Monday, February 23, 2009

Diplomatic Relations (Pt 7)

{And you thought you'd never read any of this ever again. Hahahahahahahahaha}

They worked for more than four hours before breaking for a meal. The conversation around the table was light-hearted and optimistic, a pleasant change from the gloom that had dominated the atmosphere for the last two days. There were actually smiles and jokes. Even Dog and Zack had stopped glowering at each other and were mostly agreeable. Josh lost some of the tension that had been slowly conquering his features, and he seemed more like the man Dara had met four days earlier.
Dara let them relax and recuperate for nearly an hour before calling them back together.
“All right,” she said, raising her voice slightly and effectively drawing everyone’s attention. “What do we have, what do we need, and how do we get it?”
“An ID card, which we have,” Redding said first, and that was met with broad smiles throughout the room.
“Uniforms,” Zack added. “We have those as well. Also, regulation weapons and insignia.” He glanced over at Josh and answered the unspoken question. “You really don’t want to know how we got them.”
Josh just shook his head ruefully.
“We need a military speeder,” Jayem said.
“We’ll discuss logistics on that in a minute,” Dara answered. “Anything else?”
“Military orders,” Dog put in. “Redding can forge those.”
“A drop point and an escape route,” Josh pointed out.
“Okay.” Dara looked around. “Anything else? No? All right, then. First up. How do we come by a military speeder…without alerting everyone that we’re coming?”
No one spoke for a long minute, and no one looked at each other, either.
Dara tilted her head. “Come on, people. We need ideas. Even stupid ones, even bad ones, even impossible ones that would never work in a million years. We have to have something to work with.”
There was absolute silence for a handful of seconds as everyone looked around the room uncomfortably, studiously avoiding Dara’s gaze.
“What if we asked them politely?” Dog suggested dryly.
The laughter that followed served to ease the tension.
“Sure,” Dara said. “I’ll put you in charge of that.”
More laughter, because almost as ludicrous as the idea of getting a speeder by asking politely was the thought of Dog doing the asking.
“Anyone else have a slightly less improbably idea?”
“We’re not used to planning missions like this, Dara,” Josh reminded her. “We don’t know where to begin.”
“I understand that,” she acknowledged, “but any idea can turn into a springboard.”
Redding half-raised a hand. “What about—“
“Oh, no,” Jayem groaned. “Not the ion bomb.”
Redding looked insulted. Dara and Dog couldn’t quite hide their smiles. Everyone else looked confused.
“Ion?” Josh asked.
“Ionized particles mess with computer systems, usually short-circuiting them,” Jayem said. “The trouble is that it’s impossible to guarantee the level of damage caused.”
“I could fix any problems,” Redding insisted. “It would give us time to deal with the occupants.”
“Which would also pose a problem,” Jayem countered. “Ions interfere with electronics, not with biological creatures. They’re only going to be mad when they pour out of that speeder, and they’ll likely be looking for something to shoot.”
Dara held up a hand before the argument could escalate. “Redding, assuming that you were able to reverse any damage and that we could neutralize the guards, do you even have your ion bombs with you?”
Redding looked indignant. “Of course I do. I—” his indignation faded to chagrin— “I left them in our rooms the night at the Hall of Roses.”
Dara nodded. “It was a good idea, nonetheless.”
Jayem grinned triumphantly, and Redding shot him a nasty look.
Zack stared blankly past all the discussion in the room, unaware of the argument and completely lost in thought.
“Zack?” Dara had to repeat his name before he heard. “What are you thinking?”
He shrugged self-consciously. “Maybe nothing. But I remember a friend of mine saying that the State contracts out its mechanical work, and I’m wondering if that applies to speeders as well.”
“Can you find out?”
He swiveled in his chair to face a console. “I can try.”
The conversation continued to flow around him as he searched. A few minutes later, he had his answer.
“Speeders get sent to a private company less than a kilometer away. They do regular maintenance as well as repairs.”
Dara’s eyes narrowed in concentration, then she turned to Redding, her mouth opening to speak.
He spoke for her. “Could I make a work order to send a perfectly functioning speeder for maintenance so that we can grab the speeder from the mechanic, as private companies tend to have security that is more lax than military, and they wouldn’t be in a hurry to mention that they ‘lost’ a speeder for fear that they’d lose their contract.”
“Exactly,” Dara said, amusement flickering across her face.
“Why can’t we just get in uniform and tell the mechanics we have orders to pick it up?”
“Because the company’s employees do all the vehicle transfers,” Zack answered. “They’d need very specific instructions to allow something like that.”
“Okay, then. So it’s Redding to the rescue once more.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Dara asked.
“I’m just wondering what everyone else is going to be doing during this rescue op.”
“Three of us are going in to get Marna. There should be two people waiting for us at the rendezvous with the transfer speeder.” She paused. “You’re unhappy that you’ll be here with the computers instead of out on the mission.”
He shrugged. “Maybe a little. But I’ll content myself with running the whole thing,” he said with a magnanimous sweep of his hand.”
Her face was solemn, but her eyes were laughing when she answered. “Well, then, General Redding, we’re counting on you for the success of our mission.”
In the background, Jayem snorted.
“A general is as good as the soldiers he commands,” Redding said loftily.
Dog was leaning back against the wall, eyes closed. “Then your career is doomed,” he said.
Josh waited for the laughter to stop before he looked at Dara. “I’m going with you.”
“No,” she said flatly. “You’re not.”
He bristled. “I know I don’t have as much experience as the rest of you, but—“
“This is not about wanting a team of elites, Josh. I’m not worried about that.”
“Then why?”
“If we fail, then the Fringe will be without a leader. I won’t put you in danger, but not because I don’t think you can handle it.”
Josh’s face tightened, but his people murmured their assent.
“I want to come, then,” Zack said.
Dara regarded him evenly. “This isn’t going to be easy, and it’s not a glory mission. You know the consequences better than we do if we fail. Why do you want to come?”
“You need a driver. I know the streets. If you get lost, or seem like you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll raise their suspicions immediately.”
After a long moment of thought, Dara nodded once. “Zack, you’re our driver. Can you use a blaster, if the need arises?”
“I can.”
“Good. You’ll come with Dog and me.” She looked at Dog, who offered a feral grin, and then at Jayem. “Jayem?”
He looked up with an expression of suppressed surprise that told Dara that he had not been listening.
“You’ll stay here with Redding, “ she repeated.
“Sure. Fine,” he said absently, and Dara knew he was off on a tangent in his mind.
She shrugged, presuming that he was trying to sort out Stawl’s economy or the exchange ratio between the New Republic credit and the State’s currency. “Next, we need to find a nice, out of the way rendezvous. Some place where no one will see us, but where it wouldn’t look odd to be seen going there.”
“Some place secluded, nowhere close to a security hub, but where military speeders go?”
“You have an idea, Zack?”
“I think so. The Old Square. It’s more or less deserted, and anyone we might see wouldn’t necessarily be a friend of the State. It’s blocks away from any security hub, but military speeders sometimes get called out there. No one would notice or care if someone waited around with a speeder.” He looked at Josh. “It’s also far enough away from any of our safe houses that we wouldn’t be leaving an obvious trail.”
Josh nodded his approval, then “I’ll meet you there with one of our covered speeders.”
“Josh—“
“No, Dara. I cannot stay here and do nothing. I understand why you do not want me to go with you, but the least I can do is be there to welcome Marna back. You can’t deny me that.”
Dara raised her eyebrows. “I was going to say, that’s a good idea. You should choose someone to go with you. It never hurts to have an extra set of eyes.”
“Oh.” He grinned awkwardly. “All right, then.”
“Great. Zack, you mentioned uniforms. Let’s see what you have.”

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