Pax Imperia (The Redemption Trilogy) (38 page)

“Dead and buried,” came Jason’s not unexpected reply.

“Really?” Jon replied with a knowing smile. “I would never have guessed.” Jason just shot him a bad-tempered look. “Don’t forget that you volunteered to go with Miranda. Speaking of which, how is she?”

“Infatuated,” Jason replied bad tempered.

“With the Senator’s son?” Jon guessed. “There is no accounting for bad taste I suppose. I remember Sofia also had a soft spot for the boy, or at least she looked somewhat distressed as I was about to decapitate him.”

“A shame you didn’t,” Jason uttered from between clenched teeth.

Jon just laughed, leaning back and resting his feet up on the flight console, much to the indignation of the ship, which bleeped at being used as an expensive footrest. “You know,” Jon mused out aloud. “I think it’s these little chats that I miss most about my time on
Terra Nova
.”

“Just exactly where are you anyway?” Jason inquired curiously, finally noticing Jon’s surroundings.

“
Memphis
Station,” he replied without even thinking.

“What are you doing there?” Jason inquired curiously.

“Vacationing,” Jon responded quickly. As Lieutenant Edgar was one of the smartest people that he knew, and was perfectly capable of putting one plus one together and coming up with five. “So as much as I enjoy this chat, I know that you didn’t call me from halfway across the Confederation to complain about the Senator’s son.” Jon quickly added to distract him from prying further into just why he was here.

Jason quickly filled him in on the latest results of his worm and what he needed to speed up the search.

“Do it,” Jon ordered.

“Commander, this is going to take the entire Tachyon relay system down for several hours. Isn’t there somebody that you want to consult with first?”

“No,” Jon said. “What I do want are the people behind this attack. You saw the same recording that I did. You know what kind of people we’re dealing with. I want them found, and then I want them dead and buried,” he uttered chillingly.

Not one who needed to be told twice, Jason nodded his head then closed the communication channel.

*****

Jason sat behind his desk, staring in rapt fascination at the blinking control on the datapad resting in front of him, awaiting his command to start the program—and shut down the entire network. He had already checked his programming three times and now he was just procrastinating. The program would shut down the transmission network, give full processing priority to his worm, and then wait for it to complete the trace. Only then would the relays restart and resume transmitting. He really, really hoped this would work as designed; otherwise he was likely to remain busy for most of the rest of his life fixing this.

With a deep breath, he tapped the control to start the program, only releasing it several seconds later when the universe did not seem to come to an abrupt end. A quick check confirmed that all external data links from the ship had gone down. He could only sit back and wait.

Anxiously.

*****

For the second time in the space of a year, all communications stopped. However, this time there was no message to observe in the meantime. For a species that had come addicted to instantaneous communication across light-years, the enforced silence had a profound effect.

For many this was the simple joy of walking around a desk and talking face-to-face with a colleague who they hadn’t spoken to in years. Others took the enforced downtime to spend with their partners, their children and families. Many others simply took the opportunity to leave their homes or their offices and to walk outside into the bright sunshine, shielding their eyes from the glare, too used to arriving before the sun had risen and not leaving until long after sunset. To stare up in the bright blue sky, to feel the sun on their faces, the cool breeze on their skin.

To be reminded what it felt like to be
alive.

Others communicated in a far more intimate way. Sociologists observing a noticeable increase in births some nine months later…

*****

Robert Calis closed his eyes, rubbing his aching forehead with weary hands. It had been a long day, with a major mine accident, where he had helped coordinate the rescue efforts, followed by several hours of back-to-back meetings with regional politicians and senior advisers to discuss his run for the Senate, to succeed his mother as Senator for the Callas Star Cluster. He hardly felt in a position to comment that in all probability the discussions were a waste of time, as it seemed unlikely that there was going to be a Confederation much longer—and the Senate was sure to be discarded soon after. He assumed that the original agreement reached by his mother would still be in effect, and that he would be rewarded with a high-ranking position in the new administration.

