by Chris Hechtl
A discussion with their sergeant had led to some interest by the sergeant in helping out as well. His family was from the coast on Agnosta after all. He'd seen the devastation from hurricanes, but the tsunami had been worse, far worse. Staff Sergeant O'Malley watched the videos his Marines brought him and wanted to gag.
“It's still not your problem,” he pointed out to them.
“We're sitting on our asses, sir. We might as well help,” Corporal Walker replied, still looking at the bulkhead six centimeters over the rather short, fire plug of a sergeant's head. “I heard the federation sent government workers in, but they just did a little bit. There is no planetary government, and the local mayor is just one woman, Sergeant,” he said.
“Did I ask for an excuse, Marine?” the sergeant snarled.
“No, Staff Sergeant!” the corporal replied instantly.
“Building this shit is the responsibility of engineers. People who know what to do, not jarheads who know how to handle a weapon and that's about it!” the staff said, frowning. He watched the playback of another private lifting up a section of wall to let the corporal slide a block in to prop it up. When they were done, a couple of locals went in and did something he didn't see at first until the corporal moved to look. When he did he looked away after a moment.
“What were they doing?” the captain asked.
“Recovering the dead, sir,” the corporal said quietly.
“You … they hadn't gotten there?”
“They don't have essential services. They knew the body was there but couldn't get to it. It was the girl's parents, sir.”
“Gods, that was … months ago,” the sergeant said. “Are they that hard up?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Damn it,” the sergeant said. “Okay, you'll take the heat for not coming in,” he warned, pointing a finger at them like it was a pistol. “KP duty, extra watches. Your next leave is canceled obviously. Not get out of here before I throw more at you.”
“Yes, Staff Sergeant,” Corporal Walker said. He nodded his chin to his partner. The two got out of the office fast.
The staff sergeant stared at the girl's tear-streaked face. It was hard to look away. Finally, he wuffled and picked up his radio phone. “Bess? Put me through to the boss. I need to see if he can light a fire under Hardesty. I doubt it, since the space bees are wrapped up with the navy shit.”
He turned away from the girl. “Since we're stuck here, I think we can put our people to work doing something else,” he said.
:::{)(}:::
The following morning Marine and other volunteer groups were dropped off in the nearest coastal town to help rebuild. The request to help them from Sergeant O'Malley had been passed all the way up to Colonel Pendeckle. The colonel had been bemused that the Marines wanted to make work for themselves. That some of them were actually volunteering to do a thankless job blew him away.
He'd put his own call in to Hardesty, but the commander had been bogged down with the rebuilding of Second Fleet. He had signed off on the Marines using what little ground equipment and vehicles they had available. His exact words had been, “Have at it. You break it; you bought it,” the colonel remembered, snorting to himself.
He'd tapped into the satellite network to see the devastation. O'Malley had been right. The Marines couldn't do a lot, but they could do something, he thought. At the least it'd keep them busy, he thought.
He tapped into Able Company's net and then rode in on the captain's implants as he tracked the mayor down.
It took a couple tries to find the older woman. She was in her fifties, silver hair, haggard but still trying to help. She was running a small medicine clinic. The clinic and the general store were the only two reasons why the town still existed. The mayor was apparently stubborn enough to hang in there, and her brother who owned the general store had also stayed on despite losing his wife and daughter. If either or both of them left, it would gut the town so they stayed. “Why would you do this? This isn't your planet!” Mayor Siglin Bjorkson demanded. “Everyone who could left. No one came back,” she said.
“Do we need a reason to help? We're here,” the captain said. “We don't have a lot beyond our own appendages,” he said, holding up his truehands and lobster-like claws. “But with them we can do a lot. At the least we can help you shift the debris to the dump. Clear the area.
“But you are soldiers! Marines!” the woman said. “Don't you have something better to do?”
“So? I have appendages, and I can help,” the captain stated again. Sergeant O'Malley nodded.
“Thank you,” Siglin replied quietly as she turned away. She watched out the battered window as nearby Marines pulled debris away and to a garbage pile. She sniffed, dashed a tear then sucked in a breath and let it out. “Okay, we've got a lot of salt water damage. If you have anyone who can handle plumbing, I think we can put them to work. We need to get the fresh water situation sorted out. We've been hauling it in from a spring up in the hills that wasn't contaminated. The pipes there burst and were lost. A lot of ‘em were rusted anyway. So …”
“I did some plumbing with my dad,” O'Malley said. “I lived in a town like this one. We saw our share of hurricanes,” he said.
The mayor paused and cocked her head. Slowly she nodded. “Did you now,” she murmured.
“If you've got a volunteer, even a kid who can show me the way, I'll get out of your hair and on that, ma'am,” the sergeant said.
“Very well,” she said with the first genuine smile of relief she'd felt in a long time. An invisible burden seemed to have been lifted off her shoulders as she straightened up. “Bobby! Get in here! Gram has a job for you,” she bellowed out, loud enough to make even the sergeant wince and then crack a smile.
