The Empire’s Corps: Book 01 - The Empire's Corps (44 page)

It was the single tensest meeting that Governor Brent Roeder could remember. After a week of chaos – the bandit attack and the Civil Guard’s sudden purge – the major players had finally condescended to talk to him about it, after the fact. Brent was old enough to remember when an Imperial Governor’s world had been law, yet that certainty – like so many others – had fallen on Avalon. It galled – and worried – him that there hadn’t even been a
sniff
of what the meeting was about, even from the Civil Guard. They were keeping it all very close to their chests.

He gazed from face to face. Linda was looking as calm and focused as ever, although he could detect an undercurrent of worry that manifested by her posture, ever so slightly tense. A person who hadn’t known her for years wouldn’t have picked up on it. Captain Stalker looked...grim and very determined, even though his face was a tight mask of perfect control. Colonel Kitty Stevenson looked oddly relaxed – she’d insisted on sweeping his office for bugs before the meeting began – which begged the question of just what was going on. And Major George Grosskopf, the commanding officer of the Civil Guard, was in a state of barely-controlled fury. It didn't bode well for the subject, or the outcome.

“Very well,” Brent said, as they took their seats in front of him. He’d decided to remain seated behind his desk as a reminder of his position, even though he suspected that it was a waste of time and none of his visitors would be impressed. “You wanted this meeting, so...just what the hell is going on under my nose?”

The last line sounded weak and defensive to him, but if they noticed, they gave no sign. “Treason,” Grosskopf said, flatly. “We are dealing with treason most foul.”

Brent looked up, sharply. The formal phasing hadn't escaped his notice. Treason most foul was a legal phase used only when the safety of the Empire itself was at stake. Unlike other legal forms, it was rarely used outside of High Treason and never used outside the legal profession. Brent, who had trained as a lawyer before entering the Civil Service, had never heard of it being raised. Treason was normally dealt with directly by the Grand Senate, the ultimate power within the Empire...under the Emperor, of course.

“Treason,” he repeated, feeling dazed. He’d heard rumours, everything from a bandit attack that had slaughtered the Civil Guard to a planned coup mounted by Grosskopf or the Marines, but treason...? He hadn't expected treason. “Who has committed this treason?”

Grosskopf nodded to Captain Stalker, who spoke with clear precise words. “We captured over ninety bandits in the aftermath of the Battle of Morgan,” Captain Stalker said. His voice was very calm. “One of them turned out to be the leader of the local super-gang, an organisation that controlled and directed the activities of many smaller gangs. His interrogation yielded a number of interesting facts.”

“That was not the first clue we had that something was badly wrong in Camelot,” Grosskopf added. “Alpha and Beta Companies were ambushed by bandits armed with modern heavy weapons, weapons that came out of the Civil Guard’s war stocks...weapons, I need not add, that were never authorised for distribution outside the Civil Guard. Those weapons caused the death of over fifty Civil Guardsmen and one Marine.”

“Under a lie detector, he named seven people within Camelot who had been working with the gangs for at least the past five years, perhaps longer,” Captain Stalker continued. Brent realised that he was being hit on both sides, suggesting that they’d planned the discussion beforehand. “Those people intended to set all three military units – Alpha Company, Beta Company and my Marines – up for slaughter. Their plan came alarmingly close to success.”

Brent held up a hand before they could say anything else. “Who do you accuse?”

Captain Stalker met his eyes. “Councillor Sally Park, Councillor Frank Wong, Councillor Cole Smith, Councillor Markus Wilhelm and Councillor Carola Wilhelm,” he said. “The other two named suspects are not members of the Council, but are closely connected to its leaders. One of them runs a supply company that has been used to transport weapons and supplies from Camelot and, in return, brings in women and stolen goods taken by the gangs. They are all guilty of treason against the Empire.”

Brent felt his senses reel. “You can't be serious,” he said, in disbelief. He could imagine any of the more troublesome councillors being ruthless enough to set the Marines up for slaughter, but actually dealing with the gangs...? “They wouldn't do anything of the sort.”

