First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (18 page)

              “I want to know what the hell you and your admin council have against my company, Triarch,” she spat.  “What precisely is the problem?”  He started to speak, but she cut him off.  “And don’t feed me the lines about how you don’t know anything about it.  One of your goons slipped up and told one of my customers that orders to seize the A2 replicators came from the admin council on the orbital.  I have it recorded and I have multiple copies.”

              His antennae unconsciously stiffened straight, giving away his guilt.  Someone who hadn’t spent as much time around zheen as she had might not have noticed, but she did.  “Commander, why would you believe that the admin council was out to steal your replicators?”

              She shook her head, her jaw clenching.  “Don’t bullshit me.  Government suits show up at five of my clients’ places of business within days of me delivering the devices to them and the admin council knows
nothing
about this?”

              “I’m saying that things would have gone so much easier if the clients of yours had simply taken the deals we offered them,” he explained.  “We need them far more than those small business owners do.”

              Tamara gaped at him, actually stunned by his honest answer.  “So instead of coming to me and commissioning some, you decide that you’re just going to take them from the citizens?”

              He spoke very calmly.  “It was decided that in the interest of planetary security, that these devices were better off under council control than under that of the individuals.”

              “Planetary security?” she demanded.  “What does that mean?  You want to build weapons?”

              He nodded.  “Among other things.”

              Then she got it.  “You want them to fix up the
Leytonstone
,” she guessed.  “Makes sense.  I mean, that must have been embarrassing when my company security forces trounced your ship of the line.  Especially after all the hard work you’d put into getting her fixed up.”  She leaned back a bit in the chair, getting more comfortable.  Then she squinted at him for a moment, as though she was realizing something.  “Of course, I don’t think that you had anything to do with the launching of that ship nor its attack on FP assets.  It seems to me that if you had been part of it, you would have waited a bit longer to get more of the ship’s systems online.  That seems like slipshod work and I’ve seen that you don’t work that way.”

              He buzzed at her.  “Tamara, I honestly have no idea who actually ordered the attack.  I know that Colonel Gants commanded the
Leytonstone
in the action and that only he, Captain Ferrod of the
Kara
and Glacis Ghovorak, commander of the mercenary company knew who the orders came from.  Everyone else simply assumed that the story they’d been fed about insurgents on the Kutok mine was true.  They actually thought they were defending the star system.”

              “But they all thought the government was the one issuing the orders,” Tamara pressed, gesturing with her free hand.  “They might not have known who the specific individuals were that gave the order, but they knew that it was coming from official sources.”

              He bristled.  “I did not order anything of the sort.  Those were
not
official orders!”

              She shrugged.  “From the people on the lower levels of the ladder, like the crews of the
Leytonstone
and the
Kara
or the soldiers in the mercenary company, that wouldn’t matter at all.”  She hesitated a moment.  “And neither did the press.”

              He clacked his mandibles lightly in aggravation.  “And in the end, Tamara, what does that accomplish?  Nothing.  You rile the people up a bit, the press asks some embarrassing questions, we fire a few low and mid-level staffers to show that we are serious about cracking down on this incident.  And after that, things return to normal.”

              “I would raise hell in the press.”

              He nodded.  “I’m sure you would.  But in the end it would accomplish little.  The citizens are already starting to get bored with these allegations and with this story in general.  People died on both sides and it was a tragedy.  But in the end, you defended your territory and have even recovered your losses and even expanded your business.  Let it go.”

              “What happened to you, Kozen’ck?” she asked.  “You used to be one of FP strongest supporters.”

              “I still am,” he replied.  “But when you started threatening the council, you changed the rules.  I was more than willing to shield you and your company from the council, and help you out behind the scenes.  We all made a lot of profit on that.  But now you’ve openly attacked the council in the press and in the court of public opinion.  I can’t allow that to stand.”

              “Your council has
actually
attacked FP ships and a station, and has stolen company merchandise, causing its destruction!  And because you got your feelings hurt in the ‘court of public opinion’ as you say, now suddenly we can’t work together?” Tamara raged.  “And since the citizens are fickle and easily bored, as you say, I should just roll over and accept this situation?”

              “Yes,” he said simply.  “If you want to continue to do business in this system, you will.”

              “I see.”  She sat and looked at him for a long moment, fury etched on her face.  “Very well.  I’ll see myself out.”

              He watched her leave and then pressed a control on his desk.  A second later, Horace entered the office.  “Yes, sir?”

              “Have security monitor Commander Samair.  Make sure she gets back to her ship without incident.”

              The assistant nodded and slipped out of the office.  Kozen’ck pounded a fist against the table.  Going to war with FP and Tamara Samair had not been his intent.  Now it was too late.

              A half hour later, he received a frantic call from his assistant, telling him to switch on the video display.  “This is Vanessa Marchant with S-Int News.  Recapping our top story,” the reporter was saying, “A video was released to S-Int News only a few moments ago.  In this video, you can clearly see Triarch Kozen’ck is admitting to the admin council’s involvement in the attack on First Principles, Incorporated’s facilities last month.  Here is an excerpt from that meeting.”

