In the Heat of the Moment, Alliances Are Formed,

Although her father had traveled for work many times in the past, either on the business of the crown or to visit the Mariendorf family holdings, Hilde found the silence of her house different this time. Perhaps it was just because she was older, and so all the time spent outside of her manor at school or visiting friends made the emptiness of home feel more real. She didn’t know what the precise cause was, but, in the first week of her father’s trip, she spent as much time away from home as she could, only really coming back to eat dinner and sleep. It wasn’t even like something had gone wrong— her father was still en route, and he sent her a mundane letter daily. But Hilde couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

She couldn’t explain why she had such a foreboding about her father going to visit Lord Castrop. When she tried to rationalize the feeling, she decided that it was probably just projection. There was some part of her mind that was latching onto this small matter as a portent to divine the future of the Empire as a whole.

It made no sense to do that, of course. Whatever happened, the civil war that was looming on the horizon, which everyone could see and no one could stop, would look a lot different than the squabble of one tiny planet and one tiny family with the crown. But it was the first major internal strife within the Empire in her lifetime. At least, it was the first that had escalated into the threat of the Imperial Fleet being sent out against a noble family, rather than a small people’s rebellion put down on a border planet.

This felt different. It felt like there was something in the air. The flexing of the power of the nobility was a sign that things were changing, faster and faster.

After all, the elder Lord Castrop, in his time, had been a loyal servant of the crown— holding the post of Minister of the Treasury, even. If he had used that post to enrich himself, that was no different than any other man who had held the post before or after. That wasn’t close to treason. The fact that his son was willing to rebel so openly felt representative of the shifting sands of the era.

She spoke with Martin about this one day, after her classes at ONU let out. They were sitting outside on a low wall by the main gate. Hilde was waiting for her driver to pick her up, and Martin waited with her, as was his habit on days when they got out of class at the same time. It was a warm afternoon, the summer not having completely retreated, though the first few crisp red leaves were beginning to tumble from the trees and crunch along the pathways underfoot. Martin was twirling one of these leaves in between two fingers.

“Lord Castrop is right that the times are changing,” Martin said. “But he’s too early. If he had tried this after the Kaiser dies, he might have actually succeeded in ‘liberating’ his little fiefdom.” The leaf spun back and forth between his thumb and index finger. “At least for a while.”

“While everyone else is busy fighting for the crown, you mean,” Hilde said.

“Of course. It’s a time that everybody who wants things to change should take advantage of.”

Hilde glanced around, making sure there was no one in earshot. “I hope you’re not thinking about anything dangerous.”

Martin just smiled. “I feel like your friend Captain Leigh might try to take advantage.”

“What do you mean?” Hilde asked, her voice suddenly sharp. “Did Sieg tell you something?”

“No,” Martin said. “But he has no reason to like the status quo, and he’s put himself in a position to change things. That’s all I’m saying.”

“You scare me sometimes, Martin,” Hilde said.

“Sorry.” But he didn’t sound sorry at all. Worrying about Martin brought her back around to worrying about her father, and she let out a sigh.

“What’s the matter?” Martin asked. He twiddled his leaf under her chin, which tickled. It was silly, but it did cheer her up at least enough to answer.

“Outside of all your thoughts about things Lord Castrop should have done better if he wanted to make a stand, do you think my father is in danger?” She leaned back with her hands splayed for support on the low brick wall, looking up at the puffy clouds darting across the blue sky above.

“Does he think he’s in danger?”

“If he did, he wouldn’t tell me. He wouldn’t want me to worry.”

Martin hummed under his breath. “Is Lord Castrop prone to anger?”

“I don’t know,” Hilde said. “I’ve never met him. I don’t have a good impression of him, from all of this, obviously, but at least a long rebellion from the crown isn’t something that’s done on a whim. It seems unlikely that my father coming to speak with him will make him angry enough to— I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s something, at least.” Martin didn’t sound confident.

“But the other thing?”

“If you were Lord Castrop, do you think you could get anything out of holding a count hostage?”

“I don’t know. He seems very confident in his planet’s protective system— the Artemis Necklace— so it doesn’t seem like it would even be necessary for him to ward off any attacks by threatening my father or keeping him prisoner.”

