Jeff nodded. "I will ask Chen what sort of a force he can muster if Jan's security detail is not equal to the task."
"I won't mention that to Jan quite yet," Jon said. "He's already upset and might take offense."
* * *
"The local commander absolutely refuses to release him," Jan said blandly.
How could the man look so calm with such a mess? Jon wondered. He had that sleepy eyed look that made you wonder if he was even listening.
"But his Earthside commander assured us he'd arrange his release," Jon objected. "He has discharge documents if he's just allowed to produce them."
"I know," Jan said, with an exaggerated peeved expression, "but the fellow who took over below since the last coup is sworn to God's Warriors, and the local man is Son's of Liberty. At least that's what he's saying now. I suspect he was Patriot Party until they got their butts kicked in DC and he had to be something else quickly or dead. Apparently the Sons of Liberty are almost as hard-line on Home as the Patriot Party. They diverge on issues. The God's Warriors fellows seem more willing to compromise on Home. Don't ask me why, I'm not about to try sorting out their official positions."
"What can we do?" Jon offered, remembering Jeff's preparations.
"You can't do anything," The Swiss fellow told him, looking suddenly hard. "In my experience, if we sit and let this fester for too long I can almost assure you they will do something even more stupid. I have sufficient competent men, and we don't need a mob for this. They're already putting things in position and on a timeline. My second tier men are basically babysitting the rest of the security team, to make sure they don't lose patience and attack the North American's entry."
"They're still armed?" Jon asked.
"They are both armed and camped out within sight of the American Module hatch," Jan told him. "Only one at a time will leave to get drinks or relieve himself, but they have secure coms. If I'd tried to disarm or remove them I'd have had to fight them first. They look to be a rough bunch and disturbingly well equipped. There would be causalities, and perhaps even damage to infrastructure if I tried to remove them. They are willing to wait knowing I intend to act, not dither about. I'd much rather have them on my side as backup than engage them. Frankly they intimidate me far worse than the Norte Americanos."
Jan didn't look intimidated at all, but Jon took it for a compliment.
"They're about to start, and I'd rather not be distracted. The light speed lag makes dividing my attention to you much too difficult," Jan said, disconnecting abruptly.
* * *
A ring on ISSII was not a continuous torus like on Home. The various sovereign entities had their own sections with physical gaps between. The rotational radius was greater and allowed several levels with closer perceived acceleration than Home. None of the occupants wanted to be at the mercy of a central environmental system, and each had power back-ups of varying effectiveness. Even the water and sewer could be sealed off. This made assault or spying more difficult, exactly by design.
Jan's men intended to start at the furthest ends of the North American module and breach pressure. Exactly how large a hole was critical. Too small a hole would just be patched from the inside. Too large to patch easily but still too slow, might allow the compartment occupants to don emergency suits. Too large a hole might render the people unconscious before they could make it past the area hatch or pressure curtain and seal it. The ideal size hole would alert the occupants the pressure was dropping by sound and their ears popping, convincing them they had one option, to flee the compartment and seal it.
The trick would be to walk these failures in from both ends to drive the entire North American crew into the central corridor and entry spaces. They had to progress at close to the rate at which they could flee the end compartments and seal them. As the growing wave of people needed more time to all clear the next hatch the attackers had to slow down slightly, or risk killing those who didn't make it to the next compartment, before it in turn was breached.
The odds were low that the USNA had any significant number of people suited up. They only had a two person airlock to the outside, and it had no collar to dock a ship. Trying to match velocity and hang that much mass on the rotating station wasn't possible. There might be one or two conventional suits nearby, or just the one size doesn't fit anyone emergency versions. There were safety clips and handholds around the lock to keep anyone exiting from being immediately flung off, but normally suited workers used the larger locks at the hubs. Emergency suits were not comfortable to wear for prolonged periods, and they were easier to damage. They didn't have the endurance of a conventional suit and refurbishing them after a prolonged use was expensive. They expected few or none to be suited up.
