Render Unto Caesar

Elizabeth was able to convince her father to loan Hilde a ship, but before they could truly start their journey, it was important for them to speak with Lord Castrop to make sure that the ship would not be shot down as it approached the planet. Within Odin’s FTL communications network, there was a block from the Imperial government on transmissions to and from Castrop’s planet— in a vain attempt to stop any more news of his rebellion spreading among the nobility. This only meant that speaking with Castrop had to be performed on the ship’s military ansible, once they left Odin’s starzone.

The ship that Duke Braunschweig had loaned to Hilde was small, as far as Imperial battleships went, but to her, who had only been onboard passenger vessels, and then only rarely, it seemed unimaginably huge. And dreary. There were the usual swirled metal adornments on the walls and furniture, but rather than livening the vessel, it served to make every corner feel samey and disorienting. Kircheis and Leigh seemed immune to this, probably because they had spent so much time on identical cruisers, but it took Hilde a while to get used to it.

The ship could allow Hilde to transmit video from almost any room, but Captain Leigh decided that a better place for her to make her broadcast was from the bridge of the ship. The captain of the vessel was cajoled by Leigh (or ordered, but in the way that Leigh hardly ever made anything feel like an order) into giving up his chair briefly so that Hilde could be centered in the frame of the hidden bridge camera. She felt distinctly uncomfortable and out of place among all the soldiers performing their usual duties. It wouldn’t have felt like anything if she had been wearing her usual clothes, but she knew that the impression she was going to make on Castrop was an important one, so she was wearing a dress.

The only impression that she wanted to give was that she was a dutiful daughter of a respectable Imperial family— harmless but sincere. Someone who perhaps had something to offer, but was not in a position to make threats.

Leigh and Kircheis were outside the camera’s view. Leigh was perched cross-legged on one of the computer consoles, having displaced the fire control technician who usually sat there, telling him to go take a break, since there was no way this ship would be engaging in battle for the foreseeable future. Kircheis stood next to him, and he offered Hilde a smile, though he held himself so stiffly that it didn’t reach his eyes like it usually did.

Sitting in the captain’s chair, waiting for the call to Castrop to connect, Hilde fidgeted in her seat, trying to arrange herself comfortably, to look proper on the little monitoring display she could see on the communication technician’s console. The little image, with its unnatural white balance, looked like a stranger. But then she didn’t have time to check her image anymore, because the call went through.

She was surprised that it was Castrop who appeared on the screen, projected far larger than life on the screen at the front of the bridge. Kircheis turned to look at him, but Leigh kept looking at Hilde, with his soft gaze.

Like her, Castrop was seated, but he was outdoors, on some tiled patio, with a fine breeze lifting his light blonde hair. He, unlike Hilde, seemed very comfortable, and he smiled at the camera.

“Lord Castrop,” Hilde said, “thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I’ve been trying to do so for days, but communications from Odin are blocked.”

“Lady Mariendorf, how could I miss the opportunity? Especially since you’ve come so far— you’ve had to come all the way to space, I can see. Such a strange environment to see a young lady in. But what is it that you need to speak with meso urgently about?”

“I haven’t heard from my father,” she said. “I wanted to make sure that he is alright.”

“Your father? Count Mariendorf is quite well. As you said yourself, communications from Odin are blocked. It’s been quite inconvenient.”

“May I see him?”

“I’m afraid he’s busy at the moment.”

Hilde got impatient. “Doing what?” she asked, but immediately regretted it. Castrop’s face twitched in displeasure, and he reached out of frame— when his hand came back into view he was holding a glass of wine.

“He’s touring some of my estate,” Castrop said. “I think he’s been enjoying the weather here.”

“Is he planning to return to Odin?”

“Not soon, no.” Castrop smiled.

“Lord Castrop—”

“What is it, Lady Mariendorf?”

“I understand that it might be difficult for merchant freighters like the one my father traveled in on to visit your planet, considering the situation. I was wondering if it might be possible for me to offer my father a ride home on this ship, which Duke Braunscheig has been kind enough to lend me.”

“You would come all the way out here?” Lord Castrop asked. “That’s quite a journey for a young woman.”

“My family’s estate is further from Odin than your planet is, Lord Castrop. If I’m to be my father’s heir then I have to get used to traveling, especially if I want to help him with his work, either on our estate or his political work.”

“Politics and managing the land are difficult tasks, I’m surprised your father would want you to get involved. Do you think if I asked him, he would want you to involve yourself in these politics?”

“My father trusts me,” Hilde said simply.

Castrop took a long drink of his wine, nearly draining the cup. He left just a mouthful, to swirl around in the glass, leaving a red film on the glass, which dripped down in rivulets.

“If you would also like to come and visit my beautiful planet, I’m always happy to have guests, especially those who have some political task from Odin. How could I refuse?”

“Thank you, Lord Castrop,” Hilde said.

“But.”

Hilde didn’t say anything, just waited for Castrop to make his demand, whatever it was.

Castrop seemed a little frustrated by her silence, putting down his wine glass hard enough on the table before him that it made an audible clink. “Of course,” Castrop said, “I can’t allow your whole ship to land, unfortunately. I don’t have guest bedrooms for a few hundred of Duke Braunscheig’s soldiers. I only have room for you, Lady Mariendorf.”

“I understand, Lord Castrop,” Hilde said. She hadn’t expected much different. “May I bring a small entourage with me, down on the shuttle. Guards, and such?”

