Penelope's Secrets

Chapter 6
The Admiral's Table

In orbit about Perusia. in the Etruscan system, aboard the flagship Ominous...

In the admiral's select dining room, three men are seated. Two of them are in uniform. One wears the brocade of a space-fleet admiral. The other wears the death's head insignia of the internal security forces. Despite the apparent informality of the occasion the uniformed pair seem to be seated at attention. At the head of the table is a civilian. He wears a plain white robe. All three of them have more or less finished eating. Two of them have left most of their food untouched, although they have conspicuously eaten a little bit of every ingredient. The meal has been very good, but it's difficult to enjoy eating while trying to concentrate at the same time. The waiters have been dismissed. At the head of the table, Caligula, ruler of the Etruscan region, sums up.

"It seems to me that the problem with being a dictator and tyrant combined is that you end up having to discover and sort out most of the problems yourself. Where's the fun in that? Eh?"

He turns to the admiral. Who shrugs his shoulders and smiles dumbly in agreement.

"Now in these democracies that I've been reading about, they used to share the workload of the government around. And if anything went wrong, they found out who was the specialist dealing with that subject, and got him to sort it out. It wasn't necessary for the leader of the government to get involved with every single little problem. They'd be dealt with before they got out of control. And if they did sometimes blow up, they'd get together and discuss the matter around a table like we're doing now, and agree what should be done."

"And what would happen if they couldn't agree?" asked Trajan, the security chief, playing out his rehearsed role.

"Well, according to my understanding, if they found a problem and couldn't agree on the solution they'd relinquish power, and offer themselves up for election. That way the people could choose another bunch of incompetents to take their place."

"But why would they willingly give up the power if they already had it?" Trajan again.

"I don't know, maybe they got fed up with dealing with all the trivial problems after a spell in office. I have to admit I've never really understood how such a system could last for long. But apparently it did. The only reason I keep reading up on these ancient political systems is to see if they have any answers to my dilemma - which is that nothing seems to get done unless I get personally involved. And I can't be everywhere at once. On the one hand no-one wants to tell me about problems when they're small because they say they would be too unimportant to deserve my attention. On the other hand, no-one wants to tell me about problems when they're large because they're afraid I'll get upset by the bad news. So in the end I only get to hear about these things when they've developed into such giant proportions that I can virtually see the results with my naked eyes unassisted from about three light years away. It's not a very satisfactory state of affairs really is it? Because if I can see them, the chances are that the emperor can also see them. And I don't want the emperor to learn about the insides of our dustbins before we've had a chance to have a sniff at them ourselves and cover up the nasty smells. Which brings me to the question of you know who..."

"Marcus?" volunteers his security chief.

"Yes indeed. My beloved Marcus. He may be my bastard son, but he's the only son I've got and so therefore he is my obvious choice for an heir..."

The admiral protests his outrage at the unspoken thought "Surely any question of the heir or a succession is academic, my Lord. You're in your prime, and fit and healthy. Why, you're younger than I am, and I hope to see another twenty years or so in the service before I finish."

"And I sincerely hope to be there to see you do it." said Caligula. "In fact with all this peace that's been going on for the last hundred years or so yours is probably one of the healthiest occupations. The last two admirals of the emperor's fleet died in their beds I believe. Of old age! Unfortunately, being involved in politics, as I am in a sense, does mean that you get to meet a lot of people in different places, which carries its own risks. Contagion. Food poisoning. Drinking bad water..."

These were some of the various "accidents" that had carried off some of Caligula's obstacles to power.

"You can see why someone in my position does have to take a responsible attitude to the question of the succession, and to make sure that there is no doubt in people's minds about the correct outcome. I owe it as a duty to my people to avoid the horrors of a civil war. But as you know there seems to be a genetic weakness in my family. Perhaps something in the blood? Anyway, I haven't seen Marcus in the flesh for a couple of years. But I have heard some disturbing reports."

He turns to Trajan, and says "Perhaps you'd better enlighten the admiral. I warn you sir, that you may be a little shocked."

Trajan leans forward and down towards the admiral who is seated opposite as if he is about to confide something of a serious nature that should not be overheard. Of course Caligula will hear everything. But the admiral in response also cranes forward to hear the damning tale which he now expects to hear.

"At first we thought it was only money. You know, a bit of embezzlement of taxes here and there. Quite large amounts. But we weren't really worried by that."

Caligula can't help chipping in. "To be perfectly honest, I would have been worried if he wasn't doing a little bit on the side. It showed a bit of initiative. If he can run the economy with less money than is actually collected for taxation with no-one noticing it shows he's developing administration skills that could come in useful if things ever got tight. I turned a blind eye to that and never said a word. Good luck to the boy, I thought. If he's creaming off a bit of taxation here and there, he won't come knocking on my door asking for money."

