Sword and Scepter (codominium) Read online

  Svoboda nodded unhappily. "I have seven troopers and Sergeant Magee in arrest, sir. I've held summary court on six others myself."

  "What charges are you preferring against Magee?" Falkenberg had personally promoted Magee once. The man had a mean streak, but he was a good soldier.

  "Looting. Drunk on duty. Theft. And conduct prejudicial."

  "And the others?"

  "Three rapes, four grand theft, and one murder, sir. They're being held for a court. I also request an inquiry into my conduct as commander."

  "Granted. Sergeant Major."

  "Sir!"

  "Take custody of the prisoners and convene a General Court. What officers have we for an investigation?"

  "Captain Greenwood's posted for light duty only by the surgeon, sir."

  "Excellent. Have him conduct a formal inquiry into Captain Svoboda's administration of the city."

  "Sir."

  "What will happen to those men?" Glenda Ruth asked.

  "The rapists and murderer will be hanged if convicted. Hard duty for the rest."

  "You'd hang your own men?" she asked. She didn't believe it and her voice showed it.

  "I cannot allow rot in my Regiment," Falkenberg snapped. "In any event the Confederacy will protest this violation of the Laws of War to the CD."

  Governor Silana laughed. "We protested often enough in the last revolution, and nothing came of it. I think we can chance it."

  "Perhaps. I take it you will do nothing about this?"

  "I'll issue orders for the looting to stop."

  "Haven't you done so already?"

  "Well, yes, Colonel-but the men, well, they're about over their mad now, I think."

  "If previous orders haven't stopped it, more won't. You'll have to be prepared to punish violators. Are you?"

  "I'll be damned if I'll hang my own soldiers to protect traitors!"

  "I see. Governor, how do you propose to pacify this area?"

  "I've sent for reinforcements-"

  "Yes. Thank you. If you'll excuse us, Governor, Miss Horton and I have an errand."-He hustled Glenda Ruth out of the office. "Sergeant Major, bring Mayor Hastings and Colonel Ardway to Captain Svoboda's office."

  "They shot Colonel Ardway," Svoboda said. "The mayor's in the city jail."

  "Jail?" Falkenberg muttered.

  "Yes, sir. I had the hostages in the hotel, but Governor Silana-"

  "I see. Carry on, Sergeant Major."

  "Sir!"

  "What do you want now, you bloody bastard?" Hastings demanded ten minutes later. The mayor was haggard, with several days' growth of stubble, and his face and hands showed the grime of confinement without proper hygiene facilities.

  "One thing at, a time, Mr. Mayor. Any trouble, Sergeant Major?"

  Calvin grinned. "Not much, sir. The officer didn't want no problems with the Guard-Colonel, they got all them hostages crammed into cells."

  "What have you done with my wife?" Roger Hastings demanded. "I haven't heard anything for days."

  Falkenberg looked inquiringly at Svoboda but got only a headshake. "See to the mayor's family, Sergeant Major. Bring them here. Mr. Hastings, do I understand that you believe this is my doing?"

  "If you hadn't taken this city-"

  "That was a legitimate military operation. Have you charges to bring against my troops?"

  "How would I know?" Hastings felt weak. He hadn't been fed properly for days, and he was sick with worry about his family. As he leaned against the desk he saw Glenda Ruth for the first time. "You too, eh?"

  "It was none of my doing, Roger." He had almost become her father-in-law. She wondered where Lieutenant Harley Hastings was. Although she'd broken the engagement long ago and no longer loved him, their fights had mostly been political, and they were still friends. "I'm sorry."

  "It was your doing, you and the damned rebels. Oh, sure, you don't like burning cities and killing civilians, but it happens all the same-and you started the war. You can't shed the responsibility."

  Falkenberg interrupted him. "Mr. Mayor, we have mutual interests still. This peninsula raises little food, and your people cannot survive without supplies. I'm told over a thousand of your people were killed in the riots, and nearly that many are in the hills. Can you get the automated factories and smelters operating with what's left?"

  "After all this you expect me to-I won't do one damn thing for you, Falkenberg!"

  "I didn't ask if you would, only if it could be done."

