by Selina Rosen
Mickey nodded. "Tell them that this ocean is not like that. In fact this ocean is named . . ." It took him a minute to remember the old name that Topaz had told him, and then he wasn't sure he got it right. "The Pacifist. It's called that because it is a mostly peaceful ocean. They only have to watch out for the undertows, and the fishermen will show them how to do that. Tell them I promise that if they learn the proper way to do things on the ocean, it's safe."
Gerald told them everything Mickey said and they seemed to believe him. They boarded the boats, each with their own interpreter.
Now after just a year, not only were they fishing and feeding themselves but they were shipping fish inland as well. They had taken all that they knew about hunting and used it to fish.
For a while everything had been going so smoothly that Mickey had all but forgotten RJ's warning about the Reliance. She had said that it was only a matter of time till they tried to take back what they had lost.
He had naïvely thought that when they had foiled their plot by turning the Fourers against the very Reliance it had been sent here to serve, they had succeeded in proving that any attempt at aggression would meet such failure. He should have known better.
The real problem was that RJ hadn't lived to make it to Deakard. She hadn't enlisted the help of the Argy in their fight against the Reliance, and with the Argy-Reliance war being in a temporary lull the Reliance had more than enough manpower to send troops and weapons to Earth. Mickey knew RJ would have seen the offensive strike coming and would have made plans to avert it. Mickey hadn't been aware they were in trouble till the Reliance had pounded the small town of Redenoak, just over the border in the Northeast quarter of New Freedom.
It was a return to the old days of Reliance brutality. They had bombarded the town and killed every living thing. The military base and new hospital they had just built had been pounded completely level, and then the Reliance troops had retreated. By the time the reinforcements arrived there was nothing to do but bulldoze up the piles of debris and bodies and set the whole thing on fire. Before the flames could die down the Reliance hit again, and though they were ready this time, it was all the New Alliance could do to hold its ground.
They couldn't go on long like this. They hadn't even repaired all the damage created by the war. People were just starting to get their lives back, learning how to live in a free society. How to work together for common goals without fighting like children. The liberated work units of New Freedom were just beginning to taste the fruits of their victory. Their bellies were just beginning to know what it was like to be full. They had just gotten decent healthcare. There were schools, factories, hospitals and opportunities. They were just learning what it was like to have hope. Hope that the future had something wonderful to offer.
War was going to tear down everything they had built up.
And then everything that RJ, and Levits, Poley and Topaz had lived and died for would truly be lost.
There was only one choice and that was to keep fighting. But while they were fighting, factories and schools didn't get built, and inevitably some of what had been built would be lost.
Worst of all, men and women would die. People who had just begun to learn the joys of freedom would die to protect it.
Hope would be lost, the people would be easily filled with a more familiar emotion—despair, and then everything would fall apart.
And for what? So that the Reliance could keep power over everything. For what reason? Why did they have to have it all? Why did they have to have any of it? They were a nameless and faceless entity, a corporation whose sole purpose seemed to be to enslave humankind and make it miserable.
Earth wasn't the only place there was a problem with newborn Reliance aggression. David had contacted him just two days ago. The Reliance had attacked Pam Station. The station crew had been forced to make a decision and make it quickly. So, after doing as much damage as possible to the attacking Reliance fleet, the crew of the station had evacuated to the planet's surface, rigging the station with explosives and blowing it up as the last of the crew landed on Beta 4. Pam Station's explosive demise had taken out what remained of the Reliance fleet, but it could hardly be called a victory.
It was a huge loss to all of them. The New Alliance had been using the ships they had confiscated with the station and had used the space station to smuggle goods to and from Beta 4. Without the space station, and with the strong gravitational pull of the planet to contend with, this trade route was dead. This would hurt the New Alliance both on Earth and on Beta 4. The jumpgate was still intact, but it looked like that might actually be more a problem than a solution, as it allowed Reliance ships to come and go from their space at will.
It seemed that without her presence they were swiftly losing all that RJ had gained for them.
Mickey wondered if the Reliance would now attack Beta 4 as they were attacking Earth. If they did, how could the Fourers and the few New Alliance troops stationed there hope to stand against the might of the Reliance with a fistful of ships they didn't have enough fuel for, and mostly primitive weapons?
"Well?" Stratton asked David expectantly.
David shrugged and shook his head as he paced in front of Taleed's throne. He didn't know what she expected of him; after all, she was the one with all the military experience. "I don't know. Maybe."
"Maybe he says," the young king bellowed, throwing his mechanical hands around, making broad circles above his head, and showing his obvious state of panic. "Maybe! We can't run the kingdom on maybes. Yes or no?"
