“So you’re in?”
“Sure,” Jim replied. “I’ll spread the word about what’s going on. What are you thinking we do about it though?”
Eric paused thoughtfully. “I reckon we’ll know when the time comes. Just gotta get enough people mad enough.”
Jim nodded and walked away to bend the ear of someone he seemed to know. Eric shrugged his shoulders and set off in the opposite direction. It wasn’t much, not yet. But it was a start. He wandered through the crowd, looking for more likely candidates to recruit to his side. Well, he wasn’t actually looking for real recruits, not today. He just needed to sow anger and fear. The more of those seeds he planted, the more damage this mass of people would do when it finally hit critical mass and blew.
He looked out at the road again. The handful of cars zipping toward the base had become a line. News coverage of the protest the day before must have gotten the word out in a big way. He’d bet they had more than twice as many people outside the gate today. It was going to be one hell of a crowd.
Hot, too. California never got really cold, even in December, but it was an unusually warm day already, and the weather report said it was going to be uncomfortably warm by noon. Once the sun was high overhead, baking down on everyone? Well, tempers would rise with the heat. People were already pissed before they arrived. Add in a few hours of standing outside in the sun and the whole place would be like a field doused with gasoline.
A place like that, all you’d need is to strike a match and everything would be ablaze.
Eric spotted a woman holding a sign with a picture of a college-age girl on it. He read the words printed with the picture, “Aliens Killed My Baby”. That hit him where it hurt. He had to blink away a tear, remembering his own little girl. He walked over to the woman.
“I saw your sign,” Eric said. He glanced down at his shoes. “They killed my daughter, too. My whole family.”
Her face went from hostile to soft and understanding in half a heartbeat. “Oh, my God. You poor man. I...my girl was in school, in Florida. She...”
“You don’t need to talk about it, ma’am. I understand all too well.”
“And now they’re...what? Making peace with those scum-sucking lizards?” Her voice raised a couple of notches as she spoke.
“Worse than that, ma’am. They’ve got lizards inside that base right now, and you can bet they don’t have our best interest at heart. We need to do something about this, send a message to those aliens to stay away from Earth and never come back,” Eric said. He tasted the heat in his voice. It wasn’t hard to whip himself into a fury. He meant every word he said, and that only helped make him more sincere.
“We do need to do something,” she replied. “But what?”
“Well, ma’am, I’ve got some ideas...” Eric smiled as he broke into a pitch designed for her. Yes sir, by noon this powder keg was gonna be ready to blow.
Twenty-Three
Garul trailed Hereford through the building. They left behind the fancy appointments set up for diplomatic meetings and reached more utilitarian spaces on the ground floor. These were more like what the Naga expected from a war base. The walls were concrete bricks, painted over. The floors were plain tile, carefully cleaned and waxed. They walked through a doorway over which was painted a massive image of a shield with the words 'Security Forces' written on it.
The area beyond was a series of small meeting rooms, a workout gym, the arms room they'd acquired weapons from the night before, and similar spaces. Hereford stalked past all of them, his destination a closed door at the end of the hall. There was no handle on the door to open it. At first Garul wasn't sure how they would get in. But Hereford tapped a panel on wall beside the door. The screen lit up after a moment, the face of a young human male appearing there.
“Let us in,” Hereford said.
“Yes, sir! Just a moment.”
The screen blinked out. Garul heard the sound of someone scrambling about on the other side of the door and then it opened from within. Hereford nodded sharply to the uniformed man holding the door open for them as he walked past. Garul followed, flashing the young human a toothy smile that made him blanch a few shades paler. He would probably never tire of that reaction...
McInness caught his glance and rolled his eyes as he brought up the rear of their trio. The security center was small. Manned by two human soldiers, there was only just enough space to add the three of them, and as the door shut Garul had the feeling the place was going to grow stuffy quickly if they all remained long.
He didn't think it likely they'd be staying, though. Not if what he saw was any indication.
