To Hell With Honor by Richard Tongue

Author:Richard Tongue [Tongue, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Duquesne sat in his borrowed office, his hands working the controls of the projector, showing view after view of local space, now with Francisco’s list of hidden facilities added to the display. The entrepreneur had certainly been busy, a series of mines and supply depots scattered across the rings, even on some of the other shepherd moons, but none of them seemed to be in any sort of position to provide any help for the enemy.

On the other hand, they might be just what he was looking for the set a nice surprise. Drifting through the rings only forty thousand miles away was a small facility that would be just about perfect, fuel already stored, everything ready to go. He reached for a stylus, scrawling notes on his pad, before being broken from his reverie as the door chimed, opening to reveal O’Mara.

“Ah, come in,” he said, killing the display. “I might have a little job for you. Looks like we have the perfect spot to…” He paused, looked up at her, and gestured for her to take a seat, asking, “What’s the problem?”

“I just spoke to Donovan,” she began.

Nodding, he said, “She called me first. I was hoping that you might be able to work out just who those troublemakers were?”

“I don’t know either of them personally, but they’re colonists of long standing down here, both of them resident for years.” She pulled out her tablet, then said, “The man was Bill Brand. Shuttle technician, and the woman was Diane Larson. She works in hydroponics, and interesting, she spent a good part of last year trying to organize a union.”

“Did she get anywhere?”

“Only among the usual troublemakers, but it caused a few waves at the time, as I recall. I know that Francisco wasn’t happy about it. Not much of a surprise, he’d be affected far worse than anyone else, of course.”

“I guess so,” Duquesne said. “Which on the one had would tend to suggest that he wasn’t involved with any of this, but if you want to try some fourth-dimensional logic, that might be precisely what he was counting on.” He paused, then added, “Though it doesn’t ring true.”

“He’s only here for his own ends,” she replied. “To make a fast buck.”

“And from what I’ve seen, he’s never made any particular secret of that fact, and has been quite open about making it clear that he’s in this for the money, not for any sort of a cause. I’d trust that before I’d trust someone who claims to be on some kind of crusade. Believe me, that sort of leader tends to get their people killed.”

“You don’t think much of our Council, then?”

“No more than you do,” he replied. “How the hell did you end up with that triumvirate, anyway? Nobody else step up to the plate?”

“That’s basically how it happened,” she said. “Francisco basically paid for his seat. Oh, there’s no question of anything that underhanded, he just ran an expensive campaign, even brought some consultant in to advise him.

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