“Does Lord Castrop own a ship?” Martin asked after a second.

“A ship?”

“A ship.”

“Why do you ask?”

“If he has a way to get off the planet, it might be a backup plan.” He looked off into the distance. Down the road, Hilde’s ride was waiting in traffic at the closest stoplight, and would be pulling up to the curb in a moment or so.

“I don’t know if he’s thought any of this through,” Martin said. “But this is probably his only chance to ensure his own safety if he does have to flee his planet. If the Artemis Necklace doesn’t work. Or maybe he hasn’t thought of using your father as a human shield, and he just, I don’t know— a stupid man would want to make sure that he had someone from the Empire to show his military dominance to, when the Fleet inevitably comes through. If he’s confident enough that he will wipe them out, he probably wants a pet witness. To see his face.”

“And you think this is likely?”

The car was pulling up in front of them. “I have a bit of a low opinion of the noble class, I’m afraid,” Martin said. “I think it’s more likely than your father being able to accomplish anything he was sent for.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Hilde said. She stood, and picked up her bag from the ground. Martin stood as well, and tossed away his leaf. It fluttered away on the breeze, and landed in the road, where a car promptly ran it over.

“For the record,” Martin said. “I hope so, too. Of all the nobles in this world, I do like your father.”

Hilde gave him a thin smile. “Thanks.”

“I’ll ask Sieg to keep an ear out for you,” Martin said. “See if there’s any chatter coming through Duke Braunschweig’s office, or anything like that. He should be allowed to talk about that kind of thing with me, I’d assume.”

Hilde nodded. Kircheis would have told her anything he heard, of course, but she did appreciate Martin’s attempt at being helpful. “Thanks,” she said, with as much of a smile as she could muster.

It didn’t take long for Hilde’s premonitions about things going wrong to bear fruit. After her father arrived on Lord Castrop’s planet, and after the departure of the merchant vessel he had flown in on, all communication from her father suddenly ceased. Since her father was in the habit of writing her daily, this struck an immediate alarm in Hilde’s head, and she called up the colonial affairs office several times, trying to get an update about her father’s status. The staff working in the office had the same line: there had been no news from Count Mariendorf, but this didn’t mean that anything was awry. It could just mean that he was busy.

Hilde suspected that they were lying, and she wondered how long they would keep up the pretense for. She could understand wanting to keep it under wraps, whatever had happened to her father, because it would cause a stir among the nobles. She was sure that the whole thing was going to be kept quiet until the Fleet could deal with it.

But that almost made it worse. She wondered if there had been a message from Lord Castrop— was her father alive and being held hostage, or was he dead? She didn’t want to assume the worst, but she couldn’t help but feel a sucking dread. The balance of terror— the idea that he was already dead— the hope that there was still something that someone could do— this made her barely able to eat, hardly able to sleep, for several days. Each day that passed without a word from her father sent her deeper.

She had called Kircheis as soon as she felt the first inkling that something had really, truly gone wrong, and he had promised that he would look into it, and had said that Captain Leigh would, as well. Although Kircheis probably didn’t have very many useful contacts, she was sure that Leigh did, and thinking of his friendship with her father settled her nerves, at least a little. If there was anything that Leigh could do for her father, he certainly would do it.

So, when Kircheis arrived at her house unexpectedly during dinner, when Hilde had been poking her salmon and asparagus around on her plate, alone in the dining room, she felt sure that the news must be terrible, though perhaps not the worst. If the news had been her father’s death, she was certain that Captain Leigh would have come himself. Of all the things that Hilde remembered from the summer that her mother had died, it was Leigh’s steady presence that remained in her mind most clearly.

Her butler let Kircheis into the dining room immediately, though he politely declined the offer of dinner, and sat down across from her. Hilde pushed her plate away.

“Your father is still alive,” Kircheis said.

“I know,” Hilde replied.

“How did you know?” he asked. “Captain Leigh just told me, and I came straight here.”

Hilde just shook her head. “How did Hank find this out?”

Kircheis shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “His former CO, Rear Admiral Bronner, knows more than he should about everything,” Kircheis said. “Though in this case, I think he came by the information legitimately. His department was ordered to give Fleet Admiral Muckenburger a dossier on the best fleet to send to deal with Lord Castrop— delicately. The Kaiser would like the fleet to make sure your father stays alive.”

