Time Commander (The First Admiral Series) (15 page)

Whatever way Billy Caudwell cut this particular problem, he could see only military action with a massive loss of life on both sides.

He could be patient and hope that the Diplomatic Corps could re-establish links with Ganthus City and negotiate some form of Treaty of Alliance. The report from the blue folder on the desk in front of him indicated that Diplomatic Relations had been severed with the delivery of the war declaration. The Ganthorans were unlikely to come to the negotiation table, unless they had been severely weakened militarily; and that meant fighting another large-scale battle.

Chief of Staff Lokkrien had suggested a pre-emptive strike against the Frontier Fleets, but he’d had to concede that the Fleets were too big for the available Alliance resources and scattered too far and wide to be effectively attacked. The idea of neutral intermediaries had been suggested, to somehow inject a degree of sanity into the situation. However, the Diplomatic Corps could find no species in this particular galaxy that the Ganthorans would be prepared to listen to. Almost two thousand years of conquest and expansion had left the Ganthorans with very few friends in this part of the universe. It had looked very much like a no-win situation for Billy and the Alliance, until a very inebriated General Grobbeg had let slip, as he was half carried away from the First Admiral’s dinner table, that Billy would make a good Emperor, along with something about a ritual. It had not registered on Billy’s consciousness until several days later, when the political and diplomatic situation had rapidly deteriorated. It was then that he had set Senior Intelligence Officer Sownus on the trail of this drunken rambling of a ritual.

It had been just under two hours since Senior Intelligence Officer Sownus had delivered the red folder that now lay on the desk in front of him. Billy Caudwell had read the contents of the folder three times now, and each time he read it, the more convinced he became that this was the only solution to the problem. The ritual to which the inebriated Grobbeg had referred was known as the Time Warrior ritual.

Being a species genetically designed for battle by the Garmaurians, the Ganthoran rulers had decided upon a series of rituals which would test the courage and skill of each Candidate for the Imperial Throne. The one most suited to leading the combined Ganthoran armies, and to expand the Empire, would be the Emperor. A legal ruling, several centuries before, had made it possible for an alien commander, having defeated a Frontier General, to claim a Candidacy for the Time Warrior ritual. The Law on an alien Candidate was quite clear: if an alien commander defeated a Ganthoran Frontier Fleet, then he or she was eligible to claim a Candidacy, if there was no reigning Emperor, or if in the course of that victory, the Emperor was killed, leaving no surviving heirs or successors. The state of war that existed between the alien species and the Ganthorans would be suspended until the completion of the ritual; whether the Candidate succeeded or failed. Should the Candidate succeed in the ritual, they would become Emperor of the Ganthorans. Should the Candidate fail, then the state of war would be re-instated as per the law. That was unless the two parties agreed to cease hostilities as part of the funeral rites of the dead Candidate.

Now, this indeed was a particularly nasty bind that Billy found himself in. Whatever way he cut the problem, he was either going to have to risk his own life in this Time Warrior ritual, or he was going to have to fight the combined might of the Ganthoran Frontier Fleets.

If he decided to go with the Decapitation Strategy, Billy would have to tangle with the Ganthoran Imperial Guard who protected Ganthus itself. It was one of those thankless choices that faced every military or political commander: what should he do for the greater good of the Alliance?

Rising from the comfortable bench-like seat that stood behind the lazy-S desk in his darkened Personal Quarters, Billy Caudwell walked calmly over to the small bedside table. With a deep breath, he pressed the yellow button on the small silver cube that formed part of the Communications infrastructure of the Aquarius.

“
Senior Communications Officer, sir?” The small silver bedside cube filled the darkened cabin with its military correctness.

“
Yes, Comms, I’d like you to open a Vide-Link Communications stream to the Grand Adjudicator in Ganthus City, and get me the Director of the Diplomatic Corps.” Billy released the yellow button on the cube.

Dear God, I hope I’m doing the right thing
, he pondered, running his fingers through his hair with anxiety.

