Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Consequence (29 page)

              Ravine turned to look at Loren and Velk.  "Thank you for the opportunity we have here today.  Now, Commander Stone, I believe you have some housekeeping you need to do in order to ensure your end of the bargain."

              "I've got my best people on it."

              Halley Pascal looked around her and shook her head.  The government district was a shambles, leveled buildings, rubble, smoke and fire still choking the streets and skies above.  They'd landed their small armada of transports in the heart of another city as a result, named Jaeger.  It was one of the busiest cities on the planet, a center of commerce and business.  It was home to powerful financial interests, people and corporations whose power and influence reached all the way across the galaxy, and an integral part of the Confederation. 

              Web had invoked an emergency clearance and landed their ships right in the middle of the city, on a huge promenade and park area hosting businesses, shops, restaurants, and media conglomerates. 
If Halley wanted attention
, he thought,
this was the place to get it
.

              Already crowds were forming, and local law enforcement along with some military forces had arrived on scene to bring order to chaos.  Halley quickly took control, having them set up a perimeter around the raised entertainment stage at the north end of the promenade.  Behind the stage was a huge, stories-tall display, with holographic repeaters at intervals around the park.  When order was restored, she called forth the occupants of the shuttles, and in very short order everyone on the planet knew that the Senate, the majority of whose members had been kidnapped by the Primans on the first day of the war and held captive for three years, was back on Delos.

              "This is close to the worst thing that could happen," said Dennix from his seat in the transport he and Enric Shae were on.  They were still grounded at the spaceport, the emergency airspace lock-down due to the battle above enforced without mercy or exception. 

              Enric Shae partially tuned him out.  He'd been so eager for the man to collapse, misstep, anything that would get Dennix out and himself in by the hands of the Primans, but now everything was different.  Dennix was going to go down hard for what they'd admittedly both done to the Confederation.  Enric Shae wanted no part of what came next, but he couldn't just drop off his ID badge and walk away, either.  He was the face of the negotiated treaty; hell, he even had a seat on the Governing Committee.  The best thing he could do was help the Senator escape and have the man become the focus of everyone's hatred.  Hopefully, in time, his own involvement would become a minor detail.  He might even be able to make a deal against the Senator, testify in exchange for immunity or at least leniency.  No, running off solo wasn't the best option.  He'd see this through, then send the Senator on his way and start over somewhere else, on the other side of the galaxy if need be.  He just needed to make it into orbit.  And if they didn't clear him off soon enough, he'd simply fly away on his own and hope everyone was too busy to mount an effective effort at capturing him.

              The Senator was watching the news monitors from the comfort of the small salon behind the cockpit.  It showed celebrations across the planet as people received word of a total cease-fire with the Primans.  It didn't hurt that their fleet was lined up across from the Confederation's own ships, a military display that signified equality or at least deterrence.  It seemed like a truce of equals. 

              Suddenly, the Senator saw a news feed item scroll by that stopped him in his tracks and actually induced a wave of nausea.  It wouldn't do to become physically sick, but he didn't think anyone would blame him, either.  There, milling around on a stage in a group that got bigger by the minute, coverage being beamed across the Confederation and by extension the entire galaxy, was the assembling membership of the Senate.  He recognized them all, some the worse for wear, some in their traditional garb while others wore Confed military uniforms or the one piece prisoner jumpsuits they'd been offered when captured.

              As soon as they spoke, he was a dead man.  Yes, he'd ridden herd over elections to replace them all, and as such they probably weren't considered acting Senators any more, but that was a court matter, maybe even more a judgment of public opinion now.  There was only one thing he could try to do to stop it, one person he could think to contact and beg or threaten.

              Loren was in the C3 briefing room with Captain Elco going over the mountain of administrative items that crops up post-battle.   Ship readiness, casualty lists, new orders, coordination of movement with the rest of the Fourteenth and other Confed ships that were rapidly arriving; it was enough to keep them busy for days.

              A comm chime announced itself.  "Elco here," the captain said as he tapped a key on the conference table.

              "Coded message, Governing Committee credentials, Captain," came the neutral response.  Elco looked at Loren, who only shrugged.  They both looked at the forward bulkhead of C3, where among other displays was one that showed the ever-growing group of Senators and the gathering crowd in the central plaza of the city of Jaeger.

              "Send it through," Elco said and stood up.  Something made Loren do the same, a tingling in his spine hinting at the gravity of the next few minutes.  He had no idea who was on the line, but his danger sense, finely honed by years of war, told him a defining moment was at hand.

              The face of Senator Zek Dennix appeared on the monitor.

              "Captain Elco, Commander Stone," Dennix began.  He was seated at some sort of desk, though it was small and utilitarian, not the humongous spectacle that took up so much of his senate office.

              "Senator Dennix," Elco replied neutrally.

              "I suppose congratulations are in order, though time is short and I'll get right to my point."  Dennix tapped a command and a smaller window appeared on the screen, showing the gathering crowd of newly freed senators and a familiar woman herding everyone into position.

              "I think I know what Ms. Pascal has been up to," Elco said with a grin.

              "She always knew how to please a crowd," Loren agreed, secretly enjoying the way their banter seemed to annoy Dennix.

              "What is the meaning of this?" asked Dennix.  "This spectacle won't help anyone, least of all our government.  We're in enough chaos as it is; why parade our former captives like so many sideshow performers for the galaxy to see?"

