TBntG-2 Chpt 37

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 37 - Book II - The Ninety-five Theses==
----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
-----
==Setting the Table==
----
===Mentality Weighing the Odds===
Office of General Cheng, Victoria, Capellan Confederation (Police Zone)
-----
Mary finished the most recent paperwork, and stared at the IN box.
 
It didn't look any emptier than it had started that morning.
 
She poked herself in the belly.
Is it just me, or am I getting softer? She barely got 'mech time, to say nothing of PT, in fact, Mary had, in an abuse of her authority, dragooned some troops into running with her, so she could dictate reports in the rest periods.
 
At least I got some good pictures. The domed parks were a marvel. 
 
Even better, Big Mac got his little field trip, and didn't shoot any civilians. The Free World's League had apologized for the pirates, and at least in one case, it looked like they were pirates or remains of Duke Garth's abortive uprising.
 
Which is good, except that now I have some unofficial messages from Dame Catherine Humphreys asking if we would prefer to resolve "border issues". And at least two of the raids had been not from Janos and not from Garth, and Mary had some ideas where they had come from. Another thing to kick up to intelligence. The Duchy was notoriously restive and Janos wasn't exactly in a great position, but Mary didn't want that slopping over to her own AO. On the other hand, it wouldn't matter how many troops they had, not if Mary got permission to send the fleet over to interdict them, but every time she suggested that, the diplomats got heart palpitations.
 
In fact—
 
"Ma'am?"
 
"Yes?"
 
"I've got a FLASH message from Taurus."
 
"Transmitted?"
 
"No. Hand-delivered. Your personal cipher. It's ah, Gold Level."
 
Well hell.
 
Gold was about as high as you got. Some of the ciphers were never to be written down, which had led to a few embarrassing issues with forgetful officers. Mary wasn't forgetful.
 
The officer left, and she put on the anti-eavesdropping systems, and then inserted her chip into a special printer. It had no external connections and didn't even have a paper slot. You used it until the paper was exhausted, and then TMI went over it to ensure that every sheet coming out of it was accounted for.
 
Mary waited until the computer was confident the chip was real and the cipher was real and didn't trigger the self-destruct charge that would reduce it to a very expensive paperweight. It printed the documents out and…
 
Mary blinked.
----
======================================================================================================
TO: CO, POLICE ZONE.
 
FROM: CONCORDAT HIGH COMMAND
 
YOU ARE TEMPORARILY REASSIGNED TO PROVIDE SECURITY FOR A CLASSIFIED CONFERENCE ON EPSILON ERIDANI. NO FURTHER DETAILS WILL BE RELEASED UNTIL YOU ARE IN TRANSIT.
 
YOU WILL TAKE COMMAND OF THE FOLLOWING UNITS:
 
TASK FORCE 21. (SEE ATTACHMENT FOR COMPONENT SHIPS)
 
2ND MECHANIZED INFANTRY BATTALION
 
4TH MECHANIZED INFANTRY BATTALION
 
IN ROUTE, YOU WILL RENDEZVOUS WITH TAURUS PRIME AND SECURITY DETACHMENT.
======================================================================================================
----
What the hell? Why is the Protector going to Epsilon Eridani?, Mary thought.
-----
===Touring the Pyramids===
Terra, Sol System
-----
In the holos, Will would have dropped over Terra in a stealth pod, ominous music playing as they cut to the air defense command.
 
In reality, Will arrived as a tourist. He'd managed to convince New Avalon people to take a look at what Myndo was doing and they weren't convinced-but they were convinced enough to give Will a hand, and that included filling out the paperwork to get him on the Marvels of Ancient Terra tours. The rumors that Terra was sealed were just that. Parts were sealed, and if someone say, tried to drop by Hilton Head unannounced… well, it wouldn't be good, but Comstar didn't block everyone.
 
It was also a good way to move people back and forth without anyone noticing.
 
As part of being a good agent, which Will had, at one time, was not standing out, so Will was sitting in the bright sun and hot air of the Cairo mega city on the top of a double-decker tourist bus, traveling through the Great Pyramid park the city long since having grown to encompass the great structures. After all, he had some time to kill.
 
I wonder if I should drop by to see how the boys and girls in ROM are doing? Will shook his head. There was being snarky and there was being stupid.
 
"And if you'll observe," the perky blond said as she gestured at the Great Pyramid of Cheops, "the damage to the north face. During the Amaris occupation, Rim Worlds Empire Troops used it for target practice. The Terran Bureau of Antiquities made the decision to engage in only minimal restoration, rather than add a modern veneer to the ancient structure. The laser graffiti inscribed onto the great Sphinx was removed, however, being only cosmetic in nature."
 
And by Rim Worlds, you mean mercenaries recruited from the Inner Sphere. But I guess it's easier to blame everything on Amaris. 
 
"Mom!" A boy said. "They're boring and the Egyptians didn't even have BattleMechs! I wanna go see the Museum! They have Star League BattleMech pods there!"
 
Will opened his mouth, closed it. Besides, the kid was young. He'd just seen the holovids that were carefully sanitized and would enjoy a simulation pod where getting killed meant a buzzer and score result, instead of broiling alive. Time enough for him to learn otherwise.
 
Or never have to learn otherwise. 
 
"After this, we'll take a tour of the Aswan High Dam, which is still functioning after over a thousand years. It's rumored that Jerome Blake himself had a hand in designing it!"
 
It was a lot harder for Will to keep silent then. He had to remind himself that he was keeping a low profile and sometimes you had to let offenses against history go in the name of the greater good.
 
You know, if I survive this and become Primus, maybe I can make bad history a mortal sin?
-----
===Taurus Prime En-route===
Epsilon Eridani System, Federated Commonwealth
-----
"Sir," Mary said, carefully not whining. "Did I do something to you, personally?"
 
"This is an opportunity, General Cheng!"
 
"I'm going to be handling security for the House Lords, half of whom hate each other. At the time we're trying an end run around Comstar which…" Mary made vague hand waving gestures. "Has been trying to stop progress?"
 
"They would say guiding us away from evil and onto Blake's path." Edward said. "A good chunk of them believe it. Our friendly Precentor does. He just prefers to use softer methods, like bank loans and such." He shook his head. "But he's flexible and we need flexible. At this point, we can't be certain that Sirius VII wasn't actually backed by someone in Comstar, and Waterly might be the person to do it."
 
"Any proof?"
 
"Direct? No. And Will doesn't believe it. But on the other hand, a month ago, if you'd told me about Holy Shroud, I'd have you taken to a psychiatric ward. Our analysts went over it, and once we had that thread… Comstar has done a lot." Edward sighed and sat down. "Redirected loans, raised interest rates… I mean, to their credit it was mostly aimed at military businesses, but even so, it can't continue. Also, and this"—he pointed at Mary—"stays quiet, but Waterly may have been involved, at least peripherally, in the murder of my father and the Samantha atrocity."
 
"What are we doing to do, sir?"
 
"We? Nothing. We can't afford to look like we want paypack, but it's very important that she not be in the big chair. As for why you? The Reach. The Pirates, your work with Grimm. You're not interested in the political game, but you know enough about it that you can hold your own without giving offense, and you have enough military credibility that the security services of those eminently assassinatable House Lords are willing to trust you."
 
Mary took a breath, exhaled. "Yes sir. But if you'd have told me about this first, I would have requested some more Taurian units."
 
"Oh? How many?"
 
"All of them. All of them, sir."
-----
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Book 2 - 37