Jericho nodded as Maturin confirmed what he had already suspected, “So when I told him Newman’s name, it triggered the neural collapse?”
“That’s my guess,” Maturin agreed. “But this was sophisticated work, Jericho; I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m going to open up his brain and run slices through the tissue analyzer, but my early scans are showing the presence of rare earth minerals like indium, gadolinium, and several others that have no business being present in a human brain. There’s even a higher concentration of carbon present than I would have expected to find.”
“How did those minerals get there?” Masozi asked as she leaned forward to examine the scan results arrayed before Maturin.
“I have no idea,” Maturin replied, “but I hope to have an answer for you in a few days. It will take time to set up the equipment and safely extract the samples.”
“Pull whoever you need to help you,” Jericho said before turning to Masozi, “agreed?”
Without meeting his gaze she nodded, “Agreed.”
“Good,” he said as he stood with the data pad in his hand, “it’s time we go discuss our plan for Blanco’s Adjustment.”
“Yes…it is,” Masozi said distantly, and the two set off for the room where Lady Jessica had volunteered to begin that very process.
Chapter XXIII: The Plan
After sitting down in seats opposite each other, Jericho and Masozi both turned their attention to Lady Jessica. The Adjuster from New Britain had suggested that they listen to her proposal before beginning to plan in earnest, and Jericho had agreed. After all, it wasn’t every day that he shared a room with someone who could claim seniority and more extensive on-the-job experience than him. He was interested to see her approach to cracking Blanco’s security.
Tera St. Murray was also present in the meeting, since Jericho had come to rely heavily on her information network and knew that she would likely contribute to the upcoming operation.
“The first issue before us,” Lady Jessica said, pressing a button built into the conference room table which caused the lights to dim, “is one of timing. If we do not execute this Adjustment quickly then the repercussions will be magnified exponentially. My government’s projections suggest that there is a 93.8% probability that if Blanco is not Adjusted within six weeks’ time, the damage from his tyranny will become irreparable.”
Jericho nodded knowingly, “Hadden’s projections put the 90% mark at seven weeks, but your point stands.”
Lady Jessica nodded slightly in deference, “The second issue is one of platform. President Blanco is the most divisive public figure in the Chimera Sector, and has been for some time. Prior to accompanying the Union Fleet to Rationem in a brazen, ill-advised attempt to subjugate its citizenry while seizing the System for its strategic location—an attempt which Corporations like Hadden, Ghost-Tech, Virtu-Plaza and Fusi-Corp successfully repelled at no small expense—Blanco generated significant support for his economic reforms among the populace of the local Systems. But his overall approval ratings and election support are still historically low for a System President, and he was only able to gain office due to the simultaneous candidacy of three opponents who shared roughly similar ideologies, thereby splitting the vote against him.”
“The family leveraged everything to get him into office; I wouldn’t bet against them having privately financed one or two of those candidates to improve his chances,” Masozi said sourly. “If he had lost it would have completely ruined the Blanco clan—at least those who hadn’t already unhitched from the political machine it had become,” she added with a shake of her head. “But when he got in, their gamble paid off and he began to work up support for legislation that promoted his—and their—totalitarian interpretation of Chimera Sector law.”
“Why were you ostracized from your clan, Ms. Blanco?” Lady Jessica asked pointedly, prompting Tera St. Murray to turn with an equally expectant look on her face.
“She isn’t the enemy here,” Jericho said heavily, “let’s stay focused on the task at hand.”
“I thought establishing trust was a requisite for inclusion in the sensitive aspects of this operation,” Jessica said with a cocked eyebrow, “or did I misunderstand the nature of Ms. Blanco’s earlier comments in sickbay?”
Jericho made to reply, disliking the direction the meeting was headed, but Masozi usurped him, “I worked in law enforcement, Lady. I saw first-hand how corrupt and abusive civil servants could be with the tiny scraps of power granted them by their offices. So whenever the family elders would talk about consolidating power even more heavily into the Central Authority—which included talks of forming the very Union Fleet which attacked Rationem, right down to correctly predicting which Star Systems would ultimately contribute warships and armaments to that cause—I knew exactly where it would lead and I spoke my mind instead of toeing the family line.” She shrugged indifferently, but Jericho could tell by the tension in her shoulders just how difficult it was for her to discuss her excommunication from the Blanco family, “Apparently that was enough for them to declare me persona non grata, which was fine with me; I had an actual job to do and wasn’t interested in climbing the social ladder. All I ever wanted was to play my part in society and help others do likewise. The Founding Rights worked for me; I didn’t think they needed revision, and I still don’t.”
Hearing her verbalize, from her unique perspective, what Jericho had pieced together from various reports only saw his respect for her rise. He wasn’t sure he could have resisted the pull of such a powerful family, given the rewards that would have accompanied acquiescence to their collective will.
“What of his stated reason for attacking the Timent Electorum, Corporate sovereignty, and the matter of nonhuman sentient labor’s impact on the Sector’s economy?” Tera St. Murray asked into the growing silence as Masozi and Lady Jessica’s eyes never wavered from each other’s.
