Fic: Spin Recovery, Part Thirty Four

[jeriendhal]

Regina Fieldmaster’s office was done up in dark woods in a manner that reminded Rufus uncomfortably of Doctor Redfur’s own interview room. That was offset by the large bay window that looked out over the river, bringing much needed light in. Regina herself was a light furred vixen dressed in an expensive grey business suit. It was as much of a uniform for her as anything Rufus had worn in his piloting days.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, milord,” Regina said as he entered, coming around to greet him.

He shook her hand and sat down in a chair. “I didn’t think I had much choice. Piracy, Regina? Is this a case of someone having their wires crossed or is this a real threat?”

“Oh, the threat is real enough,” she said, sitting back behind her desk. “A formal request for your deportation is about to submitted to the Council of Farmer Lords. It will, of course, be refused. Vulpine Lords police their own.”

“A fact for which I am eternally grateful. I’m just trying to figure out what the motivation is. They must have known it would be futile.”

“Not quite so futile, if their intent is to restrict your movements. Even if they lose, they can still keep the warrant active. If you move out of Vulpine controlled territory you could risk arrest.”

Rufus snorted. “Arrest a Farmer Lord? The Council would scream bloody murder over that.”

Regina tapped the side of her muzzle with a stylus. “Not… automatically. This charge is in relation to the Blue Horizon incident.”

Rufus drew in a breath. It was either that or start growling. “Could you please expand on that?”

“You must understand I haven’t yet seen the formal charges. My source was able to inform me, however, that the GSA is going to claim that you were in collusion with the alleged mastermind of the incident, a human named Mavra Chan, and aided her in the attack on the liner by agreeing to turn and run when she attacked.”

He was silent for a long moment. “There’s a minor problem with that argument. The data from my ship’s flight recorder doesn’t match that accusation. I was setting myself up for an attack run on her ship when my wingman’s fighter was destroyed and my own craft took damage from the blast.”

“But you never actually attacked the pirate galleon.”

“No, I didn’t get the chance.” He sighed and corrected himself. “Rather, I didn’t take the chance. In truth, I ran like a scared little cub with my tail between my legs. But I didn’t do it because Mavra Chan was paying me to be a coward.”

“I see. So it’ll be your word against theirs. As I suspected, they aren’t looking to win this case, so much as discredit and hobble you.” She made a note on her pad, in the exact same manner as Dr. Redfur. “Milord, I ask this in the confidence of legal advisor to client, have you ever been involved in illegal activity, beyond your recent arrest for drug solicitation and possession?”

He ran his hand through his ruff of headfur, debating the wisdom of just being silent. “Yes. For about four years I used my personal fighter to smuggle drugs.”

Her eyebrows rose up and she tapped in more notes. “Were you ever arrested, or is the GSA aware of your activities?”

“No, but if they aren’t, then Captain Blake was either naïve or being deliberately blind.”

“How probably do you think it is that this information might come up should the charges come to the Farmer Lord Council?”

“I don’t know, which I assume means we should consider it inevitable. If this is either an attempt to destroy my reputation, what little of it I have left, or restrict me to Vulpine space, I can’t imagine they’ll fail to bring it up.”

“This Captain Blake you mentioned, she is with the GSA military?”

“Yes, a human naval captain I had the misfortune to meet. When I left her company she was not inclined to regard myself or my companions with any amount of charity.” More like pure, barely contained hatred, after they had thwarted her attempt to hold onto the young Ferin men they had rescued. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the details, I fear, even with you.”

Eyebrows hovering in vicinity of her ear tips, she made more notes. “That leaves us in something of a quandary. If your illegal actions come to light, it will mean severe damage to your reputation in the Farmer Council. I don’t specialize in Council legal disputes but I predict things could go very badly for you.”

“My mother is not about to try and have my privileges of being a member of the Council stripped from me,” he said. “Without her consent in that matter there is little they can do to me, beyond public rebuke and snubbing.”

