Gods Dogs, Book 3

In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes

Julius Caesar

There were phrases in old sacred scripture about ‘for those who have the ears to hear,’ or ‘for those that have the eyes that can see.’ Few of the 18,000 residents of the town saw or heard the shift that occurred around the town. The shaman-trained women did, but they needed to check with each other for verification before they believed it.

For the Coyotes, it constituted a good start. It was even better because the natives were allies. They settled into their assigned quarters and set up a watch rotation for the nights, and interacting with the residents during the day. They also met with the local constabulary and provided training and suggestions to help their efforts.

Satya was in orbit and coordinated with a Congress frigate to monitor space traffic. The construction of the trading space station had begun. There was a lot of activity coming from local space because of it, and the two warships mostly ignored them. It was those ships coming in from Andromeda they watched.

In terms of threat assessment, the Coyotes saw it this way: the KEW option was the best and easiest; declaring war was unlikely; using assassins was their likely only option.

The best way to end the shadow government problem was a kinetic strike. Just drop a rock on the town from high orbit. Satya and the frigate made sure that threat didn’t become a reality, while at the same time not interfering with the growing trading businesses, the processing of refugees, and the resource development in the Upana solar system. They did so, primarily, by designating the space over the town off-limits.

One element the empires couldn’t orchestrate was dissention in the refugee ranks. They managed to do that to themselves, and it happened early on.

A democratic system was a messy business that required educated opposing or competing points-of-view. Without that educated discussion, a democracy couldn’t function. The women were new to the process. They were more used to ‘might makes right’ than consensus building, where goals were achieved but not at anyone’s expense.

The Coyotes, but primarily River, were called in to mediate debates rather frequently. They adhered to the rules of non-violent conflict resolution when guiding these debates. And if it came to a fight, they were the alpha-dogs that made everyone behave.

It took only one example for that fact to become established. The Baston people were susceptible to becoming bullies, due to their superior size and strength. It was a heavy-worlder trait. They generally didn’t play well with others.

River was mediating a debate about the second-class status of the non-dominate species: how would they achieve equality?

“No name-calling,” River was saying.

“It’s not name-calling,” the Baston woman countered. “It’s simple description. They are lazy, unmotivated, and steal what isn’t nailed down.”

“Now you’re stereotyping,” River pointed out. “And you’re not including the why of it. You say it’s their nature. I say it’s their situation. The longitudinal studies on the problem prove I’m right. If they are lazy, etc., it’s because of the system of oppression.”

That tweaked the Baston woman’s ego and she shot back, “What are you saying? That I’m lying? That I’m stupid? Which is it?”

They were in an open-air, ground-floor room with a table and sturdy chairs. Six women were discussing the issue, while another dozen listened in.

“I’m saying,” River smiled, “the research supports education, vocational training, and support for free associations the people will create. Providing that produces willing workers.”

The Baston woman stood. “It’s wrong. The frogs are good for nothing.”

“Back to name-calling, Representative Molinope,” River chastised. “I think your racism is showing, and I’m eliminating you from this discussion. You may go now.”

The Baston weren’t a raging people. It was more like smoldering, or even bubbling anger. Representative Molinope came off her sturdy chair and marched to River, smoldering, bubbling murder in her eyes. He square hands clenched and relaxed a few times. Then she took a swipe at the human, who was half her size and six inches shorter.

River pushed the swiping hand further along its course. That caused the Baston woman to stagger forward a step, and her head turned to follow the swiping arm. River punched Representative Molinope under the ear, and the larger woman dropped like a stone.

“Somebody take the representative to the clinic. She may have a concussion,” River said.

Three people wrestled the 300 pound Baston woman to a vehicle and drove off.

River continued, “Marginalizing non-citizens by characterizing them as lazy, criminal, and stupid are ways for their oppressors to deal with the guilt for oppressing them. They try to kill the guilt by killing the marginalized people – either in reality or symbolically. We’ll have no more of that in this discussion.”

And there was no more of that. The discussion was, therefore, more productive. Policies were proposed that gave the second-class citizen a path to full citizenship.

Representative Molinope and those like her, those struggling to let go of racism, filed complaints against River. The judicial arm of the community didn’t get to hear the case before a group of assassins attacked.

It was a mixed group of five Baston, five Dobal, and five Cherts. They came in on a fleet of eight merchant ships from Andromeda. The ships docked at the space station to offload goods and take on a return load.

During the transfer of goods, the assassins made their way dirt-side to an R&R facility on an ocean coast. From there it was a short hop by civilian flyers to the town.

They landed outside the protected area at night, and came in from three directions – north, east, and south. The west was where the river rolled along, with the Upana tribe on the other side. They avoided that route.

The perimeter sensors picked up the assaulting teams. Tapping into the qi field, Moss, who was on duty, confirmed their evil intent.

[Okay, Ari,] he told his A.I. [Arm all our booby-traps along the most likely routes. Wake up the team. I’ll stay here to monitor things. They can go play with assassins.]

It wasn’t much of a fight, and they killed all of the assassins. There wasn’t much point in keeping them alive. They piled the bodies on grav-sleds and brought them into town.

In the morning, one of Satya’s shuttles picked up the body bags to return them to the merchant ships they arrived on.

Dead assassins piled in the town square was a shock. The reality of the situation the women were in hit with some force. The non-dominant species were less affected, of course, because they expected retaliation and knew what it looked like. They had seen it before. The Chert, Dobal, and Baston women, though, had trouble. The shock of the retaliatory efforts of their empires put them on a roller-coaster of emotions that went from terror to outrage to despair, with frequent stops at panic.

The town council responded by offering an official report of the incident. One of the veterans of the resistance, Ronal Quicksee, gave the report at noon in the town square.

