Ranh

by Ian J Miller

Natasha tried to sleep, but found she could not. She twisted and turned, and after a couple of hours she finally got up. She decided to go outside, perhaps to search the sky for home. She knew some of the constellations would look quite different, some would look similar but not quite the same, but some at a great distance, and in the right direction, would look much the same. She would look at the stars.

  Natasha opened the outside door and strolled out onto what was presumably a parade ground. She looked around, then saw a bench, and Gaius who was sitting on it. She gave a momentary thought towards going back inside, but Gaius had seen her, and waved her towards the bench. She walked towards the bench, hoping this was not going to be awkward.

  "You couldn't sleep?" Gaius asked.

  "I suppose not," she replied, somewhat stiffly. "I thought I'd have a look at the stars from here. And you?"

  "Couldn't sleep," Gaius admitted. He noticed that she sat down, but with a good distance between them. He nodded acceptance as he explained, "I can't make up my mind whether I should be doing something or not. If those few can pull this off, that is by far the best outcome, but if they fail, we have a real problem."

  "Their point that we not be involved is a good one."

  "Their point that we not be seen to be involved is a good one," Gaius corrected. "I have one or two extra options in which nobody would know I was involved, except possibly now you would, but then there's the additional issue of whether I would be a help or a hindrance. My problem is, I can't tell them what I could do because then they would know I had been involved, but if I don't tell them, I could make things worse for them."

  "If you can't be reasonably sure it will help, I would suggest that you don't do it. Remember, Methrell is not alone; she can call on a lot of soldiers."

  "It's not necessarily access, but rather information," Gaius said.

  "I know," Natasha responded. "You never have enough information, but I think you should trust the others to get this done without our intervention. After all, they think they have enough."

  "True. I only hope they are correct."

  They lapsed into silence, and Natasha decided she would look at the skies. She made a comment about a particularly bright star on the western horizon.

  "That's not a star," Gaius said. "That's their Jupiter equivalent. It's a bit bigger than Jupiter, but the orbit is a bit eccentric."

  "And . . . what's that?" She pointed over to the eastern horizon, where there was a sudden increase in brightness that quickly faded.

  "I have no idea. That's just about where the outer gas giant is," Gaius said.

  "And where Lucilla is?"

  "Yes."

  "I wonder what has happened? I hope she is all right."

  "We'll find out soon enough," Gaius said. "As soon as she gets around to sending a message, assuming she is capable of sending a message."

  "You don't think . . ." She did not really want to say it.

  "If you mean, is that the Livia or the Romulus being destroyed, the answer is no. If they were, the destruction wouldn't look like that. But in answer to your next question, I'm not sure what it is."

  Chapter 39

  Tharryt was placed in charge of six Guards, and as they drove into Tukhranh, Tharryt explained their orders, with a little variation that he added.

  "The humans are staying at this hotel," he began, "and the easiest way is for me to go into the hotel and inform one of them that there is something they must see in the Space Curia, and that I know a secret way in."

  "And what say they ask you what it is?" one of the Guards asked.

  "Then I tell them that I don't know specifically, but it is evidence that the Space Curia has no intention of signing the treaty. If they photograph some of the pages, then they will have ammunition, and –"

  "What say they don't have a recording device, or they don't want to come?"

  "I'll have to improvise, but I don't think they can afford to turn that down."

  "And what happens when they find there is no information?"

  Tharryt could hardly believe this. He knew the Guards were not exactly overladen with intelligence, but this was the sign of a Guard who would not search a property because there was a Keep Out sign. "They don't get to the Space Curia," he sighed. "We kill them on the way."

  "Oh. And what say they want to wait until tomorrow and go in daylight? Won't they be suspicious of going this late at night?"

  "And how are they going to get in in the morning when all the security guards are around?"

  "Oh."