“No,” Castrop said.

“For my safety, please, you must understand.”

“No,” he said again. “Do you understand the word? I only want a small number of guests.”

She had fully expected that this request would be denied. Castrop obviously wouldn’t want her to bring down a cadre of soldiers who might be able to storm his house and kill him. Some shuttles were quite large, and could fit a good number of men.

“May I at least bring one single person as an escort?” she asked, trying to put a pleading, helpless note in her voice. She didn’t think she was good at it. “I’m a lady, and a lady should have an escort.”

This did give Castrop a single moment of pause, and he said, “And who would that be?”

Hilde gestured to Kircheis, and he stepped forward into the view of the camera. Castrop’s eyes roved over his image, taking in his youth, the lack of rank in his uniform. “This is Sub-lieutenant Kircheis,” Hilde said. “He’s a friend of my father’s.”

Castrop was silent for a long moment. “Fine,” he said. “If you really believe yourself to be in need of someone to protect you. But I assure you, Lady Mariendorf, no harm would come to you while you’re my guest.”

“Thank you for the assurance, Lord Castrop. I’m sure that you are a most gracious host.”

Since the whole idea for the trip had been conceived and shoved into motion so quickly, Leigh spent the first couple days cloistered in his room, poring over every scrap of material that was available on Lord Castrop. He monopolized the ship’s FTL communications, using them to connect remotely to any data source he had access to.

Hilde saw him at dinner, and, on the first day, he passed her a stack of scribbled notes to peruse, things that he thought might be useful to her, specifically. These notes contained takeaways that Leigh had gathered about Castrop’s personality, mostly what tacks might be useful in negotiating with him. Hilde looked them over dutifully, and hoped that they would come to good use, but she doubted it. None of the anecdotes in the dossier created an image of a man who liked to negotiate.

What seemed much more pressing was Leigh’s analysis of Castrop’s military strength. Did he have any troops aside from scant police forces used to keep his population in line? From aerial views of the planet— the only information that was available— what could be gleaned about where Count Mariendorf was being held prisoner? And the Artemis Necklace— the question that hovered over everything, like the satellites in the sky above the blue and green world— what would be required to destroy it?

Leigh didn’t discuss things with her until he had fully gone over the available material, though she didn’t know why he waited. If this had been any other subject, he would have been happy to walk her through his thought processes as they happened— he was a natural teacher, and she knew he enjoyed having her as a student— but perhaps the subject was too close and painful for the both of them. She knew how much Leigh respected her father, but she had retained the childish understanding of Leigh’s presence in her life as being part of her life, and not her father’s. That changed, when she saw how drawn Leigh’s face was at dinner when they ate together in the small mess hall. She decided to allow Leigh his time, and not pester him in his office, though she burned with curiosity and her own anxieties.

As they came closer to Castrop’s planet, finally Leigh called her and Kircheis to meet and discuss their plans. They sat down in his office, across from his desk, utilitarian and sparse— Leigh hadn’t had time to make the room his own mess yet.

“We’ll be at Castrop’s planet in a couple days,” Leigh said. “I think— I have something resembling a plan.”

Kircheis nodded. Leigh ran his hand through his hair.

“I’m sure it’s a good one,” Hilde said.

“It’s not,” Leigh replied. “I don’t think that there is a good plan. I’m tempted to say that it’s too dangerous, and that we should just wait for the Kaiser to send in his fleet, but I know you won’t accept that answer, so here is the best that I can do with what I have.”

“You’re right about that,” Hilde said.

“Your father wouldn’t want you to be here,” Leigh pointed out. “He wouldn’t want me or Sub-lieutenant Kircheis to be here either. And I know that if anything happens to you, he’ll never forgive me.”

“Captain Leigh,” she said, which made Leigh make a sad expression— she usually called him Hank. “Why are you saying all of this? I already know that, and it’s not going to change my mind.”

“Because I know that you would never forgive me if I gave you a plan that was safer to yourself that had less of a chance of success,” Leigh said. “Or, if I did do that, you wouldn’t follow it.”

“Thank you.”

“What is the plan, sir?” Kircheis asked.

Leigh sighed, and slid a thick folder full of information across the table to Kircheis, who flipped it open. The first thing in the stack was an overhead view of Castrop’s home area, which was atop a large hill, and made up of clusters of rectangular buildings, all around winding roads. Different buildings were labeled, as well as the airfield on the outskirts of the area, and some other relevant features. Kircheis continued to flip through the stack of information, and came to photographs of Castrop’s personal ship, which was seen on the ground on the airfield in the aerial view, as well as engineering drawings of the layout of the ship. Overall, there was quite a lot of information available, more than Hilde had expected to have at her disposal, but there was only so far that information could go.

As Kircheis finished flipping through the stack without reading it fully, Leigh began to speak. He was trying to slip back into his favorite lecture mode, but the cracks kept showing in his voice, a certain hesitation that Hilde had never heard before.

“So,” he began. “I think that you gathered from Castrop’s personality that he’s unlikely to release your father, even if you offer money, or protection, or anything else. I would like to say that the plan should be to find where your father is being kept, and to simply break him out. Lord Castrop does have a prison on his planet, which is mainly for the locals.”

Leigh made a face as he said this, though Hilde suspected this was just Leigh’s opinion about Castrop’s rule of law on his planet.

Leigh continued. “I don’t know if your father is being kept there. From what I’ve been told, security isn’t that tight, but it’s also not something that I would feel confident sending you into.”

