TRANSMISSION 07: Desperate Times and the Needs of the Many

SURVEILLANCE DATA TRACKING RECORD

ARCHIVE CLEARANCE 81-4-B-FALCON-SIGMA-8

COVERT SURVEILLANCE OF TARGET DESIGNATE “CHELEDISCUS,” 14-4-01

TARGET LOCATION: SPACE RACE CAFÉ, 823 COMPLEX, SECTOR 31, EPSILON ERIDANI b I

MAN #1: Lonny! Over here!

MAN #2: Hey, there you are. Thought I ‘d never find you.

MAN #3: We did pick the place because it’s small and hard to find.

MAN #2: You didn’t say anything about sitting by a thoroughfare, though. I doubt Cadmus would approve.

WOMAN: Well, Cadmus doesn’t have to know. How are you, Waylon? You’ve been under for a while.

MAN #2: I’m alright. Had a loose end or two to string up.

MAN #3: Nothing serious, I hope?

MAN #2: ...no, relatively speaking.

MAN #3: Relatively speaking? Relative to what, Waylon?

MAN #2: To what I’m about to tell you.

WOMAN: Oooh, this sounds exciting.

WAITRESS: Hi, there! Can I get you anything, sir?

MAN #2: Uh, no thanks.

WAITRESS: Okay, would any of you like a refill, or can I get you something else?

MAN #3: Another coffee, please.

WOMAN: And a diet soda. Sugarcane, if you have it.

WAITRESS: We sure do, and for you, sir?

MAN #1: I’m good, thanks.

WAITRESS: Okeydokey, I’ll be right back.

MAN #2: Now, where was I?

MAN #3: You were, ah, speaking relatively, if I remember correctly.

MAN #2: Right. Well. I wanted to tell you about ‘constructive escalation.’

WOMAN: Okay...

MAN #2: I see. Okay, when an entity thrives on that which lies outside its immediate reach, the laws of nature dictate that it naturally strive to reach those things. It will seek to have them in preference to the same things that it can get to. That’s pretty basic, right? For example, when Terry goes to a bar and sees two girls, one he knows he can have at any time, and another who might put up a little fight, he’s gonna go for the fighter, am I right?

MAN #1: Yeah, that’s me alright.

(laughs)

MAN #2: That’s because the benefits of having the thing that’s easily obtainable are already known, or at least easily knowable. You’ll never know how you – or your government – can benefit from the trickier option until you’ve obtained it.

MAN #1: Sounds about right.

MAN #2: And why is the harder thing so hard to obtain? Because it resists, either incidentally, or with purpose. So when the United Systems government decides that the resources which are being monopolized by our obliging hosts here in the Maidenhead Colonies, it’s only natural that they – and consequenty, we – work harder to obtain them than it would the resources of its own member worlds. Now, naturally, resistance is gonna cause conflict, and prolonged conflict will require escalation to sustain itself. A good example of escalation would be the Reese bunker complex. That job was very effective, and do you know why?

WOMAN: Because we attacked infrastructure and not replaceable individuals?

MAN #2: Close. Because it provided a constructive solution to how easy it is for the Colonials to replace personnel. When we hit Marmary spacefield, we asked the question: ‘what’ll you do when we destroy your equipment,’ to which they answered, ‘we’ll make more equipment.’ With the Reese bunker we asked ‘how are you going to make new equipment when we take away the place you make that equipment.’ Their answer is simple ‘we get our people to make new places and new equipment.’ They’ll work double-time. We are up against-

WAITRESS: Here we go, Diet Sugarcane for you, coffee for you.

WOMAN: Thank you.

MAN #3: Thanks.

MAN #2: We are up against a popular and well-liked institution that is based on ensuring that a few people live in luxury, while the others slave away their lives and gain nothing. Everyone is going to want to be part of the few, and therefore, it becomes very easy for the Colonial government to find loyal new soldiers and security personnel; they can simultaneously serve their own interests and those of the government. The reason the Reese bunker hit was so succesful, is that not only did it provide a disincentive for people to work for the government – fear for their own safety – but it also highlighted the fact that ultimately, anyone who signs up for public service becomes as accountable for the government’s actions as the Maiden herself. Not only did we legitimize everything government-related as targets, but we made people aware of it. That, my friends, is a prime example of constructive escalation.

MAN #1: So now we up the ante.

MAN #2: Precisely. Care to guess how?

WOMAN: Target a military installation.

MAN #2: No, the military already knows it’s a target. Remember, just whittling away at them isn’t what we’re here for.

