Free Commandant (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 8) by Jonathan P. Brazee

the Marine Corps, something to which he’d long aspired, but he’d throw all of that away if he could just turn back the clock and get his family—and yes, Sandy, too—back.

Chapter 9
     
    Ryck stared at the simple plastisheet on the table in front of him.  It looked innocuous, just another routine piece of admin requiring a physical signature, but it caused a pounding in his head, a narrowing of his vision.
    Slowly, the signature “Amarin Frederick Kean Chandanasiri” appeared on the paper.   A moment later, the retinal scan was shown as accepted.  Light-years away at Prometheus Station , the home of the Third Fleet, Admiral Chandanasiri signed his copy of the Articles of Assumption, which were molecularly linked to the copy in front of Ryck.
    There were few documents that have stood the test of time as turning points in human history:  the Summa Theologica , the Magna Carta , the US Declaration of Independence , the Federation Charter , the Munich Accord , and the Writ , coming to mind.  Ryck didn’t know if the short declaration on the plastisheet in front of him would hold the same weight or if it would be relegated to a footnote in history about a foolhardy and failed attempt at fundamental change.
    “Sir, Admiral Chandanasiri has signed his copy,” Major General Talliman Hayes said needlessly.
    Ryck picked up the stylus and looked at the gathered men around him.  All of the flag and command sergeants major at the Headquarters, Sams, Hecs, Jorge Simone, and five randomly selected junior Marines were there to represent the Corps.  Brian Plummer and his senior staff from the Kravitch were there as representatives from the Navy.   The governor and his staff were gathered together, representing the civilian population.  And Major Titus Pohlmeyer, the Confederation of Free States Army, was the loan witness from a foreign government.
    The news teams, three in all, couldn’t be ignored as they jockeyed for position to best record what was about to happen; whether for posterity or a future trial, Ryck didn’t know.
    Ryck hesitated.  Up until now, there had been no direct action between the loyalist Federation forces and the new government, or “Evolutionary forces,” as they were now calling themselves.  (“Not revolution, evolution!”)  Signing this document, though, was essentially a declaration of war.  There would be no turning back.  And Ryck didn’t want war.  He knew the consequences of war, the horrors, far more than most, and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that people were going to suffer, and people were going to die. 
    Most of all, though, Ryck didn’t want to lead a revolution, for that was what it was, despite all the play on words the experts were bandying about.  He could fight battles.  That was what he had been trained to do throughout his career.  But being the co-head of a government scared him shitless. 
    What do I know about government?
    Just 30 minutes before, he’d received a briefing about the banks.  Most of the largest banks in the Federation had their headquarters on Earth, and they had already cut off funding to the planets that had come out siding with the new provisional government, or what was about to become the provisional government as soon as Ryck signed the document.  The few banks that had promised to work with the new government did not have the financial wherewithal to support them, to fund a revolution.  The whole thing made his head ache.
    He took a quick glance and Titus Pohlmeyer.  Ryck was going to have a one-on-one with the major right after the signing ceremony—they needed Confederation support.
    He knew he had to sign, but his brain screamed at him “No!”  The consequences were just too great.  Part of him realized that his hesitation as he looked at the gathered men had a dramatic effect for the news teams to record, showing the import of the act, but any more hesitation could turn that into someone unsure if this was the