“Doctor,” Cord ordered, “You and Captain Sinas, here, have a mission. You will resupply Rimrunner as quickly as possible, and you will leave as soon thereafter as humanly possible for Prime. You will travel at maximum at all times. If you should encounter the Emperor’s party en route, or catch up with them on Prime, you will board his new yacht and ascertain whether it, too, has awakened. If it has, you will become its temporary tutor. If you encounter even the slightest doubt of the yacht’s benevolence, you are ordered to destroy it.”
Petain was looking stunned as Cord continued, “I’ve already contacted the Emperor by subspace, and I think he’s going to leave the yacht for the Battle Cruiser that’s with him; but I’m not sure he believes me. Offer to introduce him to Kaleen, if necessary. Whatever it takes, get the Emperor off that yacht!” he looked at Petain expectantly.
Petain was a civilian; A few moments passed before he jumped and said, “Oh! Of Course… Ah… Yes, sir!” Another moment, and he added, “Ah… sir… Ah… how long will I be expected to be gone? I mean, I’ve already been away from my family for over a month..”
Cord shrugged. “Surely you understand that this is the biggest thing to hit the Empire in more than a century, Doctor. Actually, you’re in a better position to estimate that than I am; but I’d be surprised if it didn’t take years to learn about that AI and to teach it.”
Petain looked panicked and started to protest, but stopped as Cord continued, “Don’t worry, Doctor. I can’t let you wait for them, but I’ll send your family along to you by the first available transportation; and I’ll see to it that the Emperor pays you an amount well above your rim salary. I’m sure you’ll be given housing in the Imperial Complex, of course.
“After all, Doctor, you’ll be unique! You’ll be the only man on Prime that knows anything about AI this advanced. Then there’s the work itself; working with one of only two sentient comps in the universe. You’ll be Empire’s foremost expert on artificial sentience!”
I had trouble keeping a straight face as Petain literally puffed up. His eyes turned glassy and got a faraway look. Then I caught the twinkle in Cord’s eye and grinned.
Cord winked, and then turned to Captain Sinas. “Captain, How long until you're ready to lift?”
Sinas looked thoughtful. “For a trip of that length, I’d say at least twelve hours, sir.”
I’d have said more like eighteen; but Cord replied, “Use my codes and do it in eight.” Sinas nodded, and then stood, saluted and left, trailed by the starry-eyed Petain.
Cord looked at me and sighed. “Admiral,” he said, “Things certainly happen around you.” He shook his head in exasperation. “Only you could take a glorified navigation comp and turn it into an Empire-wide emergency.”
“All I did was talk to her!” I protested weakly.
He looked at me skeptically. “Yes. Well, perhaps we’d better move on to business.” I sighed in relief as he continued, “The Emperor’s visit was secret, of course. The turnover ceremonies were taped, and will be broadcast as soon as we announce the release. But the Emperor’s presence is not an easy secret to keep, and I’m afraid it has only increased the time pressure on us.”
“Your first order of business,” he continued, “Is to board Fearless and Harpy. Inspect them, and assume command of them. I understand that they’ve suffered some damage. Assess that, and if necessary, send them on to Outback for repairs. Then you can begin establishing a headquarters here on Haven. Nothing fancy, of course. When Jonas attacks, you'll have to abandon it.”
I nodded. Valkyrie should be arriving in a day or so, accompanied by Predator and three rim tramps loaded with armed mining boats. I wanted to be ready for them when they arrived.
Fearless was not nearly as huge as Nemesis, of course, but was still some five hundred meters in diameter, bristling with lasers and particle beam weapons. Harpy, half her size, was huddled alongside Fearless. It was only as we swung around her to Fearless ’ personnel lock that I could see that Harpy was actually attached to the cruiser. Rigid metal struts ran between them, welded raggedly to both hulls. Suited men swarmed around both ships. Obviously, these ships had incurred serious damage. I hoped they could be made battle ready in time.
Fearless ’ skipper was Captain Rence Vidsen, a grizzled veteran of some thirty years’ Fleet service. He was gruff and somewhat tactless. I liked him immediately. Anyone who could attain command of a battle cruiser despite such an abrasive personality must be highly competent.
