An Uneasy Alliance: Book 4 of the Sentenced to War Series

by Chaney, J. N.

 

  Rev was numb. This was a lot to take in. But he was also relieved. He’d missed Punch, and if this was the reason things had been distant between them, then he could accept that. But the question was, what now? If he couldn’t speak to Punch about this, how could they communicate? Was it all going to be one-way messages Punch managed to tickle out of his brain?

  “OK. I’m glad you told me. I do like to hear your jokes, and maybe I can get back to telling you some, you know, so you know what I find funny.”

 

  Humongous? Hell, I’m not sure how I’m just supposed to slip that in.

  It didn’t matter, though. For the moment, it was good enough for Rev to know that he had his battle buddy back.

  No, not back. Punch had never left him.

  36

  “Second of the Second, and crew of the MCS Takagahara, I want to commend you on the mission you accomplished here,” Assistant Vice-counsel said. “I’m proud of what we’ve been able to get done, and so should you be.”

  The entire battalion was in formation, standing tall, something, with the confined spaces on Enceladus, that was extremely rare. A company-size formation made up of the Takagahara’s crew was formed up alongside them. The hot, dry wind blew across the desert, making the colors blow, battle streamers whipping like writhing snakes. Newsdrones shifted in the wind as they tried to keep steady. This was big news, and the news distributors were out in force.

  It boggled Rev’s mind that first with Earth, and now on Cat Scratch, this little ole’ boy from the backwoods New Hope had been seen by trillions of other human beings. The images may not have been close enough to actually recognize him, but still . . .

  “We came to Cat Scratch with one mission, and that was to keep the peace. We did that, even at a heavy price. Two of you made the ultimate sacrifice.” She turned to the representatives of the Scratchers, Evvo, and various others with stakes in the game who were sitting in hastily erected bleachers.

  “Now, I charge you who are finalizing the peace to ensure that those sacrifices were not in vain. We defeated an existential threat to humankind not a year ago. We owe it to the billions lost in that war to make sure that for humanity, it is not business as usual, with petty bickering and conflict. It is up to all of us to usher in an era of peace and prosperity.”

  She turned back to the battalion arrayed in front of her. “But that’s for another speech. Pardon an old bureaucrat if I can’t help pushing cooperation. This is to honor you, those who arrived at a moment’s notice to put yourself in harm’s way. Troopers and sailors from fifty-two nations and holdings. From the small like Huntington’s Station and Weijan, with one trooper each, to the large like the Manifest Destiny Sphere, the Hégémonie, and the Perseus Union, and every one in between. This wasn’t an us versus them. This was an us for us. For humanity.

  “From a personal standpoint, I want to thank you. I wish I could step down and shake each of your hands, but with this wind and heat, I’m afraid my old bones couldn’t take it.”

  Right. I think you can take pretty much whatever the galaxy throws at you, ma’am. You are a force of nature.

  “But rest assured that you all have my most sincere gratitude. My team and I could not have achieved what we did without your presence. Humankind owes you a debt of gratitude.

  “Colonel Semes and Commander Miamoto, if you will, please?”

  In unison, the battalion commanding officer and the CO of the Takagahara marched forward, converging on Ms. Borgia. They stopped flanking her, then performed an about-face.

  An aide carrying a box stepped forward, stopping directly behind the assistant vice-counsel. At an unseen command, they all marched forward, stopping front of the honor guard, with Ms. Borgia centered on the battalion colors. PFC Delbert, from Golf Company, who’d made Huntington Station proud with her actions, lowered the battalion colors until the flag pole was at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground.

  The aide raised the polished ebony box toward the assistant vice-counsel, and she took out a gold star. The wind was whipping the battle streamers, but she reached out and unerringly snagged the CoH expeditionary streamer.

  The Second of the Second had been around a long time, earning their first Expeditionary Streamer shortly after the formation of the Congress of Humanity centuries before, so the star joined the others, each indicating a new mission. She snapped it into place, then let go, letting the wind take over. PFC Delbert raised the colors back into position.

  Only being a little out of step, the four moved to the Takagahara’s colors. Unlike the battalion, the ship was not formally part of the Home Guard. It was attached for three years, just like the individual troopers in the brigades. While the ship had several streamers, those were Hégémonie, not Congress of Humanity. Their standard-bearer lowered the ship’s colors, and Ms. Borgia attached the new streamer.

  The presentations made, the two COs escorted her back to the stand, then marched back to their position in front of their units.

  “So, once again, I thank you for your service and a job well done. The counsel general wanted me to relay his personal thanks as well. And so now, as an assistant vice-counsel and acting as the senior Congress of Humanity representative on Cat Scratch, I release you from your mission.

  “Godspeed on your way back to the home system.”

  And that was that. There was muted applause from the stands. Peace might have been maintained, but not everyone was a hundred percent happy with the results.

  Happy or not, for the troopers and sailors, their mission was over. The commanders marched their companies off the makeshift parade deck to the LZ where two shuttles waited to ferry the first loads up to the ship.

