On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus) (39 page)

Mariko stared at him. 

“They’re trying to build a wormhole network of their own?”

“It’s possible,” Fitz said.  “But it’s also possible that the Snakes want to get their claws on him.  They don’t have a wormhole network, or the theory to build one...”

“But the Professor could help them fill in the gaps,” Mariko said.  She completed the checks and sent a PTL burst to the local OTC.  The OTC didn't seem to have any objections to them leaving; they merely designated a course that would allow them a clear run up to the edge of the gravity well. 

“Do you think we should take him to the
Bruce Wayne
instead?” she asked after a long moment.

“I’m not sure,” Fitz admitted.  “But if we intercept him now, we lose our chance to track down the Secessionist base.”  He shook his head.  “I’m ordering Mai to follow us at a safe distance.  Whatever is waiting for us on the far side, we will have at least one surprise up our sleeves.”

Mariko watched as he passed on his orders while the
Happy Wanderer
climbed out of the gravity well.  It struck her as risky, but as long as the Professor was onboard a ship they controlled, he couldn't be turned against the Imperium. 

Or could he?  There was no way to know. Red might have tricks that wouldn't show up on a basic scan.  Fitz had commented that some augments were deliberately designed to be largely undetectable...

...but perhaps she was just getting paranoid. 

“I have a course laid in for Theta Sigma,” she said, grimly.  “Do you think that that will suffice?”

Theta Sigma was a small colony ten light years from Paradise, an understandable destination for a pair of spacers desperate for money and not too picky about how they got it.  Like most new colony worlds, Theta Sigma preferred to pay smugglers rather than Imperium-authorised shipping agents.  The smugglers were cheaper. 

“It should do, for starters,” Fitz said.  Ahead of them, the open stars seemed to beckon the freighter onwards.  “And then we can see where our guests are taking us.”

“Phase drive in three, two, one...”  Mariko keyed the switch and space compressed around the freighter, tossing them into the dark dimension of phase space. 

There was nothing outside, apart from a very faint distortion that had to be Mai.  The
Bruce Wayne
was a marvel of a ship, she had to admit.  Following someone through phase space was not easy. 

“Phase space achieved,” she told him.

“Then let’s go and have a word with our guests,” Fitz said.  “It’s time to find out where they want us to go.”

***

Red was sitting on her bunk when the hatch opened to admit Mariko, almost as if she were meditating while
awaiting her time to act.  She uncurled her legs the moment Mariko looked inside and stood up, wearing nothing more than a tight shipsuit she’d had in her bag.

“Time to change course?” she asked, smoothly.  “Of course; silly question.  Take me to your bridge.”

“And why should I take you to my bridge?” Mariko countered, stung.

“Because you want to know where to go, don’t you?”  Red lifted one delicate eyebrow.  “Or do you feel that you can take us somewhere else and sell us into slavery?”

“I’ve never had much patience with being mocked,” Mariko said, as she motioned for Red to follow her.  “And besides, who would want to buy you as a slave?”

“All sorts of things happen out along the Rim that no one notices,” Red said, wryly.  “There’s even an alien world where having a human slave is a status symbol.  We dominate the universe, but they know that they can still dominate individual humans.  Really sad, isn't it?”

She smiled as she stepped onto the bridge.  “Ah, a
modified
bridge,” she said, with some interest.  “Did you put this together on your own, or did you have a team of monkeys to assist?”

“I did most of the work,” Fitz said, from his station.  “Where do you want us to go?”

Red grinned at him.  “Are you in such a hurry to get rid of me, handsome?”

“I want to know where to steer the ship,” Fitz said, patiently. 

Mariko felt a hot flash of jealousy, as he seemed to be interested in Red.  The girl’s blatant sexuality was disconcerting, which might have been the point.  A man might underestimate her…until it was too late. 

“There are nine possible destinations within thirty light years along this vector,” Fitz told her, “but we would have to alter course more radically if we departed along the wrong vector...”

“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist.” Red said, as she bent down to examine the console.  “Merely alter course a few degrees and head directly towards IAS-482352.”

Fitz shrugged.  “And just what happens to be there?”

“Very little, apart from an abandoned research station from back when the scientists were wondering just what was going on in the heart of a very strange red dwarf,” Red said with a smile.  “But it makes a good place to meet our friends, wouldn't you say?”

“A nice, isolated place,” Mariko agreed.

“Oh, yes,” Red said.  Her grin grew wider.  “How long will it take to get there?”

“Around seven hours,” Mariko said, as she carefully altered course.  “Maybe a little longer – the last interstellar survey picked up traces of shadow graviton particles that might make maintaining an active phase drive field harder.”

“No one quite knows what’s going on inside that sun,” Red said.  She smiled at Fitz, who smiled back.  “Would you like to spend the next two hours with me, instead of watching boring consoles on the bridge?”

Fitz hesitated.  “Ah...”

“I'm afraid that we both have duties,” Mariko said, quickly.  “I suggest that you return to your cabin and wait for the reversion into normal space.  At that point, we can meet up with your friends and start transferring the cargo.”

Red leered at her.  “Frightened I’ll ruin him permanently for you?”

“I pay him for actually working,” Mariko countered, icily.  “He can seduce you once he’s off-duty.  Which won’t be until we meet up with your friends.”

