Rachel looked at John, who smiled innocently, causing her to blush. Karl was single, and being an example of the typical highly focused Marine, had taken every possible opportunity to get to know her.
Her mother caught the look that passed between them, and came to the proper conclusion.
John sat on the front porch and watched in fascination as a hummingbird angrily chased away a much larger bird. He told Rachel, “We don’t have hummingbirds on Maya, but I’m told that in another generation we should be able to import them. They’re beautiful, just beautiful.”
She asked him a number of questions about his home world, revealing yet again an excellent heart to go with her very good mind. John thought she was a treasure.
Her parents came out and John stood. Her father said, “We accept. We have some family members who will house sit while we are gone. When would you want us?” John smiled, “Let me know when you can move, and what help you need. I can promise at least one young man will show up to help with the moving chores.” Rachel gave him an old-fashioned look until he added, “…who would be me.” She rolled her eyes.
They returned to Orleans that evening, and walked through the mild autumn evening to their offices. Rachel asked, “Aren’t you afraid that you’re going to get attacked?” John asked, “Have your parents ever been physically attacked?” She smiled, “No, but then they aren’t the Right Hand of God either. John grinned, “Do you see Gunnery Sergeant Miskovich escorting us everywhere?” She hadn’t thought of that, and said so, “Why isn’t he…oh, you’re some sort of martial artist?” John agreed, “Some sort, although not nearly as good as the sergeant, who is more heavily armed in his birthday suit than most soldiers are in an armored personnel carrier.” She giggled, which is one of the results John hoped for. He seriously liked her, and loved Sergeant Miskovich, although not as much as his wife.
That evening he called Jessica and asked her when she could come down. She immediately shouted for her sisters and John heard her say, “Pack your bags we’re moving!” A moment later he heard matching vocal expressions of female delight from Jennifer and Jordan, “How soon can you arrange some transportation?”
As it happened, John already knew the answer to that question – he was after all the Federal Commissioner for Grenoble, “How long will it take you three to present yourselves at Customs?” She giggled, “Your new job does have its perquisites. Um, ten minutes to pack, twenty to get to Customs, wherever that is.” John asked, “Would it help you if you were to have a guide?” She said, “Yes…” John said, “Then, open your hatch, there ought to be someone on the other side right about now.”
She giggled again, “You are going to get so lucky tonight. It is night where you are isn’t it? Well, doesn’t matter, if it’s daytime, you’re just going to have to take a long lunch. By the way, why does the navy insist on such arcane jargon? ‘Hatch’ is what chicken eggs do.”
John grinned, “Don’t go there. It would involve many hours of explanation, cutting into our together time.” She giggled a third time, “Ah. We wouldn’t want that would we?”
They talked for just a few more seconds before she cut the transmission.
Sometime before sunrise a shuttle settled down on the landing pad. John was there, as was Sergeant Miskovich and four of his men. John thought it was overkill for the amount of luggage the girls brought, but the sergeant didn’t believe in taking chances. Neither man worried overmuch about security, and it may just have been that they were picking up three cute females who didn’t automatically hate federal Marines.
The five Marines made very short work of the girls’ minimal luggage, and moments later they were trundling toward town in a bus John had acquired from yet another bankrupt local company. The battery pack was in need of replacement, but it was still good for several hours of use before a recharge was required.
They pulled into the basement of the building and the girls alighted, looking around with interest at their new home. This was the first time they had been on a world other than Maya, and they were full of questions, some of them accidentally extracting a certain amount of information about the locals, male, one each. Jessica raised her eyebrows at John, and smiled, “Get used to it.” John looked at the two longhaired, utterly feminine and very pretty teenage girls and sighed, “Not going to happen.”
They ascended to the fourth floor, one of two that had been converted into living quarters. The technicians felt that combining the living quarters and the offices in one location made their job much easier, and of course, so did the Marines. Now that dependents were in residence, the Marines had upgraded the already reasonably secure stone building by closing off all openings on the two lower floors, where the offices were located. Being by nature highly paranoid, they also spent some time on the flat roof, ensuring that it would be difficult to gain access to it from surrounding structures. It was not perfect and was never going to get even close; however, to date the only active Grenobian resistance to the federals, out of the entire population of the planet, seemed to involve a subset of young boys with pimples and access to comm gear.
John opened the door to their suite, and Jessica’s first comment was, “Oh John, it’s huge!” It was also nearly empty, but that only meant she had a new challenge. In her case, having more space than stuff was definitely new, except for having very much stuff.
The Marines had hurriedly put up dividing walls so that John and Jessica, and the two younger sisters would have some privacy, but John had already ascertained that while it was a wall, it didn’t offer much actual privacy. It was a problem he failed to bring up to the two young Marines who were busily installing the thin material. Jessica looked carefully at the wall, then at John, who shrugged. She smiled angelically, causing John to blush, probably the result she was going for. At least she didn’t pummel him.