One wall of the room was covered in screens, each one showing a different camera from somewhere on the base. About half of those screens showed views of the north gate, the same place he'd been shot the night before. It was broad daylight, now, just after noon, and the scene was no longer empty. Hundreds of humans gathered there, most of them carrying signs. Garul couldn't make out most of the words written there, but the ones he could said they spelled trouble. All of them seemed to carry some sort of anti-alien sentiment. Those humans were chanting and shouting as well.
Armed guards still held the gate, but if that horde of humans turned into a mob, Garul wasn't sure there were enough soldiers present to block their entry. Certainly not without killing a good number on both sides.
“Damn. You have a good estimate of their numbers?” Hereford asked.
“North of a thousand, sir. The crowd is still growing, too,” the soldier replied.
Hereford watched the screens carefully for another minute without saying anything. Then he reached out to a control panel and flicked the buttons there. In response, the images on the screen changed to other cameras at different places around the base. Once he'd satisfied himself that there were no other groups of protesters trying to get into the base, he shifted the few back to the north gate again.
“I don't like this. The men I posted to the gate don't have enough firepower to stop that many people if they decide to rush the base,” Hereford said.
“You could pull out a couple of Armor units,” Owen said. “I can't imagine them trying to get past those.”
Garul chuckled at the idea. The massive robotic suits bristled with firepower. Even one would be enough to make a mob quail at the thought of approaching. A few of those would indeed probably prevent an attack. He wasn't sure that was the best plan, however.
“General, I suspect those people outside are frightened, yes?” Garul asked. Hereford nodded, so he went on. “Making them even more scared does not seem like best plan. Not if our aim is true alliance of both peoples.”
“Having them storm the base isn't an option, either,” Hereford growled. “Call in the local police. Let's see if we can get them to de-escalate this situation before we go making it worse. Not that I'm entirely against your idea, McInness. But I want that to be a tool of last resort. Garul's right. Frightening these people more today will just make them even more certain that we're doing bad things in here. We need to shift them to our way of thinking, not scare them into more extremism like the bunch we saw last night.”
Owen nodded. “I understand, sir. What if I went to speak with them?”
Hereford tilted his head a little. “I'm listening.”
“Well, sir. I used to hate the Naga, too. For the same reason as a lot of those folks do. I'm reading some of those signs... A lot of the people lost someone in the Battle for Earth. Like I did,” Owen said. He locked stares with Garul, and the Naga was pleased to see how quickly this young warrior was growing up. “But I learned that the Naga are more like us than different. If I can show them that, too? Maybe we can start moving the needle in the right direction.”
“You're known by that terrorist who escaped. If you show up there, you'll likely be a target for him,” Hereford warned. “I'm not sure it's the best idea.”
Garul could understand the general's concern, but in this case he believed the bo
y was right. If their people were going to be allied, they needed to clear the air between them. The Naga had come to accept humans well enough, after Dan and Beth Wynn helped defend their world from certain destruction. Indeed, those two humans at least were considered heroes on Patala.
But the situation on Earth was the opposite. The Naga had attacked, had killed many humans, had even tried to wipe out their entire world when the initial attacks failed. Humanity hadn't seen the Naga as anything but a threat. It was past time to end that.
“Owen is right,” Garul said. “We need to begin the work of getting humans to trust Naga. It can start here, today. But it should not be he who speaks to them. It should be me.”
Owen shook his head. “If I'd be at risk going out there, it'd be hella worse for you. Eric would love to get you inside his crosshairs.”
“Yes, I don't think that's a wise course of action,” Hereford added. “We need to defuse this situation, but we can't risk you in the process.”
Garul blinked, calming his mind to collect his thoughts. These humans - his friends - had their hearts in the right place. They wanted to protect him from harm, and he appreciated it. But he needed to make them understand somehow. This was truly the only way forward for both their people.
