Jack Campbell - Perilous Shield

Garadun finally found his voice. “Why did the enigmas destroy Kalixa instead of someplace closer to them?”

“Because,” Rogero said, hearing his own voice grow hard, “they wanted us to blame the Alliance. They wanted the Syndicate Worlds and the Alliance to start collapsing hypernet gates in each other’s star systems.”

After a long moment, Sub-CEO Garadun looked away angrily. “Wipe each other out. They wanted us to wipe out each other. Let humanity kill itself, and they’d inherit the wreckage.”

“Yes.”

“And we almost did it. We almost did exactly what they wanted. The Reserve Flotilla had orders to collapse the hypernet gate at Varandal. Did you know that? In retaliation for what happened at Kalixa.”

It was Rogero’s turn to stare without words.

“We almost did it.” Garadun shuddered, his face twisted with pain. “Dammit all. If we hadn’t lost that fight… I need to tell people about this. They don’t know. They think the Alliance destroyed Kalixa. Are you absolutely certain, Donal? There’s no doubt of what you say?”

“No doubt at all. It’s widely known because of the crash program to get the modifications installed on the hypernet gates.” Rogero paused. “You should know what happened at Prime. The gate there collapsed as well, at a time when it would have destroyed not only Prime but also Black Jack’s fleet. But it had the modification installed, and so did not collapse in the way that led to something like Kalixa.”

Garadun shook his head, looking around. “There’s Ito. Hey! And you, Jepsen. Did you hear what Colonel Rogero said? You’re staying with him, so you two make sure everyone on this ship and the other freighters know the truth. I’ll tell the ones who are going to be dropped off here. There are plenty of real reasons to hate the Alliance for what they did during the war, but none of those reasons approach the scale of what happened at Kalixa. Our people need to know who was really responsible.”

“The enigmas tried to use the hate we felt for the Alliance,” Rogero said, “and the hate the Alliance felt for us, to achieve their own goals.”

“That’s the problem with hate, isn’t it?” Garadun said. “It’s very easy for hate to hit the wrong targets. Yes, I know that. I always have. I couldn’t change my feelings about the Alliance, but I could stay aware of the mistakes those feelings might cause me to make. Collapsing that gate at Varandal might have been the worst such mistake, and in that case I didn’t realize it until now.” The air lock cycled open. “Here’s my ride. Thank you, Donal. I have a life again. I won’t waste it.”

“See you don’t,” Rogero advised, as Garadun entered the air lock, followed by other workers and junior supervisors who had chosen to leave the freighter at Atalia.

“I’ll see you at Midway!” Ito called before the air-lock hatch sealed. “Can we talk?” she asked Rogero.

“Of course. Help me carry my armor back to my quarters.”

Ito wrinkled her nose. “Even with this air, I can smell that. Better clean it out.”

“I’ve done it plenty of times before after a long fight,” Rogero said. “Have you discovered anything about that riot?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about,” she said, falling into step beside him. “None of the workers knows who motivated it. Just the usual somebody said something and everybody was doing it nonsense.” She snorted in derision. “Sheep.”

“What about the wounded?”

“The wounded? Oh, you mean the two injured workers? One died.” Ito didn’t sound concerned about that. “The other will be able to return to duty eventually if you don’t want to execute her as a lesson to the others. Those two didn’t know anything, either.”

“It was planned,” Rogero said. “Someone planned that and led it, and I very much doubt that whoever motivated that mob was anywhere near the forefront of the action. More likely they were a ways back from it, building an alibi.”

“You’re right. But anybody who knew who that was must have died when you put down the riot. I used the portable ground forces interrogation gear you guys brought. It’s not great, but it’s good enough. None of those workers were trained to handle interrogation.”

“What about the grenade?” Rogero asked. “I was able to determine that it was stolen from our supplies, not delivered to someone by one of my soldiers. That theft took considerable skill, getting past the alarms set in that cargo area and leaving no trace of the intrusion. But there was only one grenade missing.”

“You probably killed the one who got it from whoever stole it,” Ito said. “He or she had to have been at the front of the mob to toss it through the door when they got it partway open. They only took one because if they had taken two, we might have found it during a search after the riot; and then we would know who was behind everything.”

“Most likely,” Rogero agreed. “Whoever planned this did a professional job. They need to be caught.”

“And killed?”

“Probably. After they answer a few questions.”

“So,” Ito said, “tell me something. You killed all the snakes at Midway? What did the workers do without the snakes keeping them down? They must have rioted. Did you have to do a compliance action on the whole planet?”

Rogero’s memory filled with images of the nearly hysterical crowds, which had celebrated the deaths of the snakes on Midway and the destruction of the Internal Security Service headquarters by General Drakon’s soldiers. He had seen the trouble developing, he had known the celebration was growing more frenzied and would soon descend into riot. “No. I could tell things were going to get out of hand. But they didn’t. General Drakon sent us out, but he sent us out to enlist the citizens in preventing the celebration from turning into a rampage of looting and destruction.”

“Enlist them?” Ito asked. “You mean he drafted a lot of them to use for locking down the rest?”

“No. General Drakon talked to the citizens. He told them they needed to keep anyone from using their freedom to harm the rest of them. He told them any surviving snakes might try to convince them to riot and destroy things. He got the police on the streets, with our backup. He went out himself on the streets, and calmed everyone, got everyone to think about tomorrow, and what they needed to do to keep themselves and their families safe.”

Ito was watching him with a baffled expression. “But he also threatened them.” She made it a statement, not a question.

“No,” Rogero said. “He and President Iceni told the people that they must act responsibly, and made it clear that anyone who didn’t would be dealt with.”

“That’s a threat,” Ito concluded. “How much unrest has there been since then?”

“Very little. Demonstrations, yes. President Iceni permits those as long as everyone behaves. It lets the people know they have a real voice.”

They reached his quarters, and Ito left Rogero to the familiar but tedious job of cleaning out his armor. I love you most dearly, Honore, but you stink remarkably after a few days in armor. I won’t be telling you that to your face, though.

I haven’t thought much about those days right after the revolt when we killed the snakes at Midway. There’s been too much else to keep me busy. But what would have happened if General Drakon and President Iceni had ordered Syndicate methods be used to suppress the citizens? We would have been on constant garrison duty, fighting to keep a rebellious people from doing to us what we had done to the snakes.

We were given the leaders we needed, when we needed them. I must remain grateful for that, because Honore told me of many other star systems that lacked such leaders and have paid an awful price. I’ve heard about Taroa and some of the things that happened there. Was it coincidence that we had both Drakon and Iceni? I think not. Who or what do I thank for our good fortune?