Stark's Crusade (13 page)

"We will. Stacey's real ticked off about that Rapture stuff. It's the sort of thing she'd have tried running in the old days. Well, maybe not. Rapture can mess up people permanent, right? Stace wouldn't have played that game. But she's still determined to take the dealers down."

"After which some other designer drug will pop up to keep things ugly," Vic noted. "Okay. So, what do we do about the people issue? Try something proactive or wait for something bad to happen?"

"Let's try to think of something proactive. I can't think of anything we haven't already done, but maybe there's something. It's pretty late in the day now to be trying creative thinking. Let's get together tomorrow, say during lunch, and hash out some ideas."

"Sounds good." She gazed at Stark. "Something else bothering you?"

"No. I don't think so. Probably just like you said. The agencies back on Earth have got to be working on something to make us unhappy. I really wish I knew what it was."

Stark had just entered his quarters, trying to decide whether to dig through the virtual mound of paperless paperwork on his terminal, when his comm unit buzzed urgently. "Stark here."

"Commander Stark, this is Security Central." The watch-stander sounded breathless, bringing Stark to full alertness as he listened. "There's some sort of situation going down."

"What do you mean 'some sort of situation'? What exactly is happening?"

"Uh, sir, we got some warning messages coming in from two areas. That'd be Chamberlain Barracks and Morgan Barracks. We've also lost remote monitoring signals from the ammunition magazine nearest those barracks—"

"What kind of warning messages?" Stark broke in, aching to leap into action but forcing himself to wait until he could learn more. "Are you talking another raid?"

"No. No sir. I've got no reports of enemy action. These messages are hard to explain. Let me replay one for you, sir." After the briefest pause, a different voice began speaking hastily. "Hey, you guys. Somethin' funny's happenin' here in Morgan Barracks. We got soldiers coming through in full combat gear, claiming there's some new Enlisted Council that's gonna be running things. Says Stark and his gang are just using us so we're taking over. I says who the hell is 'we,' and they looked sorta confused. We told them to get back to their damn barracks, but it looks like they're try in' to occupy this one. I think they're all Fifth Battalion troops from Second Brigade. You better get—"

"Security, the message broke off."

"Yessir. That's what happened. We've activated the on-call company in that area, but, uh, what are we supposed to do, sir? I mean, are they supposed to attack someone?"

Stark closed his eyes, wishing his lunch with Vic had happened a few days earlier, before apparently being overtaken by events. "One, notify everyone on my staff. Two, put out the word all soldiers should remain in their quarters or barracks unless they get orders from me otherwise. Three, you get the on-call company down to those two barracks and tell them to block anybody trying to take over those locations or seize control of any area without authority. No shooting. Understand? You haven't told me about any shooting, yet, so I assume there's been none."

"That's right, Commander. No reports of firing and no sensor indications of combat."

"Good. So get our own people in place and just block these other guys until we find out what's going down."

Vic broke into the circuit. "This is Reynolds. Get the on-call companies in the adjacent areas going, too. What's the backup battalion in the area?"

"Uh, that'd be Fifth Battalion."

"Okay," Stark acknowledged.
I guess we can't use them.
"Get the next backup battalion closest to those barracks going. And all those on-call companies, like Sergeant Reynolds said. I want a wall of bodies holding in this so-called Enlisted Council."

"Yessir. Uh, what about the magazine, Commander?"

Stark took a slow, deep breath, imagining what panicked soldiers might do around a large quantity of high explosive. "Same thing. Get the exits blocked. But no offensive activity around that magazine. No pressure. I don't want it blowing half the Colony to hell."

"Yessir. Troops are on the way, Commander."

"Vic, meet me in the command center."

"On my way. Does this mean our lunch date is off?"

He grinned involuntarily at the black humor. "I don't expect to have much time for eating in the next few days. Don't forget your battle armor."

"Ethan, I'm a big girl. I know enough to wear battle armor in a crisis. Are you going to remind me to bring my rifle, too?"

"No. But I sure hope you won't have to use it."

The command center felt off-balance, its normal smooth functioning disrupted by an event the watchstanders had never trained for. "Are you telling me I can't get a map of the barracks area on this display?" Stark demanded.

