Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) (19 page)

Glitz,
Doland and Tekka sat down with Captain Alyce Wickham and the Marines. The First
Naval Lord wanted the
Deliverer
to play an unusual part of the overall
battle plan. The idea was to send in the main Navy and Marine forces in first
of all. The Navy superdreadnoughts would deal with any enemy ships near Station
949, including Ozytan’s flagship with the high-energy weapons. While the Navy
engaged in space combat, the Marines were to get onto the station using any
means necessary—they would then kill or capture the Weerms, and reclaim control
of the base.

The
Deliverer
would arrive at the base thirty minutes later. The idea was
that if the Imperial forces were losing, the ship might swing the balance back
in their favour. Alyce thought the idea was ridiculous, but the First Naval
Lord had been adamant. She wondered if it was because she was a woman that he
wanted to hold her back. Because the ship had been built with no weaponry, the
technicians had fitted her with the best weapons available, including
antimatter cannons, fission beams, phase torpedoes, anti-gravity bombs, plasma
bolts, and neutron blasters. Alyce had wondered whether Seraph, the ship’s
computer, would forbid their installation, but it actually co-operated.

After
going over all parts of the plan, Lieutenant Jameson took his men to their
sleeping quarters, and Alyce returned to the
Deliverer
with Glitz, Tekka
and Doland. There was a shortage of sleeping space in the Navy headquarters, as
there was a massive fleet preparing for take-off on the next day. Usually,
Naval missions were on quite a small scale; sometimes they had to mediate in border
disputes, while other times they were required to impose justice on planets
that had not paid their due taxes. But the situation was much more serious
indeed—an Imperium-owned station had been taken over by rebels. If they did not
show a strong hand in dealing with the enemy, other rebels might start to get
ideas.

When
they entered the
Deliverer
, Alyce quickly showed Tekka and Doland the
way to the sleeping area on the second deck. It was quite late, and they would
be making an early start the next morning. There were five spacious “pods”,
which all contained a double bed, a shower, and a toilet. Once Tekka and Doland
had entered their rooms, Glitz turned to Alyce.

“You
feel like…”

“No,”
Alyce said firmly. “We both need to get some rest.” Glitz frowned; she was
acting more like the old, imperious Captain Wickham, rather than the gentle and
sensuous woman he had come to know. She seemed to realise this because her face
softened. “When this is all over, we will, I promise.” She grinned at him, and
then entered her pod and closed the door. Feeling a little irritated, Glitz got
into his own bed and sealed the door.

“Ready?”

“Yes,
Captain,” came the dull reply.

Captain
Alyce Wickham nodded slowly as she looked over her full crew, who were all
assembled on the flight deck. In addition to the commandos led by Lieutenant
Horace Jameson, the Navy had also seen fit to assign her a helmsman, a weapons
operator, an engineer, and two dozen able spacemen. She had attempted to
explain to the First Naval Lord that the additional crew was unnecessary;
Seraph, the computer system on the
Deliverer
, had shown itself to be
more than up to the task of piloting the ship, and it had a full auto-repair
system. Even if it did somehow break down, it was highly unlikely that the
engineer would be able to do anything about it. But the First Naval Lord had
been insistent, and so Alyce was leading the ship towards Station 949 with
several redundant crew members. Hopefully they wouldn’t get in the way too
much.

“Okay,”
Alyce said. “You all have your orders. We should reach the station in just over
six hours. We have been given wormhole network priority, so there should be no
significant delays. When we arrive at the station, we do not know what the
situation will be. The other Navy ships will have arrived half an hour before
us, so the battle may already be decided before we reach it.” Alyce felt like
adding that she thought holding the
Deliverer
back was a foolish tactic.
Why save your best ship until last? But it wasn’t good for discipline to publicly
question the orders of superior officers.

“We
will exit phase space as close to the system as possible, but the station
surveillance will almost certainly detect our presence before we even get
close. If fired upon, we will simply have to hope that our defences are up to
the challenge.” She paused, wondering whether to tell the crew about the origin
of the ship. She decided that it would likely improve moral, so added, “Many of
you have been wondering where this ship originated. The engineer pointed out
that the engines operate in a way totally alien to normal design principles. Well,
he was right. This ship
is
alien. It was given to us by the Zierons.”

Alyce
smiled at the reaction from the crew, and noticed one or two disbelieving
faces. That was to be expected. The Zierons were not a race believed in by most
rational people; indeed, there had seemed to be no evidence at all of their
existence. That is, unless the Imperium, for whatever reason, had decided to
conceal the evidence in the past.

