Mission of Mercy

by

Christopher Stasheff

Copyright 1993

 

Thunder cracked as an energy-bolt cleaved air.  The blast lit up the port half of the canopy and rocked the ship.  Lieutenant Ikeyumi hit the stabilizer sequence, and the shuttlecraft righted itself even as he sent it rocketing back into the stratosphere, swerving in a zigzag path that would have given a nautch dancer a sprained sacroiliac.

"What happened?" Doctor Infarus stammered, pulling himself through the hatchway.

"Some Farmer seems to resent our coming in over the countryside," Sarben answered from the co-pilot's seat.  "Must think we're with the Bankers' army."

"You were ordered not to aggravate hostilities!"

"Wrong," said Ikeyumi.  "The Commandant ordered us to go down to the Lincoln spaceport and bring back a shipment of pharmaceuticals.  He didn't say anything about the hostilities."

Of course, Ikeyumi had known about the war.  Lincoln was an agricultural planet in the throes of early industrial development, financed by a consortium of off-planet bankers.  Their local representatives were less than scrupulous about how they acquired mineral-rich real estate and land for their factories.  The Farmers, who were losing their land as a result, were openly resentful.  Very openly—but the Bankers had imported a mercenary army to restrain them.  Unfortunately, the Farmers refused to be restrained, and had turned themselves into a top-notch militia.

"Doc," Ikeyumi said between clenched teeth, "get back into the passenger compartment.  You're supercargo.  Not allowed on the bridge."

"I have a right to know what's going on!  I have a duty to the Grand Harriers!"

"Sure, because you are one—but I have a duty to the Petit Harriers, to keep this ship intact.  I also might mention something of an obligation to the dozen Petit Harriers aboard this ship."

"The people on New Czerno need that shipment of antiagathol to stop their epidemic!  You can't cancel the mission!"

"Oh, can't he?" growled Sarben.

"Can or can't, I won't."  But Ikeyumi wished devoutly that he could.  "A million people dying from an alien plague is a bit much for even my capacious conscience to hold.  But I warn you, Doc, Grand Harrier observer or no, if anybody else shoots at me, I'm going to burn them out!"

"I'm not an observer—just a volunteer!  And you can't fire back on them—you'll make the whole civil war flare up again!"

"So let it flare," Ikeyumi growled.  "Why're you so big on holding fire, Doc?  You've been hinting about it all the way down from orbit."

"Because the Bankers currently hold the spaceport!"

"I know that."  Ikeyumi frowned, nodding.  "They've announced an embargo, said they'll shoot down any ship trying to land.  You mean to tell me they wouldn't even let in a mercy mission?"

"There's a chance they will, a bare chance—but not if you shoot at them!"

"If I don't shoot back, I'll come falling out of the sky.  But there's more to it than that, isn't there, Doc?  Whose side are the Grand Harriers on, anyway?"

"Nobody's side!  We're trying to make peace!"

"But just the same, you don't want us to land at the spaceport."

Dr. Infarus turned and looked out at the sky.  "The Farmers have an artillery line a mile from the spaceport.  If the Bankers let you land, the Farmers will assume you're an enemy..."

"And shoot us down without asking."  Ikeyumi turned away.  "No contest, Doc.  We'll land five miles away and come in by tank."

"It's more complicated than that."  Infarus held up a hand.  "If you fire on the Farmers, you'll give them cause to start the biggest battle of the war."

"True," Sarben seconded.  "They haven't wasted the cease-fire.  They've moved up, and their guns are already in place, just waiting for the Bankers to break the truce so they can start shelling the city."

"Why should the Grand Harriers care?"  Ikeyumi frowned.  "I thought the peace conference was just days away, and both sides were sick of fighting.  Okay, so maybe there will be one more battle, but they'll start talking peace again soon enough."

"Maybe," Sarben said.  "But if there's one last big battle, it will give the Grand Harriers the chance to appear as the peacemaker and end the war."

"In the Grand Harriers' favor, of course," Ikeyumi grunted.  "Of course, the serum and this Petit Harrier expedition will both be lost, but who cares?  Not the Grands."

Infarus reddened.  "Anyway, you see why it's so important that you not fire."

"No, I see that if I don't, my ship, my crew, and about a hundred thousand New Czerno citizens will die.  Yes, Doc, I'll land five miles away and roll in.  No, Doc, I won't hold my fire.  Any fool that fires on me, is getting my fire back—and if he thinks he can outgun a Petit Harrier, let him try."

