by Peter Grant
Dave nodded as Elisabeta came in after him. She was moving slowly thanks to the infant at her breast. She nodded to them all with a cheery smile, and sat down at the rear of the room to continue feeding her baby.
Dave stood up. “The reason I called you in before first light is that we’re facing a crisis. If we handle this right, we might hurt Bactria worse than it’s ever been hurt before. If we don’t, it could mean really serious trouble for the Resistance on Laredo. Let me tell you what’s been happening.”
He began with Gloria Aldred’s seeming betrayal, particularly the confiscation of the book readers and his father’s unmasking. There were exclamations of sorrow and anger as he told them of Jake’s death, but he shook his head. “I simply don’t know what part, if any, Gloria may have played in that. She’s clearly at least partly aligned with the enemy now – more about that later – but I can’t believe she’d deliberately betray Dad. They’d worked together for far too long.
“The important thing is that Dad gave two critical orders before his death. First, as soon as he made contact with the survivors of the Resistance on the outside, he ordered them to start Operation Phoenix. By the middle of last year almost three thousand new recruits – most of them former slave laborers – had been given at least rudimentary basic training. The Resistance had been reborn. His second order, his last before he died, was to implement what he called Operation Delve: to dig tunnels into the prison camp areas from outside, much deeper than anything the POW’s could do themselves. The Resistance recruited former slave miners to do the job, using laser rock cutters. They hit both prison camps in December and freed every single POW without loss.”
The room erupted in cheering. Dave let them celebrate for a moment, then held up his hand. “That’s not all. They also hit the two reaction force bases near the camps, plus an auxiliary supply depot and the garrison at Ligarda.”
“That’s the second time Ligarda’s been attacked,” Deacon observed with a laugh. “It was one of the places we hit to get assault shuttles before the Battle of Banka.”
“That’s right. They’ve just lost two more shuttles there, and the Resistance used the garrison’s supplies to refuel and rearm the three that escaped from Banka after the big fight. The condensed version is, they now have enough weapons, ammo and other supplies to equip three thousand people. The Resistance is back in a big way.”
More cheers broke out, but Dave held up his hand again. “There’s a lot more, so keep it quiet until I finish.” He told them of the de facto truce that had existed on Laredo since the escape. “It looks like the Bactrians got the message. They haven’t tried to go after the Resistance, so our people have left them in peace. Trouble is, the Bactrians are using the truce in ways they hadn’t expected. First, Gloria’s stomping around in our cities and towns, accusing the Resistance of prolonging everyone’s suffering and demanding local elections so that ‘ordinary people’ can have a say in what happens on their planet. It looks like the Bactrians are encouraging her.”
“That’s treason!” Staff Sergeant Bujold spat. “Why hasn’t the Resistance shot her?”
“Because they daren’t make her a martyr. She claims they’ve already tried to kill her.” Dave explained about the cutter incident at the spaceport. “The Resistance adamantly denies it had anything to do with that. I believe them. I’m pretty sure it was a Bactrian deception operation. It looks like it succeeded, because she blames the Resistance. In order not to make things worse, Major Tredegar and his new Council have told their people to back off and wait.” He held up his hand to silence a rebellious murmur. “I agree with him. She’ll have to be dealt with, but let it be by a jury of her peers. She’s not your ordinary low-level collaborator who can be used as a lesson to others. She’s too visible, too well-known. Let’s not paint ourselves as the big, bad boys who kill anyone who gets crossways with us. We want to liberate our planet and our people, not enslave them again! Besides, if we kill her, the Bactrians will be forced to respond – just what we don’t want at present.
“The next thing is that the Bactrians are pulling back as fast as they can. They’ve already abandoned almost all their outlying garrisons. They’re concentrating their forces in and around the capital, within a radius of about a hundred kilometers. They’re taking everything with them. They aren’t even providing food to more distant settlements any more. They’re being left to fend for themselves. If they want anything from the bigger towns, they have to go there in their own transport to get it.”