Trajan continues. "But the problem is:- he did. He asked for quite large amounts. Naturally, we didn't want to say he was fiddling the books, because you can never be too sure about that sort of thing. But he put up a pretty convincing case to say that the economy wasn't going quite as well as it could, claimed vital equipment in the factories was getting old and breaking down and that we would need to have a major investment programme to rejuvenate the industries on Perusia."

Caligula again. "Well you know how things are. We put in new capital equipment and expect it to last forever. But of course it doesn't. And when things do start breaking down it causes horrific delays. So, I personally thought he might have a point."

"Anyway. You know how these things go. We'd all like more money, but it's got to come from somewhere. So we sent along some of our advisors just to have a direct look, and see for themselves what the extent of the problems really were, and to judge if the amounts being asked for realistic."

"And what did they find?" asked the admiral. Who knew only too well that it was much easier obtaining finance for refits and new equipment on a free-enterprise siphoning basis than actually going back to the central administration and asking for new money.

"Well apparently he did have a point. They did look at machines, and they were breaking down. Of course when that happens and things can't be fixed, then as you know morale can soon take a slide because people are having to work harder and longer hours on the machines that are still running, and when morale starts to drop, then efficiency starts to go down. Accidents happen. Things can deteriorate to a serious level quite quickly. On the other hand, if you put some new equipment in. Everyone comes to admire it. Efficiency goes up. Morale improves. An injection of capital in the right place and at the right time can work wonders. When you detect problems like that - it's a mistake to ignore them. Because it only costs you more in the long term."

"I couldn't agree more" said Caligula "As soon as the advisors came back, I immediately authorised the money and manpower resources he'd asked for. I remember thinking to myself. That's my boy and he's starting to show his true qualities at last. Perhaps we'd got our sums wrong and misjudged him earlier. I was happy to leave the matter there. But it was rather a lot of money. If he was skimming the taxes as well, then adding the two together would buy the disposal income of a handful of planets. But there was no obvious sign of conspicuous expenditure or luxurious living. The opposite in fact. There's your proof! I said to Trajan. We were wrong to doubt him in the first place. We should have just given him the money straight away. But Trajan pointed out that even though we were absolutely certain that everything was above board, other governors on the other planets might think that we were showing too much favouritism to Marcus, and that he was getting the cream from their taxes for no good reason other than being my flesh and blood."

"And what would be the harm in that?" asked the admiral in genuine innocence. "If he's your son and heir, it's a natural thing for a father to show a bit of favouritism. Any man would do the same."

Caligula laughs. "Admiral. Between you. me and Trajan here, I couldn't agree more, and if I didn't really care what people thought, I would have left it there. But if people think they have grounds for complaint it throws grit into the smooth oil of government. Putting myself in the shoes of one of the other governors who might believe that they have equally good uses for that money, I thought it would be better if everyone could see there really was genuine need. That's why I sent in the advisers, so that everyone could see that Perusia was a deserving case. And it worked. No-one has complained. They see that when it's their turn, they'll get the same fair treatment. However, it was quite a serious amount of money... So we thought it would be prudent to have another look. So we sent in another group of advisers, but in a more discrete fashion. To be on the safe side we didn't even tell Marcus what we were doing because I didn't want to upset his feelings."

"What the agents found was very positive. Production everywhere was getting back to normal. Morale was going up. Everyone put this down to the new investments."

"So, I thought fair enough. Marcus has done a good job. He spots these problems. Finds out what's needed. Sorts them out quickly, and gets the economy going again without a hitch. Perfect leadership material. A chip off the old block. I couldn't understand why anyone had ever doubted him. I decided to forget all about it and went back to the boring old task of government and keeping everyone in the region happy, which is what I enjoy doing. It gives me a sense of purpose. But Trajan, as you know, is a bit of a worrier. He can never let anything go. So he sent back another lot of investigators. Just as discretely as before, but with the view of making them a bit more active. To poke around a bit more with the new machinery."

"What made you suspicious?" asked the admiral.

"It's my job to be suspicious, admiral. I'm afraid the more perfect things may look on the outside, to other people, the more anxious I become. Real life is messy and chaotic. When you start to see the signs of order, then what you're actually seeing is the hand of a manipulator at work. I always like to know who is really guiding that invisible hand. Once I know for sure, then I can stop worrying about it."

"I told you admiral. Trajan is a worrier. He sees danger in every shadow, and assassins lurking behind every bush. Normal people such as you and I stop worrying about the bogey-man under our beds when we're about ten years old. But not Trajan. I'm pretty sure he'll still be looking under his bed tonight, and in the wardrobes as well."

