Marching Through Georgia

by S. M. Stirling

  "And changes? At best, with a lifetime's effort, if I'm very smart an' very lucky, I can hope to… lay the beginnings of the foundations for others to build on. Delusions of omnipotence is one national vice I haven't fallen prey to. For a beginning, for the Draka to change they'd have to stop bein' afraid, which means all their external enemies are defeated. Then maybe they could face the internal one with something besides a sjambok. I know—" more softly "—I know it can be done on an individual scale. Then, perhaps in a hundred or a thousand years—"

  * * * *

  Reliable operative, the Security Directorate Chiliarch thought. Yo' want reliable, do it yourself.

  He was surprised at how… alarming the offensive was, at close range. Especially now that they were passing the forward artillery parks; even inside the scout car's armor, the noise was defening. Still, it all ought to be over soon. Then back to Archona, back to the center of things. With a kudu on his dossier that the ultimate masters would note.

  The oldfools past it, he thought with satisfaction, then cursed as the car lurched. They were driving well off the shoulder of the road, away from the priority traffic pouring down from the heights of Caucasus.

  Did he really expect I'd let him have the credit for this?

  * * * *

  Eric looked up as the three ragged figures limped into the ruined mosque. Ivan the partisan, by almighty Thor! he thought, looking around for Dreiser. The American was deep in his notebooks; time enough to roust him out later. It would be tricky to get the Russian survivors out, but not impossible; he had heard the awe in the voices of the relieving troops, and the legend would grow. Such myths were useful to the Domination. And to me, in this case.

  There were two others with the Russian—women, one in muddied finery that could not disguise an almost startling loveliness, the other in the wreck of an Air Corps flight suit, cut away for the bandages that covered right arm and leg and that side of her face. She was tall, hair yellow-blonde, visible eye grey…

  Sofie let out a squawk as his grip on her hand grew crushing; then he was running as if his fatigue had vanished, nimble over the uncertain ground.

  "Johanna!" he shouted. At the last moment he checked his embrace, careful of her wounds; hers was one-armed, tentative. Held close her body felt somehow more fragile, the familiar odor of her sweat mixed with a sharp medicinal smell.

  "How bad is it?" he asked, holding her at arm's length.

  "Goddam wonderful, I'm alive," she said, reaching out to grasp him by the torn lapels of his tunic. "An" so are you.' She pushed her hands gently against his chest. "I'm glad, my brother." More briskly: 'They told me I'd probably keep the eye, know in a year or two, fly a desk until then. Who's this glarin' at me?"

  Sofie saluted. "Monitor Tech-Two Nixon…" She peered more closely at the other Draka's name tag. "Oh, yo're his sister. Hell, I'm Sofie." She grinned, and rattled off a sentence in Russian to the two partisans.

  Eric opened his mouth to speak, closed it again slowly as he looked over their shoulders. Two vehicles were bouncing through the uneven surface where the entrance of the mosque had been: not large, simple flattened wedges of steel plate with four soft pillow-tires, but green painted, with the Security Directorate's badge on their flanks. They halted, and metal pinged and cooled. The rear doors opened, and three figures disembarked. The drivers' heads showed through the hatches: serfs, carefully disinterested. The others… two Intervention Squad troopers, and an officer. Not any type of field man; the uniform was far too neat, the boots polished, ceremonial whip at his belt and an attache" case in one hand.

  Political Section, Police Zone Division, Eric thought. A Chtliarch, they're doing me proud.

  The others looked around. "Headhunters," Sofie said.

  "Shit," Johanna added. "Metaphorically an' descriptively."

  * * * *

  "Well, well, well," McWhirter said. The survivors of Century A had closed in a semicircle about the secret police vehicles. "Aren't you people a lot closer to the sharp end a' things than yo' like?"

  "Right." That was Marie Kaine. "Of course, so far back from the front, the brain tends to be ninety percent asshole, anyway; maybe they got lost."

  Eric raised a hand, a quiet gesture that stilled the muttering. "Let me guess—" he began.

