Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (21 page)

The lift claimed it serviced levels 50-75, as well as the entrance. There was no telling how many levels there were in total. It might be as large as
Invincible
. Or even bigger.

On level 70, they brought her to what was obviously a computer center. The large, thick hatch was familiar to her. Of course, they didn’t actually take her inside. They led her to a conference room beside it.

It bore a striking resemblance to the one in the planetary defense headquarters on Erorsi. If that was anything to judge by, there must’ve been a lot of people down here at some point. Perhaps there still were.

William took the seat at the head of the table with an ease that made clear he was Captain Black’s superior. He gestured for her to take a seat beside him. “Sit. Perhaps you’d care for some tea?”

Kelsey sat. “No. Let’s get this over with.”

“Very well. Computer, this is William Hawthorne. I would like you to create a virtual instance of yourself and have it perform some tasks for me.”

“Virtual workspace ready,” a standard Old Empire computer voice said from the overhead speakers. “This unit is booted and standing by for your instructions.”

“Excellent. The person seated next to me will be communicating with you. I wish for you to verify the veracity of her claims and authenticate them as best you can.”

“This unit is ready. Implant access to the virtual workspace is granted. State your name through the implant channel.”

Kelsey found the access channel it was offering and sent a communication request. Once it accepted, she started speaking with it through her implants.

Computer, I am Princess Kelsey Bandar. I give you permission to access my implants for the sole purpose of verifying the truth of what I’m saying.

Access acquired, Princess Kelsey Bandar. Proceed.

My title is ambassador plenipotentiary of the Terran Empire. My father is the emperor of the Terran Empire and I am second in line to the Throne. Here are my Imperial access codes.

She sent the computer her authorization codes. She knew from asking Carl Owlet that they had virtually unbreakable encryption and identified her as what she claimed. Even if someone else took the codes from her, without her hardware, they’d be invalid. He informed her smugly that they were better identification than her DNA.

Access codes received and confirmed, Ambassador Plenipotentiary Kelsey Bandar. How may this unit serve you, Highness?

I understand you are only a copy of the main computer. Is that correct?

Affirmative.

So, any instructions I give you will not hold true for the actual computer?

Correct.

Will the main computer be aware of what transpires in this virtual workspace?

The main computer is monitoring the basic communication and is aware of this conversation and this unit’s conclusions. No commands or files are being transmitted, however.

Thank you. Can you tell me what level of authority someone with my credentials has on your system?

Complete authority, Highness. This facility operates under the authority of the Imperial Throne. As an ambassador plenipotentiary and heir secundus, you have complete authority over this unit and this facility.

Thank you.

Kelsey looked back to William. “Done.”

He smiled a little. “Computer, is Kelsey Bandar speaking the truth? Are her credentials valid?”

“Affirmative. Her Highness, Princess Kelsey Bandar, heir secundus and ambassador plenipotentiary to the Terran Empire, is who she claims to be.”

His eyebrows went up almost to his hairline. “That’s a surprise, but a pleasant one. Computer, dismiss the virtual workspace.”

Kelsey smiled. “Now that that’s done, let me give you a less pleasant surprise.”

She pinged the computer and requested access. It immediately granted it to her.

Computer, do I have complete access and control of your systems?

Affirmative, Highness.

Excellent. Lock out all other users from the computer systems and put this base on lockdown. No one in, no one out. Be certain that nothing is detectable outside the facility and that no research projects are impacted.

Grant users in the middle of anything enough access to complete what they’re doing. Accept no commands from those users other than ones related to the experiments in progress.

Acknowledged, Highness.

The overhead speakers began blaring something similar to general quarters on a Fleet vessel, startling everyone in the room.

Captain Black surged to his feet. “What the hell did you do? Computer, what’s happening?”

“Access denied, Captain Black.”

Kelsey sat back in her chair and smiled. “Now the shoe is on the other foot. I have complete and utter control of your facility.” She held up a hand to stop the Fleet officer from exploding. “I haven’t done anything to reveal it to anyone outside this facility. I’m not your enemy.”

