Empire in Crisis (10 page)

Major Ryan checked his
personal communications unit again for what must have been the tenth time. The message
received a few minutes earlier had not changed. It still said, ‘Commence
Backlash immediately. Agustine.’ Backlash was the codename given by the General
for the assault on the Palace. Ryan checked the time. The Battalion had been
put on alert and was getting ready to drop from orbit. He had notified the
transport ship officers that his battalion was conducting a mobilization
exercise. Lieutenant Rhiannon Jordania was off duty at the moment, and Ryan
hadn’t yet had a chance to send her a warning. He decided to do that now. Just
as he hit the send button on his com unit, the Deputy Battalion Commander,
Captain Lewison, entered the room. 

“The troops are
boarding their combat armor now, Major,” said Lewison. Ryan nodded. The
Battalion’s combat armor consisted of armored vehicles that were designed to
serve as both assault vehicles and troop carriers. If the troops were already
boarding them, then the drop from orbit could begin in a few minutes. 

“Very good, Captain.
I’ll have some last minute instructions before we begin the drop. What you
don’t know is—“ He stopped talking when he saw Lewison pull out his service
pistol and point it directly at him. 

“I think you were about
to tell me that this is not just another exercise; isn’t that right, Major? You
can save your breath. I already know that the purpose of this mobilization is
to assault the Palace and terminate Emperor DeChastelaine, not that you’re
intending to carry out that mission. Did you really think your secret meeting
with the Emperor went unnoticed? General Agustine couldn’t be sure you were
co-operating with the Emperor until the Guard unit started shadowing your
sister’s family. That was the tipoff. Well you don’t have to worry about your
sister or her family. I’ve been ordered to assume command of the Battalion and
the assault after the sudden death of the Battalion Commander for not having
enough sense to go along with the flow of history. I don’t know if Hiakawa will
make a better Emperor, but it doesn’t matter. Those who help him gain power
will be rewarded, and those who try to stop him will suffer the ultimate
penalty. I know which side I want to be on. 

Ryan saw sudden
movement with his peripheral vision and wasn’t able to resist looking in that
direction. Lewison saw Ryan’s gaze shift and spun around just as Jordania
collided with him. Both of them fell in a tangled heap. Ryan leaped forward to
grab Lewison’s pistol, but Lewison managed to get a shot off before Ryan could
reach him. The shot hadn’t been directed at him, and as Lewison swung his arm
up and around to aim at Ryan, Ryan got close enough to kick the pistol out of
his hand. He then quickly drew his own pistol and shot Lewison before he had a
chance to push Jordania’s body clear and get up. Lewison fell back to the floor.
It was clear that Ryan’s shot had been a fatal one. 

“Sorry, Captain. I know
which side I want to be on too,” said Ryan in a low voice. His gaze shifted to
Jordania. Lewison’s shot had also been a fatal one. Ryan knelt down and gently
closed Jordania’s dead eyes. He wanted to say something that expressed the
sorrow and shock he felt over her death, but he couldn’t find the right words,
and he knew he couldn’t linger here much longer. If one of the transport’s crew
walked by the open doorway and notified the ship’s commander, the assault might
be put in jeopardy, and who knew what repercussions that might have on Emperor
DeChastelaine’s reign, and the safety of Ryan’s family too for that matter. “I
have to go now, Rhiannon.” As he whispered those words, he got up, holstered
his pistol and closed the door behind him. With a little luck, no one would
find the bodies until after the Battalion had secured Space Force HQ. 

As he made his way down
the corridors to the hangar bay, he activated his com unit that connected him
to each of the 554 members of his battalion. 

“This is the Major.
Captain Lewison will not be participating in this operation. Captain Dogger
will be the Deputy Battalion Commander until further notice. Now listen
closely, people. This operation is not a drill. There are people down on the
surface who are attempting to overthrow our Emperor, and we’re going to stop
them! Until this operation is finished, you will obey orders only from me,
regardless of who else tries to give you orders. I want us to be drop-ready in
two minutes. Ryan to Flight Ops!” 

“Flight Ops
here.” 

“Standby to
depressurize on my signal.” 

“Standing by.” The
Flight Operations Officer tried to keep his voice normal, but he didn’t like
this situation at all. If this wasn’t a drill, and if the battalion was going
down to the surface in support of the Emperor, then there was only one target
that could possibly pose a threat to the Emperor, and that was Space Force HQ.
He muted his com channel to Ryan and opened an intercom channel to the
transport’s Bridge. After a quick conversation, the transport’s CO decided to
notify the Fleet Flagship. 

Lieutenant Merrick was
glad to be near the end of another boring four-hour duty shift as the officer
in charge of the ship’s Communications Center. It was the middle of the ship’s
night cycle, and all the senior officers were off duty and most likely asleep.
She jumped when she heard the electronic voice of the monitoring computer
system. 

“High priority com
channel requested by transport Blue Heron commander.” 

“Open the channel,”
said Merrick. “Go ahead Blue Heron.” 

“We got a situation
here, Flag! The 9077th is mobilizing for a ground operation, and it’s not a
drill, repeat not a drill. We think they’re going to assault SFHQ for Godsakes!
They’re ready to drop! What should we do?” 

“The Fleet Commander is
aware of the situation. Allow the drop to proceed. Do not interfere, Blue
Heron. Is that clear?” 

“Ah, roger that, Flag.
We’ve just given them the green light. The drop is commencing.” 

“Very good, Commander.
We’ll get back to you soon. Clear. Comsys, open a secure channel to Imperial
Guard Command.” 

