Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) (18 page)
Read Death to the Imperium (Imperium Cicernus) Online
Authors: James McGovern
May I take the destination you require?>
“He’s
a polite computer,” Alyce murmured. Then she raised her voice. “One of the
Zierons should be opening a wormhole in a few moments. We need to enter it.”
prepare for take-off.>
With
a hum, the engines started. Glitz wondered if the three nacelles provided extra
engine power, or were simply there to provide extra room on the ship. Perhaps
they did both. One of the hexagonal scanners flickered into life; it showed a
view outside the ship; they were heading straight into the wormhole. They both
felt a tremor of anticipation as they slipped through the wormhole. If the
Zierons had opened it to the wrong galaxy, they might never be able to return
to the Imperium. There was a flash of light, and the ship emerged from the
other side of the wormhole. Now stars were visible outside the ship.
“Seraph,
plot us a chart of our current galactic position.”
Immediately,
a chart flickered up on the third display scanner. Alyce perused it carefully.
She had only ever been average at map reading, and there were some sectors
which she wouldn’t recognise at all. With a great feeling of relief, Alyce
realised that they were back in the Nosferatu Sector. Rell had been as good as
his word; they were exactly where they had been before entering the first
wormhole. She exhaled slowly, and then turned to Glitz.
“What
do you think about the Zierons? Do you reckon they were right to genetically
engineer themselves?”
Glitz
shrugged. “They seemed like nice enough people. As for their morals—well, I’m
no philosopher. I’ll leave such questions to better men than myself.”
“That’s
a refreshing attitude.” She smiled. “Come on, let’s explore the rest of the
ship. Oh—” She turned back to face the control screens. “Seraph, are you
familiar with the layout of this galaxy?”
“Great.
Please take us to Lightworld.”
Alyce
turned to Glitz. “Now we’ll see just how capable Seraph is when it comes to
automatic operation.”
The
Deliverer
entered phase space; and the scanner revealed darkness as all
the stars vanished. Glitz and Alyce left the flight deck to discover what else
was onboard the ship. There were three main decks, including the flight deck. The
second deck, which was located above the main deck, included the crew room,
leisure room, spacious accommodation, a kitchen, and a dining area. All of the
ship’s design included the peculiar hexagonal shapes. The third deck, which was
located beneath the flight deck, housed the engine room. It was clear to both
of them that the engines were too complicated for them to understand, and the
thing they assumed to be the antimatter power generator looked positively
dangerous. They would simply have to pray that the auto-repair system was as
good as Rell claimed; a human engineer would be unlikely to understand the equipment.
The
three nacelles provided additional room, and were clearly designed for easy
reconfiguration. One of the nacelles housed a couple of extra bedrooms, the
second contained spare parts and materials, and the third was mostly empty. The
ship was extremely big for two people, but luckily it did not require a large
crew. Seraph had been designed to operate the ship without assistance.
She
smiled at Glitz. “It’s been a long day. I could do with a lie down. Would you
care to join me?”
Glitz
smiled at her. “With pleasure.”
Volori
System
Glitz
and Alyce sat on the sofa on the flight deck, feeling a little redundant.
Seraph had exceeded all expectations of capability. It had single-handedly
navigated the ship successfully through phase space, and piloted it carefully
through the Volori system. Now they were approaching Lightworld. Seraph opened
a communication line with the OTC.
“Thanks.”
Alyce jumped to her feet. “This is Captain Alyce Wickham, requesting landing
permission.”
“Good
afternoon, Captain. Our records indicate that you are on paid leave, and not
due to return until—”
“This
is urgent. I have information for the First Naval Lord regarding the current
galactic situation. I must speak with him.”
There
was a pause; Alyce guessed that the speaker was consulting with a superior
authority. Finally he spoke again. “Permission granted, Captain.”
They
landed on the planet as before, and a buggy came to pick them up. Midshipman
Barnes was not driving this time; it was a man that Alyce didn’t recognise. When
they entered the building, the First Naval Lord welcomed them, and led them
into the Admiralty Board Room. It was empty apart from the three of them.
“I
understand your leave has not yet expired,” the First Naval Lord muttered.
“However, I am glad you came. The situation is becoming dire indeed. Soon, we
may need all men at our disposal—and all women, of course. With hindsight, it
was foolish to grant leave in the middle of such a crisis.” The First Naval
Lord’s face was pale. “One of our stations has been taken.”
“Taken?”
Alyce sat down, feeling a little weak. “How?”
The
First Naval Lord paused sourly. “This morning, we received a report that a huge
ship was approaching Station 949.”
“949?
Which station is that, sir?”
“It
houses the Genetic Archive.”
“That’s
odd.”