Jan left himself completely free of any need to direct the operation so he could sit and see it in an overview. He would only intervene and direct some action if something went wrong. His team leader had a written script on a large single sheet. Electronic failure could not make it vanish before his eyes. Each trooper was named and a timeline of their expected actions detailed under their name. All choreographed in detail from the zero time of the first charge breaching pressure.
The cameras around the module entry had been destroyed, and two flat plates with a threaded pipe fitting had been silently glued to the bulkheads on either side of the entry. When all the module personnel were driven to the central corridor and entry hall they would detonate a small shaped charge to pierce the bulkhead under the plate, and inject riot gas. Nobody was going to bust their hatch in and force entry. They could exit or stay in with the gas. Two Air Taser shooters stood ready to fry the electronics of anyone exiting in a suit, something they couldn't do in vacuum. The corridor outside their section had the pressure curtains dropped and ventilation shut off. Nobody wanted even diluted riot gas loose in the system. It was nasty stuff.
Jan didn't have to speak a command. Everyone had their orders. All were waiting in place and the operation would initiate at 1000. They didn't want to catch people in their bunks or eating or naked in the shower. They wanted them to move. When the number in the corner of his screen showed 1000 there was a fraction of a second hesitation and then a sharp thump was felt through the floor as if somebody had dropped something heavy in the next compartment.
When the clock reached 1000:45 there was a second sharp pulse through the station deck. Then one at 1001:30. The next took a full minute, and the last an additional fifteen seconds. The breaching of the bulkhead and gas injection was too minor to be felt. The North Americans were stubborn. It was a full minute and thirty eight seconds before their hatch opened and someone staggered out clutching his belly and threw up in the corridor. Another fellow ran out full tilt and knocked himself senseless against the opposite side of the corridor. Two of the first half dozen were armed. They were in no shape to aim or shoot anything, snot and tears streaming down their face. One fellow exited with an empty holster, having lost his weapon before he got out.
When the North Americans opened their hatch the second phase of the drive started. Jan's men in hard suits forced an entry at the end compartments in pairs, and worked their way in. If anyone was left behind in vacuum they would stuff them in a rescue ball and inflate it with pure oxygen and a medicated aerosol mist. Chances were good for anyone caught like that to survive without significant impairment if they were found and taken to treatment in a three to four minute window.
The module was a wreck when they were done. Every compartment breached and the bulkheads between them all opened by the suited men with what looked like a broad ax and a Halligan tool. It took about forty seconds. Less time than deploying explosive tape to make an opening.
After the last man staggered out they waited thirty seconds and suited men entered the pressurized section. They dragged out three people too sick and disoriented to find or reach the exit, including Gunny with his hands cuffed behind him.
"The evacuated sections are cleared," his commander announced to Jan
. "We had one fellow who had the hatch slammed in his face in the last compartment to be sealed off. He's in the ambulance being taken to the clinic and starting treatment on route. He's in his skivvies, so he might have been an off shift worker who got caught in his bunk."
"Casualties?" Jan inquired of the team leader.
"The hard suited team working counter to rotation had an injury. When they breached the last bulkhead the fellow moved in to pry the section clear before the ax man made his last stroke. He caught a nasty gash by his elbow and the suit deployed a tourniquet. He's riding to the clinic with the Earthie."
"Good job. I'll inform the Home people their man is safe before they do anything rash. They have a ship on the way here, and seem to value this fellow highly," Jan said, excusing himself.
* * *
"Your man is recovered," Jan said as blandly as noting the evening shuttle had docked.
Jon, Chen, Eddie, Jeff and April were all in a conference call awaiting the news.
"Is he OK?" April demanded from her window on the screen.