  So it was settled. The six Guards would set up an ambush in the street where there were no surveillance cameras, and Tharryt would go to their rooms and try to persuade them. If both came out, they would be easy targets. If only one came out, when that one was killed he would go back and report to the other one that the first one was injured, and he would take the other to the spot.

  The good news was that while this plan bordered on the totally amateurish, the Guards were too dim to pick it. Added to which, the Guards were not in the habit of arguing with orders from the Cardinal. It was not something anyone ever did twice.

  Tharryt arrived at Gaius' door and knocked. He was unsure how he was going to get away with waking him up at this time, but he hoped that the human would be able to come up with a "what next?" plan.

  He knocked, and as expected, Marcellus opened the door. It was then Tharryt was told that neither Gaius nor Natasha were available, however, a message could be sent. So Tharryt explained the Cardinal's plan.

  "Then where are these Guards?"

  Tharryt told him, so Marcellus nodded, and said, "Then we shall give them the chance to implement their plan. I shall have images of Gaius and Natasha walk down the road, but on the other side so the Guards have to shoot them. The images will die, but there will be an immediate sound of police arriving. Hopefully, the Guards will flee, having succeeded, but without closely checking their kill."

  * * *

  The images of Gaius and Natasha crept along the footpath, and they kept scanning their environment. They were just reaching a parked vehicle, when Gaius looked up and yelled, "Take cover!" He then dived towards the cover of the vehicle. Natasha seemed a little bemused, and when beams flew, the image fell back against the wall of the adjacent building. It made some effort to crawl forward, while leaving a trail of blood behind, then when it was hit again it writhed, then lay still. Gaius crept around the side of the vehicle and produced a weapon, which he fired, without doing much damage.

  What the shooters did not realized was that above them, and generating the images, hovered a small partially cloaked Ulsian machine. So when the image of Gaius came around the side of the vehicle again, and when he fired, the machine shot one of the would-be assassins, and sent a cloud of plaster flying near another. The image then appeared to take out a device, and in an instant there was a loud howling noise of a siren. One of the Guards, with a little more courage, fired at the Gaius image, and now this image fell forward, its head shattered, but the siren sound continued. Then another siren sounded, and in the distance, a police vehicle appeared to be tearing towards the scene.

  The Guards, having done their duty and completed their mission, took off.

  * * *

  "We intercepted an odd message last night," Methrell said as they regrouped for breakfast. "You two are officially dead. I am rather puzzled by that."

  "Thank Tharryt," Gaius explained. "Cardinal Sender sent a squad out to assassinate Natasha and me, and Tharryt informed Marcellus, who decided to let them succeed, at least to the extent that he provided them with images of you," and he indicated to Natasha, "and me walking into the ambush zone. He also had images of a squad of police vehicles descending on the scene, so when the two of us were clearly dead, the survivors scarpered."

  "Survivors?" Methrell asked with a frown.

  "An Ulsian machine generated the images," Gaius said with a shrug. "It is also quite capable of providing some physical support to an image appe
aring to return fire."

  "That isn't exactly leaving all this to us," a Ranhyn officer noted.

  "No, but trying to assassinate a diplomat and me is not exactly keeping to the formal treaty either," Gaius noted.

  "Well, it hardly matters," Methrell said. "There is nothing about that in the ordinary media, so this may not have worked as a deception."

  "Perhaps, perhaps not, but I would point out that with two Ulsian companions wandering about, neither the government nor the media may wish to publicize this, so the absence of information may not mean that much to Cardinal Sender."

  "In any case, what's done is done," Kazyn said. "The question is, what now?"

  "The second piece of information from Tharryt says that Sender is sending a squad of Guards to exterminate all the humans," Gaius said.

  "Then I must go and help them," Natasha said.

  "You must do nothing of the sort," Methrell intervened. "It is even more important now that you are not associated with dead Guards."

  "And what about dead humans?"

  "I shall send soldiers," Methrell said. "Do you have any idea of their plans?"