 

* * * * *

 

They landed in a field five miles away, near a road.  Energy bolts exploded near them as they started to descend.

"Fire!" Ikeyumi snapped.

The ship rocked with recoil.  An energy bolt exploded a copse at the edge of the field, sending up a fountain of dirt and tree trunks.

"Target neutralized," the gunner reported.

"Going in," Ikeyumi told him.

The Petit Harrier sank toward the field.

A gout of flame blossomed from a rocky outcrop below them.

"Missile coming in," Sarben reported.

"Missile?"  Ikeyumi stared.  "What's next?  Stone axes?"

"Do I fire, Lieutenant?" the gunner demanded, his voice strained.

"Too right you fire!"

A bolt sped out from the ship.  Smoke erupted in mid-air, shot with flame, as pure energy met pure foolishness.

More flame blossomed from the outcrop.

"Fire!" Ikeyumi snapped.  "And take out the launcher!"

Smoke roiled in mid-air; then the rocks blew apart in a granite rain.

"Hope the artillerymen weren't near their launchers," Dr. Infarus said in a hollow tone.

"Not likely, Doc.  Missiles are remoted.  Landing gear out!"

Everyone sat in strained silence for a moment.  This was the most vulnerable moment—as the ship touched ground.  A shell or bolt now would topple them, and it would take long minutes to right the ship.  Shells and bolts could rain on them in those minutes, reducing their ship to scrap.

The ground jolted under them.

Ikeyumi sighed.  "Secure braces!"

"Secured," Sarben responded.

"Okay."  Ikeyumi released his webbing.  "Krasno and Belichnai, stay and guard.  Everyone else, into the tank.  Except you, Doc."

"But I have to come!  How will you know which crate to take?"

"I assume it's labeled," Ikeyumi sighed, "but you're right—it might be camouflaged.  Okay, let's go."

The ship's side dropped down to form a ramp, and the tank trundled out.

An energy bolt exploded against its port side, rocking it back on one tread.  For a moment, it hung balanced.

"Fire port!" Ikeyumi snapped.

The portside cannon snarled, and the recoil knocked the tank back onto its treads.  The men inside jolted; then Ikeyumi snapped, "Take out the jughead who shot at us!"

"Targeting," Sarben reported.

The tank vibrated as the main gun traversed and elevated; then they all rocked as the cannon spat.  Ikeyumi glanced at his viewscreen and saw the gout of earth out near a creek bed.  "Got him!"

"Yes, sir."  Sarben was grim.

"All right.  Up on air, and forward."

The tank filled with thrumming as the huge fans beneath raised the gargantuan machine up a foot off the roadway.  There was no sensation of movement, but the scenery began to stream past in the viewscreen.

"Well, we're down and off," Ikeyumi said.  "They might be able to assemble more firepower than we've got, or they might not.  Not that I care—a plague on both their houses, if they won't let us stop a plague on New Czerno."

Dr. Infarus shuddered.  "Please!  Just let us Grands stop this war!"

"Fine with me, if you can stop it right now.  How did it start, anyway, Doc?"

The doctor shifted uneasily.  "Natural clash of economies and cultures, that's all.  The Farmers are the descendants of the original pioneers—farmers and ranchers, mostly, with a few shopkeepers thrown in.  But the planet has developed enough to provide an industrial base now…"

"So the Bankers are trying to move in, huh?"

"That's a rather crude way of putting it."  Dr. Infarus frowned.  "But, yes, the 'Bankers,' as you call them…"

"And the Farmers call them, too," Ikeyumi muttered.

"But they're not.  Oh, a few of them are bankers, yes, but even they are borrowing development funds from off-planet—funds to buy land for factories, mineral-rich land for mining…"

"And the Farmers, for some odd reason, don't like the idea of good fields and pastureland being torn up to gouge out the ore underneath."

"Well, the Bankers resent the Farmers owning all the land, and being unwilling to share!"

"So they talk the Farmers into mortgages, push them into bankruptcy, and take their farms.  No wonder they decided to start shooting."

"The Bankers aren't pushing—there just happened to be a drought, until a year ago."

Ikeyumi reflected that.  With the technology at its disposal, the Grand Harriers could cause a drought without any trouble.  "How odd that the Farmers think the Bankers are a bunch of lying thieves."

"Yes, well, the Bankers sneer at the Farmers for being uncultured hicks—which they are, you must admit."

