I unleashed a fully unrepentant smile. If they were dealing with me dishonestly, I might as well go in whole hog, and if not who cared? I could do more for the people at the head of my fleet and free to act than I ever could tied up in red tape.
“What I require for my people is easy: the simple recognition of the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet’s traditions, along with the ratification of our current rank system, time in grade status and five years' back pay,” there was a stir with several committee members blanching. I ignored them and continued, “
This in recognition of our hard work so far. We’ll also need blanket immunity from local prosecution for events that occurred during the past five years. There are a few other more minor details, like signing off on my proposed vacation schedule—to be honest some of my crew haven’t been able to return back to their home worlds for several years and are afraid of being arrested it f they do—and so on and so forth.”
“You want five years back pay?” the Chairman asked with surprise. “The Spineward Confederation has only been officially established for less than two month!”
“Whereas the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet has been actively defending the Spineward Sectors for more than five years, and engaged in multiple active operations in more than three of our seven Sectors,” I pointed out smoothly.
“The Old Confederation you mean,” said the Armed Services Committee Chair.
“That Confederation, this Confederation, it’s still the same people in the Spine that we’ve been fighting to protect—and I’ll add we've done so almost entirely without compensation,” I disagreed strongly. “Right now we’re living on a shoestring budget and voluntary donations from those worlds that felt the need to support us.”
“We’ll have to take that matter under advisement and look into all the pertinent facts first,” said the Chairman.
“Frankly, back pay is one of the issues I’m willing to compromise on, out of consideration for the funding issues the new Confederation must be going through,” I said, since if they refused to pay us for what we did five years ago, then that just made them prosecuting us for the things we did that they didn’t like just that much more difficult to my mind.
“This committee is thankful for that,” the Chairman said glumly.
“It’s no less than our patriotic duty, as provincial governments and Spineward citizens, to shoulder the burden of our own defense,” I said stoutly.
The Chairman looked at me sharply but before he could speak someone else spoke up.
“I have a question, if I may?” requested Governor Isaak.
The Chairman immediately scowled. “You may be a faction leader in the Assembly but you’re not the Speaker yet, Governor Isaak,” the Chairman said sternly, “proceed with decorum or I’ll have you tossed from this committee. We are here to secure the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet’s inclusion into our Fleet, not drive them off without cause because of personal animosity between the two of you.”
“I’ll take your advice in the spirit in which it was given,” said the Governor.
“See that you do,” said the Chairman, “you may proceed.”
“Admiral, you claimed that you wanted blanket immunity from prosecution, but could you list any valid reasons for your stated concerns?” Sir Isaak asked ironically.
“Of course,” I said with a nod as I locked eyes with the Governor, “during our patrols of the Spine we’ve had any number of governors threaten us with prosecution, or worse, for failing to arrive on time—this despite the fact that we had no set patrol route and had received no distress calls or request for our presence. In addition, we’ve shutdown any number of pirate operations while on commerce protection duty and defended ourselves from a number of other attackers from groups of pirates, droids and…others. Considering we are about to forgo the protection of the old Confederation, I somehow doubt that should we be sued or prosecuted by some jumped up local magistrate for doing our job,” I said dryly.
“There’s a point in there somewhere, even if it’s a weak one,” Isaak said reluctantly, and then to my surprise didn’t follow up.
There was a pregnant silence. “Well we can look into that too,” the Chairman said finally.
“I’m afraid that’s not something I’ll compromise on,” I said.
After that, another committee member received the right to speak. “I’ve been looking through these papers and much of it seems reasonable, given what we know of the Patrol Fleet. The vacation schedule for instance,” the member said, tapping the side of his holo-screen, his finger moving in and out of the holo-image, “However there are a few parts that my smart program has logged for my attention that puzzle me.”
“Such as?” I asked seriously.
“In here you ask the Confederation to set up a prize courts system for any future ship captures, even going so far as to mandate who can and cannot serve on such a court, which aside from that last part seems reasonable. That is until you look at the percentage values you assign to the Confederation, a paltry ten percent of the value. Why so low, Admiral? The Old Confederation had much higher prize court numbers,” said the member.
“The MSP was founded as an at-will organization. That means that our entire roster of warships are actually on loan to us from various different SDF’s… well at least in theory,” I said suppressing a smirk, “combine that with the fact that over 95% of our officers and crews hold dual status in both their native SDF and the Confederation, while spending the bulk of their service within the MSP while aboard ships of their own native SDF, and I think the percentages I listed in the chart are more than reasonable.”
“That may sound reasonable but it does not strike me as entirely fair to the Confederation,” harrumphed the Chairman.
“Nothing’s fair in love or war,” I said skeptically, “if the Confederation wants a fleet on the cheap…well, then, here it is. If you want one that’s wholly your own then you need to either build the warships yourself or pay for it and buy them from the provincial star systems. For instance, if you wanted to buy warships off me, I’ve included a list of hulls I’d be willing to part with, along with the price of each ship.”
