Rieven blinked. A boy dream-octopus. A juvenile. “Doctor, how many years experience does this thing have being a juvenile?”

  Major Jeffries looked up at the ceiling in thought. “Our scans are not sophisticated enough to tell you to the year, but I may be able to tell you an estimate. One moment please.” He nodded to one of the standing nurses, who went to a cabinet in a hidden panel of the wall and began to pull out small pieces of equipment. Jeffries went himself to another panel to do more gathering. Rieven noted that his main concern had not yet been addressed and turned to master sergeant Ono.

  “Ono, what are we looking at with the Fourth? Is there a new admiral raised?”

  Ono made a strange face, one that looked like a frown and a smile at the same time; Rieven could see the axiom gathering around his heart in unusual colours. That must be emotions, he thought, I can see emotions. This will be wonderful in Imperial Court. Ono opened his mouth, “I don’t know sir. The ship’s captains have been sequestered in a Captain’s Board since before we departed the Hidden Dagger on your new shuttle. No news has come from it, save that your XO was rushed into the meeting long after it had already started. Apparently ship’s captain Briggs did not deem her presence necessary in your absence.”

  Rieven couldn’t tell which colours were which emotion yet, and he didn’t have the presence of mind to work it out. One thing at a time, he thought, I’ll focus on that once I can focuse. He turned his mind back to Ono as he cleared his throat disapprovingly, “He’ll have to be dealt with. It’s only a matter of time before that eel starts causing real trouble. He is so concerned with elevating his family that he can’t see the forest for the trees. It’s exhausting dealing with him. Please court-marshal his ass and end the issue with a nice, clean spacing.”

  Rieven growled, “I understand him better than you know. I suspect he will have been planning and scheming more than anyone else in the Fourth. Time will tell if I need to execute him or not. A nice round of court marshals will solve much. He will have had support. I suspect I can eliminate their influence if I play my cards right. Leaving my XO out of the loop crossed a legal bound and I intend to follow that thread fully, pulling it out until the entire garment falls to pieces around Briggs. We can decide whether or not to space him once he’s naked at the floor of judgement. No means to hide then.”

  He heard the monitor beside him issue one tone after another as his vitals became disturbed by his rant. One of the nurses handed him a supplement bar, “Can’t have you hangry sir, it disrupts the recovery process so.” Rieven rolled his eyes in his mind. The cheek. Outwardly he said nothing, but he did begin to eat. It tasted bland, but the texture was nice.

  Ono laughed, “Well sir, if that don’t describe your mood to a T!”

  Rieven decided that was enough fun. “Ono, what of Jackie Boy?”

  “He’s awaiting your command. He has moved around some, but has not armed himself nor donned his armour. Corporal One-hand reports that he did not so much as blink an eye the entire time until his dad declared you the victor. He’s stretched since then, but has not moved. He requests your attention as soon as you can spare it to him. I should think he’d enjoy being seen to prior to the Captain’s Board, and I expect you have the time for it, lieutenant commander Gahst has been informed of your presence and will let us know when your presence is urgently required. I have a portable holocomm ready for your use the moment it’s required.”

  Rieven thought a moment. That was quite the summary. It seemed that I have the time necessary to solidify Jackie Boy’s position and standing within the Fourth, as well as to tidy things up about this dream-octopus first. He grimaced, I don’t know what to do about that thing. Do I trust it? I’m inclined to. It did not seem duplicitous – the axiom circulating from it to me was not touched with malice or deceit. Can they hide that? Nothing has been able to do that to me yet, but I’ve never met a dream-octopus before. Ungh. His head hurt again and he massaged his temples with one hand.

  “Alright Ono, new problem: What have we gotten from the ship’s computer on the Death’s Silence? Also, we’re calling it a ship’s intelligence from this point forward, I refuse to use draconic nomenclature for things already named. That can be used for things we haven’t already created or named.”

  “Well, sir, that’s a mixed bag of acronyms. Depends on who you talk to really. The star chart shows that we are not in our galaxy, nor any of the surrounding galaxies relative to our empire. We are, in fact, just about on the other side of the universe from them. There is one star; one single, solitary star, that appears in the sky of their empire’s boundary. If the entire Fourth can make FTL, there are no unexpected developments, and we never have need to refuel, it should take us three years to return to the edges of our empire, as they stand now.”

  Rieven sat back at that. Today was just one blow after another. Why can’t I just get a lucky break. How did we get here? What is going on?

  “The good news is that we know how we got here, sir. That red dragon transported us here. The data says he can’t transport us axiomatically again, something about out-going forces requiring the imperial seal, but incoming forces are at the discretion of the local authorities. I say false. He doesn’t want to do that. Probably he wants to test us and get us back for killing some of his own. You may be able to ask him later. We would all be very grateful if you did.”

  Well that answered that question. I’m going to murder that dragon personally. His heart I’ll eat while it still beats, that little snake. Three years of continuous travel in a long defeat. There was no other way to look at it. They couldn’t force him to send them back. If he chose not to, they could attempt to slay him, but that wouldn’t do them much good, if they even succeeded. How much of the Fourth would remain alive? Would that remnant be able to get to Homeworld alive? In any amount of time less than four years? What a mess.

