"Good." Cortin turned her attention to the Imperial. "Now, Miss
Conley, how do I go about contacting your Emperor?"
"You call the Palace--you must have ultrawave?"
"Yes. We avoid transmitting on your frequencies, of course, but we can
use them; we do monitor. I believe your contact channel is One?"
"Yes, sir. Do you know the access codes?"
"No; do you?"
"Of course. I can punch them in for you, if you'd like."
"I'd appreciate that." Cortin led the younger woman to a small table
beside the door; it held both a telephone and one of the rare private
ultrawave terminals. "Go ahead."
Conley did so, rapidly going through a number of screens till she got
one that seemed to read "Palace" in the odd Imperial English letters.
"Okay, Colonel. When Palace Comm answers, explain to them; they'll
probably transfer you to someone in the Admin Service, but if Emperor
Davis was given our message, he may want to speak to you directly."
"Thank you, Miss Conley." It was only a few seconds before the screen
cleared, to show a human operator.
"Palace Comm," the man said. "How can I help you?"
"I am Colonel Joan Cortin, High King's Inquisitor for the Kingdom
Systems. The crew of your scoutship Columbus is in my custody--"
"One moment, please, Colonel," the operator interrupted. "His Majesty
left orders that any communications about the Columbus be transferred
directly to him."
The screen blanked for several seconds, then cleared to show a lean,
gray-haired man Cortin recognized from intercepts as Emperor Charles
Davis. "I understand you have information about one of my ships," he
said calmly.
Cortin repeated her introduction, then went on. "I don't intend them
any harm, Your Majesty, in spite of the fact that they intruded in our
space and I fear what their arrival means for our Systems. Since we
cannot resist you, I ask that you send Ranger Medart to ease your
annexation of the Kingdom Systems; he seems to have done that quite
well for the Sandemans."
"It isn't as inevitable or as horrible as you seem to think," the
Emperor said mildly, "but if you have that kind of misapprehensions
about us, I agree that sending a Ranger in would be a good idea. And
James Medart is our cultural specialist, so he's the logical one; he'll
be on his way within the hour. Should he talk to you, or one of your
Kings?"
"That is something I cannot answer at the moment, Your Majesty. That
is up to High King Mark; I do not know who he will choose to handle
it." Probably her, she thought, considering she was acting Protector as
well as High King's Inquisitor and Archduchess of High Teton--but she
couldn't be certain.
"You're doing this without his knowledge?"
"Yes, because I believe it to be the least bad of the options open to
us, now that contact has been made."
To her amusement, the Emperor looked dismayed. "I . . . see," he said
slowly. "I hope Ranger Medart will be able to improve your opinion of
us, Colonel. If your Systems should choose to become part of the
Empire, I'd like you to be my guest in the Palace for a month or so."
Cortin inclined her head. "That is most gracious of Your Majesty. In
that event, I would be honored."
"Until that time, then, Colonel."
The ultrawave screen went blank, and Cortin picked up the telephone
handset, dialing High King Mark's private number. When that screen
lit, she said, "Is Your Majesty aware that the Imperial scouts got a
message out before they were captured?"
"I was not, Colonel. I assume that means we can expect more of them
soon."
"I can guarantee it, sire." Cortin took a deep breath, released it
slowly. "Rather than risk an automatic military response that could
destroy the Systems, I took advantage of information one of my
prisoners gave me. I appealed to the Emperor, based on their laws
granting citizenship to anyone of Terran origin, and direct access to
the Sovereign if necessary; at my request, he is sending one of his
personal representatives to ease our inevitable absorption into the
Empire."
There was a long silence, then the High King sighed. "If you think
that best, Protector, I can hardly argue. I assume you'll take
complete charge of the negotiations?"
"If that is Your Majesty's wish."
"You have resources I do not, and at least as much devotion to our
mutual home; yes, it is my wish. I'll make the necessary announcement
immediately."
"I feel inadequate, Your Majesty, but I will carry on as well as I
can." Cortin stood silent for a moment, then returned to her seat.
She'd hoped King Mark would take over, and was disappointed he hadn't.
She had no diplomatic experience, and, she suspected, no skill in that
field; how could she possibly bring about the sort of non-destructive
Imperial takeover that would save the Systems and her Family?
"Joanie?" A voice finally broke into her abstraction.
"What is it, Mike?"
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"I can't-- Yes." Cortin straightened. "If I'm in total charge of our
relations with the Empire, I'm going to work on the assumption that we
can become a fully functional part of it, with as much independence as
it allows--as much as I understand the Sandemans and now, according to
you, the Traiti, have. Tell Dave to release the rest of the prisoners
and ask Captain DeLayne to join us, then have Matthew assign them all
guest quarters. Find out if their ship will fit into the Lodge's
grounds, and if so have it brought here; otherwise, they're to have
free access, including transportation, while it's at the spaceport.
