The End of All Things (15 page)

“The general isn’t a member of the assembly,” I said. “A confidence vote wouldn’t be binding.”

“Wouldn’t it?” Lause said. “The assembly can’t remove the general from the leadership of the Conclave, no. There’s no mechanism for it. But you understand that a no confidence vote on the general is the fatal crack in his armor. After that General Gau is no longer the beloved, and almost mythical founder of the Conclave. He’s merely another politician who has overstayed his welcome.”

“You are the chancellor of the assembly,” I noted. “You could keep a confidence vote on the general from reaching the floor.”

“I could,” Lause agreed. “But I could not then keep the confidence vote on
me
from reaching the floor. And once I was out of the way, Hado, or more likely one of his more pliable lieutenants, would ascend to my position. The general’s confidence vote would not be avoided, merely delayed.”

“And what if it were to happen?” I asked, setting down my cup. “The general is not under the illusion that he will be the head of the Conclave forever. The Conclave is meant to survive him. And me. And you.”

Lause stared at me. In point of fact, as Lause had no eyelids, she was always staring. But in this case it was with intent.

“What is it?” I said.

“You have to be joking, Hafte,” Lause said. “You have to be either joking or oblivious to the fact that it is General Gau himself who has kept the Conclave together. It’s loyalty to him and his idea of the Conclave that kept it from falling apart after Roanoke. It was loyalty to him that allowed it to survive the coup attempt that followed. The general knows this at least—he made everyone swear personal loyalty to him. You were the first to swear it.”

“I also warned him of the dangers of doing it,” I said.

“And you were right,” Lause said. “Technically. But
he
was right that at that moment it was loyalty to him that kept the Conclave in one piece. It still does.”

“We have perhaps moved on from that personal loyalty. That’s what the general has worked toward. What we have all worked toward.”

“We’re not there,” Lause said. “If General Gau is made to step down then the center of the Conclave falls away. Will this union still exist? For a while. But the union will be hollow, and the factions that already exist now will pull away. The Conclave will fracture, and then those factions will fracture again. And we’ll be back to where we were before. I see it, Hafte. It’s almost inevitable at this point.”

“Almost,” I said.

“We can avoid a fracture, for now,” Lause said. “Buy some time and perhaps heal the fracture. But the general has to give up something he wants very much.”

“Which is?”

“He has to give up the Earth.”

I reached for my cup again. “The humans from Earth have not asked to join the Conclave,” I said.

“Don’t spout nonsense at me, Hafte,” Lause said, sharply. “There isn’t a representative in the assembly who doesn’t know that the general intends to offer Earth significant trade and technological concessions, with the intent of drawing them into the Conclave sooner than later.”

“The general has never said anything of the sort.”

“Not publicly,” Lause said. “He’s been content to let his friends in the assembly do that for him. Unless you believe that we don’t know who is working Bruf Brin Gus’s levers on this subject. It’s not been exactly
discreet
about the favors it can pull from the general now. Or from
you,
for that matter.”

I made a note to schedule a meeting with Representative Bruf at the earliest convenience; it had been warned against preening to other assembly representatives. “You think Hado would use any deal with Earth as leverage for a confidence vote,” I said.

“I think Hado has a hatred of humans that borders on outright racism.”

“Even though the Earth is not affiliated with the Colonial Union.”

“That’s a distinction too subtle for Hado,” Lause said. “Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it’s a distinction that Hado will not bother to make, either for himself or to others, because it would interfere with his plans.”

“Which are?”

“Do you have to ask?” Lause said. “Hado hates the humans, but he loves them too. Because they might get him to the job he really wants. At least he thinks so. The Conclave will have collapsed before he can get much use of it.”

“So remove the humans, and we remove his lever.”

“You remove the lever that he’s grasping today,” Lause said. “He has others.” She reached for her cup of iet
,
saw that it had grown cold, and set it back down again. My assistant Umman popped his head into the room; my next meeting partner had arrived. I nodded to him and then stood. Lause stood as well.

