Deathtrap

by Craig Alanson

  Half the air left the room as shocked breaths were sucked in. Ross took a step forward, trying to salvage the situation that was spinning out of control. “Colonel Perkins, if you are accusing-”

  “I am not accusing anyone, Sir. I am presenting facts. The facts will do the accusing all by themselves.

  The Navy officer was one of a few people not outraged by Perkins’ statement. “They agreed to hand over the planet, of course they knew we were coming.”

  “No,” Perkins made a cutting motion with one hand, a gesture she knew the Ruhar understood. “No, the lizards knew WE were coming. The Alien Legion, humans. They knew the occupation of this world would not be assigned to your Spaceborne Cavalry. That's why they brought Keepers here, to screw with us. The timing shows those Keepers left their home base before the Fresno mission was officially approved. The lizards were tipped off, well ahead of time. They knew, before your own military knew this planet was assigned for occupation.”

  Yusafft was perhaps not as dim-witted as his reputation. “Colonel, you may be surprised to know that you are not the only person capable of stringing facts together to reach a conclusion.” Even through the translator, his tone was that of an adult speaking to a child. “My office is aware these ‘Keeper’ people were brought here under suspicious circumstances, and I can assure you that we are investigating. Now, if there is nothing else to discuss, we can-”

  Perkins reached into a pocket, pulled out a chunk of charred metal and tossed it to clang on the desk. “Your investigation should consider this evidence.”

  All eyes in the room looked at the mysterious object for only a split second before everyone’s focus turned to Glabosor’s operations manager, who had attracted their attentions with a startled gasp. Penda Lorfo had until then been mostly invisible, spending his time in meetings and scurrying around seeing to one thing or another, while Chief Counsel Taff Milstratt was the official face and voice of Glabosor on the planet. Lorfo had the unenviable task of inspecting Kristang facilities after the Legion had cleared an area, working with his team of engineers and technicians to assess whether power plants, water systems and other vital infrastructure were ready for use by the occupying power, or needed to be torn out and replaced. Glabosor had an incentive to use existing infrastructure as much as possible, because the colony preparation contract limited the amount of additional charges the contractor could submit for reimbursement.

  At the moment, the invisible corporate man was very visible as he stared at the charred chunk of metal on the desk. Under the light fur covering his fuzzy face, his skin had turned pale. Lorfo’s skin then turned pink as he spun his head around to face the contractor’s chief counsel. “You idiot!” He hissed.

  “You idiot!” Milstratt snapped. “Don’t say anything.”

  “I am not taking the blame for-”

  “Don’t say anything, you fool. Shut. Up!” Milstratt’s voice ascended into a squeak.

  Yusafft was shocked, rocking back in his chair. Milstratt was his chief contact at the company whose support had been vital to Yusafft being assigned to Feznako as Commissioner. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Milstratt, what is going on?”

  “Commissioner Yusafft,” the attorney’s voice had not completely regained its usual oily charm. “Our operations manager is distraught by-”

  “By getting caught red-handed, you piece of shit.” Perkins interrupted.

  “Colonel,” Ross reached forward to touch the chunk of metal, but Yusafft snatched it up for himself. He looked up at his subordinate with renewed confidence. Whatever game the Mavericks commander was playing, it had the Glabosor executives terrified. “Explain yourself, please.”

  “Sergeant Jarrett and Cadet Dandurf found this object, and many others, in the debris field created when the Kristang hit one of the company’s supply dumps.”

  “We told you to disperse your equipment,” Ross began to say.

  “Yes, Sir,” Perkins could not afford to lose her momentum. “The company’s tardiness in moving equipment away from the landing zones is not the problem. The problem is why they left their gear piled up in three LZs, nice juicy and vulnerable targets. They knew those supply dumps would get hit. They wanted those supplies to get hit.”

  “Colonel,” Yusafft held the twisted metal up close to one eye and turned it over in his hands. “I do not understand. What is this, thing?”

  Milstratt spoke before Perkins could answer. “Clearly, Commissioner, it is a part of some equipment that was destroyed when the enemy targeted our capability to hold this planet and bring it up to standard for colonization. You can see the material is charred from the explosion.”

