Just Compensation

by Robert N. Charrette

  The receiver, however, wouldn’t attract attention. Andy listened to what was on the air. He didn’t like what he heard.

  “Hey, MilNet source is calling us Confed infiltrators. They’re saying that everything we put out is disinformation. That it’s all spurious. They’re telling everybody to ignore us.”

  “What did you expect?” Furlann asked.

  “What kind of response are they getting?” Tom asked.

  “A lot of confirms.” Andy said dejectedly. He’d hoped they’d get at least some Army units to believe and stop the unnecessary slaughter. Clearly, he’d been too optimistic. “We’ve got to try something else.”

  “This isn’t something we can stop in the streets.” Markowitz said. “It would be like fighting the Hydra. Too many heads, and they all keep growing back.”

  “But there’s one head that can’t grow back.” Tom said grimly.

  >NEWENET FEED COVERA-\* * *‘STATIC* * ** -[23:53:50/8-25-55]

  LIVE IEYE “ON YOU” BROADCAST

  “We are the watchers, you loyal and true believers. On the beat, on the spot, on the money!

  “This is it, chummers, your eyes and jacks are getting the dump live. That greasy pall of smoke is all that’s left of ITRU Independent News. It was a hard military strike. No doubt about it. Sources at the government’s Riot Command Center are denying any military involvement in the attack. Chiptruth, they say.

  [Scene: Burning broadcast truck; ITRU logo melting in the blazing fire]

  “Chiptruth? Not fragging likely!

  “You want chiptruth? We ain’t the guv’mint. We ain’t the Man. We ain’t the liars. We’ll give you chiptruth. Just open them peepers. See the truth burning before your eyes. “Now listen to what TRU was saying before .. .”<<<<<

  >MILNET: BELVOIR COMMAND CENTER FEED BROADBAND DISTRIBUTION: ALL NODES

  Infiltrators have captured an Army access system and penetrated the MilNet. Deckers are responding. Stand by for transmission of necessary lockout codes to cancel transmissions from compromised stations. Ignore all transmissions from these sources. They are false.

  —Col. J. Jordan. Belvoir Intel

  AuthConfCode 2874-876-25540-7676587-D9B23JJ<<<<<

  >NEWSBLIPS FEED

  -[2 3:59:50/8-25-55]

  Access Chahde Applied

  Welcome to NEWSBlips .. .

  BLIP

  Aircraft shot from sky. North Virginia Governor’s presence on doomed aircraft unconfirmed.

  BLIP

  President leaves for Chicago Crisis conference at Camp David. “The situation requires it.” says President Steele of midnight flight.<<<<<

  24

  Tom directed the command car to “a less prominent position.” then he and Sergeant Jackson collected the driver and disembarked. “Keep it tight” was his parting remark. Markowitz closed the ramp behind them.

  “He’s abandoning you.” Furlann said almost as soon as they were gone.

  “Nobody asked you.” Markowitz said.

  “Maybe someone should have. You needn’t all go down with him. I can—”

  “Shut up!” Markowitz ordered.

  He ensured compliance by gagging Furlann again, more effectively than Cinqueda had. He used a mage muzzle he’d gotten from one of the Ranger’s storage lockers. The muzzle was a complicated bag thing with lots of straps, and a flat plate that Markowitz forced into Furlann’s mouth. She stared death at him until he tugged the bag over her head and cut off her vision. The only thing left to be seen of her face was her nose, poking through a hole in the hood—so she wouldn’t suffocate, Andy supposed.

  When Markowitz pulled out the mage muzzle, Cinqueda moved up into the command car’s turret. “I’ll keep watch.” she said. Given that she’d apparently had some sort of relationship with Furlann in the past, Andy wondered if not watching was more what she had in mind.

  Andy was a little miffed that she’d preempted the turret slot. He’d been thinking about crawling up there himself, to watch for Tom’s return. Not that he doubted Tom would return. It was just that ...

