by Daniel Gibbs
“A pleasure to meet you, sir. I wish it were under different circumstances.”
“You will tell me what transpired in the barn,” Ezekiel said; it was a statement, not a question.
MacDonald made a move to step up and speak, but Ruth held out her hand. “I’ve got it, Master Chief. Mister Nussbaum, we were sent here to find some information the CDF needs to liberate your planet from the League. We happened to come across your farm when I observed some League soldiers hauling your daughter into the barn. I intervened and killed both of them to save her life.”
“You killed another human being here?”
“Yes,” Ruth replied, unflinching. “I grew up on this planet. I know your religious beliefs are strict and that you’re unwavering pacifists. I respect it. But there was no other way.”
“It’s always like this with the English,” Ezekiel complained toward his wife and daughter. “They don’t share our ways and bring the scourge of evil and death.”
“Father, they want to help,” Susanna spoke up. “They saved me when they didn’t have to. Ruth says she wants to help free our people. Don’t we pray for deliverance every day?”
“We pray to God and place our trust in Him, not in men.”
“All things work together for good to them who love God, and to them who are called according to his purpose,” MacDonald interjected.
Ruth did a double take. “I didn’t realize you were devout,” she whispered under her breath.
“Are you a man of faith... Mister?” Ezekiel asked.
“Master Chief Gordan MacDonald, sir. Non-denominational Christian,” he answered, stepping forward. “I’m a soldier, and in war, it's recognized you must kill or be killed. This war is just, and I’m called to fight it. The lieutenant is right; we’re here to figure out how to get rid of the League. We might have a chance if you’ll help us.”
“It seems like you’ve brought very few people to try to defeat the League army on our planet,” Mary said from across the room. “Forgive me, but how can so few prevail against so many?”
“They’re the best of the best, ma’am,” Ruth said. “We were supposed to conduct recon quietly and leave without alerting the garrison on this planet to our presence. That’s now out of the question. Our tactics must adapt, we must find a way to complete our mission and get back to our ship. Please help us help all of you.”
“I will never raise my hand against another person,” Ezekiel stated. “To do so is an affront against God.”
“Not even to defend your home and your family?” MacDonald asked, his tone one of annoyance.
“The word compels us to turn the other cheek, every time. Regardless of what the League and its soldiers do, we won’t resist them with violence.”
“There’s your answer, Lieutenant,” MacDonald groused. “I told you the locals would be of no use here.”
“We still have to clean this up, so our actions don’t come down on this family,” Ruth said.
Rostami stuck his head into the living room. “Master Chief, I was able to disable the vehicle’s tracking system. It’s ours if you want it.”
“Get it ready,” MacDonald ordered. “We’ll bury the two unlucky Leaguers in the forest and press on toward our objective.”
“We’ll provide you with food and clothing if you wish,” Ezekiel announced.
“I thought you said you weren’t helping us,” MacDonald responded in his gruff tone.
“I said we would not use violence. Giving you food and clothing so that you may blend in to help your mission… this is permitted.”
“Fine line you’re walking there,” Ruth observed. “We’re grateful for any help or supplies you can spare.”
Susanna stood up from her seat on the simple couch. “I will accompany you.”
“I forbid it!” Ezekiel shouted, surprising everyone.
“It’s my time of rumspringa, Father. I am sixteen,” Susanna countered, her head held high. “It is my decision, and mine alone.”
Mary began to cry; Ruth couldn’t help but sympathize with her pain. “You could be killed, daughter.”
“I was about to be killed or worse a few minutes ago, Mother,” Susanna practically shouted. “If it hadn’t been for them, who knows what would’ve happened? I can help. I could show them where the League hides, where they live.”
“Then what? Bring killing and death?’ Ezekiel thundered.
“We’re talking about killing people who believe they have the right to jam what they believe down our throats, while they steal anything they want from us, then commit rape and murder with impunity. You seriously have a problem with us prosecuting the League with extreme prejudice?” MacDonald responded, his voice rising.
