CHAPTER 2 – DEALING WITH A CRISIS
11h03 (Central Africa Time)
Tuesday, November 23, 2320
Headquarters of the African Union Intelligence Department
Kinshasa, Congo, African Union
A long scream of pain partially muffled by the concrete walls of the basement made John Markham stop and pause for a moment as he was following the new head of the African Union’s Intelligence Department. From what he had seen from the air as his shuttle was about to land in Kinshasa, the senior intelligence agent from the Northern Alliance already realized that the situation in the Congolese capital was verging on the chaotic. However, that had not come as a surprise to him: after all, their new President, Mamadou Kajeje, along with the head of the African Union’s armed forces, had been assassinated just yesterday, along with President d’Arcy of the North American Union, who had also been the chairperson of the Northern Alliance. Now, the forces that had been led by General Odierno and who had thrown out of power and killed President Makambo were engaged in a struggle to stay in control, facing the remaining military units and armed partisans who had been loyal to President Makambo. For John Markham, this was typical of a classic African military coup, very few of which ended quietly or quickly. He however still needed to learn who exactly had sent the small armed team that had destroyed with a missile President d’Arcy’s shuttle as President Kajeje and General Odierno were boarding it.
Another long, piercing scream of pain was heard as John Markham’s guide was arriving at a strong steel door. Bracing himself, Markham stepped inside a nearly bare concrete room at the invitation of Colonel Nbare, finding three men in green uniforms surrounding a naked man suspended by his wrists from a steel ring embedded in the concrete ceiling. The Northern Alliance agent couldn’t help cringe when he examined the bruised and bloodied body of the prisoner being tortured: apart from dozens of whip marks and deep burns clearly visible, electrodes were also attached to the man’s genitals. The prisoner, who was presently unconscious, appeared to be young and fit, being in his early twenties. Nbare approached the prisoner and examined him for a second before looking at one of the three interrogators.
‘’Did he say anything of interest yet?’’
‘’No, Colonel! He is still refusing to answer our questions, even though we have tried about everything already.’’
Nbare’s face reflected frustration for a short moment before he spoke again to the interrogator.
‘’Well, whether he talks or not, I am pretty sure about who sent him and the rest of his team: General Seko, the head of the rebel forces, had the most reasons to assassinate President Kajeje and to sabotage the reconciliation meeting between us and the Northern Alliance.’’
‘’So, what do we do with this man, Colonel?’’
‘’Continue to question him, until he either talks or dies from the tortures. If you haven’t used a blowtorch yet, do it!’’
‘’Understood, Colonel.’’
‘’Good! Mister Markham, if you may follow me.’’
John Markham was too happy to leave the interrogation room with Nbare before the tortures resumed. Once back in the concrete hallway and with the steel door closed, he discretely blew out air in relief, then looked at Nbare. While he was no beginner at intelligence work and had seen many unsavory things during his career, torture chambers were still places he loathed.
‘’This General Seko, how much military forces is he controlling at the present, Colonel?’’
‘’Too many, unfortunately. While nearly all the units of the African Union’s Air Force and a majority of the Army have joined our cause, Seko still can count on at least nine Army divisions, mainly located around the Congo borders, inside neighboring countries like Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and the Central African Republic. We are presently fighting hard in the Katanga Province to expel some of Seko’s forces, which have invaded the province in the hope of seizing the rich mineral deposits there.’’
‘’And how is that fighting going presently, Colonel?’’
Nbare hesitated for a moment, loathe to tell the whole truth to the Northern Alliance agent. He however realized that the Northern Alliance had the technological means to quickly ascertain the true situation in and around the Congo and decided to be candid with Markham.
‘’Right now, the situation in the Katanga Province is unstable. General Seko is continuously pouring more troops across the border and our units there are having a hard time to hold on to their present positions. Unfortunately, with hostile forces attacking us on multiple fronts, we are unable to send reinforcements to the Katanga Province at this time. We definitely could use some help from the Northern Alliance right now.’’
That last sentence brought a frown on Markham’s face.
‘’Colonel, you must realize that the arrival of Northern Alliance military units in the Congo would play directly into the propaganda of General Seko and his allies, who are justifying their rebellion by claiming that President Kajeje and General Odierno were ready to sell the African Union to its enemies. While my government would certainly like to help the new government of the African Union, I am afraid that any help from us will have to be discreet in nature.’’
