by M. D. Cooper
VISIT FROM THE GENERAL
STELLAR DATE: 04.25.8949 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Fort Hammerfall
REGION: Iapetus, Hercules System, Septhian Alliance
“Well, his eminence, General Adam, will be here in an hour,” Rika said to Chase as she sat across from him in the commissary. She looked down at her food. “Man, I really want to send someone to get takeout from Charlie’s. That pasta was amazing. I bet it was made from real angel’s hair.”
“That was fast,” Chase said, then quickly covered his mouth as he chewed on a salad. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’ve started doing this lately. I never used to be this slovenly.”
“Stress eating,” Rika replied. “We’ve got a lot on our shoulders. Are we even adults? I don’t feel like an adult most of the time. Pretty sure I’m not old enough to run a company of lemonade salespeople, let alone one of mechs.”
Barne set his tray next to them and let out a single laugh. “No, no you’re not. Luckily you have me to help. And by ‘help’, I mean do all the work while you just flit about, getting in dogfights, wrecking our SkyScreams.”
Rika grinned at Barne. “Jealous?”
“Fuck, yeah! I’d halfway consider being mech’d just to fly one of those things.”
Chase gestured at Barne’s prosthetic arm. “Well, you’re on your way. I’ll use you for a shield at some point, and we’ll see if we can get a few more limbs shot off.”
“If I was standing in front of you in a firefight, it would be to keep you safe while you were pissing your pants,” Barne shot back.
“I don’t think that armor counts as pants.”
“Dribbling out of your waste reclamation system?”
“Dude!” Chase glowered at Barne. “Eating here!”
No one spoke for a minute, then Rika said, “That’s one hell of an ethical question, though.”
“What is?” Barne asked. “Whether I should protect Chase while he wets himself on the battlefield?”
“No. Whether or not we make more mechs.”
Chase’s eyebrows lifted, and he nodded slowly. “That’s a tricky one. With the stuff we got from the Politica, we have everything we need to make mechs…but anyone who wants to become one may not have their head on straight.”
Rika laughed. “I think I might be a little bit offended by that.”
“You know what I mean,” Chase said quickly. “Most people don’t want to have their limbs chopped off. Anyone who does probably has body dysphoria issues, which means there’s more trouble beneath the surface.”
“But you could make it an option for soldiers who get injured in the battlefield,” Barne added. “I hated mechs, back when I lost my arm. But now? If I lost my legs or something, I’d consider it. Not like I’m ever leaving the Marauders.”
Rika caught Chase’s eyes at that, but neither spoke.
“Well,” Rika said at last. “I’ll flail my way across that bridge when we get to it. Chances are it’ll be the Old Man’s call, anyway.”
Barne shrugged. “Maybe.”
Rika wondered what Barne meant by that, but didn’t press the issue as Leslie sat with them, followed by David and Dala.
Rika eyed the pink-haired major. For someone so colorful, she certainly was a wet blanket.
Rika considered that. Niki was right, Dala was putting a good face on the fact that someone in her government was trying to kill both her, and the very people she was taking refuge with. Or, at the very least, trying to kill Rika.
“David informed me that General Adam reached out,” Dala said after taking a drink of her orange juice. “I was really starting to worry that his daughter hadn’t passed the message along—or that the General had missed the encoded portion.”
“I was starting to wonder, too,” Rika replied. “But he’ll be here in an hour, so that puts those particular worries to rest. For reasons he did not elaborate upon, he’s hitching a ride with a produce shipment we have coming in today.”
“Seriously?” Leslie asked. “Stuff must be totally sideways here if he’s doing that. Think even General Adam is at risk?”
Heads nodded around the table, and Rika shrugged. “Either that, or he just doesn’t want whoever is taking pot shots at us to know he’s onto them. It might escalate this whole thing to another level.”
“Could be a combination,” David added. “Or there are other, entirely different rationales.”
“Care to enlighten us?” Barne asked.
“No,” David shook his head. “Trust me, if you had to listen to me rattle off all the things that could be going on, your head would explode. Mine nearly does, half the time.”
“Good thing it’s reinforced, then.” Barne laughed, but everyone else just stared at him and shook their heads.
“What?” Barne asked. “Really? Sorry David, but we were all thinking it.”
David shrugged and grinned. “So was I.”
* * * * *
An hour later, Rika waited with Dala and David in a small room off the receiving warehouse near the east gate. Rather than have the general travel across the compound—where he’d be visible to satellite surveillance—Rika decided it would be safest to meet with him where the trucks came in.
