Governor Snelund plans to extract enough wealth from Sector Alpha Crucis to enable him to return Home to:
"'...bribe, buy elections, propagandize, arrange events, maybe purchase certain assassinations...till he has a Policy Board majority on his side.'" (V, p. 48)
He will commit atrocities, provoke civil war, then crush the rebels, wreaking enough destruction to destroy the evidence of the atrocities. Returned Home, he will become the power behind the Throne. He has planned this campaign in advance with Emperor Josip which means that the Emperor himself is guilty of treason against the Empire.
Hugh McCormac's oldest son, Colin, voices some doubt:
"'But - makin' you Emperor -'" (VI, p. 53)
It had not occurred to me on previous readings but, if Hugh McCormac does become Emperor Hugh I, then his oldest son will succeed as Colin I. But they have reckoned without Dominic Flandry, loyal subject of Josip - up to a point.
3 comments:
I think it would be more accurate to call Flandry loyal to the Empire -- which, alas, requires loyalty to Josip at this point.
We salute the uniform, not the man, and respect the office, not the office-holder, as Superman did when Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mt. Stirling: Yes, for all his cynicism I think Flandry, deep down, was truly at heart loyal to the Empire.
Paul: I am not entirely sure Josip totally understood what Snelund was doing and planned to do. I recalled how Vice Admiral Kheraskov described him as being too weak and stupid for his viciousness to be very effective. Which makes me give Josip that much of the benefit of the doubt.
But, yes, almost anyone else would have been better on the throne than Josip!\\\
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment