'I don't like the thought of casually mistreating prisoners of war, Klayrman. It's a violation of the Articles of War, it's conduct unbecoming the Arcanan armed forces, and-ultimately-it's prejudicial to good discipline. Nothing turns first-line soldiers into their own worst enemies quicker than developing a taste for atrocities.
'But we're in a peculiar position right now,' the two thousand continued. 'We don't really know these people, and they don't know us. We don't know what their equivalent of the Kerellian Accords may be.
And we still don't know how deep we have to go to find the sort of readily held bottleneck we need to provide defensive depth for Hell's Gate.'
'But, Sir,' Toralk said quietly when the two thousand paused, 'if we don't know what their equivalent of the Kerellian Accords are, then wouldn't it be wiser of us to be sure that we adhere as closely as possible to our version? As you say, we don't know how deep we have to go, or how long we may end up fighting these people. In the long run, isn't it important for us to establish from the beginning that we're not going to be responsible for-or permit-any 'atrocities' from our side, if we expect to avoid any from their side?'
'There's some of this in any war, whatever we might wish, or whatever the Articles of War or some neatly sanitized history might suggest to the contrary,' Harshu said. 'It always happens, Klayrman, even with the best troops. And at the moment, given the fact that we've attacked them while we were still negotiating with them, I doubt very much that we're likely to find any Sharonians cherishing warm and fuzzy thoughts where we're concerned, however closely we might adhere to the Accords.'
'I'm sure you're right, Sir.' In fact, that had been the basis for Toralk's greatest reservation about the wisdom of this entire operation from the outset. 'But eventually we're going to have to get past that, unless we're planning on remaining at war with these people forever. And, forgive me, Sir, but sooner or later they're going to have Arcanan prisoners of their own. It seems to me that the way we treat their people when we capture them is going to have a significant impact on how they treat our people.'
'No doubt it will. To be honest, though, I'm inclined to cross that bridge when we reach it. At some point, this front is going to stabilize. Frankly, I intend to get quite a bit deeper into their rear areas before that happens, but it is going to happen, Klayrman. When it does, we're going to be looking at new negotiations, probably debates on prisoner exchanges, and quite probably demands-from both sides, I imagine-that those responsible for the deliberate abuse of POWs face punishment. Exactly how all of that will play out is more than I'm prepared to speculate upon at this point. One thing I do know, though, is that no matter how angry one side or the other may be, everything is going to be subject to reinterpretation and negotiation when that time comes. They may be as angry with us as they like, may distrust us as deeply as they please, but sooner or later, we're still going to have to talk to each other, and we will. Whatever's happened between us, we will.'
'Sir, are you saying that the mistreatment of POWs by Arcanan personnel doesn't matter?' Toralk asked carefully.
'No, I'm not,' Harshu replied just a bit frostily. 'I'm saying that, at the moment, there are aspects of our situation and our mission requirements which concern me more than the rumors-no, let's be honest and call them what they are, the reports-you're referring to.
'We're flying completely blind out here, Klayrman. We don't know squat about these people. Oh, we've captured quite a stack of maps and other information, but unfortunately, our translation spellware doesn't let us read written documents just yet. It's not going to for at least several more weeks, according to the Intelligence people, either. From the maps we've found so far, this Sharona's explored territory doesn't appear to be anywhere near the size of our own, but we can't be certain of that. And I've got to know what's out there in front of us if we're going to continue to advance without heavy losses. And we can't afford heavy losses, since there's nothing immediately behind us to hold any Sharonian counterattack that gets by us.
'Those are the concerns which are floating around the front of my brain, Klayrman.'
Toralk looked at his commanding officer for several seconds which seemed like minor eternities.
'Sir,' he said finally, quietly, 'if you don't stop this, and stop it quickly, it's going to stick to your name, your reputation, forever.'
