Commander by Richard F Weyand

Author:Richard F Weyand [Weyand, Richard F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732128088
Publisher: Weyand Associates, Inc.
Published: 2019-08-18T06:00:00+00:00

Jared Denny was just starting his day when he got a priority message. He gulped when he saw the Imperial header. Only one person in the three hundred trillion residents of the Sintaran Empire could generate that header, and he wasn’t a subject.

It was an invitation to a VR channel, and Denny went full immersive on the channel. He found himself in a simulation of a well-appointed office. A man in his mid-thirties sat behind an expensive desk, his hands clasped on the desk. His white-blue eyes were instantly recognizable to Denny, who had watched the Imperial coronation two years before.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Denny. Be seated.”

It must be afternoon in Imperial City, though it was morning for Denny. He sat down in a comfortable padded chair before the desk.

“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.”

“Mr. Denny, I have a project for you. I don’t want to run it through Projects because I want to keep it quieter than that for now. Just your group. When you have something, you can report it to me, and then we’ll open it up a bit, all right?”

“Certainly, Sire.”

“You can do this under the Project X umbrella. I directed that you be given an open-ended project, and I think that’s what they called it. Is that right?”

So Project X came direct from the Emperor? That explained the blank check.

“Yes, Sire. That’s right.”

“Good. Here’s what I need, Mr. Denny. I need a HARPER unit that can go EVA, off the ship, maneuver to the wreckage of another ship close by, inspect it for evidence of various kinds to determine whose ship it is, and return with the evidence. That could be just the video evidence from the VR, it could be computer evidence like memory modules, it could be DNA evidence from bodies. It might need to cut that evidence away from the debris. Do you think you can do that?”

“I don’t see why not, Sire. Would this be a specialty unit? Or part of the standard HARPER kit?”

“Probably part of the standard HARPER kit, Mr. Denny. Some of those capabilities, especially maneuvering off-ship, would be useful in a lot of other scenarios, I would think. That is the part we will go public with in a ‘ho-hum, yet another version’ kind of way. But the specific task of wreckage inspection we will keep close. Very close. Just your team, please.”

“Certainly, Sire.”

“All right, Mr. Denny. That’s the assignment. Any other questions?”

“Timeframe, Sire?”

“It is a near-term need, Mr. Denny, so what speed you can manage, while getting it right, will be appreciated.”

“Yes, Sire. We’ve got it.”

“Thank you, Mr. Denny.”

And with that, the Emperor dropped the connection.

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