“Oh, and you are?” I asked turning with a nod.
He leaned forward to tap the name plate on the table in front of him and looking I could see that each of them had a name plate, a name that I quickly memorized. “Admiral Charles Thomas, recently returned to service; more lately I was the Minority Leader in the Grand Assembly. The real Grand Assembly,” he said, pointedly looking around the mobile government hall and appearing decidedly unimpressed.
“Of course, Admiral and Grand Assemblyman, thank you,” I said smoothly.
Charles Thomas nodded levelly, and the look he gave me back would have left me searching my soul if I were a junior officer. But being an Admiral in my own right, with several years and more battles and wars than my years of service under my belt, I met his gaze without flinching.
“Please continue,” said the Imperial Admiral, a Magnus Davenport by his name plate, looking at Isaak.
The Speaker or former Speaker cleared his throat.
“As I was saying, Jason—” he started.
“Prince Jason or Your Highness, please, if we’re no longer acknowledging your civil or my military rank,” I interrupted.
“You!” fumed Isaak.
The Imperial Admiral snapped his fingers, drawing everyone’s attention to him as he gave me a steely eyed look.
“I didn’t come here to listen to a pair of provincials, one a rebel politician and the other a rogue Admiral, bandy words. Relay the charges,” he said, looking at me like I was a piece of meat he was considering just exactly how to carve up and take home.
“Yes, Isaak, please get on with it,” I said with my most regal tone, deliberately keeping my attention on my fellow Caprian.
“WMD violations! Is that clear enough for you?” Isaak snapped. “You, Your Highness, Prince Jason, have been accused, tried and convicted of war crimes in the highest courts! Now all the remains is your sentencing.” He sneered,“How nice of you to turn yourself in like this.”
“Funny,” I smirked and then shot back, “I haven’t had the chance to defend myself or face my accusers, so I would have thought you had to have a military tribunal in order to violate my rights like this. But then, you were the king of kangaroo courts and you’ve tried this move before, haven’t you, Sir Isaak? But I suppose maybe I’m wrong, since you say 'highest courts' maybe you mean you sent a message back to the Empire and they did it instead?”
I turned to the Imperial Admiral.
“In which case I retract my accusation,” I continued, “and apologize for any slurs on your Empire’s honor, Admiral Davenport.”
The Imperial officer stood up. “You’re very bold to make light of the the Empire of Man at a time like this. I think perhaps you mistake the gravity of your situation, Admiral Montagne,” he said voice like iron.
“Don’t give him the courtesy of—” Isaak started.
Magnus Davenport lifted a hand, causing Isaak to come to a choking halt.
“Oh, I very much appreciate the gravity of this situation, Admiral,” I said, still smiling.
“You’re a fool then,” said Davenport.
“No,” I disagreed, “merely confident.”
“You are outgunned, outnumbered and as of this month stripped of your allies while I have two fleets here, another waiting in the wings, and a fleet of your own former compatriots I will shortly bring to heel. You are broken, bereft of allies, and utterly at my mercy. You have no play, Admiral,” Magnus Davenport assured me.
I grinned. “And here I thought the Empire was smart,” I said.
For a minute, the two of us just stared at each other before Charles Thomas of the Old Confederation broke the deadlock.
“Please tell us where we’re wrong,” said the Minority Leader, his eyes as sharp as knives as they assessed me.
“First, it would be a mistake to assume that every New Confederation Fleet in the Spine is as eager to betray their comrades in arms as the Rump Government here,” I said calmly.
Isaak paled and then purpled, “Former comrade maybe, but Grand Admiral Manning has personally assured this body he will abide by its decisions so long as they are in the best interests of Elysium and the Spine,” said Isaak before turning to the Imperial Admiral—not, I noted, the Confederation Fleet Commander. “He agrees with our decision. Fighting the Empire because of a few rogue elements out there like the Reclamation Fleet is suicide. But then he’s loyal to the government, unlike some I could mention!”
“Indeed. I wonder how exactly the Empire found your Monitor with such loyal stalwarts within your own house?” I shot back.
“Good intelligence work,” Davenport deadpanned.
I continued without skipping a beat, “But of course none of that applies to me since I am an ally of the New Confederation, not one of its boot-licking sycophants.”
There was an immediate rumbling in the rest of the assembly hall. “You go too far!” shouted the Representative from Aegis.
“Not far enough, I think,” I shot back at the Representative before rounding on Isaak, “unless of course our alliance wasn’t even as good as the paper your people wrote it on,” I said, tossing a copy of our alliance treaty on the table with a sneer. “Here, you can keep it and refresh your memory from time to time as to just what exactly it is you owe your allies. Nothing in there mentions stripping me of citizenship, convicting me without a trial where I can face my accusers—or at least defend myself,” I looked over at the MDL Faction, “but there is a lot in there about mutual defense. Then again maybe your New Regime has dispensed with such things as due process and the right to defend yourself in court, Judge Kong?” I asked.
The Sector Judge looked at the ground before straightening his shoulders, “The evidence of your various misdeeds was overwhelming.”
“That's the excuse of every Tyrant who runs into a legal hurdle to imposing his will,” I said.
