Chat-Hammer’s face had just started to relax when he continued.
“Which makes the tragedy of their inability to follow the dictates of simple common sense when urged by the Assembly Speaker to make an early emergency evacuation all the worse,” the Governor continued in a sad voice.
Chat-Hammer instantly paled with rage, realizing he was being toyed with.
“Your appointment, like the last two dozen Speakers', is only temporary, Newton!” snapped Chat-Hammer. “And if the rest of the Assembly had only listened to reason and delayed one hour longer to put Grand Admiral Manning in charge of Central’s defense and voted in a new Speaker—one who might have actually turned things around—none of this would have happened and the ‘temporary’ nature of your current appointment would have already been rectified.”
“As even the much vaunted Grand Admiral couldn’t have turned the battle for Central Star System around, not in the face of those kind of odds, we can consider ourselves fortunate indeed that the Grand Assembly as a body didn’t listen to the advice of the Mutual Defense League,” Isaak said smoothly, “as it is, you should probably be thanking me for saving your life, not the other way around. I mean the series of events that lead to their loss was simply unexpected. First a shuttle with a faulty stabilizer delayed their departure by almost an hour and then when they were red lining their engines to escape and their courier’s normal space drives overheated…” he shook his head sadly.
“You blighter! I know you had something to do with their capture,” shouted the new MDL minority leader, lunging over the conference table.
“The Minority Leader has temporarily lost his mind. Restrain him!” ordered Isaak and a pair of security guards—the same Sector Assembly guards who had been so willing to teach young Montagne such a very well-deserved lesson—were more than willing to restrain Anton Chat-Hammer forcing him to his knees on the floor of the conference room.
“You can’t touch me. I’m an assemblyman; as an Assembly guard you work for us, you work for me!” protested a now outraged Minority Leader. “Unhand me!”
“I warned you,” Isaak said idly as he looked down with disapproval at his political appointment, “I told you to check your privilege at the door but, no, you just had to walk in here all privileged up and test me. Well now you finally realize that you can throw all the petty temper tantrums you like, but the real power rests with me.”
“The Assembly will not sit still for this! You murdered your political opponents in cold blood just so you could retain the speakership. You won’t get away with this,” roared Anton Chat-Hammer, making another attempt to regain his feet.
This time he ended up red-faced with huffing and puffing as the only sign of his efforts.
“First, there’s no evidence I did anything other than encourage your former leaders to run for their lives. Second, I defy anyone to try and prove otherwise. Third, it’s surprising but alas the majority of the assembly persons who didn’t make it out of Central Star System in time all happened to be, like your former leaders, from factions other than my Confederation Unionists. So while you can bluster and threaten, with the current vote counts, it would take actual incompetence or an opposition leader ten times the man you are to unseat me. So sit back and watch as I single-handedly save you, me, the Assembly and the entire Spineward Sectors from this pit you and your party have sunk us into,” Sir Isaak finished with snide satisfaction.
“The vote tallies aren’t nearly as far in your favor as you seem to think. You’re mental if you believe the Confederation Unionists will be able to rule unopposed,” snarled Chat-Hammer, “we may now be in Aegis and thus still in your Sector but there’s nothing you can do to maintain power once the truth is out and the Assembly has time to vote—other than try to put yourself up as some kind of strong arm dictator. This won’t work out well for you long term, Newton,” the Minority Leader finished with a sneer.
“You poor, misguided, pitiful fool,” Sir Isaak said with a sigh, “you think that the loss of my Sector Capitol hurt me worse than it hurt you?”
“It was your fleet that failed to protect us. Where was Grand Admiral Montagne when we needed him? Once everyone knows how the sons of Sector 25 failed us they’ll be more than willing to elect Grand Admiral Manning to—““You mean once the truth is pointed out to them the MDL Faction will spend the rest of the election cycle in the proverbial woods while our Sector Unionists take the majority of political appointments,” Isaak said calmly.
