EDEN (The Union Series)

by Richards, Phillip

  ‘As we know, the Loyalists took control of the city during the first few weeks of the conflict, and have since turned it into a key staging point for their operations into Edo. It is strategically placed to enable their artillery to strike at targets all the way up to the Ghandi River, as well as providing anti-aircraft defence to deny FEA freedom of movement. The city also provides a logistical hub, and it is believed that tonnes of ammunition and equipment pass through it every day.’

  He stopped the image from rotating with an outstretched finger, then pointed at several locations within the hills surrounding it. ‘There are a number of defensive positions outside of the city, taking advantage of the high ground surrounding it. Of particular interest are three anti-aircraft batteries, here, here, and here. Each battery is comprised of four to five Russian-built missile systems, dug into burrows of unknown depth. It is these batteries in particular that render the area around Dakar almost impossible to approach by dropship, denying the FEA their mobility. Normally we would simply call in bombs, saucers, or our own artillery, but clearly we can’t do that here.

  The city itself contains a railgun battery, firing out of the roof which has been removed. The battery is ideally placed within the city, since unlike the missile launchers it needs to be moved around to align onto different targets and therefore cannot be dug into a burrow. In addition, the city is garrisoned by at least a company of Loyalist soldiers, equipped with robotic Light Support Vehicles, and powered suits.

  The complicating factor here is the FEA, and most notably the Presidential Guard - who appear to be preparing a separate assault onto Dakar. We believe that the Guard plan to beat the FEA to the prize, and punish the population for co-operating with the Loyalists. Eden Joint Command is worried that such an act might be misinterpreted by the Alliance. They want the war ended quickly and with as few civilian casualties as possible, so that they can keep their hands clean. It’s believed that if the FEA take the city first, it will create a stalemate from which the Guard will be forced to back down. The Guard represent the will of the President and the government of Edo, but the FEA generals and political supporters are also powerful.

  Our mission remains the same - to assist the FEA in recapturing Dakar and restoring the border - but we now we have the added time pressure. What we need to do is provide the lubrication to speed up their assault, thereby clearing the city before the Guard arrive to do their dirty work. Dakar will be a tough nut to crack. On their own, the FEA will manage to take it, but at the expense of many lives, both civilian and military. We will minimise that by striking at key areas where the nut is weakest, leaving them to split it open.

  Initially the anti-aircraft systems must be destroyed, providing the FEA free use of their dropships without restriction. That will be achieved by a simultaneous assault by us and our sister platoon from six battalion, with us striking at the single battery to the west, and them taking the two to the east. Concurrently to this, several companies of dismounted FEA infantry will seize the high ground around the city. As soon as we have destroyed all three anti-aircraft batteries, we will report to brigade that the dropship battalions are clear to move in, encircling the city with a ring of steel, and cutting it off from re-enforcement. Brigade will contact the FEA command directly to ensure that the message is passed. Clearly our liaison officers should be passing the information, but as you know, they are all of the Presidential Guard themselves, so we cannot trust their loyalty. They might choose not to pass the information straight away, purposefully scuppering their own operation so that the secret army can move in instead.’

  ‘Would they do that to their own soldiers?’ Corporal Abdi asked. ‘If they don’t block off the city then they’re at risk of counter attack.’

  The boss nodded. ‘I agree, that is a risk, but clearly the Presidential Guard is pursuing its own agenda. They will be happy to let us destroy the anti-aircraft systems, and move in with their own dropships afterwards. They want Dakar first. Be under no illusion here, the Guard have happily wiped out entire villages that have co-operated with the Loyalists, so I doubt they care how many soldiers die in a botched attack on Dakar.’

  The small command group was silent as we all absorbed the information and what it meant for us. We were fighting against a brutal enemy - the Loyalists - but at the same time our allies were divided into two groups, one of which was as brutal, if not worse than the enemy we were fighting. The worst part was that members of that organisation were embedded into our platoon, one of whom had been working alongside me.

  It angered me that Yulia might be somehow connected to the killing in Aasha, as though both she and the other liaison officers were a face that I could put onto the evil that swept across the west. I felt betrayed by her. We might not have got on, but I had felt as though we had developed an uneasy respect for one another. Now that was lost, and I found myself wondering if Yulia knew that Makito had been sent to kill me and my men. Did she send him herself? And what would she do when the fighting started - would she try to kill me again?

  ‘It’s messy,’ Mr Barkley said, as if reading my mind. He pointed off to the north. ‘You need to understand that there is an enemy out there, but also possibly one from within as well. While the FEA encircle the city we will move into a position from which we can provide assistance to their assault. We will do that by taking the high ground, namely the roof …’

  He pointed at the four spokes of the wheel. ‘These supporting structures are designed to allow service vehicles to cross over the roof and perform maintenance tasks. They’re wide enough to allow us to move onto them under cover, taking up positions from which we can fire down into the streets below, engaging key targets that might slow the FEA advance. We’re looking for heavy weapons, communication equipment and command centres.’

