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Peter Watts 155 Blindsight
have been court-martialed and executed within the month. No
matter that the four who'd died had been guilty of multiple counts
of rape, torture, and homicide; that's just what people did in
wartime. It's what they'd always done. There was nothing polite
about war, no honorable code beyond the chain of command and
the circling of wagons. Deal with indiscretions if you must; punish
the guilty if you have to, for appearance if nothing else. But for
God's sake close the doors first. Never give your enemy the
satisfaction of seeing discord in the ranks, show them nothing but
unity and flinty-eyed resolve. There may be murderers and rapists
in our midst, but by God they're our murderers and rapists.
You certainly don't give right of revenge to some terrorist twat
with over a hundred friendly scalps on her belt.
Still, it was hard to argue with results: a negotiated ceasefire
with the third-largest Realist franchise in the hemisphere. An
immediate forty-six percent decline in terrorist activities
throughout the affected territories. The unconditional cancellation
of several in-progress campaigns which could have seriously
compromised three major catacombs and taken out the Duluth
Staging Grounds entirely. All because Lieutenant Amanda Bates,
feeling her way through her first field command, had gambled on
empathy as a military strategy.
It was collaborating with the enemy, it was treason, it was
betrayal of the rank and file. Diplomats and politicians were
supposed to do those things, not soldiers.
Still. Results.
It was all there in the record: initiative, creativity, a willingness
to succeed by whatever means necessary and at whatever cost.
Perhaps those inclinations needed to be punished, perhaps only
tempered. The debate might have gone on forever if the story
hadn't leaked—but it had, and suddenly the generals had a hero on
their hands.
Sometime during her court-martial, Bates's death sentence turned
into a rehabilitation; the only question was whether it would take
place in the stockade or Officer's College. As it turned out,
Leavenworth had both; it took her to its bosom and squeezed hard
enough to virtually guarantee promotion, if it didn't kill her first.