  "According to Tharryt, they are going to send chlorine down into the air intakes here and here," Gaius said, showing the points on a map.

  "Then why aren't we doing something?" Natasha cried in desperation.

  "I am doing something, or more precisely, Marcellus and Katya are doing something," Gaius said. "Katya is organizing means to block gas ingress, and Marcellus has sent surveillance machines. And Methrell is correct. We need to be away from this."

  "Your deploying Ulsian machines is not –"

  "It is to protect Ulsian property," Gaius interrupted Methrell. "The Guards will be informed that any attempt to introduce gas would be an attempt to corrode Katya, and attacking Ulsian property is a criminal act that under the Treaty."

  "And what can these machines do?" Methrell asked.

  "Unfortunately, not enough," Gaius admitted. "They can create images, and they have limited firing capacity. Unfortunately, their energy banks are down a bit from last night. But they can inform Katya what the Guards are doing, and they can try to bluff the Guards into not doing anything."

  "We're resorting to bluff?" Natasha scowled.

  "Well, if I wanted to, the Actium could destroy the lot of them, but there would be a problem."

  "Political?" Natasha protested. "Instead there are all those Romans –"

  "No!" Gaius interrupted her. "If I fire on them, the most probable outcome is the chlorine tankers will break open, and the streets of Tukhranh will be covered with dead citizens. I can't do that."

  "Sorry, I didn't think of that," Natasha said in an attempt at a conciliatory tone.

  "I am afraid our friends down there may have to fight for their lives," Gaius said, "but I think they will manage."

  "I had better despatch some soldiers," Methrell said. "We had better –"

  "I think you are better off to contact the police," Gaius interrupted.

  "Sender might have the police in his pocket," Methrell warned. "They may not do anything."

  "I think it would be better if I contacted the police at the appropriate time," Hadell said. "As an ex-Tenzat I can make it highly undesirable for them to ignore such a request."

  "We don't tell them that Sender's personal army is there," Gaius suggested. "Instead, tell them that you saw Ranhynn lugging a large number of bottles of what looks suspiciously like chlorine gas, and fumigating equipment, and this is heading towards whatever that district is called." He shrugged as he looked at Methrell and added, "Surely it's illegal to discharge large volumes of chlorine in a residential zone?"

  "It is," Hadell confirmed.

  "The police may be in Sender's pocket," Methrell warned.

  "Could be," Gaius said, "but this way we find out who we're up against, and while the police bosses may be in Sender's pocket, that does not mean every ordinary police officer is. I doubt Sender would go that deep, because there would be too many risks of disclosure."

  "But if they are, those people are in danger," Natasha said, her anger clearly visible. "You can't play games with their lives."

  "I'm not," Gaius spat back. "I'm afraid from the strategic point of view, we cannot totally protect them, because if Methrell's troops go out in the open and start killing other Ranhynn, we cannot control what happens next. Katya will be organizing escape routes, and Marcellus right now is coordinating the defence to the extent that he is letting Katya know where any attack will come from, and in any case, being told they will be considered to be declaring war on Ulse might force them to think harder about what they are doing. With any luck, the Guards will go home for instructions."

  "I hope you're right," Natasha said. She was clearly unconvinced, but equally it was clear she did not have a good counter-argument.

  "So do I," Gaius said.

  "Notwithstanding that," Kazyn offered, "Gaius is correct. If there are weapons firing between Methrell's soldiers and Conclave Guards in the open street, and dead Ranhynn lying around, the Cardinal will claim that this is the result of a coup by Methrell, and other soldiers will be brought in."

  "I can't guarantee those down below will survive," Gaius admitted, "but equally, starting up a small civil war that we lose is not going to help anyone. For what it is worth, Katya has examined the defences, and she thinks the humans can hold out for a while."

  Natasha was clearly unconvinced, but she said nothing, and a strange silence descended on the group, as they waited for news.

