The Pirates of Sufiro (Book 1) (Old Star New Earth) (22 page)

Suki Firebrandt Ellis arrived later that night at the spaceport in New Des Moines. It was surprising to see how small it was compared to the port in Boston. Still, the old adobe structure seemed familiar and comforting. As she walked through the port, she found what she was looking for. There was a row of five booths with people standing behind them, selling tickets to the shuttles bound for various settlements around New Granada. There was, in fact, a booth for Tejo City, however no one stood there. It looked as though it had been ransacked.

Fire walked up to the booth for Succor and bought a ticket for the shuttle. The man behind the booth warned her that the shuttle would be leaving in five minutes, so she'd better hurry. She stepped out of the spaceport, dragging her single suitcase on an anti-gravity sled. The shuttle driver stowed her case and she climbed aboard. There were only four other people on the shuttle.

She sat down in a terribly uncomfortable seat. The shuttle started with a lurch. Then shot out over the countryside. Sufiro's oblong moon wasn't up. There was no view out of the window. Fire closed her eyes and thought about her decision to return to Sufiro's World. After she found out about Jerome's death, she had tried to contact John Mark. Control on Titan said there was radio silence for all but emergency communication in effect.

Fire called her father. He had been enthusiastic about the idea of his daughter coming home. It was always a comfort to know she loved him and thought of him. He wondered what comfort, if any, his mother would have taken in her son's love. It had taken a few days to arrange a leave of absence from her job on Nantucket, but the board of directors understood. She needed some time with her family to recover from the shock of her husband's death. Fire packed a suitcase, closed the door of the Ellis family home and caught a ship for Sufiro's World. Aboard the shuttle, she drifted off to sleep.

The shuttle settled to the ground in Succor lurching Fire awake. She got out and walked up the hill to her father's house. The sun was rising as she topped the ridge. Memories flooded back to her as she stood looking at the house. She ran to the door and knocked as loudly as she could. Ellison Firebrandt opened the door. Father and daughter embraced. She stood back and looked at him, amazed at how white his hair was and how thin he looked.

"Was there ever a simple time on Sufiro?" she chided as they stepped inside the house.
"I think this may be worse than normal." He led them into the dining room. Roberts came floating in on his hover chair.
"It's good to see you," she reached down and embraced Roberts in the chair.
Roberts grinned. "With hugs like that, I wish you'd return more often."
"You've turned into a dirty old man," she said.
"I've always been a dirty old man. I can get away with it from time to time since you're not my genetic daughter." Roberts cast a sidelong glance at Firebrandt. "Most of the time."
A valet came in with coffee and poured some for Roberts and Firebrandt. Fire gracefully declined, she was ready for bed.
"Is it true what they say," Fire said at last. "Are Tejo and New Granada going to war?"
"We'll win," said Firebrandt, simply.
"The Tejans have the support of most of the
Confederation," said Fire. "It's on all of the teleholo channels. Tejo has charged New Granada with interfering with the Erdonium trade. With the Cluster causing as much damage as they are, no one on Earth takes that lightly. If you hadn't told me about the slaves, I don't know how I would have taken it."
Firebrandt nodded. "Tejo's a popular place. New Granada isn't well known. That makes it hard to get the truth out. Somehow, though, we will."
"When the starliner came into orbit, I noticed a Rd'dyggian war ship in geostationary orbit over New Granada." Fire's brow knitted. "What's that all about?"
"That's our trump card," said Firebrandt, taking a sip of coffee. "It's our defense and our hope for our case getting heard." He looked to Roberts who nodded, understanding. THE BORDER SKIRMISHES
Colonel Clyde McClintlock watched a holographic projection made up of images taken from a satellite orbiting Sufiro. He did not like what he saw. A black egg-shaped Rd'dyggian star cruiser hung stationary orbit above New Granada. The holographic display showed the position of the ship and told the colonel exactly how many armaments he could expect to be aboard such a ship. The information made the colonel nervous.
He found himself in a difficult command shortly after the death of Sam Stone. Colonel Clyde McClintlock was the officer put in charge of the "migrant situation." In other words, he was to make sure that none of the "voluntary migrant labor force" from New Granada caused trouble after the travesty at the Erdonium mines outside Tejo City.
The colonel was asked to take his present command by the new governor of Tejo, a small man few people on either continent knew except by name. He was Rocky Hill, son of the former Governor, Mary Hill. Though she was an old woman, she ran the mining operations in Tejo after the death of Stone. McClintlock was the military person the Hills knew and trusted most. Rocky and Clyde had been friends since childhood. McClintlock, sitting in his bunker under Mt. Mathews, wondered whether or not that trust was well founded. No matter how long the colonel stared at the hologram, he could not fathom what the Rd'dyggians were doing.
He turned at the sound of a clearing throat. Major Ellwood, the colonel's adjutant stood respectful, waiting. "Major," said McClintlock looking back at the display, "what do you make of the Rd'dyggian ship?"
The major shifted from one foot to another. "I think it's possible that they're there as a distraction."
"A distraction from what?" McClintlock raised his thin eyebrows.
"I don't know but I just received a dispatch," said the major. "The sign that leads to the entrance of the Tejo National Forest has been burned down."
The colonel stood, straightening his gray uniform. "What the devil does a Forest Service sign have to do with a Rd'dyggian star cruiser?"
The major fancied herself an intelligent woman and she knew that McClintlock had come to his position through being a friend of the new Governor. She sighed and clasped her hands tightly behind her back. "I think it was a protest action, sir."
The colonel shook his head. "Damn." His voice was barely a whisper. He sat down again and looked at the ground, shuffling his feet. "Sounds like the work of sympathizers."
The major nodded. She had to concede the possibility. "The problem is that actions like that demoralize the people."
"So, do we set up guards around Forest Service signs?" McClintlock ran his fingers through prematurely gray hair, his youthful features contorted in annoyance.
The major rocked back and forth on her feet, deep in thought. After a moment, she stopped and blinked a couple of times. "Perhaps we should consider the old adage, the best defense is a strong offense."
He nodded. "Perhaps you're right. Get me a teleholo connection with Governor Hill."
Major Ellwood nodded. Her brilliant blues eyes sparkled under the glow of the overhead lamp and the hint of a grin crossed her face. She turned sharply on her heel and left. * * * *

