The Mercenary

by Jerry Pournelle

  That flag meant little to the people of Hadley. On Earth it was enough to cause riots in nationalistic cities in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, while in other countries it was a symbol of the alliance that kept any other nation from rising above second-class status. To Earth the Co­Dominium Alliance represented peace at a high price, too high for many.

  For Falkenberg it represented nearly thirty years of service ended by court martial.

  Two weeks to go. Then the CoDominium Governor would leave, and Hadley would be officially independent. Vice President Bradley visited the camp to speak to the recruits.

  He told them of the value of loyalty to the government, and the rewards they would all have as soon as the Progressive Party was officially in power. Better pay, more liberties, and the opportunity for promotion in an expanding army; bonuses and soft duty. His speech was full of promises, and Bradford was quite proud of it.

  When he had finished, Falkenberg took the Vice President into a private room in the Officers’ Mess and slammed the door.

  “Damn you, you don’t ever make offers to my troops without my permission.” John Falkenberg’s face was cold| with anger.

  “I’ll do as I please with my army, Colonel,” Bradford replied smugly. The little smile on his face was completely without warmth. “Don’t get snappy with me, Colonel Falkenberg. Without my influence Budreau would dismiss you in an instant.”

  Then his mood changed, and Bradford took a flask of brandy from his pocket. “Here, Colonel, have a drink.” The little smile was replaced with something more genu­ine. “We have to work together, John. There’s too much to do, even with both of us working it won’t all get done. Sorry, I’ll ask your advice in future, but don’t you think the troops should get to know me? I’ll be President soon.” He looked to Falkenberg for confirmation.

  “Yes, sir.” John took the flask and held it up for a toast. “To the new President of Hadley. I shouldn’t have snapped at you, but don’t make offers to troops who haven’t proved themselves. If you give men reason to think they’re good when they’re not, you’ll never have an army worth its pay.”

  “But they’ve done well in training. You said so.”

  “Sure, but you don’t tell them that. Work them until they’ve nothing more to give, and let them know that’s just barely satisfactory. Then one day they’ll give you more than they knew they had in them. That’s the day you can offer rewards, only by then you won’t need to.” Bradford nodded grudging agreement. “If you say so. But I wouldn’t have thought-“

  “Listen,” Falkenberg said. A party of recruits and their drill masters marched past outside. They were singing and their words came in the open window.

  “When you’ve blue’d your last tosser, on the brothel and the booze, and you’re out in the cold on your ear, you hump your bundle on the rough, and tell the sergeant that you’re tough, and you’ll do him the favor of his life. He will cry and he will scream, and he’ll curse his rotten luck, and he’ll ask why he was ever born. If you’re lucky he will take you, and he’ll do his best to break you, and they’ll feed you rotten monkey on a knife.”

  “Double time, heaow!” The song broke off as the men ran across the central parade ground.

  Bradford turned away from the window. “That sort of thing is all very well for the jailbirds, Colonel, but I insist on keeping my loyalists as well. In future you will dismiss no Progressive without my approval. Is that understood?”

  Falkenberg nodded. He’d seen this coming for some time. “In that case, sir, it might be better to form a sepa­rate battalion. I will transfer all of your people into the Fourth Battalion and put them under the officers you’ve appointed. Will that be satisfactory?”

  “If you’ll supervise their training, yes.”

  “Certainly,” Falkenberg said.

  “Good.” Bradford’s smile broadened, but it wasn’t meant for Falkenberg. “I will also expect you to consult me about any promotions in that battalion. You agree to that, of course.”

  “Yes, sir. There may be some problems about finding locals to fill the senior NCO slots. You’ve got potential monitors and corporals, but they’ve not the experience to be sergeants and centurions.”

  “You’ll find a way, I’m sure,” Bradford said carefully. “I have some rather, uh, special duties for the Fourth Battalion, Colonel. I’d prefer it to be entirely staffed by Party loyalists of my choosing. Your men should only be there to supervise training, not as their commanders. Is this agreed?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Bradford’s smile was genuine as he left the camp.

  Day after day the troops sweated in the bright blue-tinted sunlight. Riot control, bayonet drill, use of armor in defense and attacks against men with body armor, and more complex exercises as well. There were forced marches under the relentless direction of Major Savage, the harsh shouts of sergeants and centurions, Captain Amos Fast with his tiny swagger stick and biting sarcasm....

  Yet the number leaving the regiment was smaller now, and there was still a flow of recruits from the Marines’ nocturnal expeditions. The recruiting officers could even be selective, although they seldom were. The Marines, like, the Legion before it, took anyone willing to fight; and Falkenberg’s officers were all Marine trained.

  Each night groups of Marines sneaked past sentries to drink and carouse with the field hands of nearby ranchers. They gambled and shouted in local taverns, and they paid little attention to their officers. There were many com­plaints, and Bradford’s protests became stronger.

  Falkenberg always gave the same answer. “They always come back, and they don’t have to stay here. How do you suggest I control them? Flogging?”

  The constabulary army had a definite split personality with recruits treated harsher than veterans. Meanwhile the Fourth Battalion grew larger each day.