He wondered why that idea bothered him so much.

Such concerns brought his thoughts full circle, back to Sofia—and Miranda. He could not help but constantly compare the two, for in many ways they were similar, both in character and spirit. However that was where the similarities ended, for the two were like night and day. Sofia was the constant optimist, with her bright sunny disposition, easy smiles and firm belief in the general goodness of people. Miranda was the opposite with her dark brooding looks, strong cynicism and no-nonsense attitude. And yet both of them were in love with Jon Radec. Not for the first time Robert shook his head in disbelief, wondering what it was about the man that seemed to so attract women to him.

It was none of these thoughts that were the cause of his headache, instead it was the continuing nagging of his conscience. For a man that so fervently derided Jon Radec for his failure to act in stopping the attack on Eden Prime, he was continually aware of his own less than honourable actions.  From his ongoing imprisonment and isolation of Sofia, to his in-depth involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the duly elected government. A conspiracy that had already resulted in the deaths of thousands, and was likely to result in many more before it was concluded.

The time that he spent with Miranda had not helped, as she had a strength of character he envied, a deep-seated conviction to do the
right thing
, irrespective of the cost. Yet he could not find the courage to do likewise. Jon Radec’s own words, as spoken by Sofia, continually haunted him day and night.

His own actions shamed him, just as much as Jon Radec’s inaction condemned him. Even worst was Sofia’s vociferous defence of the man. Even though it might have been through his inaction that her father was now dead. What if she was correct? What if Jon Radec had indeed done everything in his power to stop the attack? The thought was enough to cause him sleepless nights. He had always considered himself a man of the highest integrity and it shook him to the core to think that he might be nothing of the sort, but instead more like his mother, continually pushing his own personal desires to the fore, and simply making excuses to justify them.

He was continually drawn to that moment in time, seemingly frozen for eternity, back in the officer’s lounge of the
Imperial Star
. With Jon Radec standing over him, his deadly blade hovering inches from his throat. His life hanging in the balance, with Sofia and the rest looking on, unable or unwilling to intervene. He could still feel the burning humiliation at the back of his throat and the tears in his eyes.

Robert’s eyes shot open, as if that blade had suddenly been thrust forward, slipping between his ribs. Was that why he was continuing to hold Sofia in isolation? As punishment to Jon Radec for that humiliation? To make him suffer, just as he suffered as he had knelt before him, waiting for his decision as to whether he lived or died?

No.

He was doing this to protect Sofia, to protect her from a man who simply used her to get what he wanted and now had so easily discarded her. His eyes flickered towards the communication console on his desk. It would be easy enough to check. One call to Jon Radec and he would know. He could prove to himself that he was doing this for her, and not his own selfish desire to keep her for himself. With his fingers hovering over the desk, barely a hair’s breadth from the surface of the console, he wavered.

Closing his eyes, he remembered Miranda’s words that she had loved Jon enough to step aside. If she could have the courage to do that, then so could he.

Taking a deep breath he touched the control, opening his eyes as the view-screen above his desk came to life—

“Senator?” Robert gasped in surprise, for the man on the screen was certainly not Jonathan Radec. Instead he was far older, with grey hair, a sagging jawline and a clearly visible expanding waistline. He was richly attired, clearly displaying his considerable wealth, a wealth that was only just eclipsed by his intellect. As one of the most powerful politicians in the Confederation, he sat on many of the oversight committees, and when he spoke the Confederation listened. However it was his eyes that captured Robert’s attention; glacial slate grey that looked as old as time and as sharp as ice. They had an intensity that was unnerving. Almost laser-like in their focus, as if they would burn through him if he looked him in the eye long enough.

But what took Robert most by surprise was that the rest of the Confederation thought this man dead. Therefore the sight of him left Robert feeling cold all over, as he could think of only one reason why he would take such a risk calling.

“I have been informed that you have a new guest?” the Senator inquired, his voice deep and grating, eyes boring into him suspiciously.

