A Call to Trial
Derelik Region — San Matar constellation
Tanoo System — Planet V — Moon 1
Ammatar Consulate Bureau
13 September YC 127
Before coming to Dovirch Anselm’s office, I brainstormed the way I was going to break the news to him. The openings like “Hey, mate, your boss is in deep shit” and “It takes an Amarrian to fuck up that badly” were quickly dismissed, although Aura insisted that they would set up a dramatic backdrop for the message. Instead, I settled on a gradual reveal, taking a role of a courier and putting the spotlight on Doctor Canius who craved recognition. If all went well, I wouldn’t mind his getting back in Taphos’s good graces. On the other hand, any blame would also fall on Canius. Me, I just wanted to assist Taphos in finding the culprit who betrayed his trust.
“Good morning, Agent Anselm,” I said as I entered Dovirch’s office. “I have a message for Lord Taphos from Doctor Canius.”
“Good morning, Captain Korff,” said the agent, “please take a seat.” Then he steepled his hands, looked at me for for a few seconds and slowly repeated, “‘A message for Lord Taphos from Doctor Canius’… I must say this is rather… singular. What is the message?”
I put a copy of Dagan’s letter on the desk and moved it towards Anselm. He picked it up and stared at it for a minute or two.
Then he put the letter back on the desk and said, “This does not make any sense.”
“No,” I agreed. “This is the original text of an encrypted message sent by Dagan. He used Jovian phonetic alphabet to transcribe a message written in Amarrad. Here is the translation.”
Before I could produce the decrypted version of the text, Dovirch Anselm picked up the original and started reading it.
“You know Jovian and Amarrad?” I asked, amazed.
The agent said nothing while he was perusing the letter. Finally, he opened a draw in his desk, folded the paper and carefully stored the document there.
Then he turned to me and said laconically, “Yes, I do.”
I mentally reassessed the intelligence of the man who so far looked a bit slow and simple.
“And what does Doctor Canius mean by this message?” the agent asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “When he deciphered this letter his only wish was to inform His Lordship of this unfortunate turn of events and enable him to take… um… a corrective action in regards to Dagan. As you know, I am very much interested in finding that man and I’ll be happy to offer my assistance to His Lordship in this endeavour.”
After a long pause, Dovirch Anselm said, “I see. Thank you, Captain Korff, for the delivery. Do not let me detain you.”
“I am not in a rush,” I replied. “So, how about my offer to find Dagan? Are you interested?”
“If Lord Taphos requires your services, I will inform you in due time.”
Fuming at the agent’s snooty reply, I stood up and wished him good day.
14 September YC 127
Despite the non-committal response given by Agent Anselm, I decided to stay at Ammatar Consulate Bureau station for a while, in case Taphos decided that he ‘required my services’. My patience was rewarded, or so I thought, the very next day. While I was browsing the local directory to find a cafe for a breakfast, Dovirch Anselm called me and asked to arrive at his office immediately. See, not ‘at my earliest convenience’, not even ‘as soon as possible’, but ‘immediately’. I would have dropped everything and met him in any case, but the tone of the message meant that my presence was indispensable.
“Lord Taphos would like to meet you,” Anselm said after the greetings.
“Great!” I exclaimed, my hopes rising. “When can I see him?”
“As soon as possible, at these coordinates,” replied the agent, showing me the destination on his datapad.
I scanned the numbers and checked the location — it was in Tanoo system but it was far away from any celestial body or station.
“What is that place?” I asked, confused.
“Just a piece of vacuum where no one will disturb you. Trials are best conducted away from prying eyes.”
“Trials? What trials?”
Dovirch Anselm’s solemn face grew even more somber.
“It is a trial by combat,” he intoned, “an ancient but still legal procedure whereby an offended party may clear themselves of the offence by fighting the offender. If the offender refuses to take part in the trial, he is automatically considered guilty of libel and is sentenced accordingly. If the trial proceeds, the justice will take the side of the surviving party.”
I was gobsmacked!
“How did I offend Taphos? All I did was offer him my cooperation in finding Dagan who deceived him and stole Imperial secrets.”
“This is exactly the offence. Lord Taphos maintains that no such thing has happened.”
“But there is Dagan’s letter which confirms that!” I insisted.
“Forgery. Or misinterpretation. The letter was written in code and there is no guarantee that you deciphered it correctly.”
I rolled my eyes, “This is lunacy! I offer my help and, in return, I am accused of libel. I refuse to take part in this farce. I am leaving. Now.”
I stood up but before I could leave, Agent Anselm raised an admonishing hand, “As I said, Captain Korff, a refusal to take part in the trial will be considered an admission of guilt. You will be arrested before you can reach the docks.”