  * * *

  Below ground, there was a flurry of activity. While everyone was rushing to do whatever they intended to do, it was organized rush. As Lucius explained to Katya, this was something they had always half expected, and they had planned for it. Their big problem was air. They had several intakes, and they could block off any of them, but if they blocked the lot, sooner or later they could not breathe. Fortunately, the obvious intakes, which were grills in the side of a footpath, were the obvious targets for the delivery of gas, and these were automatically ready to be blocked when Katya would tell them it was time. Marcellus was using the Actium's scanners and the surveillance machines to follow the convoy of Guards. There were other intakes inside buildings, and it was hoped that the Guards would not know the location of all the intakes.

  As Katya pointed out, if the intakes were to be completely blocked, the gas would come straight back out and would probably overcome the Guards, and, for that matter, any Ranhyn anywhere nearby.

  Marcus Junius was organizing the women and children into groups for when a rapid escape was required. Katya informed them that personal valuables should be left in a room that she would seal, and label it Ulsian property. As such, the war machines above would be required to defend that. Some were unsure, and small valuable items tended to be kept on them personally. There were several possible escape routes that would take them into the countryside, but that in turn could lead to exposure to the wildlife, and it was generally held that fleeing was a last resort.

  The younger men were designated as soldiers, and they had the weapons that were available. Their job was to go to wherever the Guards tried to enter the tunnels, and stop the Guards, or to block the tunnels. According to Katya, the Guards were still several kilometres away, but they were coming. There was a convoy of six trucks, but three of these were laden with the gassing equipment. The younger men were in small huddles, talking nervously, while three young women were bringing around mugs of soup to help calm them. This situation had been practised many times, but somehow reality made all that seem so far away and irrelevant.

  "Everybody, please listen," Katya said. She had relayed the picture to Gaius, through Marcellus. "I am going to forward a message from Space Marshall Scaevola, who was also a Legatus with the divine Quintus. The message is as follows:

  "I know you are frightened. Do not be ashamed, for anyone entering battle for the first time who is not frightened simply does not understand t
he nature of what is going to happen. I am sorry I cannot be here with you, but through Katya, I shall try to help. I have two Ulsian machines up above. I cannot declare war on Ranh, so as long as the Guard do nothing that is above a policing role, I cannot stop them. If they come down with only hand weapons, you will have to defend yourselves, but I shall try to guide you. If they try to deploy gas, I shall try to stop them with the machines. Unfortunately there is no guarantee of success, but with what you have and where you are, as long as either you or I can stop the gas getting in, you should succeed if you fight hard.

  "What you have to do is to organise yourselves into small squads, and deploy those at the entry tunnels. Do not enter the narrow spaces yourselves. Use the cover you have constructed, and shoot at those in the tunnels. I shall advise you when it becomes apparent what the Guards are going to do, but until then, keep calm and good luck."

  "So," Lucius said, suddenly realizing they needed a leader, "you all know which tunnel entrances you have to defend, so take your weapons and let's go."

  * * *

  When the convoy was known to be within three blocks of a possible entry spot to the tunnels, Hadell used the relay on the surveillance device to send a call to the central Tukhranh police station that would be traced to the appropriate spot for the message should anyone check.

  "You want?" the officer asked.

  "I was just out for a walk –" Hadell started.

  "Good for you. Now get off this line!"

  "when I saw a six trucks heading into town, and they had fumigating equipment and what looked like industrial gas bottles that were labelled Chlorine," Hadell continued.

  "So?"

  "You should know that the transfer of industrial-scale poisonous gases through a residential area is illegal."

  "So what am I supposed to do?"

  "You are nominally there to enforce the law," Hadell continued. "I am an ex-Tenzat, and I now demand your name and rank."

  "What?" There was now fear in the officer's voice because all incoming calls were monitored, and anyone deleting the request of an ex-Tenzat could be expected to be publicly plucked and sent to a labour camp. A policeman's lot there was not pleasant.