"We're looking for one," Sergeant Tran advised. "That isn't an area we're supposed to have to worry about."

Vic entered, shaking her head at Tran's words. "What about if the perimeter had been penetrated? There has to be a self-defense plan for the military complex."

Tran slapped his forehead. "Of course there is. We'll get it up right away." He hastened to a console, conferring with the watchstander there as they sought the needed planning document. A moment later, the display lit with a 3-D depiction of the Chamberlain and Morgan Barracks. "We'll get enemy activity posted on here real quick, Commander Stark."

"Thanks. But they're not enemy. Let's keep that in mind." Stark fiddled with the controls, frustrated as his instincts urged him to do something quickly but he was forced to wait for more information. "I oughta go there," he muttered so only Vic could hear.

"No. The situation's too confused." Vic eyed the display as red markers began appearing where so-called Enlisted Council activity had been reported. "Ethan, I just remembered something."

"Doesn't sound like it's anything good."

"It's not. Remember who used to belong to Fifth Battalion? A guy named Kalnick."

"Kalnick?" Sergeant Kalnick had briefly served as commander of the Fifth Battalion, before losing the confidence of his soldiers when he tried to undercut Stark's authority and almost disastrously delayed the battalion's response to an enemy breakthrough. After Kalnick's own people voted him out, Stark had sent him home to Earth, not wanting someone he couldn't trust so close at hand. "Why didn't we think to keep a special eye on that unit?"

"Probably because we both thought everybody had gotten fed up with Kalnick. But I bet he still has some friends in Fifth Battalion. Friends who've been keeping a low profile. Speaking of which," Vic pointed to her console, "looks like the Second Brigade commander is calling in."

Stark called up the incoming transmission. "Sergeant Shwartz? You don't look happy."

"I'm not," Shwartz stated. She turned slightly to issue a command to someone near her, then faced Stark again. "I am forced to report that significant portions of one of my battalions are not responding to orders. They have occupied portions of two barracks and the closest ammunition magazine to their location."

"Portions of the barracks?" Vic questioned. "So they haven't been able to take over both in their entirety?"

"No. Only a small portion of Morgan Barracks is being held, even though it appears practically all of Chamberlain Barracks has been taken over. I believe most, if not all, of the mutineers are from my Fifth Battalion. Despite their talk of an Enlisted Council, whatever that is, they don't seem to be garnering extra support. There hasn't been active resistance to this council that I'm aware of, just passive refusal to go along with the mutiny."

Stark couldn't help internally mocking himself.
I ended up in charge because I started a mutiny, and now I got people mutinying against me. Serves me right for setting a precedent.
"First things first, I see the on-call companies moving into position at those barracks. Are you in contact with them?"

"Yessir. But they lack specific objectives."

"Not anymore. Move them up, nice and slow. Fifth Battalion is quartered in Chamberlain Barracks, right? So I'm guessing the parts of Morgan Barracks that are occupied aren't held too strongly at this point."

Shwartz nodded. "That matches with what I can see from here."

"Try to push those Fifth Battalion people out of Morgan. Just move your own people forward, occupying rooms as they go, and see if the Fifth Batt guys pull back. If weapons get pointed, I want the advance stopped. Understand?"

"I understand. No firing. Stop the advance if firing is threatened. What about the ammo magazine?"

Stark scowled, checking his display. "I'm being told there's an unknown number of troops sealed inside. Send a couple of people, no more than that, to knock on the entrance and try to talk them out. Make sure those people are unarmed. I don't want to make the soldiers sitting on all that ammo nervous." As Sergeant Shwartz gave orders to her soldiers, Stark leaned toward Reynolds. "Vic, whadayya think?"

"I think you're doing the right things. Or at least as good as we can do at this point. We need to contain this mutiny and prevent it from erupting into violence."

"That's what I figured. Sergeant Shwartz? I take it you had no warning something like this might happen?"

"No, sir. Fifth Battalion aren't the best motivated troops I've got, but I had no indications of this level of problems. I don't understand why the senior enlisted in the Battalion didn't pick up some signals."

