Rath's Trial (The Janus Group Book 4)

by Piers Platt

  Foss shrugged. “But rebuild it in whose image? In the words of the ever-wise Simi Quorn—” Foss started.

  “Don’t quote your fucking conman prophet to me, Foss. You’ll have your goddamn committee seat. But if you threaten me again with this, I’ll resign from the Senate entirely, and take all of this public, I swear it.”

  33

  Under the clear shield of her helmet, a drop of sweat trickled down Dasi’s forehead, stinging when it hit her eye. She shook her head to clear it away, and lifted her baton and the heavy riot shield again. Across the street, the instructors roleplaying as protesters had tossed aside their signs and were shouting angrily, and several had begun throwing rubber bricks at Dasi and the other cadets in riot gear blocking the street. Dasi watched as multiple instructors pulled helmets on over their padding, and picked up heavy, double-headed pugil sticks.

  That can’t be good.

  >>>I have reviewed Interstellar Police training manuals on riot control, and I believe I know what situation the instructors are preparing to simulate next.

  Well, don’t tell me – that would be cheating, Dasi told Six.

  >>>Very well. It will not be pleasant.

  No, I imagine not.

  With a rush, a group of “rioters” sprinted across the street, crashing into the barrier of shields the cadets held up. After a brief scramble, they broke through, and Dasi saw her fellow cadets trading blows with the instructors in a frantic melee. Then an instructor was in front of her. Dasi felt her shield pushed to one side, and the grinning instructor jabbed her in the helmet with his pugil stick, knocking her back a pace. She swung her baton in response, but it slid off his shoulder pad without effect.

  Then, suddenly, the instructors broke off their attack, turning and retreating. Dasi and the other cadets cheered loudly, celebrating their unexpected victory.

  “Where’s Vonuci?” Dasi heard a cadet yell.

  She turned and saw that a shield and baton lay abandoned in front of the cadets’ position. Across the street, the assaulting instructors were dragging a uniformed officer amidst their group. An instant later, the crowd swallowed them.

  “Oh, shit,” Dasi said.

  >>>Yes. Officer down.

  Dasi turned and raised her voice over the hubbub of the street. “They took Vonuci – we’ve gotta go after him.”

  “How?” a cadet near her asked.

  “Same thing they did to us, just in reverse,” Dasi told him. “Smash and grab.”

  “I can barely carry this shield, I’m not gonna be able to carry him, too,” a female cadet nearby noted.

  Six? Dasi thought. Suggestions welcome.

  A diagram appeared on Dasi’s heads-up display – an overhead view of the protesters and cadets. She watched as Six’s animation progressed on-screen.

  “Okay, lock arms,” she called out. “We’re going to keep the shields up, but form a wedge as we move, like a spear, with me at the tip. I’ll guide us so we’re pointed at where they have Vonuci. We gotta hit them hard, at full sprint, and keep pushing in until we find him. Closest person drops their shield and grabs him, helps him back. Those on either side close the gap, seal the shield formation up again, and then we retreat. Got it?”

  Two cadets near her traded apprehensive looks. “Fuck it,” one said. “They’ll have our asses if we don’t at least try.”

  “Let’s do it,” another cadet agreed.

  Dasi felt the cadets on either side of her lock arms, and then she pushed forward, tugging them along with her. The instructors roared a challenge at their approach, waving padded clubs and pugil sticks menacingly.

  When the cadets had covered half the distance, Dasi shouted, “Now!” and broke into a run. The formation surged forward and smashed hard into the front rank of instructors, and their momentum carried them for several steps, pushing deep into the crowd before Dasi stumbled over a fallen protester at her feet.

  “Keep the shields up! Keep going!” Dasi shouted, as several pugil sticks clattered off her shield.

  They pushed forward again, and in four more steps, she saw Vonuci, prostrated on the ground with an instructor straddling him and pinning his arms to his back. Dasi gave an incoherent yell and lunged forward, ramming the instructor with her shield and knocking him back. She tossed her shield at him for good measure, then bent to pull Vonuci up.