  Perkins leaned forward, both hands on the edge of the desk. “You can also see-”

  Gaining in confidence, Milstratt softened his tone. “Commissioner, our company laboratories can analyze the debris if you are curious. I am sure we could identify which machinery it came from and-”

  To the chief counsel’s surprise, Yusafft held up one finger for silence. “Milstratt, I would like to hear what the human officer has to say.”

  “Commissioner,” the attorney held up his hands in supplication. “She is a dedicated officer, but surely humans are too primitive to understand the tech-”

  “Colonel Perkins is a Maverick, Milstratt,” Yusafft snapped in anger. “Kindly shut the hell up and let her speak. Colonel, I am curious, this object does indeed appear to be debris from a railgun strike. It is scorched and I can see here,” he ran a finger lightly along one side, “where it tore away from whatever it was attached to before the Kristang bombardment.”

  “Yes, and-” Perkins began to explain.

  “However,” Yusafft turned the piece around so the other side faced Milstratt. “On this other side, it appears to also have been torn away from something. Curious, on this side, the area where the metal is torn away is corroded.” He ran a finger along the edge, pressing hard into the material. “See, Milstratt, this edge is dull. Surely the corrosion could not have occurred in the short time since the bombardment?”

  Before the attorney could answer, the company operations manager stepped forward. “It was all his idea! I didn’t know until I was in transit!”

  And before the attorney could do more than screw up his face in anger, Yusafft jabbed an index finger in the air for silence. “Lorfo, you are telling me that your company delivered substandard equipment?”

  Lorfo opened his mouth, closed it and looked at Milstratt, whose tight control over his emotions could not prevent relief from showing on his face for a split-second. Neither man spoke, the ops manager’s eyes wide open while the chief counsel’s eyes narrowed in silent warning. Finally, Lorfo nodded for his colleague to respond. “Commissioner, we will certainly investigate any use of components that do not meet the contract standards, however,” he shrugged and held out both hands, palms up. “As all three of the supply landing zones were struck by kinetic weapons, any investigation will be diffic-”

  “No!” Shauna spoke for the first time. “You lying sack of shit.”

  The Commissioner was amused. “Sergeant, while I am not sure my translator understood your statement with complete accuracy, I do understand the sentiment.”

  “He is lying!” Shauna did not wait for Perkins to encourage her to speak.

  Ross held out a hand toward Shauna, desperate to cut UNEF’s losses. In his mind, the dispute was about whether a Ruhar contractor had tried to screw over the Ruhar government, and humans had no business, no interest in the matter. All the sergeant could do was make UNEF look like uncontrollable busybodies in the middle of a war. “That is enough, Sergeant. Commissioner, please accept my-”

  “No, it’s not enough,” Perkins interrupted.

  “Colonel,” Ross’s teeth were clenched. “The Mavericks do not get a free pass on-”

  “With all due respect, Sir, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Perkins waved Shauna to continue. “You need to trust me, trust us, on this one.
I can assure you that Cadet Dandurf agrees one hundred percent on our assessment that what we found is a direct threat to the entire Legion, and to the Ruhar presence on this planet.” Meeting Yusafft’s eyes, she added “He is preparing a message to his aunt about the matter, Commissioner. You should know the subject of his message before your government sees it.”

  There was no possibility that Yusafft would risk government leaders above him hearing bad news about the situation on Feznako before he knew about it. Knew about it, and had time to put his own spin on the official story. “Sergeant,” his eyes focused on the dirty fabric nametag of Shauna’s uniform, and there was a hesitation while he either tried to recall her name or tried to determine how to pronounce the letters of an alien language. “Jay-ret? Speak, and get to the point quickly, please.”

  Shauna took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, sharing a look with Perkins, who gave the sergeant a thumb’s up behind her back.

  “Aliens cannot present evidence,” Milstratt declared in his best voice of authority. “It is not allowable under our system of just-”

  “Evidence? Justice?” Yusafft’s head swiveled between Milstratt and Jarrett. “This is a criminal matter?”

