The faces of the two MDL Block leaders changed.
“The Heartland Block couldn’t possibly be throwing their vote behind Montagne, could they? He’s a wanted criminal in their own Sector. He was even convicted of Planetary Piracy!!” cried the Co-Chair.
“Actually, he was only censured by the Sector Assembly and thrown into prison, in an orbital dungeon ship, while the Security Council investigated. He was roundly condemned in CNN, the Assembly and the court of public opinion, but the Planetary Piracy charges never went to trial. The judicial branch refused to prosecute given the evidence. No, the current warrant for his arrest are plain old piracy charges,” explained the Committee Member. “He’s accused of taking the lion’s share of the captured Battleships without governmental approval—this despite the fact that technically as Sector Commandant he had the power to empanel a prize court to award the Battleships and claims he did so. The paperwork however seems to be...fuzzy. Meanwhile, the Assembly is contesting the filing, claiming it was after he was relieved of command, as well as contesting the entire legitimacy of his decision.”
“Even if the prize court awarded him the ships, the government can claim a significant percentage,” observed the Co-Chair.
“That essentially seems to be their argument. That the prize courts issuing the Sector Government and the other parties only 10% of the total value of each and every ship is a farce and it should be higher and that they want their fair percentage of the ships. Meanwhile, apparently the MSP Legal team working with the prize courts state that since the majority share of each ship belongs to the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet, according to the prize court that they’ll just pay out the 10% owed for each ship now and, if the prize courts are found to be in error, they’ll simply compensate the government for whatever higher percentage is lacking after its been adjudicated, which has the Sector Government literally frothing at the mouth,” he replied.
“That has to be an incredible amount of money. How could they even pay—oh...” he grunted.
“Right: they’re offering to pay in trillium. After the Sector Assembly addresses its illegal invasion of Confederation Territory, the Governor’s defiance of legally appointed Confederation Fleet authority and his technical claims of rebellion against the Confederation at large,” said the Committee Member.
The Co-Chair shook his head and then chuckled. “Sounds like a real mare’s nest. It’s a good thing it looks like Sector 25 is leaving the old Confederation and hosting the formation of a new one, otherwise they might have been tied of up for years in legal court battles,” he snorted.
“Yes, very fortunate,” the Committee Member said seriously, “one might almost say someone planned it out.”
“Really? You think Governor Isaak decided to form an entire new mega-government, a Confederation in the Spine, just to stymie one Admiral of one minor Fleet?” the Co-Chair retorted. “An Admiral that, even now, half of his own voting block are voting for!”
“The High Captain estimates that if Montagne can put just half of the 'prize' Battleships back into service he’ll have as many hulls as most Sector fleets. To say nothing of the fact that he’s used his authority as a Confederation Admiral to declare Governor Isaak in rebellion against the Confederation,” the Committee Member said darkly. “And judging from the current vote count, unless we message the Block to immediately start voting against our own candidate it looks like Vice Admiral Montagne might have a real chance of clinching the nomination. Funny how the Governor’s voting block has, at our urging, just maneuvered his biggest military rival into either accepting a post that will technically place that same rival under the thumb of a Government he in no small part helped create, or risk turning our new Confederation against Montagne and the MSP.”
“Sweet Murphy, he’s good,” the Co-Chair said, suddenly worried, “I didn’t expect that the local Governor would give us so much trouble. If only we didn’t need the trade and their production capacity to help rebuild our own worlds so desperately,” he added glumly.
“If only we didn’t also need all that trillium that Vice Admiral Montagne’s very powerful and recently expanded Confederation Fleet is sitting right on top of to keep our carrying trade moving. We need the ships moving in order to get access to all the other trade that's available out there—and which won't be available forever,” said the Block Member.
The Co-Chair’s face changed again. “That Isaak had better not put us between a rock and a hard place. If he tries to cut off our lifeline...” he muttered thunderously.
“So do you want to try to stop the Vice Admiral’s nomination? I have to assume that Montagne won’t be thanking us if we bring matters to a head,” observed the Member.
The Co-Chair hesitated and then shook his head decisively. “We may be going for a ride, but this is one horse we can’t afford to fall off of. If that means we need to cross one Jason Montagne then that’s just what we’ll do,” he said grimly before adding, “hopefully it won’t come to that. We are offering him the most powerful military posting in the new Confederation,” he pointed out, “right now, we’re offering him a victory toast. But if he rejects our good efforts and refuses to drink...” he laughed darkly. “Tell them to vote for the Admiral. Either way Montagne turns, we’re going to salvage something out of this mess for the Mutual Defense League. One way or the other.”
“One way or the other,” echoed the Committee member with a frown.
Chapter 58: Bad News from the Provisional Assembly
“So…” I drew the word out, “what’s so important that you had do it face to face instead of with a routine courier vid or mail dump?” I asked, rising from behind my desk while suspecting I wasn’t going to be entirely pleased with whatever I learned.
Several hours previously, a fast courier carrying people instead of just the usual mail and electronic updates had arrived in the Tracto Star System.
