Amantus
Copyright© 2026 by QM
Chapter 27
Amantus wore his dress uniform with a little embarrassment. It was the same one he had worn as a Middie, and the original disk marks were clearly visible surrounding the pinholes where his former ranks had been placed.
“Seriously, Commander?” Horth questioned.
“I have to be assigned new gear and equipment, sir,” Amantus replied. “I’m not given anything automatically.”
“Oh, the strictures?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Too late to do anything about it now,” Dorrus sighed. “You’ll have to go as you are.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Supply a list of worn-out uniforms and equipment to Captain Horth when we return; we’ll get you sorted for occasions like this.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Amantus repeated himself.
The three officers headed to the Fleet headquarters and to Admiral Kleevi’s office, arriving at the precise time the meeting was scheduled. Other than getting a slight frown from the Admiral’s aide at his slightly ‘unusual’ condition, Amantus and the two officers were admitted immediately, finding Admiral Kleevi and Admiral Carse within, whom they all saluted with precision.
“Please sit,” Kleevi requested. “We’re waiting for Commander Rubris before we can start this enquiry.”
“Yes, sir,” all three intoned.
Rubris arrived five rotations later, and saluted the two Admirals, though blanked Dorrus, Horth and Amantus.
“Commander Rubris,” Carse began. “Please explain why you arrested Commander Amantus when you had zero evidence of any crime having been committed.”
“We believe he approached a Treman delegate to offer them information on the Protectorate, sir,” Rubris replied.
“So, you only suspected?” Carse frowned. “You had no proof?”
“Commander Amantus is an involuntary recruit,” Rubris countered. “His loyalties are suspect, and he is monitored at all times when on a base.”
“How are his loyalties suspect?” Kleevi asked.
“Security believes he carries a grudge against the upper echelons of Protectorate society due to his justified involuntary enlistment,” Rubris replied. “His violent nature is on record, as are his liaisons with a married noble.”
“What violent nature?” Carse asked. “He defended a fellow officer from an assault.”
“He put that officer in hospital for a binary cycle; clearly he is a danger to others, hence our use of cuffs to restrain a potential threat to myself and my team,” Rubris explained.
“One act defending an officer from an assault caused you to humiliate Commander Amantus and march him through the base only to release him later without explanation?” Kleevi asked. “Do you understand how this looks?”
“I will not endanger my team,” Rubris explained.
“They weren’t in any danger, nor had you any evidence that they were,” Carse pointed out. “You took it upon yourself to arrest an officer, without any but your own suspicions and then placed him in restraints.”
“He was in contact with a potential enemy agent!” Rubris pointed out.
“Pre-Regent Arla is the heir to the Treman Confederations ruler,” Carse hissed. “She is not a spy, and she has raised a formal complaint to the Protectorate when she observed your heavy-handed reaction when you marched Commander Amantus through the base to be questioned!”
“I will not compromise the safety of my men, sir!”
“From what? Commander Amantus had not done anything to warrant an arrest; he recorded the conversation he had with Pre-Regent Arla and logged the meeting with the Devastator as per standing orders with any encounter with a foreign national,” Kleevi pointed out. “You abused your position to illegally arrest an officer with zero evidence other than your suspicions.”
“Suspicions based upon him approaching a foreign national without having any previous contact, sir!”
“Commander Amantus, why did you approach Pre-Regent Arla?” Carse asked.
“I was present at the Orillion incident and witnessed the conversation between the then Captain Arla and Captain Mance, sir,” Amantus replied. “I approached her out of curiosity as to why she was at Conveelt and out of uniform.”
“And you failed to inform security of that? Kleevi asked.
“I informed Captain Horth; security then came aboard the Devastator, and I was then accused of falsifying the recording on my perscomp, sir,” Amantus explained. “I was then arrested.”
“Was the recording tampered with?” Kleevi asked Rubris.
“We believe so, yes,” Rubris replied.
“Believe so?” Carse queried. “You have proof of this claim?”
“Unfortunately, the interrogation of the device deleted its core matrix,” Rubris explained.
“So, no proof and you destroyed the perscomp?”
“My analysts are sure of tampering,” a now sweating Rubris replied.
“That was a lie,” Carse pointed out in icy tones. “We interviewed your analysts earlier, and they said nothing was found. They also informed me that they warned you of the likelihood of the device’s matrix being wiped from the invasive examination.”
“Sir, this man is clearly concealing an agenda from the Protectorate!”
