The Mammoth Book of SF Wars

by Ian Whates

  These were less for defence than to shoot themselves, or each other, in the event things went wrong.

  There was a lot of shooting going on these days. The Naxids had shot sixty-odd people in retaliation for the firebombing of a Motor Patrol vehicle in the Old Third, and then they’d gone into the Old Third and shot about a dozen people at random.

  The meeting took place in a private club called Silk Winds on the second floor of an office building in a Lai-own neighbourhood. Casimir met her on the pavement out front, dressed in his long coat and carrying his walking stick. His eyes went wide as he saw her, and then he grinned and gave one of his elaborate bows. From his bent position he looked up at her.

  “You still don’t look much like a maths teacher,” he said.

  “Good thing then,” she said, in her drawling Peer voice. His eyebrows lifted in surprise, and he straightened.

  “Now that’s not the voice I heard in bed the other night.”

  From over her shoulder Sula heard Macnamara’s intake of breath. Great, Sula thought, now she’d have a scandalized and sulking team member.

  “Don’t be vulgar,” she admonished, still in her Peer voice.

  Casimir bowed again. “Apologies, my lady.”

  He led her into the building. The lobby was cavernous, brilliant with polished copper, and featured a twice-life-size bronze statue of a Lai-own holding, for some allegorical reason beyond Sula’s comprehension, a large tetrahedron. Uniformed Lai-own security guards in blue jackets and tall pointed shakos gave them searching looks, but did not approach. A moving stair took Sula to the second floor and to the polished copper door of the club, on which had been placed a card informing them that the club had been closed for a private function.

  Casimir swung the door open and led Sula and Macnamara into the shadow-filled club. Faint sunlight from the darkened sky gleamed fitfully off copper fittings and polished wood. Lai-own security – this time without the silly hats – appeared from the gloom and checked everyone very thoroughly for listening devices. They found the sidearms but didn’t touch them. Apparently they discounted the possibility that Sula and her party might be assassins.

  Casimir, adjusting his long coat after the search, led them to a back room. He knocked on a nondescript door.

  Sula smoothed the lapel of her jacket and straightened her shoulders and reminded herself to act like a senior Fleet commander inspecting a motley group of dock workers. She couldn’t give orders to these people: she had to use a different kind of authority. Being a Peer and a Fleet officer were the only cards she had left to play. She had to be the embodiment of the Fleet and the legitimate government and the whole body of Peers, and she would have to carry them all along through sheer weight of her own expectation.

  Julien opened the door, and his eyes went wide when he saw Sula. Suddenly nervous, he backed hastily from the door.

  Sula walked into the room, her spine straight, hands clasped behind her. I own this room, she told herself, but then she saw the eyes of her audience and her heart gave a lurch.

  Two Terrans, a Lai-own, and a Daimong sat in the shadowy, dark-panelled room, facing her from behind a table that looked like a slab of pavement torn from the street. Nature had made the Daimong expressionless but the others were so blank-faced that they might have all been carved from the same block of granite.

  She heard Macnamara stamp to a halt behind her right shoulder, a welcome support. Casimir stepped around them and stood to one side of the room.

  “Gentlemen,” he said, and again made his elaborate bow. “May I present Lieutenant the Lady Sula.”

  “I’m Sergius Bakshi,” said one of the Terrans. He looked nothing like his son Julien: he had an oval face and a razor-cut moustache and the round, unfeeling eyes of a great predator fish. He turned to the Lai-own. “This is Am Tan-dau, who has very kindly arranged for us to meet here.”

  Tan-dau did not look kindly. He slumped in the padded chair that cradled his keel-like breastbone, his bright, fashionable clothes wrinkled on him as they might on a sack of feathers. His skin was dull, and nictating membranes were half-deployed across his eyes. He looked a hundred years old, but Sula could tell from the dark feathery hair on each side of his head that he was still young.

  Bakshi continued. “These are friends who may be interested in any proposition you may have for us.” He nodded at the Terran. “This is Mr Patel.” A young man with glossy hair that curled over the back of his collar, Patel didn’t even blink in response when Sula offered him a small nod.

