[CaptRR]

More of the story, this should give Rutha some room to manuever.
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Chapter 7

Jasha sat in his office and thumbed the data card his hand, so much had happen in the Last 2 months since the Landing City Tragedy. He had expected to be relieved of his Committee chairmanship when Yalare took over, but the exact opposite had happen. Instead he had been ordered to proceed to the Central Powers Headquarters, there he hadn't had a lot to say. The original reason for his trip was to update fleet status, but once he had gotten to HQ he had been bombarded with questions, all having to do with Landing City. Unfortunately he had no answers to give, so he had stayed at Headquarters for the Last 2 months, listening to the trickle of news that was coming out of the Capital nowadays.

Josha tried to get updates on what was happening at home, but he had found that his own department was reluctant to give him information, citing security. When the Landing City tragedy happen it was all over the news, now suddenly it was gone, as if someone was trying to hide it. Josha knew that Yalare must have taken control of the communication channels, but the Peoples Committee would have blocked any such move. He had heard a few leaks, rumors mainly, about how the Prime Minister had declared marshal law, but every time he tried to follow up on it, he had been stopped cold. The Prime Minister's Last com, had made it clear that he wanted Josha to stay at Central Powers HQ, as far away from the Republic as he could be sent.

He was interrupted from his thoughts, but a movement at his door, for a second he was startled, but that soon faded as he recognized the figure entering the small office. "Jobe, how are you doing?" He stood and walked around the table to greet his friend.

Jobe, was a tall man, taller than most Dravens even, and he carried an air of confidence that was seldom for a man of his stature, that was part of the reason he had been made the chief Representative to the Central Powers Alliance Representatives. It was one of the proudest positions in all known space. Something was wrong though, his friends normal confidence was gone, he looked tired, worn, as though he had gone been in a street fight, and lost.

"Jobe, what's wrong?"

Jobe took a deep breath, there was no way to make it sound good, "Mr. Chairman, I'm afraid I have some rather unpleasant news."

Josha retook his seat behind his desk, Jobe was hardly ever formal with him, only when he had some important, usually bad, news did he drop back into the formal titles he had used during his upbringing. Josha motioned for him to continue.

"As you know, we lost 2 Central Powers Representatives in Landing City." The statement was cold fact, already known, but something was different in the way he reported it. "Well normally when a representative dies his replacement is appointed by the President. We thought that the Alliance would allow our Prime Minister to appoint a replacement in the place of our President since he too died at Landing City, and up until today that's what we thought would happen." He stopped as if struggling for the words. "Unfortunately, Mr. Chairman, the rules for our inclusion in the Central Powers Alliance do not give us any leeway, only the President may appoint a representative if one is dies in office, and we will not have a President until the next Election cycle."

Josha sat back heavily in his chair, what was happening was now dawning on him, and it scared him even more than when he heard the news of Landing City. "Great creator, it can't be."

Jobe looked at the floor, he knew how his friend felt, he felt the same. He had tried to debate it over the Last several hours, but in the end he had no leverage to work with, it was law after all, and it was unchangeable.

Over a minute must have passed before either man said a word, finally it was Josha who broke the silence, "Who?" was his only word.

"I'm afraid I don't know that yet, Josha, but there's one thing for sure, with the loss of those two votes, the New Governor Of the Central Powers Alliance will be from the Weyrling delegation."

Josha couldn't believe it. He never thought he would live to see the day that the Republics future rested on Rutha's Empire.

Chapter 8

Yalare worked diligently over the terminal in his office, it was small for the position he now held, but it suited his needs, and most of all it was secure. But it didn't matter right now, he had a major problem, the Republics Budget problems were getting worse, he had thought that with the loss of the President he would be able to scale the Military back, but that had not happen, the Terren Galactic Impereum had rebelled against their old leader, no one knew what happen too him, but the important thing was that he no longer in control of the Terrens. A new leader had arisen from the death of the old one, Mao Dzendun. Yalre would have welcomed the new leader, and used the opportunity to negotiate the border, so that he could stop this insane military spending.

Mao Dzendun had other ideas though, he had begun by blaming the Republic for the the problems that the Terrens were now having, and even go as far as to cut trade relations. Mao Dzendun had also accelerated his own military buildup, claiming it was to protect against the imperialist Draven's. Yalare was no military genius but he knew that scaling down the military now would mean the end to the repblic, but with the spending staying the same, and no increase in income he saw no way out of this problem.

"You know what you have to do." Yalare froze it was the voice again.

"Wha-what are you talking about." Yalare stumbled for the words, he was beginning to hear more and more from the voice, what scared him most was that he was beginning to agree with it on many things, it was as if Yalare was losing himself.

"You can't fool me remember, you know what you have to do, for the good of the Republic."

Yalare's heart was racing, what the voice was suggesting was impossible, 'I-I can't, it would kill millions."

The voice was as calm as ever, calculating in many ways, "Millions now or billions later, you choose."

Yalare, wanted to say it was wrong, to show where the voice had been mistaken in some way, but he couldn't it was cold, hard logic. Yalre picked up a small datacard and inserted it into his terminal. He looked through the report until he found the line he wanted, his hand flowed gracefully yet slowly over the keyboard. He didn't change much on the short report, just one word, but it was enough to change report entirely.

He finished, saved the document and reached for the send switch, his finger stopped just short of it. "I can't do it" he said, his voice crackling slightly, he couldn't believe what he was doing.

The voice was there again, always there, "Millions now or billions later, you choose." Yalre's finger pushed the send button. He froze there for several minutes, it was done, he had just paved the Republics Future, unfortunately it would be paved with blood.