“Thank you, Ristin,” I said. “As always, our chat has been useful and enlightening.”

“I hope so,” Lause said. “A final piece of advice for the day, if I may. Get Hado in here the next chance you get. He’s not going to tell you what he has planned, but it’s everything else he says that will matter anyway. Talk to him even briefly and you’ll know what I know. And you’ll know why I worry the Conclave is in trouble.”

“That is very good advice,” I said. “I plan to take it very soon.”

“How soon?”

“As soon as you leave me,” I said. “Unli Hado is my next appointment.”

*   *   *

“I’m worried that the Conclave is being pushed toward destruction,” Unli Hado said to me, almost before I had time to sit down after welcoming him into my office.

“Well, this is certainly a dramatic way to begin our discussion, Representative,” I said. Umman discreetly slipped back into the office and deposited two bowls on my desk, one closer to me and one closer to Hado. Hado’s was filled with niti
,
an Elpri breakfast food that would kill me if I attempted to eat it, but which Hado was known to relish. My own bowl had tidbits on it shaped like niti
,
but made of Lalan vegetable matter. I did not wish to die in this particular meeting. I had other plans for the rest of the sur. I nodded thanks to Umman; Hado appeared not to notice him. Umman slipped back out of the room.

“I didn’t know that coming to you with a concern would be dismissed as drama,” Hado said. He reached over and fished one of the niti out of his bowl, and then started sucking on it, loudly. I did not know enough about Elpri table manners to decide whether he was being rude.

“I would in no way dismiss your concerns, as drama or anything else,” I replied. “But you may understand that from my end, leading with the destruction of the Conclave doesn’t leave much room for anything else.”

“Does General Gau still intend to bring the humans into the Conclave?” Hado asked.

“You know as well as I do that the general never lobbies a species to join the Conclave,” I said. “He merely shows them the advantages and allows them to ask, if they are interested.”

“That’s a nice fiction,” Hado said. He swallowed his niti and reached for another.

“If the humans asked to join the Conclave—if
either
of the human governments asked to join the Conclave, because as you know there is more than one—then they would go through the same process as everyone else has.”

“For which the general would heavily place his support for the humans.”

“I would imagine only to the extent he has done for any of our species, including the Elpri, Representative Hado. You may recall him standing in the well of the Grand Assembly, praising your people at the time of the vote.”

“For which of course I offer him many thanks.”

“As you should,” I said. “As should every member state of our Conclave. In point of fact, to date, the general has welcomed every species who has asked to join and was willing to accept the terms of union. I wonder why you would think—if in fact either human government wanted to join our union—that the general would do otherwise.”

“It’s because I know something about the humans that the general does not.”

“Secret information?” I said, and reached for one of my own tidbits. “With all due respect, Representative, your track record on secret information regarding the humans is spotty.”

Hado offered what to anyone else would appear to be a genial smile. “I am well aware that I have a history of falling into the traps that you’ve set for me, Councilor. But between ourselves let’s not pretend that we don’t know what really happened.”

“I’m not entirely sure I catch your meaning,” I said, pleasantly.

“Have it your way,” Hado said, and then reached into his vest to pull out a data module. He placed it on my desk between us.

“Is this your secret information?” I asked.

“It’s not secret, just not well known. Yet.”

“Will you give me a précis, or should I just plug it into my computer?”

“You should look at all of it,” Hado said. “But the short version is that a whistleblower from the Colonial Union has released information on all of the Colonial Union’s military and intelligence operations for the last several of their decades. Including the destruction of our fleet at Roanoke, the attacks on Conclave ships and planets using pirated Conclave member trade ships, biological experimentation on Conclave citizens, and the attack on Earth Station.”

I picked up the data module. “How was this whistleblower able to procure all this information?”

“He was an undersecretary of the Colonial Union’s State Department.”

“I don’t suppose this undersecretary is available to us.”

