She turned to face John and asked, “Captain, would you care to say something to the people of Maya?” John smiled faintly and nodded. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and began, “My brother and I are two of fifteen survivors of our flight school, which numbered sixty four graduates. Not long ago, I thought I had lost James – his fighter was hit and he and his pilot were lost and for over two hours, presumed dead. Happily, they were recovered, injured but alive. Somehow, James and I survived endless months in ancient converted freighters, we survived the radiation hazards of spending many, many hours and days in poorly shielded fighter cockpits, and we survived the battles in space between former friends, cousins, brothers, fathers and sons. As our alcaldesa has told you, the battles are largely over, but what she has not said is that although the fighting has ended, hatred remains, built on the blood of thousands of dead and wounded. Those of us who have served for so many years long to turn our back on the war, and return to the great task of turning Maya into a new Earth, an Eden, and of course this must be done; however, do not for a moment think that the war is over, or that our lives will return to the way they were five years ago. The worlds of the federation have a choice: punish and penalize the rebel worlds, or strive to bring them back into the federation. If we take the former path, we will cement the hatred and enmity in the hearts of our fellow human beings, and we will incur another, even more savage war. If we take the latter path, we face years, probably decades of difficulties, but eventually, humanity will be whole again. I am not asking you to forget the brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, cousins and friends who have lost their lives so that we may live – rather, I ask that you honor their sacrifices by striving to transform that almost universal hatred into love. Try, that is all I ask. Just try.”
The crowd, several hundred people, stood in silence after he finished, but a few began applauding. Many, possibly most, did not – it had been a very long and extremely bitter five years.
John turned to the alcaldesa and somberly shook her hand. She said, “Captain, that was a moving speech. Did you prepare it ahead of time?” John said, “I’ve been thinking about this since the war began, but I did not expect this reception.” She turned to her left and waved, and John’s family and friends began crowding around again. Jessica gripped his hand while James and Castidad ushered his in-laws up to greet John. It took awhile.
It seemed that everyone on Maya wanted to greet him, and welcome him home, but eventually Jessica led him through a door and into the damp evening.
John looked up at the sky “This is the first time I’ve stood on a planet in…most of a year.” Jessica went into his arms and began crying. He held her tightly, looking over her shoulder at his mother, who also seemed ready to cry.
Jessica asked, “Are you home for good?” John took a breath, “Honey, Admiral Grigorivich has asked me to accept the position of Federal Commissioner for Grenoble. The admiral believes that the peace is going to be harder to win than the war. I have not given him my answer, but I’ll have to respond within the next couple of days.”
She stiffened and asked, “What…I don’t know what to ask. What would that mean? Do you want to take it?”
John said, “A few months ago James told me that when he returned he intended to stay in his home, not step anywhere near a ship. I feel exactly the same; however, what I said a few minutes ago was from my heart. I don’t believe that the federation understands that these next few months and years will either produce another, far worse war, or they will lead to the beginning of peace. I do not want the job, but…”
She said, firmly, “I don’t want you to go, I want my husband!” John looked at his bride, “Honey, I will not go unless you agree. Actually, it would be the four of us, and possibly James and Castidad as well. However, I promise that I will not ignore your feelings in this.”
She tugged on his hand and they began walking again. His mother was walking on his other side and asked, “What are the conditions like on Grenoble?” John’s face turned grim, “Not good. Some of those systems are very close to collapse, and the hatred of the federation is almost palpable. Even if we pour resources into them, it will probably take at least a generation before the healing will begin to take hold. If we treat them like captives, build up a large troop presence, the killing will start back up, and it will inevitably lead to nuclear war – I’m convinced of it.”
His mother said, tartly, “They already used nuclear weapons.” John said, softly, “No mother, I mean war as in Hiroshima, as in the destruction of entire cities, worlds.” She stopped in her tracks, bringing the entire group to a standstill. She asked, “Are you serious?” John said, “Yes mother. This war was always savage, almost beyond belief; but in the last year, as conditions worsened for the rebel worlds, they became increasingly desperate. At Fujian, they sacrificed hundreds upon hundreds of fighters in the forlorn hope that they could destroy enough of our carriers to force us to abandon our attack. They had no realistic hope, yet they attacked anyway.”
They went to the Padilla home – his mother’s home had been sold as a result of her divorce. On the way, Jessica talked about their new home. She, together with Castidad and his mother had found a much larger home, and the two families, plus his mother, had gone in together to purchase it. John asked a number of questions about the home, and Jessica smiled at him and whispered, “Don’t worry, we have our own bedroom.” John blushed, and she kissed him. What she didn’t tell him was that the death of so many men and women had eased the chronic housing shortage.