“Is this any way to treat the person who has worked night and day in your interests Protector Montagne?” asked Sapphira, while behind her Akantha glared at me.
“My apologies, Mother-in-Law,” I said, forcing a pleasant smile. “I was expecting bad news or a report of tries against our joint interests and, in the process, seem to have lost my manners somewhere. How have you been? Was your trip very trying? I hope the Convention wasn’t the nasty snake pit as I feared.”
“Once you have attended a gathering of Hold Mistresses, there are very few things in this life that can scare you. I lose at least five pounds every time. Your Convention was interesting, to say the least, but at least the food was safe even if it largely consisted of prepackaged ration bars. Sealed ration packs are one of the great joys of your civilization,” Sapphira said dismissively. “As for my trip, it was barely worth mentioning. A week and a half surrounded by four metal walls. It was quite liberating, in a way, to have nothing to do and no one with a demand on my attention. I haven’t had so little to do and nothing better to pass the time with than study since I was a little girl.”
“I am pleased to hear you seem to have had an uneventful return voyage,” I said with a courteous nod. “How was the convention?”
“It went well enough,” Sapphira said dryly, “with varying degrees of success.”
I gestured for her to continue. “I assume we didn’t get mired down in any wars, or calls to nationalize Tracto’s trillium mining operation?” I said, half certain and half hopeful that what I was saying would actually turn out to be true. I mean, you’d think the courier the Tracto-an delegation arrived in would have transmitted an emergency warning if there was a fleet hot on its heels. Still, technically the Trillium mines didn’t belong to me; I might have some say in the matter but ultimately if Akantha—and the other Hold Mistresses, like her mother, but mainly Akantha—decided to effectively sell, barter or give away the vital hyper drive substance there was little I could do about it.
Oh, I could fight for the Belters' rights to be paid an honest wage for an honest day’s work and all that, as w
ell as a continued fuel supply plus enough for wages and maintenance for my fleet. But beyond that if push came to shove unless I was willing to try and conquer the system, or at least everything outside the orbitals of planet Tracto—which I wasn’t—it would be 'rock and a hard place' time with my fleet in the middle.
“They tried,” Sapphira said with a glint in her eye, “suggesting that if ignorant Tracto-an barbarians like us did not toe the line, make trade concessions and hand over our trillium, Tracto’s voting status in the new Grand Assembly would not be ratified.”
I lifted a brow.
“I immediately agreed and told them that they were exactly right: primitives such as us did not deserve full voting rights, and that a provisional status would work just as well for us as anything else, and by the way how wonderful it was that they suggested such a fitting status for us. As we most certainly did not want to step outside of our ‘proper place’ and bring chaos and disorder to the new galactic scene,” Sapphira said serenely.
I snorted as she proceeded to hit the highlights of her time in the Convention, its results and more importantly how they affected us.
“That’s a comprehensive report,” I said after she finished, “however, there was one point I would like to clarify.”
“Please elaborate,” she said.
“Surely you realized that this idea of a new Confederation was hardly in our best interest, why then did you vote in favor of it?” I asked.
“There was no stopping it and the Border Alliance decided to vote in favor. Therefore it seemed prudent to ostensibly join forces with them, rather than alienate the rest of representatives and their worlds,” she said simply. “Besides, I am unconvinced that the formation of this Confederation is necessarily a bad thing for us.”
My brows furrowed but I held my tongue. Maybe it was or maybe it wasn’t a bad thing for Tracto, it was possible the women in this room had some kind of plan or vision of the future I was excluded from or just unable to see, but as far as I was concerned it was a barely mitigated disaster.
I silently clenched my hands into fists. I’d just managed to get Sir Isaak right where I wanted him. On the run, in disgrace, or at least hunkered down in Central hiding while I built up my forces for a decapitating blow and now this.
“What do they expect?” I asked harshly. “That because they voted to make a new Confederation they can suddenly give orders to our fleets and take our natural resources whenever they like?”
“Consider setting aside your personal feud with Governor Isaak,” Sapphira said after a pause, “and ask yourself: can you afford to continue with this feud, Protector-of-my-Daughter?”
I froze.
“With the Governor?” I asked in a deceptively mild voice. “The same man who has tried to destroy this fleet on much more than one occasion…that Sector Governor.”
Sapphira looked at me reprovingly. “You are allowing personal feelings to affect your judgment,” she said, eyeing me while Akantha’s brow furrowed as she looked at me.
“You’re right, I am allowing personal feelings to affect my judgment because, after taking a dispassionate look at it, I decided I wouldn’t do anything different if I were,” I retorted. “Everything Isaak has done to this point in time that hasn’t been a direct or indirect attempt to destroy us. He has been desperately trying to save his own skin and hoping to use ours to do it,” I finished bluntly.
She sighed and looked away. Beside her, Akantha's glower was starting to turn thunderous.
I gave my beloved Sword Bearer a penetrating look, one which she held for several long seconds.
“Jason,” she said, biting out the word, “you are of course free to decide military policy for your fleet—”
“Thank you,” I cut in with a smile.
“But,” she started to continue until her mother placed a restraining hand on her arm.
