“It is,” Sera replied. “From what I understand, our tardiness has nearly lost us our audience with the empress, but that if we hurry we’ll make it in time.”
“Yes, that is the case,” Petra confirmed. “I’ve secured a shuttle that can take us down to one of the Imperial Palace’s private ports.”
“Excellent,” Sera granted. “Then we’d best be on our way.”
Valerie waved for the High Guard to fall in, and Berger bristled.
“Your guards cannot come to the palace, Madam President. It is not done.”
“Nonsense,” Sera scoffed. “Foreign heads of state are granted their own security, are they not?”
“It’s OK,” Petra put a hand on Berger’s shoulder. “I received dispensation from Diana. It is permitted. Check the palace’s visitor slate.”
Berger closed his eyes for a moment, and then relaxed. “Oh, thank goodness. You’re right, Petra. These five guards are permitted, as are your two attendants. I’m sorry I caused confusion.”
“Don’t worry,” Sera said with a winning smile as she reached out and patted his shoulder. “I took no offense.”
Petra gestured down the observation deck to the exit, where the soldiers had made an opening for the group to leave. Their looks were professionally impassive, though a few did take a long look at Sera.
<You’re getting fans,> she commented to the president.
<The Scipians aren’t as stuffy as they like to pretend. Remember, Elena worked as a sucker in the empire, and she had quite the clientele, too.>
Tanis was surprised that Sera could speak so casually about Elena. She knew that they had been meeting of late—not long conversations, but once a week or so, Sera would spend half an hour with her ex lover.
Though Tanis knew of the meetings, she hadn’t listened in. Sera or Bob would tell her if there was anything to be concerned about. Spending so much time with Elena didn’t strike Tanis as very healthy, but she wasn’t about to tell her friend how to live her life. They had enough stresses as it was.
Sera and Petra made small talk with Berger on the way to the shuttle, which wasn’t far. The shuttle was also small—only able to seat twelve—but was well appointed. It received immediate clearance and was in space within minutes, dropping down to the surface of Alexandria.
The planet and capital city bore the same name. The reason for that was simple; other than the oceans, the city covered the entire planet.
She imagined that its population would be lower than that of the Cho, or even Mars 1 back in the 42nd century. Even so, it was her first time seeing a planet-spanning city, and it was a sight to behold.
“You can see the Imperial Complex just off that peninsula.” Petra leaned over Tanis and pointed out the shuttle’s window. “The palace is the structure with the towers reaching into space.”
<Now that is impressive,> Tanis said to Angela. <Freestanding towers reaching into space. Finally feels like we’re back in civilization.>
<Is that how you rate civilization?> Angela asked. <By the height of their towers? I thought size didn’t matter.>
Tanis almost laughed aloud. <You’d think so. You know what I mean, though. It’s an indicator of economic power, to be able to build structures like those.>
<Or unethical appropriation of funds from lower classes or less powerful regions of the empire,> Angela replied.
<I didn’t say it was altruistic. But you still have to have the empire, to take from…OK, my argument is falling apart. They still look impressive, though.>
<That they do.>
They spoke aloud of trivialities, of the city, the palace, the Hall of Champions—which Petra revealed was gruesomely made of ground up bones—and the upcoming Celebration of the Seven Suns, which occurred once every fifty seven years.
However, privately, Petra inquired about their delay.
<What made you so late?> she asked. <I expected to have a day or two to prep you for the meeting. Now we’ll make it with only half an hour to spare.>
<Keren Station was attacked,> Sera replied. <It took some time to sort out the details and ensure that we had located all of the Airthists who were involved.>
<’Airthists’. Is that what we’re calling them?> Petra asked.
Sera gave a mental shrug. <Seems logical.>
<I’ll admit,> Petra said, her tone measured and cautious. <Out here in the Inner Stars, it’s difficult to tell whom to believe. For example, last I heard, your father was president, and New Canaan was only a part of the Transcend by astrography—not actually a member of the Alliance.>
<I’m surprised you knew about New Canaan at all,> Sera replied. <It was supposed to be a bit of a secret.>
<I keep my ear to the ground,> Petra said.
