Elections

“Zesa, on the leftmost path, hid his weapons among the plants of the garden. He knew where all of the paths led because he had been there before. He sought out the guard at the doors of the Red King’s palace. There was no knife to his throat when he told the guard of Absalom and Glade’s intentions and locations. One guard told another, and then the whole palace was alive and searching for Glade and Absalom. Zesa was brought to the Red King’s right hand side.”

-from ‘Fourth Song: Reign of the Red King’

Waking up the next morning, Aymon had a blessed few moments where his mind was blank, and he didn't remember the events of the day before. Halen was gone, as he always was in the morning, having slipped out sometime after putting Aymon to sleep. Aymon stumbled around the unfamiliar room in the dark, searching for the door to the bathroom.

He flicked on the light. His reflection stared out at him from the bathroom mirror. Surrounded by all the cheery yellow paint, he looked positively jaundiced. Despite having slept for seven hours, there were bags under his eyes. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before.

It all came rushing back to him and he gripped the bathroom counter, feeling like he was going to topple over. The feeling passed after a long minute. He swayed, rocked by the thrum of his own heartbeat. His chest hurt. He wasn't enough of a child to let loose in the power, to topple over furniture or to shatter light bulbs with his accidental emotions. He had enough control to keep everything within his body. He drew in a deep breath, drew all that feeling back down toward the center of his chest until it was tucked away there.

Sleeping had helped, even if it came with the unhappiness of waking up in the morning and realizing anew what had happened. Mornings were time for going forward. He had mourned, and now he needed to take action. There wasn't anything he could do for Yan right this moment, but at least he could get himself showered.

Aymon stripped and got in the shower. He turned the water on as cold as it would go, and just let its icy fingers stab him. He almost laughed; he was acting so much like Sid. But the thought of Sid was the thought of all of his apprentices, including the one who was missing.

He stayed in the shower until he was finished washing, then stayed a little bit more, until the cold felt like it was stealing his breath. He finished his morning routine and got dressed in a clean set of clothes: the same uniform that he wore almost every day of his life. Then he was ready to face the universe again.

Before he left, he consulted his phone. Was there any update on anything? He was shocked when he saw the time. Had he really been asleep for that long? Why hadn't anyone come for him? He knew why. But the Council meeting had already started, so he had missed his chance to talk to Vaneik's other former apprentice.

Apprentices, apprentices- they were haunting him today.

Aymon headed out of his hotel room, giving a final glance in the mirror to make sure that he still had his dignity about him. He did, as much as he could. He stepped out into the main area of Canerra station, and the two guards who were at his door saluted him. He nodded to them, and walked off to join his team watching the council meeting.

Aymon found what seemed like his entire team of aides, as well as Halen, practically glued to a radio set playing a live feed of the Council meeting. It wasn't an official feed, of course. They had bugged the room. It was necessary that the Imperial Government know the important goings on of all her citizens, including the Trade Guild. The results would be published later, but it was tradition to keep Guild meetings secret and free of outside parties. But they couldn't wait for later, they needed to know now.

Everyone in the room gave the appropriate deference to him as he entered, but he waved them all down quickly.

"Sorry I missed the beginning of the meeting," he said. "What's the status in there?"

"It's chaotic," one of the aides said. "When the list of candidates was announced, everyone went absolutely crazy."

"Who's on the list?"

"It would be easier to list who isn't on the list, at this point."

"Or who hasn't been on the list, off the list, back on the list," Halen piped up from the back of the room. "Council members keep putting forward their own nominations then withdrawing them again as soon as someone shouts at them. But then they shout at someone else and that gives them the courage to re-propose."

"This is idiotic," Aymon said. "I thought that the Trade Guild was a part of civilization."

"Clearly not." Halen was the only person in the room who could get away with making that sort of statement.

"They're all out of sorts because of Vaneik. There hasn't been an election like this in living memory, and it's made worse by the fact that the man Vaneik would have chosen is, well." The aide stopped himself before admitting that Wil Vaneik, the clear favorite, had less brains than a particularly intelligent fish.

"Are there no coalitions?" Aymon asked.

"There's a few. Unexpected ones, too. Nomar Thule, though he was originally in the running, withdrew his nomination to publicly support Wil Vaneik. Yuuni Olms is running, and a fair number of moderates are supporting her. The Sky Boat's delegate put forward Joun Migollen, and there's a whole contingent supporting him, but when they say supporting him, they're really only doing so to oppose Olms."

"Considering that Olms wasn't even going to run yesterday, and she's the only non-horrible option, this isn't going as badly as it could be."

"She's not the only non-bad option. There are plenty of small time ships who have proposed themselves- the whole Circle Run has formed a small coalition to elect Ayrin Hernlo, and she has a good track record as a captain, but it's not going to happen."

