Chapter 9
Leader to Leader
HIMS Homo Ferus II, Orbiting At-Tamir V-3
General Dubcic stood with his arms out as the orderly dressed him. The uniform had not changed as much as you might think. In a way, it was comforting. It showed that a sense of tradition remained strong in the Empire. However, when viewed from another angle, it could be a sign of stagnation. Was humanity still growing as it should or had the people become complacent? He hoped to learn more soon.
After his recovery, he and the others who had been rescued were placed in quarantine. Due to his rank, the General was being granted an early release so that he could meet with the fleet commander. He would have liked to have his bodyguards with him, but surely he did not need them on an Imperial warship.
Once he was dressed, General Dubcic was escorted to the hangar, where he boarded a shuttle to take him to the flagship. Upon boarding the flagship, he was held up at the quarterdeck because he did not have a current ID, but the ship's XO overrode the system so that he could proceed onward.
He was then led to the Admiral's office. After the secretary announced his arrival, the General went inside to where the Admiral was waiting. The Admiral was a tall and thin with sunken cheeks and droopy blue eyes. As they were abiding by Navy protocol, they did not exchange salutes.
"Herr Admiral," the General said curtly.
"Herr General," the Admiral responded in kind.
There was a brief pause where the Admiral seemed to be sizing up General Dubcic before he began speaking again.
"Welcome to the Homo Ferus. I'm Admiral Barclay, commander of the 367th Expeditionary Fleet. You've already been debriefed, but I'm sure you have questions for me just as I have questions for you." He gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat."
Although he was usually the sort to decline the offer to sit down, the General thought it best to accommodate the Admiral's hospitality.
"Can I get you some coffee or tea?" the Admiral asked. "I would offer something stronger, but it's still duty hours."
General Dubcic remembered the conversation he had with that girl and her Arcanist friends, prompting him to say, "Kopi cham."
The Admiral tilted his head.
"I'm afraid I'm not familiar."
"It's a Malaysian blend of coffee and tea," the General said. "It was rather popular in the Officer Corps back in my day."
"I'm sure my people can manage it," Admiral Barclay said. He then buzzed his secretary and said, "Soraya, get us two, ah, kopi cham."
"What was that, sir?"
"Kopi cham. Have Tournier look it up."
"Aye-aye, sir."
With that taken care of, Admiral Barclay folded his hands and returned his attention to the General.
"How are you feeling, Herr General? Besides some malnutrition, you're doing pretty well for someone who's nearly 400."
"As I said in the briefing, my memory has a lot of gaps in it. Amnesia seems to be one of the side effects of what happened. I remember the planet's Core Unit going berserk and trying to shut it down. I failed, obviously."
"I wouldn't blame myself too much if I were you, Herr General," the Admiral said. "The whole Empire was caught flat-footed. Maybe you recall, but the irregularities began a year prior. The details are still classified to this day, but apparently the original model for the Core Units started calling her 'daughters' home. The Core Units on fold-capable ships who managed to seize control of the ship's systems blinked right over, but the planetbound Units were stuck. 'Mother' put them to sleep, but not before letting them have one last tantrum.
"We lost damn near half the Empire in a day. Of course the Alliance and the Federation jumped on our moment of weakness. We almost lost the whole thing, but we pulled together and stemmed the tide. Even so, it took nearly a hundred years for us to properly get back on our feet again.
"It wasn't until the reign of Michael I—the founder of the current ruling dynasty—that we started taking back what was lost. Reclamation, we call it. A couple hundred fleets like this one going from planet to planet to reassert the Emperor's claim. We put a satellite in orbit about ten years ago, but we weren't scheduled to begin our survey until '73. Then we picked up your beacon. Credit to the engineers who designed those boltholes. Who would imagine they could still function after three hundred years?"
"It would seem we got lucky," General Dubcic said. "If we'd come around before that satellite was in orbit or if we hadn't managed a successful uplink, there might not have been any of us left."
"Yes, you said the people holding you attempted a purge, under the orders of their government."
"They call us 'Ancients' and they're afraid of how we might upset the balance in their little slice of paradise. They already have issues with their Arcanists, so we just added more fuel to their paranoia."
"That is what we've been piecing together so far," the Admiral said. "I know some of my colleagues who would sterilize the world for what the locals have done. At very least, we're going to need to purge the ruling class, even though it'll make headaches for us later."
"I'm sure our policy hasn't changed that much over the years," General Dubcic said. "The outrages they've done to Imperial citizens are an insult to the honor of His Imperial Majesty. We have to make an example of them."
"For now, I want to focus on recovery and intelligence-gathering operations," the Admiral replied. "Once we've gotten as many of our people as we can out of harm's way and have a clearer idea of what we're dealing with, we can start dealing with the local governments."
General Dubcic wanted to strike sooner rather than later, but he had no authority here. It was merely out of courtesy that Admiral Barclay was treating him on near equal terms. Officially, he was long since dead and did not properly exist as a legal entity.
"I trust you'll keep me in the loop, Herr Admiral," the General said.
"Yes, of course, Herr General," Admiral Barclay replied. "We're still waiting for a response from Command about your official disposition, but in the meantime, you will be accorded all the privileges according to your rank and our medical team will see to your rehabilitation. If you are eligible for reinstatement, would you be interested? I could see a place for you administering your fellow... Ancients, was it?"
General Dubcic took a moment to consider his options. In his previous life, he was angling to cap off his career with a stint as planetary governor. If he could get reinstated and successfully curry favor with the current Emperor via Admiral Barclay, he was in a uniquely advantageous position to see his ambitions realized. It would be a fine bit of compensation for everything he had been through.
His face had forgotten how to smile a long time ago, but he managed a close approximation as he told the Admiral, "That would be a start."