Admiral's Fall

by Luke Sky Wachter

  “So just use the young Grand Admiral for as long as he’ll be used. Our Fleets will arrive eventually,” the Monsignor said stolidly.

  “I’m hemorrhaging credits like they were grapefruit juice and I get to play the fool before the rest of the Grand Assembly. This humiliation will be all over the news outlets across the Spine as soon as they hear about it by courier ship,” Isaak said savagely.

  “All of us make our own beds and then we have to lay in them. If you had perhaps been less eager to teach the young Admiral his place you would not be so forcefully reminded of your own at this time,” said the Monsignor.

  Isaak stilled. “Careful, Monsignor,” he said in a low voice, “otherwise you might just convince me the reason I am forced to lick Montagne boots for the first time in five decades is because of deliberately hostile political action.”

  Monsignor Raipur Rajputan drew back abruptly. “You are free to believe what you want. But the Punjab Stellar State always delivers on its promises. Always,” Raipur Rajputan said coldly.

  “My main fear is that given your track record so far you’ll show up a day late and two credits short of a combo meal,” growled the Governor of Sector 25—well, former governor as soon as the new elections were finished, “say, for instance, when the Empire or the old Confederation finally get off their fundaments.”

  “The Great Thousand Armed Maker will provide,” Monsignor Raipur Rajputan said complacently, “set aside your mundane squabbles and perceived grievances and focus on what is truly important and your way will be illuminated.”

  “Sweet Murphy, even if we set aside the whole Montagne Issue, the billions of credits I’m paying through the nose for trillium or the immunity deals, we needed those fleets of yours to improve our bargaining position when the Empire comes rolling back in. You can tell me to set aside my earthly concerns all you like, Monsignor, but the sad fact of the matter is if we’re perceived as being in a weak position when the big interstellar powers finally get around to us we’ll all be executed. And then we really will have set aside all of our ‘mundane’ concerns,” said Isaak.

  There was a short pause. “I believe I see your point. I will send another missive home urging my people to make all seemly haste,” the Monsignor said finally.

  “Let us hope they send that fleet before Montagne or a greater power decides they want to rule over us all,” Isaak said unhappily.

  Chapter 36: Mobilizing Against Sector 26

  Negotiations were over in less than a day. Between Kong Pao’s willingness to strike a deal and Akantha’s uncommonly straightforward approach to trade and governance, they had hammered the details out before it was even time to put the children to bed.

  It actually took me several days longer to round up a small fleet of cargo ships and rally the fleet than it did to strike one of the most lucrative trade deals in the Spine since the Imperial Withdrawal. It was actually nice in a way. We were making money hand over fist, or shortly would be.

  After assuring the Sector Judge that despite appearances it would be a shorter trip if he returned to the Grand Assembly directly with us, instead of immediately taking flight with his courier ship as had been his original plan, the Judge agreed to join me on the Lucky Clover II.

  Despite several tests where everything had come up green, a very reluctant Spalding had recently declared the Elder Spindles safe to use, at least for the moment. In reality his language had been much more colorful and strewn with multiple dire warnings of everything that could go wrong, but when pressed the old engineer admitted he couldn’t find anything wrong with the alien devices.

  So immediately after assembling the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet and the requisite four trillium freighters, the Elder Tech Jump Spindles began the countdown to jump.

  “I’m still not sure if I should be handing you these coordinates,” Kong Pao said with a pause after arriving on the bridge of the Lucky Clover II.

  “I don’t see why not,” I said drolly, “I mean we’ve just drawn up and signed the articles of alliance. If you’re saying you don’t either trust or need me at this point then, by all means, let’s turn this ship around and go home now.”

  “I dislike being leveraged. There was no need to strong-arm me, Jason,” said Judge Kong Pao.

  I eyed him coolly. “Coming from a man who has leveraged me anytime he felt like it, forgive me if that particular protest fails to sway me,” I replied.

  “I meant I would have agreed in time; there was no need for threats,” the Judge demurred.

