The Operative answered, “Of course they are. They’ve got Army every click, and on the train cars themselves.”
Rich asked, “Can we attack the cars?”
The Operative replied, “That’s even more half-assed than attacking the rails.”
Rich asked, “What do you propose, then?”
The Operative answered, “We can’t win, but if we could, we should attack the source of the supplies.”
Rich said, “We already attacked their big dome thing. We got our asses handed to us.”
The Operative said, “That’s only their food. Of course they’re going to dedicate a lot of resources to defend it.”
Rich asked, “Then what’s still vulnerable?”
The Operative said, “The mines. We should attack the mines. That would leave them defenseless.”
Rich said, “That would take a lot of resources. They have several mining operations. Mostly they use strip mining, and destroying a strip mine is really just making it bigger.”
The Operative said, “We could also just destroy the processing plant.”
Rich asked, “What makes you think that won’t be heavily defended?”
The Operative replied, “I don’t. I just know they don’t have a large population. Something’s got to be vulnerable.”
Rich said, “No, I don’t think they have anything important undefended. Our best bet is the railroad.”
The Operative said, “Whatever you say. You’re plucking this chicken.”
Rich said, “Don’t forget that I’ve won more battles than you’ll ever dream of fighting.”
The Operative said, “That may be true, but I don’t think you’re going to win this one.”
The Operative assembled a team with six men and ten women. They started training in a simulator.
The Operative said, “We’re going to see who can destroy rails from a distance with a laser. We can’t get close enough to the rails because they’re well-armed.”
One of the team asked, “So what are we supposed to do?”
The Operative replied, “We need to fire on the rail from about a half kilometer away under the cover of darkness. Then we need to be able to get away without being seen.”
The Operative chose the fastest and smallest members of the crew for this mission because it was imperative that they were stealthy. Now it was time to prove he made the right decision. He found some metal beams on the ship. They were about the right size for railroad tracks, so he took them with him to train his team.
The Operative ordered his team to fall into position. They lined up at the track and started walking away. They stopped when they were a kilometer away from the tracks. Everyone took cover and started firing at the tracks. Most of the shots missed, which was to be expected from that distance.
The team took 200 shots, and 19 hit their target. Each shot was color coded, so The Operative could discern which team member hit the track. The 19 true shots were taken by three members of the team.
“Jordan, Hinkle, and Begay, you’re moving on. The rest of you, go back to your duties,” barked The Operative.
Mark Jordan, Julie Hinkle, and Rebecca Begay followed The Operative while the rest of the team returned to their regular duties. Mark was walking arrogantly behind Julie, who was exhausted. Rebecca fell in behind them and followed them to the locker room.
***
Jordan was monitoring the General’s office while the plan was made. He immediately went to Scout with the information about the railroad attack.
Jordan said, “They’re going to attack under cover of darkness tonight.”
Scout replied, “Put a team on the rails. While we’re at it, let’s put mines near the places they might attack from.”
Jordan said, “Yes, sir.”
Train service was suspended until the attack was over. The Army was posted to positions all along the tracks, and ordered to keep silent. Jordan and Becky were in charge of the counteroffensive.
Jordan told Becky, “We should take up positions at opposite ends of the tracks.”
Becky said, “I’ll put my people near Freedom. You can put yours near Progress. Scout has the robots covering the mine.”
Jordan said, “Sounds good to me.”
That night, Mark Jordan stood a kilometer from the mine and fired his laser. Nick was waiting for him, and deflected the shot. Then Nick fired a volley of iron bullets at Mark. Only two hit him, but they were both fatal. Nick went to Mark’s body and put a beacon on it. The beacon would make it easy for Rich to find his fallen subordinate.
Julie Hinkle crouched a kilometer from the Progress city limits. She fired a missile at the tracks and hit them. A huge hole formed in the tracks. Jordan saw the shot and launched a rocket-propelled grenade at her. The RPG exploded three meters from her. Shrapnel from the grenade hit her in the left leg, severing it.
Julie writhed in pain as she crawled along the ground. She pulled her weight mostly with her arms, but her right leg could still propel her. A trail of blood followed her path, which she worried might tempt the Martians to follow her.
Jordan Green said, “Don’t stop her from getting in her ship. We’re not merciless.”
One of Jordan’s subordinates snapped, “They’re merciless. Why should we show them any more than they show us?”
Jordan barked, “Because we’re better than they are. We’re not savages.”
Julie made it to her ship and took a deep breath. She needed to stop the bleeding in her thigh. She reached into the center console and pulled out her tourniquet kit. She fastened it to her thigh, and the bleeding slowed to a trickle. It would stop eventually. She returned to the base ship, but was soon sent home.
Rebecca Begay tried to get closer to the tracks. She walked three hundred meters from the tracks and fired lasers at them. She hit them several times, making small holes in the tracks that would need to be repaired. She was getting arrogant about her destruction.
Rebecca sang, “We’ll kill you all. We’ll destroy your lives. Nothing else matters.”
