He liked the enthusiasm. He thought it would be something he could work with when trying to mould them into some sort of a functioning army. But there were problems, too. There was a very wide range of ages. Usually, the foot soldiers in any military would be in their teens or twenties. Here there were many in their forties or fifties and a handful even older than that. It was something he would have to take into account, but like all of the new Martian institutions he realised that the Martian Army was provisional and subject to change. At this point just having an army was an achievement in itself. He knew what he might like it to be at some distant point in the future but he accepted what was available to him now, both in terms of materiel and personnel. One of the things that had been impressed strongly on him in his own training was the importance of working with what was available, changing the plan on the fly according to current conditions. There was no point in waiting for ideal circumstances, which would probably never materialise. A good soldier was able to adapt to conditions as he found them and work with what he had. Bobby was going to apply that principle to the creation of the Martian Army. There was no other way of doing it.
At the end of the tour Foveaux saw Bobby to the gate. “Thanks for coming,” she said. “I’m glad to have you aboard. And I really mean that. We need you, Bobby. Thanks.”
Bobby nodded and shook her hand again. “I’m glad to be of help, Commissioner Foveaux,” he said. “I’ll look forward to seeing you again in a couple of weeks.”
“There’s one other thing,” said Foveaux.
“Yes?” said Bobby.
“I know you’re not starting yet but it would be good if you could swing past Venkdt and talk to someone called Dan Kostovich.”
“Kostovich?”
“Yes. He’s head of R&D there. He’s the one who’s developed our uniforms and hardware. He also developed the missile platforms that are defending the city. Maybe you’ve seen some stuff about him on the bulletins?”
“Maybe. I don’t follow the news too closely.”
“Well, he’s something of a genius and very high up in the Venkdt organisation. He’s our hardware guy. I think it would be good if you got together with him and talked over some of the kit we have. If there’s anything you need - modifications or additional kit or anything like that - he would be the person to talk to. At the moment he’s in charge of the missile batteries he developed. I’d like to think they will eventually come under our authority. Maybe you could talk to him about that, too. I’ll arrange clearance for you.”
Bobby nodded, “Okay.”
Bobby and Foveaux stood facing each other, each waiting for the other to leave or say a final goodbye. Bobby thought he had irritated her in their initial meeting, but he felt that by being serious and sensible during the tour he had won her round again. He liked her and sensed he would be able to work with her. It was easy to see that she was strong, both physically and mentally. “Goodbye, then,” he said.
“Goodbye,” said Foveaux, adding as she turned away, “Obergruppenführer Karjalainen.”
Bobby smiled after her and called out, “Maybe you’re right. That is a bit of a mouthful.”
Foveaux was smiling too as she walked but she didn’t look back or reply.
Foveaux had arranged the clearance immediately via her comdev. Before she had reached the garrison building Bobby Karjalainen was cleared to enter Venkdt Mars Corp headquarters and its R&D Department.
Bobby had called ahead and been advised that Dr Daniel Kostovich was very busy at that time and may not be available. He decided to go along anyway. The R&D Department had even higher security than the rest of Venkdt Mars Corp. Kostovich himself had doubled the security detail in the last couple of weeks. The R&D Department was his personal fiefdom and at the moment it was the nerve centre of the Martian missile defences. Kostovich thought the extra security measures were justified.
The guards posted outside the department initially queried Bobby’s clearance. His comdev checked out but they had been told to be extra vigilant. Bobby had to wait while they phoned through to Maya Foveaux. Even after a personal assurance from her they were not satisfied, so they found Kostovich himself.
Five minutes later Kostovich came down to meet Bobby at the entrance. He looked at him suspiciously as he made his way across the forecourt. “You’re Bobby Karjalainen?” he said.
“I am,” said Bobby. “You must be Dan Kostovich. Commissioner Foveaux has been telling me all about you.”
“She has, huh? Do you mind telling me why you’re here?”
“Commissioner Foveaux said it would be a good idea to talk to you about the equipment you’re providing to the MSS.”
“What’s it to you?” said Kostovich.
Bobby thought that Kostovich was being needlessly antagonistic, but with his characteristic cool detachment he stepped back from the situation and thought about it from Kostovich’s point of view. He realised that he hadn’t properly explained what was going on and that Kostovich, probably overworked for the last few months and with the additional stress of having his finger on the nuclear trigger, was possibly right to be suspicious.
“Listen,” said Bobby, “I didn’t explain properly. Commissioner Foveaux has just appointed me as the head of the military division of the MSS. I’ll be training up the new Martian Army and we’ll be using the equipment you have provided. Commissioner Foveaux thought it would be useful for the two of us to become acquainted. I’ll be able to feed back on the equipment and maybe request modifications and that sort of thing.” He held a hand out towards Kostovich.
Kostovich took his hand and shook it without commitment. “Well that all sounds great,” he said, “but we’re kind of busy here at the moment.”
“I don’t want to interrupt you if you’re busy,” said Bobby. “Maybe we can arrange to do this some other time?”