  He needn’t have worried. Within ten minutes, Cinqueda dropped back into the cabin and opened the ramp. Tom and the car’s crew were back, and they’d brought an infantry lieutenant with them. Outside Andy could see more soldiers starting to board a handful of trucks that had shown up. The Ranger’s driver squirmed past him on his way through the cabin and into his compartment. In seconds he had the command car under way.

  “This is Hanley. He and his troops are okay.” Tom said by way of introduction. He made no effort to tell Hanley who they were. He did take note of the muzzled Furlann. “She try something?”

  “Got tired of looking at her face.” Markowitz said.

  “She tried to convince us you weren’t coming back.” Andy said.

  “Viper.” opined Sergeant Jackson. “She’s everything the major told you and more, Lieutenant.”

  Hanley looked to Tom. “These people part of your plan, Major?”

  “Good question.” Markowitz said. “Just what is your plan, Rocquette?”

  “I’m going to do what I should have done before, and drag Trahn out into the open. His ends-over-means approach has gone too far.”

  “This wouldn’t be personal, would it?” Markowitz asked.

  “Damn straight.” A who-the-hell-are-you-to-ask expression flashed across Tom’s face. He chased it away with a shrug. “But it’s more than that. If we can get his agenda shut down, maybe we can get serious about dealing with the Confeds before the country starts burning at both ends.”

  “Here.” Cinqueda said, offering Tom a chip-holder. “You might need this.”

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “A read-only, tamper-striped recording of Furlann’s song.” Cinqueda said. “In case she decides to change her tune later.”

  Tom took it and offered it to Hanley, who took it in turn, squeezed past Markowitz to seat himself at a console, and started to review the recording.

  Andy could understand why Hanley would want to see the recording and confirm whatever Tom had told him. They had a dragon by the tail here; convincing yourself that you were doing right was important. Andy was convinced that Tom was doing what needed to be done, but somehow walking into the dragon’s lair didn’t seem like the right solution.

  “I still think we could have convinced a lot of people if we’d been able to finish getting the word out. That missile they tossed at us showed somebody else thought so, too.”

  “Nobody wants to take a chance on another missile.” Markowitz said.

  Andy wasn’t sure that Markowitz was speaking for everyone, but no one in the command car contradicted him. Andy still thought they might take another chance at cutting into MilNet or find another independent news pirate or do something other than walk into the dragon’s den, but no one seemed interested in his ideas.

  “How are you planning to get past base security?” Markowitz asked Tom.

  “I’ll figure something out. We’ll fight our way in if we have to. You don’t have to worry. We’ll drop you off well before that’s a problem.”

  “No you don’t. I’ve got some scores of my own to settle.” Markowitz said.

  “You’ll need magical support.” Kit added. “Illusion opens many gates that force cannot breach.”

  “And I’ve got a lot of the evidence.” Andy said, tapping his datajack. If Kit was ready to go in, he wasn’t going to be left out.

  The closest anyone came to counting him-or herself out was Cinqueda. “I’m in, too, if I get an extra bump. Considering that we’re way beyond what I agreed to. We’re looking at an extra—”

  “Not a dime.” Markowitz said.

  “Harry.” Kit said softly. “We may need her help, and there won’t be time to call her.”

  Markowitz looked pained. “Okay, okay. Extra for extra, mercenary extortionist.”

  Cinqueda smiled.

  “When it’s over.” Markowitz added.

  While they q
uibbled, Andy had been thinking over the situation. “Tom, what if we send out your confrontation with Trahn live? If he doesn’t know he’s on the air, he might say things he ought not. He won’t be able to deny anything he says if there are a gazillion witnesses.”

  “Good in theory.” Tom said. “How are you planning to do it?”

  Andy was pleased Tom assumed he’d been thinking ahead. He had, and was eager to prove it. “This is a Ranger Tactical Command Vehicle for a Special Resources unit, right? So it’s outfitted as a back-up control center for drone warfare. That means lots of transmitters, receivers, and circuits, all operating through an interface that has rigger access circuitry. There ought to be a ton of spares to service the drones as well.”

  “She only carries a quarter-ton.” Sergeant Jackson said.

  “I was speaking figuratively.” Andy got his brain back on track. “I know rigs inside out, and I can patch together a system to let us secretly remote-view anything you can see. Video will be a lot more convincing than a simple audio feed.”

