Enforcer

by Kevin Ikenberry

  “Excellent,” Dolamiir replied, but with little enthusiasm. As he had feared, the rebellion had become costly, but there was little he could do about it. Such things happened, and the board of directors at ISMC knew that. He had done everything by the book, and he’d even been able to spin the situation so ISMC did not look like they had fired the first shot. He had wanted to kill that moronic trooper at the first GenSha riot for handing the enemy such a perfect opportunity, so he’d tasked Satuur with attending to that little detail as well. He would tolerate no mistakes from anyone under him, just as his superiors would not tolerate any failure by him.

  Korvan’s slate dinged. His eyes shifted to the device, and he quickly pulled up a screen. A moment later he held up a finger, causing Dolamiir to pause.

  “Sir,” Korvan said with a smile. “The Peacemakers have entered the system and are on final approach. They should begin atmospheric entry in about three hours, and there is no change in the arrangements.”

  “Good,” Dolamiir said with a good deal of satisfaction. “Ready my personal shuttle. We’ll go down to the primary compound at Moppicut. He turned to the Board. “I want all of you, except for Zuryyl, ready to go down in the corporate shuttle within the hour.” He cast a stern eye at the entire board. “Zuryyl, you will be my contact up here. I must emphasize to you all that these Peacemakers are to be afforded every courtesy. No mistakes. Am I understood?”

  “Yes, Director.” The response was unanimous.

  “Then let’s get this over with. If we’re lucky, the Peacemakers will be able to achieve what all of our security teams have not.” If things weren’t sorted out before the mercs arrived, he’d have to write off the entire GenSha labor force, expel the females and children to some distant colony, and eat the cost in revenue and public opinion. He shook his head. If only Bith and those others had been willing to be reasonable.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Ten

  Godannii 2

  Black Sector, Moppicut City

  From a hillside 200 meters from the landing pad, well-hidden in a thicket of shrubs, Bith, Gorn, and Saul observed the betrayal. Four Peacemakers directed a squad of unarmed ISMC troopers to unload the Peacemaker dropship and put containers into an armored ISMC military transport. Their dropship had landed not far from a sleek ISMC executive shuttle and a standard ISMC orbital transport. The Peacemakers wore full combat gear and carried heavy rifles slung over their shoulders. The landing pad was surrounded by two platoons of heavily armed and armored ISMC troopers who had been strategically placed out of view of the fixed ISMC cameras that broadcast the scene across the globe. Four limousines had been lined up in front of the ISMC transport just inside the security fence, and on the other side was a crowd of GenSha protesters. Bith glanced at his slate, watching the official ISMC feed of the event, and shook his head.

  Clever, he thought. Even I can’t tell the difference. Ensuring that he was recording the official broadcast, he returned his gaze to the landing pad.

  The finest limousines available—with Peacemaker decals applied to their hatches, no less—made ISMC’s intention to influence the Peacemakers from the outset clear. When the Peacemakers landed, the ISMC-controlled media feed started showing crowds of clean, smiling, unarmed ISMC troopers waving as the four Peacemakers exited the shuttle. The idea, of course, was to give viewers—particularly off-worlders—the impression that ISMC was the good guy and the vids from the nearby city depicted ongoing GenSha-driven violence. Bith glanced at the feed on his slate again as one of the cameras zoomed in on the Peacemakers. There were two Jeha, a Jivool, and a Duplato. His first impression was that all four of them were very young and possibly even on their very first rotations. It also appeared that one of the Jeha was in charge…a young male by the look of him. More worrisome was their demeanor. Their smiling and waving to the crowds of GenSha, made him wonder whether the Peacemakers had any idea what was really going on.

  “Did they even contact us?” Gorn’s growl carried with it barely suppressed rage.

  “No,” Bith replied. Disgust was thick in his voice. Apparently, ISMC found a way to subvert my message. I was not as fast as I should have been. Someone was working against him…maybe more than one…He could feel it.

