Trial by Fire: Chapter Eighteen

Washington, D.C., Earth

    Downing paused by his office’s outer door long enough to switch off the central power and data conduits. As he opened the door and shrugged into his coat, every circuit except for those which monitored the wall-embedded faraday cage physically disconnected from the power grid with a thrunk.

    Even before he got the door closed, his palmcom buzzed in a pattern reserved for IRIS-related personnel. He tapped his collarcom. “Downing.”

    “Hello, Uncle Richard?” Elena. Sounding contrite. A tone of voice he wasn’t much accustomed to, coming from her.

    “Hello, Elena.”

    “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I left with a snide remark.”

    “Understandable, Elena.” Nice getting an apology. In this business, he was usually the one making, not receiving them. “What can I do for you, dear?”

    “Well, I wanted to talk to you about–oh, wait a minute. Is Trevor there?”

    “No. He left the office just a few minutes after you did.”

    “I see.”

    Downing waited, began to wonder at the length of the pause–

    “Uncle Richard, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

    “Certainly.”

    “Not over the phone. Over dinner. My treat.”

    “Well”–he looked at his watch–”I suppose so. Where do you wish to go?”

    “Papillon.”

    “Elena, that’s in Alexandria, rather off my beaten path. I know you’re fond of the ambiance, but–”

    “Well, that’s just it, Uncle Richard. What I want to talk to you about is–well, it’s personal.”

    “I see. Well then, yes, of course. Papillon it is. What time would you like to meet there?”

    “A little after seven?”

    “Can we make it a bit later?”

    “Have you tried to get in there recently? They’re so swamped by eight PM, you’ll wait an hour just to get your salad.”

    Richard checked his watch. “Fair enough. I’m going to have to step lively if I want to make it on time. See you there.”

    “See you.”

    As the elevator opened, he checked the IT security protocol update from Langley. They were recommending full surge protection measures from seven PM onward, full shut-down where feasible. Hmmm, expecting a lively night when the Arat Kur realize they’re not getting a reply to their new demands? Downing began buttoning his coat as the doors slid closed.

    As Opal exited the cab with the groceries and prescription vitamins and supplements, she paged her townhouse, activated its welcome protocols, and checked her palmcom: no calls, no messages, or data to any of her accounts. She went up the stairs two at a time, grazed the print-reader with her thumb, inserted the mechanical key, and entered.

    –and immediately saw the red light flashing rapidly on the house-control screen, just beyond the vestibule: not a casual message. A high priority send, either from a government source, or relayed through a government server. She plunked her shopping down unceremoniously on the table next to the coat rack and pressed the flashing light to trigger an immediate display.

    It was a letter, and it was from Caine.

    MESSAGE ENDS. TRANSMISSION TERMINATED AT THE SOURCE.

    Opal stepped back from the screen, realized she’d started crying. She didn’t stop to wipe her face, but slammed open the door into the hall closet. Sorry, Caine. Can’t take your advice. And I can’t wait for Downing to send me off to rescue you, probably with a bad team and a bad plan that’s likely to get both of us killed. Assuming he’d even give me the green-light in time. It’s three to one odds that poor, sweet Trevor is going to get crucified when Case Timber Pony gets exposed while in-country and that you’ll be left swinging in the breeze before I can get you out.

    Nope, I’m not waiting. I know what needs to be done, and I’m going to get about doing it. Right now.

    Uniform, boots, sidearm went into her gym bag. She wished she had web gear, but she’d take care of that as soon as she got to San Diego. That’s where scuttlebutt said the action was. Lots of boots were converging on that Pacific gateway port, more than remained in the billets there. Lots more. So they were getting shipped out to somewhere in the Pacific, and given what she’d heard in Downing’s office and in Caine’s message, she had a pretty good idea of where that would be.

    Pulling the remaining gear out of the closet, she smiled through her still blurred vision. And if you thought I was just going to wait for you here, Caine Riordan, then you don’t know this country girl. Not by a fucking country mile, you don’t.

From low orbit to Jakarta, Earth

    Flanked by a pair of combat-suited Arat Kur, Caine waited to board the shuttle while the Arat Kur administrator he had come to know as Urzueth Ragh attempted to engage him in small talk. “I conjecture that you are looking forward to returning to Earth. I know our improvised accommodations cannot have been very pleasing.”

