The Admiral and the Assistant

Captain Cohrmere and Captain Apine sat in Admiral Stonefist's office like two schoolboys who'd been caught cutting class. Admiral Stonefist paced back and forth in front of them in a frenzy of anger. His Assistant, Kinnit, sat at her desk looking sick.

"So. Would one of you like to explain to me just what happened out there?"

Apine and Cohrmere looked at each other.

Captain Cohrmere cleared his throat.

"Um. We were engaging in a training exercise, sir?" he said meekly. Admiral Stonefist stiffened and stared pure fury at him. He cast his mind back, trying to think of anything that could have made the Admiral so angry. "Perhaps we got a little... aggressive with the exercise?"

Admiral Stonefist visibly struggled to keep a lid on his temper.

"Sir," Kinnit said quietly. "I don't think they know."

"Don't know?" he exploded. He clenched his teeth and his balled his hands into fists. "How many resets do you remember?"

Apine and Cohrmere shared a look, mystified.

"Reset, sir?" Apine ventured.

"Seventeen times!" Admiral Stonefist barked. "Seventeen times you idiots reset, or rolled back, or whatever it is you do!"

"I don't understand, sir," said Captain Cohrmere.

"Just like the formation exercises! You... reset, or jumped back somehow!"

"I'm sorry, sir, I don't remember," Captain Cohrmere said. "Were you able to get any useful data? If we could study the phenomenon, perhaps we could--"

Admiral Stonefist leveled a finger at Captain Apine, who shrank back. "Captain, you disobeyed a direct order to disengage. Five times!"

Apine gaped.

"Sir... sir, I would never..."

"You would and you did!"

Captain Cohrmere felt the need to step in.

"Admiral, I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding--"

"And you!" Grimthorn yelled. "You went weapons hot during a training exercise! Twice! Four ships were destroyed!"

A sick feeling crept over Captain Cohrmere.

"I... did I? I... couldn't have..." He looked over at Kinnit. She gave him a sad little nod.

"The only reason I don't court-martial you both are these, these resets. There's no evidence. But clearly you two are unreliable. The Wraithfleet can't be trusted."

Cohrmere tried to swallow, his mouth dry.

"I... I'm so sorry... Admiral, I, I don't remember any of--"

"And that's the problem," Admiral Stonefist fired back. "The outcome could have been far worse if we hadn't had these 'resets.' The fact that you don't even know that it all happened is absolutely unconscionable."

A sense of dread washed over Captain Cohrmere.

"I'm decommissioning the Wraithfleet," Admiral Stonefist said, his face stony. "You will no longer travel with the Ninth, nor participate in operations."

Captain Cohrmere bolted to his feet.

"Sir! That's--" Admiral Stonefist glared at him. His mouth locked open as he searched for words to say, to undo the Admiral's order, to reassure him somehow. To avoid this, the worst of all possible outcomes.

But how could he reassure the Admiral when he couldn't even remember what had happened?

The Ministers boiled into the Imperial Council Chamber in a flurry of activity. They were in a panic, talking over each other.

"We waited too long!" Minister Albrem moaned. "We waited too long!"

"He said he'd wait another week!" said Minister Albrem.

"At a minimum, we needed time to sort out which species to to keep and which to discard!"

"The Imperium is doomed!" Minister Parsa cried.

"Aster, what are we going to do?" Minister Sarden asked.

Minister Aster, his face grim, held up a hand, silencing them. He sat at the Council table and laid out his scanner. The other Ministers clustered around him. One one side of the scanner was the text of an Imperial decree that had been released that morning. On the other, a reporter from the Imperial Clarion was speaking. He turned the volume on.

"...in an uproar this morning over the Emperor's latest decree," she said. "The decree eliminates the status of Subject Species. According to the decree, all Subject Species are now full Imperial citizens. Any collared citizens are instructed to report to their nearest Naval station to file for removal of their collars." The video cut to a scene of a Naval office being mobbed by SSes. "Naval officials are asking citizens to be patient, as Cryptographers are limited." The video cut to a massive crowd in the streets. "Celebrations have broken out in Techterra over the news, though some celebrations have escalated to rioting. Officials are asking citizens--"

Minister Aster turned off the scanner. Silence settled over the room.

"Already we see the foolishness of this act," Minister Aster said finally. "This is exactly why we put our plans in place. If we had not been so squeamish about it, this outcome could have been avoided." He pinned Minister Parsa with a glare.

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"It's dangerous," Parsa said. "What if we--"

"What if we saved the Imperium?" Minister Aster barked. "We'll activate our plan, then start looking at how we can undo this madness."

"But Aster, we can't undo an Imperial decree," Minister Parsa said.

Minister Aster raised an eyebrow at him.

"Come now, Parsa. You're the Minister of Justice. You know better than most how... flexible the law can be. This is a catastrophe, but there are ways to blunt the damage of this decree."

Minister Parsa quieted, a worried look on his face. Minister Aster continued.

"But that will only work if the Emperor can no longer interfere. Are we finally in agreement?" Aster gazed at the assembled Council, his eyes flinty. "Shall we initiate the plan? Or should we wait for more madness from the Emperor?"

Slow nods circled the group. Aster glared at Parsa. Parsa, with a look of horror, slowly nodded.

"Very well, then," Minister Aster said, standing. "I'll go and activate it now."

He stood. The rest of the Ministers clustered together.

"Of course, without the Emperor here, we'll need someone to oversee the Council," he said. His eye swept the Ministers. "As the senior member, I suggest it should be myself. On a temporary basis, of course. Until we can sort out a regular process for managing the Council."

"Of-- of course, Aster," said Minister Sarden.