The sun was up, and so was John, so he hugged Jessica, waved at his sisters-in-law and went downstairs. The first order of business was to send Karl on the journey to St. Germaine. He took with him the same four men, although it was more of a training exercise than because the Schwartz family needed that much help.
He spent the next two hours going over Grenoble’s old constitution. He found a few things he didn’t like, but overall it was excellent. He inserted a couple of clauses that subtly changed the relationship between Grenoble and the federation, removing certain rights formerly accorded to the planetary government and cleaning up a few old clauses that should have been updated a hundred years earlier, hadn’t, and had little or nothing to do with the war, or anything. He’d already spent a lot of time on the document, and had tentatively decided to just shove it down Grenoble’s throat. He didn’t know how much time he had, but feared it would be very short. He had to throttle the army’s propensity to incite to violence, and he had to jumpstart the process of reconstruction. He also wanted to ensure that outsiders – carpetbaggers, to resurrect an ancient term - didn’t flood in to take advantage of a bankrupt and desperate society.
The very next day – the fifth – the same five industrialists showed up in his office. They spent a few moments discussing their businesses, and asked him what he could do. He asked about their equipment, how old it was, make and models, their sources of raw materials, labor force and anything else he could think of. He was a history professor, so asked a number of questions that were probably somewhere between stupid and unnecessary. He could have used Castidad, but she was off planet and in any event probably trying to get still more pregnant.
He got contact information and told them he would get back within one week or less, visibly surprising them. He’d explained once that there was very little time, so he didn’t bother with a second warning.
He found a navy officer who came from a manufacturing background and ordered him to his office. He didn’t bother asking the army.
Lt. Cdr. Saenz was a surprise – she was a she; John had expected that someone named Sami would be a man, and she really wasn’t a man. She wa
s part of a family from Earth that had for generations owned manufacturing plants. Her experience was in electronics and small appliances, whereas Grenoble manufactured farming equipment and, until very recently fighters, which explained the huge number John had faced. She was the only expert he had that he could trust, even though her expertise wasn’t a perfect match. He sent her on a tour of their factories, and asked for an analysis of their abilities, how long it would take them to resume production, and how much it would cost to build whatever they had been building, unless of course they were military craft. He mentioned that as a result of the war, the entire federation suffered from a severe shortage of bulk carriers, freighters and passenger liners. She smiled in understanding and left, with the knowledge that she had twelve hours. John ordered a shuttle to prepare for departure twelve hours and five minutes later. He’d received a huge comm from the admiral, and now knew his location as of six days ago. He hoped to get approval for a large amount of credit so that he could help jumpstart those five businesses, which would create a fairly substantial number of jobs and possibly turn the public focus away from the war.
As expected, the mayor didn’t call. John was prepared for that eventuality, and provided Sergeant Miskovich with instructions to invite the mayor to his office. John smiled and added, “Sergeant, I do not want a large demonstration of military might, so perhaps you might…personally escort the mayor? He has a minimum of three aides who normally spend their time in the lobby, and they don’t really need to attend the meeting.” Karl smiled eagerly and said, “Sir, are you certain that you are in the Navy? Surely there’s a Marine somewhere in your background, although, well, five or ten generations back.”
He went upstairs to check in on his wife. She had four Marines rearranging furniture, and while he watched, two more struggled through the door with a battered cook station. John snorted, perhaps he’d nap later. Jessica spotted him and casually walked over and gave him a very nice hug. She quietly giggled at his lack of enthusiasm in front of the Marines, who in any event were paying more attention to the fifteen and sixteen year old Jennifer and Jordan. John didn’t worry all that much – Sergeant Miscovich had anticipated this reaction on the part of the highly motivated male segment of his complement, and had provided them with the exact ages of the two ‘targets of opportunity’, along with an overview of the accidents that could befall a student learning the basics of martial arts in the basement gym. He’d done pretty much the same thing with the female contingent, especially the two who went to St. Germaine. It seemed that the house sitters consisted of three brother and sisters. John didn’t know the ratio of males to females, but assumed his Marines would accurately ascertain as much information as possible.
An hour later Mayor Badeau appeared in front of John. The mayor appeared to be none the worse for wear, but judging by his red face he was apparently highly upset. John pointed him to an armless chair and sat back down. The mayor refused to sit, so John calmly began, “Mayor Badeau, as I explained to you on our first meeting, Grenoble’s economy has self-destructed, and I am here to assist your people in rebuilding. Your office could offer a great deal of assistance in this pursuit, yet you have chosen not to do so. I wonder; sir, are the people of Orleans, and in fact, the entire planet of Grenoble, aware that you are deliberately working to prevent the rebuilding of this planet’s shattered economy? No? Can you explain why you have done nothing to help your citizens dig themselves out of the crushing poverty that the war has visited on Grenoble?” John paused for a moment then continued, “Sir, virtually the first thing I did after being sworn in as the federal commissioner was to walk to your offices. I might add that I had to walk due to the fact that you refused to provide the Federal Army with contact information. And sir, do you recall that at that time I offered to return city hall to your jurisdiction? Finally, sir, why have you not responded to any of my initiatives?”