Several committee members looked ill, others mad, while some, probably unaware of the government’s current financial situation, looked elated at my pronouncement.
“We’ll take that under advisement and get back to you,” said the chairman. He then looked around, “If there are no other questions we’ll break for recess and give everyone time to go over the proposed materials.”
“I have one more question, if I may, Mr. Chairman,” said the same member who had just been questioning me.
“Alright, but make it quick,” he said giving, Isaak a glare when the Governor looked like he might also like to have something to say, “the committee member from Napro System in the 24th may proceed.”
For his part, the |Sector Governor gave the chairman of the armed services committee a cool look before settling back down reluctantly into his chair.
The committee member looked at me with a wrinkled brow.
“Yes committee member?” I prompted.
“What was the purpose of requesting that the Spineward Sectors Confederation recognize Harpoon as a free and independent sovereign state?” he asked, causing an immediate stir among the committed—including Isaak, who looked at me sharply.
I cursed internally and arched a brow at the committee member. “As the committee is no doubt aware, I am a Caprian Prince by birth. What you may not be aware of is that I am also the Governor of planetary body Harpoon.”
At this, the committee stirred.
“I still don’t understand,” pressed the Member, “Harpoon could be declared independent but that still won’t give you voting rights or member status in the Grand Assembly,” he pointed out, “provincial status requires total or near total control of a star system. Even breaking off Harpoon from Capria won’t put your home world’s provincial status into question; the Confederation recognizing yo
ur planetary body as a legitimate government would only preclude our action but not that of the Caprian SDF. Your home world would still have the ability to rejoin Harpoon into the rest of the province—by force, if they so desired—no matter what we ‘recognize’.”
“I realize that Capria’s status in your assembly won’t be affected in any way. That’s not at all what I’m aiming for. The short answer is I simply don’t trust Capria not to try some sort of legal maneuver, based on the fact I’m Harpoon’s sitting Governor, to try and tie me up in court somewhere. Be it back in Capria, if I ever visit again, or more likely in Confederation Sector courts,” I explained with true but misleading logic. The truth was I had much bigger plans for planetary body Harpoon, and Confederation recognition of its status as a sovereign state was key.
“If I have a recognized sovereign status then they can’t impeach me for dereliction of duty. Invade or repossess Harpoon, yes. Sue me for millions of credits or tie me up for years in the courts when I have more pressing duties to perform? No,” I said with certainty, “believe me when I say I have no interest in winning this war only to pay millions of credits in bail bonds while I spend the next ten years hopping from one legal system to the next.”
The committee seemed nonplussed at my response, but the rising alarm seemed to have diminished with even Sir Isaak shaking his head. To my surprise he didn’t say anything further.
The comeback was so obvious that I found myself leaning forward in my chairm ready for a furious round of debate, accusation and counter accusation that, when the pushback I’d been expecting failed to arrive, it put me off stride.
To my surprise the committee wrapped up the question and answer session shortly afterwards and we broke for recess.
Later that day, the recently Confederated Sectors of the Spine, in the form of the Armed Services Committee officially swore me into their Fleet, formally appointing and beseeching their very own and, as of right now only, Confederation Vice Admiral, Jason Montagne to the position and office of Grand Admiral of the Spine.
My first order of business was to see to defense of the region against any forces, internal or external, with a clear instruction to focus on external matters for the foreseeable future. No one said it outright, but my job was clear: stop the Empire from annexing Sector 25 and the rest of the Spine.
Which I was willing to do, but only after they’d signed off on my terms.
All of my terms.
Chapter 14: Isaak’s Frustrations
“Alright, let’s have a run down on the current situation. Where are we?” asked Isaak as the governor’s staff gathered together for a post ‘Grand Admiral Montagne’ pow-wow consisting of the Sector Governor’s Advisers and, of course, the Governor himself.
There was a pregnant pause. “Well our contingency plan was successful, after a fashion anyways. Montagne was successfully inducted into abandoning the Old Confederation, forgoing all the protections thereof, or at least that he used to claim he had. He won’t be able to use that leverage anymore, in exchange for placing himself at our mercy,” said Policy.
“Mercy!” Isaak snorted. “For him to be at our mercy we’d actually have to have taken control of the newly formed government by now,” he slammed a fist down on the table.
“All in good time, Sir,” Policy soothed, “these things take time and it’s not as if anyone else has secured the permanent coalition majority leader or the Grand Speakership.”
“Blast the Speakership. Montagne didn’t even look fazed!” snarled Isaak. “Do you hear me? Not so much as one single discomfited expression. He’s up to something, I swear it.”
“He could have just missed it,” opined Media hopefully.
“Missed the fact that he just gave up his biggest protection in exchange for a dubious position in an even more dubious multi-sector government?” Isaak looked at her like she was a bug that had just crawled out from under the carpet and left a brown streak on the floor. He then dismissed her, glaring around the room, “I had him right where I wanted him, I could have lambasted him six ways from the moon and ruined him on inter-galactic holo-stream and there was literally nothing I could do. I practically had to get out and push to make sure he joined the New Confederation,” the governor stewed.
