A Desert Called Peace cl-1

by Tom Kratman

  Taking the Balboans in with a single glance, Carrera saw that they were a major, about as high a rank as existed in the Civil Force that had replaced the BDC, two captains, a lieutenant and a sergeant major. He knew none of them by sight, however their uniforms all bore name tags that identified them.

  The major's name was Fernandez. He was small, slight and mildly stoop shouldered. Withal, he looked like nothing so much as a pharmacist. Certainly, his appearance gave no hint of the frightful reputation of which David Carrera had warned.

  After shaking hands, Fernandez asked, " Senor, are you the same Carrera that has been supporting the families of those killed in the 447 Invasion?"

  "I am."

  "May we ask why you are providing for them out of your own pocket? And why now, rather than before?"

  "Now," Carrera answered, "because I only recently acquired the wherewithal to help them. As to why, for no reason than that I thought it wrong for the parents, wives, sons, and daughters of brave men to go in want if I could do something about it."

  Besides, it may be that I am to blame for their loss. In part, anyway.

  "I see," said the major. "An unusual generosity. You are from the FSC, are you not?"

  "I am, though I make my home here."

  Fernandez began a staccato interrogation, pausing to bite on his lower lip between questions. "Why should you do that? Why should you come here now? What do you intend here? We know that you have a small army here on the premises with you. We also know that you were once a military officer, that you were part of the invasion force, and that you lost your family in the Terra Nova Trade Organization attack. I have investigated. And no, I have not yet informed the government."

  Hennessey-no, "Carrera" now-said simply, "Revenge."

  Major Fernandez smiled. "That is a worthy goal. It was also worthy to plant your brother-in-law in my department. However, though your brother-in-law is a nice kid, he has no business in intelligence… so please get him moved."

  "I don't know where else to send him."

  "Major Valdez, from 5th Company of the Civil Force, will take him. He said to me, just a few days ago, 'I'm down one platoon leader, anyway, as soon as I fire the stupid son of a rabiblanco bitch who's wrecking my chingada third platoon now."

  The other officers with Fernandez tried to control smiles. They failed. Everyone in the Civil Force knew about Valdez, his general loathing of pure whites (though he loathed pure indians, too), and his foul mouth.

  Patricio Carrera agreed, "Okay. Fine. David should be glad of the change. I hadn't intended to offend anyone. I just wanted to keep tabs on things."

  "You didn't offend me. It is impossible to offend me. Unless you're a Pina or someone riding on his coattails or some gringo trying to run our country. That would offend me."

  "You do not care for your former 'Supreme Leader'?"

  Fernandez gave an evil, angry laugh. "No. Not me. Not my men. Not anyone in my department. Pina? When the going got tough that cowardly son of a bitch got going."

  "Oh. I see your point. Major Fernandez… I will not run out on you. But I will tell you that in the course of avenging myself on the stinking wogs I am going to help make Balboa free, really free, for the first time in centuries. That… and I know what I'm doing."

  Carrera paused, then made a decision. "Follow me, please. Just you. Say nothing."

  With a shrug, Fernandez motioned for his men to remain while he followed Carrera downstairs to the staff area. It was empty at the time, as McNamara and the other on duty were currently upstairs checking pistols and ammunition.

  Carrera flicked on a light. Fernandez saw three entire walls each covered with an intricate diagram of lines, circles, boxes and numbers. There were many gaps in the diagram.

  " This is why I'm here. I don't want to 'run your country.' I just want to help it build an army; like any other country has. This is part of that, though it's a long way from complete. Tell me, Major Fernandez, have you ever even been in a real army? No, I thought not. Not your fault. But you do not, cannot, know what goes into creating one. Do you know what schools you need? What equipment? How many spare parts of what type? Ammunition? How many trucks to operate at a given distance from a port? How many drivers and mechanics? How much does it all cost? How long will it take to do X? Is Y what you should really be doing?

  "I do know. And I'm here to show you… you and the rest of the old Defense Corps."