  "What difference does it make?"

  "I doubt you want to see the rest of your people starving, Mr. Mayor. Captain, take the mayor to your quarters and get him cleaned up. By the time you've done that, Sergeant Major Calvin will know what happened to his family." Falkenberg nodded dismissal and turned to Glenda Ruth. "Well, Miss Horton? Have you seen enough?"

  "I don't understand."

  "I am requesting you to relieve Silana of his post and return administration of this city to the Regiment. Will you do it?"

  Good Lord! she thought. "I haven't the authority."

  "You've got more influence in the Patriot army than anyone else. The Council may not like it, but they'll take it from you. Meanwhile, I'm sending for the Sappers to rebuild this city and get the foundries going."

  Everything moves so fast. Not even Joshua Horton had made things happen like this man. "Colonel, what is your interest in Allansport?"

  "It's the only industrial area we control. There'll be no more military supplies from off-planet. We hold everything west of the Ternblors. The Matson Valley is rising in support of the revolution and we'll have it soon. We can follow the Matson to Vancouver and take that-and then what?"

  "Why-then we take the capital city! The revolution's over!"

  "No. That was the mistake you made last time. Do you really think your farmers, even with the Forty-second, can move onto level, roaded ground and fight set-piece battles? We've no chance under those conditions."

  "But-" He was right. She'd always known it. When they defeated the Friedlanders at the Gap she'd dared hope, but the capital plains were not Hillyer Gap. "So it's back to attrition."

  Falkenberg nodded. "We do hold all the agricultural areas. The Confederates will begin to feel the pinch soon enough: Meanwhile we chew around the edges. Franklin will have to let go-there's no profit in keeping colonies that cost money. They may try landing armies from the home world, but they'll not take us by surprise and they don't have that big an army. Eventually we'll wear them down."

  It would be a long war after all, and she'd have to he in it, always raising fresh troops as the ranchers began to go home again-it would be tough enough holding what they had when people realized what they were in for. "But how do we pay your troops in a long war?"

  "Perhaps you'll have to do without us."

  "You know we can't. And you've always known it. What do you want?"

  "Right now I want you to relieve Silana. Immediately."

  "What's the hurry? As you say, it's going to be a long war."

  "It'll be longer if more of the city is burned." He almost told her more, and cursed himself for the weakness of temptation. She was only a girl, and he'd known thousands of them since Grace left him all those years ago. The bond of combat wouldn't explain it, he'd known other girls who were competent officers, many of them-so why was he tempted at all? "I'm sorry," he said gruffly. "I must insist. As you say, you can't do without us."

  Glenda Ruth had grown up among politicians, and for four years had been a revolutionary leader herself. She knew Falkenberg's momentary hesitation was important, and that she'd never find out what it meant.

  What was under that mask? Was there a man in there making all those whirlwind decisions? Falkenberg dominated every situation he fell into, and a man like that wanted more than money. The vision of Falkenberg seated at a desk pronouncing dooms on her people haunted her still.

  And yet. There was more. A warrior leader of warriors who had won the adoration of uneducated privates-and men l
ike Jeremy Savage as well. She'd never met anyone like him.

  "I'll do it." She smiled and walked across the room to stand next to him. "I don't know why, but I'll do it. Have you got any friends, John Christian Falkenberg?"

  The question startled him. Automatically he answered. "Command can have no friends, Miss Horton."

  She smiled again. "You have one now. There's a condition to my offer. From now on, you call me Glenda Ruth. Please?"

  A curious smile formed on the soldier's face. He regarded her with amusement, but there was something more as well. "It doesn't work, you know."

  "What doesn't work?"

  "Whatever you're trying. Like me, you've command responsibilities. It's lonely, and you don't like that. The reason command has no friends, Glenda Ruth, is not merely to spare the commander the pain of sending friends to their death. If you haven't learned the rest of it, learn it now, because some day you'll have to betray either your friends or your command, and that's a choice worth avoiding."

