On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus) by Christopher Nuttall Read Free Book Online Page A

godforsaken world.  Who knew?  Maybe the march they’d seen was merely the beginning of an uprising that would leave Dorado’s established power structure in ruins.
     
    “The drives are handling well,” Mai said, thoughtfully.  “Power curves are nominal; little feedback...  Hell, if I didn't know better, I’d say that there was almost no feedback.  Whoever designed these systems knew what they were doing.”
     
    Mariko nodded.  Drive field generators always produced feedback, feedback which wore away at the generators and eventually forced them to be replaced.  Most of her basic maintenance classes had been focused on preventive measures that saved the cost of replacing the generator.  But Bruce Wayne seemed to be advanced enough to minimise the effects of feedback.  She’d heard rumours about such generators, but the costs mentioned had been so high as to make them prohibitively expensive for almost everyone.  Lord Fitzgerald, clearly, could afford almost anything.  Just how rich was his family?
     
    She shook her head a moment later.  A Grand Family’s wealth was almost impossible to describe in simple terms.  They’d have vast fortunes, but they’d also have corporate stocks and shares, massive patronage networks and thousands upon thousands of people who owed them a favour or two.  Turning back to the helm console, she activated the gravitational reader and studied the hazy line that marked the edge of the planet’s gravitational field.  They would cross it in less than five minutes.
     
    “Check the phase drive,” she ordered.  They’d both already tested it twice, but they hadn't been running the sublight drives at the time.  “Is it still ready to go?”
     
    “Yes,” Mai said, flatly.  She was never happy when her sister questioned her competence.  “The phase drive looks ready for instant activation and transit into phase space.”
     
    “Good,” Mariko said, deciding not to make an issue of it.  The hazy line came closer and closer...and then they slipped across it.  “Prepare for activation in ten, nine, eight...”
     
    A deeper hum ran through the ship as the phase drive came online and powered up.  “Ready,” Mai said.  “...Two, one... now !”
     
    The stars in front of them seemed to twist into a whirling spiral of light and then winked out altogether, leaving nothing but the omnipresent darkness of phase space.  Bruce Wayne had effectively created a pocket dimension around herself that would allow her to travel faster than light.  A timer started counting down to the moment when the pocket dimension would collapse, returning her to normal space in another star system.  Four days, seven hours and twenty-one minutes.  Unless, of course, a pirate managed to track her course and set up an artificial gravity well in her path...
     
    “See,” Mai said.  “I told you that the phase drive was working.”
     
    The intercom beeped before Mariko could come up with a response.  “Well done, both of you,” Lord Fitzgerald said.  Mariko was tempted to point out that it was easy to fly a ship as advanced as Bruce Wayne , but kept it to herself.  “Please would both of you join me for dinner now?”
     
    “Of course,” Mariko said.  It wasn't as if they had a choice.  “We’ll just check the drives and everything and then come join you.”
     
    ***
    Happy Wanderer hadn't had a real kitchen; they’d had to make do with pre-packaged meals they’d purchased at military surplus stores.  Bruce Wayne did have a real kitchen, but it was evident that Lord Fitzgerald didn't know how to use it either.  Mariko couldn't understand why he hadn't brought along more staff members, even as she decided to simply heat up a packet of foodstuffs that Lord Fitzgerald had picked up from somewhere.  They were pilots, not cooks.  She knew better than to claim that she could cook when the best she could do was boil water and make coffee.
     
    “Food isn't so important on