“You just can’t stand doing nothing,” she said aloud through gritted teeth. Five gees was as much as they could stand and still function in the time between the sprints. The Rabbit grumbled because she was right. He also suggested to the captain that they could have jumped from outside the heliosphere to a point next to the planet and avoid all of the unpleasantness of the acceleration. The captain politely declined until Briz’s calculations and procedure for such a jump were tested using an unmanned ship.
Briz hoped that the SES would take care of that while they were gone.
When Pace turned the ship around to decelerate, the crew knew they were on the downhill side of the mountain. Cain started to get anxious, unsure of what his mission would be or where it would be conducted. He expected to take a contingent of his Marines to the planet, and the worst case scenario was that he’d learn his mission en route. He trusted his people, but he liked as much information as he could get. The major was not a fan of going in blind, which is exactly how he felt as they decelerated into a gentle orbit around the planet Concordia.
What Is Graham Doing?
Once in orbit, the sensor operators went active with all their systems, watching carefully for any activity in orbit or any shuttle activity on the planet surface, although Graham gave them the information confirming that the two shuttles used in the previous attack were the last two shuttles in their inventory. They had no operational models remaining.
Graham did not have to open the food warehouses to show the people that the government was hording the supply. The citizenry discovered that for themselves and raided the warehouses. According to the planet’s AI, there was little bloodshed during those rampages as the government security abandoned their posts and ran for their lives.
Bullies, Cain thought. They just need someone to teach them a lesson, knock them off their mountaintop.
Tandry had been trying to reach the Concordian leadership since The Olive Branch arrived in orbit. Daksha was worried that they’d arrived too late. “If there’s a civil war, I don’t think we should go down to the planet,” the Tortoid suggested.
“If there was a civil war, what would be the purpose of going down? We’d be between two sides and we’d have to pick one. But joining a mob isn’t what we brought these Marines to do.” Cain had no intention of taking his people into the middle of an uprising. All that way, trained specifically to fight the Concordian government, and pull the plug at the last second. Cain wanted to take his Marines in, but not without a clear mission and a reasonable chance of success.
“We are not in a rush. I suggest we wait and see,” Rand recommended.
“I think we’re in agreement,” the commander added. “We wait, see how things shake out. In the interim, we keep trying to get in touch with the government. Jolly, you can talk to Graham, but he can’t help his leadership talk with us?” the commander asked, still skeptical of the arrangement the Concordians maintained with their AI.
“That’s right, Commander. They do not treat Graham like you treat me. They don’t consider him to be sentient, so he is relegated to menial computer tasks and not anything approaching what he is truly capable of. It is a shame.”
“How can we contact them, Jolly? Graham has to know a way,” Cain urged. The delay suggested Jolly was in contact with Graham, although at the speed that an artificial intelligence thought, a lengthy conversation could take a total of less than one second.
“I’ve passed the information to Ensign Tandry. There appears to be a special protocol that the senior officials use. I have high hopes that the ensign will be able to make contact,” Jolly offered happily.
The speaker came to life. “Tandry here, Commander, patching you through now.” Cain wasn’t pleased that they had to prompt Jolly so specifically when he knew they wanted to talk with the planet to hopefully forestall a civil war. Cain was starting to have his doubts about Jolly. That was how it started with Holly, the little things added up until it was a complete discombobulation.
“This is Mission Commander Daksha of the deep space exploration vessel The Olive Branch. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” the Tortoid said smoothly.
“Good afternoon, I am Robert, secretary to the president. He’s in a very important meeting right now and can’t be bothered. May I take a message?” Daksha closed his eyes, concentrating on his breathing.
“We are in orbit over your planet. The last time we were here, we had a slight disagreement with your president. We are here with a different posture. I think it would be in your president’s best interest, if he talks to me himself,” Daksha advised.
“I’m sorry, but he simply cannot take your call now. Try again later.” The secretary closed the connection.
“I would love to send you and your Marines down there right now to clean the crawlers out of that nest.” Daksha floated upward and swam toward Cain. “Jolly, are there any armed conflicts ongoing at present?” The AI confirmed that there were not.
“Prepare your Marines to remove their president from power. If we can confirm his location, you’ll go. My intent is to end this nonsense. Install a government that is willing and able to talk, maybe even stop that war from starting, everything we didn’t want to do. Although if there’s a chance we can stop a war, isn’t that just like bringing peace?”
“As you wish, Master Daksha,” Cain said, excusing himself to rally his leadership team and build out the attack force. As he walked through the hatch, he stopped and looked back. “The ship is life.”
Cain continued through the corridors, head held high, happy to have something to do. “Jolly!” he called. “I want diagrams and pictures of the building that we need to go into and the surrounding area. We’ll need a landing spot, and a way in. Chop, chop! We’ve got work to do.”
Cain assembled his team, the lieutenants, sergeant, and corporals to lay out the mission objective and rules of engagement. He loved the old Earth acronyms and found one called SMEAC that seemed to make mission planning go easier. It was time to train the team.