There was an empty silence in the room before first one and then another of the members started guffawing.
“Tyrant!? That’s rich coming from a man such as yourself, Grand Admiral,” mocked Assemblywoman Kern of the Anti-Droid Alliance.
I looked up around the ceiling. “Is there a breeze in here? It’s almost as if a bad fan motivator began to mimic human speech,” I said with feigned confusion.
“You can play dumb all you like but all you prove is that you’re the butt of the joke, Montagne,” snickered Kern.
“Oh; Grand Assemblywoman, I didn’t see you over there! I didn’t think the Grand Regime Assembly would be so crass as to bring an attacker into the presence of the victim,” I said.
“I won’t say it again: I am not here for your petty bickering,” Davenport said with icy calm. “Make a mockery of this proceeding at your own perils. Perhaps next time it won’t just be Admiral Montagne I hold responsible for the actions the Spineward Sectors took against the Senator in Black Purgatory.”
There was a sudden silence around the room.
“And the second part?” asked Admiral Davenport into the growing silence.
“Pardon?” I looked over at him.
“You said first it would be a mistake to assume that every New Confederation Fleet in the Spine was eager to betray their comrades. That naturally implies a second,” said the Imperial Admiral.
“Who said there was a second part?” I asked lightly. Then I leaned forward. “Although an experienced observer might have noted that I arrived here via conventional jump. You might be interested in researching the records of exactly what happened the last time I made contact with the Empire using conventional jump technology,” I said.
There were several gasps and Charles Thomas’s eyes widened.
Admiral Magnus Davenport was a cooler customer, and he shook his head. “You’re bluffing. If you had more than a paltry 88 warships to bring to the battle you’d have done it by now,” he said with certainty.
“I encourage you to send your fleet over to mine and find out—the hard way,” I said with a hard glint in my eye.
“Again, I don’t think the odds are quite as lopsided as you might think,” I said, projecting total confidence—because if there was one thing I’d learned, first as a royal and then as an Admiral, it was that the last thing you could afford was for the enemy to see you sweat. Besides, it wasn’t like I was completely without cards here.
“I took you for many things, but a man who doesn’t know when to fold was not one of them,” said Davenport turning to his aid and motioning him forward.
“Oh?” I lifted a brow.
“How about I just play a little test and send the 5th Imperial Battle Fleet in the direction of your Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet, Tracto-an Self-Defense Force, or whatever you’re calling it these days?” mused Davenport. “After all, at the very least you won’t be there to lead your fleet to another one of your infamous victories. So how about it?”
“It would probably be best if you added Admiral Thomas’s Confederation Fleet to your forces, because my forces are able to carry on just fine without me,” I said coolly.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? All of your enemies nice and concentrated. But no, I think 5th Fleet will do fine handling you on our own,” Davenport flicked active his communicator, “message to the Fleet. Prepare for movement orders,” he said while meeting and holding my eyes.
I just folded my arms and looked back at him challengingly.
It was 'do or die' time, and my job was to sit completely still and deal with this Imperial snake. If I’d misjudged then my protective detail was about to die and I would either die along with them or be escorted off to prison where I would soon wish that I had.
“Since you don’t seem to consider yourself necessary, what do you say we just serve our warrant for your arrest right here and now?” said Admiral Magnus.
“I don’t know why you’re asking since I can’t stop you if that’s what you’re determined to do. I’ve been in prison before, you know,” I added, sliding a glance over at Isaak and bestowing a withering look before looking back over at the Imperial, “on the other hand, I’m curious. You say you’re actually willing to violate an official parley and arrest a diplomatic emissary. Have you never heard of the term 'diplomatic immunity' or does Imperial honor no longer concern itself with such things as the word of its officers?”
“You’re no diplomat. You’re an Admiral of an enemy force engaged in an active rebellion against rightful authority. I owe you less than nothing, and if you think for one second you’re going to walk off this Monitor scot free after attacking and killing an Imperial Praetor, you don’t know me or the Empire as well as you should,” said the Imperial Admiral.
“I see. So what you’re saying, essentially, is that the Empire of Man isn’t used to losing and when its top politicians assume direct command of one of your pacification fleets and gets himself killed, you take personal vengeance against enemy fleet commanders. Do I have that right?” I asked.
“Only when those Fleet Commanders commit war crimes to win battles,” said the Imperial Admiral.
“What war crimes?” I asked calmly. “We had a power generator run rogue and gave clear warn off instructions to your illegal partisans—instructions they ignored.”
“When you use bio-weapons like Bugs to attack and destroy one of our fleets, you will be held accountable,” Magnus Davenport said grimly.
“Bio-weapons! I wasn’t aware the Empire considered them that way. The New Confederation certainly hadn’t designated them as such, and the Old Confederation files we had available at the time of the Imperial Withdrawal from these Sectors indicated them as space hazard at the genocidal event level,” I said calmly.
“Dance around and play word games if you like. You know what you did and so will the rest of the galaxy before I’m done with you,” said Davenport.
“I’m not so sure about that,” I declared, pulling out a tablet.
All around me Marine Jacks tensed and several dozen weapons suddenly pointed my way.