“Do you know why he told Hank?”

“No,” Kircheis said. “It might just be because they’re friends, or maybe Captain Leigh traded him the information— I don’t know. But this is otherwise being kept very tightly under wraps, until Muckenburger sends out the fleet. He wants this to be over before anyone knows that it’s started.”

Hilde was silent for a moment. “If he sends a fleet against Lord Castrop…”

“I don’t think there’s any way to know what Castrop will do,” Kircheis said. “He’s already so far outside of everyone’s expectations.”

“So I’m just supposed to hope that Lord Castrop is kinder and saner than all of his behavior would lead me to think, and that the fleet manages to broach the Artemis Necklace? I don’t want to say that Castrop is right that his planet can withstand the whole strength of the Imperial Fleet, but the rebel territories use the same technology to protect their capital. They wouldn’t do that if they also didn’t think that it was a powerful tool.”

“Captain Leigh pointed out to me that the rebel fleet also keeps thousands of ships within that starzone,” Kircheis said. “I agree with him that no technology is invincible. And Lord Castrop doesn’t have a fleet to speak of.”

“That doesn’t really make the situation any better. If the Artemis Necklace is destroyed— Martin thinks that Lord Castrop would keep my father as a hostage to run away, but what if he doesn’t do that?”

“I don’t know,” Kircheis said. He sounded strained. “I wish there was something I could do.”

“There has to be something I can do,” Hilde said. “I can’t just sit here. I feel so useless.”

“It might be a while before the fleet admiral sends anyone out,” Kircheis said. “You have some time— I don’t know, maybe you could write a letter to Lord Castrop and—”

“That wouldn’t do anything,” Hilde said.

“No,” Kircheis agreed. He looked down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault,” Hilde said. “I’m sorry for snapping at you.” She bit her lip. Suddenly, an idea came to her. “My father is Duke Braunschweig’s ally,” she pointed out.

“Yes?” Kircheis said, unclear as to where Hilde was going with this.

“Do you think that he has an obligation to help my father, in this circumstance?”

“I don’t know,” Kircheis said. “Politics aren’t really my strongest suit.”

She wasn’t sure if he did, especially since the whole matter was supposed to be kept under wraps. If Duke Braunschweig refused to help her father— and she didn’t even know how he would be able to help— no one would ever find out. It wouldn’t cost him anything aside from the Mariendorf family’s loyalty, and maybe a few other people that Hilde would warn against going to Braunschweig’s side. But, if nothing else, Braunschweig was a man who lived in the court, and always had. He probably had some sense of honor about alliances. And— Hilde thought— even if she couldn’t speak to the duke directly, she might be able to convince his daughter.

“Sieg—” she began.

“What?” Kircheis asked, echoing the anxiety in her tone.

“Could you ask Hank— does he think that there’s anything that he could do, if I asked Duke Braunschweig to help my father, if I go to Lord Castrop to negotiate for his release, even if that doesn’t work— do you think that Hank could help rescue him?”

Kircheis was silent for a long time, seriously considering her words. She was so grateful to him, for not just dismissing her with a platitude, or telling her that it was too dangerous. “I will ask him,” Kircheis said. “I don’t know what he would be able to do, but I will ask.”

She nodded. “I’ll ask for Duke Braunschweig’s help, then.”

Hilde didn’t have a good strategy for meeting with Duke Braunschweig. She knew that the duke would have no desire to speak with her directly. Even being her father’s heir didn’t mean enough to counter the fact that she was a woman without her own proper title, and as young as his daughter. If she had asked him to meet, she suspected that she would be given a run-around.

She could ask to meet with Princess Amarie, and she would likely be given an audience, at least, but from everything that Hilde had learned about the princess, it seemed that she would be harder to convince to take up her father’s cause than the duke. Amarie was a calculating woman, and might decide the Mariendorf family alliance was not worth encouraging her husband to involve himself in yet another scheme that went contrary to the crown’s official stance— which was to keep the entire Castrop affair as a matter between the crown and one rebellious noble, not to involve one of the largest political alliances in the Empire. Duke Braunschweig getting involved would escalate the matter into something that could have real portents for the civil war.

