The Mechaneer

Chapter 38: Captains of Industry

"Ladies and gentlemen," Otto Abeir Algreil said, spreading his arms to encompass the long oval table before him, "welcome to Algreil Prime."

Jack, sitting behind and to the side of his once-and-current boss, followed the sweep of Otto's arm. A who's who of Oligarchs presumably "sat" at the table, but their holograms had no distinguishing features. Plausible deniability, in case the Feds won and won fast.

Only Jack, another Algreil man at Otto's back, and a trio of Marchess – or was it Marchess-Algreil? – representatives actually attended in the flesh. Alarie Wein Marchess-Algreil, seated at the far end of the table, was the only physically present 'lady' Otto could have been referring to, and she practically disappeared into her throne-like seat. Her two retainers, in Algreil colors but from the protective way they clustered around Alarie obviously still Marchess men at heart, only served to make her look smaller and sicklier by comparison. Beyond the table, the room was uncomfortably dark.

The holograms, and the Marchesses, fixed their gaze on Otto.

"I'm sure you all know by now why you've been called here," Otto said.

A murmur of agreements. The assembled Oligarchs sounded nervous to Jack, though it was hard to tell through the programs they used to scramble their identities.

"You've all familiarized yourselves with the material I provided?"

"We are fully prepared to judge this matter, Algreil," one of the holograms said. Jack found it hard to even figure out which one was speaking, though Otto seemed to follow their conversation easily. "The question is, are you prepared to hear our judgment?"

Jack didn't like the sound of that. He glanced at Otto.

The Oligarch's cocky grin hadn't wavered. He said, "Let's hear it."

Another hologram answered him. "It is the opinion of this council that you, Otto Abeir Algreil, provoked a confrontation with the Federal Navy destroyer Reformer, leading to the destruction of your assets in the Wellach system and the heightened tensions between ourselves and the Federal Senate. Furthermore, we believe this provocation was deliberate and that you intend to use the resulting conflict to push for open war between the Oligarchy and the Senate."

"All true," Otto said.

Jack stared.

Since none of the assembled oligarchs responded immediately, Jack figured he wasn't the only one who couldn't believe the admission. Not that Jack put the actions past Otto – he'd been plenty frank about his plans. No, what blew Jack away was that his boss would come out and say it to his colleagues.

"How can you possibly justify this?" one of said colleagues demanded. "How can you expect this council to sit here and listen to you bald-faced admit you're trying to provoke another Civil War?"

Both good questions, thought Jack.

"Was that ever in question?" Otto asked. "If it was, gentlemen, you have my apologies. Let me break it down for you: I am openly calling for us to fight the Federal Senate."

"You can't be serious!"

Otto cocked an eyebrow. "Of course I'm serious. You're the jokes. What did you think the purpose of assembling the Captains of Industry was? Did you think we were a Principle-damned social club? I formed this council following the dismantling and nationalization of Kalder-Black specifically to organize resistance to the Senate's overreach. Armed, military resistance."

"But the Senate is not overreaching this time," one of the oligarchs countered. "You opened fire on their ship!"

"After Admiral Avalon violated the Senate's own search-and-seizure laws and the Treaty of Etemenos, which grants our arcologies independent operation. Maybe Avalon had a warrant, but I sure as hell never saw it. And he's one of them usually going on about how sacred their 'law' is!" Otto snorted. "Legally speaking, I acted overzealously, but not outside my rights."

"You can't expect that to fly with President Ferrill. Even if her rhetoric is just that, she'd never be imprudent enough to send Avalon out without legal authority."

"I don't expect it to 'fly,'" Otto said. "That's my point. The Senate's signed, notarized promises aren't worth the paper they're printed on."

"Do you deny that you set up the situation to provoke the Reformer? You spread rumors you had an Heir! How else could Avalon have responded?"

"I was under the impression, gentlemen, that an Heir to the Astroykos dynasty, should such a person exist, would be just another citizen. After all, we're all equal under the law, right?"

Except for hybrids, Jack thought – and thought of Ellie. Not that the 'law' seemed to have done Chloe a damn bit of good, even though she was acknowledged as human by it.

One of the oligarchs sputtered, "You can't extend that kind of sentiment to a noble – an Imperial, for Principle's sake!"

"And why not?" Otto asked. "It is what the law says."

"Because people like that are too dangerous," the hologram's owner said. "Letting them walk around free is just asking for trouble. Measures have to be taken. Preemptive measures! Surely this council should support the Senate in controlling the old aristocracy!"

"Chloe's not dangerous to anybody," Jack snapped. He leaned forward and slammed his palm on the dark wood of the table. "She wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Only Alarie, seated at the far end of the table, even looked at him.

Otto waved him back.

Reluctantly, realizing he probably shouldn't have said anything, Jack obeyed.

"Too dangerous," Otto said. He sounded like he was trying the words out. He repeated them, cocked his head. Sighed. "Gentlemen, Colonel Hughes is right. The alleged Heir the Federal Senate was looking for was living peacefully as a spacer salvage worker prior to becoming the target of an Animus Hunter. She made no attempt to reclaim the throne the Senate believes to be hers, or even to employ the powers they believe she has."

“Are you saying she doesn't –”

"I'm saying," Otto continued, "that she didn't provoke a damn thing."