"Only if you define 'culture' as being the way of life in the cities.  Of course, the Bankers aren't too slow to realize that it's easier to take land than to buy it…"

"And total up the cost later, and find out that the guns and ammunition and mercenaries cost a good deal more than the purchase price?  No, Lieutenant, I think the Bankers would have been more than willing to pay high prices—if the Farmers had been willing to sell."

"They just happen to want to keep their farms."

"You can't stop progress, Lieutenant!"

"Maybe not, Doc, but the Farmers are sure giving it one hell of a try."

A huge crumping sound filled the tank, and the front slammed down, jarring the men against their webbing.  Ikeyumi cursed.  "What the hell was that?"

"Road mine," a lookout reported.  "It got the front fan.  Sorry, Lieutenant.  I didn't think they'd have any."

"Kill the rear fan!  No wonder you didn't think of it, Sergeant—it's really stupid!  Mining a road that they both need!"  Ikeyumi frowned.  "Wait a minute—maybe they saw us coming."

"Sure, the whole planet must know we're coming in, by now.  What's that got to…"  Sarben stared.  "You mean they ran in and set up a mine, just for us?"

"Wouldn't put it past them.  Of course, they've put a big hole in their main road, just to stop us, but neither side is thinking about anything sensible like that right now."  Ikeyumi shook his head.

"Okay, start up the treads.  Full speed as soon as you can—and if anything shows up in the roadway, blast it."

They did.  Twice in the next mile, they detected mines and shot them.  The explosions blew huge holes in the road, but not big enough to stop the tank's treads.

Ikeyumi shook his head.  "Crazy, destroying what they're going to need.  Do the Grand Harriers actually think they can stop the shooting, when there's so much outright stupidity on each side?"

"There is a chance, a very good chance."  Dr. Infarus frowned, brooding.  "Provided we do not disrupt their negotiations in the process of trying to bring back the shipment of vaccine."

Lt. Ikeyumi just sat still for a minute, paying total attention to the amber fields in his viewscreen.  Then he said, "Let me get this straight, Doc.  You're still trying to tell me that if anybody fires at me, I shouldn't fire back."

"That is what I was hinting at, yes."  Dr. Infarus looked relieved.  "You've done too much shooting already.  We must not do anything further to endanger the chance of peace."

"Do?  I'm supposed to bring that serum back right down a battle line, and I'm not supposed to do anything to endanger it?"

"I'm afraid not, Lieutenant.  In particular, you must not do anything to weaken the Farmers—that's vital to cessation of hostilities."

"Wait a minute.  The Farmers don't have ways of making any more weapons or ammunition.  They're weak enough already—and if we make them any weaker, the Bankers will walk all over them."

"That may be so, but that's not the kind of end to the war the Grand Harriers desire."

"Neither do I—the galaxy wouldn't notice another thousand dead bodies, but I don't need 'em on my conscience.  That's not the issue, though, is it, Doc?  Where did the Farmers get their weapons from, anyway?"

The doctor's face tightened.  "I don't know.  Of course I don't know."

"But you suspect, don't you?"  Ikeyumi frowned.  "After all, how much of a secret could a Grand Harrier keep, aboard its own ship?  There had to be rumors, movements seen in the night—or at least somebody commanding.  'Watch the wall, my dear, as the Gentlemen pass by.'  Just where are they getting their ammo, Doc?"

The doctor looked away.  "I can only speculate, Lieutenant, and that's tantamount to spreading rumors.  You know that rumors probably aren't true."

"No, but I'm a natural-born lover of gossip.  Speculate a little for me, Doc."

"I have my duty…"

Ikeyumi sighed.  "Look—if you don't speculate, we might all get shot down.  And if we buy the farm, where's your precious shipment then?"

The doctor clamped his jaw shut while he visibly wrestled with himself.  Ikeyumi recognized the signs, and waited.

Waited too long.  The tank rocked onto its port track; then a huge impact knocked it back onto the starboard.

"Idiots are trying to play ping-pong with us!" Ikeyumi yelled.  "Farmers to port, Bankers to starboard!  Let 'em have it!  All guns!  Now!"

The tank stabilized, shuddering, as equal and opposite blasts thundered out of both sides of the vehicle, only slightly out of phase.

"One!" the gunner called out over the booming.  "One down!  Two!  Three down!  Four!"  He was quiet for a few minutes, then called, "Nothing moving, Lieutenant."

"Damn straight there's nothing moving!"  Ikeyumi grinned.  "If I were out there, I sure as blazes wouldn't be moving a muscle!  Forward!"

The tank ground into motion again.

Something huge swooped down out of the sky.

