The Desert of Stars (The Human Reach) (10 page)

Kitsune

Neil reread the note several times.
And here I was
starting to think I was getting too paranoid.
He couldn’t recall anything anyone
had done that overtly supported the
Chinese. Paul Layton and Andy
Bonaventura seem like decent guys, just a bit distracted. Lindsay Trujillo and
Martina Bandi have been extremely friendly to me, and Gomez displayed a lot of
interest in my mission on
San Jacinto
, but what secrets linger from that
that would benefit the Chinese? This, I got to take upstairs.

Neil went to his apartment to make the call. The delay in
establishing the connection to Commander Raleigh was noticeable, a testament to
the underdeveloped internet on Beta Comae Berenices’ fourth planet. But his
image came through clear enough on Neil’s handheld, and his gravelly voice was
only slightly tinny in his ear.

“Mercer. What do you have?” Raleigh sounded tired. He was
outside, at some industrial site, underneath a giant yellow gantry set against
a gray sky.

“Several things, sir, but one that may be critical.” He told
Raleigh about the note.

“What’s your source on that?”

Neil said, “It’s Sakint.” The term was Space Force slang for
Japanese-provided intelligence.

Raleigh smeared his right hand against his forehead in
frustration. “I don’t know anyone in the consulate there, but I don’t have any
reason to suspect them. Has anyone interfered with your work in any way?”

“No, sir.”

“The Japanese could have bad information, or they could be
lying to drive a wedge between you and everyone else there,” Raleigh said. “Look,
they have channels to provide this sort of thing to us, and a Space Force
jaygee running around on Entente isn’t that channel. And even if the Sakis have
a genuine concern, I don’t really know who to consult with. The NSS guy here in
Ardoyne got sick and had to be taken off-planet, so I guess I can try the FBI attaché
or the State counterintelligence officer in New Albion. For now, just keep your
eyes open let me know if anyone is doing anything to get in your way.”

“Yes, sir,” Neil said. “But that may be a little difficult
for a couple of weeks.” He described his plans to join the Tecolote army in the
field.

Raleigh said, “That’s a better place for you than trying to
do counterintelligence on your colleagues. Might build some good contacts in
their armed forces, and you can see just how much help the Hans are providing
them. The right kind of report might make this reluctant President Conrad of
yours be a little more amenable to taking some free weapons.”

“That’s my thought, sir.” Neil wondered briefly if Raleigh
was suggesting he inflate the rebel threat in whatever reports he produced. He
hoped not; the commander always seemed straightforward and dedicated to the
craft.
Then again, the mission comes first …

Raleigh said, “In any event, I should tell you it’s going
pretty well here; Ardoyne’s prime minister is on board with our proposals, and
he just needs a few weeks to square away things with the loyal opposition. So
if that all goes well, we can pull you out of Tecolote, and you can come help
me here.”

“Okay,” Neil said.

“That a problem? From your reports, Tecolote sounds like a
real shithole.”

“No problem, sir. Sorry, I was just a little surprised.”

“Things are moving,” Raleigh said. “Three days ago, another
convoy from Earth arrived, including the transports
Pontchartrain
and
Erie
,
with a battalion of Marines and another of Seabees. Presuming all the politics
here goes as planned, we’re going to land the Seabees and upgrade Ardoyne’s
dockyards to handle our forces. But because you’re heading into the field, I’d
like to send you a little protection, unless you can think of a good reason not
to.”

Neil thought that over. “Couldn’t they be used better
somewhere else?”

“The Marines will pull security here, but things are
peaceful, unless the Hans decide to bombard us, and then I don’t think they’ll miss
one Marine too much.”

“Yes, sir.”

Raleigh nodded and cut the connection.

Combat Supply Cache Falcon, Sequoia Continent, Kuan Yin

The war council was for captains and above; that meant
nine officers were present, plus Violet Kelley and Staff Sergeant Ruiz, the
latter the senior Green Beret at the camp. Rand looked the other officers over and
saw none from his old brigade.
Not that I knew anyone outside of my platoon
well, but it would have been nice to know someone else who got out.

