Alexander looked over the three people standing in front of him. Damien had just finished filling him in on the new cil ges.

  “When I first asked the cil to look into the growing distent issue I thought you would try and find a solution to the problem. That’s kind of the whole point of the cil, you focus on the people’s issues so I foy work. Instead, you went ahead and invited someone who you know is antagonistic toward me and my goals onto the cil along with three of his ckeys. You ’t have possibly thought that was a good idea or that I would simply allow it to happen. Kick them out of the cil.”

  “We ’t do that,” Damien ground his teeth.

  “If you ’t then I will,” Alexaated.

  “They were legally accepted based on the rules you established for us, Alex. If you decide to ge that because you don’t like it, you will show the drifters that you are no different than any over and will lose any support you might have earned from the drifer popuce. There is nothing that unifies us more than someone in power overreag,” Gabriel responded before the versation could go any further.

  Alexander gave the woman a scathing look. “So what, just leave him be and hope for the best? You three wouldn’t have e to speak with me unless Sorin’s inclusion to the cil roblem. A problem that you knowingly let have equal trol.”

  He turo face his Head of Security. “How much of a is he?”

  The entire cil, minus Nancy – or who he had assumed to be the entire cil as of only a few minutes ago – had barged into his workshop to drop a steaming pile of shit right at his feet. To say he set would be an uatement and that was impressive sidering his issues feeliions.

  “I don’t know,” the man admitted. “Most of his followers are people who haven’t taken you up on your work offers. My is that their new positions will legitimize them and others will flock toward their cause.”

  “And you all voted for this? Why? Help me uand the reasoning behind that. I ’t fathom why you would do something so ridiculous; I know you three aren’t stupid.”

  Damien bristled at the accusation. “I posed from the beginning.”

  “Shei and I had our reasons for voting the way we did and we didn’t tell Damien what we were pnning to do,” Gabriel cut in.

  “What reasons?” Damien demao know.

  Gabriel sighed. “I didn’t want t this up because I k would upset you and cause you to do something rash. I got a visit from one of Sorin’s people. Apparently, the man thinks he knows why I left the STO.”

  “He was bckmailing you?!” the Head of Security looked ed. “About that thing with your ex-fiahat was all self-defehough.”

  She sighed. “Yes, but just because you know about that, doesn’t mean I want the story to spread to every person here. I left the STO to leave my past behind.”

  Damien looked hurt that Gabriel had kept anything from him.

  The atted her boyfriend's arm in sotion. “If we told you, you would have only gotten upset and it would have alerted Sorin that we were pying him.”

  The words didn’t seem to do much as the man silently stewed.

  “I would ask what you’re referring to but I already looked into all three of your backgrounds, so I am aware of your circumstances. Before you look too shocked, I did it to ehe people who were voted to be in charge weren’t terrible people. Something I wish you three would have sidered before voting Sorin in. Look, I uand wanting to keep a secret, but your choiot to reach out to me or Damien is going to cause far more issues than people finding out about what you did, but I don’t think you’re that shallow of a person, so help me uand your reasoning?” Alexander asked his Head of Medical Services.

  “Sorin’s person visited me shortly after you first came to us with your s to try and bckmail me. After the ma, I spoke with a few people about Sorin before finding out he was one of the farmers. Once I did, I spoke with Shei. It’s what she told me that vinced me that leaving Sorin to act behind the ses was unwise. She expin it better than I .” Gabriel stated.

  “The man is a snake,” Shei added. “I- I had an issue with my seeds for the round of pnting. At the time I thought it was just a random act, but I needed new seeds to go forward before we suffered shes. I was going to ask you to purchase some ocks from the STO, but I he new seeds now. The only other farmer with extra seed was Sorin, so I went to him to request some. The man gave me an ultimatum. Either I voted for his proposal or I wouldn’t get the seeds. I had no idea he would propose joining the cil until Gabriel spoke to me. By then I had already taken the deal. I now suspect Sorin or one of his people deliberately ruined my stock of seeds so I would be forced into choosiween allowing him onto the cil or not having any seeds to pnt for this season. I chose what I thought was right.”

  “So not only is Sorin opposed to me, but he is most likely the type of person who has no qualms about bckmailing people aroying critical resources to get his way. This man sounds like someone who should be tossed outside without a breathing mask,” Alexaated, making the group shift unfortably.

  “Oh don’t pretend you three haven’t thought the same thing. Your decisions have really boxed me into a er here. If I assume what you are telling me is true and I take the easy path out and remove him and his idiot patriots, I risk losing the support of y pert of my current workforetside because I ’t prove he did any of that stuff. Obviously, I could repce the workers eventually, but losing them now would severely hamper efforts to prepare against Harlow or whatever he sends our way . If I wait until Sorin does something dumb, I am forced to up the mess. How is this acceptable?”

  “If we had left him to his own devices, the problems would have just tio grow even worse. This way we keep an eye on him,” Gabriel said defensively.

  Alexander wasn’t sold on the woman’s logic there.

  He sighed. “So, what? You gave them seats on the cil to pull him into the spotlight and give him enough rope to hang himself with. you even tell me what his end goal might be? I assume it’s nothing good if he went to this much trouble to try a cil seats.”

