Just Compensation

by Robert N. Charrette

“The dwarf at the fuel stop?” Andy had thought the dwarf an okay guy. Clearly Markowitz knew something he didn’t.

  “Yup. The little bastard’s ex-Army. He must have sold us out.”

  Could it be? Andy had picked up the Yellowjacket on radar just after they left Davis’s place. Could there be something to Markowitz’s paranoia?

  “There’s another thing that puzzles me.” Markowitz said. “Cops should have responded to our little battlefield by now. This ain’t exactly the Barrens.”

  He was right. They were close enough to the crash site that they’d have heard sirens in the still night air. Why hadn’t they? Andy remembered the cordon around the Compensation Army camp down on The Mall, and the one he’d seen near the bridges at the Pentagon on his way to his meet with the fixer. It took a lot of people to man those barricades. With all the police involved in that, they’d be running shorthanded elsewhere. “Maybe they’re busy.”

  “Exactly what I’m thinking. We need some input.”

  Markowitz called out to the shopkeeper. “Hey, Johnny, flick on the screen and jack up some news for us.”

  The shop’s vidscreen lit, flipped through a crazy quilt of images, and settled on the face of Shimmer Grace, the WFDC prime-time anchor. The station’s frenetic “live” logo danced in a corner of the screen, which meant the Shimmer was up past her bedtime. Obviously something was going on.

  Live feeds from cameras in several districts of the DeeCee sprawl were showing scenes of urban violence, or of police patrols in empty, trashed streets. Most of the shots from the Barrens were lit by fire. Shimmer kept up a heated commentary on the “terrible violence” and the efforts of the “beleaguered FedPols” to control matters. There were frequent repeats of a “threatening pirate broadcast.” talking about action being taken by the Comp Army.

  “Hey, Johnny, when did all this start?” Markowitz asked. “Yesterday. FedPols put out a curfew request for south and central subdistricts about nine PM. Made it a crapper night. Bad as tonight.”

  A curfew request wasn’t a legal requirement, more of a warning to good citizens to watch out for themselves and stay out of trouble by not staying out. It went a long way to explaining why they’d seen so few people on the streets and why the shop was so empty. As Markowitz had said, this wasn’t exactly the Barrens. There were a lot of good citizens in this regional district.

  Unlike the Arlington district. It had been different there once, but since the Blood Dust incident three years ago, property values had been declining in direct proportion to the increase in crime.

  “Looks like we’re going to have a little trouble getting home.” Markowitz said.

  “A lot of trouble.” It was Kit. Bare legs and feet flashing beneath an urban camo poncho, she was heading for their table. The shop’s door was still swinging closed. “There is no safety there. We have been compromised.”

  “You have any trouble? They see you?” Markowitz asked anxiously.

  “No trouble. And while they did see me, they didn’t know it.” She seemed pleased.

  “Good.” Markowitz said. Andy felt like he’d been handed a riddle, but Markowitz asked another question before he could ponder it. “What did you see?”

  Kit told them how three armed men had broken into Markowitz’s office-apartment. They’d swept the place, obviously disappointed at finding no one. Although one had wanted to leave the doss alone and use it as a trap, another had insisted that they take what they could, arguing that Markowitz and company had flown and wouldn’t be back. The third had agreed with the second. They took the telecom, the computers, the security system control box, and all the weapons, and went away. Kit had come to warn Markowitz rather than following the thieves.

  Markowitz looked at Andy. “How do you feel about conspiracies now, kid?”

  “You’re converting me, but—” He was concerned about Kit. “We still don’t know who they were. There are coincidences even when there are conspiracies.”

  “What about them, Kit? Any ideas?”

  “They were gray men, Harry. Strange men. They were foreigners, but not.”

  “Don’t go all mystical on me.” Markowitz said. “Explain.”

  Kit shrugged. “Either an aura meshes with a place, or it doesn’t. It’s a question of comfort, familiarity, and rightness.”

  “I’d never heard that.” Not that there was a lot about magic that Andy had heard. He hadn’t much cared to—still didn’t—but he wanted in on the conversation.

