“I’m sorry, Admiral... this is a restricted area. No one other than assigned crew and full admirals are allowed access.”
Hmm… Not sure, but I think I might have just had my first brush with this mysterious “Confederate Intelligence” outfit Admiral Kalis was talking about.
At 10:00 hours, precisely on schedule, the CSS Independence and her consorts slipped their moorings and backed out of their berths using thrusters. As soon as Task Force-21 got turned and formed up into their assigned positions, encrypted tight-beam laser communication emissions shot from Independence to all of the other task force ships, as ordered:
CONFEDERATE STELLAR ACCORD
FLEET MOVEMENT ORDER: CLASSIFICATION TOP SECRET
February 12, 3861
To: Task Force-21
From: Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Stillman, Commanding, Task Force-21
Subject: Movement Order Authorization: GB4E33W97YS3F
You are hereby directed to depart Mystic Fleet Port Facility and proceed under direction from CSS Independence directly to the interim destination of the Lusia system, where refueling operations will commence as necessary. From there, under direction of the Commander of TF-21, you will proceed to further interim refueling stops at the systems of Bama, Missip and Joja prior to arrival at TF-21’s final destination of the planet Socar.
Individual mission profile orders accompany this communiqué. All ship commanders are hereby directed to open and execute those specific orders, under direction of the Commander of TF-21.
Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Stillman
TF-21, Commanding
The Planet Socar, City of Colum
February 28, 3861
Bureau Chief of the Alliance Bureau of Investigation field office on Socar Tom Hardigan presented his credentials to security at the Socar Governor’s Mansion and waited for admittance. Tom and all of his crew had received their deportation notices a few days ago and in intense meetings among themselves concerning the political situation and their personal views about the right and wrong of the whole secession issue, reached their decisions. In the end, six of Tom’s fifteen agents opted to accept deportation and return to Waston. Ten, including Tom himself, opted to stay on Socar and support the Confederate cause. 45 minutes later, Tom was surprised when instead of being shunted off to an underling as he’d expected, an aide to the governor escorted him directly into the governor’s office.
“Good morning, Bureau Chief Hardigan,” said Socar Governor Maxine Bright, flashing her patented, brilliant smile. “What can I help you with today?”
“Good morning, Governor,” replied Hardigan as he accepted the governor’s outstretched hand. “I’m actually quite surprised you opted to take time out of your busy schedule to see me personally.”
“Have a seat, Agent Hardigan,” replied the governor. “Coffee?”
“Oh, no thank you, Governor,” replied Hardigan. “I’m very appreciative you’re seeing me personally, as that might help to grease the wheels of government, so to speak, about what I needed to discuss.”
“Well, I’ll certainly help if I can. What was it you came to see me about?”
“As I’m certain you are already aware, all Alliance citizens of Northern origin have been sent deportation notices. I have 15 ABI agents in my bureau and six have opted to accept deportation, but ten of us would prefer to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and remain here.”
“I’m not sure I understand your reasoning, Agent Hardigan,” replied Governor Bright. “Why would you, all respected agents of the ABI under sworn oaths to the federal government, want to forsake those oaths and align yourselves with the Confederacy, which would be tantamount to treason against the Alliance, and cut yourself off from friends and relatives there?”
“Governor, our oaths were not to the protect and defend the government, but to protect and defend the Constitution of the Alliance. When I was a member of the Major Crimes Unit in Waston, I helped compile a virtual mountain of evidence of corruption and conspiracy existing within the federal government, but we could never get the Department of Injustice to present any of that evidence to a federal grand jury.”
“Department of Injustice!” Bright snorted. “I like that, Agent Hardigan, please continue.”
“Well, after seeing the tremendous injustices inflicted on the people of the South by a thoroughly corrupt federal government, it didn’t take much to understand that the Alliance Constitution has been totally subverted and made ineffective by domestic enemies, whom I am sworn to oppose.
I’ve seen the new Confederate Constitution and it’s almost a mirror image of the Alliance Constitution. Except for a couple of things like terms of office and cabinet members taking part in congressional debates, the only other changes I can see from the Alliance Constitution I’m sworn to defend are merely improvements which should help to ensure that what happened in the Alliance, does not happen here. It just feels right — like supporting the Confederate Constitution is the best way I could possibly fulfill my oath to defend the Alliance Constitution. As far as I can see, the people of the Confederacy are championing the Alliance Constitution a great deal more than anyone in the Alliance is right now.”
“Did I understand you correctly that you were with the Major Crimes Unit in Waston, before transferring here to Socar?”
“Yes ma’am, I was.”
“Did you happen to know of an ABI agent by the name of Fredrick Danforth, while you were a part of the MCU?” asked Bright.
“Fred Danforth? Fred and I virtually swapped jobs a several months ago. He and I have been best friends since college and we entered the ABI Academy together. Why do you ask about Fred, Governor?”
