Black Ops (Expeditionary Force Book 4)

by Craig Alanson

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “That’s it, then.” Chotek was sitting in his office chair, looking thoroughly deflated. “The Ruhar will be sending a ship to Earth, and there is no way for us to stop it, without the Ruhar becoming suspicious and revealing our secret. Colonel, at this point, I suppose we should set course for Earth.”

  “No, Sir. We have a Plan B.”

  “A Plan B?” Chotek’s raised eyebrows quickly fell into a scowl directed at me. “When were you going to present this alternative plan to me?”

  “When we needed it. It’s not a plan I want to implement.”

  “The Ruhar are sending a ship to Earth, and we can’t stop it without the Ruhar knowing someone doesn’t want them going to our home planet. What is your Plan B, Colonel?”

  “It’s fairly obvious, Mr. Chotek,” Adams said quietly.

  “Obvious?” Chotek turned his wrath toward her. She didn’t flinch. “It’s not obvious to me.”

  “Colonel?” Adams looked me straight in the eye. “I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing I am. Tell him.”

  I nodded. “The whole purpose of the Fire Dragons paying the Thuranin to send a surveyor ship to Earth, and now making a deal with the Ruhar, is to delay a civil war. So, we give them a civil war, now.”

  I never saw Hans Chotek so shocked. “You want us to provoke a civil war,” he said very slowly, “between Kristang clans?”

  “Yes.” Following the example of Staff Sergeant Adams, I wasn’t backing down one bit. If a Marine wasn’t fazed by Chotek’s scathing words, I wasn’t letting the Army down either. “Once the Fire Dragons are involved in a full-scale civil war, they won’t be able to devote resources for an expedition to Earth. And they won’t care about the White Wind clan leadership on Earth; they will be too busy fighting for advantage, maybe for survival. Getting the Kristang involved in a wide-ranging civil war weakens the Kristang overall, reduces their threat to Earth and to Paradise, and permanently removes any incentive the Kristang have for traveling to Earth.” I emphasized the word ‘permanent’. I figured Chotek would pick up on that.

  “How long have you had this Plan B in your pocket, Colonel?”

  “Since our mission to stop that surveyor ship, Sir,” I explained matter-of-factly. “By the time we discovered the Fire Dragons were paying for a mission to Earth, the surveyor ship was already on its way, and couldn’t be recalled even if the Fire Dragons changed their minds. As you know, we destroyed that surveyor ship.” At the time, I thought that operation was horribly complicated. Now that seemed incredibly simple. “But it got me thinking what we could do, long-term, to prevent the Kristang from wanting to send an expedition to Earth. You said we need to think long-term, and I agree. We could provoke a civil war among the Kristang, and influence the outcome so that when the fighting is over, the most powerful factions of the lizards are less of a threat to us.”

  I don’t know what shocked Chotek more; knowing I had an alternative plan ready, or that my plan was to start an interstellar war. “You are proposing we interfere with another species, to start a war that will kill thousands, perhaps millions, of sentient beings,” Chotek said with a horrified expression.

  Before I could defend myself, Skippy interjected. “Not really. Any civil war among the Kristang will kill a lot of lizards, sure, and mostly women and children because they get caught in the middle. If you are worried about having those deaths on your conscience, don’t. A Kristang civil war is a matter of when, not if. They have a war between clans on average every eighty years, that’s a rough number. Their last major inter-clan conflict was ninety three years ago, so they’re overdue for one. Whether you start a war next week, or one starts on its own next year, the same number of lizards will die,” Skippy said confidently. “Joe is right, though, if we provoke a war, we should influence the outcome so that the winners pose less of a threat to humanity.” And then, because Skippy did not know when to shut up, he added “See what I did there, Joe? To show I am being serious, I said ‘humanity’ instead of ‘monkeykind’.”

  “Yeah, that was great, Skippy, thanks. You make a good point,” I looked toward Chotek hopefully. “He does make a good point, Sir.”