Trajan laughs "I'm afraid I can't deny any of it. But it's sometimes surprising what you can find under a bed if you have a good look. At least you can tell how thoroughly the chambermaid cleans the room if nothing else. I once found a dead mouse which had eaten something I'd left on my tray from the night before. It was lying in the corner of the wardrobe, and it hadn't been there the night before.."

"Where was that?" asked Caligula.

"Oh, a friend of mine, I was visiting for a couple of days."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't want to make a fuss, and I was pretty sure that he didn't know anything about it, so I took the tray back into the kitchen and found the cook from the night before. This tastes a bit strange to me, I said. It's not up to the usual standards. I wasn't able to finish it last night."

"What did she say? I assume it was a she?"

"You're right. Anyway. She was slightly put out, and before I could stop her, she picked up a piece of the pie and ate it..."

"And then?"

"Same as the mouse. In less than a minute she was dead, and obviously very surprised. Still I'd made my point. The food wasn't up to the usual standard. When I told my friend, he was quite upset. On two counts really. Firstly, because he was deeply embarrassed that someone had tried to poison me while staying under his protection, and secondly he'd just lost a very good cook. And as you know, good cooks are hard to come by. I told him not to worry about it, that these things happen, and I didn't hold him to blame. But I think in a way he was more upset by the loss of the cook. Because whoever had unsuccessfully tried to get rid of me, had in the process deprived him of one of life's main comforts until he could find a suitable replacement. So we decided to try and find out who did it."

"Did you?"

"Yes, it wasn't hard. The natural thing to do was to question the staff. Within a couple of hours we found out that the poison had been applied by one of the serving girls, who had been told it would only make me feel a bit ill and didn't realise it would kill me. She put it in my food as a revenge for something I had apparently done on a previous visit which had caused her lover boy in the stables to have a good thrashing. When questioned, he didn't know about this revenge plan of hers at all. I'm sure he would have stopped her. Anyway it turned out that she'd got this so called emetic from an old wise woman who we later found out had mysteriously disappeared, and was probably the real villain of the piece. All of which proves my point that you've got to be careful and looking under the bed can be quite a sensible idea."

"What did you do with the serving girl?"

"I was in favour of letting her go, because she didn't really know what she was doing, and although she had intended a small amount of harm, she was obviously a dupe. I hadn't come to any harm. In a way, it livened up what could have been a dull week. But my friend was really upset, and you know what the law says about servants who try to kill their masters. I tried to talk him out of it, because they weren't trying to get at him, but at me. He said that as far as he was concerned it made no difference. An attack on me was the same as an attack on him. The purpose of the legal code is to protect the head of a household by ensuring that the servants keep an eye on each other. He followed it to the letter, and had the whole lot crucified. He said he wouldn't feel safe again with the same people around. And I could see his point. It's hard to enjoy life if you don't feel secure."

The admiral said. "Interesting story. I hope you don't find any mice on this ship, whether alive or dead. But you were saying that you sent in another group of agents to look at the situation on Perusia..."

"Yes. Well to be specific, it was one particular agent who confirmed that something unusual was going on. I was lucky enough to get someone who had just completed her training as a modern systems engineer at the central institute in New Rome. So she was completely conversant with the new types of technology being developed in the central labs, the sort of thing that we won't see for another twenty years or so. Normally she would have stayed at the centre, because it's rare for such specialists to want to come back and if they're very good the empire doesn't like to lose them to the provinces until they've repaid the investment in their training but a serious family crisis called her unexpectedly back to Etruria. We picked up the bill, and afterwards in order to repay us, she volunteered for this mission."

"It's handy to have a pool of talented volunteers readily available, I always think" agreed the admiral. "So much more capable than the enforced kind."

Trajan pretends he's shocked at the implied accusation.

"I assure you admiral, that the circumstances involved were purely an unfortunate coincidence for the girl in question, and just happened to work out to our mutual advantage. Nevertheless, it meant that for the first time we would get a close view of the new installations that had been installed in the various industrial regions for someone with a good technical background."

"And what did she find?"

"Well old equipment had been taken out all right, and new equipment had also been put back in its place. But in reality it was nothing more than a cosmetic shuffling exercise. The production systems that were being taken out of one area, were being overhauled, repainted in bright new colours, and re-installed somewhere else. So apart from things that were getting accidentally damaged or the repairs you'd expect during routine maintenance, there was no new capital equipment going in anywhere. Unfortunately, most of our production people have never seen a brand new piece of equipment in their lives, so if you tell them you're replacing everything, go to the trouble of taking the old systems out and install freshly painted shiny looking replacements that come in boxes labelled as New Rome's latest exports, you will succeed in convincing them that they've got something really good. By the time they've got the new systems working properly they probably don't care too much about the so called improvements because they'll be under so much pressure to make up for lost time that they'll be working longer shifts anyway. In a funny sort of way, the improvement in morale does somehow produce genuine efficiency improvements. But they don't last long. Fortunately, our agent was not fooled by the new paint jobs, and could recognize that the style of the system designs did not come from any modern school of factory automation architecture."