  The Daimong’s name was Sagas.

  Sula knew, through Casimir, that the four were a kind of informal commission that regulated illegal activities on this end of Zanshaa City. Bakshi’s word carried the most weight, if only because he’d managed to reach middle age without being killed.

  “Gentlemen,” Sula drawled in her Peer voice. “May I present my aide, Mr Macnamara.”

  Four pairs of eyes flicked to Macnamara, then back to Sula. Her throat was suddenly dry, and she resisted the impulse to clear her throat.

  Bakshi folded large, doughy hands on the table in front of him and spoke. “What may we do for you, Lady Sula?”

  Sula’s answer was swift. “Help me kill Naxids.”

  Even that request, which Sula hoped might startle them a little, failed to provoke a reaction.

  Bakshi deliberately folded his hands on the table before him. His eyes never left hers. “Assuming for the sake of argument that this is remotely possible,” he said, “why should we agree to attack a group so formidable that even the Fleet has failed to defeat them?”

  Sula looked down at him. If he wanted a staring contest, she thought, then she’d give him one. “The Fleet isn’t done with the Naxids,” she said. “Not by a long shot. I don’t know whether you have the means to verify this or not, but I know that even now the Fleet is raiding deep into Naxid territory. The Fleet is ripping the guts out of the rebellion while the Naxid force is stuck here guarding the capital.”

  Bakshi gave a subtle movement of his shoulders that might have been a strangled shrug. “Possibly,” he said. “But that doesn’t alter the fact that the Naxids are here.”

  “How do we know.” Tan-dau’s voice was a mumble. “How do we know that she is not sent by the Naxids to provoke us?”

  It was difficult to be certain to whom Tan-dau addressed the question, but Sula decided to intercept it. “I killed a couple thousand Naxids at Magaria,” Sula said. “You may remember that I received a decoration for it. I don’t think they’d let me switch sides even if I wanted to.”

  “Lady Sula is supposed to be dead,” Tan-dau said, to no one in particular.

  “Well.” Sula permitted herself a slight smile. “You know how accurate the Naxids have been about everything else.”

  “How do we know she is the real …” Tan-dau’s sentence drifted away before he could finish it. Sula waited until it was clear that no more words were coming, and then answered.

  “You can’t know,” Sula said. She brought her Fleet ID out of her jacket. “You’re welcome to examine my identification, but of course the Naxids could have faked it. But I think you know—” she gazed at them all in turn “—if the Naxids wanted to target you, they wouldn’t need me. They’ve declared martial law; they’d just send their people after you, and no one would ever see you alive again.”

  They absorbed this in expressionless silence. “Why then,” Bakshi said finally, “should we act so as to bring this upon us?”

  Sula’d had three days to prepare what came next. She had to restrain herself from babbling it out all at once, to urge herself to remain calm and to make her points slowly and with proper emphasis.

  “You want to be on the winning side, for one thing,” she said. “That brings its own rewards. Second, the secret government is prepared to offer pardons and amnesties for anyone who aids us.”

  It was like talking to a blank wall. She wanted to stride about, to gesture, to declaim, all in desperate hope o
f getting at least one of the group to show some response. But she forced herself to be still, to keep her hands clasped behind her, to stand in an attitude of superiority. She had to project command and authority: if she showed weakness she was finished.

  “What,” said Sagas, speaking for the first time in his beautiful chiming Daimong voice, “makes you think that we need pardons and amnesties?”

  “A pardon,” Sula said, “means that any investigations, any complaints, any inquiries, any proceedings come to a complete and permanent end. Not only for yourself, but for any of your friends, clients and associates who may wish to aid the government. You may not need any amnesties yourself, but perhaps some of your friends aren’t so lucky.”

  She scanned her audience again. Once again, no response.

  “My last point,” she said, “is that you are all prominent, successful individuals. People know your names. You have earned the respect of the population, and people are wary of your power. But you’re not loved.”