              "I think you're asking the wrong people," Elco replied.  "We just fight Primans up here."

              "You're as insubordinate as you are successful, Captain.  But this chaos won't help anyone.  I need you to block that transmission, for the good of the Confederation.  Stirring up the pot like this won't help us right now.  We need to band together."

              "Is there something troubling you?" Loren asked, realizing he was enjoying watching the man squirm.  He doubted Dennix would ever admit wrongdoing, maybe even to himself, but seeing him try to order his way out of is was fun in a twisted sort of way.

              "We need order!  I am in charge!"  Dennix slammed his fist on the small table, the reverb echoing through the small space he was in.

              "Not for long, I think," said Elco softly.

              "Block that transmission, Captain, or if I am removed, others will fall with me."

              Now Elco and Loren knew that Dennix saw what might be happening.  He wouldn't make a threat like that unless he was worried about something much greater than a bunch of senators showing up for a post-prison-break presser.

              "I think it's time you laid your cards on the table, Senator," Elco stated, his blank facade a thin veneer over a roiling ocean of anger.  Loren could see it; he wondered if Dennix could, as well.

              "If you try to take me down, through whatever trickery you obviously have in mind," Dennix continued, "I'll air out all your dirty laundry as well.  That includes Admiral Bak and his part in the early days of the invasion.  Oh, I know his part in the Enkarran incursions, the loss of the Dyson and Corona.  He's never paid for those crimes.  And you, Loren Stone; I've tried more than once to substantiate rumors of prisoner mistreatment, disobeying orders and various war crimes you yourself may have committed while far away from prying eyes.  But somehow, nothing ever comes of it.  Somebody always redirects or loses the inquiry.  There is treason and corruption afoot on your ship, in the Confed military at large, gentlemen.  I will drag the entire navy into it if you try to remove me from office!"

              "I can tell you with no uncertainty that the admiral is ready to answer for his actions throughout the conflict," Elco said.  "Are you?"

              "What about your Executive Officer?"

              "Investigate away, Senator," was all Loren offered back.  "Everything I've ever done was for the good of the Confederation and its people.  Can you say the same?"

              "Block the transmission!"

              "Perhaps Mr. Pascal is about to shed some light on the situation," Elco intervened, pointing at the picture in picture of her on stage with the assembled Senators.  "Maybe we should watch."

              The only regret she held, Halley realized, was that her covert ops days were over.  Her face was all over the Confederation by now.  Before the hour was up, people all over this half of the galaxy that she'd dealt with would recognize her.  She'd briefly considered dumping off the senators and heading for cover, but in the end admitted to herself that she needed to ride herd over this big reveal; her future in covert ops was a small thing compared to what she sincerely hoped was accomplished on the plaza here.

             
Oh well
, she thought.  She could always fall back on her regular SAR duties, and she had the sneaking suspicion the Web wouldn't mind her not being gone so often.  She glanced over at the side of the stage where Web was carefully watching the crowd and smiled as he caught her gaze.  He returned it instantly and went back to work.

              Right now, though, Halley needed to get this show on the road.  And boy, did she have a killer opener.

              "Ladies and gentlemen, beings from Delos, the Confederation, and anywhere else in this galaxy; I have behind me a group of people whose voice must be heard.  No doubt by now you recognize some of them.  They are the senators who were kidnapped by the Primans in the opening moves of their invasion into our galaxy.  They've been held captive for three years, while in the meantime, the people who filled the power vacuum here on Delos built themselves up, collaborated with the enemy, and spent their time gathering wealth, power and influence for themselves at the expense of everyone in the Confederation of Systems, and beyond."  Halley paused for a second to let that sink in, let people take another look at the people behind her before she continued. 

              "I know that in the meantime, we've held some emergency elections, had some people simply appointed to seats of power in deals brokered by those already in charge.  What resulted was a cabal of people owing their status and allegiance to the man who eventually took control of the Confederation; Senator Zek Dennix."

              This time the crowd reacted loudly, a surprising mix of cheers and boos.  She'd assumed people would be ready to riot in the streets against the injustice of it all, but part of her mourned the apathy with which many had apparently looked at their leaders.

              "But don't take my word for it," she said, unsuccessfully trying to stop a small grin as she repeated a catch-phrase from an ad campaign she remembered.  "The Confederation, and in a second, the entire galaxy, will have the proof we need.  You see, everything the Senator has done since the early parts of the war have been recorded, in detail, audio and holographic video, for us to watch.  It was an accident, really, but the Senator wore a special device, a Priman device.  It was a ring that masked Priman bio signs; Priman covert agents infiltrated our society and those rings masked their bio signatures from cursory scans.  They also, unbeknownst to us, recorded everything within a few arm-spans of the wearer.  Senator Dennix wore the ring of his first Priman handler, Ples Damar, who he killed in cold blood.  He's been wearing that ring and recording his crimes ever since."

              Now the crowd roared, naysayers drowned out by the people clamoring for proof.  Halley brought out a small data pad, which she'd loaded with the entirety of Dennix's ring data.  There had been many discussions early on about how to present the information to the Confederation; should the navy pirate the airwaves, force everyone to watch?  Should they try to indict Dennix and use it at a trial?  Should they approach him in private and appeal to his better nature and ask him to step aside?  In the end, it was decided a public spectacle, while potentially dangerous, seemed the most open.  Everybody would see it at the same time, no special privileges or deals.  Halley told everyone she'd know what to do when the time came.