The crowd went crazy.
Forty Eight
“Walk with me commander.”
I followed the Imperator into an empty corner of the room, with a lot of eyes following us, including those of my squadron. He stopped, and faced me.
“I’m going to have to disappoint you, I’m afraid.”
“How so, sir?”
“I don’t have a dreadnaught to give you.”
“I had no expectation of it, sir.”
“Yes, you did. I know damned well you did. Every midshipman in the program wants a Chaos class. At least. But I don’t have any ready, and the ones in the shipyard now are already allocated. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not a problem, sir.” A thought popped in. “You wouldn’t mind if I built my own, would you? Sir?”
“You want to build yourself a Chaos class?”
“No sir, I’ve something else in mind. Call it an experiment.”
He looked at me for a few moments, and I held his gaze.
“Something to do with Rawtenuga hulls?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“Is there anything you need, you don’t already have?”
“A ship suit fabricator.”
“Why would you want one of those?”
“So I can hide a few surprises?”
He laughed.
“I’ll see your shipyard has one delivered. Any time frame for building this ship?”
“Hard to tell, sir. A few weeks at least.”
“And in the meantime, you’d prefer not to continue with your mission to find where the Rawtenuga are entering the core, and seal it off?”
“No, I can do that. But I was thinking if we can’t actually seal them off, we might need to take that a step further, and find their home world as well. And for that, I’d definitely like a dinosaur hull along to hide in.”
“Approved.” He paused. “Oh, I almost forgot. There’ll be a box on your ready room desk in the morning. Invite Aisha along as an actual avatar, and in front of your squadron and their avatars, give her the box.”
“Sir?”
“You’ll know what to do when you see what’s inside.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Carry on, Commander.”
I saluted him, and he walked away into the crowd.
As I started back myself, Dreamwalker appeared in front of me, with his hand out. I took it.
“If it wasn’t for the fact I never knew what hit me, and woke up in a care unit, I’d have had the biggest déjà vu moment ever. The doc told me my suit was shredded, and my mask had been the last to go. If I’d been out in space for more than the second or two I was, I’d have died for sure. Thanks to you, I’m still here.”
“Part of the job.”
“Sure, but no-one is going to let you get away with that line. Least of all me.”
He was still shaking my hand.
“I owe you. Big time. One day I’ll figure out how to repay it.”
His hand let go of mine, and with a nod, he vanished into the crowd as well.
A thought popped in, and I sent a ping to Colonel Carter and Jane asking for a meeting about search and rescue droids. It had finally occurred to me if a mage wasn’t where one was needed, a jump capable SR droid could do the same thing. One could have jumped to Dreamwalker, grabbed him metaphorically speaking, and jumped him back to safety, or a set place in a medical bay. Both said they’d set the meeting for the next day. Then it occurred to me there were other uses as well.
Before I even spotted where Serena was, so I could head over her way, Tollin and Jedburgh came up to me. Jedburgh looked apprehensive, but Tollin was beaming.
The other shoe cometh.
“A moment, Commander?” said Jedburgh.
“Sir?”
“We’ve some news for you, I know you aren’t going to like.”
“What else is new.”
It wasn’t a question, just a statement that bad news was expected after all the good.
“The Imperium council has ordered the Imperator to make you available once a month as an Imperium judge of final appeal,” said Tollin. “And frankly, we need someone who is not part of the legal system in any Imperium member, but can be relied upon to not only be impartial, but act for truth. Only you can do the truth part.”
He paused, trying to gauge my reaction. I wasn’t letting them see any.
“We’ll give you some legal training, but you can run the court any way you see fit, the same as your uncle did.”
He paused again, and this time seemed to be waiting for a response.
“There will be a price,” I said, after letting them think I was thinking it over.
Actually, my eyes had gone to the view of the cosmos overhead, which probably accounted for them thinking what they were undoubtedly thinking. But I wasn’t. It had suddenly occurred to me how useful that view was.
“What sort of price?” asked Jedburgh, before Tollin could object.
“I’m not going into anyone else’s court rooms, and needing to set them up for truth every time. I’m not travelling the Imperium like a carnival show. If this is a court of last appeal, I want it in a permanent place, so I can set it up once, and never need to bother about it again.”
“We’ll find…”
“No, you won’t. I want that.”
I pointed upwards, and watched them both look up.
“You want a glass roof?” asked Tollin.
“No, I want that view, exactly.”
“But there are only a handful of that exact views available, and most of them are being negotiated to be sold. Not to mention they belong to Jon Hunter, not the Imperium, and are the most expensive bit of real estate anywhere in the Imperium.”
“I’m not concerned about the expense. I want a court room where the accused and the accuser feel like they’re being judged by the cosmos itself. And only that view will do.”
“But they’re all penthouses which occupy the entire top floor of a space scraper.”
“I know. Here’s how it’s going to work. I’m going to buy the best one still available, and the Imperium is going to pay for the price of the floor space to build a courtroom with all the normal surroundings. The entire floor will belong to me, and I’ll build the court how I want it.”
Jedburgh looked neutral, but Tollin was looking stressed again.
“The rest of the space will be set up however I decide to, but will probably be a formal entertainment venue, including luxury living space. Not as grand as this ballroom perhaps, but at least a scaled down version of it. Somewhere where Serena and I can live rather than in military quarters, when we’re not on ship, or on my island, and where we can entertain everyone in my command, or everyone involved in the court.”
“That’s rather more than the Imperium was prepared to spend.”
“You’re asking rather more than I’m wanting to do.”
Jedburgh chuckled, and Tollin shot him a nasty look. I turned to the admiral.
“You don’t get out of it free either, Admiral.”
“Nothing to do with me, other than making you available one day a month.”