"Back then there was a very real possibility that WestHem agents would try to assassinate me," she said. "And back then, if they would have succeeded in killing me, the revolution would have fallen apart before it could get started. Things have changed now. We've gone too far to stop now and the revolution would go forward with or without me at this point."
"That's no reason to invite death," he said. "I agreed to let your security detail wither down to only two men — very much against my will I might add — but now you're shunning even that. You can't simply go walking around outside like you're a normal person!"
"I am a normal person," she said. "That's one of the reasons I do it. I'm safe and sound in my office now, General, so why don't we drop the subject? Let's talk about more pressing matters."
He sighed, obviously wanting to say more on the subject but he didn't. "Fine," he said. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Let's start with Jack Strough, shall we? I just came from the rail yards and a meeting with the cargo handlers. Strough had them whipped into a frenzy about this WestHem bombing of their facilities. I mean, the WestHems aren't even planning to bomb the NP yards and he had them ready to walk off the job. You can imagine how upset the Eden cargo handlers were."
"Yes, I've been receiving reports about that," Jackson said. "Strough has them riled up all right. They're threatening to strike if we don't do something about the bombing threat — as if there was anything I could do. What did you say to him?"
"I didn't say anything to Strough — not directly anyway. I did address the New Pittsburgh cargo handlers personally in their union hall and had my speech to them beamed to all of the other cargo handlers union halls throughout the planet, including Eden. I thanked them for their loyal service to this point and told them the war will be lost without their assistance. I then gave them my personal guarantee that the moment we detect a flight of bombers leaving the WestHem armada we will immediately inform all vulnerable targets so they can evacuate. Since it takes forty-five minutes from the time an AA-71 launches to the time it can make its attack, this seemed a reasonable promise."
Jackson nodded. "Indeed it is," he said. "I already have standing orders for such a thing drawn up. Triad Space Command has direct links to all potentially targeted installations."
"I figured you had something like that in the works," she said. "And I also told them that if WestHem did actually attack and neutralize the recon satellites that are detecting these launches, they could evacuate at that time, mission be damned."
"I agree with that as well," he told her. "Mostly because I know the WestHems are too dumb to actually do that. It took less than twenty-four hours from the release of their attack plan to having the anti-satellite strikes scrubbed. They are behaving exactly as we both predicted."
"Yes," she said, "but I'm still worried. Nor am I the only one. I've got MarsGroup reporters crawling up my ass demanding to know why you haven't started shifting troops and equipment to Eden. I've got thousands of emails from citizens demanding to know the same thing. So tell me, Kevin — when are you going to start shifting those troops? I was just watching a big three station on the MarsTrans and they had a camera crew inside the AA-71 bay up on the Nebraska. They were showing the maintenance crews getting those bombers ready for the strike. They were even saying that the Eden rail network will be the primary target. Don't you think it's a good time to start shifting forces?"
"No," he said. "Not yet."
"But if they launch those strikes any time in the next twelve hours and they are successful in their mission, you won't have the ability to reinforce us any further."
"I'm aware of that," he said. "And I'm not trying to be secretive, I'm not choking, and I'm not caving under the pressure or any of the other reasons people have assigned for why I'm still holding those units in place. The simple fact of the matter is, I don't think the plan they're announcing right now is the plan they're eventually going to initiate."
"You don't think they're going to attack Eden?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," he said. "Eden may still be the subject of the attack but..." He shook his head a little, having trouble articulating what he was trying to say. "Look, I know it sounds crazy and I know it sounds like I'm putting everything at risk, but I'm really not. The plan they came up with was a good one, a damn good one. If they had carried it out as it was written they would have taken Eden without firing a shot. I would've been forced to surrender our most important city to them under our own doctrine and under my own common sense and we would have had a bitch of a time taking it back from them."
"But they didn't carry it off as it was written," she said.
"No, they didn't," he said. "Their first mistake, maybe the most significant mistake, was releasing details of what they planned to do, of allowing it to leak to the WestHem press. Not only did that give us forewarning of what they are planning, it allowed their powers-that-be — namely the corporations — to start doing what they're doing now."
"Picking the plan apart?"
"Exactly," he said. "We've both known all along, ever since those first days after the Jupiter War when we first concocted this crazy scheme, that if the WestHems fought this war like it was a real war, like it was a conflict with EastHem, we would lose and lose bad. There is no way we can stand up to their military might when they use it as its supposed to be used."
"Agreed. And we were both right. They underestimated us from the beginning and that was how your plan allowed us to get where we are now. But are they still underestimating us?"
"Their military commanders certainly aren't," Jackson said. "But their corporate leaders and their politicians... now that's another matter. Within twenty-four hours of them releasing their attack plan the big three — nothing but a collection of powerful corporations — got them to change what was one of the most important parts of the plan. If they can't attack our recon satellites they can't launch their strikes undetected and therefore they're putting all of their spacecraft at risk of destruction and risking the very success of their mission."
"I understand all that," Laura said. "But what does that have to do with moving the troops?"
"I don't think they're done screwing around with that plan yet," he said. "The other corporations haven't had a chance to say their two dollars worth yet and to start putting their own pressure on the Executive Council. I don't want to start shifting my forces around until I see them making some real moves."
"You don't call getting the AA-71s ready to launch a real move?"
"That's the military apparatus doing what they do," Jackson said. "They've received orders and they're preparing to carry them out. If I'm wrong... well, then I'm wrong. They'll bomb the rail network and maybe our ammunition plant and we won't be able to reinforce Eden. Eden will fall and it will be my fault."
"So you're gambling?"
He nodded. "I'm gambling that my instinct is correct," he agreed. "We just need to wait a little longer."
She took a thoughtful drag of her cigarette and then snuffed it out in the ashtray. She blew the smoke out of her nose and then looked at her commanding general. "I've trusted you this far," she said, "and you've carried us this far. I have no reason to question your judgement or your instincts now. You do what you think you need to do."
"Thank you," he said. "Hopefully your faith in me is not misplaced."
The AA-71 pilots were actually in their final briefing, less than two hours from launch, when Major Wilde's PC began to buzz with the priority ring. Wilde was in the back of the room, watching as the targeting assignments were being handed out. He almost groaned, knowing it could not possibly be good news at this point in the game.