“Well, you’re sure acting like one,” he snarled.

She looked at William. “Are you ready to sit down and talk like adults? Are we done with the threats? Do you accept that I’m who I say I am?”

The Rebel Empire noble rose to his feet and bowed as deeply as possible. “Of course I do, Highness. I’m yours to command.”

* * * * *

Time dragged, but eventually Abigail’s spies informed her that Olivia’s car was approaching the council building. Unlike the first kill, she could watch this one in real time. If, of course, the assassins struck as Olivia was arriving.

Honestly, she hoped they did. She really wasn’t looking forward to Olivia confronting her over those missing prisoners or Lord Hawthorne’s death.

How would they do it? Another anonymous crash? That might look suspicious. Of course, the people prone to seeing things that way would do so anyhow.

And, they’d be right, after all.

The car was thirty seconds from touchdown when it happened. A dark shape rose from the river and raced toward the council building.

Olivia’s car turned and sped away, a good indicator that she’d been suspicious. That spoke well to her character.

The new vehicle, larger than a regular grav car by a fair margin, closed the distance in record time. Abigail finally recognized it when a small missile blew Olivia’s car out of the air. It was an Imperial marine pinnace, just like the one that had brought the now deceased Admiral Mertz to Harrison’s World.

Where had Master Calder found one? Had he had it all this time?

The pinnace peeled away, going right over the bright lights of the city. The building’s vid feed would have recorded it clearly.

Realization hit her. This was the perfect frame. No one other than the visitors had vessels capable of reaching space. With that provocation, it would be perfectly clear who’d attacked who. Brilliant!

Abigail got on the com to her assistant, who she’d insisted wait for Olivia’s meeting to be over before leaving.

“Get me the military liaison. A Fleet pinnace just killed Coordinator West. I want atmospheric fighters scrambled to take it out. To take them all out. I want Fleet gone from Harrison’s World before dawn. Do you understand me? Get him on the line now!”

Chapter Twenty

Olivia watched the vid feed with a sick stomach. She’d sent those people to their deaths. Her guards had been going to bring Abigail to join her at the crash site where William went down. People who’d been with her for years. Now they were all dead.

“I need to contact the security forces and have Abigail picked up,” she said dully.

“Actually, are you sure that’s the best idea?” Mertz asked. “I’ve had some unfortunate experience recently with coups. King has probably been planning this for a while. If you talk to the wrong person, she’ll know you’re alive and try again. At this point, they think you’re dead. You’ll want to keep them thinking that until you take them down.”

She looked over at him in the other seat of the car she’d borrowed for the trip. “I can’t just let her get away with this! She’s going to be consolidating power right now.”

“It’s your call. I suggest if you’re going to let them know you’re alive, go big. Make some kind of general broadcast. Notify your ruling council all at once. And while you’re doing that, I need to call my people and get them moving. It won’t be long before she takes a swing at us.”

Olivia shook her head. “You really don’t understand how this works. She’s already started purging the government of people loyal to me. I need to make my calls right now and pray it isn’t too late.”

She pulled out her com and made a call to her office. From there, she could get the word out quickly. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t connect. She tried the backup number she’d had a very bright resistance tech install and she was into the automated system at her office.

“This is Coordinator West. Authenticate me. Sigma Alpha three five seven.”

“Identity verified, Coordinator,” the computer said. “How may this unit assist you?”

“Code red. Execute emergency plan Omega.”

“Executing. Primary connectivity unavailable. Switching to secondary. Secondary unavailable. Switching to tertiary. Connected. Transmitting. Transmissions complete. Wiping system. Goodbye.”

The line went dead, but that was all according to plan. Emergency messages had gone out to every council member not associated with the conservative alliance. It might be too late for some of them, but many would get the word in time and go to ground. She hoped. It had also notified contacts within the resistance. Then the computer had purged itself.