  “The shadings are subtle, Andrew. Many magickers miss them.”

  “We all know you’re good, Kit.” Markowitz said. “What do you think this aura stuff meant?”

  “I had the sense that they felt they were in foreign territory, but it was territory which ought not to be foreign, or so they believed. Their attitude wasn’t personal, but came from their sense of belonging. It was a family vibration. The sort that suggests political affiliation.”

  “Like they came from another country?” Andy asked. “Perhaps. I’m still not very good at understanding countries.” Kit shrugged. “They were carrying Beretta 200STs.”

  “That’s standard issue for S.I.A..” Markowitz said.

  That was a curve ball for Andy. “You think they were Confederated spooks?”

  “You been listening to the news out of Fredericksburg? This ‘foreign territory that ought not to be’ stuff sounds a lot like the CAS attitude to North Virginia.” Markowitz said.

  “Maybe they were carrying the Berettas because they wanted to look like CAS spooks.” Andy suggested.

  “Kit wouldn’t be wrong about the attitude.” Markowitz said firmly, but without explanation. “Seems like we’ve got two sets of hounds on our tails. I’d say we need a place to lie low.”

  “What about Shamgar, Rags, and Beatty?” Kit asked.

  “They’re all smart enough to look out for themselves.”

  Markowitz said. “But we better try to get in touch anyway. Looks like it just might be a good time to crawl into the shadows and pull them in after us for a while.”

  >WFDC FEED COVERAGE

  -[06:12:11/8-24-55]

  REPORTER: TAYLOR WEINGARTNER [WEIN-324]

  UPLINK SITE: GOVERNMENT ZONE, FDC

  Weingartner: “Violence continues to erupt in the Federal District this morning, as the night-long clash between Compensation Army marchers and the Federal Police continues into the day. Public transportation is at a standstill and all bridges over the rivers are closed as police struggle to control rioting in what is beginning to look like a war zone.

  “When interviewed at a Government Zone command post and asked to explain the causes of the violence, Chief of Police Cynthia Locke had this to say: ‘We didn’t start this. My officers have shown reasonable restraint. I wish I could say the same for Randolph’s Compers. The occupation of Metro Central went over the line. For weeks I’ve been getting requests from the regional commissioners to forcibly evict the Army. I should have listened.’ ”<<<<<

  >LJVE FEED COVERAGE

  -[06:13:51/8-24-55]

  REPORTER: SUZJE CHIANG [CHIA-704]

  UPLINK SITE: ELGIN, IL

  Chiang: “This is Suzie Chiang of WCHI, back in Elgin, Illinois. Our attempt to penetrate the so-called ‘exclusion zone’ have failed. We were turned back by armed and hostile federal troops while we attempted to enter the city.

  “Chicago is isolated, cut off from the world by a mixture of federal, state, and corporate troops. Nothing is coming out of the city, but some things are going in: air drops of emergency food and medical supplies, but also flights of helicopter gunships. The official position is that this is a VITAS plague containment. But is it?

  “Some of the troops cordoning the city are not wearing biosuits. Although we’ve been briefed by the highly-touted medical strike teams, we’ve still seen no field hospitals. In fact we’ve seen no signs of anyone with more than a summer cold. The Chicago barrier has few of the signs of a medical containment. ‘A work in progress,’
the military PR flaks say. But this reporter has to ask: what kind of plague can be fought with gunships?”<<<<<

  16

  Plan Baker was an insurgency defense plan, entailing elements of the Army taking over security for key locations in the Federal District, which they had done within an hour of General Trahn’s order. Moving to their stations, the forces had encountered resistance from Compensation Army marchers along some of the routes; the detachment headed for the White House had received the brunt of the marchers’ ire. But insults, jeers, and the occasional thrown debris or refuse weren’t enough to stop the UCAS Army. All detachments moved into their positions and reported their perimeters secure before dusk. It had all gone very smoothly.

