Vatican Assassin

by Mike Luoma

BC stares out the window of the Cardinal's office, zoning out on the sharp contrasts of light and shadow in the monochrome gray lunar landscape as The Cardinal drones on. He sees the lights of several ships streak up and away from the surface into the stars. UIN ships by the look of them, their diplomats leaving Lunar Prime. The peace conference is over before it began. The governor is dead.

  So far, BC has pulled off the assassination without detection despite setbacks.

  So far.

  So far the most hazardous part of this job is avoiding being bored to death by the Cardinal. I guess the sewerage ranks a close second, though...

  "The Governor's death could jeopardize our entire mission..."

  The Governor's death was my entire "mission", Cardinal, but I do enjoy the double meaning. I suppose I'm a mission-ary of a different sort...

  "Are you listening to me, Father?"

  BC turns to face The Cardinal.

  Cardinal Andersen glares up at BC from behind his ludicrously large, fakewood desk.

  Everything about the Vatican Mission here is sort of large and ludicrous and fake.

  The entire enclave of Vatican staterooms and offices on the Moon is bedecked in a rich gold and red color scheme. Ornate iconography decorates most of the walls, a mishmash of images and relics from all the different Christian strains now unified in the NcC, from Eastern icons to the New Risen Lord of the NcC and every revisionist view in between. The Cardinal's own decorator touch, BC had been told when he'd cracked a joke about it just after arriving. The Cardinal, though not large, certainly was, in BC's opinion, fairly ludicrous in his own right, and usually bedecked in red and gold himself.

  "Well, are you listening to me, Father?"

  "Absolutely, your holiness. How is our mission jeopardized? The Vatican Mission here is fairly well established by now. You've been here, what, five years yourself, right?"

  "Almost five. And we were starting to get somewhere here, Father Campion. The Vatican Mission just being here is in itself testimony to that. We had been discussing a new alliance between the UTZ and Luna..."

  "Don't you think it was natural causes?" BC asks.

  The Cardinal shakes his head.

  "She was so young, just a few years older than you, Father Campion. Does it seem natural to you?" The Cardinal looks down and briefly distracts himself in some of the scattered sheets on his desk.

  BC presses on.

  "Who would want her dead?"

  The Cardinal, agitated, looks back up at BC and continues.

  "Well, she was negotiating with both the UTZ and the UIN. And she allowed us to beef up our mission here. The UIN might see that as a threat."

  "Really? Are we that threatening?"

  The Cardinal stops. He looks down his nose at BC.

  "Some of us are."

  Dangerous ground you're on, Cardinal. There's stuff you really don't want to know anything about. Guess it's time for some of my famous spin...

  "We do the Lord's work, Cardinal Andersen, even the OPO. The Holy Father sends us as his personal emissaries into the world. Do you find the OPO... dangerous, Cardinal? We but serve God's representative on Earth, Pope Peter the Second. We are only ‘dangerous' in our devotion to The Lord."

  "So was the Inquisition, Father. Torquemada said much the same thing as you, you know."

  Better watch yourself, Cardinal. You don't want to be on the wrong side here...

  "We're on the same side here, Cardinal. Please don't forget that. Pope Peter assigned you to Luna personally, didn't he? Aren't we all the Pope's men?"

  The Cardinal nods. "We are at that, Father Campion. Maybe some more than others, though, eh?"

  Careful there, Cardinal...

  "There are those who could view your assignment here as my new Public Relations Officer from the OPO as, well... a threat. You know they spread rumors about the OPO. Those people could have very well reacted to your arrival with this possible assassination."

  "I really don't think my arrival would have even drawn their attention, much less their anger. I'm not nearly so important. I'd be surprised if they even noticed. And, still, it's only possible foul play, your eminence. We must trust in God. Maybe it was just her time."

