Ravens of Eternity

Chapter 114

114 Bad Intent

At the spiral towers in the center of the city, one of its parliamentary floors was rife with subdued activity. Thousands had come from all over the Imperium to listen to senators argue their side, and ultimately cast their votes on one of the more critical issues of their lifetimes.

Even as one of its senatorial members spoke to the entire floor on behalf of the Empire’s border territories, many others held hushed conversations with each other. Their aides rushed from table to table and helped extend their spheres of influence. Hundreds of promises and compromises were made or refused or negotiated as the cycle drew on.

Everyone still tried to influence the vote one way or another, even as the vote itself drew more and more imminent.

Every table in the grand hall was seated by multiple senators from all over the Imperium. Most had come in person, but some were only able to attend via drone intermediaries. Their holographic bodies shimmered amidst the crowds around.

Almost all of them wore austere robes with subdued accessories. Most were neutral and earthy, and varied between browns, tans, and greys. Only a relative few wore extravagant outfits, which were clearly designed to grab and hold attention.

Near every table was at least a handful of EyeCast drones. Each one was owned by various media organizations, individual journalists, or even the senators themselves. Their goal was to simply broadcast the proceedings to the rest of the Imperium completely live.

Not only that, many of them planned to record it all and cut it down to only the most interesting portions. The majority of Drogar wouldn’t be the ones to watch a parliamentary vote anyway. At least, not from start to finish and in full.

Perhaps only the truly dedicated did. Or the insane.

Otherwise, they preferred to catch the heavily edited and truncated version of the proceedings.

.....

A number of EyeCast drones hovered and orbited around the senator who currently had the floor, and speaking privileges. They did their best to capture every word he spoke.

His words were filled with passion, and his tones were varied but harmonious. The lustre of his dark green scales contrasted nicely with his stone grey robes. His look gave him a sense of down-to-earth authority. Many in the hall listened to him with rapt attention.

“Every world all along our border territories cry out for the same thing,” he said. “A better life. A life beyond the violent skirmishing. A life with some security, a better future. Time and again, they ask for wider shipping lanes, newer terraforming technology, well-equipped planetary defense systems, and more!

The senator paused to allow his words to sink in for a moment before continuing his plea.

“We must cut down on unnecessary military expansion and instead divert those funds to developing the territory we already have. If we don’t focus our budget towards these kinds of improvements, colonists will leave! There’s no point in defending an empty territory!”

He paused to allow his words some room to breathe, but before he could continue, Savoth brazenly interrupted him.

“All due respect, Senator Paveloth,” he said. “Reducing the defense budget will cause utter mayhem to the colonies. Building new orbital yards in the border territories greatly strengthens their operational defense.”

Savoth stood up to oppose Paveloth directly. And unlike his comrade, he wore robes made of exotic fabrics, along with bright beads and necklaces. They glittered under certain angles of the hall’s light, a fact which he constantly used to his advantage.

A few EyeCast drones drew closer to Savoth in an attempt to better capture him on camera. At the same time, some of his senatorial colleagues murmured in nearly-audible whispers. Some praised his tenacity, while others derided his audacity.

“Border defense is maintained by many of our fleets,” countered Paveloth. “Since we already have an incredibly strong naval presence, it would be pointless to build orbital bases and yards. As I noted, we’d be throwing away money at unnecessary defenses!”

“You wanna talk funding and money?” snarled Savoth. “Porting the various fleets in and out of the core worlds is absurdly expensive and time consuming. We’re wasting trillions every time we do that. Are your constituents alright with you wasting trillions in Imperial resources?”

Savoth was an expert in riling up those around him, no matter how politically experienced they were. Paveloth sighed deeply, frustration was laced within his tones as he responded.

“I honestly don’t see how that’s relevant, Senator,” he said. “The fleets cost trillions per cycle, even if they weren’t doing a damned thing. In fact, using them for the border skirmishes is the most frugal thing we can do with them.”

“You’ve missed the point, junior. The point is that the border territories can finally defend themselves with those new yards, and with greater efficiency. Doing so reduces the fiduciary burden on the Empire itself.”

Paveloth shook his head in utter disbelief. It was as though Savoth didn’t hear a single thing he had said. He felt his blood pressure rising, and so loosened his robe slightly. As he did so, his hand absentmindedly fell to his beltknife’s pommel, and grasped it.

“It appears it’s you who’s missed the point,” he responded. “This isn’t about reducing the burden on the Empire. It’s about building up the colonies. You keep talking about the fleet and defenses and what other nonsense... But our fleet’s strong! Our fleet’s indomitable! They’ve been holding back the barbarians by the strength of their shield arms for two decades now. It’s time to finally dig in and build up our border planets!”

