Assassin

by Kali Altsoba

  “Enough with the philosophy, Onur! They’re not our brothers if they fight on the other side of the barricades! Winter, you’re the man with the facts. How many do you think will die?”

  “Once fighting starts, how long it lasts and how many are killed is not predictable. I have no models to tell us that.”

  “You must have done calculations. You have on all other questions.”

  “Enough of this!” General McAuley almost shouts. “If we are to do this, then damn it, let’s do it! We knew when we signed on that it won’t end without tears. We’ll all do what must be done. It doesn’t matter how many die in our coup, only how many don’t die in the war we’ll stop.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Yes, agreed.”

  Winter thinks: ‘Once that man commits, he goes all the way. I’m glad that he’s on our side in this affair.’

  “I concur, of course. But I still want to hear how far you think it will go, Onur.”

  “There’s sure to be heavy fighting here in the capital, as we disembark from ground bases and bring in reinforcements from orbit and then out-of-system. We’ll move as quickly as we can to get inside the Waldstätte and end the street fighting. But the palace guard will resist us, hard.”

  “Canaries are more dangerous than they look, Onur. They must be hit with overwhelming force at the outset. We can’t have another farce like the one that played out a month before the Krevan War began. What’s the sordid thing being called on the civilian memex? Oh yes, ‘Four Traitor Generals.’”

  “That was not a planned or thought out operation. It was a rogue affair, for which a terrible price was paid by all officers involved. Remember that. Recall what Pyotr did to our old friends and colleagues. Prepare yourselves and your families for the worst, if we should fail or falter.”

  “Will there be other fighting, beyond Kestino?”

  “Some onboard your ships will resist. You’ll have to deal with any mutiny swiftly and harshly. Troopships whose captains won’t turn to our side should be diverted. Order them to more distant systems, along with all their escorts. Give them false redeployment orders. Scatter them. We need time to take full control here in the capital. Anything to add, Major Winter?”

  “Troopships will go wherever their captains say, and most captains will obey your orders. If not, lock them down. By any means, keep the soldiers locked up and separate from the crews.”

  “What about the legions of gray men?”

  “SAC will fight us everywhere. In space lanes, on other worlds, and in Novaya Uda to defend their Main HQ. They’ll fight even after Pyotr surrenders, or dies.”

  “Let them fight us, Onur. We should use their rebellion against our new regime to end their sponsorship of the mad Purity movement once and for all.”

  “He’s right, Onur. It must be done.”

  “I agree. Arrest all SAC leaders on sight. Disarm their regiments and divisions. I’ll cut off the head of the snake here, on Kestino. You crush its segments.”

  “At last! I’ve been waiting to get at those bastards for years!”

  “But understand that once the fight begins, you must finish it with all necessary harshness. Use all methods you have available. Hold nothing back. If we lose, we lose everything.”

  “I’m still worried about you here on Kestino. Pyotr has many Loyalists in Novaya Uda, and even some in the worker cities. And he has more military and skycraft bases in the desert.”

  “I also worry. How will you proceed here, in the center of the city?”

  “Four columns will move on the Waldstätte while a separate force attacks SAC’s HQ. We’ll kill his command and control at the outset, then deal with follow up opposition as it arrives.”

  Winter adds: “We must contain the bird guards and SAC’s commandos. We can’t let them unite. The key is to shut down coms to Washi barracks and skybase facilities outside the city.”

  “Are you sure you can take control?”

  “Yes, we’ll take over,” Onur assures. “We’ll decapitate the regime, as Major Winter said. The question is, can we hold on against the inevitable counterattack until the rest of you get here?”

  “Pay special attention to the sewers, Onur. That rat warren SAC calls its Main HQ is laced with tunnels.” It’s an offworld general who used to hold a command in the city center. He’s literally been under SAC HQ more than once, even into a few of the secret tunnels. They really worry him.

  “We’ll take care of it.” It’s the special forces commander tasked with taking down SAC’s inner defenses. “I’ll have SOF blocking detachments in place below their HQ, inside 15 mikes.”

