Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Turmoil (36 page)

Chapter Seventeen

"I heard what
you said," said Loren softly, "but please say it again anyway."

"Everything
that your Senator Dennix has said since putting on that ring has been
recorded," Velk said.      "I saw it on him during one of his many press
conferences after you captured me at our secret research facility.  I'll bet
you your flagship that it was Ples Damar's ring.  Damar was Priman, of course,
and I will assume that the Senator had something to do with my operative's
death.  But in any case, every plot, scheme, plan, and dirty secret he's made
since then is preserved forever.  I can help you retrieve it.  In return, I
might need your help in returning to Priman space.  You see, I wasn't supposed
to make it there, so I will need to arrange my own transportation."

Loren's head was
spinning.  He couldn't even begin to think of what to say, and Captain Elco
spoke up.   

"So you'd be
willing to help us secure those recordings, and then we should just let you
go?  You'll have to realize that sounds like a potentially bad deal, letting
you walk out of here."

"How so?"
replied Velk.  "You will have all you need to remove your leader from
power and restore your government.  If you let me go, one of two things could
happen.  I could be killed by my own people, or I could succeed and a new, more
visionary Commander could come to power."

"Or you could
take over and finish conquering us," Bak completed.

"My word,
warrior to warrior, is not enough?" Velk asked. 

"I'd go with
him," Loren said in surprise, shocked by his own words.  "If that's
what it takes.

"Mr.
Drayven," Admiral Bak said, rising to his feet.  "I think we need to
discuss this a bit.  Sirian?" he said, indicating Captain Elco.  "I'd
like you to come with me.  Loren, could you stay here with Mr. Drayven and the
Representative?"  Loren nodded and got up as the Admiral did, then walked
over to Garrett with a mildly astonished look on his face.

"Well, I didn't
expect my day to end like this when I got up this morning," Garrett said
first.  They looked at Velk, still seated at the table.  Of course, he couldn't
leave the ship or he'd be seen by the crew.  In fact, Garrett's sensor
shielding suite was preventing the Thunderbird's internal sensors from seeing
the Priman life sign.  In keeping with the need to have Velk
’
s location stay secret, hiding
aboard Garrett
’
s
sensor-shielded ship was an ideal solution.

"I assume you'd
like me to return to my quarters?" Velk asked.

"I think it
would be appropriate," Garrett replied.  "Though you never know; you
might not need to do that much longer."

"I am
patient," Velk said.  "Waiting a thousand years to complete our quest
has given my people nothing if not patience."  He walked slowly down the
corridor a few paces, then stopped at a hatch.  He opened it and nodded at
Garrett and Loren before entering.  As the hatch closed, Garrett tapped a few
commands into the panel on the door frame.

"I don't
exactly have cells aboard my ship," Garrett said self-consciously,
"but I do have need to sometimes prevent a passenger from roaming the
vessel.  He can't get out or do anything from in there."

They walked further
down the corridor in silence until they reached the flight deck.  I was
elaborately fitted out, with displays, old-fashioned switches and toggles in
gleaming chrome, and leather accents.

"You certainly
have style," Loren said as he sat down in the copilot's chair and leaned
back.  "Or is that for appearances as well?"

"Nope,"
said Garrett proudly.  "This is for me."

"So, this is
the real Garrett up here?" Loren asked, taking in the surroundings again
in a new light.  "What do you think of Velk?" Loren asked.  "Is
he the real deal?"

"I think I'm
leaning more towards yes than no at this point," allowed Garrett.

"Wow," 
said Loren.  "Imagine, I could live a normal life again."

"Be careful
about too much daydreaming," Garrett chastised seriously from the pilot's
seat.  Loren turned to look at the fixer curiously.  "What I mean,"
Garrett continued, "is don't fixate on this perfect, unattainable dream or
fantasy.  Dreams get destroyed too often.  Sure, maybe this war will end soon. 
Or it may never end.  Or maybe you won
’
t
like the way it concludes." Garrett looked down as he said that, and Loren
realized Garrett was actually showing a personal side.

"You know this
from experience?" Loren asked gently.

"I suppose I
did," Garrett replied, staring out the front viewport and around
Thunderbird's bustling hangar bay.  "I had a dream for a future once.  Had
a wonderful woman and everything."  His face changed and a look of pain flashed
across it with the memories he was recalling.  "But it ended badly, and I
had to let her and the dream go."  He looked at Loren again.  "I
don't ever tell people about my past because even the most insignificant detail
could lead to something bad happening to me or something I need to protect. 
But I'm saying this to you, Loren, because I know you have a parallel with your
wife.  You'd do anything to keep her safe.  Well, I did that once, too.  But in
order to keep her safe, I had to force her away from me.  I guess I'm happy for
you, is what I'm trying to say, but also throw in a word of caution.  Don't
become too fixed on that one goal, one ideal, because it probably won't happen
the way you wanted anyway.  Have options, a few different plans you're willing
to go with, and be happy with what you can carve out for yourself.  But don't
spend your present planning your future after the war.  Enjoy what you have
right now."

Admiral Bak was in a
much better mood than Garrett as he strode purposefully through the corridors
of Thunderbird, Captain Elco on his right side.

"I need to run
this by Admiral Privac, of course," Bak was saying.  "Now that I
actually have enough to game plan with, he'll want to be brought in."  He
looked at Elco.  "This could be an amazing day for us.  I have more good
news," he said, and waited for Elco to raise an eyebrow and acknowledge
the prompt. 

"I managed to
get construction started on new-build Starshaker-class battleships," he
said proudly, as if he were a parent announcing the birth of a chid. 

Elco was impressed. 
"How'd you manage that?  I thought the Senate would never approve funding
for something like that."

