detective work to you, the marshals, and any member of Imperial Intelligence you believe to be pure in this.” She looked at Bradford and bit her lip.
“As to what else I shall do: first, I will bury my parents. After that, I will make the very same address my father meant to give at the Court of Directors.” Rebecca’s chin rose. “I will affirm the reforms that my father began. All indentures will be rescinded, and women will be people in this nation once and for all, with the same freedoms and protections as any man.” She glared at Bradford. “And those protections will be very similar and just as universal as those described in the Constitution you mentioned.” She paused. “I read it, you see, while I was in Baalkpan. There was a book about government from a dead surgeon’s library. Astonishing…” She shook her head and continued. “The military alliance between the Empire and the western allies-the Grand Alliance-will be ratified by me, as will the cultural and material trade bargains we reached.” Rebecca’s voice became granite once more. “And I will proclaim that, as Captain Reddy suggested, the war against the evil Dominion will end only with its complete and unconditional defeat!”
“What of… what of the Dom prisoners we took on New Ireland?” Bates asked quietly.
Rebecca rubbed her eyes. “I want to kill them. Does that make me as evil as they?” She paused. “I can’t do that, and I won’t. They must remain confined, and those with sympathies toward them must be confined as well.” She glanced sadly at Courtney. “We are not yet completely ready for this American Constitution. We cannot continue with our war even as we guard against our own people.” She took a deep breath and released it. “I must order the arrest of all Dominion priests and congregations within the Empire, and those who associate with them shall be carefully questioned as well. Even… even the True Faith Catholics on New Ireland require study, I’m sad to say. Many did support the revolt there at first.” She looked at Courtney, her eyes suddenly pleading. “Sister Audry has convinced me that the Doms are not Catholic at all, but a hideous perversion that merely wears its cloak to hide their evil.” She sighed. “I believe she is right. I hope she is.” She shook her head. “Ultimately, it is for their own protection, as most in this land will not believe it, and many may seek to harm them.”
Rebecca looked at her hands, laid out flat on the desk. “Mr. Bradford, I… I need Sister Audry here! I know she is a good and godly woman. My people will come to know that too. If she went among the people of New Ireland, she could assure me, assure us all, that they have no connection to the Doms, no evil in their hearts! She could speak to our own clergy, become an ambassador between the faiths… Perhaps she might even speak to the prisoners! Do you think she could show them the wrong they do, teach them how they have been seduced-used-by evil?”
Courtney leaned across the desk and patted a small hand. “You ask a great deal, Your Majesty. Not of Sister Audry, because I think she would be more than willing to come. But you may be asking the impossible of her and of your own people in terms of result. It might even be difficult just to keep her safe, you know.” He paused. “But I will ask her with you. She doesn’t like me much,” he admitted, “but in that, as in all things, she is honest. You can trust her advice regarding the people-and prisoners-on New Ireland.” He turned to the others. “Now, gentlemen, if you please, why don’t you leave us for a time? Her Majesty and I have sensitive, private matters to discuss.”
Bates paused, then nodded. He knew Rebecca would feel constrained around him. He was no longer just her protector, but her factor now as well.
“Aye, Mr. Bradford,” he said softly. “Come, Lieutenant Ruik, yers an’ Her Majesty’s Marines have arrests to make.”
Even as the library door closed, Courtney Bradford finally moved around the desk to hold the small girl who, now that they were alone once more, began to tremble beneath the crushing weight of grief and Empire.
A while later, perhaps a long while-Courtney’s watch had finally been stilled by the terrible blast-he stepped quietly out on the wide veranda and sat heavily in a chair. He was in a dark humor, and placed what he hoped was a sympathetic decanter of brandy on the small table nearby. Setting a glass beside it, he deliberately, almost masochistically-given his noble efforts in recent months-poured it to the very top. The night was pleasant enough, but his spirits were very low, and he stared at the stars and yearned for his long-lost pipe. Suddenly, to his surprise, a common cat rubbed up against his leg.
