Empire at Gloran, page 22
This was as high as the stakes got, but she could just continue to broadcast everything in the clear. As she was doing. Phil was poised to unleash havoc. Angrily.
And Parvez knew the name Kartikeya. That much was obvious. His eyes didn’t have the blankness of ignorance when he considered that name, like an innocent man would.
“You are disobeying an order, Singh,” he tried instead, perhaps remembering how the conversation had started, all of twenty seconds ago.
“Yes,” she admitted. “I’m willing to be Court Martialed over this, Senior Director. I will ask my associates to testify in open court. Demand it, as a matter of fact. Or we can just broadcast everything to the entire system, right now on every channel a ship like Urumchi is capable of overloading. You haven’t answered my question.”
She hit mute on her end so he didn’t hear her growl. Not yet, anyway.
All of the Gloran captains and a great many of her friends had looked askance at her after the truth had come out. Kartikeya was an Aditi vessel, after all. Supposedly a friend.
Parvez glowered at her.
“You can come aboard the station and we’ll talk,” he snapped.
“No,” Kaur snapped back. “You and whoever else can come aboard Urumchi. Or Glanthua’s Stand. I haven’t asked Adric Kerenski which he ship would prefer. It was his world that was attacked. He may demand that you attend him on his flagship. Phil Kosnett offers neutral ground. At least for now.”
As in, Phil might decide that he has to take sides in this matter. You probably wouldn’t like that outcome, either. You might come to regret a great many things, if you decide to make Phil Kosnett your enemy, because he’s made friends with the entire rest of the Cluster.
Somebody off-screen at that end had obviously waved a hand to get his attention, because Parvez’s face turned that way. Sound stopped as they muted so he could be told something.
His scowl turned a little white. Then a lot white. Like maybe somebody important had called on another line. Or been listening and wanted to know more about why Kartikeya was an important enough name that the Gloran Emperor was personally involved.
“Stand by, Aranyani,” he said abruptly. “We will get back to you shortly.”
And he cut the line from his end.
Phil was back a moment later in the internal line.
“Nicely done, Commander,” he said. “Subtle. Threatening without being threatening. Penetrating in the right quarters, and problem-causing in others because folks will want to know more.”
“Do we expect a reply quickly?” she asked.
“No,” he shook his head. “I think we’ve opened the perfect can of worms for them to have to deal with for now. I expect that folks will need to talk for a bit. I would recommend that ships stand down one alert level and start rotating crew members on watch shifts.”
“You would recommend?” Kaur asked, confused.
“You have the flag, Aranyani,” he smiled. “What are your orders?”
Oh. That’s right. She had the flag.
“I think you should take over at this point,” Kaur replied.
“Gladly,” Phil said, cutting over to another line.
“This is Kosnett, I have the flag,” Phil said. “All vessels move to your orders for holding pattern for now, while we await developments.”
Kaur breathed out heavily. She’d just committed the most polite mutiny she could think of. And even threatened her superiors over an open line. But it had been worth it.
She had upheld her oath.
Let the rest of them say that.
FORTY-TWO
CONSENSUS CAUCUS CHAMBER
Roshni Mishra had managed to retain her rank and position in the government as Herald, perhaps third in overall rank to Speaker Jasvinder Mhasalkar, through all the complicated maneuvering that had arrived with the Aquitaine fleet and beyond. Jasvinder’s Bhavishy Party had the most seats in the Assembly, with her Prakaash small enough to only be a distant second place. Too small if she decided to see which of the small parties would support her in a small palace revolution.
For what it was worth.
The Caucus itself was in session now, sixteen faces around a table with nobody but a few personal aides allowed in the room.
Jasvinder had his beloved gavel in hand. All eyes were currently turned to Administrator for War, Avinash Bachchan of the Vyaapaar Vaayu Party. He was almost a legacy hire at this point, having held the job through three and a half administrations because nobody could ever agree on a replacement for the man.