“Why do you say that security isn’t that tight?” Hilde asked. “How do you know?”

“As a ruler, outside of his private amusements and his Necklace, Castrop is a technophobe, from what I can tell. He keeps control of the populace with his private police, and by keeping tools out of the hands of the people. You can see on the overview” —he gestured for Kircheis to give him the folder of images, and flipped to the satellite view, where he pointed out solar farms— “that power is only generated through solar, and primarily near his estate and for specific other uses elsewhere. This is, for most people living on it, a world lit only by fire. I think it’s a pretty common tactic— Duke Braunschwieg does the same on some of his planets, I’m led to understand. But this means that a prison that just has locking doors with physical keys and guards with guns is sufficient in most cases.”

“That’s good for us,” Kircheis said.

“It would be good if you had more than just yourselves to work with. I’m not going to suggest you perform a break-in there. And, as I said, I don’t know if your father is even being held there.” He shook his head. “Lord Castrop seems like the type of man who might keep your father close by him, rather than treating him like an ordinary person. He’s useful as a hostage, and so that gives him some status, for whatever that’s worth.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Hilde asked.

“Obviously, if you see a good opportunity to break your father out, I don’t think I could dissuade you from taking it. But I don’t want to rely on that.” He closed his eyes for a second. “So, the negotiations are likely to fail, and it’s unlikely that you will be able to rescue your father outright. But there are alternatives.” He opened his eyes and looked at Kircheis. “Sub-lieutenant— your duty is to see if there is any technical information that you can glean about the Artemis Necklace. I doubt that Phezzan has left Castrop with books and books of documentation, and I doubt that the control room is something that you can break into. But anything you can learn and communicate to me will be helpful. I really do mean anything. Even if you can get Castrop to demonstrate firing it, that will give me an indication of where the satellites that control it are. Right now, they’re all disguised as part of the asteroid cloud around the planet.”

“Yes, sir,” Kircheis said.

“If I can destroy the Necklace with that information, then Castrop will run, and he will take your father with him. Because your father will be a hostage, we won’t be able to attack his ship directly. So we need another way…”

From the stack of papers, Leigh pulled out the diagram of Lord Castrop’s ship.

“This is a merchant freighter, with a fresh coat of paint. I think Lord Castrop has either had it for many years, or he got it cheaply— it’s an old model.” There was a strange tone in Leigh’s voice. “It’s the same class of ship my father used. I’m very familiar with it.”

Hilde raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. She didn’t know anything about Leigh’s family. Kircheis’s eyes were wide.

From his pocket, Leigh pulled out a data stick. He held it out to the two of them, and it was Hilde who took it. “What’s this?” she asked.

“This class of ships has a known flaw in the engine design,” he said. “It’s been mitigated with software keeping various parameters within very strict limits, but it is only software, and it can be changed.”

The data stick suddenly felt warm in Hilde’s hands.

Leigh leaned back in his seat, tilting his face towards the ceiling. His voice was strained. “If you break onto his ship, and install this program, his ship will become a bomb, on a time limit. We’ll tell him that, when he flees. And if he wants to live, he’ll have to abandon ship. He’ll take your father with him on the shuttle for protection, bargaining power, whatever he thinks he can get. But we’ll be able to pick them up.”

“Where did you get this, sir?” Kircheis asked.

“Phezzan,” Leigh said.

“Your spy?” Hilde asked.

Leigh cracked open his eyes and looked down his nose at her. “If I answered that question, I would be doing everyone a disservice, Hilde.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

Leigh closed his eyes again. “Don’t apologize. I would ask the same question. I just wouldn’t expect an answer.”

“Alright,” Kircheis said. “We can do that.”

“I doubt that you’ll be able to communicate with me once you land. The cloud of asteroids around the planet is a pretty effective radio blocker, and your shuttle doesn’t have an ansible that would cut through it.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Kircheis said.

“Yes,” Leigh replied. “I wish I could go with you.”

“It’s alright, sir,” Kircheis said. “We’ll take care of it.”

“I know you will,” Leigh said. He sighed and sat straight in his chair. “I’m not going to make you promise not to take too many risks, and to come back alive, and to leave immediately if things seem to be going wrong. I know you can’t promise that to me. But I hope that you will take care of yourselves first. It’s what your father would want for you.”

“I know, sir,” Hilde said. She appreciated Leigh’s directness and honesty, and his willingness to take her seriously. He always would have, but it stood out to her more than it ever had before. She felt a strange sadness looking at him— so dejected in his chair.

“It’s a good plan, sir,” Kircheis said. “Thank you for putting it all together for us.”

Leigh nodded, and said nothing more.

Hilde and Kircheis didn’t bring much in the way of luggage with them in the shuttle down to Castrop’s planet— they had absolutely no intention of staying for any longer than they had to— so all that was packed in the back of their shuttle were minimal supplies. Some of it was disguised as a standard toolkit that any shuttle would have, one for performing repairs on the outside of battleships. They had brought weapons, but those were hidden beneath the metal floor panels of the shuttle, though they would probably be found if the ship was to be searched. They were going to have to be unarmed as they went into Castrop’s estate proper to negotiate, but that couldn’t be helped. And because they were planning to go directly to his estate after landing, Hilde was forced to wear an outfit that had been chosen for her talks with Castrop all the way down onto the planet.

