by Kal Spriggs
Local unrest reported in Nashik, CPM HQ concerned that it may escalate. Prepare riot intervention plan with two hour deployment time in order to support local Enforcers in maintaining the peace.
It was two simple sentences, but it took me a full minute to make sense of it. “Ma’am,” I turned to look at Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera. “We have a priority non-drill tasking. I’ve forwarded it to you.”
“Thank you, Armstrong,” she replied, not looking up from her display. “Work transportation and deployment, I’ll work the operational and tactical side.”
I went back to my display, pulling up riot prevention and response plans for that area of the planet. Nashik was one of the older cities on Century, but it was in the southern hemisphere, unlike most of my world’s other major cities. That was because it was where the Second Wave of colonists had arrived. Or rather, it was where the UN Star Guard had landed their transport and discharged the involuntary colonists.
Many Seconds had spread out from there, like my dad’s family, finding jobs in the northern hemisphere where most of the planet’s industry and agriculture was based. The northern polar sea was bigger and had protective hills and mountains around it that kept that area much cooler and safer from the big storms. The southern pole was drier and the sea there was saltier. There wasn’t any surface fresh water and nothing stopped the big sand and dust storms from rolling south.
Still, a lot of Seconds had stayed there and Nashik had become almost like the other capital of Century.
Most of our response plans dealt with the northern hemisphere. There was one for Nashik, but it was several years old. I flagged it and sent it to Aguilera, then began reviewing it for what needed to be planned and updated.
The biggest issue was the distance. It was over three thousand kilometers to Nashik. A combat skimmer could cover that in four hours, but it would need to refuel on the way at least once. A suborbital transport could get anywhere in the world in thirty minutes, but we didn’t have a launch platform for a suborbital transport. We had combat shuttles, but the Academy only had three of them. Each could carry twenty personnel and it would take almost an hour from take-off to arrival. That gave an hour either way
Sixty personnel might be enough, but this was a full sized city. I didn’t want to go with maybe. This was a real problem, not just a drill. If I had to face down a riot, I’d want to do it with as many people as I could bring. There were almost four thousand cadets at the Academy, bringing only sixty of them for a riot response when support would be hours away didn’t seem like a good idea.
I brought up information on my implant, splitting out my attention as I looked for information. My exhaustion and frustration vanished as I tackled this new problem. People’s lives were on the line, I could worry about my life later. I split my attention with my implant, feeling as if I were coming alive for the first time in weeks. I swiveled in my chair, “Ma’am, there’s a suborbital military transport at Elliot Spaceport, it’s twenty minutes away. I think that’s our best bet to get personnel on-site within the two hour requirement.”
“Good work,” Aguilera looked up. “I’ve finished lining out the initial operational objectives. Let me know when you’ve finished the coordination.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” I answered, excited to actually feel like I was doing something. I dialed the contact info for the Militia element at Elliot Spaceport.
“This is Second Transportation Squadron, Elliot Spaceport, Staff Sergeant Avar speaking,” a voice answered.
“This is Cadet Second Class Armstrong, calling from the Academy Contingency Response Planning office. We’ve got a live tasking to support a mission at Nashik, with a deployment time of under two hours from notice. I’d like to coordinate for transport.”
“One moment, Cadet,” he said, his voice calm. “Alright, I’ve got our schedule pulled up. You want this transport standby, right?”
Even as he asked the question, I was reviewing information about the order. “Yes, standby if that’s possible.” It seemed to have an indefinite time-frame. I brought up information on the “unrest” that had triggered the order. There were about a dozen news articles and I skimmed through the first two or three, which seemed to discuss the lack of economic growth in the southern hemisphere and lack of options for Seconds, especially.
I felt an electric jolt go through me, though, as I played through a video. Charterer Beckman spoke in front of a crowd, “Too long we’ve seen Seconds marginalized here on Century. While the rest of Century has advanced, Nashik has fallen behind. This unfair distribution of wealth cannot continue and if the rest of the planet doesn’t listen, then I say that we make them listen!”
