Rene lay back on the bed beside Solae grinning at the idea of eloping with the Duchess of an entire sector and finding a shack somewhere to wait out the storm. It certainly had an appeal to it, even if it wasn’t a very practical reality. Wordlessly he entwined his fingers in hers while he considered the question.

“The sooner we can leave Zatis the better, once the Decameron arrives at Traullus Major, Duke Tan is likely to send a large force here to capture you, no matter what the cost,” Rene mused. Ironically, although they had already reached the PEA and sent out the warning, it actually increased the Duke’s need to obtain access to the PEA network. Without instantaneous communication he could not coordinate his forces efficiently, nor could he conspire with plotters outside the Eastern Cross. Rene was increasingly convinced that Tan’s rebellion was part of a larger plot, the fact that an attempt had been made on the life of the Empress, childless and without an obvious heir, was telling. If Mercedez died a power struggle would result among the Sector Dukes over the throne. Given all the ill feeling and factionalism her father had created civil war might be inevitable. In such a situation, early movers, like Tan would have a considerable advantage either to aim for the throne or simply carve out their own pocket empires.

“It will take two days for the courier ship to make it there, maybe a day for Tan to organise a response and another two days for any forces to get back here,” Rene continued, calculating the distances and times in his head.

“No, I was out for a day so that makes it .. what, four days before we can expect a response from Tan. We need to be off Zatis by then, which means we need to recruit our Syshin and take back the ship quickly.” Bhast had the Bonaventure under surveillance as her best chance of snatching up the fugitive Duchess, but Rene thought he had a way to reach the ship without an out and out assault.  It seemed to him that Bhast had made a mistake by sending the Decameron back to Trallus Major with news. If he had been in command he would have hired merchant shipping to act as couriers and kept the Decameron on station. It was a warship but it would have been more than a match for the Bonaventure if they did get into orbit.

“After that… I don’t think it would even occur to Tan or Bhast that we might head for Kalderi space,” Rene admitted. A plan was beginning to form in his mind, although it was to nebulus and unformed to be vocalized just yet. The Kalderi were an enigmatic people with limited contact with humans. Shortly before the collapse, ancient Terran colonists had discovered a world that was inhabited by the Kalderi. The aliens there had lived in a rough analogue to the feudal ages of ancient Terra with no technology more advanced than windmills. The colonists had assumed that this was a localized species and settled the world, using their superior technology to displace and oppress the locals, eventually leading to several bloody massacres. It turned out that the world was an isolated outpost of a larger spacefaring Empire, a retreat of sorts where Kalderi interested in experience a simpler time chose to live as their ancestors had.  The Terran’s mistake had been exposed when a great fleet had appeared above the world, obliterating the human vessels and exterminating the colonists. The Jeweled Armada, as it was known due to the strange gem like structures on the surface of the alien warships, had then proceeded to obliterate several Terran fleets and destroy ten human worlds, sanitizing them to the level of bacteria with orbital fire, before vanishing never to be seen again. Records from before the collapse were patchy at best, but one could still find vid images salvaged from battles with the Jeweled Armada. Rene, like most children, had seen them when he was taught the story. There were some academics who claimed the Kalderi were responsible for the Collapse, and others who claimed that the Collapse had convinced them that they didn’t need to continue a campaign of extermination. 

When the Stellar Empire had risen after the thousand year dark age ushered in by the collapse they had recontacted the Kalderi and even discovered some of their home systems, to the galactic north of the Eastern Cross. Diplomatic efforts had begun at once but relations remained fairly superficial, largely because there was little the Stellar Empire could provide that the Kalderi actually needed. The swords, like the one they had rescued from Lord Armon’s estate, had been given to the leaders of the various noble houses when the Emperor at the time had established a ‘Treaty of Perpetual Peace’ with the Kalderi. Nobles that did not receive one had been quick to try to establish trade in order to secure them, and a certain amount of intercourse had ensued. While not interested in conventional trade good, the Kalderi did consume a certain amount of Human artwork. Trade was conducted erratically at systems on the edge of Kalderi space, and few humans had ever penetrated very deep beyond the buffer zone the Kalderi maintained, the memory of the Jeweled Armada enough to quell any notions of trying to force the issue.

“Do you have any information on the Kalderi? Diplomatically I mean?” Rene asked.

“Really all I know is from anthropology my tutors taught me,” he admitted.