War in the City Chapter 18

IN THE FIFTH YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
“Well Pompey, if you are done testing our allies, perhaps it’s time to get to work.” Varro wasn’t sure whether to reprimand Pompey or to laugh at him, and his tone reflected this. It was stern, but Peter half expected Varro to break out in laughter at the end of the sentence. Varro’s expression mirrored this also. Serious, but with the corners of his mouth slightly pulling up.
Pompey’s grin was as wide as ever. “I’m ready if you are,” he said cheerfully.
Varro’s amusement rapidly left him as he assumed his business mode. “Well, first of all Pompey, several people commented on how good your speech was. Of course, you probably heard the same thing.”
“I did,” Pompey responded. “But you can never trust compliments. Most of the time there’s nothing but empty air behind them.”
“Well I thought you might appreciate hearing how well it went over just the same,” Varro said. “All of the one hundred and seventeen present left their names with me, the survivors of the Resistance being an obvious exception of course.”
“Of course,” Pompey replied. “We already have their names.”
Varro nodded to acknowledge Pompey’s comment as he continued. “Some of the people present at the meeting did try and sneak off without leaving their name. We managed to catch them and get their names, but they made a point of emphasizing they didn’t want to make a commitment just yet, that they were just here to find out more information.”
“That’s natural,” Pompey commented.
“That worries me,” Varro said, his voice straining to make the others see his concern. “If they don’t join the Tigers, there will be people wandering the city who know everything about us, but are not part of us.”
“You can’t keep a secret in the city anyway,” Peter countered. “Anyone who wants to can see anything they want to on the monitor.”
Pompey nodded. “He’s right Varro. Keeping this thing a secret is impossible.”
“Well we can at least keep it quiet as long as we can. If Marram found out about us right this second, within five minutes there would be soldiers surrounding this house. All four of us would be dead before we knew what to do. We’re simply not ready to take on Marram yet. On top of that, thanks to Julius we know there are people who know about us and didn’t even come to the meeting.”
Varro had failed to get Pompey worried. “Well Varro, what do you want to do about it?” Pompey asked calmly. “What’s happened has happened.”
“Someone got careless,” Varro said. “We were supposed to have only people we could trust at that meeting, and no one else was supposed to know about us. I want to find out who that person is, and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Fair enough,” Pompey decided. “Go ahead.”
Varro was expecting Pompey to argue with him, so when Pompey gave in so quickly, he was caught somewhat off guard. “Alright I will,” Varro answered after tripping over his tongue for a minute in search of something to say. He scribbled a note down for himself, and then looked up. “I guess the next thing we need to decide on is the chain of command. Pompey, you’re obviously the leader, but where do things go after that?”
“Well I’m the next in command,” Aesych spoke up, as if stating a fact that was obvious to all. Peter looked at Pompey with interest to see how Pompey would respond to this.
“Alright Aesych, you are directly below me.” Aesych beamed with pride, but his bliss soon came to an end as Pompey added, “as are you, Varro.”
Varro shook his head. “I’m not a leader Pompey. You know that.”
“Nonsense, you’re a great leader. You always know what needs to be done, and Deka knows you’ve been telling me what to do ever since the Resistance got started.”
“I’ve never fired a laser gun before in my life. Can you imagine me leading people in battle?”
“No Varro, not in battle, but you’d be a great leader outside of the fighting. You could decide strategy, and keep everyone’s name and position straight.” Pompey turned to Peter. “Wouldn’t Varro be a good leader?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” Peter answered enthusiastically.
Pompey turned to Aesych, expecting an answer to the same question. “Of course,” Aesych answered, emotion drained from his face.
Pompey turned to Varro. “See? Varro you would be perfect.”
Varro tapped his pencil against the table as he thought about it. “Okay,” he said. “If things don’t work out we can always change later on.”
“Excellent,” Pompey said happily. “Now of course we need a third leader. Peter, are you willing?”
Peter was flattered by the request, but stopped himself just as he was opening his mouth to accept. “I’m not a leader,” he said. “Varro’s a good administrator, Aesych’s a good general, what do I have to offer?”
“You have courage.”
Peter shook his head. “Courage doesn’t make a leader, Pompey. Don’t think I’m not touched by the offer, but the only reason you want me to be a leader is because I’m your friend.” Pompey remained silent. “Right?”
Pompey slowly nodded. “You’re right. You’re right.” A smile broke out as Pompey shook his head in disbelief and looked at Peter. “You never cease to amaze me Peter. A lesser man would have accepted, not caring about the cause but only himself.”
“No one in this room, I’m sure.” Out of the corner of his eye, Peter say Aesych glaring at him angrily in response to that statement. He must have thought it was directed against him, something Peter had never thought of when he said it. Nobody else noticed Aesych’s glare.