MAN #3: Target a facility staffed by higher-ups in the chain, people who aren’t so easily replaced. They’re essential, and when they realize their danger, they’ll be in a position to demand higher wages or benefits, and the Colonies will have two choices: meet the demands, which eats at their coffers and sets a dangerous standard, or don’t, meaning forcing them to work anyway, which lowers morale, or allowing them to leave the Colonies, meaning they come to our side or the Allied Rimworlds.

MAN #2: Not bad, except we’ve already initiated such a dilemma with the Reese bunker thing, and the target I have in mind would confound it even further, as well as serving a more important primary purpose. I think we struck gold when we decided to let the Maiden and the Quinquevirate know that they can’t protect the lowest rung of the ladder. The mid-levels are already patriots; we’re never going to convert patriots by proving their government right.

MAN #1: So we... hit a... bigger government building?

MAN #2: No, we hit a smaller one. They’ve already diverted security personnel from smaller, secondary support buildings to guard places like the Tweentown Labs, the Vogelsetze and the Bridgehead embassies. I want us to show the Maiden and those five punks at her table that there’s an even lower rung on the ladder, and that even those people aren’t safe.

WOMAN: One thing, though... I don’t get how this is escalation. I mean, it’s constructive, sure, but didn’t you say that whittling isn’t enough? What good is one more destroyed building?

MAN #2: Precisely. It’s useless. That’s why our escalation is going to be a lateral one rather than a literal one.

MAN #3: ...oh, no.

MAN #1: What?

WOMAN: Oh my God, Waylon, you can’t be serious.

MAN #1: What? What is it?

MAN #3: He’s talking about killing people.

MAN #1: What?

MAN #2: Listen to me. It’s the only way to let these people know we’re serious, that there is something basically and inherently wrong with the way they live, and that their safety cannot hold out indefinitely. It’s the only way.

WOMAN: But in the entire history of civilization, terrorism has never once been effective in toppling a sitting government, or even forced capitulation of any kind! It’s counter-productive, and it’s not the reason we’re here. Cadmus would not approve.

MAN #2: I spent an hour talking to Cadmus about this, and he agrees wholeheartedly. He doesn’t like it, but it’s the only logical next step here. And besides, we never came here with an express mandate. Flexibility is a necessity here. If the Colonies want to place their civilian employees in harm’s way, we’re gonna have to harm them, plain and simple. We are in the unique position of not having to adhere to any rules of engagement, because there aren’t any.

MAN #3: What target did you have in mind?

WOMAN: We’re discussing this? I can’t believe we’re discussing this!

MAN #3: Let’s at least hear him out.

MAN #2: My first choice probably wouldn’t go over too well with this crowd, so I’m gonna skip straight to my second one: the Verrity-Tangiers Auction House in Canfrey Sector.

MAN #1: An auction house?

MAN #2: Since the Bridgehead Treaty, all captured enemy armor is sold at open auctions, with the proceeds going directly into military funding. Most of the armor ends up in the hands of private border militias on the Luyten Seven-Two-Six-Eight worlds, the same private militias who continuously make quote-unquote “unsanctioned” raids to Lacaille. Now, in the last five months alone, Verrity-Tangiers have sold more than six thousand tons of armor to these cowboys, and I think we can all agree that throwing a wrench into these particular works would be in all our best interests.

MAN #3: If they’re an auction house, why not just bid for the stuff and smuggle it home? We might benefit from keeping these people in business.

MAN #2: Lack of funding.

WOMAN: Simple as that?

MAN #2: Simple as that. Come on, Margie, we’ve got a population of close to sixty billion people to feed. We’re running on fumes as it is. You think Cadmus is gonna go running to Ross Two-Forty-Eight, begging the Quartermaster-General to allocate millions into our budget so we can give it to the Colonial government in exchange for our own third-hand equipment?

WOMAN: So instead, we’re just going to blow the place up?

MAN #2: That’s right.

WOMAN: With people inside?

MAN #2: That’s right. Desperate times, the needs of the many, and all the rest of it, Margie.

WOMAN: ...well, I don’t like this.

MAN #2: I’m getting that.

MAN #3: Casualty projections?

MAN #2: Two, maybe three, if we do it right.

MAN #1: That’s all?

MAN #3: He means two or three hundred, Terry.

MAN #1: Oh right.

MAN #3: (sighs) Okay. How do we get started?

UNITED SYSTEMS MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE, CLASSIFIED CODE ORANGE TOP SECRET

HIPPARCOS 114110 AGRICULTURAL SUMMIT WIRETAP

DAY 4, TRANSCRIPT BEGINS AT 27:32 LOCAL TIME

AMBASSADOR SU: Mister Foreman-Elect. Congratulations on your victory, and, may I say, as one former military man to another, that your tactics in the election were not only sound, but most gentlemanly in their conduct.