    Caine had no intention of replying, but glancing over, saw that Urzueth remained focused upon him, evincing the peculiarly canted posture which, in Arat Kur, indicated a resolve to wait. In perpetuity, if need be. Caine relented. “I have appreciated the many efforts you made at accommodating our unusual needs. The representatives of the Homenest have been most gracious.”

    “As are you, for saying so,” Urzueth said with the bob that signified more than a nod but less than a bow. “But on the other point, are you not gratified to be returning home?”

    Caine considered how to respond truthfully, but not provocatively. “Not under these conditions.”

    Urzueth seemed distressed, but not particularly surprised. “I regret that the situation is so–discordant–on your planet, right now.”

    Caine was not able to let that blithe euphemism pass unremarked. “I was not aware that ‘discordant’ was synonymous with ‘invasion,’ in the Arat Kur language.”

    “Invasion?” Urzueth now seemed genuinely surprised. “It is true we have invaded this system, but not your planet.”

    Caine turned to look at the Arat Kur directly. “Perhaps I have misinterpreted the updates from you and Darzhee Kut regarding the establishment of a blockade around Indonesia, your seizure of its mass driver, and the imposition of a no-fly restriction on the entirety of my planet?”

    “You are correct in your recitation of the facts, Caine Riordan, but incorrect in attributing the causes. It is true that we imposed the no-fly restriction unilaterally, but we did so in order to fulfill our obligations to the human authorities who have invited us to protect the mass driver from sabotage, and Indonesia from extranational conquest.”

    Caine was so stunned that he could only get out the words, “And who invited you–?” before the pressure door into the shuttle landing bay finally opened. The answer to Caine’s half-asked question walked through it.

    A slender young woman wearing what amounted to CoDevCo livery stepped into the passenger and cargo marshalling area in which Caine and Urzueth waited. She extended a hand; her voice was soft, almost shy. “Mr. Riordan, I am Eimi Singh. I am here to escort you planetside, along with our exosapient guests.” She turned to Urzueth. “Is everyone gathered and ready, esteemed Administrator Urzueth? We have a fairly tight operational window, the flight crew tells me.”

    “Not just yet, Ms. Singh. We are still awaiting–my error; here they are. The security consultants Mr. Ruap requested. Just over from their ship, I believe.”

    Caine turned. Two Hkh’Rkh in battle gear emerged from the inter-bay access corridor and stalked toward the group, their massive, sloped shoulders swaying slightly from side to side as they approached.

    Urzueth turned back to Caine. “Now, you wished to know who invited us to assist in your planet’s affairs, Caine Riordan?”

    Riordan turned away. “You have just answered that question. Quite clearly.”

    The CoDevCo shuttle did seem to be on a tight schedule. As soon as its attitude control thrusters had pushed it backward out of the bay, it performed a one-hundred-eighty-degree tumble, followed by a one-hundred-eighty-degree roll, and then nosed down into a fairly steep angle toward the atmosphere. Caine, at a window seat, affected a distracted hundred-meter stare to cover his intense scrutiny of every detail of every ship he could see. He had all of about half a minute in which he would be able to make observations.

    In addition to a host of specifics which he hoped he would not forget if he ever got debriefed by naval technical intelligence experts, he was immediately struck by a profound overall impression of the Arat Kur warships in general. They were not, in fact, warships. Not in any permanent sense, at least. On close inspection, they appeared more like multipurpose designs.

    As the shuttle accelerated briskly planetside, he glimpsed what looked like a frigate being serviced by a tender. But, in actuality, they were the same class of ship, or would have appeared so at a fast glance. Detailed study revealed that the majority of their differences were ultimately modular in nature. The frigate had a larger engine deck, had a greater number of thruster pods, and had launch bays in place of cargo containers. But otherwise, the similarities between the craft were marked.

    Passing another hull–a small mothership for atmo-interface craft–Caine noted the same style of construction, and the exact same thruster pods he had seen on both the frigate and the tender.

    One final scan of the blackness beyond the window showed him what had to be a shift carrier, far “above” him. The traffic, the coveys of protective drones, the PDF turrets: everything told him it was an Arat Kur military vessel of extreme importance. But rather than having a main weapon built along the length of its hull, this one had a detachable spinal mount: a narrow oblong that had been affixed atop the keel, but was not integral to it.