  Once Bith had learned where the landing point would be, it was easy to drum up a peaceful protest. Hundreds of GenSha, with no weapons in sight and their hands up where the ISMC goons could see them, had marched up the road from Moppicut City toward the landing pad. That the ISMC guards let them gather did not surprise him, nor did those same guards letting many pass by, moving up the road toward the ISMC compound. For all their bluster, the suits behind ISMC and their board of directors knew how to play the game.

  Showing mercy and restraint in front of the Peacemakers would give them a perceptive opening advantage in the negotiations, even if they intended nothing of the sort. Fortunately, he’d played the game as well as anyone for a very long time. All it took to set the scene were some dirty, haggard workers chanting and singing solemn songs and mottoes with their emotions laid bare. The slate made it clear that ISMC was ensuring nobody else saw the demonstration, but that didn’t matter to Bith. It was all part of his plan.

  People who had been stepped on for most of their lives carried the loudest voices, and he wanted the Peacemakers to hear those voices. The contrast in behaviors would be easy for the Peacemakers to ascertain. Would they believe the staunch, controlling presence of the mostly silent Jivool security forces or the females and children of the GenSha miners? Likely they would side with ISMC, as evidenced by their choice of landing site and first contact. They’d cast the GenSha aside for some reason, and the reality of that betrayal turned his rumbling stomach. As much as they tried to maintain a compassionate front, the Peacemakers were supposed to care only about the law, and he would use that to his advantage.

  Staring at the Peacemakers below, he knew something had changed. He couldn’t know what it was, for there were a million possible reasons for it, but his suspicions ran deep. In truth, they ran all the way back to Sabin 5.

  It had been surprisingly easy to determine where the Peacemaker contingent was headed. He and his lieutenants had learned of their vessel’s emergence into the system a few hours before through the contingency communications plan they’d been forced to introduce. ISMC security forces had employed broadband and multispectral jammers all around Moppicut City and effectively cut off external communications, save for primitive radio frequencies.

  While the GenSha, like most civilized species, did not operate their communications platforms in the ultra-high and low bands, it did not mean they could not. Within a few hours of the jamming, Bith’s communications specialists were beaming radio frequencies between transmitters and receivers inside Moppicut City, around the planet, and even to friendly orbiting platforms, although with a good deal of static. Still, they could communicate, and they had friends in the immediate area. The Sumatozou gate master for the system was an old friend of Bith’s and either suspected the GenSha would find a way around the ISMC restraints or had simply gotten lucky. It didn’t matter. Bith knew when the Peacemakers emerged and that they had filed an initial descent plan to Moppicut City before rescinding the request and adjusting to the landing point at the ISMC compound outside the city. For whatever reason, the high frequency, very high frequency, and ultra-high frequency bands remained mostly clear of intentional jamming.

  “They betrayed us,” Saul said in disbelief. “The Peacemakers actually betrayed us. Not even they care about what’s happening here.”

  “That’s not true,” Bith said in a stern tone. “It isn’t the Peacemakers who—”

  “Look at them,” Gorn barked. “They sure look like Peacemakers to me…And they’re surrounded by ISMC goons.”

  Bith let out a long breath.

  “What I’m trying to say is that the Peacemaker Guild is sworn to uphold the law and stop situations like we have here. What we’re looking at is the work of one
person or a select few in positions that allow them to subvert the situation—and possibly even the mission of those four Peacemakers. ISMC is certainly involved, but there have to be others.”

  “That’s Izlian shit, Bith,” Gorn said, eying the senior union rep. “I’m looking at open betrayal—staring it in the face, in fact. And even if you’re right, I don’t think we have much choice here. We know who is up in that compound. We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity or better targets. Peacemakers or not. Right now, everyone up there is of use to us.”

  Bith’s sigh carried a resigned sadness clouded by memories of Sabin 5 that still woke him in the middle of the night, especially when it rained…and it rained often on Godannii 2. He’d been a hot-headed idealist then, along with his friends. Afterward, some ended up as mercenaries with long, battle-scarred careers. Others, himself included, became diplomats and worked to find peace and order in the ever-expanding Galactic Union. Some even became Peacemakers despite what he and others had done on Sabin 5.

