"What I mean is, Sir, objectively, why would the DoD proper taking over from the GRHDI be a bad thing for anyone except the mandarins of the GRHDI? I get that you folks have the chairs and what not set up the way you like it and the people on the other side of the gate know you, but so what?"
"Hey, those mandarin collars are pretty sweet, don't knock those," Hugh says, deliberately misinterpreting Kadi. "Sergeant Major, here's the so what. You're talking about turning over the keys to the kingdom to a racist spook with delusions of grandeur who, in case we forgot to mention that, hates our guts, and that's without getting into his personal qualities, of which there are none. I'd sooner trust Quadaffi with the job, because if Simmons controls the gateway, then we're straight outta business. Well, unless we go so rogue it'll be like the A-Team and the Losers fucked and had a gaggle of outlaw rugrats. Point taken or shall I elucidate?"
"Better yet, I'll do it for you," Zaef grunts in accented English. "Simmons and his cronies have already left a bad first impression with the rebels and it seems they're just getting started with pissing in everyone's drinks. And the rebels won't just sit there and take it; they'll throw it right back in their faces with a little piss of their own for good measure. Plus, whatever the result of the infighting is, the Imperium gets time to recover from the punches we've given them and comes back at us stronger than before.
"Now, I don't think the DoD as a whole is bigoted, but some of the people at the top certainly are, or Simmons wouldn't have been able to do this much damage. So, simply put: objectively, the DoD can't take over until they can look at this objectively."
Zaef looks over at Hugh. "Uh, that is what 'elucidate' is, right? Explain shit?"
Kadi keeps at it. "Why is he racist? Has he violated any of your racial villification laws or spouted any white supremacist rhetoric? Or is it that he's just a dedicated nationalist railing against a genocidal foreign horde the likes of which hasn't been seen since Germany and Japan were dating back in the middle of last century?"
She ticks off another point on her fingers. "Why is he delusional? What stated strategies and agendas can you point to that prove his and the DoD's vision for how to wage the fight is any less sound, inspired or generally incompetent than that of the GRHDI? You keep calling him a spook, so is he even organisationally in a position to run whatever new military Command the off-world theatres are going to be placed under of the DoD takes over?
Another finger. "Why does he hate all of you? Is it because you're successful, popular, got chosen instead of him, or is it because you display a rampant disrespect for the chain of command, violate mission protocols and show every possibility of being compromised by an alien agenda ?"
"If I may abbreviate the process, Sergeant Major - are we still clarifying things or are you asking us whose side you should be on? Because I'm parsing this discussion as you questioning why we're fighting Simmons to begin with."
"Or why you're not just turning us in to Simmons the first chance you get," Ngawai adds, narrowing her eyes at Kadi.
"Look," Davis says. "If you're questioning our motives, just say so. It's obvious you think we're losing our minds over here, and I can only really say that you should wait and see. You're new in the unit, you haven't seen what's really going on out there, with us or with Simmons."
"But you want reasons?" He starts to tick off on his fingers, just like Kadi. "We know he's racist because every time he looks at my wife and I, his brow furrows. Because he tried to blackmail Arketta into breaking up with Luis to save him from her 'Imperial influence'. Because he couldn't hide his contempt for Angel's relationship with Tora, and not for tactical reasons. He's delusional because he insists Narsai can tell the rebels to fuck off and go it alone, and just telling the Imperium to leave us alone will be enough to save us. And he hates all of us because we're embracing Imperial culture and Imperials instead of keeping them at arm's length and treating them like disposable assets."
Davis leans forward again. "And I know that all of those seem incredibly subjective in here, back on Narsai. But out there, where the fight's really happening, this Defense Department group's bullshit Simmons is pushing is going to get us all killed. So, I know it looks like you've just joined the biggest bunch of gone-native loons in history, but give us a chance and see what the Imperium is really like before turning us over to Simmons."
"Earth." Kadi ennunciates the word coldly. "Not Narsai. Not Terra. Not Sol 3. It's Earth. Should I get you a rubber band so you can ping yourself on the wrist as a reminder? The last thing the GRHDI needs is you geting irked and letting slip that you don't even think of your homeworld by its non-Imperial name anymore.
