Chapter 7

Hiro met with the intelligence section in the much more comfortable and appropriate environment of the new Imperial Japanese Defense Ministry to review the list of priority intelligence requirements they had generated. These would inform Hiro on the ship construction plan and the operational requirements they would be dedicated to once they became available.

Given that the Navy would have much more of an active role around Rek than just defending it from the Sa’arm, a new planning effort was underway that would not only inform the Emperor on whether he should accept the terms of the agreement with CENTCOM, but prepare the Navy for doing what it must in order to meet the treaty obligations it would impose.

So little was understood about the situation on the ground there. The one planetary survey done by the Patricians and the subsequent patrolling around the planet yielded nothing but disjointed pieces of a murky picture that suggested ongoing ground combat between various factions.

What the intelligence section had been able to learn about the colony’s past from the AI was sobering. It was among the first of the colonies established by the Confederacy, and was settled primarily by Chinese and North Koreans, along with some Taiwanese, strangely enough. There even were Japanese reported among the early colonists, but they had apparently either fled the colony or had become members of the Marine battalions that had been deployed from there. There was no indication that any Japanese personnel remained on the planet, otherwise a rescue effort would have been of prime importance.

The North Korean and Taiwanese sponsors had revolted after being subjected to brutal mistreatment at the same time the Chinese split into factions and started fighting each other. China successfully intervened to replace the colonial governor by military force, but the new governor was unable to mend the rifts. More Chinese forces arrived to assist the governor, but at that point almost all of the military formations that had been under his control had mutinied. Finally the AIs decided the experiment of Rek had failed and stopped allowing any further efforts to restore order. They then refused to provide any information about the colony, making the embargo not just physical, but intellectual as well.

Rek then became a subject of rumor and mystery until negotiations between CENTCOM and Kuniumi had started, at which point the AI felt that the Japanese Empire had a “need to know” what had happened as it would likely be operating on the planet’s surface at some time in the near future. The AI informed the intelligence team that all contact with any planetary communications systems on Rek had ceased, suggesting that much of the technological infrastructure on the planet had been destroyed or incapacitated some time ago for unknown reasons.

The AI believed that assisting whatever survivors remained may be a useful way to evaluate the risk of technology transfer to the Sa’arm if the planet was invaded. The AI concluded such was a probable outcome based on the limited ability of the Empire at this point to defend it and the existence of several Sa’arm worlds within striking distance. It cared not at all about performing the humanitarian mission, it was only interested in finding out what technology was on the planet, where it was located, and whether that technology could be removed or destroyed.

The intelligence section had to take the interests of the AI into account, as the AI would have the ability to veto operations that did not conform to what it felt were the Confederacy’s vital interests. If the AI was determined to learn about technology on Rek, it was going to force the Empire in some way to obtain that information. Ignoring the demands of the AIs could result in some other entity being brought in to serve their interests, which could become problematic.

Understanding the military situation on the ground was a priority requirement as well as learning about which factions were operating and whether any of them would be hostile to Empire personnel.

Fully understanding the risk of Sa’arm invasion was also critical, as no ground-based intelligence effort would be worthwhile if Rek was expected to soon fall. In that case the AI believed pelting Rek with large asteroids sufficient to cause complete annihilation of the planet would best protect the Confederacy’s interests. An attempt to make that happen would require construction of numerous tugs to collect whatever asteroids could be found in Rekat and push them onto collision trajectories, after which the tugs would be of limited value.

Hiro was certain the Chinese ambassador would be rather disappointed to learn all this.

Hiro wondered how such a calamity at Rek could have possibly happened, with the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful AIs supposedly watching over a colony. Sponsors being mistreated and then revolting? A colonial governor losing control over a colony? It seemed impossible.

Yes, Yushida and Hiro had successfully managed to keep the AIs in the dark about some of their activities, but all of their activities had been undertaken outside of their sight, or been carefully crafted to deceive their understanding of what was going on. To do this on a massive scale seemed completely implausible. No, something else must have happened. Given how a planetary governor had such great power, perhaps they were allowed more freedom of action than Hiro suspected. Perhaps the AIs failed to grasp the likely outcome of various human decisions.

And possibly, such freedom of action they must have allowed might help the long-term interests of the Empire.

The Emperor dispatched a message drone to CENTCOM agreeing to the proposed treaty. The responsibilities placed on the Empire under the agreement were certainly greater than originally anticipated, but the accommodations that CENTCOM and DECO would provide in return were essential if the Empire was to discharge its greatest responsibility towards the Japanese people.