“You’re insane!” the Minority Leader said in disbelief.
“You are, of course, free to believe what you want but the sad fact remains that it was the MDL, one of your own Assemblymen, who nominated Grand Admiral Montagne as Confederation Commandant. It was the MDL that pushed him into power and it was my own poor, misguided Confederation Unionists who, solely in the interest of unity, and to head off infighting, reluctantly voted in solidarity with the rest of our Spineward Sectors brethren,” said Isaak.
“That’ll never fly. Montagne and his fleet were nowhere to be found when we were attacked. He’s more interested in running away than fighting and we may have nominated him but it was you who—” Anton Chat-Hammer said, building up a good head of steam.
“Who fought against his nomination tooth and nail. In fact, if you look at it, the record is clear that I am no friend of the good Grand Admiral. In fact Montagne and his Fleet once, quite recently, attempted to label me a rebel and a traitor to the old Confederation. Around the same time they tried to kill me too,” he stopped and then explained, “a not so minor argument over the disposition of those hulls captured from the Reclamation Fleet, if you will recall,” Isaak said flatly. “No. No one would ‘ever’ mistake me as a partisan of the good Grand Admiral.”
Anton’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
“Just watch as I ride the wave of resentment into a permanent political appointment. No one still alive despises Jason Montagne as much as I do and, as soon as I remind them of that fact, I’m very much afraid the Mutual Defense League will be the only place left for the people—and our fellow assemblymen of course—to vent their frustration.”
“You’re manipulating the truth, just like you manipulated the Assembly and were probably behind the mechanical failures that caused us to lose so many of our colleagues to the Confederation Fleet. When the people hear the truth-” warned Chat-Hammer.
“No one’s interested in the truth, I thought you’d learned that by now,” Sir Isaak sighed as if speaking to a particularly stupid student, “what they want is to be outraged. What they want is to be told what to feel and even more importantly to feel justified in venting all their frustrations on a worthy target.”
“The people don’t want the truth. They want blood. Hand outs. That, and of course the vindication of their baser impulses and son,” Isaak’s eyes bored into his, “now that we’re in Aegis and more importantly aboard the mobile governmental headquarters that I purchased and my people have spend the past several months fixing up, in effect delivering them from the terror of the Glorious Fleet, they will be more than willing to turn on the Mutual Defense League like rabid snap weasels. Just as soon as I finish this discussion and begin releasing the appropriate narrative.”
Anton Chat-Hammer looked at him with dawning horror as the hands of the former sector assembly guards dug into his shoulders.
“The truth will get out there,” Anton spluttered, starting to look intimidated into the face of Isaak Newton’s continued self confident mastery of all that was around him.
“Maybe someday, when all of this is nothing but a bad memory and no one really cares,” Isaak shrugged, “in the meantime, you have a choice to make.”
“What choice do I have?” Chat-Hammer said bitterly.
“You can play ball of course,” said Isaak.
“Ha! You’re not nearly as sure as you seem,” Anton retorted, “your world-weary stance is only skin deep after all, just a ruse. Well played, Sir,” he gloated, loo
king triumphant.
Governor Isaak’s face turned thunderous. “I offered you a toast but you were too dense to drink it, instead choosing to throw it back in my face. One way or the other the MDL is finished as a super power in the Spineward Sectors Assembly,” Isaak said calmly, “the only question was whether or not you personally would continue to serve as Minority Leader. Just because the Faction was going down didn’t mean you, Anton Chat-Hammer, personally had to lose all power. But since you prefer to bite the hand I offer in friendship…well there are plenty of other voices in your faction that would prefer the Minority Leader position.”
Anton Chat-Hammer looked much less assured than previously. “You’re bluffing,” he accused uncertainly.
“I am not in the habit of making idle threats or bluffing; very few men have escaped once Sir Isaak of Capria says that arrangements have been made. Join me,” he said, extending his hand to the man still on his knees, ruby ring gleaming on his now extended forefinger, “or your political career is over.”