Courtney had never been fond of domestic cats-few Australians were-and perhaps the fact they’d been great favorites of his unlamented wife had influenced him as well. But strangely, right then the little creature did provide some small solace. If nothing else, it distracted him just a bit from his grief and worry while he contemplated its desperate attempts to win his affection. Only two cats were known to have been aboard the “passage” ships, yet they’d quite infested the New Britain Isles, and many other places within the Empire that man had touched. They came in all sizes and colors, and it remained difficult for Courtney to believe they all sprang from only two specimens. At the same time, for all their numbers and variety, only two basic types seemed to have endured: those that were utterly feral and those that did not wish to be. The former were a nuisance that had done great harm to the ecology, just as they had in Australia, but the latter could be nearly as annoying. The people of the Empire were not particularly tolerant of any of them, as a rule. There were exceptions.
At the time, a clowder of cats had chosen the space beneath Government House porch for shelter to rear their young. They were endured because they kept the rodents and insects around the house to a minimum, and because Her Majesty was somewhat fond of them. Eternal warfare raged between the cats and Petey, who, though often wounded in battle, kept their numbers at bay. Rebecca scolded Petey for his depredations, but seemed to have a fatalistic tolerance beyond her years for his lamentable but quite understandable behavior.
I wonder, Courtney thought, if all her hardships and adventures, all the suffering she’s seen and endured, has contributed to that. Certainly she’s holding up better than I would have imagined. He took a gulp of brandy. Better than I am, in some respects. She’s as strong as Saan-Kakja and the Lady Sandra, as she calls her, as determined as Captain Reddy-and doubtless her long association with and strange affection for Dennis Silva has helped her as well. He sighed. She will ruthlessly move forward to quell this challenge and punish these atrocities in ways she may one day regret.
The cat, a kitten, really, continued rubbing against him, and seemed to be gauging the possibility of achieving his lap.
Sergeant Koratin suddenly sat in a chair opposite him, and Courtney blinked, stirring from his dark thoughts. “There you are, Sergeant,” he said. “I wondered what became of you.”
“I have been here,” Koratin replied.
“Hmm.”
“Sister Audry will come?” Koratin asked.
“I presume so. How did you know?”
“I guessed. She will be needed here, and once the treaties are ratified, which is a certainty now, you will no longer be.”
Courtney began to bristle, but Koratin was right. He’d come as an ambassador, but he’d largely become the face of the western allies here. Governor-Empress Rebecca would sort out the current mess, he was sure-one way or another-but she had to be seen as doing it herself. It wouldn’t do at all for her confused and frightened people to think she was weak or that she was being propped up by foreigners, no matter how popular those foreigners might be. Bates would help, of course, but as Rebecca’s prime factor and possible guardian, he’d be expected to. Ultimately, the reorganization and re-creation of the Imperial government must have an Imperial face. Still, Courtney was reluctant to leave the Governor-Empress.
“You are wasted here, Your Excellency,” Koratin persisted more softly, “and you have other work to do. The new Governor-Empress will need soldiers to advise her now. She will need Sister Audry to counsel her as only she can do, and help her with the… spiritual dilemmas. And…” Koratin paused, then continued almost regretfully, “she will need such as I, who has trodden the rotten decks of treachery before. I will serve her however she will let me, and I will protect both her and Sister Audry with my life. They will need protection.”
“I’m sure Her Majesty will have more protection than she can bear,” Courtney predicted, “but I do fear for Sister Audry.” He peered closely at the former Aryaalan noble. “She did convert you, didn’t she? You have become a Christian?” he probed.
“Of a sort. I am not sure what kind as yet. There are different kinds, it appears.”
“Indeed,” Courtney agreed with a grimace, “and I’m perhaps the same sort as you.” He chuckled. “Somewhat nondenominational, shall we say?” He took another long sip. “I suppose you’re right, though. Despite recent… events… here and the looming confrontation with the bloody Doms, it seems our war against the Grik will of necessity focus the western allies’ attention more firmly against them quite soon. For a time, at least.” He took a