  >>>Duck!

  Dasi ducked, and felt a pugil stick graze the top of her head as it swung over her. She yanked Vonuci up, and felt another blow glance off her left arm. She looked around wildly for the nearest friendly face.

  >>>Turn left – the cadet formation is that way.

  Dasi tugged Vonuci to the left, and then the crowd parted and the two of them were back amidst the cadets’ formation.

  “I got him, fall back!”

  The cadets extracted themselves, and reset their shields into a solid wall, backing slowly across the street in good order, with Dasi and Vonuci jogging ahead of them.

  “Thanks, Dasi,” he said. “Fuck, I’m never going to hear the end of this.”

  She slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t sweat it. They were going to get somebody; you just drew the short straw.”

  A whistle blew, long and loud, three times, and Dasi craned her neck to see up onto the catwalks erected over the training area, where the instructors not playing protestors were observing the action below.

  “Ten minute water break, then reset,” the command instructor called.

  Dasi pulled her helmet off, setting it down on the asphalt and taking a seat next to it. She reached for her hydration system hose and drank deeply, catching her breath.

  “Where did you come up with that tactical plan, Cadet?” The command instructor had descended to street level, but he still towered over her, blocking the sun as he looked down at Dasi.

  “Sir?” she struggled to her feet, coming to attention on reflex.

  “At ease. We haven’t taught the wedge formation as an extraction technique yet.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Have you been studying archival footage of riots in your spare time, or am I supposed to believe you came up with that out of the blue?”

  “Just reading ahead in the manual, sir.”

  “Uh huh,” he said, unconvinced. He turned to leave.

  “Sir? Today is four weeks. Since our conversation.”

  “So?” he asked, eyes narrowing.

  “So, you said that I had that much time to improve, sir. Or you would kick me out.”

  “I was there, Cadet. I recall our conversation.”

  “So can I stay, sir?”

  “Did you pass your last PT test?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Barely,” he corrected her, with a grunt. “Barely, Cadet. Did you qualify on pistol?”

  “Yes, sir. I shot ‘Expert,’ sir.”

  “We don’t give out awards for ‘most improved,’ Cadet. I shot ‘Expert’ the first time I set foot on a range.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Have you mastered restraint techniques yet?”

  “No, sir. But I’ve been practicing in my spare time with several of the other cadets, sir.”

  “Then it sounds like you finally decided to stop fucking around and you’re ready to take this seriously. Don’t waste my time again, Cadet.”

  “No, sir.”

  “Now go retrieve your shield and baton – you left them across the street during that last training exercise. Maintain some fucking accountability of your equipment, Cadet.”

  “Yes, sir,” Dasi said, suppressing a smile.

  She could feel the bruises from the day’s training – reminders of the blows she had been unable to deflect. But underneath the aches, she felt a deep satisfaction that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  I did it! Six helped me, yes. But it was my hard work more than anything. She grinned as she picked up her dropped shield and baton. I might actually make it, and graduate.

  * * *

  >>>Good mornin
g, Dasi.

  Dasi groaned softly, keeping her eyes closed as her heads-up display slowly brightened under Six’s control, waking her gently.

  It’s five thirty already?

  >>>It’s five twenty-nine. Per your instructions, I’m waking you a minute before the instructors arrive for wake-up call, so you can be prepared.

  Yeah, I know. It’s just not pleasant for humans to have to wake up, that’s all. Sleep feels good. And I was in the middle of a really nice dream …

  >>>I would like to experience a dream. Is being woken during a dream like losing access to a critical set of data?

  That’s probably not far off, Dasi agreed.

  >>> Today is scheduled to be mostly cloudy, with a likelihood of rain later in the afternoon. I recommend you pack your rain gear in your equipment bag.

  Thanks, I will.