  “Let’s get something straight: I’m here because you asked me personally. This is the third time I am accepting your personal assurances. Common sense and the track record to date would both argue against putting my fleet to the hazard,” I said sharply.

  “I understand you have good cause for reservations,” began the Judge.

  “Can it,” I said shortly and then took a breath, “okay, maybe that was a little more short-tempered than I wanted.”

  “We’re all under a great deal of stress right now. You no more than I,” said Kong Pao.

  “My point is that this is the last time I’m going to take your good intentions on faith. Take that however you want, but there’s a reason I’m going as an ally instead of a servant of the new government,” I said.

  The Sector Judge at first looked at me impassively and then concern tinged his features. “First, we both know you’ve been more than adequately compensated for your future assistance...and you do realize I don’t speak for the entire New Confederation in the Spine, do you not?” he asked carefully, but I was done being careful.

  “You’ve made that very clear. Let me make something equally clear: you and the rest of the Assembly members and system governments are free to do what's right or what is politically expedient, but I’m done being nice about it,” I warned. “Now you can take this as a threat if you want, because in a way it is, but this is not me threatening violence or a military coup. There is no threat of force here. Rather, I’ll simply pull back and do nothing, and without a direct request and the sort of compensation package that would make this trillium deal look like chump change, that’s how it’ll stay. Just so that we understand each other,” I said with a sigh, “I’m no tyrant, whatever the media claims, and the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet is no invasion force. But if we’re no longer the sworn defenders of the galaxy then…” I trailed off with a helpless shrug, “I know better than to go where I’m not wanted. No matter what the words that spew out of the mouths of desperate politicians say.”

  “Be careful you don’t over play your hand. You’re in a strong position right now but you have many enemies in and outside the Grand Assembly,” advised Kong Pao, “but if you alienate even your natural allies there may be no one to help you when your fortunes swing the other way.”

  I eyed the Sector Judge appraisingly. “Just keep this conversation in mind the next time you’re called upon to vote against me in the Grand Assembly and ask yourself: 'am I doing what’s right or just politically expedient?' In which case if it’s the first by all means do it, but if it’s the second…” I allowed the silence to extend.

  “Are you saying that you are either with me or against me, Admiral Montagne?” asked the Judge, his eyes hardening. “Because if you are please think very carefully before proceeding. I have sentenced murderers to hard labor penal colonies and crossed some of the most powerful people and organizations in the galaxy. I don’t threaten easily.”

  “No. What I am saying is actions have consequences, and the friend of my enemy is no friend of mine. If no one is brave enough to stand up and tell the people the truth of my actions then that’s on them. I don’t blame the people for calling me a tyrant and cheering when I’m attacked on the tarmac of the New Grand Assembly, but I will blame the men and women who knew the truth and lied about me or stood silent because it would have endangered their political careers to speak out,” I said flintily.

  The silence hung for several seconds before he rel
ented. “Here are the coordinates,” said the Judge, sending me the file.

  “Thank you,” I said, and several hours later we jumped.

  The gloves were off—and I liked it better this way.

  “This is completely outrageous, Mr. Pao,” snapped Speaker Isaak Newton from his perch, seated on the elevated platform at one end of the room that was set aside for the Assembly Speaker on the newly repurposed giant monitor ship that was the New Confederation's mobile governmental headquarters. “Please explain your actions before we have you impeached!” he ended with a snap in his voice.

  Kong Pao stiffened. “With respect to the Speaker and this fine but young institution, it is not 'mister' but 'Sector Judge' or 'Grand Assemblyman' Kong. Not 'Pao,' not 'mister,' and certainly not 'Mister Pao',” the Sector Judge said strictly.

  Isaak waved away the Sector Judge’s clarifications like irritating gnats. “Judge Pao…Kong, then,” he rolled his eyes before his expression hardened again, “we can argue courtesies and semantics for as far as the day is long or we can get to the heart of the matter. Just what in Holy Hades were you thinking inviting the Tyrant here, to the seat of our very government, with his entire fleet entrain!”