“That’s
right. I travelled to the Zierons’ home planet with Mr. Glitz, and we informed
them about the threat we face from Ozytan and his creatures.” The crew had
already been briefed about the horrific nature of the Weerms, and armed with sonic
rifles. “Without hesitating, they gave us this ship so we can stand against
them. Now, have courage! We go into battle with the support of the Zierons, and
the future of the Imperium may depend on us! Now, I will repeat: ARE YOU READY?”

“Yes,
Captain!”

The
difference in the response was phenomenal, and Glitz really had to admire
Alyce’s ability for rousing enthusiasm and morale. The men and women were all
sitting up straight, eyes gleaming—they were ready for battle.

“Dismissed!”

The
crew had all been assigned to various parts of the ship. Glitz, Tekka and
Doland, along with the weapons operator, helmsman and engineer, would remain on
the flight deck for the duration of the journey. The able spacemen were
assigned to the dining area on the second deck, and the Marines were allocated
the crew room. The ship had no need of such a large crew, and the Marines would
not be able to be of use until arrival at the space station. So they simply had
to wait.

Alyce
sighed as she sat down in the captain’s seat on the flight deck. “Seraph,
please report on the status of the main ship systems.”

Captain. Drive system: operational. Defence capabilities: operational. Weapon
systems: operational. Auto-repair system: operational. Power generators:
operational. All systems are fully operational and are predicted to run without
fault for one thousand years, with a 0.01% chance of earlier malfunction.>

“Brilliant.”

She
sighed, stood up, and joined Glitz, Tekka and Doland on the polygonal sofa. They
all seemed taut and nervous; even Tekka seemed slightly paler than usual. She
was tremendously grateful for their support. Yes, it was true that Tekka had
been pressed into service, but with his technical powers she was sure he could
have escaped if he really wanted to. She smiled at Glitz, and made a small
gesture as if to take his hand, but decided against it and pulled away. There
was not any time to indulge such instincts until Station 949 was back under
Imperial control. The mission must come first.

“So
how long do we have now?” Doland said, glancing at his chronometer.

“Hours.”
She smiled at his bored expression. “Tell you what, why don’t you retire to the
leisure room for a while. There are vidfilms and virtual books in there. I’ll
call you if I need you.”

“OK,
thanks!”

Doland
got up and stood in the anti-gravity elevator, which lifted him silently up to
the second deck. The three remaining people sat in silence for a few minutes,
staring into space. Finally, Glitz turned to Tekka. There was something that he
had been wondering about… Tekka would probably refuse to venture any
information, but if he did… it would be nice to satisfy his curiosity.

“Can
I ask you something?”

Tekka
raised his eyebrows fractionally. “You can ask.”

“What
were you doing on Necreon, when you asked us to drop you off there after we’d
visited Chaos? It’s nothing but sand.”

For
a moment, a slight colour seemed to appear in Tekka’s cheeks. It wasn’t a tinge
of embarrassment, or anger. It was more like a touch of warmth, of human
feeling. He paused for a few seconds, as if considering how to respond.
Finally, he looked directly at Glitz, and began to speak.

“Necreon
is the planet on which my wife died.” Glitz said nothing; he was stunned. Tekka
went on, “Her name was Nim. We met ten years ago, when I was a graduate student
at Homeworld University. She was a researcher of Mathematics—her full title was
Professor Nimrat Delevigne. However, her colleagues at the University knew
nothing of her secret life; she was also Nim, the master criminal.” A light
came into Tekka’s eyes; his face brightened with her memory. “I was enraptured—that
is the only word to describe it. Others said she was beautiful; well, perhaps.
But I fell in love with her mind. She was the most intelligent person I have
ever had the honour to meet. We were married on the planet Prime Number, after
successfully solving Dearborn’s 15th Problem.”

He
fell silent for a moment, before continuing. “We studied by day and committed
crimes by night; we were not interested in the money, the infamy, or even the
thrill of avoiding capture. No, we did it for the
mental exultation
! We
cracked the most complex security systems in the Universe, and avoided
detection from the most advanced surveillance machines devised. But then… one
day… things went wrong.” The light in his eyes seemed to diminish a little. “We
devised a plan to steal five billion credits from the Imperial Central Bank. It
was audacious, but we had done everything else—it was to be our last crime. But…
I made an error. I have only ever made that single miscalculation, but it
caused the death of my wife. We successfully penetrated the levels of security,
and we entered the headquarters of the Bank, which is located on Necreon, in a
secret underground chamber. There is also a decoy bank on Homeworld—which fools
most people—but we went to the genuine establishment. After hacking into the
computer system, I transferred the credits into a dispersion account designed
to disseminate the money into hundreds of anonymous accounts. But then, as we
readied to make our escape, we heard the sound of a door crashing. I realised—I
realised—I had entered an incorrect digit when deactivating the alarm system. I
had worked out the cryptographic code, but I had confused the Thermon string
with a Bettelheim cipher. And they—”