  What am I doing? Am I trying to protect the revolution by getting to know him better-or is he right, I've no friends either, and he's the only man I ever met who could be- She let the thought fade out, and laid her hand on his for a brief second. "Let's go tell Governor Silana, John Christian. And let the little girl worry about her own emotions, will you? She knows what she's doing."

  He stood next to her. They were very close and for a moment she thought he intended to kiss her. "No, you don't."

  She wanted to answer, but he was already leaving the room and she had to hurry to catch him.

  IX

  "I say we only gave the Fedsymp traitors what they deserved!" Jack Silana shouted. There was a mutter of approval from the delegates, and open cheers in the bleachers overlooking the gymnasium floor. "I have great respect for Glenda Ruth, but she is not old Joshua," Silana continued. "Her action in removing me from a post given by President Bannister was without authority. I demand that the Council repudiate it." There was more applause as Silana took his seat.

  Glenda Ruth remained at her seat for a moment. She looked carefully at each of the thirty men and women at the horseshoe table, trying to estimate just how many votes she had. Not a majority, certainly, but perhaps a dozen. She wouldn't have to persuade more than three or four to abandon the Bannister-Silana faction, but what then? The bloc she led was no more solid than Bannister's coalition. Just who would govern the Free States?

  More men were seated on the gymnasium floor beyond the council table. They were witnesses, but their placement at the focus of the Council's attention made it look as if Falkenberg and his impassive officers might be in the dock. Mayor Hastings sat with Falkenberg, and the illusion was heightened by the signs of harsh treatment he'd received. Some of his friends looked even worse.

  Beyond the witnesses the spectators chattered among themselves as if this were a basketball game rather than a solemn meeting of the supreme authority for three quarters of New Washington. A gymnasium didn't seem a very dignified place to meet anyway, but there was no larger hall in Astoria Fortress.

  Finally she stood. "No, I am not my father," she began. "He would have had Jack Silana shot for his actions!"

  "Give it to 'em, Glenda Ruth!" someone shouted from the balcony.

  Howard Bannister looked up it surprise. "We will have order here!"

  "Hump it, you Preston Bay bastard!" the voice replied. The elderly rancher was joined by someone below. "Damn right, Ford Heights don't control the Valley!" There were cheers at that.

  "Order! Order!" Bannister's commands drowned the shouting as the technicians turned up the amplifiers to full volume. "Miss Horton, you have the floor."

  "Thank you. What I was trying to say is that we did not start this revolution to destroy New Washington! We must live with the Loyalists once it is over, and-"

  "Fedsymp! She was engaged to a Feddie soldier!"

  "Shut up and let her talk!" "Order! ORDER!"

  Falkenberg sat motionless as the hall returned to silence and Glenda Ruth tried to speak again. "Bloody noisy lot," Jeremy Savage murmured.

  Falkenberg shrugged. "Victory does that to politicians."

  Glenda Ruth described the conditions she'd seen in Allansport. She told of the burned-out city, hostages herded into jail cells-

  "Serves the Fedsymps right!" someone interrupted, but she managed to continue before her supporters could answer.

  "Certainly they are Loyalists. Over a third of the people in the territory we control are. Loyalists are a majority in the capital city. Will it help if we persecute their friends here?"

  "We won't ever take the capital the way we're fighting!"

  "Damn right! Time we moved on the Feddies."

  "Send the mercenaries in there, let 'em earn the taxes we pay!"

  This time Bannister made little effort to control the crowd. They were saying what he had proposed to the Council, and one reason he supported Silana was because he needed the governor's merchant bloc with him on the war issue. After the crowd had shouted enough about renewing the war, Bannister used the microphone to restore order and let Glenda Ruth speak.

  The Council adjourned for the day without deciding anything. Falkenberg waited for Glenda Ruth and walked out with her. "I'm glad we didn't get a vote today," she told him. "I don't think we'd win."

  "Noisy beggars," Major Savage observed again.

  "Democracy at work," Falkenberg said coldly. "What do you need to convince the Council that Silana is unfit as a governor?"

  "That's not the real issue, John," she answered. "It's really the war. No one is satisfied with what's being done."

  "I should have thought we were doing splendidly," Savage retorted. "The last Confederate thrust into the Matson ran into your ambush as planned."

