"Attention all hands, we have exited jumpspace and arrived in the Caldos system," announced Kaarin through the intercom. Father Yosef wandered onto the bridge holding a cup of stimulant.
"Good morning, and God bless, Captain. I trust all is well?"
"Sure. We got dumped in the inner asteroid field, though," Kaarin set a course for the system's main world, one of seven planets. "We'll need a day and a half to reach our destination."
"Is that safe? The asteroids, I mean."
Kaarin snorted. "Only you've watched too many holovids. They tend to present asteroid belts as some sort of whirling morass of rock flying about in every direction. And that's about as far from the truth as can be," he shook his head. "There's really, really, really little rock in the belt, compared to the amount of empty space. If I set the ship on autopilot to follow their average orbit the whole way around the sun, we'd probably not hit even one rock. They also don't fly around willy-nilly, otherwise there wouldn't be a belt for long, it would just disintegrate. There's zero danger to us from being here, pretty much."
"I'm glad," the priest nodded. "I'm also looking forward to setting foot on the planet, breathing a lungful of fresh air-"
"I disadvise that," Kaarin swiveled on his chair towards Yosef. "The atmosphere's far too thin here to breathe without a respirator. You'd die of hypoxia. You'd probably get dust in your lungs, too, with how extremely dry that place is."
"I'll take that into advisement, Captain. It's curious that a world like this has such a large population, don't you think? All those hundreds of millions of people, living on a world that cannot support them."
"The catalogue says they import their foodstuffs from the other worlds on the Sindalan Main. Mostly Acis, and from Dostoevsky too. If those two got cut off, they'd die in droves."
"God forbid. I hope it never comes to that," said Yosef.
"Have you seen Sai today?" Kaarin changed the topic.
"Unless I miss my guess, she would be in engineering, which she rarely leaves, except to sleep."
"I can't get a handle on that woman," admitted Kaarin. "Do you know her from before?"
"Just because we're from the same planet, doesn't mean we know each other, Captain."
Kaarin made a face. "Yes, yes, I'm from Tyr too."
Yosef smiled and sipped some of his stim. "No, I do not know her, and I assure you, Captain, that I find her just as mystifying as do you. But enough gossip, lest we venture into the sin of detraction."
Kaarin did not know what 'detraction' was, but simply assumed it was one of the myriad ritual taboos this priest's faith mandated. "Yeah, how about you keep watch on the controls, while I go see if our engineer hasn't mysteriously died and we didn't notice. Don't touch anything. If lights begin blinking threateningly, shout."
"I'll be sure to notify you immediately if the stim machine's filter needs changing, Captain."
"Har, har."
ooo
"You alive in there?" Kaarin peered into engineering, hanging inwards by the frame of the iris-valve doorway. He half-expected there to be a hammock hung up between the two halves of the M-drive, but there wasn't. The whole place was immaculately clean and orderly. Sai Marte sat at the engineer's terminal.
"I am alive, Captain," she confirmed, turning to him.
"You know, you haven't visibly done anything but stay inside engineering, watching the jump bubble stabilization logs. Aside from eating and sleeping," he told her. "I'm not actually sure about that last one, because I don't have a habit of investigating what my crewmen do in their staterooms when they're off-duty."
"This is my job, Captain," she said flatly.
"No hobbies?"
"No, sir."
"Interests?"
"Yes, sir. Starship systems design and operations. In addition, I also enjoy computer architecture and low-level programming."
"Any complaints about your assignment here?"
"No, sir."
"I'll just let you do your job, then, Engi," he used one of the casual, but polite terms for the chief engineer on a starship.
"Yes, sir."
"Just a heads up – we'll be arriving at Caldos tomorrow evening."
"Yes, sir."
She turned back to her console, spitting out irregular sensor data about the jump bubble field that prevented the unique physics of jumpspace from overwhelming them. Kaarin threw up his arms in exasperation behind her back and went off to get a good night's sleep.
ooo
"This is Mycian Space Flight Control to Imperial Interstellar Scout Ship 'Imminent Misjump'. We're feeding you navigation data to the downport."
