by Shawn Jones
“Maybe. I do not remember that, though. But do we really want to glorify that? Do we want to glorify war and everything that Cort is? Are we willing to give up our humanity in order to ride on his shoulders across the galaxy?”
“Are you saying that he cannot be humane? If so, you are wrong. He himself ordered the extinction of the Cuplans, but he did not go through with it. He fought for months trying to find a way not to wipe them out.”
“Because of the vagabond Heroc. Because of her friendship with Kim Point. Maybe he should try to talk to the enemy before he kills them.”
“She is Kimberly Addison now.” Dar replied. Don’t attack Kim, Chief. This meeting will end right now.
“Maybe so, but before she and Heroc became friends, Cort was going to kill them all.”
“Heroc was part of it. No argument there. But that does not mean he was inhumane.”
“He tortured them. How is that humane?”
“The Cuplans. Not the species, but the Cuplan empire, was a disease. Before we had synthetics, people fought a disease called cancer. Doctors cut cancer out of people all the time to save their patients. That what Cort did. He cut the cancer out the Cuplan empire. Now we have our strongest ally. By this time next year, we will be a single empire.”
“You did not answer my question. How is torturing our enemies humane?”
“You would do better to ask him, but he has also forbade the abuse of our enemies and ordered their fair treatment. So far as I know, our torture policy is very simple: It is authorized when there is an eminent threat which information gained may be able to mitigate. But it is forbidden if there is not a clear and present threat to the federation. You may argue that those conditions did not exist, but I would argue that they did. Once Cort got the information we needed, he stopped the torture.”
Dar finished his drink and started to get up and pour another. He thought better of it after looking at his schedule, and settled for water.
“That is not true, Dar. I have watched video of it, and he kept going long after he could have gotten the information he needed. Twice, once with the Cuplans and once with Governor Taps back on Mars, he was clearly enjoying what he was doing. He even admitted to it.”
“I won’t ask how you got access to that video, Chief. But in the case of Governor Taps, he was avenging my grandson. And that was before the federation was founded. I do not think that counts.”
Chief handed Dar his empty glass. “We are not going to agree about this, Superintendent. Can we move on, or should I leave?”
Dar gave up. Cort would be disappointed that Chief’s problem was with Cort personally, but at least they had an answer. “We can move on. Tell me what you need help with.”
“A lot of people are missing. I am not talking about girls running away with their boyfriends. I mean entire families disappear overnight. Last month in Bertoua, a building that housed four hundred people one day was completely empty the next. In some cases, they left food on the table. The way we found out about it was a grease fire from a pot that was left on a cooktop.”
“Have you talked to the African governor?” Dar asked.
“The authorities know about it, but they cannot find anything out. Governor Churq will not meet with me about it, either. They are trying. But they have nothing to go on. These people are not being taken somewhere. At least not somewhere on Earth. They just disappear.”
“What makes you say it like that?”
“Surveillance video from around the building. Lots of people went inside, but no one came out. When a fire crew went in to evacuate the building, there was not a single living human, inside. Pets were fine, chickens were fine, fish were fine, but every single human was gone.”
“What else?”
“Total, over one thousand people have disappeared across Africa in the last six months. Looking at news vids, I think it is happening everywhere though.”
“What do you think is happening?”
“Personally, I think your God of War pissed off another spacefaring race,” Chief said.
“Maybe.” Dar thought for a moment before adding, “I will look into it. Well, I will have someone look into it. Get me all the information you have, and I will let you know what we find.”
Chief pulled a data chip from his pocket and dropped it on Dar’s desk. “If I get anything else, I will comm you. Thank you, Superintendent.”
“One more thing, Chief. At some point, I am going to talk to Cort about this. Is there any part of what you said that you want me to keep private?”
Rhodes looked at the chip on Dar’s desk and said, “No, sir. I stand by what I said. You can tell him whatever you want.”
“Okay. He is not your enemy, Chief. In fact, he has missed you.”
“He is the enemy of all of us, Dar. Clare saw that. I only hope everyone else figures it out before it is too late.”
AFS Mare’s Leg
Cort was standing beside Captain Melvin Ross when the Mare’s Leg dropped out of warp in the Blatterian home system. As soon as the warp bubble collapsed, he activated his comm and spoke to the commander of the H’uuman shock troops. “Ares has arrived. What is the status on the surface, General Norvan?”
Norvan was the first H’uuman general in the federation. He was hatched from Heroc’s assertion mating as First Queen. He clicked, “Welcome to our little war, Pledge Father. We control the capitol and the surrounding land. Perhaps two-thirds of this continent. They hold the polar regions and the high altitudes. We simply cannot fight well in those conditions. Fortunately, the civilian populations are small in those areas. However, the equatorial belt of the planet is ours. I considered a kinetic bombardment of the poles, but Terip asked me to save that as a last resort. He has concerns about the agricultural impact of the strikes.”
“We can clean the atmosphere pretty easily,” Cort said, “but you were smart to defer to his wishes. Politically, it was the right thing to do. What are your losses?”
