The Burden of Command, page 15
part #14 of Empire Rising Series
James couldn’t contain himself any longer. His derision spilled over into laughter. “You expect us to protect you if you do this? When the Karacknids attack again, your worlds will receive no protection from the Imperial Navy. Not if you go through with this. We will not waste lives protecting those who betray us.”
Patel’s face darkened at James’ words. It was clear she was trying to control her emotions. Very deliberately, she turned back to Christine. “Does your husband speak for himself or for the Empire?”
Christine raised her chin. “In this, he speaks for me and every other Imperial citizen from the worlds you are trying to leave. This is nothing short of betrayal. You are fools if you do not understand that. Perhaps you are reading public sentiment on your planets correctly, though your unwillingness to even hold a referendum betrays even that lie. Yet you have made a severe miscalculation if you think the rest of the Empire will just sit back and let your planets leave.”
“What are you threatening?” Governor Varma asked as she spoke for the first time. “You would use force against your own species?”
“Against a traitor, yes, I would,” Christine replied harshly. “Have you forgotten all the wars the British Star Kingdom defeated your people in before the Karacknids? If you secede from the Empire, you are declaring yourself an enemy of the human species. You are joining the Karacknids in everything but name.” Christine stood to her feet and stepped closer to Patel and Varma. “I promise you this, I will make sure that is how the Empire’s citizens see your actions.”
Laughter from a single one of the group juxtaposed Christine’s savage tone. “She is bluffing,” Cornelius Teal said. “You are,” he repeated when he moved out from the middle of the group and held Christine’s gaze. “You would not divert ships and troops from the frontline. It would take millions of Marines to pacify all of our worlds, and hundreds of ships to bring and support them.”
Christine shook her head. “You may think you know me, but you do not. Your worlds have only known me as your Empress, as your servant and protector. If you make me an enemy, you will reap a devastation you could not even imagine. What would happen if I declared you a traitor and seized all your assets? What would happen if I cut off all trade to your worlds and blockaded them? Several hundred destroyers would be enough to strangle every one of your planets. How long then would your people support you? How long before they strung up every one of you and lynched you for your crimes against the Empire? If you do this, if you attempt to secede, then you will be removing yourselves from the protection of our laws. I will be free to do whatever I wish to you.”
“That’s absurd,” Patel said, though her voice cracked. “The way the constitution is written, every human deserves the legal protections written into it.”
Christine smiled and icy smile. “The way the constitution is written, there is no way for a planet to secede. To do so is tantamount to a rebellion against the Empire. You seem to think you can reinterpret the constitution to leave peaceably. Why then can I not reinterpret it to do with you as I please?”
“You can try,” Teal snarled. “But you will not find us to be the weak opponents you seem to think. We can sway public opinion as much as you. And we know you cannot tarnish your impeccable reputation. You can bluster all you wish, but it does not scare us. Now, we came here to be civil to you. You can accept our document or not. We will not argue any further.”
Beside him, Patel held out the scroll to Christine, who still did not reach for it. Patel glanced at Teal. The industrialist nodded to her. In response, she dropped the scroll at Christine’s feet. “This does not need to be this way,” Patel said. “I hope you will come to understand this. Farewell Christine, James, I hope we’re able to find a way to work together in the future.”
As the group of politicians all turned and began to move towards the audience room’s main door, Christine’s hands clenched into fists. Neither she nor James had anything to say to the group as they left. Instead, they stared at their backs, burning holes into them with their eyes. Only when the large ornate wooden door shut behind the politicians did Christine move. She half-stepped; half-stumbled back into her chair. Collapsing into it, all the fight and tension in her body disappeared.
“What have they done?” She asked as she lowered her head into her hands. “The fools!”
“You are right,” James said as he reached over and placed a hand on Christine’s shoulder. “They are traitors. They are risking the future of our species. We must deal with them at once.”
Christine raised her head; her eyes were bloodshot. “They are,” she agreed, “but they are also right. I tried threatening them because I hoped it would make some reconsider. They were empty threats; Teal saw right through me.”
James ground his teeth together. Teal’s mockery of his wife made his anger flare. As far as he was concerned, Christine’s words weren’t empty. She might not be willing to cross certain lines, but he would do whatever it took to protect Humanity from the Karacknids.
“Empty threats or not,” Fairfax said as he moved over and picked up the scroll. “We need to go through this immediately and see just what they are proposing. Then, we need to respond as soon as possible. If a copy of this has been given to the Speaker of each House, it will be leaked to the public within hours, if Patel and the others aren’t already doing that right now. We need to gather the Inner Council at once. This is not something we should decide on our own.”
“Of course,” Christine said as she sat back in her chair. The anger and defiance that had filled her was now gone. She looked deflated. “Call them at once, we will need their help.”
James stood and moved over to Christine. He took one of her hands and helped her to her feet. “Come on, let’s go and say good night to our guests and the kids. It’s obviously going to be a long one. The Inner Council will have gathered by then.”
