Back | Next
Contents

23

The return trip to Kemmerine station was a bit of a celebration, at least at first. The crew had managed to strip the 5 Suns Alliance ships of the best rations and alcohol they had, including wines, exotic cheeses and meats, brandy, cognac, and many more luxuries. Clement, though, stayed away from the alcohol. He wanted a clear head for the challenges that waited at home. Everyone was imbibing and having fun, relaxed for the first time on their entire voyage.

When they arrived home to 5 Suns Alliance space once again there was renewed hope among the crew, hope that things would now start to get better, for all of the worlds of the 5 Suns Alliance. Their arrival at Kemmerine station was greeted with a full battle alert by the station, but thankfully no ships were scrambled to intercept the Beauregard.

Clement hailed them by com and told the command staff of officers running the station of the events in the Trinity system, its riches and bounty, and of his intention to take control of the station in the name of the new Trinity Republic. He also told them of his plan to help the poorest of the people of the 5 Suns Alliance to begin migration there. The officers at Kemmerine were skeptical, until Clement showed them the outcome of the battle for the Trinity worlds and the Beauregard’s new weapon via a visual com link. Behind the scenes, Nobli was begging him not to use the MAD weapon again in a demonstration of power. Clement didn’t want to, but if the Kemmerine officers resisted . . .

In the end, they didn’t. The com evidence and the accompanying telemetry seemed to be enough for the Kemmerine Station managers, in the absence of their commanding officer and the entire expeditionary fleet she had left with. They quickly negotiated terms of armistice with Clement and his mythical Trinity Republic Navy, and allowed for the Beauregard’s return. Clement in turn ordered all the ships at the station to stand down and for their crews to depart their ships before he would bring the Beauregard in.

A few hours later, Clement docked the Beauregard at the station in the same port she had left from, Dock 20, and the first of the crew scrambled off the ship to book trips home to their families as quickly as they could. In the end, all except for the core group of Massif, Ori, Nobli, Yan, and the three surviving ensigns, Telco, Adebayor, and Tsu, stayed aboard with Clement. Pomeroy came to Clement before she left and pledged her future support, if he would allow her a quick trip home to New Paris to see her family, which he accepted.

Eventually they all went aboard the station themselves, locking the ship down and then warning the ranking station officers that the Beauregard was set to use the weapon on every ship in the dock if her hull was breached without the proper entry codes and DNA match. It was a bluff, but one the officers were unwilling to call.

Clement dismissed his crew to find quarters before he was escorted, with Yan, to the Admiral’s office. He noticed DeVore’s name was nowhere to be found on the large oak doors or anywhere else in the office. He swore the station’s officers in as temporary attachés to his command, and they readily agreed. It appeared that Admiral DeVore had run a very tight command, with her chosen officers on the inside and any others she disapproved of, regardless of their skills or experience, on the outside.

He and Yan began the long work of inventorying the station’s remaining ships, personnel, and supplies. He also ordered the station to full military alert and all nonmilitary personnel off the station immediately. This caused a scramble as civilians had to book passage home, but it was done in a modicum of order, led by the able Commander Yan.

The ship inventory was sparse. DeVore had left the station with twenty-six ships: twelve destroyers, all older models than the ones she had taken to Trinity; ten light cruisers, which were at least twenty years old and likely relics from the War of the 5 Suns; three transports, which could move about three thousand people at a time; and one unfinished modern battlecruiser. All had been retrofitted, or were in the process of being retrofitted, with LEAP reactors, and the battlecruiser had two. Clement ordered the retrofitting work to continue, but he placed priority on getting the large, unnamed battlecruiser ready. They had to order the gravity-shield generators from Shenghai for all ships that were big enough to carry them, those being the older generation light cruisers. It would be weeks before they could be delivered.

Having set things in motion to his desired purpose, Clement agreed to meet with a council of five senior station commanders. All of them had ties to the Kemmerine sector, and none were from the core systems of Colonus A and B, or for that matter even Virginis. Both Kemmerine, with two inhabited planets, and the three Rim worlds were far distant from the central systems and often had different agendas from the main body of the 5 Suns Alliance. They were also poorer planets than the core systems.

