Admiral's Throne Read online

  “The Regional Authority sent me, Hold Mistress,” Kong Pao said with dignity.

  “I will entertain this nonsense no further. You may not be aware, but this is a Messene court and if you have business with its Protector in anything other than his capacity as the Protector, feel free to make an appointment through the Fleet Chief of Staff,” Akantha said, turning her face away from the Judge. “The Ambassador of the Semi-Autonomous Regional Authority can set up an appointment and meet with Jason at another time.”

  She waved her hand in clear dismissal.

  Seeing the way the wind was turning, the Judge who had been eyeing me the entire time turned to face me.

  “Please, Admiral!” the Sector Judge cried, “billions of lives hang on my appeal! You can send me to the pits but can you really turn them away knowing they’ll all be eaten if you say no and do nothing?”

  Fists clenched at the hypocrisy, I glared down hotly at the Judge on the petitioners stand.

  “That’s a low blow even for you, Judge,” I said

  “The worlds of the Spine need the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet. Once again, I’m asking for your help. If there were anyone else, don’t you think I would go to them? There isn’t. Not in the timeframe we have available. I realize you feel you were wronged in the past and not just by the former government, by me personally. All I can say is, I’m sorry I did what I did for the good of the Spineward Sectors and the homeworld that sent me. Curse me to the pits for that if you must,” he said.

  “I may just do that,” I smiled darkly.

  He chose to ignore me as he continued to promote his case.

  “I know it’s not what we all had hoped but we have a New Regional Authority now. One untainted by the sins of the past and with significant freedom of action from the heartland sectors of the Confederation.”

  I nodded slowly.

  “I have a list of worlds I am willing to assist if asked nicely,” I said and then provided him with a printout. It was a list of worlds I’d compiled more than a year ago and kept updated between now and then.

  He accepted the papers eagerly and began to read. As soon as he’d finished, he flipped back and forth between pages urgently.

  “There are barely any star systems listed here and they’re all scattered all throughout the Spine! There’s no guarantee any of these are the worlds in need,” Kong Pao protested, looking up.

  “Never let it be said Admiral Jason Montagne and the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet forget their friends. There were a lot of Assemblymen who voted for my immediate exile, and thus death, as soon as it was convenient, despite our allied status at that time, but others were made of sterner stuff. They are not forgotten,” I said with a shrug.

  “You’re holding a grudge to this extent? I can understand if you held those of us who voted for your Exile, but surely you can’t blame the citizens of every world, in all seven sectors, for the actions of a small group of men,” said Kong Pao.

  “Of course not. I don’t blame any star system that removed those same small group ambassadors and Grand Assembly representatives from power through an ouster or special election,” I said patiently, “I believe I was very clear on this at the time you guys threw me under the bus. I would blame no body politic for the actions of a corrupt or spineless leader they repudiated. These are the worlds that repudiated their leaders or the handful whose leader voted no.”

  “This is much less than I’d hoped,” Kong Pao said, paling.

  “But a reasonable response all the same,” I demurred.

  “No, it’s not! Where is the man of the people I knew in the past? Who time and time again threw himself between the people of the Spineward Sectors and their adversaries?” the Judge asked in despair.

  “You exiled him!” I shouted and then took a deep breath. An outburst like that only showed weakness and I was going to be good and blasted before I let them see me like that again, “and offered him up on a silver platter to his enemies. Without so much as a shot fired, as my wife pointed out,” I continued evenly, “after everything I’ve done for the people and after everything I’d done for you, Judge Kong, the very least I expected was a protest vote against handing me over, lock stock and two smoking barrels, to the Empire. You want the truth? I take that as a personal betrayal.”

  “Bugs are in the Spine. People are dying!” shouted Pao.

  “Let them die!” I said.

  The Sector Judge turned pale.

  It took him a moment to reclaim his composure.

  “If it’s revenge you want, take me. Take out your anger on me but I beg you not to follow the path of your ancestors and turn against the very people you once swore to protect,” pleaded Pao.

  “Get out,” I said, my face twisting. That was a low blow and cheap manipulation at that. Kong Pao wasn’t from my homeworld and I was sad for the young idealist I’d once been.

  The young man who had believed that simply by doing the right thing, people would forgive him for the actions of bunch of old brown men long since dead, was gone. I refused to take grief over my family history by people who’d never suffered under a Montagne hand and who only ever took advantage of my life or death efforts. I was done with the Judge.

  “You’ll have to drag me away,” retorted Judge Pao, “I know there is still something good inside you. You may have forgotten the people of the Spineward Sectors, but they remember you! They need you, Jason Montagne, Admiral of the mighty MSP. You are their only hope!”

  “You mean they remember a time when they didn’t have to pay for a military and still got MSP protection? I said out, and I mean out,” I laughed cynically as a pair of guards stepped up to the Sector Judge upon my command.

  “You may think we’re a bunch of isolated rubes out here on the Rim, but we get the Galactic New Networks. We’ve watched and listened as world after world slashed and burned their SDF budget now that the Spine rejoined the old Confederation. But has that Confederation sent out more than a token fleet?” I sneered.

