Ghost War

by Michael A. Stackpole

  “Of the lions we know very little. On 7 August of this year they hit HPGs on ComStar’s alpha circuit. Over the past four months we have collected a lot of information about their methods and they vary from using aerospace fighters to strafe or having a zero-g assault team hit a site, to using missiles and other DropShip weapons to do the damage. In some cases the ships were coming up from planets. In one case, and we have confirmation of this, a JumpShip released a DropShip, jumped out, released a second, then jumped again and released a third, hitting three stations.”

  My eyes narrowed and somehow I managed to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. A JumpShip could easily travel between worlds, but it required time to recharge between jumps, and that recharging took anywhere from days to over a week, depending on the nature of the sun it was using to recharge. It was possible to use onboard generators to hot load an engine, but that increased the chances of damaging the Kearny-Fuchida drives. Damage them and the ship would go nowhere or, worse, would go somewhere and never be seen again.

  To do what had been described meant the ship was carrying a Lithium Ion battery. That wasn’t unheard of, but it was rare. The presence of such a ship meant whoever the lions were, they had serious resources at their disposal. That ship should have also made it easier to track them because of its uniqueness.

  I glanced up from the box. “There was no tracing that ship.”

  “None. We had positive identification of it, or of the ship it was supposed to be. Registry was old Free Worlds League and it’s been plying a simple trade route. Interviews with DropShip captains who jumped with it indicate nothing out of order. Rates were normal. There was nothing to mark it as unusual, though no one seems to remember interacting much with the crew. In fact, the only odd thing there is that descriptions of the JumpShip’s commander vary, as if members of the crew took turns commanding.”

  I nodded. “And, as a trade ship, it’s in a perfect position to gather intelligence. Agents can send messages, or ship cargo up. Local authorities are concerned with things that enter their gravity well, not lurk in high space.”

  Janella shifted on the couch. “Hitting all of the alpha circuit in one fell swoop, though, that requires an incredible amount of coordination. There are a lot of stations to hit.”

  Consuela nodded. “As reports filter back in, the depth of planning is astounding. Attacks were matched to the amount of security available in each system. Data from the Capellan Confederation is sketchy at best, but there it seems a lot of stand-off weaponry was used, and a few attacks were made by agents who had been part of the Capellan military. In one case, ComStar was conducting a VIP tour of the HPG when one of the VIP’s entourage produced a laser and did the damage. All of this was clearly years in the planning stages. They picked their targets and struck hard.”

  I sucked on my lower lip for a moment. “What about the beta circuit? Did they get hit at the same time?”

  “A few sites did, yes, but most of them were taken down over the next week or two. The HPG network is vast, and the operators at the secondary stations were not unused to having the alpha stations go down from time to time. They would routinely save traffic and either dump it to JumpShips heading to the appropriate location, or would just wait until the alpha stations started sending them data again. It is believed that, in a number of spots, ComStar gave data to the lions, then had their stations hit. We have no idea what sort of data they got and what they are going to do with it, but that is a whole other level of concern.

  “Some stations did get warned and defended themselves. Others have made crude repairs, but eighty percent of the grid is, for all intents and purposes, down and unreliable. JumpShips are relaying as much data as they can, but having to wait weeks for data that used to make it in hours or days is disrupting the whole of the Inner Sphere.”

  Nessa sighed heavily. “The strikes have taken out key components that can be repaired or have corrupted software that can be recoded. It will just take time—a lot of it. We hoped whoever did this might just offer to repair the damage and extort money for the privilege, but aside from a few instances of price gouging or swindles to get people to invest in replacement parts, there is nothing on that front.”

  “So they just hit and vanished.” I swiped my hand over my mouth. “This leaves us with nothing for the lions. No motive or easily understandable opportunity, and means that really don’t tell us much other than that they’re willing to wait a long time to put their plan into effect. The trouble with that is that since they’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and they’re obviously patient, we don’t have much of a chance of anticipating them.”

  Consuela nodded. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

  I winced. “Small nutshell, and not much to rattle around in it. That is not good.”

  “No, it’s not.” Consuela’s shoulders slumped just a hair. “And when you look at the jackals, things are not much better.”

  15

  Power corrupts, but absolute power is kind of neat.

  —Ancient Terran slogan

  Knights’ Hall, Santa Fe

  North America, Terra

  Prefecture X, Republic of the Sphere

  9 December 3132

  Just her having chosen the word jackal to describe people made me shiver. Jackals, eaters of the dead. A quick glance at Nessa revealed a glower. Janella’s expression suggested that her thoughts paralleled mine.

  Consuela hit another button and the box blossomed into a spherical map of Prefecture III. “One of the reasons that it was fortunate that you were on Helen when all this started is that you were able to provide some perspective on where and how forces are gathering. The players we have identified are still drawing forces to themselves and trying to position themselves to advance their causes. Movements such as the one you infiltrated might be part of a larger plan but, for the moment, no one is making any grand moves. They are still feeling things out.”

  The world of Proserpina glowed in the hologram. Nessa hunched forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Proserpina is the current home of Katana Tormark. Until late last year she was the military leader for Prefecture III and was based on Ozawa.”