  “You’re right about the video, but it won’t work.” Markowitz said. “Trahn can’t help noticing if Rocquette’s lugging a drone’s camera. Those lenses aren’t micro-sized.”

  “Cinqueda’s got one that will work.” Andy had watched her use it in the ITRU truck. He hoped she wouldn’t mind him volunteering it.

  “Resolution’s low.” she said, but that was the only objection she raised.

  “So we’ll run an enhancer program on the datastream.” It was a trivial problem, under the circumstances. “We won’t be doing aerial recon work. It’ll be good enough. Once we get the signal, well, we’ve got broadcast equipment, right?”

  “There’s still the same problem with the signal out.” Markowitz said. “There are more beam riders where the first one came from. They sent one, they won’t hesitate to do it again.”

  Andy had that figured, too. The whole plan was risky in other ways, but not on that score. “Trahn’s not crazy enough to have his own headquarters bombed, is he?”

  “Probably.” Markowitz said.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Tom said. “Why, Andy?”

  “I figure we’ll be there in his headquarters anyway, so why not use his equipment? Serve him right.”

  “How are you planning to get access?” Tom asked. Clearly he wasn’t going to let a detail slip by unexamined. Andy was impressed. He’d known Tom was smart, but he hadn’t realized he was so detail-oriented. Unfortunately, Tom had spotted a weak point in Andy’s scheme. “Well, we still have the unit’s codes to get us into MilNet.”

  “They’d lock out those codes. Probably did it already.” Tom said.

  That was what Andy had feared. “So I’ll go around them. I’ve had access and seen the protection scheme. I know what I’m doing.” Andy hoped he wasn’t blowing smoke.

  “Get to work on it. If you can convince me you can do the tech, we’ll try it. Otherwise . ..” Tom didn’t offer an alternative, but the clouded expression on his face said he’d thought of several and didn’t like any of them. “Let’s just hope your scheme’s viable.”

  Andy got to work. It wasn’t easy in the moving command car, but he managed. The chips running Cinqueda’s pickup were designed for direct, hard-wired feed, but Andy was able to bypass them and link the optical circuits into a transmitter array, at the cost of some autofocus capacity. It was really short-range, but he was able to get it working by adding a booster transmitter to catch, amplify, and pass on what the pickup picked up. That was good; it meant Tom wouldn’t have to trail any betraying wires. But it also meant somebody would have to be nearby with the booster, and somebody else would have to ride herd on the focus. His test showed that the system worked.

  “We’re ready.” Andy announced, hoping he was right.

  “Good.” Tom said. “That’s the Fort Belvoir gate ahead.”

  * * *

  Tom remained aboard the Ranger, standing in the commander’s hatch while Hanley talked with the guards at the base’s gate and presented their “orders.” Supposedly Kit was doing something to magically disguise Tom, but they’d all agreed not to rely on her spell. Kit’s strength was stretched blurring the unit patches of Hanley and his men just in case word had gotten out that Task Force Furlann, now once again Task Force Rocquette, had gone rogue. Kit’s illusions didn’t stretch to the runners and the captive mage hiding in the cabin, so there was added incentive for Tom to stay put. He tried to look serene and above it all, while hoping his rank pips would sufficiently intimidate the squaddies at the gate that they wouldn’t dare look inside the command car.

  Returning from the gatehouse with a smile on his face, Hanley climbed aboard the Ranger. He tossed the chip-holder with their “orders” to Tom. “The kid’s gimmick worked. Computer says we’re supposed to be here.”

  Andy’s voice drifted up from within. Obviously he’d been listening. “I told you it would be fine. All it took was—”

  “Spare us.” Markowitz said, cutting him off.

  Task Force Rocquette rolled through the gate.

  There were few troops on base; Belvoir’s standard complement, and the others called in for the emergency, were busy in the heart of the city. The base was relying on the gate guards, the perimeter network of rigger-controlled sensors and defense drones, and a single reaction company of Jordan’s MPs for defense. By coming through the gate, they had crossed the defended perimeter. Tom knew where the reaction force was bivouacked and selected a route to avoid them as his Ranger and the trucks carrying Hanley’s men rumbled toward the Tactical Operations Center. Only the immediate defenses of the TOC remained to be overcome.

