by Chris Hechtl
Senator Bowers threw his hands up in the air. “Oh, that's just fracking wonderful! So, we pay the bills but we have no oversight or control?”
“Essentially, yes, to some degree,” the AG stated, looking up.
“To some degree?” Miss Tanaka demanded, clearly aghast with the situation.
“Well, we pay taxes now. We send elected personnel to the Federation Senate to provide civilian oversight.”
“There had better not be a big tax bill for what, seven centuries of not being in contact,” Senator Renaud Bowers growled. The renowned senator was on hand to represent the interests of Bek component B since the vice president and Governor Nibs, a recently elected Neocat, wasn't around.
“Heh, there better not be indeed,” Chariff agreed.
“I'm pretty sure that is a nonstarter,” the AG said soothingly.
“You'd better check anyway,” the president ordered, buzzing a bit with agitation. Once they had learned that the Xenos were no longer a threat, he'd planned on dismantling the military complex and the industrial power house behind it or at the least turning over the headache to Admiral Irons and the Federation. The money saved would have been pumped back into the economy. It also would have meant cutting back on the mining and addressing some of the social issues in Bek's component B. It seemed other powerful people were aware of his intent and had stepped up their game to counter his efforts.
Or Childress had just seized the opportunity that had been presented to himself and others to perform his own coup. His mandibles and claws clacked in frustration.
“Yes, sir. I understand the Federation government sent delegates to oversee the re-integration process and to help us update things. We can treat them as diplomats for the time being and discuss the situation with them.”
“Good. Set that up. Or better yet,” the Veraxin swiveled a pair of eyestalks to the treasurer. “Chariff, you set it up since Raphael has his hands full with the legal mess.”
He nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“So, what did you mean by to some degree? I thought I picked up an undertone there,” the Veraxin stated.
“Well, I did some reading of recent history. That included some games Pyrax's local government played when they didn't want to play ball with Admiral Irons. Now, I'm not suggesting we do anything illegal per se, but we can stall to clarify things as needed.”
Heads began to nod around the table.
“And if we really want to play tit for tat, we can pay our taxes and only our taxes to the Federation. We can cut out military spending totally out of the budget,” the treasurer said with a grin. “We can even insist on paying the Federation direct by sending them shipments. That'll suck the wind out of his sails.”
Raphael whistled thoughtfully. “I don't think Omar thought of that one.”
“No, no, he probably didn't,” L'r'kk said thoughtfully. “We have to be careful how much we piss him off though.”
“Oh?”
“Remember. He's the guy with the guns,” the Veraxin chief of staff said quietly.
That cooled the room temperature noticeably.
“Would he? Perform a coup I mean?” the Veraxin president demanded after a long moment of contemplating possible unpalatable futures. “I don't see the public standing for it.”
The AG spread his hands apart. “It depends on how it unfolds, sir, and if he thinks he can get away with it.”
“And how many of his own people go along with him, sir,” Spencer said. “Some will want to play some sort of lip service to the constitution after all.”
“That's the one thing I think he won't have to worry too much about,” the AG said.
The Neomutt turned to the AG. “Oh?”
“I'm betting as he's settling in he's going to be doing a general house cleaning. He'll be putting his own cronies and supporters into key positions as he gathers up the reins once more. Some of his old cronies have moved on, retired, died, and such. He'll be feeling the noobs out for a bit to see where their loyalties truly lie.”
“And there isn't a damn thing anyone can do to stop him,” Spencer murmured, ears back, clearly sickened by the sudden turn of events.
“Unfortunately, no, not at the moment, and definitely nothing anyone in this office can do. The only person is over a thousand light years away, and Omar isn't interested in listening to him at the moment,” Raphael said darkly.
“And here we are, caught in the middle,” the president rasped.
“Yes, sir. The best we can do is duck and cover. Play defense,” the AG suggested.
“Understood,” the president stated.
“And do our best not to totally piss the man with the guns and warships off,” Amanda said.
“That too.”
“Wonderful,” Senator Bowers said in thorough disgust. He slapped his hands on his thighs, making everyone wince. “We're stuck with a lunatic running the navy, and his boss is too far away and too busy with his own problems to do anything about it,” he said.
“And even if he did, anyone he sent wouldn't hold high enough rank to get rid of Childress. Omar would just countermand them as he has with Zekowitz and Logan's orders under the whole, 'senior officer on the scene.'” Raphael stated.
“He's done that? We know for certain? We don't even know what orders they have; they haven't communicated with us yet.”
“He's about to. I have a friend in the JAG office who clued me in about the precedencies the good admiral sicked his lawyers on digging up. Pity though that he was so busy doing that he couldn't have called me ahead of time and given me a heads-up,” he said bitterly, clearly put out over his so-called friend and where his true loyalties lay.
“If he's ready to go that far out on a limb …,” Amanda murmured thoughtfully.
“Which will hopefully, bite him in the ass when Irons finds out. I think we need to make it clear this position is entirely his own. We need to do what we can to follow the admiral's orders. If not the entire directive, then at least in the direction of the spirit of them to the best of our limited ability,” Raphael mused.