  “I did not,” Milstratt was stricken as he realized his mistake. “That is, I did not mean-”

  “I will hear what the sergeant has to say,” Yusafft sat forward in his chair, fists clenched on the desk.

  “Regrettably, Commissioner, you do not have authority over this matter,” Milstratt dropped any pretense of subservience. “The contract clearly states-”

  “You dare tell me what I can do? On my planet?” Yusafft screeched.

  “The law is clear, Commissioner,” the chief counsel for Glabosor sniffed in a dismissive manner, and turned toward the doorway. “I will prepare a statement for-”

  Yusafft stood, his face flushed with anger. “This planet is under martial law at the moment, Milstratt. Here, now, I am the law.” He jerked a finger first at the pair of armed guards who stood by the doorway, then at the Glabosor attorney. “If Mister Milstratt attempts to leave, or interfere, or even open his damned mouth again, you will restrain him. By any means necessary. Is that clear?”

  One of the guards moved to block the doorway, while the other took two strides to reach Milstratt, and another step to force the attorney’s back against the far wall. Both guards had a hand on their sidearms.

  “General Ross,” Yusafft fumed, kicking his chair back and leaning on the desk, “you said enough. I agree. I will have the truth, now. Now, Sergeant Jay-ret.”

  Shauna did not know Commissioner Yusafft. She did know how to read people, and she knew the politician wanted unvarnished truth. The time for polished presentations was over. “These two motherfuckers,” she pointed first at Milstratt then at Lorfo, judging whether Yusafft understood the curse word’s translation. “Set us up. The crates at those supply dumps were not filled with old equipment, they were filled with junk. Scrap metal, anything that weighed enough to make it seem like the crates were packed with gear for the colonization effort. That is why the company refused to disperse their mountains of crates from the landing zones, why they refused the Legion’s offer to disperse the gear so it wouldn’t be vulnerable to an orbital strike. They didn’t want us to see what was in those crates. They wanted those supply dumps to get hit. They planned for the supply dumps to get hit!”

  Hearing that was a bit too much even for Yusafft, who was used to double-dealing on a vast scale. His shoulders slumped slightly and with the corner of one eye he watched Milstratt, knowing the attorney for a powerful company could disrupt Yusafft’s career. “You have evidence?”

  “We do,” Shauna took a step forward to hand her tablet to the leader of the planet, but was waved back by Perkins.

  “We do have evidence,” Perkins stated flatly. “There is debris like that scattered all around the impact site closest to here. The other two sites will be searched when we can get to them. We can arrange for your people to visit the site if-”

  Shauna Jarrett was not the only being in the room who could read body language, and Yusafft saw the rising panic that was afflicting Glabosor’s local operations manager. Clearly, Lorfo knew something that Yusafft needed to know. Unfortunately, that man was still undecided about whether to speak, his eyes alternating between staring at the floor and looking to Milstratt for help or guidance. “These are very serious accusations,” Yusafft said with a hint of a smile, pleased with his own cleverness. He sat down in the chair and leaned back casually. “As I stated, this planet is under martial law. There are two of you,” he pointed to the two company officials. “The first one to tell me the truth will receive a deal. The other will receive a maser beam to the head, for treason.”

  “You wouldn’t-” Lorfo gulped.

  “Try me,” Yusafft spat, relishing the opportunity to play the tough guy.

  “It was his idea!” Lorfo shouted.

  Milstratt pushed himself away from the wall. “You can’t prove-”

  “Remove Mister Milstratt from the room immediately,” Yusafft ordered quietly, and the guard hustled the protesting attorney out the doorway and somewhere the man could not be heard. “Now, Lorfo, you heard my offer. The truth, all of it, right now. Leave anything out, or lie to me, and you will be joining your former colleague.”

  It was a full minute before the operations manager could speak, he was shaking so hard. “We always include obsolete equipment on contracts like this,” his eyes pleaded for understanding. “Everyone knows it. Everyone does it. Nothing that would endanger the colony effort, it’s just, we had to bid so low, we can’t afford to use new gear.” He paused, and Yusafft gestured for him to continue. “This time was different. Our supply people scrounged up the usual complement of obsolete and worn-out crap, but, it, it never got here. I didn’t know, not until we were in transit, almost here, and Milstratt told me the deal. We had all the documents to show the gear we bought, but it got diverted and sold. The crates got swapped out with, like you said, scrap metal.”