  As per current doctrine, the Center had been sited outside rather than inside a building. The advantages of a hardened site were traded for less obvious ones: a more mobile mindset, easier dispersal to take advantage of that mindset, and better accommodations to the TOC’s magical defenses, not the least of which was the elimination of the static-like blocks to astral lines of sight produced by buildings. Being outside didn’t mean the TOC was undefended. Far from it.

  The base itself was the first line of defense—already breached by TF Rocquette; Andy’s technomancy with their “orders” made them acceptable to the TOC’s computerized defenses. Magical wardings were the second line. The basic wards were simple and configured to sound the alert should anyone other than a soldier approach, which meant they would detect Andy and the other runners. They had their way through that barrier as well.

  Furlann, the architect of the magical defenses, had been on the streets when Tom last confronted Trahn; she’d not had a chance to rekey the magical defenses. As the former Special Resources commander, Tom knew the disarm codes to lower most of them. He used those codes to open the way for his people. Though he couldn’t turn them off, he knew about the remaining, more sophisticated magical traps. He armed Kit with that knowledge, and she proved more than capable of neutralizing them. The third and last line of the TOC’s defenses was people; sentries and the Center’s staff itself. They were soldiers all. It was the part that worried Tom the most.

  The driver halted the Ranger. Tom checked his console. This was the designated stop. Why was he fretting? Their move against the TOC was all going very smoothly. And why shouldn’t it? Who would think they’d be crazy enough to try something like this?

  Tom gathered everyone around as they disembarked the vehicles. He went over the plan, ending with, “I want to be sure everyone understands that we go easy in there. Most of the troops in the TOC probably don’t know what we know about Trahn and his scheme. The troops and desk jockeys aren’t the enemy. They’re just doing their jobs. Minimal rough stuff. Right?”

  Nods and “Yessirs.” from all around.

  “All right. Let’s get on with it. Hanley, give the sweep squad a two-minute lead, then start moving people to their jump-off points.”

  Tom led Sergeant Jackson, Kit, and a squad of Hanley’s troopers. Under cover of a silence spell fro
m Kit, they moved like ghosts through the woods ringing the Center. The first sentry never heard them coming. When he realized he had a dozen weapons pointed at him, he surrendered his weapon. Jackson bound the man’s hands and sent him back to be detained at the trucks. The next sentry tried to shout an alarm, but his voice, just like every other sound he made, was swallowed by Kit’s spell. Jackson and one of the troopers clubbed him down. None of the other sentries gave them any trouble.

  When Tom and the squad had completed the circuit, the infantrymen following them were spread out in a circle surrounding the clearing in which the TOC had been set up. It lay just beyond the edge of the trees. Tom realized he was looking at it from the place where Trahn had met with Osborne; he could just see the console where he’d been working.

  The vans, command cars, and trailers of the TOC’s outer perimeter were parked face out, ready for instant departure. Or they would have been, had the state of readiness been higher. None of the vehicles had their engines running and all the driver’s compartments that Tom could see were closed and empty. Camouflage nets and thin shock-fiber mesh were strung to limit the number of passageways into the center of the circle. During his circuit, Tom had seen that all but one entrance had been closed up. A reaction to his previous appearance? It didn’t matter. For their purpose, this arrangement was actually better.

  Tom told Kit to initiate the wider area silence spell under cover of which they would approach. Leaving Cinqueda behind to guard the little Asian mage, Tom passed the signal to advance. They had to move quickly to reach the TOC before the workers in the center realized something was amiss.

  Tom, Hanley, and Jackson led Furlann toward the entrance, weapons ready but held with muzzles skyward as if guarding a prisoner. As Tom had anticipated, the sight of a mage-muzzled woman wearing a Thaumaturgic Corps coat riveted the guards’ attention. The Military Policemen failed to see Hanley’s men closing in around the perimeter.