  Kong Pao glared at Speaker Isaak. “I was specifically mandated to secure ‘Admiral’ Montagne’s service. The words by any means necessary were used and minus a few caveats spelled out beforehand that’s exactly what it took. The former Grand Admiral was not feeling particularly well used when I came to him for help. Not that I blame him,” Kong Pao said angrily, “the actions of this Assembly regarding Admiral Montagne were disgraceful. Frankly I’m surprised that he agreed to bring his fleet to save this Sector at all. Apparently he has a deeper streak of patriotism than even I had suspected.”

  “Patriotism? From the tyrant? Are you joking?” sneered one of Isaak’s key supporters in the Assembly.

  “Using a media-inspired moniker like that for a man we had to beg for help does not help our case, Grand Assemblyman,” Kong Pao shot back.

  “ENOUGH!” Isaak’s voice thundered out over the speaker system. He waited for silence before looking down at Kong Pao with censure in his hate filled eyes. “The Judge is right: the time for recriminations is over. Thanks to the head of our negotiating team the…Jason Montagne, Grand Admiral of the Confederation Fleet, has been given his chance to show his true colors. Will he turn on the Grand Assembly like the rabid snap weasel so many of us believe him to be, or can he set aside his false feelings of anger and frustration toward this assembly and keep to his sworn word to the people of the Spine?” the Speaker finished with righteous indignation.

  “I’m glad you feel that way. Because today it isn’t just the Admiral who will have to set aside his feelings,” Kong Pao said steadily, suppressing a feeling of satisfaction as he spoke.

  Speaker Isaak visibly tensed before visibly relaxing and looking down at the Judge with a steely expression. “What demands did the Tyrant make on this Grand Assembly by and of and for the people?” he asked solemnly.

  “I said before: the Admiral had several requirements,” Judge Kong said with a frown as he looked at the Speaker.

  Isaak motioned for him to get on with it.

  With a flick of a button Kong Pao sent his agreement with the Admiral to every member in the Assembly.

  There was a rustle as heads turned down and Grand Assembly members or their assistants began pulling up the data.

  “If you could summarize the deal you struck for us,” Isaak said with a twist of his lips.

  “The Admiral’s conditions were three fold. First, a rolling one year’s deposit on all estimated trillium purchases, paid in advance. Second, allied status as a recognized Admiral in command of all joint Tracto-an/Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet operations with the Confederation Fleet with specific orders placing him in command of the current Sector 26 campaign. Third, and finally, immunity deals for all past and present actions while serving with the New Confederation Fleet,” said the Sector Judge.

  “This is completely outrageous,” snarled the Assemblyman from Aegis, “the Tyrant is a war criminal! It’s his fault that my home world suffers under the Imperial jackboot. If he hadn’t committed war crimes by using those Bugs the entire Confederation fleet would have returned to the Old Confederation by now.”

  “That’s certifiably insane,” the steady voice of Anton Chat-Hammer broke through the hubbub.

  The Aegis Assemblyman purpled with rage. “Who are you to mock my pain, Chat-Hammer?” he roared. “If Montagne had done a better job none of this would be happening now and we wouldn’t have to cave to his criminal demands.”

  “I’m only speaking the truth. This isn’t Jason Montagne’s fault and if men like you hadn’t voted to can him, maybe your world of Aegis really would be free today,” Chat-Hammer barked.

  “Each of us has our own truth and my truth is that the Tyrant of Cold Space was, is and will always be a direct threat to the survival of Aegis. As a great philosopher once said: suffer not the criminal, such as a Montagne, to live!” the Assemblyman bellowed like a stuck pig. “Now you actually expect us not to just look the other way while W-M-D is used without restraint, remorse or the capacity for the use of normal logic! But to take it a step further after the fact and provide the Tyrant of Cold Space immunity for his war crimes—even those he plans to commit in the future? You go too far, Sir!”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, but the Old Confederation will never be driven out of Aegis if they’re given the chance to link up with Reclamation Fleet forces. Which is why I’m calling upon all members of this glorious assembly, not just my friend from Aegis, to put aside our differences with the Grand Admiral and agree to meet his terms,” Anton Chat-Hammer said, boldly stepping into the middle of the room for emphasis.

