Shelby 8 Snippet 5

 

 

TauG9-77

 

GovernorHarden sat and listened to the other governors' talk. The conference wasrunning long, no surprise there. They generally ran long since everyone said hiand talked in the initial bit before they got to the outline. By the time theygot to the schedule, they were behind schedule and it went downhill from there.

Itusually meant yanking things from his later time slots to compensate. He flatout refused to sacrifice time with his constituents or his family, however, orhell, sleep.

“So,Governor Harden, you are still on track to take the Pele refugees?” Marcello,the State Department AI running the meeting asked formally.

“Ifthey show up,” the Neofox governor replied with an ear flick. “We still haven’tseen hide nor hair of them. Has there been any word from the Confees?”

“No,sir,” Marcello stated. “You have the facilities for them ready?”

“Asready as they can be. Lieutenant Kade shifted from defensive works to finishingthe islands. They were almost done when the Confees invaded. The engineers hadsome cleaning up to do but it is done. Everything is ready for the refugees tomove in.”

“Betteryou than me. I wouldn’t want the competition,” Ebenezer stated.

“Idoubt they will be much competition,” The fox replied. He had done thepolitical calculations. Sure, the Pele people had their own leaders but theywould be isolated on the islands. He might lose in that state but he wasconfident the rest of the population would swamp their numbers without issue.

“Theywere well cared for by the navy. I hope they are good when they get here.Whenever that is,” the fox growled. “Marcello, look into it, will you?”

“Weare trying. The Confees are still trying to figure their political situationout.”

“Ah.”

“Didn’tyou folks order the release of EPOWs?” Governor Gyro, the leader of RumblingMountains asked.

“Weissued a swap as a proof of faith. Five hundred enlisted. Half are able-bodied;some were critically injured and recovered. All have been shipped to StunningSunsets to get to the Confederation,” Marcello supplied.

“Whynot through my neck of the woods?” Ebenezer asked.

“Wedrew them from Sparkling Seas so they would not have to be shipped acrossFederation space and then back again,” Marcello supplied.

“Imeant straight to that Confee base that has the refugees from Pele. Shame thebastards into giving our people up.”

“I’dhardly say five hundred of their enlisted for fifty-five thousand refugees instasis is a fair trade,” Governor Rufus Salazar, a big black and brown mastiffgovernor of Tau-15A922 stated.

“True,”Governor Harden stated along with other governors. He checked the clock. Thegood thing about the meeting was that it was virtual through the ansible. Hecould do it in his boxers if he wished. It was also time limited. CommanderEnki had blocked out two four-hour segments each day for the five-dayconference.

Theywere nearly done with the first block of time for the day.

“Whatdo we do about the refugees coming from the Confees? We know that they aregoing to swamp us with them eventually,” Ebenezer stated. The elderly governordid not look pleased.

Thenagain, he always had a grimace on his face the fox thought. It was his defaultsetting.

“Ican take a couple thousand,” he offered.

“What?More? Are you glutting for punishment?” Governor Salazar asked.

“Hardly.He’s a fox after all. A sly fox. His world gets all sorts of tax rebates andhelp for the refugees. That’s why he took on the Pele refugees,” Ebenezersupplied.

Thatstarted a chatter from the other governors. Commander Enki dutifully reportedwhat each said but stalled some of the comments since they were stepping oneach other.

GovernorHarden sat back and took a sip of his juice and let them chatter. He didn’tcare. The optics might be a little cynical but Ebenezer was correct in someways. Well, most ways, he admitted in the privacy of his own mind. Hehad done the political calculus and it had been the impetus to get his peopleto accept the refugees. Not only had he gotten so much out of it, but it madehim look good while the others looked stingy.

“Whatabout that world that got cleaned out by the pirate plagues? Can’t theyresettle there?” a governor asked.

“Therewill be a lot of places for the refugees to go. In fact, we are to discuss suchoptions on day three,” Marcello said. “If we can get back to the schedule …”

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FirstLieutenant Berl Kade felt relief that they were finally wrapping things up. Allof the defensive works had been wound down. The hidden refugee centers had beenevacuated and sealed for future use. Some of the people had not been happy toreturn to their former homes. Others had been ecstatic, right up until they hadfound out that their homes had been destroyed in the fighting.

Hisunit had helped along with the Army Corps of Engineers to get that sorted out.Their last task had been to make sure the Pele islands were ready for therefugees. They were, and when the natives had found out that those homes weresitting vacant, many had demanded that they get them instead.

GovernorHarden had stepped on that firmly. His administration had made it clear thatthe islands were located in the tropics away from any other cities orlocations. The natives had given the idea up, although not with the typicalgriping at wasting their precious tax dollars.

Heshook his head. He was getting cynical as of late. He shouldn’t be; they’d wonafter all. They had done the impossible and torn the invading Confees apartwhile also securing the safety of as many natives as possible.

I’vebeen seeing too much backbiting, he thought in annoyance.

Hehad found out the day before that he was the highest ranking Spacebee in thesector. He had been bewildered by that news. BuShips and Spacebee command hadyet to get back to him on why that was. He hoped to get an answer before heshipped out in a few weeks.

 Accordingto his last set of orders, he was supposed to be shipped back to the capital.But he had received an email asking him if he and his unit were willing to hooksoutheast and visit some worlds along the route home to help with therebuilding.

Hehad yet to put it to his team. He wasn’t sure how receptive they would be tothe idea.

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