That might have been a mistake. If the words coming out of his mouth right now were even half-true, he’d screwed up badly. Bachchan finished explaining what he’d done and rattled down to empty.
“So,” Jasvinder snarled angrily as Bachchan wound down. “In your infinite wisdom, you annihilated a Gloran colony, just as Kosnett’s forces were preparing to visit Derragon?”
It even sounded like Jasvinder hadn’t given such an order, but Roshni couldn’t imagine that dinosaur going that rogue.
“It’s not the first time we’ve done so,” Bachchan snarled back just as viciously. “Don’t get sanctimonious with me, Mhasalkar. You’ve been involved in the other such raids we’ve sanctioned. Or hired pirates to commit. All of you, as a matter of fact. There are no clean hands in this room.”
Roshni felt the rage that those two men broadcast and considered how it would look when somebody leaked the details of this meeting.
Someone always leaked. It was almost a competitive sport, to see if you could get the best press for your side or to cast some enemy in the worst light possible.
She wasn’t sure how much uglier this one could get.
Roshni let the silence hang as people muttered at each other, and flashed back to a meeting she’d had with Jasvinder and the Assembly’s Sergeant at Arms, Nilima Chaudhary, back when Kosnett had first come to speak to the Assembly and the Consensus.
She had warned both of them then that the time had come to clean up their acts. To divest entirely from their various under-the-table shenanigans and prepare to face a situation where criminal corruption wasn’t going to be acceptable.
Apparently, they hadn’t listened.
She leaned forward as the two men continued their staring contest, her motion breaking the stalemate and drawing eyes to her instead. As intended.
Jasvinder had held the Speakership for almost a decade, making deals and swapping governing alliances as votes moved things around. It helped that his Bhavishy Party tended to lean towards the same cultural conservatism that propelled the Consensus most days.
Most days.
This felt different. And ugly.
“Why?” Roshni asked simply, eyes moving back and forth between the two men.
“What do you mean?” Bachchan demanded angrily.
“You obviously had a reason to do this,” she said patiently. “To order this attack. What was your logic? Or is it that you simply didn’t expect anyone to put the pieces together?”
“We’ve already reinforced the sector capital at Voida,” Bachchan snapped. “They’d have hit someplace like Niani or Ikrilph, according to our calculations. Nowhere important.”
“Why?” she pressed. “You’ve just explained how prepared you were, not why you provoked Gloran.”
“To distract them,” Jasvinder interjected with exasperation. “To make Gloran angry. Not thinking straight. The pirates make an excellent foil for such a thing.”
“There are no more pirates, Jasvinder,” Roshni replied tartly. “Kosnett broke them.”
“There are still some running around,” he said.
“No,” she shook her head. “If you’d actually read any of the intelligence papers, or paid attention in the weekly briefings, you’d know better. Kosnett broke them. All of them. Maybe you have bandits, but even then, could you have picked a dumber patsy than Hamath Syndicate?”
“What?” the Speaker roared at her. “They must be made to take the blame.”
“Why?” she returned to the question that seemed to do the best job of getting under people’s skin today.
“Do you know what that woman is doing?” he demanded.
“Which woman are we talking about this time?” Roshni asked. “There are a lot of women involved in this situation.”
“She’s in orbit right now!” he snarled. “With Kosnett!”
“That barely narrows the field.”
“Hollywood Ward,” he finally said. “The woman is building a new communication network with Kosnett’s blessing!”
“Why is that a problem?” Roshni asked. “Did she turn down a demand for a bribe or something for an operating license? Or do you see her as competition for something you wanted to do instead?”
Oh, that was an interesting reaction.
Roshni had known Jasvinder for more than two decades at this point. Knew how to get to him. When she wanted to, which wasn’t often.
If he ever realized where his weak spots were, Jasvinder might do something about them, after all.
“She can’t be allowed!” Bachchan interjected into the row, like maybe those two were up to something and had perhaps forgotten to tell everyone else about it?