  "No need for guessing here, von Shrakenberg," the secret policeman said. "We've been watching; we always are. Ah am requirin' you to accompany me for investigations under Section IV of the Internal Security Act of 1907, which provides for detention by administrative procedure, for—"

  "'—actions or thoughts deemed prejudicial to the security of the State'—yes, Chiliarch, I'm familiar with it." Nearly having been its victim once before. "I also recall legislation statin' that members of the Citizen Force on active service in a war zone may only be arrested by the military police, for arraignment or trial before a duly constituted court-martial."

  The Chiliarch was a thin man, with a redhead's complexion despite his dark hair and pencil mustache. "Don't try to play the lawyer with me, von Shrakenberg! Yo'd be well advised to take a cooperative attitude—well advised. Now, come along; this isn't an arrest, merely a detention for investigation. Yes, and the American too. And—" his eyes noticed Valentina Budennin, and his mouth smiled "—yes, this Russian too. I'll interrogate at our field headquarters in Kars. We'll round up the rest of these 'partisans' in due course."

  Eric was silent for a long moment. The sounds in the background seemed to recede, dying down into a murmur no louder than the blood in his ears. Well, he thought.

  "Y'know, Chiliarch," he said conversationally. "I think yo'd be surprised at the direction those subversive thoughts of mine have been taking. I learned something here."

  The police agent snorted. "What, pray tell?" They might have to restrain him after all.

  Eric indicated the ring of soldiers. "That these are my people. Killers? Yes. But they have courage, and honor, and love and loyalty to each other. Those are real virtues, and on that something can be built, something can grow."

  He drew the Walther P-38 that was still thrust into the waistband of his battle harness.

  The two Security troopers had come expecting an arrest, not combat. Yet they were Draka, too; their rifles came up with smooth speed to cover Eric. Policemen's reflex, that let them ignore the two-score paratroopers within arm's reach, and a fatal mistake. One managed to get a burst off, cracking the air over the security Chiliarch's head. There was a moment of scuffling, a meaty thud, a wet schunk sound; the secret policeman wheeled to see the Security troopers going down, and the bayonets flashing again and again. Two of Century A's survivors were staggering away, one clutching white-faced at a broken arm, the other squeezing at a stab wound in his thigh; the Century's own medics were moving forward.

  "The drivers, too," Eric called coolly. "No noise." He averted his eyes slightly as the two serfs were dragged from their hatches and their throats slit. They submitted in stunned silence, one jerking and bleating as the steel went home.

  "Where was I?" Eric continued to the secret policeman. "Sayin" that the 'convenient accident' in a moment of confusion can work both ways? Pity about yo're party runnin' into those Fritz holdouts. Or extending my analysis. Ah, yes. From them something can be built, in time. What you are is a disease, and the only thing yo'll ever produce is rot."

  The Security agent turned back again; his face was even paler now, about the lips, but his voice was steady.

  "I know you, it's all in the dossier! You don't have the guts—"

  Eric shot him, low through the stomach. He dropped, unbelieving eyes fixed on the red leak between his fingers, legs limp from a shattered spine. The centurion felt Sofie's arm go about his waist. His left arm looped over her shoulders.

  "Thanks, Sofie," he said, and looked up at the rest of them. "Thanks, all of you."

  "Hell," Marie Kaine said. "It's a long way to the Atlantic Coast and the end of the war, Eric. We all want yo' in charge till then."

&nb
sp; Suffering eyes turned up to him, over a gaping mouth that soon would scream.

  Make an end, do it clean, he thought. "And there's one thing you should never have forgotten," he said to the man who had come to arrest him. "Whatever else I may be, I'm still a von Shrakenberg." The pistol barked.

  Timeline

  OF THE DOMINATION

  [Places are listed under their Draka-timeline names. Their equivalent in our history is given in parenthesis on first mention. Thus Virconium (Durban, South Africa); Shah-napur (Maputo, Mozambique); etc. Events prior to 1783 with an outcome different from that in our history are marked, thus*.]

  1776: Outbreak of American Revolution. Major Patrick Ferguson invents early breechloading rifle.

  1779: France, Spain, Netherlands* declare war on Great Britain.

  1779: British fleet under Admiral Lord Cochrane lands occupying force in Capetown*

  1780: Colonel Ferguson's loyalists victorious in battle of Kings Mountain* Several Loyalist units, including Tarleton's Legion and the newly formed Ferguson's Legion, re-equipped with Ferguson breechloaders .* Savage partisan warfare throughout Southern colonies.

