The Cemiess Crisis Part IV
19 Sep 2016Jellicoe
The holographic table and its virtual occupants appeared once again in Jellicoe's ready room, it was a week since their last meeting and the mood among the Children of Raxxla had taken a definite turn for the worse. It had been a week of considerable, almost frantic activity beginning with the warship flashing out 'Salomé' in code before Mackenzie Relay, followed by news pieces both in the local media and on Galnet itself drawing attention to Salomé's disappearance and demanding an investigation be commenced before culminating in show of naked force, again in front of Mackenzie Relay. Three corvettes, two cutters and a host of smaller warships assembled and held position well inside the stations no fire zone while a close friend of Lady Salomé made a speech on an open channel in which she harangued the system authorities for their inaction. It was a virtuoso performance from a young woman clearly well tutored in the art of Imperial oratory, she passionately questioned the courage and honesty of Cemiess' rulers in a way carefully crafted to offend the honour that high ranking Imperials value so highly without descending into the kind of abuse that could have been written off as a hysterical rant. All this though had been greeted with complete silence and apparently utter indifference from the system authorities, for all the effort and attention it was as though nothing had happened, indeed incredible as it seemed petty pilfering gangs in the station docks attracted more attention from the Cemiess Imperial Society than the disappearance and probable abduction of an Imperial senator, and the inescapable conclusion was that if the system authorities were not actively involved then they were clearly more than happy to cover it up.The faces around the virtual table as grave as the mood, emotions were mixed. Some, particularly those who were Empire born felt betrayed that the Imperial justice and honour they had long believed in had so badly let them down, others despaired as the full gravity of the situation had sunk in - a small group of eccentrics, explorers and privateers facing up to a galactic superpower, all were angry beyond measure.
"So what now? Any idea?" The man at the head of the table asked.
"More protests." The elegant woman replied immediately. "Dump waste by the station, make high speed fly pasts, scan all incoming vessels especially authority."
"We've tried protesting peacefully like good little boys and girls and where's it got us?" The thickset man put in dismissively. "We should do what we should have done first, thin the bastards out a bit."
"All violence will achieve is to tighten the noose around Salomé's neck. They will just write us off as terrorists and damn her by association." A slender man who had not spoken at the previous meeting said forcefully.
"He's right." Jellicoe agreed. "If we start shooting we have no more cards left to play, we should keep our weapons stowed at least until we know where she is, but I also agree that we need to step up the pressure, they're just ignoring the protests."
"Do you have any suggestions?" The flight suited man at the tables head asked.
"Not really." Jellicoe answered with a rueful smile. "Interdict authority ships, scan them then jump out perhaps? It's an escalation and implies a threat but not violent."
"Pah." The thickset man huffed dismissively.
"We could hit them in the pocket." A slightly plump man in a sharp suit suggested. "That would hit them where it really hurts."
"How?" the man at the head of the table asked.
"Smuggle contraband into Pelliot Town. If we can ship enough in we could crash the whole economy, it's been done elsewhere."
"Not anywhere with a population in excess of ten billion." A sharp faced man in an Imperial uniform interjected. "Cemiess is also a major hub for the trade in Imperial slaves, its economy is just too big for us to have any noticeable impact on. You might be on to something with smuggling though, I have an idea that could work, it's morally dubious and we would end up with a lot of blood on our hands but we are rapidly running out of options."
"Explain." The man at the head of the table rapped.
"As I mentioned Cemiess is a hub for the slave trade which means Aisling's fanatics and the usual anti slavery rent a mob are there in force too, and the more militant of them are trying to 'rescue' the slaves for which they need weapons, then there are escaped and 'rescued' slaves with nowhere to go and no way to get there, they also need weapons and of course there's the usual gaggle of criminal gangs and terrorists who need weapons. We smuggle weapons to these people and we stir up trouble, I know the Imperial protocols and when crime or disorder gets serious enough the system effectively goes into martial law, the markets are closed, trade is stopped and the whole economy shuts down until order is restored. It'd be difficult but we could do it, and it would hurt them. Badly.
"That's your non violent alternative? You want to start a war!" asked the slender man aghast.
"I never said it was an ideal solution but as has already been pointed out we are fast running out of options." the sharp faced Imperial replied.
"I agree." Jellicoe put in. "It's making a deal with the devil but I can't see another choice short of starting shooting."
"This is madness!' the slender man was horrified. "We might as well put the noose around her neck and kick the stool away ourselves. You can't be considering1 this surely?" he asked the man at the head of the table whose face was filled with pain and doubt.
"I understand your feelings." he said to the slender man. "But this may be the only course open to us. I will discuss it with the consuls and give you our decision shortly."
A jet black corvette hurtled across the barren planetscape at very high speed and very low altitude, its pilot and turbaned giant of a tactical officer were both grinning but the ships first officer at the coms station had gone a deathly shade of white with perhaps a tinge of green, his face was frozen in terror.
"Why are we doing this?" the terrified man asked.
"Best way to avoid detection." the pilot replied.
"You know this from you vast experience of smuggling I suppose?"
The pilot laughed. "The port won't scan us but any police ships on patrol will so we're going in fast and low to avoid them, that's not smuggling it's basic tactics. The only downside is I flunked low altitude manoeuvring." the pilot gave a slight tweak on the joystick to momentarily suggest he'd lost control then he and the tactical officer guffawed with laughter at the terrified howl from their shipmate. This brought back memories to the pilot of his time at the naval academy, skimming the surface in a Condor fighter with the throttle at maximum just one slight misjudgement from death, happy times. Pelliot Town was coming up fast and Jellicoe boosted again.
"Looks like there's a couple of cops about, keep an eye on them would you Vik I don't think Claude's in any fit state to." Sachin Vikash laughed and nodded as Claude noisily vomited. Jellicoe requested docking clearance, ignored the towers demands to cut his speed and made for his allotted pad at full throttle before slamming the ship into full reverse and yanking the nose up at the last second prompting Claude to throw up again. They touched down and entered the hangar with Jellicoe and Vik sniggering like schoolboys over Claude's discomfort.
"When you recover Claude old chap would you get on to our contact to get the stuff unloaded, I want to be back at Yawa for another load as soon as possible. Oh and do clean that puke up it makes a terrible mess in zero g. Fancy a pint Vik?" Jellicoe and Vik left the bridge still chuckling, while Claude heaved any remaining contents of his stomach onto the floor. He was not a violent man and usually loved his shipmates dearly, but at that moment if looks could kill both Jellicoe and Vik would now be breathing their last.