  “Good. I worry about the tunnels.”

  “So, we’re agreed again. We have a plan that can work, if we all do our jobs. Are we all agreed? Major Winter, call the roll.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Yes, yes, We all agree, Onur. No need to make a count.”

  “Yet, we must be clear about this. We’ll still have an officer problem to deal with after we win. Too many are loyal to Pyotr and not a few also to Purity. Even inside my own command.”

  “Mine too.

  “We all know this is true. Yet, younger officers are trained to obey their lawful military superiors. Act the part, allow no dissent. Be utterly ruthless with the rest.”

  “Exactly what do you mean by that, Onur?”

  “As soon as you get the order, arrest and detain all who resist, including any who hesitate to obey. Prepare a flash list in advance of any subordinates you trust, and a list of those you don’t. Keep nothing written or recorded. Burn all flashes. Keep both lists close, in your mind alone.”

  “Prudent tradecraft, Onur. But what if my officers object when the moment comes?”

  “Shoot the first man who questions your authority in this matter of the recall of the invasions, or the change in regime. Do it yourself. Then order your adjutant to shoot the second man, if there is one. Then the third. The rest will get in line. Meanwhile, your closest aides will be committed to us by joining in the spilling of blood, even if that’s not where they start out.”

  “It has come to this, shoot some of our own officers and implicate the rest?”

  “Yes, if you must. Reconcile yourselves to this action. Most of you will have to do it. Some version of it, anyway.”

  “The officer corps had better fall in line as you say, or all of us gathered in this room tonight are dead men.”

  “Our families, too. Down to our children’s children.”

  “So shoot all the bastards who resist and save your families,” snorts General McAuley. Major Winter thinks again that he’s glad so ruthless and decisive a man is on his side.

  ***

  “Major Winter, summarize the findings to this point in our deliberations.”

  “Sir, yes field marshal. First, our principal goal and justification is that the war must be stopped. Next, to stop the war Pyotr must be removed. There’s no way around that, though we don’t agree on the method. Third, we’ll make an, ummm, eradication, eliminating Purity men, ummm, from positions of power.”

  “That means we attack and demolish SAC HQ and arrest their regiments in the field.” It’s the SOF commander, affirming the massacre order. “Later, we can mop up the offworld cohorts.”

  “Gentlemen, is it agreed as I’ve reported?”

  “Yes, major.”

  “Agreed, yes, yes.”

  “Indeed. It must be done. Damn their gray hides.”

  “Concur. But what do we do with Pyotr? Do we arrest him or kill him, Onur?”

  “We must do both. I favor a swift trial, on charges of treason against the nation and the Peace of Orion. Followed by an even swifter execution.”

  Onur’s suggestion convinces most, but not all. McAuley is committed, so now he’s going all in. He wants Pyotr killed at the outset, without a trial.

  “It’s too risky. We chance that a trial may turn against us. He’s no fool, and can curl a phrase better than any man in this room.
His gilt tongue is a real danger to our chances, and our lives.”

  A second general supports him: “Even worse would be if our peoples divide. Half or more could rally to him and to Purity, during a trial and after.”

  And now a third: “He’ll evoke Purity to save himself, even if he disbelieves in it. Then civil war will spread across the systems.”

  McAuley again: “We can’t permit that. It’s why Pyotr must die right off.”

  A doubter, who’s getting cold feet as he listens to talk of killing the sovereign: “What of our loyalty oaths? How are we to kill the man to whom we swore obeisance?

  Onur is prepared for this one. “The possibility of civil war, or of catastrophic war with farfolk empires, is so much worse than killing him that the threat surely voids our most solemn oaths.”

  Winter is ready too, with an even stronger argument. “With the greatest respect, generals and admirals, war does far more than that. It makes tyrannicide your moral duty. It’s the only way you have to save the nation from calamity.”

  “Yes,” Onur reinforces. “Major Winter is right. We in this room have a higher duty, of loyalty to the nation and not to Pyotr, not the man or dynast. We must kill the head to save the body.”