  1781: General Cornwallis besieged at Yorktown in Virginia, surrenders to American rebels and their French allies.

  1782: British naval victories in Caribbean, occupation of Haiti and Trinidad*

  1783: Second Peace of Paris. American independence recognized; British Florida and her conquests in Caribbean are exchanged for possession of Dutch Cape Colony.*

  1783: Loyalty Acts passed by British Parliament: the Cape is renamed the Crown Colony of Drakia, and all colonials who fought or otherwise suffered for their loyalty to the Crown are offered transport and land grants; so are the Hessian and other German mercenaries in British service at the time. Legislative Assembly meets in Capetown. General Patrick Ferguson is first Governor-General.

  1780-83: First Loyalist refugees arrive in Capetown. Conquest of Southern Africa begun; border pushed to Tugela River.

  1783-86: 95,000 Loyalists and their families (not including some 10,000 slaves) arrive; 10,000 Hessians soon follow, with relatives and families arriving in a steady trickle from Germany. At this time the Dutch-Afrikaner population is less than 9,000, ana is soon assimilated through intermarriage.

  1784: Founding ofVirconium (Durban, South Africa), and Venta Belgarum (East London, South Africa). General Banastare Tarleton becomes first Commander-in-Chief.

  1783-84: Volcanic eruptions devastate Iceland. 25,000 Icelanders offered asylum in Drakia, arriving 1783-86.

  1784: Diamonds discoverd in northern interior. Founding ofArchona (Pretoria, South Africa).

  1785: Gold discovered on Whiteridge (Whitwaterstrand) and in eastern Archona Province (Transvaal). First steam engines imported. Output reaches 1,000,000 ounces by 1786.

  1786: Drakian Legislative Assembly passes Indentured Labor and Master and Servant Acts, establishing system of debt-peonage for conquered nonwhite population. This rapidly becomes indistinguishable from chattel slavery, which is also practiced.

  1786-90: Rapid growth of economy and population. Export trades in diamonds, gold, copper, sugar, wool, salt, hides, ivory, etc., established. Drakian ships active in Atlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Zanzibar seized in 1789; Aden, 1791. Free population reaches 175,000; slave/serf 2,000,000. Transportation Directorate established to build road network to mines and settlements of far interior.

  1788: Colonel Freiherr Augustus von Shrakenberg retires, receives 20,000 acre land grant under Maluti Mountains, South Interior province (Lesotho). Marries Alexandra Hugeson, of a New Jersey loyalist family.

  1790-92: Universities of Cape Town, Virconium, and Archona founded. Anglican bishoprics established in Cape Town and Virconium.

  1792: Conquest of Northmark (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe); settlement and development proceed. Gold output exceeds 2,000,000 ounces annually.

  1793: First coal mine in northern Natalia. Outbreak of French Revoulutionary / Napoleonic wars.

  1790-96: Period of rapid growth continues, with serious slave/serf revolts in 1792, 1794 and 1795-97. Slave Code of 1797 grants all freemen power of life and death over "slaves and other bondservants." Militia Act of 1792 establishes peacetime conscription and reserve service to age 60. Women's Militia Auxiliary founded as volunteer group. First Janissary Legion recruited from slaves bought in West Africa.

  1795: African Mining and Metals Combine founded. Granted monopoly of large-scale mining, leases smaller deposits to discoverers. School of Mines founded in Archona.

  1796: Richard Trevithick arrives in Virconiumfrom Cornwall, appointed Inspector-General of Steam Engines by Mining Combine.

  1799: Founding of Diskarapur (Newcastle, South Africa) and Shahnapur (Maputo, Mozambique). Trade with India produces fad for Persian/Moghul artwork.

  1794-97: French population of Santo Domingo/Haiti flees before slave revolt. 11,000 arrive in Drakia. Royalists from European France follow.

  1800: Free population reaches 350,000. First ironworks, machine shops, shipbuilding yards started as Revolutionary / Napoleonic wars render imports uncertain. Cotton becomes important crop. Large-scale public works in roads, harbors, irrigation.

  1800-02: Conquest of Egypt (occupied by French) and Ceylon, a possession of Dutch Republic allied with France. French colonies in West Africa seized.

  1803: Revolt in Egypt suppressed; 300,000 rebels deported to Sinai work camps to begin construction of Suez Canal.