  For the first time she’d managed to provoke a response. Surprise widened Bakshi’s pupils, and even the expressionless Sagas gave a jerk of his head.

  “If you lead the fight against the Naxids, you’ll be heroes,” Sula said. “Maybe for the first time, people will think of you as agents of virtue. You’ll be loved, because everyone will see you on the right side, standing between them and the Naxids.”

  Patel gave a sudden laugh. “Fight the Naxids for love!” he said. “That’s a good one! I’m for it!” He slapped the table with a hand, and looked up at Sula with his teeth flashing in a broad grin. “I’m with you, my lady! For love, and for no other reason!”

  Sula ventured a glance at Casimir. He gave her a wry, amused look, not quite encouragement but not dispirited either.

  Bakshi gave an impatient motion of his hand, and Patel fell silent, his hilarity gone in an instant and leaving a hollow silence behind.

  “What exactly,” Bakshi began, “would the secret government want us to do—” chill irony entered his voice “—for the people’s love.”

  “There are cells of resisters forming all over the city,” Sula said, “but they have no way to communicate or coordinate with each other.” Again, she looked at them all in turn. “You already have a paramilitary structure. You already have means of communication that the government doesn’t control. What we’d like you to do is to coordinate these groups. Pass information up the chain of command, pass orders downward, make certain equipment gets where it’s needed … that sort of thing.”

  There was another moment of silence. Then Bakshi extruded one index finger from a big, pale hand and tapped the table. In a man so silent and restrained, the gesture seemed as dramatic as a pistol shot. “I should like to know one thing,” Bakshi said. “Lord Governor Pahn-ko has been captured and executed. Who is it, exactly, who runs the secret government?”

  Sula clenched her teeth to avoid a wail of despair. This was the one question she’d dreaded.

  She had decided that she could lie to anyone else as circumstances demanded, but that she would never lie to the people at the table before her. The consequences of lying to them were simply too dire.

  “I am the senior officer remaining,” Sula said.

  Surprise widened Patel’s eyes. His mouth dropped open, but he didn’t say anything. Tan-dau gave Bakshi a sidelong glance.

  “You are a lieutenant,” Bakshi said, “and young, and recently promoted at that.”

  “That is true,” Sula said. She could feel sweat collecting under the blonde wig. “But I am also a Peer of ancient name, and a noted killer of Naxids.”

  “It seems to me,” Tan-dau said, again seeming to address no one in particular, “that she wishes us to organize and fight her war for her. I wonder what it is that she will contribute?”

  Defiant despair rose in Sula. “My training, my name and my skill at killing Naxids,” she answered.

  Bakshi looked at her. “I’m sure your skill and courage are up to the task,” he said. “But of course you are a soldier.” He looked at the folk on either side of him, and spread his hands. “We, on the other hand, are men of commerce and of peace. We have our businesses and our families to consider. If we join your resistance to the Naxids, we put all we have worked for in jeopardy.”

  Sula opened her mouth to speak, but Bakshi held up a hand for silence. “You have assured us that the loyalist Fleet will return and that Zanshaa will be freed from Naxid rule. If that is the case, there is no need for an army here on the ground. But if you are wrong, and the Naxids aren’t driven out, then any resisters here in the capital are doomed.” He gave a slow shake of his head. “We wish you the best, but I don’t understand why we should involve ourselves. The risk is too great.”

  Another heavy silenced rose. Sula, a leaden hopelessness beating through her veins, looked at the others. “Do you all agree?” she asked.

  Tan-dau and Sagas said nothing. Patel gave a rueful grin. “Sorry the love thing didn’t work out, princess,” he said. “It could have been fun.”

  “The Naxids are already nibbling at your businesses,” Sula said. “When rationing starts and you go into the food business, you’ll be competing directly with the clans the Naxids have set in power. It’s then that you’ll be challenging them directly, and they’ll have to destroy you.”

  Bakshi gave her another of his dead-eyed looks. “What makes you think we’ll involve ourselves in illegal foodstuffs?”