  We listened as the platoon commander laid out his plan, detailing how the two multiples that made up the platoon would split from one another immediately after the attack onto the battery, heading toward the two southerly spokes. There they would drop off a single section, tasked with creating an initial fire support group, whilst the remaining sections moved toward the hub, selecting a position to drop off snipers and smart launchers to rain fire down onto the city. Once we felt that we had no more to add from the roof, we would drop off our snipers and then fast rope down into Dakar to continue our assistance if required.

  ‘Having taken the city,’ he concluded, ‘it’s assessed that the FEA command will responsibility for it, and that the Guard will leave them alone. Just like we can’t afford to face a war with the Alliance with China breathing down our necks, neither can Edo afford a civil war with the threat of the Loyalists. That’s the plan, anyway ....’

  ‘And if they don’t leave them alone?’ I interrupted.

  Mr Barkley regarded me gravely. ‘We can’t take on the Presidential Guard. We withdraw, watch from a distance, and wait for the fall out.’

  The mood suddenly turned sombre. We all knew what the boss meant. We would sit back and watch as the Guard systematically rounded up and killed all the people it saw to be traitors, guilty of nothing more than trying to survive.

  ‘Does anybody have any further questions before I call in our “friends”?’ Mr Barkley looked around at us all, but there were none. We knew what we had to do.

  The platoon commander sent a messenger to collect the liaison officers, of which there were now only two, including Yulia. It didn’t take long for them to arrive, regarding us warily as they joined the huddle around the hologram. The atmosphere immediately turned icy as the two guardsmen joined us, and I could almost feel the other commanders wondering why we were still working with them.

  ‘And then there were two …’ Corporal Abdi whispered.

  Yulia caught my eye briefly as she knelt next to me, before turning her attention down toward the image of Dakar.

  ‘I trust you’ve all had a good sleep?’ Mr Barkley asked with a friendly smile.

  ‘We have slept,’ Yulia re
sponded coldly.

  Liar, I thought, my eyes burning into the side of her helmet, you haven’t slept, you’ve been up discussing how to fuck up our plan, and how to kill us when the time is right.

  ‘I’ve summoned everyone here for orders,’ he said, oblivious to the tone in Yulia’s voice. ‘Are you happy for me to begin?’

  The two guardsmen nodded.

  ‘Good. Listen in for a set of orders for our assault into Dakar …’

  We listened as the platoon commander went through his plan again, this time in fine detail. We all knew that it had to appear as though we hadn’t already discussed the operation, and that nothing had changed in our perception of the Guard.

  He explained how we would approach the city that night from the southwest, crossing the river a few kilometres downstream before stealthily moving through a swamp until we reached our objective just before daybreak.

  Nobody groaned when we heard that the route involved crossing large stretches of water and swampland. We were trained to carry out such tasks, not that we could complain anyway, because unlike in regular dropship units, our route in had been found and recommended by our own sections. Recces conducted by the sections over the past two days had concluded that the swamp was the best approach. It would be a thoroughly unpleasant route, taking us many hours to cover a relatively short distance, but it was necessary to sneak past the Loyalist positions. A large force could never make it through the swamp undetected, but a single platoon of recce troopers could manage it.

  ‘It is a good route,’ Yulia nodded approvingly. ‘Our spies have all said that the Loyalists have little defences out in the swamp. They don’t think that the FEA could do it without being caught.’

  ‘They couldn’t,’ Corporal Abdi replied brusquely, and the sergeant major shot him an angry glance.

  Yulia didn’t appear to notice. ‘No. I do not think so either.’

  I noticed as Mr Barkley went on that he made no mention of our move onto the city roof, so that Yulia and the other liaison officer couldn’t tell their superiors. We wanted for them to think that we were merely doing what they wanted - destroying the city air defence and then withdrawing. We didn’t want for them to know that we would then press on with the assault, helping the FEA to take Dakar before they could arrive.

  After delivering his orders, Mr Barkley turned to the two liaison officers. ‘I would like to keep one of you attached to my multiple, and the other working with the sergeant major. I take it you have no quarrel with that?’

  All eyes switched to Yulia, who was first to speak. ‘No, that is good. We have information gathered by our spies which may be of use as you move through the swamp. I would like to be kept forward as much as is possible.’

  Mr Barkley smiled broadly, hiding the resentment we all felt for working with the two guardsmen. ‘I will do my best.’

  After the platoon commander was finished, we listened to the sergeant major gave his final spin on the upcoming operation, focusing on the administration of our sections - water, ammunition and rations. In particular he reminded us of the casualty evacuation procedure, and the importance of treating any injured trooper and getting him out as quickly as possible.

