Chapter 1

The Palace Square filled with people awaiting the Sultan's announcement. All around him, groups talked and speculated on what the announcement was. The last big announcement was when the Crown Prince married twenty years ago. The prevailing thought is he finally produced and heir, even though he has three other wives.

His six pes height was only a little shorter than the rest of the crowd, but not by much. Anyone looking at Jamal al Rahman would see a man dresses in a thawb and agal, eating food from a nearby vendor. However, looks can be deceiving. Jamal al Rahman is a Roman spy, by the name of Mamercus Gellius Valensus, under long term, deep cover mission in Arabia.

He is the type of operative that has no diplomatic immunity, no official cover. If the Arabs catch him, he dies. However, most operatives do not have the background Mamercus has. His father is a Roman officer, retired, who married his mother, whom is of Arabic descent, thirty years ago. Two years later, he showed up. His mother's family has been in the Empire for centuries, practicing Islam without fear. Religion was not talked about in the Valensus household, so that Mamercus could make a decision on his own between all of the other religions of Empire. As a child, he loved to learn about anything. He learned Arabic from his mother. Islam came from his relatives.

He followed his father into the Military, going to the Imperial Military Academy, before the Imperial Intelligence Agency approached him. For the last three years, he has been in Riyadh, setting up contacts, gathering information on the city and its rulers.

The crowd in the square started to go wild, alerting Mamercus that Sultan Khayri Abd-al-aziz bin Farooq had just walked out on to the balcony overlooking the Palace Square. He knew that the Sultan looked older than his fifty years of age, with a weathered face, and graying hair and beard.

Sultan Khayri waited for the crowd to quiet before he began, "My people, today I have the honor to announce that after many centuries of division of all true followers, we will be one again. For the past year, our brothers and sisters to the East and the West have been meeting with me in secret to push past our differences and unite against our enemies.

"In this new nation, Riyadh will be its capital. I promise you that we will bring all infidels to Allah's Justice, peace be upon his name. Rejoice my people; the Caliphate is once again whole."

The crowd went wild, Mamercus with them, at least on the outside. Inside he reeled from this information. Rome had been able to play Parthia, the other nation that practices Islam but a different sect, and Arabia against each other, to keep Rome's boarder provinces safe. Now that they reunited, Rome had to make plans, in case they came after Rome next.

Mamercus walked out of the plaza, dividing his attention between playing the excited Arab and thinking what he would say in his report. Others that had heard the announcement stopped him many times before he got to his safe house. The 'tells' he had left, to see if anyone had been inside, were undisturbed. Walking into his apartment, he went over to his computer desk. His laptop, unconnected to the internet wall jack, came out of sleep mode. Opening up his email program, he wrote a letter to his "brother" in the southern part of the country as a cover for any sniffing programs that were out there. Next, he opened his crypto program and wrote his report. What the crypto program did was encrypt and compress the report, then embed it deeply in to the email. Unless you had a program that knew just what markers to look for, you would never find it, even looking at the code line by line. Connecting to the wall jack, he sent off the email.

The email bounced around from server to server, from there, all around the world. In some cases, the server copied the email and sent it to dummy computers, just to throw off any trace program. Eventually the email got to the IIAs Cryptography Division, where a cryptographer would decrypt it and send it up the chain of command.

Mamercus relaxed for a few minutes after sending the report. He began thinking about a scheduled drop from one of his informant's tomorrow afternoon, and began to plan for contingencies.

To the North, in Britannia, a group of 16-year-old teenagers stood waiting, with their families, for the bus that would take them to their Training Base. They were about to begin their Imperial Service requirement. For the next five years, they would train for the eventuality that they might be needed when/if the Empire goes to war. Most will go into the Auxilia Army; the rest will be in the Auxilia Navy or Air Force. After the five years, a big portion will go back to being civilians: working, going to university, or back to their farms. The rest will continue in the military, making it a career.

Ninian Julius Brian stood with his family, watching as people came up to his father, Óengus, and his sister, Boadicea, about a loan or savings account. Others came up to his brother, Pomponius, and his mother, Faustina, asking about an appointment to talk about a medical issue. His brother is one of two doctors in the area and his mother is his nurse.

Ninian was rather tall for his age at 6'3" and 252 libra, with blond hair like his mother, but wavy like his father's. His piercing blue eyes he got from his father, his mother always said they were "soul eyes," eyes that just went right to your soul when you look into them. He has some muscles on his large frame, but wouldn't be considered ripped. His older brother had their father's brown hair and their mother's gray eyes and respect for human life. His sister looked like him with her blond hair and blue eyes, but she had their father's number sense. He had a closer relationship with his sister then with his brother, as they did not meet until Pomponius finished his Imperial Service requirement. Since then they have gotten to know each other but there is still a distance between them.

They both knew what they wanted to do when they were my age. Here I am and I still do not know what I want to do with my life, thought Ninian.

As if sensing his thoughts, Boadicea came over to Ninian and said, "The next five years are going to be tough. Just listen to your Instructors and do what they tell you, but do not forget to keep an open mind. Who knows you may come to like the military and want to make it your career."

"Thanks sis. I was just thinking that I still did not know what I wanted to do with my life. You always know how to put me at ease," replied Ninian.

The appearance of his two best friends calmed Ninian quite a bit. They would all be leaving at the same time, with the other fifty-seven teenagers. The others of his class have already left for their Imperial Service requirement. Ninian's group would be the last.

"You guys ready, the bus will be here soon?" asked Fedlimid.

Fedlimid Aemila Gallia is the most outgoing of the three of them. She always has to talk the others into doing things. This gives others the impression that she is the leader of the group, but it could not be further from the truth. When push comes to shove, she usually follows Ninian. She is just short of Ninian in height, with straight dirty blond hair and green eyes. She is lighter than Ninian by about 50 lba.

"Yeah, I just want to say good bye to my family once more. I'll be there in a minute," said Ninian.

"OK. We'll save you a seat, but hurry you don't want to miss the bus," Iodocus said.

If Fedlimid is the outgoing one, then Iodocus Tellius Lucianus is the Comedian of the three. He will tell jokes and play pranks to get a laugh. It got him in trouble in school until the teachers noticed that he relieved the tension that they rest of the class felt. He too is shorter then Ninian coming in at 5'11" and lighter at 218 lba. If it were not for his short black hair, his fair complexion and gray eyes would give him a ghost like appearance.

They left to say good-bye to their families and get on the bus. By tradition, only close friends and family could call someone by their Praenomen, their personal name, everyone else called them by their Nomen, their Clan name. The last part of everyone's name was their family name within the Clan, or their Cognomen. Ninian turned when he heard his father's voice.

"It's good that you and your friends are going at the same time. It helps the transition having someone there you know and is going through the same thing.

"Boadicea told me some of what has been bothering you. I do not want you to think that we are pushing you to stay in the military, but if you choose to stay, we will support you all the way. We would worry, but we would support you. It is not as if it has not happened before. My Grandfather was a military man; he always told me that when he went for his Imperial Service that he knew the military was for him."

Ninian looked up slightly to meet his father's eyes and said, "Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me."

They hugged before Ninian turned to his mother. He towered over her by half-a-pes. She had tears in her eyes, like the countless mother's before her when one of their children left home. She hugged her youngest son, praying to the gods that he be safe. She let him go and turned to hug her husband. Ninian hugged his sister, telling her that he would see her soon. Pomponius surprised Ninian by hugging him and saying to stay safe.