Chapter 6: Pleiades Prime

From Bova the Electra jumped back to the empty system, then to the Ceres system, followed by jumping the Saturn system. The captain decided not to make any more courtesy visits so the Electra didn’t even slow down as it followed the Sarina from jump gate to jump gate. Jason only got glimpses of the Sarina whenever they both approached a jump gate. The Sarina had to wait for the Electra before she could jump.

Then they jumped through the last gate into the Pleiades Prime system, home system of the Empire. Jason was again invited to view the transition from the bridge. Even on the huge screen on the bridge, entering the fabled Pleiades Prime system was not as spectacular as one would have thought. Granted, the super huge central star Alcyone, which was still six light years beyond the Pleiades Prime system, looked a bit brighter than it did from Grendel or from Bova but the Pleiades Prime system with its single yellow G-type star looked bigger from the jump gate distance than Alcyone did.

It was only as the Electra entered into high orbit around Secundus that the view became a lot more interesting and that was not because of the planet but because of the size of the navy space station orbiting Secundus. It was constructed similar to the other two space stations Jason had seen so far, but had four wheels.

The most spectacular space station was not visible with the naked eye from where they were. It was a hollow asteroid of about two kilometers by eight kilometer and was orbiting the sun just outside the orbit of the planet. It was not really a space station, more a space habitat with a population in the millions, more than the population of the planet.

The most important space station was also the smallest and nearly invisible from high orbit. It was a very small natural moon orbiting Secundus in geosynchronous orbit and connected to the equator of the planet via a 4-meter diameter super-weave carbon-lattice cable. Jason knew that even with the strength of the carbon-lattice cable, the cable weighed too much to support its own weight, let alone the stresses of the space elevator. The only reason the space elevator worked was because of the use of anti-gravity crystals embedded in the cable.

“Normally we just dock at the navy shipyard space station and catch a shuttle to Mountain-Top, the upper station of the elevator, but with the imperial envoy on board I first decided we might as well go dock directly to Mountain-Top,” Captain Ericson said to Jason as the Electra approached the planet. “Unfortunately, we have been explicitly instructed to dock at the navy station to start the investigations into the Mondragon issue. The Navy JAG commander already assigned an investigator into the case with Mondragon Industries and the Sarina. You will obviously be expected to make a report on events that led to the confiscation of the Sarina and the arrest of the prisoners.”

“The Electra has been on patrol for a year so the battalion will be transported down to the main marine base in Vesper province,” the navy XO added. “The navy crew will also leave the ship. I will assist Lieutenant Gomes in securing temporary accommodation in the VIP section of the navy station until you are ready to leave for the surface as well.”

“Very well,” Jason said. He, Lisa, Gwen, and Clarissa had been invited to the bridge as the Electra approached the navy space station, which had four wheels. The wheels were the same diameter as the Grendel space station, but Grendel Station only had one wheel. The navy station axis also stretched much further out from the station.

“Nobody will ever admit that the emperor was on the Merope, so we won’t even ask,” Captain Ericson commented as he pointed to where the Merope was docked to the central axis. “The fact that the Merope is docked means they arrived safely.”

The navy station central axis was huge. It consisted of a pressurized tube wide enough to allow the Electra, as well as the Merope to be moved inside the tube, head to tail, with each cruiser having its own dock. The tube was effectively a monstrous dry-dock, or rather pressure dock. As they slowly approached the huge opening, they could see the Merope in the next dock with the massive doors still standing wide open.

“What about the Sarina?” Jason asked.

“She will be docking at the next empty dock beyond the Electra, ” the XO said.

Lisa seemed to know how to get things done. As soon as the Electra docked, she took Gwen and Delano with her, and returned half an hour later to rscort everybody to their new temporary quarters. The quarters were in the luxury section of the space station, luxurious as far as the navy went anyway. It was meant for senior officers and nobleman in transit. The whole section was empty of any occupants when they got there.

“My lord,” Maggie got his attention after they have settled into their quarters. “I managed to connect to the local data-net and have much more detailed information on House Taurus finances, the public data anyway,” she said as she entered the lounge.

