War of Alien Aggression 1 Hardway (11 page)

"Your lie," Devlin said, but only because he wanted to disagree with this man so badly that it made him say things he knew weren't true.

"Our lie, Commander Devlin. It's our lie. That includes dead Mickey Wells. The lie ceased to become only mine and hers the moment you decided to keep the secret of what really happened to
Mohegan
. You thought you could bear it, but now, you've decided you can't. That sort of reversal is dangerous. It can lead to terrible mistakes. Like the one that killed Mickey." Ram felt the blood rushing to his face. Cozen's was stone. "I saw what happened," he said. "You saw the last one. You saw the last Squidy before anyone else saw it, but you didn't raise that weapon in your hand." 

"I did." Ram protested through bared teeth. "I couldn't get it to fire fast enough. It was an
alien
weapon. I'm lucky I got it to discharge at all." 

"Bull dust, Mr. Devlin. I saw you hesitate. What... Did you think you could
talk
to the Squidy? Make peace with it? Avert a war? Or maybe it was because you didn't have the righteous anger in your belly to raise that weapon and pull the trigger when you needed to and when
she needed you to
. That would have kept Mickey Wells
alive
and
she'd be here – all of her, not just the parts that didn't get turned to ash."  

Ram though Cozen must be pushing him, daring Ram to drill a hole between his eyes just to call his bluff. He became acutely aware of the suction nozzles built into the walls of the operating room to remove blood from the air if the gravity failed. He could do it, he thought. This would be a neat place for it - easy clean-up. But this was Mickey's plan, too... She believed in this war. And Ram owed her.

"Mickey's death was my fault," Ram said. "But it wasn't because I hesitated. It was my fault for not exposing your lie when I saw through it. Now, I'm responsible for her death and Oboto's and Lapuis' and D'Ambrosse's. I'm responsible for all of them and all the ones after that. Just like you."

Cozen added butter then. "We're also responsible for all the rest of it," he said, "for how well
Hardway
is managing her transition to a Privateer warship and how motivated her officers and crew are to fight. They're the ones that took the ship back from Captain Horan, not me. Morale is high. I imagine it is on all the conscripted company ships right now. They've heard the story about how innocent miners were attacked by alien fiends, but then they fought back and won and avenged their dead. Now, the fleet has the righteous fury they'll need to win this war. They won't be asking questions like you are about what's right and what's wrong and what's their fault. They won't have the burden that stayed your hand and got Mickey killed. Thanks to us they won't. That's a good thing."  

Ram began to say how
that
rationalization had been made a thousand times in human history and mankind's best thinkers in any given century had all come to the agreement that a) it was not, actually, a good thing, that b) the ends
never
justify the means, and that c) what is lost when the ends are interpreted to justify the means is
always
greater than what we sought to preserve with our unjustifiable actions.  

Ram tried to insist that the truth Cozen called a 'burden' wasn't just every man's right to carry but also his responsibility to bear, but Cozen cut him off with a wave of his hand. "In war, believing you're righteous is a good thing, Devlin. Period."

"The men and women who fight
your
war deserve to know the truth of it." 

Cozen's eyes chilled twenty degrees. "Our story of what happened is the truth now. Your version of events must never come out. Never. Everyone would be filled with questions and self-doubt like you. Without the righteousness we've given them, they might stand there like you did in the middle of that alien ship, waiting to get shot. I saw your face, Devlin. I dove out of the goddamn way, but I saw your face when you realized that last Squidy was going to shoot. You knew he already had the drop on you. You knew you'd never shoot it before it shot you and you were alright with that because you thought you deserved it. Tell me I'm mistaken, Mr. Devlin.
That's
how you lose a fight.
That's
how you lose a war. And
that's
what it'll do to all of
them
if you open your mouth." 

