“Curse those incompetent Raubachs to the depths of Data Hell!” he swore bitterly. None of this would have been happening if they hadn’t bungled their end of the operation. Everything else, including the proposed re-conquest of the Spine—only this time as Imperial provinces, a feather in his cap that he could have used to sweep into power if all else failed—could have blown up in his face. But so long as he successfully retrieved that Fragment, the Empire would have been his oyster.
“There are also signs of the beginning of a coordinated attack on our House Cornwallis’s other companies and financial interests outside of the shipbuilding industry. But as things stand right now it is too soon to tell,” reported the Factor.
“The flaming vultures have begun to circle but as long as I’m alive they’ll find Cornwallis too tough a bit of gristle to chew. No doubt our favorite Triumvir is moving against us from the shadows for fear of losing her seat on the Triumvirate when we succeed,” Charles Cornwallis grumped. “But with the investors shaken, the Initiative in disarray, and no sign of that flaming fragment in sight I may have to take direct action to salvage this thing.”
“What do you want us to do about the Raubach situation, your Excellency?” he asked.
“Do nothing for now. For all his personal animosity, the 'new' head of House Raubach is nothing more than a stalking horse. Any attack on him would only expose us to more dangerous enemies using them as a decoy—for that is all that the failed seed of Jameson Raubach could ever amount to: a diversion. No. Curse the previous house lord and its ruling family for the incompetent menaces they were, if they hadn’t failed—and worse, died afterwards—we wouldn’t be in this situation! As of now we have to stay the course. The die is cast and the new Prince of Raubach’s day will come, but only at a time and place of our choosing.”
“I’ll make a note to avoid any direct confrontations with-” began the Factor.
“No,” Cornwallis cut him off, “if they come at us, fight back; a House that can’t protect itself is useless. Just put out the notation to turtle up. I want no provocative actions others outside of Raubach can use as an excuse to dog-pile us.”
“Very well, your Excellency,” said the Factor.
“Tell me again about our investments in the purple cluster?” Senator Cornwallis asked.
“Pirate attacks are up and there are multiple rumors of low-tech bandits boarding merchant vessels. Unsurprisingly, we have suffered more than five times the number of ‘pirate attacks’ compared to the Merchant Guild’s threat index,” reported the Factor.
Charles Cornwallis’s eyes squeezed together tightly. “Put out feelers and request an invitation from Theodore Kennedy,” he said shortly.
“The Senator Kennedy, of House Kennedy, Sir?” the Factor clarified.
“Yes, the flaming Senator,” Charles Cornwallis flared before remastering himself. “The hoary old coot may charge almost as much as we’ll make in profit to haul our cargo, but only a fool would attack a retired Triumvir. Even Bellucci would think three and four times before making a move that might wake the old Lion of the Senate from his slumber. A 'no confidence' vote against anyone foolish enough to hijack his cargoes even by proxy is the least they would face. He might not win against a sitting Triumvir, but no one’s told him that.”
“Under such a scenario we would be treading water, not actually advancing House interests,” observed the Factor.
“It’s a hedge,” Cornwallis admitted, “but a necessary one. When the jackals gather to the feast, the wise bull puts a portion of the herd on the plateau out of reach. Which is why I think we’ll also begin moving key members of the main family to the Cornwallis estate world. In politics it's always necessary to have a threat that lets them know that they can savage everything in reach while we’re unable to take effective action to stop it, but when it's all over and Cornwallis is on the upswing we won’t do so from a position of weakness. The mere fact that we’ll have those funds, and the people to utilize them after this feeding frenzy, will stay many hands that might otherwise want to dip into our cookie jar.”
“I’d hardly describe our current situation in such dire terms. Yes things are down but…” the Factor trailed off.
“I’ve seen it happen before. The great game of the Imperial Senate is not a forum for the faint of heart. They’ll turn on you the moment they sense weakness, and with the recent reversals we’ve experienced that’s what they’re sensing. They sense wrong, however; I still have a plan to not just salvage the situation but come out of it stronger than ever! The fourth rail of Imperial politics is not so easily dealt with.”
