Defender

23

“Are you going to draft colonials?” was thrown at Kris before she even opened the car door.

There was an Alwan blocking Jack from opening his door. “Will you tie ropes around our necks and make us walk in your footsteps?” Nelly translated.

Kris eyed Jack. “I didn’t read that in your orders.”

“Neither did I.”

Kris shoved open her door, and shouted, “Can we at least get out?”

“Let them get out,” Ada said. “Let’s save this for the Council Chambers, but you two have a lot of explaining to do, and this better be good.”

Granny Rita was on the veranda. As they passed her, she said, “Sorry kids. Maybe I’ve said too much about how sneaky Raymond can be. Ada was with me and Anyang, the Public Peace Coordinator, when the messages started coming in, and the hollering started, and runners left to get more members and none of them have ever read anything written by lawyers before.”

Kris could see how things had gotten out of hand. Getting a little technology was like getting just a little bit pregnant. She’d mark this down as a learning experience if she survived, and would be a lot more careful about what Nelly let Granny Rita see.

I’M SORRY, KRIS. I’VE NEVER HAD TO CENSOR MY NET BEFORE.

WE’LL TALK LATER.

There was a long table in the Council of Ministers’ room. Even though the chairs were distributed evenly, Kris quickly found herself and Jack on one side and everyone else on the other side or sitting in chairs behind that side.

Thank you, Grampa, for dividing us so well.

Kris sat silently for a while. There was some whispering among folks on the other side of the table, but no one really got matters moving. Maybe the Alwans weren’t the only ones who were out of their depth when it came to conflict resolution.

At least at this scale.

Kris opened her hands to Ada.

She shook her head. “You tell me how I’m reading this wrong,” she snapped.

“First off,” Kris began, “the orders to my husband Jack were never revealed or discussed with me before I found out about them this morning. Like any of you on a honeymoon, I had more interesting things at hand than reading dispatches.”

That got some smiles. One or two chuckles. Kris had hoped that appealing to the bridal role might get her more maneuvering room. Then she remembered her history.

The draft had been used extensively in the Iteeche War and not liked at all.

Draft riots were mentioned but skimmed over in most histories. Kris had read deeper on the subject. It had been ugly.

“I have no power as viceroy to create or impose a draft on Alwa or the colonials. It’s not there in my commission.”

“But Jack does,” Ada shot back.

“No, I don’t,” Jack snapped.

“It says you can,” Anyang, the Minister for Public Peace, insisted.

“No, it says that I can train them if you, yourselves, vote to establish a draft. It also says I can train volunteers. It says a lot of things that aren’t going to happen because, right now this minute, I don’t have any weapons I can issue to you.”

Jack paused to let that sink in.

“You could all volunteer en masse. You could pass a law that drafted everyone from five years old to ninety-five, and it wouldn’t mean a thing. My Marines have the weapons they were issued before they came aboard and maybe a dozen spares in the maintenance section.”

Again Jack paused. Realization was dawning in a lot of eyes across the table.

Jack hammered it home. “Tomorrow, if the bastards landed an army on Alwa and you came begging me for weapons to fight them. To battle them. To stop them from killing your wives and children, I would not have so much as a slingshot to give you.”

That definitely turned the table.

There was a long silence as the reality of that soaked in. A moment before, they’d been all ready to chase Kris and Jack off a cliff. Now all they saw was a mountain up ahead that they all needed to climb together.

“That sure puts the shoe on the other foot,” Ada said.

“Yes,” Kris said.

“May I ask a few questions?” Jack asked.

“Of course,” Ada said.

“Anyang, how are your public-safety agents equipped?”

“Most have billy clubs. Occasionally, I issue longer staves. There are wicker shields from the early days, when Rita faced food riots, but they haven’t been issued since before my time.”

“Not in sixty years or more,” Rita said from where she sat against the wall at the head of the room.

“Do you have any hunters?” Jack asked.

“Bow hunting is very popular. There are some rifles, but they are all black-powder single-shot things. We haven’t been able to find any nitrate deposits. There are animals that even the Alwans can’t face. They run away from them fast or get eaten. Our rifle hunters go after them. It’s more of an even fight than I like. We lose at least one hunter every year, but there are some who like the excitement.”

“I’d like to talk to them,” Jack said.

“So,” Ada said slowly, “your job is to form some sort of fighting force that can stop the bastards if they land on Alwa.”

Jack shook his head, sadly. “No, ma’am. My job is to fight them on the ground if Kris’s ships are defeated in the space above you. Considering the odds and the weapons they use, right now, I and my troops are just here to die bravely, fighting beside you.”

That brought a deadly hush to the room.

“You don’t sound very optimistic,” Kuno, in charge of Mining and Industry, said.

“I’ve seen them fight. I’ve walked a planet they raped. If you want me to lie to you, you’ve got the wrong man in the room.”

“Kris,” Ada asked, “is it that bad?”