"Still, she was dangerous." The oligarch sounded sullen. He had to know Otto was leading him into some kind of trap, but if he didn't try to push through, he'd lose even more face than if his fellow oligarch made a fool of him. Better to be decisive than right, right? "If she had decided to attempt something, she would have been a serious problem."

"And you wouldn't?" Otto's eyebrow quirked up again.

"I – Huh?"

"You wouldn't be a serious problem if you 'tried something?' I wouldn't be? Any of us wouldn't be?"

"Enough, Algreil," a second hologram said. "You've made your point."

"Wrong," Otto said. "The Senate, and my illustrious colleague here, made it for me."

The oligarch Otto had used to get the point across still didn't seem to grasp it. "What are you trying to imply, Algreil?"

"The Senate demonstrates its blatant willingness to ignore laws, treaties, and the very constitution it was based on. Why? Because the target is 'too dangerous.' But who is truly 'too dangerous?' The side that lost the Civil War? Or the side that was already winning it before the Feds stepped in to take the credit?"

"We couldn't have beaten the Emperor," the second hologram said.

"Perhaps. But then again, we didn't try, either. That was the Senate's cause. Last I checked, they were the ones who dragged the imperials into the Civil War. We were fighting to keep local lords' noses out of our business, not to change the government on Etemenos."

"You think the Senate considers us a threat?"

"What do you think Morgan Kalder-Black thinks?"

"That was an isolated incident –"

"What do you think Chloe Hughes thinks?"

"The alleged Heir? That has –"

"He has a point –"

"– cannot risk so much –"

"– this is intolerable, Algreil!"

"We did not come here –"

"– but if we could –"

"Gentlemen!" Otto stood and leaned over the table.

The oligarchs immediately fell silent.

"We are a danger to the Senate," Otto said. "We broadcast their proclamations. We ship their food. We build their mecha. We do a thousand things they need, a thousand things they’d have to rebuild from scratch if we stopped. Rhetta Ferrill knows all this better than most of you seem to. And if we continue squabbling like this, like the nobs did, we'll lose like the nobs did."

"Even if we stand united, Algreil – which, I hasten to add, we do not intend to do – we would lose. Those mecha are already built. The Federal Navy has grown too expansive, the Animus Hunters are too powerful, and in any case we could never hope to break through Etemenos's defenses."

Otto shrugged. "You might be right. For all our power, that's a tall order."

"If we can't win, what's the point in fighting? We have no reason to think the Senate won't consider you an isolated threat and respond accordingly. Why should we sacrifice ourselves for a competitor's sake?"

'Cause if you think Otto's telling the truth, Jack thought, you'll be next on the chopping block. Why not fight when you at least have a chance?

He expected Otto to say much the same.

Instead, Otto said, "Because, gentlemen, this competitor has access to the power of the Heir to the Astroykos Dynasty."

"What?" It took everything in Jack not to join in the chorus. Not many of the holograms managed it. Alarie didn't, either, and since he could actually see her face, her shock would have been obvious even if she had kept her mouth shut.

"Colonel Hughes," Otto said, motioning to Jack, "is the adoptive father of the young woman who is, as the Federal Senate correctly deduced, the heir to the throne. He is also, as many of you are no doubt aware, a member of my Devil Ray squadron."

"A former member," a nearby hologram said. "I was given to understand that the falling-out was rather unpleasant."

"You were given to understand that, eh?" Otto grinned at the image of the man.

Jack's stomach lurched. He suddenly realized the bluff Otto was trying to run. No way in hell would the other Oligarchs buy it, though, not that he could see. Not even from one of their own.

Would they?

"Do you mean to say, Mr. Algreil, that you planned for Colonel Hughes to find and adopt the heir?"

"Of course not," Otto said. "That would be absurd."

Jack suppressed a sigh of relief. Partly because he didn't think the Captains of Industry would buy such a, as Otto said, absurd lie, partly because Jack had half convinced himself that Otto had planned it all.

"I released Colonel Hughes from official service so he could find the Empress and/or her erinyes," Otto said. "That she was dead and her daughter wasn't proved an unexpected bonus. Far better to raise a tame Imperial than to try to persuade one to help us."

"If that were the case, why would you have left her on a salvage ship bouncing around the periphery instead of bringing her to Algreil Prime?"

"If she'd been raised here," Otto countered, "who here wouldn't know it? Who wouldn't at least suspect? If all of us knew it, do you really believe the Feds wouldn't? If they had, do you think Algreil Aerospace wouldn't have had its own 'isolated incident?'"

"But the danger –"

"Was nonexistent. I had my best officer on the job." Otto clapped Jack on the shoulder. Jack was sure his grin looked pretty damn forced. He hoped the other oligarchs couldn't see it clearly. "Raising the Heir exactly as we would want. Training her exactly as we would want."

The assembled oligarchs stared. At least, Jack figured they did, because they didn't say anything and all their holographic avatars were angled at him and Otto.

Otto sat back down and leaned on the arm of his chair, smirking. "Any more questions, gentlemen?"

If Jack hadn't figured running his mouth was liable to shoot down Otto's house of cards – and Jack's own chances of saving Ellie and Chloe – he'd have had plenty.

The Captains of Industry did not.