"The Squidies were waiting for you on Moriah, weren't they? It was a meeting. Negotiations... something. That's why they didn't send a warship and neither did you. That's why we only found a couple of weapons on board. That was some kind of
diplomatic
delegation we killed. The alien warships appeared in our system only
after
that – after we attacked first. We slaughtered their delegates and they've come for revenge. Why? Why did we do it, Mr. Cozen?" 

"We'd end up going to war with them no matter what."

"Why? Why do you say that? Why did Mickey say that?"

"They're more technologically advanced than we are."

"So?"

"So I ask you: Did it end well for the indigenous peoples of North and South America when the Europeans came? I could give you a thousand such examples from human history. I imagine Squidy history isn't much different. Space is not civilized, Ram. It's no more civilized than Earth." He chuckled darkly. "As it is on Earth, so it is in the heavens."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means war is the way of the stars, Ram. It means the very real and unpleasant truth is that the inter-species struggle for survival and dominance makes the stars as brutal and savage an arena of competition as any terrestrial jungle or Serengeti plain our ancestors faced in the earlier stages of our evolution. Maybe you wanted us to step out to the stars as a peaceful, civilized race, Mr. Devlin, but space is not civilized. Far from it.
This
is the most important war mankind has ever fought and if we survive it, then it won't be the last. Not by a long-shot. But I like our chances, Ram. I like our chances just fine. I'd bet it all on us. Humanity is
made
for this." 

"For what?"

"Mankind has always had a prodigal talent for war and I tell you, Devlin, it's
that
talent that's going to secure humanity's future among the savage stars." 

"You lied to Mickey just like you're lying to me now."

"Mickey Wells made the choice to help me because she was
good
people, Devlin. Like you. And good people have the most trouble doing what needs to be done because it's often something a
good
person just wouldn't do. But in the end, you can count on them doing it. That describes both of you." 

"I'll keep your secret," Ram said. "But I want something."

Harry Cozen laughed again, this time like it really was a joke. "Blackmail? Please..."

Ram said, "I want you to fly
Mohegan
, Mr. Cozen. You're going to fly the junk that isn't coming back. If you don't, then I'll reveal the truth about what you've done. The consequences will likely be as disastrous as you say. Everything you've done, everything
we've
done will be undone." 

"You wouldn't do that," he scoffed. "It would destroy this crew and it wouldn't do a damn thing to prevent the war that's already begun."

"I don't want to do it, but I will. Like you said, it's something a good man wouldn't want to do, but I'll do it."

"You're learning personal sacrifice, Commander Devlin. Mickey would be proud."

"Some personality simulation you ran from the data in my file may have told you that Ram Devlin won't murder you, but don't make the mistake of thinking I'm the same man I was this morning. I'm not. I think I could do it now." 

"Maybe." 

"You're the one that's going to fly that mining junk, Mr. Cozen. You're coming to the mission briefing and when Biko asks for volunteers, you're going to be the one to stand up. You're going to volunteer and be a hero, Harry Cozen. You're going to save us all." Cozen laughed and then winced and reached for the bot over his wound. Ram said, "You don't think I'll let the truth out?" 

"On the contrary. I think you might. And I have no doubts that you've hidden a message away somewhere for Asa Biko or Dana or someone else that will be delivered to them should you suddenly die in an improbable accident." It was Ram's turn to hold his face like stone. Cozen said, "But if I fly
Mohegan
, then who's going to command
Hardway
after I save the day? Who's going to lead them into battle? And make no mistake, Commander Devlin. If she survives today, this ship and her crew will see a hundred battles in as many star systems before this war ends. Who's going to captain
Hardway
if not me?" That's when Cozen really began to chuckle. 

"Captain Horan," Ram said. "He's captained this ship for a decade."

"No. Besides his not being up to the job and the crew despising him, I already had Horan put aboard
Arbitrage
before she got underway. Stale Augustus Horan's not available for the job, but I know someone that is – someone the whole ship respects." Cozen grinned with a perverse satisfaction that turned Ram's stomach. 

"No."