The only time DECO had extracted Japanese from Earth before the establishment of Kuniumi was to drag them into slavery and servitude under Chinese masters who terribly abused them. It wouldn’t have taken much imagination to foresee such an outcome, which made that decision perplexing.

After that debacle, DECO pointedly ignored Japan while bending over backwards to help westerners. Having the right to extract Japanese from Earth free of interference or the control of DECO was invaluable to the Empire. That ability seemed the only option which might allow any reasonable future for the Japanese people at all, given the troubling disdain which DECO appeared to demonstrate towards Japan, whether it be the result of ignorance, racial animosity, or political cruelty. Regardless of the reason behind these actions, Hiro saw DECO’s behavior as outrageous and indefensible, and potentially genocidal.

Hopefully the Empire could soon establish a safe haven for the Japanese, and then build a great fleet to evacuate as many millions as possible before the Sa’arm killed them all on Earth. Punishing DECO for their crimes now would be counterproductive, but perhaps a day would come when they would answer for them, Hiro hoped.

Just as the second Archerfish, named U-2, was completed at the shipyard, the U-1 returned from patrol. It had discovered two more Sa’arm worlds in what was becoming known as the “serpent salient.” Those new worlds would be dubbed Mamushi after another venomous snake native to Japan, and Erabu-umi-hebi, or “Sea Snake.” Both seemed to have little shipbuilding activity and appeared to be relatively recent Sa’arm acquisitions.

Another world was discovered in the area which was still free of Sa’arm colonization. It appeared to have no civilization, but seemed to support a wide variety of life and would most likely be considered a suitable invasion target by the Sa’arm. Hiro dubbed that one Sunappukame after the “snapping turtle.” Having a snapping turtle invade your garden pond was a great calamity, as it would quickly devour any fish or birds there, turning a garden water feature into a lifeless aquatic desert in short order, and they were notoriously difficult to control.

Perhaps the Empire would be the snapping turtle to the Sa’arm when they eventually attempted to seize it, acting like the submerged predator which would suddenly attack a duck from beneath the surface without warning, and without remorse. It would bear watching to see if the Sa’arm took interest in it.

This suggested the threat to Rek and Kuniumi was not imminent, and Hiro was relieved for the people of both worlds. He had no desire to wipe out the human population of an entire planet, no matter what they had done. Since only one of these Sa’arm worlds was in the process of fleet construction, and that one had been hit hard by the Patricians during their initial patrol in the area, Hiro likely had some time to build his fleet and address the issue on Rek somewhat before having to start combat in earnest.

With this news he directed Tomozo Onishi to start having “bats” rotate out on patrols to keep a close eye on these planets, and to have U-2 undertake a patrol as soon as it was ready. He expected U-1 to be given some time to rest before they went back out. They had done fine work, and the crew deserved some time off.

The next two ships scheduled for construction were two more “bats,” one of which would be dedicated to collecting intelligence around the planet Rek. Hiro would most likely have to interrupt his production schedule and add at least two assault ships for the army to use in operations on that planet before he could construct more naval combat ships. Only having one would risk leaving personnel stranded on that world if the ship was hit, and they needed to get on the ground at Rek to begin their important mission.

A message drone from the ambassador advised that the agreement had been finalized and accepted and that a Chinese ambassador and his staff would be soon departing for Kuniumi. Hiro thought the diplomatic embassy was ridiculous. While the Empire only required a single ambassador with his family to handle all affairs with Earth, the Chinese were sending ten officers and their families. There would be an ambassador and his deputy, three military attaches, a protocol officer, a cultural affairs officer, a chief of mission and two more diplomats bearing vague titles.

Whether these “diplomats” were properly sponsors wasn’t said, although Hiro knew that an AI-controlled ship probably wouldn’t bring anyone who wasn’t qualified by CAP score or as a concubine out of Earth’s orbit. It seemed they’d brought people to Rek who weren’t qualified, however. It didn’t much matter though. To Hiro, whether they had a high CAP score, a low one, or lacked one altogether, they were going to be a problem.

The entire embassy would comprise almost sixty people, including families, and their only job was to look after the interests of the inhabitants of Rek. Certainly none of those would be spies, Hiro joked to himself.

As Naval Intelligence had the greatest resources for such an issue within the Ministry of Defense (which still lacked a “minister of defense,” although Hiro wasn’t complaining) it was assigned the task of keeping these “diplomats” under control. Hiro had unseriously suggested the idea of having the embassy located on the other side of the planet, but such an open insult would simply invite problems to no useful purpose.

