“Cooper, we got word from Mars…” Marshall said, before the signal faded out for a moment. He looked down at his rifle, smiled, and wondered if Ackerman perhaps hadn’t had the right idea.
“She’s alive. Badly hurt, but alive. Ryder’s on the way with a prize crew to take command, her shuttle will take you down to the surface.”
Lomax raced through the hatch, a smile on his face until he saw the corpse of the Vice-President on the carpet. With a grimace, he shook his head, and clapped Cooper on the back.
“We did it, sir! We won!”
“
This is victory, is it? It sure as hell doesn't feel like it.” Looking around the room, he continued, “T
ake command, I’m going down to the shuttle deck.”
“Sir?” the stunned Lance-Corporal asked.
“I don’t see anyone else here on our side, Lomax. Ryder will be up in a few minutes. Until then,” he said, gesturing around, “you have the deck.”
Looking around the room with the first traces of panic on his face, he replied, “Aye, I have the deck.”
Cooper raced to the elevator, jabbing for the hangar deck. He needed to see his wife, but even more than that, he needed to get off this ship. Though he had a feeling that he’d be coming back whenever he tried to sleep, at least for a while.
Chapter 29
Orlova took a swig of water, from a three-liter jug that had been full when she started, and glanced down at her watch. By now, it must all be over, one way or another, up there in orbit. It was time to bring this to an end, and she suspected that the bleary-eyed Senators around her agreed. In less than two hours, they were to rest in any case.
“Mr. Chairman,” she said, “I have spoken at length to those assembled…”
“Damn right,” a dejected Yashimoto said.
“And I think that it is time to bring these proceedings to an end. By now, Lieutenant Geoffrey Talbot, a citizen of Ragnarok, will be waiting outside with a report for me; I request his admittance that he can brief the Senate on, ah, current events.”
“I second the motion,” Senator Harper said.
“How do we know he’ll tell the truth?” Norman replied.
Shrugging, Orlova said, “I have a feeling some of your people will be outside as well. Captain Tarrant, perhaps. I have no objection to their presence in the chamber also, to confirm the veracity of Lieutenant Talbot’s report.”
Senator Wilcox, rising to his feet, said, “We’ve been here too long as it is. If this will convince Senator Orlova to cease her filibuster, then I’m willing to allow this. Hell, I want to know what’s happened as much as the rest of you.”
“I still dissent,” Norman said, but the mood of the room was obviously against her. “Nevertheless, I am not unsympathetic to Senator Wilcox
's argument
. I withdraw my protest.”
The doors opened, and two people walked in; Lieutenant Talbot, wearing a dazed expression, and a stony-faced Captain Tarrant. They entered side-by-side, but neither seeming to acknowledge the other’s existence.
“Lieutenant Talbot,” Orlova said. “If you could brief the Senate on what has happened.” She was holding her breath, trying to read his expression. “Please?”
Nodding, he said, “The Battleship Zeus has been captured by forces deployed from the Battlecruiser Alamo; Alamo is currently in orbit, and a shuttle is on its way down right now with key witnesses to a conspiracy to bring down the Senate.” He glared at Tarrant, and said, “Vice-President Ackerman is dead. He took his own life, rather than be captured.
W
e have recordings of his action if you wish to view them.”
“No!” Norman yelled. “He can’t be dead!”
“He is!” Tarrant said, storming over to her. “We picked a weak sister, damn it, and he shot himself right on Zeus’ bridge. It’s finished, Melody. We’re all finished. Even the Planetary Defense Control’s switched sides, Lieutenant-Captain Winter’s running it for the moment.” Turning to Olongo, he said, “I will testify to the truth of Senator Orlova’s accusations. I don’t ask anything for this. I just want it all over with, for the good of the Confederation.”
“You damn traitor!” Norman said.
Orlova rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away tears of relief, and said, “I move that the impeachment of President Newton be
immediately
dismissed.”
“I second!” Harper yelled.
“No,” Norman said, racing forward. “The man is a disgrace to his position!”
“You’re no better,” Wilcox said. “I instruct the Technocrats to vote to dismiss charges of impeachment.”