“The reports I’ve been getting state you were pretty hard on him actually,” said the former news anchor.
“Shows what the media knows,” Isaak sneered.
“All according to plan,” Policy interjected calmly, “let’s not cast aspersions now. Everything is still in flux and the time for self-examination and recriminations can wait until after we’ve won this thing.”
The room fell silent with most of the advisers nodding while the governor slowly steamed in his chair.
“Winning? Forget the rest of it all for now. At least we’re out from under the rebellion charges,” the Military Adviser said dourly, “that’s a plus. The Grand Admiral can’t very well prosecute us for rebels against the Old Confederation now.”
“Don’t do that! Don’t you dare attempt to legitimize him in my presence,” growled the Governor, glaring at his Military Adviser, “do you understand me? Montagne can’t do spit!”
“Peace,” said Policy, raising his hands, “everything is going exactly according to plan, aside from a small hiccough with the vote counts.”
“A hiccough? You mean a near revolt when you decided to rope in your wayward prince,” snarked Media.
Policy gave the former news anchor a hard look.
In response she crossed her arms rebelliously.
“I’m still waiting for a response to my question,” the Governor said looking straight at his military advisor.
“A response regarding what?” the Captain said, crossing his own arms and returning Isaak’s look levelly.
“You’re on thin ice, Soldier,” said the Governor, “you would be wise to remember that what has been given to you can just as easily be taken away.”
The Military Adviser leaned forward in his chair chin jutting as he met the Governor’s gaze. “First, I’m a star sailor, not some ground pounder. Second, you can take these rank tabs and shove them if that’s what this is about. Frankly I’m wondering if I should have even accepted the promotion. I jumped two grades when I didn’t even have the time in grade for even one, and I certainly wasn’t seeing any action, not riding a desk here as your adviser and liaison with the Sector Guard.”
“I may not like it, and you clearly hate it, but the Grand Admiral is now the Grand Admiral by order of the New Confederation that you…that ‘we’ schemed to create,” the Military Adviser said defiantly, “well here it is. Here we are. And you were the one that got the man put in charge of every single person now in uniform—up to and including me!” growled the Captain, reaching up to rip the insignia off his collar and slam them down on the table. “Here, take them. It’s not like I imagine I’ll have them for long anyway. Not considering how badly the two of you seem to hate one another.”
“You ungrateful little squeak ant, I’ll have you broken and sent to the front in Sector 26!” railed Governor Isaak.
“Calm it down, everyone,” Policy’s voice cracked like a whip, momentarily startling every person in the room including the Governor.
Every eye focused on him.
“This conspiracy will not go down in flames before my very eyes because we turned on one another,” roared the old former politician. “Because, make no mistake, that’s exactly what everyone is part of: a conspiracy. Yes, it was to save our necks, help this Sector survive and thrive and later to build an entire new mega-government from scratch, but that wasn’t what we were elected or appointed to do. For the immediate future we live and die together. So you put those things back on your neck,” he glared at the Captain, “no one’s getting demoted today,” he then rounded on Isaak, “and get a hold of yourself, man, before you get us all killed—including yourself. You hate the Grand Admiral? Well do something about it, and by that I don’t mean turn on yo
ur staff!” he finished angrily.
For a moment no one moved, and Isaak stared at him in shock.
After almost a minute of sheer silence, the Captain picked back up his rank tabs and auto-sealed them onto his collar.
“Right now we need a Governor, a Military man, and a Media Person, and we need all of you to be on the top of your game,” Policy said, locking gazes with Isaak, “and that includes you, Sir. Show me the politician I know you are and not the irate man we’ve seen so far today.”
Isaak drummed his fingers on the desk for several seconds. He opened his mouth, his face dark, and then closed it and grunted. “You’re right. We need to stay the course…for now,” he said darkly, not looking at anyone in particular as he said that last bit, “it’s still too soon to tell if this Confederation will go the distance.”
Policy gave a sharp nod.
“Morally repugnant to some, or not, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good of everyone in this room, not to mention this entire sector. Forget the Confederation for now, it’s still too young to know if it will survive. Yes it would be best if we were in control but while we have a big say it’s not a lock. So let’s go back to looking at things from the point of view of Sector 25. What do we need?”
When no one leapt to speak, Policy turned to the Military Advisor. “Speak. Go on and spit it out,” he said.
“We’re being invaded by the combined forces of two mega-governments, so I think it’s pretty obvious what we need: one fine negotiating team or enough ships and firepower to stand them off. The ‘Grand Admiral’ brings us that, or as close as we’re going to get in the time available to us,” he said with a touch of defiance as he looked at the Governor.
“That still leaves the fact that after everything we’ve put him through, Montagne’s going to want everyone in this room either dead or up on corruption charges and in jail,” sneered Isaak. “Dead by the Empire, the Old Confederation, or the hands of Montagne is still dead—and prison time isn’t much better.”
Admiral's Nemesis Part II Page 12