“But that’s got to be hurting the Resistance as much as civilians!” Deacon exclaimed. “We always used to feed ourselves on captured rations. Now there won’t be any to capture!”
“I think that’s precisely what they’re aiming for. This Brigadier-General Khan seems to have his head on straighter than some of his predecessors. Very fortunately, the Resistance captured enough ration packs to keep itself going for three to four months during their recent operations. They’ve also hit a few convoys taking supplies back to the larger towns as part of the withdrawal, and captured more. However, they’re now having to share their rations with people in the smaller settlements. That means they’re all going to run out of food by the end of March, at normal rates of consumption. They’ve gone to two-thirds rations, but that’ll only give them until the end of April, even though they’re supplementing their packaged food by hunting wild game and slaughtering cattle. We’re very fortunate that so many wild cattle are out on the range. Without them people would already be in serious trouble.”
“Can’t they grow more?” Rusty Higgs asked. “After all, if the Bactrians have abandoned the outlying areas, surely the farms there can now divert all their produce to helping our people?”
“Nice theory, Rusty, but it doesn’t work that way. There aren’t enough farmers left on the land. Many are dead; others joined the Resistance. If they release them to go back to their farms, the Bactrians might learn about it and hit them there to stop food at its source.”
Higgs frowned. “So where the hell are they going to get food?”
Dave grinned. “We’re going to take it to them.”
“WHAT?” Everyone around the table was suddenly sitting bolt upright, shocked looks on their faces. Rusty added, “That’s suicide! They’ll blow out of space any freighter we send!”
“No, they won’t – because we’re going to blow them out of space first.”
There was a stunned silence in the room as everyone stared at him.
At last Deacon stirred. “You know our ships won’t be fully armed until the fourth quarter of this year – and that’s only if everything goes according to plan?”
“Yes.”
“And yet you’re talking about blowing the Bactrians out of space – at least, Laredo’s space?”
“Yes.”
He heaved a long-suffering sigh. “I guess you’d better tell us what you have in mind.”
“Sit back and listen. This is going to take a while.”
It did. Dave talked for over half an hour, handing over to Tamsin to discuss some issues. The expressions on the faces of his audience changed from doubt, to deep thought, to a growing understanding, to enthusiasm.
At last he concluded, “We’ll be taking a heck of a chance, but I honestly don’t see any other way of solving this problem and turning it to our advantage. If it works, the war won’t be over, not by a long way. We’ll still have to deal with Bactria, because if we don’t it’ll undoubtedly deal with us. Even so, if we get this right, we’ll be halfway home. What do you say?”
Another very long silence ensued. It was again Bill Deacon who broke it.
“Aw, what the hell!” He laughed suddenly. “We’re just taking the biggest gamble any of us have ever heard of. Well, why not? Let’s go for broke!”
There was a chorus of agreement around the table, except for Rusty Higgs, who looked concerned. Dave knew at once what was worrying him. “Rusty, don’t worry. You’ve made it clear you want to return
to civilian life, and we all respect that. Like I said when we got here, you’ve earned that right. I’ve got a vitally important job for you. I can’t give it to anyone else, because we’ll all be tied up. I want you to take over as our Ambassador to the United Planets until we can find a professional to handle it.”
“Me, Boss? Hell, I’m no diplomat!”
“That’s what I said two years ago,” Deacon reminded him. “Did they listen to me? Like hell they did!” Everyone laughed.
“No, we didn’t,” Dave agreed, chuckling, “and we’re not going to listen to Rusty either. I’m leaving three people here to handle Laredo’s international affairs. Tamsin will be Vice-President Pro Tem and head of our Government-in-Exile while I’m with our fighting forces. Elisabeta will remain our Press Secretary and handle communications with the media. If this works out she’ll be busier than ever, because every news organization in the settled galaxy will be screaming for press credentials, news releases and anything else they can get their hands on.”