Everyone in the room but Ruiz sat. Rand recognized their table
– a common style of dinner table found all over the territory, probably
scavenged from a nearby farm.

Rand had been at the base for two days, and he had spent
most of it learning his way around the base or being interviewed by a sergeant with
an intel badge about the situation around Cottonwood. About halfway through, he
had realized he was also being tested to make sure he was who he said he was.
Apparently,
I passed.
He had been too occupied to ask Kelley what was bothering her so
much.

A man in the gray work uniform of a U.S. Navy officer stood
up.

“We haven’t announced this yet, but Colonel Foster died of
her injuries late last night. After this meeting, everyone please inform your
people. We’ll schedule a service in the next couple of days. It’s a difficult
blow to all of us, I know.” He waited to allow the news to sink in before
continuing. “I haven’t met a few of you yet, so I’ll introduce myself. I’m
Lieutenant Commander Kyle DiMarco, formerly the XO of the
Bowfin
, before
we scuttled near Cypress late last year. The survivors from the crew joined
Colonel Foster’s group, and we’ve been fighting with her since.

“When the colonel called for us to gather here, she did so
because she perceived a weakness in the Hans. They think we’re defeated and
have spread their forces around the continent to mop us up. Instead, our
strength is growing. Soon, we’ll able to face them head-on, liberate the
civilians in Sycamore, and –”

A stout, broad-shouldered woman in an Army uniform, wearing
the bronze oak leaves of a major and a key-and-sword quartermaster’s patch,
raised her hands in protest. “Hold on. We need to settle some things.”

DiMarco peered at her. “What is it, Major Cruz?”

“Well, the first item on my agenda is you. Why are you
suddenly in charge here?”

The Navy man stiffened. “Major, my date of rank precedes
yours by three months. I’m the senior American line officer at this facility
and almost certainly the most senior one on this planet still fighting. Command
passed to me as soon as Colonel Foster died.”

Cruz sat back, crossed her arms. “So you say. But this is an
Army operation, an Army base, and, frankly, the sort of thing the Army is good
at. Not squids. You need to step aside and let us handle things. We’ll be sure
and listen to your advice, particularly when it pertains to water. I’ve been
running this base for more than a year, and I don’t think you’ll help us win.”

“Oh, and a glorified truck driver will, Major?” DiMarco shot
back. “You’re dangerously close to insubordination. The regs – actually, United
States law – are clear who is in command. I was one of Colonel Foster’s senior
advisers. I’ve been out on raids, shot at the Hans, same as you. Along with
most of the officers who had been fighting with her, seven members of my crew
died under her command when the Hans burned our train on the way here. So back
down, Major, right now.”

Cruz looked around the table. Rand tried not to let his
expression betray anything, but he guessed the truck driver line had cost DiMarco
much of whatever support he may have had among the other officers.

The commander said, “Arguing like this will only help the
Chinese. Now, I
will
fulfill Colonel Foster’s plans and vision. I
will
expect everyone’s unwavering support as we do so. If you don’t like it, we’ll
build a brig to hold you in.”

Rand found himself wondering if the MPs would back the
commander up.
This is not a good situation.

Violet Kelley, sitting next to Rand, slapped her palms on
the table, one-two, and drummed her fingers. “How many effectives do you have
in the Sycamore area?”

Heads turned toward her. DiMarco looked annoyed.

Major Cruz said, “Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Violet,” she said, using the same sardonic inflection
she had with the dying Colonel Foster, two nights before.

At least DiMarco had been informed. “Ms. Kelley is a former
Marine and now a civilian who has significant expertise in the kind of work we
are doing. She’s outside our chain of command, but she will be afforded every
opportunity to advise us on our operations.”

Eyes narrowed. The captain sitting next to Cruz said, “Do we
really need one of her kind here?” Her namebadge read “C. Gant.”

Kelley met Captain C. Gant’s stare, and she smiled a grim,
predatory smile. “Really? You’re going there, gringa?”

The captain wasn’t fazed. “You know what I mean. You’re
NSS.”