"Sergeant Shwartz, I think you've got to assume some of those senior enlisted are part of the problem." She looked shocked. "We'll handle that once we've got a perimeter established."

"Sergeant Stark, given my failure to prevent this mutiny from occurring I would understand if you lacked confidence in my ability—"

"I have every confidence in your ability. None of us saw this coming, and I can see you've reacted quickly and correctly to contain the mutiny. You remain on-scene commander. However, if anybody from this Enlisted Council tries to talk to you, patch 'em in to me. We need to handle any talks from a single location to minimize the chance for misunderstandings or crossed wires." Stark looked toward the watchstanders. "Nobody's reported any problems with normal comms into Chamberlain Barracks, have they? Somebody start calling in there. I want to talk to whomever thinks they're in charge."

Over the next hour, the situation slowly stabilized. Under Shwartz's careful prodding, the rebellious Fifth Battalion soldiers fell back from Morgan Barracks, but once the advancing loyal troops reached the entrances to Chamberlain Barracks they found firm defenses had been set up. "The soldiers inside the ammunition magazine are refusing to open up," Shwartz reported. "They say they need orders from that council."

"Don't make them nervous," Reynolds advised.

"They're already nervous. I've got a couple of squads watching the exits from the magazine, but I've pulled them way back and told them to keep their weapons grounded."

"Good move," Stark approved. "Do the same at the exits to Chamberlain Barracks. Let's make sure no shooting starts."
Unless and until we want it to start. What happens if it comes to that?

As if reading his mind, Reynolds leaned close to speak softly. "Ethan, we need to try to talk these guys out, but we might need to use force."

"I can't. No, this isn't just morality speaking. It's realistic. If I shoot fellow soldiers to uphold my authority, then I've lost it. Nobody else up here will trust me." He glared at her. "And don't bother telling me not to let on that I know that when I'm talking to this council."

"I never even considered it. Speaking of which, I think we've finally got some comms with that council."

A corporal stared out of the screen. He was clearly trying to project calm and confidence, but Stark had enough experience observing people under stress to know the corporal was putting up a front.
He's rattled. And he's got lots of people with weapons listening to him right now. I better treat him like a live grenade. Real careful.
"Corporal? This is Sergeant Stark. Do you represent this Enlisted Council I'm hearing about?"

"Yes. Yes, I do. I'm Corporal Hostler. Sergeant Stark, you, uh, no longer have authority to, uh, issue orders to us."

That sounds like something he's been rehearsing. Maybe something someone else told him to say?
"Corporal, the other units aren't following your lead. You can see that. You're alone and isolated in your barracks."

"If you try to retake this barracks we will resist with all. . . with all necessary force!"

"Calm down. I didn't say anything about attacking you. We're on the same side, right?"

"No. No, we're not. You're just out for yourself. You and your gang."

"My gang?" Stark looked over at Reynolds. "You mean my staff?"

"Yeah. Yes. Reynolds and, uh, Gordasa, and, uh, Yurivan and—"

"Sergeant Stacey Yurivan?" Stark couldn't stop from breaking into the corporal's recital. "Come on. Sergeant Yurivan's from your unit originally. She served there a long time, and you all know her. She's nobody's stooge, and she sure as hell ain't mine." The corporal stopped speaking, apparently thrown off balance by Stark's rebuttal.
Or maybe listening to somebody else tell him what to say?
Stark thought again about Sergeant Kalnick and his friends among the senior enlisted in Fifth Battalion. "Listen, Corporal, if you've got a grievance there's a lot better ways to deal with it. If everybody lays down their weapons we can talk about this."

"No! No tricks!"

Real nervous. I hate nervous people with loaded weapons.
"I'm not talking tricks, Corporal. Let's just make sure nothing happens that all of us might regret. What is it you want?"

The corporal brightened visibly. Apparently that question was part of his canned presentation. "You must, uh, relinquish command. The Enlisted Council will give orders from now on."

"Give me a break."

"The Enlisted Council represents the true interests of the enlisted personnel. Your, uh, corrupt and, uh, incompetent leadership is over."