The Fight for Peace (13 page)

“Which is what I want you to do,” Arinna agreed. But neither she nor Farrak looked pleased.

It was a hard flight back at the end of the week, knowing the doubt and cold that waited him in the dingy monastery. Even the other delegates were quiet. The enthusiasm of the first trip, before nearly a month of talks and chills wore them down, was gone. Parliament had disliked enough points that Byran could see several more weeks of meetings playing out. He was very tempted to call them off until spring.

But the tone of the articles seen almost daily in one newspaper or another bothered him. Some of the accusations were not too far from the truth, even if they misinterpreted everything to reach the conclusion. The last one that had compared his government to the old US when they’d shifted to militarized rule unnerved him. Europe did need elections. And to guarantee the safety of those, he needed a peace treaty with the FLF. Bed bugs and frost bite be damned.

So they were going back to a few more weeks of it, leaving early for an immediate full day session. At least that meant one more night Byran could spend at home and not in the uncomfortable room at the negotiations.

The Guard troops had reported no problems, but Gabriella still swept the monastery and sent soldiers through the chapel before she allowed the meetings to continue. She was a difficult woman to read, keeping her reactions so closed off she appeared cold and distant. The flight with her had been one of silence that she didn’t appear interested in breaking. Farrak had been easier to warm up to, and Byran usually had a knack with women.

But he saw a change in Gabriella when the FLF delegation entered. Each man cast glances at the new Guard faces, noting the rotation had changed. Damir though froze on his way to the table, eyes lighting at the sight of Gabriella. A flicker of recognition flashed in her eyes as well. Byran swallowed unease when he saw the shadow of a smile cross her face.

Chapter 15

LIEUTENANT DERRICK ELDRIDGE

ISLE ROYALE

Derrick watched Jared’s dactyl land with a sigh of relief. Even though a second dactyl and a few more soldiers hardly bought safety so far from Europe, it felt good to not hold the only solution, or be responsible for it, for the Guard soldiers in Argentina.

The back of Jared’s dactyl held more supplies than soldiers, causing a stir through the community. A crowd gathered as Derrick’s platoon finished unloading guns, ammo, and other items including med kits.

“Welcome back, Captain,” Derrick said as Jared paused on the back ramp of his plane as the final box was unloaded. “Does Captain Prescot know you took all of this?”

“I raided the supply closet, just so happens I found more than paperclips in there. Hardly enough to make a difference if this place faced the FLF,” Jared said the last with a frown as his gaze traveled over the village tucked amid trees and farm fields.

“It’ll help and is more than they had, sir,” Derrick said.

Jared snorted, flashing Derrick an amused glance but said nothing as Raoul joined them, his gaze on the stacks of weapons crates.

“We are grateful for the training Lieutenant Eldridge has been providing and his tips on defense. This,” Raoul said, gesturing toward the supplies, “is far more than we hoped for.”

“Consider it an offer of friendship from Europe,” Jared said. “I have a letter from Prime Minister Vasquez for you as well. I’d like you to meet Warrant Officers Vite Staposi and Emilie Arrosa. They’ll be acting as training officers. I need to borrow Lieutenant Eldridge for some surveying, so they’ll take over. And,” Jared continued, “I wanted to tell you the volunteers for Guard basic are doing well. I have letters from each to their families.”

Welcomes were offered and the letters handed to family members. As the organized chaos of his arrival faded, Jared pulled Derrick aside. “So show me what you’ve been up to.”

Derrick walked Jared through the maps of defensive structures and outlined the daily training program. “This is ... good,” Jared said. “I need you to get Arrosa and Staposi up to speed as quickly as possible.”

“You want to survey the area?” Derrick asked.

“That is some of it,” Jared replied, not offering anything more before dismissing him.

Morning brought a change in the training routine and not just because of the additions of the two training officers and that the activities took place under Captain Vries’ watchful eye. For once there were enough firearms to go around.  Disassembling, cleaning, and reassembly took the first half hour and made a great introduction to Vite and Emilie, since extra hands and eyes were needed.

As they moved into target practice, Jared joined Derrick to the side. “The numbers of volunteers are up,” Jared said.

“We’ve earned a lot of trust over the last few weeks,” Derrick admitted.

“The volunteers are pretty good shots. Though from what I’ve heard, that doesn’t surprise me with you training them, sir,” Emilie said to Derrick, before walking down the line to double check positions.

“Should I ask?” Derrick said to Jared.