  I nodded. “I remember her story. She was offered a chance to be a Knight-Errant and turned it down.”

  “What you may not know is that she has very strong ties to the Combine—not its current leadership, but to the traditions. She is a psychological refugee.” Nessa glanced at Consuela and got a nod before continuing. “She was undoubtedly qualified to become a Knight, as her service to The Republic had long showed, but certain people felt that if she became a Knight it would bind her more tightly to The Republic. Her refusal and resignation are in keeping with her strict code of ethics, but she is also not someone who is going to sit back idly as things fall apart.”

  “What are you afraid she is going to do?”

  Consuela shook her head. “Right now she is on Proserpina and has gathered a cadre around her called Dragon’s Fury. She seems to be consolidating power, securing supply, maintaining order, and it is this last point that becomes a problem with all those who are seeking power. If they are able to maintain order while things descend into chaos, people will view them as saviors. They will support them and cede them more and more power until there will be no chance to get it back.”

  I nodded. I’d seen that subjugation of personal rights on Helen as people traded peace for security. “And if she is maintaining order, it is very difficult for The Republic to come in and depose her. Her cadre is made up of MechWarriors she has commanded in the past?”

  Nessa straightened up. “Her cadet corps at the Northwind Military Academy used the name Dragon’s Fury. Given the number of defections from her old corps, she has probably surrounded herself with warriors she hand-picked and trained herself. Regardless, it looks as though Tara Campbell has managed to keep quite a few in the fold. Most of those who have gone over are ethnically Combine, and there is some evidence that she has rejected adv
enturers.”

  I glanced at Consuela. “And we have no one among her people?”

  The Countess shook her head. “I don’t know and, even if I did, I might not be able to tell you.”

  “Fair enough.” Tormark was going to be tough to deal with. I’d never met her, but I’d been present at a Kendo tournament and watched her fight in exhibition. She’s a tall woman of African and Asian ancestry, and was devastating in her display of sword skills. Victor Steiner-Davion had commented later that she was one of the best he’d ever seen, and expanded that to include her skills in a BattleMech. Just the tone of his voice made me happy she was on our side.

  But, that was then.

  The map swirled down into a pinpoint, then expanded back out to represent Prefecture IV. There several worlds glowed. I gasped. “There’s already fighting on all those worlds?”

  Janella laid a hand on my left forearm. “Those worlds are all places where Jacob Bannson has homes.”

  “Very good, Janella.” Consuela gave her a generous smile. “Jacob Bannson, the richest man in The Republic, and a man who is bitter about the fact that he’s not been ennobled because of it.”

  Janella smiled. “Bannson is also rather angry that Republic economic policy has severely limited his ability to expand his holdings—at least, has limited it in terms of speed if not actual scope.”

  Bannson was a household name in The Republic, both because of his incredible wealth and the army of publicists he maintained to remind us he existed. If there was anyone who could have laid his hands on the resources to be the lion king, it would have been him. That said, however, his business empire had to have been hurt very badly by the grid’s collapse. For someone who was as controlling as he was, the idea that his companies might have to run themselves without the benefit of his wisdom would have been anathema. I doubted he had any contingency plans that provided for decentralized control. If he’d been the lion king, he would have alternate communications channels operational.

  “Bannson is an interesting case.” Nessa lifted a panel on the table’s edge and typed on the keyboard she’d revealed. The holographic image of a short, stocky man with bright red hair and a bristly beard flashed to life above the map. Even in holo his green eyes glowed with intense hatred—there was no other way to describe it and I was fairly certain it was not some programmer’s joke that he appeared this way.

  Janella shivered. “I met him once.”

  In her tone I caught a lot of meaning. Bannson was known to be a womanizer, so I assumed he’d made suggestions that Janella had rejected rather forcefully. This gave me ample reason to hate him.

  Nessa glanced at Janella and nodded. “Yes, I have, too, but on more than one occasion. His act is no better for repetition. Worst of all, he affects to forget he ever met you before, unless he wants to impress you with the fact that you were unforgettable.”

  Consuela cleared her throat. “His personal dealings are reflected in business and, by extension, in his political meddling. If ARU were not partially owned by him, I might have pointed to Bannson as the person funding the GGF. It would not be the first time when labor trouble or other such things have weakened a firm enough that Bannson has been able to swoop in and snap it up at a bargain price.”

  “Stocks and deeds are fine, but what will they count for when Tormark decides she wants to dispossess him?” I narrowed my eyes. “Or are we assuming that she wants to consolidate power in Prefecture III and he’ll be content with Prefecture IV?”

  “Right now it does look as if their areas of interest do not overlap too much, which is a blessing.” The Countess crossed her legs. “As it is, Bannson has spent a great deal of money hiring up MechWarriors. There are those who are quite legitimate and who are, for whatever reason, blind to his machinations. He has also been buying the services of the less scrupulous. There is some worry that a couple of his factories have been building a few more BattleMechs that he has licenses for, so he could have a fully armed force ready to deploy already—and will claim he is just protecting his holdings in this time of uncertainty.”