  The room was dead silent, everyone waiting for Yusafft’s reaction. When he did speak, it was with an accusing finger pointed at Lorfo. The finger was trembling with rage, fear, indignation, or all three. “Why? Are you stupid?” He spat. “We would discover your treachery as soon as the crates were-”

  “Those crates were never going to be delivered, never going to be opened, never going to be inspected,” Perkins answered for Lorfo. “That’s why they sat piled up at the landing zone, so they would be nice big fat targets for the Kristang.”

  Yusafft shook his head, disbelieving what he was hearing. “Why? How?”

  “The ‘how’ I know,” Perkins continued. “The ‘why’ I am still guessing at. Glabosor never intended to fulfill the colony contract here. They tipped off the Kristang that the Legion would be assigned to this planet. My guess is-”

  Lorfo possessed enough natural arrogance that he couldn’t stand someone telling a story wrong. “The company is going bankrupt,” he blurted out. To the shocked faces in the room, he shrugged. “Too many years of underbidding to win contracts, and bad management. The company saw Feznako as a golden opportunity. We would pocket the upfront payment for our fixed costs and never have to deliver. Plus, we could claim insurance for all the gear that got destroyed at the supply dumps. If Glabosor had to actually do the colony prep work here, the company would go under in a flood of lawsuits. Feznako was supposed to save the company. Someone, not me,” he stared at the Commissioner with pleading eyes, “paid out bribes to get Feznako on the colonization list, and for the Alien Legion to be assigned here. I suspect, I don’t know, to be clear, that the company tipped off the Kristang even before the Legion was assigned here. You,” he glanced at Yusafft with guilt, “were part of the plan. The company paid to have you assigned here. They, they didn’t want an experienced administrator here.” The way he pronounced ‘experienced’ it implied he meant ‘competent’. “It was the perfect set-up,” the
corners of his lips curled up with pride. “The Legion was doomed right from the start, and neither the Army or Navy wants this piece of shit planet. We were never going to take this planet, so why should someone not profit from it?”

  General Ross rocked back on his heels, stunned. He clenched his fists, struggling mightily with himself not to punch the alien’s smug face.

  Emily Perkins distracted him by interrupting. “That is why you needed those supply dumps to get hit, right? To wipe out the evidence?”

  Lorfo nodded. “Again, that was not my idea. Milstratt set up that arrangement. I thought the crates had the usual assortment of obsolete gear, until he told me the truth during the flight here. My guess is, Milstratt or somebody saw an opportunity to make money on the side, by selling off the real equipment and substituting scrap metal. They were greedy, they were stupid. But, it should have worked!” He cried in anguish.

  Perkins laughed bitterly. “It should have, except the Kristang saw an opportunity to mess with their enemy. They dialed down the yield on those railguns, so evidence would survive. They screwed you over, just like you screwed us.”

  “Yesssss,” Yusafft exhaled. He did not know whether to be angry at the Kristang for their treachery, or admire them for their astute political skills. “This incident will create an immense scandal, probably threaten the stability of the government. Again,” he shot an unfriendly look at Perkins. The failed raid on Earth had caused a scandal and nearly caused the government to collapse. For the second time, humans had been involved in paralyzing the Ruhar federal government. He sighed and slumped in the chair. “Bring Milstratt here, now.”

  The chief counsel of Glabosor figured he had nothing to lose at that point. The downcast eyes of Lorfo told him the man had told everything he knew and awaited his fate. Pleading with the Commissioner would do Milstratt no good, he could not appeal to the idiot politician’s sense of fairness because he cared only about himself. What he could do was appeal to Yusafft’s instinct for self-preservation. “Commissioner, I assume you have heard whatever unlikely stories Lorfo and these aliens have told you. I cannot take responsibility for actions of the company operations manager-”