<I hadn’t intended to join the Transcend,> Tanis spoke for the first time. <But circumstances convinced me that avoiding the coming conflict wasn’t going to work.>
<Tanis!> Petra exclaimed peering at Tanis, unable to fully keep the surprise from reaching her face. <What…that’s some disguise. Your skeletal structure isn’t even the same.>
<Yes, it’s proven to be effective in the past,> Tanis replied. <Not fun to do, mind you.>
<I really don’t think—> Petra began to respond.
<Petra,> Sera interrupted. <There’s a lot for you to understand before we meet with Diana. How’s about I start at the beginning?>
<That sounds great.>
Sera proceeded to relate the events that led up to the battle at New Canaan: the attack on Ascella, the suspiciousness of her father, Peter Tomlinson, and his attempt to strong-arm Tanis to gain her technology, and Elena’s betrayal and ultimate assassination of the president.
At that point, Petra interrupted. <Elena?! Seriously? How is that possible? I worked with her for years. She was under my purview before she ran off.>
<I understand all too well,> Sera admitted with deep sadness in her mental tone. <Elena and I had been lovers for nearly eighteen years; we were considering marriage.>
<And she was a guard double agent?> Petra was incredulous. <For how long? Do you know?>
<Yes,> Sera replied. <They approached her during my exile. I guess she was bitter about my father’s ability to use and cast aside anyone—even his own daughter. Though now I suspect that much of his reputation was really gained by Airtha’s actions or influence.>
<Who is Airtha, then?> Petra asked.
Sera told Petra what they had learned from Finaeus—how Airtha had once been her mother, but came back from the core of the galaxy a changed woman—in every way imaginable.
Petra’s brows pinched together. <I know you well, Sera, and I can see no lie in you. Alastar agrees that you appear to be telling the truth. But why, then, are we approaching the empress with the Unveiling? Why now?>
<Because,> Tanis answered, speaking for the first time since Sera began explaining their situation. <Orion attacked New Canaan with nearly one hundred fifty thousand ships; a large number of them were Hegemony and Trisilieds vessels. The Transcend is already unveiled.>
Petra sputtered aloud, and Berger asked what was wrong.
“Nothing, nothing, just got something caught in my throat. Could you pass me a bottle of water?”
“Of course,” Berger replied before resuming his tale of a recent negotiation with some small satellite nation that he had overseen.
<How did you prevail?> Petra asked. <I assume you prevailed—seeing as how we’re all sitting here today.>
<That’s a tale for another day,> Tanis said. <We need to secure an alliance with Diana. She will need to hold back the Hegemony and keep this quadrant of the Inner Stars secure while we deal with Airtha. Along those lines, do we reveal to her that there is a civil war in the Transcend?>
<That’s a really good question,> Petra said. <She’ll certainly need to be warned—what, with the other Sera, and all.>
Sera gave a long mental sigh that turned into a growl. <Sorry, this is a sore spot for me.>
Tanis watched Petra
’s expression closely and saw compassion in the woman’s eyes. That much was good, at least. She wasn’t certain she trusted Petra, but a display of empathy certainly helped.
<There are a lot of sore spots to go around,> Tanis added. <But Evil Sera is the reason we must tell Diana of the civil war. We must lay the whole thing out for her—well, we can probably leave Airtha’s provenance out of the mix. My understanding is that most people are barely able to handle the idea of ascended AIs being anything other than myth—let alone the fact that the core of the galaxy is infested with the things.>
Petra shook her head and stared out the shuttle’s window. <We’ll be setting down in a moment. I’m going to introduce you under your aliases, and then convince her of the need for a private audience. After that, you’re going to have to impress upon her the need for an alliance with you, rather than Airtha or Orion. Focus on how Orion is allied with the Hegemony—and probably with the Nietzscheans, as well. That should add strength to your arguments.>
Tanis nodded and realized that Berger was speaking about the involved protocols and processes for meeting with the empress.