Tekka’s
usually calm voice cracked a little. He swallowed, then continued, “—they came
for us. Every guard of the bank swooped in; we were outnumbered; escape was
impossible. I held up my hands in surrender, but Nim dived at one of the
computer consoles. I believe she had intended to create an energy inversion
field to render their weapons useless. She began to type at the keyboard, and
she was ordered to step away. But she did not listen. So—so one of the men
fired his blaster—she was disintegrated—not even her ashes were left.” He
paused. “I asked you to take me back to Necreon so I could build her a grave.
There was no corpse, but I know that her atoms still remain on the planet…
somewhere.”

He
did not cry or wring his hands in anguish, but his pain was almost palpable.
Glitz didn’t know whether to put a hand on his shoulder.

“It
wasn’t your fault,” Alyce said softly. “Don’t blame yourself.”

“I
appreciate your attempt to console me, but such a statement cannot be
justified. It was I who inputted the incorrect sequence; without my
mathematical blunder, she would live today. You need not be a logician to see
this. To deny the truth of the situation would be to indulge in happy falsehood.”

“Right.”
Alyce paused. “You never know… you might find someone else.”

“There
is no one else like her. She eclipsed and predominated the whole of her sex.”
He looked up at Alyce. “I mean no offence.”

“None
taken.”

Alyce
didn’t know what else to say to him. He had quickly returned to his cold manner,
but clearly the death of his wife had had a profound impact on him. But how did
you console someone like Tekka? Any possible comforting notions would have been
already considered and dismissed by his astonishing intellect. She was relieved
when he stood up, announcing that he was going to read a book until the arrival
at the space station. It was technically bad form to leave the presence of an
officer without requesting permission, but she did not press the matter. After
all, he was not really part of the Navy.

She
turned to Doland. “You don’t have to come with us to the space station, you
know. The majority of the crew—Marines excepted—will be staying onboard while
we enter the station.”

“Thanks,”
Doland replied. “But I want to do this. It’s… it’s important to me.”

Alyce
nodded. Secretly, she felt that Doland would likely be more of a hindrance than
a help. He had no technical aptitude, no military experience, no particularly
remarkable characteristics… but she admired him for wanting to help, and she
wasn’t prepared to prevent him from serving the Imperium.

The
Deliverer
had calculated a route to Station 949 that included four phase
jumps and two wormhole trips. First they would phase jump once to get to a
wormhole, and then travel through the wormhole to the junction. Then, they
would take another wormhole, followed by three more phase jumps. Then they
would be on the edge of the sector in which the station was located. It was
fairly hard to reach; it had been set up well away from the core worlds in a
bid to detract attention from it. The Genetic Archive was an important
scientific establishment, because of its wide collection of DNA samples. Alyce
wondered what Ozytan wanted with it…

The
Captain’s intervention was rarely required for the duration of the trip; the
almost-miraculous Zieron ship computer handled the flight with care and
precision. She had to manually take over to obtain authorisation before using
the wormhole network, but apart from that the journey was fully automated. When
they were nearing the end of the journey, she recalled the Marines and the rest
of the crew to the flight deck to go over the plan. Once they had entered the
system in which the station was located, they would quickly assess the
situation. If there were enemy ships still active in the vicinity, the weapons
operator and helmsman (who had been reassigned as the 2nd weapons operator),
would fire at will. It was a risky tactic as far as the safety of the
Deliverer
was concerned, but it would simply have to be hoped that the shields would
remain strong.

As
soon as it became possible, the
Deliverer
would dock with the space
station—forcibly, if necessary—allowing all of the Marines, as well as the Captain,
Tekka, Glitz and Doland, aboard the station. The computer began to speak.

are approaching the Argive System now. We will be leaving phase space in
approximately three minutes.>

“Thank
you, Seraph! Marines, stand by for docking. All the rest of you—to your
positions!” It was hardly a Naval command, she knew, but then a significant
part of the crew had little experience in Navy missions.

The
Deliverer
had a wide docking bay; it was to this that the Marines now
made their way, nodding to one another to show their support. A few of them
were sweating profusely; they knew how dangerous the mission was likely to be.

“Now,
listen up,” Lieutenant Jameson said. “Remember that our remit is simple. We
need to neutralise any enemy forces—human or otherwise—that may be on the
station, and reclaim control over the base. You are all armed with sonic rifles;
with a bit of luck they will be effective against the Weerms. Sonic blasts will
have no effect upon human targets; use the secondary trigger when taking down
humans.”