Nbare lowered his head in discouragement at that answer: while he had hoped for a lot more than that, the Northern Alliance’s man was correct in his assessment, as what was fueling the rebellion was mostly raw, xenophobic nationalism.
‘’Well, could you still pass the word to your superiors that we could use all the help that they could give us? If not, they may end up having to face an African Union led by men even worse than President Makambo, men with little regard for the good of our citizens or for peace in the region.’’
‘’I will certainly pass on your request to my government, Colonel, along with the severity and urgency of the situation.’’ replied Markham, already mentally worrying about what his superiors were going to say about Nbare’s request.
09:36 (Vancouver Time)
Wednesday, November 24, 2320
Government hangar, Vancouver International Airport
Vancouver, West Coast of Canada
North American Union
The moment that the coffin containing the remains of President Claudia d’Arcy started being carried out of the Northern Alliance shuttle’s aft access ramp, a waiting band started playing the North American Union’s anthem, making the dignitaries present in the hangar either salute or raise their right hand to their heart. Vice-President Gerhardt Strauss, who was temporarily assuming the charge of President of the Northern Alliance and who had travelled aboard the shuttle, also stood at attention at the foot of the ramp. He and his six-person retinue waited for the coffin to be loaded on a hearse before walking to the vice-president of the North American Union, Thomas Smith, who greeted them with a solemn handshake.
‘’Vice-President Strauss, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Vancouver on this sad day. You will be welcome to attend President d’Arcy’s state funerals, which will take place in two days, but I believe that we now have some most urgent matters to discuss.’’
‘’I believe so as well, Vice-President Smith.’’ replied Strauss while shaking hands with the black man with graying hair. ‘’I have brought with me a briefing paper concerning the latest information about the situation inside the African Union. Unfortunately, things are not looking good.’’
‘’I guessed so, Herr Strauss. If you and your delegation will follow me, we will go take place in waiting air limousines which will then bring us to the government’s executive building.’’
‘’We are ready to follow you, Vice-President Smith.’’
A few minutes later, with their luggage loaded in the trunks of the air limousines, the Northern Alliance officials were on their way to the local executive building in downtown Vancouver. A moderate rain and low, dark gray clouds greeted the vehicles the moment they left the hangar. Strauss then couldn’t help think that the weather well reflected today’s general mood. The ride under the rain, with a number of escorting police air cars, took about twelve minutes, the limousines finally landing under a large porch covering the main entrance of the government executive building. From there, Strauss and his small retinue followed Thomas Smith and other North American officials up to the top floor of the building, where they entered a windowless conference room and were offered places around a large oval table.
‘’Please sit down, ladies and gentlemen: we have some grave business to discuss. This room is proof against electronic eavesdropping devices, so feel free to talk about classified matters.’’
Thomas Smith took place at the head of the table, while Strauss sat immediately to his right. The other Northern Alliance officials sat facing their North American counterparts around the table’s sides. Once everybody was seated, Thomas Smith looked at Strauss, his expression somber.
‘’You may now brief us on the latest news about the situation inside the African Union, Herr Strauss.’’
‘’Thank you!’’ replied Strauss before taking out a data chip and plugging it to the computer station which was facing his seat and was integral to the conference table. A color map of the African continent bearing symbols and words then appeared on the giant wall screens of the room and on the displays of each individual computer position.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, what you now see is the rough disposition of the respective forces and units of the new African Union government and of those of the nationalist rebels still loyal to the old Makambo regime, which are led by a General Seko. I said ‘nationalist rebels’ because many members of those rebel units are motivated by African pride and by the refusal to see the African Union allying itself with the Northern Alliance, which for them represents the hated old colonial powers which exploited Africa for centuries. Right now, the forces of the new government of the African Union, with General Lumumba at their head, are fighting on multiple fronts against rebel forces that are at least equal in numbers to them. Even though the forces of General Lumumba mostly enjoy air superiority over Africa, the final outcome is still far from certain. General Seko and his political advisers are using a highly effective propaganda campaign that paints the new government as a puppet kowtowing to the old colonial powers, meaning us. That campaign is succeeding in gaining for Seko many new recruits every day and has even started to cause some defections within the forces of General Lumumba. My military advisors have told me that, if things continue as they are going now, then General Seko may well be able to eliminate the new government and take its place at the head of the African Union. If that ever happens, then we will find ourselves facing again a hostile African Union, while we may expect our borders to be taken by assault by a multitude of refugees fleeing the rebels. At the minimum, we will be obliged to quickly expand and reinforce our defenses, while at the same time having to deal with a new, massive wave of refugees from Africa. On top of that, if Seko wins, we can then expect the resumption of a large-scale campaign of terror attacks and acts of sabotage by clandestine African agents around our territories and in space.’’
