Month 109, part 2
Month 109, Week 2, 2nd Empire of Man, Palace Complex on New Chicago
The meeting room was a small, austere room off of the main family complex of
the palace. It was traditionally used for small meetings between the Emperor
and his closest advisors, and the Regent had continued this practice. Present
were the heads of Naval Intelligence, the Imperial Bureau of Investigation
(IBI), and the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS). And the Regent, of course.
"We have a big problem here, people. My father and I have discussed this
matter, as best we can when it takes more than a day to relay messages back and
forth, and we agree in principle on what must be done. But before I get into
that, I want to ask you a simple question, and I don’t want emotional
reactions. Believe me, I know how the government works, having been at the
bottom for a long time. I know how things sometimes get started without anyone
at a higher level knowing what is going on, and then get perpetuated by
mid-level managers who are assisted by the willful blindness of those above
them." She stopped and leveled a look that was not quite a glare at the three
department heads. "Are we involved in any way with the terrorists in the
Republic?"
The three looked at each other for a second, wondering who would speak first.
Finally, Admiral Hertzog nodded. "No, we aren’t." Her tone was flat and had no
give in it. "My people are not involved, and I’d bet good money that no one
else on our side is. When the attacks first started, I initiated a review of
every operation we had going, on or off the books, just to make sure that
nothing had "morphed" into something it wasn’t supposed to be. Once that was
complete I had my boys and girls do some snooping around, just to see if we
could spot anyone else doing something they were supposed to do. We got
nothing."
The other two department heads were nodding, and once the Admiral was done they
chimed in with their denials. Princess Katrina nodded to herself. She believed
them, which was good, although it was still possible that someone within the
government was running a rogue operation. "Alright, then let’s get down to
cases. If the Imperial Government isn’t behind this, then it is imperative that
we find out who is. We are getting blamed for this, and, although it isn’t
generally known, my father and I agree that we are closer to war than ever
before. The Republicans are panicked, and are looking for someone to blame, and
we are it. Their point of view is somewhat understandable, given our history,
but in any case, if we are to defend ourselves we need to know what is going
on. The way I see it, there are three basic possibilities:
A. The terrorists are a domestic problem completely native to the Republic, and
the domestic terrorists involved are framing us for their own reasons. It is
also possible that the Republic’s Government is using the terrorist attacks as
an excuse to blame us, or that they actually believe it is us, regardless of
the evidence, or the lack thereof.
B. The terrorists are covertly supported by an Imperial NGO (Non-governmental
Organization). This is quite possible, as we certainly have our own hotheads on
this issue. Or, finally;
C. The terrorists are supported by a third, unknown, party for their own
reasons.
Can anyone think of anything I’ve missed?"
The three looked at each other, and again it was the Admiral who spoke up
first. "Well, Highness, I think you hit all of the basic possibilities,
although the real situation is more likely to be some sort of combination of
those basic concepts." Admiral Hertzog paused for a second, frowning. "There is
one thing, though. It seems to me that if someone actually wanted to make it
look like we were supporting the terrorists, they could have done a much better
job of it. Take, for instance, the lone success the Republicans have had in
their efforts against the terrorists. They actually got quite a bit of evidence
when the terrorists were forced to flee in the Central Park incident. If
whoever is backing the terrorists really wanted to start a war between the
Republic and the Empire how hard would it have been to use explosives with
Imperial markings? Or to leave behind an Imperial weapon or two? If that had
happened, the shooting would have already started. No, it seems to me that
their goal, whoever they are, is not to start a war, at least outright. Of
course, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen anyway."
"I think Admiral Hertzog is right, Highness." Toshiro Tokugawa was a spare,
slight man of indeterminate age and one of the highest-ranking persons from the
Mitsubishi System in the Imperial Government. As head of the Foreign
Intelligence Service he had control of the bulk of the Empire’s spy apparatus,
save that controlled by the Naval Intelligence. "If their goal had been merely
to start a war, the terrorists could have planted evidence that would have
pointed directly to us any number of times. Given their general level of
competence, this argues that those behind the terrorists do not intend this,
and instead have some other goal in mind. Or that the blame that attaches to us
is an unintended side effect."
Princess Katrina nodded. "In any case, we must find out what is going on before
it becomes too late. That is why the three of you are here today. Your
respective superiors know that I have called you here, and know, in general,
what I am going to ask you to do. They also know that you three are to report
only to my father or I in this matter. You are not to use the normal chain of
command, given the sensitive nature of this subject. This is not to say that I
distrust your superiors, because I don’t, but the fewer people that know what
is going on the better. The three of you are to initiate investigations in this
matter to discover who and what is responsible for the terrorist actions within
the Republic. The FIS will be responsible for activities within the ASR and the
Republic, and the IBI for investigations looking into the possibility that
support for the terrorists originates within the Empire. Naval Intelligence
will be responsible for investigations in both areas, with a focus on military
issues. You may have any resources you need to accomplish this task. We must
know what is going on, and we need to know as soon as possible. Is this
understood?"
The three department heads all nodded. Seeing their agreement, Princess Katrina
stood, signaling the meeting was over. "We will meet again tomorrow, and I’ll
want to see preliminary plans for your respective investigations, and your
preliminary budgets." They were all going to be very, very busy.
The three department chiefs filtered out, the last, Admiral Hertzog, nearly
bowling over a junior staffer that had apparently been waiting impatiently to
enter the sealed room. "Highness! Your Highness, Grand Admiral Parks urgently
requests an immediate meeting with you. She is waiting in the outer complex."
Princess Katrina was a bit taken aback at the request. For Admiral Parks to
come to the palace, unannounced, and request an ‘urgent’ meeting meant that
something large had gone wrong somewhere, a fact that was obviously not lost on
the young staffer. "Ok, I’ll meet her here. Show her in, would you."
