Chapter 58: Chapter 57: The First Council

Alex’s election victory was the cause for some serious celebration in Annette’s housing unit that evening. Annette even pulled out a vintage bottle of wine for the occasion.

“I’ve been saving this for years,” she explained as she poured into everyone’s glass. “I got this from a trader who visited from Giliese 380. They have some of the best vineyards in the entire galaxy. I figured tonight is the best night of any to finally try it!”

Indeed, the wine tasted incredible. Alex quickly downed his glass while getting another, all the while Annette chirped on about what it meant to be on the Council.

“You’re a leading citizen of Vesta now,” she explained to Alex. “And it’s not without its perks either. You’ll get a new housing unit here in Biosphere Three so we’re all about to become neighbors.”

“What about Ellie?” asked Alex. “We have the numbers to save her now, don’t we?”

“Just barely,” replied Ellie from across the room, who was listening to the conversation. Ellie sipped her wine before giving Jenna a sharp look. “And we’re still in the minority now.”

Jenna said nothing in response to this, which didn’t surprise Alex. Ever since the results were announced, there had been some tension between both women, which added onto the existing tension they had in regards to Alex.

Annette was the first to pick up on it and explained it to Alex privately.

“Ellie is upset with Jenna because she feels like she didn’t try harder to win the election,” she explained. “She felt like Jenna didn’t take it seriously and we squandered our chance to get a majority on the Council.”

“Jenna’s heart wasn’t in this to begin with,” replied Alex. “You really didn’t give her much of a choice. You just told her she was going to run. And we only needed one person to get on the Council to save Ellie, so we can do that now.”

“Maybe, but she’s right that we don’t have the majority.”

“Annette, I don’t think we were going to get a majority either way. Serrano was just too popular. I’ve heard rumors of him offering bribes and threats to get people to vote his way. I don’t see any scenario where I would have beat him.”

Annette looked over at Ellie and reluctantly nodded her head. “I agree with you. I think Ellie is being too hard on Jenna. And I think I know why these two seem to be at odds with each other.”

“Now that the election is over, they don’t have to see each other that much,” replied Alex. “If all this close proximity is making things worse, then some time apart might help the situation.”

Annette smiled at him. “You don’t really think that’s going to solve this, do you?”

“No, but I’m all about wishful thinking right now.”

Annette started to laugh. “I know why they both like you so much. I see what Ellie was talking about.”

“Careful, Annette. I already have enough problems with women. I don’t need anymore.”

Annette’s reaction was curious. She didn’t say anything but she kept a toothy smile on her face that suggested the matter was far from settled. Alex wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.

“Just remember, we still have a deal, okay?” said Annette, elbowing him gently. “You still owe me swimming lessons.”

“My schedule just got a lot busier but we’ll find time to do it, I promise.”

“Good,” said Annette before switching subjects. “Listen, about the Council, we can live with being in the minority for now. The important thing is that we save Ellie, which we’ll be able to do. This is still a defeat for Belladonna because now she can’t get what she wants, which is Ellie being removed from Vesta permanently.”

“For how long though?” asked Ellie, still listening. “Belladonna isn’t going to stop at this. I would even bet she’s scheming right now on a new plan to kill me.”

“She’s going to have to scheme a little harder then,” replied Alex. “Because nothing’s going to happen to you on our watch.”

At least that statement finally forced a smile onto Ellie’s face.

*****

The next morning, it was time for the first Council meeting. Alex met Annette once more at her unit before they shared the short walk over together, all the while Annette gave him a brief crash course about how the Council worked, etiquette, and any other small items.

“We meet once a week,” said Annette, going through the details. “Although we can meet more often if the situation calls for it, for example bear attacks usually provoke a secondary meeting. Though everyone has equal standing in theory, whoever is the chairperson of the Council tends to have more weight added to their opinion. And they’re usually the official leader of Vesta in technical terms.”

“And that’s Belladonna right now?” asked Alex.

“Correct, Belladonna is the current chairwoman. She has been ever since Ellie was removed. Usually the chairperson is selected by seniority, and Belladonna had the next most seniority after Ellie.”

“I thought Ellie brought you onto the Council first though?” asked Alex.

Annette shook her head. “No, Belladonna took her seat before I did. I have the next highest seniority, above Cassara at least. And then with you and Serrano, he’ll have seniority over you, since his vote total was higher than yours. So it looks like for now at least, you’re at the bottom of the totem pole.”

“Could be worse,” replied Alex. “At least I’m here to begin with. I couldn’t imagine you here alone with Serrano and Ross as the two newcomers.”

Annette groaned. “If it came to that, I just might have shot myself in frustration.”

Alex chuckled. “Then we’d be down one more seat!”

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She laughed with him as they entered the councilor’s chamber, which was a small room dominated by a large, circular table. There were seats for five at the table, one for each councilor, and at the current moment, no one else was in the room.

One seat was slightly larger than the others, which Alex suspected belonged to the chairperson and Annette confirmed.