The radio emitted horrible noises of people yelling incoherently. One of the aides turned it down with an apologetic look, but continued taking copious notes, somehow managing to interpret the screaming into actual positions held by Guild Council members.

"Who's BarCarran supporting- do you know?"

"He didn't show up. We've had both BarCarrans under watch. They've stayed in their rooms on station. Pellon sent two ansible messages."

"Do you have copies of those?"

The aide picked up a tablet and swiped around. "Sent them to you, sir."

"Thank you."

Aymon took out his phone and read through the two ansible messages. One was a grief stricken, if bog standard, letter to the rest of the crew of the Iron Dreams, informing them of Yan's kidnapping. The other was a letter of transit/work order for someone on Emerri to come stay on the Dreams. Pellon was probably just taking care of business.

It was Maxes that really concerned Aymon. From what little Yan had mentioned, and his own first hand impressions, the man was a loose cannon. It was worrying that he had chosen not to attend the Council meeting, especially during such a pivotal time. Not that one ship would have made a difference, and considering how the BarCarrans probably felt towards the Empire at the moment they almost certainly would have voted against his interests, but it looked very bad for a ship to not take interest in the wider goings-on of the Guild.

The radio continued to squawk out its messages, cresting waves of silence and noise as someone spoke and everyone objected. How had the Guild survived, if they were made up entirely of petty, squabbling people looking out only for the self interests of their family? He knew the reason. They survived because they relied on the Guildmaster to lead them with a firm and unerring hand, just as every ship trusted in their captain. Without a captain, ships fell into disarray. Without a Guildmaster, the Council turned into petty arguments and broken alliances. Aymon turned his attention back towards the real politics of the situation.

"So, Thule is supporting Wil Vaneik. I'm certain he thinks it's because he's easily manipulated. Is there a lot of support for their little coalition?"

"Some. There's a few different positions. There are those who want to respect what would have been Ungarti's wishes, had he had time to write them down. Some people think that by flattering the young Vaneik they can ingratiate themselves with him and get ahead. And the rest of those supporting him were the ones who threw themselves behind Thule in the first place, they've simply followed him."

Aymon nodded. "And who's looking to come out on top right now?"

"It's hard to tell. We have to wait for all of the smaller groups to shout each other out and give up before we can say definitively who will end up on top. Migollen's got a sizable contingent behind him because of his family's connections, Vaneik has by far the best claim, and Olms is the best choice in terms of leadership ability," the aide explained. "Everyone else is likely to back one of those three, but it's hard to tell who will end up where."

"Do people have a strong objection to Olms?" Aymon asked. "I can't tell what people think of her."

"She and Thule have been painted with the same brush- that they're Imperial agents. Thule dodged this by throwing his support behind Vaneik, but Olms is still out there facing it. Migollen's camp hates her. If it comes down to Vaneik against Olms, they'll back Vaneik."

"Why?"

"I believe some of her dislike comes down to what happened at the meeting on Olar," the aide said tentatively. "From looking at their conversational records, it seems the animosity started at that point."

Of course it did. It all came back to Yan. How was he supposed to have known that sending her and Sid out on the world's simplest mission would have lasting consequences for the leadership of the Guild for the next, conservatively, thirty years? Thinking of Yan brought another stab of pain into his chest, and Halen looked up at him across the room. Aymon tried to bring his attention back to the shrieking over the radio.

"If it comes down to Vaneik against Migollen, Olms will back Vaneik, of course," Aymon said. "She hardly wanted to run in the first place. What about Olms against Migollen, who would come out on top of that?"

"I don't foresee a situation where Wil Vaneik is knocked out of the running before the last pair. His backing is the largest out of all of them,” the analyst said.

"He just doesn't have critical mass yet. Alright."

"One of the other two will need to fold before he can really get going."

"Who do you think that will be?"

"Olms, definitely. You said she didn't even want to run in the first place. If she thinks that the Guild would be better served with Vaneik, she will defer to him."

"Why has she stuck in it this long, then?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say that seeing other people back her and hearing the arguments against the other two has helped her stick it out up until now."

"Hm." Aymon wasn't sure that was the only reason. He knew she had a longstanding rivalry with Thule. Perhaps his backing of the younger Vaneik was what set her more firmly against him.

"Thule and Olms are both in the chambers, correct? But Wil Vaneik isn't?"

"Yes. The actual council representative for the Oathkeeper is Lambert Vaneik." The aide pulled up a picture of the council member on his tablet and showed it to Aymon. She had curly brown hair and freckles that looked nothing like most of the Vaneik clan.

"Never heard of her," Aymon admitted.

"She's Ungarti Vaneik's sister in law. Originally from the-" The aide consulted his tablet to find her history. "From the Rise-Again."

"Is she representing Wil in a convincing way?"

"No, but that's where Thule comes in."