“Let’s hear it,” Jason said as Clarissa joined them. Jason shared a suite consisting of a bedroom and lounge with his concubines while everybody else were housed in similar suites down the corridor. Maggie must have asked Clarissa to join them before she arrived.

“For an imperial house that has been dormant for the past twelve years I would say we are doing quite well,” Maggie said. “The net worth is basically the same it was when the emperor shut down the house, plus interest. I tried to do a comparison using the public data of other imperial houses and while we are obviously behind, we are not in trouble, financially.”

“Is the credit we acquired on Grendel of any value here?” Jason asked.

“It’s the same bank,” Maggie said. “We just need to establish your identity with them, in person like last time, and we will be able to access the funds, and private financial data. The nearest branch of Gemini is at the bottom of the space elevator, but we might have to go to a bigger branch.”

“Any idea where the physical House Taurus is located?” Jason asked.

“Mister Gray has the girls studying the topography of Secundus at the moment,” Clarissa said. She did something on her tablet and the planet suddenly appeared on the large screen against the wall. “This is the main continent called Graceland, where the base of the space elevator and Imperial City are located. It is ruled by a duke and has three provinces, Vesper, Valhalla, and Sumeria, each being ruled by a viscount. This huge landmass is called Ashland with its own duke. Ashland also has two provinces, each with a viscount. Then this landmass at the bottom is Greenland. One duke and three viscounts. The space elevator terminates here at the tip of this mountain in the Vesper province. Because of the mountainous terrain there are no cities near the elevator base. This region here...,” Clarissa pointed at Valhalla province and particularly to a gray smudge near the coast, “is Dawson City. Imperial City is not actually a city but the palace of the emperor and is in Dawson City center. Inland and south of Imperial City is the main marine base, home of the Second Imperial Marine Battalion. A number of imperial houses are using this section of the coast of Valhalla for their primary residences. House Taurus is among those, apparently quite close to Dawson City.”

“House Taurus also has other real estate,” Maggie added. “There is an office complex in Monaco City and two factories and a farming conglomerate somewhere on Greenland. I’m still trying to figure out how that is managed at the moment. I doubt if the emperor would have just let the farms and factories go dormant.”

In the process of showing Jason the layout, Clarissa had zoomed in on the view, down to nearly street level as she put Monaco City in the middle of the screen. The streets were fairly busy but only with foot traffic. There were a lot of parks and overhead walkways as well as high trees. None of the buildings looks to be higher than ten stories and a lot of them had rooftop gardens or hovercraft landing pads, marked with huge H symbols.

“A message for you, my lord,” Lisa said as she and Gwen came into the lounge. Both of them had changed into the semi-formal office uniform, Lisa in the imperial marine dark gray skirt and white top version and Gwen in the white knee-length dress of the navy. Both outfits were pure military but at the same time fitted the girls very well, emphasizing their feminine figures. “Major Tredoux of the JAG team wants you to attend a preliminary hearing on the circumstances surrounding events on the Sarina, tomorrow morning at 8 am in conference room A27B. The designation A27B is a reference to the location, Ring-A, Level 2, sector 7 conference room B. Gwen, Carmen, Shelly, Ron, Sam, and I will accompany you.”

“There is no way they can keep us away from..., oh you mean we might have to make reports about what happened,” Ron said from where he was sitting with his back to Jason. Sam poked her head out of the bedroom door and nodded her head in agreement.

“Do we have enough available funds to rent some form of accommodation on the surface until we can find and open up House Taurus?” Jason asked Maggie.

“If we are careful with the funds that we brought from Grendel we should be able to get by for at least six months,” Maggie said. “I don’t see funds as a problem once we established your credentials locally with Gemini.”

“Good, how do we get to the top terminal of the space elevator?” Jason asked.

“There is a regular shuttle service between the navy station and Mountain-Top, once a day,” Gwen added. “The trip takes anything from one to six hours based on the orbital angle between the two. The trip down the wire to the surface takes six to eight hours.”