  This was not the time for memories. Or pain.

  Bith shook his head to clear the memories away. Gorn was correct. There was only one course of action open to them—and it was dangerous. If the Peacemakers wanted to fall in with ISMC, then they were at fault, and the consequences would fall on their shoulders as squarely as on those of the suits of ISMC. Someone, or several someones, in the guild had forced his hand, and they, too, would pay for the crimes against Bith’s people. There could be no other way.

  Victory or death.

  “All right,” he said slowly. “Contact the company commanders for both groups. Get all of our platoons on the west side to the…” His eyes played down along the ridge line to focus on the ISMC compound a kilometer up the road. The GenSha already had troops positioned a kilometer past that. “To the Epsilon rallying point.” He turned his attention once again to the landing pad where ISMC troopers were loading the last of the Peacemaker cargo and let his gaze follow the road that led in front of the landing pad. A good portion of the crowd still stood around in a wide circle, although many of them had already started marching up the road toward the compound. “Have the eastern force rally at Gamma, stay hidden, and wait for the signal.”

  “So, you’re going through with your plan?” Saul asked, concern filling his voice.

  “Gorn’s right,” Bith acknowledged sadly. “No choice. We won’t learn why the Peacemakers sided with ISMC unless we go forward with what we discussed. It’s the worst-case scenario, but I don’t see any other option. If we must, we will punish them all to get what we deserve. But remember, I want prisoners, not a headline saying that the entire compound was wiped out. That would play right into ISMC’s hands. Those are bargaining chips in there, not just meaty targets. Understand, Gorn? No slaughter.”

  “Yes,” Gorn acknowledged a bit dejectedly. “I’ll have our troops gathered within the hour and personally pass along those orders.” Gorn’s tone made it clear he was looking forward to the confrontation, even if he didn’t get to shoot up a bunch of Jivool. “We’ve managed to steal some of their APCs and a few other heavy transports. We also acquired four bulldozers, and we’ve welded the plating from several damaged APCs onto the blades. We’ll use those to breach the gates at both ends.”

  Bith nodded and then rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t slept well in three days, and it didn’t look like he would get to anytime soon.

  “Let’s move out,” Bith said with feigned vigor. “They think we’re blind and deaf. It’s time to show them we are not.”

  He rose to a low crouch and backed down the hill to where 20 armed miners waited, sequestered behind rocks and trees in a defensive position. A number of them had ISMC rifles slung over their shoulders, but others carried a variety of GenSha-manufactured weapons—smuggled in over the years as a matter of course—that, while not quite as powerful, were still lethal. All of them had bladed weapons or mining implements like picks or rock hammers clipped to their belts. The GenSha were generally a peaceful people, but once their ire was raised, they were a force to be reckoned with.

  Bith had always postulated that—sooner or later—there would be a Peacemaker who could process emotion and compassion, while applying the law in a manner that was fair and just, and see beyond simple contractual agreements. Based on what he’d seen below, he could only assume the four Peacemakers who had landed did not include such an individual. Some day, there would come a time in the mind of at least one Peacemaker when need and the morality of something being “right” would rival the soulless shackles of contracts. Bith would see to that. He was a patient being, which is why he had lived so long. Until he encountered the right Peacemaker, he would play the game for the masses far beyond Moppicut City, and that meant fear and anguish. No matter their species, journalists were drawn to fear and anguish like Izlians to chaos. All he had to do was set the scene, provide anguish, and wait.

  * * *

  The crowd settled against the main gate of the compound, lining the crushed gravel path where the motorcade carrying the Peacemakers would arrive at any moment. Those still marching along the road had been instructed to part before the approaching vehicles as slowly as possible without endangering themselves, keeping the vehicles moving at little more than a crawl, while Bith, Gorn, and a number of their troops moved quickly through the forest to join the growing crowd.