“What happened to not piss the guy holding the navy's balls just a moment ago?” L'rr'k demanded.
“I'm not saying we break completely away from him, even though he's done it to us. We do what we can to lay the groundwork without alerting him or pissing him off. Things that will appease our public too. You know, the people we ultimately answer to?” Raphael demanded.
“Point. I think we need to light a fire under Irons to do something about Childress though. Find a way to transfer or relieve him. Better yet, fire his ass. We need proper control and checks and balances once more,” L'rr'k stated.
“Amen to that,” the president agreed whole heartedly.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Admiral Childress rubbed his hands together. He was just about done with assuming command of the navy. He still had a few loose ends to deal with, a few enemies and frenemies to fire or retire, but his people were now in place wherever it mattered. He'd managed to get the situation straightened out only by blackmailing Vice Admiral Georgi Pashenkov into backing down the day before. The Neowolf hadn't liked the implied threat, but he'd bowed to his former patron and let him take the top slot.
Which just goes to show that the Neowolf knew who the true alpha in the pack was. Or it proved he was willing to bide his time again and let his boss take the heat for what was going to come, Omar thought.
He'd been forced into mandatory retirement when he'd reached 120. That had forced him from the top slot and cleared the way for Yorgi Sienkov to take his place. But Yorgi hadn't had much time to enjoy the seat; he'd had less than a decade before he too had hit that age. He'd been less than a year out when Caroline had fallen into their lap.
Omar had seen the interloper as a godsend, an avenue for him to return to the spotlight. He'd labored under his mother's autocratic rule for the entire time Yorgi had been in charge of the navy, and he'd hated it. The old bat had refused to step aside and let her
son take the reins of the family company.
He'd convinced his bitch of a mother and other patrons in politics and industry to back his play when Yorgi had offered to step down and go with Caroline. He was quite proud of his little play, getting the antigeriatric medications listed on the classified list to limit who knew about them and had access, and then getting himself assigned to be one of the first round of “test subjects” by a bit of pressure on Admiral Hill had been sweet. It was all about levers and who you knew he thought, savoring the moment.
That had allowed him to be rejuvenated and opened the path for his triumphant return to the top of Command 1. It had taken some time. He was aware that Georgi had been behind the stall tactics to keep him out, but he'd eventually given up. He needed the traitorous Neowolf for the moment so he couldn't force him out. Too many questions would be asked, and the fear of a house cleaning would spark a situation he wanted to avoid.
But he'd only just settled back into his office when Caroline had returned. Damn the luck! That she'd survived was bad enough; that she'd returned with fresh orders and equipment was worse! He should have allowed for her return in his calculations … he should have but he hadn't. Or he'd obviously underestimated their skills, he thought acidly to himself, the good feelings he'd had moments before fading as his temper began to rise.
Now he had to find a way through the mess. He was already fielding calls from powerful people who'd helped him retake his office. A few were already calling in favors. He thought such actions were premature, but he'd happily pay them off if it meant his debts were clear.
How to go about it though … he frowned. He'd have to wait until Caroline was gone of course. Only then could he truly move to contain the new officers and find a way to shift resources to his patrons as they wanted.
Chapter 19
Horatio shook his head and fought to let his dismay reach his face. His initial reaction to Bek had been one of anticipation and hope. He'd noted the star system, and out of excitement, he'd run some comparisons. When he hadn't found what he'd wanted to see, he'd used Caroline's communication's department to check things out.
Since they had been downloading all the media reports since they'd left as well as the current ones, he'd sicked Lieutenant Olson and Ensign Caroline on filtering for what he wanted. They'd brought in some of the team on their own initiative when they'd felt overwhelmed.
And therein was the rub. They'd found no changes to the navy and star system since Caroline's departure. No technical changes to be more precise. Plenty of upheaval in the naval chain of command however.
Their internal discussions had started to spread to the crew so he'd called them in a meeting in the wardroom to vent. Admiral Zekowitz and Lieutenant Si were both noticeably absent. The admiral was spending most of his time digesting the media and navy reports as they came in.
Horatio sipped at his coffee as the team began to lay out their findings, and then as the obvious conclusion began to leach out, they began to display more and more dismay and disgust at the lack of progress.
“I got CIC to use Caroline's passive sensors and optics to look at the yard in passing. They found that ships were still being worked on and even built. I got them to pull up images of an SD we passed at the picket, and images of another in the yard,” Bailey said, showing them the images. “From them I got enough to get a basic model going. I mirrored it for the other side,” he said.
“Now, if I overlay the closest images of an SD Caroline saw when she first came here …,” he placed that on top. “It's a match. They haven't changed anything.”
“And that means …” Lieutenant V'l'r asked.
“It means no changes. The design has been frozen, and they aren't making any additions to it. They are still building obsolete sublight ships,” Bailey said to the uninitiated and nonengineer of their member of their group. Baker grimaced, ears back as he visibly restrained himself from saying something.
Other people in the group weren't so reserved however.
“Why didn't they scrap them? Are they trying to refit them into starships?” Commander Wallengrad demanded. “I don't think that's even possible. I mean, where did they find the room for the modern hardware?”