The admiral had now taken the bait, and was ready for the tug.

"So an enormous amount of effort and energy, not to say remarkable planning, has gone into persuading us to make massive investments in new capital projects that were never really required. Something which in itself should be counted as a major achievement. While at the same time, a massive deception has been taking place on Perusia itself which convinces everyone that they have actually received the benefits of the non-existent new investment. You've got to admire the ability of whoever organized this deception because it seems to have worked on an enormous scale."

The admiral's thoughts are in sync, "I suppose that brings us to the fundamental question of motive. Who's doing it? Why do it? And what is all this activity covering up?"

"So indeed admiral," said Caligula "you begin to see the kind of problem I've been worrying about for the last couple of years. I don't mind the fact that someone is clever enough to plan all these machinations, but the fact that neither I nor anyone else who works for me is supposed to know anything about them hints at a sinister purpose. That was my main reason in coming here to see you in person rather than using the normal channels of communication."

"You suspect your son?"

"Don't you think that's a reasonable assumption, given the circumstances? Who else has enough authority to implement such as scheme. Who else could possibly benefit? Anyway, we have quite a lot of evidence that points in that direction. Trajan will show you some of it later on if you're interested."

The admiral shrugs.

"You're right of course. Nobody else could do it. Even I as an admiral haven't got the authority to do half the things you're talking about. Such a scheme could only be controlled from the top, and implemented by the organs of state. But I still don't understand why. Unless Marcus has a planet-full of mistresses somewhere who have incredibly expensive tastes, I can't see where the money and resources have gone..."

"My thoughts exactly Admiral! One mystery seemed to be leading on to another. It was as if we were peeling an onion very slowly, and my tears when I thought about the money that was draining into this unknown black hole were very real, I can assure you. So at that stage I was starting to get a bit impatient at our rate of progress and wondered if we'd ever unravel this ball of string or whether we would have any treasury left by the time we got to the end of it. Normally I rely on Trajan's advice when it comes to this sort of thing, because he's better at the subtleties. But I thought, I can't afford to be subtle for too much longer, Marcus is my son. I'll call him and ask him directly - what's this expensive hobby you've developed a taste for? I hope it's good, and that two can play because otherwise I may start to resent paying for it."

"Did you call him?" the admiral asked earnestly.

Caligula looked deflated.

"No. Trajan disabled my comms link until he talked me out of it. He said let's find out a bit more, just in case we're led on another wild goose chase."

"And did you?" the Admiral asks turning back towards Trajan. "I assume you must have found something pretty serious to bring you here in secret. I also have to assume, that I'm not being suspected of being involved in whatever it is, otherwise you wouldn't be going to the bother of telling me. I would like to state, just for the record that until you told me about these strange goings on just now, I knew nothing at all about them. But then I suppose if I really was guilty, I would probably be claiming I was innocent anyway... How do we get past that one? "

The admiral realizes that he has talked himself into an awkward situation. Commanding and organizing fleets of space-rockets is his field of speciality. Politics is not. Caligula and Trajan leave him dangling in silence for a bit.

"Sounds like we've got the right man" comments Trajan for Caligula's benefit.

The admiral's eyebrows raise. This is his flagship. But he's sworn allegiance to the power seated at the head of the table. But there is no real conflict. He knows himself to be innocent. He relaxes. Caligula speaks and puts out a reassuring hand to the gold braided epaulette.

"We're in this together Admiral, and I accept your statement of innocence, although there isn't going to be a record of what we discuss here today. You should rest assured that we never suspected you..." he frowns as he reconsiders his exact choice of words.

"Well, obviously, we trust you now, and know that we can rely on you utterly. But as you'll understand with a plot on such a massive scale, the safest assumption initially was to suspect everyone. That naturally had to include you. As we started to discover the true nature of what was going on, we did initially have reasons to believe that you yourself were very deeply connected with the operational side. And in my own very direct sort of way, I came close to making the tragic mistake of removing you. But my hand was stayed again, from hasty action by Trajan.

"' We've come this far', he said. 'Let me find out just a bit more.' So I agreed, although I gave him a firm deadline, because I was starting to get concerned, and not just about the money. When he did find out a bit more, it turned out that you were also being plotted against, and along the way, having your reputation blackened by the evidence that was being left around. So once, we were sure you were in the clear, I was of the opinion that the pressure on Trajan's time-scale, could come off a bit. Provided we could count on your loyalty there seemed to be a limit to the amount of the threat we were looking at. After all, you can't cause much collateral damage without a navy. You were still in control of the navy, and as far as we could tell, your staff were still trustworthy."