“I don’t believe you can do what you say. The MDL…” said Chat-Hammer, looking from side to side before trailing off.
“Is a spent force. Join me,” said Isaak and at Chat-Hammer’s continued indecision, “join me or be cast into the political wilderness. There to wander for the remainder of your increasingly short and pointless political term.”
“Blast you,” Anton Chat-Hammer whispered and then his shoulders straightened and his voice rose, “you may get off on these cheap games,” he said, gesturing to the Assembly Guards still holding him down on his knees on the floor, “but you aren’t some king—and I’m no servant. I am the Minority Leader of the Mutual Defense League Faction of the Assembly and you’ll never—”
Whatever he had been about to say was cut off as Isaak gestured and the guards hauled him backward out of the room.
“You’ll never get away with this!” cried Anton Chat-Hammer.
“It’s sad when a man stares reality in the face and finds himself unable to deal with it,” Isaak sighed as the Assemblyman was hauled away. He looked up. “You did well,” he told the Assembly Guards.
“Thank you, Governor,” said the taller of the two, looking self-satisfied.
“Your loyalty is greatly appreciated. Send in my next appointment,” he instructed.
“Whatever it takes to stop the Tyrant, Governor. We don’t want a pirate in charge of our Fleet for any longer than necessary, you know that. We’re with you to the end,” he said crisply and then turned to step out and bring in the next assemblyman on the list.
Isaak nodded with a faint smile. Sometimes it paid dividends to reach out to those with known motivations. Willing hands could be all too few at times.
“Ah, Speaker Newton, it is a pleasure to speak with you in these trying times,” said the Assemblyman from Sector 23 who stepped through the doors.
“The pleasure is all mine, Assemblyman Chang,” he said with an appreciative smile, “alas, it is sad to say but my previous appointment didn’t seem to appreciate my time as much as he might have.”
“I warned you that Assemblyman Chat-Hammer wouldn’t play ball,” Assemblyman Chang said with a dismissive shrug.
“Yet I take it from your words that you can?” Isaak asked amused.
“Now that Chat-Hammer is out of the picture I hope that you will see your way clear to throwing your support behind my candidacy for the minority leader position,” Chang said in a humble manner.
Sir Isaak eyed him, certain that Chang was not nearly as humble as he attempted to appear. The suspicious hints of a smile around the corners of his mouth tended to give him away.
“It is a definite consideration,” Isaak allowed.
Chang’s brow furrowed. “I am the natural successor of our late and much lamented leaders of the Mutual Defense League in the Assembly,” he pointed out respectfully.
“You are not the only other candidate I have to consider,” Isaak replied bluntly.
Chang pursed his lips. “Who else is there that has anything near my stature within both voting blocs?”
“Why no one,” agreed the Governor.
“Then…I fail to see who else you might be considering,” he replied.
“Assemblywoman Valadencia Kern, for instance,” Isaak said, enjoying the feeling of toying with his opposition in the Grand Assembly. He might be in power now but it had been a long and politically bloody battle, and the people he was meeting with right now might have all been junior or second string in the MDL, but they’d still been part of a voting bloc that had attempted to stymie his rise to the Speakership at every turn, and thus block his road to total power and eventual domination over the new Spineward Sectors Assembly and then inevitably seven sectors of space. It might not be entirely proper to play with your food but sometimes those urges needed to be vented and appeased.
“The Sub-Faction Leader of the Anti-Droid Alliance?! Of what possible use could she be to you?” Assemblyman Change asked sharply.
“I have my uses for her, which is all you need to know,” Isaak said frowning slightly at the other man’s tone.
Assemblyman Chang seemed to realize he’d misspoke and quickly amended his tone.
“I beg pardon, your mention of the Sub-Faction Leader took me by surprise,” the Assemblyman apologized, now sounding much more sincere than he had previously.