“Doesn’t that matter to you, milord?”

He shook his head. “No. The truth matters. I know what I am, and am not, guilty of. What drives me mad is the fact that I know perfectly well why this is coming up. The GSA must of have gotten wind that I managed to block my mother from digging for sevenium in our lands, so now they’re afraid of me...” he paused, trying to figure out the right way to put it. “The GSA, particularly the humans, would like very much for the Council to continue moving in a direction they have encouraged. A direction I regard as paranoid and unnecessary. I think this is an attempt to lock a muzzle around my jaws, so that my views, however unlikely they would listened to anyway, will not be heard in the Council chambers.”

Regina chewed on that one a bit, finally saying, “This all sounds unpleasantly political, Lord Brushtail.”

“Ms. Fieldmaster, you do not know the half of it.” He rapped the knuckle of his artificial hand on the arm of his chair. “Let them bring their suit to the Council of Farmer Lords. The truth will come out. However damaging it might be to me, it will come out. I’m tired of running away from it.”

“As you will, milord.”

* * *

It was perhaps inevitable that the call, when it came, rang in the middle of the night. He was half-tempted to let the answering service’s AI take it, but settled for a polite “One Moment, Please” message while he yawned, plugged his arm back in, slipped a shirt over his head and combed his fur into place. Then he hit the Receive button and let it through.

“Milord Brushtail, I hope I didn’t wake you up,” Leeza Blake said. She was sitting at a desk, dressed in a spit and polish GSA Navy uniform, the large round form of some airless grey moon or planetoid visible in the window behind her. The tight, polite smile on her face was approximately as warm as liquid oxygen.

“You did, but I suspect you knew you were going to. Either that or your com’s AI is remarkably dim not to note the time difference between Vulpine Prime and where you are,” Rufus replied. He rested his chin on the palm of his artificial arm and asked, “To what do I owe your attention, Captain Blake?”

“It’s Commander Blake, currently,” she corrected, the smile slipping just a bit.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Then again, I suppose losing a third of your fleet during an enemy action does warrant some censure. On the beach, are you?”

“I’ve been temporarily assigned to administrative duties pending my next assignment,” Commander Blake replied blandly.

Rufus nodded in false sympathy. “Your twin mentioned that your father was likely an unforgiving sort when it came to having his desires thwarted.”

Her smile tightened. It was rather like watching a time lapse film of wet leather stretching and drying on a frame. “My mission was my responsibility. My failure to complete it was my responsibility as well. Unlike some people, I don’t duck it by trying to fry my own brain or commit near suicidal stunts.”

“A point,” he conceded. “Again, to what do I owe the questionable pleasure of your call?”

“I called as a courtesy to you, actually. I’ve been recently informed that the Justice Ministry is going to make a request for your extradition, on piracy charges of all things. I thought you might like to know.

“Really? How extraordinary. I’m surprised that you thought so much of me to call and give me a warning.”

“Actually, it’s more of a courtesy to Vulpine Prime. It would hardly do for one of her native sons to have his name very publicly dragged through the muck, don’t you agree?”

Out of the goodness of your heart, he thought. Sure. He suspected that Commander Blake was a woman not used to fine art of polite diplomatic knife-fights. Otherwise she wouldn’t have tossed out that insult about the state of his brainpan, no matter how well he deserved it. No, she was a straightforward sort. Rather like a runaway bulldozer. A world where orders were given and obeyed, and their morality not argued over. He could almost pity her for having to try to act sly.

Almost.

“Perhaps I’m being a bit dense,” he said, “but why are you calling to tell me this? It isn’t as if you’re involved with anything the Ministry of Justice might put out against me.”

“Well, I do have a few contacts there, that’s how I found out about the extradition request,” she replied. “I’m sure if I asked, they could politely quash it.”

“How very nice of you,” he said, trying to tamp down the sarcasm in his voice. “And what would you like from me in return?”