"Acknowledged, Flight Control. Approaching for a landing on the surface," replied Kaarin. The planet was roughly the size of Tyr, and the gravity posed absolutely no threat to the scoutship's mid-high-end maneuvering drive. "Did you get anything arranged with those hobnobs over the comms, Yosef?"
"Why yes. We are all invited to the Mycian Emperor's palace for the length of our stay," replied the priest. "I've arranged for you two to be considered my bodyguards, entitling you to retain the possession of your weapons while we make the journey from the starport to the Emperor's court. You'll have to surrender it on-site, though, for obvious reasons. No need to thank me."
"Gee, and I get to leave my ship here, unguarded?"
"The Emperor has agreed to extend safe passage to us. Shipjacking would be very poorly seen, an insult of the highest order. I'm certain nothing will happen to it while we are away, provided our docking fees are taken care of."
"With the kind of budget the King gave us? I could be paying for this spot for the next ten years," snorted Kaarin.
With the use of antigravity technology, entry into the atmosphere did not require a highly heat-resistant hull – although starships routinely had those anyway – and Caldos' own very thin shroud was a non-issue anyway. The ride down to the planet took only minutes.
Towns had a habit of springing up around starports, due to natural convergence of population and trading opportunities, and this world was no different in that regard than the hundred thousand in known space. It was not substantially impressive to a spacer, however, given the world's lack of advanced technology. The Caldosians have only recently mastered industrial nuclear power to a practical degree, which meant that most of their buildings were raised using only conventional architecture, with no reliance on anti-grav techniques. As a result, they were comparatively short, except some minority of taller tower-like protrusions over the urban zone that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. There was no agriculture anywhere in sight.
"Touchdown complete. We're here, boys and girls," Kaarin announced, and looked over the other two. "Everybody in their fanciest outfits?"
Fancy might have been an overstatement in Yosef's case, who wore a pretty simple outfit, all considered – a black robe with a white collar and a square-ish sort of hat. No frills, but suitably serious in accordance with his duties. Sai, on the other hand, had a Tyrian dress uniform, which for enlisted spacehands was less than impressive. This all meant that the Scout looked shiniest of the trio. The only thing spoiling the overall impression were the respirators which they needed to have in order to survive for longer than an hour or two on the planet's surface.
The underpressure hit them gently in the airlock, on the edge of bearability. Outside, they were met with a squad of security personnel, wearing advanced flak suits and, of course, breathing apparatus. Kaarin suddenly felt a bit reassured that he got to keep his laser pistol, for now, anyway. Being escorted under guard did not stir any especially good memories.
"Envoy Yosef from Tyr, with escort, I presume?" asked the leader of the unit. "Commander Elkin of the Palace Guard. We're here to provide you escort to the palace."
"Of course, commander. Are there any updates on when the Emperor will likely have time to see us?" Yosef asked, assuming the front position in a triangular formation, where Kaarin and Sai made up the other nodes. Their escorts fell in around them.
"The Emperor will meet you tomorrow, I believe," said the guard commander. "It is late today."
"Please extend my sincerest thanks to His Imperial Majesty for treating this matter as a priority," Yosef replied. "It really is a matter of the highest urgency, and the sooner we can speak with him, the sooner we can put the threat to rest."
"I will convey your words, envoy," promised the guard.
ooo
"I tell you, this Emperor really knows how to billet visitors," said Kaarin, sitting in one corner of the jacuzzi, sipping on bubble wine. "My quarters are bigger than my whole ship!"
Yosef was there too, partaking of the luxuries available to them in the common part of the wing allotted to them.