  “This is the second time you’ve mocked my pain. Never do it again or you won’t like the consequences, Chat-Hammer” roared the Aegis Member.

  “Despite Aegis’s personal threats the sad fact is that it’s not just Aegis that will be occupied by Imperial and Old Confederation forces if we fail to act. With respect, Speaker Isaak has bungled this war in just about every way possible. I won’t call for new leadership, not now, not in this time of crisis, but what I will do is ask every right thinking politician in this room to ask themselves a question: just how tolerant do you believe your voters will be when they find out we had the chance to stop cold the forces attacking our worlds and you stood by and did nothing in the name of politics?” asked Chat-Hammer his voice thundering with passion. “Give the Grand Admiral his immunity from prosecution and unleash the dogs of war!”

  “Hear hear!” cried more than a third of the representatives in the grand assembly hall.

  “Never,” shouted the Aegis Representative, but his voice was drowned out.

  “Pay the Tyrant,” urged another member from Sector 25.

  “Give Admiral Montagne whatever he wants,” opined a Grand Assemblywoman from Sector 24.

  “I call for a vote!” Anton Chat-Hammer proposed, quick to ride the rising tide.

  “The notarized agreement just came in by personal courier, Sir,” Lieutenant Commander Lisa Steiner said with what sounded like genuine surprise, “it looks like they agreed to everything you asked.”

  “Good,” I said with a nod. It was good because if they hadn’t then I hadn’t been joking about pulling back to Gambit or Tracto. If it was just me I might have chosen differently and cast myself on the pyre for the Grand Assembly but I had people who counted on me—primarily the members of my fleet—and I couldn’t in good conscience charge headlong into danger and let Isaak get them all killed with his machinations.

  If they went back on our deal and forced my hand I would have pulled back to Gambit, it would have killed me to do it but I would have, and waited until after the New Confederation Fleet was annihilated before taking action.

  “The important thing here is to put aside our differences and work for the common good. But that can only be ach
ieved if both parties are willing. Now that the New Assembly has agreed to our terms we can proceed with clear consciences,” I said with visible relief. I didn’t even try to hide it.

  I knew Isaak Newton too well by now and the odds of him trying to jimmy with things at the last moment would have to have been overwhelming. That he’d put the good of the Spine over his personal feud with me and my family was a good sign.

  “How soon before we begin the countdown to jump, Sir?” asked Lisa Steiner.

  “Send those papers over to fleet legal and have Mr. Harpsinger look them over and confirm the deposit is in Tracto’s account first, Chief of Staff,” I instructed.

  “Can do, Admiral,” Lisa Steiner said, flashing me a pixie-like smile and turning away.

  “Just one less thing,” I muttered as two of our trillium tankers began peeling away.

  A pair of Destroyers moved to escort each of the freighters as they moved away from the rest of the fleet and began to build up power for a point transfer.

  “Lieutenant Harpsinger confirms everything looked five by five, Sir,” reported Steiner several hours later.

  “And the money?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.

  “The credits are confirmed received by Tracto’s banking agent,” she said crisply.

  “Then by all means: set a course for Sector 26, Lieutenant-Commander,” I ordered.

  “Aye-aye,” she said.

  The better part of a day later, along with two tankers filled to the rafters with trillium, two squadrons of Battleships, two gunboat carriers and a large screen of lights including Furious Phoenix, the Lucky Clover II made the jump through hyperspace.

  Chapter 37: Imperial Spies Report

  The hatch chimed indicating someone was seeking admission.

  With a weary rub of his temple, Admiral Magnus looked up. “What is it?” he asked irritably.