THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 42 – SOUTHERN REACTIONS

 

13:40 (Central Africa Time)

Wednesday, October 27, 2320

Presidential palace of the Southern Federation

Kinshasa, Congo, African Union

Mamadou Kajeje did not need to show his security pass to the two armed soldiers of the Presidential Guard posted at the door of the offices of President Makambo. As the head of the intelligence services of the Southern Federation, Mamadou met with President Augustus Makambo nearly every day and was well known to the soldiers of the Presidential Guard. One of the guards saluted him and opened the door for him, letting him walk inside the anteroom, where the young and beautiful Daliane, Makambo’s secretary, sat behind her desk and was typing on her computer. Mamadou smiled to her, getting a genuine smile back from the secretary. While Daliane knew perfectly well what kind of work he did and what that entailed, she still appreciated him for his high intelligence, culture and physique, which was still very impressive for a

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man in his fifties. It also helped that Mamadou had the reputation of being a considerate lover who, contrary to many local men, didn’t treat women like inferiors. In truth, Daliane secretly wished that Mamadou would be President of the Southern Federation, instead of Makambo. For one, he would certainly make a more competent and productive president than Makambo, an aging man with few qualities or skills other than his ruthlessness. Since losing the war against the Spacers League and the Northern Alliance in 2315, followed by the death in 2317 of Vice-President Jonas Mobutu, who had also been the President of the African Union and had been killed by a Spacers orbital strike on his resort island, things had been steadily going downhill for the Southern Federation, with the African Union faring the worst among the states of the Federation.

‘’Good afternoon, Daliane! I am here to see the President about an urgent matter.’’

Those last words made the secretary look up with some worry at Mamadou: in these troubled and difficult times, ‘urgent matter’ often equated with ‘problems’. She however didn’t ask him about the ‘urgent matter’ and used her intercom box to speak with Makambo. After a few seconds, she smiled back to Mamadou.

‘’You may go in, sir.’’

‘’Thank you, Daliane!’’

The soldier guarding the inner door of the anteroom opened it for Mamadou, letting him enter a huge, nearly empty office. At one end sat a large work desk made of polished rare wood, behind which Makambo sat. His desk was actually quite far from the nearest windows and was masked from direct view by a mobile partition doubled with bullet-resistant plates meant to hide and protect Makambo from any sniper aiming from the outside of the building. The President had a nearly obsessive fear of someone assassinating him, which made him a rather paranoid man and also made him a lot more difficult to work for. He even had personal food tasters to thwart attempts at poisoning him. However, Mamadou was well placed to know that Makambo had real reasons to fear assassins: Makambo himself had ordered the assassination of many past political opponents and half of Africa secretly hated his guts but didn’t dare say so openly.

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Makambo, a bald and overweight man of medium stature who was in his late sixties, watched Mamadou approach his desk and stop some two paces in front of it before speaking up, painting a fake smile on his lips.

‘’So, my dear Mamadou, what is this urgent matter that you have for me?’’

‘’A rather stunning report from my agents infiltrated inside Spacers League territory, Mister President. If I can believe them, the Spacers are now able to travel quickly to other star systems, and this thanks to a recent invention by a Koorivar scientist. Furthermore, the Spacers League has started to canvass volunteers willing to go settle on other planets outside of the Solar System.’’

While the first part was already shocking enough for Makambo, the second part actually enraged him: new and fresh lands was precisely what Africa lacked the most of.

‘’WHAT? THEY MAKE SUCH AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH AND KEEP IT SECRET FROM US? HOW SURE ARE YOU ABOUT THAT INFORMATION, MAMADOU?’’

Mamadou, by now well accustomed to Makambo’s flashes of anger and fickleness, didn’t let his screaming phase him and answered in a calm voice while taking two still photos out of his briefcase and putting them on Makambo’s desk, where the dictator grabbed them to examine them.

‘’One of my agents, at great risk to herself, was able to obtain those two pictures, taken inside one of the underground shuttle hangars of the astroports of Callisto Prime by a maintenance technician. That technician had taken them five months ago, despite firm orders to keep secret what he would see then and there. In those photos, you can see two alien creatures who resemble mythical centaurs coming out of a shuttle. Our agent eventually gained more information about those aliens and how they came to the Solar System. Apparently, the star systems around us are full of life, with quite a few harboring intelligent life, including those Centaurs, who came from the Gliese 581 System, situated some 20.5 light years away. Many planets which are habitable, meaning that they have breathable atmospheres, liquid water and moderate temperatures, were found during the last few months. Consequently, the Spacers League Council, along with the Northern Alliance, has decided to launch a program of selective colonization of the most promising worlds and are presently in the planning stage of such a colonization program.’’

Mamadou was careful not to mention the key role played in all this by the A.M.S. KOSTROMA and Captain Tina Forster, as naming them would have assuredly launched

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Makambo into a fit of rage. The KOSTROMA and Captain Forster, through their role in the defeat of the Zembelo Regime, from the ruins of which the Southern Federation had emerged in 2316, were now well established as notorious ‘bogeymen’ around the Federation. However, even the limited information Mamadou had given him was enough to plunge Makambo into a foul mood.

