2
David Spencer tried to memorize landmarks. Harold had been waiting when he emerged from his talk with Prince William and Ian Shrikes. The butler led David along a series of corridors to a lift tube that took them to the third floor. Then there had been another series of corridors to walk. I’m supposed to be able to find my way from point A to point B anywhere, David thought after several turns. It would be a disgrace to get lost here.
He had been to the palace only once before, and on that occasion, he had needed to go no farther than the Elizabeth Ballroom on the first floor. That had been for a Commonwealth Day function the year before, his first as an officer. There had been wall-to-wall servants that day. It would have been impossible for David to get lost, even if he had not been with several other officers from the 2nd Regiment.
At least the ceiling was not so distant on the third floor, fourteen feet instead of eighteen. But there were all of the paintings, photographs, and busts that lined the corridors, the fancy chandeliers, and the rest of the trappings of luxury.
This is almost more frightening than being on patrol behind enemy lines, David thought as Harold finally stopped in front of a door. David thought that they must be nearthe northeast corner of the palace, about as far as possible from where he had entered the building.
The butler knocked softly. David heard no response from inside, but Harold apparently did. After a few seconds, he opened the door and gestured for David to enter before him. David was in the doorway when Harold announced, “Lieutenant David Spencer, Royal Marines,” loud enough to startle him.
“Come in, Lieutenant. Over here, by the windows. Thank you, Harold. That will be all.”
The door shut quietly. To David’s right, near the windows, the king turned toward him. David moved cautiously forward. When he came to within two paces of his monarch, he stopped and gave a formal officer’s bow, ten degrees from the waist.
“Good morning, Your Majesty.”
“Please relax, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir.” David tried, but his body resisted any easing of posture. The king came a step closer.
“This is the third time we have met, Lieutenant Spencer.”
David blinked. “Yes, sir. I’m surprised that you recall.”
Henry smiled. “With most people, I probably would not have done so without prompting by one of my social secretaries. You would be surprised how many people I need to have around to make certain that I do not forget those who should be recalled.”
The revelation had its intended effect. David relaxed visibly. The king was human, and had a sense of humor.
“In your case, I needed no reminders. The first time we met was nearly five years ago, when I pinned that King’s Cross on your tunic. The second time was Commonwealth Day last April.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And I’ve had my brother, the Duke of Haven, singing your praises over all of those years. He has made certain that I remain informed of your exploits. That is why, when this current … affair came up, I broke one of my hardest rules and interfered in routine CSF operations.”
“Sir?”
“It was I who selected your unit for a special mission, Lieutenant. I know that you have been alerted for movement, but that you have not yet been told where you are going, or why. You will receive a full briefing en route, but because of the nature of this mission, I did want a few words with you first.”
“Yes, sir.” David felt completely bewildered. The longer the king talked, the more desperately lost David felt.
“I wanted to be certain that the best man for the job was chosen, not just whoever’s turn it was to be sent out next.”
“I don’t understand, sir, any of this.”
Henry smiled again. “I am talking in circles, aren’t I? Come. Let’s sit and be comfortable. After all, we’re not on parade here. These are the private apartments. Here, by the window.” He gestured toward a pair of intricately carved chairs that faced a small table that had been carved to match them. David waited until the king was seated, then lowered himself carefully onto the other chair, sitting only on the edge, and trying to remain at something approaching attention.
“The first battle of this war was apparently a naval encounter over the world of Camerein,” the king said. “I say ‘apparently’ because the Commonwealth ship that was there simply vanished, as did two others that were later dispatched to the system, in sequence.”
“I know that, sir. There were Marines I knew on all of those ships.”
Henry nodded. “My brother George was having a spot of holiday on Camerein at the time, at the most isolated resort on the world. That fact has not been exactly a State Secret, but it is something that has not been bruited about.” He paused, and sat drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.
“Camerein has only minimal military value to either side. It has economic value, and political value, but its population has always been rather small and there have simplybeen too many other worlds that required our attention more urgently. But the time has finally come for us to fully contest Camerein. That is where the 2nd Regiment will be heading.”
“Yes, sir.” David nodded hesitantly. There was obviously more. He had to wait through another long pause, though.
“We have had absolutely no news from Camerein since the start of the war. We lost three ships there early and, since then, we have thought it safer—more prudent—to avoid sending other ships until such time as it became possible to send sufficient forces to take care of whatever may be waiting for us.” This time, King Henry paused for only a beat.
“Your commando will be going in ahead of the rest of your regiment, but not on the type of mission you might normally be given. Instead, you are to infiltrate a part of Camerein that is one hundred eighty degrees removed from where the main invasion will take place. Your target is a hotel, the Commonwealth Excelsior.”
“That is where your brother was, sir?” The question came out very timidly.
Henry nodded. “Since we have had no news from Camerein, we cannot know whether George is alive or dead, captured or simply marooned in the middle of a continent-wide jungle. We suspect that if the Federation had captured him, or knew that he had been killed, we would have had some word long before now. That leads us to believe, to hope, that he has merely been stranded for these last seven years, along with the others who were at that hotel when the war started.”
“You want us to find him and bring him out?”
“Yes, if he is alive. And if he is dead, or has been captured, we would like to know the details, if possible. If there are people who have been stuck in that jungle for seven years, we want them all rescued. This is not entirely for one man, no matter who he might he.”
“We’ll do our best, Your Majesty.”
“That is all anyone can ask, Lieutenant, and that is why I specifically requested that your lot draw the assignment.”
The king opened a drawer in the table and took out a thin portfolio. The royal crest was on the front of the dark blue case. Henry opened the portfolio and looked at the document inside for perhaps thirty seconds. Then he nodded, closed the case, and handed it to Spencer. David took the case and stared at it, uncertain what he was supposed to do.
