The harbor master, of course, had been in on the whole thing. Like many of the pilots and ship’s crews, he trusted this seasoned, battle hardened warrior clan more than he trusted the other children of the great Mr. Rothschild. When everyone had assembled, he asked, “Any problems getting her into the room?”
Gabby said, “I love when we plan an operation within an inch of its life and the initial concept works flawlessly.”
Caroline said, “We made all those contingency plans and we didn’t need any of them.”
“It worked this time,” Rachel cautioned. “It won’t be so easy from now on. They know who they are up against. They have seen their enemy and it is us.”
CHANGE OF COMMAND - CHAPTER TWO
FIONA MAHONEY ROTHSCHILD COHEN wriggled out of her flight suit as her nine half brothers and sisters sat in stunned silence. Revealing an impeccably tailored conservative business suit underneath, she handed the flight suit to her husband who stood at her side. Saul Cohen proudly displayed his battle ribbons on his flight suit making no effort to hide the weapons he carried. As his wife passed each piece of her flight suit to him, Saul carefully observed the nine half siblings seated around the great table. He saw hands fly over keyboards and knew that their enemies had been alerted to their surprise arrival.
Artemus was the oldest. The others treated him as the de-facto leader when their father was not around. Saul could see the muscles in his jaw tighten as he realized that his half sister had slipped into the room in spite of his best efforts to have her killed. Saul smiled at him with smug satisfaction when Artemus caught his eye. Artemus returned the smile with a grimace. Upon their father’s retirement, when he planned on turning the company over to them, Artemus would be in charge of system capital projects involving fixed assets like freight depots. Saul would deal with Artemus privately.
Zelda was seated to Artemus’ right. Second oldest, she had a flair for finding and developing talent. She had been assigned to system wide human resources and was respected among the people she worked with. Known as a consensus builder, Fiona’s return presented Zelda with challenges she could only begin to imagine. Normally pale, she had lost all her color as soon as she realized who had entered the room. Saul met her eye and she smiled ever so slightly. Saul’s informants had told him that Zelda had aligned with Artemus. He smiled a wide toothy grin which she did not return.
Harold was seated to Artemus’ left. He was being groomed for the finance department. Quiet and studious, he rarely ventured an opinion that was not framed in numbers. Whatever he may have been thinking was not visible from his expression. Only the intensity with which his folded fingers gripped each other revealed his fear. Artemus could not have carried out his operations against Fiona without Harold’s knowledge since he would have to fund them. Harold had tangled with Saul in a martial arts drill and had not forgotten the calm with which Saul could easily have killed him. Video of Saul’s point blank execution of the man who had tortured his mother left little to the imagination of his capabilities.
Fiona took her place at the table to Zelda’s right. Five years had passed since she last occupied this place. Five years ago her father had sat at the head of the table. Today, Artemus, her eldest half brother, occupied the command chair. Their father was meeting dignitaries from the Federation Bureau of Interstellar Commerce and had turned today’s discussion to the people who he would one day trust with the corporation.
Fiona placed her hand on the recognition pad and the data display integrated into the table came to life. She smiled. At least they had not tried to lock her out of the system. She did not put it past them, but that was why the Fourth Battle Wing had provided a diversion to get her to this room and why Saul had escorted her this far and would stay at least through today’s meeting. She had reason to believe that there were those who would have been happier if she had never returned. She and Saul had been relatively inaccessible but not out of contact at the Academy. Incidents that had occurred at the small business school they attended during the Academy summer breaks had convinced her that some of the people sitting at this table were less than fond of her. There was something to be said for the Solomon family’s obsession with martial arts training.
Fiona looked across the table at her two most likely allies. Kevin and Barbara were engineers. They were training to take over the maintenance and operations for the freight depots and ships that serviced them. Of all the siblings, they most appreciated Fiona’s obsession with security.
Jared, seated to Fiona’s right, focused on scheduling and routing. His question was how to deliver the most cargo for the least expense. To Fiona’s way of thinking, Jared should be on her side in the power struggle that would be developing now that she was here. His face was a mask that only revealed the tightness around his eyes.
Seated next to Jared, Geraldine would be moving into marketing when her training was complete. She constantly evaluated potential new customers and maintained relationships with the existing customers. Five years ago, during Fiona’s last visit, Geraldine had been the peace maker. Geraldine looked around nervously obviously fearing that the battle for control that was about to unfold would be beyond her ability to reconcile.
Janice, seated next to Barbara on the opposite side of the table from Fiona, would be moving to legal, government relations and regulatory compliance. The last thing she wanted was open warfare between two factions of the company’s upper management. Her dismay was plainly written on her face.
Timothy, seated at the foot of the table, was all about fuel. In some ways his was the most important job of all because without stable fuel supplies at reasonable costs, none of what they did was possible. While it was true that the bigger ships used fusion reactors, the rest of the fleet and the freight depots required fissionable materials and chemical fuels to keep them running. He had work to do and theatrics slowed things down.
Artemus stood as Fiona settled in. His grin was forced and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Welcome home, sister dear. How was the Academy?”
