A Show of Force (29 page)

“Have any of the Kalitans stepped up as leadership?” Nathan asked.

“No, and I do not expect any to do so. The people of Kalita wish only to leave Kalita, at the earliest opportunity.”

“Really. I did not expect that.”

“When the Jung took control of Kalita, the people fought back. In response to their efforts, the Jung decimated their world, killing more than ninety percent of their population in the process. The ones who survived were put to work in the mines. Kalita is rich in many ores, but was of little value to the Jung otherwise. Had the people not resisted, their civilization would probably be intact today.”

Nathan leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Still, you would think at least some of them would want to stay and rebuild.”

“There is nothing left to rebuild with,” the commander explained. “The Jung kept no industrial infrastructure here. Only the mining operations, the processing plants, and what little infrastructure that was required to keep the Kalitans alive to serve them. It is a meager existence by any measure. One totally devoid of hope. Kalita died long ago. What remains is nothing more than its bones, left to slowly decay over time.”

“How many of them are there?”

“Under a hundred thousand, I would guess.”

Nathan thought for a moment. “Tell them we will arrange to have them evacuated. It will take time, but it will happen. In the meantime, they must keep themselves alive with what they have, meager or not.”

“Understood,” Commander Telles replied. “To where shall they be evacuated?”

“Still to be determined,” Nathan answered. “We’ll arrange for medical teams and support personnel to help them keep it together until then.”

“I shall explain the situation to them.”

“I had hoped this would get easier,” Nathan admitted.

“In fact, I expect it to become harder,” Telles warned. “The longer a world has been under occupation, the more likely the population is to support the Jung. Worlds like Kalita, ones that were all but destroyed, are the exception.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Nathan agreed.

“I fear that the worlds of Tau Ceti will be even more challenging. The Jung will not want to give up three, fully industrialized, heavily populated worlds. Especially ones that have been reformed to be as hospitable as possible to humans. If the Cetian economy is as strong as it appears to be, their people may not want to be liberated.”

“That is why we sent Jessica and her team to Kohara.”

“Have they reported back yet?”

“No, they haven’t,” Nathan answered. “However, it has only been fifteen days. They won’t be considered overdue for another ten.”

“If they are unable to complete their mission, we may be forced to destroy the Jung ground forces from orbit. Due to the density of population surrounding those targets, the collateral damage will be quite significant.”

“I don’t suppose we could leave them intact?” Nathan wondered. “Maybe call up the Cetians and ask them if they’d like us to remove the Jung from their world before we attack?”

“Once the element of surprise is lost, the Jung will be better able to defend themselves. If necessary, they will disappear into the masses, creating a network of saboteurs that will be difficult to combat.”

“So, just taking out their ships and moving on is out of the question as well, I suppose?” Nathan inquired, already knowing the answer.

“You cannot win a war by leaving enemy forces alive and well near your borders,” Telles explained. “If a single Jung ship was able to retrieve those forces, and then somehow drop them on Earth…”

“Yeah, I know.” Nathan sighed again.

“Besides, it is not just about the existing Jung forces,” Telles added. “It is also about the industrial capacity of the Cetians. That is why the Jung have so many forces in that system, not because of its proximity to Earth.”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Nathan replied. “Anyway, I expect Admiral Dumar will make that decision when the time comes.”

“I’m sure he will.”

“And if that decision is to attack the surface from orbit?”

“Then I will obey that order, and destroy the targets on the surface,” Nathan responded, looking the commander straight in the eyes.

“I am confident that you shall, indeed.”

“I won’t like it,” Nathan admitted, “but I will do it, nonetheless.”

* * *

Jessica looked at Ellyus Barton. “And you haven’t had any contact from any other operatives in going on twenty years?”

“Closer to twenty-five, I suspect,” Ellyus replied. “That’s the last time I remember having contact with any of the other operatives. That’s also when I decided to get married and raise a family, so as to better blend in. On Kohara,
everyone
is married and has kids.”

“But you kept gathering intelligence. Why?”