That last sentence from Strauss made more than one person present in the room raise an eyebrow: a number of terrorist attacks by African agents during recent years had resulted in significant numbers of casualties, while a few attempts that could have caused thousands of deaths had been thwarted in-extremis. The attempt to ram and shatter to pieces an asteroid built-up into a space resort, using a hijacked heavy space ore carrier, was only the most notorious of such attempted attacks.
‘’This General Lumumba, who took over from President Kajeje after his assassination, can we at the least consider him as a worthy partner in peace, or is he in this only for his personal power?’’ asked one of Smith’s ministers present. The head of the Northern Alliance’s intelligence services, Margaret Hurley, took on her to answer that.
‘’We believe Lumumba to be a progressive-thinking, honest officer, Minister Desjardins. He was a good personal friend of President Kajeje and supported from the start General Odierno’s coup against President Makambo. Furthermore, Lumumba has a long-standing reputation as being incorruptible, something that is unfortunately too rare in that region. He would be well worth supporting, in my opinion.’’
‘’But do we want to get involved in that civil war?’’ cut in the foreign minister of the Northern Alliance, Alexander Ponomarev, who was in sharp disagreement with Gerhardt Strauss on that point. He was quickly supported then by the defense minister of the North American Union, James Merriweather.
‘’That is indeed a pertinent question, in my opinion. If we throw our military support behind Lumumba, then we would only reinforce Seko’s propaganda about Lumumba being the puppet of the Northern Alliance, something that would further boost Seko’s popularity with the African masses and help his recruitment campaign. I believe that it would be wiser to simply keep our distances from that civil war while establishing a security cordon around Africa, to prevent the infiltration of hostile agents and saboteurs. We should also remember that we recently found a potential threat to the whole of Humanity when the KOSTROMA encountered the Drazt in the Ross 128 System. We should not divert all our means towards Africa while we are not sure of the Drazt’ intentions towards us.’’
‘’Wait a second!’’ objected at once Valery Hobbs, the minister of sciences and technologies of the North American Union. ‘’Your argument doesn’t make sense, James! The Drazt are eleven light-years away from us and don’t possess an interstellar drive yet, while Africa is only a continent away. Clearly, Africa should be our highest priority right now.’’
The arguments for or against getting implicated in the African civil war, along with how to react to that crisis, were exchanged in an often-heated debate that went on for a good two hours. Seeing that lunch hour was now well past, Vice-President Smith then proposed to suspend the discussion for an hour, time to eat and to cool down a bit the spirits around the table. That later turned out to be about the only point on which everybody agreed to that day.
19:08 (Universal Time)
Thursday, November 25, 2320
Residence of the Governor of the Jupiter System
Callisto Prime, Callisto
Jupiter System
Gerald Holmes-Robeson heard from the kitchen the main entrance door open and close and shouted enthusiastically to his arriving wife.
‘’GOOD TIMING, JANET: YOU ARE JUST IN TIME TO TASTE MY VEAL MARENGO.’’
‘’AAH, FINALLY: ONE GOOD NEWS TODAY!’’ replied Janet Robeson, who first took off her jacket and dropped her briefcase in the entrance lobby before walking to the kitchen, where she exchanged a quick kiss with her husband.
‘’It is nice to be back home with you, Gerald. My day has been quite a frustrating one.’’
‘’Exactly the main reason why I chose cooking over politics, dear.’’
Janet then bent forward to smell the aroma coming from a simmering pan.
‘’Hmmm! You were always the king of Veal Marengo. I can’t wait to taste it.’’
‘’Then, make yourself comfortable and sit at the table, Janet. I have a nice old red wine that will help you relax and forget your day’s frustrations.’’
With Janet, a strongly-built woman in her sixties, sitting down at their dining table, Gerald poured a bit of red wine in her glass and waited for her to taste and approve it before filling her glass and returning into the kitchen. Less than three minutes later, he put a full plate in front of Janet and also served himself before sitting down next to her.