Instead, Hiro suggested a “diplomatic village” to be established on the outskirts of Edo, but utterly disconnected from it. Diplomats could access the imperial government using tightly-controlled transporters, but would in no way would allow unfettered access to the Empire. A few smaller facilities in the “village” would be established for other interests to make use of if they ever developed the need, to help make the situation seem more routine and reasonable.

Some of the Empire’s trading partners might even make use of the facility someday, and that wouldn’t raise concerns at all.

There was little doubt the Chinese would complain about the isolation, but if a plausible explanation was offered that the Empire intended to treat all diplomatic missions equally, such complaints would likely not result in trouble. Perhaps they would find no reason to maintain such a large mission of bored and underutilized personnel and would send most of them home at some point.

Hiro thought that nobody in the Empire was likely to be interested in cultural affairs with the Chinese. Let that spy sit at his desk with nothing to do and no one to talk to. The moment he stepped off a transporter pad at the government offices he would be watched carefully, and no one in the office would permit him to leave the facility other than to return to the embassy, or be willing to participate in any discussions with him. He could discuss cultural affairs with a water dispenser for all Hiro cared.

All contact with the Chinese embassy would be conducted through an office of diplomatic affairs, something which would actually be run and staffed by Naval Intelligence. The Chinese would be carefully managed, and closely monitored. The more trouble they tried to cause, the more their limited access would be restricted.

Kuniumi’s domestic intelligence services tasked with maintaining observation of the Chinese under the supervision of Naval Intelligence were all recruited from among concubines. Many concubines were already serving as receptionists and secretaries, and their constant presence serving the Empire made them utterly unremarkable. To have a concubine waiting in a hallway was hardly noticed, and the male-dominated societies of Asia tended to pay women little notice anyways, unless there was some specific interest that they themselves generated by their appearance or behavior.

The intelligence service recruited a number of concubines from the unassigned concubine group who weren’t already employed as geisha, or among those whose sponsor would be agreeable to reversing some of the sort of body modifications that were typically done. These security personnel would be made to look as unremarkable as possible to a cursory glance, not being reverted entirely to their pre-extraction appearance as that would look unusual, but their features would be moderated to make them look comparatively plain.

These agents would be given “cover” jobs as messengers, secretaries and assistants that would keep them moving within and around the government and military offices. As they performed their imaginary duties they would carefully observe what happened around them and keep a vigilant watch on anyone who didn’t belong.

Not only would any foreign agents pay them no attention, neither would the Japanese. They would be the perfect invisible eyes and ears of the Empire, supplementing the watchful eyes of the AIs but armed with the understanding and intuition that AIs seemed incapable of.

The Celestial Voyager returned with another valuable shipment of supplies and raw materials along with two Confederacy vessels loaded with deuterium, chromium, manganese and molybdenum. The resource shortages were at least temporarily resolved and Hiro was finally able to ramp up shipyard production to the levels the replication systems could achieve.

Along with those ships were two Patrician corvettes and an Ainsworth corvette, all with skeleton crews that would return with the transports. Given how small the IJN was at this point any gifts from the Confederacy were quite welcome, as these would improve the defensive efforts around Rek and Kuniumi. The defensive fleets would still be inadequate, but the threat seemed less than the horror of expecting a full Sa’arm invasion fleet showing up without advance warning.

The Patricians would be refitted to accommodate Type 93 and were docked for the minor retrofit effort, although the Ainsworth had no missile launchers and would be left as delivered. The intent of the Ainsworth as designed was unusual in that it would carry concubines as part of the crew, something that would not be acceptable to the Japanese, who could not fathom the idea of saddling their women with the burden of being warriors. To do so would be cruel and disrespectful, so Tomozo Onishi busied himself with reevaluating the crewing plan for the ship and trying to figure out how to best make use of any extra space. Those ships would have to be significantly overhauled if they were going to be of much use.

The improvements to IJN fleet weren’t dramatic, but they were still better than no improvements at all.

A transport arrived soon after carrying the Chinese delegation. Kuniumi traffic control directed the ship to offload their pods to the diplomatic village, but the ship responded that it was a courier ship that didn’t carry any pods other than the cramped berths that the delegation had been stuffed into for their journey. That meant that almost twenty people had been crammed into each pod-sized personnel space during that journey, if they’d not decided to afford the ambassador special quarters, which in this case was likely.