"I'm not a freaking fortune teller!" David yelled back. "I don't know whether we should destroy the jumpgate or not. If we do we cut off the Reliance's route here, at least until they can construct a new one, but we also cut off our route to Earth. I don't have any information that you don't have. I have no way of knowing whether the Reliance will attack the planet's surface or not. Why do you expect me to know any more than you do?" he demanded of Taleed, and then without giving him time to answer David turned on Bradley and Stratton. "And you two! If any of us could second-guess what the Reliance might do next, I would think it would be you. After all, you were in the Reliance military, I never was. RJ made the plans, she did the strategy, all I ever did was talk, and follow. The one time I decided to lead a group of men into battle all but a handful were killed for their trouble.
"We were all more or less sure they wouldn't attack the station because it was so well armored and armed that it would cost them too much to take it. But we all watched as you blasted one ship after another from the sky and they just kept coming. They didn't really seem to give a damn."
"We forgot just how little human life means to the Reliance," Bradley said. He turned from looking out the huge cracked window that adorned the throne room to face the others. "They didn't use big expensive ships. They brought in a carrier, parked it out of our weapon range, and then just kept launching one assault after another. Jak-10s are what they call "throwaway" ships. Nothing but flying death traps really. Like wrapping yourself in aluminum foil and lighting your ass on fire. But they can carry a big-assed missile, and they come at you by the dozens. Trying to drop them before they get to you is like trying to wade through water without getting wet."
Janad walked into the throne room looking as hugely and uncomfortably pregnant as she was. She smiled at David as she took the closest seat she could find. "How we lost the station is immaterial. Find out why we lost the station, and you'll know why they suddenly decided it was worth it to lose so many ships, no matter how inexpensive they were, and so many men. Even when life is cheap, it's not free. If we knew why they attacked the station now, we'd know whether or not they mean to attack the planet's surface."
"She's right," Taleed said, apparently understanding her logic even when David and the other Earthers didn't. Taleed saw the puzzled looks on their faces and explained slowly, so that they might understand. "RJ said they wouldn't attack because it wasn't worth losing many ships for a
space station in bad repair, in service to a planet which would no longer trade with the Reliance. We must have seemed like, as she said, more trouble than we were worth. So . . . Why are we now suddenly worth the trouble? If it's a trouble caused by the station but not by the planet, the planet may not be a target at all." He fell silent, obviously trying to answer his own question.
"They might have found out about the trade going on between us and Earth. Since they attacked New Freedom, our supplying the bastards with anything might have been a threat to them," David suggested. "In which case they might destroy the jumpgate themselves."
Stratton took in a deep breath and let it out so quickly that everyone heard her. They all turned to look at her expectantly. "They see us as a potential military base, a potential army. Weapons could be built and stored here. Fleets of ships could be anchored on the moons. We became a target because they see us as a potential threat."
"As they well should," Taleed said in a strongly testosterone-filled voice.
David smiled, but mostly ignored the young king. "So they took out the station—or at least got us to take it out ourselves—successfully keeping us from sending troops to Earth, or to keep the New Alliance from sending ships and weapons here. Either way, now that the supply line has been shut down the planet, if not the jumpgate, should be safe."
"But we can't bet on it," Stratton said. "What if their motive is nothing more complicated than they aren't busy fighting the Argy right now so they might as well tackle the New Alliance while they have the extra time, ships and manpower? It's just the kind of stupid shit they would do. In any case, I don't think it would do for us to drop our guard."
"But what's our guard?" Janad asked. "We need more weapons, better weapons, if we have to fight the Reliance here. Where are we going to get them if we destroy the jumpgate?"
"She's right. Spears, arrows and rock hammers aren't going to stop a full-fledged Reliance assault fleet," Bradley said.
"I was thinking about that ship in the mountain," Janad said.
"Ship in the mountain?" Bradley asked.
"Yes, of course!" David said excitedly. He walked over and kissed Janad on the top of her head. "The Argy ship. It had that horrible weapon we used on the GSHs. Who knows what else it might have?"
"And we've got the few skiffs and small ships we brought from the station, and some hand-held laser rifles and blasters as well," Stratton said.
"But no power packs," Bradley reminded them. "The only ships we have that are large enough to do the flight between here and Earth had to land on the surface, and there isn't enough fuel if we used all the fuel cells from all the ships for even one to lift off this planet. These ships were all forced into battle, and firing the guns uses up the fuel cells fast. Hell, all but one of them wouldn't be flight worthy without major repairs."
"But they could send supplies to us through the jumpgate. Meet us on one of our moons. We have plenty of power to run the skiffs," Stratton said excitedly.
"We were using our ships, remember, and they're all here stranded here with us. They'd have to steal a ship first, and it sounds like they have their own problems," Bradley reminded.