  The silence from the trio was firmation enough.

  He shook his avatar in disgust. “Fine. I’ll go along with this idioti for now, not because I want to but because you have left me little choice. I am extremely disappointed in all of you. Sorin’s as and this bckmail should have been brought to my attention the moment it happened, not after the fact. I am holding the three of you responsible if as hurt. Even if nobody gets hurt in Sorin’s attempt at taking over, which seems like the only possibility given how much effort he seems to have put into his pns, I will be disbanding the cil ohis is done. And depending on who gets involved, either sending people pag or making arrests.”

  The group didn’t look all that surprised by his statement, meaning they already knew he was going to be angry wheold him what they had been up to, which meant they sidered his anger before deg that their as were the best possible approach to the problem instead of ing to him first. He gave himself a mental shake of disgust before fog on them again. “And where is Nancy? Is she not in on this nonsense?”

  “I think we all know Nancy’s disposition,” Gabriel spat. “She voted for whatever option ensured a peaceful transition.”

  “It seems like she is the only sensible one on the cil at the moment then,” he shot back. If Gabriel wao be angry or upset at someone, she should be upset at herself, not at Nancy for stig to her ethics even if Alexander disagreed with them. “Alright, I’ve heard enough from you three, get out of my sight. For your sake, I hope nobody gets hurt by your choices.”

  Gabriel stepped toward him and jabbed an angry finger into his avatar. “No, you don’t just get to dismiss us, Alex. You be angry and upset, that’s uandable, but don’t you dare be dismissive. Perhaps we could have thought this pn through more ht you in, but we aren’t politis. I’m not even a lised medical provider, I’m just a physical trainer doing her best to help everyo. None of us ever wahese positions, we took them because we thought it was best for the unity and the decisions we made were always with that goal in mind. And before you take the high road here, you have made it pretty clear you wao be left out of our politics as much as possible, so don’t go bming us when something happens that doesn’t align with whatever goals you have. Because you arely ever open with anyone on what those are.”

  With those words, the angry woman joihe rest of the group and stormed out.

  After the group left, he didn’t immediately go back to work. He was a bit too angry to trate. It didn’t help that he thought their pn had some merit. Not much, mind you, but some. And if he thought about it, Gabriel’s parting words were mostly spot on. It left him with a lot to think about.

  If Sorin had been as shady and self-serving as they said, then he could have really done some damage if he had beeo his own devices. If the man gained enough supporters, he could have disrupted food supply, repairs, or any number of other services that the entire popution of Eden’s End relied on.

  Alexander would have stepped in a with the issue personally if that happened, but that would not garner him any favors. At worst, the people would see him as some heavy-handed dictator and simply leave at the earliest possible opportunity. Maybe that was Sorin’s goal if the man hadn’t gotten his way onto the cil.

  Eden’s End would survive even if every drifter left, but it would put a serious wren his current pns.

  Letting Sorin prove to the rest of the popution that he was just a jackass who thought he deserved to be in charge made it much easier to get rid of the man and his sympathizers, but letting it py out irked him.

  Alexander was not the type of person to beat around the bush and while he could py politics if he o, he preferred to avoid them. And maybe that was the problem. When he first arrived, he had given the cil a lot of power and he simply acted as a che that power. It had worked so far so Alexander had focused on his work instead. It seems that decision had finally e to bite him in the ass and these were the repercussions of it.

  And who the hell was this Sorin person? He didn’t sound like he uood politiy more thaher cilors or Alexander, he was just more devious. This situation sounded like the start of a edic movie vilin’s attempt at politics more than actual politics. Like a man with a w uanding of something but no experieh it. It made Alexander wonder where the man could have gotten this information from. It’s not like political subterfuge was something you could purchase a learning module for.

  Arresting Sorin after he did whatever nonsense he set out to do would still shake the drifter popution, but the bme would fall squarely on Sorin in that case.

  That was the only reason Alexander was allowing this stupid stunt to py out. Even then, he was only giving them two weeks to act. If Sorin and his goons hadn’t done something drasti that time, it was likely that Damien, Gabriel, and Shei had misread the man. He didn’t think that was the case, but he couldn’t simply go around removing people who were following the rules. Even if nothing happened, Alexander was going to remove any sort of political power the cil currently held after this was all said and done.

  It was obvious from Sorin’s maneuvering that the man had a better uanding of politid the ws and rules of Edehan the four inal cilors. That wasn’t too much of a surprise sinone of the four seemed all that enthusiastic about their positions, which is why Alexander had agreed to appoint them in the first pce. The st thing he wanted was someoh delusions of leadership taking over during those early days. He should be gd that Sorin hadn’t been nominated back then.

  The man’s timing was suspicious as well. Alexander had seen the growiment shortly after he had cimed the system. He found it hard to believe that was a ce.

  There hadn’t been any annou about his cim, but someone must have spilled the beans and it got back to Sorin. Did the man really think this power py would somehow put him in charge? Did he think he could appeal to the STO to make that happen? If so, the man was delusional.