  “It’s worse than whatever you’re thinking sir. I have an image of the dragon’s enemy to show you.” He then pulled his data pad out from behind his back and cast the contents onto the viewscreen. What appeared on the viewscreen was terrifying, not for what it was, though that was somewhat mentally disturbing, but because of the implications of what he saw.

  It was an adult dream-octopus. It looked almost artificial, like fleshy metal with undertones of stone. Not metal or stone shaped like flesh, but rather metal that would feel, move, behave, and respond like flesh. It was abstract and Rieven could tell that the patterns of it were shifting around, not just through three dimensions either, according to the data. This was a trans dimensional being. No wonder it caused the dragons such pain.

  However, the implications of this creature prevented him from appreciating its metaphysicality. This looked like an adult version of the creature in his pearl. Not just in form, but as if they were related. “Ono,” he said slowly, dread creeping into his voice, “do you have a name and title for this particular dream-octopus?”

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  He quietly answered, “Umnato, the Terror of the Deep. He is their god in the flesh.”

  “How do these things reproduce?”

  “The female is inseminated and then lays metaphysical axial eggs, which then matriculate into physicality and after a time, hatch into more of them.”

  “How many in a brood? Pod? Whatever?”

  “A web, and the answer is thousands. For the older, more ancient ones, tens of thousands.”

  “So they wouldn’t miss one?”

  “No, in fact the young usually consume each other in a contest of strength and authority. It’s the only thing keeping them from overrunning the universe at large. If one went missing they probably wouldn’t notice.”

  “Are there any famous missing ones?”

  “No.”

  Rieven blew out a sigh of relief. My one must be genetically similar to, but not important enough to be missed by, the Terror of the Deep. At least I’m not harbouring the heir of that god in the flesh. What am I supposed to do about this? He thought rapidly. There couldn’t be any instances of this happening before, the dragons would not have catalogued this thing as a mere pearl if they knew. It must have been camouflaged and hidden. It was only after he interacted with it axiomatically that it began to reveal itself to him. Perhaps it wasn’t malicious. I suppose that the real question is not ‘is it malicious?’, but rather ‘is it sane?’ I don’t know how long it’s been hiding, but if it didn’t go into some kind of stasis, then it’s going to be in a dark and questionable place.

  “Ono, what are the known properties of dream-octopuses?”

  “The dragons say that they are masters of mental manipulation, and are very rarely restrained by laws of physics as far as space goes. Probably time also, because those are usually connected in the third dimension, but perhaps not, as they’ve seen no evidence of that save for their supposed ‘destiny to win’ in an engagement. I’m having the skquibblies look over more of this, though from what I can tell, their technology looks rather similar to ours, at least in capacity. If we captured a ship we probably would be able to fly it. Who knows? Not me. I’m just curious if I can melt one. That’s be an awesome name.”

  “Ok then. Seems to me that my next course of action is to try to determine what my relationship to this dream-octopus should be; is it sane? Is it malicious? If it’s both sane and reasonable, then we can have some fun together slaying dragons. He’ll like that I bet.” He turned to Jeffries, “Doc, you got an answer over there?”

  Major Jeffries looked up absently and said, “It’s probably about three thousand years old, and I suspect it’s in the process of coming out of hybernative stasis. You probably are the first thing it’s communicated with in ages. I’ll bet it was only a few years old before it went into stasis, no more than ten or twenty. It takes some time after it metriculates physically for it to hatch. We’ll just have to see what it says when it’s fully present mentally. Why don’t you reach out to it again?”

  Very well, Rieven thought, might as well do this now – Jackie Boy will wait another couple of minutes and it’s better to see if I’m mentally compromised before I make a formal run for influence. He reached out to touch the pearl and lift it up in both hands. Immediately alarm mixed with relief flooded his axial laces in his metaphysical brain. The dream-octopus had been very concerned to have been parted from him. Not the informal concern that follows when a plan doesn’t go as desired, but the hind-brain type of concern when fight or flight instincts war with the fore-brain.

  This is not malevolent, Rieven decided, I can tell through this connection what its true intention is, and it’s to stay with me and build up my goals so that it will always be found useful to my purpose. It fears being abandoned more than anything.

  Rieven fed a complex thought/feeling through their axiomatic connection. He fed the dream-octopus the axiomatic concept of permanent companionship and the promise of use and good things to come. He swore it. He then sent one final thing, a question, would it be faithful to him, or would it betray him?

  Rieven could tell the thing was waking more fully because its axial sendings were more complex now and arriving with greater rapidity. It affirmed his question. It would be loyal to him alone forever more, so long as it wasn’t abandoned. This it swore on its own life. Rieven could feel the truth of that vow in his soul. It was honest and made in good faith.

  Their society must be one without internal deception if they can’t hide anything through these connections. Perhaps this connection is special? I don’t know. What I do know is that having access to it on this level has been more than helpful. I am excited for this connection to develop further, words would make much of this simpler in some ways. I’ll gradually give it access to more as it earns my trust and one mistake and I’ll melt this thing’s face off. Caution is the way. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

  “No one outside this room is to know the contents or nature of this pearl,” Rieven ordered, “I will not have it.”