“It’s a trifle,” Sir Isaak said waving his ruby encrusted forefinger in dismissal. The ring glinted back and forth in the bright light of the conference room as his hand moved from side to side, “think no more of it.”
“Still, your proposal has me genuinely curious. Of what possible use could the Leader of such an…extremist…sub-faction be to us once elevated to control of the entire MDL voting block? Unless I am quite mistaken, she is no close friend and ally of yours,” Politician Chang inquired politely.
“You seem to be a competent man, Assemblyman Chang…unlike so very many of your fellow leaders in the Mutual Defense League,” Isaak said in an idle tone.
“Why, thank you, Speaker,” Chang said, covering a smile with his hand.
“That wasn’t a compliment,” Isaak said strictly, and the pleased expression on Chang’s face was instantly wiped off.
“I don’t follow. We have always worked well together and you have my solemn promise that we will only enhance our cooperation in the future once I am elected to the Minority Leader’s post. Your ascension to the Speakership and thus total control over the Assembly will be assured with my support,” Change replied.
“That’s just it, Chang,” Isaak replied forcefully.
Chang stilled and then cocked his head in question. “I don’t follow,” the MDL member replied.
“The point is that if I throw my support behind you, you will throw your support behind me and with your…help, I will be the uncontested Leader of the Assembly---for a time,” said the Governor.
“You have my solemn vow that I will always be a steadfast ally in the Assembly,” Chang said smoothly.
“And there you go again,” Isaak said, shaking his head.
“Again, I don’t seem to follow. You seem to agree with me on every point that this would be a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Chang said, clearly struggling to maintain an impassively pleasant demeanor.
“That’s because I’ve been exactly where you’re sitting right now: a young, ambitious, competent man eager to make his mark, yet at least on the surface more than willing to bide his time until the older, ‘wiser’ heads,” at this Isaak snorted derisively, “have had their turn at the wheels of power.”
“You seem to have me pegged, with the minor caveat that I have absolutely no intention of crossing you. We’re in the middle of a war and I would hate to do anything—or even just appear to do anything—to impede the efforts of our new government,” said Chang.
“Oh I know you mean that, for now,” Isaak allowed.
“If you don’t trust me, which you don’t seem to do, I don’t know what I�
�m doing here,” Assemblyman Chang said seriously.
“It’s not that I don't trust you. Because even better than trust, I know you, which means I know what you will do in any given situation. In short, you’re a known quantity. The real question here is: do I need you,” Isaak said calmly and then looked at him, curious as to what he would say.
“You would seriously prefer Chat-Hammer or Kern in control of your opposition?” Chang lifted an eye brow.
“In a word? Yes.” Isaak with a shrug. “Chat-Hammer would be like facing a bull in a china shop. Throw out a red cape and he’ll charge right into a brick wall. With him in power he’ll put up a fight, yes,” Isaak admitted, “and then as he fails time and time again he’ll be increasingly marginalized, not just within the Assembly but in his own party as well. Until finally your people replace him out of sheer frustration with his incompetence if nothing else.”
“I think you underestimate my good colleague, but far be it from me to defend the man. Go on,” Chang said finally, sitting back and relaxing.
Isaak paused, irked, and then continued.
“The Assemblywoman on the other hand offers her own advantages. With her, other than an almost fanatical stance on Droids, which isn’t a problem, and thus advanced automation, which on the other hand might be in the longer term, we have a woman who would be perhaps my greatest ally in curbing the power of our current Grand Admiral,” Isaak said.
“She also has the advantage of having a self-limiting ability to appeal to the rest of the caucuses in the Spineward Assembly. An Anti-Droid Alliance? In this day and age? That platform might have carried the Assembly in a previous age but today? It limits the voter base. She’s just fortunate her Sector was attacked by Droids or her entire power base would be isolated. As it is, give things a decade and she’ll be just as marginalized as she was before your Sectors were invaded,” Isaak said dismissively.
“You don’t believe in the machine threat then?” Chang looked taken aback.
Admiral's Nemesis Part II Page 39