<Is there really all this pomp and ceremony?> Tanis asked. <How do they get anything done?>
Petra chuckled over their private connection. <Publicly, Diana puts on a very grand and ostentatious performance. Privately, she’s a simple—well, simpler—woman who just got tired of how her father ran the federation, and resolved to improve it.>
<By assassinating him and turning the federation into an empire,> Sera added.
<She needed a strong central power system to effect change. She’s not without her regrets, but she believes in her vision, that a strong empire is good for all of its people,> Petra responded, a hint of defensiveness to her mental tone.
<We’re not here to critique her style of government,> Tanis said. <Our belief regarding the Inner Stars is that everyone should get to govern their people as they see fit, and the people shall be governed as they allow themselves to be. We just need to stop the aggressors. If we think we won’t have to make unsavory allies in the process, we’re fooling ourselves.>
Sera nodded. <You’re right. Plus, it’s not like we’re allying with the Nietzscheans, or the Australis Unity Front.>
<Speaking of that mess, what are you going to do about the Nietzschean advance?> Petra asked.
<Stars, don’t ask, because I have no idea,> Sera replied.
Tanis placed a hand on Sera’s arm. <Don’t sweat it. I have an idea for how to deal with Nietzschea.>
<Don’t forget about Silstrand,> Petra added, giving Tanis a significant look that Berger missed entirely. <Things are falling apart there—no thanks to you.>
<I’m not happy about how that’s turned out, either. None of us expected S&H to be able to do anything useful with the specifications I sold them. However, I imagine that we’ll be able to make things a lot better by getting Diana to back down.>
Petra shook her head. <Good luck with that. I think that your nano, and maybe Silstrand, are going to have to be concessions you’ll need to make if you want to gain her as an ally.>
Tanis frowned. Silstrand was not a concession she was willing to make. One thing was for certain; if Smithers was still an employee of S&H, he was going to get an earful for losing control of the tech in the first place.
A minute later, the shuttle touched down. Valerie and the High Guard exited first, followed by Flaherty and the others. Tanis had to admit that she felt much better having Flaherty with them, though he spoke so rarely that it was easy to forget he was there—which was probably his intention.
The shuttle platform was nestled within a grove of tall trees that blocked the immediate view of the palace, except for the towers stretching up into space. Tanis stared up at them for a moment, and estimated that a tenth of the planet could probably see those towers.
“They look amazing at night, when they’re lit up,” Berger said. “When they do holoshows around them, it’s even more spectacular.”
“I can imagine,” Tanis replied, remembering the shows that she used to go see around the Pavonis Mons Tower on Mars. That tower rose much higher than these, but it was a utilitarian structure that anchored the ring, not a freestanding spire—
That had anchored the ring….
A group of palace guards was waiting at the edge of the landing pad, and they silently fell in around the group as Berger led them through the trees to a broad archway.
“Good thing you managed to get a landing site so close to the audience chamber,” Berger said. “We’ll make it with a few minutes to spare.”
“I know,” Petra said, her disdain for Berger evident in her voice. Tanis had the distinct impression that, were Berger in charge, they wouldn’t have even reached orbit yet. Though the fact that Petra had been assigned such a crucial position by The Hand was more than enough evidence of her skill.
When the palace walls came into view, Tanis was duly impressed by their design. The structure rose from the earth, a solid ribbon of onyx with sapphire highlights within. The pattern appeared to be random, and she imagined that at night the sapphire would glow with an otherworldly effect.
When they passed inside—under the scrutiny of more guards and scanning arches—the interior was the reverse: sapphire with onyx streaks that seemed to shift as they rushed past.