“All the seats are marked by name,” she said. “And it looks like your name has already been added to this chair right beside me.”

Sure enough, Alex found his station. His name was engraved on a fresh tag and the workspace was relatively empty. Taking his seat, Alex marveled at how quickly he’d moved from new arrival to one of the leaders of the small colony.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?”

Alex looked over to see Annette giving him a large grin. She had leaned all the way back in her chair while putting her hands behind her head. It was a great look for her, with her long, red hair cascading down each side and landing on her chest. At that moment, Alex couldn’t help but be further attracted to her.

“It does feel good,” replied Alex. “Not bad for giving one little speech.”

Annette started to laugh. “And killing three bears but that’s nothing at all to you now, right? Been there, done that.”

“Well, not exactly,” said Alex. “But this is a nice perk.”

“You can say that again,” replied Annette. “Now our biggest task is going to be sticking together as a minority block. Belladonna has been on a rampage lately and it’s my hope that we can stem the tide.”

Alex knew only far too well about Belladonna’s excesses. Most of the colony was grumbling about her as well since she recently pushed through a salary increase for herself as the chairwoman of the Council. It was widely seen as a joke because anyone that knew Belladonna knew that her housing unit was by far the most opulent on the planet. She was the last person that needed a raise.

There had been a string of other shortsighted issues rammed through the Council recently, none of which was helping the colony in its fight for survival.

Alex was still thinking about it when the doors to the room opened wide to allow for the other three members of the Council to enter. Belladonna and Cassara led the way, each of them looking pleased with themselves at the other new addition that followed in their wake. Serrano managed to look smug as well and he wasted no time in making it known.

Since the chair on the other side of Alex was marked for him, Serrano made his way over with his usual flair of arrogance.

“Well, I hope you don’t mind if I take the seat next to you, Hawthorne,” said Serrano with a sneer as he rolled the chair out. “Quite an interesting position we find ourselves in, no?”

“I’ve rarely sat next to worse,” quipped Alex. “At least I can see you earned this seat on your own without hacking the system. Give my regards to Ross the next time you see him, will you?”

Serrano shook his head. “Always pleasant, aren’t you? I don’t know why you carry such a grudge against me. We’re all Vestans now after all.”

Alex glared at him. “You’ll always be that same punk I had to deal with on the Racine. That’ll never change.”

Serrano scoffed. “And here I thought we might be able to put our past hostility behind us. I’m willing to overlook things for the good of Vesta.”

“Don’t you mean the good of Dangallu?” interrupted Alex. “Isn’t that still the plan for you?”

Serrano ignored him and kept speaking. “I still believe that we can see eye to eye on things. I’m going to overlook the fact that you attacked me once we got on Vesta, for no reason I might add. I’m also going to overlook you being the foil to my plan on the colony ship. You’ve made some shortsighted moves but I’m a generous guy, Hawthorne. I forgive. What do you say we let bygones be bygones, eh? For the good of Vesta?”

“Eat shit,” replied Alex. “That’s my answer to you. The same one that I gave to you that first day you entered my cabin on the ship.”

“You never learn, do you? I’m going to get what I want one way or another, Hawthorne. Being on the Council is the first step in that goal. If I were you, I wouldn’t stand in the way of it. You’ve already got off once by being lucky. You won’t have a second time.”

Alex pushed his chair out as he was ready to fight again. Before anything else could happen though, Belladonna started banging her hands on the desk, earning their attention with the sudden noise.

“Finally,” she snapped at them. “I’ve been trying to get your attention. For two newcomers to the highest governing body on Vesta, you’re not showing much respect for our institutions! Or for your chairwoman!”

Alex said nothing in response. He pulled his chair back into the desk. Serrano would just have to wait for another time.

“Thank you,” said Belladonna sarcastically once she saw them looking back at her. “Now, today is an important day for Vesta. We welcome two new councilors to our ranks, duly elected by the people with only a slight hiccup in the election process.”

Cassara scoffed at that statement and her glare landed on Alex. He already knew the reason why. With Vitale’s help, they foiled their attempt to hack into the election to steal it for Serrano and Ross, creating a bigger grudge between the two factions.

“Anyway, I’d like to welcome our new members,” continued Belladonna as she extended her hand. “The first of which is Lucius Serrano, who’s already proven himself as a talented newcomer who will be a boon to Vesta for years to come. The other is Alex Hawthorne.”

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Belladonna’s disdain was so obvious that she couldn’t contain it. Working with the Council was going to be interesting to say the least.

Just when he thought the Council couldn’t have started on a lower note, Annette did something surprising that completely changed the tone.

“I have a motion for the Council that we need to discuss immediately,” said the gorgeous redhead, standing up to emphasize her point.

Belladonna looked annoyed. “You couldn’t wait until I was finished talking? What’s so important, Annette?”

Annette didn’t hold back. “I’m moving that we immediately drop all charges against Ellie Vesta.”

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