She monitored the security feeds, watching as the two trucks passed through the compound’s gate security, and drove down the perimeter road to the non-secured goods warehouse.
Across the table, she saw that Dala was clenching and unclenching her hands.
“Nervous, Major?”
Dala snorted. “He could be coming here to charge me with half a dozen crimes. You too, for that matter. Of course I’m nervous.”
“Do generals often sneak into mercenary training facilities to deliver charges to captains and majors around here?” Rika asked.
Dala sighed and pressed the heels of her hands into her face. “No, don’t be ridiculous. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an added bonus.”
“The fact that he’s coming here like this, means that he’s looking for allies. If he were pissed at us and demanding your head, there’d be a battalion outside our gates. Not two trucks, half-filled with lettuce and tomatoes.”
The major didn’t respond, only drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Rika decided to let the matter drop and returned to watching the feeds as the trucks backed up to the warehouse.
Within the loading bay, fireteam 1-1 waited to escort the general to the meeting. The rest of squad one was also placed in and around the warehouse, ready to defend against any attacks from without or within.
The other three squads of First Platoon were nearby, performing drills and working on maneuvers around Fort Hammerfall—all armed with live ammunition, ready for what may come.
The back of the first truck opened up, and the loading bots rolled forward, grabbing stacks of produce and moving them aside. Once a space opened up, a man and two women exited the truck.
Sergeant Aaron greeted them, and then led the trio across the warehouse toward the room where Rika and the others waited.
Rika switched through several surveillance angles, examining the visitors.
The general was a tall man, older, but not showing any significant signs o
f aging. His hair was dark, almost jet black, and he walked with an easy gait.
The woman on his right bore a colonel’s insignia on her collar, and Rika identified her from the public records as Colonel Judi. The other woman trailed behind them, the badge of a command sergeant major on her shoulders. She wore her beret low, and it took Rika a second longer to identify her. Sergeant Major Rene.
A moment later, Sergeant Aaron opened the door and nodded to Rika. “Captain Rika. General Adam and his retinue are here.”
“Thank you, Sergeant. Show them in.”
Rika, David, and Dala all rose, Dala saluting sharply as the general entered.
His presence filled the room, and he surveyed those in attendance before returning Dala’s salute. “At ease, Major.” Then he turned to Rika. “Captain Rika, I presume.”
He held out his right hand to shake, but Rika raised her left. She’d considered swapping out her gun-arm for a regular one—she knew how much it angered some people to shake with their left—but if the shit hit the fan, she wanted to be ready.
General Adam didn’t miss a beat as he extended his left hand and shook Rika’s.
“It is very nice to meet you,” Rika said. “Though I’m a bit surprised you came out to see us.”
“Well, you may not be, soon enough. Allow me to introduce Colonel Judi and Sergeant Major Rene.”
Rika shook their hands and introduced Chief Warrant Officer David. Once the greetings were over, they all sat at the table. Rika didn’t take the head, and was glad to see that General Adam did not either. He sat across from her, his pale blue eyes boring into hers.
“It’s been an eventful few days since you first came down here, Captain Rika. You seem to have attracted no small amount of trouble.”
Rika nodded. “It’s a talent. Though it seemed like the trouble was lying in wait for me.”
“Perhaps,” General Adam replied, his tone even, revealing nothing. “And Major Dala. I must admit that it is quite interesting to find you here. Your message was light on details, but high on urgency.”
“Yes, General Adam,” Dala replied with a small waver in her voice. “I wasn’t certain how much information I should transmit, but you were one of the few people I felt confident that I could reach out of band, so to speak.”
“But the fact that you have come here means something is going on at Iapetus,” Rika added. “Something you already know about.”
General Adam nodded slowly. “I have suspicions. Suspicions that have solidified over the last few days. Dala’s reports regarding the data blackout that engulfed the city of Hittis the night your ship was attacked were quite interesting. Especially the omissions.”
“Omissions, sir?” Dala asked.
“Your report felt incomplete,” Colonel Judi spoke up. “You seemed to be working toward certain conclusions, and then never made them. It read like a redacted report, but without the redactions noted.”
Dala frowned. “Someone altered my reports?”
“I believe so,” Judi replied. “I assume you have the originals? Could you transmit them to me—provided we’re secure?”
“The room’s network is segregated,” Rika confirmed. “No one will know if you make a connection here.”
General Adam nodded, and Dala closed her eyes for a moment. “There you are, Colonel.”