  >>>I have also prepared a new set of flash cards for you, to aid in studying for tomorrow’s test.

  Great.

  The lights came on in the barracks bay, and Dasi sat up as the day’s lead instructor rattled his baton against the tin lid of a trash can with sadistic enthusiasm, causing an ear-splitting racket.

  “Wake the fuck up, Cadets! Another glorious day on the force. Don’t think I didn’t see that Relkins! Get out of bed, you lazy ass.”

  Dasi stood and stretched, then turned to begin making up her bunk.

  >>>While you were sleeping, District Attorney Jace Hawken made an appearance on a major news network. I recorded the broadcast given your interest in the last news story we saw about him.

  Oh, thanks. Can you summarize it for me?

  >>>Of course. He formally announced the creation of his task force, and confirmed what the legal correspondent suspected: they are indeed able to pursue and prosecute criminals across jurisdiction boundaries.

  Six popped up a small window in Dasi’s heads-up display while she folded and tucked in her blanket, and a video ran.

  “We’re just sealing up the cracks in the justice system that criminals used to exploit,” Hawken told the camera. “There are no longer any places to hide. I’ll also mention that since the arrest of Mr. Davy, I’ve personally received quite a few death threats from members of the NeoPuritan Church, demanding that I stop investigating their religion. Well, I have an answer for those folks: Exor Davy is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ll bring the whole damn thing down, if I have to.”

  Well, that’s a pretty bold challenge. I’ve met a few of these NeoPuritans, back on Anchorpoint … I didn’t like them. There was something smug and disingenuous about them. And their values are horribly antiquated.

  >>>I have trouble understanding the purpose of religion, despite some research into the subject.

  Religion can be a good thing, Dasi said, turning to her locker to pull on her physical training uniform. It helps people deal with the unknown. Faith – believing in something bigger than themselves – gives people hope that … well, that there’s meaning to life, to what we do every day. And hope that their lives will improve. But religions are run by humans, with all the flaws that go along with that. Sometimes they do more damage than good.

  >>>Mankind’s history is certainly full of instances of religiously-motivated conflicts.

  Yeah. Many people shun religion today for that very reason. Dasi knelt to tie her shoelaces. Six, did the report mention anything about Hawken’s team going after the guildsmen still out there?

  >>>No, it did not. But Hawken did tell reporters that his team was not the only one in existence. He declined to reveal how many other teams there are, or what they were charged with investigating, however.

  One of them HAS to be going after the guildsmen out there, Dasi noted.

  >>>I agree. That is likely.

  And they’ll probably start by trying to get information from Rath, since he’s already in jail. Or trying to catch Paisen.

  >>>Probably.

  And that might lead them to me.

  34

  “Congratulations are in order,” Patriarch Rewynn said, beaming and grasping Foss’ hand as he entered the priest’s office. “A resounding victory.”

  “It is a big step forward,” Foss agreed. “The committee seat has gained us a huge amount of credibility with voters.”

  “And with simple citizens, looking for succor in their dark and troubled lives,” Rewynn told him, as the two men sat down. “Church enrollment is up over the last few days, and we’ve already reversed revenue declines from the past few months.”

  “Excellent,” Foss said. “Perhaps we’ll be lucky enough to achieve Simi’s vision in our own lifetimes, after all.”

  The old priest grunted. “That will take a lot of work. But it feels closer than ever. The tide is turning inexorably in our favor. Though the loss of Exor Davy was a setback.”

  “Yes, his arrest was quite a shock. How did they get inside our operation?”

  “We’re still investigating. It looks like they may have put pressure on an acolyte close to Davy,” Rewynn suggested.

  “He’ll be punished severely, of course,” Foss said, frowning.

  “The acolyte? Of course. If he survives his interrogation.”

  “This district attorney – Hawken, I think is his name. He’s intent on exposing more of our secrets. He promised more arrests, Thomis.”