“I am prepared to carry out any orders you might have,” said the Factor.
“Contact the Free Legion Mercenaries. I think it's time we turned up the pressure—covertly—on House Raubach. That should prove a nice distraction and let everyone know old Charles Cornwallis is flailing around ineffectively,” the Senator said with satisfaction.
“And then?” asked the Factor.
“Just carry out your part of the operation,” the Senator said, his voice turning cold.
“Of course, Sir,” the Factor replied, signing off.
“Interface, open a secured line and prepare to forward a message. It’s time to use our contacts in the Grand Assembly and let them finally launch that mercy mission they’ve been whining about for some time now,” he chuckled darkly, “with a few adjustments of course. Janeski’s bungling was just an unfortunate temporary setback, and forewarned is definitely forearmed,” he said flatly, and then began dictating a message that would shake one mega government and multiple regions of the galaxy to their core.
Let them snipe, hit from the shadows, and do their worst. The time to settle accounts would all come later. It was time to start calling in over fifty years worth of favors.
The fourth rail had decided to move and galactic power would still one day be his for the taking.
It was time to send his best agent to do the job.
Chapter 29: Cornwallis Maneuvers in the Background
“Senator, it’s been too long,” said the short nondescript man who walked into the House Head’s private study without warning.
“Mr. Simper,” the Senator greeted the other man, “I hope you are fully recovered from the Carnifax affair?”
“Even one of the Triumvir’s vaunted Shadow Guard can be successfully diverted. The operation proceeded as planned and was successful, fulfilling all listed mission objectives. As for any injuries sustained during the job, it was nothing a competent surgeon with a vat full of surgical heal couldn’t set right,” he said with clinical professionalism. “I take it you have work?”
“Mr. Simpers, I have a job for you,” he told the other man with relish, “the operation will be two-pronged.”
“I heard you secured the services of the Free Legions before contacting me,” Mr. Simpers interjected neutrally, his voice betraying none of whatever precious few emotions the man could lay legitimate claim to experiencing. “I’m hurt.”
Cornwallis suppressed a scowl at the other man's flaunting his knowledge of House Cornwallis' affairs. “Yes,” he said shortly, “a necessary deception to confound my enemies. They will be there to make noise and hopefully carry out their assignment, although I won’t be waiting with bated breath for word of their success.”
“The Free Legions are a professional organization not known for their string of failures,” Mr. Simpers said flatly.
“Triumvir Bellucci is a formidable foe, and the resurgent Prince Raubach is currently under her eye. Frankly, I have bigger fish to fry and more important matters to attend than the head of a dwindling vassal house—as satisfying as it might be to attend to that matter just now,” said the Senator.
“Thus the Free Legions, followed by our meeting,” Mr. Simpers said appreciatively.
“Exactly,” Cornwallis reached for a Rigellan Cigar, one of the best in the galaxy. Only after the Senator had been puffing away for a good half minute did he
look back over at Simpers. “Want one?” he asked, savoring the flavor.
“I’ll pass,” the short-statured man said, sitting rigidly upright in his chair. “It’s a pity about House Raubach; I was almost looking forward to tangling with its new leader, given his particular background and the...interesting rumors I’ve been hearing about this provincial special forces group he’s acquired.”
“Despite the rumors that he’s destroyed the particular...item I am searching for,” Cornwallis said carefully, “it’s inconceivable that he actually did destroy it. Whoever controls it controls the very future of the Empire; only a blind fool would relinquish that power or, worse yet, fail to leverage it for himself. Even a man with Jameson Raubach 2.0’s peculiar history would have to be a complete and utter fool to risk being torn limb from limb on the Senate floor. As such, the prize can only remain to be found and, as I can’t imagine that he would have it without Bellucci finding it and taking its possession away from him, nor Bellucci from using it once it was within her possession…” he trailed off before saying decisively, “no. I have my feelers out and an action team is on standby. But this will be handled as an internal house matter.”