“I’ve read his file; do not take me for a fool,” Carse retorted. “Commander Amantus is a model officer with an exemplary record. While his involuntary recruit status limits his advance through Fleet through regular means, his ability to command others has resulted in rapid promotions on all the ships he has served on.”
“He’s a violent thug involved in an affair with a noble!” Rubris snarled. “He is not exemplary in any way!”
“Commander Amantus,” Kleevi responded. “Care to explain this noble?”
“Her name is Trisa; she’s a Hertrucha and the personal maid to my mother,” Amantus replied. “She’s currently estranged from her husband.”
“Your mother is?”
“Hisuat Helia of Clan Aman, sir.”
“Clan Aman?” a suddenly nervous Kleevi asked. “An elite Clan?”
“Yes, though currently not my Clan as I’ve been declared clanless,” Amantus replied.
“So just a familial tie to your mother?” Carse asked.
“And those who work directly for her,” Amantus explained. “No one else in the Clan will acknowledge me.”
“But they will step in if you are threatened?” Carse noted.
“Only if it violates the terms I serve under.”
“So potentially they would have stepped in over your arrest?”
“Only if false charges were used to prosecute me,” Amantus explained. “Other than that, I don’t exist.”
“Understood, I find no evidence of thuggery or moral turpitude,” Carse nodded. “Your charges are baseless, Commander Rubris; you will apologise to Commander Amantus, and in future you will follow regulations to the letter with any you wish to question. I will also be reporting your cavalier attitude to the regulations to Fleet Command.”
“I will not apologise, sir!” Rubris gritted out. “That man is a potential traitor and spy for our enemies!”
“Commander Rubris, the Treman Confederation are now our allies against the Troneks, Tarpheli and Gershonians,” Kleevi replied coolly. “They ceded the disputed worlds to the Protectorate.”
“Allies?” Rubris spat out.
“They’ve been negotiating behind the scenes for binary cycles in the Spire of Arconia,” Kleevi continued. “Their visit here was to put pen to paper and make it official.”
“I did not know this,” Rubris replied. “Nor will I apologise to Commander Amantus for simply doing my job!”
“Then consider yourself suspended,” Kleevi replied. “A board of enquiry will be assembled and will go over the evidence of your mishandling of the Commander Amantus incident and your flouting of the regulations regarding your arrest of him.”
“This is unjust!” Rubris snarled. “That man is marked in his security dossier as a potential traitor!”
“That does not give you the right to ignore regulations and protocol when dealing with him,” Carse pointed out, before pressing a button on his desk.
Two guards entered the room, saluted and then escorted Rubris away, the man glaring at Amantus but saying nothing.
“Commander Amantus, please accept my apologies for your mistreatment by Rubris,” Kleevi stated. “Investigations will continue, though it looks more like the actions of one man.”
“Of course, sir,” Amantus stood and saluted both Admirals.
The trio then left the office, and Amantus paused slightly, his body trembling from stress.
“Let’s go grab a drink,” Dorrus suggested. “It will allow young Amantus here an opportunity to compose himself.”
“Good idea,” Horth nodded. “Looks like stress really got to him.”
The three sat at a small café, with Dorrus getting them all tuchs as the trembling in Amantus’s limbs slowly faded.
“Never realised it was getting to me so much,” Amantus admitted.
“You are still only seven, Amantus,” Dorrus said kindly. “I doubt much like this in your previous life compares.”
“Nothing at all,” Amantus replied. “I was a pampered, privileged drone.”
“It’s surprising just how well you’ve done,” Horth nodded.
“It is,” Dorrus agreed. “Your personal file is littered with caveats on reporting any incidents you are involved with.”
“I read my contract,” Amantus replied. “Anything over a year and I can request deletion.”
“Still a long way to go,” Dorrus chuckled. “Still, you’re unofficially the youngest to ever reach Commander in Fleet.”
“Unofficially?” Horth asked.
“I don’t think they’ve invented the noble who is yet,” Dorrus laughed out loud, making Amantus and Horth laugh too. “I assume you’ll be reporting this to your mother?”
“I will, though there’s precious little she can do about my circumstances if rules have been followed,” Amantus replied.
“And she’s not so petty as to go after individuals?” Horth queried.
“Yes, sir.”
“I still don’t know how you do it, and I’m not going to order you to tell me,” Dorrus chuckled. “But it’s nice to know that the corruption that pervades parts of Fleet is getting to someone who can act if necessary.”
“I believe the elite clans have noticed,” Amantus replied carefully. “But some of them are corrupt too.”
“Not too surprising,” Dorrus nodded.
“Amantus, what a delight to see you,” Helia greeted her son.
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