She fired random shots toward the tracks, but she started missing when she decided to play quick draw. Then she ran into Becky and John. She stood, frozen, with the laser gun in her hand. John seized the opportunity and put a bullet right between her eyes. She died instantly.
The next day, Scout ordered Nick and Kit to help repair the railroad. Becky was busy making new rails. John and Jordan were assigned to welding duty. The repairs took two days to complete, and the railroad was better after the repairs than it was before the attack.
***
General Rich was pissed. He wanted to know why The Operative wasn’t present during the attack. He wanted to know why he lost two soldiers and had to send another woman home.
The Operative said, “I didn’t think I needed to actually be there. You told me to form a team that could accomplish the mission. You never said I had to be there when they did it.”
Rich replied, “You’re treading on thin ice right now. I’m already pissed that two thirds of your team died.”
The Operative said, “This is a war. People die in wars.”
Rich said, “Yet no one on the other side died.”
The Operative said, “That’s not my fault.”
Rich said, “Yes, it is. You should’ve been covering someone on your team. If I didn’t need you so much, I’d have you relieved of duty and sent home with a dishonorable discharge.”
The Operative said, “I told you I wanted out. We can’t win.”
Rich said, “I’m not conceding defeat just yet.”
The Operative said, “Well, I am.”
Rich said, “Then it’s a good thing you’re not in charge.”
Chapter Forty
The Long Journey Home
The Star Brigade turned their ships toward Mars. They were joined by 35 escape pods from the supply ship. There were 70 defectors in the pods.
Lane broadcast, “I hope the escape pods have your radios turned on.”
; A pod turned on its lights and turned them off again to signal that it was receiving the message. The other pods followed suit.
Lane said, “Okay, I guess you can hear me. We’re willing to accept anyone who follows us to Mars, but there are some things you need to know. First, Mars is very different from Earth. The air is barely breathable, the work is harder, and there will be no riches in our society. Next, you should know that we can’t just trust you once you arrive with us. We’ll put you in our jail until this war is over to make sure you don’t betray us. If you’re still willing to follow us, you may do so. If not, this is your only opportunity to return to Earth safely.”
All of the pods flashed their lights to signal that they’d received the message.
Lane said, “Anyone wanting to return to Earth, break your formation and you will be allowed to return to Earth in peace. We will even wait to make sure you enter Earth’s atmosphere before we head home.”
No pods moved. Lane was impressed with their devotion. He gave them coordinates to program into their pods and gave the order to fly home.
The Star Brigade had mixed feelings as they programmed their ships. They won the battle, but felt like they lost a war. Their friend, Jack, was killed during the fight. They also lost Jessica Frost, a 19-year-old woman in the battle.
Lane radioed his crew, “If anyone needs to talk about what happened, feel free. I know Leona’s not here, but we’re all here to help each other.”
A pilot said, “I can’t believe we lost two people back there. I knew Jessica. I’m going to miss her a lot. She was such a good person, and she deserved better than to die in space.”
Another radioed, “I think it’s really messed up that we didn’t even try to retrieve their bodies so we could bury them.”
Lane said, “It wasn’t possible. There was no way to know which debris was ours. I know it seems cruel to leave them adrift in space, but we’ll make sure to honor them properly. They deserve that much.”
The first pilot said, “We’d better. They gave their lives so we could live in peace. They deserve to be remembered for that.”
Lane said, “I’ll make sure we not only honor them in the short term, but forever. We’ll make sure to immortalize their memory in the history of Mars. Every school kid will remember their names for eternity.”
The radio went silent. Tears were falling down the pilots’ faces. None of them were able to control their emotions. They were also unable to control their ships, so they set them to autopilot. Most of the pilots just stared out their screens into space. They tried to make sense of their lives, but were unable to make sense of anything.
Lane thought, “Is this really worth the pain? I can’t see losing so many people to a war we shouldn’t have to fight. Why can’t they just give us our freedom?”
While he questioned the necessity of the war, he knew there was no other way for Mars to break away from Earth and its corruption.
The ships were travelling through space at unbelievable speed, but it felt like a snail’s pace to the pilots who had a lot of excess time to think about their lost friends. Day after day, they thought about how they could have fought the battle differently. They saw ways that their friends might have lived through it. Then they started to blame each other.
A pilot told Lane, “It’s your fault. If you’d done things better, we could’ve won without losing anyone. We should’ve come away unscathed.”
Lane asked him, “What do you think I did wrong?”
The pilot answered, “You told us to hold our fire. If we hadn’t done that, we might’ve saved Jack.”
Lane said, “I did the best I could. If I hadn’t had you hold your fire, we would’ve been in a bad place. All our ammunition would’ve been gone by the time I figured out how to beat that damn shield. We won that battle because of that decision.”
The pilot said, “I’m sure you could’ve found a way to save everyone. You just didn’t care enough about them to keep them alive.”