“Well, back to the drawing board then,” Pompey said. “We still need a third leader underneath myself.”
“Do we?” Aesych asked.
“Of course,” Pompey replied. “There’s far too much work for me to ask just you two to do it all. The question is, who would make a good third person.” As Pompey continued, he appeared to be talking to himself more than anyone. “Obviously the third leader would have to be someone we know well, someone we can trust. I guess it would be someone from the Resistance then. I don’t know anyone else in the Tigers well at all.”
“There’s Julius,” Peter pointed out.
“Ah, yes, Julius.” Pompey thought about it. “I only just met him, but he certainly seems like a good guy. Still, I think it’s a little premature to put him in such a high position. None of us really know him all that well.”
“I agree with that,” Varro put in. Peter nodded his head in agreement, as did Aesych.
“So, that brings us back to the Resistance,” Pompey continued. “Who else from the Resistance would be good in a leadership position?” The question was asked without expecting an answer, but then Pompey turned and looked at Peter. “What do you think?” he asked.
Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. You know them better than I do. With the exception of present company, and Davree and Kialka, I know everyone else in the Resistance by name only.”
“You spent some time with Justa, didn’t you?” Pompey said.
“That’s right I did,” Peter said, remembering. “Right after Ortel died. She seemed all right. Maybe she would make a good leader.”
“I think she would be an excellent choice,” Varro said.
“What do you think, Aesych?” Pompey asked.
Aesych shrugged. “She sounds okay to me,” he said.
“And since you brought her up, I assume you’re in favor of her, Pompey,” Varro said.
“I am,” Pompey answered. “Alright, it’s settled then. Justa is the third leader. What’s next, Varro?”
Varro put his hand into his pocket and took out a sheet of paper folded many times over into a tiny square. He unfolded it, and scanned the list of things he had written down to talk about. Seeing something, Varro set the list down and looked up. “Alright, Pompey, Peter, you two both remember we had talked about narrowing down the number if too many showed up at the meeting.”
Varro waited for a response. “I remember,” Peter answered.
“As do I,” Pompey said. “But surely you don’t think one hundred seventeen is too big of a group.”
“I don’t,” Varro responded. “We had no one show up who was too old or too young. In your speech, Pompey, you invited all the cowards to leave. No one did, so we can assume we are free of cowards. I don’t know how well everyone can use a laser gun, or what physical condition everyone is in, but I’m sure it’s nothing a little training can’t fix. However, there were several people who joined us who had children.” Varro glanced down at his sheet. “Twenty-two in fact.”
Varro stopped again for a response, much to the annoyance of Pompey. “And?” Pompey asked.
Varro exchanged glances with Peter. “Well, I assume you want me to remove them from the Tigers.”
“Why? We don’t have too many people, and so there is no reason to narrow our numbers.”
“There’s a very good reason,” Peter spoke up. “Azom has promised to kill the children of all who resist him.”
“I agree,” Varro said.
Pompey looked at Varro strangely. “I thought you were the one who was worried about people knowing about the Tigers who aren’t Tigers themselves.”
“I am concerned about that,” Varro responded. “But I’m even more concerned about children dying, and I thought you were too.”
“I am concerned about it. I’m fighting this war so that not one more child dies. The Tigers will protect the children from Marram, especially the children of its own members.”
“So if we lose,” Varro said, “those children die with us.”
“We won’t lose.” Pompey spoke in a loud and confident voice.
“Pompey look at reality here,” Varro said. “There’s a good chance we might lose.”
“If we can’t protect others,” Aesych said, “we have no business risking our own lives.”
Pompey brightened at those words, and turned to acknowledge Aesych thankfully. “Excellently put. If I didn’t think we could protect those children, I wouldn’t even be starting this war.”
“That’s not your decision to make, Pompey,” Peter said. “We have no right to gamble with those children’s lives.”
Pompey considered Peter’s words. “Alright,” he said after a moment of thought. “How does this sound? Varro, I want you to contact all who joined us and have children. I want you to explain to each person individually what the risks of them joining are. Leave nothing unsaid. Tell them fully the risks to their children if they join us. Tell them that the official policy of the Tigers is to discourage membership of parents, but the final choice is up to them. Fair enough?”
Varro nodded. “That’s acceptable.”
“No it’s not,” Peter disagreed. “Parents should not be allowed to join us. We can not risk the lives of the children even if the parents agree to it.”
“Varro, note Peter’s objection, but do as I said,” Pompey ordered. “I’m sorry Peter, but if the parents want to resist Marram, they’ll do it with or without us. I’d much rather we were involved.”
Peter took a deep breath and leaned back, feeling a little angry. “Well, I guess since you’re the leader, there’s nothing I can do about it, is there?”
Pompey nodded, a trace of a smile on his face. “I guess there’s not.”