BtH16

==Chapter 16 - By the Horns==
------
General Headquarters, Taurian Defense Force
Mount Santiago Defense Complex, Taurus
Taurian Concordat
October 24th, 3025
----
Helena Vickers trotted into the War Room buried deep in the labyrinth of the Headquarters of the Taurian Defense Force, Dan Stiles trailing in her wake. She steeled herself upon seeing the shocked faces of ranking officers, some of whom stood, others sat—a few with their faces cradled in their hands in expressions of utter disbelief. Oh, shit, she thought. What now?
As she scanned the room, she realized that they were still awaiting the Protector, and she drew in a deep breath to still her racing heart.
“Marshal Vickers?” an attractive woman—barely in her mid-30’s—whispered to her. “Glad that you have arrived—Thomas should be here in a moment . . . and we are waiting for one more besides the Protector to join us.”
“What’s happened, Marshal Calderon?” Helena asked, but before Brenda could reply, the doors opened again and every officer rose to his feet as Thomas entered the room, followed by a hustling—and white-faced—Grover Shraplen.
“Be seated, gentlemen, ladies,” Thomas said bluntly. “Six hours ago, the First Battalion of the Pleiades Hussars, under the command of Brigadier Boris Tharn, attacked the ComStar compound on Jansen’s Hold in the planetary capital of Theo,” he snapped—and Helena came to the realization that this was what utter and absolute fury looked like on the face of Thomas Calderon.
“We are aware of this only because ComStar has informed us of these actions—we do not at this time have Brigadier Tharn’s version of the events that occurred in Theo. This is what we know, however—the Hussars, under the command of Tharn, surrounded the ComStar compound with ‘Mechs, tanks, and infantry. They then demanded that two recent converts to ComStar be surrendered immediately, citing evidence that they were in fact Davion agents working to undermine our defenses on Jansen’s Hold. When the local ComStar Demi-Precentor refused to surrender them, Tharn assaulted the compound and seized one of the two suspected spies—the second, along with eighty-seven other members of ComStar, died in the assault.”
Stunned silence filled the room, broken only by a low groan from several officers. Thomas nodded. “I have been summoned to the Alpha station on Taurus—summoned!” he bellowed. “In two hours time, I will be asked to explain this in a real-time HPG communication with the Primus of ComStar himself! Grover,” he barked, turning towards his friend and long-time ally. “He’s your man—you pressured me, against the advice of my senior officers, to give him a Battalion. Has he gone insane or has he always been this incompetent?”
“It has to be a lie, Thomas! Boris Tharn is a loyal Taurian officer—he would never do such a thing,” and Grover shuddered, “unless it was to defend your realm.”
“DEFEND IT? THAT SON-OF-A-BITCH MIGHT HAVE JUST DESTROYED IT!” Thomas thundered. Then the Protector drew in a deep breath and clenched his fists together; he leaned forward on the table. “The word interdiction was used in the communication from Terra, ladies and gentlemen. Interdiction! Have you no clue as to what that might entail for the Concordat, Governor Shraplen?”
Helena cleared her throat, and Thomas jerked his head around with a scowl on his face, but then he calmed himself and nodded.
“Will ComStar allow us to speak directly with Brigadier Tharn?” she asked. “To assess his version of the events?”
“That is quite impossible, Marshal Vickers,” answered Henri Jouett. “As Brigadier Tharn died in the assault on the ComStar compound—his Ostroc suffered a direct hit to the cockpit that penetrated the armor and killed him instantly. Strangely enough, his executive officer and all three company commanders were also killed—the only casualties inflicted on the Hussars was to their officers.”
Henri paused and then he shook his head. “Such . . . rather implausible . . . targeting aside, I have to wonder just how Boris Tharn knew that the two men he was pursuing were in fact Davion agents? Considering that information was far above his need-to-know, and closely held by this very assembly here on Taurus. Perhaps the good Governor can shed some light on this matter—bearing in mind that my office will be launching a full investigation.”
“Grover?” growled Thomas.
The skin of civilian from MacLeod’s Land blazed red and he shook his head. “They were Davion agents, Thomas! I was working to protect your Realm—that smug ass,” he said pointing to Henri, “would have done nothing but watch them! We needed to send a message—but I had no idea that Boris would violate ComStar neutrality!” he bleated.
Thomas glared at Grover until his friend wilted and then the Protector sighed. “We will discuss this later in private—you and I, and it will be discussed in full, Grover,” and then Thomas sat down heavily and he rubbed his unruly hair with both hands. “This is one hell of a problem that we didn’t need—not now. I want options, people.”
“One, we make a public apology to ComStar and pay restitution—in whatever amount—they demand,” said Henri. “Which possibly includes handing over all surviving members of the First Pleiades Hussars for trial and execution by ComStar on Terra,” and officers around the table winced.
“The second option is accepting the interdiction, Protector Calderon. ComStar has proven notoriously consistent in the past with such incidents—whether it is a Concordat wide interdiction or not, . . . ,” Henri shrugged.
“There is a third option,” mused Helena quietly.
“Well, this should be good,” interrupted Henri. “And what, pray tell, is this third option?”
“We go all in—seize every ComStar compound and HPG in the Concordat,” Helena said bluntly.
“MY GOD!” someone shouted as chaos erupted around the table.
“Mademoiselle Vickers,” Henri spoke slowly—as if to a child, “even if we were successful in seizing their compounds and the HPGs, we do not know how to operate them.”
Helena shrugged. “The ComStar adepts and acolytes do—and they will talk given sufficient persuasion.”
“Torture,” muttered another officer. “We are better than that.”
“Bullshit,” said Helena bluntly. “We are human—that means we do what we have to do. We do things horrendous when necessary in order to survive. I thought that Taurians learned that along with their mother’s milk?”
“When necessary,” snapped Thomas. “It is not—in my mind—necessary . . . yet.” He shook his head. “No. We—the Protectors before me—gave our word that ComStar could operate here in safety. I will not throw aside that to take what does not belong to Taurus. To the Concordat—we are not thieves, Marshal.”
“My apologies, Protector,” Helena said, not sounding all that apologetic, “but you did ask for options—and that is one option.”
“So I did,” he said. “And if it becomes necessary, we may revisit your third option, Marshal Vickers. But until then . . . how much can the Treasury scrounge up?”
“Barely enough to rebuild a Class B station, Sire,” the Exchequer sighed. “In hard currency, at least. Between the Far Seekers and the money you are throwing into Erebor and the diversionary Core—you and Henri, that is, Sire—we are all but tapped out for this quarter. If ComStar insists on hard currency . . .,” he looked down at his hands and then directly into the Protector’s eyes. “We may not have it. Not enough.”
Thomas sighed. “We will cross that bridge once I speak with the Primus—for now,” he said softly, but with an iron core that no one at the table mistook. “For now, I want readiness orders for a possible Concordat-wide interdiction issued to every unit on a world with an HPG—and I want a courier ship taking those same orders to EVERY SINGLE WORLD—HPG or no—of our Concordat within the hour. Henri, Brenda, and I have been digging through the contingencies, and Case Vermillion is the one in question. Inform all commands that they may have to act independently and without confirmation from Taurus.”
He paused. “DEFENSIVE OPERATIONS ONLY, gentlemen, ladies. I will hang any officer from the nearest light post that decides to go a’viking—is that understood?”
A chorus of voices answered in the affirmative. “Good. Now get cracking and get those orders issued immediately—and God help us all.”
----
Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
Category:By the Horns Chapters