I collapsed back into the chair. It felt like a nightmare from which I could not wake up.
After some reflection I said, “Look, what is the point of such trials these days? The re-cloning tech makes survival guaranteed.”
“Oh, that was taken care of. We’ve made sure that access to Lord Taphos’s clones was shut off.”
My jaw dropped, “Lord Taphos’s clones??? Is he a capsuleer?”
“No,” said Anselm, “Lord Taphos was not able to master the neural interface. Nevertheless, given his wealth and position in the Royal House of Ardishapur, he could certainly afford personal clones.”
That was a relief — if Taphos was a pod pilot, it would take the trial to a totally different level. I’d never fought a capsuleer but I knew that trained combat pilots could be deadly. Still, Anselm did not address my objection.
“In fact, when I mentioned re-cloning, I meant myself, ” I said. “Even if Taphos manages to defeat me, I shall just wake up in Amsen where he can’t reach me.”
“You clones have been deactivated too.”
I laughed, “Nah, Caldari State and Amarr Empire are allies, but their cooperation does not go that far. Neither Taphos, nor, for that matter, Catiz herself can interfere with capsuleer clone storage. It’s a prerogative of Caldari State.”
“Have you checked your messages lately?” Agent Anselm asked evenly.
I gave him a dubious look but took out my commlink and checked the inbox. To my horror, there was one from Science and Trade Institute School which informed me that
“Access to your clones has been suspended until the criminal charges laid by Amarr Empire are cleared. During that period, any attempt to transfer and/or restore an infomorph backup will be declined.”
Shellshocked, I stared into the distance. It can’t be happening, it can’t be happening, it can’t be happening, a thought buzzed in my head like a fly that was trapped in a room. Or can it? Suddenly, I had a flashback to the time when I helped my friend Gerhardt with his mission. His customer deregistered Gerhardt’s clones to ensure that he would do his damnedest to survive the flight together with his passengers. And the customer, as in my case, was also Amarrian!
When Gerhardt told me his story, I was thrilled and sympathetic. Mentally, I understood that losing access to his clones made his life a lot riskier. But hey, he just became like any other baseliner, like me. Never could I imagine the visceral dread that gripped me when I found myself in a similar situation. It was like walking along the narrow bridge over an abyss and see the guardrails suddenly disappear. I was paralysed with fear and could not make myself take another step. But I had to — the clock was ticking.
“How did you do this?” I asked weakly, still coming to terms with my sudden mortality.
“With enough wealth and influence, many things become possible, and Lord Taphos possesses both,” replied the agent.
I realised that it was a useless question, so I asked a more pertinent one, “What kind of ship does Taphos fly?”
“I have good news for you, Captain: according to the rules of the trial, the participants must pilot the ships themselves and be the only persons on board of their vessels. In practice, it means that Lord Taphos is limited to frigate-class ships.”
It was a good news indeed, but something wasn’t right there.
I narrowed my eyes, “Why did you say it was good news? As a capsuleer, I can take on a cruiser fully crewed by baseliners, to say nothing about frigates. How is it good news for you and your boss?”
After a long pause, Dovirch Anselm provided an explanation, “You have to understand, Captain Korff, that, although I call Lord Taphos ‘my Lord’, I do not serve him; I serve Amarr Empire. I will do anything to uphold the Imperial glory, and I’ve been persuaded that your survival in this trial will be the best outcome for Amarr.”
“My survival? What’s so special about me?…” I started asking but then checked myself.
It wasn’t about me, I realised, it was about Lord Taphos. Someone wanted him dead.
Dovirch Anselm saw the recognition in my eyes and said, confirming my guess, “In fact, I am authorised to offer you two incentives. Firstly, if you are victorious in this trial, you will be paid Ƶ200,000. And if you complete the mission in,” he checked the watch, “2 hours and 2 minutes, you will be paid additional Ƶ62,000.”
“Wait a moment! Did you say a mission? You actually hire me to kill an Amarrian lord?”
“Not exactly. Your trial is inevitable, so I don’t pay you for initiating or participating in the combat which might lead to the demise of Lord Taphos. Also, it is not my personal initiative. I am an agent which means that I act on behalf of other people. And there are people who would like to see you succeed.”
“But why? Who, in their own mind, would sponsor an assassination of an Amarrian lord?”
Another long pause.
