by Daniel Gibbs
Tia let out a small laugh at that. She glanced back at the book in her hands, and a worried expression came to her face.
"Hey." Piper focused on Tia. "What's wrong?"
"The entire galaxy, really," Tia said. "Why is it that we keep reliving the same cycle?"
"What do you mean?"
"For as long as Humanity has been around, we hurt and exploit one another," Tia said softly. "We did it before we had spaceflight. Industry. Even when we barely had agriculture. Why can't we live in peace with each other?"
It was a profound question. Given the sad history of her ancestors, Piper was not incapable of such herself, but she'd long ago decided such issues were not going to be answered, so she didn't worry about them. With Tia, she shrugged. "Could be any number of reasons. Maybe there are bad spirits in us. Or it's just bad parts in each of us, and some of us let them win." Piper folded her hands together in her lap. "What's brought this on? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Everything," Tia suggested, her voice uncertain. "No. Maybe not everything… my friend, then."
"The one you see for a drink whenever we're in Gamavilla?"
"Yes." Tia leaned back in the chair and looked to the ceiling. "He's talking about accepting the government amnesty. Being able to go home, but he has to support the people in charge and oppose resistance. At least, oppose the Hestian Workers' Party. The League's pet Social Solidarity Party is apparently not covered in the restriction."
"Would you want to go home?" Piper asked.
Tia hadn't seen her family in over a decade. Her parents, her siblings, her nieces and nephews. Communications were nearly impossible thanks to the government, and sending money nearly so, and there was so much she could do for them. There were the others she'd known growing up in the mining town. Friends still alive and family relations.
But she'd have to surrender. Sign the damn amnesty, claim she was in the wrong to oppose the so-called "Republic" of Hestia, joke that it was. Swear they were the "legitimate" government and accept the system that exploited her people. There was also the bit about “preserving and protecting” the same.
She couldn't do that without betraying all of her dead comrades, the men, and women who died trying to free the people of Hestia.
"My world was beautiful. Is beautiful," Piper said. "Sanctuary is lightly populated even by neutral world standards, but we prefer it that way. It gives each tribe a lot of land to live on as we desire." Her eyes grew distant as if she was lost in imagination. "A wide-open blue sky with a yellow star. Grasslands as far as I could see, distant mountains covered in lush forests. And the desert, I can't even describe how beautiful it is. Stark and silent."
"Sounds better than Hestia," Tia said. "Our world has too many mines, and the industries are as cheaply run as possible, so there are almost no measures taken to prevent environmental damage to the countryside."
"I'm sorry. I guess my people are lucky that Sanctuary's mineral wealth isn't so great."
"Why did you name your world something like that?"
"It was the first name all of the tribes agreed on."
Tia grinned. Her world had a similar name that sounded off: Hestia was named by initial surveyors for a Roman goddess. That most of her population would come from worlds settled by the initial wave of Southeast Asian settlers into Sagittarius was not anticipated by the survey team.
"You're not going to accept the amnesty, ever, are you?"
Tia shook her head. "I can't. I can't lie like that or debase myself. I'd rather die in exile."
"I understand," Piper said. "Sometimes, it’s better than surrender."
Tia nodded back in agreement and looked to her book again, enjoying the precious memories connected to it in her mind.
16
Kepper started his hunt the usual way. Given the cover of his quarry, she was likely to be staying at the ISU hotel and hostel in the Alien Quarter, so he focused his attention there.
The main difficulty was he wasn’t a spacer, nor had he ever been one, and he didn't have union membership. Loitering around the ISU building would draw attention that he couldn't easily deflect with a membership card. Nor could he simply hold out the picture of his quarry and ask passersby. In Sektatsh, that would make him look like a slave-hunter seeking a particular quarry on consignment. It would merely tip his hand.
Thankfully, there were other options.
Kepper slid into an alley off the side road, market buildings to each side. A group of small Harr'al children were arrayed around each other in clothing that, charitably, was well-worn. A klimat, a little four-legged reptilian creature, was writhing on the ground as one of them continued to prod the beast with the tip of a knife. It was the kind of petty, sadistic cruelty a particular type of child would engage in. Kepper was not impressed, given he had long ago moved on to greater heights in that department.
His intrusion was quickly noticed and brought attention to him. One child from the group spoke up, with broken English. "What you want?"
"Information, for pay." Kepper held up a wad of banknotes. "Look for Human woman."
The translator shared Kepper's offer with his compatriots. The Harr'al children were more curious than frightened. Not to mention the prospect of money appealed to them as one would expect it to. Perhaps too much, but he’d be on guard for lies and exaggerations meant to get cash for nothing.
The children each took a good look at the image. One of them chattered excitedly at the others. There was some interplay between them until the translator looked to Kepper. "Seen woman. Will show."
"Show and get paid," Kepper said in reply.
The children talked some more and started for the other end of the alley. Kepper followed, satisfied with the success of his approach.
With morning came breakfast and, for Miri, confirmation of a ship from her employer coming to pick her up. She was forewarned the New Cornish authorities had a lot of questions. Miri anticipated this, and was well trained in ensuring her answers would be the things they needed to hear without giving away her secrets.