  ‘You take a casualty, win the fire fight first, and then get him out of harm’s way as soon as possible. Be aware that in order to evacuate any casualty we need to call in a dropship from Paraiso, and so the speed at which I can arrange that extraction will be slow - between forty minutes and several hours depending on the severity. Bear that in mind. Take good care of him and keep a keen eye on his vital readings, because he may be waiting around for a while. Understand?’

  We nodded. We all knew that our job was risky when we first joined the platoon, but took comfort in knowing that the sergeant major would do his best for us if we were injured. It was more than could be said for the poor kids fighting in the FEA units.

  The platoon commander quickly summarised his orders before allowing us to return to our sections, waking them from their slumber so they could prepare for the attack. It didn’t take me long to have my men fully briefed and ready to go, although they had barely got into their thermal bags when I found them.

  As I had expected, they took the news that we were still working with the Guard badly, grumbling at the prospect of seeing Yulia again.

  ‘This is a fucking joke,’ Skelton complained - to murmured agreement - ‘we should just put one between her eyes and be done with it.’

  I regarded the weary faces of my section. I couldn’t blame them for being angry. They had seen what the Guard were capable of - atrocities far worse than any of them had seen before - and to make it worse they had attempted to kill us to try to stop us from finding out. It was deplorable asking them to continue fighting alongside the Guard, but that was exactly what I was doing.

  ‘I don’t know what to say, lads,’ I said finally, ‘I know you don’t agree with what we’re doing, and frankly neither do I, but we’ve got to do it. We don’t have a choice. All I can say is, let’s just get this done. Keep an eye out for each other, watch your backs, and let’s try to get out of here in one piece.’

  As soon as I was finished I ordered them to go back into hard routine, ensuring that everyone had a chance to have plenty of sleep prior to our night-long march toward Dakar.

  I watched as my section went back into routine, some of them wriggling into their bags, while others sat up and observed the trees, watching for danger until it was their own turn to rest.

  ‘You want some head-down?’ Puppy offered as I turned to leave. During hard routine one of us two had to remain up at all times, ready to command the section in the event of attack.

  ‘You go first, mate,’ I replied. I was tired, but I didn’t want to sleep.

  The section 2ic looked concerned. ‘Are you sure, mate? You haven’t slept for a while …’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I snapped, surprising both of us. I paused to collect myself before speaking again. ‘I need to study my map - I’m not familiar with the ground.’

  I couldn’t bear the thought of sleeping, not after all I had seen in the past few days. Even during the day, the vivid images of murdered civilians loomed in the back of my mind, threatening to consume me as soon as I shut my eyes. But I was also too tired to sleep.

  He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. ‘Fair enough.’

  I wandered away from the section, finding a quiet spot amongst the ferns to sit and soak up the information on my map. I stared at my datapad for a few minutes, aimlessly moving the map around with my finger. I couldn’t absorb the information, I could see it, but there was something on my mind that made it near impossible to focus.

  I sighed, lowering my head and placing my visor in my hands.

  How could we play a part in something so awful? We were no better than the Guard, or the Loyalists. Like the FEA, we were just mindlessly following a plan decided by someone else, someone who didn’t care how many innocent people died just as long as the outcome was favourable. The Union didn’t care about the people of Eden, it simply wanted to retain power, and it knew that the only way to hold on to the planet was by keeping the Alliance on side.

  My section were hurting, they had almost lost a friend to the Loyalists, and now they were threatened by an enemy working within our own platoon, fighting a war without any sense of morality. But it wasn’t just they who were hurting. I was in just as much pain, and I couldn’t bear it.

  A twig cracked behind me, and I grasped my rifle instinctively, spinning around to confront the threat.

  Yulia held up her hands. ‘It is only me, Andy.’

  My rifle remained steady, aimed at her chest.

  Only you? Oh, that’s alright then.

  My eyes narrowed. ‘What do you want?’

  Ignoring my rifle and the sharp tone in my voice, Yulia took off her daysack and sat down beside me. I bristled at the proximity of the woman I believed to have ordered my execution.

  ‘I have asked to return to your se
ction for the attack,’ she announced. ‘My comrade will be with the sergeant major.’

  ‘Corporal Abdi may need your help as well,’ I replied bluntly.

  ‘Yes, but I will remain with you unless I am required somewhere else. You have only seven soldiers …’

  ‘Troopers,’ I corrected.

  ‘Yes … you have only seven troopers, so I will be of use to you.’

  Like a hole in the head.

  Damn the platoon commander, what was he thinking? I suppose he figured that I knew Yulia better than the others, and so would be better suited to keeping an eye on her. I sighed.

  She cocked her head. ‘Are you OK, Andy?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I blurted angrily. ‘I just want to get this whole thing done.’

  ‘Then you will go home to your family?’

  I turned my head up to the heavens. My family. I hadn’t seen them for so long I doubted they would even recognise me anymore.

  ‘Maybe one day.’

  ‘You should. I wish that I had a family to return to.’