Duke Braunschweig was more hot headed than his wife, and so he would not look that far out when considering if he should give his aid. He would likely only look at the immediate expenses and rewards. He might even, if he were feeling bold, try to demand some sort of reward from the crown for any helpful efforts that he chose to provide in rescuing Count Mariendorf, and putting down Castrop’s rebellion.

But Hilde couldn’t get an audience with the duke herself, so she would have to take a different track.

That left his daughter, who might be able to convince the duke. Hilde didn’t know if the young Elizabeth had that kind of advisory relationship with her father, but it didn’t hurt to try. Especially since she was social with Lady Elizabeth, which meant that it was not too unusual when she followed Captain Leigh to the Braunschweig manor, and asked to see her.

It was an unexpected visit, to be sure, but not one that would cause anyone alarm. Captain Leigh had other business with the duke, so he left to go speak with him, which left Hilde waiting in the large, dim library for Lady Elizabeth to find a second to see her. It was a rainy September day, and the wind lashed the drops of rain down against the windows in thick sheets, blurring out the view of the outside world. It was warm in the library, but the drumming of the rain was loud. It was a fitting accompaniment to Hilde’s mood.

Lady Elizabeth made her appearance quite quickly, striding into the library with a precision that Hilde admired. If she had been wearing a dress as complex as the auburn and gold outfit that Elizabeth was wearing, Hilde would have tripped over her own legs. Or that was the sensation that looking at Elizabeth gave her, anyway. She was so perfectly poised— even though it seemed unlikely that she was planning to leave the house today, her hair was done in an elaborate coiffe, and her face was delicately pale with makeup, her lips a dark and crisp red.

“Lady Hildegard— to see you standing there in silhouette against the window,” Elizabeth called as she came in, “I almost thought that you were Hans. He has a jacket just like yours.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint, Lady Elizabeth.”

“Hardly,” she said. “It’s a pleasant surprise to have company, especially yours.”

“I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything important.”

“No, I was painting. But that’s nothing that can’t be picked up and put down again. And I tire of solitary activities.” She draped herself across one of the couches, and gestured for Hilde to sit across from her, which she did. “You came in with Captain Leigh, I assume? I passed him heading to my father’s office.”

“Yes,” Hilde said. “I apologize for using him as an excuse to invade your home.”

“That’s what we pay Captain Leigh for, isn’t it? Planning invasions?” Elizabeth laughed, but it wasn’t clear if she actually found her own joke funny. “Are you and he here on the same business?”

“You see right through me, Lady Elizabeth. I am here for business, but my own, rather than Captain Leigh’s.”

“Hilde, if this were a social call, you would have asked ahead of time. But you wanted to corner me unexpectedly. I knew you must be after something. And I’m sure a woman like you is not after my social graces.” Hilde felt disarmed by this comment, and had no idea what Elizabeth meant by it.

“No, it’s unfortunately nothing as simple as that.”

“Well, you have my attention.”

“Do you remember when we met?”

“Wasn’t it this past January?”

“At your New Year’s party, yes.”

“And what about that occasion are you asking me to recall?” She smiled, as if they hadn’t had almost the same conversation about Hilde dressing like a man then, too. Elizabeth had a sharp memory, and clearly did remember.

“I told you that it wasn’t my right to give my father’s answer about being Duke Braunschweig’s ally, at the time.”

“Ah, yes, I do remember that. A true enough thing to say.”

“I was hoping that something like that would be less true for you than it is for me.”

“You want me to speak for my father?” Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “Or play some kind of trick on him? You are as bold as I imagined you to be.”

“Not a trick, Lady Elizabeth,” Hilde said. “You’re just the only one I can ask for help.”

“You always do intrigue me, Hilde. What is it that you want? Ask.”

“My father has been taken hostage by Lord Castrop, on his planet. If I don’t do something to free him, I think that he will die. Either when Lord Castrop decides that he is no longer entertaining, or when the Imperial Fleet arrives to put a stop to his rebellion.”