  Bith had to give it to ISMC. They might be a bunch of faceless suits, but they knew how to play the game. However, they’d never faced an opponent who knew the game as well as he.

  As the motorcade approached, the protesters he’d sent forward continued their chanting and singing, even as they turned and created a space for the limousine to pass through. Bith stared across the road at Gorn who nodded with a smirk on his long face. For most of his life as a diplomat, Bith had attempted to think ahead of the opposition. ISMC—and Dolamiir in particular—made that difficult. Yet the Peacemakers would be easier to influence. In their youth lay inexperience. That the Peacemaker team leader was a Jeha was too good to ignore. Bith smiled to himself. The Jeha were often impulsive and egotistical. He could use that to his advantage. He pulled out his slate and sent a very specific command. If he received the acknowledgment, they would take the next step in his plan.

  The limousines appeared around a bend in the road, closing the distance. The Jivool inside the compound opened the gate, and Bith noted with satisfaction that none of his protesters moved in that direction. They understood his orders and did not want to cross him. The motorcade’s lead vehicle slowed noticeably and stopped on the roadway. His people fell silent in anticipation as one of the rear doors opened vertically and a Jeha Peacemaker wearing combat armor and the familiar yellow stripe rippled out of the vehicle and stood quietly, watching them. The insect-like alien waved several arms on both sides of its body at the crowd, and all residual noise ended. Silence filled the forest as the Peacemaker bent its spine in a bow and began to speak.

  “Citizens, I am Peacemaker Rsach of the Jeha. My team and I have been called here to find an amicable solution to this situation. We appreciate your patience and your peaceful cooperation as we enter these negotiations. It is my job to ensure all sides are heard and all arguments are vetted. We will do so according to protocol and with the cooperation of leaders on all sides of this disagreement. Please ensure your leaders, or their representatives, are here within the hour to meet with us.”

  Bith made no move. There was no point in moving forward and identifying himself, especially when the Peacemakers—in the performance of their duties—could kill him in the open based on their interpretation of the contractual agreements. While not likely, it was still possible, especially for the young and inexperienced. Instead, Bith decided to play their game. The Peacemaker returned to his vehicle, and they drove into the secure compound without another word. On cue, his protesters resumed their peaceful display. At the same moment, his slate dinged. He glanced down and saw the reply he’d hoped for.

  It will be
as we agreed, the message said.

  Bith took a deep, satisfied breath and lifted his eyes to where Gorn stood across the street. He nodded once, letting Gorn know they could proceed. Gorn smiled deviously at him, and Bith could not help but return it.

  For our people. And for Sabin 5. The time is now.

  * * *

  An hour later, with Gorn at his side, Bith approached the gate, weaving through the gathered crowd. He’d eschewed the dirty, worn clothing he’d donned for the protest, opting instead for the scarlet senior diplomat sash of the Merchant Guild over a combat vest with a large GenSha pistol holstered on his right hip. His pockets were empty, and his body was clean, save for the slate attached to his left arm. Gorn was similarly dressed but carried a large assault rifle slung over one wide shoulder. The Jivool guards ordered them to surrender their weapons and ammunition, which they did without incident. In that moment, Bith was keenly aware of the eyes of his people and ISMC following his every move. Bith forced a calm, composed smile onto his face and gave them the show they wanted. If the Peacemakers were as young and inexperienced as he believed, their good faith in his composure would be their downfall.

  Once they were past the guards, Gorn turned to the crowd and nodded once. In an instant, the crowd retreated toward the gates of Moppicut City as planned. They had another mission, and he would need them soon. When they returned, they would be armed, angry, and ready for violence. For the moment, this phase of the operation was up to he and Gorn, alone against the naivety of the Peacemakers and the short-sighted greed of the ISMC executives.

  They fell into step as they walked toward the main compound. Gorn’s slate dinged, and he glanced at a message. He leaned over and whispered, “The Peacemaker shuttle has launched and is returning to a Thrustcore in orbit.”