Spooker
patreon
Grass Eaters 3 | 18 | Feel Like Winning I
🕑 Added 2024-12-04 16:47:00 +0000 UTCHotel Hano, Titan
POV: Amelia Waters, Terran Republic Navy (Rank: Fleet Admiral)
“Why doesn’t this feel like winning? Why aren’t we just holding them by the original agreement made during the Battle of Sol?” Senator Seimur Eisson complained as he loosened his tie after a long day of negotiation. “The Saturnian Resistance Navy is over. They’ve got nothing, and they’re talking about things like they single-handedly defeated the entire alien invasion by themselves. I say we arrest a few of their mid-level guys. A couple nights in a Navy ship brig ought to knock some sense into the rest of them!”
Amelia Waters tried not to roll her eyes as she set her tablet down. “Look, this is the closest we have to true peace in the Red Zone in decades. Giving it a real shot is the least we can do for our people.”
“Of course you’re on their side for this—” he began again. But seeing the dangerous expression making its way onto her face, he quickly changed tack. “I mean… you know these people, Amelia! They’re terrorists, pirates, and murderers. You really think they’re going to keep to their word the second we take our eyes off them? Have they ever stuck to their word? Ever?”
“Sometimes. Mostly not,” she admitted. “But we have a chance to at least drive the problem to another star system where we don’t have to look at them today and tomorrow. And we should be jumping for joy they’d even accept that.”
“Yeah, but the deal you agreed to was one star system, not the three they’re asking for now. One! And it’s exile, not… expansion. Look, you may know them militarily,” Seimur sniffed. “But I see their kind in district negotiations all the time. Give them a gram, they’ll take a kilo. Today, they want three star systems. Tomorrow, they’ll be back for five. By the end of the week, they’re selling Olympus back to us at a discount!”
Amelia shrugged. “It’s just empty star systems. They want to develop our worthless rocks and empty space out there into productive colonies, they’re welcome to it. Hey, maybe those will even clamor to become Republic districts after a while. We’ll deal with those issues then.”
“And what about after? You’ve seen their new ships! What happens in twenty years when they fly those back to Luna and demand tribute?”
She barked a short laugh. “Their prized Bun ships? Have you taken a look at high Terra orbit lately, Seimur? Or your own Mars, for that matter! If it weren’t for Panoptes, we’d probably still be cataloguing the millions of new pieces of orbital debris from that attempt. And they had thousands of ships, hundreds of them missile destroyers. You think the Resistance is going to do better with their mere three squadrons? Their people can barely fit into those tiny hallways! They’re more likely to develop spine issues than an actual spine to come attack us with!”
“A plan being stupid has never stopped the Resistance before. They can still do a lot of damage to us while self-immolating.”
“True. Yet… their ships will break down in a few months anyway. And where are they going to get their fuel? The only easily accessible blink fuel there is within forty light years is in Sol,” Amelia said, tilting her head. “That can’t really be your concern, can it, Senator?”
“Just wait until they demand reparations for those gas giants we sank…” Seimur hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “It’s not just that… My people have long memories. These terrorists are the same people who killed thousands of us over the years. I was elected on the promise that we will have justice. I can’t go back to my district and explain to them that we’ll give them everything they want in a peace treaty just because— because what? Because they protected their own homes? And it’s three new star systems! What message does that send to enemies of the Republic?”
“It sends the message that we’re willing to consider coexistence. You don’t negotiate peace with friends; you do it with your enemies. That’s— that’s just how that works. And this demand of theirs… it’s effectively still exile, Seimur. Into a few undeveloped star systems that won’t be economically viable for decades! Lifetimes, even! Exile instead of prison, is that really so much of a concession? And we’re splitting them up. That’s got to count for something, right?”
“I don’t think that’ll matter, Amelia. One star system — that bitter pill my people can maybe swallow because you made them a promise during the Battle of Sol, and the Republic trusts you. For our children to deal with. You think if I get replaced in the next election, my successor will be any more flexible on this issue than I am?” he asked, shaking his head. “Any more than that… we’re just kicking the can down the road.”
“All of policy is kicking the can down the road,” Amelia said in amusement. “We aren’t crafting a utopian future for our children. God knows we’ve tried that a few times in the last couple hundred years. Thousand-year realm, historical materialism… we aren’t writing the end of history here, Senator.”