Unable to sit as her concern over what might be going on mounted, she began
pacing as she waited for the head of the Empire’s Navy to be shown in. Finally,
after a few minutes, the Grand Admiral was shown into the small room. In spite
of her concern, Katrina was immediately struck by the contrast between the two
of them. The older woman was resplendent in a midnight black naval uniform
that, even in the minimalist form preferred by the Grand Admiral, could only be
described as encrusted with gold braid and other obscure decorations. For all
of that the Admiral managed to project an austere and stern manner as befitting
the titular head of the Navy, and Katrina was certain that her father, a former
naval officer himself, would never have tolerated an incompetent in such an
important position. In contrast, Katrina, a princess of the realm and heir
apparent, was dressed in her preferred working clothes, a nondescript gray
tunic over soft, rumpled exercise pants, coupled with very comfortable, if
somewhat disreputable shoes. Breaking free of her thoughts, Katrina gestured
for the Admiral to take a seat. "Admiral, what is going on?"
Grand Admiral Parks shook her head. "We aren’t actually sure, and that is what
bothers me." She leaned forward and inserted a data crystal in to the table’s
comp port. A second later a display flickered to life over the table. After a
second Katrina recognized it as a partial warp map of the Kingdom of Epsilon
Indi, a continuing thorn in the side of the Empire.
Epsilon Indi
|
Sligo
|
Lassa
|
Goliath
|
Proxima Algenis
|
SN 4181
|
SN 4168
|
Stevenage
|
Glasgow
|
*** Alien Controlled System ***
The Admiral pointed to one of the stars on the outer fringe of the map. "Some
time ago, Kingdom exploration ships discovered an alien race in this system.
Before we could stop them they dispatched a squadron of warships to establish
contact with these unknown aliens. Both your father and I were concerned that
this was an attempt by the Kingdom to gain an ally that they could then use as
a counterbalance to secure their complete independence from Imperial control,
but there was little we could do about it at the time. Admiral Herzog has since
confirmed our concerns, but at that point it was too late to do anything other
than warn King Giron that we disliked surprises intensely. I believe he got the
message. Your father also confirmed Admiral Senda, the CO of the Kingdom Watch
Force, in his decision to accompany the Kingdom force with his own forces. The
combined Kingdom/Imperial force arrived in the alien system approximately 6
months ago and quickly established contact. Reports since then have arrived
regularly, and show that the Kingdom scientists were making steady progress
towards full communications with the aliens. The last few reports stated that
there had been a breakthrough in communications with the aliens, and that
negotiations were beginning in earnest. Unfortunately, since then, we have
heard nothing. Admiral Senda’s force is overdue for reporting by a full week at
this point."
"A week! And you’re just telling me about this now?"
"Yes ma’am, I am. Communications with forces that far out are somewhat....tenuous.
Our communications with Admiral Senda go through our ICN to our embassy in the
Kingdom’s Capital, and from there they are forwarded through the Kingdom’s ICN
to the SN 4181 system, where they are received by an Imperial scout ship
attached to Senda’s force. From there they are encoded on a CD and sent to
Admiral Senda. The big bottleneck is in the Kingdom. Even in normal times they
are somewhat less than what we would consider efficient, and with all of the
unrest and troubles they are enduring, their efficiency is even lower than
usual. Admiral Senda’s force dispatches updates as to their situation daily via
courier drone, but more than once those updates became ‘lost’ in the Kingdom
ICN system. Once Senda’s force was out of contact for three entire days, and
when Kingdom techs finally began checking they discovered that someone had
tried to fix the routing program and the messages going through that comm.
nexus were being sent to the archive section of the Kingdom Central University."
"So, the upshot is that given the troubles you’ve had in the past maintaining
regular contact, no alarms were raised at first when Admiral Senda dropped out
of contact yet again?"
"Yes ma’am. Multiple attempts were made to re-establish contact, and all of the
usual measures were taken by the Kingdom to track down any potential problem
with their ICN. When Admiral Senda’s force was still out of contact after five
days, though, Admiral Umgowa, CO of the 7th Fleet, initiated an inquiry and
alerted Fleet HQ here on New Chicago of the situation. On his own authority,
Admiral Umgowa immediately assembled a force out of local assets and dispatched
it to the Kingdom, although it will over 4 months to arrive at Admiral Senda’s
location. Actually, units from the Home Fleet are in a slightly better position
to respond given the layout of the warp lines, and we are preparing a response
as well."
"Do we have any idea at all about what happened?
"No ma’am, although, based on recent communications with the Kingdom we are
beginning to suspect that there is a very dangerous situation brewing on the
fringe. This morning the Kingdom Admiralty contacted the 7th Fleet with a
request for assistance. It seems that they have been unable to contact their
contact force, an exploration group in that area, or the newly established
colonies in the Glasgow and Bristol systems, all of which have been out of
touch for approximately the same amount of time as Admiral Senda’s force. All
of these are served by the same communications link as Admiral Senda’s force,
although their communications are routed through a Kingdom scout rather than
the Imperial scout, so it is possible that all we are talking about is a
communications failure rather than hostile action. That possibility is growing
increasingly unlikely. After all, if one of the ICN buoys failed, or if the nav
beacons on the SN 4168, Stevenage, and Glasgow warp points had failed, the
scouts stationed at either the SN 4181 or Glasgow warp points would have taken
action to resolve the situation and restore communications by now. At no point
has any unit, Kingdom or Imperial, raised the alarm or reported any anomalous
behavior."
Princess Katrina frowned in concentration. She never served in the Navy, but
she had grown up a Navy brat, and had adsorbed much from her father. "Do you
have any idea at all what is going on out there? Even a guess?"
Continued in part 3.... (
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