From the look on her face, it was clear Christine didn’t want to have to see anyone. That was why James was making the suggestion. He knew she would force herself to put on a brave front. Once she did that, he knew she’d start thinking clearly again. The next three hours were crucial, and he couldn’t have Christine feeling sorry for herself. “Come on,” he repeated as he gently pulled on Christine’s arm. Reluctantly at first, Christine let James lead her. Before they left the audience room, James nodded to Nicholls and Fairfax to assure them she would be all right. He just hoped that was true.
Chapter 14
Throughout Earth’s history, democracy has always been a fragile thing. Within one generation, the ideals and values that underpin it can be lost, and once lost, they are far harder to recover. The Empire, like every past Human institution, faces this vulnerability too. There is always the temptation for those voted into power to permanently seize it for themselves, or just as disastrously, for the electorate to willingly hand over their power to a strongman who would protect them from their fears. It is the responsibility of every generation to fight both temptations.
-Excerpt from Empire Ascendant 3015 AD.
Less than an hour later, Fairfax had gathered most of James and Christine’s Inner Circle into the briefing room they usually met in. “Unless we’re going to wait another hour, this is all we’re going to get for now,” Fairfax said as Andrea Clements stepped into the room and moved over to take her seat.
“No, we need to start,” Christine replied. “Nicholls, can you update everyone please?”
“Of course Empress,” Nicholls said as she stood.
James only half-listened as his Chief of Staff outlined the events of the last hour and a half. Instead, he watched the faces of those who were present. Each responded slightly differently, though there were common themes. Shock was the first, followed by anger. Here and there, there was a hint of fear. That concerned James. He didn’t know if it was fear at what the attempted secession might mean for Humanity’s defenses against the Karacknids, or at what might happen as a result of how the Empire would respond. It wasn’t hard for James to imagine things spiraling out of control. For the politicians among the Inner Council, it would be even easier to picture how things might play out.
“And so, this is where we find ourselves,” Christine said when the Nicholls finished. “I will not deny that I am furious. Yet we must think through this carefully, very carefully. One misstep here, and everything we have built over these last twenty years could fracture. So tell me, what are your initial thoughts?”
Senator Grimshaw was shaking his head. “This is bloody outrageous. The sheer insolence of how they went about it. They might have said they were trying to leave on friendly terms, but it was a slap in your face. You are right in at least one thing Empress, this will not be received well, especially not in the northern colonies. They will feel abandoned.”
“And they will cause severe divisions on their own worlds as well,” Servant Liu added as he let out a sigh. “For no matter how confident they are that they have the support of their citizens, there will be many who will balk at the idea of splitting from us. Their worlds are full of retired navy crew and Marines who fought in the war.”
Lafayette slammed a fist onto the table. “I knew they were slimy, but I never suspected this. All the while Patel, Garnier and the others were trying to negotiate Bill Four Ninety-eight with us, they were planning this. They need to be brought to heel immediately. We cannot let this playout for any longer than absolutely necessary. The longer even the idea of secession seems like a possibility, the more people will be swayed by it.”
“Which is why we must come to a decisive decision tonight,” Fairfax said as Christine nodded at him. “Though perhaps first, it might be helpful to get an idea of just how serious a problem it would be for our military budgets if all these worlds did secede.”
“I don’t have the figures in front of me,” Andrea, the head of the Imperial Logistics Division said. “But it would be bad. Just the colonies Nicholls has mentioned account for about eight percent of our tax base. That would be an immediate hit if they stopped paying. We’d have to put many projects on pause, if not scrap them altogether. Far more concerning would be the loss of industrial facilities. Since the end of the war, we have built most of our new shipyards and mineral processing facilities in our southern colonies to keep them away from the frontline. Between New Delhi, New France, and Rostov, we would lose fifteen percent of our shipyard and ten percent of our raw mineral processing capacity. I assume Governor Varma and the others believe they would lease out these facilities to us in the long run, but if they wanted to, I’m sure they would withhold them from us until they got whatever concessions they think they deserve. None of this takes into account the sheer disruption all this would cause to our shipping and construction timetables.” Andrea paused as she shook her head. “It would be a catastrophe. It could wipe out everything we hope to accomplish for the next two years. And even then, it could take two or three more to get back up to the throughput we are producing right now.”
“So what you’re saying is this act is tantamount to industrial sabotage,” Commoner Ishida concluded. “If the Karacknids could do such damage to us, they would have no problem throwing away a fleet of three thousand or more worships.”
“Or more,” Andrea agreed with the retired naval Captain. “We have six thousand new warships scheduled to join the fleet over the next two years. At best, we’d be able to complete two thousand of them if all these worlds actually managed to secede. The rest would be delayed indefinitely.”
“And that’s assuming Varma and the others don’t seize all the ships in their construction yards,” James said as the possibility entered his mind. “If they have the finances, they might think they can complete them themselves.”
