Chapter 8: The Mission

"Well." The Judge's brow creased.

"Send in the Fleet. Blockade every world in the sector. Send in troops. Quell the disturbance now."

"That would violate the Constitution. There would be public outcry."

"It is also in the Constitution that the Network is indivisible, therefore the Aurigan declaration itself violates the Constitution. And since when has this government cared about public opinion?"

"We do listen. Admittedly, we do look after our own butts first, but we do listen. We are a Republic." There followed a few moments of silence in which the Judge looked amused.

"Send in the Fleet. It's all you can do," said Bolton.

"You seem so sure."

"I've thought about it. It's my opinion as a private citizen. Delay is a sign of weakness."

The amusement fell away from the Judge's face.

"What if the Fleet's not prepared for such an action?"

"Right!" said Bolton, for the moment forgetting the Judge's place and staring at him as if he were a fool. "Why shouldn't the Fleet be prepared? What the hell's a Fleet for if it isn't prepared?"

"The Fleet's É" the Judge spoke from clenched teeth, "the Fleet's been -- dismantled, largely. It doesn't exist anymore in the same capacity as when you knew it. Damn things cost a lot of money ships do. The people wanted tax abatement after the war, they got it."

Bolton had heard rumors that the Fleet had been stripped down to little more than a courier service. He had never believed the rumors.

"Surely the Fleet is strong enough to enforce the law over some raggle-taggle rebels in Auriga?"

The Judge sat, impassive, like stone.

"Is that what you want from me?" said Bolton, after a long time of silence and thinking. "Is that what you want? You want me to take a Commission and go put down the rebellion in Auriga? What, you figure I'd have no scruples about fighting other men?"

Then there was his past record.

"The Fleet," said the Judge, weighing carefully his words, "is not capable of a sustained, determined action on the scale that would be needed. So the Chiefs of Staff tell us. Also, the Aurigans seem to have a navy of their very own, in every way as potent and viable as the United Earth Fleet. They have already successfully blockaded themselves in and have besieged the UEF garrison on Dernhelms Colt. Don't you read the wires? It's all over the news."

"No É I didn't know." Bolton was surprised.

"That asshole Freddie Nimblr found out about it and broke it on the nine o'clock news last night. Incidentally, you won't be seeing too much of him anymore." Judge Singh actually cackled.

"I don't watch the news É" Bolton was still shocked about the blockade. There had been war with the alien hordes and a thousand years since men had fought other men in earnest. He had read about human warfare, had contemplated it. Now it seemed it was for real. What was it made the Aurigans different? What made them want to fight and kill and die? What issue could possibly be so important to destroy the order of the Network that had stood for millennia? The Judge knew.

"Well, in any case, there won't be any serious military action until we're ready for it. That might be a year or two, maybe more."

"So, what do you want from me?"

"For precisely what you guessed, Bolton, you're taking a Commission."

"And if I refuse?" Bolton knew he would not refuse but wanted to know what the Judge had hanging over him.

"The charge of mutiny against you still stands. On my own authority I could have you taken out and shot at any time." The Judge didn't even blink.

"But know what it is we ask of you before you refuse. We're not sending you or anyone else into battle with the Aurigans, not if it can be avoided. We do know that you were very good at clandestine operations É " His pause was calculated, and into it he lit a moldy, half-smoked cigar that he plucked out of an ashtray on his desk, a very smelly one. "After all," he said as he puffed the fetid thing alight, "you did operate a small force independent of the Fleet for over twenty years, and eluded capture."

"It was five years subjective, and it was a necessity," said Bolton, become suddenly indignant. "The Lakosh are still alive. They're out there. Someday we'll encounter them again. I firmly believe that, and so did every man with me."

"Yes, your crew, your personal band of mutineers. And did you find any Lakamites on your little expedition? You nearly brought the government down. People thinking the Fleet had run amok." The Judge seemed genuinely upset, but then he had been playing the politics game for a long time.

"Sir," Bolton bowed his head, "the past," reminding him of his own words.

The Judge sighed, looked out the window again. He seemed to rumble a bit.

"What we need is time," he said. "Time to build up a force to crush this rebellion. But there are some who feel the hostages on Nuerjal don't have time. The Aurigans, after all, are known to be fanatics. And being a republic, we have to listen to sixteen billion people here screaming for the government to do something."

"And I?"

"We want you to design, and possibly command, a mission to run the blockade and rescue the hostages."

For a moment Bolton's brain stopped. Not knowing the specifics there was no way he could calculate the chances of such a mission's success; but it was a daring idea to have come from a man like Judge Singh, or anyone else in government for that matter. So much so that it appealed to the sense of adventure in a man like Bolton, who had once been Admiral of the Fleet.

"That's a pretty ballsy idea for a conservative like you, your honor." Bolton smiled for the first time.

"Will you do it?"

He waited a few tense moments, as if thinking it over. "Sure, I'll do it. But I'll need complete control, especially over personnel. Running navigation calc on these kind of jumps can't be done by just anyone."

"We'll see," said the Judge, quietly. "For now, just give me ideas on paper, we can worry about personnel later. Uh, and understand -- this is covert; no one must ever know."

"Unless the mission is a success, of course?"

"Yes," said the Judge, as if success were merely one possibility.

"And if the mission fails?"

"Then the government denies complicity."

"So, that's why you wanted me." He turned red. "People would think an old mutineer like me had gone crazy, turned vigilante."

The Judge's eyebrows went up. "Hadn't thought of that one. It's good though, maybe we'll use it if it comes to that."