‘’Those damn Northerners! They invaded our continent centuries ago, enslaved our people, depleted our mines, polluted our soil and water and made themselves rich and prosperous on our backs. Now, they are about to occupy more lands but are hiding that from us, so that they don’t have to share them with our people? We can’t accept that!’’

In that, Mamadou had to mentally agree to a point with Makambo. It was a historical fact that Europeans, then North Americans, had pilfered Africa’s resources and people for centuries, including by taking hundreds of thousands of black slaves away to the Americas. However, starting in the late 20th Century, African politicians had started to be in charge of most of the continent, while the European armies had mostly left. Unfortunately, what had been a story of exploitation by outsiders had too quickly turned into a story of exploitation from within, with corrupt leaders and dictators siphoning fortunes from their state’s coffers and into their personal confidential bank accounts in Switzerland, the Caribbean and other so-called ‘fiscal paradises’. Too often,

incompetence had been added to corruption and graft, cutting further into the resources and services meant to help the general population and the continent at large. The scourges of repeated droughts, famines, ethnic and tribal conflicts, religious extremism and wars had been devastating Africa for more than three centuries now, with the Africans themselves being the ones mostly to blame for that. Mamadou however knew and realized too well that the mass of the African population was not at fault in this and simply endured all this, with little ability to change things. It was the so-called ‘elite’ that too often engaged in the corruption, graft, nepotism and dirty politics, often with the help of local armies led by corrupt officers, when those same officers didn’t simply decide to take power themselves via military coups. As a result, only a handful of countries around Africa, if you excepted the region of North Africa, could be said to be reasonably prosperous and happy. The states of the African Union were definitely not part of that lucky lot.

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On his part, Makambo was now reviewing mentally his options about how to react to this revelation about a Spacers League Space colonization program. Those options were however extremely limited. The Southern Federation had no spaceships of its own and had to rent or charter the services of spaceships belonging to neutral countries of Earth in order to import or export merchandises or carry passengers. Even then, the Spacers League kept a tight watch of those neutral ships, to ensure that the Southern Federation did not acquire spaceships by using false flags of convenience. For all intents and purposes, the Southern Federation had been quarantined to the surface of the Earth and denied the right to operate in Space by the Spacers League. The hijacking of two Northern Alliance spaceships in 2317 by agents of the African Union, in a failed attempt to conduct suicide ramming attacks against occupied asteroids belonging to the Spacers League, had only tightened that noose, on top of causing the death of Vice-President Mobutu in a retaliatory strike by the Spacers. Threats of the use of force by him against the Northern Alliance would also be futile and also dangerous: the crushing of the Zembelo Regime had resulted in the loss of millions of soldiers and of most of the attack craft Africa had possessed. About the only things that the present military forces of the Southern Federation were able to do was to intimidate its own populations into submission and effect some pressures on the weakest of its immediate neighbors. As for rebuilding his military forces, Makambo himself was ready to concede that the present state of the Federation’s economy would not allow that. He finally did what he often did when faced with a difficult decision: he asked others for their opinions and ideas.

‘’Mamadou, we need to gain access to at least one of those new worlds, but we don’t have a single spaceship. What would you do now?’’

‘’I would speak to the Spacers League, Mister President.’’ answered the intelligence chief, shocking Makambo. Before the latter could explode, Mamadou continued.

‘’Mister President, we don’t even know how the Spacers’ ships are able to travel to the stars, on top of having zero spaceships of our own. Going ourselves to find a new world is thus impossible. Our only realistic option would be to convince the Spacers to let our people travel on their ships.’’

‘’And you think that they would agree to give one planet to us?’’ Mamadou swore mentally at the obtuseness of his president while keeping a straight face.

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‘’They won’t give us a planet because they will never allow us to control one, Mister President. However, we could appeal to their claimed regard for human rights and ask them to allow our excess population to emigrate to other planets. That could relieve much of the present pressure on our infrastructures and our economy and give us a chance to rebuild the Federation.’’

‘’ARE YOU MAD OR STUPID, KAJEJE?’’ shouted Makambo at once, surprising his intelligence chief. ‘’What good would be such an emigration if I can’t profit from it? I want a planet for me! Forget about this idea of talking with the Spacers: I will think of something else. You are dismissed!’’

Angered by the stupidity and selfishness of Makambo’s reaction, Mamadou had no choice but to turn around and leave the presidential office. One look at his expression convinced Daliane to not ask him what was wrong as he stormed out. Getting back in his private air car, Mamadou took off and started flying back towards the office building housing the Department of Intelligence Headquarters. However, after only a few seconds of flying, he changed course and headed towards his residence, a luxury apartment on a top floor of a residential tower reserved for members of the elite. That tower, along other similar buildings, was situated inside a gated district where the general population was not allowed in for security reasons. After a few minutes of flying, Mamadou landed his air car on the roof landing pad of his residential tower, then rolled it to its reserved parking spot and parked it. Locking up his vehicle and taking his briefcase with him, he went to the roof access hut and took an elevator cabin, going down by two levels before stepping on the floor of his apartment. Once inside his home, with the door firmly locked behind him, Mamadou went to serve himself a glass of scotch and sat down in his favorite chair. Being a single man, he was now alone to try chasing the bitterness filling him. He believed himself to have been for years a loyal, competent and effective member of the government of the Federation, something not many of the government members could claim. However, today had been too much for him. Something would have to change…and soon.