"Still, if we close the jumpgate we shut down any hope of aid from that sector," Stratton said. "If the Reliance is hell-bent on using it to bring ships here to attack us, blowing the gate will only slow them down. You know as well as I do that they could construct a new and better fortified gate in two weeks—tops."
Bradley nodded in silent agreement.
"You and your maintenance crew can build anything. Isn't that what you're always bragging about?" David said. "We have geothermal power running out our asses."
"And don't think that doesn't smart," Janad said.
David ignored her. "We could fix up that old Argy ship. All you have to do is find a way to convert geothermal power into something we can use to power the ships and the weapons."
"All right. Not that it's going to be as easy as you're making it sound, but let's say it's possible and we can do that. I still don't understand what you expect me to do with some old ship, maybe not in much better shape than this one. One that's grown into the side of a mountain no less," Bradley said.
"This one fired its gun when we most needed it to," Taleed reminded.
"That's right," David said. "Let's say we could take some of the stuff you brought with you . . ."
"'Stuff' being a technical term," Bradley said with a smile, though it was obvious that he was starting to get as excited about the possibilities as David.
David mostly ignored the ribbing and went on. "The ship is already up a mountain. Let's say we could turn it into an early warning station of sorts. I'm sure it's got equipment that could be made to tell us when and if ships are coming in. It could be made to sound some sort of an alarm to warn us. Why couldn't we take what it's got, add some other stuff and maybe make a powerful laser cannon? One that could knock an invasion fleet from the sky."
Bradley laughed, "And while we're at it, why not just put a giant force field over the entire planet?"
"You know what I mean, Bradley, do the best with what we have," David said.
"That is what we in maintenance are best at, but you have to realize that such a project could take months, maybe even years," Bradley said.
"Then we tackle the simple stuff first," David said. "Shifting the power units to the least damaged ships. We dig barracks and build fortifications . . ."
"And we will train all our people, even as our people have always been trained for war." Taleed stood up from his throne. "We will train our bodies and hope they will not be forced to do battle. We will dig barracks and make fortifications and hope we don't have to dwell in them. We will build weapons and hope we don't have to use them. We will prepare in every way that we can prepare, and we will wait and hope."
David stood by the open window soaking in the cool night breeze and looking up at the small blue moon that was almost blotted out by the much larger white moon it shared the night sky with. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that he wasn't on Earth.
Sometimes it was hard to believe that he was the same farm work unit who'd been sent to a prison work camp for trying to get people to revolt against the Reliance. It seemed like one day he was digging potatoes under the Reliance foreman's watchful eye, and the next he was here on this alien world, and everything in the middle was just a blur. Those days in between had been fast and furious, not like his life before, or even like his life now. Life in those days had been life on the edge, where any wrong move, any glitch in judgment had meant life or death for someone.
His life on Beta 4 had been calm, a time of quiet reflection. Learning to deal with the demons of his past, with his loss, and learning how to move forward. He had forgotten the horror of the Reliance because till a few days ago they had seemed like only a distant bad memory, but now they were back, and . . .
RJ had said they would be. That they'd come to reclaim all that the New Alliance had taken. She'd headed for Argy to try and stop that, but . . . he swallowed a lump in his throat.
My God, it still hurts so much when I think about her. My breath hurts my throat. For so long she was the air I breathed. It's like my lungs don't want to function without her. And yet even with this loss, he looked over his shoulder at the woman who lay in his bed, I have never been happier. It doesn't seem to go together, this great sadness with this great joy. It's like I'm empty and I'm full at the same time. But now it could all change. I've been in war before. I've been in war with my friends and comrades, but never with my wife and my child.
"David, why don't you come to bed?" Janad pleaded. "There is nothing. Nothing at all that can be done that we aren't doing. If they are coming, they will come whether you are watching for them or not."
"I wasn't watching for them." He walked away from the window, over to the bed and climbed in. He reached over the top of her and turned off the light. "I was just thinking." He curled around her back and wrapped his arms around her.
"What were you thinking about, or need I ask?"
"RJ would know what to do, Janad," David said sadly.
"Maybe you know what to do. Maybe Taleed does. Everyone just acts, David. They do the best they can. She wasn't always right. No one's always right. If she was always right, if she had always known what to do, they'd be alive right now."
"I thought . . ." David's voice died in his throat.
"What?" Janad coxed.
"I thought our child would be born in a different world than I was. That he'd be free, and now . . ."
"And now his future is uncertain. Everyone's future is uncertain at their birth, David. He may very well grow up in a free world. If you had grown up in a free world, where would you be now? You don't know, but you do know this, you never would have met me. You wouldn't be here on this world now, and you never would have known RJ. She's gone now, but if you had been born in a free world you never would have met her in the first place. Knowing her, meeting her was the defining moment in your life, as meeting you was the defining moment in mine."