“Easy, boys,” I stopped moving and looked at them mockingly, “I know your Jacks can be a bit over the top but over a data-slate…really?”
“Place it on the table. Slowly,” Davenport said, lifting his fingers in the air and causing the Imperial Marines to secure their weapons.
“As I was saying before your security team so rudely interrupted: what we have here, as I am certain the Empire will agree once it has seen the evidence,” I said, my eyes boring into those of the Imperial Admiral, “isn’t a case of illegal use of bio-weapons at all.”
“You’ve lost your mind if you think that for one second,” Magnus said leaning back confidently.
“Mr. Harpsinger, if you could show them the evidence,” I instructed with a toothy smile.
“As you may or may not be aware, Senator Cornwallis—then Admiral Cornwallis, along with his Flag Captain Arnold Janeski who was later Rear Admiral Janeski—was once stationed specifically in this Sector several decades ago,” Harpsinger said with barely a quaver in his voice.
“Make your point faster, Admiral. Or we’ll be moving on,” Davenport said ignoring my fleet lawyer.
“In short,” Lieutenant Harpsinger said, speaking faster, “what we have here is a simple case of a 'return to sender' activity gone wrong. As we are prepared to prove, these Bugs, which are not native to this region and have never been found in the Spine before, were deliberately left behind to scourge the Tracto Star System clean of human inhabitants.”
We really weren’t ready to prove it, but we had quite suggestive evidence and I was more than willing to make a loud stink in the court of public opinion. So much so that the Old Confederation itself might feel compelled to get involved, and if that happened, and considering that the Empire actually was guilty of bringing the Bugs to Tracto, who knew what else they’d discover?
I was prepared to make a high and holy stink until those investigators had no choice but to show up, assuming I was still able.
“Because of Admiral Cornwallis’ initial refusal to discuss the terms of Admiral Montagne’s surrender and take charge of the Bugs, sent to Tracto by elements of the Imperial Rim Fleet, before the Praetor’s fleet opened fire, what was supposed to be a simple case of 'change of custody and return to sender' became something tragically worse,” Harpsinger said with a mournful note in his voice that left me surprised. He was proving to be a much better actor than the last time we had stood before committee.
“You slander an Imperial Fleet in order to present this laughable farce,” Magnus snarled, standing up and knocking over his chair. “I should gut you where you stand right now.”
“If that’s a personal challenge: anytime, anywhere,” I said, gaining my feet as well and ignoring the blaster rifles suddenly aimed my way by the Jacks.
All around me my own Lancers prepared for a battle to the death.
“As we are prepared to show, my Admiral’s initial intent to return the Bugs,” Harpsinger said quickly in a rising voice, hurrying before the situation completely devolved, “Bugs which we have reports that Rear Admiral Arnold Janeski, then of Rim Fleet, deposited several AU outside Tracto’s hyper limit on Senator Cornwallis’s personal orders, and which we are prepared to share with the Spineward Sectors' Imperial benefactors!”
So saying, he immediately slid the data-slate I’d produced over the table in the direction of the Imperial Admiral.
Meanwhile, I crossed my arms and looked at the other man levelly.
Check, I thought silently. It wasn’t checkmate because I didn’t have the actual goods, but if they wanted to war crime me for using those Bugs then I was going to drag Arnold Janeski and a member o
f the Imperial Senate itself, Charles Cornwallis, right through the mud along with me.
There was a long moment of silence as Magnus Davenport stared at me. “Clear the room,” he commanded.
Speaker Isaak blinked in consternation. “I have a private side chamber that your people secured in case of need,” he said carefully, “perhaps we might adjourn there, while the New Regime takes care of some housekeeping measure?”
“I like it here just fine,” said Davenport.
Sir Isaak hesitated and then nodded abruptly. “Of course,” he said, and to their consternation the entire elected or appointed body of the Spine cleared out.
Davenport motioned to his aide, who picked up the data-slate and started scanning through it.
As soon the room was clear, an Imperial team immediately set up a jamming field that put Lieutenant Steiner’s old jammer technology to shame.
Then we waited.
The Imperials clearly had no intention of speaking, considering the way Davenport was visibly ignoring his aide in favor of staring across the table at me.
At one point he looked like he almost wanted to say something, but ultimately he didn’t.
The aide finally stopped reading and the Imperial Admiral looked at him.
“Well?” Davenport asked.
“Most of this is circumstantial or from dubious sources,” Imperial aide said finally, “there’s no hard evidence linking in the Senator. The Rear Admiral, maybe…but it’s definitely a can of worms, Sir.”
Magnus Davenport’s gaze swung back my way as I spoke, “I am prepared to press it all the way to the media and Old Confederation Judiciary. Even if I’m taken out of the equation, my people will continue to push, the inquest will go on, and however it ends the Empire winds up with egg on its face.”
Magnus Davenport stood up. “This isn’t over. We’ll talk again,” he said.
“I’ll be waiting,” I replied happily.
As soon as the Imperial Admiral swept out of the room, I had my own team activate their jammers and released a sigh of relief.
“I didn’t think they’d buy it,” Harpsinger said faintly.
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