Not the first time.
“It’s Kosnett’s operation,” Roshni replied with a purring smile that she extended to the rest of the Caucus, just to see which way those folks were leaning right now.
Egomaniacs, the lot of them. Herself included, as she wasn’t that rude to suggest otherwise. Most of them, however had their petty grifts and official hands in cookie jars that kept them fat, happy, and rich.
Jasvinder Mhasalkar had too solid a grip on power to be unseated.
Or did he? She started counting noses and noticed that a tide had shifted at some point in the last few minutes.
Wavering.
Dangerous waters.
“Kosnett will be gone soon,” Jasvinder snapped. “Whatever promises he made to a bunch of pirates can go right out the airlock with him.”
Roshni considered the monumental stupidity contained in that sentence. Grand even by Jasvinder’s normal standards.
“So you poked Gloran to keep his attention occupied?” she asked him, walking some of the others slowly through logic that might be too complicated for them. Depending on how drunk they might be at this moment.
“That’s right,” Bachchan replied. “Like usual. The only difference was that there were no pirates immediately available for hire, so we did it ourselves.”
“And you don’t see where that might be a problem?”
“What’s he going to do?” Jasvinder demanded. “Attack us? Start a general war with Aditi? Of course not. Kosnett would never allow it!”
“Really?” she asked, ladling on the sarcasm so thick she might end up with it all over her hands. “Then why are they both overhead right now with full battle fleets?”
About half the room gasped. Not always the brightest. Here to protect their holdings and their various party’s interests, rather than really govern. Jasvinder kept most of them bought off with Administrator positions or slush funds.
“Attack us?” Bachchan roared. “We’ll destroy them!”
“Like King Doysan did at Ewinhome?” she countered. “That was only part of Kosnett’s fleet, along with a much smaller squadron of Kalidoona’s ships. This is everyone. And Kerenski brought more than twenty ships. Granted, some of them small, but still…”
She leaned back just so she could watch the two men squirm a little. Mutterings around the table turned into yammering and accusations as she listened.
Jasvinder finally had to slam his precious gavel down to get people to shut up.
“Why is Kosnett here?” Roshni asked as Jasvinder drew a breath to start lying again. “Why is Kerenski?”
And the noise started up again. Noses scenting the wind shifting and maybe starting to tack against it.
If they could.
“We can bring more force than they can possibly withstand!” Bachchan roared over all of it.
“So?” Roshni sneered at the man. “Isn’t that as good as admitting that you ordered an active duty fleet cruiser to annihilate a Gloran colony while planting evidence that the Hamath Syndicate did it? What’s everybody else going to say?”
“Who cares what they think?” Jasvinder roared just as loudly as Bachchan now. “They’ll ignore us and maybe pile on if we decide to start attacking Gloran worlds. Dalou is always looking for loot.”
“Are you even listening to yourself, Mr. Speaker?” Roshni roared back at him. “Do you hear what you just said? Dalou, expansive? Since when?”
“Urwel, for example!”
“Urwel?” Roshni leaned into the verbal blow with a harsh laugh. “Their own world where they’ve finally decided to build a trade station? That Urwel?”
Jasvinder blinked. Maybe something in his brain short-circuited. It was hard to tell.
“Or did you think that maybe Yaumgan would see an opportunity to slice worlds off a frontier that they have held tenaciously for more than a century?” She pursued him like a wounded buck. That was what he was. Roshni could almost smell blood in the air. “Or Ewin, where Kosnett just crushed part of their fleet and signed treaties of trade and friendship? All of them have, by the way. If you started a war right now, I’d be more willing to believe that everyone else would be on Kosnett’s side. Didn’t Kaur Singh tell Parvez to get stuffed when he ordered her to break ranks? What do you think Kosnett has up there? All of the nations of the Cluster, including the pirates, former pirates, whatever. Hell, the Crown Prince of Dalou is aboard Storm Petrel with Kosnett’s force. The apparent heir to the Shogunate is aboard Urumchi. Are you people all morons? You’re going to start a war with Gloran, at the precise moment when Kosnett has everyone on his side!”