  Fernandez moved closer and looked over one of the diagrams. He noted that there were many blank spaces. This Carrera doesn't have all the answers then. But I didn't even know the questions. He considered this. At length he nodded his head slowly. "Perhaps you do know. Perhaps you do, indeed. How can I help?"

  "In many ways, Major. Notably by keeping the government off my ass and out of my business. And by giving me whatever you can to make them support this effort."

  "My department can help with this."

  "Then viva Balboa, Major. Will you and your men join me for a drink?"

  "Thank you, sir, no. My men are still on duty and I need to get home to my daughter. I am a widower, you see, and I'm all she has."

  Interlude

  1 January, 2050, Brussels, Belgium, European Union

  Margot Tebaf awakened in a strange bed. There was nothing particularly unusual in this; she and her husband had an understanding.

  She risked a glance at the other form in the bed. It was hidden by the covers. Hmmm. Large, so probably male. But who was it?

  Margot wracked her brain frantically. There had been a lot of champagne, stronger drink as well. Well, it was New Years, after all. She'd been talking to someone… some expert in demographics and migration patterns. What had he said?

  Oh, yes. It's coming back now. He said that this new planet may be the answer to all our problems. And not just the EU's problems, but the UN's, the progressive movement's. Everything.

  We are losing talented and fertile young people to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They produce there, in the cutthroat, dog-eat-dog competition of the capitalist system. That makes our system look bad by comparison-never mind that it is much the fairest and most gentle system in the history of the world-and pulls even more young people away.

  But if the new planet can be used to attract those tired of Europe and, better still, if it can also be used to attract a number of those stinking Americans out of their own stolen homeland, the drain on us will lessen and they will begin to lose some of their power and their arrogance.

  Margot muttered aloud, "Oh, how I hate those bastards."

  The body next to her stirred. "What's that?"

  "I was thinking about what you said last night…" She found, to her consternation, that she couldn't produce a name to go with the body she had spent the night with.

  "Dominique, Margot. It's Dominique," the body answered, apparently unperturbed.

  "Ah, yes. Dominique. Explain to me again, please-I had so much to drink last night-how we can use the new planet to hurt the United States and save ourselves and the Earth?"

  "Well, it would take a lot," Dominique admitted. "We would need… oh… call it one hundred ships, more or less, each capable of carrying fifty or so thousand colonists."

  "Ships, yes, but how big?"

  "I've asked someone in the navy about that. He told me to think of the size of the United States' supercarriers or the very large ships that carry crude oil. Built in space because otherwise we would never get them off the Earth."

  "We couldn't afford that," Margot said, suddenly looking very glum.

  "No, no, of course not," Dominique admitted. "Certainly we could not ourselves. But we, China, Japan and the United States could, collectively."

  "Why should they participate in a project that ultimately hurts them?" Margot asked.

  "Because in the short term it helps them," the other answered, reasonably. "Have you ever known an elected politician who really thinks long term? No. Long-term thinking requires wha
t we have here in Europe, an elite that cannot be turned out of office over the latest blip in the economic forecast.

  "It's more than that though, too, Margot. If we can get some substantial numbers of the more extreme Moslems to leave Earth- though I confess I have no good idea yet how to do that-the more moderate ones will make life uncomfortable for the extremists who remain. Then they'll leave, too."

  "Wouldn't that be wonderful," she mused aloud.

  "Indeed," Dominique agreed.

  Margot admired such clear thinking. She pulled the covers down and bent her head over to show how much she admired it.

  Chapter Eight If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? -William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

  Zabol, Pashtia, Terra Nova, 7/9/459 AC

  Even through fifty meters of rock and soil the men below could still feel the bombs going off overhead. They shook the ground, making the lights flicker and raising dust to fill the narrow cramped corridors and rooms. No matter, the cave was deep and safe. Even at its entrance, where the FS Air Force could toss bombs with frightening precision, strong baffles prevented any harm from reaching those lower. Besides, there were dozens of false entrances for each real one, though they were tolerably hard to see. Even the FS had some limits on their ability to bomb.