“Guest?” Robert replied casually. He had spent his childhood in the company of his mother, and if he had learnt nothing else, it was how to lie convincingly. “You mean the representatives from Emperor Radec?” Robert easily managed to insert just the right amount of disdain into his voice. “They arrived unannounced a few weeks back—”

“Not them,” the Senator snarled. “Sofia Aurelius. You have Marcus’s daughter? She is still alive.” It was pronounced as an obvious statement, not a question.

Robert didn’t even blink although inside he was seething. Only a very select few of his inner circle knew about Sofia, which meant that one of them was a spy, as he had ensured that no electronic records existed detailing her presence. “I was not aware that you had any interest in the woman,” Robert cautiously replied. “I was planning on using her as a bargaining chip against Radec, in the event that he ever moved against us.”

“Marcus’s daughter,” the Senator breathed out in elation. “How many years I spent trying to obtain her, but she was always too well guarded. Marcus would rarely let her out of his sight; even then she was constantly surrounded by his Praetorians. I could never get near to her, although I tried on many occasions. She was Marcus’s only weakness. I commanded both Harkov and Sejanus to bring her to me, but both failed spectacularly. At every turn I found myself blocked by Radec. How I cursed his name, almost as much as I did Marcus’s. I thought that I had finally succeeded in separating the two of them when they first arrived on Eden Prime, but still the man casts a long shadow. Eventually I succeeded, or so I had thought, finally removing the last stain of the Aurelius bloodline from the galaxy forever.

“But you, you succeeded where everybody else before had failed. For you spirited away Marcus’s daughter from right under their very noses, and for that you will be justly rewarded. Now give her to me.”

“What do you plan to do with her?” Robert inquired, trying to buy some time, his thoughts racing ahead, trying to think of a plausible reason to deny the request, and avoid the wrath, and swift retribution from this man. “Marcus is dead. Radec is now in power, he no longer has any need of Marcus’s daughter.”

“I care little for Radec. I could’ve had him killed at any time, but I found his posturing amusing. Now he’s becoming too big a thorn in my side. Now that I have Marcus’s daughter there is no reason to let him live. I have a spy in his trusted inner circle, somebody who Radec trusts implicitly and would never suspect. He can join his beloved Marcus in hell and both can watch from there as I violate what they both love most.”

“But I don’t understand,” Robert said, confused. “I thought that all that Radec wanted was wealth and power? What does he care now that he has finally obtained both?”

For the first time the Senator looked truly shocked, before he laughed out loud. “Radec has always been a fool, a troublesome fool I grant you that, but he shares the same weakness as all the others, he is blinded by love. You never realised the true value of whom you hold. For you have in your possession the one thing that Radec values more than his own life, or Marcus’s. The woman that he loves. And that makes you more powerful than the Emperor himself.”

Robert was stunned, as the Senator had just confirmed his own doubts and fears that he had been wrong all along, and Sofia and Miranda had indeed been correct. While he could not change the mistakes he had made in the past, he could put right what he had done wrong. In a flash of inspiration an idea came to him. “Unfortunately Senator I’m not in a position to move Marcus’s daughter at the moment. As you know I currently have a Confederation taskforce in orbit above us. They are inspecting all arriving and departing ships.” Which was not a complete fabrication, since it just so happened that with the Confederation under military jurisdiction there had not been any arriving or departing ships. “What do you think Radec is going to do if he finds out that his wife is alive and well, hidden right under his very nose?” Robert smirked, knowing he had an unassailable position.

“Very well, if you cannot bring her to me. I will come to you.”

“What?” Robert said dumbstruck. “But you’re dead. If Radec even suspects that you’re alive, he’s going to know who was behind the attack.”

“Which is why I will send my son instead. He is totally inept and a grave disappointment to me, but unfortunately he is all that I’ve got. Surely he should at least be able to control one woman? He can meet his future bride-to-be.” The Senator shrugged. “Who knows, perhaps I will have better luck with my grandchildren.”