“Grenade!”
The shouted warning, as old as the object of the warning itself, had the expected effect.
Trainees scattered, many running flat out, the smarter ones diving to the ground where they stood. Perhaps, had they seen the instructors hitting the dirt, they would have considered the wisdom of their move.
“Trainee, you will get your shit together and throw that damned grenade. DO you hear me?”
The lead DI swallowed the lump of fear in his throat and confronted the frozen recruit.
The recruit in question, a boy not yet out of his teens, made no acknowledgement, his eyes glued to the explosive in his hand.
The grenade, a training variety yet still deadly if mishandled, was clutched in a trembling hand, the other hand holding the retaining pin that normally locked the ‘spoon’ in place.
Once the pin was pulled, the spoon was released, held in position by the hand of the soldier. Thrown, the spoon would fly off, activating the timed fuse that would cause the grenade to explode in a matter of seconds. Experienced soldiers were known to release the spoon and then toss the explosive, lessening the chance of the enemy picking it up and tossing it back before it went off! And some experienced soldiers had lost hands, eyes, and lives trying to pull that trick!
The DI knew better than to try to wrestle the grenade from the recruit. That would just get them both killed.
He took a deep breath through his nose filters, noticing as he did that the recruit was breathing shallowly through is mouth.
“Goddamnit Recruit, breathe through your filters.” He bellowed. “Don’t you dare pass out on me!”
The recruit swayed, his eyes finally trying to track on the DI…and then he crumbled, the grenade sliding from his hand as he fell forward…in to the arms of the DI!
“Shit!”
Recruits scattered as a figure pushed them aside and leapt forward into the blast pit.
An arm snaked out, shoving the recruit and the DI alike aside while one hand shot down to snatch the grenade off the sandy ground and toss it over the blast wall.
The figure continued moving, flattening to the ground as the grenade detonated, shrapnel slamming against the wall….and up.
Major Corina Twillian was on her feet an instant later, bending over to check on the DI and the recruit.
The DI was shaken but otherwise unhurt. The recruit, however…
“Breathe through your filters, damnit!” The blonde woman snarled, glaring down at the panic stricken recruit.
It had been six decades since man had colonized Mars and began the massive terraforming effort that would one day allow them to live outside the domes, safe from the deadly radiation of solar flares that the present atmosphere was too thin to filter out and free to breathe unaided. That day, however, had not yet arrived and would not arrive in the lifetime of any present.
The atmosphere was coming along as planned, even better than expected, as Terran plants, engineered to withstand the temperature extremes on the mars surface as well as the periodic blasts of radiation from flares, took hold and flourished. As it stood now, with its weak magnetic field, danger from radiation from space was still a danger. That would be a problem until some bright boy figured out how to strengthen the magnetic field artificially. A breathable atmosphere, and one that would black some of that radiation, was doable. Yet it was still too thin to support human life without some help. Thus the nose filters.
Attached to a small oxygen extractor each person had to wear when they left the dome, the filters continuously pulled oxygen from the atmosphere and stored it in compressed form for when it was needed. Breathing thus became a conscious thing, out-dome. Part breathing through the mouth, and augmenting that with breathing through the nose filters. Hyperventilating out-dome was a serious problem…and the recruit now had that problem.
“Remember your training, Recruit!” Corina knelt by the boy, now struggling frantically for air. “Shit.” She pushed the kid onto his back and locked a hand over his mouth, cutting off all his supply of oxygen. “Breathe through your nose!”
The recruit struggled violently, yet Corina acted as if she did not notice. He was not a small kid, his body that some one that had grown up working hard. Yet the hands that flew to grip her wrist could not budge her lock over his mouth.
With her free hand, Corina swept aside the hair that had fallen over her forehead and then used that same hand to force the recruit to face her.
“Look at me…” She glanced at the name tag over the recruit’s right shirt pocket. “..Donaldson. Look at me damnit!”
Donaldson struggled but when his eyes focused on her…and her fore head, they grew wide and the struggles ceased.
“Now breathe through your nose!” She hissed. Bring her face closer to his.
Donaldson took a deep breath through his filters…his eyes never leaving the red colored winged skull tatooed on Corina’s forehead.
Satisfied that the recruit was breathing regularly, Corina turned him over to his instructors and stepped out of the way. From the corner of her eye she saw her squad forming up, pushing through the recruits that, after one look at them, scattered gladly. She caught the eye of the Battalion Commander, a junior grade captain. From the look on his face the officer was itching to dress down a few drill instructors. He was, however, holding his tongue, obviously not prepared to chew them out in front of the recruits.
Corina made a motion for him to join her and waited by the door to her vehicle as he disentangled himself from the other officers and NCOs trying to restore some semblance of order. Her squad filed into vehicles behind hers.
“Captain, that boy had no business being up on that line!” She began before he was able to say a word. “Your people are supposed to weed his kind out long before they get to this point!”
“With all due respect, Major.” The Captain drew himself up, his eyes glancing quickly at the winged skull and then drifting aside. “That kid has performed remarkably well in most other areas of training.” Left unsaid, but insinuated was the resentment of being dressed down by some one not in his chain of command.
“Oh?” Corina lifted an eyebrow. “And I suppose that will be a comfort to those that are killed or injured when he freezes again? Or panics?” She shook her head. “Captain, that kid was born right here on Mars. Third generation.” The Captain was amazed that the Major could just rattle off the information like that. “He, more than many of the others, should be able to handle himself outside the domes! But instead he panicked.” She shook her head again. “Boot him, Captain. I don’t care how or why. Just do it. Transfer him to a non-combat training unit, if you have to. I do NOT want to see him in the field with a combat training unit again. Do I make myself clear?”