Ronal Quicksee got his name from the Chert emperor’s family – Ronal. His world belonged to the family; hence, the honorific. He was an amphibian. Sleek, long-limbed, bullet-shaped head, but no gills. They were better adapted to air-living than the Sangalore, for example.

Even so, the derogatory term ‘frog’ was used to describe them. For the announcement, he wore a pullover, long-sleeve shirt open at the throat, like a Henley style with buttons. The shirt was a dark red. Knee-length pants in dark brown left his lower legs bare. On his feet were sandals.

He mounted the platform and looked out at the crowd in the central plaza. It looked like most of the 18,000 residents showed up.

It was a cloudless day, but cool in temperature. The wind was still, and flights of birds were heading south. Winter was coming.

He began, his voice amplified through speakers, “Greetings, citizens. This is your official briefing for the incident of three nights ago.

“Three teams of five assassins each tried to infiltrate our town. They were armed with backpacks full of explosives, laser rifles, and needler handguns. The needles of the latter carried poison. One team was apparently dispatched from each of the three empires, Dobal, Baston, and Chert. Their mission was to destroy the town and kill the inhabitants. The intelligence Congress developed tells us this action would be blamed on the rebel groups many of us belong to.

“Setting aside that inconsistency, the fate of the three assassin teams was decided by the Coyotes assigned to us. They killed all fifteen assassins and sent their bodies back to their respective homes.”

He paused as the crowd reacted to the prepared statement. Then he went on, “That is the official briefing, but I was asked to speak a little on life in the resistance. For you Chert, Dobal, and Baston citizens, welcome to my world. Welcome to a life where the rule of law is suspended, and the enemy can do whatever it wants to you. This is true for the non-dominant species whether or not they are in the resistance. It is not true for the dominant species, who enjoy the rule of law. Except now, for those of you that are in the resistance. Welcome to hardship, hatred, and heartbreak. What makes us equal is the ordeal we endure together. Someday equality will be codified in law, but today is not that day.

“Our equality comes from shared purpose. As we operationalize that purpose, we find each race uniquely suited to certain required tasks. Your council knows this and allocates tasks accordingly. What we cannot do without your help is nurture an appreciation for one another.

“In service of that, we recommend that you, Chert, Baston, and Dobal citizens who are having trouble adjusting to the new reality you face, talk to us. Talk to those of us that had to adapt to this life from birth. We know the stress management tricks. We know the signs and solutions when someone is acting out their anxiety. We can help you transition to your new reality.”

He paused to let that novel idea sink in. He figured some would try this approach, but the important thing was he made them equal for the first time.

Then he finished, “We owe the Coyotes a debt of gratitude, but they are not allowed public acclaim by their own rules. Please offer your gratitude in person. Thank you for attending. Have a good day.”

Then he left the podium and went back into the government house.

Long Bow left his perch in a tree and headed back to report to the tribal leaders. He wore a grin. The star children were being forced to grow up. That was a good thing.

Representative Molinope felt a pang of something she would later identify as regret. She returned to her home to ponder the frog’s message.

The shaman Dobal woman stood next to Lornalie behind the podium and said, “Quicksee is a skilled orator.”

Lornalie said, as they walked to government house, “I met him long ago, when I was a young reporter. I still believed in Chert superiority then, but not after I spent time with him.”

“You pulled together the best of us, because you knew who we were from your work. Then you set us the challenge of the shadow government and stepped back to see what would happen.”

Lornalie smiled. “I’m definitely not an orator, or a statesman, or even a politician. After Solomon released the classified documents on how the empire treats its people, I knew revolution was inevitable. I’m hoping what we do will make it less bloody.”

The Coyotes monitored the crowd from the fringe. When they met up later, they shared their impressions.

Pax said, “The people were receptive, but I was picking up spikes of resentment they were immediately repressing.”

River agreed, “I was picking up the same. The dominant species were resenting their new downgrade in status, and the other species were resentful they needed to bring comfort to former enemies.”

Moss observed, “It’s a long road for them. I’m wondering what the bad guys will do next.”

Quinn told them, “The Congress doesn’t have any intel on that. We’ll have to wait and see what kind of ruckus those returned bodies will cause.”

The freighters also brought news from Andromeda, and the shadow governments got to work on the issues developing in the political quagmire at home. Five empires struggled to find the right mix of concessions and demands that would lead to an alliance among each other, as well as between Andromeda and the Milky Way.

Each working group in the shadow governments reviewed the information relevant to its home empire. Once a thorough understanding of the current issues was digested, they began to debate policy. Once policies were established, they looked to how best to implement those policies.

It was at the procedural level they were the most creative. Since most of the three empires demands hinged on productivity, which involved the government’s budget, the women asked: How does one increase production and insure better quality control in industry? Raise the base pay for the workers. Use a merit-based form of advancement and promotion. Offer benefits packages to journeyman workers. Then they backed up the efficacy of these radical changes with studies from the Congress’ many worlds. The shadow government budget showed a substantial savings.

For anyone living in a free society, it was nothing new, of course, but an economy that didn’t alienate the workers was a new concept for the conquest empire – actually, a treasonous concept.

Then the women got to work on the other issues: government structure, immigration, monopolies, education, and so on.

When each group finished its work, the document, now numbering in the thousands of pages (including all the reference material), sped off in a fast-packet. The ship was a decommissioned courier, which retained its advanced stealth system and sophisticated communication capabilities.

It traveled to the three empire homeworlds, as well as the Accords station, and delivered the shadow governments’ positions on the issues under current debate.

The fast-packet also received messages from trusted centers for refugee pick-up, as well as the intel from the rebels’ covert operations. Free-traders would pick up the refugees, and Congress made use of the intelligence.

In all, it was an effective operation that didn’t require a lot of manpower. It was eroding away the old, transforming it to the new.