14:07 (Central Africa Time)

Thursday, October 28, 2320

Department of Intelligence Headquarters

Kinshasa, Congo

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Having just finished directing a meeting in a secure briefing room of the Department of Intelligence, Mamadou Kajeje walked out of the room and started on his way back to his office. He however decided to take a washroom break and entered the nearest men’s washroom. Taking place in front of a urinal, he unzipped his fly and started relieving himself, his classified briefcase resting on top of the urinal. Another man then entered the washroom and took place at the urinal next to Mamadou’s urinal. With only a few centimeters between both men’s shoulders, the newcomer then started speaking in a very low voice while looking straight to his front.

‘’You have been placed under surveillance on orders from President Makambo. However, do not change your routine and continue working for the good of Africa. You are not alone in being fed up with Makambo and his clique. Things will happen, soon. Please don’t try to follow me after this.’’

The man, whom Mamadou had never seen before but who wore a security pass clipped to his jacket, then left the washroom. Mamadou didn’t move for a few seconds more, as his boiling mind churned over the words of the man. Few people would know about an order by President Makambo to place him under surveillance and all of those people would need to either be highly placed government officials or to be working for such people. This thus smelled like a conspiracy and coup in the making against Makambo. Normally, Mamadou would consider it his prime duty to then warn his president of such a conspiracy. Was he going to do that now? Absolutely not!

02:52 (Central Africa Time)

Friday, November 05, 2320

Residence of the Director of Intelligence

Kinshasa, Congo

Mamadou Kajeje was soundly asleep when the first of many successive powerful explosions shook Kinshasa, brutally awaking him. Taking a few seconds to fully wake up while sitting in bed, he then got out of bed and ran to the nearest window. What he saw were a number of fires dispersed around downtown Kinshasa. His trained eyes then caught for a second the trail left by an air-to-ground missile crossing the night sky just before a huge blast shook again the city. That blast was followed by a fireball rising from a location he knew well.

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‘’The Ministry of Security building: someone just bombarded it from the air.’’ His first thought, in view of the other explosions and fires, was that the Spacers or the Northern Alliance were bombarding Kinshasa, in which case he would do his best to defend the city against its attackers. He then discarded that first idea: an air attack by outsiders as powerful as the Spacers or the Northern Alliance would have been an overwhelming one, not like the present one, which seemed to be a limited attack against a few pinpoint targets. A group of five nearly simultaneous explosions, all from the same location, made Mamadou snap his head towards what had to be the barracks of the Presidential Guard. That was when he fully understood that he was looking at the start of a coup against President Makambo. Looking in the general direction of where the private mansion of President Makambo, in reality a luxurious palace, was situated, Mamadou saw a distant but fierce fire illuminate that district of the city. Smiling with satisfaction, he then hurried to dress up in a good business suit but made sure to hide a pistol in a shoulder holster rig worn under his jacket. On second thought, he pocketed as well a silencer for his pistol, plus three full spare magazines. His first telephone call was to the duty watch center of his department, where calls and communications links from his agents dispersed around Earth and in space arrived day and night and from where directives were sent back to them, all by encrypted means of course.

‘’Hello? This is Director Kajeje. What the hell is happening?’’

‘’Sir, things are still quite confused but it appears that a coup against President Makambo is in progress. Where are you right now, sir?’’

‘’At my residence. I am going to fly to the headquarters in my air car, to direct operations there.’’

‘’Please don’t use your air car, sir: the air defense units of the city are liable to shoot at anything flying around right now.’’

Mamadou had to concede that point to the duty officer and tried something else.

‘’Can you send me an armored car, then?’’

‘’Yes sir! I will order one out right away but, please, stay inside your building for the moment. There are shots being fired all around the city and the streets are unsafe.’’

‘’Very well. I will wait inside the lobby of my residential tower.’’ Mamadou then closed the link and walked out of his apartment, carefully locking the door before proceeding towards the nearest elevator banks. Going down to the level of the entrance lobby, he found there a lone and very nervous private security guard armed

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with a shotgun and a pistol. The man gave Mamadou a deferential nod of the head when he came out of the elevator cabin.

‘’Mister Kajeje, I must advise you not to go out at this time. There has been some shooting around the neighborhood, along with those explosions.’’

‘’I know, my good man, but duty calls. Don’t worry about me: an armored car is on the way to pick me up.’’

The man nodded again. Contrary to many high-level officials of the Makambo government, Mamadou was actually respected and liked by the average people he met, thanks to the politeness and caring he displayed towards them. Mamadou may have been ruthless towards the enemies of Africa, but he didn’t do it to get rich and had the reputation of being incorruptible, a trait that was unfortunately too rare in the Southern Federation.