  VIII

  George Hamner tried to get home for dinner every night, no matter what it might cost him in night work later. He thought he owed at least that to his family.

  His walled estate was just outside the Palace district. It had been built by his grandfather with money borrowed from American Express. The old man had been proud of paying back every cent before it was due. It was a big comfortable place which cunningly combined local ma­terials and imported luxuries, and George was always glad to return there.

  At home he felt he was master of something, that at least one thing was under his control. It was the only place in Refuge where he could feel that way.

  In less than a week the CoDominium Governor would leave. Independence was near, and it should be a time of hope, but George Hamner felt only dread. Problems of public order were not officially his problem. He held the Ministry of Technology, but the breakdown in law and order couldn’t be ignored. Already half of Refuge was un­touched by government.

  There were large areas where the police went only in squads or not at all, and maintenance crews had to be protected or they couldn’t enter. For now the CoDominium Marines escorted George’s men, but what would it be like when the Marines were gone?

  George sat in the paneled study and watched lengthen­ing shadows in the groves outside. They made dancing patterns through the trees and across neatly clipped lawns. The outside walls spoiled the view of Raceway Channel below, and Hamner cursed them.

  Why must we have walls? Walls and a dozen armed men to patrol them. I can remember when I sat in this room with my father, I was no more than six, and we could watch boats in the Channel. And later, we had such big dreams for Hadley. Grandfather telling why he had left Earth, and what we could do here. Freedom and plenty. We had a paradise, and Lord, Lord, what have we done with it?

  He worked for an hour, but accomplished little. There weren’t any solutions, only chains of problems that led back into a circle. Solve one and all would fall into place, but none were soluble without the others. And yet, if we had a few years, he thought. A few years, but we aren’t going to get them.

  In a few years the
farms will support the urban popula­tion if we can move people out of the agricultural interior and get them working-but they won’t leave Refuge, and we can’t make them do it.

  If we could, though. If the city’s population could be thinned, the power we divert to food manufacture can be used to build a transport net. Then we can get more to live in the interior, and we can get more food into the city. We could make enough things to keep country life pleasant, and people will want to leave Refuge. But there’s no way to the first step. The people don’t want to move and the Freedom Party promises they won’t have to.

  George shook his head. Can Falkenberg’s army make them leave? If he gets enough soldiers can he forcibly evacuate part of the city? Hamner shuddered at the thought. There would be resistance, slaughter, civil war. Hadley’s independence can’t be built on a foundation of blood. No.

  His other problems were similar. The government was bandaging Hadley’s wounds, but that’s all. Treating symp­toms because there was never enough control over events to treat causes.

  He picked up a report on the fusion generators. They needed spare parts, and he wondered how long even this crazy standoff would last. He couldn’t really expect more than a few years even if everything went well. A few years, and then famine because the transport net couldn’t be built fast enough. And when the generators failed, the city’s food supplies would be gone, sanitation services crippled . . . famine and plague. Were those horsemen better than conquest and war?

  He thought of his interview with the Freedom Party leaders. They didn’t care about the generators because they were sure that Earth wouldn’t allow famines on Hadley. They thought Hadley could use her own helplessness as a weapon to extract payments from the CoDominium.

  George cursed under his breath. They were wrong. Earth didn’t care, and Hadley was too far away to interest anyone. But even if they were right they were selling Hadley’s independence, and for what? Didn’t real independence mean anything to them?

  Laura came in with a pack of shouting children.

  “Already time for bed?” he asked. The four-year-old picked up his pocket calculator and sat on his lap, punch­ing buttons and watching the numbers and lights flash.

  George kissed them all and sent them out, wondering as he did what kind of future they had.

  I should get out of politics, he told himself. I’m not doing any good, and I’ll get Laura and the kids finished along with me. But what happens if we let go? What future will they have then?

  “You look worried.” Laura was back after putting the children to bed. “It’s only a few days-“

  “Yeah.”

  “And what really happens then?” she asked. “Not the promises we keep hearing. What really happens when the CD leaves? It’s going to be bad, isn’t it?”

  He pulled her to him, feeling her warmth, and tried to draw comfort from her nearness. She huddled against him for a moment, then pulled away.

  “George, shouldn’t we take what we can and go east? We wouldn’t have much, but you’d be alive.”

  “It won’t be that bad,” he told her. He tried to chuckle, as if she’d made a joke, but the sound was hollow. She didn’t laugh with him.

  “There’ll be time for that later,” he told her. “If things don’t work. But it should be all right at first. We’ve got a planetary constabulary. It should be enough to protect the government-but I’m moving all of you into the palace in a couple of days.”

  “The army,” she said with plenty of contempt. “Some army, George. Bradford’s volunteers who’d kill you-and don’t think he wouldn’t like to see you dead, either. And those Marines! You said yourself they were the scum of space.”

  “I said it. I wonder if I believe it. There’s something strange happening here, Laura. Something I don’t under­stand.”

  She sat on the couch near his desk and curled her legs under herself. He’d always liked that pose. She looked up, her eyes wide with interest. She never looked at anyone else that way.