FOREMAN-ELECT WIED: Thank you, Ambassador, though I assure you, little military thought was applied. It’s all math now; kiss this many babies will get you this amount of votes, and so forth.

SU: Ah, but are not negative attack advertisements, leveled at your opponent, part of such math? And yet I did not see any... I profess that you are a gentleman, despite your insistence on the contrary.

WIED: Well, I never said I wasn’t a gentleman.

(laughs)

WIED: I just haven’t thought of myself as a soldier since before the Cannon. I haven’t so much as stepped into a kay-suit since, well, since Dione.

SU: Ah yes. Those were troublesome times... if it means anything to you, please allow me to apologize for the actions of the Murasaki Corporation’s military commander. He was... a disgrace to his employers.

WIED: Hardly your fault. It was a long time ago.

SU: You are most gracious. Also, if you would be so kind as to convey my most heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of the Epsilon Eridani bombing. Horrendous, simply horrendous.

WIED: Thank you, Ambassador. It’s... good to know that the Board of Directors would condemn such a heinous act, no matter who turns out to be responsible.

SU: Oh, but I am not simply relaying the feelings of the Board. My sympathies-

PENDLETON: Ambassador, hi. Hello, Foreman. I’m Shariyar Pendleton, we met about a year ago at the Bridgehead ceremony...

WIED: Yes, I remember... actually, it’s only Foreman-Elect. I don’t take the oath for another month.

PENDLETON: Right, sorry... listen, Ambassador, I was wondering if I could steal the... foreman-elect for just a second.

SU: Of course. Perhaps when you’re done, Mr. Pendleton, we could discuss the upcoming tri-power summit, the Board of Directors have some last-minute changes they’d like to make to the schedule...

PENDLETON: Of course. I’ll be at the bar.

SU: Very well. Foreman-Elect.

WIED: Mr. Ambassador.

PENDLETON: Fruitful conversation?

WIED: Fairly. What did you want to speak to me about?

PENDLETON: Oh, you know damn well what I want to speak to you about. Is that room empty?

WIED: I think so. It’s a smoking room, but nobody smokes anymore. I thought you people owned this planet.

PENDLETON: The people own it, not the military. And besides, this party wasn’t my idea, so I’m hardly responsible for the layout of the rooms. Let’s go inside.

WIED: Let’s. You seem anxious to get right to the point.

(door opens, closes)

WIED: First of all, let me say that you’re looking well, and it saddens me to hear that you don’t approve of this summit.

PENDLETON: Ah, can it, Foreman. I’m not some snot-nosed junior politico trying to kiss up to a foreign dignitary, and I never said I didn’t want you here; it’s those Murasaki snakes I don’t like, slithering about on our planets when they should be facing a war crime trib on Earth.

(sound of cigarette being lit)

WIED: So they are your planets now.

PENDLETON: (inhales, exhales) Listen, what’s this I hear about Bridgehead getting the Quinque to greenlight a stepped-up defense plan for Luyten Seven-Two-Six-Eight?

WIED: Well, first of all, I’m not part of Bridgehead; in case those fancy schools on Praedium aren't teaching you proper astrography, I’m from Tau Ceti, which is not the same as being from U-Vee or Bee-El Ceti. Second, I’m not on the Quinquevirate yet, remember? I’m only foreman-elect.

PENDLETON: Come on. You have to have gotten some wind of this, from Bahadur or somebody.

WIED: Can we speak candidly here?

PENDLETON: My lips are sealed.

WIED: (sighs) Foreman Bahadur is not as well-informed as he once was. The mines have become overwrought with regulatory policies from Epsilon Eridani, as part of the Unified Front Initiative. When I take office, I stand to inherit a... bureaucratic nightmare that consumes most of the Foreman’s waking hours. If you’re hoping to negotiate some sort of arms reduction plan, I’m all for it, but I’m really not the man to speak to about it.

PENDLETON: But you can at least back-channel it to Bridgehead through somebody. And don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Foreman-Elect. I know you know something; what’s Bridgehead up to?

WIED: Honestly? I don’t know. But-

PENDLETON: Bullshit.

WIED: But, if I had to make an educated guess, I’d say it had something to do with the Epsilon Eridani bombing. I heard a rumor that the bomb was traced to foreign nationals, unregistereds with fake passports.

PENDLETON: Who could have come from anywhere. Epsilon is five parsecs away from Lacaille, twice as far as it is from Allied space. You don’t think its possible the bomb might have come from the Allies?