“Pyotr is making a heck of an impression in basic and it is no secret you trained him,” Jared answered.

“Well it kept us from freezing.”

“Of course. So I suppose sword practice will be incredibly dull,” Jared drawled.

Derrick smiled at Jared’s tone. “Some of that I learned from Captain Prescot. She is dangerous.”

Jared snorted. “She likes you. You should see her when she is pissed.”

Derrick didn’t reply because if he opened his mouth again, he’d laugh.

Despite Jared having brought real swords, Derrick kept the afternoon session to the wooden practice sticks. After that a quick game of capture the flag pit the two new training officers against each other while Derrick watched. Recovered from the long flight to Argentina, Jared had dinner with Raoul, inviting Derrick along. It wasn’t until the camp was quiet and the shifts of Guard and Argentinian soldiers were assigned that Derrick found time to seek Jared out.

“The peace negotiations ... are they as bad as Byran isn’t saying?” Derrick asked after Jared gave permission to enter the quarters Raoul had granted.

Jared snorted, glancing up from a table of maps. “If you mean are we all jittery but have nothing to base it on, yes.”

The map Jared had on top caught Derrick’s eye. “That isn’t Argentina?”

Jared hesitated before sliding it across to Derrick. “No. North America near the old Texan border. With communications and satellite links being kept to a minimum, I had to bring maps with me.”

“Maps for what?” Derrick asked. “I thought we were going to survey the area around Free Argentina?”

“We are. First. Staposi said they’d need a day or two before they could take over. We’ll head out the day after tomorrow. Besides that, you didn’t see any of this.” The glint in Jared’s eyes meant no one.

“Yes, sir,” Derrick said and didn’t ask again.

“We’ll be gone on recon for a week. I’ll contact you if it is longer. Otherwise, contact me and Guard Command if there are any problems,” Jared ordered Warrant Officers Arrosa and Staposi two days later. “No calls home unless it is an emergency. No mention of whereabouts.”

Derrick kept his face blank as if he had no clue what Jared planned, or at least that what Jared claimed was exactly what they said they were going to be doing. Which Derrick doubted.

“You’re not going to ask?” Jared said as he piloted his dactyl skyward.

“I figure you’ll tell me when you think I should know,” Derrick answered.

“Then let’s head south first. I want to know the lay of the land around the entire settlement. I’ve seen boats on the Atlantic before. The FLF could come from any direction.”

They flew a grid around Free Argentina the next two days, mapping routes in and hidden ways out. It would take some ground work to verify the winding paths they located, but Derrick knew Raoul would be happy to oblige. A horseback ride into the mountains sounded like a fun change of pace. Not that his life had been anything like steady since the spring almost a year before. And not that Derrick was complaining.

“Now where?” Derrick asked as he and Jared warmed up the dactyl from a plateau where they’d finished the last of the survey, fully aware Jared didn’t plan on returning to Free Argentina. He hadn’t bought them a week away for a mission that only took two days for no reason.

“Fly north,” Jared ordered.

“How far?” The direction didn’t surprise Derrick. He’d seen the map of old Texas.

“Well you’ve seen Crystal City. How about we check out Isle Royale?”

Derrick was too surprised to breathe. A glance at Jared showed he was serious. He started inputting a flight path. “That’ll be a little tight to fly all the way to the Great Lakes and back in five days, won’t it?”

“You need some experience flying high speed.”

Derrick didn’t want Jared to think he was questioning the order, so he hesitated before voicing the other concern that surfaced. “The radiation?”

“Turns out the shields protect from that. Otherwise the Lady Grey would be rather baked right now.” There was an edge to Jared’s tone.

“That wasn’t from the fact she managed to bury her dactyl?” Derrick asked conversationally, hoping the annoyance came from bad memories of Tashkent.

Jared snorted. “She only got buried after the bombs blew up under her plane and thankfully didn’t fry the dactyl’s circuits.” He shook his head. “No, the shields work much better than we anticipated. Which is good, because we might be using them again. That is why I need to get a real visual on Isle Royale. We going?”

Derrick didn’t argue. He gunned the dactyl north.

They stayed high and fast, speeding over the length of South America. Jared wanted to run on stealth since they headed into the heart of the second FLF city, and now the FLF knew they had planes. Plus it kept them far from the workcamps and mines that dotted the continent. Jared didn’t let up on the promised training though, despite a need to remain unobserved. He ran Derrick through high speed maneuvers and pushed the dactyl until the altitude and g-forces gave Derrick a headache. Only then did they ease out into a smooth run as the isthmus of Central America came into view north of them.

