Page 52 of Coveted

“What happened? Some of the crew’s family was in there with broken bones and the cough of a grakka smoker.”

Leir would have only gotten a call that there was an accident and he was needed, not the details, and Vax felt his muscles tightening as anger took hold of him again. He’d gotten a preliminary report before he left Camp Primma, so he shared the information.

“We’ve been betrayed by Alcam and the Council. They dug an illegal shaft without approved plans, halfway under another tunnel being worked. Thinned it out too much, hit a pocket of gas in the crystals, and shook it all loose. Part of the upper tunnel lost its floor, causing some of the miners to fall through, but the lower shaft took the brunt of it. Three workers were trapped, including an Ithxan kid that didn't show on the scanner and almost got missed. If he hadn’t been with someone who was warm-blooded…”

He trailed off, shaking his head. He’d be beating himself up about that oversight for a long time.

Leir’s low growl filled the room, fanning Vax’s own anger, but Varner spoke up and made him focus again.

“How long do you plan to keep the mines shut down?”

Leir’s brows shot up as he looked from Varner to Vax.

“You shut them down? All of them?”

Vax nodded.

“Refinery too. The Council isn’t getting shit until we figure out who’s responsible and they answer for what they caused. I’m working my ass off to make them happy while keeping my people safe, yet someone obviously went behind my back, and their impatience already caused the death of seven men. It could be more before the night’s over. We transported twenty seriously injured, plus there’s ten more at Camp with minor breaks, and too many to count with bruises, scrapes, and smoke inhalation.”

Vax’s fingers curled around the edge of his desk, grip threatening to rip off chunks of the sturdy wood, but it was all he could do to keep himself in his seat.

“Alcam knows better.”

Vax nodded at Leir’s statement.

“I sent Regis to get him. The question is, who else was in on it, and who’s behind it?”

“I don’t think Alcam would have approached a Chancellor on his own,” Varner said. “Who’s the most likely to have gone behind your back to him? Who knows enough to know who to go to?”

Vax leaned back in his seat, running a hand down his face as he heaved a sigh. The hours of stress with the physical labor of digging out the trapped men suddenly hit him, and everything ached. He wanted nothing more than to hand the whole mess over to someone else and go soak in his tub, but this was his job.

“Any of them. All of them.”

He sighed again and shook his head, trying to force his tired mind to focus.

“Chancellor Ganavough has been complaining the most, but I don’t think he has the balls to do something about it himself. He’d lose the military commission of he was caught, and most of the other fuckers are just as lazy. The Federation Generals have been pressuring Ganavough though, so maybe he thinks they’d look the other way?”

Vax had no idea how to narrow down the possible culprits if Alcam refused to confess, but he wasn’t above threatening the man to get the information. Considering what had happened, he might even consider a bit of torture if it was necessary. He’d love the chance to put his fist through the bastard’s face.

“What do you need?”

Leir’s question made him pause, mentally getting things in order.

“Farcon 1 has no income without the crystals, and two thirds of our crops have failed. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with Cha, but I promised the miners half pay with free basic food while the mines are closed.”

Vax turned his attention to Varner, hoping his Chief of Staff could verify what he expected.

“Our current food stores will last the population…”

“A week at most,” Varner said. “There’s a shipment coming in with the stuff ordered for the Council meeting, but the last produce delivery was short, and the next is running late.”

Vax barely swallowed the growl that threatened to break free. After the accident, there was no way he’d believe the Council wasn’t behind those problems as well. They were punishing him, doing their best to make the population angry with him so they’d allow him to be replaced.

Leir stood without waiting for a direct request.

“Food it is. I’ll get as much as I can fit in the hold and be back as soon as possible.”

A fraction of the weight on Vax’s shoulders lifted. His hands may be tied with red tape, but Leir had means to get things that he didn’t. Just because they hadn’t had to smuggle things in since Vax took over didn’t mean Leir didn’t still have contacts he could use when necessary.

---