A fresh batch of shouting erupted out of the radio, Thule's distinctive voice breaking above the chaos in the room to say something. Aymon wasn't paying attention to the words; it didn't matter the specifics, just the tone.

"Was this planned ahead of time?"

"We can speculate that it was, based on the way that Thule has operated in the past." That was a polite way for the aide to call Nomar Thule a slimy bastard. "Being Wil Vaneik's stand-in catches some people who are willing to trust him to keep Wil on track."

Aymon nodded. "Do we have any updates on the other situation?" he asked.

"There hasn't been any word off Emerri," the aide said. Aymon had actually been asking about Vaneik's murder, but he couldn't blame his aide for being confused about what he was trying to figure out. There was a whole lot going on. He could safely assume that Halen had been coordinating an inquest into what happened to Vaneik, even if Aymon hadn’t told him to directly.

"Alright. Has anyone found anything more about Vaneik's death?"

"Franco can tell you more about that," the aide said, and gestured a short man over.

"What's the status?" Aymon asked Franco.

"We've combed through as much of the Oathkeeper security logs as we can get our hands on, but it's a Guild ship- they don't have much in the way of security footage, especially when they're not docked. There's only footage from the bridge and a few other places aboard the ship, like the medical facilities."

"So, nothing there?" Aymon asked.

"Well, there is the record of Vaneik's illness," Franco said. "We see him going into the medical area a few times over the days leading up to his death, and the records show that he was feeling sick for several days before he died. He was running a fever and reporting nausea and dizziness."

"Coincidence?"

"Perhaps. It would be much easier to disguise a poisoning if you wait until your victim is sick. It might look more accidental then."

"A sudden short illness."

"Precisely."

"Did anyone else on the ship get sick? Is there a record of what he was sick with?"

"There were a few other people who visited the medical area. Vaneik had gone planetside half a week before he got sick, according to his chart, so it may have been an illness that he caught while on Lekke."

"Why was he on Lekke?" That planet was famous for producing drugs.

"The Oathkeeper was delivering a load of iron ore, and he was planetside to meet with Vaness Qual- she runs a big manufacturing cooperative- about finances."

"Did anyone else go with him planetside?"

"A few members of his crew took shore leave, and he was accompanied by Wil and Thule to the meeting."

"Where was Olms during this?"

"Olms stayed on the Oathkeeper. Why do you ask?"

"Just trying to place all the major players. What about his wife, Marne?"

"Commanding the Oathkeeper in his absence."

Aymon nodded. "Is there any way we can get information off of Lekke? Any chance that someone saw something?"

"We've sent word, but there's little chance anything will turn up. I'm sure there will be something that people can do to trace the movements of all the crew who went down to the surface."

"Track their purchases, at least."

"Yes," Franco said with a grim smile. "Perhaps a murderer would be stupid enough to buy poison with their charge card."

"That would make things easy for us, wouldn't it. And nothing suspicious has turned up here, no whispers of conspiracies?" Aymon asked.

"Nothing as of yet. Canerra is pretty well bugged, we're keeping an eye on everything that happens."

"Okay. Keep me up to date on it."

"I'll let you know as soon as we have something."

"Thank you, Franco."

Franco returned to the other side of the table, where he was coordinating the searching of the Oathkeeper's onboard files. Much of what they had secretly pulled from the ship were being sent back to Emerri for processing over the ansible, but it would be advantageous to at least look through the surface level things now, before they left Canerra station and the Oathkeeper itself flew away.

Aymon took a seat at the table and settled in to wait for the council meeting to end. He hated this waiting. There was nothing that he could do, trapped here. At least he had ansible access. Someone handed him his computer and a cup of coffee, and he smiled and thanked them. He began composing a message to Sid with instructions as he waited for his remote connection through the ansible to log him in to his work accounts on Emerri. Even with the adapted interface, it was painfully slow, so he had plenty of time to write his letter.

The council meeting stretched long into the night. It was traditional not to break for any reason until the next leader of the Guild had been elected, but these meetings usually didn't last very long. The muddied line of succession, such that it was, made things draw on and on as alliances formed, broke, and reformed in new and exciting configurations. Council members would dash out to use the bathroom and update their waiting captains on the status of the meeting, but couldn't stay out long for fear of missing the vote. Only those present in the chamber could take part in the vote, and if a vote was initiated while someone was out of the room, well, that would be a disaster for that person.

The whole of Canerra station was buzzing by the end of it. Aymon took a break from listening to the chaos over the radio to go get dinner in one of the station's restaurants. He sat by himself; not even Kino was willing to show her face today. He wasn't bothered by it, though he did wonder where she was. Halen stood a little ways away, not wanting to look too attached, and various other members of the security team hovered in the vicinity. He could hear the other patrons discussing the news that came out of the council chamber in fits and spurts. People were making wagers on it. Some were betting on how much longer the council would deliberate, others were putting money down on their favorite candidate, or if people in the council would resort to violence before picking a new guildmaster.