"I'm frankly more impressed with the amount of high technology on display here, as if such things were common on this world, which I know for a fact that they are not. I am still impressed, you are also, and I think that is much of the point, my dear Captain," the priest said. "We are meant to be impressed by the Mycians wealth. Even if they don't have the technological base to produce these marvels, they can sell the output of their industrialized economy and buy items of advancement... Sometimes, I regret not joining a monastery and becoming a monk. Other times, like these, I do so greatly not regret having made vows of poverty."
Kaarin threw back his head and laughed. "You and me both! I sort of wish Sai was here with us, though. She doesn't look like much, but I've never seen her in anything other than a uniform or a vacc suit, you know."
"Captain," Yosef shook his head, and wagged a finger at the Scout. "I may occasionally indulge in worldly pleasure, but I will thank you not to attempt to tempt me into lust! While it would not be the greater evil of adultery, since I do not believe she is married, it would still be fornication, and very definitely sinful to fantasize."
"I could have almost forgotten you were a priest. Almost!" Kaarin shook his head, not taking offense. "Your religion is way weird, Yosef. Not like the Stellar Church or the Scaladonians or that religious code of honour the Aslan follow. Probably incomprehensible completely to the Vilani."
"You might be surprised that religions similar to the practices of the Vilani have been recorded on Earth – Terra – before spaceflight and quite widespread. Indeed, many of that particular sort of pagan integrated seamlessly into the more mainstream tradition of the chef-priesthood. It's just their similarity to the prevailing mores and beliefs of the decadent Ziru Sirka that makes people mistake them for the Vilani quasi-atheistic shamanism."
"I'm not really that interested in comparative theology, Yosef," Kaarin waved the glass at the priest.
"Suit yourself, friend."
Just then, a chime sounded.
"I think that's the door," said Kaarin, lifted himself out of the pool, wrapped a towel around his waist and went to answer it.
He was met with a man of stark features, wearing an opulent robe – clearly someone important, given the amount of gold embroidery – with a neatly trimmed pointed goatee. Said man was somewhat taken aback by Kaarin's half-nakedness, but recovered quickly.
"I am Chancellor Gaminakkur Managudeli," he introduced himself, "first among the Emperor's advisory council. I wanted to make sure that you were quite comfortable and settled into your quarters. I see I needn't have worried, as you have already found the provided baths."
"We are endlessly grateful for his Imperial Highness' generosity of such mendicants such as ourselves," said Yosef, striding in a bathrobe from the jacuzzi room. "Would you like to come in, Chancellor?"
"I would, indeed."
He strode in as if he owned the place, which probably was not far from fact.
"What can we do for you this day?" asked Yosef. "Is it about the audience?"
"Yes. I will be blunt – I wish to know why you have come here. You were a little cagey with the intermediaries so far, and the Emperor would like to know what is so important. In detail, preferably."
Yosef and Kaarin looked at one another. Kaarin shrugged – not his part of the job, really.
"Very well, then," nodded the diplomat-priest. "We have come with a grave warning and a request for aid."
The Chancellor's eyebrows rose slightly.
"Just over a week ago, the Kingdom of Tyr has been brazenly assaulted by a vanguard flotilla of a warlord who we have determined plans to conquer the Sindalan main, and who knows what else. He styles himself Peter I, Lord Admiral of the New March Fleet. We have reason to believe that he will be coming here, to Caldos, as well as all worlds in the region. Indeed, we even estimate his plans likely to succeed, given the balkanization of the region."
"Interesting. I have not heard of any such warlord," said the Chancellor.
"Then our information is of even greater import, Your Excellence," Yosef continued. "According to our sources, he has a considerable force, augmented by recovered Ancient technology."
"Ancient technology?" the Chancellor seemed dubious. "There is very little of it that even works, after three hundred millennia. He would have to have been exceptionally lucky to find even one artifact in working order, much less enough to provide substantial aid in naval battles. So far, I find this story dubious."
"It is true," Kaarin stated. "We fought their force – one of them had a spinal particle beam! What kind of pirate packs that, but next to no capacity for plunder?"