Beckman... Only two of the seven news articles even mentioned her, but one of the two brought up the fact that she’d held three rallies there in the past month. The latest had resulted in a near-riot where Enforcers had been called in to disperse the crowd. Why was Charterer Beckman trying to get Seconds to riot?
“Cadet Armstrong, are you still there?” The Staff Sergeant asked somewhat impatiently.
“Uh, yes, sorry, I was looking through the details, what did you ask?” Beckman’s involvement had snapped all of my attention there.
“We can put in a tasking for three, six, or nine months with standby status for a suborbital transport to Nashik, with lift capacity for twelve-hundred personnel, or eight hundred if you want us to carry additional cargo and supplies.”
The Academy only had a handful of military ground vehicles and those were rated only for training, so they wouldn’t be transported this way. The Staff Sergeant must have either had experience dealing with this sort of thing or he had a database on his end with the pertinent details.
“Twelve hundred personnel will suffice,” I answered. That would be twelve companies, more or less. I forwarded the information on to Aguilera, “We’ll go for nine months standby status and we’ll contact you if we need additional support after that. My authorization code is...” I rattled off the number. It was attached to my position as Assistant Plans Officer for Aguilera and I knew that if he put it in his system, it would confirm my status and authorize him to add our request to the schedule.
Now, though, we needed transportation from the Militia spaceport at Nashik to wherever we’d need to be. I pulled up a list of Militia ground forces near the spaceport and brought up a list of units with ground vehicles. There was far less Militia presence there, with just two ground units, one a Reserve transportation battalion and the other a support and maintenance detachment.
There wasn’t even an Active Duty Militia ground force installation in the southern hemisphere, which sort of shocked me. If we did face planetary invasion, the southern hemisphere was going to be virtually unprotected. Granted, the population density was much lower and Nashik was the only major city, but still...
Some part of me wondered if that was part of why Charterer Beckman was involved.
I found a reserve combat battalion with ground transports and armored vehicles that was two hundred kilometers away from Nashik, based at Dumez Crossing. That should, in theory, be close enough that they could at least stage some of their vehicles near the spaceport, if we requested it. I commed them on my implant and as they answered, I spoke, “This is Cadet Second Class Armstrong...”
***
Like most of our contingency plans, we had to brief it to the Regimental Commander as we finished it up. Unlike the drill plans, though, the Superintendent sat in on the briefing, his thin face unreadable.
“From there, sir,” Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera finished, “Our companies will move to whatever locations are seeing actual violence.”
“I like the transportation plan,” Cadet Captain Knighton said. The Regimental Commander was from Dust Company and he’d actually been one of Kyle’s Cadet Drill Instructors. “Good thought on using the suborbital transport and picking up ground transportation on the other end.” I especially valued his input since he was ground forces track a
nd this sort of thing was what he'd trained for. Well, he's training as an Armor Officer, so probably more focused on tanks, but still.
“That was Cadet Second Class Armstrong, sir,” Aguilera gestured at me.
Knighton gave me a nod, “Good job, Biohazard.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rear Admiral Fischer shift slightly, but he didn’t say anything.
“Alright, let’s talk about the tactical plan,” Cadet Captain Knighton went on. “You have ground transportation for about half of the unit, with two companies doing shuttle service for the others. Each company has its own objectives and destinations. I’m seeing a lot of moving parts.”
“That’s the big weakness,” Cadet Commander Keyes spoke up. The Regimental Plans Officer spoke quickly, “I think a more moderate approach would have been in order. If this message had come through Regimental Plans like it should have, then my people could have worked it properly and given it the full time and attention it needed.”
I blinked at that, I wasn’t really sure what he meant. This had come directly to Contingency Operations, I’d assumed because this was a “contingency.”