WIED: Bridgehead in Hip One-Five-Six-Eight-Nine is wound tighter than the proverbial drum, whereas their sister agency in Luyten Seven-Two-Six-Eight leaks like the proverbial sieve. And besides, the Allied worlds subsist and profit greatly from trade with us, especially now that they seem to be at war with the Empire again, whereas your military commanders have made their animosity towards us very well known on numerous occasions. We’re not idiots, Mister Pendleton.

PENDLETON: But all you’ve heard is rumors, right? If Bridgehead somehow mistakenly traced the bomb to us-

WIED: Actually, Mister Pendleton, I’d heard it wasn’t being investigated by Bridgehead. As soon as the terrorists were confirmed to be foreigners, the matter was outsourced to Stellar Patrol.

PENDLETON: Stellar Patrol?! They couldn’t find their own assholes if you put both their hands in their back pockets! Why would you do that?

WIED: Because that’s interstellar law. According to the Proxima Treaty, all criminal cases that intersect demarcated treaty boundaries must be investigated by Stellar Patrol to preserve the objectivity of the findings.

PENDLETON: Oh, come on! If you really wanted to solve this, you’d put your own people on it, and not wait for some douchebag from Gliese Twelve-Forty-Five to send a commission over.

WIED: Again, I am not empowered to make such a call, Mister Pendleton. I am a miner, elected by miners to serve their needs. If Bridgehead calls for increased security in the Luyten Seven-Two-Six-Eight system, that is not my concern.

PENDLETON: What! We’ll see how much it concerns you when Bridgehead’s warmongering brings the United Systems Military knocking on your door. Your miners might have to beat some mining drills into swords pretty soon.

WIED: If such a conflict were to take place, Pendleton, it will be the product of your government’s policies, not mine. What you have is a federal union; you’re the one who should pulling strings back in Ross Two-Four-Eight, trying to avert this. What happens on Tau Ceti has no bearing on-

PENDLETON: Wied, you know damn well who you’re in bed with; if you thought any different, you’d be somewhere in the Rim right now, or kicking it back on some Murasaki purseworld.

WIED: I remained loyal to the only government I considered worth following-

PENDLETON: I know, and I’m trying to help you preserve what you have on Tau! And thinking I have any say in what goes in U-Ess military policy... that’s naïve in the extreme. Come on, Foreman, you know what these army sluggerheads are like. You can’t stop the ball rolling on these things.

WIED: You’re seriously suggesting your Admiral wouldn’t roll in and snatch all our worlds away from us if given the chance?

PENDLETON: I know he’d much rather be fighting the Murasaks or those assholes in the Directorate. We don’t have to be at war. We shouldn’t be.

WIED: And since we ‘can’t stop the ball rolling,’ what would you suggest we do?

PENDLETON: Raise a shitstorm. You’re still coasting on the election; make some speeches, leak what’s going on to your press. Turn public opinion against militarization, show them what’s going on in the Rim, remind them what happened after the Cannon.

WIED: You know I can’t come out publicly against Bridgehead. That’s political suicide.

PENDLETON: Well, you’re a politician, aren’t you? You don’t have to even mention them; be vague. Say that we, uh, “we have to show unity and a firm belief that peace with our neighbors can be achieved in our lifetimes, and that we must be vigilant against those would bring war to our worlds,” or something like that. You have speechwriters, right? Don’t try to tell me you came up with that victory speech yourself? “The fractured soul of humanity can be...” what’d you say... “reconstructed with hope?”

WIED: It was... a collaborative effort. But what you’re saying... it’s all make-believe. It is not how things are done in the Colonies. I do not presume to tell Magistrate de Caus or Marshall Tjallingii how to run their planets, and they would not presume to tell me how to run mine. I can champion peace in Tau Ceti all I like, and the Maiden will applaud me for it, and maybe even some of the other heads-of-state, but it will not have the slightest effect on your confrontation with Bridgehead. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other people to trade pleasantries with.

PENDLETON: ...of course. Thank you for your time, Foreman-Elect.

(door opens, shuts)

CAPTAIN MATHESON: Hey, Pendleton... how’s it going? You bored yet? You don’t look so good, are you okay? What’s wrong?

PENDLETON: ...I think we’re going to war with the Maidenhead Colonies, Diego.

USM COMBAT ARCHIVE

COMBAT LOG – OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

IDENT# 3850027845-2359

MISSION DESIGNATE “82 ALPHA” – OPERATION WILDFIRE

THEATER: LUYTEN 726-8 c

MISSION TIME 04:06:10

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Wilco, Echo-Bravo, Banshee is on point.