"And we have recovered substantial communications logs to indicate that this Lord Admiral is a real person, and a very real threat. I have copies of them with me, should you wish to review them."
"Very well. I will send a data clerk for it later," said Gaminakkur uncommitably. "What is this aid you would like to request, should we find your claims probable?"
"A full military alliance to counter the threat," Yosef smacked a fist into an open palm. "We may not have any capital ships available, but it is possible we can rouse enough support from the other Sindallan systems to field a fleet that can counter the incoming invasion force."
"That is quite a request..." The Chancellor exhaled theatrically. "Though I am unconvinced of the truth of your words, I will present a preliminary report to His Imperial Highness, the Emperor. You may get an audience, or you may not. Until then, you are free to stay here as our guests, as promised." He turned towards the door.
"Time is of the essence," Yosef indicated plainly.
"Even time waits for the Emperor," said the Chancellor and left them.
ooo
Kaarin woke in the middle of the long Caldosian night, uncertain why. Grumbling about acclimatization to groundside sleeping, he ventured to relieve himself in the luxurious private lavatory attached to his quarters. Having done his business, he decided it was time for a midnight snack, regardless of whether the actual time was close to local midnight or not.
He heard footsteps.
"That you Yosef?" he said sleepily. "Can't sleep, either?"
It was not Yosef. Neither was it Sai.
Who it was remained a mystery to him at the time, although the outline of a gun aimed in his direction gave him a decent hint as to their intentions. He spun in place, mind racing, inhaling deeply to evoke a great alarming shout – only for his face to meet a pillow, and his arms to be seized by the firm grip of someone else's hands.
Kaarin was not a weakling, especially in comparison with low-gravity worlders, and not yet so old so as to lose his upper body strength – he broke the grip and threw a punch where he guessed there was something punchable, and was pleased to note that his knuckles impacted something softer, followed by a muffled cry of pain.
He ripped the natural-feather pillow from his head.
Then he was shot by the first figure he saw.
ooo
"You look like Hell warmed over, Captain. Here, have a local stim," Yosef poured and handed him a cup of orange fluid. "It cures the gruff, I'm told."
"Unnngh," vocalized Kaarin. He took the cup and sipped at it cautiously, looking through eyes just now beginning to accustom themselves to seeing light. Aside from Yosef, Sai was also there – in remarkably plain civvie clothes, too, which was remarkable, as Kaarin had begun to suspect she only owned uniforms – the two of them having begun breakfast ahead of him. "I feel as though I've been strained through someone's bowels. I had the most awful nightmare."
"Nightmare?" Yosef inquired, munching some toast.
"Yeah. I dreamed I'd woken up in the night, done my business, wanted a snack. I thought I heard you, but it was actually an assassin!" Kaarin conveyed. "With a gun. And there was another one. This one tried to strangle me with a pillow, but I punched him – or her, or it – in the face, I think. But then the other one came close and shot me and I died."
"It's good that it was only a dream, then, sir," Sai said. She had apparently ceased to eat while Kaarin told of his night terror.
"I am unconvinced I am not dreaming myself," commented Yosef, "given your interest in small talk, Ms. Marte."
"I... have dreams too, sir. Terrible ones," the Petty Officer admitted. She definitely did look shaken. "Most nights. Terrible. Incomprehensible."
"A dream's a dream," Kaarin waved it off. Having just woken up from his own little hallucinated misadventure, he wasn't in the moon to hear about someone else's problems with the same. The stim really did help with his terrible case of morning drowsiness, however. "When are we due for an audience? Any word?"
"Not yet. But I think it will be quite soon enough,"
ooo
"The Emperor will see you in five minutes," said the messenger in the afternoon, just following a scrumptious dinner delivered by the palace staff.
"Five minutes?!" exclaimed Yosef. "That's barely enough time to get dressed! Quickly, quickly!"