    Each ship’s subsections were modular, which made every ship a reconfiguration of interchangeable elements. The only exception was the smooth-hulled shift cruiser that he had seen closely–once–after being rescued from the hab module off the shoulder of Barney Deucy. Streamlined, radically different in design and appearance, it had looked like a craft out of place within its own fleet. Judging from the shift-cruiser’s retractable weapons blisters, sensor clusters, integral spinal weapon, and in-hull weapon and vehicle bays, it was also the only one that had been built expressly for the purpose of waging war.

    A whole invasion fleet–and only one model of ship that was built for the sole purpose of waging war.

    Which was, on reflection, consistent with Darzhee Kut’s claim that the Arat Kur had been without war for many centuries. Hardly unusual, then, that they did not have warships, any more than they had a standing fleet. Probably, for them, retaining provisions for war-making was a troublesome business necessitated solely by the existence of their unpredictable neighbors.

    As the CoDevCo shuttle sped down toward the clouds, its nose pitching up into an atmobraking attitude, Caine caught sight of the hulking body armor of the two Hkh’Rkh, who were strapped in alongside his Arat Kur warders in their articulated combat suits. One race knew no war; the other knew nothing but. Strange allies.

    Or, perhaps, he thought, estranged allies.

    As the shuttle emerged from the monsoon clouds hanging thick and low over the island of Java, Caine felt his breath catch involuntarily. Black plumes, some rising up from immense fires clearly visible at their three-kilometer altitude, dotted the landscape. The largest of the conflagrations was located five kilometers west of the chaotic, sprawling, sea-hugging metroplex that was Jakarta itself. The shuttle sheared away even farther from that tower of smoke, just as a brace of nonhuman air vehicles swept over them, firing missiles as they headed groundside, forward thrusters beginning to rotate into a VTOL attitude.

    Across the aisle, Eimi Singh put a hand to her small earbud, then turned to Urzueth. “I am sorry, esteemed Administrator Urzueth, but Soekarno spaceport remains unavailable. We will have to divert to a direct landing in our compound.”

    Caine stared at Urzueth. “A most interesting way to not invade a planet.”

    Urzueth glanced out the window, then back at Caine. The unreadable Arat Kur features did not change for a full two seconds. Then, the mandibles became animated again. “Caine Riordan, you misperceive. These fires you see, we did not cause them.”

    “So those attack craft heading planetside belong to someone else?”

    “Oh, no, they are ours, but they are responding to requests for assistance. From the human government.”

    Caine felt slightly nauseous. “The human government?”

    “Yes, President Ruap’s provisional Indonesian government.”

    Eimi leaned in with a shy, apologetic smile. “The destruction you see is the work of renegade army units. They have severely damaged Soekarno Spaceport. They have disabled various utilities, and as if to prove their bestiality, have actually attacked and destroyed countless food warehouses.”

    “And how long has this ‘rebellion’ been going on?” Caine asked, his throat dry.

    “Four days,” answered Eimi.

    Caine looked at Urzueth. “And how long ago did your first ‘advisors’ and ‘security consultants’ start landing?”

    Urzueth eyes seemed to tighten in their ridged settings. “Five days ago.”

    Caine leaned back in his chair. “I am guessing that would be shortly after Mr. Ruap’s coup began.”

    Eimi shook her head. “Oh, there was no coup. Mr. Ruap was compelled to take control of the government when the last president was assassinated and the new leadership refused to acknowledge the rights granted to CoDevCo regarding the mass driver site.”

    Caine studied Ms. Singh narrowly. “And what rights would those be?”

    “Full legal possession of the site itself, including complete autonomy to authorize air traffic of any origins into or out of the mass driver facilities.”

    Caine smiled. “Let me guess. The old leadership objected to ‘air traffic’ from the Arat Kur fleet. Specifically, troop landers.”

    Urzueth bobbed. “Yes, now you understand.”

    Caine looked out the window at the smoke- and fire-scarred patchwork quilt that comprised the coastal flats of Java. “Oh yes, I understand perfectly. And I have also learned another quirky difference between our languages, Esteemed Urzueth.”

    “And what is that?”

    “Those whom you call ‘renegade rebels,’ we call ‘resistance fighters.’”

    The CoDevCo shuttle, engaging its VTOL thrusters as it glided smoothly over the dingy, cockeyed checkerboard of Jakarta’s rooftops, dropped suddenly lower.

    The civilians in the craft–Urzueth and Eimi Singh–grasped at the seat-backs in front of them as if to arrest their fall. The military types–the Arat Kur guards and the Hkh’Rkh “security advisors”–simply swayed in their seats. Caine discovered that he now fell into the latter category: he reflexively distinguished the quick drop as a maneuver, not a loss of control.

