The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (32 page)

“We looked on the computer logs and found no association between yourself and the Generals,” Sownus began, “and then we looked for what wasn’t on the computer logs,” he smiled opening the folio folder once again, “these binary systems you use here are astonishingly primitive, Adjudicator.”

“What do you mean, primitive?” Arrad asked.

“Well, you see, Adjudicator, when you delete a file on one of your binary systems, it doesn’t delete the whole file...,” Sownus outlined, “it simply removes the first character of the file name, which leaves the rest of the file intact. So, the next time the computer searches for that file name, it won’t be able to find the first character and, therefore, it won’t be able to call up that file. The data in that file, however, will remain hidden on the system until the system over-writes the area where the file is stored with new data.” Sownus was seemingly enjoying how this was playing out.

“So, how does this implicate me, Officer Sownus?” Arrad tried his best to not sound nervous.

“Well, Adjudicator, we have messages, meeting schedules, video monitoring and transcriptions implicating you with all of the Generals, which were all deleted under your secret pass-code,” Sownus announced.

“So, you have deleted files implicating me that could have been placed there by this Captain Branthus, or one of his co-conspirators? Really, Officer Sownus, you’ll have to do a lot better than that! After all, they had the secret pass-codes of all of the Adjudicators, did they not?” Arrad began to perspire beneath the heavy light-blue robe.

“Which would explain a great deal, but for the fact that most of these files were deleted after Captain Branthus, and the other traitors were either dead or in custody!” Sownus announced triumphantly. “You were the only one at liberty, with your secret pass-code, to be able to use the system.”

Check, and Mate. Karap Sownus snapped the trap closed.

Adjudicator Arrad sat tight-lipped in silence. They had found him out through his own stupidity. He should never have kept those files, but then again, they had been his insurance had Kallet, Sal’nor, Ka’val or Timmeg decided to opt out of the plan and betray him to the Grand Adjudicator. If they had singled him out, then he could have taken them down with him.

“You’ve come to arrest me then, Officer Sownus?” Arrad started to spring up a hope that he could somehow mobilise the people of the Empire against the new Emperor at his trial.

The people would understand what he had done for them.

“No, Adjudicator Arrad, the Emperor feels that the arrest, trial and execution of a very senior member of the government, such as yourself, and your entire adopted family, would not be in the best interests of the Empire.” Sownus was well aware of how divisive a public trial for Arrad would be.

“Then what exactly does His Majesty suggest?” An edge of sarcasm was blindingly evident in his tone.

Calmly, Karap Sownus drew his side arm from the black holster at his right hip, and walked over to the left hand side of the Adjudicator’s desk, providing the Landing Trooper with a clear view of the proceeding. Without a word, Karap set the plasma-pistol that he had recovered from General Sal’nar’s body, down next to the brandy glass on the desk.

“Ah...I see.” Arrad attempted to hide his nervousness as he stared fixedly at the pistol. “One shot in the chamber, and no nasty questions for His Imperial alien-ness Caudwell?”

“The alternative, Adjudicator, is a long, shameful, public humiliation of a trial for you, and execution for you and your family,” Sownus said calmly.

“Oh, please, thank his Imperial alien-ness for his generosity,” Arrad said sarcastically.

“Well, the choice is yours, Adjudicator...I personally think you won’t get a more reasonable offer, and given your crimes, you don’t really deserve it,” Sownus responded.

“Well, that’s most kind of you, Officer Sownus, but as an Adjudicator, I am entitled to my day in court,” Arrad announced defiantly.

“Not a good choice, Adjudicator. You think the people will spontaneously rise up in revolt to set you free and proclaim you as Emperor?” Karap Sownus began to laugh. “There are twenty thousand murdered Imperial Guards to explain in the main barracks courtesy of General Kallet, hundreds of thousands of dead Frontier troops, the Frontier Fleets decimated, and then, you’ll have to explain to the Musgans, the Ragalians, and the Horvaths as to the so-called accidents that befell their Imperial candidates...they are not going to be best pleased, and will, in all probability, declare war on the Ganthoran Empire.”

“Which will mean a war with your precious Alliance,” Arrad countered.

“No, it will mean that we hand you and your family over to them for trial.” Sownus knew full well that a trial for Adjudicator Arrad from the Ragalians or the Horvaths would be short, and the execution, for him and his family, would be long and painful.

“You wouldn’t dare!?” Arrad’s skin was visibly paling at the naked threat.

“If word were to reach them, and a deportation request presented, then your new alien Emperor would find it very difficult to refuse them,” Sownus responded.

Checkmate. Game Over.

Once again, Adjudicator Arrad sat in an angry and hostile silence, having been outmanoeuvred by the Thexxian Intelligence Officer.

“Take the pistol, Arrad,” Sownus said softly, “your name will go down in history as a hero who died bravely defying the traitors. Your honour will be intact. Your family will survive, and no one will ever know what really happened. I think that’s fair enough, don’t you, Adjudicator?”

For a moment, Arrad looked at the Thexxian Intelligence Officer with a mixture of fear and loathing, and then looked down at the pistol on his desk. Slowly, Arrad reached out and took the pistol in his right hand, and examined it; contemplating the decision to end his own life.

“I don’t think that that will be at all fair enough, Officer Sownus!” Arrad quickly rose to his feet and pointed the one-shot pistol alternately at Karap Sownus and the Landing Trooper. The Landing Trooper, an experienced combat veteran, did not move a muscle, despite a pulsar-pistol being pointed in his direction.

“Adjudicator....” Sownus smiled and began to laugh softly, as he walked slowly to the right hand edge of the desk, passing in front of the Landing Trooper by the door. “Do you think you can kill us both with one shot?”

“I don’t need to, Officer Sownus.” Arrad smiled triumphantly. “You are now completely unarmed, and your companion....”

Too late. Arrad realised that the wily Thexxian had just successfully drawn his attention as he had walked in front of the Landing Trooper. In that moment, the Trooper had drawn his side-arm with the speed of a striking rattle snake, and, with clinical accuracy, had fired two plasma pellets into the stunned Adjudicator’s chest. With a searing pain burning in his wounded chest, the fatally wounded, hunched-shouldered Adjudicator clutched his free hand to his fresh wounds and found his own plasma weapon slipping slowly from his numbed fingers. Slowly, his knees began to buckle under him.

“Curse you...,” The pain-grimacing Arrad croaked softly as the pistol fell from his fingers and rattled onto the desk; where he had plotted, manipulated, and murdered his way to his position of power and influence.

The falling pistol knocked over and shattered his brandy glass; the contents spilling over the files and folders of his workload; filling the room with the rich, sweet, sickly smell of brandy.

Calmly and dispassionately, the Thexxian and the Landing Trooper watched as the Adjudicator slowly fell backwards into his chair. With one last gasp, Adjudicator Arrad slumped in his seat; his head falling back - and died.

Without a word, the green-clad Thexxian and the black-clad Landing Trooper turned and left the luxuriantly decorated room – their mission completed.

Behind them, the slumped body, and still-astonished, bulging, lifeless eyes of Adjudicator Arrad stared, unseeing and unblinking, at the beautiful twin moons of Ganthus.

The End

Other books in the
First Admiral Series:

First Admiral

The Burning Sun

Time Commander

Other books and stories by William J. Benning:

First Admiral

The Burning Sun

Time Commander

The Gettysburg Incident

The Formidians

Private Gimble

In Search of the God Particle

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