  The hot summer night had started peacefully; then had come the pirate broadcast with the Consie woman speaking for the Compensation Army. Army? No one in the military called them that. They’d been styled “marchers” or “demonstrators” until last night, when the preferred term had become “rioters.” The first fire had been reported within minutes of the pirate broadcast, at around 2200 hours. A staff sergeant, watching the news coverage on the rec hall vidscreen, had commented on how much the scenes reminded him of the Night of Rage. Many of those watching agreed with him.

  That description had chilled Tom. The rioting wasn’t that bad. It couldn’t be—the Night of Rage had rocked the world, this violence was confined to the city. But that made little difference to someone looking death in the face as the mob closed in. He managed to get a call in to his grandfather, using the connections he'd sworn never to use, to warn his grandparents and sister to believe what they were hearing on the media and stay inside.

  General Trahn held command of the Southeastern Military Region, from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the Virginias, but with the crisis in Chicago, available forces were not great. Trahn had drawn nearly all his forces toward the Federal District, but even so deployment was light, too light to hold against any real assault. At least that was not what they were expected to have to do.

  As thin as conventional forces were stretched, the unconventional assets such as Task Team Rocquette, Tom’s Provisional SR Battalion, were attenuated beyond reason. Given their defensive mission and the unreliability of transport between their defended locations, Tom had split his assets as evenly as he could, but the penny-packet approach worried him. Each site was important enough to merit the Special Options Special Resources could provide, but detaching support to each of the defended sites left him with only two response teams, one lacking a mage.

  Tom was bleary-eyed from a night of worrying when he arrived for the morning briefing. He didn’t like his wakeup reports from his battalion, and he liked what he heard in the briefing even less. According to Colonel Jordan, things had gotten far worse overnight.

  “As you can see from the display, ladies and gentlemen, rioting has now spread from the fringes of the Compensation Army camps and is affecting Arlington, Alexandria, and Rosslyn in the Arlington District as well as Foggy Bottom, Shaw, the Government Zone, and all southern neighborhoods in the Washington District. We all know, trouble breeds trouble, and this frag-up is no exception. Apparently unrelated rioting is also occurring in the Anacostia Barrens and the go-gangers known as the Halfies were overactive last night, raiding Capitol Heights and Seat Pleasant. Too much inspiration, I suppose.

  “The Regional Commissioners are screaming bloody murder, and the FedPols are stretching, trying to cover. They’re beyond their limits, ladies and gentlemen. Something is going to give, and soon.

  “Corporate security forces continue to operate on a purely reactive basis. Currently only direct threats to their owners’ vital property draw response. The suits seem to have realized that their previous unrestricted efforts were wringing them out, and have abandoned attempts to cover all bases in favor of assuring defensible perimeters for their primary business properties and enclaves. This has reduced the visible deterrent of disciplined, armed troops on the streets, and has probably contributed to the rioters’ confidence. Like the politicians, the boss suits are screaming, only they’re blaming us as well as the FedPols for failing to restore order.”

  “Not our job.” someone said. “Bunch of drekheads.”

  “Thank you for the evaluation, Captain Black. I hadn’t noticed.” Jordan responded. “If you don’t have any further insights, I’ll continue.

  “The rioters’ numbers have decreased. More than ten thousand have left the city, but that still leaves approximately thirty thousand marchers. This remainder must be considered the most committed. We estimate at least half are armed and prepared to resist.”

  “Remember Grozny.” grumbled another voice.

  “We all remember that debacle, Captain Petrovsky. We have no intention of repeating it in our country. That does not mean we see the rioters as pushovers. We have confirmed that they’re armed with military-grade weapons, including assault cannons and heavy machine guns. The source of these weapons remains unknown, but a foreign source of supply cannot be ruled out.”

  Meaning the Confederated States, Tom thought, leaving it to someone else to say it. Captain Black obliged him.

  “We cannot rule out that source.” Jordan said. “The rioters are also improving their armaments by coup de main and by their own industry. They’ve captured one Mobmaster and more than a dozen lighter SWAT vehicles from the FedPols. They’ve also set up a conversion shop in the old rail yards near National Airport and are improvising armored cars out of construction and cargo vehicles.”

