Chamberlin Hall, Vorsprung, Ter Abbes
“So what do you want me to do about? Run in there with my hold-out and tell them they’re all under arrest?” questioned the Pro-Consul.
Kels scowled. “No, but as one of the officials overlooking the election, I think you should send an investigative party.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “It’s a bit more complicated than that. You’re basing a move on pure rumour.”
“It’s more than a simple rumour. You said it yourself,” stated the Confederation Intelligence Officer, “and it seems to fit.”
“A lot of things could fit,” replied the Kashan woman, “I’ve had people tell me I look like a fashion model. That doesn’t make me a fashion model. Just because it looks like a political conspiracy doesn’t mean that maybe they’re having a perfectly legal political gathering. We certainly can’t make the move without the authority and permission of the Ter Abbes government.”
Kels sighed. “That’s asking for failure. If they’re that well off politically and materialistically, they’re going to have eyes and ears in the government. They’ll be tipped off ahead of time and we’ll start looking like fools. That’ll be a great impression.”
“That’s one trouble democracy presents us with,” mused Christina, “in order to protect the freedoms of others, we trade secrecy and efficiency sometimes. But we gain better satisfaction from our people. We can’t have everything Kels, and this looks like something we won’t be able to catch. Tell me, do you put a possibly guilty man in prison, or let him go free? Do you believe in guilty to proven?”
The agent muttered. “I’d rather put him in jail until proven innocent.”
“You know that’d never work in politics.”
Kels barked a laugh, “That’s why I just spy on people instead. I have some work to do. Pleasure seeing you ma’am.”
As the man walked out of the door, Thorn leaned back in her chair. Cocking her head to the side, she swiped a comlink off the top of her desk. Hitting the calling stub, Christina put it up to her mouth.
***
Warehouse BA-5, Ter Abbes
The movers and shakers of Ter Abbes society, whether they were entertainers or labour union leaders, continued to listen to the warehouse foreman. An image of their world hang above Leeds as he continued his briefing. He tapped a button on the holo-projector’s remote control, and the projection vanished in mid air. Small, box shaped droids scurried around the floor, handing out bell-shaped wine glasses to everyone within the room. Leeds himself grabbed one from a crate behind him.
“…Everything is almost set,” stated Leeds, “our people are ready in position. This Confederation involvement with practicing with our military could be a potential problem, but I’ve arranged for our group to give the escort. It took a couple of bribes and blackmailings to do. But it is ours for the taking. Gentlemen and ladies, to success and the Ter Abbes Oligarchy. May its reign ever last.”
“Wait a minute, let’s trade glasses,” stated one of the occupants, hurrying over to Leeds.
“As you wish,” replied Leeds, exchanging glasses with the man, “if you’re worried about me poisioning you all with this, I could drink any one of your glasses first. Let me assure you, they’re quite safe.”
Before the others could drink, he quaffed the contents of his new glass down and smiled. The others followed suit, drinking down their glasses. They smiled and started talking among themselves. Some about their plans, some about the exquisite flavour of the wines, and some about the terribly amused smile plastered on the foreman’s face. A woman stood up among the crowd and faced Leeds.
“I feel-”
She collapsed to the ground. Others collapsed, others rose before also falling onto the ground or slumping across the various crates that littered the room’s floor. Leeds merely shook his head.
“Ah, the most difficult part about this whole mess is over Tex,” stated the man to the approaching security guard, “it’s a pity they didn’t think to build up a resistance to Gringor venom. They might have actually survived. Get rid of their bodies. I don’t care how or where, as long as they can’t be found within thirty-six hours...”
***
Across the starlit sky, a trio of craft quietly glided across the industrial landscape of Ter Abbes, occasionally eclipsing stars until they neared warehouse BA-5. A pair of Deathsabers silently hovered over the circular enclosure like angels of death. Underneath them, the Ter Abbes Navy shuttle descended onto the duracrete landing pad. Its landing ramps lowered which a mass of shadowy men clammered down, led by Agent Kels and Captain Valeska. Kels looked at their motley force, composed of Ter Abbes police and Confederate volunteers, and smiled. Most of them drew and checked their service sidearms. The agent turned to Valeska and hesitated.
“Now what?”
“You don't have a plan?! You don't have a plan. No one ever has a plan,” muttered Valeska, “Why does no one ever have a plan?”
“I guess will do this by the seat of our pants.”