“Interesting… I suppose you may have heard about Socar filing suit against the Department of Injustice, as you put it, just prior to our secession?
“Yes ma’am, I’m not aware what evidence you uncovered to warrant that suit, but I hope that the refiling of that suit by several other Southern planets, not yet seceded, will get that evidence before the Supreme Court.”
“I think you may have seen a lot of that evidence before, Agent Hardigan,” said Governor Bright. “An ABI agent in charge of the Major Crimes Unit in Waston by the name of Fredrick Danforth sent me a huge accumulation of evidential data that we used as the basis of our suit against the federal government.
“WHAT? Fred sent you all of that evidence? But, that would have been illegal! Fred has never done an illegal thing since we absconded with some frilly ladies' undies during a panty raid back in college.” Tom forgot for a moment that he was talking to a very attractive middle-aged woman, not that much older than himself, and suddenly blushed furiously at what he’d just said.
The governor laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Agent Hardigan, I’m well aware of the behavior of college-age boys. I was in college myself once, you know.
“But back to the evidence that Agent Danforth sent me. From his letter, it was evident that he, too, was having a bit of a personal crisis concerning his oath of office, and finally concluded that the only way to actually fulfill that oath was to technically break the law by sending all that evidence to me.”
“Well, I’ll be damned... Oh, sorry, Governor,”
Maxine Bright laughed again and said, “Do all of the other agents desiring to stay have views similar to yours, Agent Hardigan?”
“We talked it over thoroughly and I’m convinced they are as sincere in their stated convictions as I am. I might have been born on Hio, but I know right from wrong and what the Alliance has done to the people down here is just plain wrong.”
“So, what is it that you and your people might want to do if you stayed here, Agent Hardigan?”
“Well ma’am, we’re all trained ABI investigators. Surely the Confederacy or Socar will need something investigated at some time or another. We might be helpful in that regard, if you’ll have us.”
“Yes, you just might at that. All right, Agent Hardigan, I’ll issue notarized att
achments with my signature and gubernatorial seal you and your people can attach to your deportation notices, which will prevent anyone dragging y’all off to the spaceport.”
“Thank you, Governor Bright.” Hardigan stood to shake the governor’s outstretched hand again.
As he reached the governor’s door, she said, “Oh, one more thing, Agent Hardigan…”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Go buy yourself a really nice suit — you’ll need it for when I take you to meet President Collier.”
Three weeks later, President Lincoln Collier announced the formation of the Confederate Bureau of Investigation and its new director, Thomas Hardigan.
Chapter-31
We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class, of necessity, in every society, to forego the privileges of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks. -- Woodrow Wilson
The Planetoid Discol, City of Waston
March, 3861
The morning of Pierre Marrot’s inauguration, in defiance of tradition, President James Buchwald did not accompany the president-elect to the ceremony, but instead departed the White House early and left Waston for the last time. Unsure whether his nemesis, J.P. Aneke, would have his hand-puppet Marrot issue a warrant for his arrest, in retaliation for his recognition of the Confederacy and wrecking the Consortium’s money grab by mothballing 28 percent of the Alliance Fleet, Buchwald ordered the pilot of Fleet-1 to change course away from Dela and head for Ginia instead, while he still had the authority of the presidency to do so. The governor of Ginia had promised to offer him sanctuary and even get him into the Confederacy, should it become necessary.
President Pierre Marrot’s inauguration went off with great fanfare… the kind only professional politicians can generate for themselves and others of their ilk. As expected, Marrot’s inaugural address primarily focused on the secession crisis:
“It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a president under our constitution. During this time, fifteen distinguished citizens have administered the executive branch of the federal government and have guided it through many perils, generally with great success. I now enter upon this same task, under great difficulty. A rupture of the Federal Union is now being forcefully attempted.
“One section of our country believes the Alliance First Act is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it to be wrong and ought to be repealed. In our present differences, is either side unsure it is in the right? Has it not always been our way to place such issues before the wisdom of our people and abide by the will of the majority? Why then, should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people?
“If a minority then deigns to secede rather than acquiesce to the will of the majority, they set a dangerous precedent that will eventually ruin them. At some future point, will not a minority of their own secede from them, whenever any minority refuses to be controlled by such majority? May not some portion of this new Confederacy arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of our present Union now claim to secede from it? Clearly secession is the essence of anarchy.
“I hold that according to the constitution, the Union of these planets is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied in the foundational law of all national governments. I think it’s safe to assume that no government has ever included a provision for its own termination, in its fundamental law. But if the United Stellar Alliance is not a proper government, but merely an association of planets in the nature of a contract, can that contract be unmade lawfully by less than all of the parties who originally made the contract? One party to a contract may violate its terms and break the contract, but does it not require all parties to lawfully rescind it?