CPL HIROSHI WIEDEMAN, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: Relay four confirmed as receiving. Stay on point and proceed on a zero-eight-niner from current heading, Banshee One.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Zero-eight-niner, confirmed. Turning right, over.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Banshee One, Tripper Four, over.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Go ahead, Tripper.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Have sighted Em-Fifty west of Position Six Grid Two-Zero-Seven, uploading imms to TacNet. Should we proceed?

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Proceed with caution, and stay on course for ar-vee-one-eight.

CPL HERBERT SHISHKIN, M-106 “GATOR 2”: Man, these Colonials are spread pretty thin. This’ll go down same as Obex, no sweat.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Advise to trim it, Gator Two. We’re pretty thin ourselves out here. Just because nabbing one planet in this system was easy, doesn't mean the other one has to be, too... and besides, we lost people on Obex, too.

CPL HERBERT SHISHKIN, M-106 “GATOR 2”: Roger, Tripper Four. Foom! What was that?

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: That's Campy, lighting up one of the Em-Fifties. Nice shootin', Camp.

PFC ZOLTÁN CAMPBELL, M-37 "TRIPPER 4": Thanks, ma'am.

CPL FRANCIS KAKIZAKI, M-165 “SPACY 1”: Tripper Four, Second Column.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Go ahead, Second.

CPL FRANCIS KAKIZAKI, M-165 “SPACY 1”: Are you meeting any resistance out there?

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Negative, over.

CPL HERBERT SHISHKIN, M-106 “GATOR 2”: Why the hell would they build all these em-ees and not even protect 'em?

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: They must have been built by the local militias, then left behind when they skipped town after the One-Tenth took Obex.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Most likely, Tripper Four. A lot of the 'fifties we're seeing down here look well-maintained, but we've yet to make a visual on a single sapper... they can't have been left out here for more than a week or so.

CPL HERBERT SHISHKIN, M-106 “GATOR 2”: How'd you figure, Cap?

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”:  In an atmo this toxic, the Em-Fifties would need to be coated every month or lathed every couple of days to keep functioning.

PFC MATUS HEGEDÜS, M-106 “GATOR 3”: Imagine running around in this muck, sweating your balls off lathing a bunch of metal extractors so some trade guild bigwig on Epsilon can buy cheap metal.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Gettin' some moving blips on-screen. Grabber, what is em-e-you at... oh-two-two-four by four-six-seven-oh or thereabouts, over?

CPL HIROSHI WIEDEMAN, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: Uh, sensor relay reads as... “unidentified object,” over.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Figures.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: E-you pegged. Blip shift consistent with holding pattern for see-ay in mind-nano, most-like an Em-One-Oh-Five, over.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Got it. Yeah, I see him... wait, I got another... nuts, it’s an em-see-see!

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Confirmed. Stay on-site and wait for the heavies, over.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Copy, Banshee One... gah. Taking fire, over.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Well, don’t ping him too hard, Tripper, or he’ll go cold-fusion on your ass.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Son-of-a...

CPL FRANCIS KAKIZAKI, M-165 “SPACY 1”: Tripper Four, this is Second Column, we are inbound, over.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: Negative, Second, we are in tight with an em-see-see, and... goddamnit, Gator, hold your fire! That’s a mini-nuke on its back!

CPL HERBERT SHISHKIN, M-106 “GATOR 2”: What? What was that, Tripper Four, I didn’t copy.

L/CPL CHRISTINE MAZIBUKO, M-37 “TRIPPER 4”: I said-

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Grabber, Banshee One. What the hell was that?

CPL HIROSHI WIEDEMAN, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: Tee-en-ee, Banshee One. That was an em-see-see going up.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Holy cow. What’s our board?

CPL HIROSHI WIEDEMAN, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: I count six, that’s zero-six friendlies east of Grid Two-Zero-Seven. Looks like you’re on your own, Banshee One. Over.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Orders?

CMDR MARION YANG, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: Banshee One, this is Grabber actual.

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Copy, Grabber actual.

CMDR MARION YANG, M-29854 MCC “GRABBER”: You are to proceed north to the blast site and clear all enemy contacts off our board, with the Em-One-Oh-Five you eye-deed earlier considered the high-priority target. Is that understood?

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Roger that, Grabber. Proceeding.

CPL PHIL KAUF, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Sir?

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: Corporal?

CPL PHIL KAUF, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: We’re to proceed north without backup?

L/CPN KURT TRÄSCH, M-119 “BANSHEE 1”: We won’t be needing no backup. That was the em-see-see going up, taking the factories with it; you might as well crack open the bubbly. This solar system belongs to the United Systems Military now.