“Go in the back and get some sleep,” Jared ordered Derrick. “We’re going to do this non-stop without setting down.”

“So I get to fly solo over the radiation zone? Great,” Derrick said as he unbuckled. “Do the shields even work when we are flying?”

“Good question. I’ll try to figure that out while you sleep.”

Derrick was too afraid to find out Jared wasn’t joking to ask anymore. He headed into the back and stretched out on the floor. Jared gave him a few hours before waking him to swap.

“The shields do work when we’re flying, but we need to slow down,” Jared grumbled before heading into the back. “Though at this speed and altitude we should be fine anyway. I say just stay high and fast. I don’t feel like getting too close to the FLF at the old border anyway.”

Derrick waited until Jared was in the back before laughing softly, wondering how long it had taken the Captain to sort that out. The sun had set while Derrick slept. When they’d launched northward, the computers told him that if they’d run full speed the whole way they could have made Isle Royale in just over six hours. But with the training Jared had given him and then a slower pace as Jared figured out the shields, they still had three thousand miles to go.

Derrick kept the speed moderate as they shot over the Mexican desert northward. Radiation alarms showed mild levels that fell quickly as they hurtled over the edge of what had been the United States. The darkness, a vast swath unending below the plane stretching to each horizon, hid the damage the war had caused on this continent when the US fell. The radar showed them alone, and Derrick felt it even more with communications on silent.

Jared was just rousing in the back when a beep alerted Derrick to an incoming message. He read the two symbol note from Arinna unsure if he should laugh or be worried. “You didn’t tell Captain Prescot where we are going?” Derrick called to Jared.

“I thought of it just before I left and she wasn’t available to discuss. After that it wasn’t something I was going to mention over the comm line if Kehm thinks it is compromised,” Jared confirmed. “Why? Arinna broke the radio silence?” he asked as he came into the cockpit.

“Sort of,” Derrick said.

Jared looked over Derrick’s shoulder to read Arinna’s “?!” and started chuckling. “Yeah, she’s pissed.”

“You don’t sound too worried about that,” Derrick said, closing the message.

Jared was silent a moment and then shrugged. “I’m not. There was a time I’d have been nervous she’d rip me apart for it. But we are equals now, Co-Captains. Like it or not, it was my decision to make.”

“You are making me very happy that I’m stationed in Argentina for a bit,” Derrick said, shaking his head at Jared’s maverick grin.

“Circle round to the north,” Jared ordered as they approached the Great Lakes. “I want to see this place in the daylight, so we have some time to buy.”

“Still don’t want to put us down somewhere and wait till dawn?”

“Nah, my luck I’d drop us into the middle of a military base. Then Arinna would have to come fish both of us out ... I’d rather keep flying.”

Canada hadn’t been as decimated as the United States during the war, at least not before the fighting had swept through Europe so hard they’d stopped paying attention to what befell anyone else. No one had come to help Europe and they hadn’t had time to help anyone else. Considering that only Free Argentina, Europe, Crystal City, and Isle Royale along with all the workcamps, farms, and mines those two FLF cities controlled remained, Derrick guessed that the rest of the world had fared worse than Europe. Still, not knowing what had happened on the ground below kept Derrick on edge as they slid through Canada’s skies until dawn. But the radar picked up no other aircraft or missiles and as the sun rose it revealed a snow covered landscape without signs of activity.

“It does remind me of Irkrist, especially with the snow,” Derrick said as he looked down on frozen lakes and forests mottled with pines and bare branches. “You know we have no way of knowing they don’t have radar. They could be watching us buzz around.”

“Which makes you worried and will make Arinna worried, but it is probably really making the FLF worry. Let’s swing by Isle Royale and then head south along the Pacific. If there is trade between the two FLF cities, there has to be ports. With much of the east coast nuked, I’m guessing they are west.”

Isle Royale was not as pretty as Crystal City, though it had its share of glass skyscrapers and would have amazing views if it wasn’t looking at snow and ice. But Isle Royale had more of an industrial edge with steel warehouses by frozen docks on both the island and the nearest shore of Lake Superior.

Jared was glued to the monitor as they flew over so slow the dactyl threatened to stall at the altitude. Between warning lights and potential threats, Derrick felt on edge and more than a little out of his element. As nice as his dactyl was, it wasn’t a sword or rifle.