by Gorg Huff
Shit, Conrad thought, not over the link, then sent, “Three ships. Any word on the other two?”
“Not yet, sir.”
The Kiig seconded the Zheck motion, but Parthians required a third and a fourth. They got the third from the Gok, and that was a very bad sign. The fourth came from the Siik, another ally of the Zheck.
With very little ceremony, the meeting ended for the day and the hall emptied, but Conrad wasn’t there to see it. He left the hall as soon as the Siik fourthed the motion.
Chapter 35
Family relationships are at the core of both Parthian and human politics, but those family relationships are different at their core. It makes things interesting.
Stareska, Second breeder, Starchild Clan
Location: Parthia Insystem
Standard Date: 03 23 632
The little fleet came out of the last jump into the Parthian insystem and pointed a comm laser at Gok Station. Right there, in orbit between Gok and Fisk Station One, were four wingships.
It made sense. There was a known route into the Parthian insystem, but not much in the way of side routes. Since few ships knew any other jumps, there was nowhere for them to run. Instead, the fleet was deluged with a storm of complaints and threats. They listened for a few minutes while Goldgok contacted the Zheck representative and they got the Parthian version of events.
∞ ∞ ∞
“Okay, we have confirmation that the Canova government didn’t have permission to build the fort,” Professora Stuard said. “You’re on, Tanya. We can always give them back later if we need to.”
Tanya looked into the pickup and used her internals to bring it live. “I am Grand Stockholder Tanya Cordoba-Davis, formerly of the Cordoba Spaceforce. The Jackson-Cordoba Trading Company and the government of Canova have entered into an illegal conspiracy to restrain the lawful trade of Cordoba-licensed trade ships. Your ships will stand down while the Parthian Council of Clans determines your status. Any attempt to leave the Parthian insystem will result in your disablement or destruction. Maintain your orbits and clear any movements with this fleet.”
That was the message that went to the four ships in orbit around Parthia.
What went out to the council of clans was official notice that Clan Danny Gold had returned, and that the fleet, under the command of Danny Gold and the new Clan Starchild, was placing itself under the authority of the council of clans.
∞ ∞ ∞
The news feeds went nuts. Clan Jkap was all over the place. The JCTC placing of the fort at the junction was the center of the news for months, as well as discussions of the position in which it put the whole system and the entire Parthian race.
There was a very strong faction that wanted to accede to the JCTC. After all, Parthian workers expected to be put to work for the benefit of the clan. What was this but the same thing on a larger scale?
Parthians really don’t think of liberty the same way humans do. They are focused on the welfare of the clan, not self-advancement.
But the Jackson-Cordobas didn’t do a very good job of persuading the Parthians that they were concerned with the welfare of Parthian clans, or even other human clans. So there was also a large faction in the council of clans that wanted Parthia to have a greater say among the clans of the wider universe. And yet another faction that wanted to fort up the jump points and keep those disgusting humans out of Parthian space altogether.
The return of Danny Gold and the little fleet he brought with him was a brand-new earthquake in Parthian politics.
Location: Parthia, Council of Clans, Meeting Room
Standard Date: 03 25 632
“So, Conrad, what did you want to chat about?” Tanya asked.
Conrad looked at his cousin, and almost for the first time began to get really worried. This wasn’t the inexperienced and traumatized kid he told to sit down and shut up back in Ferguson. On the fly, he changed his approach from bullying to reasoning. “The Cordoba Combine is coming apart. It’s because of the distances and the jump routes. It’s too easy for the Drakes to block our connections to the government in New Argentina. The whole Pamplona Sector is like some multidimensional swamp, full of nooks and crannies and places to hide. It’s almost impossible to govern. With the Drakes cutting the main routes, all that are going to be left are the pirate routes.”
“It’s too easy for the Cordobas to cut up the Drakes as well. Admiral Chin has taken Franklin. Killed off the royal family to do it, too,” Tanya told him.
“I heard. But that’s just another point in the same argument. The great families are arming. That’s why I’m in Parthia. The Jackson-Cordobas need the industrial base this place represents. It’s close enough to the main lanes to be useful, but far enough out of line to be less than obvious. This is to be the base for the Jackson-Cordobas. Our bolt hole when it all comes apart. Your family is getting Yagan and points east.”
“Not if Admiral Chin has any say in the matter,” Tanya said. “He tried to have me killed.” She paused. “Unless he had the family’s permission?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Why are you here, Conrad?” Tanya asked. “You got me thrown out of the service. What now?”