She hated the dress that she had forced herself into. She chose it, but that didn’t make it feel any less like a horrible costume on her. Its only benefit was that, among its voluminous fabrics, she could easily and undetectably carry Leigh’s destructive program for Castrop’s ship. Even still, she was immensely jealous of Kircheis, who wore his uniform. Her constant fidgeting with the ruffles of the skirt and the constricting bodice made him glance over at her in silent sympathy as they rode the shuttle down to the surface.

Kircheis didn’t need to pilot the shuttle, although he had taken a minimal course on doing so. The shuttle flew on autopilot, nimbly weaving through the chunks of rock that circled the planet in a cloud, not yet a complete ring like gas giants often had. All this rock must have once been a moon or a large asteroid that had been broken up under tidal forces, or on purpose by man. Hilde didn’t know the history of this world, and so couldn’t say for sure. But as they came closer to it, it became clear that it wasn’t just rocks, but also a thick cloud of dust, one that caught the light from the star and spun it in through the windows of the shuttle, glinting and glaring as they descended into the atmosphere.

The planet was a rich one, at least in terms of its environment. In the fertile latitudes, farms wrapped the ground like a patchwork blanket, all greens and yellows of different shades. There were wilder parts, as well, forests that sprawled dark and wide across the equator, and broad rivers, and lakes so large they could have been seas. It was a beautiful planet, one that some past Kaiser must have given as a very lavish reward to some very loyal servant, far back in the Castrop line. Ironic, now, how such a thing could compel a son of that line to rebel.

As they flew closer to Castrop’s home, the only place on the planet that resembled a city even slightly, Hilde took note of the low lying areas surrounding the hill upon which the city was built. The airfield was in the only flat area on the outskirts, so passing low over the city for a landing gave a chance to view the architecture close up. It was fairly different from the usual Imperial style— it looked like something out of one of Leigh’s history textbooks about Ancient Earth. It was Roman, or trying to be— all marble-columned buildings and cobblestone pathways winding between public squares where fountains could be seen, with pedestrians gathering around them, like little ants from this height.

The landing in the airfield was smooth, but before Hilde could even rearrange the fabric of her skirt and prepare herself mentally to step out, men on horseback were trotting up to surround their shuttle. They wore some sort of faux historical uniform— not Fleet, that was for sure. Castrop certainly seemed to fancy himself as a reenactor of something.

“I don’t like the look of this,” Hilde muttered as she unfastened her seatbelt and clambered towards the back of the shuttle where the door was.

“At least it shows we’re guests that Lord Castrop is paying attention to.”

Hilde forced a smile onto her face, or at least the kind of steely expression that Lady Elizabeth was so good at. She opened the door of the shuttle and stepped out, followed swiftly by Kircheis.

The air was deliciously warm, after being in the dry and sterile confines of ships for their trip, and this almost made Hilde not think about the smell, drifting in on the wind from the city— a heady combination of ocean water, growing things, and shit.

The soldiers on their horses did not dismount.

“Lady Mariendorf?” one asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Are you here to escort me to see Lord Castrop?”

“If my lord wishes to see you,” the soldier said.

“This is my companion, Siegfried Kircheis. He will be accompanying me.”

“If my lord allows it.”

Hilde wanted to make a remark about how if Castrop did not want them on his planet, then they would have been shot from the sky, but that seemed like an imprudent thing to say, so instead she just smiled. “We spoke with Lord Castrop, and there was no problem with my companion joining me. Lord Castrop seemed happy to negotiate with me about my father’s continued presence on this planet. I hope that hasn’t changed.”

The guard, or whatever his role was, shrugged. “Your chariot.”

From down the airfield, there came a clattering of wheels, and a horse drawn chariot came into sight, painted a gaudy gold and red. Although Hilde hated it, she realized that the alternative might have been more embarrassing for her: in her current outfit, she would have found it difficult to ride a horse properly. She smiled grimly, and let Kircheis help her into the chariot.

As soon as they were loaded in, they left the airfield. She felt like she was abandoning all sense of control— behind them, guards were inspecting their shuttle, and she doubted that it would remain closed and where they left it while they were gone. And even if it did, they would need to rely on Castrop’s transportation— horses, apparently— to bring them to and from the airfield. It wasn’t a short journey from the outskirts of the city to the peak of the hill on which Castrop’s mansion sat like a temple.

As they drove, Hilde could see more clearly the way life was in this city, on this planet. The streets were full of pedestrians who all dodged out of the way of the guards and horses as they trampled though. Most people looked impoverished, though the closer they drew towards the center of the city, the cleaner it all became.

Castrop had clearly styled his land after ancient Rome, but the temples that they passed bore the familiar visages of the Imperial gods and goddesses— Odin and Thor and the rest— just done in white marble and in this strange setting. Everyone dressed in togas, or chitons maybe, Hilde had never paid much attention to historical costuming. Most people wore sandals. The ugly smells of people packed together persisted, and mingled with smoke from ovens and other house fires, and the manure of animals.

Though, for the most part, there didn’t appear to be much in the way of technology, the guards who accompanied them carried modern sidearms, and the closer they came to Castrop’s estate, winding their way up the hill, the more buildings had solar panels outfitted on the roofs. Hilde even saw a motorcycle parked next to one lavish house, and she silently pointed it out to Kircheis as their chariot clattered past.