“And they might just have that kind of backing,” Commoner Lafayette said. “Since Emperor Somerville mentioned him earlier today, I’ve been doing some digging on Cornelius Teal. He is not in the top ten richest Imperial citizens, but he has been steadily moving in that direction. Perhaps even more importantly, most of his holdings are in freight shipping, civilian spaceship construction and mineral extraction and processing. He would be perfectly placed to take over any number of our naval shipyards and run them.”
“I’ve had a thought,” Alvarez said, speaking for the first time. “My mind is drawn to the increased pirate activity we’ve been seeing along our Eastern border over the last two years. One of my analysts sent me an insightful report just the other day. It was a breakdown of all the freighters known to have been attacked and their cargoes. My analyst had the idea to cross-reference all the cargoes. What she found was potentially alarming. She has developed a working theory that whoever was attacking the freighters was trying to build up a small pirate fleet. It wasn’t obvious at first, but in the last several months, more freighters filled with weapons and munitions were starting to go missing. Just the kind of things you would want if you had a group of ships you wanted to refit.”
“You mean a group of freighters?” Andrea asked, “Like the freighter fleet Teal owns?”
Alvarez nodded. “There’s no way this move is an overreaction to the defeat of Bill Four Ninety-eight. It has been planned, and planned well. Having a small fleet to back up your move would be a wise option if it was a possibility.”
“But you’re saying Teal and the others may have been conspiring with pirates as well as planning secession?” Grimshaw said. “That is going beyond treachery. It is despicable.”
“But we don’t know anything yet for sure,” Liu cautioned. “We should not jump to conclusions without far more evidence. At least, not now as we consider our response.”
“You’re right,” Alvarez agreed, “but it is a possibility we should factor into our response.”
“It certainly is,” James said as his dislike for Teal grew even more. “I’d very much like to see this analyst’s report. And it leads me to an even greater concern. If Teal is as wealthy as Lafayette says, what’s to say he hasn’t constructed a small hidden shipyard somewhere? He might be building his own warships, as well as converting freighters. If he has the backing of several colonial Governors, there would be nothing to stop him.”
Christine shook her head. “This is getting out of control. Yes, I know it’s possible,” she said as she glanced at James. “But we don’t know anything yet. In any case, we’re not going to send a fleet to New France, New Delhi, or Rostov to seize control of the planet’s orbitals. If it turns out they have their own warships, then we will deal with that later. If we can, I’d much rather bring this to an immediate end right here and now. We need to decide how are we going to respond to this tonight. If it isn’t already, it will be all over the holo news channels within the next hour or two.”
“Perhaps we are getting too worked up over this,” Senator Marshall, leader of the Conservative party said. “Yes, of course it is bad. But what really has happened? A group of politicians have handed in a paper document to our Emperor and Empress. A paper document that is meaningless. It has no legal standing. If we overreact to this, we could give it more credence than it is worth. There may be wisdom in waiting. If we let things play out a little more, we may find these traitors have shot themselves in the foot. Public opinion here and on their own planets could turn against them. And there’s another thing to consider as well. Technically, Varma and Patel haven’t done anything illegal yet. If we were to move against them, they might actually have legal grounds to challenge us. Perhaps that is even what they are hoping for.”
James glanced around at the other politicians in the room. To his surprise, he found himself wanting to agree with Senator Marshall. If there was even a chance the whole thing could blow over, he wanted to see that happen. Lafayette dashed his hopes. “I’m sorry, but it has already gone too far for that approach. If we do nothing, many will interpret that to mean we have no answer to their desire to secede. Or worse, that we were caught off-guard and unprepared. It would only swell the confidence of others who might start to entertain similar thoughts.”
“And this is where we must consider Teal’s financial capabilities and the possibilities Admiral Alvarez has outlined,” Andrea said. “If they truly are serious about this, and we must assume now that they are. Then they will be doing everything they can to protect themselves. The longer we give them, the more entrenched they will be, and the harder it might be for us to reverse what they are doing. If we can stop them now, then it may avoid greater costs and perhaps even bloodshed. But if we wait, they may only be able to be stopped by warships and Marines.”
“You’re not possibly saying we might use military force to prevent this?” Marshall asked.
“If they take our ships and shipyards, how else would we get them back?” Andrea asked. “Four thousand warships could be the difference between success and defeat when the Karacknids turn their attention back to conquering us.”
“Then we must do everything we can to avoid such an outcome,” Nicholls said. “There are things we can do right now. We can freeze all of their assets, Teal’s especially. That could cut them off at the knees.”
“It would be a good start,” Alvarez agreed. “But they will have seen such a move coming. They will have taken steps to protect themselves.”
“The way I see it,” Senator Grimshaw said, “we have no choice. We must formally reject this attempted secession. We cannot ignore it nor deny it. If we reject it however as illegal, then we can move to have each of the politicians stripped of their positions. I think we would have no problem getting the necessary majorities in each of the Houses.” Pausing, Grimshaw glanced at Lafayette and Liu. Both nodded to show they thought the same. “We could do this before the end of the week. Then we can send our official rejection along with notices that each politician has been removed from office to all of their worlds. If we strip them of their authority, their declaration to secede will be meaningless.”