Elisabeta grinned from her place in the rear. “Sounds like I’d better breast-feed Junior here while I’ve got the chance. He’ll have to rely on bottles if I get that busy!” Another laugh ran around the table.
“We’ll subsidize his formula,” Dave promised, drawing another chuckle. “Rusty, you’ll be the third person looking after our international affairs, focusing on the UP. Don’t forget, the inquiry into Bactria’s actions on Laredo will release its report next month. Its findings are pretty much a foregone conclusion after the latest evidence we provided, but you’ll have to steer them through the General Assembly and work for a resolution imposing sanctions on Bactria. Obviously you’ll liaise with Tamsin and Elisabeta about that, plus the consultants we’ve hired, but I daren’t give that job to anyone we can’t trust one hundred per cent. You’re it.”
“Well… when you put it like that, I guess I don’t have much choice, do I?”
“No,” Dave agreed cheerfully. “However, look on the bright side. I’ll demobilize you to take the job. You’ll be Mister Ambassador Higgs.”
“Mister Civilian Ambassador Higgs, thank you very much!” More laughter.
“What about the rest of us, Sir?” Deacon asked.
“We’ll all be busier than one-legged men in an ass-kicking contest. To start with, I’m commissioning everyone who’s not yet an officer – including you, Rusty. You’ll all be appointed as Lieutenants, and I’ll assign higher temporary or acting rank depending on your mission. For example, everyone aboard one of our ships as a planetary representative will be an acting Lieutenant-Colonel or Colonel, to put them in the same grade as the Commanding Officer of that ship.”
There was a stunned silence for a moment as they absorbed the news, then Bujold asked, “And you, Sir?”
Dave shrugged. “I’m the de facto Admiral of our Fleet, but we’ve never had an Admiral on Laredo before. You all remember my orders from the Council of the Resistance?” Everyone nodded. “They give me the authority to commission and promote anyone in our off-planet forces, including myself. I’ve also inherited the authority of the President Pro Tem of our Government-in-Exile. I’m therefore going to retain my substantive rank of Major, but give myself the acting rank of Brigadier-General. We’ll let a new, freely elected Laredo government decide whether to make the higher ranks permanent. If it doesn’t, we’ll all revert to our substantive ranks if we decide to stay in the military. If we don’t, we’ll be civilians and our ranks won’t matter.”
There was a murmur of satisfaction around the table. Dave knew they were all worried about doing anything that might be seen as taking advantage of their – hopefully temporary – position as the involuntary custodians of their planet’s political authority. It was why he’d always taken great care to operate within the – admittedly generous – boundaries laid out by his orders from the now-defunct Council of the Resistance, and by the emergency act establishing the Presidency Pro Tem filed by Laredo with the United Planets before the Bactrian invasion. By awarding acting rank rather than permanent promotions, he’d eliminated a possible source of concern.
“Next, most of us will be leaving the planet very soon, so start packing your travel gear. I’ll go into more detail later, but here are the most critical assignments. Bill, pick two people to help you. I want you to work with brokers and agents to track down very large quantities of decent ration packs as quickly as possible. Note that I said decent ration packs. I don’t want stuff that tastes like wet cardboard!” Laughter. “Get good-tasting, nutritious rations, even if they’re more expensive. It’s for Laredo, after all.
“Remember, we can’t just cater for the present situation. If things go as we hope, there’ll be no more food coming in from Bactria at all. We may have to feed up to a quarter of a million people for up to six months – and that may be just the beginning. You’ll have to look for up to fifty million 24-hour ration packs.”
Deacon whistled in astonishment. “Fifty million? Where the hell am I going to find that many?”
“All over the settled galaxy,” Dave told him unsympathetically. “I don’t care how you do it – just do it! It’s absolutely critical. It’s the primary reason we’re jumping the gun like this, after all.”
“OK. I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will. That’s why I gave you the hardest job.” Chuckles. “You don’t have to buy them all at once. If you can find five to ten million available for short-term collection, that’ll be a good start. You can offer larger, longer-term orders to suppliers who come through for you, to give them an incentive to ramp up production as fast as they can.