“A few million. They have lost more, but they are here in much larger numbers than we expected. I would estimate their current strength at three to four million. There are more arriving daily though. I have new troops coming in as well. Fortunately, the AFS ships are keeping enemy’s new arrivals in check. For every million that reach the surface, your coil guns prevent twice that many from landing. Will your ship join in that effort, Pledge Father?”
“Norvan, I appreciate the honorific, but we are in battle. Please address me as General or better yet, Cort. Officially I am Ares. But yes, the Mare’s Leg will take position as picket ship once my troops are offloaded.”
“How many warriors do you have with you, General?” Norvan asked.
“Ten thousand. I suggest I drop half of them at each pole, and we push the Tapons to you.”
Norvan clicked, “That would be my hope as well.”
“Okay, we are about one hour from being able to skim the atmosphere and deploy. Is there anything else we need to know?”
“They are light on armor. We have them outmatched in that regard. I think your CONDORs will be safe, but I would not recommend dropping FALCONs. There is one other matter, General. Since the onset of hostilities, the food supply on the planet has been interrupted. I did not want to further strain the resources of the civilian population, so we have been forced to utilize an alternate food source, sir.”
Cort didn’t catch Norvan’s implication at first, but when it hit home, he was momentarily nauseous. “Yours or theirs, General?”
“Theirs. We have been giving our combat rations to the young. At the end of each day, we feed on the fallen enemy. We would not ask that of the civilians.”
“I will see what I can do about getting more supplies shipped here,” Cort said. “You know, it is ironic. The very people you are fighting for consider H’uumans to be monsters. Lap even said that to me once. And here you are feasting on your enemies, just so you can provide better for them.”
Cort heard the noises he recognized as la
ughter before Norvan clicked, “We are hardly feasting, Cort. The Tapons are stringy and bitter. There is little that I would not give for some honey from Solitude. But I would probably just give it to the children anyway.”
“I understand, Norvan. Better than you would believe.”
“Thank you for that, Cort. From what I understand about your species, not everyone would be so understanding.”
Cort remembered the words of Desmond Tutu from the twentieth century, and sadly paraphrased them. “We who are warriors have committed so many massacres and horrors that we should bow our heads in shame, General. But such is our way.”
“Yes. Perhaps our species is fortunate that our old fight our wars. The young should not live with the guilt of our actions.”
“Norvan you are barely two years old. That is hardly old, even for your species. I’ll see you soon. Addison out.” Turning to Captain Ross, he said, “Okay Mel, drop one brigade at each pole. When the rest of the division gets here, send the air wing to the capital and ask General Norvan where he wants the ground troops.”
Ross looked at Addison a little too long and paid for it. “Captain, do you have a problem with my orders?”
“No sir, I just assumed that you would…”
“You should assume that I have a reason for giving you specific orders. And I should be able to assume that you will follow them without hesitation. The difference is that I am in the position to make assumptions. You are not. And since General Norvan has been running this battle from day one, I would assume that he has a better handle on the enemy tactics and strength. So how about we let him run the battle he is currently winning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now get my people dirtside.” Cort turned and left the bridge. “Also, you will send my orders to Solitude, requiring them to send all available honey and H’uuman appropriate rations or food. We have a crisis down there. I want them brought by H’uuman transport ASAP. All task force ships are to send all H’uuman appropriate rations and supplies sent to Norvan immediately.
“Yes, sir.” Turning to the bridge crew, Ross said, “You heard the man, people. I want an orbital path that will allow me to drop all the Marines in one orbit. Then we start putting their ships out of service.”
--
Later that day, some of the bridge crew were in the wardroom having coffee and sandwiches. The lieutenant j.g. who ran tactics on first team was listening to the third team nav and comm talk about the exchange between Cort and the ship’s captain when they arrived in system.
“I thought the general was going to rip his head off,” nav said. “The old man had better not harbor any prejudice against the bugs or he will find himself on a freighter real damned quick.”
“You heard what you just said, right?” comms asked. “You could be on that freighter too.”
“I am not racist, I just don’t know what to call them. It’s too confusing to call them H’uumans.”
“We call them shock troops, but General Addison is okay with calling them bugs too,” the tactical officer said. “Just do not say it derogatorily.”
“Have you shipped with him before?” comm asked.
“Yeah, I was on the Remington when we took out the crystal. I was an E-7 in charge of port targeting. I was there when he found out Thoms was on Admiral Jones’ crew too. One thing I can tell you about General Addison is that he gets really tense just before he goes into battle. The second the shit hits the fan though, he is as cold as ice. It’s like a switch gets thrown.”
“Yeah, I got that,” the nav officer said. “By the time he was climbing into his HAWC, he was laughing and joking with the jarheads around him. Is he serious about the merger with the H’uumans? Do you think it will really happen?”
“It already has. We are one empire, the rest of the galaxy just doesn’t know it. Have you guys watched the vids about it yet?”
“No,” said nav.
“Neither have I. Why?” asked the comm.
“Watch them. I was not there, but when we jumped with the shock troops to get Dalek back, our CONDORs were all catching vid. The shocks were like a swarm of bees. And they went against the treaty to be there. I am not an Addison, but you know the general is all about the pack and loyalty, right? That entire species is sworn to protect Dalek for the next hundred years, and from what I have read about their law, that oath makes our service oath look like a handshake. The general will not turn his back on that.”