The
Genetic Archive was not directly under the governance of the Imperium; it was
controlled by a semi-independent organisation called the Imperial Conservation
Committee. The idea was to preserve a genetic sample of every single known
life-form, from all discovered planets. However, the collection was never
completed. The Imperium saw fit to discontinue the project two years
previously, and the Archive was only still operational because the funding
hadn’t quite run out. When it did, the samples would likely all be destroyed.
“Indeed—we
expected a fight from the Weerms, but we never predicted that they would attack
such a strange target.” He sighed. “The station is located in the Argive
Sector, which does not have a significant Navy presence. Ozytan only attacked
with one ship, but the Sector Defence Force was no match for him—he has
developed some kind of projected energy weapon, which can penetrate our
strongest forcefields. The ship docked with the station, and about a hundred of
those creatures—the Weerms—stormed in and took control. Luckily, a worker on
the base managed to get a message to Lightworld before the station was taken—otherwise
we would be none the wiser.”
“So
Ozytan is in full control of the station?”
“I
am afraid so.”
“Space!
And all this happened this morning?” The First Naval Lord nodded, and she
paused. “I assume you are readying a fleet, sir?”
“Yes,
our fleet will be leaving tomorrow, in a mission to reclaim the station. I
would have wished to leave today, but we need time to gather all of our forces.
The weapons on Ozytan’s ship are very powerful.” He paused. “You said, when you
arrived, that you had some important information for me.”
Alyce
nodded. “I have a weapon which I believe may be effective against the Weerms,
sir.”
She
produced the white Cellzer, and showed it to the First Naval Lord. “This is a
piece of medical equipment, but I have reason to believe that it may damage the
Weerms.”
The
First Naval Lord smiled. “Is that so? In that case, you might want to meet our
prisoner…”
***
The
First Naval Lord led Alyce and Glitz into the secret hangar, which was dark and
enclosed. The lights were dim, and there was the sound of water dripping
somewhere. It was little more than a wide, dark, empty space; it had presumably
been built for ship storage, but it seemed unused. The only object in the
hangar was a metal cage right in the centre. As they approached it, Glitz saw
that there was…
something
inside it. It was a dark shape, lying at the
edge. It was not moving. They drew closer, and Alyce stepped back in horror
when she realised what it was. It was a Weerm.
“After
your visit to Chaos, we sent a flotilla to the planet. Ozytan and his creatures
had already left; the planet contained only indigenous life. However, we did
find this one Weerm that had been left behind. It is badly damaged—which was
presumably why it had not escaped with the rest.”
“Is
it dead, sir?” Alyce whispered.
“Well,
it is hurt—badly. But, in answer to your question, no, it is still alive.”
“I
wonder,” Alyce said, turning the Cellzer over in her hands.
She
felt somewhat guilty about injuring an unarmed, injured creature, but she knew
she had no choice. She set the device to a +5 setting, knelt down, pointed it
at the Weerm, and activated it. A beam shone out, making contact with the
creature. Incredibly, it burned right through the creature’s skin. The Weerm
yelled out in agony, and Alyce quickly switched it off.
“Wonderful!”
the First Naval Lord exclaimed. “Give it to me! I shall have it reproduced
within the hour, and given to every man! And woman!”
Alyce
and Glitz grinned at each other. They weren’t going to let the Imperium fall
without a fight. Ozytan probably thought his Weerms were invincible, what with
their tough genetic makeup. But he was about to discover what the Imperial Navy
was really made of—many of the higher-ranking officers might be useless, but
the bulk of the force was dedicated and strong. The technicians worked faster
than they had ever worked; the simple design of the Cellzer was analysed, and
then duplicated on a huge scale. The work was not completed within a single
hour, as the First Naval Lord had vowed. Still, by the end of the day, all of
the members of the Navy had been issued with the devices, which seemed to be
the only weapons that stood a chance against the Weerms.
On
the First Naval Lord’s insistence, Alyce had taken him into their new ship, the
Deliverer
, to look around. Since they had landed on the planet, word had
quickly spread that it was a unique and astonishing vessel. The First Naval
Lord wandered around the flight deck, examining it in awe. He still didn’t know
whether to believe Alyce’s story about how they had obtained it—everyone knew
the Zierons were just a fairy-tale—but he could tell that it was a very special
ship. After he had spent several minutes poring over the design, he sat down on
the sofa in the control deck, and gestured for them to join him.
“Do
you have a command at the moment, Captain?”
“No,
sir. My last crew was disbanded several weeks before my mission to Chaos.”
“Very
good. I assume you are not prepared to let anyone else command the
Deliverer
?”
Alyce
shook her head. “Absolutely not, sir. She is not a Naval vessel, but I am fully
willing for her to be of use to the Imperial Navy. However, I must insist on
commanding her myself.” Almost as an afterthought, she nodded at Glitz. “And
Glitz will have to join me. After all, it is his ship too.”
“Fine.