“Go ahead, open it,” the king said. “It concerns you directly.” His smile was subdued.
David opened the portfolio and looked at the top paper. He started to read but did not get through to the end. “I’ve been promoted to captain, sir?”
The king’s smile grew. “Effective today, Captain Spencer. When I first proposed to entrust this mission to you, one of my advisors suggested that it would be improper to send a lieutenant to do the job. Before I assigned that advisor to, ah, less demanding, duties, I decided that perhaps others might feel the same way. In any event, your record certainly shows that you deserve this promotion. May God go with you.”
The audience was clearly at an end. Spencer stood, bowed, took one step backward, then turned and headed for the door.
David was scarcely aware of the long trek back to the door on the west side of the palace. He followed Harold, staying close to the scarlet coat. That took only minimal attention. The rest remained focused on what the king had said, and on the implications that David could foresee. As much as the coming campaign, though, he thought about the document he was carrying under his left arm. That was the greatest shock of the morning.
When his hat and gloves were returned, David nodded absently and said something along the lines of “Thank you,” but he was still barely aware of what was going onaround him. The staff car was waiting. The driver got out and opened the rear door.
“You look as if you’re half the galaxy away, sir,” the naval rating said once both were in the floater.
David blinked several times and looked around, almost surprised to find himself out of the palace. “You may be nearer right than you imagine, lad,” he said, trying to pull his thoughts closer to where he was.
The drive back to the Combined Space Forces base at the edge of the Cheapside district of Westminster took a half hour. Spencer did his best to put the king’s comments completely out of mind for the duration of the ride. He stared out the side window, watching the passing scenery, buildings, and people.
It had taken a long time, but the war had finally changed daily life in the capital. At every corner, and on every advertising column, there were warnings and instructions—where civilians should go and what they should do in case of enemy attack. Constables of the Metropolitan Police had taken extensive training in emergency procedures. Units of the Buckingham Home Defense Force, a military reserve, took turns at one-month tours of active duty to provide additional manpower in the cities. There had been at least three Federation incursions into Buckingham’s near space, but none of those raids had managed to strike at the world itself. The navy had intercepted the attackers and either destroyed them or chased them away first.
Two other core worlds of the Second Commonwealth had not been so lucky. Lorenzo had been attacked successfully from space twice, the target for hundreds of missiles. Those raids had left considerable damage and thousands of civilian casualties. And Coventry had suffered from a Federation invasion and occupation.
There were two separate ID checks before David got to the barracks area of the Marine 2nd Regiment. Each time, the guards took ID chips from both David and his driver and ran them through their scanners. David no longer gave that security a second thought. It had been going on for so long that he would have been shocked by its absence.
“Thanks for the ride, lad,” David said before he closed the floater door outside regimental headquarters.
“Any time, sir.”
Spencer climbed the short ramp to the building’s entrance. The door opened automatically. David would have preferred to head straight to his quarters to get out of the formal dress uniform, but his instructions were to report to the regimental commander immediately upon his return from the palace.
Regimental Sergeant Major Alan Dockery was at his desk in the colonel’s outer office. Dockery got up as soon as he saw Spencer. “I see you made it back in one piece, sir.” The two had been friends since both were junior noncommissioned officers, David a corporal and Alan a new sergeant.
“I may look in one piece, Alan, but …” David shook his head and handed the blue velvet portfolio to the sergeant major.
Dockery did not have shock to slow his reading of the order. He grinned as he closed the case and handed it back. “Congratulations, Captain Spencer.” He drew himself to stiff attention, clicking his heels noisily, and saluted crisply.
“Stuff that malarkey, Alan.” There was a note of pleading in David’s voice. “This morning already has me wondering if I’m one step from Bedlam and physical restraints.”
Dockery laughed. “That’ll teach you to go hobnobbing with the toffs.”
“The colonel wanted to see me.”
Alan came around the desk. “I know, and I’ve been remiss in my duties not getting you in there straightaway.”
The sergeant major knocked at the colonel’s door but did not wait for acknowledgment. “Captain Spencer back from the palace, sir,” he said.
“Send him in.”
Dockery held the door, then closed it behind Spencer.
“Come in, David. Have a seat.” Colonel Zacharia hadtaken command of the regiment when its previous commander made brigadier. Before that, Zacharia had been commander of 1st Battalion. As David sat, the colonel cleared his throat noisily. “It sets a poor example for the lads when an officer is out of uniform, Captain.”
David glanced at the lieutenant’s insignia on his shoulder. “I haven’t had a chance, sir. I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet, if you know what I mean.”
The stern look on the colonel’s face slid into a grin. “Sorry, David. I wasn’t permitted to give you any warning.”
“You knew what was coming?”
“I knew that His Majesty planned to present you with your promotion. And I suppose that I know at least some of what he must have said to you about what’s up for the regiment, and what your lot is being sent in to do.”
“Yes, sir. What but not when. How much time do we have before we’re off out?”
Zacharia leaned back and rotated the chair to look through the one window in his office. “If you’ve made plans for this evening, you’ll miss them,” he said after a moment. “I want your shuttles off the ground by 1600 hours.”
Spencer glanced at the clock. “That doesn’t give us much time to get ready. Less than four hours.”
“The 2nd Commando Detachment was alerted while you were off larking at the palace. By the time you get back from the officers’ mess, your people should be just about ready to go.”
“I really ought to go to them straightaway, sir.”
“You’ll do better at the officers’ mess. It’s the only chance I’m going to have to give you a bit of a briefing before you start to wade through the written orders for the mission.”
“Yes, sir” was the only acceptable answer.
“By the bye …” Zacharia opened his desk drawer andmade a show of rummaging around in it. But the small box he took out had come immediately to hand. “You’d best slip these on in place of those pips you’re wearing before we go.”