Jasvinder had to hammer the table hard enough that his precious gavel might have broken. Certainly, at some point the pitch of the banging changed.
Roshni looked at the others around the table and felt the wind shift again. Jasvinder was breathing so hard you might think he’d just run a marathon, though as fat as the man was, just walking to one of his mistresses’ bedroom might be too much effort some days.
Just another reason Roshni kept her body in shape. It helped with the mind as well. Saved her from doing stupid things like not realizing the galaxy had changed.
“Did you decide to start a war with Gloran and possibly Aquitaine and the rest of the Cluster for any reason besides greed and personal stupidity, Jasvinder?” she asked in the deadly calm that had finally fallen.
Up until now, he might have thought he could get away with it. Or blame someone else.
Gasps. All the way around. Government-breaking gasps.
“And what are you going to do about it?” he demanded.
Roshni considered. Counted noses around her. Wondered about leaks to the news reporters no doubt already baying for a story.
The ancient term was Le Beau Geste. The Grand Gesture. Usually stupid. Frequently suicidal.
Always glorious. Especially counting those noses. And feeling the wind in her hair, at least metaphorically.
“Mister Speaker, the Prakaash Party can no longer support the government,” she said formally. “Shortly, I will be tabling a motion of No Confidence and demanding an open, public discussion and vote on the matter.”
She leaned back, smiling as everything erupted in noise yet again. Jasvinder’s gavel broke off in his hand this time. She liked that symbolism. Maybe she would campaign on it, as this was likely to lead to early elections, one way or the other.
Broken gavels, broken promises. Yes, that would do nicely on a campaign poster.
She’d warned them to clean up their act. Prakaash had. Apparently Bhavishy and Vyaapaar Vaayu hadn’t.
Looking around, both representatives of Pahaad Aur Baadal, the Mountains and Clouds Party, were nodding. Her own people were solidly behind her. A few party rebels in Bhavishy might see this as their chance to evict Jasvinder from his role as Party leader that he had held so long. Maybe she could quietly encourage a few Turks to go after Bachchan as well.
Kosnett had laid it out clearly. Aditi could be on the right side of history tomorrow.
Or the wrong one.
FORTY-THREE
DATE OF THE REPUBLIC MARCH 31, 412 RAN URUMCHI, ORBITING ADITI
Phil had retired to his office to get some work done, with Markus outside, probably reading. Unlike vid shows, things never happened quickly when politics occurred. Even major fleet engagements that only took up a few pages on paper usually ran hours of realtime when you looked closely at the event log, with long stretches of maneuvering and such between actual action.
So he looked up sharply when the hatch opened unannounced. Markus stood there with a tablet in one hand, immediately stepping to the other side of the desk and handing the device to Phil.
“You need to see this live,” he said as the hatch closed.
Then the big lug sat down in the chair and leaned back. Must be good. Markus was usually a little more spit and polish than that. Most of the time.
Okay, sometimes.
Phil looked down at the machine. Video poised for play. Looked like something broadcast from Aditi on public airwaves. Trust Markus to have picked up a gadget like that when he was here last. Probably had several, so he could take them apart and study the innards.
Markus was like that, too.
Phil hit play and watched the woman newsreader stare into the camera with haunted eyes.
“Breaking news from the Capital, in case you are just joining us,” she said in that breathless way that they all had mastered by the time they got promoted to the cushy job. “The Prakaash Party has broken with the government and announced a vote of No Confidence, to be held tomorrow. Spokespeople from Pahaad Aur Baada and Van Parties have also put out statements in the last hour that they will support Prakaash. Furthermore—wait, I have an update. We’re about to go live to our reporter in the field for a special scoop.”