:::{)(}:::
The federation aide was seen by a rather suspicious Dom Santini as a gloved hand. The old man was still bitter over the navy taking down some of his air ships, but he did his best to help out in the rebuilding efforts as well. When String mentioned he and some of the other pilots were going out to the coast to help, Dom grudgingly offered discounted rides to the military personnel going out to the distressed areas.
“Dom, really?” Jo asked when she read about the discounts in the company's spreadsheets. It had taken some digging and some careful questions to get the straight story. Dom had finally come clean but getting the full story out of him had been like pulling teeth.
“What? It's what I've got. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, young lady,” he growled.
“Not when I already know how old it is I won't,” she replied with a grin. She hugged him.
“Oh you,” he growled. She kissed him on the cheek. “Off with you now,” he grumbled, but his scowl turned into a smile.
“Be a crotchety old bastard if you want. I know better,” she said, poking him. “Under that grumpy, wrinkled, pudgy exterior lurks a good heart,” she said as she left.
He blinked then his eyes bugged out as she got out of arms reached. “Who you callin’ pudgy?!?” he demanded. “Wrinkled?”
Caitlin came in, stopped, saw him turning red and then looked back to see Jo scampering off with a grin on her face. “You know, she's only doing it to get your goat, right?”
“It's working,” Dom growled.
“Yeah I know. Old goats tend to fall for it every time,” she said.
He growled and glared at her. She smiled sweetly. “I swear you women do it so I'll drop dead of a heart attack one of these days,” he said in a long suffering voice.
She snickered, covering her mouth and nose with a hand. “How the heck are you going to do that? You're already such a cantankerous old bastard. Can you imagine what you'd be like with a group of nurses? Or a reaper? I swear, you'd argue yourself blue in the face with one of them they'd send you back just to be rid of you!”
Dom snorted, some of his good humor restored. He waved a dismissive hand. “Pushaw now, you're just saying that to make me feel better.”
“D
oesn't mean it's not true. I'll tell Jo to back off. Her plan of getting you laid up so you can flirt with the nurses while she takes over the business is obviously not going to work,” she said shaking her head.
Dom blinked. “Hey now,” he growled. “Just a minute, that's not a bad idea!” he said, suddenly grinning. He rubbed his hands together. “I could use a vacation like that! Pretty girls waiting on me hand and foot …”
Caitlin rolled her eyes then covered them as she shook her head. “Oh lords above, what have I done!” she laughed. Dom's bass chuckle rumbled throughout the room. “Honestly, you?? Chasing nurses? At your age??”
“I'll have you know, you're only as old as you feel, young lady,” he said with as much dignity as he could muster. She grinned at him. Dom snorted and looked away. “Besides, I'd drive them crazy wanting to get back to work and you know it,” he said.
“True,” she agreed, clapping him on the shoulder. She gave his shoulder a squeeze and then sat down. “So, I swung by to go over the morning reports with you.” she said.
“Down to business. Okay,” Dom said with a nod.
:::{)(}:::
The much-anticipated arrival of Bismark's force was celebrated by all when they emerged at the B458 jump point. There was instant relief and celebration by everyone in the star system and beyond when the news was broadcast through the ansible. The news was followed by amusement when the army group arrived later that same day from the Kathy's World jump point on the other side of the solar system.
Three days after their arrival, the army unit arrived in Protodon orbit. Colonel Pendeckle sent his files to Okinawa, along with a quiet message about the work the Marines were doing on the coast.
“The real mission is to run General Busche down. ONI is now certain she's still alive; she let Colonel Paulings take the fall at her mine base a while back. But she's gone to ground pretty thoroughly, so I'm letting my people keep busy helping with the rebuilding. Anything you've got would help out immensely,” he stated.
Immediately, Major Wade Hayes assessed the situation and offered to help the government out with a loan of their engineering unit. They have a small engineering brigade as well as a hospital battalion to help rebuild.
“It's good to see you again, Colonel,” Major Hayes stated. He had been a Marine officer under the colonel for several years before he'd accepted a transfer and promotion to the army. “And congrats on the promotion. It suits you,” he said with a nod.
“Good to see you too, Wade,” the colonel replied with a nod.
“I'm reading this report,” the major said, holding a tablet up briefly before he set it down in front of himself. “We've got some engineers we can lend you. I also have some water purification specialists. Conway and Kaufman's water boys should help fill your needs,” he said with a grin. “I've been trying to think of a way to keep that group busy.”
“Trouble makers?”
“The usual kind,” the major replied. “Sergeant Stern has his hands full with them. They thought signing on in the army reserves would give them some quick cash to open up an electronics store.”
The colonel snorted. “Little did they know the reserves are currently active.”
“Exactly. They picked the one specialty that we seem to need active at all times. So, they'll straighten up or end up in the brig permanently. Either way, we'll use them.”
“Good. Who else do you have?”
“Well, we've got some recon specialists. I'm assuming you're keeping an eye on the area your marines are working in just in case General Busche and her pals puts in another appearance?”