  “The time when I would have taken you or your words at face value and perhaps even got righteous, punished you for your betrayal and then helped anyway… well, if such a time ever existed, it has long since passed. The time for repentance is over. I’ve made peace with your actions as well as my own and I suggest you do the same. You want me to send my Fleet to war? I cannot in good conscience spill the lifeblood of the only people who never gave up on me or Tracto for a group of fair-weather friends,” I finished.

  Looking broken, Kong Pao allowed himself to be pulled aside by the Messene Guards. As he was taken away, another of the robed figures dramatically threw back her hood and cold clear eyes looked up at me with a challenge.

  “This is not the Admiral I remember serving with,” said the woman stepping into the petitioner’s dais.

  A muscle in my face twitched but when another guard made to stop her, I jerked my head, bringing him to a stop. I then returned her challenge in a level look.

  “Leonora Hammer. It’s been a while, Officer Hammer,” I said.

  “Where is that man, Admiral?” she continued to challenge me.

  I looked at her skeptically.

  “He was abandoned by those he relied on in the middle of a war. That sort of thing can change a person,” I replied with raised brows.

  “With a wave of your hand, you could save a dozen worlds from impending bug attacks but you say you won’t. Why? Is it pride? Has the great Little Admiral taken a few lumps and can’t stand the thought of losing? Bad things happen in war, Admiral,” she shook her head derisively. “What happened to you? The man I knew, the admiral I served was better than this.”

  I looked at her levelly.

  “Times change and so do people. You of all people know that. It’s not as simple as you’d like to make it out,” I said.

  “It is that simple and you know it as well as I do. I’ve studied your early campaigns. This is not who you are. You have never stood by and let peopl
e die on a whim.” She dismissed me with a look of such complete and utter scorn, that it cut me to the quick.

  I glared at her. In my heart of hearts where I couldn’t admit it to another soul, I wanted to go out there riding to the rescue, and perhaps—given enough time and evidence of a real bug threat—I eventually would. It might not be the exact action anyone in this room petitioning me right now would appreciate, but under Leonora Hammer’s withering gaze, I was forced to look at myself honestly.

  I didn’t really like what I saw; an angry and bitter man, a pale shadow of his old self.

  At the same time, who the blazes did she think she was to speak to me like this? More importantly, who was Judge Pao of all people, to sit in judgment of me, I thought with serious indignation? I wasn’t some whipping boy they could trot out to fix things and beat on when things went bad and then kick to the curb when times were good!

  “Who are you to speak to me like this, Leonora?” I hissed.

  “It’s my duty to protect the helpless. This is something I thought you once understood,” she said proudly.

  “With a wave of my hand is it?” I was so angry I laughed.

  “Tell me it isn’t so… Sir?” she challenged, “if you still believe you deserve that title of respect, then stop playing games with people’s lives. Yes, you have the power to save countless worlds with a wave of your hand, and unless you were always just the glory-hungry young man your opponents accused you of, you and I both know you won’t stand by while bugs eat dozens of worlds. Because if you really intend to stand by while the people of the Spine are eaten and you could have stopped it, then I really have misjudged you,” she said witheringly.

  “Is that a Confederation uniform I see under there, Leonora?” I asked, gesturing to the uniform hidden under her petitioner’s robe.

  “So what if it is? I swore an oath and unlike some, I am still trying to protect the Confederation, including the Spine and this Sector. Someone has to do it now that you won’t,” she said.

  “Oh, that’s rich! I won’t? Or don’t you mean I’m no longer able,” I said sharply.

  “From where I’m standing, the answer to that is becoming pretty clear!” she said.

  “Says the woman who turned her back on the Spine when the Empire invaded,” I mocked, “I assume blaming me assuages your ego and makes your own actions seem infinitely less spineless than they actually were, Officer Hammer. Does the fact that you abandoned the Spine in the face of a series of rampaging war fleets somehow become all better now that you can self-righteously point the finger at me and the rest of the men and women you left behind?” I lashed out.

  She flushed, her face turning red.

  “At least I’m still in the game! At least I won’t stand by while bugs eat everyone,” she said furiously.

  “Big words from a small woman who decided to cut and run when the going got tough, leaving me and the rest of us to hold the bag,” I mocked.

  “You want call me spineless? I don’t have to defend myself to the likes of you, Jason Montagne. I took an oath to defend the Confederation and I kept it. Unlike some! While it’s now clear from your reaction all you wanted was to do was run around for your own aggrandizement, I’ve seen your propaganda blitz masquerading as some kind of valid historical document! Well, who’s the spineless one now, Admiral? We’re done here,” she cried, throwing off her cloak and proudly turning for the door.

  I stood up with sudden fury.

  “Propaganda is it? Point to one single thing, anything you personally experienced that is propaganda. I fought and bled for the Spineward Sectors,” I said in a loud voice determined to keep the record straight.

  She ignored me and started marching.

  I couldn’t help but feel a small measure of respect for her stance and I also noted the commodore’s flashes on her shoulder boards.

  She thought she was so high and mighty, so righteous when she ran away from the Spine for the old Confederation during the middle of a war. It was time she had a taste of reality.