‘’So, what frustrated you so much today, if I may ask without breaking some top-secret regulation?’’
Janet took the time to take a first bite of her veal and savor it before answering him.
‘’The crisis and civil war in Africa. The Northern Alliance, along with the North American Union, have decided to keep their distances from that conflict and to instead reinforce their borders to prevent hostile agent infiltrations and to stop cold any mass wave of immigrants from the African Continent. However, as a direct consequence of that decision, the budgets planned by the Northern Alliance to support our space defense program have been cut by half, in order to fund more equipment for the Alliance’s ground and maritime border forces.’’
‘’Ouch! I suppose that this will impact rather severely on our program.’’
‘’It certainly will, Gerald. We will thus have to prepare alone to face a possible Drazt threat and will have to fully shoulder the cost of reequipping our ships with the newly acquired Drazt technologies, all this while embarking on a large-scale space exploration program. The one good news I got on that front is that Captain Tina Forster, with the financial and technical support of the Koorivars, is assuming by herself the costs of reequipping and refitting her KOSTROMA. Her secondary batteries of rail guns have already been converted to disintegrator cannons, while shield generators are in the process of being installed aboard her ship. Also, she told me that she passed an order for two dozen space fighters of a new class incorporating Drazt technology, to be built at the Avalon Space Yards. She also provided Mister Gustav Shomberg with the blueprints for that new class of space fighters.’’
‘’Wow! That woman certainly doesn’t waste any time. Talking about our space exploration program, how many habitable planets available for occupation have we found to date, Janet?’’
His wife took the time to mentally review what she knew about that before answering him.
‘’As of now, we have found and explored eight planets or moons suitable for settlement, plus one planet, three moons and two asteroid belts which contain valuable mineral, chemical or hydrocarbon deposits worthy of mass exploitation. However, two of those habitable worlds already are the homes to sentient alien species, namely the Hoshis of Hyanesu and the marine telepaths of Oceana. They only allowed to us a limited use of their worlds, so we can’t do as we please on those worlds. Furthermore, two more of those eight worlds, New Shouria and New Haven, are now legally controlled by persons other than this government. Thankfully, Captain Tina Forster, who is the owner of the moon New Haven, and the Koorivars, who own and operate the planet of New Shouria, both of which are in the Wolf 1061 System, are building vacation and tourism resorts which will be open to our citizens and those from Earth.’’
‘’Aaah, that will make many people happy. For our Spacers who have been living all their lives in space installations or in cities buried under ice, like this one, the prospect of being able to spend a vacation on the surface of a hospitable planet will be sweet indeed.’’
‘’Indeed! I myself wouldn’t mind taking a couple of weeks of vacation on one of those two worlds.’’
‘’And are we expecting to find more such habitable worlds, dear?’’
‘’Oh yes! However, we still have a grand total of only five ships equipped with the Koomak Interstellar Drive, not counting the KOSTROMA and the three converted Koorivarese refugee ships. Unfortunately, the conversion of more ships will be significantly slowed down now, thanks to those cuts to the Northern Alliance’s contribution to our space program. To make things worse, we still have to keep an eye on those damn paranoid busybodies in the Ross 128 System.’’
Gerald sighed with frustration at that last sentence. He had been on the bridge of the KOSTROMA when that Drazt space cruiser had interposed itself and tried to commandeer the Koorivarese refugee ship SHANIZAR. Gerald believed that Tina Forster had then acted with marked restraint even though she would have had good reasons to play a lot rougher with those Drazts. Personally, the thought that an intelligent alien race like those Drazts could have purposely hidden their existence from Humanity for over three centuries by masking their radio and other electronic signals, all the while listening to everything radiating out of the Solar System, truly pissed him off. The only adequate words he had for such a conduct were ‘cowardice’, ‘paranoia’ and ‘xenophobia’. He then decided to change the subject of the conversation.
‘’When will the state funeral for Claudia d’Arcy be conducted, Janet? Would I be able to attend? I truly admired her.’’
‘’I know!’’ replied Janet, temporarily putting down her fork and lowering her head. ‘’The ceremony is to be held tomorrow afternoon in Vancouver. We will take a jump-equipped shuttle for that trip.’’