“Situation: Concordia is devolving toward civil war. The leadership is not taking the actions it needs to serve the people. They are going to start destroying entire towns in an attempt to bring the populace back under control.
“Mission: When given the order, we will seize the president of Concordia, limiting destruction and death to that necessary to accomplish the primary objective. Once he is in our control, we will encourage him to order a cease fire, stand his forces down, keep them from taking action against the populace.
“Execution: We will travel in the large shuttle with twelve fully armed Marines and twelve ‘cats. We will move from our pre-selected landing site using squad by squad bounding overwatch to an ingress point of the building housing the presidential offices, which is located in the main complex in Concord’s city center.
“Admin and logistics: We will carry everything we need with us. There will be no resupply. There will be no reinforcements. One Taser per Marine, two flasks, two flash-bangs on everyone’s vest, one recharging station per platoon. Minimal food bars. I don’t plan on being there that long and they’ll have food. I’ve heard there’s hot chow on the objective, but I can’t confirm that.” Cain smiled, but the others didn’t get his reference. Wolfoid ears perked at the sound of a hot meal in the field.
“Command and Signal: We’ll use the mindlink to coordinate among ourselves, and we are assured that Jolly will be with us for the duration. Minimize your implants, never close them completely while we are on the planet surface. Jolly will be in constant contact with Graham, the planet’s AI, who is sympathetic. Graham, however, does not have safety protocols. Graham has helped his leadership to kill people, but he is no longer good with that, because we’ve shown him that there is a better way.” Cain looked at his people.
“By killing people,” Stinky said, one hand on his chin in his most thoughtful pose.
“What?” Cain asked.
“You said that we’ve sh
own Graham that there’s a better way than killing people, when the last time we were there, the only thing we really did was to kill a bunch of people, and we’re taking fully armed Marines into their house, to probably kill more people, to show them that there’s a better way than killing people, if I get that logic correct.” Stinky sat back, having made his real point that if Graham bought that, then he was insane.
“Jolly shared with him what life on Vii was like after the Council of Elders was formed, inclusive, free trade, equality for all. That’s what convinced Graham. Their AI also saw the duplicity of his humans in trying to capture those on the planet while also trying to take the ship. It was only natural that we fought back. For too long, the Concordian people have not fought back. So yes, we’re going down there to kill people, so that all the rest can live free. They have a hard road ahead of them. In between, we’re going to convince them that killing people is bad, by killing people, which will make them love us even more,” Cain quipped at the end.
He’d seen the videos showing how Marines used humor in the most dire of circumstances. He felt right at home. Stinky was also fully on board. Pickles had such a dry sense of humor, Cain never understood when he was trying to be funny or not. The sergeant was just the sergeant and the squad leaders were always eager to please. He’d get them to lighten up, especially after a successful mission. He didn’t think about losing people. He couldn’t. The mission came first.
“Honor, duty, integrity, loyalty, courage. What is most important for the Cygnus Marines?” Cain asked.
No one answered right away, but finally Spence raised a hand. “I see our job as a fierce determination to do right, whether that’s right by the SES or right by our enemies. We have to stay on the moral high ground, while at the same time driving fear like a stake into the heart of our enemies.”
“No better friend. No greater enemy,” Stalker added. She’d been reading up on Marine history.
“Duty first, to our principles, to our leadership, to each other,” Pickles said flatly.
Cain raised his glass of water. “Duty first!” The others toasted with him as he added, “Save the ship.”
With Jolly’s help, Cain had used the ship’s system fabricator to bolster their supply of Tasers and replace the flash-bangs they’d used against the Androids. During their so-called downtime, Cain had dug extensively into non-lethal combat and added a thing called zip-ties to their kit to be able to quickly bind prisoners or anyone that needed to be removed from the action.
“If we can make it through this without killing anyone, then that will be the greatest victory for the Cygnus Marines,” Cain declared, setting the bar high for the operation. “But we don’t risk our lives unnecessarily and I’m sorry that the mission guidance is ambiguous. I will be there with you, with the lieutenants and a hand-picked team based on skills. Everyone is capable and I know that one hundred percent of our people will volunteer for this mission. But we have to choose twelve total and that sucks, but that’s the shuttle’s limit. Names?”
Black Leaper stood. “You, me, Pickles, and Stalker as the first four. Bull, Spence as the next two. I suggest Ascenti join us as a scout and he can make thirteen. He’s light as a feather.” The Wolfoid chuckled at his own joke. “Do we need anyone good with technology?”
Cain shook his head. He didn’t see a role for Fickle or Starsgard, not on this operation.
Pickles stood next to Stinky. “Zisk, Grace, Jo. Slayer, Tracker, and Shady,” the lieutenant suggested. The squad leaders had been selected. In all, both Lizard Men, the sole Hawkoid, three humans, seven Wolfoids, and twelve Hillcats were chosen. Lutheann, Tobiah, Brutus, and N’lon were the first four ‘cats. Luthie would select the rest.