The colonel nodded slowly. “We're watching for any of her shenanigans. Nothing yet, not even feelers. She prefers the deep mountains and forests of the main continent though. She's … well, thousands of clicks away.”
“Okay. Are you focusing on the main continent's coast line now or are you hitting the islands too?”
“Main continent. I didn't want to do a shotgun approach and have my people too dispersed. I figured we'd throw everything we can at an area, clean up, and then move on in systematic fashion.”
“Agreed. I think we can work with that as long as our people don't trip over each other. Any ideas on where the money to rebuild is going?”
“That I can't tell you. Most likely the big cities … which clearly don't need it,” the colonel said in disgust.
“I'll put a call in to the capital. It might help if you do too, sir,” the major suggested.
The colonel nodded. “Will do. Maybe it'll get IG's interest, and someone will kick some money loose to do the job they were supposed to be doing all along,” he growled.
“It might not be corruption. It might be some other stupidity—hiring people, training, whatever.”
“Excuses all. While they dick around, these people have been suffering. It was going on right under my damn nose and I didn't look,” the colonel growled.
The major sized him up and then nodded slowly. There was an element of shame going on there and guilt. But they all had a job to do, and the colonel had been focused on what he'd been sent there to do. The rebuild was outside his mission parameters.
But, it would help, he thought. “Okay. Let's see if we can get others to help too. Get the local and federation media involved.”
“Vultures,” the colonel growled.
“Ah, but if they are helping us, then it's all for the best,” the major said with a shrug. “I'll make calls there. Not for the glory but to light some fires, get some people moving. Besides,” he grinned. “I bet some goodwill here and there will make sure we've got an open keg wherever our people go on the planet,” he said.
The colonel snorted. “As if they need another excuse to get wasted,” he said, shaking his head.
“Oh come on, pretty girls, bikinis, beach, clam bakes …” the major suggested slyly.
The colonel chuckled. “I see you do have an ulterior motive. But I won't tell anyone if you don't. Let's see what we can do,” he said with a nod.
:::{)(}:::
Other businesses on Protodon stepped up and gave free or steeply discounted food or lodging to Marines or personnel who helped out with the rebuilding of the coastal communities. Word spread in the federation forces. The chain of command reluctantly talked and agreed to allow entire platoons and eventually brigades to be stationed in the area to help. They set up temporary fire bases and used resources like replicators and transport vehicles to help clean up and repair areas. Marines donated some of their pay and time to help spark the rebuild efforts. Just their business in the smattering of restaurants and small businesses became an economic boom to the local economy—bring them out of the dredges of depression.
The actions of the Marines and soldiers touched the Protodon people when it hit the social media and then was picked up by the main stream media. An image of a Marine helping a woman and her children followed by another of a group of Marines using hammers and hand tools to help rebuild a home, and then another of a navy medic treating a line of sick and injured people lit up the planet's internet and media like a fire storm. The response to such images was the final spark needed to get them to sign on to a formal planetary government and to also fully join the federation.
:::{)(}:::
“Well, it's official ladies and gentle beings and what a night!” the tired but wide-eyed GSN reporter said over the din of the celebration going on around her. “The records are in with an overwhelming majority in support to reinstate the planet's constitution. The election results came in a moment ago as well with Governor-elect R'x'll being chosen by a 50 percent majority. Her runner-up Mister Rudders will have to settle for the second slot with a 47 percent showing. We'll hear the speeches from them in a few minutes. For the moment though, we have one more pieces of news. To top all of that off was the decision to join the federation,” the woman said breathless.
She turned to survey the group then nodded. “With 70 percent of the planet reportedly voting, an overwhelming
majority voted to join the new federation—this in the face of the certainty of a looming space battle and potential invasion.” She turned at the pop of explosions behind her.
The camera panned up to show fireworks bursting in the sky. The crowd oohed and awed, pointing. Someone's hand entered the shot so the cameraman moved the camera over to the left a bit.
“You can't keep a good population down it seems,” the reporter said with a grin in her voice as confetti and balloons began to fly about the area. “Back to you in the studio, Ellen, Ray,” she said.
“Quite the party there,” Ellen the local anchorwoman said as the camera switched to the studio camera briefly before it cut to a series of montages of celebrations all over the planet. “And quite the party!” she said.
“It seems with the Bismark here everyone feels secure in the future for once. Let's hope they're not wrong,” Ray said.
:::{)(}:::
Once Protodon formally signed on, the first Rho sector Congress was gaveled into session. Admiral Irons thought it was a good accomplishment but just a start. There were twenty-four friendly star systems out of forty known to exist in the sector. Forty-one if the Ssilli world was found he reminded himself, but twenty-four out of forty known gave them just enough for a quorum. Not enough for a full galactic Congress, but a sector Congress went a long way to train the politicians on what to expect in the future.
Thirteen star systems in the eastern side of the sector were essentially hostile; of that number eight were known to be occupied by the Horathian Empire. Four were possible conquests or daughter colonies; intelligence wasn't certain at the moment. The Marines were working on reducing that number to seven once the invasion of Destria was completed later in the year.