All in all, they managed pretty well, chucking off their causal clothes and hastily getting into their official get-up. Yosef muttered imprecations at what the world was standing on, if advance notice for an imperial audience consisted of a mere five standard minutes. The messenger waited patiently, then led them forth through the byzantine labyrinth of the Mycian imperial palace, under appropriate escort of four of the Emperor's personal retainers.
"Remember, the proper form of address is one of 'sire', 'His Imperial Highness' or 'His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor'," Yosef reminded them as they went.
"We've been over this a million times already, first on the ship, then here," objected Kaarin. "We'll do fine, since you're the one who will be doing most of the talking."
"This doesn't mean that the Emperor will not want you to answer any questions."
"We are almost there," announced their guide to the halls.
"Get ready. Look respectable, or the best you can do," Yosef once again instructed Kaarin and Sai, and then the doors ahead of them were opened.
If asked about it, Yosef might have compared the throne room of the Mycian Emperor to a Cathedral of his own faith, except the altar blasphemously replaced with the gigantic, gold-and-platinum bedecked royal seat. Stained glass windows a dozen meters high illuminated the great chamber, and columns of marble interspersed themselves between ranks of guardsmen. A small gaggle of courtiers stood on the sides, behind the enforcers.
The procession of Yosef, Kaarin and Sai were led along the length of a red carpet that began at the throne's pedestal. At the other end of that journey, sat the Emperor, Johannes Augustus III, Absolute Ruler of all of Mycia, High King of the Midworld Continent, Head of the Caldosian Stellar Church, Hammer of the Infidels, and a myriad more fancy titles that Yosef expounded on at length during the journey, but which Kaarin found unimpressive – given that they pertained the ruler of not even one full world.
The Emperor himself did not give a good first impression, either. The tailors did a magnificent job of making his faux-military uniform fit him in a way that minimized the display of his obesity, but even they could not perform miracles. And there was nothing they could do to cover the man's weak chin and beady little eyes. Still, according to Yosef, he made an adequate, if not inspired, monarch. Chancellor Gaminakkur was at his side, looking as prestigious and dignified as ever.
"Presenting Father Yosef, Court Chaplain and Envoy from Tyr," a herald announced them when they were closer, "with escort – Imperial Senior Scout Kaarin Sanders and Petty Officer Third Class Sai Marte."
The Emperor lazily motioned them forwards. Yosef bowed deeply, followed closely by Kaarin and Sai.
"We are informed that the King of Tyr wishes to make us aware of certain developments in the subsector," he said formally.
"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," said Yosef, straightening. Kaarin's back hurt when he did likewise, but he suppressed outward displays of discomfort.
The priest proceeded to lay out the general story of the attack on Tyr, and who was found to be behind it, like he did before to the Chancellor.
"We have provided a copy of the recovered data and sensor logs from the battle for inspection, should there be any doubt to our words."
"Yes. Does it check out, Chancellor?" the Emperor glanced at his advisor.
"My Liege, it appears that-" the man begun to say, but was rudely interrupted by someone shouting:
"He's got a gun!"
Chaos descended upon the court almost immediately. A bunch of guards leaped to protect the Emperor with their own bodies. Women were screaming. Guards flanking the room broke formation. Yosef looked confused; Sai crouched reflexively.
Kaarin's hand went immediately to his hip, where his laser pistol usually resided, only to find it – obviously – absent, since he had surrendered it when they've arrived at the palace. He saw who was shouting now, one of the courtiers, pointing a finger somewhere beyond Kaarin, so the scout's gaze snapped to that point – finding nothing.
Then he was tackled by someone larger than himself. In his long career, he had to resort to fisticuffs on occasion, and even sometimes to the sort of street wrestling that came naturally when two combatants had gotten a bit too close and weren't in a state of mind to fight in a more planned manner. For the second time in a short span of time – but in reality this time – he used his superior, standard gravity musculature to throw off the attacker.
