Storm Breaking

'Damned good idea! Come sit down so we can talk about this in detail.' The General waved him to one of the chairs beside the fireplace, and took another, tossing the orders onto the desktop but making no move to place himself behind the desk. Melles took his seat, and the General moved his own chair nearer to that of the Heir before sitting in it. 'Damned good idea!' he repeated. 'Declare martial law, and you'll have the cits up in arms and starting a revolt in the streets, but bring in the Army without actually calling it martial law, and they'll fall in line without a whimper if you can restore order.' He coughed. 'Give them back their easy lives, and they'll call you a god and not care how you managed it.'

'My idea is to use the smallest number of soldiers that I can to crush disturbances absolutely,' Melles said cautiously. 'I don't want people to begin muttering that we've called out the Army on them; I believe that is one thing the citizens of the Empire won't tolerate. If you'll look at those orders, you'll see I've been given direct command of city guards, constables, and militia. The way I see it, if I use those forces in the front ranks, and only use the Army regulars to back them up and add strength to their line, I'll get the effect that I want without it looking as if the Army is taking over.'

'Good. Sound strategy,' Thayer confirmed. 'Out in the provinces they expect the Army to put down trouble, but the cits think they're above all that. Put down the first riots efficiently, kill a few of the worst troublemakers, and I don't think you'll have any trouble reestablishing order. I was hoping someone would figure out that we're in for a spot of domestic trouble and would plan on dealing with it.'

And of course he didn't dare suggest it himself. Charliss would see that as a direct threat to his own authority, and I would have been asked to find General Thayer a—retirement. Thayer knows it, too. He nodded, and leaned back in his chair, feeling much more confident with Thayer as an open ally. 'It's not common knowledge, but there have already been small disturbances, and I expect larger ones as food runs short and hardships build up,' he said easily. 'If we're ready—and ruthless in suppressing the troubles to come—I think the citizens will accept what we do as a necessary evil.'

'Yes, as we've said, find a way to get them their meals and peace and the cits will accept anything short of burning down the city,' Thayer retorted with contempt. 'Now, how exactly do you want me to help? You want a special regiment detached to go wherever it's needed, or—' Thayer paused, looking eager, but a bit reluctant to put forth his own ideas. 'Well, I'm a military man, I don't have any experience in riot control, but—

'You have an idea of your own,' Melles said, leaning forward with interest. 'Please. I'd like to hear it.'

'We've still got limited communication mage-to-mage with all the military bases, and you know there's at least one near every large city,' Thayer told him. 'Now, if I were to move a certain number of men, a company, say, into each city—if you were to get the militias and city guards and so on organized in the way you want beforehand—well, as soon as a riot started, your city militia would naturally go take care of it, and just as naturally the captain of the company would offer his help. Your militia captain would accept it, and why not, they're both in military brotherhoods, as it were. With the backing of the Army, I don't see any reason why we couldn't squash any riot. And technically, since I doubt every hothead in every city would take it into his head to riot on the same day, you wouldn't be exceeding the number of men you asked for.' He grinned slyly. 'You see, they'd only be under your command for the duration of the riot; after that, they'd come back under my authority.'

Melles allowed himself a dry chuckle. General Thayer was obviously a past master at the fine art of manipulating loopholes, and his strategy was an application of the very orders that he had written that he himself had not considered.

But then, I didn't have any reason to suspect that Thayer would make quite such an eager ally.

'That, General, is a brilliant plan; quite perfect for all our purposes,' he replied, allowing approval to creep into his voice. The General smiled, a smile with just as much steel in it as warmth.

'Good. We're agreed on it, then.' Thayer nodded decisively. 'Now, in return, I'd appreciate it if you could do something about some domestic orders for me—not exactly requisitions, more like assignments. It all still comes under the heading of restoring domestic order.'

'I'll do what I can.' Melles had expected this; trading favor for favor was the accepted way of doing business in Imperial politics. He wouldn't commit himself until he'd heard precisely what Thayer had in mind, but Thayer knew that already.

'Put the Army in charge of all intercity transportation of supplies.' Thayer looked him straight in the eyes. 'As it is, stuff's being moved inefficiently, what gets moved is random, and carters are getting fat no matter what. The Army's suffering, because we're having to pay through the nose, just like the cits are. Conscript the carters, take over the Cartage Guild, make 'em subject to Army discipline, and we'll cure what's causing some of your riots in short order. Every dog in the Empire knows what's going on, and they'll be happy to see the Cartage Guild get what's coming to them. The cits are as tired of the profiteering as I am.'

And you and your officers will get fat on the profits, instead of the Cartage Guild. Melles saw right through that one, but Thayer was right about several things. Transportation was a hit-or-miss matter right now, and the profits that the carters were making were obscene. Putting the Army in charge would reduce profiteering to an acceptable level, and get transportation organized. And there had been unrest over the profiteering; at least one of the riots had destroyed a Cartage Guildhall and the buildings near it.

No, there will be no weeping if I conscript the carters, their beasts, and their vehicles.

The question was, could he get away with that assignment, as an interpretation of the orders that Charliss had just signed?