  I nodded. Since Stone’s reforms had been instituted, the manufacture of BattleMechs and munitions had been placed under strict regulation. While Bannson had the capacity to produce lots of them, without government contracts or the allowance to sell the ’Mechs outside The Republic, he could be fined for creating too many. Stockpiling them in a time of uncertainty made sense, and if The Republic could not sanction him for producing too much, he would emerge as a very strong player on the military scene.

  “That would be Bannson all right—show up as a knight in shining armor and tell everyone how he’s already saved them. Thing of it is, of course, that a lot of folks that I befriended on Helen do think Bannson is pretty special; for them, he does have a certain charisma. They see him as someone akin to Robin Hood, defying the establishment as he proves you can start with nothing and become something. It’s a seductive message. Someone like Sam would buy into it wholesale, and Bannson might just make it come true for a bunch of folks.”

  I tapped a finger against my chin. “Bannson’s another reason you’ve kept Sam alive, isn’t he? You’re hoping Bannson or his agents will hire Sam.”

  Consuela nodded. “I hope your being used as bait in this regard will not be a problem.”

  I smiled and was reminded of the old joke: Strategic is when you get reports about fighting; operational is when you hear shots fired; and tactical is when you’re taking fire. “This is strategic bait, so I’m okay. You’re thinking that there will come a time when he decides that hostile takeovers are just more convenient than bribery?”

  Nessa snorted. “Bannson is the sort of cold-blooded bastard who would look at it in terms of a balance sheet. If it would cost him 100,000,000 stones in bribes and economic incentives to gain control of a world, versus 70,000,000 to invade and repair, he’ll go for the latter, damn the cost in lives.”

  Janella shook her head. “He doesn’t think of them as lives. He refers to them as actuarial risk units. Deaths are not tragedies, but exposures to lawsuits. Wiping out a village of farmers can be calculated in terms of settlements and factored into the equation about how he should take a place. It’s the cost of doing business.”

  “I can see why he was never made a noble,” I said. “Countess, I could see Katana Tormark being persuaded to be reasonable by an appeal to honor and tradition, and that might limit what she chooses to do, but I don’t imagine any brake of that sort on Bannson. If he is going to be stopped, he’ll have to be killed.”

  She looked at me with an unwavering, dark-eyed stare. “No one has authorized the murder of a citizen, and certainly not one who would be seen as a martyr.” Her comment left me no doubt the concept had been discussed but rejected with good reason.

  That actually heartened me a lot because I’d been afraid that the madness that seemed to be spreading through The Republic might actually have seeped into the government. If Bannson or Tormark or any of a number of other people were challenging the power structure, the authorization of extreme measures to be taken in such desperate times would have been easy. There were those who would argue that eliminating those challengers would certainly slow, if not stop outright, the dissolution of The Republic. They would go further and suggest that the swift dealing of justice to these people would also deter others from following in their footsteps.

  A few would even suggest that this is the course of action that Stone would have taken, but I didn’t agree with that. Stone had certainly crushed his share of enemies, but they had known he was coming and had opportunity to reform their ways before he imposed reformation on them. A shot in the dark did not seem like the sort of thing he would have condoned.

  I was also dubious of the deterrence argument because, for each person who would decide he wanted to live more than he wanted to rule, there would be two others who would make alternate decisions. One would decide that she could do it better and avoid the mistakes that got her predecess
or killed. The other would decide that such an arbitrary abuse of power needed to be opposed, and would rally forces to depose the government that sanctioned the execution of one of its own citizens.

  In my advancing the question, Consuela read exactly what I was asking: if Bannson hired me, would I be ordered to kill him? As a Ghost Knight I got all manner of training, and most of it with a wide variety of weapons. I learned them inside and out, both so I could use them and so I could learn to defend myself against them. I could never beat Katana Tormark in a swordfight, but then I knew the best defense against someone with that sort of skill is a 12.5mm sniper rifle at one klick.

  It also wasn’t a question of whether or not I’d refuse the order to kill him. As a Ghost Knight I’d been trained to use my discretion to deal with problems. Assassination might be authorized, but that didn’t mean I had to kill him. If there was another way to neutralize him, I would be free to use it. The problem with Bannson, however, was that the man was a shameless boor who was too rich to buy, too bitter to pacify with a title, and beyond blackmailing over indiscretions.

  In fact, if Bannson knew his murder was being discussed, he’d rejoice and start buying advertising to let everyone know he was under a death threat.

  Chewing my lower lip, I scooted forward onto the edge of the couch. “I take it these two are emblematic of a number of other jackals. Right now they are functioning on operational and tactical levels—though we have rumors of skirmishing on Ankaa and New Rhodes III. Once they have consolidated their power bases you think they will go strategic and formally carve out their own little empires.”

  “Exactly. We still have many loyal people. Tara Campbell on Northwind is gathering the Highlanders. Helen, Towne, Murchison and Galatia III could become a diamond of worlds where the Highlanders and Dragon’s Fury decide the fate of Prefecture III. Bannson has his enemies and the Prefect of Prefecture IV, Aaron Sandoval, is likely to resist him strongly.”