When Diplomacy Fails . . .

  Aramis sat back and stared at the wall. “I guess we need to make sure Captain Das is on our side.”

  “He seems like a good man,” Elke said.

  Alex said, “I’ll draw some materials. Jason can you work out a polite trade, so he’s slightly beholden?”

  “I can. No specific requests, just ‘we heard you needed this’?”

  “Exactly. We have the Golden Cargotainer. We’re good people.”

  Elke said, “I guess I’m unhappy protecting someone who will use us so hypocritically. It’s not that we’re enemies, nor that we’re conspirators. She means to play us as fools.”

  Aramis said, “You’re unhappy because she thinks we’re that stupid.”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  Jason said, “It’s common. You have to be something of a sociopath to get high in politics. You’ve seen it; she really has little compassion for anyone. It’s not that she’s mean. She’s just not capable of empathizing with anyone. That makes narcissism that much easier. It’s all about her, and she isn’t even cognizant of us.”

  Shaman said, “It’s not entirely like that, from a medical perspective, but I will forgive your irregularities for the rough summary.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure my terms are wrong. I’ll clarify: she’s a smug, self-centered bitch.”

  “Spot on,” Shaman agreed.

  Elke was learning from this, but it still wasn’t clear. “How do such people make way? Get ahead?”

  Aramis smirked, but it wasn’t unkind. “They have lots of people along for the ride and the money and power, and others willing to back them for payoffs later.”

  “It seems a precarious way to get ahead.”

  “It is,” Jason said. “It always collapses eventually. Which is why we get paid to protect them meantime. Remember how they tried to set up Bishwanath?”

  Alex said, “They’re being smarter this time. No deaths, just harassment. We can’t really respond, but we have to treat every threat seriously.”

  “But they’re improving her visibility and popularity.”

  Alex continued, “Could it be staged? Not by her, but by the party?”

  “Possibly.”

  Very serious now, he said, “We have to assume there’s some agency behind the nonlethal attacks. She admits to one. So, she set up the first one, but these could be either staged higher up, by some anonymous benefactor, or they could be legitimate protest by fucking idiots, or just harassment by someone wanting to embarrass her without risking actual jail.”

  “Or trying to entice us into killing someone so they can hold it against her, or us. Or trying to entice us into killing someone so they have an excuse to start another revolution.”

  Bart said, “It could be any of those. She fits profiles for celebrity, politician and important official.”

  Aramis asked, “Should we not return fire?”

  Elke said, “I would return fire. In case they are trying to lull us so they can attack.” She looked around at the others.

  Alex said, “Yes. Our job is to protect her from threats. We do that, against every potential threat. Don’t use more force than you have to, so avoid the autocannon. But by all means return fire. If she wants to spin it for her bravery and risk-taking, we’ll allow it. That’s even semi-legit as long as she’s not orchestrating it herself. However, we need to find out what the strategy is. Shaman, research the history of this place for similar events. Elke, you get everything you can from her quarters. Spy on her however you have to. It’s for her own safety, and ours. I’ll get everything I can from Captain Das.”

  Bart said, “He is not in BuState.”

  “He’s not, but he probably has some good leads anyway.”

  “I will get on it,” Elke said, though she wasn’t comfortable.

  She did not deal well with most people, and had trouble with some cues. She knew that. This required determining how someone else would think, and that was uncomfortable. She also had no idea how it was done. It had taken two years to understand how most of the team thought. She’d been the last person to fit in, and still was very much outside them. If it weren’t for Jason, she might not have made it this far.

  However, it seemed it was something she needed to learn. In the meantime, she had sensors and bugs to place.

  Now there was the matter of several explosive devices she needed to inventory, adapt, or strip for material. She’d need more caps at once, more explosive shortly, but she had a few kilograms to get her started. It was obvious to her that Highland was using them as every kind of shield, decoy and prison bitch possible. Otherwise Elke wouldn’t be stealing what she needed.

  At least the guns had ammunition. It likely hadn’t occurred to the kurvě that they’d actually shoot at threats without her say so. Truly, the woman had far too much regard for the capabilities of government.

  At some point during this mission, that would become apparent. Elke looked forward to that facial expression. It was quite perverse on her part, but she was comfortable with it.

  Aramis stretched as they broke up and fell to. There were weapons to clean, routes to plan, exercise to take, food, rest, itineraries. He had more maps to plot, gear dumps to arrange, and Jason might need help with weapons.

  They moved around and funneled out the door back into the common room. He twitched as Elke brushed past. Had that been a grope?

  She turned slightly on her way to her own room, and her face wore a smirk.

  That was disturbing.

  Aramis was still trembling from the earlier incident. He had no idea how close he’d come to brain wiping, but that had to have been skirting it. From now on, everyone got a half second consideration, and nonlethal fire first. He understood protecting the principal. He also understood not letting her use him as bait, a taunt or a campaign slogan. He had no reason to care that much for her. He’d save the firepower for the team’s safety. He would fire to protect his teammates, though.

  It occurred to him the harassing attacks might be intended exactly as a confidence shaker for something bigger later. Or had they discussed that already?