The entire Padilla family was in residence, and had prepared a buffet for their guests. James had been home long enough to be well along the way to sexual exhaustion, and looked remarkably relaxed, a state of affairs John looked eagerly forward to emulating; unfortunately, he had to make nice for a few hours.
He got to meet the two Padilla sons, and liked what he saw, which were two very handsome young men. Oddly, everything seemed off, as if he had entered some alternate reality that looked slightly different than the one he remembered. Jessica had retained possession of his hand since the moment he stepped into her arms, and every few moments he would look at it, look at her and realize that he was the only person in the room wearing a uniform. The gravity was subtly heavier than federal warships maintained, the air smelled strange, and the conversation was distinctly unmilitary. Even the light was different.
Jessica brought him a plate of food, and he ate his first home-cooked meal in many months. At one point, James sat down next to him and quietly said, “It will take a few days to adjust.” John swallowed a bite and asked, “You’ve adjusted?” James shook his head, “No, I was lying. I keep expecting to hear environmental alarms, or intruder alerts, or that one of my pilots has gotten into a fight with her navigator. Our home doesn’t vibrate or break down, and you can open a door without killing everyone. If you’re anything like me, you’re going to look at everyone you meet, wondering how they would perform in combat. Oh, um, actually, our home does suffer from the occasional breakdown, but so far that’s consisted of rainwater leaking in, rather than atmosphere leaking out.”
John looked intently at his brother and quietly said, “I’ve spent five years learning how to kill - I find I’m totally unprepared for this.” He waved his hand around, indicating not just the Padilla living room, not even Chavez, but a world at peace. James smiled faintly, “Your wife has plans for you, so you don’t have to worry about a lack of planning.”
John asked, “Oh?” James said, “Yes, plans, as in military retirement plans, for starters.” John nodded, “Admiral Grigorivich was adamant that I take that assignment. The thing is, I haven’t a clue where I could house my family.” James said, “You’ve already got housing for your family, just not on Grenoble. You’ve got a career as well – the university will take you back and you won’t even lose any seniority, they’ve decided to count your military service toward your tenure.”
John sighed, and James stood up, “Peace may p
rove to be more difficult than we’d imagined.” John turned to look at his wife, who was speaking quietly to Jordan, “Difficult is much better than dead.”
On the way home from the Padilla’s, Jessica told John, “I’ve reserved a small cabin for three days, if that’s all right with you.” It seemed to be perfectly all right.
Chapter 39
By the time they returned from their stay in the country, which region included virtually the entire planet, John had gone a long way to adjusting back to life outside of an artificial environment. Life with a wife was a different matter. The military had clear lines of authority and responsibility, as did his former career as a professor; however, life as a husband was proving difficult. Every moment with Jessica was a revelation, each kiss made him hungry for the next, but he was struggling to understand his relationship with her. When he told her that, she smiled, “Instead of trying to define us, why not relax and allow us to love each other?” John said, “Loving you is easy, but in two days I have to send word to the admiral. I don’t have any idea what to do, and it’s killing me.”
She was silent for an uncharacteristically long time before asking, “Tell me what your job would entail, where we would live, and how it would impact your professorship.”
John slowly answered, “The university has agreed to allow me another extension, in part because the war is not officially over; I do not have any idea where we would live, but the only location where I would feel you were safe is in orbit, and that is no place for the three of you to spend a year. The alternative is yet another year of separation, and that is not an option I wish to even contemplate. Finally, this position, and the reason the admiral wants to appoint me is due principally to policies I initiated. The admiral has come to believe that my approach is the best chance we have for healing the federation.”
Jessica asked, “Honey, are you the only qualified person for the job? Aren’t there others who could do it?” John shrugged, but said, “I think the admiral is under a great deal of pressure, especially now that he’s nearly concluded the job he was assigned. He has told me that the government is bitterly opposed to concessions, to any hint of anything resembling concessions. He said that he has a small window of opportunity that will close the moment the final rebel world surrenders. Once that happens, he’ll no longer be able to appoint commissioners, and even now, his appointments are for one year only.”
Jessica began crying, and held up her hand when John reached out to her. She quickly regained control and stood up. She said, very quietly, “Please wait here.”