As I said, we fly to the Argive Sector tomorrow in order to seize control of
Station 949. I am going to assign you a group of men—Marines, if I can arrange
it—and you must join us on the mission. I have a feeling that the
Deliverer
may just live up to its name.”
“Yes,
sir.” She paused. “If I may have permission, I would also like to bring another
man on the mission. His name is Hans Tekka.”
“One
of the convicts who travelled to Chaos with you? The computer genius, I
believe. Very well. It is a good idea. He may prove useful when you get to the
station.”
“Thank
you, sir.” Alyce paused, grimacing. “I think he’ll take some persuading…”
The
First Naval Lord smiled. “Oh, no. You won’t have to do any persuading. He will
not have a choice. I shall issue a Mandatory Enlistment Notice to his Net
callsign. Then all you will have to do is arrange a place to meet him.”
Alyce
grinned back. “Thank you, sir.”
The
First Naval Lord was as good as his word. As soon as Tekka received the notice,
he contacted Alyce and agreed to meet her on the planet Flora, which was in the
next system. Without wasting any time, Alyce and Glitz took the
Deliverer
on a course to the planet. After a short, easy flight, they landed on the world.
Flora was one of the worlds that retained a certain autonomy. It was a purely
commercial planet, dedicated to the production of expensive oils found in
certain plant species. As a result, the world was one huge flower farm—apart
from a few small factories, landing sites and miniature towns, the world was
literally covered in flowers. Glitz sneezed when they got out at the landing
site; pollen was thick in the air.
“Why
did he want to meet us in a place like this?” he muttered.
They
waited in the shipyard for a while, until Tekka approached them, carrying a
small grey box. He seemed to have improved in health since they had last seen
him, although he was still pale and thin. Despite his apparent good health, he
didn’t at all seem pleased to see them.
“I
suffer from an acute respiratory condition,” he said, in answer to their
questioning looks. “I self-medicate with Oil of Thoralis, which contains a
compound that minimises the effects of my illness. The planet Flora is one of
the only places to obtain it.”
Another
man stepped out from behind a nearby luxury cruiser and grinned at them. “Room
for another one?”
Glitz
could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was Doland.
“What
are you doing here?”
“You
could sound a bit more pleased to see me. I ran into Tekka again, by a complete
coincidence, a few days ago, when we were both on the shipyard on Rechya. Tekka
was looking to travel to the next system, and I’d just bought a new Pearl Class
cruiser. So I agreed to give him a ride. Obviously, that was before he got the
notice from the Navy enlisting him.” He smiled. “So, when do we leave?”
“You
don’t have to come with us,” Alyce said. “It’s only Tekka that’s been
enlisted.”
“I
know, but… I want to come with you.” Doland’s face became slightly wooden as he
struggled to express what he wanted to say. “I… I feel like I should help. I
mean… I probably won’t be much use, but if you’re willing to let me come with
you…”
Alyce
touched his arm. “Thank you, Doland. We’d be glad of the support.”
“Well,”
Tekka said. “Are we going to set off, or are we simply going to stand here
chatting all day?”
Once
they were back onboard the
Deliverer
, on a course back to Lightworld,
Alyce made sure that they were all armed with Cellzers. The Navy technicians
had masterfully replicated the core of the technology, which they had found to
be surprisingly simple. However, they had made some slight modifications. The technology
had been made into a device resembling an assault rifle, making them easier to
hold and operate. Another change was the name: rather than Cellzers, the
weapons had been renamed “sonic rifles”, due to the discovery that they
operated largely by means of focussed sound waves. Each rifle had two triggers;
one to emit sonic energy, and one to fire a blast of focussed laser energy.
Thus, they could be used against both human and Weerm targets. The power of
each device had also been vastly increased, to the point that a single sonic
blast from one of the guns should be enough to obliterate a Weerm… at least in
theory. Of course, there was still the possibility that the captive Weerm had
been more easily damaged due to its weak condition. They would not know for
certain until they began to test them in the field.
When
Glitz, Alyce, Tekka and Doland arrived back on Lightworld, they were
immediately taken by the First Naval Lord to meet the men that would be
accompanying them on the
Deliverer
. They met in a large battle room,
which was filled with computer consoles and holographic starcharts. There were thirty-two
commandos in total, led by their platoon leader, Lieutenant Horace Jameson. The
First Naval Lord was slightly disappointed by what he had been sent; he had
been hoping for a company of at least a hundred men, led by a competent Lieutenant
Colonel. Then again, from his accent, it seemed that Lieutenant Jameson was of
a common birth, so perhaps he was competent enough for a promotion but had been
denied it.
“I
understand I will be working under you, Captain Wickham,” the Lieutenant said,
shaking hands with Alyce. He was a tall, handsome man with blonde hair and a strong
jaw.
“Well,
you will be working
with
me, Lieutenant,” Alyce said, smiling. “Why
don’t we all sit down and go over the plan in detail?”