The muscles in the Captain’s jaws worked and Corina cocked an eyebrow.
“Begging the Major’s pardon,” His voice was regulation polite, yet his eyes were steel. “I must protest your interference in my training...”
“You do that, Captain.” Corina cut him off. “But be aware that your Colonel Musich is the one that asked me to check in on your training exercise on our way back from our exercise. He will expect a report…and in that report I will make my recommendations clear.”
The Captain said nothing, his jaws clenched as tight as the white knuckled fists at his side.
“Yes, Captain?” Her voice was soft yet did nothing to lessen the warning. “You wish to say something?”
She knew well what the officer wanted to say. She could see it in his eyes every time they focused on the winged skull civilian laws and military regulations alike required be tattooed on her forehead. .
She had heard it before and would again…but not from a subordinate!
The Captain shook his head, a brisk motion, his eyes blazing his anger, hatred…and fear.
“Then do I make myself clear, Captain?” Corina repeated her question and waited until the officer acknowledged.
As the captain made his way back to his battalion, Corina slipped into the small vehicle, waiting for the door to cycle close and the interior pressure to rise before she removed the nose filters.
She grimaced at the rotten egg smell that lingered.
“Any messages, Andy?” she spoke quietly as her driver brought the vehicle up and around, banking back towards the Daedalus Dome; The vehicles of her squad falling in behind.
“Yes, Major.” Her personal AI, slaved to the car, answered instantly. “General Hemmers sends his regards and requests your presence at his office as soon as possible. Colonel Michaels has forwarded a similar request for your presence at the General’s office. The Colonel also adds a personal note, wanting to know what you’ve done now!”
Corina smiled. Unlike most others, Colonel Michaels never once showed any indication that she, or her type, intimidated him. He treated her like any other officer under his command. Well, not exactly. He did show a tendency to expect a bit more from Corina than he did from his…normal…officers.
“Relay to the Colonel, Andy.” She spoke to the AI. “Tell him when I find out I’ll let him know. Respond to the General’s office. Inform them that I will report as soon as I rid myself of this out-dome stench, if that is acceptable.”
“Reply from the General, Major.” The AI responded almost instantly. “You are to report as soon as possible. The General adds this note: ‘Stench be damned. Get your ass here now!”
The AI had plugged in the general’s voice and Corina’s eyes widened at the vehemence in the voice. No… not vehemence…bitterness.
“Send an acknowledgement, Andy. I’m on my way.”
“Yes, Major.”
“And Andy, I am sure you recorded the conversation with the Captain. Transcribe that conversation as well as an account of the events and transmit them to Colonel Musich’s offices.”
“Yes, Major.”
Corina settled back and closed her eyes.
“I thought you were going to tear that Captain’s head off.” Her driver finally spoke.
“Denise, I wanted to. The Makers know I wanted to.” Corina sighed. “That kid had no business being there and he damned well knew it.”
“I seem to remember another raw recruit that froze at the grenade pit, a long time ago.”
Sgt. Denise Patterson spoke softly. A tuft of brown hair had fallen down over her forehead and, with a negligent swipe of a hand, she pushed it back, revealing a tattooed emblem that matched Corina’s in design though it was yellow in color.
“You froze.” Corina acknowledged. “But you at least kept enough sense to breathe properly. And eventually the freeze wore off and you followed through.” She shook her head. “That young kid’s mistake was not in freezing but in panicking and forgetting to breathe.”
Denise merely grunted and motioned with her head.
“Check point ahead.” She said.
They were nearing the first of three locks that separated the interior of Daedalus Dome from the outside and Corina grimaced. Now matter how much General Hemmers wanted her in his office, he would have to wait long enough for her and her team to go through decon.
“Decon, Andy.” She addressed the AI. “Detach from vehicle and go mobile.”
“Yes Major.” Two beeps followed the AI’s acknowledgement, answered by three from the hand held communicator on her belt. Though too small to house the AI properly, the system could be locked to her office, where the brain of the AI actually resided.
“I hate this part.” Denise groused as they slowed and grounded, rolling through the first open door way. Following lighted sequences on the ground, she pulled the vehicle to the left and slid easily into the space indicated. In moments five other slots were filled as the remainder of the Squad pulled in and parked.
The vehicles grew silent as, one by one the operators cut power. Yet no one exited. Instead, they waited for the massive lock doors to close behind them.
Only when a green light flooded the area did they exit the vehicles, filing in behind Corina as she led the way to the smaller man sized doors of the second lock.
Again they waited for the doors to close. When the area was bathed in a green light, indicating that the section had been sealed, they began to remove every piece of equipment and clothing they wore.
These were stored in small cubicles that performed a dry decon procedure while huge nozzles from the ceiling and walls jetted foaming liquid out and over the nude women.
“Gahhhh.” Denise gagged. “The least they could do would be find something that didn’t smell worse than out dome!”
Her gripe was not entirely accurate but close. The chemicals in the decon shower were specifically designed to kill off any active virulent that may have hitched a ride.
The early settlers had learned quickly that though nine out every ten microbes that blanketed the planet, slowly transforming it, died instantly upon contact with an earth normal atmosphere, that tenth microbe grew out of control, contaminating both food and water supplies. Two of the first settlements had been lost that way.
The chemicals did not have a good smell, but it did nothing to mask the stench of out-dome. Only an old fashioned shower with soap and water could remove that.
The showers ended and, after a long blast of hot air to dry, the cubicles holding their now decontaminated uniforms and equipment popped open.