In a split moment before he was rushed by more of them, he was that the man he had chucked to the floor was one of the imperial guardsmen. He froze, uncomprehending, and then was dogpiled, brought low by sheer numbers. He heard shouting and was tazed until he lost consciousness.
ooo
Kaarin's head felt like it there had been a sort of general strike in his brain and the body's governing powers sent in the army to solve the situation one way or another. For that matter, the rest of his physicality did not feel especially good. In fact, his wrists and shoulders felt especially awful. He opened his eyes, finding the light level rather low – still, it was enough to determine that he was hanging from the ceiling, by two chained manacles. Someone had stripped him, and put a drab gray outfit on.
"This had better be another dream," he muttered, trying to remember what happened. They'd been attending an audience with the Mycian Emperor, and then things got a little fuzzy.
He tried moving. Agony was his reward, so he stopped in order to moan loudly, nearly losing consciousness again.
Clearly, something went wrong at the audience. Ah, yes! He remembered. Someone shouted that there was a gun. A woman pointed at someone on the other end of the hall, across from Kaarin – he thought.
Did she actually point at him? That didn't make much sense. He had been disarmed, they all were, when they arrived. Even if he wanted to have a weapon, he had neither the time or connections to secure one once inside the palace. Yet still, he was in some windowless, dimly lit prison cell, hanging from the ceiling by his wrings. This implied that contrary to his assumptions, he apparently had been found to be in possession of a weapon. He wished the world would start making sense.
There was a rattle outside, and the door in front of him opened to reveal a face he already knew.
"Captain," said the Chancellor. "Are you enjoying your new accommodations? They are perhaps not as luxurious as the guest quarters, but they are perhaps more fitting for an assassin."
"Assassin?!" croaked Kaarin. "Don't know what you're talking about. Get me down."
"I'm afraid that will not be possible, Captain. Your attempt on the Emperor's life has failed, you and your comrades in crime have been imprisoned, and all that remains now is to discover what you hoped to accomplish by this blatant, senseless regicide."
"Innocent. I'm innocent!" protested Kaarin, his anger overpowering his pains, seeing the raw smugness of the Chancellor's face.
"I'm sure you think so. Or maybe not," Gaminakkur shrugged. "The interrogators will ferret whatever secrets you are hiding soon enough."
Kaarin ground his teeth, lacking options.
"I'm innocent. You know this. Didn't like the looks of you," he strained to make words leave his mouth against the protestations of his chest, "first I saw you."
"You are only innocent in your dreams, Captain. But this is more of a nightmare than anything else."
Dream. Nightmare. The pieces clicked in his mind and gears turned for the first time today. He hadn't actually dreamt that midnight assault – that actually happened! Somehow, the night stalkers managed to subdue him in a nonlethal way, maybe with a high tech stunner, dragged him back to his bed, so that when he woke up, he'd have little reason to suspect that what he dimly recalled happened in reality. It didn't take much deduction to find the reason for their visit – they planted some kind of weapon on him, not really important what kind, so long as it was small and concealable, something he wouldn't have found himself when he very hastily dressed for the audience.
"That... that was you. You set us up," Kaarin told his oppressor. "You planted the weapon. Had the shouter shout... Made us rush to get dressed."
The Chancellor raised an eyebrow.
"Why, Captain, I didn't know you had such an active imagination! Such a story, spun from whole cloth, on the spot, just having woken up, hanging from the ceiling. I am truly impressed." He clapped.
Kaarin spit at him.
Gaminakkur went ballistic, throwing a haymaker at his gut. It was considerably painful, but not so much compared to the momentarily increased tension on his arms. If anything, the low-gravity worlder seemed to have hurt his hand as well, and stopped himself from making further attacks.
"Guard! Bring the interrogator!" he shouted to the hall. "I want this man tortured until he reveals every little detail of his plot, every co-conspirator."
"Yes, sir!"
As the guard's footsteps echoed along the corridor, the Chancellor turned back to Kaarin. "The Lord Admiral does not like people interfering with his plans, worm. You will die in this pit."
With that, he flounced out of the room, smashing the door behind him.