Jarin Obius
and Anne Wilder stared at each other.
They were in a conference room in the Dannelon
Liberation Forces Headquarters in Langston Habitat. Obius had occupied
the facility with the intent of establishing a Provisional Governing Authority
there. He preferred Langston to the
still damaged facilities at Carnellon. The presidential palace in
“So, Jarin, are you going to re-convene the Congress of Dannelon?” asked Wilder. This was not the most pressing issue in her mind, but she wanted to lead him up to the hard questions.
“When the time is right”, he replied. “I’m going to keep martial law in effect until we can do a complete investigation of the compounds. I want an airtight case against Aliyendah, and I don’t want civilians getting in the way of building that case.”
“Do you really feel the need to justify yourself?” asked Wilder, although she thought she knew the answer.
“Of course. I instigated a Coup against the lawfully elected government of Dannelon. I don’t want anybody to question my motives. I want everybody to know that my actions were completely justified.”
“But with Aliyendah gone, who would be questioning your actions?”
“I don’t know, but I do know that questions will be popping up. I want to know the answers to those questions before they’re asked. But the primary reason for a full investigation is that the people of Dannelon deserve it. They need to know the full extent of the atrocities that were committed. I want them to learn this lesson in their bones. I want them to be so horrified at what went on that they will never let it happen again. Then, and only then, will I step down and allow them to govern themselves once more.”
They went on chatting. They discussed rebuilding the severely damaged infra-structure in Dannelon. They discussed loans from Earth. They discussed possible collaboration on disaster relief efforts. They agreed to re-establish trade talks, diplomatic relations, and freight traffic. They discussed the possibility of a non-aggression pact, and agreed to get the parties meeting to draw it up. It was not strictly a matter of generosity and good will on Earth’s part. Obius needed their help, and Earth would eventually reap great rewards. They both knew that Earth would get a tremendous boost in trade benefits as a result of helping Dannelon now.
They also knew they were skirting the central issue, and both were reluctant to bring it up.
Wilder knew that there were some people on Earth who wanted
revenge for
“So, what about those weapons?” Wilder finally asked. “We’ve got a dangerous situation here. As long as you have your weapons threatening Earth, we cannot truly have peace. Why don’t we take our fingers off the buttons and back off?”
“You think I don’t know about the armada heading our way?” rejoined Obius. “Do you actually think I would relinquish the one defense I have? I think not. The situation is precarious, certainly, but if we keep our heads we can get through this. Let time heal our wounds. Let the hotheads sink back into their turpor. Once the emotions settle, I think we can revisit the question of the weapons.”
“I figured you’d say that”, said Wilder. “I just had to ask. That means, of course, that our weapons stay where they are as well.”
“But of course. The situation is only stable because we are deadlocked. But I do want that armada turned around.”
“I think General Amstad will be
agreeable there. He does want some recompense
for
Obius was silent for a
moment. “You know that no amount of
money will suffice. How would we
determine that amount? Say X pounds per
casualty? You know that we suffered a
proportionate amount of damage. If I
negotiated X for
“I figured you’d say that as well, and Amstad did too. Still, a token amount can go a long way to rebuilding good relations.”
They paused, thinking to themselves whether there was anything else they could get out of each other.
“You know, Jarin,” she said, “you’re coming out of this smelling like roses. You’re lucky you’re dealing with Amstad. If others were in charge, Dannelon would be a smoking ruin by now.”
“As would most of Earth”, he said in return. “You do remember, don’t you, that Earth has been in this situation before? They called it the MAD policy, for Mutually Assured Destruction. It was a situation that occupied great minds for fully half of the Twentieth Century. Time marched on, and cooler heads prevailed. We got through it then, didn’t we?”
“So, you think time will heal all wounds?”, she asked.
“It damned well better”.
“Well, then, we will let time tell us if we have saved the world or not.”
“Indeed.”
Dara turned in the sleeping
harness and snuggled up against Danson, who was still
snoring away the early morning hours. There
was more hard work for them today. They had
spent the last week in the
Dara realized she had adopted an affinity for this place. She needed to help these poor souls. They had been through so much. Of course, Danson was here, another reason she couldn’t leave just yet. The EIF had offered to help rebuild. Danson, among his many other talents, was adept at carpentry, masonry, and electronics. That kind of skill was sorely needed here. Dara was not quite as skilled, but she made up for the lack with enthusiasm and plain hard labor. She kept busy, and that helped keep the pain and grief at bay. Every day, she came home exhausted but feeling a little better. Every day she was a little less depressed and a little more optimistic about the future.
She and Danson had not talked much yet about the future. Despite what they had been through together, they hardly knew each other. She was in love with him, but could she live with him? She didn’t know. She only knew that this was a way to find out. Living together, working together. If they could get through this and avoid coming to hate the sight of each other, it just might work out. So far things had been perfect between them. The only thing that worried her was that Danson was a military man. Could she endure being a military wife, and have to share her man with that other mistress? What if he was called upon to leave her permanently? Would he do that? Or would he tell his superiors to shove it? Only time would tell. She certainly was not going to confront him right away, present him with a ‘them or me’ choice. Their relationship was too young to risk it.
She worked hard on coming to terms with how she had gotten to where she was. Whenever she started to feel guilt over how things had turned out, she asked herself if there was anything she would have done differently? Would she have avoided joining the rebellion? No, not really. It was not in her to turn away from such injustices. Would she have stayed away from the fighting? Maybe, but then she would have spent her life questioning herself anyway. There were people in this world who would take away the things you value, and sometimes you had no choice but to fight them. Who knew it would turn out the way it had? She finally decided that if she had it all to do over again, she would have done it alone. She would have left Puffin, and Venky, and Robert out of it altogether. She would have protected them with her life. But it was all so hypothetical. It had happened, and now she would live with it.
She talked it over with Ozzie, who had faced similar choices and suffered similar consequences. He had finally snapped out of his depression, and they had some lively and often heated discussions. It helped just comparing her feelings with his. His attitude was similar. Life was so unfair. You agonized over things, and made plans and decisions according to what you knew and who you were at the time. And it was only later that you got to learn whether you were correct. If you chose wrong, too bad, you had to live with yourself. Only time could tell you if the choices you made were correct. Everybody faced this dilemma, from the lowliest student diplomat up to the highest of the high and mighty. But, in the end, you had no choice but to go on living and learning, and the world just kept on spinning.
THE END
March 2005