The whole thing painted a disturbing picture. It was not very much like the Mariendorf family holdings, which she had been to many times in her life. Those were modest, but the scattered towns all had access to power, and her father had endeavored to make sure that there were doctors and schools and all the necessities for the people on his land to live their lives. As far as Hilde knew, this arrangement had suited him as a landlord, and the people just as well. If Castrop felt the need to control his population by taking away even the barest standards of modern life— it seemed completely unreasonable to her. But she bit her lip: she wasn’t here to save Castrop’s people, just her father.

A dark thought crossed her mind. Perhaps this treason had been planned for many years. After all, in a world that was primarily agricultural, to keep a modern technological standard of living, one would have to import quite a lot. If Castrop knew that, he might have taken steps to reduce the amount that he would have to import to keep his planet running, by preemptively reducing his population’s needs. Or ignoring them, anyway, and forcing them to get used to it. But maybe she was assigning more credit for forethought than Castrop really deserved. After all, Leigh had said that Duke Braunschweig ran some of his estates in a similar way, and it seemed unlikely that he was doing so to prepare to take an independent stand against the crown. It must have just been cheaper. And nothing, it seemed, was cheaper than the life of one of the people living in these estates.

She felt observed as they drove by. People were leaning out their windows to stare.

Castrop’s home was the same white marble, an illusion of cleanliness at the top of the hill. It was styled after a temple, but it was his house, and nothing else. The guards led her and Kircheis inside. It was dim, with air flowing cool through the hallways— the building had an almost open layout; past the columns on the outside holding the roof there were wide hallways that opened directly to the outdoors and provided natural ventilation. The ceilings were cavernously tall, and Hilde wondered if the builders had deigned to use modern equipment to put it all together, or if it had been done by teams of workers toiling by hand.

Hilde and Kircheis were instructed to wait in an antechamber, and were not given any indication of how long they could expect to be waiting for. They didn’t sit down on the cushions provided, and just stood next to each other, facing the door, waiting for something to happen. She could tell how nervous Kircheis was by how stiffly he held his arms. But he didn’t say anything, and neither did she.

The wait felt like an eternity, with the only indication of time the lengthening of the shadows on the floor of the room, and checking Kircheis’ watch. The minutes crawled by— half an hour, forty-five minutes.

After Hilde began to wonder if they would ever be summoned or spoken to, guards reappeared and instructed them to follow. They were brought through the house, much further, out to the back of the building, where the sound of instruments playing began to drift through the air: lyres and flutes, or something.

They emerged onto a back balcony area, which looked down over the reach of the city. The sun was going down, and the temperature was dropping, the wind picking up. These were the things that Hilde noticed first. But then she saw Lord Castrop, reclining at the front of a feast laid out, and then she saw her father, who saw her.

Her father was unharmed, or at least he didn’t seem injured. But the clothes that he was dressed in were rumpled, and his beard was coming in, the growth of quite a few days. He sat at Castrop’s left side, and when he saw Hilde, his face turned pale as a sheet.

“How good of you to join us, Lady Mariendorf!” Lord Castrop said. “I’m so pleased that you could come all this way. Take a seat, be my guest.”

There were other people seated on cushions all around, in front of their own bowls of food and goblets of wine, but they were silent, and looked at Hilde warily as she came forward to take a seat at the indicated place. The few musicians at the side of the party kept playing, not lifting their eyes to look at her.

Kircheis followed Hilde, but Castrop snapped, “I didn’t invite the retainer.”

Hilde looked at Kircheis with wide eyes, but he just silently stepped back to stand against one of the pillars near the guards. This seemed to satisfy Castrop, and so Hilde continued forward. She was seated at Castrop’s right side, across from her father. He looked at her, and his expression was so sorrowful that she couldn’t meet his eyes. She hadn’t realized how terrible it would feel to see her father not want her there. She understood that it was because he feared for her safety, but that only hardened the resolve in her heart.

Lord Castrop was a large man, wearing a toga. His face was round and young looking, though Hilde knew he was in his thirties, and his hair was a fine and wispy blonde, much more like half the Imperial court than the pictures she had seen of the antiquity that he was trying to mimic.

“Lord Castrop,” she said as she settled down onto the cushion, “thank you for allowing me to visit your charming planet.”

“Of course,” Castrop said. “I’m pleased that you find it charming. I hope that you will enjoy it as my guest for a while.” He lazily reached out and took some grapes from a platter before him, eating them, oddly, two at a time.

“I’m afraid I’m not planning to stay for long, Lord Castrop,” Hilde said. “The ship that I borrowed from Duke Braunschweig has other places to be, so I can’t linger, as much as your planet is beautiful.”

“That’s a shame. I do so enjoy having guests. Your father has been an interesting one.”

“In what way?” Hilde asked. She didn’t want to set Castrop off by leaping to state that her father was clearly a prisoner, so she had to play along. It grated.

“He keeps trying to give me advice! It’s very funny! No one who knows me well ever tries to give me advice!” He laughed. This was what made Hilde realize that he was already drunk. “Perhaps that’s why I’ve kept him around. It’s so unusual to hear things that sound like jokes, delivered so sincerely.”

“My father has always had a good sense of humor,” Hilde said. “Though I’m afraid that he also has business back on Odin that he will need to get to. I’m sure he’ll miss your company when he goes. It’s always nice to have someone who laughs at your jokes.”

“I have not been laughing, Lady Mariendorf.”

“Oh,” Hilde said.

“Eat.” Castrop pointed at the food in front of her. “I don’t ever like to talk on an empty stomach.”