  Feeling quite safe from the bombing, Abdul Aziz ibn Kalb still withered under the glare of his chief. Not that the glare was directed at him personally; no, not at all. The glare was directed at a report just received from the organization's cell in, of all places, Balboa. Interference on the part of the Ikhwan 's great adversary had delayed receipt for some time.

  "How dare they? How dare they? By the nine and ninety beautiful names of Allah how damned dare they shoot down five believers and beat a sixth to death? How dare they even think of joining this new 'crusade' against us? Little pissants!"

  Aziz forced himself to stand tall and corrected, " They didn't. Just one man killed six Salafis in an outlying town. "Self defense," the local police said. Maybe it was, too."

  "No matter; the lives of any number of infidels are as nothing compared to the life of even one of the true believers. And then there's this other swine trying to raise political support for aiding the Columbians. Well, we'll just have to put a stop to that."

  The chief rubbed worry beads between thumb and forefinger. "What cells do we have in Balboa?" he asked.

  Aziz had an answer ready, of course. He'd expected the question. "We have one 'expeditor' cell, one informational cell, three direct action cells and one command cell. Twenty-three people total."

  "The direct action cells? What are their missions?"

  Again, Aziz had the answers ready to hand. "One of them is trained for ship seizure and pilotage. They were intended to be able to grab a ship and ram the locks of the Balboa Transitway. But it has to be a special ship, one carrying explosives or LNG, or perhaps fertilizer, to really do damage."

  "Any such ship coming through the Transitway soon?" the chief asked.

  "No, Sheik, we really weren't thinking about attacking Balboa for a few years. The other cells are directed at, in the one case, the trans- Isthmian pipeline that sends oil from the State of McKinley to the Shimmering Sea for shipment to the Federated States' west coast. Heating oil mostly. In the others, they are bombers. Their status report says they are capable of detonating two to four truck bombs."

  The chief mulled a bit. "Pipelines and truck bombs. Hmmm… "

  Casa Linda, 21/9/459 AC

  "Don't sweat it, Dan. You and the boys have worked miracles."

  Despite the words, Carrera could not keep the disappointment out of his voice. It was true; the staff had worked miracles. They knew the required personnel and equipment strength down to the last item. By dint of sixteen hour days-eighteen hours, some days-they had designed tables of organization and equipment for every required formation. They had devised detailed programs of instruction for officers, senior noncoms, and enlisted men. They had charted out training areas, ranges, and had at least a tentative plan for barracks. They had the sketch of an adequate recruiting organization. Working with Jimenez, Parilla and Fernandez, they had most of the core cadre sketched out as well: mostly good people with only a few politically necessary hacks.

  What they could not do was take that cadre of officers and senior noncoms, having only the most limited of combat arms experience, with no background in armored warfare, artillery, combat engineering, chemical warfare, mountain operations, counter-guerilla warfare, complex staff planning, a host of esoteric military skills and attributes, and make them competent overnight.

  Apologetically, Kuralski answered, "Three years, Pat… or maybe four at the outside. That we could do ourselves. But not in fifteen months. Not in time for the spring, 461 campaign." Kuralski hesitated, then said, "Pat, outside of a couple of us we don't even speak enough Spanish yet to train them."

  "I understand. Not your fault." Carrera sighed. "Go hit the rack, Dan. Maybe something will turn up."

  Carrera closed his eyes and put his head in his hands, elbows resting on the kitchen table.

  Before leaving, Kuralski turned and said, "Pat, Daugher had a death in his family in Dragonback Pass. He's asked if he can take a couple of weeks' leave. Bowman wanted to go with him, said he'd never been to Dragonback. Any problem?"

  Carrera, despondent, said, "Sure. Let them go. No problem."

  Satisfied, Kuralski left Carrera alone with his troubles.

  Lourdes found him there like that, unmoving, head still in his hands. She padded in on bare feet, silently. At least, if Carrera had heard he gave no sign. She thought, How very sad and tired he looks. Poor man.