  “I went to see Major Karantov today,” George said. “Thought I’d presume on an old friend to get a little in­formation about this man Falkenberg. Boris wasn’t in his office, but one of the junior lieutenants, fellow named Kleist-“

  “I’ve met him,” Laura said. “Nice boy. A little young.”

  “Yes. Anyway, we got into a conversation about what happens after independence. We discussed street fighting, and the mob riots, you know, and I said I wished we had some reliable Marines instead of the demobilized outfit they were leaving here. He looked funny and asked just what did I want, the Grand Admiral’s Guard?”

  “That’s strange.”

  “Yes, and when Boris came in and I asked what Kleist meant, Boris said the kid was new and didn’t know what he was talking about.”

  “And you think he did?” Laura asked. “Boris wouldn’t lie to you. Stop that!” she added hastily. “You have an appointment.”

  “It can wait.”

  “With only a couple of dozen cars on this whole planet and one of them coming for you, you will not keep it waiting while you make love to your wife, George Hamner!” Her eyes flashed, but not with anger. “Besides, I want to know what Boris told you.” She danced away from him, and he went back to the desk.

  “It’s not just that,” George said. “I’ve been thinking about it. Those troops don’t look like misfits to me. Off duty they drink, and they’ve got the field hands locking their wives and daughters up, but you know, come morning they’re out on that drill field. And Falkenberg doesn’t strike me as the type who’d put up with undisciplined men.”

  “But-“

  He nodded. “But it doesn’t make sense. And there’s the matter of the officers. He’s got too many, and they’re not from Hadley. That’s why I’m going out there tonight, without Bradford.”

  “Have you asked Ernie about it?”

  “Sure. He says he’s got some Party loyalists training as officers. I’m a little slow, Laura, but I’m not that stupid. I may not notice everything, but if there were fifty Progres­sives with military experience I’d know. Bradford is lying, and why?”

  Laura looked thoughtful and pulled her lower lip in a gesture that Hamner hardly noticed now, although he’d kidded her about it before they were married. “He lies for practice,” she said. “But his wife has been talking about independence, and she let something slip about when Ernie would be President she’d make some changes.”

  “Well, Ernie expects to succeed Budreau.”

  “No,” Laura said. “She acted like it would be soon. Very soon.”

  George Hamner shook his massive head. “He hasn’t the guts for a coup,” he said firmly. “And the technicians would walk out in a second. They can’t stand him and he knows it.”

  “Ernest Bradford has never recognized any limitations,” Laura said. “He really believes he can make anyone like him if he’ll just put out the effort. No matter how many times he’s kicked a man, he thinks a few smiles and apologies will fix it. But what did Boris tell you about Falkenberg?”

  “Said he was as good as we can get. A top Marine commander, started as a Navy man and went over to Marines because he couldn’t get fast enough promotions in the Navy.”

  “An ambitious man. How ambitious?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “Is he married?”

  “I gather he once was, but not for a long time. I got the scoop on the court martial. There weren’t any slots open for promotion. But when a review board passed Falkenberg over for a promotion that the admiral couldn’t have given him in the first place, Falkenberg made such a fuss about it that he was dismissed for insubordination.”

  “Can you trust him, then?” Laura asked. “His men may be the only thing keeping you alive-“

  “I know. And you, and Jimmy, and Christie, and Peter. ... I asked Boris that, and he said there’s no better man available. You can’t hire CD men from active duty. Boris recommends him highly. Says troops love him, he’s a br
illiant tactician, has experience in troop command and staff work as well-“

  “Sounds like quite a catch.”

  “Yes. But Laura, if he’s all that valuable, why did they boot him out? My God, it all sounds so trivial-“

  The interphone buzzed, and Hamner answered it ab­sently. It was the butler to announce that his car and driver were waiting. “I’ll be late, sweetheart. Don’t wait up for me. But you might think about it ... I swear Falkenberg is the key to something, and I wish I knew what.”

  “Do you like him?” Laura asked.

  “He isn’t a man who tries to be liked.”

  “I asked if you like him.”

  “Yes. And there’s no reason to. I like him, but can I trust him?”

  As he went out he thought about that. Could he trust Falkenberg? With Laura’s life . . . and the kids . . . and for that matter, with a whole planet that seemed headed for hell and no way out.

  The troops were camped in an orderly square. Earth ramparts had been thrown up around the perimeter, and the tents were pitched in lines that might have been laid with a transit.

  The equipment was scrubbed and polished, blanket rolls were tight, each item in the same place inside the two-man tents . . . but the men were milling about, shouting, gambling openly in front of the campfires. There were plenty of bottles in evidence even from the outer gates.

  “Halt! Who’s there?”

  Hamner started. The car had stopped at the barricaded gate, but Hamner hadn’t seen the sentry. This was his first visit to the camp at night, and he was edgy. “Vice Presi­dent Hamner,” he answered.

  A strong light played on his face from the opposite side of the car. Two sentries, then, and both invisible until he’d come on them. “Good evening, sir,” the first sentry said. “I’ll pass the word you’re here.”

  He raised a small communicator to his lips. “Corporal of the Guard, Post Number Five.” Then he shouted the same thing, the call ringing clear in the night. A few heads around campfires turned toward the gate, then went back to their other activities.