"I'm relieved to hear it, my lord."

"Actually, I was wrong about the extent of the threat. Something we found out recently has changed the whole complexion of what we were looking at. That's another reason why I came to see you in person. To impress on you the seriousness of what's going on. And to consult you and involve you in what we should do next."

"Pardon me my lord But I haven't got the faintest idea what you're talking about. You still haven't told me what it is you've found?"

As if weary of the subject, or pained by it, Caligula, waves his hand to Trajan, instructing him to continue .

"How much do you suppose it would cost to construct a new space-fleet from scratch, Admiral?"

Suddenly the penny drops, and the Admiral realizes why it is they have come all this way to see him. Unlike politics and intrigues, this is a subject he understands. He is an expert.

"It would cost a fortune. That's why it's hardly ever done. The cost would be crippling. If you don't lose ships in an actual war, you can keep a space-fleet operational for hundreds of years, and even then it costs a lot of money because of upgrades, things wearing out, and the occasional accident. I take it your question wasn't just hypothetical? Are you saying that's where the money has gone?"

Trajan nods. "Unfortunately yes... As far as we know."

Confident now, in his subject, the Admiral starts to think out aloud, as if he were talking through some tactical problem with junior members of his staff, rather than two people who are very much his seniors in temporal rank.

"How would it be possible to cover up something on that scale? Hm. I suppose you've just told me. Look I may not know much about politics, but unless I'm mistaken there's an imperial issue here as well. The number of rocket-ships in each space-fleet is strictly regulated to maintain the balance of power. If it was done openly, then building up the strength of the Etruscan space-fleet would be seen at best as a very disturbing development. Doing it in secret would surely be taken as a threat of insurrection. As soon as the emperor found out, he would be forced to intervene. And all the other states would naturally join against us. The balance of power is the only thing that's kept us all from fighting amongst ourselves for the last hundred years."

In response to this lecture Caligula comes out of his reverie.

"We're well aware of that problem Admiral! That's why I'm glad we've been so discrete up to now. It's no good if I raise my hands in horror and say to the emperor - Look what an appalling thing my son has done. Without my knowledge he's secretly doubled the size of the Etruscan war-fleet, and wasted half my region's wealth doing it. I would be taken as an idiot. Worse than that, the emperor would think I was treating him like an idiot. The facts speak for themselves. Etruria has built up a new war-fleet in the Persian system, either because it's the furthest part of our region from New Rome, and therefore less likely to get noticed, or because it's the closest part to the Scythian system, which we have fought over for hundreds of years. The "coincidence" that the governor involved just happens to be my son and heir doesn't lend my innocence too much credibility."

"Agreed. Not too many outsiders would believe that. But why has he done it? Dammit, I should be asking - how has he done it? I'm your admiral, and it's difficult enough for me to order a new life-boat, or maintain a full complement of men..."

"Yes, you have had rather a lot of personnel losses over the last few years... People taking early retirement, resigning on health grounds, problems with their families, and accidents. A war-fleet doesn't just consist of hardware and software, you need people to crew it."

"You're suggesting a conspiracy that runs throughout the course of the navy!" protests the Admiral. "If that's true, I've been derelict in my duty. I'll immediately offer you my resignation."

Caligula can't help smiling at this quaint notion of old-style virtue and values but he needs the Admiral's full hearted co-operation so he doesn't want to offend him.

"Don't be too hasty, Admiral, I did say that we're in this together. You might be interested to take a look at some of the evidence which concerns the recruitment of your navy staff. Show him, Trajan."

The admiral is still agitated, but he's also surprised that his resignation hasn't been accepted, and that the subject appears to have been dropped. He was being totally serious. Do they realize that? He's not used to not being the centre of attention. But he decides to give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Trajan carefully shuffles through some documents which he has lifted from the leather satchel at his side. Satisfied that they are the right ones, he passes them directly across to the admiral. At first, the admiral doesn't know what he's supposed to be looking for. He flicks through all the papers, wondering how this is going to reveal the conspiracy. Everything looks straight-forward. Copies of routine orders to re-assign personnel. Then, as his eye flicks away from the details in the middle of each sheet, he notices the seals which, as some-one accustomed to issuing such orders, he has mentally filtered out.

"It would seem as though, I have been issuing these orders, but I don't have any recollection of the specific cases. I don't remember any of these names..."

Caligula's eyes glow triumphant, he's back in control.

"That was the first level of evidence we found. And it certainly looked quite damning. But then we came across something a little more interesting." Turning back to Trajan, he continues "I think the admiral is now ready for the next set of papers."