The nav officer said, “So what you are saying is that the shocks are Addisons.”
“To the general, they are. But we are, too. By taking the oath we did, we became a part of the pack.”
“Too bad we don’t get any of the money,” comm laughed.
“No shit.” Nav stood up and said, “I am going to go watch those videos.” Looking at the lieutenant he added, “Thanks for the information, tac. See you around.”
Deint
“I’m sure Jane Munroe is better at that than I am,” Cort said as he stepped out of the small crater the HAWC made in the snow and ice when it hit the ground.
Lt. Colonel Samuel Sung looked up at the HAWC and said, “Begging your pardon, but there is no way she did any worse, general.”
“Shut up, Cellphone. Maybe she landed in water or something.”
“I doubt it, sir. She designed the wing system for you guys. Hell, I hear she designed it while she was growing her legs back. So I am sure she has thousands of hours of sim time gliding in that thing.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cort said as he waved his arms like he was making jazz hands. “I’m the most powerful man in the galaxy and I’m getting lip from a damned cellphone.”
“Sir, why do you keep calling me Cellphone?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Sam.”
“Try me, sir. Other guys get callsigns like Tiger or Rattler. How the hell did I end up with Cellphone?”
“Your name. Sam Sung. There was an electronics company back in my time called Samsung. I loved their cell phones. They were the best on the market.”
“Okay, what is a cell phone?”
“They were handheld comm devices. Later on, they were handheld computers too. If a comm unit had sex with flexpad, there would be little cellphones running around all over their living room.”
“Seriously? That is why my callsign is Cellphone? I hate you. Sir.”
“You and half the galaxy, Colonel.” Looking at his HUD, Cort said, “It looks like everyone is just about formed up. Call your play, Cellphone.”
Sam activated his comm and said, “Listen up boys and girls! We aren’t here to kill them, that is a job for the shocks. So lets give them something to do!”
After marking his map and synching it with data from surveillance drones, he called out, “Cattle Drive! Repeat, Cattle Drive! Head ‘em up, and move ‘em out!”
--
Looking at a map, a Tapon aide said, “Sir, the Ares troops have landed behind us, but they are not here in force. I think they mean to push us out of the hills and into the grasp of the H’uumans.”
“The council was wrong,” General Bru said. “They told us that Lap had betrayed us. Were it so, Ares and his men would have already been here when we arrived. No, I am not sure what happened, but at least I am beginning to understand the way they think.”
“Sir?” the aide asked.
“They use the H’uumans as a fast response force, then the Ares Federation troops come in to close the trap.” Bru looked around the portable building and said, “I am glad we are able to find safety in this cursed cold, but it is truly that. And now Ares is here. Those humans, like us, can fight in these conditions. So our safety is now forfeit. Very well, it is time to meet the real enemy.”
“What are your orders, sir?”
“Leave the bugs. They cannot threaten us. Pull our troops back into the polar regions. I don’t like fighting uphill, but as long as the humans cannot push us back, we will only be fighting on one front. It will not be the same as T
apon though. This time we are ready. Call up the armor. I want them to begin to close off access to the mountain passes.”
--
Stage one of Cattle Drive was to stampede the enemy camps. Cort didn’t expect to beat them in one fell swoop, but chaos was a powerful ally. Throughout the night, FALCON-clad Marines planted charges in the snow above a hundred bases in the polar regions of the planets. They weren’t as invisible as they could have been, but with no significant moon, they still were just passing spectres.
Hidden by the howling wind and the active camouflage of the suits, most of the Marines were back over the mountain ridges before the sliver of light from the system’s only star broke the horizon far to the south. The men and women fighting in the southern polar region were facing the exact opposite battle conditions. But the perpetual sunlight in that hemisphere was no more effective against the FALCONs than the night was where Cort’s Marines worked in the north.
In his tent, Cort watched as each of the explosive charges connected to his command network, waiting for the command to detonate. Two minutes before detonation, one of the FALCONs showed system distress.
A comm officer tried to make contact. “Delta 2, do you copy? Igloo to Delta 2, come in.” A minute later, he turned to Colonel Sung and said, “Sir, I’m losing her vitals. Telemetry from the suit shows her to be unconscious.”
“Who is Delta 2?” Sung asked.
After looking up the information, the comm tech said, “Corporal May Schouls, sir.” A moment later he added, “She is dead, sirs.”
“Dammit,” Sung said. “Shut her suit down for now. When her area is safe to enter, activate her beacon for retrieval.”
“Yes, sir. Everyone else is clear. Drones are showing enemy armor moving into the pass south west of us.”
Looking at the map, Sung said, “Detonate the charges in Section Three.”
“Section Three detonated, sir. General Addison, Task Force Two has arrived in orbit. The air group has successfully detached from the Simonov, and the shuttles from the Kalashnikov are dropping armor according to General Norvan’s needs. A H’uuman freight convoy is inbound with food for the bugs.”