  “No,” said major Jeffries, “I don’t believe it would be wise for others to be made aware of what you carry. Bring it by twice daily and we’ll look it over and assist in its development as necessary. The data we will get is worth the effort alone. Can you imagine that the dragons know this much of the life-cycle of one of these things? No, they can’t. We need this information, and we need to have something important to hold over the dragons. Can’t trust their beneficence. Empires don’t work that way. They want something.”

  “They sure do,” said Ono, “They want our help to fight the dream-octopuses. They are called the Wythgoesh, but I prefer Dream-octopus. It probably won’t catch on in Homeworld though, sounds too provincial.”

  Rieven turned his thoughts to the pearl in his hand. He could tell that while it remained aware, it was resting. You and I, he thought, are going to do wonderous things together if you’re sane. Wonderous things.

  He began to list the tasks that needed accomplished prior to their departure from the Empire of the Celestial Skies. It was long and intricate. He stopped. So much of what needed to be done did not allow for human stupidity in playing political games. Three years to get home and the Fourth would tear itself to shreds. He looked to Ono, “The engagement is considered complete. There will be a new admiral appointed.”

  “Aye.”

  “For an entire year, Briggs has had unmitigated access to those ship’s captains who are card carrying members of the faction of the Imperial Court diametrically opposed to commoners holding officer ranks.”

  “Aye, that slippery eel has allied himself with the same group that has intentionally overlooked his family in every generation it has qualified for noble rank. They only work with him to tear you down. He only works with them to tear you down. It’s poetic, really. Angry crabs in a basket if you ask me.”

  Rieven directed his voice to the ceiling, “Ship’s Intelligence, I have a query regarding the INL.”

  A tone sounded and the Ship’s Intelligence spoke with a smooth masculine voice, devoid of ulterior motive or agitation, “Hello commander Rieven. What is your query regarding Imperial Naval Law?”

  “What are the situations under which a person, persons, or groups of persons may be folded into the existing command structure of the Void Spectres?”

  “The only requirements are detailed in INL 241-26W, and are as follows:

  “Requirement the first, the commandant of the Void Spectres must determine that there exists a need for additional members that, if not met, shall directly or indirectly, bring harm to the imperial person, their holdings, or their purposes.

  “Requirement the second: such need must be expressly recorded in the log for the Official Imperial Review held after the need determined in the first requirement is passed; this review shall be chaired by the First Prince or Princess of the Empire, the Grand Admiral, the Master Sargeant of the Marines, the Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army, and the Director of the Office of Imperial Rat Catchers; their decision is to be ratified by the emperor to remain in effect, but shall be reviewed by him at a time of no less than one imperial year plus a day.

  “Requirement the third: The commandant of the Void Spectres issues the draft notice unilaterally, with no one person, persons, group, or groups receiving any attention, detail, or favour that differs in any way from that received by any other person, persons, group, or groups.

  “Lastly, though not a legal requirement, it should here be noted that no previous commandant of the Void Spectres, since their founding, has successfully implemented a draft on the scale of one of the empire’s navies. Politically it can’t be done. Each attempt has ended in failure due to pushback from the heads of the other branches of the military. Failure is all but guaranteed. It is a good thing that there are only two such heads present here at this time with the Fourth Imperial Navy, is it not?”

  Rieven smiled to himself. “Thank you Ship’s Intelligence. You have been most helpful. That will be all.” The exit tone sounded and silence fell in the room. Major Jeffries was looking at Rieven with an expression of fierce hope. Rieven nodded to him.

  He then turned to Ono. “I think it is time, Ono, for us to see what happens when we draft an entire imperial navy into the Void Spectres. If we are going to get home without eating ourselves from the inside, we cannot have anyone from the noble’s faction leading. They will shackle us and react poorly to the agreement I made with Big Red. We also can’t guarantee one from a more reasonable faction will be appointed. It is a risk, a gamble, and the entire reason I endured the rite of Ritual Combat was to prevent an unnecessary risk to the souls of the Fourth. No, I am going to have to get us home, I am going to do it by burning down every centimetre blockading my path.” He switched to the formal cadence of the Imperial Court, “this navy will be reborn according to the Void Spectre code of war, as applied by INL 241-26W. There shall be no more democracy. There shall be no more nobility. There shall be only the military command structure.

  “I shall become the Lord Commandant of the Fourth Imperial Navy, not this navy’s admiral. This navy, the entire Fourth, is going to be drafted into the Void Spectres and all officers and crew stripped of all rank, titles, nobility, land, holdings, duties, obligations, and tenures that are the purview of authority external to the Void Spectres and Imperial Military Law.

  “Who they were shall be the price of entry; their blood shall be the rent they pay; prejudicial aggression the consequence of insubordination, dereliction, and dilatoriness.

  “So let it be done,” finished Rieven.

  “So let it be done,” repeated Major Jeffries.

  “Let’s draft their asses,” added Ono.