He'd been attending these for years – on the quiet fringe at first. Now, he ran it with the blessing of the President.
“I want to be an observer,” she insisted after the last confab. “Command the room, Trevor. No one had much respect for Murrill. You’re young, and I imagine those soldiers will try to run roughshod. Do not give them an inch and do not defer to me. Yes?”
Trevor took her advice and discussed it at length with Shireena.
“I’ve known Kieran Haas for years, and she’s changed. She floated around here like obnoxious royalty. Couldn’t stand her. Now she arrives early to every confab, studies the agenda, and offers helpful advice only when it makes sense. Don’t know what to make of it.”
Shireena fluffed his collar a bit.
“Trevor Stallion, how have you not figured it out?”
“What?”
“You’re a lawman. Murrill was an empty-suited bureaucrat. Haas installed you because she wants a badge running this station. As she lowers her voice, yours grows louder. She wants the Admiralty and SI to hold both you and the office in high esteem.”
Not a bad theory, Trevor thought.
“Or she wants my public endorsement for her reelection.” They shared a wry grin. “Only kidding. Who’d pay attention to me?”
“You might be surprised. It’s almost time. We should go.”
Trevor collected his Chief of Staff on the way out.
Andreas Portnois and the President’s Chief, Cillian Harwig, sat behind their bosses. To Trevor’s right, the three Sec Admin Chiefs joined Shireena, as head of Shadow Gambit. To his left, SI sent Desk Chief Carson Roe, while the UNF featured their usuals: Capt. Remy Graygone, head of Amity’s Guardian fleet, and Adm. Sike Nagano, the Admiralty’s representative. At the far end, Haas crossed her hands on the table and nodded.
Trevor called the meeting to order.
“Morning, everyone. No new attendees today, so we can pass on introductions. We have a busy agenda. I don’t want to waste time. Rather than opening the table to whomever wishes to begin, I’d like to stick to the plan. We’ll take it sector by sector with my Chiefs, followed by SG.” He nodded toward the left: “Then we’ll focus on the broader view. Next time we’ll flip the script. Good?”
He didn’t wait for the clearly annoyed UNF officers to object. The sector Chiefs needed more agency in these confabs. The outsiders often dominated with their concerns at the expense of internal security issues.
He turned to Barukh Tasqur, who delivered an update on Harmony’s outreach programs founded after the dissention caused by the MR-44 protests. Barukh also reiterated his plea for more funding to increase Custom agents at the spaceport.
Ramesh Suhl read the Haven report with a nervous cadence. It seemed innocuous until he mentioned the recent opening of a restaurant and a complaint lodged with his office.
“I took it as more of a nuisance call,” Ramesh said. “There was some racial animus in the complaint. It was an incident involving a gratuity.” He explained the angry back and forth between the customer and server. “The owner said it was cultural confusion.”
Trevor was disappointed to hear it but not shocked.
“So, you’re convinced it’s an isolated matter?”
“Possibly. My deputies haven’t spotted many customers at Mazookas Tazi. I don’t think it’s necessarily an ethnic bias. Truth is, they’re not marketing on the Haven stream bank like everyone else. Sheh Talman’s son, the manager, says their margin doesn’t allow them to advertise. They intend to rely solely on word of mouth.”
Trevor sighed.
“That won’t help them in Harmony or Episteme. I wonder if we might give them a boost. Perhaps a free week of posting on the bank. I can arrange it through the Hospitality Council.”
“I’m sure they’d appreciate it, Governor.”
Nagano forced a grunt.
“I must interrupt. How is this a security issue?”
Hadn’t the Admiral been paying attention? Trevor set him straight.
“We’re discussing the Riyadhi restaurant my predecessor licensed. I attended the ribbon cutting. Loved the food. You can imagine, Admiral, there are potential pitfalls with anything Riyadhi. I want to give them a fair go and not be judged because of their home world’s history.”
“I see.” Nagano sighed. “If anyone upholds the egalitarian principles of Amity, it must be the Governor. Chief Suhl, do you believe Sec Admin has the matter well in hand?”
Here we go. Nagano couldn’t resist a power move.
“We patrol the area throughout every shift, Admiral. Fortunately, Gov. Stallion provided us with more deputies, so we’re equipped if there’s ever anything more than an awkward exchange of words.”
Beautifully done, Ramesh. Thanks!
Ilya Petrov summarized the Episteme report but concluded with an issue that might prove delicate. He related the story of detaining a woman who faced expulsion after a Shadow Gambit profile turned up family links to a Black Star facility. The woman refused to vacate her flat or head to the spaceport for deportation. She threatened to tell everyone the station was violating her civil rights without cause.
“She’s loud, articulate, and well connected,” Ilya said. “She’s made many credible threats about what she’ll do after returning home. We’ve had this sort of reaction before, but it was smoke. With her, things might get hotter.”
“Is it possible,” SI Desk Chief Roe said, turning to Shireena, “there are any flaws in this woman’s SG profile?”
Shireena shook her head.
“None. Whenever we tag someone for potential expulsion, my team makes direct contact with the relevant agencies on the resident’s home world. We double verify the most delicate data. By the time we’re done, we know all their relevant associations. None of the expelled have been able to poke holes in the evidence.”
Ilya added: “This woman has never denied her family’s link to Black Star. She says the Amity Charter forbids invasive profiles.”
“Does it?” Roe asked the question of Trevor.