  “A market in illegal foodstuffs is inevitable,” Sula said. “If you don’t put yourselves at the head of it, you’ll lose control to the people who do.”

  There was another long silence. Bakshi spread his hands. “There’s nothing we can do, my lady.” He turned to Casimir and gave him a deliberate stone-eyed look. “Our associates can do nothing, either.”

  “Of course not, Sergius,” Casimir murmured.

  Sula looked down her nose at them each in turn, but none offered anything more. Her hands clenched behind her back, the nails scoring her palms. She wanted to offer more arguments, weaker ones even, but she knew it would be useless and did not.

  “I thank you then, for agreeing to hear me,” she said, and turned to Tan-dau. “I appreciate you offering this place for the meeting.”

  “Fortune attend you, my lady,” Tan-dau said formally.

  Fortune was precisely what had just deserted her. She gave a brisk military nod to the room in general and made a proper military turn.

  Macnamara anticipated her and stepped to the rear of the room, holding the door for her. She marched out with her shoulders still squared, her blonde head high.

  Bastards, she thought.

  There was a thud behind as Macnamara tried to close the door just as Casimir tried to exit. Macnamara glared at Casimir as he shouldered his way out and fell into step alongside Sula.

  “That went better than I’d expected,” he said.

  She gave him a look. “I don’t need irony right now.”

  “Not irony,” he said pleasantly. “That could have gone a lot worse.”

  “I don’t see how.”

  “Oh, I knew they wouldn’t agree with you this time around. But they listened to you. You gave them things to think about. Everything you said will be a part of their calculations from now on.” He looked at her, amused appreciation glittering in his eyes. “You’re damned impressive, I must say. Standing there all alone staring at those people as if they’d just come up from the sewer smelling of shit.” He shook his head. “And I have no idea how you do that thing with your voice. I could have sworn when I met you that you were born in Riverside.”

  “There’s a reason I got picked for this job,” Sula said.

  There was a moment of silence as they all negotiated the front door of the club. This time, at least, Macnamara didn’t try to slam the door on Casimir. Score one, she thought, for civility.

  The delay at the door gave Julien time to catch up. He caught his breath in the copper-plated corridor outside, then t
urned to Sula. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Better luck next time, hey?”

  “I’m sure you did your best,” Sula said. It was all she could do not to snarl.

  “Tan-dau got wounded in an assassination attempt last year, and he’s not game for new adventures,” Julien said. “Sagas isn’t a Daimong to take chances. And Pops …” He gave a rueful smile and shook his head. “Pops didn’t get where he is by sticking his neck out.”

  “And Patel?” Sula asked.

  Julien laughed. “He’d have followed you, you heard him. He’d like to fight the Naxids just for the love, like he said. But the commission’s rulings are always unanimous, and he had to fall in line.”

  They descended the moving stairs. Sula marched to the doors and walked out onto the street. The pavement was wet, and a fresh smell was in the air: there had been a brief storm while she was conducting her interview.

  “Where’s a cab rank?” Sula asked.

  “Around the corner,” said Julien, pointing. He hesitated. “Say – I’m sorry about today, you know. I’d like to make it up to you.”

  Can you raise an army? Sula thought savagely. But she turned to Julien and said, “That would be very nice.”

  “Tomorrow night?” Julien said. “Come to my restaurant for dinner? It’s called Two Sticks, and it’s off Harmony Square. The cook’s a Cree and he’s brilliant.”

  Sula had to wonder if the Cree chef thought it was his own restaurant, not Julien’s, but this was no time to ask questions of that kind. She agreed to join Julien for dinner at 24.01.

  “Shall I pick you up?” Casimir said. “Or are you still in transit from one place to another?”

  “I’m always in transit,” Sula lied, “and now you know why. I’ll meet you at the club.”

  “Care to go out tonight?”

  Sula decided she was too angry to play a cliqueman’s girl tonight. “Not tonight,” she said. “I’ve got to assassinate a judge.”

  Casimir was taken aback. “Good luck with that,” he said.

  She kissed him. “See you tomorrow.”