Chapter 33

Two Imperial years (5.6 Earth years) passed with no further incidents to disturb the (relative) tranquillity of the Empire. Kirim and I lived quietly, well, as quietly as we could with a growing child, and watched as Kiria sprouted up and went through kindergarten then started school itself. We had, after a long discussion, opted for an upper level school recommended by our friend Taisha where Kiria was receiving neural learning and was merely being taught how to put it in context rather than memorising it. Kirim was a little worried that Kiria would lose touch somewhat with her friends from the lower and median levels, though this proved not to be the case as an after school club had them mixing still and she took part in a junior no-contact grav-ball side. Generally I was the parent who made it there as Kirim’s shifts were often enough awkward, though she did get to many of the matches. Our little girl was taking after her mother in looks and her father in ‘attitude’, which made for several summons to the school to deal with her absolute refusal to back down from a challenge if she thought she was right. This included the teaching staff (though not the AIs) as well as other pupils. Diplomacy, it appeared for Kiria, was something that happened to other people. It did not help that in pretty much all cases she was right and somewhat forthright (as a 6-year-old) in telling it like it was. Yet for all that, she was very popular at the school and, other than crossing swords with people she thought were wrong, was doing very well academically as you’d expect from neural learning.

Kirim was now a senior Investigator and had taken over the running of four other Guardian forces covering sixteen sectors, all lower level and all with unique issues of their own. Yes, she still had a few weird shifts, but nothing like she used to, though had an increased workload in the way of budgets and resource management. She also had to deal with far more gang related incidents as only the Crimson Suns in her old sector seemed to be able to manage themselves in a civilised manner with regards to the authorities. Clashes often took place when a gang or, occasionally, a corporate syndicate with links to the entertainment centres went too far and ordinary people started getting injured.

The medical centre remained pretty much the same and my work there continued; though Hiqua was a mother again, finally producing a daughter from her husband’s family genome. The same with Medical Resource, though Vilgra was now Herrick’s official understudy if still my monitor. Ashlann still ran the place and we now got on well enough for me to allow her to call me Dave.

Amantil continued with the advice of her circle of close friends which now included Meritocrat Honack who had finally been apprised of her ex-husband’s activities by a secret ImpSec report which, although shocking her, also cleared up the occasional suspicion she’d had of Duvrach being up to no good. Duvrach she assumed had been killed off by the suspected kidnappers; either that or he’d simply fled the planet when his plans appeared to be unravelling. Whichever it was, Honack no longer cared and was throwing herself into her work and charitable ventures.

Duvrach himself was, I believe, still alive, though held by ImpSec somewhere off planet and was still being debriefed as his various machinations went back over a decade of Imperial years and there were a lot of plots, bribes, traitors and informers still being dealt with, though the Empire had retrieved much of his fortune from the various places he’d stashed it.

These days, Amantil was a far more public figure, if keeping her appearances to a minimum. She was slowly but surely also involved with political reform as in shifting the various balances of power around to create debating chambers for the median and lower levels to give them more control over Imperial services such as Municipal Services, which, despite reform and new management in some aspects, still woefully underperformed in efficiency and responsibility in a lot of areas. Nor were they the only culprits, just the most high profile of them. The problem most of the new blood running or keeping oversight of the work that Municipal Services did, particularly in the lower levels, was the massive backlog of tasks needing to be done from almost an Imperial decade of neglect, penny pinching and outright fraud. By delineating the oversight to the various levels, rather than them having to get the approval from on high, Amantil hoped to finally get them sorted and running efficiently, even if it was a running sore with regards to her treasury in having to make up the shortfall in the new repairs budgets needed for the most urgent of repairs. ImpSec was busy unravelling the mystery of where the money went, though admitted it was likely not to get any great quantities of it back.

Still, everything was, more or less, stable and the average subject happy with the direction the Empire was taking.

“Hi, Dave,” Vilgra greeted me as I entered Medical Resource.

“Hi, Vilgra. Married life still treating you well?”

“Oh yes. Baltus and I are trying for a baby now,” she beamed.

“Oh, that’s lovely. Hope it happens soon.”

“Thank you. We have a Meritocrat Viana, the wife of High Bureaucrat Diocletarn, awaiting you. She has a rare brain cancer and none of our targeting nanites or specific viruses will reduce it as its latched onto her cortex and spread through to her lobes.”

“Does she know what a cure entails?”

“She does. Her husband does not know; he doesn’t even know she is here and must not, ever,” Vilgra replied with a slight shrug.

“Fair enough, where is she?”

“Through there,” she pointed to a rapidly opening wall. “Ashlann wants to see you when you’re finished; we have a high profile diplomatic case coming through.”

“No problem, see you soon.”

Viana was lying on a medical grav-bed, looking comfortable if a little embarrassed. Her cancer apparently not affecting her badly, if at all.

“Salutations, Meritocrat Viana,” I greeted her.

“Salutations, Cure David,” she replied, obviously recognising me, though it had been a while since I’d made a media appearance. Still, with rejuve I hadn’t changed at all, so it wasn’t too surprising to anyone who’d done their homework.

“Are you all right with what has to happen?”

“Yes. Just that my husband is a follower of Horok, the god of purity, and would forbid my ‘cure’ were he to know of it. He would also divorce me if he finds out afterwards,” she replied calmly.

“Well, he won’t find out from me,” I nodded.

“Yes, I know. That’s why I specifically chose you. Your discretion is well known amongst my class.”