Repeating his careful ritual, to ensure that only the selected papers are handed across, Trajan shuffles again through his sheaf and hands over a similar hand picked selection. As the admiral turns them around the right way and recognizes the seals, he says to Caligula.

"Are you sure these are the right ones? I'm not sure if I should be seeing these. They're marked as Imperial Secret - for eyes of the receiver only."

Caligula purrs in reply. "It's quite all right Admiral, I assure you. To observe the correct protocol, as the representative of the Emperor in this region, and the highest authority on such matters, I will order you to read them, and to be on the safe side I will also order you to forget that you ever saw them, if you should ever be questioned by anybody other than myself and Trajan about this subject. However, I think that's not very likely, given the circumstances..."

Apparently satisfied, with the propriety of what he is doing, but nevertheless unused to seeing papers at this high classified level, the Admiral spends several minutes carefully reading through every word on every page as if they might suddenly disappear. Caligula and Trajan are content to be spectators. Eventually, the Admiral, who has been so grossly involved in what he has been reading that he has ignored their presence, puts the sheaf of papers down on the table, although he doesn't let go, and sits back and sighs.

"These documents concern some quite senior people, who I know personally, unlike the others who were more junior ranks. They are orders to transfer to an imperial fleet which is being assembled under terms of the highest secrecy, to launch a mission aimed at outside of the Imperium."

At this stage, he inserts an inspired guess, "...Presumably as a follow-up to the expeditionary force that was assembled almost thirty years ago and commanded by Scythian Julius. They are classified as Imperial Secret, and state that the contents should not be divulged to anyone, family, friends colleagues, or even commanding officers, under pain of death for the person involved and their entire family. The orders are issued directly in your name as the Imperial Authority in this region, and they all carry your seal, which to all intents and purposes looks genuine."

Now Caligula smiles. "The seals are genuine. But I never gave those orders. Now you can see where the manpower for this new fleet came from. It only needed a small number of key people to be recruited. They of course, had no idea about the unofficial nature of the new fleet. Who would question it? A new fleet requires so much money and resources to build that it can only be a genuine imperial sponsored project"

"What about the lower ranks? You need thousands of men to man a war-fleet. Where did they get those? They might have got away with creaming off a small number of officer grade staff, I'll grant you that they did. But to remove thousands of ratings? I would certainly have noticed an outflow of that magnitude. There hasn't been one. Has there?"

"That was easier to arrange. The higher ranks and more experienced people had to be poached from your existing manpower, but the lower ranks can be trained into what they need to do. They have been directly conscripted into the new fleet, from the civilian population just as you would do. As far as they or their families know, they are simply disappearing for a couple of years on military service, presumably off-world. But instead of appearing in your fleet training establishments, they are going somewhere else."

"It's incredible, but I can see how it would work. Why would anyone question what was going on? If I've actually ordered people to take part in this new mission.. and of course, for anyone who would be likely to discuss it with me, the higher level Imperial Orders coming directly from you would prevent that. In most cases, they must have thought I knew about what was going on anyway. It's disturbing to see just how well our systems have been used against us."

"I can assure you Admiral, that when Trajan started to show me copies of orders that I was supposed to have sent, without knowing anything about them, it put your orders in a different light. I realized that you could not be involved in the conspiracy. Because if you were, then why bother to issue the orders from me. It was clear that the orders which were made to look as though they came from me, had been designed solely with the purpose of circumventing your own authority."

"You said the seals were genuine. How did they get access to those?"

"We looked carefully into that. Seals are manufactured, and at governor level and above, there can only be one copy in existence at any time. There are very careful physical controls on the design, the moulds and the master. We still don't know how they got access to mine, but somehow they did. That part remains a disturbing mystery. However, I think you'll agree that for some-one who has successfully managed to extract most of the wealth of the Etruscan system for the last few years into assembling a buccaneer fleet that neither I nor the Emperor know anything about, the business of borrowing my seal for a few minutes rates a fairly modest score on the skulduggery scale."

"So what do you propose to do?" asked the admiral.

"We need to tread carefully Admiral. I'm pretty convinced that my son, Marcus, is a key player in this conspiracy. But is he on his own? How many other people know about it? I don't mean, how many people know about the new fleet, because that must run into thousands by now. But how many are aware of its unofficial nature. Also we have to consider what is the purpose of acquiring and equipping it in the first place. I think I know enough about my son's interests to know that a philosophical desire to explore the outer reaches of unexplored space is not likely to be the real reason for this vast enterprise."

"To me the documents seem to hint at the Julian fleet of thirty years ago.." suggests the Admiral, clinging to some shred of belief in the high level papers he is still holding. "Of course they don't say anything explicit, because the existence and purpose of that fleet was never publicly revealed. But I think you know what I'm referring to..."

