A Pleasure to a Prequel

"It's actually not a problem. I think I got the hang of how things run down here."

Mr Gell smiled and brought a hand from his hat to my shoulder. "I'm very happy to hear that. This is a big step up for you."

I was going to reply but just then Ms Toro exclaimed "What are they doing?"

I looked over. Do I even need to describe what was happening? "Oh, yeah. That's everywhere down here. I'm guessing the husband just got home from a business trip and can't wait until they get home."

Ms Toro looked at me. "We're so sorry we had to send you here. We didn't know it was this bad."

"I'm getting used to things. The main thing is we're expanding well and everything is on schedule. If a war does happen, there won't be problems with production here."

"Lord Brandon. You know, when I suggested that you could get a title and use that as a backdoor off the planet I never imagined they make you a marquis. Please make us proud." Mr Gell said.

"I'll do better than my best."

"Despite everything, you really were the best man for this job." Ms Toro concluded. "So, now to recognize you for all of your efforts here, we've brought you a new contract."

Well I wasn't going to just stand there while I read over many screens of text. I wanted to just trust them and sign whatever they put in front of me but I thought that I had better read it to make sure my percentage was still intact. Gratitude was great but money was better. We went over to the coffee shop in the space port and Mr Gell had a very strange look on his face when the server asked if he would like one of their additional services. I could sort of tell that perhaps he wanted to say yes but knew he couldn't. Anyway, I looked over the contract and my salary along with my position in the company had been significantly advanced. My percentage was also more than before so I was going to make even more money. Great. It also said that my regular assignment was not in the Empire anymore. I was now assigned to Blelm as my regular work site. So even when the one year was over the company was saying they wanted me to be here. I guessed I could agree with that. It wasn't so bad on Blelm. Still it was surprising.

After the contract we talked about how I should run the office here and what contingencies I had to have in place in case the war required me to leave. They didn't want me asking other Imperials to come down here. They wanted me to hire local staff and train them to do things the Imperial way. In our discussion they sort of hinted that they were curious if I was really doing things fully the Imperial way or if I had indulged in some of the local customs in Brazfix. I was truthful. It was part of the job down here and someone had to do it so I did it. Boy they did not know how to feel about that but we moved away from that topic. We arranged a regular shipment schedule and who I was going to report to since I now outranked my old boss.

When the meeting was over and I waited with the two senior executives for their bird to bring them back to space. Their bird was delayed because just then an Imperial Navy shuttle decided to land. I figured they were here in regards to the Ambassador but I was wrong. I received a call informing me that the Imperial Navy needed me in orbit right away. As I was still on the call Navy men came through the spaceport and then they marched right over towards me. So in the end it wasn't me waving as I watched the company executives leave. It was them watching as I left.

I was wondering if this was going to cause a problem back on Blelm. I was hoping not but I'd have to check before going back down. The process of getting up to space wasn't a long process. It actually took more time to land then get up there, which seemed like it would be backwards.

Once in space we moved up to dock with a huge Navy Warship. I then experienced the strange situation of me being in space while I was on video call with someone on the planet. The Ambassador was telling me that there was a situation and since I was the marquis for this system I had to give an input.

While we were docking I didn't like the way the Navy guys were eyeing me. Then I heard one of them say "From sergeant to marquis. What kind of shit is that?"

I was going to let it slide but then I knew I couldn't. Surely on Blelm I'd have to let it slide but this wasn't Blelm. I was in space now and this was all Imperial Domain up here. If you aren't willing to take the beating for something then you don't do it. Navy guys always looked down on army guys. While being in the army was compulsory the Navy always came round to recruit the best army guys away. But once you were Navy you were Navy for life. It meant staying in the military until you were 45 or 50 unless you got special permission to get out.

So what if I had only been an army grunt. I as a marquis now. I hadn't asked for that. The Emperor had given the title to me. I had a responsibility to uphold the Emperor's honor.

When the shuttle was finally fully docked the Navy asshole who had made the comment was on the floor with a broken arm while two other Navy guys where holding me to the back wall and another one was punching me in the face. I fought with all my strength to get free and then I felt a punch to my side that knock the wind out of me. Even with pain coursing through me I was able to sweep the leg out from the guy to my left. I used his own hold on me to guide his head to hit a hard surface on his way down. Then when he was down I dropped my own weight on top of him and my knee slammed down onto him. I heard a crunch coming from him as the pain of the impact stabbed me in the knee. The other guy holding me lost his balance and started to fall on top of me. My elbow hit him right in the sternum and he lost all control of his body and slumped to the floor.

