by T S Paul
Chapter5
Colonel Alexander Lee was in his office, monthly troop evaluations were due and his subordinates were dragging their feet getting them done. Military service was mandatory in the colony. All 17 to 18 year olds on the planet had to serve in the military at least one year. Lots of paperwork to keep track of all that. It didn’t help his mood at all. His family was on his mind constantly these days. His link chimed that a call was coming in for him from the Planetary Governor. “Hello Governor Stoner. What can the militia do for you on this lovely Friday afternoon.”
“Alex.” The Governor frantic. “There is a protest at Government center!”
“Yes sir we were informed. The Farmers Union, supposed to be a few hundred protesters.”
“Alex, It isn’t. There is about ten thousand protesters out there!”
“What! Governor I can mobilize and be there…”
“You don’t understand. Sector Governor Norton has called out the ESS and the Marines! Alex he’s called in those ESS thugs!”
“Governor calm down.” The governor was still freaking out. “Roy! Roy, calm Down. The ESS only has a couple of agents here I can call the Colonel DeMunn over at marine hq and talk to him.” Using the Governor’s first name seemed to help. The governor’s breathing slowed down.
“Damn it Alex, Norton brought in a ship load of the Jackboots last night. He’s got a whole regiment of them! He will use them too. The Senate voted to reinforce all Planetary governments due to the protesters. It will be a massacre! Our people, our people don’t believe that it could happen to them! We have to do something.” The Governor was almost in tears.
“Roy, let me get our people out there. I don’t know what we can do but maybe we can stop a massacre. Let me get back to you.!” The Colonel hit a button on his desk. Sirens and alarms began to sound across the milita base. The sound of running feet could be heard as Colonel Lee was putting on his fatigues. A frantic knocking and his door burst open.
“Colonel, Sir, are you OK?” It was his son, Major Hannibal Lee.
“Han, mobilize as many of our troops as you can find. We need to get everyone t Government Center as fast as we can.”
“Sir, whats going on?”
“Don’t talk MOVE, Damn it MOVE! GET THOSE TROOPS ORGANIZED!!”
The Major did a fast 180 degree turn and ran out of the room. With a resigned look on his face the Colonel walked out of the room. His personal secretary, Dawn was standing by her desk with her mouth open in shock.
“Dawn, get on the phones. I need the head of Emergency services, disaster relief, and the Army Auxilaries command as soon as possible. Call over to the air wing and get my daughter to start arming up the fighters. Any questions refer her to me.” His secretary was still just standing there. “Damn it! Dawn, not you too! Move it please, we have an Emergency here!” She scrambled for her desk.
A militia Lieutenant ran into the room. “Sir, Major Lee reports that all combat troops ready sir.” Colonel Lee thought to himself, when this mess is over we need to have some communication classes.
“Tell the lieutenant I want everyone. Every troop, cook, mechanic, guard, and dishwasher that can hold a weapon. I SAID EVERYONE! Get out there. Get those troops moving now,GO!”
“Colonel, Emergency services is on the phone for you.” The Colonel turned to his secretary thinking it was going to be a long afternoon.
Grabbing his desk phone the Colonel started talking right away. “Fuji? Listen you need to get as many of your ambulances and emergency equipment on its way to City center right now.” The man on the phone started to argue. “No Dammit! Right Frakking now! I mean it! This is on the authority of Governor Stoner. That idiot Norton has sent ESS troops to deal with the farm protest. Those thugs will start killing people.” Still the man argued. “ I will have your job you idiot! Do it and do it now!” There was a knock at his door and it burst open.
“Dad, Sir, what is happening?” The tall blond woman looked so much like her mother, thought the Colonel.
“Minerva, good. I need you to round up your pilots and get those birds of your armed, fueled and ready to go ASAP!”
Already moving she turned and looked at him. “Can I know the reason, Sir?”
Such a good officer. “ESS troops are inbound to the farm protest and we need to stop a massacre.”
She paused at the doorway. “Sir, Dad, I think David is a part of that movement. He called me the other day and said something about protesting the higher taxes and the farm levy. I will text him from my office and warn him.”
Taking a deep breath Alex hoped they could stop this thing before lives were lost.
___
Athena had been meeting with the FLEAS all morning. When the group broke for lunch she decided to take hers at the main cafeteria. It had a really nice view of the planet in its dining area. Walking through the station she noticed a lot of combat troops in armor around. Seeing a small group of Marines watching them too she walked over and introduced herself.
“Excuse me Sergeant? I’m Lieutenant Lee from the James Cook. Do you know anything about these troops? They don’t look like you Marines.”
“No Ma’am. They are not marines. Those are the new ESS Enforcement troops. The Senate voted to use them to protect Government facilities, last week. A ship came in last night filled with them. There is at least a regiment of them on board.” The Marine looked disgusted with the troops.
“Athena…” She thanked the marines and walked toward the cafeteria.