Lane angrily yelled, “Don’t you ever accuse me of not caring. Jack was one of my best friends, and my heart’s breaking just like everyone else’s.”
The pilot said, “Maybe you should’ve done a little more research and gathered better intelligence. Then you would’ve known about their shields.”
Lane said, “None of our informants mentioned anything to either me or Jack.”
The pilot said, “You only talk about Jack. What about Jessica? She was a person too.”
Lane said, “Everyone on this team is just as important as everyone else. I didn’t know Jessica as well as I knew Jack, but only because I never got the chance. I understand if you need to talk about her. I’d like to learn who she was.”
The radio fell silent again. The next three days were silent as the pilots stared into space and cried. They couldn’t concentrate on their journey. Space is very lonely and conducive to sadness. The void of space allowed them to think about their pain without interruption or distraction. Only the occasional radio message from the other pilots provided any relief. Depression began to settle in. Two of the pilots contemplated suicide, but thought better of it when they realized they had friends and family that needed them.
Lane radioed on the fourth day, “Is everyone still with us?”
The pilots all checked in so Lane would know they were still alive. They’d travelled millions of kilometers by this time, and the length of the journey was maddening.
Lane said, “I know we’re all bothered by the memory of the battle, but these ships don’t fly by themselves forever. I need everyone to perform a routine diagnostic on their ship’s systems. When you finish that, switch from autopilot to manual so we can make sure the ships still work properly.”
The crew obeyed the order. They performed their routine maintenance. Then they switched to manual controls. Two of the pilots fired their weapons.
Lane said, “I never said to test your weapons. We need every bit of ammo we have, and we can’t afford to waste any of it.”
One of the pilots radioed, “Sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure it still worked.”
Lane said, “Well, you’ve proven they do. Now leave them alone unless you need them.”
The pilot replied, “Yes, sir.”
Lane said, “That applies to everyone. Do not fire your weapons unless you need to. Is that understood?”
Everyone replied, “Yes, sir.”
The next two weeks were spent in silence again as the Star Brigade flew nearer to Mars. On the next Monday, they entered communications range. The Martian leadership fed them intelligence about the location of the enemy ships. They used this information to plan their return to Mars.
Lane radioed this crew, “We know where the Allied ships are, so we can get around them once we get a little closer.”
A pilot replied, “We’ll follow your lead, sir.”
Lane said, “I’ll try to keep you all safe.”
A few hours passed as the Star Brigade got closer to Mars. Lane waited patiently until he needed some information.
Lane radioed Scout, “How’s the war going on the ground?”
Scout answered, “We lost a few good people, but we’re clearly winning. How’d things go in space?”
Lane said, “We lost two pilots, but we won the battle.”
Scout asked, “Who’d you lose?”
Lane replied, “We lost Jack and a young lady named Jessica Frost.”
Scout started crying. He asked, “Jack’s gone?”
Lane said, “He died a hero. He saved the day before he was killed. It’s because of him that we returned.”
Scout asked, “Did you recover the bodies?”
Lane answered, “There was no way to know which debris was their bodies. We had to leave them adrift.”
Scout said, “We’ll have to honor them some other way, then.”
Lane said, “I plan on it, but it needs to be something grand. They saved our society.”
Scout asked, “Who�
�s gonna tell Jane about Jack?”
Lane said, “I don’t want to do it. Who do you think would be the best person to break that news to her?”
Scout said, “I don’t want to do it, either. Her brother’s the best person to do it. I’ll have John do it.”
Lane asked, “What about the woman we lost?”
Scout asked, “Don’t you know her name?”
Lane replied, “I have too many soldiers to memorize everyone’s name.”
Scout said, “That means you just don’t care about them all the same way. If you cared about your people, you’d make the effort to know everyone’s name and some details about them.”
Lane said, “I remember. Her name was Jessica Frost.”
Scout said, “Now that I know her name, I can prepare to inform her family of their loss. I’m sure they’ll be upset, unlike you.”
Lane said, “Come on, I just lost one of my best friends, and you’re giving me grief because I don’t feel the same way about a woman I barely knew?”
Scout said, “The people I have to tell about her death probably just lost their daughter, or sister, or wife. All of those trump friend, even a best friend.”
Lane said, “I’m sorry. Let me help you once we get on the ground.”
Scout said, “I’ll do that,”
Jessica’s friend said, “Scout, she was a good friend of mine. Can I also help you?”
Scout replied, “Of course.”
The radio fell silent and the Star Brigade entered Mars’ atmosphere. A few minutes later, they landed at the military base in Freedom. No one said a word to anyone. They all went to their quarters and tried to make sense of their lives.
Chapter Forty-One
Rich’s Anger
The Operative came into General Rich’s office. He held a reading device and looked very worried. Rich looked up at him. The he was suddenly animated.
Rich demanded, “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
The Operative got even more worried. He lived in constant fear of General Rich.
The Operative answered, “I have some bad news. I don’t want to tell you what’s happened. You don’t take bad news well.”
MARS: Baroque Revolution Page 20