“However, there is still the proposal of Senator Wessex to put the vote on hold until the Senate has had the chance to formulate a list for consideration,” Triumvir Bellucci said, her face like stone as she looked at him.
Cornwallis frowned. He’d thought that playing the daughter card would have been enough. If he’d known better he would have let his Nephew take more of a hit before trotting out the younger Bellucci.
Flaming Bellucci, he thought bitter, it seems I'll need Kennedy after all.
This was going to cost him, and he scowled even as Theodore Kennedy stood up and cleared his throat and nothing more. The old lion of the Senate didn’t even bother to look at the Triumvir, he just smiled off to the side and waited to be acknowledged. He was certain enough in his power that even a Triumvir couldn’t risk slighting him.
Triumvir Bellucci paused and after a moment looked over at the old Lion. “Censor Kennedy, you have something to say on the topic?” she asked finally, the unwillingness in her voice matched only by the respect she was forced to show one of the Senate's most powerful member. Charles Cornwallis couldn’t help wishing he could just crush her and take the seat on the Triumvirate that rightfully belonged to him. Bellucci just wasn’t tough enough for the job, as far as he was concerned. If he were in her position—well, he would never be in her position even, or especially if, he had her seat—but, if for argument sake he was, then he would have been strong enough to either pay off or ignore Kennedy.
“Thank you for your indulgence, Madam Triumvir,” Senator Kennedy said gravely. Kennedy, a former Triumvir and current Censor, which was a lifetime Empire-level appointment, might like to be called the old Lion of the Senate behind his back and consider himself ‘retired’ but no one retired from power, they just slowed down.
“I believe there isn’t a person in the Empire who doesn’t know the exploits of Theodore Kennedy in service to this Empire. This is not indulgence but respect, Censor Kennedy,” Triumvir Bellucci said, clearly trying to woo the old Lion away from Cornwallis’s side. But sadly for her they’d already made an accord on this particular topic.
The truth was Theodore Kennedy was just another power-hungry old vulture waiting to suck the lifeblood out of those around him if given half a chance. That was why she stood no chance unless she could come up with more than he was offering, but the old lion did like to play the grand old statesman.
Which, now that Cornwallis thought about it, made Kennedy just like every single other Senator and would-be Senator in the Empire. The former Triumvir just happened to be better at it than most, as evidenced by the way he’d turned his Censorship, normally a sinecure post used by aged Senators to ensure they had an income well into their dotage into real power. The ability to wave your hand and add a foreigner living in the Empire to the Empire’s citizenship rolls gave one a unique form of power and ability to horse trade and curry favors. Not only that, but a Censor was also able to affect the size and composition of voting districts by manipulating the voter rolls as needed or by recourse to the massive Imperial bureaucracy—a bureaucracy which answered directly to the Triumvirate.
“It occurs to me, Madame Speaker,” Kennedy said, turning and acknowledging the Triumvir with a nod, “that Senator Cornwallis has the direct backing of the Grand Assembly itself. I must ask: do we really want to risk alienating the Confederation by second-guessing their explicitly stated will? Whether Cornwallis is up to the task or not…well, I’ll leave to this august body to determine,” the old Lion stated hypocritically, probably so that later on he couldn’t be accused of being an outright supporter but, if things went well, would be able to hold out his hand for a handout and say how he’d been behind the Expeditionary Fleet all along. “I believe we must carefully weigh the will of the Confederation as we deliberate this…gift of theirs. I believe, as a woman of impeccable fairness, you would have to agree, yes?”
Triumvir Bellucci looked like she’d bitten into something sour. “Are there any objections to the Censor’s Proposal?” she asked to a deafening silence on the senate floor.
No one was going to risk offending both the fourth rail and the old lion at the same time, at least not over something like this. Not without Bellucci’s explicit backing and support.
“Then so long as Senator Cornwallis is willing to accept responsibility for any actions taken to secure these sectors, far be from me to refuse the Lion of the Senate. Let us proceed to a vote,” she said with the sort of disgruntled look that said she was secretly infuriated but refused to show it.
