The Prince by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling

“What’s that, Lieutenant Slater?”

“Nothing, Governor. Excuse me.”

“I expect I know what you said. Captain, let’s suppose I do what you ask and withdraw recognition from the Protective Association. Now what do I do? We are not in the democracy-building business. My personal sympathies may well lie with what we are pleased to call ‘free and democratic institutions,’ but I happen to be an official of the CoDominium, not of the United States. So, by the way, do you. If this planet had been settled by Soviets, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. There would be an assured grain supply, and no nonsense about it.”

“I hardly think the situations are comparable,” Colonel Harrington said.

“Nor I,” Trevor added. That surprised me.

“I ask again, what do we do?” the Governor said.

“Extend CoDominium protection to the area,” Harrington said. “It needn’t be permanent. I make no doubt that Colonel Trevor’s people have friends among the farmers. We may not be in the democracy-building business, but there are plenty who’d like to try.”

“You are asking for all-out war on the Protective Association,” Swale said. “Colonel Harrington, have you any idea of what that will cost? The Senate is very reluctantly paying the basic costs of keeping these Marines on Arrarat. They have not sent one deci-credit to pay for combat actions. How am I supposed to pay for this war?”

“You’ll just have to tax the grain transactions, that’s all,” Harrington said.

“I can’t do that.”

“You’re going to have to do it. Captain Falkenberg is right. We can drive out the Protective Association—with enough local cooperation—but we sure as hell can’t grow wheat for you. I suppose we could exterminate everyone in the whole damned valley and repopulate it—

“Now you’re being impertinent.”

“My apologies,” Harrington said. “Governor, just what do you want? Those farmers aren’t going to grow crops just to have a bunch of gangsters take the profits. They’ll move out first, or take the land out of cultivation. Then what happens to your grain supply?”

“The situation is more complex than you think, Colonel. Believe me, it is. Your business is war and violence. Mine is politics, and I tell you that things aren’t always what they seem. The Protective Association can keep Harmony supplied with grain at a reasonable price. That’s what we must have, and it’s what you’re going to get for me. Now you tell me that my only alternatives are a war I can’t pay for, or starvation in the city. Neither is acceptable. I order you to send an expeditionary force to Allansport. It will have the limited objective of demonstrating our intent and putting sufficient pressure on the Protective Association to make them reasonable, and that is the whole objective.”

Harrington studied his fingernails for a moment. “Sir, I cannot accept the responsibility.”

“Damn you. Captain Falkenberg, you will—”

“I can’t accept the responsibility, either, Governor.”

“Then, by God, I’ll have Colonel Trevor lead it. Trevor, if you say you can’t accept responsibility, I damned well know a dozen militia officers who can.”

“Yes, sir. Who’ll command the Marines sir? They won’t take orders from me. Not directly.”

“The lieutenants will—” He stopped, because one by one, Deane, Louis, and I all shook our heads.

“This is blackmail! I’ll have every one of you cashiered!”

Colonel Harrington laughed. “Now, you know, I really doubt that. Me you might manage to get at. But junior officers for refusing an assignment their colonel turned down? Try peddling that to Admiral Lermontov and he’ll laugh like hell.”

Swale sat down. He struggled for a moment until he was in control of his voice. “Why are you doing this?”

Colonel Harrington shook his head slowly. “Governor, everything you said about the service is true. We’re used. They use us to bash heads so that some senator’s nephew can make a mega-credit. They hand people a raw deal and then call on us to make the victims stay in the game. Most of the time we have to take it. It doesn’t mean we like it much. Once in a while, just every now and then, the Fleet gets a chance to put something right after you civilians mess it up. We don’t pass up such chances.” Harrington’s voice had been quiet, but now he let it rise slightly. “Governor, just what the hell do you think men become soldiers for? So that you can get promoted to a cushy job?”

“I have told you, I would like to help those farmers. I can’t do it. Cannot you understand? We can’t pay for a long campaign. Can’t. Not won’t. Can’t.”

“Yes, sir,” Colonel Harrington said. “I expect I’d better get back to Garrison. The staff’s going to have to work out a pretty strict rationing plan.”