  “No match for a tank.” Captain Black again.

  Or for a Steel Lynx configured for anti-armor work.

  “Not everyone wears a tank, Captain.” Jordan pointed out. “And are you sure you want your armor in the streets? We haven’t seen the rioters use anti-armor weapons, but then they haven’t had much cause. You volunteering to find out? Didn’t think so.

  “Now, as I was saying. Everything is not bleak. Our perimeters at the White House, the Congress complex, and the Pentagon-Fort Myer complex remain intact, having successfully repelled probes against them without loss. We have no indications that the rioters are preparing to further contest our control of those locations. The perimeters at Langley, National Airport, and Frederick Douglas Bridge Triangle have yet to be tested by the rioters, but the Triangle has been experiencing disorganized incursions on the south bank of the Anacostia. These do not appear to be a significant threat.

  “At the moment, our greatest concern is maintaining the flow of information. Intel satellite downlinks are limited to twelve-hour incremental availability, hardly suitable for a situation as fluid as this. Having lost two reconnaissance aircraft to the rioters’ triple A and another to hostile magical action, we are restricting aerial recon to observation drones. They too are taking a surprisingly heavy beating. SR reports that our field recon assets are down to nearly fifty percent operational.”

  “Fifty-two.” Tom said, giving the exact figure. “But we’ve recovered three and should have one of those back on line momentarily and the other two in about five hours.”

  “It’s still too few.” Trahn said. “Reduce the overflights by half for now.”

  “It’s a big city.” Jordan said.

  “And if we don't conserve the drones now, we could have a bigger problem later. For now, we know what we need to know.”

  A commo tech stuck his head through the baffle curtain. “General, Police Chief Locke is inbound and requesting permission to land. She wants to see you, sir.”

  “I was wondering what was keeping her. Bring her in.” Trahn returned his attention to Jordan. “Jemal, what’s goosed her?”

  Jordan keyed the display, shifting it to a street map. “A significant change to the equation is that the rioters have moved underground. They’ve taken control of the following Metro stations: Metro Center, Gallery Place, Smithsonian, L’Enfant Plaza, Federal Triangle, Waterfront, and Rosslyn. The occupied stations include all the intersection stations serving the inne
r zones of the Federal District. Several trains have gone off-line, which resulted in a system-wide shutdown at 2107 hours last night. We believe the rioters have commandeered the trains and superimposed manual controls in order to make use of them as shuttle transportation.

  “FedPol teams have erected barricades in the tunnels leading to Arlington Cemetery, Union Station, Capitol South, Howard University, and Rhode Island Avenue. An attempt to secure the Farragut North station resulted in a firefight. That station must be considered contested. The status on other inner stations is unknown. So far, all barricaded stations report no encounters with the rioters, but I believe the effort to reclaim Metro has pushed the FedPols beyond their limits.”

  Jordan detailed the other areas the rioters held, just finishing with the bridges when Police Chief Locke arrived.

  “Everyone tell me you’re the man to see.” she said, striding up to General Trahn. Unlike yesterday’s businessmen, Locke didn’t seem to think she needed privacy. Her angry voice was loud enough for everyone in the TOC to hear. “I’ve got a fragging war on my hands. War is your business, General. How about some help?”

  “I don’t see what I can do for you, Chief Locke.” Trahn pointed out calmly. “At least some of the rioters are citizens, which makes this a civil disturbance and not a war. My orders do not cover riot control. That is not my mission.”

  But it had been planned for, Tom knew. General Trahn wasn’t the sort to overlook contingencies.

  “Are you going to stand on the Emmitsburg Act? People are dying out there.”

  “People were dying in Emmitsburg, too. The Congress saw fit to enact legislation to prevent the military from taking action if a similar case arose again. We’re not dealing with a single metatype here, but otherwise this situation is very like that one, Chief. Perhaps you can get Congress to rescind the act and make military intervention legal.”

  “Who’s asking for intervention? I need information. I need support. Your people are already defending several locations. Why not a few more? If I didn’t have so many officers tied down watching things, I could organize effective action. What about it?”