"Enemy fighter dead ahead!" the lookout shouted.

"Fire!" Ikeyumi bawled.

The main gun filled their world with thunder.  The tank rocked back, jounced forward again.

"Got him!" the lookout crowed.  "Only winged—he's swooped up—no, he's stalled… he's coming down… he's ejected…"

On the screen, Ikeyumi saw a dot arcing high away from a meteor that roared down out of the sky, growing larger and larger…

"Dead bird coming straight at us!" the lookout howled.

"Ahead!  Full speed!"  Ikeyumi hit the throttle before he even started talking.

On the screen, the falling fireball swelled and swelled, then abruptly shot off the top.  A huge explosion erupted, knocking the back of the tank high, slewing it from side to side.  Ikeyumi held on to the sticks, fighting for control.  Their rear hit, and hit hard.  The tank bounced once; then it was rolling down the road again, unharmed.  The men inside were quiet for a few minutes, listening.

"Anything moving?" Ikeyumi asked.

"Only us," the lookout reported.

They were quiet for a while again, marveling at survival.

Finally, the doctor said, "Okay.  You're right—the Grand Harriers have been supplying the Farmers with weapons and ammunition.  But if word of this got out, the Bankers would drop the negotiations faster than a hot rock."

"Yeah, sure."  Ikeyumi frowned.  "Who's going to listen to a mediator who has been helping the enemy?  But something doesn't square, Doc.  The Farmers had to have plenty of arms and ammo before they stood up and said 'No' to the Bankers.  If they'd known they didn't stand a chance, they'd never have made a try."

The doctor nodded.  "That makes sense, Lieutenant."

"What?  'Makes sense?'  You're just going to tell me that it 'makes sense?'  You can't deny it or confirm it?"

"Exactly, Lieutenant."

Ikeyumi fought down the urge to throttle the man.  "Okay, so you don't really know anything, which means you can't say I'm definitely right—but I'll settle for 'definitely wrong,' if you know anything that would let you say that.  Just for openers, let's say the Grand Harriers were supplying the Farmers with all the ammo they could use, and guns to shoot it out of, before the first shot was ever fired.  Could you say 'no' to that, Doc?"

Dr. Infarus reddened and looked as though he were about to say something, but bit it off and managed to stay silent.

"Thought not," Ikeyumi said.  "After all, if the Grands had really wanted to end this war, all they would have had to do is just sit back and watch.  But they didn't want to—at least, not until it had been going on long enough for everybody to get good and sick of it, and want a way out.  Which means that before the Grand Harriers could end the war, there had to be a war."

"Certainly you do not think…!"

"No, but you want me to, don't you?"  Lt. Ikeyumi watched the doctor through narrowed eyes.  "For a smart man, you've been dropping an awful lot of hints.  I think that if the Harriers wanted a spy along on this mission, they should have chosen one who didn't care so much about bringing back the serum."

Dr. Infarus's face turned stony.

"But what's your commission as an officer, against the lives of a hundred thousand people, eh, Doc?  Good for you.  How about these people, though—the Farmer army, and the Bankers' mercenaries—who are doing all the dying?  What about their lives?"

"I couldn't do anything about that," Dr. Infarus snapped.

"Nobody says you could, Doc—except maybe you."  Ikeyumi frowned.  "Now, why should you think that?  Only reason I can think is because you're a Grand Harrier—and you're the sort of noble martyr type who would figure that if the Grand Harriers started the war, and you're a Grand Harrier, then it's your fault for not stopping your bosses."

"It isn't!" Infarus cried in agony.  "It can't be!  I had no authority, no power to stop them!"

"Good to hear you say it."  Ikeyumi nodded.  "Even better for you than for us, maybe.  Just hope you were listening.  You did hear yourself, didn't you, Doc?"

Infarus swallowed and nodded, closing his eyes.

Ikeyumi turned away, gaze roving over the landscape, though he knew his lookout was certainly watching it better than he could.  "Now, why should the Grands start a civil war?"

Infarus stayed doggedly silent.  The tank rolled along to the steady percussion of the treads.

"Spaceport ahead!" the lookout sang.

Ikeyumi stiffened in his chair.  "Be ready!  They'll throw everything they've got at us.  Gunners, fire at will!"

"Shell at two o'clock!" the lookout shouted.

Ikeyumi swerved.  A huge concussion jarred the starboard side of the tank, but it kept on going.

"Eleven o'clock!" the sentry yelled.  "Three o'clock!"

