“Truly?” Rieven asked.

  “Truly, my lord. Fourteen members of the Black Drake Navy are quarantined due to oversaturated exposure to Wythgoesh axiom threads. Their behavioural changes began four months ago, long before the Medusean Gambit campaign was complete. For instance, spaceman second-class Skip has been talking to his best friend in the service, spaceman second-class Poach, for approximately four months. He knew everything about the man; apparently spaceman second-class Poach is a very philosophical man, particularly for one only nineteen imperial years of age, as of last week. He is learned in addition to bearing the burden of a philosophical mind. Additionally, he is entirely fictitious. Spaceman second-class Skip has been talking to no one for four months. The SIs have recorded these one-man conversations and it does indeed appear that he is talking to someone, his half of the conversation is flawless, but we have no readings at all of any thing or any one being present at the times.

  “In fact, the SI was keeping detailed records of this event and was about to report it to its commander when we came along. It deemed the spaceman second-class as mentally disturbed, but not a danger to himself or to others. Every time his friend asked him to do something mildly risky, he would politely refuse, citing regulations or common sense. Towards the end his half of the conversations was waning in comprehensibility. It would seem his sleep was being tampered with.”

  Rieven sat up at that. That tracked, he thought. My dream-octopus does the same thing, but not maliciously. I’ll bet they were taking pieces of each cycle and not simply devouring an entire one. They were returning no strength, only taking. Taking and not giving would wear a victim out. I’ll bet that is what happened.

  “The working theory is that the Wythgoesh axiom was actively using portions of his REM cycles to sustain itself, which I find strange.”

  Called it! He yelled in his mind, happy to understand some of what was afflicting his navy.

  “Why require the working to make itself permanent and risk exposure? What was the intended target? What was the goal? To date none of the fourteen are aware of any plan or goal. They each, like spaceman second-class Skip, rejected all calls to perform risky actions.

  “This is directly opposite what occurred during the dead zone incident of four nights ago. Apparently it is being called the ‘Night of Dead Zones’, not a particularly inspired moniker, but accurate in its description at least as I understand it was considered night on Homeworld. In that incident, multiple individuals were behaving in ways that were detrimental to their health and to others. Some of them started their own dead zones, others harmed crew members. One believed he had quarantined a deadly virus by locking them in the cold storage.

  “I am left with questions rather than answers. Why are the approaches in these two incidents different? Are they not different at all and we are merely missing the bridging data? Also: Where were these fourteen when their laces were spiked with the offending axiom? The SIs can find no common ground to their postings, genetics, familial dwellings, age, sex, religion, politics, goals, or desires. Insofar as I am able to judge, they are simply a group of people chosen truly at random who all were in the Fourth Imperial Navy. That is the only commonality, and it is an incredibly broad one which provides very little.”

  He took a moment to grab a metal cup and drink from it. The galley-master had been thoughtful enough to provide larger items for Jackson, so it was the perfect size and shape for him. After he had refreshed himself, he looked to Rieven and waited for his response.

  “What is the current status of these fourteen?” he asked.

  “They are guests of Major Jergson and his mind-readers.” Jackson looked to the major who simply shook his head gently, indicating he did not wish to field the question. Jackson continued, “Their systems have been cleared of the foreign axiom and they have been in a drug-induced coma since their last interrogation in an attempt to help their minds and bodies recover. Another week should do the trick, then we’ll wake them and have another round of interrogations, complete with axiomatic monitoring. They’ll be able to hide nothing then. Hopefully the picture will begin to make more sense then.”

  Rieven nodded slowly. This was strange, and he wasn’t sure which direction to take this. He said, “The good news here is that we have time, three years’ worth of time in fact. Keep working the issue until it yields fruit Adjunct, major, I’d like to receive regular updates and we can do that over breakfast once a month, unless something urgent comes up.”

  They both assented, but Jackson remained standing. “My lord, there is one more thing, if I may.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Rieven gestured for him to go on, “Please,” he said.

  “I understand that chief engineer Werner is clearing out three additional vessels from Bline-eye’s fleet. The rumours indicate that you will tether these vessels together to house the Death’s Silence. My question is this: Will the Death’s Silence become the new flagship of the navy? For if it shall, I will begin preparations for moving our endeavours there so we may be centrally located.”

  Rieven hummed. He thought, I didn’t know word had gotten around so quickly, but my new Adjunct certainly has his ear to the floor. He’s probably trying to catch up with the cultural differences and finds that work serves two purposes, rumour mill and all. Good for him, and good for me for having an efficient subordinate. “That would be greatly appreciated, Jackson, thank you. Please move forward at your earliest convenience. Your other work is of higher priority to me, but the convenience will be greatly appreciated if time permits.”