"You can't call Simmons racist because he isn't comfortable with your rapid assimilation into a hostile foreign culture. The word has very specific Earthbound connotations that will work against you if you try to invoke it because frankly you'll be calling a large portion of not the majority of your command structure racist and that's not going to go well for you. The words you're looking for are 'xenophobic', 'ultra-nationalist', 'reactionary' and probably 'overzealous'. And even then you should be careful in their application.
And let's talk about disposable assets. You want the brass to look favourably on your going native? Remind them of the God Almighty mess their fathers' and grandfathers' generations made of the Middle East by betraying Lawrence of Arabia. Because that was the setup that resulted in their current problems with the Taliban and Al Quaeda, which you can bet is currenntly a major factor in their assessing the situation. Remind them what it meant to be a Soviet client state, where a larger military power rolled in on top of them, slaughtered their leadership, ruthlessly crushed resistance and eventually ended in genocidal civil wars. Remind them of the shit hole that is what colonialism did to Africa.
If you want a hope in Hell of fighting Simmons off, you need to look at everything you stand for and understand how to exploit it for your benefit and how it will be exploited by your enemies. It's basic military strategy."
Luis leans forward looks around the table and says, "All right, can we stop for a moment before we all start yelling at one another?"
He turns his attention to Kadi, "Kadi, speaking of the basics, you're failing on the basics of dealing with people. You've got a lot of ideas, but the brusque and insulting way that you're laying them down is not the way to get people to listen to them. All the nice historical analogies you want to make in how we might go about this aren't going to make any difference if you've already personally insulted your audience--and that's how you come off when you tell me my decisions to get implants make me an automatic security risk who might as well just be written off." A quick blue flash echoes on the circuitry of his eyes as what he's repeating leaves a bad taste in his mouth, "Besides being an insult to me, that's just not how we work."
"So while what you're saying has some merit, you're being so rude about it that you've managed to piss off half the rest of the people around this table. You might find a lot more acceptance if you got off your high horse and worked with us instead of lecturing at us."
Luis turns to the rest of the table, "That said, I think she's made a few good points about ways of approaching this issue. Terminology can be important in convincing people, and she's made some good historical points that could be worth bringing up to some parties. So let's take the chance to listen to an outsider's perspective, since that's who we're trying to convince here, and incorporate all this into a cohesive plan instead of just sparring with one another."
"Sorry, Sergeant, did I hurt your feelings?" she asks rhetorically with that same lack of emotion. "Like it or not, your implants are a vulnerability that the GRHDI's opponents will make every effort to capitalise on. As long as you remain within the military hierarchy, it is inescapable fact that you will be subjected to psycological examinations, procedural review, and a whole battery of medical and scientific exams, anyone of which Team Simmons could influence or sabotage to leave you tainted enough to be painted as a risk that needs to be minimised. Without indication of authorisation from above 815 to insulate you, you're just going to have to suck it up Sergeant and deal with the consequences.
"You all seem like decent enough people and I am not saying this to be rude, or to win friends, though the angrier this makes you the better because once you get it out of your system it should hopefully be harder for the other side to run PsychOps strategies. As the aforementioned outsider, it's clear that 'the way you do things' is half this group's problem and the keenest weapon in Simmons' arsenal."
"Sergeant Major, you've got me. You're right. These questions are just the beginning of what Simmons will put us through, and if we can't keep our cool here, when there's nothing at stake and we're not being watched like hawks or isolated from each other, then that's obviously a problem we need to work on. God knows I fucked up enough by getting snippy at Simmons already - I'm not sure exactly how your other interviews went, but I reckon you all told him where to stick it, and that's exactly the kind of emotional response he's going to use to paint us as unreliable and emotionally compromised. So you've made your point."
He pauses for a moment.
"Now, next step. How do we make ourselves look better? We do use a lot of Imperial that we can cut back on for the official hearings. Like...we can make the point that Narsai isn't just another word for Earth...it's the home of humanity, and since we're dealing with our positiion in the larger galactic context, I think it's an appropriate term, but we have to explain that. We're not just calling it by its Imperial name because we don't like 'Earth' or are forgetting how to speak English. We're making a distinction. And when we speak Imperial, it's because we're talking to a) people who don't speak English or b) honoring our allies. I think that angle's very important.