"Nobody should die," Jan insisted. "Not even a fellow who was in vacuum for a couple minutes. But your fellow was among the last who didn't make it out under their own power, so he was in the gas a lot longer. He is on oxygen, bronchodilators, and a sort of anti-inflammatory fog. He had to have his clothes cut off and hosed down, then scrubbed with an alcohol solution. The clinic informs me he seemed to be taking it rougher than the younger men. He's still in a stupor. He will have some broth late today and may take a couple days to accept any solid food. I've unfortunately had the experience myself. I'm pretty sure this will only be an ugly memory in a few months. Just a moment, my team leader is interrogating one of the first fellows out their front hatch and is texting me..."
Jan looked down briefly reading and then reached to respond. He turned back to them, and blinked rapidly. That was a huge display of emotion versus his usual poker face.
"May I ask? There are a couple...anomalies noted in collecting your Mr. Tindal. I know you have more than the usual acceptance of genetic mods on Home. I'd not prejudiced, I have some LET mods myself. It's one reason I've let them persuade me to stay on here. But...do you have some sort of strength increasing mods?"
April and Jeff glanced at each other.
"Ah, well that explains things then, doesn't it?" Jan concluded. "How strong exactly?"
"I have to warn you. Speaking with Jan is like facing veracity software," Eddie cautioned them. "You don't even have to reply to be interrogated. He just observes your reaction, or lack of reaction and plows ahead to the next logical question until you are sucked dry. It makes for a very odd one sided conversation. There's no way to resist it but to flee, or knock yourself unconscious."
"Why do you ask?" Jeff said, not denying it.
"The North American fellow being questioned requested several times to be kept away from your Mr. Tindal at the clinic. He seemed terrified to see him unshackled. The man claimed they ambushed Tindal and Tasered him from behind, cuffed him hand and foot, and put him in an officer's cabin since they don't have a brig. It seems when he awakened he was somewhat irritated. He broke the hand cuffs by simply snapping them, ripped a bunk free from the decking, and was using it to batter a hole through the bulkhead. They Tasered him again through the opening when he tried to exit. It sounds like something out of a bad monster movie. They then heavily sedated him and placed three sets of cuffs on him. That explains the bruised wrists and why he's taking so long to come around. He's fighting the drugs they gave him and the gas."
"It makes you stronger weight for weight than a chimpanzee," April admitted. She had every faith in Eddie's claims about Jan, so she saw no point in denying it. "But Gunny had a hand force grown recently. He's been complaining it didn't feel up to full strength yet. If you want the treatment come out to Home when things are settled. We'll introduce you to the doctor."
Jan's sleepy eyed look faltered for a moment. "Really? Your man didn't seem particularly impaired, ripping his way through the bulkhead. As to the offer, I'll consider that. I'm unwelcome on much of Earth already. They would regard this as an abomination as vile as gills or webbed toes I'd warrant.
"That explains the other oddity. The USNA people were deeply suspicious and confused because Mr. Tindal had the wrong finger prints on his right hand. Since he was in the Presidential security detail they still take all ten finger prints, besides all the more common biometric data. They get all paranoid and upset if any datum fails to match for their people with special security classifications. I...have another priority message. A moment please."
Jan frown and pursed his lips, covered them with a hand to send a voice message off to someone before coming back to them.
"This is most interesting. We informed North America of the refusal of their people here to follow their orders to release Master Sergeant Mack Tindal. I know – you indicated he is discharged" – Jan told April, holding a palm out to her when she scowled and leaned forward ready to argue. "I'm simply repeating their usage. I expected a storm of indignation and objections, threats of reprisals even. Instead what I have is a request to hold 'the prisoners' ready for transport from the same fellow whose orders they refused. The difference being he signed his orders on behalf of the Joint Committee before, and now he simply signs off as an officer of God's Warriors."
"Oh crap," Eddie and Chen said simultaneously, looking horrified.
"Hmmm, you seem to understand that better than me," Jan allowed.