    “What is the problem?” Eimi almost stammered into her collarcom.

    The pilot’s answer came over the cabin PA. “Apologies to all. We’ve just been told we are not cleared to land at CoDevCo’s rooftop vertipads. We’re going to have to wait until we can be a assured of a safe approach to the ground pads.”

    “Why?” Eimi asked her collarcom. Whatever answer she got was sent privately to her earbud. Caine leaned over, raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

    “A disturbance down in the city,” she explained with an apologetic smile. “It seems the rebels have sent professional agitators into the streets and have managed to stir up some of the people against the government. That makes it harder for our associates’ airborne surveillance assets”–she smiled quickly at Urzueth–”to detect threats in advance.”

    “What kind of threats?”

    “Well,” she said, her reply punctuated by a nervous flutter of her eyelids, “some of the rebels are said to have to have rockets.”

    Caine pointed at a crowd-filling square not far below them, near some kind of railway station. “Down there, you mean?”

    “No,” corrected Eimi. “That’s just one of the riots stirred up by the agitators. The actual rebels are much fewer in number. But some of them are engaged with our forces north of here. So we shall stay low, where they cannot detect and target us.”

    Caine hoped Eimi and the pilot were right about that assumption. If these “rebels” had laid hold of any reasonably modern AA systems, they would be capable of both designating targets and launching missiles from non-line-of-sight vantage points. He looked north. Tilt rotor VTOLs the size of small cars–and of distinctly nonhuman design–darted and weaved over the ramshackle roofscape. Smoke rose from the street. AA rockets went skyward between the billowing black plumes, vectoring toward the VTOLs. All but one of the rockets exploded in midair, apparently intercepted by active counterfire systems onboard the ROVs or possibly from some rear area support position. However, one rocket did find its mark. It clipped the side of a dodging VTOL, the blast taking out one of the rotors. The crippled alien craft faltered down toward the street, another rotor now wobbling.

    The shuttle’s main engines cut out, ending its forward movement. But in the moment of comparative silence as its vertical thrusters rose to full power, Caine heard an uneven susurration almost directly below. Looking down, he discovered that the source of the ragged murmur was the rioting crowd, its distant roar now drowned out by the whine of the shuttle’s VTOL turbofans.

    At the west end of the square in which the crowd had gathered, lines of troops began to emerge from an old squat stone building: probably a bank or armory or museum before being converted into fortified barracks. The troops came out the front door in two perfect lines, quickly forming a dull gray bulwark along the western edge of the square. As they grew in number, filling in from the back and pushing forward, the crowd shoved back, becoming more agitated. Their previously stationary placards were now waving and shaking like battle flags. A number of the more agile protestors had shinnied up lampposts, clambered onto kiosks, some shouting slogans with the aid of bullhorns and portable sound systems.

    The gray ranks facing them were eerily uniform: each soldier was of identical height, wearing identical equipment. None had donned riot gear. Their rifles were at the ready, stocks tucked against their hips, barrels slightly raised.

    The crowd reacted to these unresponsive serried ranks with even greater agitation. It seemed to surge and pulsate like a distempered unicellar organism, uncertain of its next action. Then, two almost invisible objects–bricks, possibly, from their angular outlines–crossed the gap from the restless social amoeba and disappeared into the ranks of the motionless, identical soldiers.

    Their response was immediate. The muzzles of the lead rank came up and sparkled. Caine heard what sounded like a distant ripping of cardboard. As if being melted away by acid, the facing side of the social amoeba began to evaporate, leaving an irregular stain of heaped bodies to mark the prior limit of its outer membrane.

    At the other end of the wounded organism, the cytoplasmic crowd started bleeding out into every street and alley that led away from the square, the body of protest deflating and ultimately disappearing–

    Except for those heaped corpses whose own blood had begun to paint the streets of Jakarta with a black-red stain. Which–even if today’s late-afternoon rainstorm washed it away–promised to live on in the memory of those hundreds who had been there, and those thousands to whom they told their tale.

    As Caine watched, a small, stick-thin figure–maybe a young teen, maybe an elderly person–crawled out of the tangle of bodies, dragging useless legs.

    The shuttle rose slightly and resumed its forward progress. “Final approach,” announced Eimi buoyantly.

    Caine watched the faltering stick-figure pulling itself away on weakening arms until he couldn’t see it anymore.