“A motion has been proposed, and will now be put to the question. All those in favor of dismissing the charges of impeachment, raise their hands.” Orlova tried to count, and got to thirty-two. With seventy-five voting members, it just wasn’t enough. She tumbled to her chair, the world beginning to spin.
“Those opposed.”
Another forest of hands, all of the Progressives and a few of the Technocrats. Twenty-nine. Orlova looked up, eyes darting around the room.
“Those abstaining.”
Fourteen hands, mostly Technocrats, a couple from the Freedom Party, and the lone independent. Pulling herself to her feet, she looked at Olongo, who smiled.
“A majority of the votes cast having been in favor of the motion, I hereby announce that the motion to dismiss the charges of impeachment against President Newton is dismissed.”
Before anyone could say anything more, Harper rose, and shouted, “I move to ratify the modified peace treaty with the Cabal.”
The second vote was far more one-sided than the first; forty-nine against twenty-one, with five abstentions. The parties were far more unified this time. Technocrats and most of the Freedom lobby in favor, the Progressives unsurprisingly opposed. Harper shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe that the tide had turned that quickly.
“With a majority of the members of the Senate so voting, I hereby announce that the peace treaty with the Cabal has been ratified.”
“This isn’t over,” Norman said. “We’ll see what happens after the election.”
“After this debacle, I think a lot of us are going to have to find new jobs,” Harper replied.
“Given the late hour and the length of the day,” Olongo began, “I propose that the Senate rests.”
“Wait!” Orlova said. “I propose charges of impeachment against President Newton.”
The room exploded in a wave of fury, shouts and cries from all corners of the room, disbelief on Harper’s face while Norman’s eyes seemed to bulge out of her sockets. Olongo slammed his gavel on the desk, attempting to bring order to the chaos.
“I will clear the room if I must!” he yelled. “Senator Orlova, once again,” he sighed, “has the floor.”
“You just spent twenty hours trying to clear him!” Yashimoto yelled.
“I spent twenty hours getting a peace treaty passed, and exposing a conspiracy against the Triplanetary government,” she replied. “That doesn’t make what he did any more excusable, and it certainly should not be ignored by this chamber. We are a nation of laws, not men, and while I acknowledge that there is no time for a proper debate, I want it on the record.”
“What’s the point?” Wilcox asked. “Nothing will happen. You just tossed the Freedom Party on the scrap heap.”
“Permit me to surprise the hell out of all of you. I voted Progressive at the last election, and I think their chances of victory just dropped through the floor as well. This is not a matter for party politics, but a simple question of ethics. I had to clear him to stop a greater sin from happening, but at no point did I disprove the allegations against him.” Pointing at Harper, she said, “You knew, for months, what he had done, and did nothing.”
He nodded, then said, “Yes. I admit that. There were reasons.”
“Senator Norman, I don’t suppose you’ll answer me if I ask, but I’m damn sure that you were sitting on this as well, waiting for the election. If the chance to start the war you wanted hadn’t come up, I presume that it would have been suddenly discovered with a few days to go, enough for it to do the rounds of the media.” Raising a hand, she said, “Don’t bother answering.”
Looking around the room, she said, “You have a job to do, and I think most of you still remember what that is. Some of you have forgotten. The President should have been impeached as soon as the allegations came out.
T
hey should have been investigated, and if true, action should have been taken.”
“Damn it,” Harper said, “we needed those battleships in the fleet, not tied up in Senate investigations for ten years. Politics isn’t about black and white…”
“It’s about the tough decisions,” she said. “I’ve been in the center seat enough times to know what that’s like, but you do the right thing. Not the easiest thing, not the most expedient thing. There were avenues you could have taken, Senator. Don’t try to deny that.”
Olongo said, “You shame us, Senator.”
“That is not my intent. Lieutenant Talbot, have you got a report for me?”
“I do,” he said, passing her a datapad. “I think the end is the most important section.”
She skimmed it for a second, looked up, and said, “One thousand and ninety-three.”
“What does that mean?” Norman asked.