This statement, delivered in Hilde’s most earnest tone, made Elizabeth briefly speechless. “Things have gone that far?” she asked. “I read about his contentions with the crown in the papers a while ago, but I assumed nothing had come of it, since this is the first I’m hearing of it since.”

“Yes, my lady,” Hilde said. “In order to not worry everyone, this has all been kept very quiet. The colonial affairs office won’t even acknowledge that my father is a prisoner.”

“If they won’t acknowledge that, then how did you come to learn this?”

“My father would send me a letter every day,” Hilde said. “They stopped when he arrived at Castrop’s estate. And Captain Leigh was able to gather information about a possible fleet dispatch against Lord Castrop.”

Elizabeth squinted at Hilde for a second, looking for something in her expression. “He learned this from his Phezzani spy?” she asked.

Hilde tried not to react too openly to this question. Elizabeth had assumed that Leigh gave her more information than she really had— no one had mentioned any more to her about the matter of Kircheis’s friend on Phezzan since the issue had first come up. She had assumed that it had gone away. The idea that there continued to be someone feeding Leigh information from Phezzan was interesting, and she wished she could pry through what Elizabeth knew.

“I’m not sure where the information comes from,” Hilde lied. “It probably did come from there, if the fleet office on Phezzan has been instructed to keep an eye out for Castrop running.”

“I see.” Elizabeth brushed some of her hair off her shoulder. “I’m deeply saddened to hear that your father is in trouble, but I’m not sure what I can do about it.”

“My family is allied to yours,” Hilde said. “I would like to formally request your assistance.”

“You know you should be asking my father. You said so yourself.”

“No,” Hilde said. “My father should be asking your father. But because my father is gone, and your father would likely pay me no mind, I must ask you.”

“My father would not ignore you.”

“Will you ignore me, Lady Eizabeth?” Hilde had a sudden flash of imagination— picturing herself kneeling to ask Elizabeth’s aid. She brushed the thought out of her mind before it could show on her face.

“It’s too late for that. You make yourself very hard to ignore.”

“I have cornered you in your home.”

“What is it that you actually want me to ask my father for? There aren’t that many resources that he could feasibly spend.”

“I would like to go to Lord Castrop’s estate and try to negotiate for my father’s release.”

“You don’t need my father’s help for that, surely. You are capable of chartering passage on a ship yourself.”

“Yes, of course,” Hilde said. “But I do not expect that any pleading I do with Lord Castrop will be successful at all.”

“Then why try?”

“Because I would like to remove my father from Lord Castrop’s prison by force, if necessary.”

“Lady Mariendorf, I can tell you with absolute certainty that my father would not dispatch his fleet against Lord Castrop. Not unless the Kaiser himself asked for it.” The cold and firm tone in her voice, and the switch to a much more formal address made Hilde feel despair for the first time in this conversation. Perhaps she should have relied on Captain Leigh to present her case to Duke Braunschweig, rather than asking herself.

“I’m not asking for a fleet, Lady Elizabeth,” Hilde said. “I know that isn’t on the table.”

“Then what is it that I can help you with?”

“One ship,” Hilde said. “One ship to take me to Lord Castrop’s planet, and Captain Leigh and Sub-Lieutenant Kircheis to help me rescue my father. I don’t need a fleet.”

“Captain Leigh is a personal friend of your father’s, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is.”

Elizabeth stared Hilde down, and Hilde straightened her back. “I like Captain Leigh very much,” Elizabeth said, finally. “But if you do not believe you will be successful in convincing Lord Castrop to release your father, what makes you think that Captain Leigh— without a fleet behind him— would be able to rescue him?”

“Captain Leigh is a very talented man,” Hilde said. “He told me that he would do everything in his power to rescue my father, and I believe that is quite a lot.”

“One man cannot do everything.”

“Lady Elizabeth— even if he fails, I would rather try than not try. If I do nothing, and my father dies, I won’t be able to live with myself. And neither will Captain Leigh. I know you can’t give me many resources, but with the ones that I can have— please. Let me try.”

Elizabeth continued to stare her down. “You make such a convincing case,” she said. “I’m moved by pity for you.” Her voice was still very cold, though. “But at the end of the day, I am not the one in charge of my father’s fleet and staff. And he relies on Captain Leigh being here with him. Especially since Captain Ansbach is still out in the corridor. I can’t decree that we will help you.”