We have allies out there and we've gotten a lot done with them already. That's a strong record of successes against the odds that we should make use of. Luis, your implants were part of your cover and part of our continuing mission to acquire Imperial technology for analysis, as well as an important tactical advantage. You didn't make yourself less human or Earth, you went with the most effective approach. Soldiers in the 'stan grow beards. You gotta adapt to work with people.
We have to convince the movers and shakers that we're more than just traditional Delta operators storming in and blowing up shit. In fact, I think we should make the case that our mission profile is more Green Berets, Army Special Forces, de opresso liber. And yes, I realize that does make us the A-Team.
Sergeant Major, one more thing...you think if you met Simmons, you could profile him well enough to do what you just did to us with him? In front of witnesses, if possible."
Arketta's been holding Luis' hand underneath the table the whole time, and he's noticed that her grip on his hand has been steadily tightening, and after this last outburst, Luis thinks he can feel a knuckle pop. Arketta loosens her grip when she stops staring across the table at Kadi for a moment, but now Luis can feel her leg bouncing up and down next to his, and she looks back at Luis, lips pursed and eyebrows up. To others, it looks simply like she's less than pleased with the current path of discussion, but Luis can read the subtle message of "I told you so, can we just get rid of her somehow?"
Luis rubs his forehead as Kadi replies, but Hugh speaks up before he can get his thoughts marshaled to respond. "Look, I figured some kind of exams and tests were inevitable, and you have a good point that Simmons may try to interfere. On the other hand, if the tests are done fairly and turn out like I think they will, it takes the 'potential threat' of them out of Simmon's arsenal. The question is how to do them without Simmons being able to sabotage them."
As soon as Kadi pulls at Luis' rank, Angel shoots Arketta and Nagwai a look that comes as close to approximating last time I stick my neck out in that direction.
Arketta's too busy staring at Kadiatu, but Ngawai gives Angel an understanding nod best translated to I understand, you were trying to help. The smirk at the end, however, says That doesn't mean I won't get you back.
Kadi leans back in her chair and steeples her fingers. "I imagine as the new girl in class I'm due a visit to the principal's office in the not too distant future, Captain," she muses. "If I could check out a dossier on this Simmons and his cronies, that would help in working out what to look for.
"Speaking of which, the best way to maintain scientific neutrality when it comes to the matter of assessing the good Sergeant's status would be to invoke the involvement of the UK in the process because the fact of the matter is that we've already organised at a sufficiently high enough level to have a chair at the table regardless of who's hosting the party. Since there is a procedural mandate in place to shield Sergeant Stanhill's actions, any attempt by Simmons to hijack the process could be made to play badly for him; excluding supposed allies from the cool kids' table suddenly becomes less palatable when it's made clear that you aren't going to make the cut.
"And speaking of allies," she indicates the alien members of the team, "how many of you possess or have made any attempt to gain American citizenship? While there are drawbacks, formally placing yourself subject to the laws of the land would have significant cachet as well as offering certain protections otherwise unavailable to you."
"First, they already are subject to US law when on US soil and afforded all protections provided by law and constitution," Davis says. He's sat patiently by and listened to everyone else talk, but he's also obviously not pleased with the less-than-personable way that Kadi has been acting. "That's how it works."
"And I have already applied to become a United States citizen," Ngawai says.
Arketta simply shrugs.
"No, I haven't," Zaef scratches his chin and raises an eyebrow at Kadi. "Though I could begin the process. After all, it's important to at least appear as though we're assimilating into American culture rather than the other way around. I believe that's what you're getting at, yes?"
Arketta maintains her disinterested look. "Your people don't seem particularly interested in having me, but if it will help, I will apply."
"It's a blatantly cynical ploy, but it's the kind of cynical ploy that the White House would respond to," Davis says with a nod. "Okay, so, now that we're done bickering about who doesn't look Narsai'i enough and why the DoD locking the GRHDI would actually be a bad thing, are we at least in agreement about the plan to gather support from our allies in the US government and elsewhere? I think that if we get a united front from here in DC and both US and rebel forces off-world, it'll be our best chance to fend off the DoD."
Mister Andersen
