Democracy's Right

Chapter Eighteen

“So,” Hester said. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

Colin shrugged. It had never occurred to him that he might suffer from a fear of crowds. In the Imperial Navy Academy, he’d been packed in with other cadets of his own age, while senior cadets had ruled with a rod of iron, keeping trouble-makers in line with beatings and demerits. The cramped, almost claustrophobic conditions hadn’t bothered him; indeed, he’d been having trouble sleeping in the massive Admiral’s quarters that had been set aside for Stacy Roosevelt. He certainly had never experienced any discomfort on starships, even as a young Midshipman.

And yet… standing in the centre of the massive room, exchanging small talk with everyone — they sought him out personally — made him want to run off and hide, perhaps back onboard the superdreadnaught. He’d been in formal balls before as one of Percival’s aides, yet there he’d been very much a wallflower, too lowly to be noticed. Here, he was the centre of attention. Everyone from underground leaders to starship commanders and cult leaders had come to see him, him personally. It was almost too much to bear. He would have preferred to face a fleet of superdreadnaughts wearing only a towel.

“I have been worse,” he said, gravely. Hester had effectively taken over his social schedule, introducing him to the real movers and shakers along the Rim. Some of them had been keen to work with the rebels, hoping that one day they would be able to return to the worlds the Empire had taken; others had been less willing to cooperate, either through fear of the Empire or simple disinterest. “Is all of this really necessary?”

It came out more plaintive than he had hoped and Hester smiled in understanding. “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she said, moving her lips so that they were right next to his ear. Her breath was chilly, freezing cold. “The first time I had to address a congress of revolutionary factions, I was so nervous that I kept going to the toilet and they eventually had to send someone to see how I was. There are more kinds of bravery than merely charging into battle and dying heroically.”

Colin snorted. The Thousand Families seemed to be born with the kind of arrogance that made such parties bearable. He couldn’t imagine Stacy Roosevelt, or even Percival himself, having a problem with the gathering. They would have been happily chatting about nothing, or sharing spiteful tales about their rivals, or even cutting deniable deals with all and sundry. They would have been delighted to be the centre of attention, and very insulted if they’d been ignored. Colin… wanted to run and hide.

In hopes of a distraction, he looked around the massive chamber. Someone had carved it into the heart of an icy asteroid, using fusion torches to carve out a romantic retreat, yet it felt surprisingly warm. Hundreds of representatives moved through the chamber, chatting with others, although all of them had made time to speak to Colin. He’d thought that he would have to make contact, but as Hester had promised, they all came to him. And, of course, they all wanted something.

He caught sight of an inhumanly tall form and shivered. The Nerds, unlike the Geeks, believed in unrestrained genetic engineering and exploration of human potential. By now, centuries after the first of them had been forced to flee the Empire, there was a small subculture of genetically-modified humans running through the Beyond, all too aware that the Empire would shoot them and dissect them if they were captured. Some could pass for baseline human; others, hybrids between human and animal DNA, were very far from human. The Nerds had been willing to pledge their support, just like their counterparts, but they’d had a price. The Empire’s restrictions on genetic engineering, intended to prevent commoners from improving themselves, had to be scrapped.

They weren’t the only ones with a price. The Free Traders, an organisation with links to Daria’s Freebooter League, wanted an end to price-fixing and the other games the massive Family-owned shipping cartels used to force the independents out of business. The exiles wanted to return to their homes and liberate them from the Empire. Various criminal organisations wanted an end to rules they considered oppressive. Religious factions wanted freedom of religion, or even a chance to preach their particular gospel to the remainder of the Empire. To all of them, Colin had been non-committal, although some of them struck more of a chord with him than others. The only group he had refused outright had been a representative from the pirates, who had been willing to offer assistance in return for permission to loot and rape freely. Colin had refused and asked Hester to make sure that no others like them were invited to the meeting.

“So you say,” he said. He asked the question again. “Is this really necessary?”

“They need to see you,” Hester said, unflappably. “They need to know that you are real and that you have lines that you won’t cross, or you will discover that they’re either refusing to believe in you or moulding you into a symbol for their group alone. Just keep smiling and it will all be over soon.”

Colin shook his head as another small group, this one composed of three young-looking women with old eyes, approached them. They exchanged small talk for five minutes before the women shook his hand and departed, leaving him mystified as to their names or the identities of the groups they represented. That wasn’t too unusual along the Rim — paranoia was a survival instinct when the Empire was out there, intent on bringing the hidden colonies into line — but that group had been odder than most. Colin caught himself staring after them and turned back to Hester, who was smiling.