  “Does he?” Chotek asked sadly. “I’ve heard this argument before, Colonel. If Archduke Ferdinand had not been assassinated in June 1914, the First World War would have happened regardless, because of tensions between the great powers of Europe. Wars always kill more of the innocent than the combatants. I was trained as a diplomat to prevent conflicts that are supposed to be inevitable.”

  “With the Kristang, war is truly inevitable,” Skippy said unhelpfully. “Their warrior caste can’t exist without war. If it makes you feel any better, the Thuranin have provoked civil wars among the Kristang, when the Thuranin felt the Kristang were too strong and unified.”

  “It does not make me feel better to be compared to the Thuranin,” Chotek replied with indignant anger.

  “Well, you-”

  “Skippy, you gave us a lot of good information,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing tone. “I think now you need to let us primitive humans sort this out. It needs to be our decision.”

  “The survival of your species is at stake, so you had better sort things out quickly,” he advised. “Whatever you decide, do it fast; the clock is ticking.”

  Chotek squared his shoulders and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. “Colonel, are you now going to tell me you have a plan for provoking a war?”

  “No, Sir, you need to plan that with Skippy.”

  “Me?” Chotek was stunned.

  I could tell he was completely surprised that I expected him to plan the war for us. “Yes. I can work with Major Smythe to plan the tactical implementation of whatever plan you develop,” I used big fancy words to impress Chotek. “But figuring out what type of action would provoke the clans into war, and how to do that so the end result of the war enhances our security, I have no idea how to do that,” I admitted. And I wasn’t just feeding Hans Chotek’s ego so he would take ownership of the planning; I was being sincere. “Sir, you mentioned Archduke Ferdinand, how one bullet started a world war. If you can tell me where to shoot, I can get that bullet to its target. I have no idea how to get the clans fighting each other, nor any idea which clan or group of clans we want to come out on top. That kind of great power diplomacy stuff is your area of, uh, expertise. Skippy has a lot of information about the clans, their relationships and history, and he can tell you about Kristang psychology. We need you to take all that info, analyze it, and tell us if we have a prayer of pulling this off.”

  “Starting wars was not part of my diplomatic training,” he retorted, but he didn’t sound angry. He sounded thoughtful. “Starting wars is your area, Colonel.”

  “No, Sir,” I shook my head, and Chang, Smythe, Simms and lot of other people were doing the same. “We fight the wars. Politicians start them.”

  Chotek nodded, and sighed heavily. “And diplomats end wars. All right, Colonel Bishop, I will entertain the idea. I must admit, it will be intriguing to be on the other side of the equation for a change.”

  “Can you get started soon?” I asked. “As Skippy said, time is running out. We need a full-blown war raging before the Fire Dragons hand over those planets to the Ruhar. There is not a lot of time to develop a strategy, and then a tactical plan to implement it.”

  “I may need to borrow our resident spy, Dr. Rose,” Chotek announced while rubbing his chin, half lost in thought already.

  “You can ask, but I think her experience is on the tactical level like mine,” I noted. “Although she certainly knows a lot more about political intrigue than I do.”

  I later asked Skippy if he and Chotek were making progress on identifying targets we could hit to spark a Kristang civil war, but he refused to say. “Darn it Joe, for a change I am actually able to tolerate Count Chocula, and I can say he is enjoying himself immensely, although he certainly wouldn’t admit it. He is surprisingly knowledgea
ble about Kristang clan politics, which answers the question of what he has been doing with his time on this mission. So, I am not going to spoil the surprise; he will tell you.”

  Chotek called me into his office two days later, much faster than I expected. “Colonel Bishop, come in, please. Sit down.”

  “Thank you, Sir. You have a strategy for us?” Crap. I should have made some small talk first. In my defense, I sucked at small talk, and time was seriously running out. Major Smythe, Dr. Rose and I needed to slam an operational plan together fast, and we didn’t even know our target yet. Now I knew how Hans Chotek felt, when he was waiting for me to tell him whatever outlandish plan I had cooked up.

