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Beyond Hope
- Chapter 42 - When you see me running…[]
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For many in the joint commands, Helena's return to office was a welcome relief…"
-Sun Tzu Liao, "Meditations On Statecraft: The Clan War and the Confederation's place in the New Star League"
Examples[]
Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth
May, 3061
"They're roasting you in the press, Liz.' Helena (Cameron) Drillson pointed out to her visitor. "Twenty Five reliefs for cause?"
"They're solid." Liz stated, "We've got most of the evidence already in front of the Star League Council as the court, and I've got around twenty more investigations going."
"Liz, some of these guys are popular, well-known…"
"Dirty." Liz stated. "Corrupt. Degenerate, Compromised and dangerous. Alain wanted to keep most of them, and he'll be testifying to do just that, because they're also good fighters. MY issue is that in that compromised state there's zero guarantee they'll be good fighters for us, for the Star League, and not for whoever's holding the blackmail over their heads or feeding their less savory habits, so…they've got to go. If I had my preference, where they went would be out an airlock without a suit, but that's not the rules we're playing by these days."
"Did you find it? What you're really looking for?"
Elizabeth shook her head in denial, "No. We still don't know which national armory supplied the nuclear devices, or how they were moved into position. But…in looking for it, I've uncovered significant problems in every Member-State Military that's added a contingent to the SLDF, and I'm obligated by the position to do something about it."
"What about Word of Blake?" Helena asked.
"They've been rounding up Sixth of June members and interrogating them. I don't have a window into their internal affairs, but they've said they have 'suspects in custody' for the bombing plots, whatever that means. I'm sure they'll have their sacrifices lined up by the time Theodore starts losing patience."
"How many of your people are under these investigations?" Helena inquired.
"Eleven. Two are already facing charges." Liz stated, "Which is why the press aren't trying to frame this as a cover-up or partisan purge yet. It's kind of funny, Helena, you really can't have treason, without trust. Liam Cartwright's going to find out what that costs, once the Council's heard his appeal…which means we're going to need a new commander for the Ellen Ridge."
"What did he do?"
Liz sighed, "Black market." she said, "The second stupidest thing he could've done. Once the Council Lords reject his plea…." she leveled her eyes, "I'm going to take a man who supported me since 3051, fought for me, served me loyally…and I'm going to put a bullet in his brain, because he decided his closeness to my administration would let him make extra money selling off public property."
"You're going to do it yourself?" Helena began, "Liz, you know-"
"I know that it's something I don't want to force someone else to do, because I don't want to do it, but the means you use, decide the ends you get to live with. We Can't Afford to let the rot set in."
“You’re right. I know first hand there’s always some form of black marketeering going on with any large military organization. If it were just ‘in house’ I think we could at least look at less draconian measures, but because it wasn’t we have to send the message that selling your supplies outside the service is not going to be tolerated.” Helena nodded.
“How you supplied Tranh Truk.” Elizabeth nodded.
“Yeah. Publicly the Houses were not exactly as supportive as they could have been but through the black markets I was able to keep up supplies of certain things Kowloon couldn’t always supply. And sometimes to pay for it, I agreed with Kerensky. We had to fund it somehow and we didn’t exactly have a functioning tax base to draw from.”
“It’s not your fault.” Elizabeth said flatly.
“Isn’t it? I set a precedent that is still going strong nearly three centuries later.” Helena condemned herself.
“Did you…” Liz pointed out
“No. Not this time. I couldn’t do that again. Every Time I did, it felt like I was losing a part of myself.” Helena stated.
“No wonder you developed your persona.” Liz commented.
“It wasn’t hard. They didn’t know who I was, they just cared if my coin or my products were good. From there it became something I did when I needed to interact with other SLDF commands.” Helena looked at Elizabeth. “If you need me to come back early to clean up my house…”
“No. I’ve got it Helena. Focus on yourself and your family for now.”
////////[Begin Record]\\\\\\\\\
"...you've been found guilty of misappropriation of public property, dealing in stolen goods, and arms sales to non-state actors." on the holorecord, Elizabeth was dressed in what had to be her costume of choice going back to 3051, but with a visible hair-net, and safety glasses.
"I supported you!"
"Yes. That's what makes this hard." she dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. "Cigarette? Joint? A drink?" she offered.
Liam shook his head, still disbelieving this was happening.
"You have been found guilty. Under public law 7715 of the Kowloon Republic Criminal code, acts of official corruption are considered to be Capital offenses, your proximity to me, and to my cause, are aggravating factors since I trusted you personally not to do this kind of thing. My god, you danced at my wedding!"
"I'm sorry." He said.
"So am I. Are you ready?"
The former Captain nodded, and straightened on the post. "Place it good, Your Grace I don't want to fe-"
BLAM!!
She turned to the Cameras, "This concludes this public demonstration of national military justice in action, Thank you for your attention." even on the cheap cameras, the tears cutting strings through the blood on her cheeks can be seen. "Good night, and god bless you all."
////////[End Record]\\\\\\\\\
Voice of discord Rising[]
Port of Hue City - Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth
3061
“We are getting strange reports. HPGs are starting to act up around each capital, including Terra.” Vu Dao briefed.
“The protests in the Suns half of the realm about having to send their sons and daughters to die are getting louder again.” Samantha added.
“The Sixth of June is making a move, and soon.”