  Ali Pasha advises: “Think on this: it will not be forgotten by our people if we fail to kill him and then he starts this war we can’t win, against the other Great Powers of Orion. They’ll turn on him, but they’ll turn harder against all of us when war returns to scourge our homeworlds.”

  General McAuley: We should kill him during the coup. Swiftly, surely, and certainly. Let us be done with this troublesome, warmongering ass!”

  Onur says: “I disagree, but call the roll. We must decide and act, all together.”

  A half minute later, Winter states: “The roll is called. You are seven-to-three in favor of killing Pyotr on the day. The only question that remains is the method.”

  “There’s only one way the peoples of the Imperium will accept murder of a legitimate sovereign. It must be done with silken cords.”

  “Rubbish! That was the way of the Brethren, and they’re mostly dead! Just shoot him!”

  “No, that will cost us too much support at the start, when we need it most. I say use the degen he always carries, the blade he took from his mother’s corpse.”

  “A sound compromise. It’s a real degen, and unlike a maser shot, it will not violate tradition too much. I think the majority will accept that.”

  “Who will do it?” Ali Pasha asks. He’ll be in orbit or in GGS HQ at the time.

  “I’ve just the man: Altair Seljuk. He’ll do anything to secure revenge on Pyotr, after losing his family and fortune to Oetkert assassins.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “During the Red Purge, his father was accused but then acquitted of being in league with the Broderbund in their murder of the Dowager’s husband.”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  “Last year, that dog eater Watanabe raised the charge again. He had Seljuk’s father excommunicated from the First Caste and killed. The family line has just been ruled illegitimate.”

  “Why did he do it, Onur?”

  “The boy from Fates covets Seljuk’s estates here on Kestino for himself. I think we can get two-for-one from Seljuk: Pyotr, and his familiar, Watanabe.”

  “At last we come to it, Onur. What is it you propose after the damned ‘holy blade’ sinks into Pyotr’s chest and his pet poodle is dead, too? Who will rule the Imperium? You? Us, in a junta? Who comes after the emperor dies?”

  “We bring back Prince Friedrich. Lift him out of his velvet cell and prop him on the throne. That maintains legitimacy of the Oetkert-Shaka family lines and guarantees support from all the Old Families.”

  “That’s good, Onur.”

  “It’s bloody brilliant! He’ll be no threat to us at all, while we finish off SAC.”

  “Yes. It also puts our forced conspiracy inside the grand tradition of change of our rulers by assassination, but keeps succession within the true dynasty. Only from now on we military will do the necessary killing of Oetkerts, not those twisted fanatics in the Broderbund. Agreed?”

  Again the round is called. Every man agrees. It’s a wise move, designed to appeal to the essential conservatism of this select group. After all, they conspire to murder but they’re not revolutionaries. Neither are the masses. Or not yet.

  “Good night, gentlemen. Stagger your departure times. We ten senior leaders gathered in this room must never again be seen together, except inside the Great General Staff planning room where no suspicion will attain. Work though my adjutant here. Avoid direct communications.”

  Parade

  The plotters are almost caught before they start, when small groups or just individuals act on their own. Two colonels on the forest world of Huertgen were recruited into the Resistance by their general, against Onur’s orders to keep things tight. They’re double agents. They work inside the local cell for a month before breaking cover. The first man to die of the many they betray is defiant as he kneels under the guillotine blade: “You say that I’m a traitor, but I’m a better officer and a better man than any of you. I did my duty, trying to save us from the path to wreckage you will take us down, into this new war we are doomed to lose.”

  Brave man, but his courage doesn’t prevent the Resistance on Huertgen being taken apart. Kempeitai arrest all the top men, then smash the planetary network. “Infected units” are removed from the invasion order of battle, and from secret lists Onur assembled for his coup, and badly needs. The game turns deadly as dozens of officers are accused, tortured brutally in secret, name still more officers as likely or actual members of the Resistance, and are executed by Kempeitai or Rikugun security. It’s a rolling purge. Huertgen is lost to the Resistance.

