A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) (17 page)

“And my point for the last five years has been this. We on Haven need to reveal ourselves to the Earth nations and the UN. We settled this colony without any help from any Earth government and we have built it up for the last two hundred years.”

“And yes, I know,” Suzanna said, “I’m sharing details with you that we have been forbidden to share with you, but you will figure it out eventually, as will the rest of mankind now that you have discovered our home.

“So answer me this,” she pressed on, “if we were to return to Earth with you, officially reveal ourselves, open full political dialogue and request that the UN recognize our planet and the surrounding space as a sovereign state. How do you think it would go?”

James was taken aback by Suzanna’s openness. She meant it when she said she liked straight talking. Already she had confirmed a number of Lieutenant Scott’s guesses.

“I’m not sure I have the experience to answer that. Though I can make a few educated guesses,” he began. “The UN Interplanetary Committee are the ones you would have to convince. They would have the power to recognize your planet as an independent planet. Yet nothing gets through the Committee without multinational support. From time to time the majority of the representatives overrules the wishes of the minority but the Earth powers are so fractured it rarely happens. No one wants to give an advantage to one of their competitors and so even if one or two nations sided with you, they would be outnumbered.

“But even that is unlikely, if you do go to the UN, you will be going alone, without any backers. In such a scenario I’m not sure how you would get your way. Even if you had not just been attacked by an alien fleet.

“You want me to be honest,” James said. “Well your government will have to face facts. Your defenses have been decimated. There is nothing stopping the Indians, the French or even the Canadians from coming here and forcing their wishes on you. And you know I can’t speak for my government either. Once they find out about Haven they might set their sights on you as well.”

“So you are saying our position is hopeless,” Suzanna said in frustration. “Even if we had of come to you five years ago?”

“Not hopeless,” James corrected, noting she had admitted that Haven had learnt of the Earth powers before the contact with the French cruiser two years ago. “Just difficult. If you had of come to the Earth powers on your own, when you rediscovered us, things might have been different. You could have made friends and alliances and worked the system until you were ready to play your cards and make a bid for independence. Now, with no navy and no defenses, you don’t have many cards left.”

“Damn that Maximilian,” Suzanna said and James got a glimpse through her outward exterior to the inner frustration and weariness she carried around with her. “He has been so terrified that the Earth powers would come and steal his little kingdom that he has endangered our future.”

“Maybe,” James said, not wanting to totally disagree with her. “But your First Councilor isn’t completely wrong. There are many Earth powers who would jump at the chance to add another colony to their empires. Even if it came with twenty million unruly colonists.”

There is one other problem with your plan,” James added as it came to him. “At the moment there are no independent colonies. Every colonized planet is ruled from Earth. If Haven were allowed to keep its independence it would set a precedent. Other colonies may begin to think they can rule themselves too. I don’t think Britain would be too worried by the idea but others would. They would stop at nothing to prevent you from keeping your independence.

“Did I hear my name being mentioned,” Maximilian said as he approached James and Suzanna.

“Yes Sir,” James said, “but I was only speaking of how impressed I am at the job you have done here.”

“Good, good. I must be doing something right if I can impress a naval captain with your experience. I’m sure you have visited colonies all over the Human Sphere,” Maximilian said as he rested a hand on James shoulder and gently turned him away from Suzanna.

“I have some people I want you to meet,” he added as he beckoned the two people who had followed him over to step forward. “This is councilor Farks and my youngest daughter, Elena. Farks is one of the newest councilors elected to our planetary council and my daughter and he are engaged.”

“Congratulations,” James said as he shook their hands.

As he stood back Maximilian leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I wouldn’t waste your time with Ms. Rodriguez. Her family own the smaller gas mining station I’m sure your sensors picked out. They made a lot of important contributions to our colony in the past but now they have fallen back in the pecking order. If you want to make some friends with influence in the council, I suggest you get to know my soon to be son in law.”

Raising his voice slightly so everyone could hear him Maximilian said, “He was elected with the highest majority in fifty years,” as he clasped the younger man on the back.

James took the opportunity to glance back at Suzanna and tried to make his disappointment at being interrupted evident. Before Maximilian stepped over to block his view she simply shrugged at him and mouthed one word,
politics
.

With an inward sigh James turned his attention back to Farks and his fiancée, “And what are your responsibilities in the council?” he asked. 

He was thrown into another meaningless conversation and it took all of his patience and limited acting skills to feign interest as both Farks and Maximilian alternated from trying to impress him and catching him off guard with a sensitive question.

Finally
, he thought as his COM unit buzzed. Julius was letting him know that she was beginning
Endeavour’s
maneuvers. For five more minutes the conversation dragged on but then, out of the corner of his eye, James saw three men in military uniforms walk into the reception. They made their way over to Admiral Harris who came over to the group that had surrounded James.

“If you don’t mind Captain, I need to borrow the First Councilor,” Harris said as he broke into the conversation.