“I guess part of me wanted to believe that eventually someone
would
come… that what I was doing mattered. I kept reminding myself that it took years to travel between Sol and Tau Ceti, and that the Earth only had so many ships. I kept telling myself that someday they would come. Unfortunately, they did not. It also became apparent to me that the Jung were so powerful, and had such an armada of ships, that there seemed to be little hope for Earth. I convinced myself that the same thing that happened here would happen on Earth—that the Jung would swoop in with dozens of ships and force the EDF to surrender. I convinced myself that it would be relatively bloodless, just as it was here, and that the people of Earth would be better off… again, just as it happened here.”

“Earth isn’t Kohara,” Jessica said.

“Yes, I know.”

Jessica leaned back in her chair and sighed. “For the life of me I can’t understand how anyone can accept subjugation in exchange for peace and prosperity.”

“I suspect it is simply a matter of priorities,” Ellyus said. “Some people are very headstrong and refuse to be told that there are things that they cannot do. Others are content to do what society asks of them and not make waves. My wife is that way. She does not want to be noticed, or stand out in any way. She is set in her routines, comfortable in familiar surroundings. Vacations tend to cause her considerable stress, as her routines are interrupted. To her, peace and security is far more valuable than freedom.”

“One person’s freedom is another person’s anarchy,” Jessica mumbled, remembering the phrase that Naralena had quoted earlier.

“You’ve heard that one?”

“Nora has,” Jessica said.

“It was very popular back in the months just after the Jung took over,” Ellyus explained. “It was a mantra for the pro-Jung crowd in protest against an underground anti-Jung movement.”

“So, there was some sort of resistance at one time?”

Ellyus raised his eyebrows. “I don’t know that I would call it a ‘resistance’. It was more of a movement… non-violent for the most part, as most Cetians abhor violence. The reactionary pro-Jung movement was triggered by a number of attacks allegedly carried out by the anti-Jung groups.”

“Allegedly?”

“Many believed that the Jung staged attacks to discredit the anti-Jung groups, to make them appear as terrorists, and to rally support for the Jung occupation.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I have no evidence either way,” Ellyus admitted, “however, I find it hard to believe that the anti-Jung groups resorted to killing innocent people to make their point. Or should I say, I find it easier to believe that the Jung
would
resort to such measures… especially after what you said about Kent.”

Jessica sat for a moment, thinking, looking at the pictures displayed on the view screen built into the conference table. She looked at Ellyus again. “So, have you ever considered returning to Earth?” she asked.

“I’d be lying if I said no,” he admitted. “However, I came here never expecting to return home.” He looked at her, a quizzical expression on his face. “Why do you ask?”

“We could get you off this world, if you’d like,” she told him. “You and your family.”

“I appreciate the offer, but Kohara is my home now.”

“Are you ever going to tell your family?”

“About my real identity? What would be the point? After you have gone, I will destroy all the intelligence data I have collected over the years. Now that I have reported everything I know to you, my mission is finally complete. For that, I thank you.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to hang around here,” Jessica warned. “Things could get ugly really fast. It all depends on how things go. Either way, things in the Tau Ceti system are going to change, and soon.”

“I don’t suppose you can give me any more than that?” Ellyus wondered. “Like, when this is all going to happen, and how?”

“Sorry, you know the drill.”

“Well, I have a tidy sum put away, much of it in precious metals and commodities. It should be enough to see us through whatever turmoil your Alliance is about to put us through.”

“Well, if you change your…” Jessica stopped abruptly as a man dressed in what appeared to be black tactical gear came bursting through the door, his weapon held high against his shoulder, ready to fire. Ellyus immediately stood, raising his hands, surprise on his face.

“On the floor!” the first man barked in Jung.

Jessica also stood, but her hands did not go up. Instead, her left hand swept up and outward as she stepped forward, knocking the barrel of the intruder’s energy rifle upward and away from her face. Her right fist jutted outward quickly, striking the man in his unprotected throat. At the same time, her free foot stepped behind the man’s other leg, and a slight push sent him tumbling backward, gasping for breath. Knowing that he would not have charged the room alone, Jessica grabbed her chair from behind her and brought it around in the air to strike the second man coming in behind the first, but he already had his rifle raised up in front of him, holding it vertically to one side with both hands in order to block the chair she was swinging toward him. Two more men came in behind the second, who was still dealing with the chair. Jessica managed to strike the first one in his face mask, but the other one caught her in the chest with the butt of his weapon, sending her tumbling backward over the table. By the time she got back to her feet, all three of the Jung soldiers had converged on her, managing to restrain her with considerable ease.