Angrily, Frontier General Avavid Kallet sat, barely hiding the scorn in his grimace, surrounded by his five bodyguards at a small, circular table in the large Briefing Room aboard a Ganthoran Imperial Guard “Six-Cigar” carrier.

The Briefing Room was well lit, its pale grey walls adorned with star maps and charts detailing the various sectors of the Empire. The ceiling was low, no more than two metres higher than a tall Imperial Guard. At one end of the Briefing Room was the main door through which everyone passed. At the other end a smaller door next to a slightly raised Briefing Dais. On the Briefing Dais stood a large table covered with a royal blue cloth bearing the gold insignia of the Imperial Guard. Behind the table stood a large high-backed chair, also of royal blue.

Along the walls at precisely three metre intervals stood Imperial Guards with their side-arm holsters opened. The Imperial Guards stood stiffly to attention, as they had been trained to through many hours of hard, rigorous drills. Silently, the Guards stood at their posts with that edge of concealed menace that Kallet recognised from his own elite troops. The uniform of the Imperial Guard was similar to the Frontier Fleet. The basic colour of tunic and trousers was a light silver-grey. The Imperial Guard, however, had a royal blue facing to the tunic that was fastened by two rows of gold button-like fasteners. Their helmets were royal blue, with a large Imperial motif on the front. The gold-coloured reflective visor of the helmet was clipped firmly down, obscuring the facial features of the wearer. The belt, worn at the waist, was black with a gold buckle. The boots were also shiny black; half boots for Guards, and knee boots for Officers.

Even though only the finest of the Ganthoran military went into the Imperial Guard Regiments, they were very rarely used in Frontier campaigns. The Imperial Guard were used primarily for the defence of the Emperor and the Imperial Palace. Their secondary function was to protect the planet of Ganthus itself. Hence, the Imperial Guard were seen as neutral and above the squabbling and bickering of the Frontier Generals. General Kallet had harboured ambitions to join the ranks of the Imperial Guard in his youth. His application, although respectfully received, was rejected, mainly due to his education being less than average. Avavid Kallet had never forgotten that. He had resolved that one day he would repay the Imperial Guard for that rejection that had sent him out to the hardship and cruelty of the Frontier Fleets.

General Kallet, sitting in the Briefing Room, was not amused. He had been waiting for nearly an hour, and he despised being kept waiting. Having been summoned by a mysterious stranger, of obviously high rank, to a meeting aboard the Carrier “Daradeg”, he had arrived with his small personal bodyguard. As a Frontier General, he was used to being summoned from his personal fiefdom out on the Third Frontier. The warships of the Imperial Guard were considered neutral territory in the constant manoeuvring and back-stabbing amongst the Frontier Generals, however, not even an Emperor had summoned all four of the remaining Frontier Generals to a meeting.

Sitting opposite to him in the briefing room were the seated figures of Frontier Generals Timmeg and Sal’nor, each surrounded by their own bodyguards.

Frontier General Kav’al was conspicuous by his absence, however, Kallet rationalised that the wily General would not want to miss out on this meeting. If the other three Frontier Generals were here, then it stood to reason that Kav’al would not be far away. Only General Grobbeg was likely to be absent; he was under house arrest, under sentence of death for gross dereliction of duty. Grobbeg had gotten himself defeated by some young human from the Universal Alliance, who, it was reported, looked barely old enough to walk.

In losing the battle to the young human, Grobbeg had left the Empire vulnerable to attack.
A Universal Alliance, how preposterous and pretentious,
Kallet snorted derisively to himself. But, Avavid Kallet did have to acknowledge that it would take someone of immense ability and resources to defeat an experienced Frontier General like Jarrelm Grobbeg.

Once again, Kallet viewed the company in the Briefing Room and saw as twisted and evil a bunch of nasty, ruthless, sadistic psychopaths and renegades as had ever put on a Frontier Fleet uniform. Not that Frontier General Avavid Kallet considered himself to be any better than the rest of them; he had done what he considered necessary to survive and prosper in the Frontier Fleet. He made no bones or excuses about it, he just accepted what he was, what he had done in the past, and would have no qualms about what he needed to do in the future.

