{"id":563,"date":"2015-01-11T11:16:48","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T16:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=563"},"modified":"2015-01-11T11:16:48","modified_gmt":"2015-01-11T16:16:48","slug":"forty-eight-part-2-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=563","title":{"rendered":"Forty-Eight (Part 2) – Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This section of chapter 48 has been rewritten…]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis Council will <\/em>come to order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel barely suppressed the urge to shudder at the terse, stern tenor of Sergei\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n

This meeting is going to end badly,<\/em> she thought, pressing her hands hard against the wood of the tabletop before her. Then again, you already expected that it might.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was to be the last council meeting with Sergei at the body\u2019s head and it had already started as inauspiciously as she\u2019d feared, with D\u2019Arcy Morgause picking a fight. Then and there she\u2019d decided that the sooner they managed to oust D\u2019Arcy from the Rose Council\u2014possibly even E-557\u2014the better.<\/p>\n

The question was how<\/em> that particular feat would be accomplished\u2014and how much damage would the man do before they managed to deal with him once and for all?<\/p>\n

That sounds incredibly final,<\/em> she thought, barely keeping a grimace from her face. As much as she might have wanted to see him out of the way, actually killing the man didn\u2019t seem like a valid option.<\/p>\n

Then again, depending on what he does in the coming days and weeks, we may not have a choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her niece caught her eye, a slightly alarmed expression on her face. Rachel checked herself and turned her attention abruptly to Sergei, who was waiting patiently for the uproar to die away, a vein in his neck pulsing alarmingly.<\/p>\n

She stood up and cleared her throat. \u201cThe Speaker said come to order<\/em>,\u201d she bellowed, putting more force behind the words than was perhaps strictly necessary.<\/p>\n

The sudden silence that reigned in the council chambers was deafening as all eyes suddenly went to her. Rachel leaned forward against her palms, forcing herself to be calm, to keep her temper in check. \u201cNow all of you sit down and we\u2019ll discuss this like adults. Whether anyone in this room likes it or not, the Inspector General is<\/em> on her way here and we will<\/em> receive her with all courtesy due a Commonwealth official of her rank and stature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frederick leaned back in his seat, poker-faced as he watched the council. It had been the simple announcement that Sephora Damerian was on her way to E-557 that had sparked the ruckus that had erupted almost as soon as they\u2019d reached their seats that morning, and that announcement had come from his lips. He was sitting with Lindsay and Brendan, not with the Marshals, which sent a statement all its own.<\/p>\n

The look D\u2019Arcy shot in his direction was nothing short of murderous, which left Rachel\u2019s stomach twisting uncomfortably.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t entirely sure why D\u2019Arcy had apparently taken a near-instant dislike to Freder Rose, but it was certainly in evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Rachel,\u201d Sergei said, smoothly reacquiring control of the situation. She sank back down into her chair as he rose, gaze raking over the assemblage. \u201cWhether any of us like it or not, we are the council that is tasked with carrying the people of the Foundation and the colony through this war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no war<\/em>,\u201d D\u2019Arcy said stubbornly. \u201cThis is a misunderstanding that we should be able to work through. Perhaps if we send an envoy to New Earth\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you volunteering for that, D\u2019Arcy?\u201d Kara Grace asked, her eyes narrowing. \u201cAre you volunteering to go plead our case before the legislature and hoping that they don\u2019t laugh us out of the chambers? You can\u2019t act as if they give a damn that we were attacked here. The propagandists are already turning us into the villains over the Whispers. You know that. You\u2019ve seen the reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIsolated reports, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure that the Inspector General will be able to tell us exactly how isolated those reports are when she arrives,\u201d Lindsay said, her voice deceptively mild. Rachel bit the inside of her cheek to kill a smile. The girl was learning, and quickly, and she detected no small amount of America in her \u201cUntil then, we have to labor under the assumption that the attack that we repulsed was only the opening salvo for something much larger and much more dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no evidence\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMission Systems is here,\u201d Adam said, breaking the silence he\u2019d been cultivating since the meeting commenced. \u201cThat should be evidence enough. You don\u2019t move your entire operation and agree to abide to our way of life because you just feel like it. No, you do that because you know something\u2014that the Commonwealth is becoming hostile to anything and everyone that certain conglomerates don\u2019t agree with, don\u2019t like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe psychic refugees are corroborating the reports we\u2019ve gotten,\u201d Lindsay added. \u201cAbout the propaganda, about the violence and the shift in behavior. There\u2019s something bad happening inside of the Commonwealth, D\u2019Arcy. Can\u2019t you see that?\u201d<\/p>\n

His eyes narrowed. \u201cI see what you refuse to see\u2014that there are other explanations for what\u2019s been happening. We can\u2019t jump on one bandwagon because it\u2019s convenient for us to do so. No. We have to look into everything, question everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not agree to a war that we cannot win simply because a few psychics and a small conglomerate say we\u2019re being vilified and should fight back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This section of chapter 48 has been rewritten…] \u201cThis Council will come to order.\u201d Rachel barely suppressed the urge to shudder at the terse, stern tenor of Sergei\u2019s voice. This meeting is going to end badly, she thought, pressing her … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-95","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":564,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}