“It must be me,” Garul said at last. Hereford opened his mouth to protest again, but Garul waved a hand and he kept silent. “I know there is risk. But look at those people!”
He pointed at the screens where the protesters continued chanting. He couldn't hear what they were saying; the video feed had no audio. But it didn't take a transcript to see the anger in their faces. They were all furious. Sadly, they had good reason to be.
“My people have done yours a terrible wrong,” Garul said.
“We've blown up or captured a few of your ships, too. It was war,” Hereford said.
“Yes, and your people have more than balanced the scales. Did you know that Dan and Beth Wynn are being considered for medals of honor on my world? Their actions helped save our planet,” Garul said. “After everything we'd done to you, when we were in our hour of greatest need, we didn't even have to ask your people for help. In fact, I've heard the audio communication that went between our ships and your Independence that day. My people ordered yours to not interfere. But they risked everything to help their enemy anyway.”
“Earth has balanced the scales for Patala. But we Naga have not done our part to balance the damage we did here,” Garul rumbled. “This day? Those people? I have a chance out there to begin that task. Yes, there is risk. Just like there was risk when Dan and Beth came to our aid. If there were no risk, it wouldn't matter. But if we are to bring our people together, it is those people out there, the ones my people hurt, who must be won over.”
He shrugged, an odd human gesture he'd picked up at some point. All of this seemed like inescapable logic to him. He only hoped he'd explained it well enough to convince Hereford. Garul watched indecision war on the man's face. He had to be weighing the potential risk versus rewards, and if the general said no, that would probably be the end of it. He just had to hope Hereford would see eye to eye on him in this. Garul locked gazes with him, his eyes imploring him to agree.
After a few more seconds of silence that seemed to drag on forever, Hereford nodded. “All right. Let's do this.”
Garul felt a thrill of excitement not unlike the sense of expectation he felt right before going into battle. He was headed into combat, of a sort. An odd sort of battle, since this enemy couldn't be slain. Hate didn’t die to gunfire or bombs; weapons only made it stronger.
But perhaps it could be beaten.
Twenty-Four
Hereford wasn't thrilled with the decision, but once he'd made up his mind he was determined to see things through. He hated the idea of sending Garul into danger. The Naga was a diplomat, damn it! He hadn't belonged out there the night before. He didn't belong in harm's way now. At the same time he understood the logic of what Garul was saying. The people of Earth still feared the Naga, with good reason. Some folks even hated the alien race with enough passion to try taking pot-shots at them, or raid a military base. If nothing was done, things would only escalate.
“You get yourself killed, I'm probably going to lose my job,” Hereford groused to his friend.
Garul laughed. “I do not intend to die today, General.”
They'd already stopped by the arms room to pick up a few things that Garul would need. Like a suit of Naga battle armor, for starters. He had only worn the light armor all Naga used for ship-suits on the trip down, not expecting any serious combat. The battle armor humans had won from captured Naga vessels was much heavier. It would shrug off most small arms fire, based on the testing they'd done. Some of the advances they'd brought to the Armor program had come from studying the design of Naga battle armor.
He felt better seeing Garul in the suit. It wasn't like they could use it for a human, anyway. The armor was carefully fitted for a Naga frame. It simply wouldn't function for a much smaller human body. They'd torn apart most of the sets to learn what they could from them, but now Hereford was glad he'd insisted they keep a few sets in storage.
Garul tapped a control on his left wrist and lights sparked on throughout the suit. It was made of heavy silvery plates, all linked together. Although the face plate was open right now, with a flick of his wrist or a single-word command, Garul could order the suit to fully encase his head. The armor would even operate as a space suit, for at least a couple of hours.
“Owen, give me the handgun,” Garul said.
Owen complied, pulling the small Naga device from his pocket and passing it to Garul. Hereford watched the exchange with interest. The Naga plugged the little weapon into a port on his armor. An amber light began blinking on the weapon.