“Channel open,” replied
the electronic voice. 

“IGC, this is Red
Raven. The sky is falling. I repeat, the sky is falling. I’ll try to keep a lid
on things here. Red Raven out.” Merrick leaned back and smiled. It looked as
though the attempted coup against the Emperor would fail as planned. Once the
dust settled, maybe she could trade her Space Force uniform for the uniform of
an Imperial Guard officer and end this undercover mission.  

DeChastelaine was
startled out of his sleep by the unusually loud voice asking him to wake up.
Instead of his personal Chamberlain, it was a Guard officer. 

“What’s happening,
Captain?” 

“We’ve just received
word from Red Raven that there’s a marine drop in progress, My Emperor. The
code word she used was for a friendly drop, but we haven’t been able to confirm
that and have not heard from Green Raven. I strongly recommend that you let us
escort you to the underground bunker, My Emperor.” 

DeChastelaine nodded as
he got up and reached for his robe. There was no time for anything more
elaborate than that, and his Imperial Guard wouldn’t care if he showed up at
the bunker naked. As he and his Guard escort hurried to the elevator that would
take him one kilometer underground, he looked over at the Guard Officer. 

“Can we tell from the
assault trajectory what their objective is, Captain?” 

“No, My Emperor. The
assault forces are coming from a direction that could easily end at either the
Palace or SFHQ.” 

“Are your people ready
to execute Phase Two?” 

“We are and are eager
to begin, My Emperor. May I give the word to commence Phase Two?” 

DeChastelaine hesitated
for a second and their arrival at the elevator gave him more time to ponder his
decision. Phase Two was the roundup of all the senior admirals currently on
Earth, wherever they might be. Taking Space Force HQ wasn’t enough. If Capital
Fleet received orders from a lower ranked admiral transmitting via private
equipment, it could still keep the whole thing in doubt. The risk of giving his
Guard the word now, before they knew for certain whose side the 9077th was
really on, was that if that battalion was headed for the Palace and his Guard
dispersed some of their manpower away from the Palace, that would weaken the
Palace defenses. On the other hand, if five hundred marines wearing combat
armor and riding in armored vehicles were about to assault the Palace, having a
few more Guards around would not change the outcome at all. 

“Yes, give the word.
Commence Phase Two.” The officer whispered into his throat mic as the elevator
quickly accelerated to free fall speed. 

Merrick jumped in
surprise when she heard the electronic voice of the Communications System
Computer. “Emergency priority transmission from Fleet Operations. Transferring
message to Flag Bridge in five seconds unless—“ 

“Override emergency
priority protocols!” shouted Merrick. “All incoming transmissions will come
here and stay here. Acknowledge my last order, Comsys.” 

“Override is
acknowledged. Do you wish to respond to the emergency priority
transmission?” 

“Yes, open a
channel.” 

“Channel is
open.” 

“Go ahead, Fleet Ops,”
said Merrick in what she hoped was a calm voice. 

“This is Senior Grand
Admiral Hiakawa! Who is this?” 

Merrick was prepared
for a situation like this. “This is SubCommander Manson. I have the Watch,
Admiral.” 

“This is an emergency,
Manson! I want you to bring that ship to Battle Stations immediately, and I
want her weapons to fire on the marine assault vehicles that are about to
commit treason by assaulting SFHQ! Is that clear, Manson?” 

“Crystal clear,
Admiral!” 

“Don’t screw this up,
SubCommander! Your career in Space Force depends on getting this right!” 

“I understand, Admiral!
I’ll take personal control of our weapons immediately. Manson out!” 

“Wait—“ 

Merrick laughed at
having caught Hiakawa by surprise with her termination of the two-way channel.
She activated the intercom channel to the ship’s Main Bridge. 

“Bridge here. What’s
up, Merrick?” 

“Nothing to be
concerned about, SubCommander. I’ve been notified that the transport Blue Heron
is conducting an unscheduled marine assault drill and that part of the drill is
to test adherence to proper communications protocols. So, if you get any
incoming transmissions that appear to be emergency priority calls, they’re all
part of the drill, and I’ll handle them. We don’t want this ship to be given a
bad rating for breaking com protocols, right SubCommander?” 

“Right, Lieutenant.
Thanks for the heads up. We just noticed that sub-orbital activity and were
wondering what was going on. Manson out.” 

Merrick checked the
time and noticed that it would soon be time for a shift change. That she
couldn’t allow. Her relief was not part of the Raven undercover operation. She
had to retain control of the flagship’s communications system as long as
possible. 

“Comsys, initiate
emergency lock-down protocol for the Comm. Section. Then open a secure channel
to Imperial Guard Command.” 

“Comm. Section has been
locked down. Channel to IGC is open. “This is Red Raven. Hiakawa has tried to
order flagship to fire on marine battalion. I’ve managed to stall him, but I
don’t know how much longer I can contain the situation up here. My shift is
just about over, and my relief is going to find out pretty soon that I’ve
locked out the Comm. Section. Those marines had better hurry up and get on the
ground before the CO overrides my lockout. Out.” 

Just as the elevator
slowed down to a stop and the doors opened, the Guard Officer leaned over and
said, “We’ve just heard from Red Raven again, My Emperor. She reports that
Hiakawa tried to order the flagship to fire on the 9077th. We’re not seeing any
unusual fleet activity, and therefore it appears that she was able to prevent
the fire order from being carried out, but she doesn’t know how much longer she
can keep the lid on up there.”