Mercenary

by Piers Anthony

  Spirit was to be my S-1, or adjutant, the chief administrative officer. She would be responsible for all paperwork, finance, mail, personnel records, promotions, legal problems, and my official correspondence. Juana was really her secretary as much as mine, and the two got along well together, perhaps because Juana never opposed her will to Spirit’s. Spirit was, in fact, running my company now, and all others knew that when she issued a directive, I backed it even if it hadn’t originated with me. Because she was also Hispanic and spoke fluent Spanish, my Hispanic enlistees accepted her on her own merits.

  Gerald Phist was to be my SA, Logistics. He was not presently connected to my unit, but thanks to Spirit he was ready to join when this became feasible. He would be responsible for keeping the unit supplied with whatever it needed to accomplish whatever mission it had: ammunition, food, fuel, repair, spaceships, and so on.

  Lieutenant Repro was to be our S-5: Public Relations, or propaganda. He remained ravaged by his addiction, his Achilles’ heel; we had to help him mask it, but his mind remained sharp. I was increasingly curious about the nature of the drug he took but still hesitated to inquire, knowing I could do nothing about it.

  Still our roster was not complete, even theoretically. I needed more rank, and promotions did not come readily to brash Hispanics. Emerald brooded on it, seeking a suitable avenue for rapid progress, and in this we were all with her.

  Things broke one morning, abruptly. Spirit came striding into my bedroom, trailed diffidently by Juana. “Rise and shine, Hope!” she cried, waving a news printout. “Our mission is on the horizon.”

  I blinked sleepily. It was 0500. “What?”

  “Get up, brother!” she said, catching my top sheet and whipping it off the bed. I slept naked, as she knew, so this was a rather forceful inducement to wake and dress.

  Of course, Emerald also slept nude, and she was not entirely pleased to be exposed before my sister and Juana, both of whom were somewhat more generously endowed than she was, physically. “Get out of here, you canine!” she snapped, sitting up.

  “This concerns you, too, Exec,” Spirit said, unfazed. “The news just broke—” She paused, staring at Emerald’s torso. “Of course, if you’re too tired after mauling my brother all night, perhaps it should wait.”

  Juana stood near the door, repressing half a smile. I winked at her, keeping my own mouth shut. Spirit and Emerald were the two most forceful personalities in our group, and sparks often flew when they collided.

  “Speak your piece and clear out, Adjutant!” Emerald snapped. She managed to pronounce the word speak with a short vowel sound, hinting at that cultural slur again.

  “Or if you prefer to take thirty seconds to work your black magic again, before he gets away—” Spirit continued.

  Thirty seconds! Slur and counter slur! They might as well have been fighting with knives.

  Lieutenant Repro arrived at that point, forestalling Emerald’s response. “Got here as soon as I could—” He broke off, taking in the situation. “Just what kind of a mission is this?”

  “You summoned him, too?” Emerald demanded of Spirit.

  Commander Phist arrived. “Have I missed anything?”

  Emerald, sitting on the bed, threw back her shoulders and spread wide her legs. “You tell me, sir,” she said. “See anything here your busy wife hasn’t shown you recently?” Phist actually blushed. He turned away and almost collided with Sergeant Smith, who was just arriving.

  “Sit down, all,” Spirit said. “I called this staff meeting because time may be of the essence. We all know our futures are tied to Hope, and he needs a promotion. I think we have a chance at that now, if we act quickly.”

  They sat down around the bed, except for Sergeant Smith and Juana, who felt that enlisted personnel should not presume. If Sergeant Smith was perplexed at the manner of Emerald’s dress and mine, he was too diplomatic to show it.

  “Well, spit it out, woman,” Emerald said, realizing that Spirit had pretty much skunked her on this encounter.

  “Hope, you have had experience in the agricultural sector,” Spirit said to me.

  “Yes,” I agreed. “Eight years ago, before I joined the Navy.”

  “So you should have an understanding of the issues; that gives you an advantage.”

  Phist lifted an eyebrow. “Perhaps I am slow, Spirit. I don’t perceive the relevance.”

  Spirit waved her news-clip. “The Aggies are rioting. The Navy has been asked to intervene.”

  “Let me see that!” Emerald said, snatching the news-clip. “Why didn’t I know about this before? It’s a golden opportunity!”

  “Well, if you’d been on your job instead of—”

  “Because we lack an S-2,” Lieutenant Repro said quickly, though even he ran an appreciative eye over Emerald’s torso. It seemed he did have other interests beside the drug and his dream. “A top Intelligence man would have alerted us to this long before the public news broke.”

  “And what S-2 man do you have in mind?” I inquired.

  “That’s awkward,” Repro said. “Which is why I haven’t brought this up before. Your ideal hidden S-2 is acquirable only by one means, and your sister isn’t his type.”

  “I should hope not,” Phist said. His eyes were wide open about Spirit’s reason for marrying him, but he loved her. He was thirty-nine, she twenty-one, but they made a splendid couple. “Who is his type?”

  Repro coughed apologetically. “Emerald.”