She obeyed, taking some of the fruit and bread and meat set out in trays before her. She glanced at her father for confirmation that she should eat, and he hastily took some food too. Castrop didn’t say anything to stop him. So, Hilde ate. The food, admittedly, was delicious, and the wine was bright and sweet.

As they ate, the room filled up with slight chatter from the other guests at the meal, but Hilde couldn’t hear their conversations well enough to know if they were important. She glanced at the back of the gathering towards Kircheis, to see if anyone had given him something to eat, but they hadn’t, so he was just standing at attention near one of the pillars, watching everything. She felt bad for him, but considered that he probably also felt bad for her. No one interrupted Castrop while he was eating, and Hilde didn’t dare to either. When he had finished, or at least satisfied himself enough that he was willing to talk, he washed his hands in a bowl that a servant brought over, and then turned to Hilde.

“Did you enjoy your meal?”

“Yes, Lord Castrop. Your planet is as bountiful as it is beautiful, clearly.”

“So very true.”

Hilde put down her wine glass. “Lord Castrop, I would like to speak to you plainly. I understand that you are a busy man, and so I shouldn’t waste your time.”

“Lady Mariendorf, we have nothing but time.”

“I’m afraid that’s not the case, Lord Castrop.”

“And why not?” He laughed. “Maybe you’re a little too used to the rush of the way things are done in the capital. Here we take things at a much easier pace.”

“It’s true that I am very used to life on Odin,” she said. “As is my father, and he would very much like to return there.”

“Is that so, Count Mariendorf? I haven’t heard a word of complaint from you as my guest. Have I been a poor host?” He looked over at Hilde’s father.

“I would like to return home with my daughter,” he said. His voice was rough, either with the strain of seeing Hilde, or with disuse. “If that is agreeable to you.”

“Then I would be left without any friendly company to remind me of life on Odin,” Castrop said, exaggerating his amicable tone. “Since you say that I’m never likely to be allowed to return there.”

“Lord Castrop, if you allow my father to leave and return to Odin, he can negotiate with the crown on your behalf. All of these problems can be solved—”

“I have no desire to negotiate with the crown!” Castrop snapped. “Why would I want anyone to negotiate for me? I’ve made myself perfectly clear. There’s no power in the universe that will compel me to bow. I’m tired of bowing.”

Hilde sat up straighter and did not let herself be cowed by Castrop’s tone. “Even as we speak, there’s a fleet of ships waiting to come here and kill you. If you negotiate, you might live.”

“Such harsh threats from such a beautiful young woman. Lady Mariendorf, isn’t it obvious that I’m not scared of the Kaiser’s fleets in the least?”

“Pardon me for being presumptuous, but you should be.”

“Your jokes are just as funny as your father’s.” Castrop was no longer laughing, but his cheeks were red with alcohol and anger.

“Lord Castrop, I don’t mean at all to insult the life you’ve built here, and the Necklace that protects your planet. I’m sure that it’s quite impressive—”

“It is.”

“But there are many, many clever men in the Kaiser’s employ, and millions of ships at their disposal. You’re going to force the Kaiser’s hand to make an example of you— and he will do whatever it takes to bring your lands back under Imperial control.”

“He can try. You haven’t seen how powerful my Necklace is.”

“If you think a demonstration will change my mind, I’d be happy to see it,” Hilde said, remembering that Leigh wanted a test-fire of the device. “I could communicate that to the Kaiser on your behalf.”

“Perhaps you will get to see one, Lady Mariendorf. At this moment, I lack appropriate targets. I’m told the ship you came in on is waiting out of my reach. A pity.”

Hilde blanched. “Lord Castrop, you’re a funny man as well.”

“Am I? I don’t hear any laughter.”

“Haha,” Hilde tried, but it came out hollow.

“Much better.” He picked up a pear that had been sliced in half, and ate it in dainty little bites that nevertheless caused juice to drip down his hand and chin.

“Lord Castrop, if you want to continue to take a stand against the crown, I can’t stop you,” Hilde said. “But I beg of you to let my father return to Odin. If I cannot negotiate with the crown on your behalf, is there anything else I can offer you to allow him to leave?”

Castrop took a long time to finish his pear. “Certainly there’s something you can offer me, Lady Mariendorf.”

Hilde leaned forward. “What is it?”

“Your father is a valuable guest,” he said. “I would need something equally valuable in exchange. But it seems to me that you have some power independent of your father: you said it was Duke Braunschweig who brought you here, correct?”

“He loaned me the ship, yes. If there’s anything you want me to negotiate with the duke for—”

“No, no,” Castrop said. “I have no need for anything of Duke Braunschweig’s. If I wanted things from him, I would be his friend.” Hilde waited for Castrop to elaborate on what it was that he wanted. Castrop stared at her, and she kept her back straight and didn’t shift in her seat. “But if you have that much power, perhaps you’re just as valuable as your father is. I would be happy to have you as a guest in his place.”

“No!” her father said. “I will not let you—”

“Silence,” Lord Castrop said.

Hilde looked into her father’s eyes for a second. He seemed on the verge of tears. Hilde kept her face still. “I’m afraid I have too much business on Odin,” Hilde said. “I don’t have much time to stay.”

“Such a pity. You’re certain that I can’t convince you to be my guest for a little while longer?”

“If my father is unable to do it, I think it is my duty to report your feelings to the crown.”

“I think the crown is perfectly well aware of my feelings. You said that as we speak, there is a fleet being ordered in this direction.”