“That’s the rather… short-sighted view of things, some might say. What about our next generation? What will we leave them?”
“We are in a total war, Senator. We walk one step at a time; we fight one battle at a time. And it’s not like we’re hiding from our problems; we are making the galaxy a better place for the Republic tomorrow than it is today. That is all. It’s not perfect. And if our children and grandchildren don’t like it, we’ll have given them the tools, and we can dare them to do better! As it always has been.”
Seimur looked contemplative for a couple seconds, but then deflated and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. They aren’t taking three out of the five star systems of the Republic. That just— that isn’t happening. Our districts would revolt and recall us before we put our pens to paper on that treaty.”
“What about… their other demands?” Amelia asked, sighing in resignation as she rifled through the agenda items on her tablet. “Maybe we can split the difference somewhere else?”
“For starters, their prize hulls are still on the table. If they want to keep them, fine, but we’re getting back our spacers’ bodies for their families. And they can’t keep all their Bun prisoners of war.”
“Obviously.”
“Not that I care about welfare of the aliens under their care, but they can’t be allowed that piece of leverage in case they get any ideas about negotiating something separate with the Buns themselves. It’s unlikely they learn to negotiate like civilized creatures, but that’s not a risk we should ever take.”
Amelia declined to ask him whether he was referring to the Ace or the Znosians. Instead, she snorted and muttered under her breath, “Okay, not exactly the formula I was thinking of, but at least you got to the right answer.”
“They’ve agreed to keep in the condition that the cessation of hostilities includes against any ally of the Republic,” he said as he read down the list.
Technically that wasn’t really a consequential sticking point for either party, as the SRN hadn’t shown any ability to strike against anyone else, except perhaps a few individual Malgeir Marines who were in Sol. But it was the principle of the thing. Some of the Senators, including Seimur himself, had been reluctant to include that particular clause in the negotiations and were originally considering dropping the demand. But when an early draft leaked with that detail conspicuously absent, the public backlash was swift and harsh. That the Malgeir had been fighting and bleeding alongside the Republic in not one, but two wars, was not lost on most voters.
Amelia smiled sweetly. “Glad you came around on that.”
Seimur ignored the quip and continued, “And those two SRN breakaway groups that have started making some noise in the last couple weeks… screw that! They clean house, or we’ll do it for them.”
She nodded after a heartbeat of thought. “The Ace will hem and haw, but she’ll agree to that. She doesn’t like internal challenges to her power any more than we like splinter cells.”
“Other than that, yeah, everything else is peanuts that the accountant intelligences can nickel and dime through. It’s just the star systems demand that’s an issue.”
“It’s just— it’s symbolic, Seimur. They just don’t want to walk away with nothing. Fight a half century war with the Republic only to end in total defeat. They don’t want to see this treaty as a document of surrender. And… we don’t want them to either. Because if that’s how they see it, there’s no reason for them to abide by it at all once they get out of here!”
“In times like these, symbols mean everything. And the terrorists, even they need to acknowledge reality at some point!”
Amelia thought for a moment. “What if we give them options?”
“Options? Like… stock options?”
“Like alien territory.”
“Look, I don’t think much of the Malgeir or the Granti, but I doubt even they will be dumb enough to want these assholes in their territory—”
“Oh, I’m not talking about our allies.”
Seimur frowned. “Znosian?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“I’m… not against it. But even with your— your ambitious counterattack timelines, we aren’t projected to get there and hold those Znosian systems until next year or the year after. We can’t put these talks on hold while we do that; there’s always a chance they do something stupid between now and then.”
Amelia shrugged. “The Resistance — they’ve got their own FTL ships now. Three squadrons of them.”
Seimur’s eyes widened. “You’re talking about—”
“Look, how about this? They can have a presence in Sirius. And they can have enough fuel for a one-way trip to Grunsaeps, at the edge of Granti space. Everything beyond that… that’s what I call a ‘them problem’.”
“A ‘them problem’?” he repeated. “By them, are we talking about the Resistance or the Buns?”
She pointed a finger back at him, a smile creeping onto her face. “Yes. Yes, we are.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
POV: Sophie Garnier, Saturnian Resistance Navy (Ace of Clubs)
The Ace of Clubs was having trouble controlling her temper. “Who the fuck is moving against the Reps without my explicit orders?”