“The Triplanetary casualties in the Battle of Hades Station, and in the battle we fought overhead. Add to that another fifteen hundred or so on the Cabal side. Those are the lives you played with, Senator. You killed them as surely as if you had pulled the trigger yourself.” Looking around the room, she said, “None of you are free of this guilt! All of these deaths are on your conscience, and I hope you wake up screaming in the night when their ghosts come back to haunt you.”
Wilcox stood up, frowned, and said, “The Technocrats have always opposed war…”
“But you played the game as well, Senator, didn’t you? Assumed that there would be another chance to make peace, and that the electorate would vote you in rather than face a certain war.” Slamming the datapad on the desk, she said, “This is not a game! This is real life! Most of you have worn the uniform in the past. You know better than this.” Gesturing at the room, she said, “Sixty million people count on you, and you let each and every one of them down.”
“We can’t bring back the dead,” Harper said.
“No,” she replied, picking up the datapad again. “I’ve just learned that an old friend of mine, Sergeant William Forrest of the Espatiers, died in action on Zeus. Senator Wilcox?”
“Yes?”
“I’m no expert, but I’d say that the Technocrats now have an excellent chance of taking the Presidency at the election. Which will give you the job, will it not?”
“Should my party win, I am the nominated candidate, yes.”
“Then Sergeant Forrest’s last words are for you. Just four words. Do better next time.” The words echoed around the room, and she said, “You could all do worse than remember that. Senator Olongo, I hereby resign the office of Senator. If anyone wants to arrest me, they can go ahead.”
“I move that all charges against Captain Marshall, Lieutenant Orlova, and the others involved in preventing this conspiracy be dropped,” Senator Wilcox said.
“I second the motion,” Yashimoto said.
Olongo nodded, then asked, “Is anyone going to be foolish enough to object? No? In that case, Lieutenant, I will see that the relevant authorities are instructed that the charges the Senate made against you and your comrades are dropped.”
“Thank you, Senator.”
“I move that the Senate rests,”
Senator
Harper said. No-one objected, and Olongo banged his gavel three times, ending the session. The Senators stood up, and Wilcox immediately made his way over to Orlova, pushing through the crowd.
“Lieutenant,” he said. “If you want, I’d be happy to give you a place on our lists for the election. You could be a Senator again in three weeks, and I think you’d give extremely valuable input.”
“No, thanks,” she replied. “This isn’t my place.”
“No,” he said with a frown. “You’re obviously too good for this job.”
With a deep sigh, she said, “I don’t understand this world, Senator. It isn’t something I know. I came here to do a job, and I did it. I wouldn’t know where to begin in a regular session.”
“Most of us were the same when we started,” he said. “Though given what happened, I don’t think that’s a good argument to make.”
“You want to do something for me, Senator?”
“What?” he said, the beginnings of a scowl emerging.
“Remember what Forrest said. You’re going to be the President of the Triplanetary Confederation. Do a better job than your predecessor. And speaking purely from a military point-of-view, don’t let fleet strength drop. The Progressives had a point; I don’t believe that the Cabal will stop working against us because a piece of paper said so.”
“On one condition,” he replied.
“And that is?”
“If I ever write you for advice, I expect a good, honest, prompt answer. And I suspect I will.”
She smiled, and held out her hand, “I’ll hold you to that.” He took it with a surprisingly firm grip, shook it, and then headed off into the crowd. Talbot moved up to her side, tapping her on the shoulder.
“I’ve got a shuttle waiting outside,” he said. “Ready to take us to Captain Marshall. He’ll be down on the deck in ten minutes. Captain Winter will be there as well.”
“Good,” Senator Olongo said, moving over to her. “
I'm third in the line of succession, remember. You
just made me the Acting President, I believe I have a mess to clear up in my limited time in office. I’m glad that I’m not running for re-election. Shall we go?”
Chapter 30
“
I'm sorry, Jack,” Marshall said, looking across at the dejected Quinn standing next to him, still staring at the crash site where the clean-up team was trying to extricate the remains of his wife. “She didn't die for nothing. She saved the ship.”
“From our own people,” he said, shaking her head. “What the hell is the point of it all?”
“Keeping the darkness away for one more day,” he replied. “That isn't nothing.”
Looking up at his commander, tears staining his eyes, he said, “I'll bury her myself. Out in space. That's what she'd have wanted.”