“I see,” I replied with a smile. “How do you wish to go about this, knowing or not knowing, as in the use of a privacy screen?”

“Oh, knowing, I think. They’ll mind-wipe me afterwards at my request anyway so I might as well enjoy it whilst I do remember,” she giggled.

“Very well, let’s begin,” I nodded and leaned over to kiss her, prompting an immediate response as her arms came up and she almost plastered herself against me.

Clearly she had been looking forward to this as her passionate kisses were revealing. I swiftly undid the medical robe she was wearing to reveal an athletic and clearly self-maintained form, rather than a body-sculpted one that most upper level ladies had.

“Lovely,” I murmured as our lips parted and enabled me to slide the robe off her more easily.

“He insists,” she blushed slightly. “If it’s not natural, it isn’t pure.”

“Well, you’ve done him proud,” I chuckled.

“Yes, I know, but it’s pretty hard work at times to keep the old prude happy,” she giggled, then gasped as I slid a finger across her clitoris which was by now well lubricated from her pussy.

“Ohh,” she sighed as I swirled my finger over it. My lips suckled a firm, if small, breast.

I kept the magic going, moving from one breast to another before pattering a trail of kisses down to snake my tongue into her channel and make her almost shriek in delight as her first orgasm exploded through her body.

“Oh, I need you in me... , please!” she moaned as her legs quivered uncontrollably.

“My pleasure, truly my pleasure,” I murmured with a slight smile as I dropped my robe and underwear and moved on top of her, plunging into her tender depths with unerring accuracy, causing her to cry out in sheer delight at being taken so firmly. Soon we were moving rapidly and with passion, her legs clamped around me as she tried to draw as much of me into her as she could. All the while she was gasping encouragement as well as an almost constant litany of ‘yes, yes, yes!’ in my ear as our bodies slammed together in sheer ecstasy.

“Yes!” she screamed out as an orgasm exploded within her followed by another scream as I released into her taking her to a new height of pleasure.

Finally I withdrew from her, leaving her still gasping but looking immensely satisfied if a little over stimulated.

“You’re cured now,” I told her with a smile as I pulled on my clothing.

“Wow, not sure if I want a mind-wipe or not now. I want to remember, but don’t think I dare as my husband compares most unfavourably performance-wise.”

“I can’t help you there,” I chuckled. “That decision is for you alone.”

“The hell with it! I’m keeping it.”

“Fair enough,” I smiled. “Now farewell, Meritocrat Viana.”

“Farewell, Cure David.”

Half an hour (by my reckoning) later I was in Ashlann’s office with Vilgra being briefed on a high profile diplomatic mission.

“Total discretion as usual, Dave,” Ashlann requested.

“No problem, as ever,” I replied with a nod.

“Patient is the daughter of the Bladesman of the Hurrogen Regnat ... basically their Emperor, though the position is not hereditary,” Ashlann explained.

“OK, but why the secrecy?”

“She has a degenerative recombinant DNA sequencing breakdown. However the eugenics the Hurrogen Regnat practice means that she would be sterilised if her gene sequencing isn’t corrected, or if it is really bad, executed, along with the rest of her lineage.”

“Damn! Is it hereditary?”

“No, we believe she was deliberately infected with a modifying virus, but currently that’s about all.”

“No problem then, when can I see her?”

“Well, that’s the problem. You can’t, not on Vreekoos,” Ashlann sighed.

“Cure’s don’t work at a distance,” I chuckled.

“You need to go to Timon, the capital city of the Hurrogen Regnat and cure her there. But that means being smuggled in as they do not allow outsiders to leave the port area. They believe that all non-Regnat humans are ‘lesser beings’,” she explained with a grimace.

“How charming,” I murmured. “Sounds like the Melanoqui Autarchy all over again.”

“If anything it’s worse. If they catch you, they will kill you and they are strong enough that the Empire could face massive casualties if we go in to avenge you.”

“Wonder if I could borrow Janilla?” I chuckled.

“That’s actually a pretty good idea, Dave,” Vilgra replied. “Assuming her Serenissima will allow it or Janilla will do it.”

“Yep, Janilla is the problem if she thinks she’s neglecting her duties by letting Amantil out of her sight,” I agreed.

The discussion continued. However, a few minutes later the office door opened and Janilla walked in, shocking Ashlann somewhat as it was supposed to be security sealed, though admittedly not against someone like Janilla.

“I believe you require a bodyguard for Cure David?” she asked politely after we had introduced her and she had assessed everyone in the room for threats.

“Yes,” Vilgra replied. “What do you know of the Hurrogen Regnat?”

“Bunch of genetic supremacists who are fanatics regarding certain presumed superior bloodlines. Occasionally cause trouble for their weaker neighbours, but are now largely hemmed in by an alliance who are strong enough to wipe the floor with them if they decide to try to expand via conquest. No real threat to the Empire, except for the fact that we’d have to wipe their militaries out root and branch if they did start something as they will not surrender. That said, they aren’t stupid either and only tend to fight battles they can win. Capital is Timon on the world of Hurrog, other than the port it’s a ‘pure’ Hurrogen planet as in no impure population. Rest of the Regnat is one hundred and seventy two planets ruled by the Hurrogen over the ‘impure’ and who are mostly happy, if ignorant, cannon fodder for the Regnat military and service providers for the Regnat. Work is constantly ongoing to improve the bloodlines of the ‘impure’ and there is supposedly a small trickle of breeding stock who apparently do make it to ‘pure’ status,” she stated at length.