Chapter I: The Administrator and the Governor
Outer Core, Planet Diyushitou
Huang Fu Österberg
He prevented himself from sighing out loud to avoid angering the governor more than necessary. He took a moment for a deep breath and then breathed out before he spoke.
“Governor Yi,” he then said, addressing the man on the holographic screen on the side of his desk. “Twenty percent of the mining operation being, well, operational, is positive. We are returning to a fully operational status slowly but surely, and we’re doing so with a joyous and loyal workforce planet-wide. And why are they so happy? Not because they get to perform their part in Her Imperial Majesty’s war machine – no because the Imperium is reforming the entire system here. Mining infrastructure, improved gear, and improved health care for anyone that is wounded on the job.”
“I’ve waited three years to go from five to twenty percent. Do you understand that?” The silver-bearded governor huffed angrily. “For my entire governorship this far I’ve waited for a decision made by my predecessor.”
“Governor. Before the Imperium brought Diyushitou into the fold thousands of people died every single day in the mines. Life here revolved around the immense mining networks and by improving that we’re securing their loyalty to the Imperium and love for Her Imperial Majesty.”
“We’ve lost trillions in this massive halt in mining efforts.” The governor would have continued but Huang Fu interrupted him.
“-Pardon me governor, but this world was seriously below the standards dictated by Imperial Law. We are not bringing them to some utopian decree. Your predecessor began what was required. Elsewise someone else would have done it after he’d been ousted by Overseers or Inquisitors.”
The mention of the Inquisition made the old man’s face grow pale. It was as if all color suddenly left his face. Huang Fu made sure to keep any joy he felt out of his face.
“The…” Governor Yi began, his voice almost trembling. “…the, eh…the statesmen of Astrasia, Paezpir and New Tokyo the corporate executives of Tokyokazu Yards are pressing us to drastically increase our shipments to their shipyards.” There was no doubt to Huang Fu that New Tokyo’s governor had been told to press the issue by the executives of Tokyokazu Yards. The corporation was located on their planet after all. Truly there was no other reason to visit New Tokyo other than to see the majestic shipyards that spanned in a circle around the planet. It was some of the largest in the entire Imperium as far as he’d read.
“The Imperium has very strict laws to protect the common working man,” Huang Fu stated. He leaned forward and pressed his fingertips together. “We are the candle that brings light to a galaxy of darkness.” He paused. “I am sure Tokyokazu Yards can continue to ship metal from other worlds like they have done for six years now since the reconstruction began.” They certainly had enough credits to pay you to press their agenda.
There was a moment of silence as the governor calmed down.
“We hold one of the largest mining operations in the Outer Core region, Administrator Österberg,” he sought to remind him. “One-hundred-thousand planets and we’re one of the most important, strategically and all that.”
Huang Fu decided to find a middle ground. “We could expand the construction worker training and employment program? It would-”
“Expand? We’re already spending empress knowns how much credits on this?!”
He could barely prevent himself from sighing. “It is all I can do, governor. It’d be legal hell if we sent people back to the mines to die in the thousands each day. If we’re lucky the Committee of Overseers will have all involved fired. Success requires time, effort, and credits.”
The governor closed the channel without another word and Huang Fu could finally grunt in frustration and stretch out his arms and legs. “Empress, I hate that made so much.” The bastard was – surprisingly – from Mars, a typical bureaucrat from the Sol System’s high society. What was surprising about his origins was that he was Martian. Granted, he’d only met a few Martians in his life but they had stood in opposition to how Yi acted. He had thought it was a Martian trait to care about the environment. Their world had spent the nine centuries being terraformed. It was an ungodly slow process and even now, with the emerging of forests a man could not walk outside without breathing equipment. It would take thousands of years before the Red Planet would be as green as Earth had been before it became an urban world with a vast cityscape covering it.
“Adjutant,” he said.
“Yes, Administrator-general?” The AI responded.
“Please confirm that the conversation was properly recorded.”
“It was.” She activated his holo-screen and revealed the data.
“Hmm. Good. Thank you, dear. I may need this in the future. Transfer it to Folder Oberon.” It would be excellent proof for use if the governor had to be impeached or as part of revealing his own skills of keeping a corrupt superior in check. Yes, he imagined it would help get him another promotion in the future. As prestigious a position as Diyushitou would become when fully operational and up to standard as it would be, he aimed for a future posting on an even more prestigious world. It would speak well of him if he secured a good start to bringing this world up to Imperial standards of living and industry.
“I need some air I think.”
He left his office and made his way out into the capitol building’s garden. It laid in a courtyard circled by statues of the Archons, all twenty-three. The twenty-fourth statue depicted Empress Mara. It depicted her radiant beauty in marble and angelic wings that rose out from the back of her armor. Her arms were open, inviting anyone to step into her light. He prayed before the statue for a few minutes. Meanwhile, other civil servants talked or prayed near him. A few well-taken cares of trees grew in the center of the green garden with plots of flowers in all the rainbows colors.
“Excuse me, Administrator-General,” the Adjutant said through the cybernetic implant on the left side of his forehead.
“Yes, Adjutant? What is it?” He felt far better now and his mood had been lightened up.
“I have been told by Mr. Jackson that Governor Yi has tasked him to come up with reasons to fire you.”
He should have been angered, but all he did was scoff in amusement. It seemed Diyushitou would soon require a new governor.
“Tell my secretary to get my coat and meet me in the parking lot. And, make sure to transfer everything in the Folder named Oberon.”
“Affirmed.”
Not long thereafter he met the young man at his hover-car. He helped him put on the beige coat and stepped into the hover-car for his personal driver to lift off and take him to the Senate Building. It was another thing that he improved on this planet with their arrival. A body of representatives replaced the governmental body of mining guild executives that reigned supreme here then. Only their automaton forces and mercenaries had kept them in power for centuries. Naturally, the first ten terms would be reserved by loyal civic servants from other worlds to ensure that the planet would comply and be transformed as the empress willed it. Only then, after fifty years could the people themselves be trusted to govern. By then the people would be used to their new way of life and the education system had brought up a new generation of loyalists that understood Her Majesty’s universe-given right to rule.
The Senate Building was a large domed structure that stood on one of the five hills the capital had been founded on. According to local historical records, the city had started as five corporate headquarters – the first companies to tear the world apart for ore and minerals. The entrance was flanked by six-fifteen meter tall statues, each of them in heavy, sleek, and elegant power armor. Each of them carved from black stone, angelic wings on their back and a snake gripped in their right hand. These had been the Ultra Marines from the legion that originally found this world and brought it into the fold.
He felt utterly puny as he walked passed them. He wondered if he would ever see an Ultra Marine in person. This, he pondered as he walked up the white steps to enter the building. He would personally end Yi’s career before the day was over.
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