Chapter 26

We finally left Lexgis and visited Semalita which was a typical Imperial planet of the terraformed variety. As ever it was fun and Amanda enjoyed it immensely as the stresses of Parros were set to one side. I did know that Torric was still monitoring her, though did not seem concerned. The only one who came out of the visit somewhat disgruntled was Trusha who failed to find any gang or underworld organisation prepared to cause trouble for me to the stage where she could get involved.

Still, it was good to be landing at the Imperial palace on Vreekoos again where we were joyfully greeted by family and friends before heading off for a debrief with the Empress, Herrick and Vilgra.

“Parros is recovering well. We were quickly able to restore various Imperial laws and start the various refurbishments that had been neglected by the traitors,” Herrick informed us.

“Is morale recovering?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, you helped there a lot,” Amantil confirmed.

“Good, I felt awful about what had been done there.”

“The Ezronite Temple has had normal services restored, though the members are being constantly monitored as to their activities and will be for a year or so yet,” Herrick added. “It’s struggling to cope with a massive loss of income due to falling numbers of believers.”

“Did we get all the ones causing issues?” I asked.

“Yes. They weren’t anything like as clever as they thought they were and despite the AIs being compromised, their sermons preaching against the Empire were still recorded along with their violent acts and the encouragement of them.”

“Good. What of other worlds they have establishments on?” Verlig asked.

“Clean and massively shocked at what occurred on Parros.”

“Any kickback in the High Court as to Amanda’s actions?” I asked.

“Nothing, though various newsies have questioned why a seven-year-old[1] woman has this power, even if she is my daughter,” Amantil chuckled. “They do admit though that what you did was right for the circumstances and prevented a much more lethal response by the Empire at a later date.”

“In short they want to big up a story but can’t find anything to really criticise?” Haelee giggled.

“Yes, they’re mostly the ones who are always scandalmongering,” Vilgra replied.

“Any response to restricting that weird drug they used?” Amanda asked.

“We’re monitoring it, though the various entertainment centres who apparently were using it are not informing us of the supplier.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“I suspect the latter, though currently I have no evidence.”

“Not easy to get either, I’d imagine,” Verlig frowned.

“And not one single supplier either,” Vilgra added.

The debrief ended soon enough and we re-joined our friends and family for a quiet, if happy, meal where a bit of catching up was done with events in their lives. The one notable thing about it was my mum and Aunt Cass cornering Amanda and no doubt getting her to open up about her experiences as they took her off to a small side room for a no doubt long chat.

“So, a success in a manner of speaking?” my dad questioned me.

“Yes, a bit stressful for Amanda, but Lexgis and Semalita were fun,” I replied.

“Your mum and Cass will soon have her sorted if there’s anything to really worry about,” dad nodded.

“I don’t think there is. She was horrified by what was done to the ordinary people of Parros, not by anything that happened to her.”

“Well, you’re getting a break, so enjoy it.”

“Any idea where we’re off to next?” I asked as my dad’s a member of the Security Group Amantil uses to keep tabs on the Empire and beyond.

“Not official ... yet, but probably the Autarchy.”

“That came quicker than I expected.”

“ImpSec traced various products used in assembling a medical seal faker to Sinise and you’ll be taking a team of Senior Troubleshooters with you to assist the Autarchy’s internal security to run it down.”

“Travelling on the Gloriana?”

“You will. The Troubleshooters will be on board a Fleet Flotilla that will escort you.”

“I look forward to it.”

We all enjoyed a binary cycle break, though I was busy completing some coloured work for the Empress as well as arranging an expo of the work I’d done on Parros, Lexgis and Semalita. Amanda was on what her mother called ‘light duties’ with Vicki taking on some of her work. I know Vicki wasn’t that happy about it, but she did it anyway and not one of the crowds who were at what few events she attended would have guessed. She did have Plenna in attendance with her for the first time, which he enjoyed and also probably made it a bit more bearable for her.

Amanda spent most of her time at the palace on Lassos or visiting the various sites on the island where a Royal Lodge had been constructed. These had been authorised by previous Emperors and Empresses and were generally used by the palace staff for their vacations as Amantil normally had no time for them and preferred her own secret island retreat if she was going to take a break. I was a regular visitor to any lodge Amanda was holidaying in when I wasn’t busy sketching various places on the planet that Aunt Vilgra thought merited a look. In this I was accompanied by Trusha as Liono was assigned to Amanda. This gave Trusha an opportunity to mix it up with various gangs who thought they could either stop me, tell me what to do or attempt to mug me. This naturally made her happy and made up for the lack of any close combat on our last three visits. Prosecutions also followed of various individuals, Bureaucracies and Corporates who were flouting laws and making the people they affected unhappy, though not to a scale that would normally interest ImpSec.

“I’m getting bored,” Amanda sighed as we both lay on some sun loungers on a veranda overlooking a massive untouched forest near the Serull mountains in the centre of Lassos.

“Been given a clean bill of health from Aunt Cass?” I asked.

“Yes, as well as various counsellors that Mum set on me.”

“You never struck me as being that stressed,” I frowned.

“Neither did I, but they worked me over verbally anyway,” she chuckled.

“Well, we have a group meeting the next working period, so I suspect we’ll find out then what we’re doing next.”