At that moment, the door set to the side of the Dais swept open to reveal two officers of the Imperial Guard. The Guard officers, both tall and fully-visored, stepped into the room and took up the attention position on both sides of the doorway. Following the Guard, Kallet saw a tall and stocky figure in a long dark green robe, tied at the waist by a simple red cord. The long hood of the robe was pulled up, masking any facial features of the wearer as he swept past the two doorway sentinels and took up a place on the Dais.

“
Gentlemen,” a muffled and mechanically-distorted voice filled the area, “I thank you for answering my summons.”

“
Who are you?” The predictably bullish General Kav’al rose to his feet.

“
Why have you brought us all here!?” Timmeg demanded.

At the first sign of any threat, the Imperial Guards were conditioned to being ready to stop them before they escalate into anything serious. With that in mind, the Guards drew their pistols, pointing them in the directions of Timmeg and Kav’al. Kallet, a wiser and less fiery head, stayed silent and watched Sal’nor remain equally impassive. Kallet was waiting to see what was going on, as was Sal’nor. The shrewder heads would wait and see if anything to their advantage could come out of this highly irregular summoning.

“Gentlemen,” the hooded and robed figure placated the situation with a raised hand and a calm and authoritative voice.

To Kallet, this was obviously someone who had a great deal of experience of being obeyed. It was also someone who had walked the corridors of power in Ganthus City. His manner and demeanor, plus the response of the Imperial Guards, shouted “Adjudicator” at Kallet. But, which one, he questioned. This individual was obviously in disguise. Kallet had seen all three Adjudicators up close, but this one had the physique of none of the people he recognised.

“Please, let us have no more unpleasantness, all will be revealed in good time, but first, allow me to present my credentials.” The hooded figure sat on his high-backed chair behind the table.

Once seated, the figure drew up the left sleeve of the robe to expose a tight black under-sleeve and glove arrangement that covered every square inch of his skin. With a nod, he summoned one of the Imperial Guards stationed near to the table; who brought over a small silver, rectangular box and set it on the table in front of the hooded figure. Everyone in the room immediately recognised the small, silver box as a Blood Kit. When matters of paternity and parentage were discussed, the arguments were invariably settled with a blood test. The blood kit was the most advanced form of blood and genetic testing in the Ganthoran Empire.

Well, well, well... what do we have here?
Kallet thought quietly to himself as the robed figure opened the small box and removed the spherical blue sampler mechanism.

Unlike on Earth where a hypodermic needle would have been used to pierce a vein to extract blood cells, the Ganthorans used a short range teleportation device which took cells directly from the bone marrow of the donor in a swift, painless, and completely secure manner. The range of the teleportation field on the sampler was no more than a few centimetres, and by isolating himself on the Dais, the hooded figure would be unable to offer anything except for his own genetic coding. There would be no trickery or sample switching involved, as had happened in the past, with this demonstration.

Setting the sampler on his arm, he activated the mechanism; which gave a brief hum and then fell silent. That was the first stage of the process, the sample was taken. From the Blood Kit box, the robed and hooded figure then took four smaller white spheres. These were the Sample Beds. The Sample Beds were simply small empty spheres into which the samples were decanted prior to being inserted into the Analyzer. Setting the large sphere on the table in full view of all those present, the robed figure carefully placed the four sample Beds in contact with the Sampler. With a deft pass of his hand over the whole collection, another short buzz indicated that the sample had been decanted into the Sample Beds. Working on the electrical impulse from the body of the donor, the crude sensor within the Sampler recognised the electrical impulse from both the donor and the sample. Finding that the two signals matched allowed the Sample Beds to extract the genetic coding.

Silently, the Frontier Generals and their body guards watched the procedure, still quite unable to fathom why the charade was taking place.