Carnifex

20/2/467 AC, High Admiral's Quarters, Atlantis Base

It was really all very sickening to Mustafa, though he tried to hide it.

But the more Robinson explained, the more the Salafi realized how badly he had screwed up the war, to date, and how much had to be done to redeem it.

Robinson tried to be gentle with the Salafi, downplaying mistakes as much as possible while still making the point.

"You saw only Pashtia, the Federated States and the Tauran Union, Mustafa," the High Admiral had said. "You assumed that, because the attacks originated in Pashtia that the FSC would only attack Pashtia. You assumed that all the mujahadin would come to Pashtia to fight. You thought that, because it was a place where there were no railroads, hardly any roads, no ports, no navigable rivers, and few good airfields, the FSC would not be able to support any very large army there. You were correct in this, of course. You thought that you could meet what they could support there on fairly equal terms. This, too, would have been correct had they elected to meet you there only. You forgot that they were able to attack somewhere else, somewhere closer to your holiest city, somewhere that would attract the mujahadin away from Pashtia, where they might have fought on more even terms, to Sumer, where the Feds held all the cards."

Mustafa could only accept it for it was nothing but the truth. He knew now that there had been other mistakes in plenty.

"I never even considered it as a possibility that Kashmir would turn against us, or even play a neutral part," he admitted. "I thought the Federated States would grow sick of the killing after they'd lost a couple of hundred soldiers. I counted on Allah doing too much, forgetting that he cuts the coat to fit the man, or that he might demand more of us than that we fight and be willing to die. The Nazrani have taught me though, and taught me well."

"You know I do not believe in your god, Mustafa. But, accepting for the moment his existence, let me tell you something a wise man of Old Earth one said. 'God is not willing to do everything and thus take away from us our free will and that share of the glory that belongs to us.' Within that man's mental framework, he was right, and you would be well advised to follow his teachings.

"It is a truth of war," Robinson had continued, "that groups in conflict tend to come to resemble each other. This is true tactically, technologically, and morally. You have learned from the FSC not to trust everything to God. What do you suppose they've learned from you? How have they become like you?"

Mustafa thought upon this for a long time before answering. When he did answer, he said, "They have learned to use terror, as well. In fact, they have learned to do it better than we do. We've knocked one country out of their unholy coalition, Castille. They've knocked out at least four from what should have been ours, Sumer, Pashtia, Kashmir by threatening genocide and Fezzan by threatening to extinguish its leader and his family."

"Those, yes," the High Admiral agreed. "Other places, too. More than that, faced with a non-state adversary like yourselves, they have also learned to use and develop non-state allies."

"Those stinking Latin mercenaries."

"Well . . . following the same man who wrote about God and free will, they're not technically mercenaries. But, yes . . . "

* * *

"I think," said Mustafa, finally, on this, the last day of his conference with Robinson, "I think that we are agreed on all the important things."

"Yes," said Robinson, then recapitulated, "You will, with my help, gain complete control of your movement. This will leave you potentially more vulnerable to attack but will also make your own attacks make sense in the larger plan for the first time. Serious attacks on the FSC will end, though planning will continue. Within the FSC, you will build a group of supporters for when the time comes to renew attacks there."

"Agreed."

"You will make peace with the Royal Family in Yithrab. Active operations there will end so that you can continue to draw financing."

That was tougher. Mustafa loathed the Yithrabi government and longed to see it gone, but . . . "Agreed."

"To increase financing, I will take operational control of the pirates along the Xamar coast. Using the intelligence assets available to my fleet, I will guide Abdulahi to seize those ships most likely to yield good return and to intimidate the shipping companies into paying protection. When and if the time seems suitable, I will send a totally inadequate number of UE Marines to 'control' the coast and suppress piracy. They will, of course, fail to do so, but will help secure Abdulahi's position as paramount chieftain." Especially will they be inadequate and fail because half my Marines have been sent back to Earth.

"Agreed."

"Within one month, you will identify to me one lesser pirate emir in Nicobar. We will both then throw our efforts behind him to make him the paramount chieftain of the Nicobars. Then we will do with them as we intend to do along the Xamar coast."

"This will be tougher, you know?"

"It might be impossible," Robinson agreed, "but we must try."

"Yes. We must also try to get rid of those mercenaries."

"This is especially true," Robinson added, "since they have begun to develop a fleet which just may be aimed at the Xamari and Nicobars. For now, though, they appear to be unemployed and out of the war."

The High Admiral continued, "Within Pashtia the first prong of our strategy will be to ensure control of the opium crop and that there will be a crop. This not only helps finance your movement, the crop ultimately helps to undermine the FSC. The second prong will be to go after the Pashtian collaborators who assist the FSC's coalition and terrorize them into supporting you while at the same time engaging and driving away the FSC's lesser and unwilling allies like Tuscany and Gaul. The third will be to drive out of the war the FSCs willing allies, Anglia and Secordia, by engaging their forces and driving their casualties up to politically unacceptable levels."

Mustafa, who had better intelligence on the Anglians and Secordians than Robinson did, commented, "Their troops always seem willing enough to fight."

"No matter, their politicians and most of their people really want out. Kill enough and they will leave. Moreover, while random terror has not worked with the FSC or Anglia, it has worked with Castille, appears to be working in Gaul and may well work to drive Sachsen out of the war."

"I agree about the others, but with the Anglians there is a problem even if it did work," the Salafi objected. "Without the Anglians and the Secordians, the Federated States might just rehire the mercenaries and they have proved much more effective."

Robinson shook his head. "Not for four years, at least, and possibly not for eight or more. As long as the Progressives are in power, the mercenaries are not likely to be hired." Robinson believed he had this on the very best authority. That said; the Khans were not nearly as certain.

The High Admiral continued, "After the Anglians and Secordians are gone, and Pashtia has seen the last of the other allies in the coalition, you will begin actively seeking fights with the FSC troops."

"There is something else you can help with," Mustafa said.

Robinson gave the Salafi a quizzical look.

"They rule the air. They can find us from the air. They attack us from . . . "

"I can't do anything to interfere with that."

"I'm not asking you to. But you can balance things out. From space, surely, you can also tell us where they are, no?"

The High Admiral went silent for a moment, scrunching his eyes in thought.

After several long moments he answered, "I can get you something to allow you to see our view from over Terra Nova, a direct feed from the fleet's sensors. What you do with that would be up to you."

"That would be sufficient."

"Maybe not quite sufficient," Robinson countered. "If you started sending real-time intelligence to your guerillas, it would be traced to the Peace Fleet. Let me see what I can do about providing you some limited secure communications."