  1803: High-pressure steam engine perfected by Richard Trevithick. Construction of Archona-Virconium railway line begins in 1805.

  1804: First steam "drags" (trucks) and steamships.

  1807: Ottoman Empire declares war on Britain due to Drakian refusal to evacuate Egypt. Drakian forces seize Cyprus, Crete, Tunisia. Suez Canal completed.

  1812: Americans overrun and annex British North America.

  1815-16: Peace of Vienna confirms Africa as British/ Drakian preserve. Portuguese colonies of Angola ana Mozambique purchased. British veterans and Napoleonic refugees immigrate. Madagascar conquered.

  1820: Cache of papyrus manuscripts found in Western Desert by Drakian Camel Corps patrol. Virtually all lost works of Classical literature and philosophy recovered (e.g., Sappho, Euripides, Aristotle, etc.). Classical revival affects Drakian culture. Foundation of Alexandria; growth of Combines. Petroleum first used as motor fuel, 1831.

  1820-40: Rapid growth of export agriculture and manufacturing/transport. Abolitionist groups in England and northern U.S. begin cultural / political campaign against Drakiafor alleged "depravity" and other violations of Victorian middle-class norms. This produces defiant anti-bourgeois sentiment in Drakia. Thomas Carlyle emigrates to Drakia.

  1800-40: "Drakia" becomes elided to "Draka" in popular usage. Free population reaches 1,000,000. Conquest of North Africa requires mobilization of over 150,000 men for most of period 1825—1850. Increased employment of citizen women produces legal reforms, franchise agitation.

  1848-49: Mexican-American War. "Young America" faction forces annexation of all of Mexico over objections of President Polk.

  1850: First transcontinental railway (Shahnapur-Luanda). Katanga copper discovered. Mombasa-Nile line built. Conquest of Sudan and Senegal. Brass-cartridge repeating rifle adopted by Draka forces. R.J. Catling settles in Diskarapur, develops world's first practical machine-gun.

  1854-57: Draka expeditionary forces assist British in Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. Dominion of Draka Act, 1858, grants "responsible government" to Draka (practical sovereignty in effect). Hall process patented by Ferrous Metals Combine, enables steel to be produced as cheaply as wrought iron. Rival Bessemer method quickly eclipsed.

  1854: Cuba, Philippines, Hawaii, Haiti, and Santo Domingo annexed by United States. Japan opened to Western trade. "Empire of Central America" established by Southern adventurers under command of William Walker; extends from Guatemala to Panamanian territories seized from Columbia.

  1860-1866: American Civil War begins
as President Douglas bombards Savannah. Dominion of Draka provides massive clandestine aid— repeating rifles, gatling guns, steam warships, steam-powered warcars—to Confederacy. Union casualties exceed 700,000, including large numbers of Mexican conscripts. Mexican territories achieve statehood. Douglas assassinated in 1865 by Confederate fanatic; Vice-President Lincoln inaugurated.

  1866-70: Louis Pasteur, at Shahnapur Institute of Tropical Medicine, establishes mosquito vector of malaria. World total of private auto-steamers reaches 100,000, 75 percent of them in Dominion of Draka. Panama Canal under construction. Taiping Dynasty established in China, failure of effort to modernize. Bismarck unites Germany. Antiseptic surgery, anesthetics.

  1865-68: 150,000 Confederate refugees settle in Dominion ofDrakia. Central American Empire annexed by United States. Freidrich Nietzsche immigrates to Domination.

  1872: Steam turbine perfected by Alexandrian Technological Institute. First rigid dirigibles.

  Archona and Alexandria become first cities to establish telephone networks. Uruguay and Paraguay annexed by Empire of Brazil. Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador establish Republic of Grand Columbia. Australasian Federation unites Australia, New Zealand. Electric lighting.

  1879-82: Anglo-Russian war, fought largely in Bulgaria and Afghanistan. Dominion of Draka rescues British from defeat; Odessa destroyed by Draka dirigible raid; worldwide condemnation of 50,000 civilian casualties. Draka introduce land mines, submarines, poison gas. Austro-German alliance with Ottoman Empire, construction of Berlin-Baghdad railway . Uprisings in Congo Basin result in large-scale deportations and unrest.