Fiona acknowledged him and recognized that the tone of his voice contradicted his words. Artemus was a powerful enemy. At least two of the unpleasant incidents that had occurred while they were in school had been traced back to him. “The Federation Space Force Academy is the same conservative tradition bound place it has been since Greg Solomon and Avelina Bardwell went there. It is good to be back.”
Zelda, the second eldest of the half siblings, audibly snarled at the mention of Saul’s grandparents. Saul and Fiona noted the range of reactions around the table. By invoking the names of her famous in-laws, she reminded the others that the balance of power had shifted when she entered the room. While the others were skilled logistics specialists, engineers, accountants and managers, she and Saul controlled the security service and the mysterious “Third Force” that had terrorized friend and foe alike for two generations. Fiona would be taking over the fleet’s defensive assets including the convoy escort ships and their crews. Saul, the only non-sibling assigned a key role, would be taking over the offensive forces, the secret “Third Force” and its vast weaponry. If there was to be a military coup in this board room, Fiona and Saul could lead it. Whether they intended to use the power at their fingertips was an open question.
Fiona smiled as ingratiatingly as she could without being sick. “I interrupted. It appears you were discussing a ship design. Please do not stop on my behalf.” She looked at the man standing at the podium. “Please continue.”
The man nervously cleared his throat. “Yes, thank you, Mrs. Cohen.”
“Captain Cohen,” Fiona corrected.
“Ah, yes, I uh, I apologize.”
“Please continue,” Fiona said.
“Yes, Captain, as you know, the longer a ship stays in port the more expensive it is to operate. Ships only make money when they are in transit. This new design will allow you to turn your ships around much more quickly than any previous design. Triton Industries would propose a
fleet of these ships and the infrastructure to support them. We estimate payback in five years with a continued increase in profitability for twenty beyond that.”
The two Triton Industries representatives tag-teamed their presentation. The presentation went for an hour before they finally wrapped it up. Considering that they had been going for an hour before Fiona arrived, the presentation was clearly more than most of the siblings could handle.
When the Triton Industries representatives were finished, Fiona walked to the presentation board. “Several of our freighter captains have reviewed this design,” Fiona said.
Some of the siblings appeared stunned. Others tried to act as if there was nothing unusual about the information leak. Ship designs were even more confidential than manifests. Stellar Interstellar prided itself on the confidentiality with which it conducted its clients’ business. This confidentiality was one of the primary motivations behind the construction of an independent freight depot network that did not depend on government operated depots like the one at New St Louis.
“How did they manage that?” Artemus demanded.
“I gave them the plans,” Fiona sneered.
“And how did you get them?” Zelda shot back.
“I have my sources, just as you have yours. I would suggest that we ask the pilots who have to fly these ships what they think. After all, it is their lives we are discussing here,” Fiona suggested.
“Do you think there is a flaw in the design?” Barbara asked nervously.
“I don’t know. We should talk to the pilots.” She turned to Artemus. “With your permission, I request that the pilots and first officers currently in port be summoned to meet with us and discuss this ship in detail.”
Artemus blinked. Fiona smiled. She would not confront him publicly. She had sufficient authority to request the pilots appearance without asking permission. She did not need Artemus’ approval, but by asking for it, she sidestepped a confrontation. He could not deny the request without disobeying one of their father’s governing principles involving due diligence, so he nodded his agreement.
Fiona sent a message to the harbor master requesting him to contact the pilots and inform them that their opinion was being solicited on a matter that involved future capital spending. Once the message had been sent, she turned back to Artemus.
The Triton representatives politely excused themselves to wait for the pilots.
“Artemus, it will take a few minutes for the pilots to arrive. In the interim I would like to bring up another concern I have which was originally brought to my attention by one of our freighter pilots. I am not sure that this is an actionable item at this time, but I would like to open the discussion for research and future consideration.”
“Certainly, sister, what is on your mind?”
“Our freight routes are primarily designed around a hub and spoke system. That system has worked effectively for a long time and I am not advocating we abandon it for the majority of our routes. However, I think that for some areas, in particular the destinations nearest the central system where the jumps are short that we employ a triangle or rectangle routing system. Jared, I know this makes your job incredibly complex but I suspect that the benefits will outweigh the additional work it will create for your team.”
Jared stood slowly. “We have begun to look at this ourselves. We are analyzing the potential routes where this might work. My concern is the size and configuration of our ships. We may need to change our ship inventory to support the new routing.”
“Bigger ships or smaller?” Kevin asked.
“Some of both I think,” Jared replied. “We’re still crunching the numbers. I would like to have a workshop on this subject in a few days so I can have my team prepare a proper proposal with all the numbers.”
“Fiona?” Artemus asked.
“I think Jared should name his time. We need the best information possible before we make a decision of this type. We will commit to meet here at the time Jared tells us,” Fiona suggested.
“Jared, when do you think you can be ready?” Artemus asked.