“The crown still will expect an answer.”

“It will have one, then,” Castrop said. “A pity that you will be the one to give it.”

“Why is that?”

Castrop just smiled. “When will you be leaving, then, Lady Mariendorf? Surely you’ll at least wait until tomorrow morning.”

She glanced behind herself at Kircheis, still waiting at the back. He made no reaction whatsoever, staring straight ahead and pretending not to pay attention.

“I would like to discuss that with my retainer, if I could,” she said, though she was sure that they wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible. She had a feeling that the longer she stayed in Castrop’s estate, the more danger she would be in. “And I would like to speak with my father, since I don’t know when I’ll get to see him again.”

“Of course,” Castrop said. “How could I refuse a request like that? But first, you must watch my dancers.” He clapped his hands, and there was a flurry of movement from within the building. Dancers in bright costumes emerged, and the whole party turned to watch them. The time for talk was clearly over.

The musicians struck up a more energetic tune, now, and the dancers twirled around and around. Hilde didn’t really want to watch— the display made her feel deeply uncomfortable. The dancers oriented their whole performance towards Castrop, ignoring the rest of the guests and making sure that Castrop had the only real view of their movements— they danced in between the front where Hilde was sitting and the rest of the banquet guests, and they divested themselves of their layers of fluttery fabric one at a time, the music growing faster and faster, so much so that Hilde was sure that it had to end soon, somehow, but it kept going. Castrop was enthralled with the performance, drinking another glass of wine while following every step.

Hilde wanted to look away. The sun was setting, and she saw someone walking around to torches on the edge of the gathering, ignored by everyone else. Her eyes followed this servant instead, his slow trek around the periphery, the torchlight an easier dance to watch than the women.

After the prolonged dance performance had finally finished, the dancers all sat down on the cushions next to Castrop, which gave a handy excuse for Hilde and her father to get up. Castrop waved them off, and Hilde was allowed to speak with her father and Kircheis in a room by themselves. But there were guards outside, and the walls were the same open style the whole house was built from, so Hilde doubted they had much privacy at all.

This didn’t stop her father from sweeping her up in a crushing hug the moment they were ostensibly alone. “Hilde, my darling,” he said, “what are you doing here?”

“I came to get you out of here,” she said.

“You shouldn’t have come.”

“I couldn’t sit around and do nothing,” she said. “Captain Leigh is on the ship in orbit. We’re— it’s going to be okay.”

He lowered his voice. “He has a plan?”

“Yes, sir,” Kircheis said. “Though you might have to remain with Lord Castrop for a while.”

“I know,” her father said. “Thank you for not trying to trade yourself for me.”

Hilde frowned. “Don’t say things like that.”

He shook his head, then, with his voice quiet again, he asked, “What are you going to do?”

Hilde flicked her eyes to the open entrance of the room. Her father nodded. It didn’t hurt to be too cautious. “I think we’re going to have to go back to Captain Leigh,” she said, though she tried to make it clear to her father that she was lying, or at least not telling the whole truth. “Probably as soon as possible.”

“It might be difficult,” Kircheis said.

“You think—” Hilde asked.

“I don’t think Lord Castrop has your best interests at heart,” Kircheis said.

“And you did ask for a demonstration of the Necklace,” her father added.

Hilde frowned. “Well, we’ll figure something out.”

“Don’t do anything to put yourself in danger.”

“It’s a little too late for that,” she said, but her tone was soft and wry. “You can trust me and Sieg and Hank.”

“I do.”

“Have you been treated alright?”

“I’m Lord Castrop’s guest. He has good reason to keep me healthy, at least until he doesn’t need me anymore.”

“That’s… good,” Kircheis said. “I’m sorry that it came to this in the first place.”

“I knew what the risks were when I came here. It’s not just soldiers who have to do difficult things for the crown.”

“Will you be okay when we leave?” Hilde asked.

“As long as I know you’re alright.”

“I don’t like leaving you here.”

“Whatever you have to do, I don’t want you thinking about me to stop you.”

“I can’t help thinking about you. I love you. But I’ll stay safe. I promise.”

He hugged her again, stroking her hair, and they could hear the sound of the guards moving in the hallway. They had only been allotted a short meeting.

Hilde and Kircheis were escorted back to their shuttle. In the flickering light of the torches carried by the guards, their shadows stretched long across the airfield. As they got ready to depart, Hilde looked around the airfield carefully, noting where the few buildings and radars were, where the guards stood, and where Lord Castrop’s ship sat, like a squat, gaudy monstrosity, parked on the edge of the field. It was surely locked tight, and they would need to figure out some way inside it. She and Kircheis hadn’t gotten a chance to speak, but she was suspecting that they were formulating the same plan. She leaned on the side of the shuttle, while Kircheis walked all around it, making a visual inspection to see how much, if any, it had been tampered with, and if it was safe to fly.

He decided that it was safe. This didn’t surprise Hilde, after all, Castrop clearly wanted to demonstrate shooting them down, which he could only do if they were airborne. So they got in. Kircheis also checked the inside of the shuttle for signs of tampering, but all of their supplies appeared exactly where they had been left, and nothing seemed amiss. So, he was confident enough that their shuttle hadn’t been bugged that he was willing to speak aloud.

“Castrop’s going to shoot this shuttle down as soon as it gets out of the atmosphere and into the Necklace’s range,” he said.