“We were not
gentle
,” Captain Stalker said. There was a cold fury in his voice that sent chills running down the back of Brent’s neck. “We used lie detectors, and then we drugged them unmercifully until we were sure that we had the truth. There was not an iota of doubt left in the interrogators minds that the few senior gang lords we had were telling the truth. They are guilty. They need to be arrested, now.”

“They are also responsible, I suspect, for the death of Smuts, the former commander of the supply depot,” Grosskopf added. “He was unquestionably assassinated, yet we have been unable to identify and locate his assassin, even though we secured the base only a few minutes after he died. Our arrival could have been the sign to the assassin to act. We have, however, traced orders through the base’s chain of command that resulted in delivering hundreds of thousands of credits worth of advanced weapons to the bandits.”

His lips twitched humourlessly. “If nothing else, Governor, we will have to account for all that equipment when the Imperial Inspectorate checks their records and starts asking questions,” he said. “Smuts committed grand theft on a massive scale.”

Brent remembered Smuts, the son of a wealthy landholder who had been promoted into his position over the objections of the Civil Guard’s last CO. The man had been both greedy and stupid, yet there had been no choice, but to take him.

“Smuts,” he repeated. “Are you sure that it was him?”

“Apart from him, everyone who could have issued the orders went into custody and through a lie detector test,” Grosskopf said, impatiently. “Smuts was the one who issued the orders. We also uncovered several dozen corrupt officials, nine Cracker agents and a number of illegal gambling rings. Kappa Company may have to be disbanded completely. Their CO spent absolutely no time on training and apparently decided to keep the training budget for himself. Morale in the Civil Guard, I must add, is at rock bottom. First we get our heads kicked in by the bandits, and then we discover that the bandits were aided and abetted by one of our own.”

He looked up. “Sir,” he said, “I intend to seek the death penalty for the traitors. They should be arrested at once, before they can do more harm.”

Brent sighed. They weren't going to like what he had to tell them. “We can't,” he said. “We don’t have the evidence required to sustain a charge of treason in a High Court.”

“Nonsense,” Grosskopf said. He waved a hand at the Marine, whose eyes had narrowed sharply. “We have the recordings of the interrogation, don’t we?”

“That isn't enough proof,” Brent said, tiredly. Just once, he wished he hadn't trained as a lawyer. Acting in ignorance of the law might well have worked...and it would certainly have been more satisfying. “The bandit might have been lied to and merely told you what he believed to be true, or someone else could be trying to set them up and get them off the planet. We could not arrest them under this evidence, let alone put them through a formal interrogation of their own. The Grand Senate’s Edict on Treason rules that out.”

He quailed mentally before their expressions. The Tyrant Emperor had been fond of using the treason charge to get rid of his enemies, for dealing with treason had been in the sole hands of the Emperor. In his brief reign, hundreds of inconvenient people had been rounded up, charged with treason on flimsy grounds, and summarily executed. He had terrorised most of the Empire into remaining silent, backed up by the New Men and their allies, until he had been assassinated by a lone gunman. In the wake of his death, the Grand Senate had moved to take treason charges firmly into their hands, demanding a colossal level of evidence before a suspect could be arrested, interrogated and tried.

Any halfway competent lawyer would have been able to get them released, once the case was put in front of a High Court. The Empire’s legal system was so convoluted that it was possible to cite almost anything as a precedent, using cases of dubious relevance...or even none at all. The Empire’s fastest-growing industry was the legal profession, and yet there would never be enough lawyers to cope with the demand. If it were handled badly, they might be proved guilty at a later date...and they would still have to be freed.

“That is unacceptable,” Grosskopf snapped. “We
know
they’re guilty!”

“No, we don’t,” Brent said, wondering if he was about to be the first victim of a military coup. If it happened, he decided, it happened. “All we
know
is what we were told by a bandit, who might have only told us what he believed to be true.”

“They killed a Marine,” Captain Stalker snapped. His voice had risen sharply. “That is not a laughing matter!”