“Wonderful,” muttered the former instructor to the agent, motioning over her naval volunteers, “this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to secure the perimeter. Kels, take your people up the left. I’ll take mine up the right.”
Kels nodded and motioned his contingent over to the side of the building. The policemen hugged the sides of the wall for better cover. They moved slowly, with each advance being covered by several weapons. On the other side, Valeska’s marines and sailors slowly around in a pack, not even remotely trying to conceal themselves. The captain walked over to the guard box and found it empty. She grabbed her comlink.
“Nothing.”
Kel’s voice came back calm and cool. “Nothing here either. Something’s not right here. They have to be all inside. But why? It doesn’t make any sense from a security standpoint unless it’s a trap.”
“So what do we do?”
“Spring the trap,” stated the agent, “there’s no entrance here. We’ll come around and meet you at the guard station.”
***
Office, Warehouse BA-5
Leeds hunched forward over his office computer terminal, hurriedly typing a message. Various datacards were haphazardly scattered across his desk. The door swung open and Tex walked in. Leeds glanced up from his office computer terminal in annoyance.
“Boss, we have a situation.”
Leeds leaned back. “Define situation.”
“We’ve been surrounded by the police and Confederate troops.”
He frowned. “Have they done anything yet?”
“They just walked around the building, but now they’re heading for the main entrance.”
Aurelius cursed under his breath. “Have you got rid of the bodies yet?”
“No need to,” stated a new voice.
Tex slightly wobbled and toppled onto the ground. The barrel of a blaster slid into view from the doorway. Agent Kels walked in and spared a brief glance at Tex.
“Don’t worry,” stated the Confederate, “he’s just stunned. I suppose the same can’t be said for your guests on the main floor.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked your guard abou”t the bodies. And besides killing several dozen influential citizens, you’ve managed to bribe officials, put the lives of Ter Abbes servicemen at risk, and conspired to topple the government. I’m not terribly familiar with your planet’s laws, Mister Leeds, but I imagine if you’re not executed, you’ll be spending a fair amount of time in prison. I do give you credit though, it was a masterful plot, if not greedy.”
The man from Ter Abbes stared at him silently. Kels shrugged.
“You managed to convince a vast majority of influential leaders from a variety of backgrounds to help take part in treason via a coup. You played on their greed, their lust for more power. I think their greed was probably only overshadowed by your own. You wanted it all, but you couldn’t do it without their help. You needed money and allies within the government and political parties for your coup plan to work. If you mass-controlled many of the parties, you’d win; at least for a while. The problem remained that they would eventually disagree with you or each other and it would all fall apart. But that’s what you persuaded them what the plan was. Part of that plan involved infiltrating Ter Abbes forces with your followers. They did this for you as part thinking that those forces would loyally protect them if things went wrong. They probably would have, in fact, but you had other plans. Namely to use those forces to eliminate the leaders and infrastructure of the Ter Abbes government. And you would certainly win the ensuing civil war because you would not only control most of the remaining military, but would also be able to produce a fair amount of war material. How far off am I?”
Leeds glared at the Confederate with rage.
***
Aftermath…
Vorsprung
The red-and-blue banners of Ter Abbes hung from nearly every window across the city. It was inaugural day. At Vorsprung, Christina Thorn, acting as an event hostess, stood on a massive stage erected in one of the city’s square with the newly elected officials. Throngs of citizens had amassed around them, hearing several speeches promising change and commitments to their constituents. The Kashan woman began her last introduction of the day.
“…and so, it is my pleasure to introduce to you your new President, Fionn Codi,” stated Pro-Consul Thorn.
She started to clap, which the crowd quickly joined in on, occasionally interjected by yells from supporters or detractors of Codi. The President-elect nervously arose from his central seat. Codi smiled as he neared the podium.
“Thank you, thank you my fellow citizens…”
The clapping ceased.
“…much has been promised to you today. Better schools, a better economy, a more fair justice system, and free pet caf from Senator Orgas…”
The crowd lightly chuckled at the last item.
“…These are all wonderful and fine things. I hope they do live up to their promises and commitments, not only because it is the right thing to do, but you deserve it. There are many things I believe our great people deserve that have not met over these last years. I have seen a great many proposals to solve these ills, these diseases. Some of them are truly mad, and some would solve some of our problems. In fact, there is no one solution, only components that form this solution. And I firmly believe, that membership into the Contegorian Confederation is one of them. Because of this and from what many people have told me, I am authorizing…”