“I’m afraid so. If they came right now, I don’t know how I could use my ships to stop them. We ambushed them last time. We can’t use the same ambush this time. I’ve got a few ideas that might surprise them, but right this minute, nothing.”

Granny Rita spoke up. “Folks, honesty in your warrior class is something to be grateful for. It’s not a lot of fun to hear, though. Clearly, they’ve got the courage to speak the truth. Do you have the courage to hear it?”

“What can we do?” Ada asked.

“Right now, any minerals that you can mine is a start,” Kris said. “Whether we use it to make weapons, or factories to make more weapons is a question we can tackle when we’ve got something to deal with.”

“Alwans do not like digging in the ground and smoke-belching plants,” an Alwan said.

“Do you like living more?” Jack asked.

The Alwans around the table fell silent. At least these five weren’t running around like their elders.

“I’ll try to get mining nanos down here to help you extract minerals without gouging the mountains,” Kris said. “Do you know where there are mineral deposits?”

“The nanos would help. We have some deposits we haven’t touched because of Alwan protests. I’ll see what I can do,” Kuno said. “Can we count on you for anything?”

“Part of making me viceroy is that I get to deal with a lot of business and industrial types that came out with the fleet. They are also looking for minerals they can extract from asteroids and small moons. They have a couple of automated prefab plants to set up on your own moon. No belching smoke, but they do want to borrow two of the reactors off the Furious.”

“Two for us and two for them,” Granny Rita said. “They’re pretty old. Do you think they can make them work?”

“We’ve got some pretty sophisticated ship-repair and fabrication stuff on Canopus Station. I’m betting if anyone can, they’ll be the folks to patch things up and get them running,” Kris said. “I’m glad you’ve agreed to share the reactors. I’ll meet with those types tomorrow. That one will make this one look like patty-cake.”

“Why did Ray bring out a bunch of mining and industry types?” Granny Rita asked.

Kris didn’t want to answer that question. But since later today or tomorrow she’d be throwing it in the face of some real hard cases, she might as well let the locals know it first.

“Warships don’t exist in a vacuum. They need a base. If the aliens discover a preindustrial world protected by starships, they’ll know the ships came from somewhere and go looking for it. If these bastards are as hostile to life as they have seemed, they’re bound to have a special hatred for any life that can stand up to them in a fight. Ray’s given us the stuff to help us strengthen our defense, but it’s not just a nice thing he’s doing. He’s buying human space more time before the bastards come hunting for them.”

“Mighty nice of him,” Rita said sourly.

“Whatever his reasoning, it helps us. I’m grateful for it,” Ada told Rita.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Folks, we’ve covered as much as we can just now. I need to get back in uniform and back to the fleet. I suspect there are even more fires to be put out there.”

With that, the meeting adjourned. Kris found herself in the ladies’ room, changing back into whites and wishing she had Jack to help. He was likely wishing the same.

What happens on Alwa stays on Alwa.

In the hall, they met. She helped adjust his collar and tie, no field scarf. Marines! He helped her get the fall of her dress whites shipshape. The fast car was still waiting for them. This time, Ada drove.

“I’m sorry we had to have that meeting, but I’m glad we did. You showed you know how to solve problems. Not all the people I have to deal with can do that. You also gave me the first honest report on how bad it really is. I can’t say I’m glad to hear it, but at least I know what is ahead of us.”

“Can I ask one question, Ada?” Kris said. “If things really do go downhill. If the aliens are headed this way, and there doesn’t look to be any way for us to stop them. If we could cram every colonial into our ships and take off for human space, would you come with us?”

Ada was shaking her head before Kris finished. “This may be hard for folks like you that get in spaceships and jump all over the galaxy to understand, but for us, this is home. Everything we know and love is here. I know what I’m saying sounds crazy, but where else would I go?

“And Granny Rita is right, the Alwans took us in when we were inches away from eating each other or dying or I don’t know what all ’cause the old-timers get suddenly quiet when you try to get them talking about what it was like the last couple of jumps before they found Alwa. The idea of running away from those crazy feather heads, even if it meant my life, just doesn’t feel right.”

As they drove out on the long pier to where a gig waited for Kris and Jack, Ada said, “Jack, you’ll have your volunteers. I don’t know how we’ll arm them, but we’ll try. You get those mining nanos down here, and we’ll extract everything we can. And from what I hear, there are a lot of scientists from your ships exploring Alwa like it’s never been looked at before. They’re looking at animals, plants, minerals, you name it. I check in every day with Rita to see what new reports she’s got. Not every day is like today.”

They came to a stop. Kris could hear the shuttle warming up its reaction mass.

“We’re finding out more about Alwa than we’ve ever dreamed of. We will use what we find to fight. Jack, you say it’s a hopeless cause. Well, our folks have faced hopeless before, and we’re still here. Bring on your hopeless. We’ll show you how to beat the devil and find the hope you need.”

Kris was strapped down, and the shuttle was airborne before the goose bumps from Ada’s pep talk finally melted away.

Then she got busy with Nelly, planning the rest of her day.