"Yes, Mr. Devlin. Yes," Cozen said. "Good men don't like doing what they have to do, but you can count on them to do it."

Chapter Ten

SCS
Hardway
wasn't built with a mission briefing room, but all the pilots fit in one maintenance bay. It was supposed to be a closed briefing, but anyone not on duty packed in. Harry Cozen said not to lock them out and they filled up most of the space behind the pilots.  

Ram Devlin, Asa Biko, Dana Sellis, and Harry Cozen stood in front of
Mohegan
. The redsuits had worked miracles to bring that dead hull back to life. Now, that junk was a symbol of defiance. Ten had died already on her decks. 

Harry Cozen quieted the bay with a wrench. "There's something I'd like to say to you all – something I want you all to remember. Remember it today and remember it every day you stay alive. Some people are going to say that
we
should have turned the other cheek. They will say we should have
tried
to make peace with the alien invaders. They're going to say we don't even know
why
the aliens, the
Squidies
, attacked." He said the name with hatred. "These people live in denial. I say that the absence of apparent motive behind their attack does not leave us without explanation for their actions. On the contrary. It provides an exceedingly simple explanation to all who are willing to apprehend the unpleasant truth of it. Remember this:
War is the way of the stars
. The heavens are a savage field of inter-species competition. If we shrink from this truth or the sacrifices it demands, then we who fight today will perish and Humanity may perish with us. The captured alien craft aboard
Arbitrage
holds their secrets, secrets we need to win this war. Someone must slow the Squidies' warship so
Arbitrage
can escape and we are the only ones here to fight this battle. We have to win it. That's all I've got to say. Your Air Group Commander, Asa Biko and your XO, Mr. Devlin, will brief you now." 

Asa Biko set his matchbox computer on the deck and let it project upwards so that the image of banded, turbulent Jupiter and her moons floated over his head, out of scale, along with representations of the alien warship,
Hardway,
and her mining junks. Biko said, "
Hardway
is currently the only ship between a destroyer-sized alien vessel and SCS
Arbitrage
. The alien vessel is superior in speed. They have increased their rate of acceleration and at current projections, the aliens will overtake
Arbitrage
before she's under cover of the UNS fleet. Unless we engage the Squidies and delay them,
Arbitrage
will not escape. So. We will force an engagement near Jupiter. We will deploy our six QF-111 Dingoes and at the last moment,
Hardway
will move to put the planet between us and the Squidies' ship." 

"How is that going to force an engagement?" The question came from a pilot in front. Burroughs.

"They don't know if we're armed or not, so steaming past us would be tactically inadvisable. If it turned out we had some kind of big guns and
Arbitrage
and her railgun turned to fight, the aliens would be boxed between us. They don't want that, so they'll have to come and get us. When they do,
Hardway
will maneuver to lure them through
this
region of space." To the matchbox computer, Biko said, "Show region A."  

The projection highlighted an area beginning near Jupiter's pole and extending outward from the sun along the lines of the planet's gargantuan magnetic field. "That alien ship will have to fly through
this
section of Jupiter's magnetic field. When it does, we're going to detonate the fusion reactor in
Mohegan
. She'll be hidden near the pole. Chief Terrazzi and her engineers have rigged the ship's reactor to function as a high-yield neutron cannon. We have no way to lens or focus the neutrons ourselves, but if we detonate at the right place at the right time, then the planet's magnetic field will carry our swarm of high-energy 14.1 MeV neutrons along the lines of the field, right at them, traveling at 17% the speed of light." 

For a second or two, you could hear them all saying it to each other, and then Burroughs said it to Biko. "That's probably not enough to kill a warship. Not if they're hardened against radiation half as good as we are."

Chief Terrazzi said, "That's most likely the case, but high-energy neutrons
will
penetrate radiation shielding. It won't be enough to kill or incapacitate the occupants, but we're hoping that if their systems get hit with a focused storm of neutrons like that it'll overload a few of the vital components and leave them drifting, at least momentarily."