Miss Conley?"
"Yes, Colonel?"
"Do you have any idea how long it'll take Ranger Medart to get here?"
Conley shook her head regretfully. "I'm afraid not, sir. I don't know
where he is, and I'm not even too sure where we were when your warship
captured us. Captain DeLayne might know."
"Thank you." Cortin wasn't sure whether to hope for no delay or a long
one. The first would get the suspense over with; the second would mean
a longer true freedom for the Systems. "Will you be subject to any
discipline for cooperating with me?"
Conley grinned. "Since it worked out, no--I might even get a
commendation. If it hadn't, well . . . but I had a hunch I could trust
you."
"I'm the last one to argue against following hunches," Cortin said,
"but I should point out that doing so can sometimes get you in trouble."
"I know, sir. Uh . . . your King called you 'Protector'. What's that?"
Cortin studied her guest. "I'm not sure I ought to go into that
particular subject, Miss Conley. It's a religious title, and since it
was our beliefs that caused our Founders to flee the Empire, I think it
wise to avoid religious discussion as much as possible."
"Yes, sir--though it may relieve you to know that religion's not a very
big deal in the Empire, most places, and the Empire itself is strictly
neutral." She paused. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but I have a bit of a
personal problem. Is there a 'fresher anywhere around?"
"A what?"
"A 'fresher. Let me think--restroom? Bathroom?"
"That we have, yes," Cortin said with a chuckle. "We call them
bathrooms. Sis, would you show Miss Conley the nearest one, then her
guest room?"
"Gladly." Chang put her arm around the Imperial, smiling. "This way,
Miss Conley--may I use your first name?"
"Please--it's Gwen."
The two had barely gone out a side door when Odeon led the rest of the
team and their former prisoners through the main entrance. Since they
were guests now, Cortin gave them a courteous bow before asking, "How
much did you tell them, Mike?"
"Only that they're free; I thought you'd want to tell them the rest."
"Where's Conley?" DeLayne asked, his voice concerned. "Is she all
right?"
"She's fine," Cortin assured him. "She asked for a bathroom, then
Lieutenant Chang's taking her for a brief tour. They should be back in
a few minutes. It's thanks to Miss Conley's cooperation that you're
free and Ranger Medart will soon be on his way to the Kingdom Systems."
"Huh?" DeLayne, Cortin thought, looked like he'd been hit with a
sledge-hammer.
"You heard me correctly," Cortin said. She explained briefly, amused
by the changes in his expression from disbelief to comprehension, then
to determination.
"For someone who's afraid of the Empire," he said when she was done,
"you're making one hell of an effort to bring it in. If you'd like
some help, I'll ask for a temporary assignment here when I report we've
been released."
Cortin considered that briefly, then nodded. "Any preliminary
groundwork we can lay should help reduce transitional problems. Thank
you for your offer, Captain." She paused, then said, "The troopers who
brought you in mentioned you were the first group. How many of you are
there in all?"
"Four hundred ninety-eight. Except for me, they decided to bring you a
random sample; the only Navy ship class that has this small a crew is a
courier."
"I can't offer all of you rooms here, then. Is your ship small enough
to fit on a ten-acre estate?"
"Yes--equatorial diameter's two hundred meters--but since you can't
have a dock, we'd leave a rather large hole. Just how big depends on
how solid the ground is."
"Fairly solid, and if the Kingdoms survive this, filling a hole will be
no problem. As soon as King Mark makes his announcement, then, it
might be a good idea to bring your ship here."
"Agreed, Excellency. My Marines can supplement your troops if you
think there's a chance of attack, that way."
"Very little," Cortin said. "Being prepared is never a bad idea,
though." She turned to Odeon. "Mike, would you call Brad, brief him,
and ask him for the loan of any Strike Force troops not on
anti-Brotherhood operations?" She grimaced. "Not that I like asking
them to camp out this time of year!"
Odeon grinned. "Be glad to, Joanie--and I don't think they'll mind,
for you." He went to the phone to call Colonel David Bradford,
Commander and Bishop of the St. Thomas RES Strike Force.
DeLayne shook his head. "I don't know what you've been taught about
us, but it must've been fierce. And you're on our side!"
"I am not on your side," Cortin said. "If I didn't believe aiding a
peaceful transition to be the Kingdom Systems' only chance to survive
as a society, I would be fighting you to the best of my ability. You
may be able to change my mind--under the circumstances, I'd like
nothing better than to believe the best of you and your Empire--but
right now, I'm no more than a reluctant ally."
"A reluctant ally's better than an active enemy, Excellency." DeLayne
grinned. "You must have an ultrawave, to've spoken to His Majesty; may
I use it to report in and request assignment here?"
"Yes--it's beside the phone Captain Odeon is using. If you can, please
also find out how soon Ranger Medart will be arriving, and ask that he
be informed I have been named sole negotiator for the Kingdom Systems."