  “Before we start, how is the crew dealing with the prospect of another unexpected operation?”

  I knew this was small talk; Hans Chotek didn’t need me to tell him about morale of the crew, because he had a daily meeting with Chang. The team had been disappointed, when our enormously complicated operation to conduct the mock attack had not prevented the Fire Dragons from reaching a deal with the Ruhar. Now the team was pumped about the prospect of taking direct action against the Kristang. Major Smythe, Chang and I had cautioned everyone that, whatever action we took, still needed to be completely clandestine and the team understood that; it was nothing new. What was new was the very real possibility of us hitting the Kristang directly, hitting them hard. Starting a war that would kill a lot of Kristang warriors, and get a measure of payback for what they had done to Earth. For a couple minutes, I told Chotek what the crew had told me. My mother told me small talk was important because it established a bond between the people speaking. Even a useless comment like ‘nice weather today’ was an attempt to open a discussion, make a connection with another person. As I said, I sucked at small talk, but if there was anyone I needed to establish at least some level of personal bond with, it was Hans Chotek. So I worked at it. “Everyone wants to get back home to Earth, of course,” I concluded. “And they all want to finish the mission, so we can go home.”

  “Can we ever truly finish this mission?” Chotek asked, speaking half to me and half to himself.

  “I know what you mean,” I grimaced. “In a galaxy full of hostile aliens, we will never be able to assume Earth is safe.”

  Chotek consulted his tablet, started to turn it toward me, hesitated, then seemed to make a decision about something. “Colonel Bishop, have you ever wondered why UNEF Command sent me on this mission?”

  “Oh, uh,” his question caught me off guard. “I assume it was because you’re not a citizen of the five nations that make up the UN Expeditionary Force. So, you’re neutral, sort of?”

  “Yes, that also,” clearly my answer wasn’t what he was looking for. “My question was whether you know why UNEF didn’t assign a senior military officer.”

  Scratching the back of my neck, I offered a guess. “Well, uh, Skippy forced their hand when he demanded that I be captain of the ship,” although he had screwed that one up big time. UNEF agreed to make me captain of the ship, then assigned a mission commander over me.

  “That also.” Chotek acknowledged. “My point is, UNEF did not assign a military officer to command the mission, because they do not see that ensuring the long-term security of Earth has a military solution.”

  That, I thought to myself, plus the fact that Earth had no military of any consequence. “You got the assignment because of your diplomatic experience?”

  “Yes. Colonel, my mission out here is not merely to prevent you from pursuing rash military adventures,” he flashed a smile I took as genuine. “Part of my mission is to determine the political situation in the galaxy, if the word ‘political’ applies to aliens with technology beyond our imagination. You argued against us offering alliance with the Ruhar, and you made a strong argument. Your argument was that if Earth’s secret became known to the Maxolhx and the Rindhalu, our little planet would be in grave danger, if only as collateral damage. I can tell you now that, personally, I agree with you.”

  “What?” I blurted out. “Sir? Sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry, I knew I would startle you with that revelation. Colonel, the topic of whether to approach the Ruhar, or even to contact the Rindhalu directly, was extensively and hotly debated before we left Earth. Opinions among the nations of UNEF, and the wider UN Security Council, are deeply divided on the subject. My orders are for us to avoid doing anything out here that would preclude us from pursuing a future alliance with the Ruhar. Your plan for a mock attack caused me much heartburn,” he admitted.

  “But we are Ok to take action against the Kristang?”

  “As the expression goes, that ship has sailed.” He didn’t smile. “Maintaining secrecy is still paramount. However, I have become convinced, or I have convinced myself over the past few days, that keeping the Kristang busy fighting between their clans can only be a good thing for humanity.”

  I agree, I thought to myself. On the other hand, we thought warning the Jeraptha about a Thuranin attack held only upside for us, and that totally backfired in our faces. That was a sentiment I kept to myself. “You have identified a way for us to spark a war between clans?”