The promised armored car, actually a full-fledge armored personnel carrier, arrived at the entrance of the tower some sixteen minutes later. The driver of the APC then backed it up the walkway and stopped a mere two meters from the transparent sliding doors of the building. The rear armored doors were then opened from the inside by soldiers, who then stepped out and pointed their weapons outwards, protecting Mamadou while he quickly got inside the back of the APC. With the soldiers returning inside the APC and closing the rear doors, the heavy vehicle started rolling as Mamadou looked at the young lieutenant in command of the APC.

‘’Do we have any new information about what is happening, Lieutenant?’’ From the short hesitation of the young officer before he answered, Mamadou guessed that he would be in for some disturbing news. In that he was quickly proven right.

‘’Yes sir! Just before we arrived at your building, we got news by radio that this is a coup against President Makambo, a coup led by our own air force. Federation Air Force fighter-bombers attacked and destroyed with heavy missiles the Presidential mansion, the headquarters of the Ministry of Security, the barracks of the Presidential Guard and of the Internal Security Force, plus the residences of General Mafuto, Minister of Security Barangita, Minister of Interior Kwayo and Finance Minister Taylor. Assassination squads have also been signaled around the city, killing various government officials inside their residences.’’

‘’So, a well-organized coup, judging from what you just told me. What about President Makambo?’’

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‘’He is dead, sir, killed in the first airstrike. There is next to nothing left of his mansion, while his guards there are positive that he was inside and did not come out.’’

‘’I see!’’ simply said Mamadou, hiding his relief: with Makambo dead, this coup now had some good chances of succeeding. There was however one factor of importance to consider.

‘’And the Army? What is it doing right now?’’

‘’It is now on full alert inside its barracks, but has been ordered by General Mafuto’s deputy, General Kisangani, to stay inside its bases and keep a defensive posture, sir.’’

Mamadou nodded once at that, not too surprised: Kisangani, an officer known for his competence and honesty, was probably secretly part of the coup, while General Odierno, the head of the Air Force, was directing the coup. The big question now was for whom was this coup perpetrated? Did Odierno plan to name himself President of the Southern Federation, or was there another high figure, still unknown, directing this coup?

Mamadou was still wondering about that when the APC arrived at the headquarters of the Department of Intelligence and rolled inside the underground garage of the building. With four armed soldiers of his department escorting him closely, he went up to the floor where his office suite was but, once on that floor, headed instead towards the duty operations center, where he found a hectic activity, with officers and specialists running around, shouting pieces of information at each other and updating the big central situation display table. Going to the display table, Mamadou examined the electronic picture there, a map of the city area with numerous symbols in red distributed around. The duty officer, a major, joined him there and saluted him.

‘’I am happy that you made it safely, sir. Many high-level government officials can’t say the same, however. Here is the latest list of officials confirmed as dead, along with the installations which were destroyed by airstrikes.’’ Taking the paper sheet from the major, Mamadou read it quickly, his face somber.

‘’While riding in our APC, I was told that the airstrikes were done by our own air force. Is that correct?’’

‘’Yes sir! General Odierno started playing a public video message some fifteen minutes ago, in which he claims to be leading a coup with the goal of ending the tyranny of President Makambo and his corrupt clique. Judging by the list of officials killed already, I would say that the government has been pretty well decapitated, while the two

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forces which were truly loyal to President Makambo, the Presidential Guard and the Internal Security Forces battalion based in Kinshasa, have been gutted by a series of heavy airstrikes.’’

‘’What about the rest of the country and around Africa?’’

‘’Airstrikes were also reported outside of the Kinshasa area, while a few regional governors are known to have been killed, but the situation is still very confused, sir. Do you have orders for our agents and personnel, sir?’’

‘’Yes! They are to stay inside their present locations, defend themselves if attacked and observe and report what is happening around them, but not intervene. I want to get a clearer picture of all this before we will do anything. Pass the word around! I will be in my office.’’

‘’Understood, sir!’’

Going to his office, Mamadou sat behind his desk, then switched on the five video screens hooked from the ceiling and forming a semi-circle in front of his desk. Next, he tuned each of them to a different news channel, the center one on the African News Channel, or ANC, the most listened to news channel on the continent, with the four others being tuned to international news channels, including the venerable Eurovision and ABC News. Leaving the international channels on mute for the time being, Mamadou then watched the address prepared by General Odierno, which played in an endless loop at the moment. That address actually didn’t tell him much that was new for him and he then lowered the volume on that channel, while putting the other channels as well on low volume. While he was confident that his agents and posts would report quickly on the situation inside Africa, Mamadou was most interested to see how the coup would be reported on and its leaders portrayed around the World. One channel he paid special attention to was the Space News Network, which was broadcasted around the Solar System. Not surprisingly, due to the long transmission delays caused by the huge distances between the various planets and moons, SNN soon proved to be the slowest to catch up on the situation in Kinshasa.