  "Perhaps. But I don't know whether God had anything to do with this. I'm also not the only one thinking there may be more to this, Campion. Governor Edwards and his people are very suspicious. It did look like a heart attack to me at first, but you never know. They do let those Muslims wander the halls here, still, even with the war. The price of neutrality, I suppose. Maybe you should watch your back, Father Campion."

  "I will, trust me, sir. We should all be alert. It is a time of war. After all."

  "The UIN may very well have killed McEntyre to derail our negotiations. If they'll kill her, they'll not hesitate to remove those they find threatening who are less visible. Be careful. I don't trust them. Bad enough we have to live among them here on the moon. They're naturally violent, and they seem to hate absolutely everyone else."

  BC nods.

  Jeesh, the guy's almost rabid.

  The intercom dings.

  "Cardinal?" His secretary on the com.

  "Yes?"

  "Governor Edwards is here to see you."

  "Send him in."

  The door opens. Edwards enters.

  "Hello Cardinal."

  Luna's new governor is visibly nervous as he walks in and shakes hands with the Cardinal and BC. His handshake is quick and uncertain. BC takes quick stock of him.

  In his forties, probably. Stocky, about 6'2", short dark hair... looks military, or at least recently ex-military. Maybe he was Lunar Security, a cop, before moving up. Have to do some digging.

  He looks like a man suddenly in over his head... like I was in that tunnel, I suppose.

  "I would guess you're Father Campion?"

  "Yes... or you can call me BC."

  "Father Campion is New Unified Reform," The Cardinal interjects, explaining BC's informality.

  "And also a ranking Vatican official, I understand," Edwards said.

  Hmmm, maybe he's sharper than he looks.

  "Nice to meet you, Governor Edwards"

  Edwards flinches.

  "I'm not used to that, yet. Sorry. The ‘governor' thing, I mean..."

  Edwards looks down for a moment then comes back to himself.

  "I, uh, have some news that may concern you."

  Uh oh.

  "UIN warships have been detected just a short distance from us here on Luna. We've never seen them get this close, even before..." He stops, thinks a moment.

  ...Before, when they were attacking us back on Earth. Right, Mr. Edwards? Still, I didn't expect that that was his news.

  "What I mean is, before, they stayed pretty far from us when they hit Earth targets. They have people here, too."

  I wonder how many of them are still here? No wonder they were so keen on getting out of here after the shit went down.

  "Would that really stop them from attacking?" the Cardinal sneers.

  Edwards seems surprised by the Cardinal's bitter contempt for the UIN. BC is as well, though less so after their earlier exchange.

  "I don't think they'd risk their own people's lives..." Edwards says.

  The Cardinal stands, visibly shaking.

  "Of course they would! All glory to Allah and all that! They'd just be martyrs and celebrated back on Mars, like killing them did them a favor! And they'll twist it so it sounds like we killed them, you'll see."

  Edwards is taken aback by the Cardinal's vitriol. He stares at The Cardinal as if seeing him for the first time. BC watches Edwards, watches his reactions.

  The Cardinal's getting all fired up! Christ, he'd applaud my mission, if he only knew. Wonder how he got so bitter? Even I don't hate the Moslems like that. God is Love? Over the fucking top. Could freak out Edwards. I've got to find a way to moderate the situation.

  "Our holdings have never been attacked here on the Moon, but we've been hit repeatedly
by UIN forces back on Earth and in orbit, Governor Edwards. How close are the UIN ships? Should we worry? Head for shelters?"

  "We don't know they're a threat, yet, but with the governor dying so suddenly and the ships showing up at the same time, well, I just worry it's too connected to be a coincidence. Do UIN ships behave a certain way before they attack? Do they get into any formations, or assume any telltale flight patterns?"

  BC and The Cardinal look at each other, then back at Edwards.

  "I'm afraid you're asking the wrong people about starship battle tactics, my son," The Cardinal says and smiles, falling back into his patronly pastoral mode. He sits back down and wipes his brow with a red kerchief he pulls from an unseen pocket somewhere in his robes.