A great number of side discussions erupted around Paveloth. The proposal he had been fighting for was clearly supported by a great many. They were certain that they were going to pass it simply because it was the most prudent and obvious thing to do.

They were also certain that Savoth and his people would do their best to delay the inevitable. Slanderous stories about him spread in murmurs throughout the hall, though none of them bothered him in the slightest.

All he cared about was disrupting the vote.

“If our core fleets are all out at the border,” he said, “then who’s guarding the actual core, hmm? Did you perhaps forget that only one week ago, an experimental Federation base ported right in our solar system! Right above our heads! They bypassed all of our navigational security, locked into our capital planet’s beacon, and zapped themselves right on over! Imagine if they were an invasion force!”

Paveloth threw his hands in the air in utter frustration. His prior harmony had been disrupted, and his pitch rose and fell sharper than before.

“You’re full of garbage,” he uttered, “First, Swarmfather Retholis’ fleet – the one that never leaves the core worlds – was there to defend us. And he did so flawlessly. Second, formal investigations have clearly shown that the chances of it happening at all was over a billion to one! The data anomaly was created by a damaged external teleport grid combined with a compromised networked navigational intelligence.

“There’s absolutely no conceivable or realistic chance that any sort of invasion force could occur in the Drogar core worlds!”

A number of senators shouted out their agreement to show their solidarity. But Savoth cut right through the din with a commanding voice.

“My constituents and I are firm believers in history repeating itself,” he said. “The Everburning Fields of Pyrathi, The Ythys Disaster, the Invasion of Taloren Prime. You’re telling me none of those things could happen again and again and again?”

“Have you gone insane? Taloren Prime has never been invaded!”

“Oh? Then how do you explain the thousands of Federation Navy on it right now? In this very city! I’ve heard reports that they’ve even been spotted in the city center! How preposterous!”

“I hope you can explain to all of the Drogar how prisoners can also be invaders, because I’m at a great loss how that’s possible. You and your constituents are a danger to the Imperium with your constant shifting of facts!”

“The only danger here is your inability to keep our borders secure and our people rich!” cried Savoth. “Since you cannot seem to see my point of view, I am initiating a Parliamentary Walkout! Any who agree with me is welcome to join. We’ll discuss alternatives to this absolute circus of a proposal!”

Savoth then turned around in a huff, and marched right out of the hall. Dozens of Drogar senators also stood up from their seats and joined him. They did so with such melodrama that the EyeCasts had no choice but to keep their lenses on them.

Some even followed them into the lifts and away from the floor itself.

The rest of the senators roared in fury at their colleagues. Discussions about their overdramatic Walkout filled the hall. Half of what they said was laden with profanity. Their words spilled out through the EyeCasts and into whichever Drogar were currently watching.

All felt frustration and anger at how easily the few were able to completely halt the movement of the many.

Well, perhaps not all were angry.

An overweight, green-scaled Drogar sat in his small apartment and watched the entire proceedings unfold on his wall terminal.

The apartment itself was dark and dingy. Piles of empty food packaging were stacked up on top and inside each other all around. The detritus of random trash also littered the floor here and there.

Various insects flew around the various stacks lazily, and found no lack of scraps to pick from.

“Yeah, you show ’em, Savoth,” said the Drogar. “All those senators are spineless bottom dwellers.”

A brown-scaled Drogar walked past him and plopped down on the empty chair beside. There were piles of garbage around that one, too.

“I heard Pavvy’s secretly paid by the Federation,” said the Brown one. “Probably to sow chaos and make us weak. Make us ripe for invasion later.”

The green one harrumphed loudly.

“Not surprised,” he said. “He keeps getting in Savoth’s way. It’s why what we want never happens.”

“Yeah, without a doubt. Probably why he defended those Fed invaders, too.”

“Paveloth’s a spineless traitor. He should be executed. Weakass apes living life under the dome while we’re roughing it up here.”

A tone resounded in the air as the brown Drogar drew his beltknife from its sheath. He waved it in the air and marveled at the sharpness of its edge. He swiped at the air with a SWISH.

“We should execute all those apes too, you know? I could probably cut down five at a time with a single strike!”

“At least five,” replied the green one. “I saw two of ’em walking out in the street a cycle ago. They were tiny and frail! I probably could’ve broken ’em by accident.”

The brown one lowered his beltknife, eyes wide with astonishment.

“Just walking around? Why didn’t you execute them?”

“Couldn’t. They had two Justicars with ’em. No-one was able to even get near. I definitely wasn’t gonna mess with that.”

The brown one grit his teeth, which were sharp and jagged. It was so strong that the green one could hear them grind against each other.

“We need to talk to Colviss about this. I can’t stand by while these apes walk all over us. She’ll definitely know what to do. She always does.”