Space Knights- Last on the Line by Emerson Fortier

Author:Emerson Fortier [Fortier, Emerson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12: Charles // Reviewing ranks

Charles surveyed the boy that had come into his office and knew that he didn’t want this responsibility. “Why are you bringing this to me?” Charles asked.

Irenaeus had been frowning, serious and intense since he came in. “Falkye said I should talk to you about it.”

“And Mom?” Charles asked.

Irenaeus rolled his eyes. “Mom will say no, and Dad will say yes. I thought Falkye could help me get a good position but he said to talk to you.”

Charles rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He didn’t need this, this family drama, amidst all the other political maneuvering, not to mention actual military emergencies he could do nothing about without stepping over Falkye’s command. More crash factories had landed along the Sunset River and were proving more resilient than the previous landings had been. On top of that he’d uncovered what he suspected were three attempts by the Kidawas to get their own people highly placed in the army and had to decide what, if anything, he wanted to do about it, since Falkye would certainly not do anything. The Quinns had their own people, of course, but the Kidawas would ask for the positions if he squeezed their people out and then he would be facing the Avakoffs and every other major dynasty working on sinking their stakes into the fledgling army. If that happened he would be forced to fill every new position in their army with men more politically qualified than qualified by experience in order to satisfy the other dynasties unless he wanted to bar them from the war effort and alienate the Quinn’s true base of support. To top it all off their oldest and most productive copper mine was playing itself ou,t which meant that unless he wanted to see their war production falter he would have to replace it, and quickly, before the Kamele began to really seriously target the Marain infrastructure with their orbital arsenal. The fact that they had not yet done so still bothered him. It was the obvious move, and it hinted at a game being played he wasn’t aware of, another surprise in a war that seemed full of them. Another mystery he didn’t have time to solve in order to understand how the opportunity could be used. He sighed.

“Everyone wants to do their part.” He said, more to himself than his youngest brother.

“Everyone else has something.” Irenaeus said. “No one has been in the military. No one except great great grand-dad but he didn’t even fight. They only used hounds.”

Charles opened his eyes and studied the young man. It occurred to him that Irenaeus could be the answer to his problem with the Kidawas, but he hadn’t hoped to drag his brother into this whole charade. Everything was moving so fast. Then again, Irenaeus had asked, but, “You said us.” Charles said. “You said I could help, us, how many of you are there?”

“Four.” Irenaeus said.

“Who?” Charles had only a very vague knowledge of the circles his brother moved in.

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