An officer entered the conference room next. By this time, Ellyus was also being restrained by two other soldiers, making a total of six of them in the room, including the one on his knees still gasping for air. The seventh man, the officer, came to stand just inside the doorway. She could see at least two more men in the corridor just outside the door. There was no escape.

The officer looked her over. “You will provide us with quite a lot of interesting intelligence about your Alliance.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jessica replied in Jung. “I’m here to negotiate a real estate purchase.”

“You really should have practiced your Jung a bit more,” the officer said, this time in heavily accented English.

Jessica cast him a puzzled expression. “What did you say?” she asked, again in Jung.

“I will give you points for trying, however,” the officer replied. “Take them,” he ordered his men.

Shots rang out in the corridor. Energy blasts struck the soldiers in the corridor, dropping them immediately. She felt the guard on her right take one hand off of her arm to reach for his weapon on instinct. At the same time, the guard standing in front of her with his weapon to her face turned to look toward the door.

Jessica twisted her right arm to break the soldier’s grip. She punched the soldier on the left in the stomach with her now-free right hand, then jammed her fist up into the underside of his chin. At the same time, she jammed her right foot up into the crotch of the Jung soldier in front of her as she snatched the weapon from his hand. The soldier in front of her doubled over in pain as she swung his stolen weapon around at shoulder height over his head, striking the soldier on her right in the side of his helmet, knocking him against the wall. Her left hand snatched the energy pistol from the holster of the soldier on her left. In one smooth motion, she put the barrel up into the front edge of his armpit where there was no body armor, and pressed the trigger. The energy bolt sliced through his left clavicle, coming out his shoulder and striking him in the left ear, just under the bottom edge of his helmet. The next shot was into the back of the now doubled-over guard who had stood in front of her. She came around to shoot the third guard, but he was ready. He swept her gun hand to the side and drove his fist into her face, causing her head to snap to the left.

More weapons fire rang in the corridor. As Jessica’s head came around from the blow, she could feel the heat of energy weapons fire, followed by the sizzling sound of melting flesh. Her head came back around to her right and saw that all three of her guards were on the floor, dead or dying, as were the officer and the first guard who had entered the room. Ellyus was still standing there with his mouth open and his hands in the air.

Two more men entered the room, only they were not dressed in Jung tactical gear. They wore black, nondescript clothing. They did, however, carry Jung energy weapons, one of which was still smoking. Jessica realized that this man had been the one to kill the last guard, the one who had struck her in the face just before he died. Regardless, her weapon came up to fire.

“We are friendlies!” the man shouted in accented yet quite normal English. “We’re spec-ops!”

“Whiskey seven one niner mike!” Jessica demanded, adrenalin surging through her veins.

“Tango, tango, one four seven, foxtrot!” the man answered without hesitation.

“Fuck!” Jessica exclaimed, lowering her weapon. “What the hell is going on here?”

“The place is surrounded by Jung, we gotta move, now!” the man instructed, as he turned back toward the door in case his men in the corridor needed his help to hold the Jung at bay.

Jessica could hear more weapons fire in the corridor, and see the red-orange flashes. The man was telling the truth. She looked at Ellyus. “Wait! What about him?” she asked.

“Leave him,” the man told her. “He’s a peeper.”

“A what?”

“A peeper! A spy! Come on!”

Jessica looked at Ellyus, who looked more confused than ever, or at least he was putting on a good act of it. For the last six days, she had trusted this man, even though she knew that she shouldn’t have. She had listened to his stories, reviewed his intel, had even felt sorry for all he had sacrificed over the years. She had come so close to telling him everything. “You son of a bitch,” she muttered as she raised her weapon to take aim at Ellyus.

“No, wait!” Ellyus exclaimed, “I’m no spy!”

“Not any more, you’re not,” she continued as she pressed the trigger.

“WAIT!” the man warned.

It was too late. The energy bolt struck Ellyus square between the eyes, blowing the back of his head out and spraying blood and brains across the wall behind him.

“What are you doing?” the man asked.

“He was a fucking spy!” Jessica exclaimed.

“We’ve been trying to root him out for years! We could have used him to feed false information back to the Jung!”