“They call themselves the Daughters of Artemis, a clan of warrior women,” Hester explained, once the women were out of earshot. “They’re regarded as a cult by the Empire, but they make good friends and dangerous enemies. That said, they’re not going to trust you much; to them, you’re just another man. They may help you out, if you ask, but they will never be your friends.”

Colin frowned. The Rim still found ways to surprise him. “And can they help us?”

“Oh, yes,” Hester said. “They’re known for being savage fighters and they have a very strong intelligence network throughout the Empire. There are even supposed to be versions of the cult within the Thousand Families” — Colin looked up, sharply — “as the lines are blurred along the Rim. Who knows?”

She glanced down at her wristcom, forestalling any questions. “And it is nearly time for you to speak,” she said, with a grin. Her allies were already helping the guests find their way into the large auditorium. “I hope that you haven’t forgotten the words.”

Colin scowled at her, but said nothing, his eyes seeking out Daria for reassurance. He’d given presentations on tactics at the Academy, yet that was nothing like addressing over a thousand men and women, some of whom were almost certainly linked to the Empire. Hester had pointed out that some of the underground leaders — the ones with massive prices on their heads — had been reluctant to attend, fearing the Empire and its intelligence services.

“I see,” Colin had said. “So why are you here?”

Hester had smirked. “I’m too old to care, dear boy,” she’d explained. “If they want to capture an old crone like myself… I don’t care.”

Colin had expected that he would be first into the room, but Hester had explained that they had to make a presentation of it, something that showed how calm, relaxed and sure of final victory they were. Colin had pointed out that they were none of those things, yet Hester had explained that perception was everything in a war of nerves. If Colin and his associates looked comfortable and certain of victory, others would wonder if they were right — and, because they wanted to believe that there was hope for final victory, they would believe in him. Colin hoped that they were right.

It struck him that it was an odd way to win a war. He’d believed that they would be clashing against Imperial loyalists, first Admiral Percival’s sector fleet and then the might of the Imperial Navy when it finally realised that it had a significant problem on its hands. Instead, of all things, they were giving a dinner party! Colin knew that, along the Rim, luxury foodstuffs and fine wines were extremely expensive — algae-based food was edible, but no one could make it tasty — and they were practically giving it away. He suspected that half of the guests had come merely for the food.

Anderson had warned, quite rightly, that many of the guests would have their own links to Imperial Intelligence. Part of the reason they’d chosen the icy asteroid as a base for the meeting was because it was useless, a place that could be abandoned as soon as the meeting was finished. Colin knew that he’d put his head in the noose, but as long as he was careful, there was only a small chance of being assassinated. Anderson had insisted on disarming the guests, yet they had refused and Hester had backed them up. So many resistance and underground leaders in one place was a tempting target for the Empire — or, for that matter, their rivals.

His wristcom buzzed, summoning him through a small door into a massive chamber. He’d seen it earlier, but he hadn’t realised just how large it would be when populated, or how loud a roar would be raised when they saw him. Hester, he suspected, had ordered her allies to cheer loudly the second Colin appeared, creating an impression of a warm welcome. And part of it, he knew, was genuine. He had, after all, liberated friends and allies from the penal world. There were reunited families who had good cause to be grateful to him.

He refused to allow himself to flinch as he stepped onto the podium, Hester standing back to allow him to stand right in the centre of the room. It had been designed to pick up and amplify every word he spoke, leaving him to wonder if it could pick up the beating of his heart. It was thumping so loudly in his chest that he wondered that he could hear anything over the sound.

Slowly, as Hester had taught him, he raised his hands and the cheering slowly started to die away. He caught sight of Cordova, sitting among a group of fellow captains, waving his massive hat at him. Cordova’s approval counted for a lot, Colin realised, for his fellow captains were clapping and cheering too. He’d expected only a handful of cheers; instead, it felt as if the sound might shake the entire asteroid.

“My friends,” he said. Unlike the message he’d sent to Percival, he’d spent days with Daria and Hester, struggling to outline the speech. They’d wanted to get it just right, warning him that not every group would be impressed, or willing to play with others. The politics of the underground along the Rim were more complex than those at the heart of the Empire. “The Empire has been a problem for too long.”

There were more cheers, shaking the entire room. “We have all seen what it has done, in the past,” he said. “We have seen the scorched remains of dozens of worlds. We have seen the population of entire planets staved, crushed under by grinding taxes and corporate masters; we have seen lives destroyed and livelihoods wrecked. The Empire has become nothing more than a parasite, draining the lifeblood of humanity itself!”