  The STO’s charter only specified what sort of civilian representatives he o have when they reized his cim. The STO’s rules didn’t say he had to keep that gover ier that. Alexander wasn’t sure what he would repce the cil with, but he knew he o take a more active role in whatever came after, even if it cut into his work time.

  Two weeks. If nothing happened, he was going to remove the cil’s authority anyway. They would still represent the people, but they would have no actual power. They would o approach him or the representative he chose in their pce. There would be no more of this jockeying for power on his watch.

  Alexander had been sidering this option for some time. He k would have to happeually when BSE grew rger, but he figured the problem was years off. Nht now when he was dealing with a much more critical issue.

  Finally calming down enough to focus, he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind so he could finish cheg on the projects he had been w ohe three barged in.

  The Talon’s new engines were ready, and his bots were already starting to remove the old ones from the massive ship. In a few days, Alexander would o go up and personally attach the hrusters. He could have relegated this work to the linked bots, but he didn’t have the time or patieo write the one-off program, especially now.

  Jasper’s ship was also in the dock, getting a brand new set of Alexander’s Css 4 ehese were the iterations after the ones he sold to the STO and were oep up on the model that Dr. Nova Lund had expio him.

  Alexander would have provided his friend the best of the best, but he wasn’t capable of produg anything beyond that iteratio, and it would have been a bad decision to make his friend’s ship stand out too much. The engines he was getting would put him well above any petition for quite some time. It was the least he could do to thank Jasper and the crew of the Zephyr for all the work he had done for him.

  The new printer was also ing together, looking like some weird unfinished gate ring in orbit.

  He couldn’t wait for that to be pleted so the fishbone ship could begin being structed. Having the dedicated ship would make his work so much more effit.

  The new trol ships were already in the belt along with the Destiny. Mingyu was keeping tabs on the ships, and adjusting their work as he other three ships were also out there, taking on ore as the mining bots quickly tore into the asteroids.

  The one pint Mingyu had was that the mining bots weren’t durable enough. He was already seeing broken pos on them. Alexander had provided a prio repce these items as needed, but he was already designing more robust parts for the future.

  Everything was on track with those projects and even Eden’s Might was scheduled to be pleted in a month. It would have been three weeks, but Alexander pulled the stru bots off the ship to help retrofit the Talon and Zephyr.

  He hadn’t received any response from Captain Krieger yet, even though he had read the news headlihat clearly listed the man’s discharge from the Navy. That was a week ago. Either the man had no i in responding to Alexander or something else was going on with him.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t sit by and wait fer to respond, so his pns had to be ged to at for the former captain not being involved.

  Alexander had a self-imposed deadline of three months to get the Hawks trained up and as many ships as possible ready to hit the pirate station to recover the five vessels. He hoped three frigates, an assault ship, and two gunships would be enough to take the station.

  He knew all of the crews involved were already running drills and simutions. It wouldn’t be the most accurate simution sihey had no information on this hidden station but it was the best he could do.

  There was a way Alexander could improve their odds, but it required him to sve one of the frigate’s superputers. If he decided to go down this route, whatever ship he chose would be very limited in its ability to run its more advanced systems while it was trolling the pod sers. That meant it would need a rger crew if it was to be effective in bat.

  It would provide the ship access to nearly sixty of the cheap ser ons, giving it a hell of a lot more punch, but the trade-off was it would be much more vulnerable during a fight.

  It was something he would o think about a before he decided if it was workable or not.

  After finishing his checks, he tried to go into his design software and do some work, but it just wasn’t happening.

  With a sigh, he secured his terminal a for a walk. There were too many things on his mind for him to foprovements right now. Sometimes he felt like he was standing on top of a house of cards, and if any of them fell over, the ehing would colpse.

  While he khat wasn’t true, he couldn’t help feeling that way sometimes. There were just so many moving parts right now, and he needed all of them to work smoothly or he wasn’t certain what the future would hold.

  He couldn’t eve what Harlow, or Katalynn Char might be up to or how it would affect him going forward. If either one of those people dropped by again, all of his carefully id pns would go up in smoke.

  That was why he ushing so damn hard. The ohing Alexander had going for himself was his ability to scale and build much faster than others. He had been told this enough times by so many different people that he had to believe it was true even though he felt like he was still well behind the curve. It really boiled down to avoiding assembly as much as possible by wholly printing things like entire engines and ships. es had to be checked and tightened after the fact, but that was infinitely faster than building eapo separately and assembling it.

  The problem was, that he was starting from so far behind the STO and other ied parties that he couldn’t ease up. He o maximize all of his resources as much as possible or it felt like he was wasting his efforts. He also couldn’t spend every waking moment designing and buildihings. As a father and the owner of BSE, he had other responsibilities. Ohat he hadn’t always done a good job of.

  The cil’s little talk today was a reminder of another responsibility he had ed. He was sure whatever Sorin chose to do, was going to disrupt his work. It would not harm Yulia though. He had already sent Dog an updated report and bat program to help keep her safe and he reparing additional measures already.

  If anyone on Eden’s End so much as id a finger on Yulia, he wasn’t sure what he would do, but he could be certain that the responsible party would not enjoy the sequences of their as.