Mamadou had been watching the news for maybe twenty minutes when there was some kind of disturbance in the hallway outside of his office. Quickly drawing his pistol and making sure that its safety was off, Mamadou then inserted it between his legs, where he could quickly grab it if needed. He had just done so when Frederic Sage, the

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Deputy Minister of Security, barged his way in Mamadou’s office, ignoring the protests of a young lieutenant. Mamadou didn’t get up to greet Sage, who was a creature of Makambo and who was notoriously corrupt, on top of having a sadistic and psychopathic side to him. Sage didn’t ingratiate himself to Mamadou by coming at him while nearly shouting.

‘’What the hell are you waiting for to help the government against this coup, Kajeje? Your men are still sitting around and doing nothing, while my security units are being bombed from the air.’’

In turn, Mamadou stared at him with a cold expression.

‘’My men are neither trained nor equipped for heavy fighting, Sage. They are trained for covert, small scale operations, spying and information collecting, or did you forget the meaning of ‘intelligence work’? By the way, next time that you come to visit me, at least show the courtesy of announcing yourself properly first before entering my office.’’

That only seemed to infuriate more Sage, who banged his fist on Mamadou’s desk.

‘’Who the hell do you think that you are, Kajeje? You don’t even rank as a junior minister in the government.’’

‘’What I am is a true patriot doing his duty for the good of all Africans and not pocketing millions via corruption and graft, like you and Barangita have been doing for years.’’

‘’YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!’’ shouted Sage while reaching for a pistol hooked to his belt. ‘’YOU ARE PART OF THIS COUP, AREN’T YOU?’’ Mamadou easily beat him to the draw and shot once, drilling a bullet through Sage’s head. The deputy minister fell backward like a log, his right hand still holding the handgrip of his pistol. Mamadou was calmly getting up from his chair when the young lieutenant in the hallway burst in with one soldier, their weapons at the ready. They then froze on seeing Sage’s body, lying on the carpet and with a pistol in one hand.

‘’Are you okay, sir?’’ asked the junior officer to Mamadou, who nodded his head.

‘’Yes, I am, Lieutenant. He accused me of being part of the coup and was about to shoot me. Would you please get rid of this piece of shit for me, Lieutenant?’’

‘’Uh, sure, sir!’’ replied the young officer before using the help of his soldier to drag the body out of the office. A night janitor and two more soldiers soon showed up to roll up and carry out the blood-covered carpet and mop up the floor. Mamadou watched

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them leave, then put his pistol on his work desk and sat back to continue listening to the media channels.

The first rays of dawn had appeared when Mamadou’ desk videophone buzzed, announcing an incoming call. Looking at the identity of the caller, Mamadou smiled to himself, then opened the link and spoke up in a friendly tone.

‘’General Odierno, what can I do for you on this nice new day?’’

08:25 (Seattle Time)

Sunday, November 07, 2320

Office of the President of the Northern Alliance

Seattle, American West Coast

Claudia d’Arcy sipped with delight on her cup of strong coffee once sitting in her presidential chair behind her work desk. She had always liked her coffee strong and loathed the brown water that passed as coffee in most American restaurants, but coffee was more essential than ever for her these few last days, with the chaotic situation in Africa creating the possibility of renewed hostilities with the Southern Federation. The last couple of days had shown a confusing picture of violence, political upheaval and civil unrest, but one thing was clear: President Makambo was gone, either dead or on the run.

President d’Arcy switched on the video set sitting in one corner of her office and tuned it to the local all-news channel, leaving the sound low, then grabbed and opened the Top-Secret intelligence briefing file which had been dropped in her ‘in’ box mere minutes ago. She smirked with disappointment on seeing that the latest intelligence assessment was still mostly conjectures: apparently, the confused situation in Kinshasa and around Africa was still baffling the so-called ‘experts’. She had just put the file in her ‘out’ box when her desk videophone set buzzed. Switching the link ‘on’, she saw the face of her executive secretary, who routinely filtered the calls to her office. Her secretary’s face actually reflected shock and surprise, something that alarmed d’Arcy.

‘’Yes, Joann?’’

‘’Madam President, you have a call from Kinshasa, in the Congo. The man calling says that he is the new President of the Southern Federation.’’

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Those words finished waking up Claudia in a big hurry and she nearly jumped in her chair.

‘’Connect me in at once, Joann, but make sure to have Security Advisor Crawford listening to our conversation. Also, record this call.’’

‘’Yes, Madam President!’’

A few seconds later, the face of her secretary was replaced by the face of a smiling, handsome black man in his fifties.

‘’President d’Arcy, it is truly nice to be able to speak with you. Let me present myself first: Mamadou Kajeje, until yesterday Director of the Department of Intelligence of the Southern Federation and now Interim President of the Southern Federation.’’ D’Arcy couldn’t help throw a look of disbelief at her interlocutor.

‘’You were the leader of the coup in Kinshasa?’’

Somehow, that seemed to amuse the black man.

‘’Me? God no! I was sleeping at home when the first missiles exploded. No, it was General Odierno, the commander of our air force, who organized and led the coup. By the way, President Makambo is dead, along with most of his ass-lickers and sycophantic friends.’’

‘’Then, how come that you are now the Interim President of the Southern Federation?’’

‘’Simple: I was one of the very few government officials who are not corrupt, or so General Odierno thought. Being squeaky clean kind of got me nominated for the position, that and the fact that I tend to do my job decently and competently.’’