  Emerald straightened again, frowning, then quickly shifted gears. “Is he young and handsome?”

  “Middle-aged and sickly, like me,” Repro said. “With a potbelly and severe emotional disturbance. But he’s the Intelligence man we need.”

  “Well, we can live without him,” Emerald said. “I’m not going out whoring for discredited personnel.”

  Phist flinched, and Spirit’s eyes flashed. Emerald had scored that time.

  I changed the subject. “First, there is the matter of this prospective mission. I don’t want to strong-arm migrant laborers. I still identify with them.”

  “Precisely,” Spirit said.

  “Damn, we need to organize for this,” Emerald said. “We need our S-3, too, Operations. I can’t plan strategy without knowing what we’ve got and how it’s organized.”

  “Sergeant Smith knows,” Spirit said. “He can handle S-3.”

  “With all due respect,” Lieutenant Repro said, “I believe the psychological thrust is most important here. We can certainly volunteer for the mission and get it, because no commander in his right mind wants to tangle with rioting migrants who have little to lose and are very likely to destroy vital crops and make a messy scene regardless of what the Navy does. They aren’t pirates or Saturnians; they’re underprivileged Jupiter nationals and resident aliens, and there’s a formidable bleeding-heart contingent on Jupiter that will raise one hell of a stink if any migrants are abused.”

  “They are abused!” I said angrily. “Sometimes a riot is the only way to make their case!” I had never looked in on the migrant scene after joining the Navy, knowing my friends there were dead or imprisoned; now I felt guilt for my neglect.

  The members of my staff exchanged significant glances. “Let’s go for it,” Emerald said. “A bloodless settlement, by a minority-culture Navy officer who knows the migrants. Excellent press! That’ll bump Hope up to O5 right there, with luck.”

  “My thought exactly,” Spirit said. “But we do need that Intelligence officer, or we risk flubbing it.”

  Emerald bit her lip. “Yes, we do. I’ve got to target every migrant leader, his background and nature. Precise dirt. Must have that S-2.”

  The others slowly nodded. “But he needs a competent and understanding woman, of a certain physical type. You realize what that means,” Repro said.

  Emerald slammed her fist into the pillow. “Whoring for personnel. Damn it!” she swore, angry tears in her eyes. “I liked it better with a man who understood me! I’ll get you back
for this, Spirit!”

  “She didn’t suggest this,” Repro said. “I did. Sometimes we just have to make sacrifices.” But I knew he was being gallant; Spirit had known.

  “You damned junkie!” Emerald snapped at him. “Get out of my life!”

  Repro hastily exited, and the others got off the bed. Emerald turned to me. “But I’m not through with you yet, Commander. If I’ve got to go whoring, I’ll whore for you one more time.” And she took hold of me, commencing a furious act of passion even before the others were clear of the room. Even as I enjoyed the experience, as I always did with her, I wondered what kind of man could be won only by such an aggressive display. Emerald really wasn’t much on understanding, but she was supremely competent. I hoped that S-2 would be worth the sacrifice that I, too, was making, in giving up this Class A sexual experience.

  And so it was that my marriage to Emerald was dissolved by mutual consent before our third year together was finished, and I volunteered my company for participation in the Navy action relating to the migrant riots, and Emerald, as she insisted on putting it, went whoring for personnel. Spirit had indeed torpedoed her rival for my attention, and I had to go along with it, though I had been well satisfied with Emerald as wife. The organization of my unit, orthodox on paper, was not nearly as regular and disciplined in practice; it was a hodgepodge of luck and sex and connivance and obscure understandings, guided by the mad dream of a drug addict. But we had purpose, and an extraordinarily fine cadre—and now we would put it to the proof.

  Emerald acted swiftly and decisively, as was her wont. That evening she brought Lieutenant Mondy in to see me. He was as represented: about forty-five, pudgy, balding, and with nervous mannerisms. There were bags under his eyes, suggesting he was chronically short of sleep. He was O3, and had been there for twenty years, a derelict who evidently had not resigned when passed over for promotion repeatedly because he had nowhere else to go. He certainly was not physically imposing. But I knew better than to judge him by appearance; Lieutenant Repro called him the best available, and my talent was rapidly confirming the internal complexity of this man.

  Nevertheless, I tested him. “Show me your power.”

  “You lost your family to pirates and swore to extirpate piracy from the System,” he said without hesitation. “But your resolve has been blunted by circumstance. Your sister Spirit has become the backbone of your effort to organize a truly competent and low-profile anti-pirate force. She hesitates at nothing to promote your interests, and that attitude has spread to your other associates, even to your wife, who is now willing to sacrifice her personal comfort on your behalf.”

  He was on target so far. I felt no uncertainty in him as he spoke; his nervousness stemmed from personal concerns, not professional ability. “And?”

  “You wish to capitalize on the current agricultural sector disruption,” he continued. “You hope to succeed so well in this inclement assignment of migrant laborer pacification that you will earn a promotion to full Commander. Unfortunately you are not a schemer, so may fail to exploit your opportunity properly.”