Corina dressed quickly, noting as she did that the message light on her communicator was blinking. She ignored it and, making sure her people were ready, made her way to the final checkpoint though the third set of doors that made up the last barrier between the outside world and the base within the dome.
Here, just inside the doors, two live guards, with weapons loaded and aimed, waited until Corina flashed her Identification card and passed through the retinal scan.
She started to continue on and then stopped, whirling to catch the guard on her left in a vice like grip with her right hand while her left ripped the weapon from his hands.
“What did you say?” She demanded.
The other guard, startled, started to raise his weapon, only to find it plucked easily from his grasp by a frowning Denise.
“Nothing!” The first guard stammered. “I didn’t say nothing!”
“Where the hell did you learn to speak English?” Corina snarled. She gave him no time to answer. “Ma’am. You forgot the Ma’am. When you speak to an officer you end it with Sir or Ma’am. Do you understand soldier?”
“Yes…Yes Ma’am.” The shaken soldier nodded his head.
“Good. Then we’ll try this one more time. What did you say? And don’t play dumb…you obviously know that I heard you!” She shook him once. “When Corporal Clavers showed her ID you muttered something under your breath, soldier…I heard it. I want you to repeat it.”
The soldier shook his head, stubbornly denying the accusation.
“Then allow me to refresh your memory, soldier.” Corina’s face was red with anger now. “When the Corporal showed her ID you muttered ‘Damn Genie’. Isn’t that correct, soldier?”
The second guard paled, raised his hands, and backed as far as he could in the small area.
“I asked you a question, Soldier!” Corina barked. “Is that or is that not what you said?”
The hapless guard swallowed and then finally nodded.
“That shit may go in the civilian domes.” Corina grated. “But not here. Here you are a soldier and you will remember it and you will show proper respect for others. Is that clear?”
“Uh…Major.” The second guard, a corporal, broke in hesitantly. “This is Private Graves’ first assignment. He’s still green, Ma’am.”
“And they don’t teach proper military respect in boot any longer?” Corina kept her eyes on the young private before her.
“I couldn’t say, Ma’am.” The Corporal gulped. “But I swear our platoon Sergeant will make sure that oversight is corrected at once.”
Corina considered and then nodded, releasing the private.
“Private Graves, I would say that you owe your Corporal a debt of gratitude. Whether you know it or not, he just saved your butt.”
She spun and, with her squad following walked out of the reception area.
“You stupid shit.” The Corporal griped as the last of the squad vanished. He stooped to retrieve his weapon which had been placed on the floor, beside the privates as the women had exited. “Do you even have a clue what you just did?”
The private shook his head, rubbing his right arm where the Major had grabbed him with his left hand. He made no move to retrieve his own weapon.
“You just called a Valkyrie a ‘damned genie’, you idiot.”
Whatever else he had learned in boot, that one word was enough to cause him to pale and then spin to be noisily sick.
********
“Captain Siku.” Corina addressed the oriental woman that was the commanding officer of First Squad. “Get your squad back to barracks and dismissed. I’ve got a general to go see. And you can let Captain Graham know that Second Squad’s turn out-dome is next week.”
“You got it, Major.” Capt. Siku smiled and gestured back towards the entry. “Kinda hard on him, weren’t you? Not that I minded, I get sick of that crap in the civ domes. I don’t want to put up with it here too.”
“Get used to it, Captain.” Denise spoke up. “It’s already happening. But I think it will be a while before any get up the courage to say it to a Valkyrie’s face.”
“She’s right, Carol.” Corina used the Captain’s first name as the squad gathered round. “It’s already starting … and that’s a sure sign that the civ domes are even worse.” She sighed and then shook her head. “I hate to do it, but for the time being, all excursions to the civ domes are canceled. Pass that on to the other squads of the platoon when you get back to the barracks.”
“Not a big deal.” Corporal Clavers put in her two cents. “I think we all gave up on the civ domes some time ago. It got to the point you couldn’t look anywhere without seeing a ‘no genie” allowed sign. And as far as the civs are concerned, we’re genies.”
Corina shook her head and waved the squad off and made her way to the motor pool to get a vehicle. She could have easily taken public transport to the General’s office, but the stench of out-dome still assaulted her sense and she knew it would be worse for anyone that had not just entered the dome from outside.
The trip across the dome was quick and, as she made her way through the multiple check points, she thought about what the corporal had said and allowed it to fuel her anger.
She used the time it took to traverse the distance to listen to her messages.
“What have you got for me Andy?”
“A message from Colonel Scheafer, wondering if you have seen the General yet, Ma’am. She left instructions for you to contact her as soon as you have seen the General.”
Corina frowned at that. Colonel Elisabeth Scheafer was the ranking Valkyrie officer on Mars.
On paper, she held command over the four Valkyrie companies stationed at the Deadelus Dome while her second, Lt. Colonel Freida Stark, commanded the four companies stationed at the Mons Domes. On Paper.
In practice, the four companies were divided, each embedded into other units. Echo Company, the Company Corina Commanded, for instance, was embedded with the 2nd Armored division under the command of Colonel Micheals.
“Something’s up, Andy.” She muttered. “And you can bet the Makers I am not going to like it. Not one damned bit.”
By the time she pushed her way into the General’s outer office, she was almost to the boiling point, her attitude and temper frayed from trying to figure out what was going on and the continuing assault on her nasal passage by the out-dome stench.
“Major!”
She glanced up from her thoughts to see a Lt. Colonel frowning at her from behind a desk.
“I realize that you just came in-dome, but don’t you think you should have cleaned up before reporting to the General?”
