Empire Ebook Full (17 page)

I nodded. “Friendly but paranoid. I think of all the aliens, I understand the Worms
the best.”

He cast me a worried glance. It was perhaps his tenth such glance of the day. I thought
I might have to give him a private talk later on. I wanted him to look sharp and confident
in front of his bridge crew.

On the bridge, everyone but me wore nanocloth Fleet uniforms. These were tougher than
cotton or wool, of course, but were as effective as paper when compared to my own
armored suit. Perhaps that was what was bothering him. Sure, I could unlimber my heavy
beamer and kill everyone aboard without breaking a sweat. But that was the job of
the Marine. The Fleet types were supposed to fly the ships, while my kind was supposed
to do the close-in killing. If that bothered him, well, he was in the wrong service.

What surprised us more than the gathering horde of Worm ships, which numbered over
a hundred strong by the next day, was the message we received in the morning. It wasn’t
from the Worms, or from Eden. It was from the ring near Helios, the one that led to
the Alpha Centauri system, the next jump point homeward, toward Earth. A single cruiser
hung there, looking very similar to our own flagship. It transmitted a repeating message
toward us.

“We’re assuming you’re under the command of Colonel Kyle Riggs. The Imperial Forces
of Earth order you to halt your advance and turn back. This system is a protectorate
of Earth. Alpha Centauri is a protectorate of Earth. I repeat…”

The message did indeed repeat, at least six times. Everyone aboard
Nostradamus
eyed one another in shock.
The Imperial Forces of Earth?

“Since when has Earth become an empire?” I demanded of Miklos, as if he knew what
I was talking about.

He narrowed his eyes and stared out the viewport into the blackness of space. “I was
afraid of something like this. Really, I suppose it was only a matter of time.”

I stared at him. “Do you have some kind of inside information? Have details been kept
from me?”

He shook his bearded head. It occurred to me his beard was far beyond regulation length,
but I decided now wasn’t the time to worry about regulations.

Miklos eyed at me seriously. “I read the reports of your encounter with Marvelena
Hellsen. She mentioned an institution called ‘The Ministry of Trust’ did she not?”

“Yeah? So? Have you ever heard of such a thing?”

“Not on a global scale. But history is full of state-run media outlets. It is an indicator
that things have not gone well back home in a political sense. Think about it, Colonel.
Earth with its political system of regional nations is outdated in our current interstellar
environment. We are facing enemies every day that threaten the entire planet—therefore,
the government must be worldwide. Star Force was only an initial development on an
inevitable path. It represented a pooled military, the first step. Except for the
relatively insignificant provincial armies—”

I stopped him right there, taking two clanking steps toward his command chair. “What
kind of crap are you spouting, Captain?” I demanded. “We’re a force supported by the
entire planet, that’s true. But we’re a melded force, built for the defense and betterment
of all Earth. We’re not rulers, we
serve
Earth!”

Miklos gave me a wan smile. “I’m glad you feel that way, sir,” he said. “I imagine
that is why you’ve come so far, and been able to sway the old governments to support
you. They’ve always been nervous about you—you know that, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said, frowning. “No one likes to give up the defense of their own nation
to an outside coalition, an alliance. There is an unpleasant level of trust and loss
of sovereignty involved. But the world has had many such organizations: Nato, the
U. N.—”

“Do not forget the Warsaw Pact and the Axis Powers,” Miklos said. “Yes, there have
been plenty of alliances. But the military organization has been provided by the participating
nations in the past, not from an independent group like Star Force.”

I stopped talking and frowned at the stars outside. We had excellent viewports on
Nostradamus
. They were really screens, images generated by cameras outside the ship, but they
were so precise and high res you couldn’t tell the difference between them and a sheet
of glass.

“You sound as if you approve of all this, Miklos,” I said.

“I do not, sir. But I’ve been expecting it. Star Force took a certain shape to fill
a need. It became a force so powerful and mobile it could destroy any nation on Earth.
If the leader of that force decided to turn it upon the nations of Earth…well, the
old militaries would fall.”

I flipped up my visor and studied his eyes. His expression was one of resolution and
sadness. I was finally getting what he was saying.

“You think there’s been a coup back home? A civil war?”

He shrugged. “A coup, yes. A civil war? Maybe. If they did fight, the struggle is
over with by now. The old armies were probably taken out quickly. But I would guess
the more likely circumstance involved a signed deal of some kind, a treaty or pact
that has been formed.”

“One that gathers Earth under a single banner?”

He nodded.

As an American, I wanted to reject his theories out of hand. I’d led a long life full
of freedoms. I didn’t like to think my hometown was now under the thumb of a dictatorship.
But I had to admit Earth had suffered so much lately, political upheaval was easy
to imagine. Hundreds of millions had died. Nuclear fires had scorched vast regions.
Aliens seemed to abound in the skies, and none of them were overly friendly, with
the possible exception of the Centaurs.

“I guess it shouldn’t be such a shock,” I said aloud. “People have always turned to
a strong central government when faced with a serious outside threat. They’ve always
preferred a dictator of their own choosing to a foreign ruler, or to death.”

“Yes, freedom always perishes in name of security.”

“Sir?” an ensign asked nervously from the central communications console. “I think
the Earth ship is expecting an answer.”

I shrugged in my suit, causing my armored shoulders to clatter. “So what? Let them
wait.”

“Shall we maintain the same course and speed, sir?”

“Yes! Change nothing,” I said. I turned back to Miklos.

Everyone on the bridge looked at their instruments and strained to listen to us.

“Should we retire to the conference room, sir?” he asked me.