Harpy ’s Captain, on the other hand, was a junior Lieutenant Commander named Pres Jamro, who immediately reminded me of a puppy. He was always cheerful, always enthusiastic, and always inquisitive. All he needed was a tail to wag. I had to keep reminding myself that the Empire Fleet had given this young man command of a destroyer and more than two hundred and fifty men. He couldn’t be as ineffectual as he looked. I resolved to pay particular attention when I reviewed his record. He seemed to defer to Fearless ’ captain most of the time, which was one favorable trait, but I had considerable doubts about Jamro.
Captain Vidsen escorted me on a tour of Fearless, pointing out damage while providing a running commentary.
Evidently, my mission to Thaeron had been as big a success as we’d hoped. Admiral Chu-Lo’s message had touched off a firestorm throughout the system. It seemed that a small majority of the fleet personnel were convinced that the message was genuine. However, Jonas had enough foresight to pack Nemesis with crewmembers loyal to him, transferring anyone whom he’d doubted. Using Nemesis as a threat, he’d regained partial control of his forces, but fighting had broken out on every vessel in the system and on the base below. Onboard Fearless, the fighting had been hand-to-hand and brutal. When the Jonas loyalists on board had seen that they couldn’t win, they’d seized Engineering and disabled the interstellar navigational comp, among other things, before being wiped out. Captain Vidsen had been preparing to defend his crippled vessel and its crew when Harpy had suddenly come riding an evasion course into Fearless ’ orbit.
With the comms blanketed by Chu-Lo’s message, things had been touchy for a few minutes, but finally Jamro had convinced Captain Vidsen of his loyalty. Harpy had been much luckier than Fearless. On the other hand, perhaps it wasn’t luck, and I was underestimating Jamro. At any rate, Harpy had been one of the few ships on which no fighting had taken place. Jamro had simply behaved as though the Fleet Admiral’s orders were genuine, and none of his crew had dared suggest otherwise. I decided I had underestimated the young Captain. If he could foster that kind of unquestioning loyalty in his crew, he must be an effective commander.
At any rate, once he’d been sure his ship was secure, Jamro had gone looking for somewhere that Harpy could be useful. I later learned that he had a serious case of hero worship for Vidsen, and he’d decided that joining Fearless was his best course of action.
Jamro had placed Harpy under Vidsen’s orders, and the two had discussed their best course of action. They’d decided that they had to get out of the Thaeron system, but Fearless ’ disabled nav comp made a jump impossible for the cruiser. Vidsen had decided to try welding the two ships together, and use Harpy ’s nav comp to compute the jumps to Haven, and Fearless ’ more powerful jump engines to power them. It had been by no means a sure thing, and Harpy ’s Astrogator and Fearless ’ chief engineer deserved medals, but they’d made it.
I had no choice. “Can you make three more jumps? I want you to go to the Outback system for repairs.”
Vidsen looked at his engineer, who looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, sir,” Vidsen replied. “They’ll have to be short jumps, though. We don’t want to risk getting lost in null space.”
I nodded. “Very well. Proceed immediately to the Outback system. Once there, I want Harpy to be detached from Fearless and to return here. I have a feeling we’ll be needing you, Captain Jamro.”
They were on their way within hours, and I began working. I now realized Cord had been right to move me to Haven. The preparation phase was finished. Rim tramps and boats were being armed at a furious pace on Outback, but I wasn’t needed there. It was time to begin the strategic and tactical phase of the operation. Cord had been excited about the cruiser and destroyer, but I reminded him that Jonas still controlled the base on Thaeron, a dreadnought, two cruisers and three destroyers, plus auxiliaries. We were still badly outgunned. I was beginning to worry about Cord. He seemed convinced that a couple of genuine warships would enable us to beat Jonas. More importantly, he was beginning to display a tendency to meddle.
Chapter X
The most immediate requirement was the establishment, staffing and supplying of bases of operation. When Jonas finally regained control of his forces, he was going to come to Haven immediately and in full strength. We