  “We are confident that we know which levers to pull, where the pressure points are,” he was speaking through a frown. “Colonel, this was an uncomfortable experience for me. As you stated, politicians start wars, which you in the military have to fight. My career has been about avoiding violence, or ending violence once it starts. Diplomats supposed to be the people who prevent the military from fighting unnecessary wars. People like me are supposed to prevent people like you from being sent into harm’s way.” He looked me straight in the eye. “Now I find myself on the verge of ordering you into combat, to start a war that will kill millions. It goes against everything I have worked for my entire career. And yet, and yet,” he seemed to be talking to himself, his gaze on the wall behind me. “I see no alternative. Colonel Bishop,” he glanced at the silver eagles on my uniform, as if he still could not believe I was an officer. “Skippy will provide the details on the target we identified; you will of course need to create a tactical plan to attack the target. Without the Kristang ever knowing we were involved. Or that any third party was involved; my reading of Kristang culture indicates that if they suspected a third party was inciting the clans to fight, that would pull the clans together.”

  “Yes, Sir. I will talk with Skippy.”

  Chotek wasn’t done with me. “Colonel,” he looked at me sharply. “I suspect part of your motivation, in requesting that I determine how best to spark a Kristang civil war, was so that I would feel ownership of the resulting plan. You sought to manipulate me.”

  There wasn’t any point in denying it. “Yes, partly. I did want you to buy into the concept,” I looked straight at him. “Mostly, though, Mr. Chotek, politics is not my wheelhouse. If you point me toward a target, I can figure out how best to hit it, and I can do it. But knowing what type of action would get all the Kristang clans fighting each other,” I dropped my gaze and shrugged, “I would be guessing.”

  “I don’t blame you for attempting to manipulate me,” he stated simply. “If you do it in the future, I have a suggestion for you.”

  “What’s that, Sir?”

  “Don’t be so obvious about it.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  After I left Chotek’s office, I stopped by the galley for coffee, decided to get iced tea instead, and brought it back to my office. “Hey, Skippy, Chotek tell me the two of you have identified optimal targets, for getting a civil war started throughout Kristang-occupied space.”

  “Hey, Joe,” his avatar sparkled into existence above my desktop. “That is true. Three of us, to be accurate, Dr. Rose did help. Our local CIA officer has a devious and inventive mind, Joe. If you ever decide to give up this saving the world business and become a criminal mastermind, you should consider a partnership with her.”

  “Uh, yeah, I’ll think about it.”

  “Also, I now have a
tiny bit less disdain for our fearless leader.”

  “Enough to stop calling him ‘Count Chocula’?”

  “Pbbbbbt,” Skippy blew a raspberry. I was grateful his avatar was a hologram, or I would have been covered with spit. “No way! For one, I’m having way too much fun with that. Besides, I’m sure by now he considers it only a nickname.”

  “I don’t know about that, Skippy.” After Chotek approved the successful missions to seize a Thuranin relay station, and rescue UNEF on Paradise, the crew’s respect for our official mission commander went up a notch. People still ate Count Chocula cereal for breakfast, but I had requested those little chocolate sugar bombs be put in plain plastic containers rather than the original colorful cardboard packaging.

  “That’s his problem,” Skippy grumbled. “As a mission commander, he is too inflexible and indecisive. However, he does understand political structures, even in alien societies. I must admit, the heavy work on how to spark a civil war was done by Chotek and Sarah Rose; I mostly provided historical background info, and ran wargame scenarios for them.”

  “Chocul-” I caught myself. “Chotek asked you to run a war game?”

  “Joe, I meant ‘wargame it’ in the sense that I modeled various scenarios. We ran simulations, to determine which actions would most likely result in a widespread civil war breaking out. For us to only spark a local conflict between two clans would be a waste of our time. We need a big, full-scale conflict across Kristang space, that draws in all clans.”