“They’re not going to waste their bullets in a random street brawl. The gangs have guns and the big factions have guns. They’re going to use them when they have something real to gain. We haven’t seen the significant battles yet.”
I knew guns were all over the city, but actually making bullets was harder, even though the technology was fairly simplistic. The chemicals had to come from off Belvaille which made them tremendously expensive. Not to mention we would confiscate at least some of them at the port.
“So what’s the first order of business?” MTB asked.
“Split the forces between the telescopes, the port, this street, and the Ank Reserve,” I said.
“What about City Hall?” Valia asked.
“That’s a fortress,” MTB said. “But that still leaves a lot of important areas vulnerable. What about the water treatment and sewers and electrical way stations?”
“We don’t have the people and those are things that can be repaired. The telescopes have always been unique to Belvaille. And if the port is damaged, we can’t get ships in here. And I want to protect the Kommilaire who are off-duty and live on this street. I expect reprisals here.”
“Reprisals for what?” Valia asked.
“Being law enforcement on Belvaille,” I said.
“Boss,” Valia said, later. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Does he have a weapon?”
“Yes.”
“Does he look pissed off?”
“Yes.”
I muttered and struggled to my feet. I had been sitting in my portable chair in the middle of Hank Block with the rest of my Stair Boys, relaxing as the city imploded.
A dozen of my Kommilaire surrounded a party of three men who were wearing undergear, indicating they had just come from a space ship.
I noticed they also had chainsaws on their belts.
“I’m Hank, Supreme Kommilaire and Secretary of City of Belvaille and Chief Chair-Sitter of Hank Block. What do you want?”
The man in front had close-cropped, brown hair, and a nose that had been broken at least ten times. He was large of frame but not bulky. He had the complexion and wiry physique of someone who spent a lot of time in space.
“I am Systems Configurator We’daer of the Olmarr warship Second Awakening. I demand you turn over the murderer of Vice-Manager Peush,” he huffed.
The Olmarr had some boring titles. But I was surprised he was from a warship. Or at least he said he was. I kept forgetting there was a galaxy outside of Belvaille.
I shrugged at the man.
“I don’t have his killer.”
“Then I demand you tell me the assassin’s location.”
“If I knew where he was, I’d have him.”
He pointed at me, scowling.
“We hold this installation responsible for the Vice-Manager’s death. We are prepared to fire on the city.”
I wasn’t concerned.
“You’d hurt a lot of Olmarr Republicans.”
“We will evacuate them first,” he said.
“No, you won’t. I won’t let them leave. I’m now officially holding them hostage.”
“Then we will blockade the station and prevent supplies from reaching here,” he countered.
“Then you’re under arrest.”
I nodded at my Kommilaire and they drew their guns. The Olmarr had their hands on their chainsaws, but they weren’t so foolish to think they could out-buzz a hail of gunfire.
“Is this how you treat representatives from foreign powers?” he shouted.
“It is when they threaten my city,” I said. “Lock them up in the jail,” I told MTB.
“We’re running out of space in the jail, Boss.”
“Strip them down, handcuff them, and put them on the roof with the Royal Wing women.”
“Is that a good idea?” Valia asked. “Naked men with a bunch of women?”
“Did you come to Belvaille for sex?” I questioned the Olmarr.
“What?” he asked, incensed.
“I don’t think they’re here for sex. And I don’t think those women who were forced wives are looking for sex. But if it makes you feel better you can hose everyone down a few times a day with cold water.”
Valia made a face but didn’t answer.
“Right. I think this is solved. I’m going back to sitting down.”
CHAPTER 51
“So what can you do against a ship that wanted to attack Belvaille?” I asked Delovoa. He was fine, despite the riots raging.
“I don’t know. Rude hand gestures?” he answered.
The rioters had discreetly moved their rioting further away from Delovoa’s street once they saw the twisted buildings after the “attack” on his block.
“Don’t you have any big space guns?”
“No. Not even any small space guns. But really, unless they are in a battlecruiser or some such, they aren’t going to hurt this city. The shield can withstand the impact from a comet.”
“Really? A comet? Like a two mile wide chunk of ice flying through space?”
That was impressive.
“No,” he sniffed, sipping at his wine.
“Then why did you say it could?”
“Because this conversation is boring. And, you know, we’re a city. They can maybe wreck the port and some of the outside structure, but the city is already pretty trashed, so who cares?”
He seemed unconcerned.
“Could they destroy the Portals? The Olmarr Republic wants to get rid of them all.”
“That just proves my theory that the more people you gather together, the dumber everyone gets. That was what happened to the Colmarian Confederation. They had like ninety percent of the galaxy under one government and the intelligence of a mollusk.”
“Great speech, but back to my question. Could they destroy the Portals?”
“No, Portals are extremely hardy. They survive in deep space for thousands of years, subjected to micro-particles and meteors and extreme temperatures and radiation, not to mention giant ships occasionally bumping into them.”
“I seem to recall Naked Guy shutting down some of Ginland’s Portals,” I said.
“That was a billion year old guy who started a galactic civil war attacking the cheapest Portals in the most remote state in the empire. And he still only temporarily disabled them. Anyone else would have to go inside the superstructure to truly damage any of these Portals. And then my robots would kill them.”
“Your what?” I asked, shocked.
“Nothing.”
“You have robots? After all we went through fighting them. You created robots?”
I couldn’t believe Delovoa.
“How do you think I fix the Portals?”
I didn’t answer, knowing he would make me feel stupid.
“Come on, stupid, take a guess. Have you ever seen me put on a space helmet? Go out and physically fix one of the Portals?” He flapped his arms as if he were gliding through the cosmos. “My robots repair them. But they’ll also kill anyone who steps inside since no one is supposed to be there. I was worried about people stealing parts. You can’t exactly buy Portal equipment anymore.”
“So you built killer robots?”
“They’re only killer if you invade a Portal. And it sounds like it was a good thing I created them. Anyone going inside would run into my ZR4, ZR5, and ZR7 series models.”
“Are those related to ZR3, the robot that practically destroyed this station?”
“Of course not,” Delovoa said, his three eyes all looking in different directions.
I knew I shouldn’t ask but:
“What about ZR6?”
“You don’t want to know.”
I changed the subject, because he was probably right.
“Parts are falling off the latticework,” I said.
“Yeah,” he confirmed.
“And one of the trains exploded.”