  At Zug, a Resister tries to leak invasion plans to an SRG agent waiting at a linked bohr zone just across the frontier. He thinks the coup will fail, and that the best way to stop the war is to tell the Calmar Union that it’s coming. He rides a mini stealth, a prototype scout, to an outer Trojan LP. But he’s intercepted before he can jump, trying to sneak into the bohr zone. Turns out the prototype needs a lot more work, especially with all frontier security on high alert. He hits self destruct on his little ship and it blossoms into white. Five hours later, they find Zug system mobilization plans in the wreckage, only 98% burned.

  They find him free floating in a camoed escape pod with its transponder turned off. Brought onboard a cruiser, he can’t explain why he entered the security zone in a mini stealth, then never asked for help as its engines failed, or turned on his pod beacon. He’s thrown into the rescue ship’s brig. During a series of vicious beatings and truth drug interrogations, and deep cuttings with Broderbund tools, they mock his cover story that he was testing the prototype and Zug defenses by trying to sneak around the frontier blockade and past border LP patrols.

  “You take us for fools? Cut him again! Deeper!” A day later, after more cutting and worse torments, they think they have broken him. It’s true that he no longer lies, but they never break anything except his bones. His defiance is intact.

  “You filthy traitor! Why were you in that stealth? Why were you giving our war game dispositions to squid intelligence?”

  His defiance stays intact. “To stop this damn war.”

  “What war? You mean the simulation?”

  “You are a fool. It’s no mere war game going on out there.”

  “You’re wrong, But let’s say it is the real thing, do you want us to fail?”

  “Yes, I do. I want the invasion to totally fail.”

  “You admit it, traitor! You want our boys to die!”

  “Some would die, yes. But more will live. If I can’t stop the war, then the next best thing is to end it as quickly as possible. An alert enemy means stalemate along the frontiers. A war nobody wins fast will be more swiftly brought to an end, once it’s clear to all how futile the fighting is.” He’ll be
proven terribly wrong about that. The Fourth Orion War will rage in red stalemate for many years. But it’s not a bad theory at the time. Plausible, at least. Even Rikugun MI thinks so.

  “Dog cooker! You failed. We sent our man to meet the SRG agent, carrying your ID and contact codes. The squid turned very angry with the fake you.”

  “You truly are a fool! But thank you. You just gave SRG the tipoff, after I failed to do it!”

  “He didn’t believe the information that you fed him earlier. He didn’t believe our man who we sent as your doppelgänger. He said his superiors think that you’re an agent provocateur.”

  “That’s a lie!”

  “When he finds how phony the substitute plans our man gave him really are, he’ll report you to Kars as utterly unreliable.”

  “You’ll ruin everything that we are with this war you’ll make!”

  “You’re right. I lied to you. We are going to war! We’ll win many new worlds! Some because of you. Because our fake you let slip false info on our buildup strength in nine systems. Six are totally false. That’ll pull ships and troops away from our real target worlds. We’re going to get more tactical surprise and greater local superiority because of your treason. Well done!”

  “Oh gods! Why can’t you see the truth of what you’re doing to us all?”

  “Don’t worry, we’re going to win. As for you? You’re going back to Novaya Uda. Our best interrogators are there, below SAC Main HQ. You know the place. They’ll give you slow pain that never stops. You’ll sing a lovely song, filled with names of all your traitor friends.” He doesn’t trust himself not to talk. Resisters in the Zug network are dead, but he’s afraid he’ll give up key names that will lead counterintelligence back to the main leadership on Kestino. As they move to bind him and take him to a prison ship, he bites down on a death dot.

  ***

  The fiasco on Huertgen and security breaches at Zug and elsewhere worry Onur, but he can’t advance the coup timing. It remains tied to the ‘Go!’ order. That’s far too slow for some. They act on their own, without Onur’s say so or support or any coordination with the wider Resistance. Local cells and low level Resisters move ahead. Most plans wither into nothing, dried out by doubt raised but left unanswered. Some fall to counterintelligence, discovered or aborted by arrests. A couple are tried, but fizzle out or fail miserably as fate or chance takes a hand. It’s almost as though Providence protects Pyotr from the Resistance.