Cain needed to bring the unit together to share the news. He didn’t want anyone finding out secondhand that they hadn’t been selected for the mission. The Marines were competitive and those not going would be disappointed, but those not going were responsible for defending the ship, in case the Concordians were able to resurrect a shuttle and return to space.
“Sergeant Stalker, form the platoon on the mess deck as soon as you can. We need to share some information with our people.”
Cain pulled his stash of medals and logos to have them available. The major was pleased at the efficiency in quickly assembling the Marines. They were brought to attention, as much as they could within the confined space that barely held their number.
Cain stood on a chair because Bull blocked everyone’s view. As First Squad leader, he was always up front, too.
“We’ve been a little slow in getting your justly earned medals to you. First up, Corporal Aurochs Ring!” Bull stepped forward. “We’re going to call this the enemy marksmanship medal, of which you’ve earned two!” Cain pinned two Shooting Stars to Bull’s harness. The large Wolfoid looked embarrassed as he accepted them, stepping quickly back into formation.
“Private Foucault, come on up here. There’s one for you, too.” Fickle wore a big smile as he made his way forward. Cain pinned the medal on his uniform collar and leaned close. “I’m proud of you, Fickle.” The Marine beamed as he returned to his place at the end of the squad.
“Sergeant Stalker! We already had your brief ceremony, but I have the medal now.” He pinned the Space Star Third Class, a striped silver version of the medal, to her harness.
“Now we get down to business,” he started, but Bull raised his half-hand/half-paw. Cain looked at him. “Yes?”
“You should be wearing two Shooting Stars, sir,” Bull said. Others nearby nodded.
“I earned two Shooting Stars, but lost one when Private Razor Fang died protecting me. That medal is where it belongs. We don’t do this for the medals,” Cain said softly. “We do this for all of Vii. I think Lieutenant Peekaless was right and that our motto should be, duty first! Duty to our principles, duty to our home, the SES, to each other. We’ll execute our duty with the highest integrity, honor, and courage.” From the corner of his eye, Cain saw Stinky rolling his eyes and twirling his finger to hurry up.
“And that leads us to the mission. We’re going to Concord, people. The main building in the main city. The person who is causing all the grief, the so-called president? We are going to remove him from power, and then the mission commander is going to work with the Concordians to establish a government more like what we have on Vii, where people are free. At least to start. They can change it however they want, but tyranny will not be tolerated, anywhere we find it.” Stinky continued to shake his head.
“I am promoting Private Starsgard to acting corporal, effective immediately. He will take charge of those Marines chosen to remain on board The Olive Branch. You are charged with securing the ship, keeping it safe from our enemies. Last time we orbited this planet, seven crew members died right here in these corridors. You will not let that happen again. To get to the crew, an enemy will have to step over your dead bodies.”
Starsgard stepped forward, looking at the other corporals. Cain leaned down to pin the stripe on the doctor’s collar before returning his attention to the platoon. “That’s right, the corporals, Stalker, Leaper, Peekaless, and four others will join me as we go to the planet and execute our mission to the best of our ability. We will do everything in our power to win on land and in space. Duty first!” he yelled, thrusting a fist into the air, striking the overhead with a hearty smack. The Marines both cheered and chuckled. “Duty first, Marines. Tracker, Slayer, Zisk, Shady, and Ascenti remain behind. Everyone else, dismissed,” he ordered.
Starsgard led the others off the mess deck, leaving the landing party to plan. Cain had Jolly project images of their possible landing area and the approach to the building. He asked for their opinion on the best landing zone and why, then the best way to move into the building based on what they knew about how the president’s security would be deployed. Cain was wary of stating his preference first because the others would accept it as definitive, and that wasn’t what he wanted. The best plans were torn apa
rt and rebuilt, one piece at a time, simply, so everyone understood.
Some of the key plan elements were outside his control, like the Concordians seeing the shuttle as it approached and moving the president to another location. Once the shuttle landed, they were stuck there for four days. Chasing the president wouldn’t work as they did not have any logistics to support travel other than on foot. “Jolly, can you work with Graham to make the shuttle invisible?”
“We can’t do that, Master Cain. The shuttle materials are visible by any standard radar, no matter how archaic,” Jolly replied.
“You miss my point, Jolly. I just don’t want to be seen as in, all the radars go down or even better, they project a false image that nothing is in the sky. A false sense of security would be better. If all of a sudden they lose their radars, they’ll suspect we’re coming, but even that is better than them actually seeing us,” Cain corrected the myopic AI.
After a short delay, Jolly replied. “Graham says that he can do that. Looping the last screen image from a certain point is easily done. The problem will be if they have any helicopters flying. The radar will appear as if it doesn’t see them, when the operators will know they are there.”
“Maybe we can fly when the helicopters aren’t in the air. I’d rather they not see their own helicopters if we have no other choice. When’s the best time to make our descent? I’m thinking a landing in the middle of the night.” Cain realized that he had to spoon feed the AI, not because of any desire to be difficult, but Jolly had not been programmed to make war. He simply did not think about tactics or strategy when it came to the man versus man struggle. Cain found he was envious of such naïveté.
Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2) Page 30