  Rewynn held up a hand. “The Church is aware. Let the lawyer squawk on TV all he likes. But we know to be vigilant, now – we know we’re at war. And we’re not going to remain on the defensive much longer.”

  “Good,” Foss grunted.

  “It seems our list of enemies is growing. First 621, now this Hawken character.”

  “I take it as a sign that we’re doing something right,” Foss agreed. “I would prefer it if 621 were dead already, though.”

  “He admitted to Delacourt’s murder,” Rewynn pointed out.

  “I know, I saw the news. But the trial’s not over yet ….”

  “Gaspar, relax,” Rewynn soothed the senator. “He’ll be convicted, and get the death penalty. Our legal counsel says it’s nearly a certainty.”

  “And if he’s released? Will we be able to kill him then, after we failed twice already?”

  Rewynn snorted. “Have you seen how the press has vilified him? We won’t even have to bother. If he’s acquitted, the courthouse will be surrounded by an irate mob. They’ll tear him limb-from-limb. Regardless of the trial’s outcome, by this time next week, we’ll no longer need to trouble ourselves over him.”

  “By Simi Quorn, I hope so,” Foss said. He played with his tie idly. “There’s another matter I wanted to discuss with you.”

  “Oh?”

  “It’s related, actually. The leverage I used to obtain Senator Lask’s seat: I discovered that he had sponsored a black operation. The Intelligence Committee is using Janus Group assets to conduct spy missions in the Territories, to assess military threats to the Federacy.”

  Rewynn shook his head slowly. “Devious, but very risky, given public sentiment these days. And yet another example of how corrupt our government has become without proper leaders in place.”

  “The team is led by a woman,” Foss continued. “So I have doubts about how effective they will be. But it irks me that the government is still reliant on such thugs to protect it. I was tempted to simply take the evidence public, and force the whole committee to resign.”

  “You still could,” Rewynn pointed out.

  Foss considered this in silence for a time. “Mm,” he mused. “I suppose I could. It might be the catalyst we need.”

  “Does the government really need this team of spies to protect itself?” Rewynn asked.

  “I believe it might,” Foss told him. “According to the reports, Jokuan is a very real threat. They’re preparing for war, though their target is uncertain.”

  “Surely a single planet can’t threaten the Federacy?” Rewynn scoffed.

  “The Federacy is actually quite vulnerable,” Foss told him. “We would likely d
efeat an invasion, eventually, but the Jokuans have the advantage of speed and surprise. It would take the Federacy some time to respond.”

  Rewynn sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers under his chin. “You could expose the rest of the Intelligence Committee, though I’m sure that would have some negative consequences for you and the party. But perhaps there’s another course of action to consider.”

  “What would that be?” Foss asked.

  “Give the Jokuans the location of these Guild agents.”

  Foss raised his eyebrows. “Interesting. That would certainly rid us of the spies.”

  “It would mean the end of this unethical operation, yes,” Rewynn agreed. “And the Jokuans would be indebted to you. And very, very angry at the Federacy.”

  “True,” Foss affirmed.

  “They’ll want revenge. That might be the spark that ignites the final conflict Simi Quorn prophesied. He foresaw an army spreading his lifewater across the galaxy.”

  Foss sat forward in his chair. “But I thought that army would be a Federacy one, under NeoPuritan control.”

  “That’s one interpretation,” Rewynn said. “But remember also: ‘For you will find allies in your crusade …,’ ” Rewynn quoted.

  “‘… in the unlikeliest of places,’ ” Foss finished, rubbing his chin. “Indeed. It is just as Simi Quorn predicted. The Jokuans have their own objectives, though – they might thank us for alerting them to the spies, but they won’t fight for the Church. Their aim is to steal assets from other planets.”

  “Then they will start with the richest planets, which are also the most corrupt,” Rewynn pointed out.

  A smile spread slowly across Foss’ face. “So they will. The very planets where our crusade is most needed. But we still wouldn’t be able to control the Jokuans.”