“Rusty, while he’s doing that, your first job is going to be to talk to ship brokers on Neue Helvetica. I want to charter a couple of half-million-ton general-purpose freighters and two communications vessels – fast courier boats. Wet-lease them; in other words, charter them with crews, operating expenses and insurance all provided by their owners. That’s the most expensive form of charter, but we don’t have time for anything else. The initial term should be for six Galactic Standard months, with an option to extend for up to six more.
“While you’re doing that, Bill will set up the first food purchases. As soon as he’s done that, work out routing with the brokers and send the freighters to collect the ration packs and take them to Rolla, where they’ll be transshipped to our two tramp freighters.”
Rusty nodded as he scribbled notes. “Can do, but why transship them at all? Why not send the chartered freighters to Laredo?”
“It’s a war zone, remember? Last year we issued a formal advisory through the Interplanetary Transportation Union that as of January first this year, any space traffic in either the Laredo or Bactria systems might be subject to attack without warning. No-one’s paid much attention to it yet – they probably think we’re grandstanding, because we haven’t told anyone about our ships – but standard charters include clauses that forbid taking the ships into zones of conflict. Some allow it, but only at much higher rates and insurance premiums. We’re going to get around that by not taking the chartered ships into Laredo or Bactrian space at all. Instead, we’ll use our own.”
“I get it. How will ours know when it’s safe to head for Laredo?”
“I’ll tell them.”
“OK. What about the communications vessels?”
“One is for me. Charter that first, and very urgently, because I’m got a lot of travel to do in a very short time and I’ll need speed like never before. The other is for you and Tamsin. Either of you may need to make a rapid trip in connection with political developments, or to warn us about something that might affect our operations. You might not be able to charter a fast ship at short notice, so we’re just going to have to suck up the expense and keep one at your beck and call, even if you never need it. Charter all the ships from large, reliable companies with proven track records, who’ll put up a bond to guarantee the performance of the vessels and their crews. That’ll cost more, but we can’t affo
rd fly-by-night operators who’ll take our money and run, leaving us stranded.”
“I’ll get right on it, Sir.”
“Good man.” Dave stretched wearily and yawned. “Sorry – I didn’t get any sleep last night. Tamsin and I are existing on stim-tabs right now.”
Tamsin said thoughtfully, “There’s one point we haven’t addressed. What’s the Resistance going to do when it looks like they may run out of food? They won’t know we’re coming, or that we’re bringing food with us. What if they try a desperation raid on the Bactrians’ supply depots?”
“Dammit, I hadn’t thought about that!” Dave tried to cudgel his tired brain into action. “I think it’ll be possible to send them a message, but only at the risk of compromising the satellite backdoor communications channel. What do you think? Is it worth that risk?”
“I think so. After all, how will they feel if they take casualties – maybe lots of casualties – to steal food, only to have us arrive a few weeks later bringing plenty of it? They’ll resent the hell out of us for making them lose a lot of good people for no good reason. The satellite backdoor’s not as important as that. Besides, if things work out as we hope, soon we may not need it anymore.”
“All right. Here’s what we’ll do.” He explained his plan. “What do you think?”
“Will that work?” Bill Deacon asked doubtfully. “I’ve never heard of anything like it before.”
“That Lancastrian officer, Steve Maxwell, mentioned it. He didn’t go into detail, but said it was a common tactic in space warfare. If that’s the case, I’m sure I can find out more from the former Fleet officers we’ve recruited for our ships. If they confirm it, I’ll pick the most operationally ready ship to deliver the message. The next two in line can go to Vesta to be modified.”
“OK, but if you can get a ship close to Laredo like that, why bother using the satellite backdoor channel at all? Why not broadcast a signal direct to the surface? It won’t matter if the Bactrians pick it up, because the ship will be out of range before they can do anything about it.”