She walked out of the room, reappearing moments later with Jennifer and Jordan. The three sat down and Jessica turned to her sisters, “John has a problem, a very big problem that we need to help him with. As you know, Admiral Grigorivich is close to winning the military portion of the rebellion, and is now concentrating on what comes after. He has a very little time in which to put in place planetary commissioners who will work to begin the process of healing the deep divisions between worlds that five years of war have caused. John tells me that the federal government is deeply opposed to concessions, and he thinks it will impose stiff penalties that will lead to further bad blood, and more war. The admiral wishes to appoint John to be the Federal Commissioner on Grenoble. It is a one-year appointment, and would almost certainly not be extended. John also feels that were he to bring his family – us – to Grenoble, living conditions would be difficult for us, and possibly dangerous, leaving him few options. If he accepts, we would have to live on one of the orbitals, or under armed guard; or, he leaves us here. The other option is for him to turn down the offer and return to his former career as a professor. He feels deeply obligated to take the position, feels that he would be able to help lessen the hatred that permeates both sides. He also deeply feels that to take the three of us to Grenoble would be wrong, and he does not wish to be separated any longer from his family. In short, he has a serious problem. Do you have any thoughts, or questions?”
Jordan asked, “What does a Commissioner do?” John smiled, “Excellent question. From what I understand, I would constitute all three branches of government: I would oversee the creation of a new constitution, and would have the ability to nullify the entire thing, or any part I didn’t like; I would also be able to add to it or modify it; I would be their court of last appeals; I would control all federal military forces in the system, and I would be the conduit for any aid or assistance provided to the system.”
Jennifer asked, “Why is it important that you take the position?” John told her what he’d done after taking over Orleans, how his policies eliminated the need to base ground troops.
They discussed the issue for over an hour – a long time for Jessica and her sisters, and came to the unhappy yet unanimous decision that John ought to take the position and they ought to move with him.
Two days later they boarded a shuttle for the journey to Grenoble.
Upon boarding the Port of Entry for Grenoble, John arranged for temporary housing for the girls and took a shuttle down to Orleans. He was met by General Chin, and the two talked briefly before the general pointed in the direction of an armored personnel carrier. They entered and it began moving. There were no windows and John was forced to look at a viewscreen as they entered the city proper. Orleans was a well-established city of three hundred thousand people, and held a fairly large number of five to ten story buildings. John already knew that the reasonably tall structures were not an indication of a lack of land, but were rather a simple expedient – the cost-per-family was less in this type of building. The architecture was typical of a new world, which is to say they managed a lot with a little, yet they still created interesting buildings that demonstrated a good sense of style.
The streets were clean and held a moderate amount of pedestrians, public conveyances and even a few either private or for-hire vehicles. Even in the commercial district, John could see a number of farming and industrial vehicles.
The heavy PC suddenly shuddered to a stop, and several alarms lit up and/or sounded. The general shouted to the driver who shouted back, trying to be overhead over the noise, “Sir, the traffic system either shut down, or we’ve been hacked.” The general quickly decided, “Bring up your defensive systems, put active systems on standby, and call the alert team. I want a squad overhead.”
Moments later the driver announced, “Sir, the system is back up.” The general was clearly angry, and asked, “What the hell happened?” The driver shrugged, “Sir, all I can tell you is that the system went down, and came back up.”
General Chin fumed for a moment before ordering, “Continue to headquarters, but advise the alert squad to stand by.”
Five minutes later the vehicle made a hard left turn and descended into the basement of a large building. It pulled to a shuddering stop and settled. A light over the rear hatch turned green and General Chin promptly opened it and squeezed through the narrow opening and stepped out into the basement of the City Hall.
John followed and looked around. There were a number of prominent signs, seemingly indicating where various types of service vehicles should park. John didn’t see anything save for a handful of federal army vehicles. He pointed to one of the signs and asked the general, “Where are all the service vehicles?” General Chin glanced in the direction of John’s finger and said, somewhat dismissively, “We considered the civilian vehicles to be a high security risk and moved them elsewhere.”
Since the general brought up the issue of security, John asked, “Speaking of security, what do you mean by risk?” The general said, somewhat shortly, “As you just saw, we’ve got a serious problem here. The locals have launched repeated attacks against our communications, intelligence and defensive systems, and have managed to penetrate the comm systems.” John waited for the other shoe to drop, but the general was finished. John asked, “How many deaths?” General Chin smiled brightly, “To date, we’ve not suffered any casualties.” After a beat, John asked, “General, ho
w many actual assaults, bombs, threats of bombs, injuries, and loss of property have you suffered?”
The general actually looked away briefly, “None to date; however, their attacks on our systems have been serious and have seriously degraded our ability to respond in an emergency.” John nodded, “So, no emergencies to date, but you’re worried.” The general seemed a little relieved at John’s response, and chopped his head, then set out for a lift.
Hawk Genesis: War (Flight of the Hawk) Page 38