Edmund Swan was scouring the forest a few miles from Manuel Raton's home. He was searching the forest bottom for a wild fungus Manuel told him about. "It's edible and tastes almost exactly like truffles," Manuel had said. In point of fact, Edmund had been looking for an excuse to get out the house. Trying to organize a fighting force made his head hurt. In addition, thoughts of a major battle were making him vaguely nauseous. The lightly scented air of the forest helped, but not as much as he'd hoped. Edmund shook his head, wondering what Firebrandt had been thinking when he put him in charge of the military. Edmund heard a rustling in the trees behind him. He reached desperately for his hepler. "Damn," he cursed as he realized he didn't have it. Manuel had warned him about the griffins in the woods.

A tall woman with long black hair stepped forward. "Are you okay?"
Swan blinked a number of times then examined the woman with his computer eye. By the nature of the pollens on her clothing, he could tell she was from Succor. "I'm fine," he stammered. His mismatched eyes narrowed. "I know you, don't I?"
"You used to have such a pretty pair of brown eyes," she said.
"It comes with the law enforcement game," said Swan, trying to place where he'd seen the woman before. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage."
"Suki Firebrandt," she said, walking toward him, her hand extended. "We had coffee in Tucson, some years ago."
Swan shook her hand, surprised at the strength of her grip. "Now I remember!" Swan slapped his forehead. "My God! You're Ellison Firebrandt's daughter, aren't you?"
"The same," said Fire. "Manuel told me you'd be out here."
"It's good to see you again," said Swan. "How the hell are you?"
"I've been better," admitted Fire. "My husband just died a few weeks ago."
"Oh ... I'm sorry," said Swan looking away.
"Manuel has been telling me a little about the challenges of organizing a defense against the Tejans." She scanned the forest with brown eyes. "The mushrooms are that way," she said confidently.
Swan looked in the direction she indicated. His computer eye could not confirm her assertion, but he followed as she strode off between the trees. "'Challenging' is an
understatement. I've never even thought of organizing a force this size before. I'm really not sure if I'm up to the task."
"You were part of the Tucson Sheriff's Department weren't you?" Fire ducked under a low hanging tree branch.
"Southern Arizona Sheriff's Department," Swan corrected. "But I don't see what that has to do..."
"You mean to say you never once organized a force of people?" She stopped and looked him in the eye.
"Well," he said, slightly out of breath from the hike. "I was in charge of organizing police investigations. I was also Sheriff Wilmot's liaison officer with the planetary police."
She pointed a finger at him. "See? You
are
used to organizing groups of people."
"But I get sick at the sight of blood. What kind of military commander would I make?" Swan thrust his hands deep in his pockets.
"A compassionate one," said Fire. "One that could earn the trust of my father." She grinned lopsidedly. "That's not easy to do."
"He really thinks I can do it?" Swan grinned selfconsciously. "
You
think I can do it?"
"You got to know where to look, Ed," she pointed to the forest floor. Gray balls on tripod stems covered the ground. "What counts is whether or not Ed Swan believes he can do it."
Swan knelt down and picked one of the mushrooms. He stared at the fungi covering the ground and thought of the captives in Tejo. "Maybe I can."
"You know," she said, "they sing folksongs about you in Tejo."
"How would you know that?" Swan's brow knitted.
"Call it intuition." She smiled warmly and helped Swan pick mushrooms for dinner.
* * * *