“Give me an hour after we finish today’s meeting and I will set the date and time.” Tiny beads of sweat appeared on Jared’s forehead. He had never been consulted on anything by this group and now he was being forced to make a recommendation on an operational change that could have significant impact on the company’s profitability.
“What other surprises do you have for us, sister dear?” Artemus asked.
Fiona grinned. “I think we should discuss this with Geraldine and Janice, but I suspect it is time for us to get out of the passenger business. Saturn Industries has a new passenger liner that they are building to specifications provided by Royal Interstellar Cruise Lines. Royal has committed to purchase the first five years of production on these new ships. When we passed through New St. Louis I saw the prototype in its first trials and it is impressive. Nothing we own will be able to compete with it. Once it hits the market in about a year, I think Royal with have as firm a grip on the passenger business as we do on the freight business.”
“Still, I am not comfortable letting them take any form of interstellar transport without challenge,” Artemus said thoughtfully.
“Perhaps,” Fiona replied. “Harold, how is our passenger operation doing?”
“We are bleeding money hauling passengers. We should stop,” Harold replied coldly.
“But we have cabin space on our freighters that would go empty,” Barbara said.
“I am not saying we should stop transporting our own personnel on our ships,” Fiona said. “I think that paying passengers are not worth the trouble.”
Janice raised her hand for recognition. “We have heard rumors of new regulations on passenger transportation that would require the retrofit of most of our passenger ships. Fiona may be right.”
“Our brand is freight,” Geraldine offered. “We should stick to what we know and do well. If Royal wants passengers, we should sell them our old ships and let them do it.”
“There’s another piece to this,” Fiona said. “We can integrate Royal’s ships into our convoys for a suitable fee at no incremental cost to ourselves.”
The discussion deteriorated quickly until a consensus was reached that Geraldine, Janice and Harold should research the matter and report back in a week.
“What about Colony Service?” Timothy asked. “We don’t make any money on them do we?”
“Colony Service is so corrupt the only reason they get anything done is because the one thing they do know how to do is recruit skilled field staff,” Zelda said with derision.
“Colony Service has less obvious benefits than our core markets,” Janice said. “For one thing, it gives us a vehicle through which to hide a variety of transactions involving government officials we might not want the public to know about. Besides I can't count the number of famous people’s problem children we have transported to places where they can no longer embarrass their parents. Colony Service is an important link to the Federation political machine. As long as we are not losing huge amounts of money on it, we should keep it.”
“Colony Service breaks even most years,” Harold said. “The only time we lose money on them is when they lose ships in combat. They don’t do that very often.”
Zelda, who had up to this point opposed Fiona’s initiatives, said, “It also give us a place to send our retirees. We can transfer them to a developing planet and Colony Service picks up half their pension as well as their health care. Fiona, you have had the most direct contact with Colony Service. What do you think?”
Fiona smiled. “Well, since most of my in laws work there, I am biased in their favor. I am thrilled that they have jobs they love, so while you won’t hear me speak against them, I think I should abstain from any votes where they are concerned.”
Barbara asked, “Fiona, what do you think about Colony Service as a training ground for combat pilots and flight crews?”
Fiona raised her h
ands in submission. “I’m biased. Of course I am going to say that it is a great place for someone with drive and ambition to learn under fire. What do you want me to say?”
“My cousin is thinking of joining Colony Service and my aunt doesn’t want him to go. I think it might be good for him.” Barbara replied.
Fiona thought for a second. “Artemus, would it be out of line to arrange for Barbara’s cousin to be assigned to the Queen Elizabeth?”
With a hand motion, Artemus deferred to Zelda.
Zelda said, “The Queen Elizabeth has recently returned and has yet to turn in her personnel requisitions. Typically she leaves a third of her crew behind in the new colony. We try to staff the ship with people we know will want to stay at the colony so I would think finding your cousin a berth on the ship would be easy enough to do. Make sure he lists the Queen Elizabeth as his preferred duty station. Send me a copy of his application.” Zelda shrugged. “Pretty simple actually.”
“Thank you,” Barbara said.
Fiona turned to Saul, “Let your mother know.”
Saul smiled and nodded.
One of the door guards poked his head in the room. “The pilots are assembled.”
“Please send them in.”
The pilots nervously filed in followed by the representatives from Triton.
“Before we get started,” Fiona said. “I am starving. We should let the Triton folks give the pilots the entire presentation and I see no reason why we should sit through it again. We should get something to eat and reconvene in, say an hour and a half.”
Kevin said, “I think I should stay. I will have the kitchen send me something.”
Artemus said, “Those of you who wish to break may do so. Be back in an hour and a half.”
Saul and Fiona left the room headed for their quarters. They had not gone far when Artemus caught up with them, grabbed Fiona by the shoulder and pulled her around to face him. “What do you think you are doing?” He shouted in her face.
Before Fiona could answer, Saul grabbed Artemus by his jacket with both hands and lifted him off the ground. He slammed Artemus against the wall and said, “If you so much as touch my wife again, I will kill you.” The primeval savagery of Saul’s tone and the impact of hitting the wall drove the air from Artemus’ lungs. He gasped.
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