“Transport on the surface?” Jason asked as he tried hard not to ogle Gwen’s legs when she sat down across from him. Her uniform dress reached to about fifteen centimeters above her knees and pulled up to reveal more of her shapely legs as she sat down.

“Inter-city is by anti-gravity mono-rail shuttle, long distance as well as local shuttle services,” Gwen said. “In the city it is by underground rail or hover taxi. The original settlers went out of their way to limit the number of private vehicles. There is a museum at the complex below the space elevator that shows images of traffic congestion back on old Earth.”

“Normally only the nobility and the very rich commoners have private hovercraft,” Lisa said. “I just can’t see my dad using public transport, or my mom for that matter. I guess we will have to use public transport until we can figure out another way.”

Conference room A27B looked more like a university lecture hall than a conference room. When Jason and his group arrived, they found Captain Ericson, his XO, as well as Lt Col Winterton and his XO already waiting. On the dot at 0800 hours a JAG major walked in, followed by two younger JAG officers, a lieutenant, and a captain. The lieutenant was as young and pretty as Gwen was but with red hair.

“Let’s get started,” the major said as he stood behind a lectern facing the attendees. “We will get to the official reports later. For now, I want summaries. Captain Ericson, what made you board the private yacht Sarina in the Mynos system?”

“We never boarded the Sarina, ” Captain Ericson said. “Neither did anybody from Third Battalion, until after the events took place, events that forced us to take action. We were responding to a request for help from a group of barons in the Mynos system. We were told that the old duke’s twin sons were onboard the Sarina. We had an imperial envoy onboard, and he offered to negotiate with the person on the Sarina who held the two sons of the duke captive.”

“Wait, backup,” the major said. “Where did you get an imperial envoy from?”

“Where does any imperial envoy come from?” Captain Ericson asked as he tried not to roll his eyes.

“Are you trying to make a joke?” the major asked with a frown on his face.

“If I made a joke, it is not your place to complain about it, major,” the captain said in an icy tone, indicating he was not pleased with the major’s attitude. “We had somebody of high noble rank onboard the Electra when we entered the Mynos system. We encountered a problem and asked for advice from the special passenger onboard the Merope, which was about six light hours away. We received a video proclamation appointing our guest as imperial envoy with special diplomatic powers. We can replay the video if you have not seen it yet.”

“Since such a video has not been released here yet, maybe we should watch this video,” the major said. Commander Garrister, the Electra XO, used his tablet to connect to the conference room audio visual system. The three members of the JAG team had to turn around to watch it on the screen behind them.

“And where is Jason Taurus now?” the major asked after the video ended. Jason nearly laughed when Captain Ericson shook his head in disbelieve as he leaned slightly forward and pointed at Jason who was sitting between Gwen and Lisa a bit down the same front row. Jason waved at the major to get his attention. It nearly seemed as if the three JAG officers didn’t see Jason before he waved at them. “Mm, I guess the rumors are true then,” the major said as he studied Jason’s face. “Lord Jason, have you had any form of training to act as imperial envoy?”

“Other than completing the required four years’ training requirements to become a Grendel Marine Corps officer, I guess not,” Jason said. “You didn’t really expect me to turn down the emperor’s commission, did you?” Jason added. The major decided to ignore Jason’s comment as he suddenly studied some documents before him. Jason noticed that the female JAG officer was intently staring at him. As he looked back at her she blushed with a subtle smile. As he glanced past Gwen at the captain, he realized that Gwen was giving the JAG lady a glaring look. A quick glance confirmed his suspicion that Lisa was also glaring at the JAG lady.

“So, Lord Jason went aboard the Sarina, ” Major Terrance continued without looking up from his documents. Jason took over and explained in detail what he found as he and the four girls boarded the Sarina. “You have a wand?” the major asked as he jerked his head up in surprise.

“Would you like to see it?” Jason asked but made no effort to pull his wand from his pocket.

“Sorry, my lord,” Terrance responded. “I was just surprised. Please continue”. When Jason was done, he suggested that Terrance interview his four ADCs since they were with him all the time.