  She reached a hand to pat him lightly on the back. The hand never touched; when it was a bare inch from him she drew it back. He had never invited her to touch him in any way. She didn't feel right doing so now.

  Instead, Lourdes backed off, walked around the wooden table and took a chair opposite her boss.

  That, Carrera heard. Though his eyes remained closed he recognized her familiar sounds. He said, "Hello, Lourdes. What's keeping you awake so late?"

  "Nothing, really," the girl answered. "I came down for a glass of milk and found you here. What's wrong, Patricio?"

  Eyes still shut, chin resting on steepled fingers, he answered, "Everything."

  "Do you want to talk about it?"

  "Want? No. Need? Maybe so. I am trying to build a force to avenge my family. You know this. We have made some pretty good strides in that regard, too. But I have three problems… and they appear insurmountable."

  Lourdes made an inquisitive sound. Carrera continued.

  "First off, no matter what we have planned, the staff informs meand I believe them-that there is no way for us to put a useful force into the war in a timely fashion. 'Three years,' they tell me, 'maybe four.' Then there's Parilla. He thought he could swing the government around to supporting us. He can't. He's pulled every string, called in every favor, and we're still short the votes we need. Lastly, my damned cousin. I could afford to bribe enough politicians if I had control of my Uncle Bob's estate. I do not. Cuz found a lawyer who would… at least I guess he would… support him for an estate fight. So it looks like everything we have done so far is wasted."

  Eyes still shut tight Carrera moved his right hand to massage both sides of his nose with index finger and thumb.

  "It looks pretty hopeless."

  Lourdes chewed on her lower lip, thinking. "I can't think of anything to do about the will or the government, Patricio, but… oh what's that word in English?"

  "Try Spanish," Carrera suggested.

  "No, no," Lourdes insisted. "I don't think we have a similar word. I'll remember it. I'll… outsourcing?"

  Carrera's eyes flew wide. The irises swiveled like twin turrets to focus on the girl. "Say that again."

  "Outsourcing. You know, where you hire outside…"

/>   "I know what it means." A trace of excitement crept into his voice, along with some self-contempt. "I have many flaws, Lourdes. One of these is pride. One of the effects of that pride is a tendency not to look outside myself or whatever group I control for help when I need it. Lourdes, go wake Dan, would you? Then call the airport and get me a flight for ummm… where the hell did I read Abogado had settled down to? Ah, I recall. I need a flight for Phoenix Rising, in the Federated States. Hmmm. For the day after tomorrow, I think. Lastly, make me an appointment for tomorrow afternoon with a corporate law firm in Ciudad Balboa."

  Lourdes nodded and got up to go.

  Carrera held up a hand to stop her. "And Lourdes? Neither I nor all my damned geniuses could come up with that trick. But you did. Thank you."

  Unsure as to quite why, Lourdes felt a bounce in her step and happiness in her heart as she left the kitchen.

  City Recycling Plant,

  Phoenix Rising,

  Oglethorpe, FSC, 23/9/459 AC

  Some things in human civilization are eternal. Among these is the tedious, tiresome and, above all, odiferous task of waste disposal. Carrera could smell the plant from five miles away. Worse, the speed of the auto was greater than olfactory fatigue could deal with. The stink only grew worse.

  Nor had it ended by the time he was invited into the office of Major General (Retired) Kenneth Abogado.

  "It was good of you to see me, General, on such short notice," Carrera said, "and especially right after Thanksgiving."

  General Abogado merely smiled. (Though perhaps "shit-eating grin" described the smile better.) He smiled first because it pleased him to be remembered as a soldier and as a general officer; not everyone with whom he came in contact had the good manners to do so. He smiled second that an offer had been made to him-better said, suggested to him-that might, just might, help him escape from the constant smell of human shit being recycled. Life had been hard for Abogado since leaving the army-hard, disappointing and degrading.

  "My name is Pat Hennessey, though I go by Carrera now. I doubt you remember me, but we've met."