“If she had I would have had her up on charges for disobeying a direct order.” General Hemmers called out from the doorway of his inner office. “Gods, Major, I could smell you coming up the elevator!”
“It’s nice to see you too, General.” Corina forced herself to smile. “But if the smell is that bad I can go get cleaned up and return.” She looked the Lt. Colonel in the eye. “As I suggested when I reported in.”
“Be damned to that.” The general harrumphed. “Just get your ass in here…now!”
Corina raised an eyebrow at the frowning Lt. Colonel, as if to say ‘I tried’ and stepped into the inner office, the door closing and sealing behind her.
“Corina, it’s good to see you.” The general planted himself behind his desk and waved at a chair. “Don’t worry, I’ll have the place fumigated after you leave.”
“Good to see you again too, sir.” Corina’s smile was genuine this time. “But what was so important that you had to assault the noses of everyone in the vicinity by calling me in before I could get rid of this out-dome stench?”
General Hemmers chuckled without mirth as he studied the woman seated before his desk.
In public she never ever showed the tiniest bit of impropriety. But in private she almost reverted to the young girl he had taken under his wing so many years ago.
An orphan, he and his wife had taken her in, raising her as if she were theirs, regardless of the past…a past that haunted her and those like her all over the inner system.
Now he sighed and, picking up a manila folder tossed it at her.
She read the cover and frowned.
“According to this, I am not authorized to read this, sir.” She looked up, meeting his eyes.
“I’m giving you authority, Corina. Read it.”
Perplexed, she opened the folder and glanced through the pages within, her face growing dark. General Hemmers braced himself.
“I…I don’t understand.” Corina slowly closed the folder.
“Yes you do.” The general nodded. “Unofficially, that is the new Genie Pacification Plan.”
“According to these,” Corina held up the folder, “All non-military genetically enhanced individuals…genies…are to be rounded up and interred in specialization camps on Earth.”
“That’s exactly what it says.” The General nodded.
“So what does this have to do with me…or my people?”
“It’s on the last page.” The general responded, pulling out a final sheet from his desk and handing it over. Corina scanned the contents, her face growing white.
“They can’t be serious!” She blurted.
“Oh they are serious, Corina. Don’t ever doubt that.” He took the sheet and read aloud.
“For legal purposes, an Augment will be defined as any person of human stock conceived by method of gene splicing, commonly known as Genies, or humans enhanced via nanites other than for medical purposes. Due to their nature, all such Augments involved in regular military activities are to be systematically destroyed. There shall be no exceptions.”
“I…destroyed?” Corina shook her head. Her shock deepened as the general actually smiled.
“These were transmitted to me by a friend on Earth.” He said. “The Unified Systems Council is voting on it right now. It is almost certain that the portions pertaining to Genies will pass virtually unopposed.” He paused. “There is a small amount of opposition to including Combatant nanite enhanced humans in that law. At best, however, that opposition will only be able to delay the inevitable. And it is becoming increasingly clear that our civilian leaders here on Mars are about to give in to US pressure and officially align Mars with the Unified Systems.”
“Align?” Corina, still staggered by what she had read, muttered.
“Hell, might as well say surrender. They are bending over backwards to get their ducks in a row before inviting the US in to take over.” The General snapped. “They are busy cataloging all Augment activities and locations and demanding that the military furnish them with similar data concerning Military Augments. At the moment, however, they are only concentrating on the Genies. They don’t yet realize that Combatants will be legally be classified as Genies when this law passes.”
His use of the correct term that applied to people like her caused Corina to relax a bit.
“Needless to say, the-powers-that-be in the military are dragging their feet as long as they can to give me time to figure something out.” The General shook his head. “I don’t think either you or they are going to be happy with my solution but I believe it is the best I can do under the circumstances.”
“Sir, this is ridiculous!” Corina was having trouble concentrating. She had known that because of the past, Genies were looked on with suspicion by normal, unenhanced humans…and that her kind was often mistaken for Genies… But this?
“Corina, those people with intelligence know that Augments were not responsible for the Eugenics War! They were just pawns in a game. Pawns used by both sides. And they also know that it was the Combatants that turned the tide in that war against the Genies. By the time the War was over, however, the new Unified System needed a scapegoat.”
“Genies.” Corina spat.
“Augments.” The General corrected. “And in the years since, the US has fostered that fear on their people. The fear that, left unchecked, Genies would once again rise up and try to destroy the normals. They or their children. And they have made no effort to distinguish between Genies and nanite enhanced humans!”
“That’s insane!” Corina shook her head. “Only a small percentage of augments were engineered for combat! And there was no Genie rising. Everything those Genies did were at the orders of their governments. And Genies are not created with the ability to breed! You know that!”
“I know that, and so do they.” The General nodded. “It’s an old ploy, Corina. One perfected over two hundred years ago by a madman named Adolf Hitler. Give the people a common enemy, a common cause, and they will be putty in your hands. It’s all about control, Corina. Nothing more, nothing less. If it had not been Augments, then it would have been some other group…and will be once the Augments are gone.”
“Gone?”
“Gone.” The General nodded. “Those internment camps will become death camps in time. This will be the last generation of Augments. Count on it.”
Corina was quiet, her mind flashing the faces of her squad on the insides of her closed eyelids.
“General, I cannot promise that my squad will give in graciously. If attacked, they will fight back” She spoke quietly. And then opened her eyes, giving the general a cold look.