“No one has the right to decide who lives or dies,” Ezekiel replied, staring MacDonald down.
“With respect sir, the League’s already decided it does. We’re the people who try to stop them, and we’re your planet’s only hope right now. So why don’t you stow this pacifistic bullshit, and get my team and me what we need?”
“Master Chief,” Ruth interrupted. “Please. You’ve made your point.”
“Lieutenant,” MacDonald began.
“Master Chief, enough,” Ruth said forcefully. She turned back toward Ezekiel and Mary. “We respect your ways. We respect your beliefs. That doesn’t change what we need to do. You have to see that the League being defeated will help everyone.”
“Of course I see it,” Ezekiel said. “It doesn’t change that my family and I cannot be a party to killing.”
“Father, stop talking as if I don’t exist and have no say,” Susanna said, tears streaming down her face. “Let me do this.”
Ezekiel glanced from Susanna to Ruth and back again. “Do you give me your word, Lieutenant Goldberg, that you will protect my daughter, with your own life if necessary?”
“Before God,” Ruth replied.
“Then go with them, daughter. I’ll pray for your soul.”
Susanna gave her father a bear hug, which Mary joined in with, while MacDonald and Ruth watched.
“Bloody stupid if you ask me, LT. If they don’t want to fight, they don’t want to fight,” MacDonald said, sotto voce.
“Master Chief, we need intel. The girl has it, and if she doesn’t, her friends of the same age do. It’s not always about brute force,” Ruth hissed.
“You do remember you’re talking to a tier-one operator, right?”
“Sorry, you weren’t quite acting the part.”
“Careful, LT.”
The family before them broke up the embrace and Susanna turned toward Ruth. “I’ll get us food and water for the journey. What else can we do?”
MacDonald shifted his feet. “We need any cleaning chemicals you might have.”
“Vinegar and lemon, bleach,” Mary said. “That’s about all we have.”
“I’ll take it,” MacDonald replied. “Also, you have animal manure on this farm?”
“It’s a farm,” Ezekiel deadpanned, the first sarcasm Ruth had heard out of him. “Cow, horse, goat, sheep, dog. All different types.”
“Excellent,” MacDonald said, turning his head toward Ruth. “Lieutenant, take Meissner, collect as much of it in whatever containers these fine folks have, and bring it to the barn.”
It was all Ruth could do not to roll her eyes at him openly. “Crap detail?”
“We’ll spread it everywhere blood went, after cleaning it with bleach. Throw the League off our scent, so to speak.”
Ruth fought to keep a grimace off her face. “You got it, Master Chief.” Embrace the suck, ugh.
“Let’s get to it,” MacDonald stated before looking toward Ezekiel and Mary. “Thank you for the food. We’ll bring your daughter home, and with any luck, evict our friends in the League from your planet.”
Ezekiel bowed his head. “I will pray for your success, without bloodshed.”
“Thank you. Okay, LT, let’s move. Harrell,” MacDonald called through his commlink. “You
and Rostami get the transporter moved up. Wrap the bodies in tarps or canvas, load them into the back. Make sure to get a couple of shovels too.”
“On it, Master Chief,” Harrell’s voice came back.
Ruth turned to go, and for the first time, fear flooded into her head. Her hand tightened around the battle rifle she carried to mask the sudden shaking that started. I’m so focused on eliminating the League, what if I cost these people their lives? I wonder how David grapples with these feelings as he commands a ship with ten thousand people on it. I’m not even in command, yet I still bent the Master Chief to my way of thinking. If this goes south, it’s on me.
David quickly strode through the hatch into the deck one conference room on the Lion of Judah, where the rest of the command staff had already assembled. They stood as he walked in, as was typical. “As you were,” he said, making a beeline toward the chair at the head of the table. He pulled it out and sat down. “I’ve asked you all here to work through our engagements with the League so far and develop a more effective strategy.”