              The video began playing, the camera angle pointed straight at the zheen’s face as he spoke.  The conversation he’d just had with Tamara Samair was repeated, ending with:
“And since the citizens are fickle and easily bored, as you say, I should just roll over and accept this situation?”

              “Yes,” he said simply.  “If you want to continue to do business in this system, you will.”

              Vanessa came back on the vid.  “Members of our audience, you heard it here first.  The Triarch of the administrative council is openly admitting that a prominent company would need to accept the attacks on them by government forces as the price of doing business.  This raises some disturbing questions about council policy, as well as how we the people should respond to this very serious situation.”  She touched her right ear, as though listening to someone on an earbud.  “I’m being told we have one of the senior partners for the law firm Kay, Jo’zenit and Simpson on the line.  Mister Kay, do you have a statement?”

              “I do, Vanessa.  I and all of the partners and associates at our firm are outraged at this.  I cannot believe that the leader of the admin council would be a party to these heinous crimes.  People died during the attacks on the Kutok mine, there was a huge amount of property damage, and with the theft of the devices by government agents there is a loss of reputation and possibly business for First Principles.  My firm will be pursuing this to the highest level.  We will not allow this to stand.”

              “You heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen.  Corruption and abuse of power at the highest levels here on the orbital station with repercussions that I’m sure will continue to echo through the corridors of the orbital.  I’m Vanessa Marchant for S-Int News.”

              Kozen’ck put his head in his hands as despair flooded through him.  The vultures wouldn’t be circling, they’d be diving in to strip flesh off the corpse after this. 
How could I have been so careless?  How could I have been so
stupid
as to admit those things to her?  And how is it that the system didn’t alert me to a recording device?

              The comm sounded and he sat up, activating it.  “What?”

              “Sir, I’m sorry.  I have Admin Kly on the line for you.”

             
And so it begins. 
“Put him through.”

~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~

              “So I don’t know what just happened,” Kly was saying later, “But I like it.  I like it a lot.”

              Hyacinth Cresswell snorted.  “What the hell possessed that bug to run his mouthparts like that?  I cannot believe this.”

              Kly stretched his arms out.  “I don’t care.  But his days as the Triarch are numbered, you mark my words.”  He grinned.  “This couldn’t have worked out any better if we’d
planned
it.”

              “What do you want to do?”

              He frowned.  “We need to get our hands on more of these replicators that FP is leasing out.  Simply taking them won’t work,” he admitted.  “But Chief Jollin is singing the praises of those devices and work on the orbital has been moving at ten times the pace.  The technicians and maintenance workers are actually excited to be working.  We’ve actually got people that are getting off their asses and doing their jobs.  We’ve actually had people expressing interest in opening up training centers and providing training.”  He put a hand to his forehead. 

              “All right, I agree, getting more of these things going is a priority,” Cresswell said.  “But this golden opportunity just fell into our laps to get rid of that bug. 
He
gave it to us!”

              Kly snorted.  “You realize that we owe this golden opportunity to that company bitch?”

              Cresswell grimaced.  “Maybe we should send her a fruit basket.” 

              He laughed.  “Maybe we should.”

              “Tamara, I am confused,” Nasir was saying over the comms as her ship sailed through the black back to the Kutok mine.  “You say that the Triarch was your most stalwart ally, and yet you went out of your way to discredit him in the media.”

              “I know that he wasn’t the one who authorized the attack, but he was involved in the thefts of replicators.  I know it.”

              “He said as much?” the lupusan AI asked. 

              “No,” she replied.  “I’m sending you a copy of the recordings from my HUD.  I’m sure you can break down what his words and body language indicate.”

              Nasir nodded.  “Yes, I see it.  I believe you are correct, the Triarch did
not
have anything to do with the attacks.  Of course, you and I can see it, but I doubt anyone else would believe it.  And more than likely it would not hold up in a court of law.”

              Tamara shook her head.  “No, probably not.  But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to call him on being party to trying to steal company property.”  She sighed.  “But in the end, other than perhaps having a regime change, there isn’t a whole lot that I can do about it in the long run.  Yeah, I can have the lawyers go and do their thing, but I think in the end there really isn’t much more I can do.”

              “But why not?  There are legal avenues you can pursue,” Nasir objected, tipping his head to the side.  “I have reviewed the legal codes for the system and there are things you can do for compensation.”

              She sighed, running a hand through her hair.  “I’m not sure it’s actually worth it.  I’ve already made one enemy out of an ally on the admin council.  One of my investors, actually.  So I’ll continue the investigation with the attack on the Kutok mine, but I think I’m going to let the theft of the property go.”

              “Just like that?” Nasir asked.

              “No, not just like that.  I’m going to lay down the law with the council and let them know that if they do it again I’m going to cut their fuel deliveries.”

              Nasir laid his ears back.  “You would cause that much grief over the A2 replicators?”

              She nodded.  “It isn’t about the devices themselves.  I have to show them that I’m not just going to roll over and let them make their way with me or the company.  They have their laws and I’m happy to abide, but I’m not just going to let them run roughshod over the company simply because they’re the government.”

              “And if they decide to call your bluff?” he asked.

              She shrugged.  “Who said anything about bluffing?  I
will
cut the fuel and it will stay cut off until they fold.”

              “And what about the population of the orbital that might suffer because of it?”