  Time for me to buy a little bit of confidence from Edwards with a little bit of knowledge. Help reinforce the idea that we're on his side.

  "Governor, I've been told they approach single file, spreading out in four directions as they reaching optimal firing range. Then, they rotate while firing, like the blades of a lethal pinwheel. Or at least that's what I've heard. Something like that."

  Edwards is surprised.

  "Oh. Okay. Thank you, fa, um, BC. Well, yeah, these ships are forming up single file."

  "Are they moving this way?"

  "Not yet."

  "If they do come this way, governor, and they stay single file..."

  "Yeah?"

  "...we should probably hit the shelters. Reagan Station does have emergency shelters, right?"

  "We have some, but they're old. I don't know what kind of repair they're in. And there's nowhere near enough space for everybody in and around Lunar Prime. There'll be riots, panic, people getting crushed to death... This could get ugly."

  The Cardinal clears his throat and fixes his stare on Edwards.

  "They're taking advantage of your inexperience, governor. Because you're new, they threaten and test you. Are these the actions of friends of Luna?" the Cardinal asks.

  Whoa, you're spinning it harder than me, Andersen. Easy there, old man, don't ruin it. Edwards is close to losing it on the Cardinal.

  Edwards shakes his head.

  "Look, your holiness, you're not helping. Save your hate, okay? I just need some helpful advice. I thought that's what you," he looks back and forth at both of them, "are supposed to provide. Am I wrong?"

  Got to turn Edwards our way. The Cardinal is blowing it completely.

  "I'm trying to help, sir. If there is anything the Vatican can do for you, Mr. Edwards, let me know. And please, let me know if those ships move this way?" BC tries to reassure him.

  "Yeah, I'll try to."

  Edwards turns and moves to leave, "I've got a lot going on right now, please excuse me."

  After he's gone, BC turns to the Cardinal.

  "I don't think you helped our cause there any, your eminence." BC lays a little sarcasm on the last word.

  "Eminence? Please. I haven't been called that since the reunification."

  "Actually, I like saying it. Eminence. Em-ih-nence. EMINENCE! Sounds powerful, doesn't it? We must maintain appearances, mustn't we, your eminence?"

  "Please stop that! The Muslims are a dangerous and angry people, Campion. They don't think as we do! I know they say they count Christ as a prophet, whatever they mean by that, but they do not respect life as we Christians do."

  How do I answer that? Sure we respect life. Sure we do. Me, especially, that's what I do for the church, respect life. Best not to think about that too much, huh?

  "Do you think they killed the governor, Campion?"

  "Well, sir, we still don't know that she was killed. Maybe we shouldn't make that assumption."

  "I wouldn't put it past them. This whole thing stinks of the UIN. Kill the governor, create chaos, then move in and take advantage. They're infidels and they want us, you and I, Father Campion, they want us dead. Make no mistake. I wanted to emphasize that for our new governor. I think he could be on our side."

  "Well, he might be, if you don't scare him away."

  "He needs to know the danger in the situation."

  Time to build some confidence with the Cardinal. Let him in a little.

  "The OPO heard rumors that Governor McEntyre was holding secret talks with UIN representatives here on Luna."

  "Really? I saw no evidence of that. Still, it all makes a certain sense, though. And those who think they can bargain with the devil always get burned," the Cardinal chuckles at his own wit. "Are you certain?"

  "That's what we heard. Just rumors."

  "Is that why you're here, then?"

  "Do you really want to know? Do you want to question one of Peter's men as to his calling?"

  "No. I suppose I don't want to know. I'm sure it's all in, ahem, God's Name?"

  "Absolutely, your eminence." BC lays a little sarcasm on the last word.

  The intercom dings.

  "Governor Edwards on the line for you both."

  "Yes, put him through. Governor?"

  "They're moving in closer, single file, just as you said, Father Campion. Could you both meet me in my office immediately?"

  Chapter Five