“I know that, Corina.” He paused. “We don’t expect any of the military Augments to go down with out a fight. In fact…” His smile was not one that spoke of mirth but of anger. “…We’re counting on it. Any fight they put up will act as a smoke screen that will allow us to save at least a portion.” He looked up. “I know damned will that the US better send its own forces in, because our regular forces would flatly refuse to go up against our Augments. Any of them.”
Corina reached up and lightly touched the emblem on her forehead.
The laws demanding that all augments, and the offspring of those able to breed, be readily identifiable had resulted in an intricate series of emblems, always of a bright color and on the forehead. It had only been a matter of years, however, since the Combatants had been required to have the tattoos as well.
Because of those laws, it became almost ingrained within the augments to move any hair away from the emblems in order to prevent being accused of trying to hide it.
The emblems varied with the type of genetic modifications or augmentations. In the case of the military, it was a skull of red or yellow, the red denoting modifications specific to command.
Further embellishments on the skull depended on more exact specifications. Yet only one group wore the winged skulls. All were female; all first generation combatant nanite enhanced rather than genetically altered; and all were extremely deadly. The Valkyries.
Corina dropped her hand and shook her head.
“But the US will send forces.” She spoke, her voice wooden.
“Yes, they will.” the General agreed. “And they will have a list of military Augments handed to them by our own weak kneed politicos.” He sighed. “It will be the end of many a career, mine included. In fact, the politicos are already worried that we might try to pull a fast one. They have started grooming certain individuals to step in and take over from us old reactionaries.”
His raised eyebrows and a darting glance at the closed door of his office was all it took for Corina to get the message. The General believed that the Colonel in the outer office was one such being groomed. A traitor in his own office!
He straightened.
“Yes, the US will send in their forces. And our regular forces will, for the most part, sit out any conflict. Hell, Corina, there are whole sections of the off Earth Colonies that are preparing for civil war…and several Mars settlements will flat out refuse to knuckle under to the US, no matter what our government says.” He grimaced. “Of course, any resistance will play right into the hands of the propaganda teams of the US. No matter the reason, and you can be damned sure they won’t publish the true reasons, resistance will be shown as clear proof of the instability of Augments.” He shook his head. “It won’t. But I hope it will last long enough for me to get you and your ladies away from here and, hopefully, out of sight of the US. I won’t be able to help the Valkyrie units anywhere else, but I’ll be damned if I sit by and watch you and your girls killed. Not if there is something I can do to stop it.”
Corina said nothing, waiting for the General to reveal whatever plan he had.
He reached into his desk again and withdrew a small box, which he tossed to her.
“Effective immediately you are promoted two grades to Colonel.” He told her. “Colonel Schaefer has been, at her request, transferred to Mons base where she will take command of all planet side Valkyries. You will retain command of Valkyrie Company Echo, but also effective immediately, you are no longer attached to Colonel Micheal’s command. You are to get with Col. Schaefer after this meeting to work out the details.”
The General handed over a sheaf of papers.
“I should add that Echo Company is being reorganized. You will be receiving two more platoons. We will be merging Fox Company with Echo and tossing in a short platoon to act as your HQ platoon.”
Corina blinked. Normally, a Valkyrie company consisted of two platoons consisting of fifty soldiers and two officers each. A short platoon was basically the same size as a single squad, or half, of one regular platoon. In effect, she was being placed in command of slightly over a hundred and fifty more people.
General Hemmers nodded towards the papers he had handed her.
“These will show promotions for your people. Sorry I didn’t ask but I conferred with Colonel Schaefer in order to flesh out your new command. You are not likely to have the time to do it yourself.” He paused. “Now for the hard part.” He took a breath as he produced another bundle of paper. “I’ve already had these orders downloaded to your AI and to those of your officers, though theirs are locked and will remain so until you unlock them.”
She started to read the papers and the general shook his head.
“Don’t bother. These orders command you and Echo Company to board the first available ship outbound for Fargone. Once there, you will present sealed orders to the Station Manager, Governor, or what ever he or she is called. Your AI will have further information for you that you will be able to access once you have reached the halfway point between Mars and Fargone. You will not be able to share this information, however, until the Station Manager gives you an unlock key.”
“Sir, I…”
The General waved her silent.
“Corina, Colonel Schaefer and her command crew know what is coming. In fact, this was partially her idea. You and Echo Company, once you lift planet, will effectively cease to exist. Programs are already running to delete any mention of you or anyone that lifts with you from official records. You and your people are ordered to remove those damned marks from your foreheads.” He waved aside her instant objection. “Yes, I know, I am giving you what amounts to an illegal order, but from this moment on, you and Echo Company are a company of regular soldiers being transferred permanently to Fargone as a security force. Yes, it is exile, but you will be alive…and…” He trailed off, unable to complete the thought and Corina nodded.
“Yes sir.” She spoke softly. “I’ll get my people ready asap.”
The first available transport, as it turned out, was the USS Striker. Though officially categorized as a troop transport vessel, it maintained a crew of over a hundred men and women, as well as a small contingent of Unified Systems Marines and boasted enough fire power to wage a small scale war all by itself. Though officially constructed to battle the increasing danger of piracy, its appearance now in the vicinity of Mars was an extremely thin veiled warning to those factions that were even thinking of giving the new pro US government of Mars problems.
Though General Hemmers had privately cursed the luck that had chosen the Striker, there was no way he could, without causing undo suspicion, demand another transport. He knew had to portray the perfect little general, compliant to the wishes of his duly elected government, if there was even the slightest hope of pulling this off.
It had been a tremendous effort, but thanks to Scheafer, he had been able to get this far. Transportation vehicles between the Daedalus and Mons domes had been frantic as troops were quickly repositioned…all in the name of gathering the soon to be proscribed Valkyries in one location, as far as anyone else was concerned.
