''Oh, and your women. I got some of them toting guns along with the rest of your troops. That's a no-no. Can't work outside the home, and the same no-no with their clothes. A dress. A long dress, covering them from neck to toe. Oh, and a scarf or something on the head. Always.''
The barn didn't stay quiet after that. Kris turned back to her team to let the farmers talk it out among themselves.
''How much of that did you make up?'' Jack asked from behind a hand over his mouth.
''None, I think,'' Kris said. ''In high school I did a paper on New Jerusalem.'' Kris shivered. ''I couldn't believe anyone would choose to live like that. I felt like I had to write it out to try to understand it.''
''You understand it?'' Gunny asked.
''Nope,'' Kris said.
The barn slowly settled down to a dull roar. It stayed that way until Bobby Joe Fronour stood. He got silence.
''Folks, forty years ago, I started this here planet. I didn't much like folks telling me what to do, and I've lived to see it fill up with folks like me. I set it up figuring on certain things,'' he said, looking around at the people gathered in the barn, and clearly proud of what he saw.
''I figured if anything I couldn't handle came along, we together could handle it. Well, it looks like something bigger than that has come our way, and I want you to know that I'm mighty glad to have the help of this young Longknife whelp.''
Kris had been called many things. This was a first time for whelp. Kris wasn't all that sure it was meant to be endearing. Quite a few listeners laughed.
Bobby Joe turned to Kris. ''Mind you, I'm none too sure you'll mosey on your way when you're done here or that you and I will see eye to eye about when that golden moment may be.''
Kris did her best at a dramatic sigh. ''So I'll be adding another to the list of planets where I've been thanked but told not to come back.''
''Yes,'' he said, deadly serious. ''I imagine that's a hard way to live. But you're the one doing it, not me.''
For a moment, Kris tasted the loneliness of what her life would be like for someone so rooted to the fields and dirt.
For a moment, Kris felt the emptiness of her life.
She shook her head, willed away the emotions. People depended on her. That was enough.
''Okay, young Longknife, tell us what you would have us do.'' And with those words, the old farmer sat back down.
The barn held its collective breath.
Kris took a moment to let all that she'd heard and felt soak through her … and out of her. Done, she squared her shoulders, and said, ''I want all of you to accept the surrender of anyone willing to throw down his rifle and put his hands up. I want you to respect any white flag, handkerchief, call of camaradine, quarter, or ‘for God's sake, I quit.' ''
Red was back on his feet. ''And what do we do with ‘em. Wrap them up with a pretty bow?''
''No.'' Kris snapped. ''Hell no,'' she added for emphasis, ‘cause this crowd needed all the emphasis she could muster.
''Then what do we do?'' Bobby Joe asked, climbing to his feet.
Red already had his mouth open to cross more words with Kris. Only old man Fronour could have gotten him to shut his yap, but he shut it and sat back down.
''They owe us, young lady. They owe us,'' Bobby Joe repeated as he took his seat again.
Kris wanted to fire something back. Quick. Effective. She found she didn't have any words even close to the tip of her tongue. Thoroughly unusual, that.
''Those guys present a real problem,'' came from behind Kris in Gunny's deep voice. ''If I and my crew find ourselves in a bad place, even if we surrender, our ties to Wardhaven can't be broken. Anyone who accepts our surrender knows that and knows they have Wardhaven to deal with about us.
''But these folks, they still wear the uniform of someone, but they've clearly been rented out to someone else. Gives an old enlisted swine like myself a painful headache.''
Kris turned back to face the old Marine. He gave her a twinkling wink. ''Seems like something new that an officer might enjoy thinking through.''
''Gee thanks, Gunny,'' she whispered. But he'd bought her time to think and defined some limits. Kris turned back to the farmers feeling almost confident that she did have a good idea.
''One of the things I keep hearing is that start-ups need labor. Lots of people to do the work. Panda any exception?''
''Nope,'' Bobby Joe said, to be echoed through the barn.
''Now, it seems to me that anyone that's been rented out to carry a gun doesn't owe a lot to those who did it to him.''
''I wouldn't,'' Gunny growled. ''Not after seeing a few of my buddies get wounded, killed.''
''So I don't see any reason why you shouldn't feel free to offer these fine strapping men a job. Any of them that sign on with you, you can take. Any that want to go home, do.''
''With their guns!'' Red was back on his feet.
''With the clothes on his or her back,'' Kris interjected. She had it going her way. She didn't want to lose them now. ''Their military equipment is yours. You can sell it if you want. If I was in your shoes, I'd use it to equip a National Guard.''
The babble in the room sounded like it might be nearing an agreement.
''What about the officers? The apes that have been giving orders,'' Red shouted, as soon as the background roar let him. ''We going to let them get off with just some hard work?''
Kris had hoped that this question might get overlooked in the interest of getting a few things settled. She could really get to hate Red.
''No,'' Kris said, already reading which way the room was blowing. Blast it, if she wanted to live by the polls like her father, she would have run for office. But there were reasons why her father did his best to follow the will of the people. They had elected him, and, as often as not, they were right.
Kris let her political instincts loose. ''These officers have committed crimes against humanity, all humanity, by their raising arms against a peaceful people. As my prisoners, I would see that they face such charges and pay for them.''
''If you can do it, why not us?'' was Red's comeback.
''Because they planned their crimes inside the Rim. Inside the belly of civilization. People like them, who might be contemplating such crimes, need to see this, and think long and hard the next time the idea comes up. Justice systems inside the Rim failed to halt this crime. They need a wake-up call. That's not to say you don't have the right to try them yourselves. I'm just asking which better serves justice and the future.''
''That sounds more like a political solution than a legal one,'' Red pointed out.
''Maybe ‘cause it's part of a political problem,'' Bobby Joe pointed out before Kris said anything. Having half risen out of his chair to speak those words, Bobby Joe stood up.
''My boy told me that Earth done given up on its Society of Humanity. Earth and some of its cronies are going their way. The rest of us are going our own way. I hear your great-grandpa done come out of retirement to be a king or something.''
''Or something is more like it,'' Kris said. ''Lot of different folks going a lot of different ways. Turns out a lot of folks don't like being told what to do.''
That actually got a chuckle out of the barn.
''But it gets kind of lonely out here on your own,'' Bobby Joe said. ''I guess I'm finding out that if you work like hell to make a good place, well, you better be ready to protect it, or somebody's like to come along and steal it out from under you.''