Ikeyumi shoved and pulled.  Explosions rocked the tank, but it kept rolling, dancing between exploding shells.  Then the main gun thundered, and the tank rocked back for a moment before it shouldered ahead.

"Got one of 'em!" the lookout shouted.  "Get the one on top of the terminal, Joe!"

"No!" Infarus shouted.  "You'll wreck the terminal building!"

"Fire!" Ikeyumi roared.  "They should have thought of that before they shot us!"

The main gun spoke again.

"Got him!" the lookout crowed.  "Terminal dead ahead, Lieutenant!  Do we go out front?"

"We don't bother," Ikeyumi said between clenched teeth.  "Main gun horizontal!  Fire!"

"No-o-o-o!" Infarus cried, but his wail was lost in the huge concussion that enwrapped them.  Smoke filled the viewscreen.

"Shell coming in at twelve o'clock!" the lookout called.

"Side guns, fire!" Ikeyumi snapped.

A double explosion deafened them.

"Got it!" the lookout reported.

The smoke cleared on the screen, showing a huge ragged hole in the side of the terminal.

"Going in!" Ikeyumi warned.

The tank jounced and jostled, canting thirty degrees to port, twenty to starboard—but it kept on going, grinding on in.

"Pop the hatch!"  Ikeyumi released his safety harness.  "Let's go, Doc!  Gunners, cover!  They're going to be waiting with every small arm they've got!"

"How about we announce you?" Joe suggested.

Ikeyumi nodded.  "Hand 'em our calling card."

The tank was filled with the ratcheting of a heavy machine gun, mounted just overhead.

"Now!"  Ikeyumi vaulted out of the hatch a heartbeat after the machine gun went silent.  White-faced, Infarus followed him.

They leaped out, dropped down the side of the tank.  Small arms fire began to crackle all around them.  Machine guns chattered.

The ratcheting began again, from the top of the tank.  The side guns boomed, sending shells into the corners of the ramps and balconies where the snipers lodged.

The enemy guns went silent.

"Start here!"  Ikeyumi darted over to a pile of crates.  "Guns!"  He heaved the first crate aside, saw the silhouette on the plastic underneath.  "Ammo!"  He kicked it away.  "Chocolate?!"

"Here it is!"  Infarus came up with a small crate hugged to his chest.

Ikeyumi stared.  "Where are the rest?"

"Just the one!  All we really need is a cup of serum, and we can mass-produce batches from it!  This box must hold a gallon!"

"Then let's go!"  Ikeyumi started back toward the tank, running.

A slug slapped the concrete a foot in front of his boots, ricocheting.  Ikeyumi jumped and cursed.  The tanks side-gun barked.  Far away, someone screamed.

"Let's go, Doc!" Ikeyumi called.

Another snipers gun cracked, and Infarus yelled incoherently.  The side gun spoke, and something thudded.  Ikeyumi turned back.

Infarus was down, blood spreading over his thigh.  "Go without me!" he gasped.  "I don't matter—only the serum!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ikeyumi snapped.  "Hold tight to that box!"  He braced himself and hauled the doctor up to his shoulder in one quick surge, in a fireman's carry.  Infarus clung to the crate for dear life.

Ikeyumi turned and trotted back to the side of the tank.  Gunfire rang around his feet, but the side gun spoke again, and it stopped.  He came to the tank and eased Infarus down onto one of the treads.  "Give me the box, Doc."

Infarus surrendered the crate.

"Up here, Lieutenant!"  Sarben reached down out of the hatch.

"Brace yourself, Doc."  Ikeyumi boosted the doctor back up to the hatch.  Teeth gritted, Infarus let himself be hauled aboard like a side of beef.  Ikeyumi followed him.

The terminal was oddly silent behind him.

He strapped himself into his chair.  Infarus half-lay beside him, face pale, breath ragged.

"Missed the artery by a quarter of an inch."  Sarben finished securing a bandage.  "I hit him with a pain-killer."  He scrambled back into his seat.  "Should be taking effect any time now."

"All right."  Ikeyumi set his jaw and started turning the tank.  "Back we go, back down the gamut."

"They're going to have everything and its brother waiting for us by now, Lieutenant," Sarben warned.

"I know," Ikeyumi said grimly.

"Bogey at five o'clock !" the lookout sang.

"Five?"  Ikeyumi looked up.  "Behind us?"

"Eagle to egg," the radio called.  "Come in, Lieutenant."