“What a great shame,” Red mocked.  “But
you
could join me in my cabin instead.”

“No, thank you,” Mariko said, tightly.  “Go to your cabin and wait there.”

Red bowed and left through the hatch, pausing just long enough to wink at Fitz before leaving.  Mariko stared after her, a helpless rage boiling through her.  Red was already getting on her nerves...

“It’s a power play,” Fitz said, when Mariko gave vent to her frustration.  “Keeping you off-balance is a good way to maintain control of the situation, even if you
are
the Captain of this ship.  And it allows her a chance to try to build influence with me...never accept anyone who is so blatantly trying to get you into bed.  They always have an ulterior motive.”

Mariko looked at him as she settled back down in her chair. 

“How many times have you had sex while on duty?  How many women have you seduced to save the day?”

Fitz laughed. 

“Those shows about interstellar men of mystery have a great deal to answer for,” he said.  “I never had to seduce
anyone
in my career, unless you count a girl I met while developing a cover identity on Francisco.  She was sweet, the caring mother of two young girls, and I liked her.  But when it was time to move on, I said goodbye and left without looking back.”

Mariko frowned.  “You just left her there?”

“She didn't know who I was,” Fitz said.  “And I never made her any promises.  Does that make it any better?”

“I don’t know,” Mariko admitted.  “It’s a dirty business, isn't it?”

“Yes,” Fitz said, flatly.  “When I was...recruited, I was told that I might find myself doing things that would bring a whole load of short-term pain – and that pain might not fall on the deserving bastards who started the shit rolling in the first place.  All I could really do was hope that I would make a difference in the long-term, for everyone.  But I cut myself off from my family, built a playboy persona around myself, and...and I could never really relax again.”

Mariko reached out a hand and placed it on his.  “Is it always that way?”

“For those of us who operate alone, it is
always
that way,” Fitz said.  His voice was surprisingly wooden.  “I always envied people like Prather, even though I didn’t trust them – they had friends and allies in their departments.  I had Don, but I never wanted to get close to him.  We always knew that we might end up giving our lives to save the entire Imperium.  And now Don’s dead, and I’m still alive.”

Mariko hesitated, and then answered a question that had been bugging her.  “Were you and Don lovers?”

Fitz chuckled, humourlessly. 

“Homosexuality is forbidden among the aristocracy,” he reminded her.  “The Grand Senators are obsessed with having children, even though the rejuvenation treatments make it harder for us to have kids.  Anyone who was openly homosexual could expect Extreme Disapproval, at the very least.  Someone who chased alien women could be at least gunning for the right sex.  But homosexuality...it’s funny how many freedoms there are for the young nobility, but they don’t include homosexuality.”

“That doesn't answer the question,” Mariko pressed.  “Were you and Don...?”

“No,” Fitz said, flatly.  “But we were pushed together on a mission and if you do that, you either end up very close friends, or you wind up killing each other.  We got along, learned to read each other’s minds – having the same augmentation helped.  And then we fucked up and Don died, while I escaped by the skin of my teeth.  Don will be missed back home.”

“You have us,” Mariko said.  She tried to push sincerity into her words.  “I will stay with you.”

“You’ll need a great deal of training before you are truly fit for this job,” Fitz said.  “What about your sister?”

“You said you could get her a job more suited to her talents,” Mariko pointed out.  “Can't you do that?”

“If it’s what she wants,” Fitz said.  “The Engineering Corps won’t want someone who doesn't want to be there.  And I wouldn't send her anywhere if she didn’t want to go.”

He stood up and paced the bridge. 

“You may have to cut yourself off from everyone you know and love,” he added.  “Maybe it won’t matter in your case, but in mine...I can't afford to have people like the Twins thinking that I might be spying on them.  The excesses of the young nobility are a major cause of
unhappiness
in the Imperium, and we do what we can to curb them.  So I go around acting like a fop, all the time watching and waiting for the moment to act.  Do you think that you could live that life forever?  Because that’s what you’re talking about.”

Mariko studied him for a long moment. “Who recruited you into this...conspiracy of light?”

“Someone very senior – and no, I won’t tell you his name,” Fitz said.  His grin widened unpleasantly.  “One of the things you are going to have to learn, if you
really
want to keep this job, is when not to ask questions.  This is one of the really bad times to ask questions.”

He reached out and gave her a hug, before heading towards the hatch.  “I'm going to check up on our guests, then take a brief nap.  I suggest you take a nap, too; it won’t be long before we need all of our wits about us.”

***

IAS-482352 had seemed unremarkable, until a team of astronomers had noted a peculiar quantum signal in the star’s core, suggesting that someone had actually modified the star somehow thousands of years ago.  The Imperium, according to the records Mariko had pulled out of the
Happy Wanderer’s
database, had been very interested; altering a star’s inner structure was a feat beyond human technology and the Grand Senate wanted to know how to do it.  But a research program that lasted forty years had turned up nothing, eventually convincing the Grand Senate to cancel the study and officially dismiss the claims of stellar modification as lies and misinterpretation of the data.  If someone
did
possess a technology superior to humanity’s, the Grand Senate didn't want anyone actually
believing
in them.  Who knew what would have happened to humanity’s sense of superiority if they’d known that such technology existed.