Prison Planet (THE RIM CONFEDERACY Book 3) Read Free Page A

Barony. And now the Baroness had put forward the request for the RIM Council staff to reassess their realm with ten worlds—Throth was going to be a new Barony world, no question, but at this point, it was too early to assume that. Of course, if the reassessment was authorized by the Council, then that would put the Barony as the second largest realm in the Confederacy—bigger than the current number two, the Caliphate of Neria, hence the move by the Vice Chair to belay that reassessment.
    “Chair recognizes the member from the Duchy of d’Avigdor, the Duke,” the Chairman said.
    The Duke rose, which quieted the table, and the hands seeking recognition to speak next all fell away.
    “I think that, as many here too must reason, the fact is that the Barony will have the respect of us all here on the RIM for the gift of Throth to the Ikarians. And as they have been more than generous, we would like to add our support for their reassessment request. But as we too feel as do others here …” he said, as many at the Council table nodded and tapped the table to show agreement “that we should allow the normal year-long probationary time period for the Ikarians to request—as all new planets must of any realm—to join the Barony. This is the way, in our opinion, to handle this issue,” he said as he took his seat to a silent room. Well respected here on the RIM, the Duke was, as usual, presenting the best way to handle this situation, and all present knew it. His face was mature yet only approaching middle age, and his ability to sail through the Council meetings with reason was well received.
    Nodding to the Baroness, the Chairman ignored all the others present, and she rose to speak.
    She straightened her blouse and the heavy gold necklace around her neck and looked down at the papers in front of her, the Admiral noted, and he wondered what she would have to say in light of the new support for the delay by the Duchy.
    “Chairman Gramsci, on behalf of the Barony, I will, of course, accept the ruling of this RIM Council—but I feel I do need to remind you all that Throth was, and is, a member world of the Barony, even though it was unsettled. The Ikarians, yes, have accepted our offer of the planet as their new home. We work with them each and every day in helping them get acclimatized and able to get used to planet living. One small point too, that so many RIM citizens seldom remember, is that in the Ikarian group of emigrants, more than 9,000 of them are children ... young children who are alone ... no parents or siblings to look after them,” she said solemnly.
    This quieted the room totally as the Council members dwelt on that for a while but the Baroness went on.
    “We have helped the less than 1,000 Ikarian adults with that set of tasks, and we feel as they do that the future of the whole Ikarian race will be a definite boon to both the Barony and to the Confederacy too. All we ask is to hurry the process so that these children will have a home that is a part of something other than a Sleeper ship. That is what we ask for today.”
    Great argument, the admiral thought, but not enough.
    “Chief of Staff,” the Chairman said, “I call for a vote—and I think this time we should merely stand to indicate our choice. All those in favor of doing an immediate reassessment of our member realms standings, which would mean increasing the Barony up to ten planets, please stand…”
    Of the forty member realms in the room, only one member stood, the Baroness who looked straight ahead for a moment and then left and right at the other members. When not even one stood, she grimaced and then sat quietly in her chair.
    “Chief, please record the unanimous nay vote in the minutes. Moving along, we have a judicial report from the Caliph of Neria, our Vice Chair. Sharia?” he said, and the man beside him rose to speak again.
    “Chairman and members, I rise today to present the final judicial report on the trial of the Caliph