“As you wish.” Mr. Simpers sighed. “You were saying about this new assignment?”
“Yes, down to business,” the Senator said decisively, putting down his smoke and grinding it in an ashtray before meeting and holding Mr. Simpers eyes.
For his part, Mr. Simpers just looked back at him evenly and the former Admiral grunted, pleased with the result.
“I want you to stop our efforts to impede the Grand Assembly. Keeping the Confederation deadlocked with infighting and bills to support the lost Sectors held up in committee has suddenly become counter-productive,” said the Senator.
“That should be easy enough to do,” Simpers said, cocking his head to the side. “Of course, if we do that their relief fleet will in all likelihood sail straight into the Spine and within the year if I am any judge.”
“A year is too long. It’s time to get out and push,” Charles Cornwallis the head of house Cornwallis instructed the Agent Provocateur. “Let their mercy mission proceed… with a few modifications, of course.” The Senator smiled at his last statement.
“What were you thinking, Senator?” Mr. Simpers asked curiously, looking intrigued by the notion of indirectly steering policy of a mega-government on a grand scale.
Charles Cornwallis liked to know the men he worked with, and Mr. Simpers was a man who came from a stolid middle class background. Just high enough that, with opportunity and the right education, he could rise up to himself be one of the levers of Imperial politics but not high enough that he himself could ever rise above a mid-level official. For a man like him, this sort of action was what he lived for.
“Instead of our usual intransigent schemes, I want you to release a series of carefully prepared press releases about droid threats, genetic uplifts, and general chaos in the Spine. I have actual files of their existence and various depredations both inside and outside the former Confederation Border Sectors,” the Senator said, adding that last part dismissively as that was not the main thrust of his designs.
“Manipulating the foreign policy of a foreign mega-government is quite costly, not to mention potentially hazardous to one’s health. You’re well aware of this,” pointed out Mr. Simpers, “plus I have the feeling that there’s more to this scheme than you’ve relayed so far.”
“This is the Confederation we’re talking about; get real,” Senator Cornwallis said dismissively, “rest assured though you’ll get your usual fee.”
“For a job like this, my usual fee will not suffice,” bargained Mr. Simpers, but the Imperial Senator waved it away.
“Whatever it is, including your action fund, House Cornwallis will pay for it, don’t worry,” he said. “However, the next part is highly sensitive information. I cannot stress enough that it simply cannot leak. Not before the Confederation has the chance to vote.”
“Then, by all means, consider me under contract and continue,” Mr. Simpers urged, leaning forward in his chair.
“Next on the agenda, we’ll get them to pass a bill asking for the Empire to clean up their mess,” Cornwallis spoke with a bared-teeth smile. “Oh, couch it however you like: asking for assistance, or making the Empire agree clean up and, more importantly, ‘pay’ for the mess we—meaning you and I—created for them. Word it however you have to, just make sure it goes through. Substance over form is the watchword here,” he lifted a finger for emphasis.
“It might take a while but, being Assembly men, they’ll gladly jump at anything they don’t have to pay for,” Simpers said with a shrug. “Anything that doesn’t require them to get a bill out of the appropriations committee and onto the floor of the Assembly will meet with great favor in certain circles—ones that might surprise you, actually—over there.”
“While I’m always interested in details,” Cornwallis said with a frown, “in this case I’ll take a non-binding resolution if I have to and settle up with the intransigents later. But I need to make this next point absolutely clear: I want it done fast and the prep work done quietly, before word can leak back home and the Senate can put its oar in.”
“That makes it harder,” Mr. Simpers said, his brow furrowing as if he were in deep thought. “But not impossible,” his brow un-furrowed, “with their previous budget, the one before the Spineward Incident, they were able to pay for a full fleet and universal living wages or a full fleet and universal health care but they couldn’t afford both a full fleet and a full living wage along with universal health care. Which was why their fleet was at half mast and they’d turned over most of the police and border duties on their actual borders to the Empire and Rim Fleet. As long as we pay for it, anything should technically be possible…of course, to get it done fast, we might have to pay out more than bribes. Funds for the relief effort might be needed as well.”