Charles Cornwallis suppressed a victorious chuckle. He’d planned for too long. Bribed, paid off, or blackmailed too many of his brother and sister Senators for this to fail now. So long as it came down to a vote, he had the numbers. The only question had been whether Bellucci would be able to use her status to block the vote or not, and now it was definitely appearing not.
“We could still send an advisory board,” Senior Senator Morgan said weakly.
But under the combined gazes of both Cornwallis and Bellucci, he shrunk back on himself and fell silent.
Senator Cornwallis decided to step into the brief silence; now was the opportune moment to seal the deal, one with the most authority and wiggle room he could manage.
“Fellow Senators,” he declared, “it is my intention to return to the Spineward Sectors and restore Order in those blighted/benighted lands at the urgent behest of the Confederation Grand Assembly. Who among us has not heard of the Bugs and Pirates and Droid invasion of the region? The people of the Spine and the Confederation heartlands themselves have begged the Empire to do something and with your endorsement I will do just that. As Proconsul of the newly-annexed Spineward Regions, I will bring order, security, and safety back to those Sectors and, using my authority, I will annex not less than three new Provinces for the greater glory of the Senate and the Empire of Man!”
Heads bobbed approvingly around the Senate floor as he took a pointed respiratory pause.
“All I ask are three of our mighty Imperial Fleets to do the job with authority. Let the pirates and mankind-enslaving warlords of the Spine tremble in fear of our Imperial might!” he said vociferously. “And—”
“I think Praetor is as high as we’ll go with this campaign. Proconsul is reserved for hostile conquests far from our Conduit lines,” Triumvir Bellucci shook her head in negation. “Which fleets were you thinking of requesting?” she asked with the barest hint of a smirk.
Senator Charles Cornwallis checked his tapper, “The 7th Imperial Battle Fleet has just completed a repair cycle, while the Imperial Rim Fleet has just returned back from the Gorgon Front for rest and refit. Throw in the 2nd Reserve Flotilla and I can crush anything the Spineward Sectors can throw at us,” He said with complete confidence.
“Yes, I’m sure you could,” Triumvir Bellucci said acidly. “Why, I think even Senior Senator Morgan could liberate seven Confederation Sectors whose populations are eager to join the Empire with three fleets.”
“While large swaths of the Spineward Region will welcome Imperial rule if it means a return to stability and public order, I don’t believe I ever indicated that there wouldn’t be heavy resistance from certain local despots and hegemons who have sprung up in the mean time—the Droids, to mention only one,” Cornwallis said smoothly. “And it’s hardly three fleets; the Naval Reserve formation alone hardly counts as an entire fleet, let alone the Rim Fleet which sustained heavy casualties along the—”
“This body is well aware of Rim Fleet’s highly degraded combat status, which is why we will not be pulling them from their scheduled refit cycle,” she said severely.
“The officers and crews of those ships are highly familiar with the region,” he protested.
“Rim Fleet has worked hard to attain their well-earned R&R, Cornwallis. They won’t be re-tasked for this,” she said flatly.
“I understand,” he said, projecting dissatisfaction, “but the 7th is a battle-tested fleet. I’m sure that with them a
t my back this mission will succeed.”
“We are well aware that 7th Battle Fleet was your most recent former command but, again, their position along the Overton Expanse is vital to the security of the Empire, so that’s a nonstarter,” Triumvir Bellucci said seriously and then slowly smiled.
“What the deuce is this?” demanded Senator Cornwallis. “I can’t conquer the Spine without significant naval forces. I need a fleet, plain and simple!”
“And you will get a fleet, assuming the Senate votes in your favor. As you pointed out: the 2nd Reserve Flotilla will shortly be out of naval shipyards,” she said with satisfaction.
“The Reserve formation won’t be enough; it's only part of a fleet. Not only is it smaller than a real fleet, its ships are outdated and its personnel are largely reactivated reservists,” he said flatly. “And if you think I can absorb the costs of purchasing the lacking warships myself, I thank you for the compliment but you have highly overestimated the wealth of my House.”