"I gamed the
system," Bak said with a grin.  "There's a standing budget to
refurbish mothballed ones, but we're starting to run out of the ones in good
shape.  I managed to get a revision pushed through to build brand new ones to
the original specs.  We'll improve systems where we can, but since technically
it's not a new-build design, the navy doesn't need approval, just funding. 
We're printing out parts and putting together a half dozen of them right
now."

"Impressive,"
said Elco, and he was in fact truly impressed.

"I had to take
money away from destroyer construction," said Bak with a little wince,
"but they're not really important in the Order of Battle when it comes to
fighting Primans.  Against the Enkarrans, for example, they did torpedo
defense, picket and patrol duty, ECM, that sort of thing, but the Primans don't
have a similar ship in any numbers, so the destroyers are always outclassed in
fleet engagements.  I either have to send them away or keep them clumped
together and hope they can gang up on someone.  Battles with Primans are all
about big ships."

"So it's a
great day for Confed, eh?" said Elco as they returned to Bak's working
space.  It was now brightly lit and had several staff members scurrying about,
working on whatever projects he'd set in motion before they'd left to meet
Garrett.

"Yes, Captain,
it is," said Bak with a wide grin.

"Admiral,"
said a staffer, a young Qualin Lieutenant, who walked over carrying a data pad
as if it were some sort of diseased animal.  "Flash message from navy HQ
for all Confed units."

"Interesting,"
said Bak with a nod as he took the pad.  The screen displayed a scrolling
message about priority due to imminent danger to the Confederation, a serious
claim considering there was currently already a war going on.

"Oh no,"
Admiral Bak muttered softly as he read the dispatch.  Elco stood rock-still. 
He didn't know if he was cleared for whatever the Admiral was reading, but he
hadn't been dismissed either, so he waited.

"Sirian,"
Bak began, "it's starting."  Elco looked at Admiral with a confused
look, and Bak simply handed him the data pad and sat down.  Elco read.

The briefing was
mostly bullet points, and already much of the Confederation would had read and
responded to the situation that the brief was about.  Paired signal repeaters
all over the Confederation as well as the Galactic Data Network allowed for
near-instant communications across Confed, and in this case it was for the
worse.

Senator Dennix, on
behalf of the Governing Committee, had made his speech.  He'd revealed that
there were disguised Priman operatives in the Confederation, and that his own
staff had been penetrated.  While not impossible to discover, the covert
Primans were impossible to distinguish in day-to-day scans.  He'd managed to
get the full Senate to give him authority to draw more power to his office, and
he'd taken off with a vengeance. 

He'd declared
martial law across the Confederation.  He'd created a new department,
reportable to the Governing Committee directly, tasked with monitoring
Confederation citizens and infrastructure to root out possible Priman
saboteurs.  He'd said it was necessary for society, that there was no reason to
be afraid of the measures.  After all, if you were a law-abiding citizen, what
did you have to fear?

He'd made it illegal
to secede from the Confederation, retroactive to the very first planet that had
done so since the conflict started.  Any planet that had pulled out was
considered a security risk and would be subject to force if necessary to bring
them back into Confed.  For the safety of all.

Then he'd announced
the treaty with the Primans.

The Enkarrans, what
they had in the way of spokespersons, had announced their withdrawl from
Confederation service.  Dennix had declared them a rogue threat as well,
traitors that would be attacked on sight.

The Priman treaty,
as negotiated by Enric Shae under the direction of Senator Dennix, called for a
cease-fire effective immediately.  It also called for pulling the Confed navy
light-years back from the old front lines, freezing borders and occupied
planets and calling off all raids and recon towards occupied Enkarran and
Talaran space.  Essentially, he'd ordered the entire Confed navy to park in
orbit and wait.  As a result, recruiting and war construction would be put on
hold while a permanent truce was brokered.

"This is
insane!" Elco finally had to stop reading.  "We're going to open the
door to them!  They'll be able to creep in bit by bit and take our territory
while we keep slinking backwards towards Delos.  And we'll be forbidden from
even going out to see if that's what's happening."

"Or the Primans
could just gather their forces and toss a massive alpha strike our way and be
done with it," said Bak dejectedly.  "It gets worse.  Keep
reading."  He beckoned for his staff to leave, which they gratefully did. 
Bak tapped the table and turned the lights down.

Elco's heart froze
as he continued.  There were already a dozen planets that had declared
independence from Confed.  They'd announced they would band together, set up a
new government, and continue to fight the Primans.  And Confed warships were
disappearing.  There was a small but steady stream of them; IFF transponders
going dark and leaving their assigned sectors.  Were ships defecting as well,
crews deciding to align with the breakaway planets?  Elco shuddered to think of
entire warships, with thousands of crew of a dozen species from dozens of
different planets, siding with the newly organized independents.  He wondered
what the crew of Avenger would think.  Did they want to leave?  Stay?  Would
they fight another Confed warship if it came to that?  More to the point, could
he even give that order?

"What the hell
is happening here?" Elco said in horror to Admiral Bak.

"I think our
Senator has just started a Civil War."

Ryan
is a lifelong sci-fi fan and lives in Wisconsin.  He has a blog at:

http://rekroom.wordpress.com/

Stop
by to see what’s currently intriguing or distracting him, updates on his books,
as well as photo renders of ships and weapons from the books he’s written.

In
addition, Indie authors don’t have advertising budgets- they get their best
form of advertising from reviews and word of mouth.  If you liked this novel,
please consider taking a minute to write some quick feedback for the Amazon or
Barnes and Noble site where you purchased this.

http://rekroom.wordpress.com/book-list/birthright-turmoil

Thank
you,

Ryan

Image Compendium

Confederation of Systems
L-11 Talon Fighter