“As with so many socialists before them, they decided to make like a grasshopper and sing and dance in the streets while the productive little ants in the Empire did all the hard work,” The Senator said scornfully. “Promise them the moon, money-wise, if that’s what it’ll take to get the resolution. We can always plunder the Spine to pay them off later if that’s the road we choose. Just so long as I get a resolution for the Empire to bring the Spine back into the fold by any means necessary, and a request for the Empire to spearhead the ‘military’ effort. After that, the peacekeeping elements can wait for the fund transfer, staying behind until it's safe and the area’s been properly pacified. Then they can sweep in like usual, decry the hard decisions the military had to make, and gleefully welcome their former brothers back into the fold with welcome arms of humanity,” he continued with a smile. “And in the meantime I’ll be redrawing their previous Sector borders into provincial administrative districts, waiting for ratification from the Empire before bringing them fully into the Empire of Man.”
Mr. Simper’s breath whooshed out “An ambitious goal, and one that Confederation will cry bloody murder about it if it's not handed properly and even then…” he trailed off. “Will the Empire even back such a play?”
“The Confederation angle is why you’re paid the big bucks, Simpers. As for the Empire, if the choice is expanding the Imperial zone of control or leaving a region the size of four provinces in the hands of a single Imperial house, which way do you think they’ll jump?” Cornwallis asked scornfully. “As for giving it back to the Confederals? The Empire does not easily let go of that which it has paid blood to purchase, unlike the Confederation which has all but allowed the Spine to fall to warlords and pirates while it bickered with itself on the Assembly floor.”
“I’ll trust you to know the Imperial angle and more specifically the mind of the Senate better than I,” Mr. Simpers splayed his hands, “but I’ll admit even for me it has been surprising just how amenable the Assembly has been to grid lock and failure to take action. This is seven Sectors of th
eir own Empire we’re talking about.”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you they’re a ‘Confederacy,’ not Empire; there is a decided difference,” Cornwallis corrected pointedly. “Someday we’ll have actual human unity instead of this farce and treaty nonsense.”
“Until then we have to keep working for that blessed day,” Mr. Simpers deadpanned, “but on a more serious note, our two systems are just too far apart for an amicable union.”
Cornwallis snorted. “Never happen,” he dismissed, “they’ve already discarded too much of what makes the Empire great while wholeheartedly embracing what are ultimately self-destructive, soft power proposals.”
“The flaming atoms of it is, Senator,” the Agent shook his head, “that if the Empire wasn’t currently at war with the Gorgon’s, with the way our economy had been growing by leaps and bounds, we were almost at the point where we could provide all three of those—military, health and wages—instead of just two and a partial, like with the Confederation Grand Assembly,” Mr. Simpers sighed.
The Senator glowered at the Agent Provocateur. “Don’t let your misspent time manipulating the Confederation turn you soft on me, Mr. Simpers. There’s a reason why the Imperial Senate never has and never will go down that route even if we could pay for it,” he said sternly, “and that's because, if there is a crisis, you have no reserve to defend your civilization. And Mr. Simpers, despite what the Confederation try to tell us, there is always a crisis. Some alien race, some mad dog demagogue offering safety from imagined enemies, or universal suffrage if you’ll just give him unlimited power, or the coordinates to planetary body Free Lunch will be yours.” He made a popped air balloon sound before slapping a hand down on the table, “The Empire’s citizens stay hard and they stay hungry when they live and die by their own hands. As for a social safety net, that’s why we have the Imperial Colonization program. No one needs to die because they lost their job, got sick, or had a bad turn. All they have to do is ask for help and they’ll get it,” the Senator chuckled.
Admiral's Nemesis (A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 11) Page 22