“That’s why you will be taking advantage of the offer from the Confederation’s 1st Volunteer Fleet,” Triumvir Bellucci said happily. “I believe they are calling them the 'Glorious Fleet of Liberation'.”
Senator Cornwallis narrowed his eyes. “I’ve already been in contact with the 1st Volunteers,” he replied evenly, “they are in no way, shape, or form a replacement for a real fleet—an Imperial Fleet,” he said with deliberate emphasis.
“That is why you’ll have the Reserve Flotilla,” she replied.
He shook his head in negation. “That’s simply not enough,” he said with finality.
“And yet that’s what you’ll have to work with,” she said flatly.
He paused as if to mull things over before deciding to launch his last fallback plan. “I can work with the Reserve Flotilla and the…Volunteers,” he said distastefully, “but I’m going to need a headquarters unit—a real headquarters unit, not recently updated eighty year old technology masquerading as a modern command and control center.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve an existing fleet,” she allowed. The corner of his mouth turned up. “Or anything earmarked for an existing fleet,” she said warningly, “we have to keep up the pressure on the Front if we’re going to bring this conflict to a speedy resolution.”
The Senator pursed his lips. “Nothing I’m asking for has been earmarked…yet,” he said baring his teeth.
The Triumvir looked down at him severely.
“Don’t worry, Bellucci. None of this will come out of your pockets,” not directly anyway, he silently admitted. “Actually, as I understand it and I’m sure you’re fully aware, the Pontifex yards have the better part of an entire Task Force working up for their final space trials one month from now.”
There was a stir in the Senate as what had just been highly entertaining political theater previously, with Cornwallis and Bellucci going at one another with proverbial knives, suddenly took on a much different cast.
“The Pontifex yards,” Bellucci said slowly. She would have had to be blind not to pick up the sudden sense of concern sweeping through the Senate.
Cornwallis unveiled a snap-raptor smile. The members of the Triumvirate might be first among equals. They might have powers that Senators only dreamed of. But in the end the military swore their oaths to God, Senate and Empire, not to any one man. And while the Triumvir might be independent in practice, building a private fleet like this, well…
“But of course, and where else could they have been built? As you will recall, all the hulls from the Imperial and Triumvirate-level Yards have already been allocated. Only a House with substantial military contracts and private facilities could manage such a feat, with Pontifex being one of the few,” Cornwallis said, looking down at his fingernails and then back up at the Triumvir with a satisfied expression. “But, as you also know, I am on the Senate’s War Committee and we—and our Senatorial investigators—know everything. The Senate, in the form of its War Committee, is aware and in many cases must approve, or at least not disapprove, of every warship above a certain size that is laid down in any shipyard throughout the Empire. Whether or not we’re actually paying for it.”
Triumvir Bellucci’s face hardened into a stony mask. “The Pontifex Yards,” Bellucci repeated.
Senator Cornwallis met her gaze levelly. “Magnus Gaius Pontifex,” he said simply and, as he said the name of the oldest and most powerful Triumvir of the Triumvirate, it was as if a strong wind had just struck the senate causing Senators to sway back and forth.
Bellucci clenched her fists and glowered down at him. By bringing this out into the open, he was not only making an enemy of Magnus Gaius Pontifex—who, thankfully, was safely out of reach directing the Imperial Battle Fleets on the Front from a regional capital—but also potentially of the rest of the Triumvirate. Or at least he would be if he failed in his bid to join their ranks as an equal. For what was unforgivable in a Senator, while also unacceptable from an equal, was not nearly as deadly.
“Triumvir Magnus Gaius Pontifex, you mean?” she said strictly. “And now you mean to requisition Magnus' personal ships. You are brazen beyond belief, Cornwallis, I’ll give you that. But wanting to purloin a Triumvir’s personal warships?” She shook her head. It wasn’t obvious to everyone, only someone who had studied the Triumvir as closely as the Senator had, but she clearly hadn’t known about the task force being constructed in the Pontifex Yards by the Triumvirate's most senior member and she was shaken.