Caligula laughs. "Yes, Admiral I certainly do. But Julius was an entirely different sort of person to my son. I never met him, but from what I know, he was a philosopher, and despite his eminent naval credentials he was lucky enough or foolish enough to be volunteered for his mission. Did you ever meet him by any chance?"

"No. I'm afraid I was too low down the ranks in those days to meet some-one of that rank who was not from our system. But my old commander used to say that we were very lucky he had died because if he had stayed he would have made a formidable opponent. I didn't know the true story until long afterwards. When I became Admiral, the first thing I did was take at what sort of a command I was inheriting. So I did an inventory of the stock of space-vessels that made up the fleet. As you know, the exact composition of the war-fleet is an imperial secret, although the approximate numbers of ships are more or less known, by some politicians and ambassadors, because they are the subject of the balance of power treaties. However, in order to manage a war fleet, an Admiral needs to know exactly what he's got available. Pragmatically, there is a dispensation on the Imperial Secrecy orders to the fleet admirals. So I had a look at the files, and came across some strange re-deployments in the documents at that time. I also found a sealed message addressed to me personally by my old commander, which explained the background. He's dead now, of old age, and long past reproach. I haven't thought about Julius and his fleet for quite a few years. But whoever drafted these fake orders, obviously knows more than most people. It makes a good cover story."

"It may surprise you to learn, that I didn't know the true story at the time either. In those days I was merely the governor of Perusia and therefore considered to be too low in rank to share such high secrets. However, it would seem that despite my apparent elevation to ruler of Etruria things haven't really improved for me that much, because I still don't know most of what's going on. In fact you could say, I should have stayed where I was, because nowadays Perusia seems to be the centre of wealth, influence and power.

"Anyway, twenty five years ago, because that's when it was, I was too busy worrying about family problems and my own career to be concerned about the convenient disappearance of Julius. I did wonder later if any of the stories were true, or if Penelope had really buried her husband in the garden of her palace... But as none of our spies ever manages to get that close, and she hasn't married anyone else, the official explanation of his disappearance is as likely as any. What do you think Trajan? Do you ever speculate on the past? Or is it only the future that holds your attention?"

Trajan laughs, and continues in a philosophical vein

"My lord, as you know, my ambition is mainly to survive and see what the future has in store for me, preferably in person. So, yes, I do occasionally speculate about the past. But to me, the events of yesterday are more important than those of the day before. And the evening of a day is more attractive than the morning. I'm afraid that what you're talking about was well before my time. To me the disappearance of Julius is like a myth. Whereas the lady Penelope and her spymaster Jacko cast a daily shadow over everything I do. For example, in the mouse incident that I told you about just now I'm sure the hand of Scythia helped to mix the medicine that was intended to see me off.

"I regret to say that I can't speculate much on Julius's motives, for leaving the Imperium. You might think he was mad, but if I was in his shoes I wouldn't feel very comfortable sharing my bed with the Lady Penelope. I'd feel safer sleeping with one of her dragons. So if I had the choice between staying her husband or leaving the Empire, I think I'd choose the latter every time."

Although the Lady Penelope embodies one of the many threats to the Etruscan region, the Admiral doesn't take these things personally. He's not used to this assassination of characters of high rank and because of his breeding he can't stop himself blurting something in the Lady's defence.

"Nevertheless, it must have been a difficult decision for Julius to make, because the Lady Penelope was a great beauty when she was younger, and by all accounts she has kept most of her good looks into her middle years."

He's almost embarrassed as soon as he's finished. But he needn't worry. Caligula and Trajan know their man. It's his sense of honour and chivalry that has made him leap to this lady's defence. To the Admiral, who is trained to fight wars with space-fleets, this unknown lady cannot pose a serious threat in her person. Her fleet would be an entirely different matter. But to Caligula and Jacko, a war-fleet, or a cup of poison are equally likely physical manifestations of an antagonist's malevolent personality or intent. Being experts in the art themselves, they fully appreciate that a fair form can hide a foul intent. In their case, the main threat from Penelope comes from knowing that as they threaten her, so must they expect like kind in retaliation.

"Was beautiful, once, so I hear" agrees Caligula, with uncharacteristic generosity. "But that was nearly thirty years ago. We were all a lot younger looking then."

The Admiral, whose knowledge of such things can only be from hearsay, gives in to the point. But Trajan, joins in on his side.

"The Admiral does have a point. She is still reckoned to be as much of a beauty now as she was when she first took over the rulership of Scythia, or so the reports from our ambassador would say."