He hoped it would end soon. The faster it ended, the faster he could get back to Emerri. He didn't hate travel, but whenever there was a crisis he needed to be home. This was crisis after crisis, and he was stalled out, with no way to move forward. There was no way for him to really do anything aside from give orders, and he could do that almost as well here on Canerra as he could on Emerri (slow ansible connection notwithstanding), but there was much more of a sense of control at home. The whole system was set up to work around him there.

Then it was as though some sort of switch had been flipped. Patrons started flooding into the restaurant, captains and council members. Some looked dejected, others elated, most of them simply tired and hungry. The council had clearly come to a result. Aymon quickly paid his tab and left the restaurant, tailed by his security.

His phone was buzzing in his pocket, alerting him to the results of the election. He headed to the room where his team had been following the election. He wanted to hear from them in person who the winner was. He had his suspicions, but-

His train of thought was interrupted when he almost crashed into Yuuni Olms as they headed in opposite directions down one of the narrow hallways in the station. She stopped him to talk.

"Hello, First Sandreas," she said. "Long day?"

How haggard did he look, that she was asking him that. "I would say that it has been, considering how long the council spent in deliberation. From the lack of a swarm around you, I presume that you are not the new Guildmaster?"

Olms laughed. "No, that dubious honor belongs to Wil Vaneik, long may he reign."

Aymon looked at her, questioning. It was a bit difficult when she stood about half a foot taller than him.

"You don't think he's going to last?" Aymon asked.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling that there's going to be a lot of trouble in the Guild for a while. I'll admit that I'm glad to be free of the burdens of the Council for now. After that last meeting-"

"I can imagine that most council members will be dreading going to the next one. Was it tense in there?" Obviously it had been tense, but he wanted to hear her opinion.

"It was difficult," Olms admitted. "People want the best for the Guild, but they have different opinions on what that best looks like."

"How long will they all have to cool off before the next meeting?"

"That's up to Vaneik to decide."

"It's hard for me to believe that one Vaneik leaves and another takes his place."

"That's the way of things in the Guild. We- well, most people in the Guild, have the luxury of children who they can train."

"You think that Ungarti trained his son well enough to be Guildmaster?"

"That was his intention. Wil could do a fine job."

"He hasn't fallen out with Thule, right?"

"No, he's definitely going to let Nomar keep his position."

"As apprentice?" This was a stupid question, of course Thule wouldn't be an apprentice, but the position that Thule would be holding was lost on him.

"No, as overseeing the Guild finances."

"And does that please the Council?"

"I no longer have any reason to care about whether it pleases the council or not." Olms smiled broadly. "I'm free. Untethered. For the first time in a long time."

"What are you going to do?"

"Go back to my father's ship, for a while at least."

"Not staying on the Oathkeeper?"

"Nothing's keeping me there anymore, and I somehow doubt that Thule would appreciate my presence."

"There's really no one you'll miss?"

"I didn't say that. I'll miss Marne, and a few of the officers, and Ungarti- but Ungarti's dead, so I'd miss him anyway." Olms sighed. "I mean, it's a chapter of my life that's over. I need to take some time to figure out what it is I'm going to do with the rest of it."

"Still going to get your own ship?"

"That would be nice, but with Wil in charge…" She trailed off. It might be harder to convince the council to let her have a stardrive, even if she had the funds.

"The stars will travel in their course," Aymon said. "I'm sure you'll figure out exactly what you want to do soon."

"Maybe I should just start trying to disrupt my older sister, so that I can have my father's ship," Olms said. She wasn't exactly joking, more making a sad admission of what was required to get ahead in the Guild.

"Well, if you're ever considering grounding yourself, I'm sure I could put in a good word for you in the Imperial government."

"Ha, I don't think I'd survive on Emerri. I've heard they'll eat you alive down there."

"Only if you taste good," Aymon said. "But seriously, if you ever want to get yourself out of the Guild, there are many other places you can go."

"Oh, I'm not fed up with them that much." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm just going to let the dust settle before I start cashing in all my favors."

"Smart girl."

"That's the goal. Now, First Sandreas, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go have a drink with my poor, despairing father."

"Is he disappointed that you won't be running the universe?"

"I'm sure that he's more crushed that I'll be coming home to haunt his bridge for a while," Olms said. "Say hi to Yan for me, will you?"

"I will," Aymon said. He tried to make it sound genuine, but it probably didn't matter, because Olms was already traipsing off down the hallways, brushing past the security who tailed him. She was clearly taking her newfound freedom to heart. It was too bad that she hadn't been the electable candidate. She was seen too much as the Empire's choice, which, while true, wasn't an ideal image for a Guildmaster to have.