John waited expectantly as his invited guest struggled with what were apparently overwhelming emotions. It took a moment.
Mayor Badeau finally managed, “Your sadistic soldier attacked my aides and dragged me down here against my will! Is that how you plan to rebuild Grenoble – on the backs of innocent victims of pathological torture?” John loudly demanded of Sergeant Mischkovic, who was standing at attention in the background, “Sergeant, what do you have to say for yourself?” The sergeant said, “Sir, as requested, I traveled alone, unarmed and on foot to the location given me by your aide. When I entered the lobby I encountered three gentlemen who were standing by the entrance to Mayor Badeau’s office. When I attempted to…edge past them, one of them assaulted me and the other two produced hand weapons.” John managed not to smile, and demanded, “Weapons? You encountered armed civilians?” The marine said, “Yes sir. After subduing the three men, I knocked and entered the mayor’s office. We returned – well, I returned, this was the mayor’s first visit – and that brings us up to the present.”
John nodded somberly, “Sergeant, were you injured when these armed civilians attacked you?” The sergeant said, “No sir, I managed to protect myself.” John nodded, “And, the civilians?” John said, “Sir they are in federal custody, and may be charged with illegal possession of weapons and assault on a federal officer, possibly other charges.” John didn’t ask where the guards were being held, he already knew they were in an infirmary.
John turned back to the mayor, “Mayor Badeau, when Sergeant Mischkovic entered your office, how was he dressed? Was he wearing the same uniform he now has on?” The mayor’s attitude had quickly subsided, and he jerkily nodded. John took a breath and asked, “Sir, I see here that you were formerly the vice-mayor, is that correct?” Mayor Badeau said, “Yes, the former mayor left and I assumed his position.” John nodded, “I have before me a copy of the Federal Unified Constitution of Grenoble. It lays out the procedures for municipal elections. According to my reading, mayors are elected in general elections, and upon assuming office have thirty days to appoint vice-mayors. Now, sir, can you tell me where Mayor D’Lon is?”
John watched carefully, but saw nothing much in the way of guilt or knowledge, “No, I do not. I think he was kidnapped by you federals.” John nodded, “As it happens, as soon as I learned that the elected mayor of Orleans had gone missing I contacted both the local Army commander and the Navy commander in orbit. The Army does not have him in custody, and the Navy assures me that there is no possibility that he could have broken orbit. So sir, once again, do you know the whereabouts of Mayor D’Lon?”
Mayor Badeau angrily shouted, “What are you suggesting? That I somehow did something?” John said, “Sir, according to your constitution, in the instance of the death or incapacity of the elected mayor, the vice-mayor assumes his or her duties; however, in the case of foul play, or suspected foul play, the vice mayor, who is appointed rather than elected, is bypassed and one of the city council is chosen from amongst their members. Sir, the lawfully elected mayor of Orleans has been missing for over one month; therefore, I will require that you recluse yourself from any activities associated with city administration; furthermore, I require that you remain within the city limits of Orleans while we investigate the disappearance of Mayor D’Lon. Be aware that it is highly possible that the mayor has been kidnapped or killed, and you have both means and motive.”
John stood and ordered the Marine, “Sergeant, please escort Mr. Badeau to the offices of our federal investigator, and remain with him until he has been questioned. Due to his accusations of brutality, please have two additional Marines - preferably female – present at all times.”
John pointed at his guest and Sergeant Mischcovic stepped forward. The angry Grenobian avoided being touched by the very calm Marine and headed for the door.
Five minutes later, the sergeant’s visit to the mayor’s office and the session just ended were available to the entire planet, and ten minutes later a Marine left his offices for the home of one of the members of the city council, which had been disbanded by Mr. Badeau.
John didn’t know if the man actually killed the mayor, but the circumstances were highly favorable to his ends. John wasted no time in trying to locate the eight other council members.
That same evening he convened the first session of the city council in over six weeks. John introduced himself, explained the situation and after ensuring that they had everything they needed, he excused himself. Ten minutes later the council handed down an indictment against Mr. Badeau, who happened to still be in residence in the basement.
The council sent a message to John, who was upstairs, moving furniture, and he ran downstairs. Nobody stood, but he was becoming accustomed to that, and in any event was focused on results. The council asked him to tell it what his plans were for Orleans, and for the planet. This city was large, and was the only population center with more than ten thousand residents. In a practical sense, Orleans was Grenoble.
John discussed their situation, the pressing need to move as quickly as possible, and presented their new constitution to them. He quickly pointed out the few but important changes, and finished by explaining that he was in the process of attempting to arrange for federal grants to help jumpstart their manufacturing plants, all of which were located within just a few kilometers of city hall. Their expressions grew stormy as he talked about the constitution he was presenting them with, but improved at the possibility of a possible economic revival of their limited industrial base.
Hawk Genesis: War (Flight of the Hawk) Page 41