Ikeyumi stared, then called back, "Egg to eagle!  What the hell are you doing aloft, Krasno?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, Lieutenant.  They ranged heavy guns on us, so we took off and dropped a few shells on them.  Then as long as we were up, I thought we might as well do the same to the spaceport guns, too."

"The spaceport defense bunkers!  Are you crazy?  You'll get shot down trying!"

"Shot down?  Lieutenant, you took out every artillery nest all the way in!  Nothing to hammer us now, except right on the tarmac—and we already blew out one of those!"

A huge concussion shook the terminal.

"Make that two," the radio amended.  "Meet you out on the pavement, Lieutenant."

They did.

 

* * * * *

 

Ikeyumi sat beside Infarus's bed in the Petit Harrier infirmary, with Sarben beside him.  "I got to hand it to you, Doc.  You had the sand, when the chips were down."

"Mixed metaphor?" Infarus grunted.

"Depends on the kind of chips."

Infarus smiled.  "But I'll be back aboard a Grand Harrier ship tomorrow.  You realize I can't tell you anything."

"Yeah, but you don't have to," Ikeyumi mused.  "I said it myself already, didn't I?  The Grand Harriers can't be the hero who bails them out, if the boat isn't already sinking.  Start a civil war, keep it going until everybody's good and sick of it, then come riding in and play peacemaker.  But that's not all there is to it, is there, Doc?  Or the Grands wouldn't have been so big about not hurting the Farmers—and that is the one thing they told you to give me orders about, isn't it?  Shoot the Bankers, but don't shoot the poor underdog Farmers.  Of course, if our expedition should just happen to have weakened the Bankers enough for the Farmers to be in the stronger position at the peace conference, they'd be so indebted to the Grand Harriers that they would be virtually a puppet government, willing to grant all sorts of concessions, making the planet an ideal refitting and refueling base.  What started the war, anyway?  We know what led up to it, but we don't know what triggered the opening salvo.  Wouldn't have any idea, would you, Doc?"

"I would," Sarben said, thin-lipped.

Ikeyumi turned to him with a frown.  "Why should you care?"

" 'Cause my home planet's a lot like this one.  I come from farm folks, myself—and if the Grands can do it to this planet, they can do it to mine, too."

"So."  Ikeyumi's eyes glittered.  "What did they do?"

"They ended the drought, started buying grain at hugely inflated prices, and paid in gold.  Lots of gold."

Ikeyumi grinned.  "The Bankers must have loved that."

"Oh, you bet!  Operating on a gold standard, and suddenly seeing gold inflation?  Losing a dollar an ounce a day?  When the farmers started paying off their mortgages with cheap gold, and the Bankers realized they were not only going to lose money, but also weren't going to get any more real estate, they passed a law forbidding the importation of gold.  The Farmers raised unholy hell, claiming they hadn't been represented, but the Bankers were in no mood to negotiate.  They just called in the mercenaries."

"And the Farmers used all their new gold to buy arms and ammo from the Grand Harriers," Ikeyumi mused, "so the Grands even got their gold back.  Neat, very neat."

"But we didn't weaken the Farmers for them," Sarben told Infarus.

Ikeyumi nodded.  "We fired on both sides, with great impartiality and fairness—and the result is, they both hate our guts.  Then, as we took off, both sides fired at us, but they didn't have any guns left close enough to do us any damage."

"Except for one shot," Sarben amended.  "Knocked off a few skin tiles.  Took two hours to secure new ones."

"Heavy casualties," Infarus said, with irony.  "Who winged us?  Farmers, or Bankers?"

Ikeyumi grinned.  "Who cares?"

No one, as it turned out—least of all, the Bankers and Farmers, who, united by the common enemy of a Petit Harrier, quickly formed a coalition government to resist all off-planet invasions.  They compared notes and discovered that both gold and guns had been coming from the Grand Harriers.  The Farmers felt used, and the Bankers felt assaulted; both agreed on barring the Grand Harriers from the planet.

The Grand Harriers took offense and sent down a landing craft to teach them better manners.  Both sides together blasted it out of the sky.

This was not much consolation to Infarus, who was cashiered for incompetence.  Oh, he had prevented a plague—it made it worse that it had been a Petit Harrier that had taken him to New Czerno with the serum—but he hadn't made Ikeyumi's expedition weaken the Bankers the way his bosses had planned.  He was stripped of rank and drummed out of the Grand Harriers in a very impressive ceremony.  He felt very badly about it—until Ikeyumi signed him on.

All in all, he felt much better being a doctor in the Petit Harriers.  Better doctor, but a better Harrier, too.

 

THE END