"Trajan, just how close do you think our ambassador ever gets to the Lady Penelope? How close do we let her ambassador get to me? You can't believe everything he writes in his reports. If they do whisk him in for a brief state audience from time to time you can be sure that he's been scrupulously checked out with X rays and probably had a camera stuck up his arse. They'll also have half a dozen body-guards standing in front of him just to make sure he doesn't try sneeze infectiously or bite her throat. We probably have more idea of what Penelope looks like from looking at her portrait in Scythia's bank notes. And, I don't know if you've looked at our currency recently, but I don't look a day over twenty one either. You can't believe everything you see on paper."

"In that case, returning to why we're all here, what do we do about Marcus? I would say we've got more than enough evidence to indite him on a charge of treason. But he's your son, you must decide how we should proceed."

Caligula turns to the Admiral.

"What do you think I should do? You now know as much as we do."

"It's a very difficult situation my lord. If there is a case to answer, and from everything you've said tonight, I cannot doubt it's true, Marcus is still the ruler of this system. If he was innocent you could probably ask him for an audience. But if he's guilty, then he wouldn't come, and the fact that you'd asked would put him on his guard. Under normal circumstances, I as the Admiral in this region would have no hesitation in backing any course of action you suggested with the full force of the navy, which would normally be the supreme power in any argument. But from what you've described, Marcus has the command of a hidden war-fleet, over which I have no control, and which we can assume is more modern and better armed. So although I will follow to the letter any order you give me, I would counsel caution in the use of naval force. It would be better if diplomacy could bring him into your jurisdiction. But I can't see how that can be done."

"So you're with us Admiral?" asks Caligula wanting to hear words of reassurance.

"That goes without saying my lord. My oath of allegiance was to you. The fact that my flagship happens to be in this system doesn't change that. The naval command is here at the invitation of Perusia, but our loyalty is first to Etruria, and next to the Empire. In both cases, you are the figurehead we look to. There can be no question of divided loyalty. I merely wanted to point out that if we had to use force to apprehend your son, the outcome could be uncertain."

"There won't be any need for force Admiral, but I just wanted to know where you stood. I would like to talk to Marcus in person, and discuss these problems with him. I'll hear what he has to say before I condemn him. There may be extenuating circumstances. Maybe he's going to give me this fleet of his as a surprise birthday present, I will be fifty in a week's time, in case you didn't know. I want you to ask him to come up here."

"It would be most irregular. Why should he come? Occasionally I talk to him by comms, but if I wanted to see him in person, normally I would go down to Scythia to see him at his palace, he wouldn't expect to come up into space and see me on my ship. If I asked him up now, he would want to know the reason, and if I couldn't give a good one he's bound to get very suspicious, especially as he'll know that a fast despatch ship has come from outside the system in the last 24 hours. Of course he won't know that you were on it, because as requested I've put a strong security and communications clampdown on that element of news. But he'll guess that something fishy is going on."

"Good. That will make your job easier. I want you to request a secure interview with him over a tight coded comms channel. Tell him that he has to come up to talk to you urgently. He'll ask why. You'll tell him that it concerns news that has just come in from the despatch ship from Etruria. He'll ask why you can't go down to see him, and you'll say that as the commanding Admiral in the fleet a situation has occurred of imperial strategic proportions that means you cannot risk losing control of your ship even for a couple of hours. He'll want to know why you can't send a messenger. Then you'll tell him it concerns changing the strategic command codes over to his use and authority."

"But surely he'll know that the command codes can only be set by you. Only you have the authority to set the codes that can direct the fleet to an offensive attack."

"Quite so, and if I was alive, there would be no need to change them. But you will tell him that the news you have just received is that I am sadly dead."

"But it would be very sudden You haven't been ill. There has been no other news. Why should he believe it?"

"He'll believe it all right. Firstly because there's nothing that he would like to hear more. It makes any plans he has for taking over the region so much simpler. Secondly, because it's you who will be telling him, and he knows that you are loyal to me. Thirdly, because it's entirely credible. If I did die, he would be the first to know. The news would be carried quickly and in secret. But I agree that an illness is stretching things a bit, we'll have to make it something quicker. To be on the safe side, it should be something that has taken off Trajan as well, because we don't want Marcus looking over his shoulder. Sorry about that Trajan."

"Understood my lord. The end was quick. I felt no pain."

"I think we'll have to make it an accident then An exploding power plant or something that suddenly killed both of us. I'll leave the details to you, but you're clear about what you need to do?"

"Yes my lord. And when should I do it?'

"As soon as possible. Take an hour or so to concoct your story then run it past Trajan. Trajan here is an expert at listening to other people's lies. He'll tell you if you're convincing enough. You shouldn't spend too long talking to Marcus. Tell him you've suddenly got a lot of responsibilities to look at and that he should come up to your ship as quickly as possible."

"And then what do we do?"

"Then, my dear Admiral, I will tell him everything that I've just told you, and I'll ask my loving bastard son just what he's got to say for himself."