Barry Longyear - Enemy Papers

"Priority Red," calls Janice. "Peaches has Drews in sight."

The screens change to show a relatively steady image of a large plaza seen from the top of a building. There are only a few persons standing on the multicolored blocks of concrete, all of them human. There is a Front security line around the entrance to a large building on the far side of the plaza.

"The battle lines go right through that building," says Peaches. "The Mavedah controls the approaches to the opposite side of the building. Lilly is watching that side just in case, but here he is. I have a clear shot."

The image grows until we see a shot of Jacob Drews walking across the square, his hands empty except for a walking stick. His steps are steady and slow, the expression on his face sad. Half the screens fill with another view seen from the level of the square. "It’s Lilly," says Kita.

"I have a clear shot," says the second agent.

"I wonder if that includes getting away," mutters Davidge.

The new view of Drews reveals nothing. "If he’s got a bomb on him," says Lilly, "it’s wrapped around his body."

"Damn!" mutters Janice. "Priority Red, Nightwing!"

Three screens fill with flame and smoke. There is a roaring sound. "Green Fire shot the damned missiles," comes Nightwing’s voice through a mess of static. "Two of 'em. We exploded one on the ground and that one took out the rest, including the site and its personnel. The other missile is on its way. We couldn’t stop it. Sorry."

"We have to warn the talks!" I shout into my headset.

"Don’t worry about it, Ro," says Eli Moss through my headset. "I got it on radar and it’s not headed for Silver City. That bird is coming straight at us!"

"Peace," calls Lilly. "If this guy is a bomb, we’re going to have to do him soon. If he gets much closer he’s going to take out the guard and a good hunk of that building."

An alarm goes off and I instinctively grab one of the bulkhead braces as the Aeolus veers sharply to the right, then drops suddenly as a deafening crash drives the ship down even further. As I struggle up from the deck, I see Reaper pulling himself back into his chair. Kita says, "Peaches and Lilly need a decision right now. Is it a hit or a miss?"

I look to my right and see Zenak Abi and Davidge crumpled up together on the deck. Davidge is bleeding from his forehead and both of them are unconscious. I look back at the screen and Jacob Drews continues to plod toward the entrance of the building in which the talks are taking place, his walking stick clicking on the concrete.

It is my worst nightmare come true. Yora Beneres rushes toward Abi and Davidge, but they are both still out. I am alone. "Hit him," I order. A split second later a shot is fired, Drews comes to a halt, and the guards in the security lines ready their weapons as they look for the cause of the noise.

Jacob Drews weaves for a moment, then drops to his knees. As he begins to pitch forward onto his face, the walking stick falls from his hand followed immediately by an explosion that momentarily leaves the sound system dead. When it recovers I hear the message we prepared, in the name of The Peace, explaining who we are, what we have done, and why we are doing it. In moments all of Amadeen will know that the game now has new rules.

I squat down next to Davidge, and Kita is treating him, the tears streaking her cheeks. I turn to look at Abi but Kita shakes her head. I feel for a pulse, but there is none. Zenak Abi is dead.

Abi dead. The anger in me says that Abi cannot start me on this path and then leave. I almost say that it is unfair. Old fool, you spent your life for a peace you will never see. You will get your Aydan’s blade, Abi. Time will tell if your peace comes to be.

I stand, look up at the screen, and see that there is nothing left of Jacob Drews save a small crater in the plaza. The guards near the building are picking themselves up, stunned expressions on their faces. The image goes to black as Peaches and Lilly leave their positions to fade into the background, the number twenty-nine left prominently at the location from where the fatal shot was fired.

Reaper stands next to me, his hand on my shoulder. "That was a gutsy call, Ro. Was it a lucky call, too?"

I feel the tears welling up inside me. There are some for Zenak Abi, perhaps a few for me. Mostly, though, the tears are for a mountain of pain named Jacob Drews who enters the next life as a breath of vapor.

"Well, was it?"

I face Reaper. "What do you mean?"

"How did you decide? How did you know for certain Drews had a bomb?"

"Certainty had nothing to do with it. I guessed. Because of the walking stick. He didn’t have it in the recording showing him going to the old IMPEX mines. After his trip through the sewer, though, he had a walking stick. I guessed it was rigged with a dead man’s switch."

Reaper nods and goes back to his post as Yora comes out and lets us know that the ship is all right. More reports from agents covering The Fives, The Rose, Thuyo Koradar, and Green Fire. All plans on hold until everyone can assess the new player. As our agent Kamikaze puts it, "There’s a cop in the neighborhood and the gangs don’t know what to make of it."

That evening, as we head back to our mountain, the truce still holding, I sit by Abi’s body in the cargo bay and think about when Abi said that it would probably get me killed. "Now I have gotten you killed."

"There will be more." I look up and Will Davidge is leaning against the hatchway. His head is bandaged and Kita is by his side.

"Are we wrong?" I ask.

Davidge lifts a hand and lets it fall to his side. "If I knew the answer to that, Ro, the universe would be a much different place." He nods toward the comm center. "It’s not over yet." Kita and he turn and return to the center. I say good-bye to Abi and follow them.

The body count. Zenak Abi, Jacob Drews, and eleven members of a Green Fire missile battery. Nightwing and the other agent at the missile site were cut up a bit from flying debris, but nothing serious. The truce still holds.

We are gathered in the large chamber of the copper mine. Davidge is on his back on the dirt floor. Kita sits on the ground next to Davidge. "Neither the Front nor the Mavedah have issued statements and all of the splinters are waiting to find out what the main groups will say so they can oppose it, I imagine."

"We have heard from Green Fire," I add. "According to them The Peace is a Mavedah diversion allowing the Dracs to talk peace and keep killing."

"Anybody buying it?"

Kita nods. "Some are."

Davidge closes his eyes and leans his head back on the folded coat Kita has stuffed behind his head. "What about it, Ro?"

"Everyone we killed today was human."

He looks off into the shadows, takes a deep breath, and lets it escape slowly. "All the ones doing the killing were human, too."

"Were they!" I ask, already knowing the answer. I sit on the edge of one of Abi’s homemade chairs, lean forward, and clasp my hands together. "We need someone to replace Abi. You, too, if you are not on your feet soon. I cannot do it alone."

He looks at me for a long time. When he speaks he almost seems to be another person. "I want you to know that I am very proud of you, Yazi Ro, When you first showed up on Friendship, I thought you were going to be a real pain in the ass. Now that I’ve gotten to know you, if I could have my greatest wish it would be to have had a chance to watch you grow to adulthood. I don’t know if growing up with me would have been an improvement. You did an excellent job all by yourself. It would have been happier for you, though, I think."