I nodded. We walked into the conference room. I let the door go solid in the face
of Kwon, who had appeared on the bridge from the decks below. I could see by his face
encircled in a sea of armor he was excited. When Kwon smelled a battle, he always
lit up.  Behind him, Marvin had put in an appearance with Sandra in his wake. He was
stretching his cameras to look at us, while Sandra craned her neck. I closed them
all out and sat down with Miklos. When faced with a philosophical concern, I found
his counsel was the best. That’s why he was my exec.

“I used to have someone like you,” I told him seriously, pulling off my helmet and
scratching my head. “A second in command I could trust. But he was more performance-oriented,
rather than a man I could exchange complex ideas with.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Barrera?”

“Right. But I respect your opinion more when it comes to matters of politics, history
and judgment.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I shook my head. “It is not a compliment, simply a fact. You may find it comes to
be a burden on your soul in time.”

It was his turn to frown at me. Miklos rarely smiled. He hadn’t looked overly happy
before, and now he looked positively glum.

“I think I understand, sir.”

“We’re going to have to make some hard decisions, you and I.”

He stared at me, waiting.

“The first one is how to answer this challenge from some captain calling himself ‘Imperial’.”

“It’s not a title with a positive history. There are still some who hold the title
of Emperor to this day, but they are figureheads only. The last of Earth’s Emperors
with any real power died out about a century ago.”

“What advice can you give me? How should I proceed in this situation?”

“When dealing with an empire, the personality of the Emperor is highly influential.
The individual in charge becomes in effect the entire state. The nation reacts the
way the despot would act under similar circumstances.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “And I think it is safe to assume we know who we’re talking
about: Emperor Crow.”

Miklos nodded. “Yes.”

“That’s what he wanted from the beginning, you know. He told me that long ago. He
was angry when I lost his ships, as it derailed his plans for becoming Emperor. He
actually said that to me.”

Miklos didn’t respond. I paced and shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around the
situation. I suddenly looked at Miklos. He was staring at me—no, he was
glaring
at me.

“What?” I asked.

“You knew he was going to pull this, sir? And you didn’t stop him?”

I sputtered. “Stop him? You mean kill him? It wasn’t that simple. He’s been a friend
of sorts. We’ve fought together so many times. There have been moments for which all
of humanity owes its survival to Crow—moments when he saved the day. Remember those
ships he built in secret under the swamps of Andros Island? We threw them into the
battle and drove the Macros back. And the original organization of Star Force—that
wasn’t my idea, you know. All of Earth owes that man a huge debt…even if he is an
asshole.”

“Do we owe him our allegiance? Our freedoms? Our unquestioning obedience? I’m sure
other emperors were great men in the past. They rose up to take the reins of power,
and they didn’t do it by accident.”

At that point, a hammering came at the door. I tapped open a one-way channel that
carried my voice out to the bridge. “Is that you, Sandra?” I asked. “If so, and there
is no immediate danger to the ship, please stop hammering. We’re having a critical
conference right now. Riggs out.”

The hammering stopped, so I forgot about it. She was probably just getting edgy and
tired of waiting.

“I see what you’re saying, Miklos,” I said. “All through history, every nation, every
tribe had to have a moment when a hero declared himself king or chieftain. But this
is different. This is the entire world we’re talking about, and I’d thought we’d outgrown
that kind of thing.”

Miklos shook his head sadly. “We never will outgrow that kind of thing. When frightened,
we humans love a king, a strong leader to whom we can entrust our hopes and fears.
Why didn’t you do it yourself, Colonel?”

“Do what?”

“Declare yourself king.”

I laughed. “I’m not that kind of guy. I’m just not. No royal blood flows in these
veins. I was a nobody originally. Besides which, I thought it was morally wrong. Looking
back at history, I’ve always thought of myself as a man in the mold of General Washington.
A man who rose up to fight and lead, but when his services were no longer needed,
he retired back to his farm. I’ve always wanted to do that, if I’m lucky enough to
live that long.”

Miklos nodded. “A noble model,” he said. “Many Americans wanted Washington to become
their king, you know. He refused the power. But Washington’s example is a rare one.
Crow is a more typical personality. He’s made differently than you. I’m afraid he’s
more like Napoleon, who started off as a small man from Corsica running an artillery
unit, and who took advantage of a chaotic revolution to take power.”

I nodded, only half-listening to him. Miklos continued in a philosophical tone.

“Maybe, Crow is not like Napoleon after all,” he said. “Napoleon was a military genius
who won battles through improvisation and masterful tactics—the way you do at times.
Maybe Crow is more like Stalin: a mean, uneducated man who rose to power not through
military genius, but rather through ruthless political know-how.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That does sound more like Crow.”

“Unfortunately, both men cost their nations millions upon millions of dead.”

I glanced at him. What was that look he was giving me? Was he somehow blaming me for
the millions of lives lost? Sure, I’d made mistakes. Sure, someone else might have
done a better job. Only, there hadn’t been anyone else there at the time, in my position.
I’d done the best I could, and I regretted a thousand things, but I refused to be
broken by the magnitude of my mistakes.

I shook myself and took in a deep breath. “What matters now is how we’re going to
respond to this ultimatum ordering us to turn around. We can’t just quietly fly into
their teeth. I have to decide upon a course of action: are we going to send them a
message? Or are we going to halt?”

The hammering returned at the door. I sighed and tapped a one-way connection to the
outside. “This had better be an emergency. I’m still having a high-level discussion,
here.”

The hammering continued unabated. Frowning, I opened the door.