Democracy's Might

Chapter Forty

“This is how they live?”

Sidney walked down the streets of the High City, drinking in the weirdest complex he’d seen on any planet. The mansions were strange; they were built in a number of different styles, surrounded by gardens and tiny walls that offered no deterrent to someone who could climb. But, not unlike an asteroid settlement, it seemed that the walls merely marked someone’s property. Custom dictated that no one was allowed to cross the walls without permission.

“Yes,” the Sergeant said, simply.

“I don’t believe it,” Sidney said.

The handful of people on the streets seemed to be on shock. A couple of girls, both so stunningly pretty that they were almost inhuman, stared at the Marines and then fled, as if there were a pack of wild animals on their tail. Several servants looked at them with vague expressions of disapproval, then ignored the Marines completely. And a handful of underground fighters looked oddly disappointed. They’d been told that there would be no chance to loot.

“Just keep your eyes peeled open for trouble,” the Sergeant ordered. “Right now, everyone is trying to work out what the fuck just happened. But that is going to change.”

Sidney nodded. They’d been lucky, from what he’d picked up during the landing. Other regiments had been assigned to the orbital towers, spaceport complexes and food storage dumps. Some of them were bored, others were under near-constant attack from panicky civilians or rogue security forces. Earth had been a pressure cooker, held down by the Thousand Families. Now, the lid had been blown off. God alone knew where it would all end.

They’d won the war, he knew. Now they had to win the peace.

Colin had a fairly good idea of just how much wealth had been poured into the High City over the centuries. Each of the families, it seemed, had competed to see who could produce the most spectacular or tasteless building to add to the complex. But it still shocked him to see it in person as the shuttle flew over the city and landed in the small spaceport. There was enough money invested in the complex to feed Earth for hundreds of years.

“Colin,” Adeeba called, as he climbed out of the shuttle. “Welcome to Earth!”

“Thank you,” Colin said. He found himself giving her a tight hug. He’d missed her more than he cared to admit. “And Neil!”

“Good to see you again, sir,” Frandsen said, gravely. “And thank you for the reinforcements. It got a bit dicey here for a while.”

Colin grinned. “And Jeremy?”

“Recovering,” Adeeba said. “We had him taken to the local medical centre, along with the other POWs. Most of them were unharmed, just locked up for a month or so. Jeremy got a brain probe, but not a serious one.”

Colin shuddered. There was no such thing as a light brain probe. He’d read the medical reports on Penny Quick and found himself wondering, again, how she could bring herself to serve the Empire after being treated in such a matter. She’d come alarmingly close to losing her brain completely.

“The problem right now is the provisional government,” Adeeba said, as they started to walk down a garden path. “Half of the underground leaders are on it and the other half think they should be on it. And then there’s the fact that most of the people in charge of the infrastructure were appointed by the Empire…”

“Infighting will be the death of us,” Colin muttered. Mars seemed on the brink of civil war, while Venus and Earth were experiencing limited clashes between different forces. “Can’t you convince them to keep a lid on it?”

“Probably not for very long,” Adeeba said. “Earth doesn’t even have the basics of a democratic system. There’s no way to take a vote and even if we did, the ones who didn’t like it wouldn’t consider themselves bound by it. We’re trying to round up essential personnel now and transporting them off the planet, but that hasn’t pleased everyone.”

Colin sighed. Nine times out of ten, someone who was essential to the smooth functioning of Earth’s depleted infrastructure was also someone the underground wanted to execute. And that someone wasn’t above making deals for immunity in exchange for sharing his knowledge of how the system actually worked. One day after the fall — one day — and the planet felt on the verge of chaos.

“It wouldn’t,” he said, as they reached the medical centre. “But we can’t please everyone, can we?”

Inside, it was surprisingly luxurious, with a dedicated medical team trained to cope with any emergency. Colin allowed a nurse to lead them into a side room, where Jeremy lay on the bed. He smiled weakly up at Colin when he arrived, then sat upright and saluted.

“I’m sorry about Shadow, sir,” he said. “I know she meant a great deal to you.”

Colin nodded. Shadow had been his first real command, even if he’d had to mutiny to take the command chair. She would always be special to him. But he’d checked the files at Morrison and Shadow had been sent to the breakers. It was possible, he knew, that her hull was still intact, but she wouldn’t be the same. He’d sent an urgent message anyway, hoping to preserve her for posterity.

“Don’t worry about her,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“I should be ready to return to duty in… well, now,” Jeremy said. “They keep poking and prodding at me, but there doesn’t seem to be anything really wrong.”