And though he thought the General was up to something, even that busy body Lt. Colonel that had been assigned to his staff was firmly convinced that Daedalus had been emptied of Valkyries. Including Echo Company.
During the weeks that had passed, Corina’s new chief Medical officer, Mey Ling, and her staff had worked wonders. The tattoos marking the women as Valkyries had been removed, leaving the skin as clear as if they had never born those hateful markings.
The last of the shuttles were lifting off, ferrying the last of the women and their equipment to the orbiting transport.
He had said his good-byes to Corina on the day her unit had officially ‘shipped out’ to the Mons Dome. He was not about to jeopardize Echo company because of a soft spot he held for their commander…a woman that he damned near considered his own daughter.
So now he sat in his office, doing routine paper work, in full view of the spy on his staff, as if totally unconcerned about the routine deployment of a simple company of Marines.
********
“Space sickness.”
Mey Ling delivered the diagnosis along with a hypo spray.
Corina glared at the Doctor, holding a hand over her mouth, as if the nausea that was hitting every one of the Valkyries was the Doctor’s fault. Despite the fact that the greenish hue of the Doctor’s complexion showed that she was not immune. She closed her eyes as the injected drugs took effect and took a deep breath. It was strange to have to rely on drugs handed out by the Med staff since, normally, their nanites would take care of that, dispensing drugs into the hosts system as needed.
Finally confident that she would not be spewing the contents of her stomach into the surrounding area any time soon, Corina lowered her hand and opened her eyes.
“Space Sickness.” She repeated Mey Ling’s diagnosis. The Doctor nodded and locked eyes with her commander.
“It appears our peculiar make up gets a bit scrambled in free fall.” She said. Though they were in Corina’s quarters and had taken great pains to make sure there was no way the crew of the Striker could eavesdrop on them, they adhered to Corina’s orders. Before boarding, Corina had gathered the entire company together, spelled out what she could of their situation, and ordered that, until further notice, there was to be absolutely no mention of Valkyries, Combatants, nanites, or anything else that might cause the crew of the Striker to believe they were more than they appeared to be. As far as the Striker crew and marine contingent were concerned, they were Able Company. A simple marine Company. A Company consisting totally of women, to be sure, but though it was exceedingly rare, it was not an unheard of thing in the Martian Armed Forces. That alone would draw attention to them. They had to do everything they could to make sure no more attention came their way.
Of course, that was before they had boarded the Striker and began the voyage that would take them to the orbit of Saturn. Before they had all succumbed to the effects of weightlessness that followed each period of acceleration.
“Everyone has had a hypo, by now.” Mey Ling continued. “From this point on, we should be able to counteract the effects with daily oral supplements.”
“Five weeks of pill popping?” Corina demanded.
“You would prefer, perhaps, five weeks of barfing into sick bags?” Mey Ling asked.
“You are an evil woman.” Corina accused.
“Guilty as charged.” Mey Ling smiled. “That’s why I went into the medical field. It allows me to indulge in my baser impulses.”
********
Though it was, by most standards, a large vessel, the Striker was not built for the comfort of its passengers. There were much larger ships. Cargo vessels, often called space trains, consisted of relatively small but extremely powerful ‘engines’ that hauled around giant containers or ‘cars’ hitched together in large stings.
But larger still were the luxury liners that plied the distances between Earth, Mars, Luna, and various other areas within the inner system. Designed along the lines of the Habitats, the Liners consisted of a powerful propulsion unit, the spindle, around which the passenger ring spun to give the semblance of gravity about equal to that of Earth’s Moon. It wasn’t much, and the costs were outrageous. Yet there were obviously enough that desired some gravity and a slower trip as opposed to those that would rather forgo the cost and settle for reaching their destination faster.
As a military transport, the Striker’s main feature was its ability to deliver troops where they were needed in the least amount of time possible.
Though the comfort of the troops being transported was not listed as a priority, the ability of the troops to do their job once they reached their destination was. To that end, a large section of the space that could have been used to house more troops, had been set aside as a gymnasium where troops were expected to spend a few hours each day for exercising and doing what they could to minimize the long term effects weightlessness would have on their bodies.
“That goes for our people as well.” Mey Ling had informed her Colonel.
“I had already thought about that.” Corina nodded. “It would look funny if none of us used the gym and one thing we don’t want to do is attract the kind of attention that make people ask questions.”
Mey Ling shook her head.
“That is not what I meant.” She said. “We are going to need it just as much as a regular person.” She paused as she considered the best way to say what she had to say without mentioning the nanites. “Space sickness is not the only side effect we are feeling from weightlessness. We’ll suffer the same effects as everyone else.”
“Can’t you come up with some good news?” Corina grumbled. Mey Ling considered the question seriously and then smiled and shook her head.
“Not in my job description.” She quipped and then paused, her complexion turning green once again as she fumbled for a anti-nausea tab.
The workouts in the gym were both a blessing and a curse. It was a curse because she and her officers had to quietly remind the undercover Valkyries to not over do it. They had to move slower, not perform feats that might single them out as more than average soldiers.
The blessing came from the ability of her non-coms to ferret out information from the Striker crew and Marines that she and her officers could not.
Of course, they had opportunities the enlisted ranks didn’t.
Aboard the Striker, there were more strict regulations pertaining to the separation between the enlisted ranks and officers. While they were forced to share the same gymnasium, each had their own mess galley. Corina, as the ranking officer of her detachment was expected to dine at the Captains table.