Yan sat to Clement’s right as his adjutant as he addressed the command council.

“Gentlemen, what we have here is an opportunity unique in human history, a chance to start anew on planets that are rich and bountiful. It is my belief that the people of both the Rim worlds and the Kemmerine sector could benefit greatly from migration to these new worlds. If you read the classified report that I sent you last night, you are aware of Admiral DeVore’s plans for populating these new worlds with settlers from both the Rim and Kemmerine sector. Kemmerine is rich enough to survive on its own, especially with trade from the new Trinity planets, but the Rim planets are all failing, and the populations there face starvation if we don’t intervene. Hell, it’s the reason we fought the War of the 5 Suns in the first place. This migration solves the cascading societal-collapse scenario that Admiral DeVore outlined and that the 5 Suns Alliance government will face within a decade. The development of the LEAP drive opens up new possibilities for trade with the Trinity worlds, so all of the original colonies can begin to flourish again.”

The command council seemed convinced by his arguments, if not totally sold on the idea of breaking away from the 5 Suns Alliance central government. An older man named Colonel Gwyneth spoke for the station commanders.

“You may not be aware of this, Captain, but since the war the penalties for treason have been enhanced,” he said.

“What can be worse than hanging?” asked Clement, confused.

“They take your assets, and immediate family members can be arrested and held for long periods—years, in fact. So you can see our reluctance to break with the 5 Suns Alliance completely.”

“I do see your problem, Colonel, but this is not a revolution, it is a migration, an opportunity to save all the 5 Suns Alliance from collapse.”

“Yes,” said Gwyneth, “but you are declaring your ship as part of the ‘Trinity Republic Navy,’ which we both know does not exist. I propose a more . . . diffident approach to the 5 Suns government.”

Clement sat back, intrigued by this proposal. “I’m listening,” he said.

Gwyneth cleared his throat before starting again. “We here on this council, we are old men and women, not youthful like you are.”

“I’m forty-four,” cut in Clement.

“Yes, but still, a man very much in his prime. We here”—at this his hand swept the room—“are not of a mind to change allegiances at this time in our lives, to upset the apple cart, if you will.”

“I’m waiting for you to get to the point.”

Gwyneth faced his palms to Clement in a soothing gesture. “We think, sir, that a project of this size, an undertaking of this sort—millions being moved from our star systems to other, unknown, worlds—this is a job for a younger man, one with the vigor and ambition that we, in some ways, lack. We think you would find a receptive audience for your proposals in the Core Alliance Command, if you contacted them.”

At that, a gray-haired woman spoke up. “Sir, my name is Commander Gracel. What we are trying to offer you is our support of your mission in the Trinity system, and since the 5 Suns Core Command knew nothing of Admiral DeVore’s plans, we believe, with our backing, that you have a very good opportunity to be placed in command of this station, not as a potential adversary, but as its legitimate commander, if you are willing to perform your duties under the 5 Suns Navy flag.”

“Are you willing to accept that, Captain?” said Gwyneth. “Come back to the 5 Suns Navy, and share the proposal you have with the Core Command?”

Clement looked to Yan, who stayed stoic, and then smiled. “That I am, Colonel. That I am. But there is one thing I haven’t mentioned about Trinity, and that is the presence of natives,” said Clement. There were surprised looks around the conference table.

“Natives?” said Gwyneth. At this Yan cut in.

“A few hundred thousand, combined, likely on all three worlds. We don’t know who placed them there, or why, but they are completely human in every way,” she said. At this Clement jumped back in to the conversation.

“It is our intention to set aside reserved areas for their society to flourish, to live naturally, as they have for many decades. We believe it should be up to this command, Kemmerine Station, to ensure their peaceful survival.”

After another hour of this, going over high-level plans and a proposed schedule, Clement left it to the station commanders to make their decisions. The next morning they told him they would present his proposals to the 5 Suns Alliance Core Command, along with the evidence against Admiral DeVore. Clement decided that was good enough.

It would have to be.


Back | Next
Framed