“What is it Wilson?” He always picked terrible times to talk to her
“There is a protest near the Government center.”
“Is it the one that David told us about? I hope he is OK.” She answered him.
“Your brother’s small protest has gotten a bit larger. Right now there is about ten thousand of them marching toward the government offices.”
Athena stopped walking. “Did you say ten thousand?”
“Yes, the government is freaking out.” He said. At that moment a steady tone like beeping began. A large number of those ESS troops began marching toward the flight bays.
All around the station workers and navy personnel stopped and watched as they marched by.
Athena turned away from the spectacle. “Wilson, contact David. IF possible sent him a message, tell him to be careful.”
I walked to the cafeteria and got in line. After receiving my food I sat and watched out the view port at the planet. A group of rapidly descending dropships interrupted my view. I Said a silent prayer to the gods of my ancestors for Davids benefit.
The enormous protest was receiving network attention. All the vid channels were lit up and reporting on the demonstration. Men, women, and children were marching down the causeway toward the city center. This protest was massive. Radio and vid talk shows had been pumping up their listeners for weeks about the march. The new laws affected every farmer on the planet the loss of income and jobs was on everyones mind. Organizers had taken advantage of this and had bused in thousands of supporters and their families. People began streaming in from connecting streets and highways. All on foot or in chair lifts. Young, old and disabled. Everyone was coming. This was the peoples chance to tell the Sector government and the Empire what they thought of the new laws. The organizers kept it by using retired veterans as monitors to watch for troublemakers. So far everything was going to plan.
The marchers were fired up. Their government should not do this to them. They had brought their families to show that this was not just about them but their families too. Several large children groups Future Farmers were present, many were holding homemade signs and shouting out slogans. The mass of people were crying out against farm levies, higher taxes, and wanting better living conditions. Group leaders would stop and give a speech to a roar from the crowd. The march would then continue. More and more people filled the streets. The camera’s zoomed out. This had to be the largest protest our planet had ever seen. A continuous mass of people
filling the causeway from one end to the other, over 4 miles of people. Arriving at the edge of the city’s center the leader of the march assembled and gave several speeches. They exhorted the crowd to remain non-violent but to speak their minds. This planet had a tradition a people speaking their minds. That was how it had always been. Over the singing and chanting of slogans a roaring was heard by the crowds. Overhead a dozen black as night troopships were descending. The ships were of a type never seen before here on Hong Kong. Heavily armored with gun ports and turrets the ships were taking up positions around the circle of government buildings.
The newsies panned their camera’s around when the roaring of the troopships was heard. The black and menacing ships, more heavily armed than our navy ships, landed in front of the Government buildings. The crowd had grown silent at this display of force. Hatches opened on the ships and hundreds of Black clad troops begun fanning out surrounding the buildings. The ships closed their hatches and took off. They continued to hover over the perimeter that the troops had formed.
The black clad troops had moved out into a battle line that stretched from the edge of the sidewalk to across the front on the steps leading into the government offices. The leaders of the march and their followers approached the line of troops.
A very large and menacing black clad trooper carrying an high powered assault rifle began speaking. “Halt, this is an illegal protest you are ordered to return to your homes. NOW! By order of Sector Governor Samuel Norton all protesters will be arrested and tried for crimes of terrorism against the state if you do not stop now and return to your homes. Halt this march now. This is your last and only warning!”
The leaders of the march kept moving forward and began shouting. “We want to talk to the Governor, we want arbitration, we need better tax laws, stop farm Levey's now.”
The troops moved into firing positions guns at the ready, the troop commander looked to either side at his forces. Small groups were setting up squad manned machine guns and snipers were getting into positions. He yelled, “Fire!”
The black clad ESS troops began firing into the crowd with their assault rifles and machine guns. The leaders of the march were cut down in a spray of blood and gore. The force of the rounds hitting them sprayed the crowd behind them. They were not spared either as the armor piercing rounds continued through them to the innocents behind them. No one was spared. Snipers were picking off the organizers and their veteran ‘guards’. The troopships were firing into groups of people with grenade launchers. The explosions were destroying the surrounding vehicles and spraying shrapnel in all directions. Many sought the cover of trees, buildings, or piles of debris. The troopships overhead joined in the melee, firing their rockets and anti-ship lasers at those trying to hide. Even more death followed. Several newsies were hit and killed, their footage continued to roll out and what they shot angered the entire planet.