  In twelve hours, give or take, Rev would be heading back to the home system.

  There was a tiny flicker, then the word appeared as if floating in front of him.

  “Correction. We’re heading back home.”

  37

  “It’s good to get back to the gym,” Rev said as he finished his set. “No more food base jugs filled with cement.”

  The Takagahara had a decent-enough gym, but they’d barely been on her, and the Home Guard spared nothing in the way of exercise equipment and upping the artificial gravity at the gym to Earth normal.

  He helped Bob remove four plates so the Frisian could do his set. Rev moved to spot him, but it was more habit than anything else. Bob shouldn’t have problems with 140 kg, even after space-lag.

  The gym was packed. The two friends had thought they could beat the rush, heading over the moment they’d been dismissed, but evidently, they weren’t the only ones with the same plan. It was a little funny, in a way, to Rev’s mind. With their first free moments in twenty-nine days, he would have thought that most troopers would be heading to the Ramshead for a cold one. But no, the gym took priority.

  I guess no matter our service, some things never change.

  Bob finished his set, and two troopers from Echo Company worked in. With the gym this packed, the weight stations had to be shared.

  They took two 20 kg plates off the rack and replaced them with 10 kgs. Rev couldn’t help notice a little sigh of relief from Bob. He was used to lifting less than Rev, but at least he could sling more iron than those two.

  “You confirm with Rice and Toshi?” Rev asked as they waited their turn again.

  “We’re on for nineteen hundred at Cerberus. Rice invited anoth
er Paxite, though.”

  Rev shrugged. This was supposed to be a little celebration between the four of them for getting back in one piece, but if she wanted to bring along another trooper from Paxus, it really was no big deal. It wasn’t as if they could party too heartily. They’d be reassuming the alert status at zero eight in the morning.

  No one really understood why they had to get back to assume the alert battalion, relieving Third Battalion, who’d taken over when Second deployed. Why not just keep Third on? They had been scheduled to be on it now anyway. But since Second had deployed to Cat Scratch with nine days left as the alert battalion, they had to finish off those nine days before they could pass it back to Third and those who’d delayed their leave before could take it now.

  As good as they had it in the Home Guard sometimes, as with this primo gym and the extra pay, at other times, it could be mind-numbingly ridiculous.

  The two Echo Company troopers finished. “You want us to leave on the plates?” one asked.

  “Thanks, but we’ve got it,” Bob assured them.

  They took off the 10 kg plates, then put on six more 20 kgs. This was well within Rev’s capabilities, but it was the max he’d lifted ever since he’d screwed up his social arm, thanks to Kvat and his own ego. The reminder of that incident elicited a frown as he lay on his back and got ready to lift.

  At least I got him back.

  Maybe not as well as he’d gotten Rev, but the attempt had been made and accomplished. That was what mattered.

  As if his thoughts were sirens’ calls, a voice broke through his set. “Still trying to work your way up to a real man’s weight?”

  Shit. Just go away, Wymont.

  Rev ignored the MDS trooper and finished his set. He helped Bob get his barbell set while the corporal watched.

  “Why do you even try, oner?”

  What is it with this guy and gyms?

  Rev turned and looked the trooper in the eye. Several other MDS soldiers were with him, egging him on. “That’s Staff Sergeant Pelletier to you, Corporal.”

  He shook his head and went to spot Bob as he completed his set. Rev had to assist him in getting the last rep up.

  “So, you had to help the fry with that tiny weight?”

  “Let it go,” Bob whispered from his back, his hands still on the barbell.

  “That’s right, let it go, Staff Sergeant Oner, thinking you’re so superior with your big gun. Well, let me tell you, I’ve got a big gun, too,” Wymont said, grabbing his crotch.

  Evidently, the karnan’s augmented hearing was at least as good as a Rev’s. His social graces? Not so much.

  The gym went quiet, and heads turned to watch. Rev closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and willed his warrior back down.

  “You two ready?” he asked the Echo Company troopers.

  They’d been watching with their mouths hanging open in apprehension, but at Rev’s prompting, they hurried to set the bar.

  “Look at that—”

  “Enough, Wymont.”

  Rev hadn’t seen Kvat since he was taken into the aid station on Cat Scratch, and he hadn’t seen him come in the gym, but the karnan over sergeant was standing behind the corporal now. He had synthflesh visible on his exposed face and arms but otherwise appeared in good health. Wymont looked surprised, and this might have been the first time he’d seen his fellow karnan since getting back. He looked like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut . . . for a few moments. Evidently, his hatred was too strong to keep bottled up.

  Rev moved to spot the first trooper, more so he wasn’t just standing around.

  “Fucking squirmer, acting like he’s king of the Home Guard, just because—”

  Rev never found out just because what. With a quick move, Staff Sergeant/Over-Sergeant Kvat grabbed Wymont by the shoulder, spun him around, and with one punch, decked him.

  Rev winced despite himself. He knew firsthand how strong a karnan was, and he hoped the corporal had a heavily reinforced face.

  “I said enough, Wymont,” Kvat said as calmly as if remarking how pleasant the weather was today.

