promised assistance in surviving what your race did to our world.  Instead, we have merely been enslaved by your fellow aristocrats.  You will be held to account for their crimes.”

“We cannot keep him here,” the human said.  “We’ll have him shipped off-planet tonight, and then moved to a secure storage point along the Rim.  There, we can interrogate him at leisure and then ransom him back if his family is willing to pay.”

“You don’t have to inform my family,” Fitz said, hastily.  “I have access to my own accounts on my ship...”

The trio ignored him, looking instead at Mariko.  “And who, precisely, are you?”

“His retainer,” Mariko said, with icy dignity.  She’d seen enough of the higher-ranking servants of the aristocracy to know that they always kept themselves aloof from their lords and masters.  The junior ones were just desperate to please.  “I am his pilot...”

“And his whore too, no doubt,” the human muttered.  “We will allow you a chance to join us, if you wish.  However, as we cannot trust you until we have scanned your mind properly for buried conditioning, we will have to keep you under lock and key until we can confirm that you haven’t been conditioned to servitude.  I suggest you spend the time considering how best you can be useful to us.”

Mariko opened her mouth, and then stopped.  What could she say?  If Fitz had been like some of the others they’d encountered on Tuff, she would probably have been more than willing to abandon him and join the Secessionists.  But he’d treated them decently after saving their lives...and she
liked
him, God damn it.  And he was right; if the Secessionists managed to bring down the Imperium, there would be a colossal bloodbath.  What would happen on Greenland when the Slimes rose in revolt, turning on their masters and tormentors with blood in their eyes? 

And what would happen right across the sector?  There were countless places where human and alien settlements intermingled.  The slaughter would be truly horrific on both sides.

“Take them away,” the human ordered.

“A Snake,” Fitz said.  He sounded a great deal less foppish all of a sudden.  “How can you deal with a Snake?”