"The Son's of Liberty and God's Warriors must have had a schism over chain of command," Chen theorized. "I'll go see if there is movement visible from orbit as they try to draw apart and claim territory. It's only been a few hours since the ISSII commander refused orders, but there may be action visible already. I'm messaging some agents and contractors and will know very quickly."
"This seems stupid given all the other troubles they're facing, but I believe you are right," Jan admitted. He seemed to be distracted reading further reports. "At least that's the side that favors you, assuming they are in the ascendancy. I'll make some inquiries myself, and in an hour or so I'll call you and offer to share data," he told Eddie.
"Why not? That's the only thing that keeps the whole mess from breaking down...networking," Eddie said. Jan and Eddie laughed like it was some insider joke the rest of them couldn't get.
"You realize you may be sending them back to prison or death if they are being delivered up to the other faction?" Jon warned him.
"Not my problem," Jan insisted. "What am I supposed to do with them? Find housing and support for them indefinitely on my hab? After the trouble they caused?"
"Threaten to bunk them with Gunny," Jeff said, tongue in cheek. "They'll beg to leave."
"You'll send Gunny home when he can travel?" April demanded of Jan, completely ignoring the byplay and humor.
"Yes, I believe Mr. Mackay will stay and escort him," Jan said, "and the others will precede them. Don't anticipate any great delay. He should be along in a couple days."
"Thank you," April said. "I owe you..." She wanted to say 'one' but it wouldn't come out. It seemed stingy to say it after getting Gunny back.
"Indeed. Welcome to our network," Jan told April. She saw Eddie smile bigger at that.
She was more used to doing the recruiting, but she nodded acceptance.
Chapter 25
"It's a mess all over again. Don't they ever get tired of this game?" Eddie asked Jeff and April.
"Chen said much the same. I assume Jan spoke to you like he promised?" April asked.
"Yes, but we're all seeing pretty much the same stuff. Nobody has a big edge and most seem to be avoiding contact unless pushed to sortie. I think DC rattled them. Nobody wants to play tit for tat with nukes until their country is a wreck. More than a few are playing the – 'My coms are messed up and I can't hear you." – game. Some vessels and forward based assets have sought local asylum. By coincidence Australia is quietly accepting some of them. T
hey just disperse, absorb and deny them if called out on it."
"I keep wanting some sort of stability," April complained. "Everything they do down there still sends ripples and affects what we do. We're still tied to their biosphere. We can't count on them keeping promises. We can go to other countries than North America or China for trade, but even there, I've come not to trust any Earth alliance."
"This is no different than it has always been in history," Jeff said. "Nations keep treaties until they are inconvenient. Trying to see an entire nation as a person is as pointless as applying that legal fiction to a corporation." Eddie was nodding his head in emphatic agreement.
"They could be honest and frame treaty terms in conditions," Eddie said, "but they love to sound noble and high-minded. 'We'll agree to do such and such as long as we couldn't make more money by ignoring it and going to war with you,' sounds so cynical."
"Home is even more of an unknown quality for Earth powers," Jeff said. "It's an in-your -face democracy like the world hasn't seen since Greece. We have an even lower barrier to citizenship and a vote than the Athenians. A vote of the Assembly can move you from close ally to a state with which we are at war in a couple minutes. Central is a better choice, because they at least know they are dealing with a sovereign. Their agreements are not going to be swept away by a faddish meme or a shift in demographics."
Jeff looked thoughtful. "You could forgive them for observing that the world is not full of serious Athenian style democracies. Maybe if we're here in five hundred years they will concede our way has some merit."
"Monarchies have been more durable then, haven't they?" April asked.
"Historically, yes. Athens lasted two hundred years with setbacks. Other Greek city states fared so poorly we don't have good records of their falls. The United States has lasted three hundred as a representative republic, as has France, but neither resembles their beginnings at all. I'm starting to think any form of self rule has either physical or numerical limits. I'm not sure what those are, but I don't want Home to find out by exceeding them."
They Said It Would Be Easy (April Book 7) Page 34