I stood in shock staring at the screen. The troops had opened fire on the tens of thousands of innocent unarmed people. The leaders of the march were mowed down along with hundreds in the front rows. The troops continued to fire. There was a brief pause as the troopships moved over the crowds, circling them. Among the broken and bleeding bodies were those of the young and of the old. A group of school children were seen hiding behind bodies belonging to their teachers and classmates. The black clad ‘demons’ turned their guns in that direction. The crowd now trying to flee was trampling the fallen and scattering in every direction. The children were crying and huddling together on the blood covered pavement. A lone man jumped up from where he had been hiding behind a parked vehicle and stood in front of the terrified children. A blood spattered woman tried to pull him back under cover, but he pried her hands off. Saying something to her, he pushed her back behind the large truck. The man motioned for the children to lay flat and as out of sight as possible. He then turned to the troops and yelled “these are innocents, why kill them? Why kill any of them? This was a peaceful protest!” Protecting the crying children as best as he could David pleaded with the ESS to stop. The Commander looked at my brother David and said “I have my orders no survivors, open fire!” David died as he was struck with numerous armor piecing rounds. His wife, the light of his life tried to run to him and was cut down by a sniper on the roof of the Capitol building. One of the ships lased the group of children incinerating them.
I watched as David, my peaceful brother, who never wanted to fight, gave up his life up in protest of the very people I now worked for. The troops gunned him down and continued to kill for another ten full minutes. The gutters and culverts of the city ran with the blood of the innocent. The dead and the dying filled the streets. Fires raged from buildings and vehicles caught in the torrent of fire from the troopships. Soot covered and now out of ammo the ESS troops signaled the drop ships for pick up.
Sobs could be heard from all around me as I realized I too was crying. The newsies had cut the feed when my brother was killed. The screen now read Please stand by. I stumbled from the cafeteria and into the marines I had spoken to.
“Lieutenant Lee are you OK?” I had too many tears to answer him. He looked into the cafeteria and saw the distraught and crying personnel.
“What the hell happened here?” He motioned for his men to find out. The food service personnel told them about the protest. Hearing this the marine got very angry. “Private Simms, inform our Commander of the protest and round up the squad. We will escort the Lieutenant back to her ship and then meet up at the squad room.
___
I was still in tears when I entered the ship. This upset the OOD and the marine guards with him. The guards dropped what they were doing and rushed over. Scanning in all directions the marine Sergeant turned to me and asked if I was OK. They were all bracing for a possible attack. Red faced and teary eyed I explained to them about the massacre. The OOD immediately began searching the news reports for more information. Shakily I keyed in my access code and entered the ship. My clearly tear-filled face attracted much attention on my way to the bridge. I stopped and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my tunic. Both of the marine guards were watching me. I told them I was OK. With this many marines seeing me like this I should probably expect a visit from Dar. My uniform now straightened and my appearance mostly neat, I calmly walked onto the bridge.
Commander Wang was hunched over the navigation console working with one of my electronic techs. I paused next to the Commander. The XO heard my footsteps and looked over at me. He saw my red eyes and flushed complexion and turned away from my tech. “Lieutenant what has happened?”
Fresh tears started to force their way from my eyes. “The protest planetside was a massacre. ESS troops killed thousands of innocent civilians, including my brother. They just mowed them down, their dropships firing into the crowd. It was awful.”
At my statement the rest of the bridge crew at turned away from their instruments and with faces filled with shock were watching me. The XO motioned to the communications officer and the forward screens lit up with the news casts of the massacre. Seeing it on the big screen of the ships just made it worse. From above the city center appeared as if it were a giant red eye. A complete pristine circle around the government buildings was surrounded by blood spatted buildings and streets. The blood of thousands filled the gutters and culverts of the city. Flashing lights could be seen as emergency services were arriving. No other event on this planet in living memory was as horrific.
“Captain on the bridge.” The systems tech noticed the Captain standing in the doorway.
We all came to attention instinctively. Captain Gorshin was staring at the screens with a look of anger mixed with shame. He pointed at me and the XO and waved us toward his Ready Room.
“Commander Dunne, you have the conn.” The XO passed command and followed us.
The Captain ashen faced answered. “Athena are you ok?” We all sat at the table.
Surrounded by visual reminders of the regime that had just killed my people I was sil
ent. I didn’t answer him but asked a question instead. “Captain did you see the protest?”
His face was dark and a fire burned in his eyes. I could tell that he was on the verge of losing his temper. “I did. Again are you OK?”
I nodded, wiping my tears away, I cast my eyes downward and spoke to my Captain. “I was in the cafeteria. The newsies broke the story. I watched it live, Captain. None of the protesters were armed. Their only crime was asking questions and demanding change. My brother spoke to me about those new laws. My brother..my Brother was there. In the crowd. He was the man who tried to protect the children. I saw him brutally gunned down for trying to save children. He and them were murdered by the very government I now serve!”
Surprised the Captain’s eyes widened at my rhetoric. “My brother was a man of peace. He was simply a farmer. I just talked to him yesterday, he was concerned about the higher taxes and farm levies. My family.” I paused a look of shock upon my face. “I have to call my father! By the Gods, he and the others, I need to call them. Captain may I?” The Captain motioned toward the communication station. I turned and almost ran to it. Keying in the proper codes I linked into the Militia communication net and sent my message. I didn’t need to tell him, he already knew.