“The official name for this wing is Sovereign’s Repose, but most call it ‘the Black Gate’,” Petra supplied. “I’m partial to ‘the Black Gate’. I think it has more class.”
<Unusual observation,> Angela commented. <’Black Gate’ does not strike me as classy.>
<One people’s class is another’s crass,> Tanis replied.
They hurried another kilometer and a half through the palace, until Petra stopped before a pair of large doors.
“OK, here we are. We should be summoned any moment.”
As she spoke, the doors began to open. The group straightened their clothing and uniforms and followed Petra in.
STELLAR DATE: 08.11.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Imperial Palace Audience Chamber
REGION: Alexandria, Bosporus System, Scipio Empire
Empress Diana’s audience chamber felt like a throne room from vids and sims of ancient times. The chamber was easily five hundred meters long, with rows of tall colonnades lining it all the way down to the dais at the far end, which was topped by a massive throne.
<Is that plasma?> Tanis asked Petra.
<Yup, one and the same. Diana likes to impress.>
<Is she using magnets or grav shields to keep herself safe?> Tanis asked.
<I honestly don’t know. She won’t say, and I can’t detect either. It’s possible her protection is in her outfit and not the throne at all.>
And what an outfit it was.
Diana’s body shimmered under a thin layer of ice, which steamed from the heat of the plasma throne, but did not seem to melt or dissipate in any significant way. Ice spikes rose from her knees, jutted from her hips, shoulders, and elbows. Atop her head was more ice, stretching half a meter into the air in a sort of frozen crown.
Her face was exposed and seemed unharmed by both the extreme heat and bitter cold she was surrounded by.
The empress surveyed them serenely as they approached, though she did raise an eyebrow at Flaherty and the High Guard, who had been held back one hundred paces behind Berger and the three women.
A disembodied voice called out as they approached the throne. “The Lady Seraphina Tomlinson, President of the Miriam League; the Lady Petra, Esteemed Ambassador from the Miriam League; and Meuls Berger, Deputy Minister of External Affairs.”
“Thank you, Gerald,” Empress Diana said in a soft voice that carried throughout the room.
“Of course, my Empress.”
Diana rose from her throne and walked gracefully down the dais’s steps. The ice that sheathed her body appeared to flow around her as she moved, neither cracking nor splint
ering—though it had stopped steaming once she left the plasma throne.
“Petra, I am glad you were able to make it. Gerald had informed me that your President’s ship may be late.”
Tanis found it strange that the empress would address Petra first. She was getting the impression that the Hand agent was held in greater esteem than one would expect, given the minor and distant alliance she represented.
“Of course, Empress Diana,” Petra said as she inclined her head. “Have I ever been late before?”
The empress cocked an eyebrow and gave a slight smile. “Well, there was that one time, but we won’t discuss it in front of your president.”
Diana turned to address Sera. “I must admit, I know very little about you—other than what Petra has told me, of course. The Miriam League is very secretive, it seems.”
<You have no idea,> Angela said with a laugh in Tanis’s mind.
“You are very kind to entertain our request to speak with you, Empress Diana,” Sera replied. “And yes, we do keep to ourselves. We are also a long way off, on the rim of explored space. Most of our people like living so far out, where they can have privacy.”
“And so far, they seem to have been successful,” Diana said as she turned, cold air flowing off her body, clouds of condensation forming at her feet. She walked up the dais’s steps and sat on the plasma throne once more. “Given the length of time required to travel here, I am most curious. What is it you have come so far to speak to me about?”
“I believe I had mentioned that we need a private audience,” Petra said, glancing at Berger and some of the attendants nearby.
Diana nodded. “You did mention that, but there are protocols, Petra, they must be adhered to.”
Tanis lifted her hand, palm up, and Diana looked at her for the first time. Tanis didn’t speak as the palm of her hand began to glow softly. After a few seconds, a black and blue object took shape. It grew in size and, a moment later, a fist-sized shard of onyx rested in her hand with streaks of sapphire running through.