“Their own hardware is pretty crude,” Commander Thistle said slowly. His tail flicked like a metronome. His long ears were flat and backwards. “So, yank it out and theoretically, they'd have more room.” His tone of voice said he didn't believe what he was saying though. It was obvious that he was playing devil's advocate.
“Perhaps they are taking a gradual approach? Finish the ships already in the pipeline with modern hardware as much as possible? Power plants and such? That way their ship architects can get a handle on the rest of the blueprints … assuming that is what we're seeing here,” Lieutenant Olson speculated.
“It's possible,” Horatio said as all eyes fell on him. “But not probable, slotting different hardware in causes a ricocheting effect. They need more power, more control lines, more space, more thermal control, that sort of thing,” he said. The others nodded. He spread his hands apart. “At this point folks, your guess is as good as mine. We'll find out more once we are given the information. They aren't ready to broadcast it obviously,” he said.
“Does Admiral Zekowitz know, sir?” Lieutenant Olson asked carefully.
“Apparently, not,” Commander Thistle said.
“Remember, he's been with us for the past year,” Horatio reminded them. “He's as much out of the loop as the rest of us I'm assuming.”
The Chimera nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Give it a bit of time. I know we were all expecting to hit the ground running here. I definitely was. We may need to feel out the situation and do some exploring before we do. Be ready when that time comes though. For the moment, just make connections and keep observing,” Horatio ordered.
“Aye aye, sir,” Commander Walengrad said. She looked to the others. “You heard the commodore. Let's get ready to get cracking,” She said. The others nodded.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“This is so fracked up,” Bailey said, shaking his head.
The chief engineer logged what he'd been doing and then turned to look over to him. “What? What have you got, Bailey?”
“This,” Bailey said, indicating the star system with a broad sweep of his hand. The Neodog liked the ape; he knew the ape had been a fellow chief engineer for many years. He had some scars on his arms and hands to prove it too, though he'd heard a few had been at the hands of the pirates.
“Bek? What about it? I thought you wanted to be here!” he said. “A bit late to want to back out now,” the Neodog said in amusement.
“It's not … okay, look,” the Neochimp said, indicating the shipyard. He zoomed in. “See what I see?”
“Um …,” Percy's muzzle wrinkled, as did his brow as he focused on the image of the shipyard, then the nearest slip. It was natural to home in on the largest and closest slip since they had the best camera resolution on it. He could just make out the slip with the ship's bow poking out of it. Occasionally he could see small shapes which had to be robots and personnel moving around it.
Beyond the largest capital ship which had to be some sort of sublight DN or SD, there were others. The Bekians tended to group their ships in long lines instead of stacking them. They also did things a bit different. They still built in blocks and grand blocks, but tended to work on a ship from beginning to end in a series of slips rather than in staging modules that fed the main building slip. It was a more linear, almost two-dimensional method of doing it. It was also almost completely in vacuum. He wasn't sure how efficient it was compared to how they built ships in Pyrax and Antigua.
He was curious about it, but only mildly so. It really wasn't his concern. He had enough to do with keeping Caroline running as it was.
“The ships! They cut back on production; it looks like they scaled back from what Caroline saw when she was first here. But they are still building the big ships. Why?”
>
“Um …”
“Think about it. We've been discussing it. The team I mean. I know the commodore isn't happy, though he's putting on a brave face. This sucks!” he said, indicating the yard in exasperation.
The chocolate Neodog frowned thoughtfully and studied the image. They couldn't get a good view so he created a spider and popped it into the web to do a search. It was immediately kicked out by Bek's ONI and Office of Security. He flicked his ears. “I'm …”
“I'd say you are dense but …,” Bailey scowled. “Look,” he said, zooming in to the max magnification. “They haven't done a damn thing!” he overlaid an image of another ship, this one of the ships they'd seen on picket duty at the jump point. He overlaid a third image, this one with a time stamp from Caroline's first visit. He then stacked the image so they could look for changes. There weren't any obvious ones. “See what I'm getting at now, Lieutenant? Not a damn thing has changed! No hardware changes at all.”
“At least on the surface. From the angle we can see from. Remember, we can't see it all from here. And we can't get good enough resolution, and we can't see through the hull.”
“But it doesn't make sense! This sort of hull is useless to us!” The neochimp threw his hands up in the air. “Don't you see?!?” his fur was practically standing on end. “We checked. Bek hasn't done a blessed thing with the tech we, I mean you, delivered to them. The commodore is pissed,” he said. “I can tell. He's not saying it out loud, but you can tell if you know him. I've known him awhile.”
“Oh,” Percy said thoughtfully. He frowned. Slowly he nodded. “Yeah, I can see that point. But remember, grav emitters, all that is tech we have the keys for and they don't. So getting the samples we gave them into some sort of production, I don't see it happening,” he said with a shake of his head.
“Maybe,” Bailey said, sounding like he didn't believe it. “But I'm betting you they haven't done a thing. They might have something on the drawing board, but something tells me that's too much to hope for,” he growled.