During these times, she had to endure the inevitable questions from the Captain and the senior officer of US Marine unit stationed aboard the Striker.
The Captain, Craig Allison, and the Marine officer, Major Jeremy Stilwick, were not shy about their curiosity concerning the acceptance by the Martian Military of their new governments pro US stance and why a contingent of almost three hundred Martian Marines, all female, were being stationed at Fargone!
It was this last that had confirmed Corina’s suspicion that the Striker had not shown up at Mars simply as a show of force. She didn’t believe that any of the ships crew or officers suspected that Corina and her Company were anything more than what they appeared. IN fact, it seemed no one aboard the Striker was even remotely curious about Genies or Valkyries. No, what they, meaning the US, wanted to know was why a full company of Marines were being sent out to take up station at Fargone.
And Corina believed both the Captain and the Major knew more about what awaited them at Fargone than they were letting on. She was convinced they knew more than they should and she was convinced a certain Lt. Colonel on the General’s staff was responsible.
********
“They’ve tried to hack into every personal AI.” Major Sarah Hilien, her XO, had informed her their first week into the voyage. The Major was one of the Valkyries that had been transferred from Mons, the commanding officer of Fox Company, and the two were still feeling each other out. At the moment, they were making their way back to the cabin Captain Allison had so graciously assigned to Corina. While the living area was rather cramped, the attached office space was arranged to double as a small staff meeting room. It was large enough to handle Corina, her XO, the company Sgt Major, and her five platoon leaders if necessary.
“So far it appears to be nothing more than passive scans.” Sarah continued as Corina placed her palm over the cabin lock and then waved her through as the door slid open. “None of the AIs have reported anything they can’t easily block.”
“I think I would be more concerned if they hadn’t tried anything.” Corina mused as she ushered the Major into the office/staff room. She was not really worried about what the snoopers might find if they were to hack into the AIs. Information that might be dangerous for other eyes to see had been locked away so deep that not even the AIs knew they had it. And they were all slaved to and monitored by Andy: Corina’s personal AI. “Andy hasn’t informed me of any attempts, so she must think their feeble attempts beneath her notice.”
Sarah eased into one of the lush seats around the small table and waited until Corina had poured both of them drinks. She scowled at the purple liquid that filled the glasses.
“I think I am beginning to hate Mey Ling.” She said as she examined the glass in her hand. The liquid was, to the Valkyries at least, a foul tasting concoction the Company Doctor had mixed for every one. It would, she explained, work quicker than the pills and do more to at least mask the effects of the space sickness. The odd thing was, every one else on board the Striker thought it was a rather good drink...even if it was non-alcoholic.
“If you are just thinking it, then you’re at the very end of a very long line.” Corina grimaced and then downed the drink in a single gulp, her face screwing up much like a child that has been forced to take an evil tasting medicine.
“Gods, Cor. You make it look so appealing.” Sarah drawled. She looked as if she wanted to hold her nose as she up ended her own glass.
Corina set her glass aside and took a seat across from her XO. Though she gave no indication of it, she was a bit startled. Until this moment, the Major had always addressed her using her full rank.
There had been a bit of friction when Sarah and those she had brought from the Mons base had joined them. Before Corina’s sudden jump to full Colonel, Sarah had been the ranking officer of the two, having attained the rank of Major a full year before Corina. Mey Ling, of course, had out ranked them both, having been a Major for several years now. As a Doctor, however, she was not considered a Line Officer and so was duty bound to follow the orders of the highest ranking Line Officer. Even if that officer had been a lowly 2nd Lieutenant.
Corina had begun her reshuffling of Echo Company at the top. Her first act was to make Sarah her XO and the two of them had then worked side by side to pull the rest of the Company together as quickly as possible
Though they had known of each other, circumstance had never allowed the two to meet before the current crisis that had thrown them together.
“Something isn’t right here.” Sarah jumped in after downing her own glass of foul liquid. “Our people are reporting that everyone, from the highest ranking Bosun down to the lowest deck hand are trying to pump them for information. It’s almost as if they think we know something they don’t and they are determined to find out what it is.”
Corina understood that the Major was not talking about the Valkyries themselves, but rather their destination.
Sarah saw the slight grimace that crossed Corina’s face and took a deep breath.
“Christ, Cor.” She stopped and shook her head as Corina held up a hand to stop her.
“Not here, not on this ship.” She said. She trusted Andy to keep anyone from spying on them with ship’s systems or manually planted devices but she was not about to take any chances.
Sarah regarded her for a moment and then nodded.
“Aye-Aye, Ma’am.” She replied. Her smile told Corina that she understood…but that she would be expecting a full explanation later.
********
“Damn that mother is huge!”
Seated in one of the smaller recreation rooms aboard the USS Striker, one taken over by the core officers of Echo Company, Corina could only agree as the huge view screen above the bar showed the rapidly expanding shape of Fargone.
From their angle of approach, they could clearly see the triple rings of the massive habitat.
“Too close.”
Corina turned her head, raising an eyebrow at her sergeant major, Tara Mcgills.
“The rings are set too close to each other.” Tara explained, using her hands to illustrate. She moved her hands together in a scrunching motion. “An explosion at the right place in either of the outer rings would also damage the inner ring. And an explosion in the inner ring could conceivably cause damage to both of the outer rings.”