  Yes, he was shaken. Still, fire to save the team, and fuck the politicians.

  That resolved in his mind, he went to see Jason. He found the man hunched over a sheet on the floor, working on weapons.

  “Hey, Aramis, what do you need?”

  He started with, “I want to make sure my carbine is as zeroed as you can get, and I want that scope set with all the bells and whistles. Show me what I need to know.”

  “Can do. I have a few minutes before I can catch up with Captain Das, who is certainly going to know something is up with all the bribery, so I need to make the bribe bigger but practical and not ridiculous.”

  “If you’re busy . . .”

  “Nope, I need to think, and handling guns helps me think. Let’s do it.” He pulled Aramis’s carbine from the cabinet, and his own. He seemed to relax and calm down once he had a weapon in hand. That bothered a lot of people, but Aramis understood it. Much like Elke with her explosives, it gave him focus and control.

  “Okay, you have frequency shift here, which can be done manually, or through the slide on your combat goggles. UV for smoke, IR for night, or thermal. Punch up the IR here to at least eight, given this wimpy star. In my system you’d dial down to three.”

  “Got it.”

  “You boresight here, and put a dot on the wall there, that’s why I have that mark.”

  “It’s a centimeter high.”

  “So it’ll be smack on at a hundred meters.”

  “Yes.”

  “How’s the grip?”

  “Comfortable. I’d like more butt weight.”

  “Here,” Jason said, took the weapon, and attached a small tube that held an extra capacitance pack for the optics. He handed it back.

  “Yeah, that does it, and gives me a second spare.”

  “You’ll never need it, but someone else might.”

  “Excellent. Got time for one
more question then?”

  “Yes, go ahead.” Jason stood, stretched, and wiped his hands on a towel.

  “It’s about Elke.”

  “Okay.”

  He hesitated slightly. “Look, you’ve known her a long time.”

  “On and off, yes. She’s an unusual character.”

  That was a sympathetic opening. Good.

  “Yes, that’s it. Previously, you know how she acted toward me. Distant, even condescending, and I deserved it when we first met. We got past that. Strictly professional, much the way she is with you.”

  “Yes, and that’s good, I hope?”

  “It was. She’s a hell of a blaster, glad to have her around. Always reliable. She opened up just a tiny bit last year.”

  “Which is huge for her.”

  “Yeah, I got that,” he said. Then he blurted, “So why is she hitting on me now? I think.”

  “Ahhhh,” Jason said and smiled faintly.

  The older man leaned back and said, “Well, that probably has to do with you banging the trillionaire.”

  Aramis cringed. He hated hearing it put that way, even if he thought that way himself.

  “Jealousy?”

  “Elke? No. More like ‘challenge.’ Or possibly ‘curiosity.’ If someone who can have anyone is interested in you, there must be a reason. Elke’s rather poor at social cues. That is, she’s very observant about others, but can’t manage her own. So she’s playing her own game.”

  “I really don’t think that would turn out well.”

  “Yeah, ain’t maturity a bitch? She probably knows that, too. She’s seeing if she can mess with your mind.”

  “I’m afraid she’s going to be insulted if I don’t respond.”

  “Probably. I don’t have much in the way of advice beyond this. It’s a grudge match.”

  “Thanks. Really, thanks, though that last just doesn’t help.”

  CHAPTER 9

  FRANKLIN LEZT WAS NERVOUS, and tense. Things like this risked more than one’s job. His appointment arrived, and as soon as the door closed, he tapped on the security field. That and a random hotel should mean they were safe. The heavy drapes were closed, and there was a screen taped to the window as well.

  “It’s helping her ratings!” he said. They both knew which it and whom this was about.

  Will Hepgard was not the man’s real name. It would do for now. He was too calm as he said, “It’s not an ideal result.”

  Lezt tried not to be too uncalm.

  “Ideal? The idea was to either disgrace her with photos of her covered in Eco Party green paint or eggs, or have criminal charges against her or those thugs.” They’d spent a lot of money on this. He needed results. He paced around the suite. Then he grabbed a beer. He’d be damned if he wasn’t going to get something positive out of this. He pointed at the well. Hospitality helped.

  Hepgard said, “And it didn’t work.”

  What a revelation, he thought. “I fucking know it didn’t work!”

  “We still have time.” Hepgard reached in, took a beer, thumbed off the lid.

  The man was infuriatingly calm, but then, he had half the considerable money already.

  Lezt said, “She’s at twenty-three points. We have to peg her back down below twenty or we lose the advantage we paid for.”

  Did Hepgard know the significance of thirty points in the polls? Possibly not. So steer away from that.

  Hepgard leaned against the wall, clearly wanting a chair. He wasn’t large, but he was soft. He did all his work with terminals and phones.

  “We will. We can do some promotion here on Earth, too. And another thought: Her trip splits both her office and her campaign. Can we arrange something embarrassing around her office?”

  Lezt said, “Are you kidding? Jaekel’s the real worker. All Highland offers is guidelines, and she can do that just fine from there. It’s probably running smoother without her nitpicks.” Was that useful info to share? Or too useful?