Taylor and Aibek, both sitting to David’s right, nodded their heads. Hayworth, Hanson, Kelsey, and Hammond were on the left side of the table, as was the defense contractor, Kenneth Lowe. All stared at him intently.
“Taylor, get Colonel Dyson for us, please. It’s his command, after all.”
“Yes, sir,” Taylor replied while tapping the controls on the commlink unit. A moment later, Dyson’s face appeared.
“Colonel Dyson,” David said. “Good to talk to you again.”
“Likewise, Colonel Cohen. We gave better than we got, but I still lost two ships. The League is just catching us over and over with our pants down,” Dyson replied in an exasperated tone. “They threw more ships at us than I thought they had in the next two sectors over.”
“Something more is at work here than some commerce raiding,” Aibek interjected. “We need to be open to those possibilities.”
“What are you suggesting, Colonel?” Dyson inquired.
“I think what my XO is getting at is this is too neat. The League rarely guesses right, and they never guess right twice in a row.”
“We could be dealing with an effective League commander,” Hammond said.
David peered at her. “We could… but it still feels like they have solid intelligence on us.”
“League SIGINT has never been that great,” Dyson countered, using the acronym for Signals Intelligence.
“Maybe they have a psychic,” Hanson said to several chuckles.
“That’s poppycock,” Hayworth retorted. “It’s far more likely that whatever lab put out the stealth technology for their infernal mines adapted that technology to remote drones.”
“Got any ideas on how to counter that, Doctor?” David asked.
“I’d need to see one.”
“Touché.”
“What about using the scientific sensors to hunt for stealth drones?” Aibek said.
“It’s an idea,” Hayworth agreed. “Needle in a haystack, though.”
“I think we need to involve CDF intelligence,” David finally said, after the back and forth lulled for a few seconds. “The Oxford should be around here, somewhere. I’ll contact Colonel Sinclair and see if he’ll help. If that sounds like a good strategy to you, Colonel Dyson?”
“I’ll take any help I can get, even from the spooks,” Dyson said. His face curled up into a grin. “What’s that motto of theirs?”
“In God we trust, all others we monitor,” Taylor interjected.
“That’s the one,” Dyson said. “Yeah, see if they will help us out.”
“Done,” David said. “Sinclair is good people. What now, Colonel?”
“The convoy jumps to Unity, and we lick our wounds. I’ve been promised repairs and resupply by the temporary station commander.”
“We’ll jump back and pick up our fighters, then join you.”
“You’ve got General MacIntosh’s ear, right?”
David smiled slightly. “I’m not sure I’d go that far. But I think we have mutual respect.”
“How about you ask him for some reinforcements?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks,” Dyson said.
He looks utterly defeated. “Colonel, your task force performed superbly. No one has anything to be ashamed of here.”
“I’ll try to remember that when I’m writing letters to the families of those who perished.”
Ugh, the worst duty of all. I feel for him. “Same here. We’ll see you at Unity station, Colonel. Godspeed.”
“Godspeed to you too, Colonel Cohen. Dyson out.”
The screen went dark, and David glanced around to his team. Looks of worry and apprehension were abundant. “Taylor, send an urgent message to the Oxford. I want Sinclair on a vidlink before the end of the day.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Taylor replied.
“Anyone have any ideas, no matter how wild?”
Hayworth leaned forward in his seat. “Perhaps the flying spaghetti monster is punishing you.”
“That all you got, doc?” David replied, determined not to roll his eyes.
“On a serious note, I’m concerned the League is fielding advancements before us,” Hayworth said.
“You and everyone else in the Terran Coalition,” David responded, annoyance showing through his tone. I need actionable answers, not platitudes.
“I’m not an intelligence analyst, but it seems to me that, perhaps somewhere, we have a leak,” Hayworth mused.
“Regardless, we need a way to defeat the current problem,” Aibek interjected. “We need to narrow down possibilities.”