Felix checked his tablet. “Looks like one of the cells is a new uh… new excitable crew on Mimas. They joined after the Tharsis attacks. One of their guys tried to take some local dockworkers hostage but got zapped by station security.”
She snorted. “Embarrassing amateurs. Remind everyone that if anyone moves again without my say-so, we’ll feed them to our new pet Buns piece by piece.”
“Ace? What if they—”
“What? You think they’ll need a real demonstration first? Good call. Where did Krissy go?” she shouted.
The former Eight Whiskers of the Znosian Navy hopped into the room on command. “You asked for me, Thirteen Whiskers?”
Felix hurried to explain. “No, no, I’m sure they’ll get the message. I was asking what to tell them since— since they sent us a message asking about the status of the negotiations?”
“Status— status of negotiations?! What are they, angling for my job now? I’m negotiating. And when I’m done with that, I give orders, and they follow them. They don’t like that… they can go running to the Reps for witness protection, or Krissy can do for a nice dinner. Isn’t that right, Bun?”
Krizvum bowed deeply. “Yes, Thirteen Whiskers. I will eat whatever you tell me to.”
“Don’t worry Krissy, we’ll make sure to fully cook them to temperature before we feed you meat next time. Who knew you had such a weak stomach?” the Ace sighed.
“Thank you, Thirteen Whiskers. You are so kind and benevolent.”
The Ace of Clubs nodded. “Damn right. You know, Krissy, I think I’m going to miss you when the Reps take you all away from us.”
“Thirteen Whiskers?” he asked, looking up. And for a second, a glint of hope flashed across his eyes.
It didn’t stay there for long.
She sighed, “Yeah, they want us to hand you guys over. Actually, you know what? I’m going to see if I can get a small exception — a carve-out of some kind — put into the Treaty of Hano draft. Maybe we’ll be allowed to keep a few of you furry little monsters around. Military advisors. Enough to staff our ships. Since the Rep admiral wants us to go attack your people’s territory, right?”
“I was only a lowly ship captain, Thirteen Whiskers,” Krizvum said, his eyes almost pleading for the sweet release of death. “I don’t know much about your military strategy—”
“Yeah, obviously, or you wouldn’t be here as a prisoner, would you? But we’re heading into new territory, and we’ll need to know about local culture and shit, right?” the Ace of Clubs asked with a dangerous look in her eyes. “You won’t have a problem volunteering to help us with that, will you, Krissy?”
“I— of course not, Thirteen Whiskers,” he bowed again. “I will be honored to help with whatever you ask of me.”
“Good. Good. You’ll do, Eight Whiskers.”
The Ace glanced around her new crew in the ship hangar, now mostly made of captured Znosian prisoners with their undersized equipment. Recruitment had dried up with the imminent official peace in the Red Zone, but that was of human crew. There was no shortage of captured Znosians all over the Sol system, and with the Republic Navy busy elsewhere, the old contraband smuggling routes funneled captured spacers of the Znosian Navy into her new ships. Breaking them wasn’t easy, but once they figured it out and developed a method, she had no complaints about their efficiency.
These guys don’t complain about bathroom breaks and pay raises, that’s for sure.
She beamed at the furry creatures diligently working their duty stations on her ship with a pleased smile. “You all will do.”
Comments
AnAbsoluteVillain
@M With the way Znos think? She might be onto something. Little psykos.
Nicolae
oh it will. the rebellion does not have the knowledge to run a star system, but the buns; have more than enough to be given control of the system because it will be easier then dealing with it themselves.
ColonelCodfish
Oh I really like this. Potential time jump incoming after book three? Maybe the galaxy gets to see the dichotomy of humanity? One side being a shining example of freedom and the other being whatever dictatorial, slave-driving hellhole the SRN founded. Very nice setup.
M
Maybe her pet bunny kills her before it gets too bad.
Valdis Trautmanis
Either the Terran Empire and the Republic will be forced to pacify them, or given some time they could calm down and become Australia in space 🤠
M
Damn she's crazy... I don't think it's a good idea to give them even one system.. who knows what fucked up civilization will evolve with people like her as the founders ...
