NationStates Jolt Archive

Adair Scott settled quietly down in the Labor Caucus Room in Parliament Building. It was nice to be returned to his seat. He had not been particularly worried about it. It was one of the more secure seats in Fireforge. What was much nicer was to have the Labor Party in Government once more, thanks to the narrow victory of the Progressive Coalition. It was even known that Labor would receive a mandate to form a Government. They had 25% of the total seats in Parliament, compared to the 20% of the Liberals, the 3% of Emancipation, the 2% of Equity, and the 1% of the Greens. Still, one thing was not known, and that was who the next Prime Minister would be. Almost as soon as the election results had come in, Abraham Goldfarb had resigned as party leader, a move he had explained privately to Scott and other Labor MPs as having stemmed from a feeling that he would not be able to forge the five parties into an effective coalition, which left the question open as to who among Labor's ranks could. Goldfarb was meeting with still Prime Minister Karamanlis, soon to be Viscountess Kairis; Beatrice Wake, who had become leader of the Emancipation Party when Haben Caddick couldn't get herself elected; Sarah Sacker, in a parallel position with regard to the Equity Party leadership; and leader of the Greens, Radman Nastula.

Scott sighed with slight impatient, waiting for some word from the leadership. He poured himself another glass of Scotch and glanced over at the unusually muscular woman, young for an MP, sitting across from him. "So what do you think, Miss Weidenseld? Are we in for a long wait?"

"Very long." Hannah Weidenseld answered with a warm smile. Although she was not in Labor, the Equity MP was usually welcome as a coalition partner. "Still, there's no need to waste it. We will be starting business this session with a rather important defense bill..."

Scott frowned slightly as he checked his watch. He'd been talking to Weidenseld for almost an hour and still hadn't received any word from the party leadership. The woman didn't seem to notice his impatience. "There are any number of places where we can expect to need troop deployments if we plan to remain in VERITAS, including the city of Selinia."

"You mean on the moon? Nothing we can do there is worth what it'll cost us. Let's stay in our own natural sphere." Scott answered with a slight frown.

"Maybe." she granted. "We'll still need permanent military forces deployed in Ambara, the Excalbian Isles, near Syskeyia, near..."

"I understand the problem." he said gruffly. "To be honest, I'm not so sure about VERITAS. So far, our troops have been called out to honor VERITAS three times. We've never refused the call of another VERITAS power. However, not even one VERITAS nation was with us in Ambara. It was Pantocratoria, Excalbia, and Adoki we could rely on in a fight and it still is. At least, that's the way it seems to me."

That day, Scott drove home without knowing who the next Prime Minister of the Resurgent Dream would be, only that negotiations were continuing. He got out at his building in Tarana, frowning softly to himself. He always had trouble thinking of this apartment as home. It was completely apart from his late wife, devoid utterly of the memory of her presence. That thought, when it crossed his mind, made him far sadder than the bittersweet memories that plagued his home in Fireforge.

Forcing down the depressing thought, he headed up to his apartment. "Dierdre, are you home?"

His fifteen year old daughter, the youngest of four children, came out of her room and gave him a casual hug. "Right here, Da. What's for dinner tonight?"

"I don't know yet." he said with a little shrug. "I might make hagis. Did your sister call?"

"No." she said. "William called though. He wants you to call him when you get back."

"Alright. He's old enough that he'd better not be asking for money though..." he griped as he walked over to the phone to call his oldest son.

Scott set down the phone, frustrated. His son had indeed asked for money after a brief conversation. Almost as soon as he put it down, in rang again. "Hello."

"Hey, Adair. This is Abe." answered the former party leader's voice on the other end. "We've picked out guy."

"Who is it?"

"Well...you should probably get down here...Your Excellency." He could almost hear Goldfarb's smile over the phone.

Scott blinked. Then he blinked again. "I'm sure I'm not your guy."

"Not your call, Prime Minister. I'll see you in a few minutes."