“I’ll work on two lines of research. One, find these supposed stealth drones. Two, adapt our EM jamming systems to possibly jam the drones, if we can find one and determine how it works.”
“That sounds good, Doctor,” David said. “Okay, people, let’s get back to our respective stations. Colonel Amir and his boys are waiting for a pickup. Dismissed.” As they filed out, doubts invaded his mind at the situation. Something’s off here. The League is coming out with fancy tech ahead of us? Nah, doesn’t track. On top of it, whoever we’re facing on the other side is picking Dyson’s force apart. Worse, morale is falling. MacIntosh has hammered into me over the last year how important confidence is to a soldier. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Sinclair better have some answers, or this is going to get dicey fast.
10
A couple of hours later, after returning to the convoy and retrieving Colonel Amir and his squadrons, the Lion had achieved orbit around what had been called Unity Station—Freedom Station now. A smile spread across David’s lips. Half the fleet still calls it Unity... guess old habits die hard. His eyes moved between stations and the officers who manned them. Sinclair needs to pick up his messages. We need his help. A frown returned, the dominant facial expression he’d worn most of the day. In orbit around the station, there wasn’t a whole lot to do today, but he wanted to remain on the bridge just in case.
“Conn, communications. I’ve got an inbound burst transmission for you, sir.”
“On my viewer, Lieutenant.”
A fuzzy image appeared that zoomed in and out a few times before it pulled back to reveal the faces of Ruth and MacDonald. “Colonel, can you hear me, sir?” Ruth asked.
“I wasn’t expecting to hear from you, Lieutenant,” David said as a broad smile spread across his face. Thank God. “But it’s a welcome surprise. How are things going?”
“Not that great,” MacDonald groused. “Our lander was shot down by the League planetary defense system.”
“What?” Aibek interjected, his tone rising in pitch. “How?”
“We’re not sure, but they had the sensors to penetrate our stealth coating. I retrieved our short-range scanner logs before we destroyed the ship.”
“Status of the mission?” David asked.
“Compromised, sir,” Ruth answered. “There’s no ISR net or recon capabilities. Th
e team is fighting blind. We also intervened in a situation with two League soldiers who were attacking a civilian at my insistence.”
MacDonald’s face clouded over, and he grimaced. “I concurred with the decision. The bottom line is, before too long, we’ll have a whole mess of Leaguers looking for us.”
“I’ll get QRF spun up immediately,” David said. “We’ll get you guys out of there.”
“Negative, sir,” MacDonald stated. “QRF would just get shot down the same way we were. Recommend we continue on mission, and attempt to take out the control center.”
These tier-one guys have a brass set. “Did I hear you right, Master Chief? You want to press on even though you’ve been compromised and have no backup?”
“Yes, sir. Only play we’ve got. Unless you want to come riding to the rescue with the fleet,” MacDonald replied.
“We’ll get you support somehow, Master Chief. Drones, something.”
“Much appreciated if you could make it happen, Colonel.”
“What’s the next move?”
“We captured a transport craft. I had our electronics expert disable its tracking mechanisms, and we’re going to cross some serious ground with what charge it has left in its batteries. Then continue on foot to the installation we believe houses our objective. Once there, determine a way to destroy it and get off this rock.”
“Destroying the control system for the defense stats is the only way you can evac safely…” David mused, thinking out loud. “That’d be the ideal time to stage an invasion, if we could time it right.”
“Agreed, sir. Not our first choice, but if that’s the cards we’ve got, why not play them?”
“I’ll see about getting additional ships and Marines rallied, then, Master Chief. Can’t waste an opportunity to liberate thousands of Terran Coalition citizens.”
“They need our help, sir,” Ruth insisted.
“Is the local population willing to help?” David asked.
“No, sir,” MacDonald said before Ruth could respond. “They’re total pacifists. I think it’s the only reason they’re still alive, ironically enough. The League seems to view them as brother socialists because of how their society works together.”