Masozi scoffed, “He never cared about the nonhuman issue. He had strong opinions on the immutability of sentience, no matter what genetic code gave rise to it, but he openly rejected the idea of acting politically on the matter. He’s an opportunist at heart,” Masozi explained, and Jericho found that she had turned the mood of the room from openly hostile to eager interest on the part of himself and the other two women, “but the dissolution of Corporations and their sovereign rights is, and has always been, at the center of his true political agenda. He’ll tilt his sails to ride whatever political winds will move the Sector in that direction, because he fundamentally believes that Corporations are the greatest threat to the Sector’s political solidarity.”
“The Founding Rights guaranteed Corporate Sovereignty,” Tera St. Murray said with the ease of a history professor, “since history has shown that all governments of, by, and for the populace of a unified group of states will invariably consolidate power in a manner which contradicts the sovereignty of the nation states which initially formed it—a consolidation which, I might add, generally looks precisely like the one which Blanco is now attempting. The Founders believed that economics, rather than legal policy, was the key to maintaining a workable balance between the public and private sectors, and that the preservation of multinational corporations’ sovereign rights was key to maintaining that balance.”
“Governments answer to votes and approval ratings, while corporations answer to the bottom line on their profit/loss statements,” Jericho nodded, having had this exact conversation with Stephen Hadden on several occasions. “As long as corporations rely on sentient labor to compete for market share, they can’t abuse their employees any more than government bodies can abuse their citizens—or they’ll quickly find the available labor pool reduced as competitors with more reasonable expectations rise up to overthrow them in the marketplace.”
“The relative merits of an unrestricted free market versus those of an economic system with stricter regulations notwithstanding,” Lady Jessica said coolly, “I find Ms. Blanco’s answer to be both satisfa
ctory and illuminating. However the fact remains that on the issues of corporate sovereignty and general economic issues, President Blanco’s local support has surged past 70% in nine of the thirteen openly supportive Star Systems which have contributed to his unprecedented Union Fleet. Those same issues yield no higher than a 23% approval in the twelve Star Systems which have openly or tacitly condemned his hostile actions against first Hadden Enterprises, then against the sovereign Star System of Rationem.”
“A clear division,” Jericho grunted.
“Indeed, which is why we must observe the first issue before us: timing,” Lady Jessica reaffirmed. “But the third issue is the one which presents the greatest difficulty.”
“And that is?” Masozi asked expectantly.
“Opportunity,” Lady Jessica replied. “After the allied forces at Rationem repelled the Union Fleet—dealing severe damage to the lighter warships while permitting the larger, Virgin-based warships to retreat, which was an astute political maneuver for which you are to be commended—President Blanco redirected his forces to the People’s System of Harmony. The PSH welcomed Blanco with open arms, and he established his forward base of operations there. That base is a key component of the projections we discussed earlier,” Lady Jessica nodded by way of acknowledgment in Jericho’s direction, “and once it has been established he will be able to advance to, and retreat from, three different Star Systems with ease—and these are all Systems which are openly hostile to his interpretation of Sector law. President Blanco will likely remain in the PSH until this forward base is established, during which time he will work to repair diplomatic relations with those Star Systems whose lighter warships were so expertly picked off from his Union Fleet formation by the allied Corporate-Rationem fleet.”
“Why is it such a big deal that the lighter ships were targeted and the bigger ones were let go?” Masozi asked. “Wouldn’t it have made more sense to go after the flagship, the Alexander, to put Blanco down then and there?”
“President Blanco was almost certainly not aboard the Alexander,” Lady Jessica explained before Jericho could do so. “And even if he was, destroying the most powerful warship in the Sector would prove a daunting task—even for the surprisingly effective forces arrayed against him at Rationem. No,” she shook her head, “the wise course was to leave his Virgin-based assets relatively unmolested while targeting the smaller warships contributed by the supporters of Blanco’s proposed Sector-wide restructuring of power.”
“Won’t destroying their ships just galvanize those Star Systems against us?” Masozi challenged.
“Some of them, yes,” Jericho admitted, noting with no small degree of approval how Masozi had said ‘us,’ thereby claiming a personal stake in the situation, “but there was never any real hope of swaying the position of those Systems to begin with. For others, though, the wholesale loss of the first assets and personnel they contributed to the Union Fleet will give them pause and cause Blanco to slow his planned campaign in order to mend fences to ensure the continued support of those Systems. With luck,” he added, “it’s possible one or two of those Systems will withdraw their support entirely and move back into the ‘undecided’ column.”
“Stephen Hadden prepared his resources well,” Lady Jessica said with clear appreciation. “We had our share of public disagreements, but I always admired his ability to move from one contingency to another.” Looking around at the warship’s conference room, she added, “It would seem he was better at concealing his real strength—unlikely as that might have seemed a few months ago—than anyone suspected.”
“What can New Britain bring to the table?” Jericho asked, deciding to cut to the heart of the matter.