  He motioned to the other three MDS troopers. “Get him out of here.”

  If it was quiet before as people watched, it was now a dead zone. No one said a word as the three troopers dragged the karnan out the door.

  Kvat looked at Rev, and so quietly that only an augmented soldier—or Union Marine—would hear, whispered, “We aren’t best buddies, yootie, but I owe you, and we Mad Dogs always honor debts.”

  He walked over to the dumbbell rack, the troopers there parting like the Red Sea in front of him. He picked up the two heaviest dumbbells, turned toward the mirror, and started his curls.

  “OK,” Bob said, drawing out the K. “That was interesting.”

  “What’s a “squirmy?” Rev asked. “That’s the second time I’ve been called that.”

  “It’s a Mad Dog insult,” Bob said. “Kinda like a snake, from what I gather. Underhanded. Sneaky. Something like that.”

  Rev snorted.

  He looked down at the Echo Company trooper, who had frozen on the bench. “So, you going to hit your set or not? We’ve got troopers waiting to use the bench.”

  “Yes, sir!” the young trooper said as he hurriedly reached for the bar.

  Squirmy? I’ll take it. At least they put some thought into it, not like yootie.

  38

  Rev stood in the Hall of Humanity in awe. Rice had been right about it. The hall was physically impressive with the domed roof 128 meters above the floor and white rock from all of the then-member nations when the building was constructed making the walls. Stained glass windows, again donated by every nation and planet, reflected on the white stone, each window a different style, but somehow all coming together as a single edifice.

  More than the physical beauty, however, was an emotional force that seemed to fill the massive building. It was as if hundreds of thousands of years of homo sapiens had come to this. Mother Earth was a monument of nature, but this was a monument to humanity.

  There had to be a couple hundred tourists wandering about in the hall, but they all paled into insignificance. It wasn’t the individual who mattered but humanity as a whole.

  Three Centaurs were even in the hall at the moment, being led by a small group of humans. Rev had bristled when he first saw them. He no longer thought of them as the enemy, but this, this was almost sacred ground. As the place sunk into him, though, he lost that animosity. Let them look, let them experience.

  They were an older race than humanity, but the humans had defeated them with their vitality and tenacity. Rev didn’t know if the hall was having the same effect on them as it was on him, but let them see it and remember the race they’d tried to conquer.

  With a contented sigh, he checked the time. Sergeant Tsao was getting off duty in another ten minutes, and she’d agreed to meet up with Rev and play tour guide for the rest of the afternoon and evening until he had to leave for Enceladus on the 1900 shuttle. He had SNCO duty at 0800, and that would give him just enough time to get to Camp Reyes, change into his uniform, and report in.

  He’d have liked to stay overnight here on Titan, but as he’d told Bob and Rice when he got back from leave five months before, he’d be taking lots of duty during the post-alert leave period. The way it worked out, this was the only chunk of free time he’d had after the others left to make the trip over to Titan and back.

  Rev took one last look at the hall, then headed for the exit. He needed to go to the small Alpha Company barracks to meet Tsao.

  “How much more time di I have before I get back to the Corps?”

 

  That wasn’t exactly right. Until he got his orders, he wouldn’t know the precise date and time, but Rev had started asking Punch that every day. Let anyone monitoring his comments know that he was still a good, loyal Union citizen. It was tr
ue—he was. But it never hurt to remind the watchers.

  Rev stepped out of the hall. It wasn’t as impressive from the outside, especially with the vast complex of the more utilitarian working chambers extending from the rear of the building. Most of the bureaucracy was in offices underground, but still, the above-ground offices for the upper echelon made up for a massive building.

  He started making his way across the huge Grand Plaza when his quantphone buzzed.

  He checked the call. “Hey, Rice, what’s up?”

  Rev thought Rice should have been given the time off. It wasn’t her fault that Paxus wouldn’t pay for a trip home, but as she was physically present, she was on the duty rotation. She had the company duty today, while tomorrow, Rev would be on battalion duty along with Captain Chokra—frankly, he’d rather have the company duty with no officer to deal with.

  “You still on Titan?”

  “Yeah, why? I’m not coming back until the nineteen-hundred shuttle.”

  “Lemonade’s sick. Diarrhea, puking, the works.”

  “Sucks to be him, but what’s that got to do with me?”

  “He was supposed to be on his way there to pick up a newbie coming in. He can’t get over there, so . . .”

  “Hell, Rice. I’m supposed to be meeting one of the Praetorian Guard from back home. She’s going to show me around. Can’t someone else from Golf get them?”

  “Almost every other staff sergeant is gone or on duty. And the newbie is Union. Coming to Fox, too.”

  “Coming to Fox? Then why was Lemonade going to get them?”

  “Because you had duty tomorrow. But the first sergeant said you need to get them. You’ll be late for duty, but he’ll make sure you’re covered with that.”

  Rev sighed. But he had to admit, he was here, and it made sense.

  “OK. What time are they coming in?”

  “At twenty-twenty-one, on the ship from Waring Three.”