Kostovich squinted at him. “Bobby Karjalainen the war hero, right?”
Bobby looked back at him and smiled. “I guess I’ve been called that, yes,” he said.
“And you’re going to be heading up our military division?”
“It looks like I am.”
Kostovich looked at Bobby and weighed him up, then spent a few more moments pondering the general situation. “Okay,” he said, “you’d better come with me.” He turned and led Bobby into the R&D Department. They walked down a few corridors past offices and interesting looking labs before arriving at the provisional missile control centre. At the door Kostovich turned to Bobby. “You have clearance for this, right?” he said.
“Commissioner Foveaux said she was going to see to that. Here’s my comdev,” he said, lifting his comdev up next to the scanner on the entry panel. The panel flashed green and the door opened.
“I guess Foveaux works fast,” said Kostovich.
“I heard that rumour too,” said Bobby as they entered the control centre.
Kostovich made cursory introductions between Bobby and Baldwin and Walton. He gave Bobby a brief introduction to the control room and explained what they were monitoring and how the control centre worked.
“So this is purely a defensive system?” said Bobby.
“Of course,” replied Kostovich. “We’re a nation of just a hundred thousand people. There’s no one small enough for us to attack.”
Bobby nodded in agreement. “Who are you defending us against?”
Kostovich nodded at one of the terminals. “Our former brothers and sisters. See that ship there? It’s a state-of-the-art carrier dropship, and our erstwhile comrades have seen fit to point that thing us.”
“That’s Ephialtes,” said Bobby, “I had some very minor input on her design. Well, the dropships really, and the drones.”
“Oh yes, of course,” said Kostovich. “Then you know how dangerous that thing can be.”
Bobby looked across the terminals. Much of what he saw made no sense to him - numbers and graphs. But it was clear they were monitoring the progress of Ephialtes and they had missiles train
ed in her direction.
“Do you think they would actually attack? From what I’ve heard they’re just playing the intimidation game.”
Kostovich snorted. “I don’t just think they’re going to attack us, I know it. In fact, I have their precise orders. As soon as that thing’s in range they’re going to attack one of our major military installations.”
“Where does that leave your defence system?” said Bobby.
“It leaves it perfectly intact after claiming its first kill,” said Kostovich.
Bobby knew that Martian independence had caused a huge kerfuffle back on Earth. Destroying a capital ship and all the lives aboard it seemed like massive overkill and unnecessarily provocative.
“You’re going to destroy Ephialtes?” said Bobby. He felt uneasy about what he was getting into. He had signed up with Foveaux on the understanding he was going to be training an army for a limited defensive role. Now it seemed that the nascent Martian military were being gung-ho about starting a full-on shooting war with the USAN, a country which, until a few short months ago, he had fought for himself.
“Not destroy,” said Kostovich, “neutralize. We have the capability of making a pinpoint strike that will render Ephialtes useless as a weapon of war. It will still exist. That is to say it will retain its structural integrity, but its martial application will have been removed.”
Bobby felt relief at that. “And the crew?” he said.
“The crew will be unharmed. In fact, the biggest danger to the crew will be themselves. After we have disarmed their ship we will attempt to rescue the stranded crew. How they react to that will determine their fate. If they recognise that they’ve been defeated, and that we have come to rescue them in good faith, all will be good. However, if they don’t trust us or they suspect a trap things could go very badly indeed. I’ve recommended to Commissioner Foveaux that if our rescue team has even the slightest suspicion of the intentions of the survivors they should pull out and leave them to their fate.”
“What fate would that be?” said Bobby.
“Well,” said Kostovich, “at the present time Ephialtes is on a trajectory that will take it close enough to Mars to be captured into orbit, but it has yet to fully apply the brakes as it will need to. That means it’s going way too fast for capture to happen. If it doesn’t slow down between now and when we disarm it, it will continue at its current speed. Rather than being captured by Mars’ gravity it will simply be deflected slightly and then carry on to the asteroid belt and the further reaches of the solar system beyond. And unless it hits anything it will just carry on into deep space.”
“So they’ll just be stuck on a one way trip out into the galaxy?”
“They will, but they’ll be dead. Once that ship is disabled the life-support systems will no longer function. If we can’t pull them off within a few days, that will be that.
“A far more likely scenario is that they slam the brakes on and assume a speed suitable for capture into Martian orbit well before we have the opportunity to take them out. But that still leaves them stranded in orbit in what will rapidly become a toxic freezer.
Bobby nodded. “So who is going to be charged with getting them off?”
Kostovich shrugged. “That’s down to Foveaux,” he said. “I understand she has a team ready and they’re preparing one of the shuttles for launch.”
Bobby nodded again. Foveaux had told him that none of her personnel had any combat experience or training worth a damn. A rescue mission on board a potentially hostile spacecraft sounded pretty tricky to him. He thought that his first day at work was likely to be more eventful than he had initially supposed.