  Hepgard nodded and leaned back. “Okay, so we need to focus on her campaign.”

  “And besides us, Hunter’s people are about to jizz their pants over her being away. He’s plowing money into ad loads to get a good lead now.”

  “A shame that’s all going to fall apart when word gets out.”

  “A shame. The week before the election, too.”

  Hepgard shook his head. “You like that too much. I want to do it sooner. A month out. That gives time for him to try to justify it, and for all the inquiries to build. Then we have professional outrage people to be outraged. Unless your boss is set on the last minute?”

  Lezt sighed. “Look, I’m telling you way too much on this. The SecGen is not the sharpest spoon on the rack. Nor is he the most determined. He’d probably object, and he’d certainly let word slip to someone. They might or might not reveal it, but we’re not telling him. You know Ingo makes most of the decisions, yes?”

  “I knew he made recommendations.”

  “That’s the official story. No, he’s the brains. Cruk is a pretty face, but too emotional.”

  “Is that why he has two types of speeches?”

  “Yes, the ones that piss people off are his own cute creations. The ones that sway people are written by a professional Ingo hired. And we’re not talking about this anymore. What can you arrange on embarrassment?”

  “Some amusing ads. I can even pin them on Hunter. Then use her money.”

  That was interesting. “Hah. I like that a lot. Do it, and make sure this one works.” Damn, he’d finished a beer already.

  Hepgard nodded confidently. “It will. Even if she has a boost now, it’ll all add up to a decline later.”

  It was dangerous to meet in person, but there was no way such an issue would ever get discussed over any kind of connection.

  “Good. But we need both short term and long term. Trends.”

  “I’ll be on it. Thanks for the beer.” Hepgard took one healthy swallow and set the rest of the bottle down.

  Lezt considered. Hepgard could probably pull it off. He’d done a good job with the Eisington campaign, if you measured good jobs by dismal failures that everyone followed in amusement. But just in case, there was another source.

  “Yeah, those specialists. They are very good at keeping someone alive, yes?”

  “Absolutely. They’ve never lost a patient.”

  “Good. Then I want them to proceed. There are going to be casualties, and I wouldn’t want them to die.”

  “They’re on site already, of course.”

  “Yes, get them in play. Someone’s life is at stake.”

  Or would be, very soon.

  Jason looked through the inventory to see what they could offer to Das as a diplomatic gift. They’d certainly share intel that would help the military if it wouldn’t hinder them. Ammo or weapons wouldn’t matter, nor most logistical items. Though they did have some sanitized handguns. Those could make useful dump guns for officially unarmed technicians or support troops. They could even be presented casually enough. Three of those, then.

  What about staging their own fake attack and having Elke volunteer to help? But that was complicated, deceitful and risky. He had no qualms about cheating, but their position with Das was improved if Das could trust them more than others.

  Unmarked bullion and cash. They could spare some, but it would have to clearly be “logistics” and not “cash bribe.” He’d work on that.

  Could they spare some tracking units? They had several, and planned to consume/abandon/destroy them as they went. If they could get more in a timely fashion, those would work. Good.

  He was jarred from his planning by Elke’s voice.

  “We need to talk.”

  “Yes, what do you need?”

  “My explosives. Did you not know they were canceling my request?” She was agitated, almost fidgeting.

  “I put in the request. Alex put in the request. They said they were approving the weapons. They didn’t specifically mention e
xplosives.”

  “When did you know this?”

  “I knew we didn’t have them when we left Earth. They were supposed to catch up. At no point did they refuse.” He’d gotten every indication the order was in process.

  “And here?”

  “Nothing in the crates, and no inventory or request mentioning them. Black hole.”

  She said, “You knew the ROE, though. That they weren’t allowing explosives other than very small charges for demolition on the controlled range only.”

  “Elke, I did not know that, at all. I’ve heard nothing on limits.”

  She stared; he stared.

  He wondered now. They’d both been given different stories. “So, they lied to us about the availability, or rather, deliberately concealed the information. And lied to me about rules of engagement. Just a moment.” He thumbed his phone.

  “Intel, Captain Das.”

  “Jason, Jason.”

  “Hi, Jason,” Das replied, sounding cheerful enough.

  “Can you confirm for me the military ROE with weapons?”

  “Yeah, patrol commander key for nonlethal release. Lethal weapons require shift commander approval from here. Support weapons restrained for two minutes, then only by shift commander approval. The colonel can release earlier on personal authority. Explosive munitions restricted to artillery, Aerospace Force air assets, and Special Operating Units or allied equivalents, which we agree means you.”

  “Thanks. Just needed to confirm.”

  “Understood.”

  He clicked off.

  Elke said, “So the military would allow us to do whatever BuState authorizes, as is proper. Meaning Highland’s people blocked the shipment.”

  “Can we ask her to intercede?”

  “Please don’t,” Elke said.

  “No?”

  “No. I and Aramis shall make a shopping expedition.”

  He thought that over. They needed Elke, but they also needed her with best gear. Aramis needed to stash more stuff, too. They’d fill in temporarily.

  He said, “I’ll clear it with Alex. Go.”