Shelby 9 Snippet 3

 

Chapter 3

 

TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters and Gentle Mist

 

Admiral Lobo tried to gently rub his brow. He was tired; his body was a bit crabby from sitting for prolonged periods of time. He had a headache from reading, most likely eye strain and low blood sugar. And he needed food. Better food than take out, which seemed to consume his world for the moment. His steward was probably getting tired of forcing sandwiches and soup on him.

He was starting to regret getting into a rebellion with the Confederation and into what was turning into a nasty situation with the Federation. He felt like he was in a vice, and outside forces were turning the screws ever so slightly and carefully … but relentlessly.

Eventually something was bound to pop.

He wanted to blame General Sedu and others, but he was a bit too self-honest with himself. Sure, the deaths of the civilians in their stasis pods he could lay at stupidity and an accident. But … he made a puttering sound.

No, it was still on his watch. He should have had people paying more attention to such things.

He glanced at the empty glass nearby and pushed it away with a flick of his fingertip. The glass had weight on the bottom so it didn’t tip easily. He turned away to look out the view screen to the star system.

Normally he loved the view; it helped to calm him. It reminded him of a night sky and staring up at it in wonder as a calf. At the moment, it barely registered.

General Sedu had engineered the rebellion, insurrection, whatever you wanted to call it. He had to admit, he’d gone along with it when he had resented the Confederation surrendering to the Federation.

If they’d only tried harder, gotten their timing right …

He cut those errant thoughts off harshly. Coulda, woulda, shoulda wouldn’t change a damn thing. What happened was what happened. They needed to move forward.

For the moment, things were progressing. The New Tauren Confederation made up of six inhabited and one empty star system was progressing. A fresh constitutional convention was in the works. They had their own Ansible network, which was growing. Its bandwidth was limited, but it worked and best of all, it wasn’t controlled by the Confederation.

He turned slightly to look at the status board. The locked-down Confederation Ansible blinked a lurid red at him mockingly.

He hated that. It meant that the Confederation knew that they were in revolt and were doing something. He had no way of knowing what. Nothing good obviously.

He glanced at the sector map. Their newly-minted capital was a binary star system with two agro worlds and a mixed population. They had orbital fortresses and a small task force under his command. General Sedu controlled the ground forces with an iron glove.

They had the single shipyard in the star system. There were small repair yards here and there, and some on their borders he was hoping to grab. At the moment, he wasn’t certain they were worth the risk.

He had too many fronts. The capital was wide open on their flanks and that bothered him and kept him up at nights, especially with the Feds.

He winced slightly. Oh, how he regretted taking out that ship! If they’d only surrendered as planned …

He flicked his head in a negative gesture. Again, it was over and done with. He was going to have to find a way to deal with an angry Federation at some point.

That was a bleak thought he thought and then got up to visit the head. He needed to get some rest or he wasn’t going to be good for anything anymore.

>>>~<<<

Commander Black Tip flicked his black-tipped ears as he checked on the status of the prisoners and ships. So far so good, though he worried about any more accidents.

He was also concerned about the rebellion. Obviously talks with Admiral White Face and Admiral Yen, not to mention the insurrection hadn’t gone over well. Admiral Lobo hadn’t said much but the lack of positive reports was enough to infer that they hadn’t gone well. And it was becoming something of an open secret that the Ansible was locked down and that the Confederation knew something was going on.

He shook his head and then grunted. He noted that the admiral was going to bed and nodded in relief and agreement. Good. Now, he planned an unscheduled check on the prisoners for later in the week and then he too would hand off his duties to the next in line and get some shut eye as well.

>>>~<<<

Planetary Governor Dash of Gentle Mist nodded to his counterpart, Max, the planetary governor of Blue Waters. They waited outside the office of Governor Hard Toss or “interim president” as some were calling him these days.

Dash felt an urge to check his watch but sat on it firmly. He didn’t need or want to look impatient. He knew the game; hell, he’d used it often enough. Hard Toss was playing a dominance game by having them wait in order to assert himself as the dominant bull. They were the supplicants; he was the alpha.

Of course they knew that already. They were also all busy and had full schedules. Besides, he had summoned them to the station, they could have held a conversation … well, no the damn distances between planets in the binary star system would have prevented a proper conversation. Still, this shit was getting old.

“Come on already,” Max muttered.

Dash felt a bit of amusement and thrill of triumph at not being the one to break and show annoyance first. He glanced at his partner and flicked his ears. Max rolled his brown eyes in return and rubbed his hands on his knees.

“Stupid games we play,” Max finally said impatient. “I have a schedule to keep.” He got up and looked at his chief of staff and then over to the aide near the door. “When Governor Hard Toss is ready to reschedule, let me know,” he said flatly.

Dash blinked and then got up as well. He glanced uncertainly to the staff and guards and then headed behind Max to the door.

The aide immediately touched his ear and then cleared his throat.

Max’s chief of staff paused in front of him and turned. The bulls turned one by one back to the aide.

“The governor’s call has ended, and he is ready to speak with you now.” The aide made a show of turning a sweeping hand to the door and triggering the opening.

“About time,” Max muttered as he changed course. The other bulls followed.

>>>~<<<