“You think you have won,” the Governor said. “Not yet, Colonel. Not yet. Colonel Trevor, I asked you to put a battalion of militia on riverboats. How long will it take for them to get here?”

“Be here tomorrow, sir.”

“When they arrive, I want you to have made arrangements for more fuel and supplies. We are taking that battalion to Allansport, where I will personally direct operations. I’ve no doubt we can make the Protective Association see reason. As to the rest of you, you will sit in this fort and rot for all I care. Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

* * *

I told Kathryn about the conference when I met her for supper that night. She listened with bewilderment.

“I don’t understand, Hal,” she finally blurted. “All that fuss about costs. We’d pay for the campaign and be happy to do it.”

“Do you think the Governor knows that?” I asked.

“Of course he knows it. I’ve told him, and I’ve brought him offers from some of the other farmers. Don’t you remember I asked him to loan us the 501st?”

“Sure, but you weren’t serious.”

“I wasn’t then, but it sounded like such a good idea that later on we really tried to hire you. He wasn’t interested.”

“Wasn’t interested in what?” Louis Bonneyman asked. “Is this an intimate conversation, or may I join you?”

“Please do,” Kathryn said. “We’re just finishing—”

“I’ve had my dinner, also,” Louis said. “But I’ll buy you a drink. Hal, did you ever think old Harrington had that kind of guts?”

“No. Surprised me. So what happens next?”

“Beats me,” Louis said. “But I’ll give you a hint. I just finished helping Sergeant Major cut orders putting this whole outfit on full field alert as of reveille tomorrow.”

“Figures. I wonder just how much trouble His Excellency will get himself into.”

Louis grinned. “With any luck, he’ll get himself killed and Colonel Harrington becomes Acting Governor. Then we can really clean house.”

“You can’t wish that on Irina’s father,” Kathryn protested. “I thought you liked her, Louis.”

“Her, yes. Her old man I can live without. I’d have thought you’d share the sentiment.”

“He was kind enough to let me live in his home,” Kathryn said. “I don’t understand him at all. He seems like a good man. It’s only when—”

“When he puts on his Governor’s hat,” I said. “I keep wondering if we blew it, Kathryn. If we’d taken the Governor up on his offer, we could at least have gotten down there to do something. I might even have caught the bastard that—You know who I mean.”

“I’m glad you didn’t, Hal. It would have been horrible. Anything you did to those gangsters they’d take out on my friends as soon as you’d left. I wouldn’t have helped you, and I don’t think anyone else would, because anybody that did would be signing death warrants for his whole family, and all his friends, too.”

“Sounds like a rough gang,” Louis said. “Thorough. If you’re going to use terror, go all the way. Unfortunately, it works.”

Kathryn nodded. “Yes. I’ve tried to explain it to Governor Swale. If he sends an expedition there, a lot of my friends will try to help. They’ll be killed if he leaves those hoodlums in control when it’s over. It would be better if none of you ever went there.”

“But the Harmony merchants don’t like the prices,” Louis said. “They want their grain cheaper, and Swale’s got to worry about them, too. A complaint from the Harmony city council wouldn’t look too good on his record. Somebody at BuColonial might take it seriously.”

“Politics,” Kathryn said. “Why can’t—”

“Be your age,” Louis said. “There’s politics in the CoDominium, sure, but we still keep the peace. And it’s not all that bad, anyway. Swale was appointed by Grand Senator Bronson’s people.”

“An unsavory lot,” I said.

“Maybe,” Louis admitted. “Anyway, of course that means that Bronson’s enemies will be looking for reasons to discredit Swale. He’s got to be careful. The Harmony merchants still have friends at American Express—and AmEx hates Bronson with a passion.”

“I’d say our Governor has problems, then,” I said. “From the looks of the troops he took with him, he won’t scare the Association much. The militia have pretty uniforms, but they’re all city kids. All right for holding walls and cruising along the Jordan now that we’ve disarmed everybody here, but they’re unlikely to scare anybody with real combat experience.”