“You have to get Gold to back off. Without your fleet, the Parthians will have to settle on whatever terms we give them.”
“Why should I do that?”
“Because if you don’t, your family’s agreement with mine will cease to exist, and your family can’t hold Yagan without our support in New Argentina.”
“You said the Combine is going to collapse.”
“It is, but it hasn’t yet. With my family supporting the move, the fleet will take Yagan and your family will be destroyed.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Tanya sat back and a map of the Pamplona Sector floated to the surface of her mind. The shortest route from the main Cordoba Fleet base at New Argentina was by way of Parise-Ferguson-Canova-Morland to Yagan. Failing that, the Ferguson-Hudson-Morland route would get them there, assuming they pushed the Drakes out of the route between Parise and Ferguson. After that, it turned into a long route around, six months at least, to go around through New Kentucky. “First, you’re assuming I care,” Tanya mused. “Then you’re assuming that the fleet will push Huffington out of the way and be able to come through Ferguson and through us here. I guess they could go around us, but after that it’s still a long trip. And why bother when they have the Drakes breathing down their necks?”
“Your family has gotten a bit too big for its holdings,” Conrad said. “They aren’t part of the seventeen great families that control the Combine, but Great Aunt Angela and Great Uncle Tobin have an agreement.” Angela was the head of the Cordoba-Davis family and Tobin Jackson-Cordoba was the head of the Jackson-Cordobas, who were one of the seventeen—if only barely. Between Angela and Tobin, they controlled—in their own persons—almost two percent of the stock in the Cordoba Combine. Since over three-quarters of the stock was never voted, that represented a powerful block. Big enough to move fleets.
“Angela won’t consent to an attack on Yagan. I don’t care how pissed she is with me.”
“She won’t be able to stop it, not with Uncle Tobin getting behind the attack and pushing.”
Tanya considered. Conrad might be right. He might be wrong. He might even be feeding her a line of bull. But it didn’t matter, because the thing that Conrad couldn’t get his head around was that Tanya wasn’t the boss. Danny Gold wasn’t even the boss.
There wasn’t a boss, unless it was the council of clans.
Tanya’s personal boss was a twelve-year-old girl she’d grown surprisingly fond of. The council of clans was right now working out whether it was going to recognize that little girl and her artificial-brained spaceship as an official Parthian clan.
And Tanya realized—finally—what she should have seen years ago. Between the location of Canova and the size of the Parthian population, they were sitting in the system that was the key to c
ontrol of the whole Pamplona Sector. She sat up and stared at Conrad. “You knew. Your Uncle Tobin and you knew about the importance of Parthia and Canova all along.”
“Yes, of course.” Conrad stopped and Tanya knew her expression had given her away. “Tanya, you don’t have the muscle. The whole Cordoba-Davis family doesn’t have the muscle to hold Parthia.”
“You don’t get it, Conrad. It’s not about the Cordoba-Davis family or the Jackson-Cordoba family. It’s about the Parthians. They have the muscle.”
“Not to hold out against the whole human race, they don’t.”
Tanya heard the desperation and dawning realization in his voice. “No, you’re right about that,” Tanya said musingly. Then, slowly, she smiled. “They’ll need human fronts, won’t they?”
“You’d sell out the human race to the bugs?”
Tanya looked at her cousin. Her cousin who, she realized, intended to relegate a whole race of nine billion people to slavery. Parthians, not humans . . . but people nonetheless. Slowly Tanya began to smile. “Yes Conrad, I think I will.”
Epilogue
Location: New Argentina
Standard Date: 07 03 632
Angela Cordoba-Davis watched the recording from her grand-niece and fumed. The alliance between her and the Jackson-Cordobas was intended to propel her house into the Seventeen . . . and now this.
Tobin was going to be livid. The arrogant bastard was likely to try to take Canova back from Tanya and her pirates. Angela’s implant called up the files on the Jackson-Cordoba Trading Company to get a read on how many ships of what type they had. It was a lot. More than the Cordoba-Davis family owned by twenty ships.
Angela would be fine with Tobin taking out her niece, but too much of the stock was spread out among the family for her to go along with it. A breach in the Cordoba-Davis clan would destroy any hope for a seat on the Cordoba Combine board.
But she couldn’t see how to avoid the fight.
The comm buzzed, and sure enough, it was Tobin.