Colonel Judi pursed her lips and sighed. “Yes, these are demonstrably different. Stars, even the damage assessments are—wait, there were survivors?”
Dala nodded, and Rika spoke up. “At least ten; maybe more, if the wounded all came through.”
General Adam rose and walked to the sideboard where water and coffee waited. “Then it’s as we feared. Subversive elements are operating with impunity on Iapetus.”
“ ‘Subversive elements’?” Rika asked. “That’s nebulous, to say the least. Who do you think it is?”
“Who do you think?” General Adam asked.
“Hmm…” David began tapping his chin in earnest. “After the first attack, we considered that it was someone who was personally upset at Rika for the part she played in the events on Pyra. After they tried to kill Dala, we widened our scope. It’s certainly someone with means—”
“Kill Dala?” Colonel Judi interrupted. “What are you talking about?”
“None of that reached you?” Rika asked and received negative head shakes in response. “Last night, we saved Dala from an assassination attempt. There was a significant attack in downtown Hittis. Afterward, I took out two fighter craft over the northern edge of the city.”
General Adam blew out a long breath. “Stars, I wish I could just purge the whole lot of them. There must be more rot than I expected, to cover up something like this.”
“Sir? What is going on?” Dala asked.
General Adam didn’t respond at first. Instead, he prepared his cup of coffee and stirred it for a moment before turning to the group. “It’s the Nietzscheans, of course. They’re here in Iapetus.”
“The Niets, sir?” Rika asked. “How?”
The general sat at the table and stared at Rika. “Hard to believe you started all this.”
Rika wondered where he was going with this new tack. “Me?”
“When you attacked our president—yes, yes, I know you didn’t really start it. But you breached her bunker and had her in your sights.”
“But I didn’t do it,” Rika replied. “I got the order to stand down.”
General Adam shook his head and smiled. “The order to stand down came almost twenty minutes after you breached. You had plenty of time to kill the president. Plus, I saw the feeds. You couldn’t bring yourself to do it.”
Rika shook her head. “For whatever good it did. The Niets still killed her.”
“It did a lot of good,” General Adam replied. “Marauders would have had the worst time of their lives in Theban space, if one of theirs had killed our president. Septhian merger or no.”
“What does this have to do with there being Niets in Iapetus?” Rika asked.
“Nothing…and everything. There’s a reason why Septhian High Command decided to place your training facility here—a Marauder facility, engaged in training the Niets’ most hated and feared enemy. They wanted to make this system a lightning rod for whatever was to happen next.”
“No,” David interjected. “It’s too fast, sir. We only selected this location three months ago. That’s too fast for the Niets to infiltrate so many branches of your military. It’s not their strong suit.”
“You’re right about that, Chief.” The general nodded, then took a sip of his coffee. “Which means they were already operating here, and you pulled them out into the open—too tempting a target. Which is what we hoped for; we just didn’t expect them to have their hooks in so deep.”
“How do they have their hooks in at all, sir?” Major Dala asked. “They’re the Nietzscheans! How is it that anyone is willing to work with them?”
“There’s a group of people who think the Niets will win. They figure being a part of Nietzschea is no worse than being absorbed by Septhia. I imagine there’s money involved, as well. Lots of money.”
“So you need to clean house,” Rika replied. “How can we help?”
General Adam chuckled. “Well, for starters, keep doing what you’re doing. We wanted a lightning rod, we got one. We need to get these bastards to overextend themselves. Then, when they do, we crush them with extreme prejudice. There’s no mercy for traitors.”
“Then we need to lure them into attacking this base,” Rika replied. “It would take a nuke to dislodge us, maybe not even then. They’ll have to hit us hard, and then we catch them with their pants down.”
General Adam nodded slowly. “How do you plan to do that?”
Rika looked at David. “How tempting a target will we have to be?”
* * * * *
poreal presence in the room with Rika.
Major Tim grunted and Rika could imagine him pacing in his tiny office.
Rika had wondered about that as well. For all she knew, General Adam was playing her. Getting her to weaken her position so that he could destroy Fort Hammerfall with impunity.
Rika hadn’t expected an answer like that from Major Tim.
Seriously, Major, Rika scolded herself mentally as she rose from her desk and paced across the room. How is this man so cowardly?
Rika clenched her teeth and drew in a deep breath before responding to Major Tim.
Major Tim didn’t respond, his silence deafening.
Rika clenched her jaw, willing her heartrate to slow.