“Suspect it will be the Autarchy and a trip to their capital world Sinise.”

“So dad hinted at, though nothing else came through for me.”

“I was kept out of the loop too,” she giggled. “Not even sure what the official reason will be.”

“No doubt we’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Hope so. I want to get back out and do what I do.”

It was good to meet up with all the team again as we assembled in a meeting room in the Imperial Tower in the centre of the continent of Vreekoos. Aunt Vilgra was presiding and we all settled down after the happy greetings to see what it was she wanted to inform us about.

“Your next trip will be a state visit to Sinise in the Melanoqi Autarchy,” Vilgra informed us. “The official reason is to attend the accession of the new Dynasta, Tynalla.”

“And the other reason?” Verlig asked.

“A team of Troubleshooters will accompany you to investigate a possible medical seal mimicker assembly plant and I’d like you to nose around the district where it is located and see what you can pick up.”

“Do the Autarchy know what we’ll be doing?”

“They will be aware of your fact-finding missions in a manufacturing district,” Vilgra explained. “Just not that Amanda here will possibly be involved.”

“I see, though no doubt there are other issues to working in the Autarchy?” I questioned.

“Very much so. For all it’s a lot more socially relaxed than it was, men are still very much second-class subjects in many areas and can still face discrimination from certain groups and in certain situations.”

“And the views of the new Dynasta?” Amanda asked.

“Unknown. Your mother and Dynasta Millonra had a very good working relationship. However, the specific training of the new Dynasta to do the job has taken place away from observation by us,” Vilgra explained. “She and her new Senate will take over the reins of power and will set the course for the Autarchy for the rest of her reign. We have no idea what her views are, hence your very high-profile visit, which conveniently comes when there’s something important we want a look at too.”

“I see. I guess Mum will want my observations of Tynalla as well.”

“That will be your primary task, yes.”

“Hope it’s not a return to the ‘good old days’ as their reactionary groups will see things,” Amanda sighed.

“As we don’t know how they train a new Dynasta, we simply do not know what her views will be.”

“That’s true. Well, we’ll soon find out one way or another.”

“She will make a general policy speech as part of her accession. It remains to be seen if she mentions foreign relations or their treatment of males,” Vilgra acknowledged.

“I’m pretty sure there will be other Realms interested as well, the Realm and the Hegemony, for instance.”

“Yes, the Alliance of Realms will be very interested,” Amanda nodded. “The four combined were more than a match for any of the Realms within reach.”

“Yes, we’ve informed the Realm and the Hegemony of our intention to send you there and they approve,” Vilgra confirmed.

“Hmm. More serious than I thought,” Amanda mused thoughtfully.

“Yes, it’s a serious situation that might just be a false alarm,” Vilgra warned.

“Ah, I see,” Amanda nodded. “The real mission is to find out what the Autarchy’s future intentions are?”

“Correct, your mother assumed you’d see what the real mission was as your political intuition matches her own,” Vilgra agreed with a smile.

“So why not just say so?” I asked, confused.

“Parros,” Vilgra replied. “Amantil is testing Amanda to see how much she’s grown.”

“This was a test?”

“Life is a test,” Vilgra explained. “Parros came too early. However, the Empress wanted to know how mature Amanda had become because of it. The Empire has designs on the abilities of the Princesses and intends to use them to forward its aims.”

“I see,” Amanda nodded. “I did wonder at the ... intensity of my counselling.”

“Yes, that was noted too.”

“And what of the rest of us?” I asked.

“To support the Princess as she acts in the name of the Empire,” Vilgra replied.

“A supporting role,” I sighed.

“Do you seriously believe that your talent will simply lead to a supporting role? O future Imperial consort,” Vilgra asked seriously.

“Well, it gets me information, but it rarely gives big leads,” I shrugged.

“Information that we’d normally miss or wouldn’t get. Plus, your images make you, Amanda and the Empire quite popular and that’s not to be derided, Dayyev,” Vilgra chided me.

“Yes, Aunty,” I chuckled, accepting her criticism.

“Study your datapacks carefully,” Vilgra went on. “I doubt there will be much sneaking around for you, Verlig, Haelee, but help Dayyev as he works in the manufacturing district we’re interested in. Torric, just have a nose around their health centres.”

“Yes, Vilgra,” the three replied.

“As for their social mores, just be careful. Our embassy will help, but you won’t like the response back here if it reflects upon Amanda.”

“I’m sure we’ll all be careful,” Amanda spoke for all of us.

The visit was officially announced the following working day at mid-day Vreekoos central time and garnered a lot of interest from the newsie corporations, a couple of whom asked if they could insert a newsie into our party.

“The only one I’d trust is Teelae and I doubt she’ll be interested.” Amanda gave her opinion to our group as we studied the data we had on the Autarchy, its political system and its social mores.

“She might; she has been known to travel, but I doubt that your Mum or the bodyguards will want her anywhere near the Gloriana,” I replied.

“Doubt she’d want any newsie near the Gloriana.”

“We’d have to advise against it,” Trusha confirmed. “Teelae is OK, but she’s still a newsie.”

“That’s settled then,” Amanda nodded. “Besides, I like my alone time with Dayyev,” she finished with a giggle.