‘’I see!’’ said Claudia, starting already to like that handsome black man. ‘’So, President Kajeje, what can I do for you today?’’

‘’I wish to talk freely with you and to discuss how we could end the hostilities between our two entities. We could start this by becoming more informal, for one thing. Could I call you by your first name, Madam President?’’

‘’Of course, Mamadou!’’

‘’Excellent! Well, Claudia, I believe that we have a lot to discuss after all those years of conflicts, hostilities and prejudices. The main reason that pushed General Odierno into doing a coup and getting rid of Makambo was not a thirst for personal power on his part. If that would have been the case, I would not have accepted to ally myself with him. Rather, it was his desire to see the needs of our people to finally take precedence over the enrichment of a few. Like me, General Odierno is a patriot who

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defended the Southern Federation against those who exploited it for so long in the past, robbed most of its mineral riches over the centuries and even enslaved and deported many of our people. However, that was the past and he and I both realized that the oppressors and robbers at the present were our own political leaders. So, he decided to clean up the shit pit that the governments of the Southern Federation and of the African Union had become. When I saw that he meant what he said, I joined him and, in turn, he offered me the Presidency. That finished convincing me that he was not in this for his personal power and I thus accepted his offer. Now, I know that terrible things have been done in the recent past in the names of the Southern Federation or of the African Union, including terrorist acts and murders, but I urge you now to look at us with a set of new eyes.’’

Claudia d’Arcy mulled those words for a moment while looking at the image of the African man on her viewing screen. Many would have disputed some of the points mentioned by Kajeje, particularly about the Southern Federation having to ‘defend itself’, rather than it being the true aggressor. However, Kajeje was right in saying that the past had to be buried in order to be able to build a new present.

‘’Mamadou, I must praise your present goodwill and that of General Odierno and I truly hope that we will be able to forget our differences and past bad blood. How do you propose to help build peace between our two entities?’’

‘’With a promise and a plea, Claudia: a promise of friendship and non-aggression from us and a plea for the help of both your Northern Alliance and the Spacers League.’’

‘’A plea for help?’’

‘’Yes! As you must know, the economic and social situation of the people in Africa and in much of the Southern Federation is quite dire and has been for many years. Civil wars, interethnic strife, droughts, famines and the exhaustion of many of our natural resources have dispossessed and displaced millions of people, many of whom have been forced to live in refugee camps for years and even decades in some cases. Many of our most competent people left for better lives outside the Federation, something I certainly don’t blame them for. The mismanagement, incompetence and corruption of the Makambo Regime only added to that misery, with a few stealing millions and stashing away their money in foreign banks while doing nothing to help those who have lost everything. Unfortunately, even with a cleaned-up government, the Southern Federation still has to grapple with depleted resources, desertification, droughts and crop failures. Even repatriating all the billions stolen and stashed in foreign banks by

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Makambo and his cronies will not be enough to correct all the problems my Federation is facing. The only way that I see to help relieve some of those long-term problems would be to find new lands and natural resources for those refugees, in order to relieve at least part of the economic and social pressure weighing down on my Southern Federation. Unfortunately, such new lands are not to be found anymore on our poor Mother Earth: we have been plundering and polluting it for centuries and we are now stuck with the bill. However, I recently learned that the Spacers League has found a way to reach other stars and that it even found new worlds on which Humans could live. My plea is for you and the Spacers League to allow refugees and homeless people from the Southern Federation to emigrate to some of those new planets as much as it is possible.’’ Claudia couldn’t help frown on hearing the last sentences from Kajeje.

‘’And where have you heard that the Spacers could now travel to the stars, Mamadou?’’

That in turn brought a pained look on Mamadou’s face.

‘’Please, Claudia! I was until very recently Director of the Intelligence

Department of the Southern Federation. Hell, I believe that I still am! How we learned about this is not important. What is important is that it could provide a new life for millions of my people.’’

‘’Very well, Mamadou, let’s put our cards down. Yes, the Spacers can now travel to the stars, and this in a near instantaneous fashion. By the way, they owe that to an invention by a Koorivar scientist. However, this capability is only seven months old and the exploration of the stars systems close to ours is still in its early stages. Also, the Koorivar, who invented the new interstellar drive, got the first pick from the planets discovered, so that they could resettle their people on a new world of their own.’’

‘’But there are, what, about 20,000 of them left? Also, you already gave them a very nice piece of estate on Vancouver Island. And they would grab a whole planet for themselves?’’

‘’My dear Mamadou, it seems that your intelligence missed a few things lately. One impetus the Koorivars had to have a true starship was to go search for the two other ships full of Koorivar refugees which left Shouria at the same time as the VEON SHOURIA, which was found on Eris some three years ago by the KOSTROMA. Well, the KOSTROMA and Fleet Captain Forster again came to the rescue of the Koorivars and, after being modified for interstellar travel, went in search of the SHUNDAR and of the SHANIZAR. It found and rescued both of those ships in what can only be described

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as an epic six-month voyage among the stars. There is now a grand total of close to 65,000 Koorivars, who are now busy building a new home for themselves in the Wolf 1061 System, some 13.8 light years from Earth.’’