“It follows, then, that no planet, upon its own resolve, can lawfully leave the Union, and any ordinances to that effect are legally invalid. Therefore, acts by any planet or group of planets, which impugn the authority of the United Stellar Alliance, are insurrectionary.
“We are not enemies, but family. Though passions may have strained them, they must not break our bonds of brotherly affection. I say now to our disaffected brethren in the South, return to the bosom of your family and all will be forgiven.
“But if you will not, remember that insurrection against lawful government cannot be ignored nor tolerated. Think calmly and clearly upon this whole subject. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of military intervention against your insurrection towards the government. In thirty days, I will dispatch emissaries to receive your decision.”
“Hal, what’s our financial status at the moment?”
Per your instructions, I divested your portfolio of Alliance stocks just prior to the crash, and purchased major interests in several British, German, Australian and Japanese companies, which produce materials of potential value to the Confederacy. After purchase of the assets in Joja where the Infiltrators are being built, your personal assets are currently at $32,765,932,645.09, but the foreign stock markets are expected to recover from their reaction to the turmoil in the Alliance market, so I envision your asset values rising to just over $50 billion by the end of April.
“Speaking of the Infiltrators, what’s your current estimate for completion of additional Infiltrators for service in the Confederate Fleet?”
Working non-stop… June, 3863.
“Damn, that’s over two years away.”
I’m sorry, Diet, but the Infiltrators are an extremely complex craft to build. I will try to ascertain methods by which we might shorten the build process, but we cannot allow quality to suffer through impatience.
“Oh, I know that, Hal, and I fully agree. I just wish there were something else we could be doing to help. Things look to break loose next month and I’m getting nervous.”
I will begin contemplating methods for obtaining foreign-made weaponry to supplement what we have, and can build locally.
“Okay, good. How are things set up for the prototype Infiltrator to act as your window to the Confederacy once hostilities begin?”
CSS Ghost has had full cruiser-grade military instrumentation installed and taken on a full weapons load at Mystic and is en route to Socar, which is currently the closest Confederate planet to Waston. Ghost will rendezvous with Rear Admiral Stillman’s Task Force-21 there for resupply and refueling before departing for Waston. Communications should be simplified if, and when, Ginia secedes and joins the Confederacy.
“We hope. As things are on the verge of popping, are you getting nervous too, Hal?”
I’m a computer, Diet… computers don’t get nervous.
“Oh, come on, Hal. We both know you’re a lot more than ‘just’ a computer.”
Well, admittedly I have been error-checking the details of our project a bit more often than the usual three times lately.
“You’re nervous!” Diet laughed.
Perhaps… a little.
“Ah, hum.”
Arlene McAllister, Chief of Fleet Operations, looked up from her computer console and was startled to see Secretary of Defense Jeannine Franks standing in her doorway at the Heptagon.
“Madam Secretary! What brings you here this morning?”
“I want you to ask that overgrown calculator of yours, where the hell Fleet Admiral Kalis is,” replied Franks. “That insufferable man ran off on some inspection tour of Fleet readiness, before a subpoena from the Senate Armed Services Committee could reach him. The new president is screaming at me to find him and haul his scrawny ass back here, so Senator Fitzwater can grill him to a nice golden brown. There’s a chance I can get reappointed as SecDef under the Marrot administration, and I don’t want that old man’s disappearing act screwing it up for me.”
Admiral McAllister cringed inside. Oh no… not another four years of Jeannine Franks, please God. Franks was a political insider, who desired the position merely for the prestige an
d perks of a cabinet-level position. That wouldn’t be so bad if she’d just leave the Fleet alone and let the admirals run it, but Jeannine Franks was just one of those people who couldn’t walk through a kitchen without tasting what the chef had sizzling on the stove, and then adding her own dash of this and a dash of that... and later firing the chef because dinner was a disaster.
McAllister cleared her screen and flipped a switch on her console. “Bozo?”
Yes, Admiral McAllister?
“Where is Fleet Admiral Kalis right now?”
Unknown. His itinerary indicates he is in transit between Tucky and Souri, but his spaceplane is currently listed as “overdue” at Souri.
“How old is this information, Bozo?”
Thirty-one hours, Admiral. I am expecting an update from Souri to arrive within the next two hours.
“Notify me immediately as to Admiral Kalis’ status when that update arrives, Bozo.”
Wilco, Admiral.
“What the hell does ‘wilco’ mean?” snarled Franks.
“It's a Fleet contraction for, will comply, Madam Secretary.”
“Find out what the rest of Kalis’ itinerary is and send out messages to the entire list, ordering him to return to Waston, without delay,” said Franks.
“Bozo, did you hear the Secretary of Defense’ instructions?”
Yes, Admiral.
“Execute, as specified.”
Orders to that effect have been added to updates scheduled for Souri, Io and Wisco, Admiral.
“Will there be anything else, Madam Secretary?”
Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering Page 31