“But you could convince your father.”

Elizabeth stood from her languid sprawl on the couch, and walked over to the window. She looked much more imposing against the dim light. “He’ll ask what it will gain. And don’t tell me the Mariendorf family's loyalty, because if you fail, which is likely, the Mariendorf family will no longer have anything to offer me.”

Elizabeth was asking about what could be offered to her father, but she referred only to herself. Hilde remembered Leigh’s comment about who would actually be sitting on the throne, and she felt a sudden thrill of fear, though it was accompanied by a firm feeling that she had made the right choice in asking Elizabeth for help.

“Captain Leigh believes that he can destroy the Artemis Necklace,” Hilde said. “If he does so, it will prove your family’s strength, and will certainly attract more people to your side.”

“So much depends on Captain Leigh’s plans,” Elizabeth said. “We are putting so much faith in one strange man.”

Hilde hesitated. “And, if he can’t do as he believes, it will prove that he’s not a reliable advisor,” she said. “You’ll have a better idea of what will be possible when you try to take the throne.”

Elizabeth considered this. “You make it sound like there’s nothing for me to lose by helping you. If that were really the case, you would have asked my mother.”

“It will displease the crown,” Hilde said. “The Kaiser doesn't want this to become part of the squabble between you and the Littenheim family. But if you help my father, it will be seen as part of that conflict. Your mother would probably not enjoy adding fuel to that fire.”

“And you think I would?”

“You stand to gain much more than your mother does.”

Elizabeth tilted her head to look up at the stormy sky out the window. “You see things so clearly.”

“So do you, my lady.” Hilde said nothing else, giving time for Elizabeth to think.

“If I do nothing, I will lose your friendship,” she said. “And that would be a pity.”

“Yes.”

“Though I would lose it equally as much if you failed in your quest. Only the living are helpful to me, I’m afraid.”

“I would like to promise not to fail.”

This made Elizabeth laugh. “You phrased that exactly like Captain Leigh would.”

“He has been an excellent teacher to me for many years.”

“I’m aware. He serves my father well.” Her tone was neutral. “Why didn’t you ask him to plead on your behalf?”

“I like to handle my affairs myself.”

“You inherit, don’t you?”

“I hope not for a long time, Lady Elizabeth.”

“When you do, you don’t seem the type to have your husband manage your affairs for you.”

“No,” Hilde said firmly. “The Mariendorf estates will be mine.”

“I admire that about you, you know.”

“You will be Kaiserine.”

This made Elizabeth smile, but it was a grim expression. “I will ask my father to loan you Captain Leigh, and a ship. On one condition.”

“What is that?”

“Captain Leigh advises my father. I want you to advise me .”

Hilde stood. “Lady Elizabeth— we hardly even know each other.”

“Is that a refusal?”

“No— I—”

Elizabeth came towards her, her skirt rustling. They were the same height, or Elizabeth was a little shorter. “I need someone who sees things clearly,” Elizabeth said, looking into Hilde’s eyes. “Someone who understands my world, and the rest.”

“I’m honored that you think I—”

“Do you know why my father trusts Captain Leigh?” Elizabeth asked suddenly.

“Because of his skill and his work with Iserlohn—”

“No,” Elizabeth said. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s something that Captain Ansbach told him. Leigh is an outsider. He has nowhere else to go, and he has nothing to gain from playing games with my father.” She tilted her head and looked in Hilde’s eyes, and she reached out to tug on the lapel of Hilde’s suit. “You and Captain Leigh are not the same, of course, but I could trust you for the same reason. You clearly aren’t playing the games of the court the same way everyone else is, Hilde.”

Hilde’s heart beat faster, and she wasn’t sure what to say. “Of course, Lady Elizabeth. I’m happy to advise you in whatever ways I can.”

“Provided you make it back from Lord Castrop’s planet,” Elizabeth said, her tone almost dismissive once again. She tapped Hilde’s chest, and then stepped away. “I’ll go speak to my father and Captain Leigh. You’ll have an answer by the end of the day.”

“And you think your father will agree?”

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. “I think I can be convincing when I need to be.”