Cadet Captain Knighton looked uncomfortable, “We’ll shelve that discussion for another time. For now, we’re looking at this plan, not the one you put together, afterward, Keyes.”
I was standing just behind Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera, so I saw her hands clench into fists behind her. I didn’t understand what this was about, though. Why had Keyes written up a new plan after Aguilera had sent up ours?
Not a good reason, I’d guess, from my boss’s reaction. She spoke up, “Each Company has a set of primary and alternate objectives, ten companies altogether with a Regimental Headquarters element for command and control and the two partial companies providing transportation as needed. The objectives were chosen as areas in need of protection from the kind of damage rioters might cause. Government centers, housing nodes, and businesses that might be at high risk of looting and damage.”
“I think my plan is more aggressive and goes right for the threat. Putting down the riots--”
To my surprise, Rear Admiral Fischer spoke, “Putting down the riots, Cadet Commander Keyes? Tell me, have you ever been in a riot?”
Keyes froze. He looked over at the Superintendent with a look of surprise, “Uh, no, sir, I haven’t.”
“It’s loud, chaotic, and violent. Tell me, how would you recommend the companies under your Regimental Commander put down these rioters? How are they armed and equipped? Have they trained extensively on riot control?”
Keyes flushed, “Well, uh, no, sir. I suppose we would display weapons, show intent to use them, maybe fire warning shots...”
“And cause a stampede? Tell me, what do you think would happen when a few hundred or even several thousand people panic and start running through the streets? Do you think they’ll be considerate of any random civilians in their path? Do you think that teenagers and lookers-on who were caught up in the crowd will fare well?”
Keyes swallowed, “I don’t know, sir.”
“Do you think a Plebe whose hopped up from drills and is excited to finally do something real is going to know how to diffuse a situation like that?” Rear Admiral Fischer’s voice had a hard, biting edge.
“Uh, I don’t really know, sir.” Keyes looked embarrassed at this point.
“Those are things you should consider. Also, consider that these ‘rioters’ are our own people. You’re a Second, are you not, Keyes?”
“Well, yeah,” Keyes replied his eyebrows going up, “but not like them.”
“But you have family who lives in Nashik, still? Cousins, relatives? Could they be in the crowd that you so casually mentioned firing upon?”
Keyes nodded slowly. “So does half of our Regiment of Cadets,” Rear Admiral Fischer went on. “For that matter, three quarters of the planet has relatives who haven’t moved out of Nashik. How do you think they’ll react when they learn that you wanted to be ‘aggressive’ with dealing with such an unstable and volatile situation?”
It wasn’t something I’d spent much thought about and it was clear to everyone in the room that Keyes hadn’t considered any of it. Rear Admiral Fischer nodded at Aguilera. “You, what’s your answer?”
“We’ve ordered the companies issued training rounds as well as live ammunition, sir,” she answered. “Training rounds should be sufficient to hold off ordinary rioters without causing a panic or killing anyone.” The noise of training rounds was much lower and they’d subdue people without killing them. “If the rioters are armed or continue to escalate, company commanders will be authorized to use lethal force.”
“It’s a plan,” Rear Admiral Fischer mused. “You’ve at least considered the issue.” He glanced at the Regimental Commander, “Cadet Captain Knighton?”
“Sir,” Knighton swallowed, “I’d recommend we go with Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera’s plan. Additionally, I’ll task some crowd control training and rehearsals to the companies on the tasking.”
Rear Admiral Fischer gave a firm nod, “Approved. Of course, the odds of us actually being called up for this is rather low, but I think that would be a good bit of additional training for the Regiment of Cadets. I think that concludes today’s evaluation, other than assigning a plans officer to manage this one, someone to be the Regimental Contingency Response Coordinator. Do you have someone in mind?”
Cadet Captain Knighton didn’t hesitate, “Cadet Second Class Armstrong.”
Rear Admiral Fischer looked like he’d swallowed a lime. His eyes flicked over to me and then back to the Regimental Commander. “Very well. I’ll leave further details to you.” He rose and left the room, followed by the rest of his staff.