“Such language, my daughter,” Sapphira said reprovingly.
Akantha looked at her in surprise.
“We are having an intimate conversation among close family, Mother,” she argued.
“An intimate conversation regarding external policies that impact both your Protector’s position as Protector and Warlord. As such, the use of proper titles rather than personal names is the norm,” Sapphira immediately rejected.
I watched the back and forth byplay with amusement, or as close to it as I was able with my currently darkened mood.
“Very well, Mother,” Akantha bit out and then turned to me with a falsely sweet expression. “I misspoke, Protector,” she said.
“Think nothing of it,” I said happily. It wasn’t every day I got to hear my wife admit in public, or even in private, that she was wrong. Even if she didn’t really feel that way, as evidenced by her current expression, as a husband I had to take every win that was handed to me with grace and dignity. A grin appeared on my face as I processed those particular thoughts.
“Protector,” she repeated with an edge to her voice, “as I was trying to say: your own personal forces are one thing, but your activities impact more than just your fleet,” her mother cleared her throat and Akantha gritted her teeth. “As always, I trust your decisions. I just hope that you make the best decisions possible for our people. I am more than willing to help you dismember the Governor while he screams his final breaths, but for now—”
This time, when her mom cleared her throat, it wasn’t the polite sound she’d been making previously—this one clearly had an edge of censure to it.
“Please pardon my daughter,” Sapphira said to me.
“I don’t see why he would need to!” Akantha snapped, rounding on her mom. “I am a Hold Mistress and a woman grown. There is no reason that I should fear to tell any man my opinion, least of all my own Protector!”
Sapphira stiffened. “You may have been born without any tact but I know that your tutors beat it into your brain with a cane while you were under my roof,” the Hold Mistress of Argos said drawing herself up.
Akantha’s face instantly soured.
I quietly pushed my chair back from the desk to put some distance between me and what appeared to be a growing domestic dispute between mother and daughter.
“Don’t start in on that old song again, Mother!” Akantha said in a rising voice.
“Then have the decency to not make me,” Sapphira said firmly.
“I don’t have to put up with this,” Akantha declared, making a sweeping gesture to emphasize her point.
I cleared my throat. “As fascinating as this little family get together is becoming,” I said, taking a deep breath as I tread where dragons feared to walk, “is there anything more to your report other than that the Governor has once again attempted to back us—more specifically me—into a corner?”
“I have a message from Sector Judge Kong Pao explaining the situation and resulting appointment as he sees it,” said Sapphira, sliding over a data crystal.
“Appointment?” I asked.
“It is all explained on the crystal,” said the Hold Mistress of Argos and my mother-in-law, “if you have any questions after perusing its contents, I will be available. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, there is some women’s business that I need to discuss with my daughter.”
I opened my mouth to object, but before I could get a word in edgewise Akantha’s mother had placed a hand on her upper arm and began leading her out of my ready room.
I realized I was halfway out of my chair as the door leading out of my office slid open, and then I plopped back down with a thump. Dissatisfied that the meeting I’d called was over without any input on my end, I grunted and slid the data-crystal into data-port and activated my desk holo-system.
The image of the Asiatic Sector Judge appeared on my screen and after an almost full second gave a half bow in my direction.
“Greetings, Admiral Montagne,” said the Sector Judge, “if you are seeing this then my message safely arrived. And for that, I am grateful.”
While I pursed
my lips and watched, the Sector Judge cupped his hands and continued.
“For more almost two years now I have struggled with the memory of a promise I was unable to keep. I was sent to this sector by the MDL High Command to offer you the post of Fleet Admiral in command of our entire defensive effort against the Droids, but no sooner had we arrived then the promises I made to you were broken,” at this the Judge looked stone faced. “That is why I hope that this small effort on your behalf, along with the warships I was able to help bring in support of your fight against the Reclamation fleet, can help to, in some small way, make up for that failure.”
My hackles began to rise of their own accord.
“As a Judge and a man, I am not used to speaking untruths, even unknowingly. For that, I once again apologize,” he continued, “which is why when I discovered that the Empire is even now preparing to re-conquer the Spine at the behest of the Confederation Grand Assembly—a morally corrupted body of the worst sort, which has essentially just sold a third of their own nation, the Spineward Sectors Region, to the Empire—I knew something had to be done. When I saw the Convention beginning to split apart over the question of who should lead our forces against this new invasion, I could think of only one man so far who had proven he was up to the task—and that person is you.”
On the screen, a legal notice began scrolling which stated that the Provisional Grand Assembly in the Spine had elected me, Vice Admiral Jason Montagne, as the Spineward Region’s new acting Grand Marshal. The post's first official task: leading the defense of the Spineward Sectors against the Imperial Fleet when it arrived.
I read the particulars of the Provisional Grand Assembly’s brief, where they essentially try to recruit me by telling me I’d been elected—or rather appointed to the top post in their new Confederation.
A Confederation, I silently noted, which doesn't even represent a majority of the Worlds or even Sectors in the Spine as of right now.
Admiral's Nemesis (A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 11) Page 47