Michael Williamson - When Diplomacy Fails…

Aramis said, “You’re unhappy because she thinks we’re that stupid.”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Jason said, “It’s common. You have to be something of a sociopath to get high in politics. You’ve seen it; she really has little compassion for anyone. It’s not that she’s mean. She’s just not capable of empathizing with anyone. That makes narcissism that much easier. It’s all about her, and she isn’t even cognizant of us.”

Shaman said, “It’s not entirely like that, from a medical perspective, but I will forgive your irregularities for the rough summary.”

“Yeah, I’m sure my terms are wrong. I’ll clarify: she’s a smug, self-centered bitch.”

“Spot on,” Shaman agreed.

Elke was learning from this, but it still wasn’t clear. “How do such people make way? Get ahead?”

Aramis smirked, but it wasn’t unkind. “They have lots of people along for the ride and the money and power, and others willing to back them for payoffs later.”

“It seems a precarious way to get ahead.”

“It is,” Jason said. “It always collapses eventually. Which is why we get paid to protect them meantime. Remember how they tried to set up Bishwanath?”

Alex said, “They’re being smarter this time. No deaths, just harassment. We can’t really respond, but we have to treat every threat seriously.”

“But they’re improving her visibility and popularity.”

Alex continued, “Could it be staged? Not by her, but by the party?”

“Possibly.”

Very serious now, he said, “We have to assume there’s some agency behind the non-lethal attacks. She admits to one. So, she set up the first one, but these could be either staged higher up, by some anonymous benefactor, or they could be legitimate protest by fucking idiots, or just harassment by someone wanting to embarrass her without risking actual jail.”

“Or trying to entice us into killing someone so they can hold it against her, or us. Or trying to entice us into killing someone so they have an excuse to start another revolution.”

Bart said, “It could be any of those. She fits profiles for celebrity, politician and important official.”

Aramis asked, “Should we not return fire?”

Elke said, “I would return fire. In case they are trying to lull us so they can attack.” She looked around at the others.

Alex said, “Yes. Our job is to protect her from threats. We do that, against every potential threat. Don’t use more force than you have to, so avoid the autocannon. But by all means return fire. If she wants to spin it for her bravery and risk-taking, we’ll allow it. That’s even semi-legit as long as she’s not orchestrating it herself. However, we need to find out what the strategy is. Alex, research the history of this place for similar events. Elke, you get everything you can from her quarters. Spy on her however you have to. It’s for her own safety, and ours. I’ll get everything I can from Captain Das.”

Bart said, “He is not in BuState.”

“He’s not, but he probably has some good leads anyway.”

“I will get on it,” Elke said, though she wasn’t comfortable.

She did not deal well with most people, and had trouble with some cues. She knew that. This required determining how someone else would think, and that was uncomfortable. She also had no idea how it was done. It had taken two years to understand how most of the team thought. She’d been the last person to fit in, and still was very much outside them. If it weren’t for Jason, she might not have made it this far.

However, it seemed it was something she needed to learn. In the meantime, she had sensors and bugs to place.

Now there was the matter of several explosive devices she needed to inventory, adapt, or strip for material. She’d need more caps at once, more explosive shortly, but she had a few kilograms to get her started. It was obvious to her that Highland was using them as every kind of shield, decoy and prison bitch possible. Otherwise Elke wouldn’t be stealing what she needed.

At least the guns had ammunition. It likely hadn’t occurred to the kurve that they’d actually shoot at threats without her say so. Truly, the woman had far too much regard for the capabilities of government.

At some point during this mission, that would become apparent. Elke looked forward to that facial expression. It was quite perverse on her part, but she was comfortable with it.

Aramis stretched as they broke up and fell to. There were weapons to clean, routes to plan, exercise to take, food, rest, itineraries. He had more maps to plot, gear dumps to arrange, and Jason might need help with weapons.

They moved around and funneled out the door back into the common room. He twitched as Elke brushed past. Had that been a grope?

She turned slightly on her way to her own room, and her face wore a smirk.

That was disturbing.

Aramis was still trembling from the earlier incident. He had no idea how close he’d come to brain wiping, but that had to have been skirting it. From now on, everyone got a half second consideration, and nonlethal fire first. He understood protecting the principal. He also understood not letting her use him as bait, a taunt or a campaign slogan. He had no reason to care that much for her. He’d save the firepower for the team’s safety. He would fire to protect his teammates, though.

It occurred to him the harassing attacks might be intended exactly as a confidence shaker for something bigger later. Or had they discussed that already?

Yes, he was shaken. Still, fire to save the team, and fuck the politicians.

That resolved in his mind, he went to see Jason. He found the man hunched over a sheet on the floor, working on weapons.

“Hey, Aramis, what do you need?”

He started with, “I want to make sure my carbine is as zeroed as you can get, and I want that scope set with all the bells and whistles. Show me what I need to know.”

“Can do. I have a few minutes before I can catch up with Captain Das, who is certainly going to know something is up with all the bribery, so I need to make the bribe bigger but practical and not ridiculous.”

“If you’re busy…”

“Nope, I need to think, and handling guns helps me think. Let’s do it.” He pulled Aramis’ carbine from the cabinet, and his own. He seemed to relax and calm down once he had a weapon in hand. That bothered a lot of people, but Aramis understood it. Much like Elke with her explosives, it gave him focus and control.

“Okay, you have frequency shift here, which can be done manually, or through the slide on your combat goggles. UV for smoke, IR for night, or thermal. Punch up the IR here to at least eight, given this wimpy star. In my system you’d dial down to three.”

“Got it.”

“You boresight here, and put a dot on the wall there, that’s why I have that mark.”

“It’s a centimeter high.”

“So it’ll be smack on at a hundred meters.”

“Yes.”

“How’s the grip?”

“Comfortable. I’d like more butt weight.”

“Here,” Jason said, took the weapon, and attached a small tube that held an extra capacitance pack for the optics. He handed it back.

“Yeah, that does it, and gives me a second spare.”

“You’ll never need it, but someone else might.”

“Excellent. Got time for one more question then?”

“Yes, go ahead.” Jason stood, stretched, and wiped his hands on a towel.

“It’s about Elke.”

“Okay.”

He hesitated slightly. “Look, you’ve known her a long time.”

“On and off, yes. She’s an unusual character.”

That was a sympathetic opening. Good.

“Yes, that’s it. Previously, you know how she acted toward me. Distant, even condescending, and I deserved it when we first met. We got past that. Strictly professional, much the way she is with you.”