“We have the second most powerful SDF in the Sector, behind only Virgin, as well as the most formidable fixed defensive array of any sovereign Star System,” Lady Jessica replied matter-of-factly. “My government is willing to deploy seventy percent of the Fleet in support of the effort to resist President Blanco’s tyrannical power grab, but New Britain will not launch a single fighter without my recommendation.” Her eyes hardened as she laid the last proverbial card on the table, “And I cannot, in good conscience, recommend deployment of the Fleet for anything less than a decisive battle.”
“That’s understandable,” Jericho nodded slowly, finding her candor refreshing in the extreme. “I don’t anticipate such a confrontation until after we Adjust Blanco, though, so that’s a point that we can table for now.”
“Agreed,” Jessica nodded.
“Why?” Masozi snapped. “Why don’t we round up the largest fleet possible and go in, guns blazing, to destroy his fleet before he’s had a chance to rally more Systems to his cause?”
Jericho considered how much to reveal in front of Lady Jessica, since he was unsure just how good her world’s intelligence was. “Shall I?” the New Britain Adjuster asked.
“Please do,” Jericho assented.
Lady Jessica produced a holo-projector and placed it on the conference table. Without even touching it after she had put it down, the device sprang to life and sent a dazzling display of technical information and ship schematics into the middle of the room.
“President Blanco is no fool, Ms. Blanco—” Lady Jessica began.
“Please,” Masozi interrupted, “just call me Masozi.”
Jessica gave Jericho a bemused look—one which he did his best to ignore—before continuing, “He is no fool; he has long known the approximate military strength arrayed against him. Given that he is, as you said, an opportunist by nature he would not initiate his power grab unless he felt confident of victory beforehand.” The schematics and technical specifications minimized until a trio of columns appeared. The first was labeled ‘Union Fleet Resources,’ the second was ‘Corporate Security Resources,’ and the third was ‘Unaffiliated Star System Resources.’
The Union Fleet column, while greater in every way compared to the declared Corporate Security column—of which the Zhuge Liang was absent—only outgunned the Corporations by a ratio of two to one. The Unaffiliated column, however, was greater than both Union and Corporate resources combined by nearly three times—a fact of which Jericho had been aware for several years after Stephen had granted him access to sensitive intelligence reports.
And while Lady Jessica’s information on Hadden resources, specifically, was less than complete Jericho nevertheless found himself admiring New Britain’s intelligence network. Several of the assets listed under H.E.’s part of the column were supposed to still be secret, but there they were on her government-stamped intel report.
“This is not merely a war between Blanco and the Corporations he seeks to subordinate to his will,” Jessica explained. “Though it must be mentioned that the Corporations were the first to stand in open opposition to his tyranny—an act which will doubtless sway Sector-wide public opinion in our favor—at Rationem,” she said with what seemed like genuine admiration.
“So, wait…we’re fighting for votes?” Masozi asked incredulously.
“Precisely,” Lady Jessica nodded.
“If all of the Star Systems that haven’t already offered support for Blanco do nothing, the end result will be the same as if they had thrown in with him at the outset,” Jericho explained. “It may take a few extra years, but the outcome will be no different than if they had endorsed his raising that Union Fleet and subjugating any entity that disagrees with his interpretation of Sector law.”
“So…how many do we need?” Masozi asked.
“To ensure victory?” Lady Jessica asked rhetorically. “Depending on the particular Systems, of course, and assuming we retain the entirety of the Corporate resources…eleven, including Rationem and New Britain.”
“And how many do we have?” Masozi pressed.
“Aside from the Corporations, the current alliance consists of New Britain and Rationem,” Lady Jessica began to call out the tally, causing the ‘Corporate Security’ column to change to ‘Allied Resources’ before a
ssets began to transfer from the third column to the newly-labeled ‘Allied’ column, “along with the Sola Stella Republic, the Open Sky League and the Kiwi Collective.”
“I was unaware that the Kiwis had signed on,” Tera St. Murray said with a raised eyebrow.
“The particulars were finalized immediately prior to my last departure from New Britain,” Lady Jessica explained. “The Kiwis were suitably impressed by the allied stand at Rationem, and were no doubt appreciative that it spared their System from a place on the front line—at least for the time being.”
“How many Systems are close to coming over?” Jericho asked, more grateful for her political knowledge than he had expected to be.
“Prior to Blanco’s establishing his forward base at PSH,” Jessica said, causing a new set of projections to spring into being beside the military resource tallies, “the System of South Caroline was prepared to pledge itself, but their proximity to PSH has put them firmly back into the ‘Undecided’ column.”
“That makes the Sola Stella Republic the most likely first target,” St. Murray correctly concluded.
“All things considered,” Jericho grudged, “we couldn’t ask for a better battleground. The SSR and its citizens value independence more than any other Star System in the Sector—they won’t fold when the going gets tough.”
“So we have to Adjust him before the six or seven weeks is up,” Masozi said, leaning forward anxiously in her chair. “But his security has to be insane right now; how are we going to get through?”
In almost mirrored movements, Jericho and Lady Jessica cast incredulous looks at the youngest member of the group. She merely scowled under the combined weight of their scorn, which caused Jericho’s expression to soften in amusement.
Sic Semper Tyrannis: The Chimera Adjustment, Book Two (Imperium Cicernus 5) Page 36