C H A P T E R 2 6
The Countdown
The cabinet room at the New White House had an enormous single plate window covering most of the entirety of one wall. It afforded fantastic views of the White House lawn and the new Capitol beyond. The glass-like material it was made of was super-strong and could withstand sniper bullets and explosions. It gave the room impressive lighting and an airy feel that lifted some of the oppression from long and difficult meetings.
Today Cortes had the security blinds in place. There was no natural light in the room. The whole cabinet was meeting. Farrell, Andrews, Brennan and White took their places amongst the others.
Farrell had fed back to the room such intelligence as he had about the Martians; that they would be unwilling to negotiate on any terms as they now saw themselves as entirely independent. For them, there was nothing to negotiate with the USAN government. The only negotiations would be between Venkdt and the other Martian companies, and the companies they did business with on Earth. Venkdt in particular was keen to negotiate its new relationship with its former parent company. Previously they had extracted minerals, particularly deuterium, on behalf of the parent company. Now they were doing it as an independent entity and needed partners to trade with. Venkdt Earth desperately needed the supply of minerals but was reluctant to trade with its former self. The problem wasn’t restricted to Venkdt Corporation, since they in turn provided these vital resources to the government and power companies. The deuterium, in particular, was essential to keep the nation in power.
“So you see,” said Farrell, “we have stocks of deuterium for the next eighteen months but after that it becomes a very grave issue. We can source some deuterium here on Earth, probably enough to supply essential services indefinitely. But for households and the wider community we only have a year and a half to get that deuterium flowing again before we’re in real trouble.”
“The intelligence tells us there is absolutely no way the Martians are willing to negotiate?” said White.
“That’s what we have,” said Farrell.
“And how reliable are your sources?”
“We are inside their coms system. Pretty reliable, I’d say,” said Farrell.
“They’re denying us our essential fuel supplies and they will not negotiate,” said Cortes. “Secretary Andrews, can you please take us through our military options one more time?”
“Yes, Mr President. Ephialtes will be in Martian orbit within seven days. From orbit Ephialtes is able to deliver twenty-four dropships. Each dropship carries eleven Mech-Type drones and a piloted command drone. Each dropship itself is also an independent airborne drone with intelligence gathering and strike capability. We have rehearsed many scenarios, and I’ve been assured that our military force is more than capable of taking the necessary Martian facilities for extracting, refining and transporting deuterium, as well as other important minerals.”
“What about the Martian defences?” said White.
“We understand that the Martians have very quickly built some missile defences. Our dropships and command drones easily have the necessary capacity to take them on. It’s something they’ve trained for. We do not anticipate the Martian defences being high quality. They’ve been fabricated very quickly and have limited capability.”
“What about the orbiting platform?” said White.
“We have accounted for that in our plans, too,” said Andrews.
“Can you elaborate?”
“Certainly. The orbiting Martian missile platform poses a potential threat to Ephialtes. It is therefore a mission priority to eliminate that threat before Ephialtes takes her place in Martian orbit.”
“You’re going to destroy it?” said White.
“Well, what else do you think we should do?” said Cortes.
“It seems a bit . . .” White shrugged, “. . . aggressive?”
“It may have escaped the Vice President’s attention but we are dealing here with an insurrection. Revolutionaries who have already destroyed one of our satellites and almost certainly destroyed one of our capital ships without a moment’s thought. I don’t think kid gloves are necessary here. The Martians have kicked off a revolutionary war. Well, if they want a war we can give them one. I certainly don’t have any qualms about destroying an unmanned missile platform in order to protect one of o
ur ships. Does anyone here have any objections?” said Cortes.
He looked around the table and apart from a few people shaking their heads ‘no’, no one responded to his question.
“And what about when we have taken the facilities?” said Brennan. “Do we have a long-term plan?”
“We do,” said Cortes. “Secretary Farrell?”
“Yes,” said Farrell. “We’re in the process of contacting Anthony Karjalainen, who we feel we could install as an interim president. He is a Martian native with strong Earth sympathies. Our plan would be, essentially, to keep the new Martian constitution - elections suspended, of course - with Anthony Karjalainen as president and Mars as the newest nation incorporated into the USAN. We’ve looked into it and we think that is a solution that would be acceptable to all sides. Mars would nominally be independent and have its own accountable government, but it would be still part of and answerable to the USAN. In time, obviously, we would reintroduce elections. But until then we would keep a military force on the planet to keep order.”
“Good,” said Cortes. “I like the plan. Quick, decisive and thorough.”
“Expensive, too,” said White, under his breath.
“Does anyone have anything else to add?” said Cortes.
“The secretary’s plan mentions elections at some point down the line for Mars,” said White. “Will we be extending the same courtesy to our own citizens within a similar time-frame?”
Cortes looked at him. “Elections have been suspended due to serious global instability. That period of instability is coming to an end with the conclusion of the last war and the settlement of this minor internecine difficulty. We hope to reintroduce elections as soon as possible, and to that end I would ask all of you for your full cooperation in sorting out this immediate problem. In answer to your question, Mr Vice President, I anticipate that elections here in the USAN will take place in the very near future.” Cortes held White’s gaze long after he had finished speaking.
Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) Page 38