I struggled to get untangled and get to my feet when the last guy hit me square in the jaw. I was knocked back to the wall for a moment and the quick fighter struck me again twice before I could retaliate. I got my hands up and right as I was swinging I got hit again. I almost felt like this was enough but then I just really felt strongly that I could not let these damn navy assholes win in a fight against me. In the army we fight dirty because if you don't, you die.

Fake punch, move with him to his dodge side, kick. I wiped the blood from my eyes as I went to his side so that now there was less room for him to get distance from me. I grabbed him and put my forehead right to his nose. Blood flew everywhere and then I was going to choke him but another set of hands grabbed me and pulled me off of him.

"Break it up. Break it up." I heard as I was pulled from the shuttle to docking bay. The force of the motion actually caused me to fall to the floor and I looked up from that posture to see the navy guys I'd been fighting with being carried out.

"Lord Brandon I presume."

I looked over at the voice.

"Welcome aboard. Captain Etel."

"Pardon me if I don't salute, sir."

"Marquis, you're the ranking officer here. I admit, I'm glad to see that planet didn't turn you into a pansy."

"I'm ... (pain) ... still new to my duties. I'll have to rely on your expertise." I said as I tried to get to my feet.

"My lord, you have blood on your clothes. We have a uniform ready for you. When you're ready the admiral is waiting to see you."

Some more navy guys helped me up cause I really was struggling and then I was led away. I was shown to some quarters and waiting in there was the fleet uniform. Oh, yeah, that's right. I had a title now. The uniform that nobles wore when performing the military side of their duties was very similar to a Navy uniform. I can't say I was exactly happy in that moment to put it on but duty is duty. A medic came to look me over while I was dressing and she got the blood stopped at least.

Then as I walked through the corridors of the ship the lower level navy got out of my way and the higher level navy saluted as I passed. That was so weird. There were so many times when I was on the other side of that. I was that guy slinking away as to not be seen. I used to be that guy. But now instead of walking hugging the wall everyone else was dashing to the side and I almost had no choice but to march directly down the center.

Admiral Taft who was military governor of this sector and Captain Etel were waiting for me in a large meeting room. Some other officers were in there with them. The purpose of the meeting was quickly made clear to me. There was a large number of Republic warship not that far away from Blelm. More were massing every day but so far there hasn't been a lot of activity.

"And by lack of activity, I really do mean a lack of activity." the science officer was saying. "All systems are turned down to minimum. There's no chatter. It's like the ships were just parked there."

The first officer added his own comment to counter this. "They wouldn't just park them there where they might fear we would simply commandeer the ships instead of destroying them. Also, if they were parked they'd have no systems going at all. Someone is on those ships. Radio silence could mean they're getting into position and awaiting orders for attack. I think our best option is to take them all out now."

"They're not in Imperial Domain." the captain said.

"If we attack first, we have to make sure to take them all down. We don't have enough ships in his sector for that." the tactical officer said.

Everyone was largely ignoring me but then I decided to say something. "I have a question."

The talking stopped and then everyone looked at the Admiral. It was sort of clear that to these higher level officers I had not earned my right to lead at this kind of meeting. Once the Admiral gestured for me to continue everyone looked over at me to hear what I wanted to say.

"Where are they dumping garbage?"

There was silence.

"They're not as far as we can tell." the science officer said.

"What's the minimum number of crew needed for one of those ships?" I asked.

"5000." the tactical officer said.

"I don't mean to operate weapons. Just to keep the ship going, what's the number."

"Maybe 1400." the first officer said. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with that number but if you were smart you could do it."

"Well, these are publicans. They're not smart. So where's the garbage going? I tell you what I see here. I see a trap."

"Of course it's a trap." the captain said.

"It's bait to try and force us to attack first. Then they have their justification to attack us. Are those new ships?"

"We can't exactly tell at this distance." the science officer said. "The engine signatures suggest older models. But there might be reasons for a newer ship to look that way."

"Those ships are expendable." I said. "I'm guessing the crew who definitely are alive on those ships are as well. If we attack then the Republic is happy and uses it to go to war. If we don't attack then when the war breaks out somewhere else those ships are already in position to push into this sector."