“They’re going home.” Elizabeth Ngo-Steiner-Davion nodded. “The rest is to distract us so we can’t interfere. And it just might work.”
“We’re stretched too thin.” Vu Dao nodded. “Covering here, the Crimson Road, and all the other vital sites they could hit using their current tactics since coordination from the capitals is practically non-existent at the moment.”
"How far are the Nova Cat refugee columns from the arrival point?" Liz asked.
“The next wave should be in two weeks. We have three more waves spread out after that due to poor coordination and technical issues. Should be no more than six weeks according to reports before the last wave gets in.”
"Six weeks until we can start realigning forces then. Have fleet units switch to Black Box comms for coordination efforts, and one-use-pad encryption, so far those don't seem vulnerable to jamming, but they ARE vulnerable to eavesdropping."
“And are slower as well as less able to convey certain information.”
"I know, but until Word of Blake gets their house in order, we've got Sixth of June playing games with the faster, more efficient and more theoretically secure communications." Liz scowled, "Which we knew was going to happen sooner or later, I was just really hoping the lunatic fringe would wait until we'd finished the war with the Clans before they started making new messes."
“Which means we really should have seen this coming, as it is difficult to see how the timing could be any worse.”
"I'm sure they'll show us how it can be worse." Liz asserted, "Count on it."
“They’ll find some new inventive way to make life difficult no doubt.”
"I've got to brief the Star League Council this morning, is there anything you need me to beg, argue, badger, bitch, borrow, or steal that we can actually get besides funding?"
“Wouldn’t say no to some of that Hennesy Whiskey that Focht brought last conference.” "I'll see about ordering a case of it." Liz told her, "Just hold things together."
“We will, your Grace.”
Relocation[]
Governing House - Kowloon, Federated Commonwealth
3059
“Liz. God I’m surprisingly glad we managed to get a connection this time.” Victor Steiner-Davion’s holo image flickered.
“That bad?” Elizabeth had a suspicion about the answer.
“Yeah. It’s pretty bad. Theodore is wanting to relocate Council Headquarters.” Victor told them.
“Why do I not like the sound of that?” Elizabeth confessed.
“Because we’ve decided on Spider Moon. It’s got enough gravity that we can have a long term presence, it’s already about as secure a site as we can make any place, and thanks to me making Kowloon effectively a Star League Reservation it was the only place enough of us could agree on.”
“******.”
“Sorry, Liz.”
“We’ll make it work.” Elizabeth shook her head.
“Good. We’ll be there soon.” Victor informed her.
“Hate to ask given the circumstances…” Liz apologized.
“Don’t worry, Elizabeth, we’ve got all the funding you could want as compensation for this.”
“I don’t know, I’ve got some pretty ambitious projects and I am Lyran.” Liz chuckled.
“How can I forget when you constantly remind me. But seriously keep your head down in the meantime. I don’t like where this is going.”
“Same, your Majesty.” Liz commented.
Aggressive Negotiations[]
Hall of Khans - Strana Mechty, Kerensky Cluster
3061
"This is the last place, the last hold-out." General Michael Hasek-Davion explained, "We've taken every world, enclave, and base from you, Lincoln Osis, except this one. Your Clan is done. You can surrender your holdings here in the Strana Mechty system, or you can be destroyed. I promise under Star League Directives, that surrendering Clan Personnel will be treated with honor, mercy, and dignity if you surrender now. If we have to fight you, I can only promise it to the ones who survive long enough to surrender."
He stood in the holotank, and looked at the images of the assembled Khans somewhere down below on the planet. "I'm not offering this as a benediction, nor as a condemnation, it is not a boast, or a threat, it's a simple fact. We're going to keep coming, while you're scrambling to make repairs, we're going to keep coming. While you're running out of warriors, we're going to keep coming. When you run out of ammunition, we'll still keep coming. When you're contemplating eating your own dead, we'll still keep coming, and we'll keep coming until you, or your successor, is ready to give it up. You started this war, we're ready to keep coming, to keep fighting it, until you give up." he paused, "And unlike you, we're only getting stronger."
“Freebirth stravags! You boast you have the stomach to continue this war so far from your homes!” Khan Lincoln Osisraved. “We will see just how true that is!”
Michael inclined his head, "Lincoln, we read your records on Huntress. Your total CLAN was just under ten million strong, My supply column is eleven million trained personnel, you only had ten million if we counted the infants and the aged. We've wiped your whole CLAN Touman from fifteen Galaxies to two Clusters, your fleet is in the past-tense, we've taken your real estate, your civilians, and your productive capacity away from you. You've lost, you can admit it and spare what you've got left, or we can finish the job. It's on you."
A gunshot rang out from somewhere off screen as Lincoln’s forehead now had a hole in it, leaking blood.
Brandon Howel stepped into frame.
“Apologies for drastically relieving Lincoln Oasis from his post. General, I will send word that we are to stand down. There will be holdouts I am sure but we are finished and it is time to accept that.”
"Thank you. Now, we can have some discussions regarding…" Michael opened a file card, "Operation: Revival, and whether or not continuing it is a good idea, given that I'm here at the head of an army that outnumbers several of your Toumans several times over and it's not even up to full speed yet."
“In light of new developments Clan Goliath Scorpion motions the Council for a Trial of Refusal of Operation Revival. Indeed given information that has come to light since we initially cast our vote, we are now against continuing Operation Revival.” Ariel Suvarov projected.