Charles Cornwallis smiled sardonically; Magnus Gaius Pontifex hadn’t risen to the top and stayed there because he was incompetent or because he stood around waiting for the knife in the back before acting to secure his position. He was a truly masterful politician and, some would say, a brutal dictator—both of which qualities were beneficial attributes at the highest level of politics.
“If they were his personal ships, Triumvir Bellucci, there would be much fewer of them. Or they would have been constructed in Triumvirate yards set aside for the Fleets this Senate has directly placed in his hands if they did, indeed, belong solely to House Pontifex. Well…how is that possible, Madam Triumvir? As that sort of war fleet on its size alone, to say nothing of the restricted technology used in its construction, would be a clear violation of Senate Prerogative. Every Fleet in this Empire reports only to God, the Senate, and the Flag Officer placed in charge of it. Everything and anything else is merely a grant of our authority—and what we give, we can take away just as easily,” Cornwallis declared, taking a hard-line, constitutional line.
He was backing himself into a proverbial corner but the die was cast he had to succeed or die trying. Curse Bellucci and that incompetent ingrate Arnold Janeski for backing him into a corner; everything had been planned out so perfectly. Yet here he was with all of his careful planning for naught, riding the razor's edge because of one political rival, a horde of rubes—even by Confederation standards—and a pack of incompetent fools thought they could thwart the will of one Charles Cornwallis?!
“Are you threatening the Executive, Senator?” Bellucci demanded harshly, bristling like a jungle cat whose fur had just been rubbed the wrong way.
“Not at all,” Cornwallis said, knowing that Senate reality (they were the sole authorizing power in the Empire) and Triumvirate reality were two different things, “in fact, I propose that the Senate give Triumvir Pontifex a vote of thanks and award him the Imperial Civic Legion Star in Gold for his good work. To building up an entire Task Force of Imperial warships, including an Imperial Command Carrier, from his own personal funds?” Cornwallis paused for effect so as to let that little tidbit sink into the naturally paranoid minds of his fellow Senators.
It was one thing to know that this sort of thing went on, but quite another to allow a blatant violation of Senate authority like this to stand.
“That’s why I propose in addition to the Star in Gold, the Senate immediately move to reimburse the Triumvir and House Pontifex for what must have been a very finan
cially ruinous expenditure and take control of this Task Force without delay, joining it to the 2nd Reserve Flotilla slated for service in the Spineward Sectors and at the same time elevating the 2nd Reserve from a flotilla to full fleet status. And finally bestowing upon the newly expanded formation all the rights and traditional prerogatives that go with a command of this nature,” Cornwallis settled back into his chair, “how votes the Senate?”
This time when Triumvir Bellucci met his gaze it was with equal parts fury and fear. Fear that he’d positioned himself to supplant her, and fear of what Magnus Pontifex would do when he found out.
Fortunately, by that time Senator and now Praetor Cornwallis would be safely out of reach. And soon thereafter, he would have within his possession a Fragment of the god itself.
Former economic allies wanted to turn on House Cornwallis? Fine. Raubach decided to ally itself with Bellucci in an attempt to humiliate him in the Senate? Well that was just fine too. Let each and every one of them try to oppose him, but at the end of the day all one needed to do was apply the appropriate leverage and one could move the known galaxy itself. And exposing a Triumvir building a personal fleet was just that lever. Now they had to vote for his measure.
They didn’t have a choice, even if they wanted one.
“In light of this new evidence, I propose we proceed to a vote,” Senator Kennedy said, finally breaking the extended pause, his voice dead neutral as he spoke. The old lion no doubt sensed blood in the water and was busy reevaluating his chances at regaining his old seat on the Triumvirate.
Sorry, Senator, but the first open seat belongs to me, Cornwallis thought coldly.
“There is no House more loyal to the Empire than Pontifex,” Senator Hampton said fervently but, much like Kennedy, in such a way that he couldn’t later be accused of being for or against the Triumvir.
They are all cowards, Senator Cornwallis thought derisively. Kennedy was old and the rest were too fearful to do what needed to be done, not just to protect the Empire but to seize actual power. It looked like he was going to have to help them along.
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