‘’Well, that is fine and dandy for these 65,000 Koorivars but what about the millions of homeless, destitute refugees which have been stuck for years in refugee camps dispersed around Africa, the Middle East and South Asia? Don’t they deserve a new home as well? Before you say that my predecessor did nothing to help those millions of unfortunate people, I am ready to acknowledge that right now. However, that won’t help those refugees: a new home for them would.’’

Claudia slowly nodded her head on hearing that, favorably impressed.

‘’You are indeed a breath of fresh air compared to President Makambo, my dear Mamadou: Makambo never cared for anyone else but himself. I certainly sympathize with the plight of all those homeless refugees and I believe that we could help them. However, there are a few important factors at play here that will mean that any relocation of refugees from the Southern Federation, or from anywhere else as a matter of fact, will take time and lots of preparatory work.’’

‘’Like what factors, Claudia?’’ replied Mamadou, feeling some skepticism and expecting some kind of smoke screen answer from her.

‘’Like the fact that you can’t simply drop millions of refugees on another planet and expect them to thrive at once. Basic infrastructures and housing need to be built. Sources of food need to be found or created. Technical and administrative cadres need to be selected, organized and put in place before the arrival of the first refugees. There is also the question of the new planet’s biological compatibility with Humans and that of the possible presence of local sentient races which would already live on that planet.’’

‘’Certainly, the probability of finding such extraterrestrial sentient races, or even of other kinds of life forms, must be low, no?’’

Claudia smiled at that as she answered.

‘’Think again, Mamadou. Out of the four solar systems which the KOSTROMA visited or skirted, not counting Gliese 667, the old home system of the Koorivars, all of them harbored multiple forms of life and three of them were the home of at least one form of intelligent life. One system, Ross 128, has even been declared off limits to all Human starships, because it is the home of a highly advanced but also quite aggressive alien race with rather xenophobic views. Thankfully, that race doesn’t possess an interstellar drive, so can’t reach us…yet. Another planet in the Gliese 581 System has

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also been declared off limits and was put under Space quarantine, due to the fact that its local sentient race is even nastier than the one in the Ross 128 System.’’

‘’I…I must say that those numbers stun me, Claudia. I thought that

extraterrestrial life would have been rarer.’’

‘’Well, people in the Vatican and in a few other places where people still worship so-called ‘sacred’ old texts are going to swallow a big bone when they will learn about all that extraterrestrial life, my dear Mamadou. Judging by the voyage of the KOSTROMA, our corner of the galaxy seems to be full of life of all kinds. This means that we can’t simply step on the surface of a planet and plant our flag on it, the way the European explorers did centuries ago in the Americas. Thankfully in this case, the local sentient races occupying two of the habitable worlds explored by the KOSTROMA have graciously given their permission for Human and Koorivar settlers to come live on their worlds…subject to firm conditions and limitations. Another habitable planet found by the KOSTROMA has a gravity thirty percent superior to that of Earth, so would hardly be considered ideal for Humans, unless you would feel okay with living on a planet where you would weigh another extra 25 kilos or so. Since the Koorivars’ original home planet had a felt gravity of 1.3 G, that big new world in the Wolf 1061 System has been chosen by the Koorivars to be their new home world.’’

‘’So, is there any new world able to greet refugees which the Spacers would allow us to use, Claudia, or are you saying that everything has been reserved for the sole use of the Spacers and of the Koorivars? If that last case is true, then I am afraid that it could well raise a storm here.’’

‘’Mamadou, while all the new worlds discovered outside the Solar System and found available for Human occupation will be managed by the Spacers League, the whole of Humanity will be able to profit from them. Why managed by the Spacers League? Because Spacers are the ones with the experience, technology and skills needed to live in Space and on extraterrestrial bodies. Believe me: settling a new planet is no job for amateurs, unless you want to eventually end up with a mess on an epic scale. To answer your question, there is right now one world where a few millions of your refugees could be resettled gradually over the next few months. It is one of the moons of the second planet of the Wolf 1061 System. That second planet is now the designated new home of the Koorivars and has been renamed ‘New Shouria’. The first of three moons orbiting New Shouria is nearly the size of Earth, has a breathable atmosphere, liquid water and a gravity of 0.89 G and has been renamed ‘New Haven’.

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Work started over a month ago to prepare the moon for human occupation, build basic infrastructures and plant trees imported from Earth. Soon, New Haven will be able to greet the first refugees from the Southern Federation and from other places on Earth.’’

‘’And I suppose that the Spacers League will not allow my own people to administer and govern our refugees, is that it, Claudia?’’

Claudia d’Arcy took a deep breath then: this could be where things could sour up.

‘’Correct, Mamadou! Before you start screaming with indignation, consider how the forces of the Zembelo Regime, from which the Southern Federation was formed, conducted themselves around Europe and North America during the war. Just a few days ago, you and General Odierno felt that the endemic corruption, graft and dictatorial ways of the Makambo Regime justified a military coup. So, are you really surprised that the Spacers are not ready to trust Southern Federation administrators with managing a new home world that needs to be built from scratch?’’