I felt like I’d been hit by a groundcar... or maybe a skimmer. As the briefing adjourned, I rose and followed Aguilera out of the conference room.
“You okay, Armstrong?” Aguilera asked, pausing in the hallway to stretch a bit.
“Yeah, it’s just... I can’t believe he gave me that job,” I replied. All my exhaustion over the past three days was coming to a head. “I mean, with what’s going on...”
“You did a good job working the transportation order,” Aguilera looked around and then pulled me out of the main hallway and into a side room out of the way. “Your hard work and initiative stood out. Lots of cadets would have settled for the resources on hand and gone with our shuttles departing with an advance party and skimmers showing up later. Your plan gets everyone there in time to make a difference. Since you thought it up, you get to make sure it works.”
“But,” I protested, “the Regimental Commander stuck his neck out and he doesn’t even know me!”
“You’ve sort of made a name for yourself,” Aguilera replied dryly. “And as far as what other people may or may not think about you, he gave you a vote of confidence in part because of the ‘other’ stuff going on. When people go after someone because of personal rather than professional reasons, that’s when good officers need to step forward.”
I understood that, but after the past three days, it was hard to accept it. “Thanks, ma’am.”
“No problem. Now, just do a good job managing this contingency plan and lets all hope nothing happens down in Nashik, or you’ll really be on the spot.”
I couldn’t argue with that principle, especially not after all I’d been through already.
***
Chapter 11: Putting Together The Pieces
I don’t really remember getting back to my room. I certainly don’t remember stripping out of my uniform and crawling into bed.
I remember a stream of bad dreams, though, dreams where my mom and dad were caught up in a riot and I was having to order my friends to shoot them. Dreams where the faces of all the people I’d lost marched past me, loading up on a suborbital transport to rocket off into the sky. They didn’t make much sense, but there wasn’t much sense to be made from dreams.
Sometime, when the nightmares eased up, I found myself fl
oating in the digital realm once more. The looming presence was there, waiting. I didn’t even have to wonder, I knew what it wanted. It pointed at a single line of light and we both tapped into it. I set my implant to record even as I dove in.
“...Honor Board violation, I love it,” Chairman Beckman hissed. “Oh, this is going to play to the media so very well and tarnish Admiral Armstrong’s reputation. Good job.”
“By policy, all Honor violations are not to be discussed with the media until after they’ve concluded,” Rear Admiral Fischer replied, his voice stiff. He sat behind his desk, his thin, hawk-like face composed.
“Of course, but after you find her guilty...”
“If she is found guilty,” he noted. “The entire thing comes back to the Quicksilver Project.”
“Bah, keep that out of it, whatever you have to do,” Charterer Beckman growled. “But I’ve no doubt the little brat cheated. She's probably a liar, too, from what my niece says. Completely untrustworthy, just like her grandmother.”
“Charterer,” Rear Admiral Fischer protested, “I must remind you that hearsay is not allowed in an Honor Board investigation. If your niece would like to step forward and provide witness testimony...”
“No, she won’t,” Beckman shook her head. She toyed with something on her desk, “Even if she were willing to put herself at risk, I wouldn’t allow it, it would look too convenient if it was my niece.”
“Risk?” Rear Admiral Fischer asked, his voice confused.
“From retaliation, of course,” Charterer Beckman waved a hand. “We both know that the little brat’s sycophants would go after my niece if it became known that she’d spoken out.”
“Charterer Beckman,” Rear Admiral Fischer’s expression hardened, “I assure you that this investigation is about finding the truth and establishing what happened. If your niece has proof of cheating or lying from any cadets, she should come forward. The Century Planetary Militia does not tolerate that kind of behavior. Furthermore, any kind of retaliatory behavior committed by any members of the Regiment of Cadets or for that matter of the staff, would not be tolerated.”