Additionally, a message from her contact in CIS told Miri that a pickup was on the way from Lusitania, if she ended up needing extraction. The vessel was called the Shadow Wolf out of Darien. It brought a little relief to Miri to know she had an alternative if P&Y's ship didn't show.
With little else going on, she turned to the news on the interstellar Galnet. Given she might end up there, Miri checked Lusitanian news first. Most of it was regarding upcoming trade treaty votes, including one with the League, but there were also reports of ongoing political violence against dissenters against the Lusitanian government's policies. A disappointing thing, to be sure, and Miri decided she'd be staying away from the planet in the future. She'd had enough of dictatorial government in her life.
The main news story breaking was that peace talks between the Coalition and the League were imminent. Commentators from the Coalition and independent worlds both shared views that these seemed the most serious discussions ever proposed by the League, with the promise of the first-ever formal prisoner exchange and other concrete terms for an end to League attacks on Coalition worlds. Reading about it made Miri wonder. She found it hard to believe the Social and Public Safety Committee, that far-off body on Earth that governed the destinies of trillions of souls across two galactic arms, would ever agree to end the war. The League considered itself the only valid government of humanity, all others being illegitimate. Giving the Coalition legitimacy would probably get the entire council overthrown.
But it wasn't impossible. If the technocrats or the bureaucracy pushed it as a necessary peace to deal with structural problems, or another military threat, well, that might do it. The League's war effort in Sagittarius had always been a problematic affair for them, logistically speaking, and manpower issues plagued their administration and authority in this galactic arm. It was how she could accomplish what she did: the League needed apparently-genuine conversions to actually run their system here i
n any workable fashion.
Would peace come? Could it even mean she got to go home? To live a quiet life again, no more running around?
More importantly, did she deserve such an ending?
Guided by the kids, Kepper found himself looking at a barely-restored building that was formerly a mercantile exchange. Now a stylized cross was built into the face of the building above the front door, with three crossbeams instead of the usual single beam, and the lowest slanted so that the right side was higher. Below the cross text in English, Old Slavonic, Russian, and the Calnin language of the Harr'al read "Mission of the Orthodox Old-Rite Church of Cyrilgrad."
"This is where you saw her?"
After the translator and the witness exchanged comments, the reply came. "Yes. Was here with… with… traitor. I do not know better word in English." The boy openly frowned, both from his limited vocabulary and, Kepper thought, the very existence of this "traitor." The other children were already hissing things in their language. "Is Calnin, but traitor of Tashin. Worships human God now, is bad. He come with her."
Interspecies religious conversion always struck Kepper as being a bit weird. But then again, religion in general did as well, whether it was alien or Human. "So she's got a local friend." He presented the children with one note of money each, much to their delight. "Think you can show me where this 'traitor' Calnin is?"
The children conversed excitedly. They clearly enjoyed the reward. They wouldn't enjoy what Kepper would do to them if they were misleading him.
The translator looked back and nodded. "Yes."
Kepper flashed more money at them and grinned. "Then show me."
The embassies and consulates that other governments used as part of their day-to-day relations with Lusitania were scattered around the city. Many used buildings initially constructed for other uses, ranging from big townhouses to old office buildings.
The League of Sol built their own.
One might hear that and expect it to have been built on the outskirts of the city as a fenced compound to keep the chaotic Lusitanians from causing any trouble. Instead, the League built their embassy in São Miguel, one of Gamavilla's poorest neighborhoods. The central building was secured with a fence, security doors, and other measures, but the outlying buildings were repeatedly leased to the people of the neighborhood for social gatherings and events. Ambassador Taney Salinas frequently appeared at these gatherings, using the goodwill to play up the League as the friend of all oppressed and impoverished people. That it also allowed her and her subordinates to propagandize the local people was easily noted, with the Coalition as a particular target for the speeches.
There had been some altercations, of course, pitting the PdDN and its hatred of foreign influences against the pro-League residents of São Miguel, such that despite the Home Ministry's tendency to turn a blind eye to the misbehavior of their minister's followers, the police often had to break up fights to prevent them from spilling into the embassy and harming diplomatic workers.
To Chantavit Li, this merely reinforced his belief that this entire world, the whole galactic arm, would be better off once it was brought into the fold of Society. Everyone would have a place then, and any anti-social behavior could be swiftly and thoroughly corrected.
His quartering was in the central building, of course, where he was officially listed as chief of the embassy's security staff. It was a job he did tend to, in fact, but only in conjunction with his intelligence work.
That intelligence work included dealing with the witness from the Kensington Star. That was why Li had gone to the anti-Social beast Kepper. The mess had to be cleaned up, and preferably on Li's terms given their ally's meddling.
Indeed, their ally in the government was too independent for Li's liking, and this unknown crew sent to pick up Gaon on Harron was a wild card he didn't want in the situation. He'd made that clear in a message on the matter.