“Nothing taxing, I would just like your Word that you won’t interfere with your government’s increase in defense spending.”

He let out a polite chuckle. “I don’t have a vote in the Council of Farmer Lords and by the Holy Den Mother’s mercy I never will. I think you’re seriously overestimating the influence I have over my mother’s opinions right now.”

“You influenced her enough to halt the sevenium mining.”

“News of that reached all the way to Earth? I'm delighted in your interest. Still, the circumstances were extraordinary. If whatever watchers you have here reported that, then they've surely told you I'm on the outs with her over it.”

The false smile dropped from her face, finally. “Be that as it may, these are extraordinary times and you are priviledged to have access to extraordinary information concerning the state of the galaxy. The Terran Federation would be a lot happier if you pledged to keep your mouth shut about what you saw during the Bolt Hole incident.”

“Ah, the little problem with the two young men and the assault fleet sent to catch them. Not to mention what caught up with us afterward. Curious that you should be so worried about that. Don't you htink I reported it to the Council of Farmer Lords first thing when I arrived back home?”

“We know you didn't. There's no way they would have believed you.”

“Quite true. So what has you so worried now?”

Her eyes grew steely. “I just hate loose ends. And you are a loose end, Lord Brushtail.”

“Yes, just like those two young boys, who belonged to a race Humanity feared so badly that they set out to destroy every Ferin in the universe.”

“And now the Varn have them again. The Gene Mage is probably cloning them en masse right now. Doesn't it bother you at all that they have access to that power again?”

Rufus growled in irritation. “Who are these mysertious 'they' you refer to? As near as I can see the Gene Mage and that poor boy he took in were equally broken. The Varn Dominion is gone. As for the Galapagos, they seemed to be no more inclined to war than anyone else. Certainly less so that you.” He paused, as a horrifying thought occured to him. No, surely not. But then, if one took Commodore Blake as a reflection of her much more powerful father, the Admiral... “That's why you want the Council to increase its spending so much! You're not worried about defense. You want everyone to get ready for a first strike!”

“The Terran Confederation is not going to stand idly by the Dominion rearms itself and makes ready to enslave Humanity again. We will eliminate the enemy that conquered the Earth six hundred years ago. It would be much easier with your government's help, but if we must we will go it alone.”

“I won't let my people be dragged into a unnecessary war, Commander.”

“Wrong, you are going sit very quietly and watch. Otherwise you're going to a have a repuation a lot worse than that of a drug addict, Lord Brushtail.”

“I'd rather be known as a pirate than as a genocidal loon like yourself. You can't prove a single one of your allegations about the Blue Horizon incident, anyway.”

“We don't have to. All that has to be done is plant a seed of doubt. The news media will do the rest.” She smiled again, in a way that as ghastly as it likely was genuine. “You're right though. There are a lot of worse things to be accused of than piracy, Lord Brushtail.”

“Really? You'll have to tell me why you did them.” He cut off the com before she could reply, feeling himself shake with repressed rage. They want a war. If the truth does not come out, they might just very well get it, he thought. But how to stop them?

He punched in a com code and waited. In a few moments Regina Fieldmaster appeared on the screen, blinking sleepily and settling a bathrobe around herself. “Milord, what the matter?” she asked.

“Forgive me, Regina, but I'm afriad I'm going to have to ask you to accelerate our schedule a bit. I need to have an audience with the Council of Farm Lords before the GSA Ministy of Justice can bring up formal charges against me.”

She rubbed her eyes, trying focus. “All right, milord. But may I ask what you intend to say to them?”

“It's not what I'm going to say, it's how I'm going to say it.”

TBC

Comments

[tamhavik.livejournal.com]

Oh, curious! I wonder what he's planning... Can hardly wait ^^

[lennan.livejournal.com]

You go Rufus. I wonder what the lad has planned.

Man...I never thought I could hate Leeza. D=