Birthright

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The glows of the four rectangular screens illuminated Frank Drasse's otherwise darkened room. He sat back in his plush leather seat, facing the screens, his hands steepled in his lap. His posture suggested that he was at ease as he spoke with his colleagues about the affairs of their provinces, but there was unmistakable strength and resolve in his golden eyes.

He knew that this meeting between generals was more important than previous ones. It would determine the future of both humans and Sansers alike. And because of this, Drasse couldn't let his guard down until he was certain the outcome was in his favor.

Sonia Ronley, the general of Rivyena—the western province within the United States territory—was speaking at length about an altercation between Metas and rebels in one of her towns, her voice characteristically gentle and with a lilt that lulled most people into underestimating her. She was a petite, blond-haired and soft-spoken woman but had a protective fierceness when it came to ensuring that her province thrived.

On the screen next to hers, General Hanson wore a bored expression. He hadn't stopped yawning in the last ten minutes, as clear a disrespect to General Ronley as any outward rebuff. Ronley, to her credit, was doing a great job ignoring him. They all knew how brutish and tactless Hanson was. Not only was he the youngest of the generals at thirty-two years old, he was also the most controversial. He didn't bother with tact or diplomacy, especially in issues concerning Sansers.

It was his overzealousness that often pitted Jack Hanson of Calsin Province against the other generals. He disliked Luis Castillo's increasing ineptitude at old age, scorned Sonia Ronley's sympathy for Sansers, questioned Lucinda Vargas's reticence and ignored Frank Drasse's insistence on protocols. But he was also a very effective leader, which made the ANEF reluctant to discharge him from his post.

"Enough about that," Hanson said when Ronley finally stopped briefing them. He tugged at his thick red beard. "I'm sure we didn't put our duties on hold to update one another on trivial matters. I believe that it's time we discussed the real issue that has brought us together tonight."

"Indeed," Castillo grumbled in his deep voice, a cane draped across his lap. He used it for walking, but Frank Drasse knew that it doubled as a Sen-reinforced weapon: a deadly steel blade was hidden inside the seemingly harmless cane, and despite nearing the age of eighty, Castillo still retained enough skill to use it effectively.

"The High Courts has approved the initial plan for the Concordance Policy," Ronley said, ignoring Hanson's disrespect yet again. "This means that we now have permission to begin testing Sanser applicants with the use of the Loyalty Merit Test that we have developed for use at the foundations. Unfortunately this is only a trial phase still; the existence of Concordance depends entirely on its success once it's implemented at a foundation."

Drasse placed his hands on the armrests of his chair, pleased that he was close to having the full support of the ANEF. Concordance was his brain child, something he'd concocted many years ago as a way of diminishing the loss of Meta lives in the Skads and Outskirts. It was a policy that would allow for young, loyal-proven Sanser applicants to be accepted and trained at foundations alongside humans.

Someday in the not-so-distant future, Sanser Enforcers would be fighting the rebels. What could be better for humanity than to use Sansers against their own kind?

"When will the foundations be ready to administer the Loyalty Merit Tests?" Lucinda Vargas of the South American province, Macot, asked.

Where Ronley was small-figured and gentle, Vargas had the lethalness of a warrior woman. Nearly six-foot-tall and slender, she had retained her muscled physique and fighting prowess despite being well into her thirties. Drasse knew her better than the other generals; they had attended Calsin Foundation together as teenagers and then spent two years as partners patrolling the godforsaken Skads of Macot.