“Certainly,” James said as he looked at the Admiral with a lot less respect than he had earlier in the evening. As they both walked away James saw Suzanna stalk off after them. He felt more than a little disappointed at the prospect that she too was involved in the pirated freighters.

*

Suzanna had stomped her feet a number of times as she had waited to get another chance to talk to James but each time an opening came Maximilian brought in another guest to introduce. More than once he had given her a very dirty look. She knew in no uncertain terms that the First Councilor didn’t want her anywhere near the British Captain.

When Admiral Harris had suddenly interrupted them and taken Maximilian away she followed to see what all the commotion was about. When the three military personnel approached Maximilian and the Admiral she carefully latched herself onto a nearby conversation in a way that allowed her to keep an ear on Maximilian.

“We may have an issue developing Sir,” one of the naval officers said. “The British Warship has broken orbit and is circling the planet. I have ordered the freighters to keep their distance from
Endeavour
but her acceleration profile is just too great. Sooner or later she is likely to come across them.”

“Did you ask them what they are doing?” Maximilian asked with concern. “They are supposed to be staying put in orbit.”

“They said they are testing some repairs they just completed. We asked them to return to their assigned orbit but they refused,” the officer answered. “I think whoever was left in charge up there is a bit of a hot head. She told me that if I didn’t like it I could go invite the Vestarians back.”

“I see,” Maximilian said, trying to control his anger. “Admiral, what do you suggest?”

Harris took a moment to respond as he thought through his options. “We still have a few frigates fully functional. I suggest we hold an impromptu training exercise. We can fly the frigates into
Endeavour’s
path and request that they alter course. That should give the freighters some time to get out of their sensor range. They will know we are up to something but they won’t know exactly what.”

“Very well, I want you to see to it personally. If the British learn that we were the ones who captured their freighters they will not be pleased.”

Captured their freighters?
Suzanna thought to herself.
Captured their freighters?
Then it hit her. For more than a year now a question had been niggling at the back of her mind. Her family’s company specialized in inner system trade and owned one of the gas mining stations. For the last few years a couple of her competitors had been making a remarkable number of breakthroughs in freighter design and propulsion. It was now obvious, the discoveries hadn’t been made by Haven scientists at all.

“This is outrageous,” she almost shouted as she stalked over to Maximilian who was now on his own. “You actually sanctioned piracy? Your actions could end up starting a war!”

“Shut up,” Maximilian said, his anger overflowing. “You stupid bitch, what do you know! If you had your way, we would already be slaves to some Earth power. Get out of my reception before I call security. And don’t talk to any of the British officers again do you hear me? I can break your political career and your family’s business if I want!”

Suzanna was too stunned to respond. She thought Maximilian was a fool but she had always thought he was a kind fool. She had never seen this side of him before. He looked ready to kill. Worse, he was prepared to use his position to get his way. That was something the First Councilor was never supposed to do.

As she walked away she began to reevaluate everything.
Has Maximilian been manipulating things from the beginning?
she asked herself, deeply concerned
.

*

James had been contemplating how best to make his escape from the reception. He had spoken to just about everyone present and he knew he wasn’t going to get any more useful information out of them. Suzanna seemed to be the only one who was willing to talk openly and James was eager to discuss things further with her.

Across the room he heard a loud shout and before he could get a clear view through the crowd he saw Suzanna rushing from the room, her red dress flowing out behind her.

As quickly as he could without making a scene he gave chase and when he got out of the main reception room he called after her, “Suzanna, hold on.”

As she turned he saw that she was blinking back tears. “Is everything ok?” he asked when he finally caught up.

“Yes, I mean no,” she said, unsure of herself. “What do you want?”

“I was hoping to talk further, I think we both have a lot of information that could help each other,” James said.

Suzanna took a deep breath to compose herself. “Yes... yes, you’re right,” she said as she placed a hand on James’ arm. “Maybe you would like to come visit me at my family’s gas mining station. We would have more privacy there.”

“Eh, I don’t know if that would be proper,” James said, feeling a little flustered at how the conversation had turned.

Suzanna couldn’t help chuckling. “Listen Captain, I like you, maybe even in that way. But there are more important things going on. Come to my gas mining station. There we can talk freely and get better acquainted if you like.”

“That sounds like a plan,” James said, not entirely knowing what he was agreeing to.

The sound of footsteps made them both turn to look down the corridor they were in. Two security guards were approaching them. “I can’t talk anymore now,” Suzanna said. “I need to leave.”

“Come to my station,” she said as she turned in the opposite direction to the guards and took off at a brisk walk.

James was left staring after her, wondering what exactly was going on.
Why is a Haven councilor running away from her own security guards?
he asked himself.

Before he could think through what was going on Maximilian appeared. “Ah, there you are Captain. We were beginning to think we had lost you. What are you doing out here?”