Unless everything had gone to hell and Abigail had more reach than Olivia had ever suspected. If so, she’d hunt Olivia down, erase all the gains of the last decade, and kill a lot of good people.

She returned her attention to Mertz. He was just wrapping up his own emergency call.

“They tried to attack the pinnace at Lord Hawthorne’s estate, but it was on alert. It’s on its way back to the island we have under our control. It can’t make it to pick me up, but that’s fine. I’m not going anywhere until I know what really happened to Kelsey.”

She felt herself frowning. “But William’s car is destroyed. They found their bodies in the wreckage. I’m sorry, but she’s gone. And so is my oldest friend.”

Just the thought sent her spirits sagging. She forced the savage sorrow aside. She didn’t have time to grieve.

“You don’t know Kelsey like I do,” Mertz said. “She’s surprisingly hard to kill. How far away from the crash site are we? And, where can I get some different clothes? I stand out like a sore thumb in this uniform.”

“There’s a town close by. I know some people there. They can have clothes ready by the time we arrive.”

Olivia called ahead to the diner and gave the correct code phrase to identify herself. “I need some casual men’s clothes. We’ll be there in ten minutes.” She made an estimate of his sizes and included that before she disconnected.

“I should make the call now to get the prisoners released,” she said. “I don’t want them caught up in the middle of this.”

“Hold off on that. Right now, King has bigger fish to fry. And, I ordered them to make their way out after dark.”

“Excuse me?”

He smiled. “I spoke to them briefly before we left. They’ve already discovered a way out. In fact, I’m somewhat surprised that you didn’t recognize that I was speaking with Meyer at the port. He had to rush back into the camp and shave to have any hope you wouldn’t recognize him.”

Olivia felt her eyes widen. She put the images of the man at the port and Force Master Chief Meyer up side-by-side. Definitely the same person.

“I’ll be damned. I never would’ve imagined someone from the lower orders could be so clever.”

“You shouldn’t let your prejudices get in your way. People can be smart no matter what their background. When we have time, I think I need to tell you a story.”

“Would this be about how you aren’t really who you say you are? I figured that out already. I knew for sure the moment that you said you’d been to Terra and I realized that you were actually on
Invincible
.”

It was his turn to be shocked. “Yes, we really do need to talk. First, though, we need to find Kelsey, and hopefully Lord Hawthorne.”

* * * * *

Sean put his com unit away. Mertz had wanted him to wait until dark to get things rolling, but he really didn’t know how much they’d accomplished. It would be better to start everyone moving now. Then he’d have enough people in the port after dark to commandeer several grav lifts and get the exodus done in one go.

And, contrary to what Mertz probably wanted, Sean would be taking a team to find the missing prisoners. He knew where to find the bastard that had run the camp. The trick was going to be getting in to snatch him, but Sean had a few ideas.

First, he needed to get the plan in motion.

He found Ross and Newland. “There’s been some kind of attack on the coordinator and Admiral Mertz believes it’s time for us to decamp. I want to appropriate four grav lifts.”

Newland grunted. “I figured we needed to do that before too long. That’s going to screw with their delivery schedule and that’ll draw attention pretty damned fast. Once the foreman for that section of the dock gets wind of the delay, it won’t take him long to figure out something is squirrelly. We’ll need a distraction that won’t draw the camp guards’ attention.”

Ross smiled. “A fire would be too flashy, as would an explosion. What about a grav failure on a loaded lift that’s just departed? The damned thing would sink and spread containers all around the harbor.”

Sean considered it for a moment. “That’s as good as anything I can think of. It would get attention, but not the kind that would get prison guards all excited. We’d need to have our people staged and ready to go in the buildings outside the fence. How long to get them out there?”

“An hour should be enough,” Ross said. “We’ll get everyone moving and let the last few people get dinner ready. If we hit the docks closest to the camp, we can get everyone to the loading area without too much risk. We’ll just have to stun anyone in the warehouse.”