'Fuck my reputation,' Harshu said flatly. Toralk's eyes widened in astonishment, and the two thousand snorted in harsh amusement. 'Oh, I won't pretend I'm not as vain as anyone you're likely to meet. Hells, I'll go further than that-I've got an ego big enough for any three other men I know! So what?
Reputation isn't worth a fart in a windstorm-not when it gets in the way of the mission. I've got fourteen thousand men out here with us or spread out behind us. My responsibility is to them and to the mission. I need the information that little bastard Neshok is bringing me if I'm going to keep as many as possible of those men alive and accomplish what we're out here to do.'
So there it is, Toralk thought. You know exactly what I'm talking about, exactly who it is that worries me, and you're willing to accept it in the name of expediency.
The thousand knew he wasn't being entirely fair. 'Expediency' was an ugly word, but what Harshu had said about keeping his men alive was also true. And the fame-seeking two thousand's indifference to what posterity made of him was what had surprised the Air Force officer so deeply.
'Sir,' Toralk said after a moment, 'I'm not sure I can agree with you. I don't mean that I disagree with anything you've said about the responsibility to our men, or even the importance of our mission, now that we're out here and engaged on active operations. But I'm worried about what simply ignoring violations of the Accords is going to do to us, not what it's going to do to the enemy. We do have a moral responsibility where the treatment of the Sharonians is concerned, and if we shirk it, it's going to poison us.'
There was a long silence, then Harshu inhaled deeply.
'You may be right, Klayrman. In fact, you probably are.'
He paused for another long moment, then shrugged ever so slightly.
'Actually, as I suspect you realized perfectly well before you broached the subject, there's not really all that much … free enterprise prisoner abuse going on. There is some of it, I'll grant you, but it's small beer compared to the other concerns you've raised. It's also in direct contravention of my standing orders where the Kerellian Accords are concerned, so if you want to talk to the MPs about it, point out to them that abusing prisoners is against the rules and kick them in the arse until they do something about it, I have absolutely no objection.
'On the other hand, let's not pretend we don't both know exactly who really concerns you tonight. It speaks well of you, as an officer and a man, that it concerns you enough you were actually willing to call me on it. I respect your for that. But I've still got to have that intelligence. We can't read their documentation, but interrogation is telling us enough for us to make some pretty solid interpretations of the maps we've captured. I'd be happier if we could orient them properly to our own maps and feel confident that we're reading the scales accurately. I'd especially prefer to be able to do that without prisoner interrogation. I can't do any of those things yet, though, which makes what Neshok is bringing me the closest I can come to solid planning information. For example, we know now that this chain splits
– that it comes back together again at some place called Traisum, and that something called a 'railroad'
that sounds a lot like our sliders has been extended to that point from their own home world. We know there are only very weak forces along the other side of this split chain, and we have the critical information we need for your SpecOps teams to find the next links in the Voice chain.
'I need that kind of intelligence, and I'll do what I have to to get it.'
The two thousand's voice was flat, inflexible, and Toralk said very still. Then, finally, he cleared his throat.
'And what happens to the people who get it for you in the end, Sir?' he asked softly.
'In the end?' Harshu smiled bleakly. 'I'm sure Five Hundred Neshok has visions of promotion, of power. I'm sure he probably thinks I'm going to be promoted for my glorious victories out here. No doubt he expects the patronage of such a rapidly rising star to pull him up in the wake of my own meteoric elevation. But that's not going to happen. I suppose it's possible I will be promoted, and even that I'll garner all sorts of public testimonials and praise … in the short term, at least. In the end, though, Klayrman, people are going to start asking the questions you've had the guts and integrity to start asking already. They're going to look at how I got the intelligence I needed, and after that, I don't think there'll be that many more promotions, that many more field commands. Not for the commanding officer who winked at his subordinates' use of torture and even murder.'
'And Neshok, Sir?' Toralk asked in an even softer voice.
'And Neshok, Klayrman,' Harshu's bleak smile turned terrible, 'is going to discover that I never authorized a single thing he's done outside the Accords. That's not going to save me from whatever happens, but it's not going