“Good to hear it,” Colin said. “And once they discharge you, properly, report for duty. We have a lot of work to do.”

“They won,” Penny said, quietly.

“So they did,” Wachter agreed.

Penny looked over at him, sharply. There was no point in lying to herself and pretending that she hadn’t fallen in love with the Admiral, but she had been nervous about making the first move. And he’d been a perfect gentleman during the time they’d shared a cabin. He hadn’t even looked at her while she was sleeping, as far as she could tell.

“They did offer you a place,” Penny said. “Are you going to take them up on it?”

Wachter hesitated, then nodded.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Penny said. “Maybe you can reform the Imperial Navy as a whole.”

“Maybe,” Wachter agreed. “The Empire just lost its core. Whatever you think of the Thousand Families, they kept the Empire together. Now their power is shattered. The shockwaves may prove impossible to navigate.”

“Not for you,” Penny said.

Wachter looked at her for a long moment. “I hope so,” he said, finally. “And you will be coming with me?”

“Yes, sir,” Penny said. “If you’ll have me, that is…”

He held out a hand to her. “Yes,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Together, they walked out to face the future.

Tiberius had overseen the transfer of most of his family to Luna, where they would be safe from the chaos threatening the security of Earth, then found himself at a loose end. The Household Troops had already been surrendered to the rebels — the Provisional Government, he had to remind himself — but he wasn’t sure what to do with the rest of the family’s holdings. Centuries of tradition and procedure had been swept away at the stroke of a pen.

Not everyone had gone along with it, he knew. Lady Madeline had vanished completely, which was surprising, while Lord Bernadotte’s body had been discovered in his mansion. A brief investigation had failed to raise any leads; Tiberius suspected, privately, that they would never discover who had killed him. There were no shortage of people who had wanted Lord Bernadotte dead.

“My Lord,” Sharon said, “you have an invitation to visit one of the rebel ships.”

“Understood,” Tiberius said. It wasn’t a real invitation, he knew, more of a polite command. The rebels controlled the high orbitals and the High City, while the underground controlled the rest of the planet. “Tell them I’m on my way.”

He’d expected to be summoned to the rebel flagship. Instead, the shuttle took him to a heavy cruiser, one that had been extensively modified. Tiberius wondered, absently, just who had summoned him; the rebels in charge of their industrial base had yet to reach Earth. Hell, they didn’t even know that Earth had fallen and the war was over. But as the shuttle landed, he put the thoughts to one side. There were no shortage of people who wanted him dead too. It was quite possible that, whatever the treaty might say, some of the rebels wanted private revenge.

The guards searched him, then marched him through the corridors and into a small room. A red-headed woman sat at a table, with a slight oriental woman standing right behind her. She looked unimportant and yet there was something about her that nagged at Tiberius’s mind, something oddly familiar.

“Good afternoon,” the redhead said. “Do you know why you were called here?”

“No,” Tiberius said. “I…”

“Next question,” the redhead said, interrupting him. “Do you know why your father and grandfather died?”

“My grandfather supported the Empress,” Tiberius said. There had been few details in the family archives about why he’d thought the Empress was worth supporting, but everyone knew the truth. But why would his father have died? “Why…”

He broke off, staring at the women. There were few pictures of the Empress available anywhere — the Thousand Families had worked hard to make her a non-person — but Tiberius had seen one of the surviving portraits. She had been short and slight… and there were limits to how many changes cosmetic surgery could make to a body.

“Yes,” Mariko said, simply. “The time has come to retake the Empire.”

Her brown eyes met Tiberius’s eyes. Despite her size, he read iron determination and a sheer strength that had kept her going during a massive reversal in fortune. But then, if she’d known that the patronage networks would eventually overthrow her, she might have been making preparations for her exile and return all along.

“I knew the Empire was doomed… and your grandfather knew it too,” she added. “Now, with the Thousand Families out of power, we can make real lasting change. And, just incidentally, preserve your position. Or do you think Colin can keep riding the tiger indefinitely?”

She smiled, almost girlishly, and held out a hand. “Join me?”

Tiberius hesitated. But he didn’t hesitate for long. There was no choice, he saw. Either he pledged himself to her or he wouldn’t leave the ship alive. And besides, she was right. The Provisional Government might not be able to keep a lid on the violence. If it lost control, he asked himself, who would look after the High City? Or prevent his workers from rising up against him?

Slowly, he reached out and took her hand.