  Jackson bowed his head and then sat, pulling a platter of mostly raw meat towards him, the outside of which had been burnt black. It looked sickening to Rieven, but Jackson seemed to be perfectly happy with the offering. His report gave Rieven much to think about. Perhaps the noble’s faction was not so much the ‘friendly opposition’ to the imperial crown they presented themselves as. Perhaps they began to serve another for the promise of power? Who could say. It was, however, certainly worth looking into. The bottom line for me, Rieven thought, is that I’ll not trust anyone outside of this navy. Period.

  The emperor is the only one who receives a portion of that trust, and only because he can order my death at any time, he has no need for those sorts of games. I can trust him to deal with me openly at least, which grants him a portion of my trust, the same amount which prevents me from becoming disloyal to the empire, no more. He’ll have to earn that upon our return.

  The sounds of contented eating filled the gentle silence of the room as Rieven thought, his hand gently swirling the exotic juice in his glass – no alcohol at council meetings, the SI would pitch a fit at a departure from regulations of that magnitude, and he needed them on his side for this. Time to really think this through. What would my next steps be if this were a game? Well, I’d sequester Ono with the leader of the mind-readers and the silent stalkers and probably Jackson and let them come out of the room once they had developed a new axiom combat that both meets the requirements of paying rent on the rank and shields the mind and the heart from foreign invasion. Ideally it will be not dissimilar to the Void Spectre’s current martial program. Greathim forms are marvellous for them, but it does not shield the mind and heart, something none of them ever thought would be needed. Ok, so that’s step one. What would step two be?

  Getting out of the draconic empire. Their preparations were well so far. He hadn’t heard yet from Hardy or Gahst, but things from the others were well enough along to get them out of this empire on schedule. They had troubles and worries, but nothing pressing. Security was being reworked, and the new forms would rework the personal security of each member of his navy. Very well, that was covered.

  Step three? Get to a place where we can train for three months straight. We’ll need that training and I’d prefer not to give them on the job training. I want this navy to live. That requires training. Hopefully we can find someplace reasonable to do that before stupid finds us.

  That leaves step four. Step four. He drained his cup and poured more of the fragrant juice, it really was lovely. Step four. That was going to be the decision to take the back way home or to cut straight through and fight their way if necessary. He drained this second cup and tapped the table with the knuckles of his right hand and looked at Ono and nodded. Ono nodded back and turned to major Hardy. “Major, if you would report next?”

  The major stood slowly, leaning on the table as his feet took the weight of his body. He wasn’t ancient, but he was older than Ono, and while he could still outfight the recruits, he was partial to showmanship, and that’s what this was: showmanship. It gave him time to gather his thoughts without looking like he was gathering his thoughts. Very politic and something more useful for the Imperial Court than this council meeting, but old habits died hard.

  “Commandant,” he began, facing Rieven with his hands clasped behind him at his waist, “I’ve tasked the Silent Stalkers with monitoring the mood of the navy. We have three command rooms with a monitoring squad in each, accompanied by a compliment of marines,” he nodded here to Ono. “I’m seeing only the highlights, positive and negative. By and large the navy is behind you sir. They see you as a man who will lead them home. If you pull one or two more newsvid worthy moments out of your hat, that admiration will turn to worship. That’s good. We want that. People don’t betray what they actively worship. It’ll make the return voyage that much safer.

  “There are dissidents, but they are of no concern at the moment, and strangely they are none of the folks who were afflicted with the foreign axiom from the dead zones – those people, one and all, like you sir. No, these dissidents are hold-overs from the Fourth. They don’t want to joint he Drakes and they see it as a usurpation, albeit a legal one. The moment that dislike turns into bitterness, I’ll let you know. Bitterness needs to be actively monitored to cut it out once it sprouts true hatred. Hatred is always acted on, bitterness just boils in the gut. Hatred calls for action. We don’t want action.

  “Adjunct Jackson,” he nodded to him across the table, “has a copy of this list and is actively visiting with each person and letting them know he has taken a personal interest in their life. Turns out it’s an intimidating thing, having a dragon ask after you and visit you personally in your quarters. Makes your squad start to look at you a little differently, not goodly or badly, just differently. Differently’s enough to push down some of the walls they’ve constructed so far. The Adjunct informs me that he sees nothing of concern so far, but will make it a point to follow up with them routinely with the mind-readers. Gotta keep them on their toes.”

  Rieven nodded. This was only to be expected. Not everyone would be happy, but most of them were. It helps when they see the corrupt officers immediately punished on live broadcast. How long that goodwill would last was to be determined. Worship? That was trickier. No one reasonable wanted worship, but it would be hard to say no to anything that would make the return journey possible or even a little easier. Maybe it won’t come to that.

  “There’s a problem, though. I’ve discovered that we’re being lied to. It’s related to what I showed you earlier sir. May I present the recording here?”

  Oh, thought Rieven, we’re being lied to. That’s news to me. What has major Hardy found? He nodded and verbalised for the record: “Yes, major, please show the recording.”

  He pulled up the recording on the holocomms on the table, all three of them. The white dragon filled the view and began speaking.