"So what are our options then? We can't do nothing and let them stay out there." the first officer said.

"What kind of crew are expendable for the Republic?" I asked. "Sokai clones. We've seen the Republic use this dirty trick before. Probably one hundred or two hundred thousand on each ship. To keep them under control they're still in tubes. They don't know their orders yet. They don't know their mission yet."

"I think I see what you're saying." the science officer said. "We hack in and no one's awake on board to notice. We wake up the clones and give them new orders."

"Makes sense. Republic soldiers would never share quarters with clones but the admiralty would never give Republic warships to Sokai commanders to operate. The clones likely haven't even taken their first breathes yet. They're all asleep at the controls." I added.

"Our window to do this is going to be really small, if we can do it at all." the science officer said. "That's a lot of ship out there."

"We only need one." I said. "The clones on that one can fire on the others crippling that little fleet out there. We swoop in to ask if the Republic ships need assistance. We discover that there are only clones on board and we tell the press that we assumed it was part of a clone uprising. For the public we didn't attack the Republic. Now in the eyes of the media the Republic is indebted to us for helping them. We keep the ships as salvage."

"Clones on a Republic warship. Unthinkable." the captain said.

"There's a lot we don't know." the Admiral said. "If our assumptions are wrong it would harm our position here. The best plan for now is to get more information. That means we have to get closer. Get men working on that hack and see if we can take over one of those ships. If they are full of clones then I want enough evidence to show that. I'm not leaving it to some reprogrammed clones to do my work for me. If those ships are full of clones then we're taking them out."

The meeting ended and that meant I was going back to the shuttle to drop down to the planet again. However before just going to the transport drop ship I decided to take a detour. I didn't know all of the different designations for the various different kinds of space crafts and air crafts used by the navy but there was one that I knew very well. I found the hanger where they kept the K-10s. Ok so army guys and navy guys don't really like each other mostly due to navy guys almost always being smug and superior all the time. However, the one group of guys in the navy that every infantry soldier learned to appreciate very quickly were the K-10 pilots. My life had been saved at least five times by these guys. Ok, maybe not these exact guys but that didn't matter.

"Officer on deck" was called out as I approached. That made me hesitate but then I realized, I was the one they were referring to. I straightened up and then with as much dignity as I could muster I came closer and the pilots quickly arranged themselves in a line like I was going to do inspection.

"At ease." I said. I waited for them to drop out of stance and then I asked "Any of you at Marine five?"

"Yes, sir. That was this squadron."

I went up to the squadron leader and I shook his hand. "The next time these men go on leave they all get bonuses paid for by me."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"At ease. At ease." I said. I looked around and saw they had refreshments in the break area. "Somebody grab me a drink, huh."

We all moved over to the break area and then I got a metal chair. "I tell you men, the convoy was taking cover in the ditch on the side of the road. We formed a fire line but the enemy looked like they had us three to one. We were pinned down there for over an hour and it was looking bad. But then I heard one of those K-10 coming. Maybe the enemy didn't know what it meant but I sure did. I was at Big Wood."

"So what I." said one of the pilots.

I raised my glass to him. "And I thank you for it. One of you come up over the horizon and the only thing us army guys can think about navy in that moment is K-10 saves the day again. Pilot, tell me, where you from?"

"Pojmatch."

"Poj. You guys make great beer I hear."

"Best in the Empire." he said.

"You wish." said another pilot.

"And where you from?" I asked.

"Nocago. We make the best beer and we have the best women."

"Too bad you don't make the best pilots." another pilot said and then a laugh came up.

"I know the K-10 is supposed to be replaced by the new S-35 but I just have to say, I'll be a little sad when these birds are gone." I said.

"Here, here." said the squadron leader.

I spent considerable time with those men and once their CO found out about it he gave them the next day off. He also wanted me to go ahead and pay up to fund the bonuses I'd offered. I did. That was a pretty big payday for these guys but was almost nothing for me. It was so strange to think I was so rich now.

I spent the entire time in the PC-112 transport dropping me back down to the planet going over scenarios in my head. The cards were in my hand and I was trying to figure out how to play this. How could I force the Republic to fold? How many hands would it take to bring that about?

My mind was still searching for a solution. Taking out that fleet would only be an opening move no matter how we did it. After that was the real question. That would be when things get interesting. What would the Republic do?