>The point I'm trying to edge around to is I'm wondering if Bill Clark
>has the power to come at the IPO sideways now that he's in the big
>chair. Do shit like reduce the Federation share of their funding, hold
>hearing after hearing after hearing (forcing valuable Lensmen to be
>tied up endlessly in Paris) other stuff like that. The EA already
>withdrew from the Accords; engineering a complete Federation
>withdrawal from them as well would doubtless be quite satisfying to
>him.
>

"We should be separate from the WDF - they're needed as they
are, and there are plenty of other officers who deserve a shot at the
top. It ought to be separate from the 3WA too, and from any
corporation - its own oversight, its own sanction, everything."

I have no idea what is in the International Police Accords, but given that this is the base idea, I doubt that there's anything that Clark can do in terms of wrecking their funding, and having its own oversight suggests that he can't take them to court in Paris, although he might be able to tie people up in Zeta Cygni.

Funding is actually the least likely point of vulnerability.

Remember, Zoner handed out enough stock to make Juri independently wealthy without blinking. Gryphon is probably less well-off, since his time in the Exile was a bit leaner, but he's still reasonably supplied with cash - if his pack-rat ways extend to money, he probably had to spend several months closing all the bank accounts he established over the course of the Exile. Even if he didn't, the bounty (bounties?) for bringing in the Butcher of Musashi is impressive seed money. Kei and Yuri probably have a fair chunk of change as well. Add GENOM's petty cash into the mix, and that's quite the load of bread.

Then consider that these are just the people that are very likely to have contributed. Redneck? The Autobots? The Sterling family? Possible, although not certain.

President Clark might be able to push the IPO out of Federation space, and deny them access for anything outside of a "hot pursuit" condition, but I doubt that something intended to be proof against external manipulation will be easy to disrupt.

As for coming at Gryphon sideways, the last time was a brilliantly crafted psy-op that took several years of preparation, and was aimed specifically at the WDF, combined with a military strike timed to catch them at their weakest.

From where I sit, it seems more likely that the intent is to have Gryphon out of the way, and have the Federation "collapse from internal stresses."

Peter Eng
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Insert humorous comment here.