  “Alright then!” I chuckled loudly and then called after her, “what if I said I would wave this hand of mine and you, Leonora Hammer, could call the targets and save all the worlds my warfleet could reach as fast as it can reach them? You’d even have a say or maybe even be in charge of the actual deployments in system.”

  She came to a sudden halt, hands clenching at her side. She stood there quivering for a moment and then spun on the heel of her foot and stalked back to the petitioner’s spot.

  “No more games, Admiral,” she said, her eyes flashing.

  I paused to consider and then shook my head.

  “There is one condition,” I said with a cruel smile as I lifted a finger, “and it’s for you alone, Hammer.”

  “With billions of lives at stake, I’ll bite,” she said and I could hear each word cost her.

  “Good. Since you seem so sure and certain that because with a wave of my hand I can do something, it means that I should do that thing. Or I must do that thing. I want to put the courage of your convictions to the test,” I said flatly.

  She crossed her arms.

  “More games. It’s always games with you, Montagne,” she shook her head.

  “I’ll put you in charge of the Bug Campaign and if we have to split our forces, that will be your decision since you’ll have charge of the largest fleet detachment. You alone will decide when and where we go. There’s only one condition. Resign from the Confederation and rejoin the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet,” I said.

  “You can’t be serious,” she said.

  “A wave of my hand, I believe you said? Well, consider our hands linked; just wave your hand and it’s a done deal. The full force and fury of the MSP will be at your back the moment you rejoin the fleet. I’m sure you have a capable subordinate who can take over your current Confederation command so that shouldn’t be an issue,” I said.

  “This is sick,” she said.

  “No. This is galactic politics; a wave of my hand, you said, as if I had no other considerations or reasons why I might not want to leap when you say frog? Well I have very serious considerations just like you do. Now shut up and deal,” I said flatly.

  She stared at me. Apparently, I’d taken her off guard.

  “You felt very free to say a lot of things about me when I was the one who could wave my hand. Well the shoe’s on the other foot, Leonora. Now you can wave too and with a wave of your hand, you can save all those helpless people of the Spine you all but accused me of abandoning. What is your answer, Commodore?” I asked with a glint in my eye.

  “You’re crazy,” she barked with laughter.

  “Not crazy and it’s not so easy when you’re the one being asked to uproot your entire life and career for a cause and a people no longer your own, eh, Leonora?” I asked evenly.

  “You realize that every hostage taker and terrorist in the Galaxy says something similar every time it demands that Confederation fleet officers accede to their demands,” Leonora scoffed, “well I assure you the Confederation Fleet does not give in to their demands!”

  “So, me asking you the exact same thing you demanded of me is considered terrorism by the Confederation Fleet. Good to know. Perhaps it’s time you take a good long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself just what it is you’re doing here before you throw around anymore fiery accusations, Commodore Hammer,” I shot back ruthlessly.

  She stared at me angrily.

  “Just to be clear, the offer’s still on the table. Join my Fleet and singlehandedly save the Spine by providing the very willpower and idealism you have mocked, derided and scorned me for lacking, Leonora,” I said, my voice like deadly poison-laced honey.

  When she didn’t respond immediately, I lifted a brow.

  “I always wondered what it was like to be on the other side of one of your high stakes pre-battle or mid-battle negotiations, and I have to say, you’re good. Very good, Admiral,” she slow-cla
pped.

  “Going once. Going twice,” I drawled.

  “You require an immediate decision then? You say frog and I jump, completely uproot my entire life or billions of people die?” she mused, anger leaking out of her voice.

  “Didn’t you demand the same of me and at a similarly accelerated timetable back when I protested and you moved to walk out?” I asked mercilessly, “and as an aside, may I take this time to remind you that I was the one who saved that life of yours from Droid hands?”

  It was nice to get that off my chest. I’d wanted to say that from the moment, two years ago, when I’d heard her loyalty to the Spine was wavering.

  “I refuse to dignify that with a response,” she said.

  Face stiff, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the room, leaving behind her a stricken-looking Sector Judge still detained to the side with his pair of guards and a group of Confederation officers who scurried to catch up with her.

  I motioned for the guards to let the Sector Judge go. There was no point in being petty.

  “Well,” I said, wiping my hands one against the other as if to clean them off, “I think that takes care of that.”

  I turned to go.

  Kong Pao immediately clasped his hands together and bowed low as soon as the guards left him.

  “I hope that your offer from the list still stands,” he said, holding the low bow.

  I considered him for one long minute. This was a surprise.

  Then I smiled and it wasn’t something that would warm the heart.

  “Tell your Semi-Autonomous Regional Authority to assemble a congress. I am unwilling to consider expanding that list until my demands are met,” I said, a feeling of iron entering my soul.

  Kong Pao straightened, breathing an audible sigh of relief.

  “I am gratified that the Commodore’s service was not a sticking point,” he said.

  “Oh, it very much was a sticking point. If she’d said yes, I would have basically done this for free,” I said bleakly, “however, despite the Commodore’s highly hypocritical stance, I won’t hold that against the people of the Spine. I am still willing to consider the needs of each world on a case-by-case basis,” I said coldly and stood up.