This time, the cheers were slightly muted. He wasn’t telling them anything they didn’t already know. “I tell you now,” Colin continued, “that it is only going to get worse! Now, even as we speak, the Empire overruns the last remaining independent system — the last remaining independent system that it knows about! What will it do when it locates the colonies along the Rim? It will carve them up, share them out among the Thousand Families… and destroy yet another way of life. Is that what you want for your future?”

“NO,” the crowd shouted. They couldn’t all be ringers, Colin knew.

“And what happens when the loot runs out and the Thousand Families turn on each other?” Colin demanded. “There will be war, civil war, with thousands of planets burning in the blackness of space and the Imperial Navy shattered, used as a weapon as the Families war against each other! We cannot let that happen. I say to you now that we will not let that happen!

“The Empire must be reformed! The Empire will not reform, not of its own will; why should the Families give up their power? They will refuse to make the reforms they need, even though the system they have created locks them into a course towards disaster. We must reform the Empire and, to do that, we must force the Empire to be reformed!”

There were more cheers, with a new chant echoing through the room. “REFORM, REFORM, REFORM…”

Colin waited, trying to gage the crowd. He’d never believed that it was possible, but standing at the centre of the crowd, he could feel the wave of feelings washing over them. Some were interested in reform, yet others wanted revenge — true revenge, the kind of revenge that could not be allowed. The Thousand Families had younger members who could be convinced to join a reform movement, but they wouldn’t if it meant the deaths of their families and everyone they ever loved. Colin knew that he would have to temper the desire for revenge, somehow…

“I pledge my life to this cause,” he said, feeling the cheers lifting him upwards, boosting his stature beyond imagination. The feeling was both glorious and terrifying. “I swear that we will work to reform the Empire or die trying!”

He lowered his voice as the cheering died away. “We all have different ideas about how the Empire should be reformed,” he said, softly. “We cannot allow ourselves to get bogged down in petty details. Once we have broken the power of the system, once we have broken the force that holds thousands of star systems in bondage, we can discuss the future of the Empire. Until then, any plans for reform are nothing more than wishful thinking. And the only actions that will change the Empire, the only actions that will allow us a chance to reform the system, are meaningful actions. We must confront the Empire and force it to reform.

“And we can only do that as a popular front.

”We must put aside our differences and unite,” he said. “I pledge, for myself, that I will respect the result of any constitutional convention that draws up a new order for the Empire, one formed after the war. Those who fight with us will be invited to join the convention, to add their thoughts and feelings to the future of the Empire itself.

“I’ve seen the Empire. I’ve seen the discontent within the Imperial Navy, the hopes and fears of a thousand suffering worlds; the storm of rage that is confined, helplessly, by the sheer power of the Empire. I know that it is rotting away, yet there is still life in its strong branches. If we unite, we can defeat it; if we remain disunited, it will crush us. And if we lose, the hope of humanity is lost with us.”

His voice became more purposeful as he nodded to the small side table. Hester had placed it there, with a large notepad and a pen on top. “This document pledges us to stand together and fight against the Empire,” he concluded. He wrote his signature with a flourish. He’d been practicing. “I invite you all to stand with me.”

Colin turned and walked down the ramp and out of the compartment. Behind him, Hester Hyman was the first to follow him, signing her own name. And the rest of the convention followed.

The spy watched in disbelief as most of the underground and resistance movement leaders — or their chosen representatives — walked forward to add their own name to the list. The Rim seethed with discontent and groups that were sworn to fight the Empire, yet no one had ever possessed the power and determination to unite them — until now. The spy mentally totted up the possible assets that had been pledged to the Popular Front and shuddered. It wasn’t significant compared to the might of the Imperial Navy, but gathered in one place — with the Imperial Navy scattered out over the Empire — it was going to be formidable. The Empire had to be warned.

It would be impossible, the spy knew, to slip away, so she followed the line down to the table and added her own name. Imperial Intelligence wouldn’t care, not as long as she brought home the bacon — and they’d want nothing less than the secret base Admiral Walker was using for his fleet. The spy knew more about the Rim than most — including the location of a number of hidden colonies whose inhabitants would have been surprised and upset to know she knew — yet she didn’t know everything. And besides, there was no reason why Admiral Walker had to use an established colony. A new one, perhaps built by the Geeks, would serve his purpose.

The spy swallowed a curse as the meeting broke up into smaller groups, all chatting away enthusiastically. She had to get back to the Empire, but how? This news was too vital to wait for one of Imperial Intelligence’s disguised ships. The Empire needed to know at once.

She shrugged as she moved away, in the company of a pair of rebels who had no idea about his true masters. She’d find a way and then… the Empire would reward her richly. It always did.