Kelley didn’t deny it. “Will someone answer my question? How
many fighting women and men?”

DiMarco glanced at Cruz.

He doesn’t know,
Rand thought.
I know he’s new
here, but that’s so fundamental.

Cruz sighed harshly and said, “We have six hundred fifty
combat personnel at this base. We have another three hundred between a
half-dozen outlying positions, smaller supply caches set up before the war,
like this one.”

“Not even two battalions. Against, what, a division of
Chinese troops?”

“More like five brigades, two at Cottonwood, one at Cypress
and two at Sycamore.”

Rand said quietly, “We saw some of the Cottonwood forces on
our way to this base. They are moving to Sycamore.”

Kelley said, “With those numbers, even a civilian like me
can tell you, you won’t win.”

“Those numbers change nothing,” DiMarco said. “There are tens
of thousands of Americans waiting for us to lead them in Sycamore, including
thousands of our troops who were taken prisoner. We have weapons for them.”

“A division’s worth?”

“That’s irrelevant. Colonel Foster had a plan to arm them, a
plan to lead them. They know the terrain.”

Kelley shook her head. “Are they aware of this?” She didn’t
wait for an answer. “You can’t confront them head-on, even bolstered by a bunch
of half-fed POWs and untrained civilians. And here’s another question. Why
haven’t the Hans hit this site yet?”

Major Cruz said, “Because they don’t know where it is.”

“Bullshit. This is a huge concentration of people. This many
humans always make a detectable mess.”

Cruz snorted. “We’re better at this than you think.”

“I tell you, your best option is to disperse, as quickly as
you can. Keep conducting small operations independent of each other. Coordinate
only through the
Vincennes,
not a terrestrial chain-of-command. Kill
individual Han soldiers, demoralize them, and keep laying the groundwork for
when Space Force returns with an invasion.”

“We all know that may be a while. They may pick us off during
that time. One solid blow –”

“ – will do less damage and leave you just as dead, but
quicker,” Kelley finished. “If you don’t want to wait, you’ve really got only
one other option.”

“Which is?”

“Kill their civilians.”

Captain Gant held out her hands, palms to the heavens, and
looked around at the other officers. “See what I mean? Five minutes and she’s
proposing war crimes,” she said.

Kelley snorted. “I seem to recall the Army has taken part in
its share of those.”

“The people who are caught doing that get punished … ”

“For Dresden? Your dear Colonel Foster told Captain Castillo
and me that we were fighting for Americans’ homes, Americans’ land, isn’t that
right?”

“Yep,” Rand said, too loudly.

“These Chinese civilians, they aren’t innocent,” Kelley
said. “They’re colonizers. They’re part of the war machine that China is using
to annex American territory, right here on Kuan Yin. They’re complicit in all
the violence that’s taken place since the invasion.”

Gant said, “You know as well as I do that they may have come
here against their will.”

“And you know that some certainly volunteered. All this free
land, plus individual homes that are a hell of a lot nicer than what the Han
colonial authorities build across the ocean. And the rest of them, well, they
could have resisted taking part.”

“And been arrested or worse! Chinese aren’t allowed to
question foreign policy or national security matters in any meaningful fashion.”

“Not my fault,” Kelley said. “If they want to change their
system, they should fight to do so. It would certainly help our efforts.
Instead, they’re here, in your houses. As far as I’m concerned, they deserve
what’s coming to them.”

Gant sat back and crossed her arms. “I won’t take part. It
would be an illegal order.” Several other officers nodded assent.

Kelley said, “I’m not proposing we start killing babies. But
we can attack civilian infrastructure, burn some farms, and go after civilian
authorities, not just purely military targets. These are low-risk operations
for our personnel, and the colonists will scream for protection, forcing the
Chinese to react in ways we can predict and exploit. Yes, some colonists might
die, but it would make your average Han think twice about moving in on our
territory.”

Another officer said, “You have already pointed out that those
roads and farms you want to blow up are, in fact, ours.”

“You can accomplish your objective, or you can be secure in
your ethics, and be dead and defeated,” Kelley shot back. “Let me know what you
pick.” She stood up and left.