The reply was what he expected—dissimulation, defensiveness—but with useful facts to not frustrate Li. The Lusitanian government was taking a direct interest in the Kensington Star survivor story. This knowledge was useful. It would help sell the plan when it was ready.
Li transmitted a reply in text. I must have information about the crew you sent to Harron. Our people will be on-site as well.
The reply was a file. A vessel. Shadow Wolf, Holden-Nagata Mark VII Medium Cargo Holder, out of Darien. These facts did not worry Li.
That her captain was from the Coalition, and a former CDF officer? That… was somewhat worrying.
It was, at least, until he called up the file on James Henry from League intelligence files. The data on his military service was thin, as he was never known to have gained any prominence. Since then, as an independent ship captain, his career had gained more interest, including several visits to League-occupied or aligned worlds.
It also was reassuring. James Henry was just a washed-up Coalition officer. A wretch and a fool. He would pose no threat to the operation.
Li signaled such to Hartford, to relieve the concern about their ally's meddling. He knew that after what happened on Lowery and the Admiral's last offensive plan against the Coalition, Hartford would be quite glad to hear this.
Now, if only Li could get his ally in check, everything would be ready.
There was silent tension in the meeting room of the Lusitanian Cabinet as Prime Minister Raisuni called the government ministers to order. Vitorino and Caetano exchanged long, quiet looks that the others couldn't help but notice and feel curious over. Usually, the two had nothing to do with each other, but now it seemed like they were at odds.
"Minister Caetano, you asked for this meeting," said Raisuni. "What is the issue?"
"The disappearances," she said succinctly. "As we are all undoubtedly aware, for the last several months, there have been increasing disappearances of merchant vessels in the systems around the Trifid Nebula," Caetano said. Her remarks drew nods of understanding. "This has had a severe effect on trade in this area, and it harms our economy. For the good of our people, we must take more proactive steps."
"What steps can we take at this time, with all of our power focused upon system defense and maintaining domestic order?" Raisuni asked.
"For one matter, I do not consider these two things unrelated." Caetano's cold blue eyes swept the room. Vitorino thought she looked at him a moment longer than she should have. "These attacks have the potential to destabilize our world. As for steps, we should begin extra-solar fleet patrols, and urge our neighbors to do the same under the auspices of the Trifid Neutrality Patrol."
"This is an aggressive act you propose," Raisuni said evenly. "And a costly one. We will have to activate the fleet's emergency supply ships to enable such patrols. The costs will threaten our budget."
"True, but it is necessary." Caetano's voice was even as well. "The security of our world is at stake."
"She is correct," Vitorino said, nodding to Raisuni. "Our trade indicators are down across the board. Shipping prices are climbing steadily, especially in insurance costs. We’re getting to the point we must act or see our storehouses fill with goods we cannot sell to other worlds."
Raisuni considered the matter with a careful look. "Minister al-Idrisi, have you consulted with the other governments that are with the patrol?"
The Foreign Minister, Omar Al-Idrisi, nodded. Of primarily Moroccan ancestry, he was a member of Caetano's party, but lent the PdDN an intellectual, cultured air to leaven her stern demeanor. "I have not received replies by all, but several worlds on the Neutrality Commission are in agreement and will bring it to a vote alongside us when the committee re-commences in a month. I believe we only need a few more votes to get approval. It will not be easy, as the Galters are, as always, steadfast against further activity by neighboring navies."
"With the right arguments, then, we will have their approval. We may even have a target for them."
"Oh?" Raisuni seemed surprised.
"I have sources on New
Cornwall myself, Prime Minister," Caetano said. "And I know Patterson & Yarborough believes it has a survivor of the presumed-lost Kensington Star waiting on another world. Harron, we think."
"A witness?" The question was from another minister. "Can she identify the attacker?"
"Possibly, but we have no news of confirmation yet. I will find out what I can. We will need that information to work with the others." Caetano smiled thinly. "Even those anarchist money-seekers on Galt will have to act if we find a single source for the attacks."
"I would hope so," Raisuni remarked. "Minister al-Idrisi, please keep the Cabinet apprised of all further developments on the issue, and I would like Minister Vitorino to do the same on any more news involving disappearances."
"This has gone on long enough, yes," Vitorino said. "Whether pirates or state actors, these attacks are intensifying. If we don't stop them, the League or the Coalition may move to do so."
"My thoughts exactly," Caetano agreed.
The look they shared wasn't one of agreement, though. They kept it until Raisuni adjourned the meeting. Everyone could see they were about to have a frank discussion and said nothing further before departing. It was politics, given their respective parties were the linchpins of the Raisuni Government.
"You want to talk." Caetano folded her arms. "Talk."
"You arrested one of my agents, Caetano," Vitorino said, his tone harsh. "And then threatened me. If this arrangement between our parties is to work, you should not be so quick to attack us."
"I must fulfill my duties as Defense and Home Minister, and that includes dealing with potential subversives and foreign agents," Caetano replied. "The Faith Outreach Mission is suspected. You should warn your man away if he doesn't want to be caught up in our work."
"I am well aware of that mission. It is harmless!"
