“I do,” Hado said, turning to me. “This is a beheading of anyone who is in a position to oppose you.”
“No,” I said. “It’s a precautionary measure against a trio of representatives who are a material threat to the unity of the Conclave at the moment of her greatest instability. Any of the three of you could shatter the Conclave, by your own ambition, by your own greed, or by your own stupidity. We are not four serti past the assassination of our leader. The Grand Assembly is in chaos. The representatives are utterly terrified. And if Vnac Oi had the three of you arrested on charges of assassination and conspiracy, I could have you all on the other side of an airlock by the end of the sur and no one would do anything but congratulate me on my decisiveness. I might even get a commendation from the chancellor for it.”
“Indeed you might,” Lause said. It was instructive to watch the reaction of Hado, Sca, and Horteen to that comment.
“And when the evidence eventually shows that the accusation was a flat-out lie?” Hado asked. “Because it will. Both Ocampo’s and Abumwe’s reports are out there for everyone to see and compare.”
“Representative Hado, I’m deeply insulted,” Oi said. “You apparently have so little faith in my ability to manipulate data to tell precisely the story I want it to tell.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Sca said. “If this was your plan, why didn’t you just have us arrested?”
“I didn’t say it was my plan,” I said. “It was my rebuttal to Representative Hado’s questioning of my right to call you all here. I trust I’ve made it clear that at the moment right is not the correct frame of reference. I have the power to call you here. As I have the power to condemn you to death. I hope we understand each other.”
“You want to make an example of us, then,” Hado said.
“What I want, Representative Hado, is to save the Conclave,” I said. “And offer you three the chance to increase your power and influence while doing so.”
“By throwing us out of an airlock?” Horteen said.
“I have a better idea,” I said. “And it is precisely this simple. Representative Horteen, you and Representative Hado have significant power bases among assembly members. They don’t overlap. You two are to come to Chancellor Lause and together declare that for the good of the Conclave you ask that I take on the leadership role of the Conclave. Representative Sca, you will second that proposal. Horteen and Hado will deliver their blocs for the vote, Lause will take care of the rest, and Oi will handle any stragglers. This will happen tomorrow, by mid-sur.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Hado asked.
“Then you three will have a meeting with an airlock,” Oi said.
Hado glanced over at Oi and then turned back to me. “You didn’t have to threaten us,” he said. “You could have just asked.”
“Representative Hado, we’ve been doing so well being bracingly honest with each other,” I said. “Let’s not ruin it now.”
“General Gau would never have negotiated with us this way,” Horteen said.
I glanced over at Hado for this. “Yes, he would have,” Hado said, to Horteen. “He simply would have had Sorvalh here to cover for him.”
“The general is no longer with us,” I said.
“Pity,” Hado said.
“It is,” I said. “How ironic, Representative Hado, that it took you until this very moment to recognize his value.”
“Do we have a deal?” Oi asked.
“Do we have a choice?” Hado replied.
“You said this would increase our power,” Horteen said. “I haven’t heard the part where that happens.”
“This is how,” I said. “After the present crisis is over, and the stability of the Conclave is no longer in question, I will announce the formation of a task force to create and establish a succession plan for the leader of the Conclave, so that we have no more crises like the one we are now conspiring to avoid today. I will name the three of you, with the chancellor, to head the task force, and give you free reign to create the process, with only one condition: that the next leader of the Conclave must come from the Grand Assembly.”
“Interesting,” Horteen said.
“I thought you might see it that way,” I said. Already I could see both Horteen and Hado starting to think how they could use such a task force to their own advantage. “Please note that this process will be for after I retire.”
“But you do plan to retire,” Hado said.
“Yes. Not soon, to be clear. But soon enough.”
“And in the meantime you will still have this threat over our heads,” Sca said.
“No,” I said. “The threat dies when the Grand Assembly elects me leader of the Conclave, tomorrow.”
“But only then,” Oi said.
“And who do you place the blame on then, I wonder?” Hado asked. “For the death of the general?”