“Yeah.” There was only one thing that they could do, really. “We’ll have to ditch the shuttle somewhere, and then come back to break into Castrop’s ship, once there aren’t guards around here waiting for us to leave.”

“We’ll probably have to ditch somewhere far away so that it’s not obvious. It’s going to be a hike.”

“How far?”

“They don’t have a lot of radar coverage, since they don’t have that much air traffic at all.” Kircheis said, pointing outside the shuttle window to the singular radar on a tower at the edge of the airfield, slowly spinning. “So we might be able to get away with it relatively close, especially if we make it look like we’re doing some sort of low flying survey, and keep dropping in and out of their sensor coverage. This whole area is hilly, which will help. All we need to do is get behind some terrain.” He bit his lip. “I’ll keep us as close as we can stay.”

“Right. Once we get back—” She paused and looked out the shuttle’s front window, pointing at Castrop’s ship. “Do we have any good ways of breaking in there?”

“We’ll have to set up a watch and see if they ever open the doors. There’s no way to enter it unless the ramp is lowered. Maybe… Once Captain Leigh destroys the Necklace, they’ll have to load on supplies. When they’re doing that…” He shook his head. “Let’s solve this problem first.”

He turned towards the console and started tapping in commands for the autopilot. The shuttle began its pre-launch sequence, and when Kircheis finished, they began to taxi down the airfield and leap into the sky. As soon as they were airborne, Hilde got out of her seat and began collecting all their supplies into bags that they could carry, sorting what they might be able to use, and what would be too heavy to haul around. She retrieved the guns from their hidden places beneath the floor panels.

Kircheis had the shuttle fly in widening, low circles, pretending to survey the land. As the circle widened, he dropped the shuttle lower and lower to the ground.

“We’ll have to get out as quickly as possible,” he said. “So that it looks like we’re just continuing our flight.”

“And the shuttle will take off again once we’re out?”

“Yeah, do some more circles, and then head up into space.”

“Where it’s going to be destroyed.” Hilde frowned.

“At least we’ll be able to give Leigh some data,” Kircheis said. “I’ll have the shuttle do a couple tests. The Necklace is surrounded by rocks, and some of those are bigger than this shuttle, and those aren’t setting it off. Once it’s right out of the atmosphere, I’ll make it accelerate just enough to put it inside that asteroid field, but keep its engine off for a while. The Necklace might do a bunch of its target discrimination based on infrarad and engine emissions. Radio, too. I’ll have it keep radio silent, and then run a few test transmissions to Captain Leigh. And if it survives all that— I’ll have it try to go join Captain Leigh’s ship again. Do some odd maneuvers, see how the Necklace responds. I don’t think there’s anyone on the ground controlling it— it seems like it’s a completely automated system, and Captain Leigh might be able to use that.”

“Good,” Hilde said. “I hope that’s enough for him.”

“He’ll be able to figure something out,” Kircheis said. Hilde appreciated his sure tone— Kircheis was always so steady, and that reassured her. His refusal to let fear into his voice made it feel almost like being back at school with him, like they could have been playing some wargame in Captain Leigh’s class, rather than risking their lives. She wondered if his confidence was real, or if his calmness was something that he practiced putting on like a cloak.

He turned his attention back to the land that they were flying over, and picked a good spot to land the shuttle so that they could disembark. Off in the distance was some empty pastureland, which seemed like the best they were going to get.

The shuttle touched down easily, engaging its vertical landing mode, and settled onto the scraggly, windblown grass. As quickly as she could, Hilde hauled out their small bags of gear, tossing them out onto the ground, and Kircheis entered the last autopilot commands. They scrambled out of the shuttle and grabbed the bags, and ran off down the hill as fast as they could to get away from the shuttle as its engines revved up again, and it slowly lifted into the night sky without them.

As its noise and engine glow receded up into the darkness, Hilde felt her stomach sink. Even if the shuttle was doomed, which it probably was, it still represented their only way off the planet, and there it was, flying away.

“Well,” Hilde said. “Which direction are we walking?”

Kircheis dug through one of their bags, pulling out their maps and compass, and compared them to the coordinates that their shuttle had reported them to be at. Hilde held a flashlight over the papers, which fluttered in the light breeze as Kircheis did the triangulation, and faced them in the right direction. “This way,” he said. “But we’ll probably want to stay away from the towns we flew over. But we can use the roads for most of it. I doubt there’s much traffic. We’ll just need to hide if anyone comes by.”

“Right,” Hilde said. She hesitated for a moment, then asked, “How far away are we?”

“Fifty kilometers,” Kircheis said. “Maybe we should have risked going closer.” For the first time, Hilde heard something other than confidence in his voice.

“It gives Hank time to destroy the Necklace,” she said. “Let’s start walking.”

“Maybe we should go closer to a town— we can steal some horses.”

This was a practical suggestion, but Hilde found it inexplicably funny, and she laughed as she stumbled down the rest of the hill, forced to hike up her skirt to be able to move. But now that she was walking, the outfit didn’t bother her as much— she felt more herself out here hiking across the pasture than she had so far on this trip. “Let’s try it,” she said. “If we see any.”

“Alright,” Kircheis said as he followed her.

As he came up beside her, she gave him a grim smile, and he gave one back, his eyes crinkling up in that endearing way, barely visible in the starlight and Hilde’s flashlight beam that bobbed in front of them along the ground. At least they were here together— even if Hilde had a thousand tools at her disposal, Kircheis’s presence would have been more important than them all.