“Charging,” Garul explained.
Hereford made his voice as dry as possible. “You know, you weren't supposed to bring any weapons down to the surface with you.”
“That little thing?” Garul chuckled. “It hardly counts as a weapon.”
Hereford rolled his eyes and kept walking. They reached the building's main lobby. An armored vehicle was already idling outside. No, they absolutely were not walking all the way to the gate. Hereford wanted any potential sniper to have as few opportunities to fire as possible. Bad enough Garul was insisting he leave the head armor down. One quick shot to the skull and he'd be history. But he looked frightening enough in person. The armored head was designed to terrify foes. It wouldn't help his goals of winning over the protesters.
He wasn't sure just how Garul planned to handle that, anyway. Those folks out there weren't just a little angry. They'd lost loved ones. Been afraid for their lives. It wasn't the sort of experience one could wave away with a quick speech.
Not without one hell of a speech, anyway. Hereford hoped Garul was up for this.
They piled into the armored car and rolled out toward the gate. Three guards rode with them, plus a driver. They'd augment the security force already posted at the north gate. He had other troops moving there as well, and he'd ordered the number of surveillance drones in the air doubled. Every possible precaution was being taken. This was still risky as hell, even with all the safeguards he could think of.
Garul pulled the pen-shaped handgun loose from his armor and handed it back to Owen, who took it with a nod of thanks. He slipped it back into a jacket pocket. Garul certainly wasn't going to need the tiny peashooter. Hereford had seen the specs for that armor. It had the equivalent of a built-in rifle in the right forearm. With a twist of a setting Garul could change the output from something that felt like a rubber bullet into a ball of energy that hit with about the same force as an armor-piercing round.
Hereford eyed the setting. Garul had moved it to the lowest level. He hoped the Naga didn't have to use the weapon at any level, but with that shooter still on the loose? Better to be armed.
They were closing on the gate. Hereford leaned forward toward the driver. “Stop just
behind the gatehouse. I want Garul to be able to leave the vehicle without being seen.”
“You got it, sir.”
The armored car wheeled into the leeward side of the concrete gate shack. It was a military vehicle, not designed to be very soundproof. The chanting outside was easily audible to Hereford and his passengers. The soldiers riding with them opened the back door and climbed out.
Hereford turned to Garul. “You sure about this?”
“No. But I want to try. If it fails, well - I'll have you, Owen, and your men to save me, no?”
“Don't let it come to that,” Hereford growled.
Hereford climbed out of the car and peeked around the side of the shack. Captain Jenkins moved toward him, a surprised look on his face. Hereford waved him closer. If Jenkins had been shocked to see Hereford, that was nothing compared to the astonished face he made when he saw Garul in the vehicle.
“Sir, what the actual fuck?” Jenkins blurted.
“Our ambassador requested a chance to do a little diplomacy with our protesters,” Hereford replied.
Jenkins shook his head. “I can't guarantee his safety. There's no place he can stand out there that won't put him into the line of fire of anyone who wants to take a pot-shot at him. This is a terrible idea, sir.”
Hereford couldn't help but agree. Now that he was on the scene things looked even worse than they had from the calm of the control room. The noise from shouting people just beyond the gate was so loud he and Jenkins had to nearly shout to make themselves be heard. This crowd was one spark away from turning into a mob, and from there, into a riot.
He stood there deliberating for a few moments. Garul could still be driven safely back to Base One. Hell, if needs be Hereford could recall the security to the building and lock everything down there. The protesters might make a mess of things elsewhere on the base, but they'd never damage anything vital.
But that wasn't the future he wanted to see. If these people turned into a riot and trashed the base, that wouldn't be the end of things. It would escalate into something far worse. He'd seen it before. Hereford looked toward Garul. The Naga sat in the car, patiently waiting. His eyes told Hereford that he knew the inner debate raging inside his head. Garul understood.
Peace Talks (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 12) Page 10