‘’So, I suppose that the Spacers League will administer those refugees from the Southern Federation?’’

‘’Not exactly.’’ replied Claudia, surprising Mamadou. ‘’While New Haven will be considered a Spacers League world, like all the extraterrestrial planets except New Shouria, and will have a voice at the Spacers League Council, it is legally a corporate world, in essence the private property of a corporation.’’

‘’Great!’’ said Mamadou in a sarcastic tone. ‘’Let’s send my people on that New Haven, so that they could become the slave workforce for that corporation. Do you realize how bad this will look like to my people? And which corporation are we talking about anyway? The Pallas Mining Corporation? The Sverdlovsk Group?’’

‘’The New Haven Planetary Corporation. It was legally formed six weeks ago, with its owner and chairperson being Fleet Captain Tina Forster.’’ Seeing Mamadou do a double take on hearing that, Claudia hurried to add to her words.

‘’Please, hear me out, Mamadou! Captain Forster is not the blood-thirsty monster that the propaganda of the Southern Federation has made her to be. Yes, she proved to be a top tactician and strategist during the War of 2315, but she is first and foremost a true humanist and a most decent and compassionate person. I was present when she announced to the Spacers League Council the formation of her new corporation meant to manage New Haven. Right then, she stated from the start that her intention was to give top priority to the various refugees on Earth to become settlers on New Haven, along with a technical and scientific cadre of experienced Spacers to help

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administer and maintain New Haven. In fact, I believe that teams of recruiters hired by her have already started visiting various refugee camps around the Earth.’’

‘’And what tells me that your precious Tina Forster will treat humanely and justly the refugees she will sign up to live on this New Haven? And who gave her that moon anyway? The Spacers League?’’

‘’No! The Koorivars did, as a thank you for her KOSTROMA finding and rescuing the Koorivars traveling on the SHUNDAR and the SHANIZAR. Initially, the Spacers League decided to give the whole Wolf 1061 System to the Koorivars, so that they could establish a new home for their race in that system. Then, the Koorivars turned around and gave the first moon of New Shouria to Forster. That move was then acknowledged and made legal by the Spacers League Council. As for assurances of your refugees being treated decently and justly on New Haven, know that the articles of the Spacers League’s Human Rights Code will apply on New Haven. As Director of Intelligence of the Southern Federation, I am sure that you know enough about the Spacers not to believe the crude propaganda demonizing them around the Southern Federation.’’ Mamadou sat back in his chair, apparently relaxing a bit at last.

‘’I do, Claudia. Will your Captain Forster allow some of my officials to visit New Haven in the future, so that they could ensure that my people are treated well?’’

‘’Of course!’’ said Claudia, breaking into a grin. ‘’They could even come spend some vacation time on New Haven, once the infrastructure there will be built up. Forster intends to turn New Haven into a mostly agrarian and pastoral world, with a bare minimum of heavy industries in order to avoid pollution. A secondary vocation of New Haven will be as a tourist spot for vacationing Spacers hungry for open spaces.’’

‘’Really? Maybe I should visit it one day. Does this mean that my people will finally be able to travel in Space without being treated like potential terrorists?’’

‘’That will depend mostly on how they will behave, Mamadou. Right now, the Spacers have decided to reopen their astroports to citizens of the Southern Federation traveling as tourist and for business. However, the ban on Southern Federation citizens or governments to own and operate spaceships still stand and is not likely to be rescinded any time soon. As for my own Northern Alliance, our astroports have also been reopened to Southern Federation citizens. I sincerely hope that I will not come to regret that decision in the future, Mamadou.’’

‘’You won’t, Claudia. We need peace and good relations between our two entities, if we are to improve the lot of our citizens and avoid any new unpleasantness in

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the future. On this, I formally request that we arrange a meeting between our two governments, so that we could discuss all of this in depth. How about that we organize such a meeting for Monday, November 22, in fifteen days?’’

‘’That sounds fine with me, Mamadou. Would you mind if representatives from the Spacers League attend that meeting?’’

‘’The more, the better! How about Shanghai as a venue? We both consider China to be a neutral state, right?’’

‘’Correct! I will contact the Chinese government to arrange this meeting. In view of the dire economic situation of your Southern Federation, my Northern Alliance would be ready to cover all the costs of that meeting, including the lodging of your delegates. That is if this does not constitute an insult in your mind.’’

‘’I am very pragmatic about budgetary questions, Claudia: we will gladly accept your financial assistance for this meeting. Talking of financial assistance, do you think that you could pressure your precious Swiss, Austrian and Caribbean banks into sending back the stolen money contained in the secret bank accounts of Makambo and his clique? Those billions sure could help to rebuild the economy of my Federation.’’

‘’I will see what I can do about that. I will see you in Shanghai in fifteen days, Mamadou. Have a good day!’’

‘’You too, Claudia!’’

The link was then cut and Claudia sat back in her chair to ponder all that had just been discussed. That they were now discussing instead of shooting at each other was certainly a good thing…for everyone.

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Dome house.