Brent lowered his eyes. “If we arrest them now, without proper proof, the rest of the Council will revolt against us,” he said, sharply. “Avalon will grind to a halt. Their guilt has to be proven conclusively before we can move.”

“We cannot be seen to let this pass,” Grosskopf insisted, angrily. “The men in the Civil Guard are not exactly morons,
sir
! They know that the weapons had to come from our stores, even before I led the remains of two companies to secure the supply base. If we don’t take steps, someone else might.”

“And while we’re tied up in political chaos, the Crackers will take advantage,” Brent said. “Arresting them might bring Avalon to a halt.”

“Perhaps I can suggest a compromise,” Kitty Stevenson said, sweetly. Brent eyed her suspiciously. “We can agree that there are strong grounds to open an investigation, so perhaps that is what we should do. We are not, after all, required to notify them that they are the subject of an inquiry. When we discover the proof, we can ram through a suspension of their powers and arrest them before they can react.”

“It is also possible that they have other allies within the Civil Guard,” Grosskopf said. “I am organising wide-sweeping lie detector checks of my senior officers and I will not allow anyone to refuse them, unless they offer me their resignation on the spot. I strongly advise you to do the same, starting with the people closest to you.”

He looked up at Linda, who smiled demurely back. “I have nothing to hide,” she said, “but even asking people to undergo a loyalty check – and that is what it will be – is against the Imperial Charter. They did not agree, when they were hired, to undergo random tests to determine if they were loyal. We could not even legally ask for volunteers.”

“Perhaps you should set a good example,” Captain Stalker said. His voice was very cold. “Would you like to be the first person to be tested?”

Linda refused to flinch from his eyes. “I would have to refuse,” she said, dryly. “You have no legal grounds to insist that I take a test.”

Brent rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Linda was right; with techniques that could extract the truth out of a person, willing or not, there were strong regulations built into Imperial Law that governed when a person could be forced to undergo such a test. There had to be strong evidence of a crime, or a reasonably small body of suspects, and even then the suspect had to be tested in the presence of a lawyer of their choosing. It was intended to avoid abuse, yet it could be a burden at times. Military personnel signed away their right to refuse such a test when they joined up, but outside the military it was rare to have mandatory loyalty tests.

“If we don’t uphold Imperial Law,” he said, tiredly, “what are we?”

“In trouble,” Grosskopf said. “I intend to complete sweeping through the Civil Guard and...”

He broke off as Captain Stalker’s wristcom buzzed. “Trouble,” he said, glancing down at it. “I’ll be right back.”

***

Edward strode into the antechamber, fighting to get his temper back under control. The urge to hit the Governor as hard as he could, right in the face, had been bubbling up ever since the man had pointed out that they
didn’t
have a strong case after all. With a thousand years of legal changes, precedents and endless red tape, it would be harder than he had hoped to simply arrest them.
He
had every confidence in his interrogators, yet the Governor had none. They needed swift decisive action, not sneaking around and trying to produce the evidence that the Governor thought they needed to act.

“This is Stalker,” he said, keying the wristcom. Gwen wouldn't have interrupted the meeting unless it was something truly important...and, after years of working with her, he trusted her judgement. Anything she couldn't handle herself had to be bad. “The area is clear; report.”

He smiled at his own words. Kitty had told him, just before the Governor had returned to his office and greeted him formally, that she’d pulled no less than
nine
bugs out of the room. They had all been late-generation military-grade tech, which raised the question of where they had come from and who had emplaced them in the room...and why? No; the answer to that was obvious. Edward had learned the value of good intelligence over the years and it was too much to expect that the Council would have failed to learn the same lesson.

“Sir,” Gwen said, “we have a problem.”

Edward winced. The last time Gwen had spoken in that tone, it had been to inform him that the Company was being sent into action against the Nihilists, without proper protection or support. It never boded well.

“Understood,” he said, harshly. “What’s happened?”

“Rifleman Blake Coleman has failed to make his scheduled check with his platoon,” Gwen said. It wasn't – quite – going AWOL, but under the circumstances it was definitely a chewing out offence. “I attempted to raise him on his implanted communicator and received no response.”