Minister Aster nodded, and with a stiff frown, swept out of the Council chamber, leaving the other Ministers muttering in his wake.

The Emperor blinked his eyes open. He sat up in bed and ran a hand over his face.

His own face still felt strange under his touch, though he was getting used to it. The beard, especially, was strange. It was thick and full, a novelty. He tugged at it a little.

He stood and stretched. He'd scheduled his decree to go out first thing this morning. The Imperium would be in a tizzy already, no doubt, as would the Council. He slid a hand under his pillow and pulled out a slim, elegant blaster. They might try something foolish, but he'd dealt with foolish people before.

He strapped on a holster and slid the blaster into place, nestled under his arm. He put his official robes on over the holster. He'd no doubt need to get into the Council chamber today, to quell the whining of the Ministers, if nothing else.

He sighed. He'd perhaps been a little more antagonistic with them lately than he should have been, but their puffed-up self-importance grated at him so. Nonetheless, after today they could start the process of learning a little humility. Or maybe finding new jobs.

He pulled up his scanner to see the reaction to his decree. The scanner was blank.

"No Comms," said a small error in the corner of the display.

The Emperor frowned, a worm of worry wriggling in his gut. He strode to the door of his chambers and paneled it open.

The door opened to a small but opulent vestibule, but a shimmering shield blocked the door into the antechamber. He touched it, and a staticky zap pushed his hand back.

His frown stiffened.

"Fools," he muttered. "You've upgraded from obstruction to treason."

There was a small stand in the vestibule, and on it a note.

"You will be kept safe here," it read.

The Emperor took a deep breath.

The fate of the Imperium was out of his hands for now.

He turned and began examining the extent of his imprisonment.

A tone sounded in Admiral Stonefist's office. He and Kinnit lifted their heads from their work.

"Come," Admiral Stonefist said.

The door paneled open and Lieutenant Renning stepped in, saluting.

"Sir, there's a... a situation."

Grimthorn stood.

"Combat?" he said.

"No, sir. It's... we've starting getting reports from the planet Brolla, sir. There's been some kind of incident."

Grimthorn frowned.

"What do mean?"

"Imperial Disaster Management is there, sir. The planet's been... wiped out."

"What? What do you mean 'wiped out?' Like the Krivax homeworld? Did somebody slip another asteroid--"

"No, sir. The planet's fine, but the people... they're gone."

"Gone?"

"Perhaps you should see the reports, sir. It's hard to explain."

"Forward them to me."

Grimthorn pulled up the data on his console. Kinnit came and stood behind him, watching. Grimthorn's expression darkened as he read through the scattered reports.

"There's some video as well, sir."

Grimthorn nodded and pulled it up. Kinnit covered her mouth. Views of abandoned cities swept by, city after city, cold and empty.

"What happened?" Kinnit breathed.

"We don't know, Lieutenant. IDM is still investigating."

More empty cities passed by on the console. Kinnit gripped Admiral Stonefist's sleeve.

"Could this be because of the Feeders the Emperor was talking about?" she asked quietly.

Grimthorn frowned.

"Maybe," he said. "I don't see many signs of damage."

"No, sir," Renning said. "That's why IDM is struggling to figure out what happened."

Grimthorn sat back.

"Keep me apprised. I want to know the very second IDM comes up with anything. Even a theory."

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Renning saluted and left the office.

Grimthorn and Kinnit watched the silent video for a few more minutes.

"Where did they all go?" Grimthorn muttered. "Brolla's lightly populated, but not that light. Even a pliant population would have had at least a few people that would have fought. And Brollans are far from pliant."

Grimthorn's scanner beeped. He glared at it.

"Who is that?"

"That's our privateer friends," Kinnit said. "With the robot?"

"Right, right. I don't have time to fool with them right now."

"Sir..." Kinnit laid a hand on his shoulder. "I don't think Minius would contact you unless it was important."

Grimthorn's expression soured.

"Fine. We'll get him out of the way so we can focus on Brolla." Grimthorn activated his scanner. "Admiral Stonefist here," he said.

"Ah, Admiral," came a hesitant voice. "This are Captain Minius of the Ocher Dawn. I... I did run across something you should see."

"Go on."

"Ah... I did find a ship I did not recognize. I apologize if you know about it, but... I did get a bad feeling from it."

Grimthorn sighed and gave Kinnit a look.

"By all means, let's see your 'bad feeling,'" he said.

A small, grainy holo popped up over the scanner. A spherical ship, made of bony struts appeared.

"What on earth?" Grimthorn said quietly.

"This did appear in the Alvor sector while we were scrapping, Admiral."

"What sector did jump in from?" Admiral Stonefist asked.

"I... I do not know. It did not come in through the jumphole."

"What do you mean? How did it get into the sector, then?"

"I don't know. It just... flew in, I think."

"Nonsense," Grimthorn said, but his voice was far from sure. "That's not possible."

"It did leave an energy trail, Admiral. I scanned that for you."

More data appeared on the screen. Admiral Stonefist drew a deep breath in through his nose.

"When did this happen?"

"Yesterday, Admiral."

Grimthorn read through the data.

"It was good you brought this to my attention," he said, absorbing the data. "This is... very useful." Kinnit caught his attention with a little gesture, rubbing her finger and thumb together. "Ah, and we'll send you a bonus for this find."

"I am glad, Admiral, thank you. Uh, all hail the Imperium and such."

"All hail," Admiral Stonefist said absently.

Kinnit tapped Grimthorn's shoulder.

"He's found something useful already," she said quietly. "Should we ask him to look out for our other problem?"

Grimthorn looked thoughtful.

"Probably not," he said. "But we're short on resources that can find these kinds of things." He turned back to the scanner. "Captain Minius, we have something else we'd like you to search for..."