Word of the migrant workers being rescued from the Stone Mines outside Tejo City began to spread among miners in other parts of the continent. In order to maximize profit, Mary Hill and Sam Stone had ensured that all the Erdonium miners were "migrants." The migrants began to sing songs commemorating the heroic efforts of Edmund Swan. Soon the songs were outlawed.

In the Hill Mines outside Camp Jones, a group of miners put down their tools to sing a ballad about Edmund Swan. None of the miners knew what he looked like. They imagined him to be a strong, heroic figure. They sang of his great courage and foresight.

A group of armed soldiers stepped into the group with disciplinarians. They used the weapons on as many of the group as they could touch. The buzz and crackle of the disciplinarians could be heard long after the singing stopped.

Word of the incident spread to other mines around Tejo. Some of the slaves worked harder than they had before, but most stopped working altogether.

More guards were being employed to "encourage" the slaves to return to work. More of the slaves rallied around the image of Edmund Swan and vowed to die rather than work for the Tejans.

A fist slammed on a desk. The fist raised high and slammed again. "Damn it! How?" Governor Hill shouted. His fist came down again. "How the hell is word spreading from one mine to another?" He pointed at Colonel McClintlock. "Among other things, your forces are supposed to prevent that!"

Governor Hill sat down in a padded chair that was too large for his small frame. It had belonged to his predecessor, Sam Stone as had many of the other gaudy relics. He had to admit that he admired much of Stone's taste in art if not his taste in furniture. "If this work slowdown continues much longer, we'll have to start drawing on reserves to supply the Confederation in its efforts against the Cluster. If we go that far, our profits will drop. Now, what do you suggest we do about this situation?"

McClintlock sat up. "What about an all-out offensive against New Granada?"
"Are you crazy?" Hill stood up again. "The Confederation would never allow that!"
"What if we made legal claim on the land of New Granada?" The colonel grinned. He had rehearsed this speech a number of times with Major Ellwood. "After all, New Granada has never been recognized by either the
Confederation or the Gaean Alliance."
Hill leaned over the desk, his large ears twitching with interest. "They've never been recognized?"
"Tejo and Little Sonora are the only legal governments on Sufiro," cooed the colonel.
"That may be, but I'm not willing to take the risk," said Hill. "It's just too dangerous. Besides, it appears that they've allied themselves with the Rd'dyggians."
Colonel McClintlock shrugged. "We've only seen one ship. For all we know, it's a rogue pirate."
"I don't want to take the chance." The short man adjusted his suit and sat down. "Not yet, anyway."
The colonel stood. "But you'll keep this plan in mind?"
Hill nodded. "As an option."
Two days after Hill and McClintlock met, an Erdonium warehouse exploded in Tejo City. No one saw who planted the explosives.
* * * *

Edmund Swan and Manuel Raton spread the word through New Granada that the Tejans might attack. Fifteen thousand men and women gathered at an encampment outside Nuevo Santa Fe. People brought food from all over and pitched large tents. The Nuevo Rio Grande supplied water.