  "Yes, that was brilliant," Glenda Ruth said.

  "Hardly. It was the only possible attack route," Falkenberg answered. "You're very quiet, Mayor Hastings." They had left the gymnasium and were crossing the parade ground to the barracks where the Friedlanders had been quartered. Falkenberg's troops had it now, and they kept the Allansport officials with them.

  "I'm afraid of that vote," Hastings said. "If they send Silana back, we'll lose everything."

  "Then support me!" Falkenberg snapped. "My engineers already have the automated factories and mills in reasonable shape. With some help from you they'd be running again. Then I'd have real arguments against Silana's policies."

  "But that's treason," Hastings protested. "You need the Allansport industry for your war effort. Colonel, it's a hell of a way to thank you for rescuing my family from that butcher, but I can't do it."

  "I suppose you're expecting a miracle to save you?" Falkenberg asked.

  "No. But what happens if you win? How long will you stay on the Ranier Peninsula? Bannister's people will be there one of these days-Colonel, my only chance is for the Confederacy to bring in Franklin troops and crush the lot of you!"

  "And you'll be ruled from Franklin," Glenda Ruth said. "They won't give you as much home rule as you had last time."

  "I know," Roger said miserably. "But what can I do? This revolt ruined our best chance. Franklin might have been reasonable in time-I was going to give good government to everyone. But you finished that."

  "All of Franklin's satraps weren't like you, Roger," Glenda Ruth said, "and don't forget their war policies! They'd have got us sucked into their schemes and eventually we'd have been fighting the CoDominium itself. Colonel Falkenberg can tell you what it's like to be victim of a CD punitive expedition!"

  "Christ, I don't know what to do," Roger said unhappily.

  Falkenberg muttered something which the others didn't catch, then said, "Glenda Ruth, if you will excuse me, Major Savage and I have administrative matters to discuss. I would be pleased if you'd join me for dinner in the officers' mess at 1900 hours."

  "Why-thank you, John. I'd like to, but I must see the other delegates tonight. We may be able to win that vote tomorrow."

  F
alkenberg shrugged. "I doubt it. If you can't win it, can you delay it?"

  "For a few days, perhaps-why?"

  "It might help, that's all. If you can't make dinner, the Regiment's officers are entertaining guests in the mess until quite late. Will you join us when you're done politics?"

  " Thank you. Yes, I will." As she crossed the parade ground to her own quarters, she wished she knew what Falkenberg and Savage were discussing. It wouldn't be administration-did it matter what the Council decided?

  She looked forward to seeing John later, and the anticipation made her feel guilt. What is there about the man that does this to me? He's handsome enough, broad shoulders and thoroughly military-nonsense. I am damned if I'll believe in some atavistic compulsion to fall in love with warriors, I don't care what the anthropologists say. So why do I want to be with him? She pushed the thought away. There was something more important to think about. What would Falkenberg do if the Council voted against him? And beyond that, what would she do when he did it?

  Falkenberg led Roger Hastings into his office. "Please be seated Mr. Mayor."

  Roger sat uncomfortably. "Look, Colonel, I'd like to help, but-"

  "Mayor Hastings, would the owners of the Allansport industries rather have half of a going concern, or all of nothing?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "I will guarantee protection of the foundries and smelters in return for a half interest in them." When Hastings looked up in astonishment Falkenberg continued.

  "Why not? Silana will seize them anyway. If my Regiment is part owner, I may be able to stop him."

  "It wouldn't mean anything if I granted it," Hastings protested. "The owners are on Franklin."

  "You are the ranking Confederate official for the entire Ranier Peninsula," Falkenberg said carefully. "Legal or not, I want your signature on this grant." He handed Roger a sheaf of papers.

  Hastings read them carefully. "Colonel, this also confirms a land grant given by the rebel government! I can't do that!"

  "Why not? It's all public land-and that is in your power. The document states that in exchange for protection of lives and property of the citizens of Allansport you are awarding certain lands to my Regiment. It notes that you don't consider a previous grant by the Patriot Government to be valid. There's no question of treason-you do want Allansport protected against Silana, don't you?"