“I am not sure that this information is strictly needed for your mission but I’d like to assure you that it is not some kind of conspiracy. Without naming your benefactors, I can tell you this: Lord Taphos is very conservative. By itself, it’s not a problem — there is a place for conservative voices in any society. However, what is considered conservative also changes with time. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Lord Taphos. He has been kept alive for a long time by the clone technology. While changing a clone can rejuvenate the body, it does nothing to the accumulated baggage of person’s habits, opinions and prejudices. This means that Lord Taphos’s strain of conservatism is not simply old, it is irrelevant these days. Increasingly, his antiquated views are becoming an obstacle and an embarrassment to the Royal House of Ardishapur.
“Luckily, by challenging you to trial by combat, Lord Taphos provided a perfect opportunity to eliminate him. If you defeat him, there will be no political or legal repercussions whatsoever for you. On the contrary, you may win a few favours with very influential people.”
I took a few moments to process the information. I’ve never thought of this aspect of living a long life but it kind of made sense.
“You said you had two incentives. What’s the other one?” I asked.
“If you survive the trials, I can give you more information about Dagan.”
“What?!” I exploded, “I already asked you about his whereabouts and you sent me to Doctor Canius. You mean that you knew where to find Dagan all that time and didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t say that I had information about Dagan’s location,” Anselm said evenly, “I said that I had information about Dagan. It may or may not help you locate him.”
On reflection, I was not sure it was much of an incentive. Look where that investigation had led me — deactivated clones and a fight to death with an Amarrian lord.
“Alright,” I said. “Tell me about the rules of this trial.”
“The rules are simple: participants must be on their own and remain on grid until one of them dies. Any participant who breaks these rules automatically loses the trial.”
“Simple, indeed,” I muttered and stood up. “I guess there is no point in delaying the inevitable. Good-bye, Agent Anselm.”
Before I left the room, Dovirch Anselm called me, “Captain Korff.”
I turned, expecting maybe another rule that he forgot to tell me.
Instead, the agent said simply, “Good luck.”
Surprised at that expression of goodwill from the stone-faced man, I looked at him for a long moment, then nodded and went to the docks.
“They did what?” Aura asked me, horrified, after I had told her about my clone deactivation.
I didn’t reply and for the umpteenth time checked the status of various ship systems.
Aura tightened her lips and said in a determined tone, “Listen, we are not going to die today. We’ll go to that trial and kick the ass of that bloody Lord Pathos.”
“Taphos,” I corrected Aura automatically.
Then I realised what she did there, and involuntarily smiled.
“Yeah, I know. Killing one frigate piloted by a non-capsuleer shouldn’t be a problem. It’s just… that I feel naked and vulnerable even in hi-sec.”
Aura raised an eyebrow, “You are naked.”
I snorted, “Thanks for the reality check.”
“Here is another one for you — a man with seven Tech II 150-mm railguns, protected by 4,387 EHP can hardly call himself vulnerable.”
“Oh, come on! You know that gankers can take on much tankier ships.”
“Pfft! Yeah, there is a queue of gankers waiting outside for a Cormorant destroyer with bugger all in its hold,” Aura said sarcastically. “Anyway, if you are so scared, just make sure that you get the fuck off the grid as soon as the docking control releases you.”
I took a deep breath, “Here goes nothing,” and requested the permission to undock.
Derelik Region — San Matar constellation
Tanoo System — Mission location
Of course, Aura was right — no one paid any attention to a destroyer undocking in 0.9-security system. Nevertheless, I immediately willed Kaukokärki to warp to the trial location. As we emerged from the warp tunnel, I suspiciously peered at the Overview window, checking for hostiles. There was exactly one, a hundred klicks away. As Dovirch Anselm promised, it was a frigate, Crucifier-class, piloted by Lord Taphos. The frigate immediately targeted me and started moving in my direction.
“Why is he doing this?” I mused. “We could have found that bloody Dagan and no one needed to know about the archives.”
“Vlad,” Aura said tensely.
“What?”
“He is within our firing range. Are you going to fight or what?”
He was indeed. I hastily targeted the frigate and opened fire. Ten seconds later the frigate exploded. Stupefied, I looked at the expanding cloud of debris.
“Is that… it?” I asked in bewilderment.
As if in answer to my question, a message appeared on the comms screen. I opened it. The message was from Science and Trade Institute School. It said:
“We are happy to inform you that access to your clones has been restored. Thank you for choosing our Amsen branch for your cloning needs.”
A huge weight lifted off my chest. I took a deep breath of pod goo which tasted like the sweetest air. I was immortal again!
“Congratulations, Captain,” Aura said with a smile. “This calls for a celebration.”
I narrowed my eyes, “The celebration can wait. I have other plans for today.”
“Such as?”
“Such as going back to the Ammatar Consulate Bureau station and shaking out of Anselm all the information he has about Dagan.”
“Great idea!” Aura agreed. “Warp drive active.”