Star Fortress

-2-

At 4:11 PM, a meeting began on Level Three of New Baghdad. It was held in the Supreme Commander’s quarters. Director Juba-Ryder of Egyptian Sector joined Security Specialist Cone and Force-Leader Marten Kluge, the Jovian Representative.

* * *

From the Supreme Commander’s biocomp transcriptions, File #13:

HAWTHORNE: That’s the situation. Now Cassius wants to meet me face-to-face in Low Earth Orbit. I would like your thoughts or observations concerning his proposal.

CONE: I don’t like it, sir. Why does Cassius need to speak to you alone? He has an ulterior motive.

JUBA-RYDER: His motive is clear. He wishes the Supreme Commander’s help in removing Sulla from command.

CONE: I don’t believe that.

JUBA-RYDER: Motives are not always complex or devious, Security Specialist. The Highborn are soldiers—

CONE: They are genetic racists first and foremost.

JUBA-RYDER: What bearing does their racism have on the situation? Sulla impedes the Grand Admiral. For that reason, Cassius wishes the commander’s removal. We can help him. Therefore, Cassius attempts to use us. That sounds like perfect Highborn reasoning to me.

CONE: I’ll tell you my objection. The Highborn don’t know how to treat us as equals.

JUBA-RYDER: Again, I must ask: What does that have to do—?

CONE: Your logic implies that Cassius sees us as equals, or near-equals. That is contrary to everything we know about the Highborn. That being so, I question the Highborn’s motives.

HAWTHORNE: You’re awfully quiet, Force-Leader Kluge. You’ve had more direct experience with the Highborn than any of us. Do you think Cassius needs our help eliminating Sulla?

MARTEN: There’s only one way to speak with a Highborn—with a gun aimed at his belly. The minute the cyborgs are dead, the Highborn will turn on us.

HAWTHORNE: How does that relate with Cassius’s proposal?

MARTEN: She’s right. (Points his thumb at Cone.) To them we’re animals to collar, geld, experiment on or insert in missiles as a biological weapon. They’re only a little better than the cyborgs because you can revolt against Highborn more easily.

JUBA-RYDER: It is impossible to revolt once a person is altered into a cyborg.

MARTEN: Osadar Di would disagree with you.

HAWTHORNE: If I understand your point, Force-Leader, you don’t think I should meet with Cassius.

MARTEN: (Shakes his head). The Highborn don’t know how to work with people. You can ask the Martians what they think about the super-soldiers. Before the Third Battle for Mars, Planetary Union personnel worked with Highborn. They learned to hate them to the same degree they hated Political Harmony Corps. The best way to deal with Highborn is from a distance as we did during the Cyborg Assault in the Jupiter System.

JUBA-RYDER: I cannot agree. A principle of cooperation is learning by experience about the other. The more you know from personal contact, the closer you become to that person or people group. This is a priceless opportunity to learn more about the Grand Admiral.

MARTEN: You weren’t listening. The more contact you have with some people—like Highborn—the more you hate them. Too much contact with the Highborn will make us forget the cyborgs until it is too late.

JUBA-RYDER: That is an extremely negative view.

MARTEN: (Laughs sourly).

JUBA-RYDER: Did I say something humorous?

MARTEN: My negative view has kept me alive in more than one situation.

HAWTHORNE: To say your biography is remarkable is an understatement. And I accept your premise, Force- Leader. Yet these are tragic times that demand the unusual from all of us. Admiral Sulla and the Ultraists represent a grave threat to humanity. If Cassius will help us eliminate the Ultraist position among the Highborn—

MARTEN: The Grand Admiral will not do anything for our good, at least not willingly.

HAWTHORNE: I understand.

MARTEN: Supreme Commander, I distrust Cassius’s motives because I do not know what they are. You should take as a given that he works counter to your position unless you have a concrete reason to believe otherwise. Even then, I wouldn’t trust him.

JUBA-RYDER: No, I cannot accept such thinking. My proof is that he already helps us. Cassius desires the elimination of the cyborgs as much as we do. He acts in concert with us and thereby wishes a strong Social Unity, at least for now. Your advice is born from your fear of the Grand Admiral. He has personally threatened you. Oh yes, we know all about that transmission. There are many things we know about you, Force-Leader.

HAWTHORNE: That’s enough, Director. Marten Kluge is here by my invitation.

JUBA-RYDER: He was a Free Earth Corps soldier once, a traitor to Social Unity. I’ve been studying his file, including Hall Leader Reports concerning his profile. The man doesn’t have the first idea about loyalty. Wherever he goes, he brings disunion and death.

HAWTHORNE: These past years we have all done things that we’re not proud of. Now we find ourselves allies against a hopeless future. The critical fact concerning Marten Kluge is that he has slain both Highborn and cyborgs. I applaud such deadliness and desire his advice concerning our common enemies.

JUBA-RYDER: I’m afraid that I don’t know how to trust a traitor.

HAWTHORNE: Your language is too strong. Curb it at once.

JUBA-RYDER: I am at your orders, sir. But I wonder, has the Force-Leader taken a new oath yet to Social Unity?

HAWTHORNE: He is here as a representative of the Jovians. No oath is needed.

JUBA-RYDER: Has he at least denounced his former actions against Social Unity? He was a hero of the Japan Campaign, winning Highborn medals for murdering our soldiers. If he sits here with you, sir, I think the least he could do was foreswear his former actions and awards in Japan.

HAWTHORNE: We have not spoken about such things. There has been no time.

JUBA-RYDER: (to Marten) Do you denounce your FEC affiliation and awards?

MARTEN: Do you denounce sending people to the slime pits or allowing some to enter punishment tubes where they drowned to death because they failed to pump fast enough?

HAWTHORNE: Please, let there be peace among us. (Looking at Juba-Ryder.) I appreciate your zeal for Social Unity. You are to be commended for it and you are a true guide to the masses. However, at this time there is no reason to stir up old memories. We are attempting to save humanity from annihilation. Nothing else matters. If we must work hand-in-hand with murdering Highborn to defeat the cyborgs, I will do it.

JUBA-RYDER: I am at your orders, sir. You are the guiding hand of Social Unity and no one else could do as you’ve done these past years. Some have questioned your zeal, but they were wrong to do so. I know your heart, and it beats strongly, pumping true socialist blood. As for the Grand Admiral, I would like to speak in his defense for a moment. Despite what has been said here concerning Highborn, we should remember that Cassius agreed to work with us against the planet-wreckers. Without his actions and those of other Highborn, human life on Earth would be extinct. We must never forget that. And logically, what Cassius and the Highborn have done once, surely, we can expect them to do again.

CONE: I agree with much of what you say, particularly that without the Highborn, Earth would be a dead planet.

MARTEN: If the Highborn had never attacked you, Social Unity would have possessed enough warships to destroy the planet-wreckers on their own.

CONE: Hypotheticals don’t interest me. The Highborn saved human life by their assault on the planet-wreckers. They might help save humanity by attacking the cyborgs in the Neptune System.

JUBA-RYDER: You agree with me then that the Supreme Commander should meet with Cassius?