  Emerald turned her head, surprised at this. “Clarify,” I said, intrigued.

  “Considering the risk you are taking of being punished as a scapegoat if you fail, you should make this double or nothing. Your entire unit must be given pressing incentive to succeed. You must name a price commensurate to the challenge: a blanket promotion.”

  “A what?”

  “One grade for every member of your command. Private to PFC. Sergeant to SFC.” He glanced at Emerald. “Lieutenant s.g. to Lieutenant Commander.” Emerald gave a start. None of us had thought of this.

  “That can be done?” I asked.

  “The Navy is prepared to pay for its most challenging and risky missions, if the price is made clear at the outset. This is not by the Book, but the Book is commonly honored more in the neglect than in the letter. Consider the challenge: About fifty farm bubbles are involved, with a thousand others watching to see the outcome, and a sizable element of the Jupiter population ready to react politically no matter which side wins. The Navy doesn’t want this assignment, considering it to be a sure disaster, but cannot refuse it. The migrant workers demand better conditions, more pay per basket picked, and a recognized union to represent their interests in the future. The owners claim they can’t afford more pay without raising prices to the point where consumers will balk, and they absolutely refuse to recognize any union. So the workers have gone on strike, and hunger has caused them to riot at three bubbles. They swear to die before they return to work under the old conditions, and not all of them are bluffing. The crops are spoiling. Prices have begun an anticipatory rise on Jupiter, making the political climate volatile. This will be remembered at the next general election. It has become an extremely sensitive matter. The Navy will be instructed to end the strike within seventy-two hours, and it looks as though there will have to be martial law and summary executions of resistant migrants. About a third of the workers are of Hispanic descent, and this use of force could further complicate Jupiter politics. In sum: If this job is bungled, the current government could fall.” He smiled grimly. “I think a blanket promotion is not too much to ask for a quick, peaceful, amicable, and lasting settlement.”

  He certainly had the essentials! I had not comprehended the ramifications. “But can our unit succeed?” I asked.

  “Very likely—with the proper information, strategy, incentive, and nerve. You can arrange everything except the information. I can supply that.”

  “Will you join us?” I asked, certain now that this was the officer we needed. A scheming genius!

  “I am of course available for a price. But the ethics are uncertain.”

  And I saw that he was concerned with ethics. That was an excellent sign. “This morning Emerald and I were in the third year of our term marriage,” I said. “We dissolved it by mutual consent so that she would be available for you. We were satisfied with each other, and faithful to each other, but we were not in love. It was a marriage of convenience. We deeply regret having to separate, but the need of the unit overrides our personal preferences, and we have done it. Promotions and the chance to establish our unit formally, with its full slate of officers, would make up for whatever private personal misgivings we have.” I saw Emerald nodding. She wanted, more than anything else, to be a true military strategist, and the blanket promotion would be a giant step in that direction. “If Emerald marries you, she will be true to you for the duration of that marriage, and I will find another woman. Our unit is more important than our marriage. I trust she has already shown you what she can do for you.” Again I saw her nod. Her demonstrations were impressive.

  “You don’t understand,” Mondy said. “I am aware of the inhuman discipline you both possess, and the hard-nosed tactic by your sister who resents your sexual captivity by another woman.” Emerald gave another start; evidently she had not told him of that. “You are making me an offer I am unable to decline, and I must compliment Lieutenant Repro on his Machiavellian perception in using my own system against me. But my awareness that Emerald would return instantly to you if she could, and that I can never have her love—”

  “I never had her love,” I said.

  “Nor your secretary’s,” he agreed. “It becomes a matter of definition. You have more than you suppose.”

  He had researched all of us intimately! “It is true that Emerald has an unkind manner of phrasing it, but—”

  “Whoring for personnel,” he said. “And I have no pride in this respect; I will accept her on that basis. Her demonstration was persuasive in more than the physical sense. A unit with such dedication to its welfare—” He shrugged. “I would certainly like to be part of that unit. But I am not merely an unattractive man eager for young flesh. I suffer from post-traumatic syndrome. I am not easy to live with.”

  “I believe that should be between the two of you,” I said. “If she believes she can handle it—”

&nb
sp; “I can handle anything I have to,” Emerald said, though she seemed shaken by Mondy’s knowledge of the situation. How had he discovered our dialogue of the morning? Emerald had shown him her power; now he was showing us his.

  “I will not bore you with my South Saturn experience,” Lieutenant Mondy said. “I will just say that it continues to haunt me, after twenty years, and has ruined me as a conventional officer. I wake screaming in the night; I go on drugs sometimes by day, not from addiction but from inability to function otherwise. I am literally afraid of the dark. I am terrified of being alone, but even in company I cannot necessarily relax. I need someone to talk to, about things that are not pleasant to discuss. I need a nurse. No woman has been able to put up with me for more than a few days. I am no sweet, cuddly teddy bear; I need a woman with guts and stamina and comprehension as well as a body.”

  “I can handle it,” Emerald repeated grimly.