“My understanding is that the Colonial Union reacquired him,” Hado said. “If the Colonials’ standard practices hold, if he’s not already dead, he’s a brain suspended in a jar.”

“I’m curious how this information came to
you,
Representative Hado.”

“I got it this morning by diplomatic courier drone from Elpri,” Hado said. “The information has been readily available there for an Elprian day. The information was apparently released widely. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re offered the information by others, including your own planetary government, Councilor. Nor would I be surprised if it’s offered to the Conclave itself by the end of the sur.”

“We don’t know if this information is reliable, is what you’re telling me.”

“What I’ve read of it—which has been the most recent events, primarily—seems accurate,” Hado said. “It explains at the very least why we’ve been losing trade and cargo ships, and how the Colonial Union has been using them against us.”

“It might not surprise you to know that the Colonial Union has maintained their own civilian ships have been pirated.”

“I won’t deny I am not fond of humanity, but that isn’t to say that I think they are stupid,” Hado said. “Of course they would be doing a magnificent job of obfuscating their plans.”

“And what are their plans, Representative Hado?” I asked.

“The destruction of the Conclave, obviously,” Hado said. “They tried and failed at Roanoke Colony. They are trying again by using our own trade ships against us.”

“At that rate they should topple us at about the same time as the heat death of the universe,” I said.

“It’s not the physical damage. It’s persisting despite the obvious strength of the Conclave.”

“And attacking Earth Station?” I said. “How does that relate to the Conclave?”

“The Colonial Union has denied the attack. Who else should Earth think could orchestrate it?”

“But you don’t want the humans in the Conclave in any event.”

“Neither do I want Earth reconciled with the Colonial Union, offering it soldiers and colonists again.”

“In which case I’m not sure why you would oppose Earth’s admission into the Conclave,” I said. “That would shut the door to the Colonial Union using it as a recruiting station.”

“And frustrate the Colonial Union even further, making them more dangerous,” Hado said. “And aside from that, how would we ever be able to trust any humans? If one group of humans were at war with us and the other our ally, how many of our so-called allies would feel obliged, by species solidarity, to act against our interests?”

“So we are damned if we admit the humans, and damned if we don’t.”

“There is a third option,” Hado said.

I stiffened at this. “You know the general’s opinion on preemptive war, Representative Hado,” I said. “And on genocide.”

“Please, Councilor,” Hado said. “I am suggesting neither, obviously. I am suggesting, however, that war with the humans is inevitable. Sooner or later they will attack, out of opportunism or out of fear.” He pointed to the data module. “The information here makes that much clear. And when they do, if the general does not have a response, then I fear what happens next for the Conclave.”

“The Conclave is robust,” I said.

“Again, it’s not the physical damage to the Conclave I worry about. The Conclave exists because its members are confident in its leader. The general spared the humans once when he could have crushed them. If he does it twice, there comes the legitimate question of why, and for what purpose. And whether his judgment can be relied upon any further.”

“And if the answer is ‘no,’ then I suppose you have an idea of who might take his place,” I said. “To restore this ‘confidence.’”

“You misunderstand me, Councilor,” Hado said. “You always have. You think I have ambitions beyond my station. I assure you I do not. I never have. What I want is what you want, and what the general wants: the Conclave, whole and secure. He has the power to keep it that way. He has the power to destroy it. It all depends on how he deals with the humans. All of them.”

Hado stood, bowed, took a final niti from his bowl, and left.

*   *   *

“He thinks
this
is going to be the thing that destroys the Conclave,” Vnac Oi said, holding the data module Unli Hado had given me. I had traveled to its office, in part to get a change of scenery and in part because as the Conclave’s head of intelligence, its office was substantially more secure than my own.

“I think it’s more the thing Hado plans to use to try to oust Tarsem,” I said.

“It took some nerve to drop it on your desk,” Oi said. “He might as well have put a sign up over his head announcing his plans.”