“They thought of that when they built it.” Captain Cherise Horton, or Rese to her friends and most of the Valkyries, which usually amounted to the same thing, nodded towards the view screen. She had spent a lot of time on the outward voyage from mars boning up on Fargone. Though she was the CO of 3rd Platoon, she was also the tech advisor for the entire company. The resident geek, Corina had laughingly called her…right before tasking her with the job of bringing the rest of them up to speed on the ins and outs of the habitat. “Or rather, they thought of it when they added the second ring and then again when they added the third. You have to remember that it was originally a single ring habitat and they had extremely limited funds when it came to refurbishing.”
“So why didn’t they just build a new one from scratch?” Tara demanded. “It probably would have been cheaper!”
“Money was an issue, but time and politics were more so.” Rese snorted, glancing around at the crew members that were listening intently. None had, obviously, been this far out from Earth or Mars. In fact, many had not even known that Fargone had even existed. “Fargone was a pre United System project. A joint venture, I believe, of the Old United States, Great Britain, and Australia. It was also a sore point with many other nations, France and Germany primarily. I wasn’t able to discover the reasons other than some past incident between the United States and other nations that caused a schism that never truly healed, but it seems that the United State, which put up most of the money, man power, and equipment, agreed to the venture only on the condition that persons from certain nations be prohibited from even visiting the habitat. France and Germany were at the top of that prohibited list. That did not set well with the prohibited nations nor did it set well with the US, though at that time it was just the UN, The United Nations. At that time, US stood for the United States, not the United System.”
“And this has what to do with the closeness of the rings?” Tara demanded in her usual blunt manner.
“I’m getting to that.” Rese smiled. She often took pleasure in tweaking the Sergeant Major. “As the UN began to extend its power and authority, it finally came down to three final nations holding out, holding on to their sovereignty. Australia, the United States, and China were the hold-outs.”
“That brought about the Third World War.” Tara nodded, interested in spite of herself.
“Not yet, but it was getting there, and there were those that knew it was only a matter of time. Among those were the inhabitants of the space Habitat New Heinlein, positioned at Lagrange Five. That was when plans were drawn up to not only expand the habitat but also move it away from Earth and eventually into a trajectory that would put it in a stable orbit around Jupiter.”
“Excuse me if I am mistaken, but I do believe that is Saturn out there, not Jupiter.” Tara drawled, eliciting a few chuckles from the listeners.
“I said they drew up plans. Jupiter was their first proposed target. Yet no matter the target destination, it was the moving part that required the habitat be as compact as possible and made extending the spindle a financial impossibility. So they shifted the first ring on the spindle, added the second ring, leaving room for a third and then constructed the propulsion unit that would move the entire habitat out of the Lagrange Five position. It was during the construction phase that they altered their planned destination. While travel time would be greatly extended, it was reasoned that Saturn would be a more suitable choice. It was reasoned that it would be far more convenient and time and cost effective to mine and distill water from the E Ring rather than one of the moons of Jupiter. So they simply added more fuel, altered their planned trajectory and started the long journey to Saturn. It was while they were in transit that the Third World War began and ended.”
There was a moment of silence. Though it had been long ago, the Third World War was still counted as one of the most costly, in lives, of the planetary conflicts. It would be close to a hundred years before mankind once again began moving into space, colonizing the Moon, Venus, Mars, and several of the larger asteroids beyond the orbit of Mars…and contact with Fargone re-established. Of course there would then follow two System Wars, the last of which was also called the Eugenics Conflict which had resulted in a strong central government…the successor to the United Nations…the United System. Because of its distance from the inner planets, Fargone had little to do with either conflict.
“Once the habitat had reached their desired destination, the propulsion unit was dismantled and the material used to construct industry shacks. Using asteroids that had been snagged on the outward trip and larger particles gleaned from the outer rings, the industry shacks then began work on small way stations around Saturn and the outermost moons and, eventually, the third ring of the habitat. That was when they renamed the habitat and Forgone was born.”
“I really hope the pilot of this boat knows what he is doing. Look at the way that thing is spinning!” Some one, Corina could not see who, piped up.
“HAH!” Rese snorted. “Even the inner system habitats never let a ship dock under their own power. They’ll send tugs out. The tugs will attach to the ship, and put us in a spin to match the habitat and then haul us in for docking.”
Docking, indeed. Corina snorted. With most of the inner system habitats, the Striker would have been parked some distance away and supplies and personnel would be shuttled back and forth between the ship and the habitat. Fargone, however, was larger than any inner system habitat by several degrees. There would be no external parking here. This time, the Striker would slide into that massive maw and then be guided into a berthing slip within what Rese called the landing bay.
“Well that’s one way to reduce the long term effects of the Coriolis Effect.” Mey Ling murmured
Corina turned her head to see the diminutive oriental woman, the ranking Valkyrie medical officer, at her side.
“Hmmm?”
“The Coriolis Effect.” Mey Ling explained. “The spin that simulates gravity by producing a centrifugal force. While fine and dandy for the people living and working in the rim, because of the vast radius, it could tend to cause intense space sickness or acute disorientation the closer into the hub.” She waved a hand at the image. “With something that size, I would not be surprised to find that the effects are minimal except in an area right around the hub. If I were them, I would use that area to house computers or low maintenance items. In the hub proper there will be zero gravity so not really a problem. We won’t even notice the spin. Just like we won’t notice it here on the Striker when the tugs put us in a matching spin. And once past that small area, gravity will begin to assert itself until, by the time you reach the rim, you are at or close to full earth gravity.”
“That’s exactly how it is set up.” Rese confirmed. “According to the data I have, the spindle itself houses most of the storage, the main computers, the automated systems, docking, etc.” She consulted her AI unit, nodding slightly as she confirmed her thoughts. “The middle ring, the largest of the three, is primarily reserved for agriculture and is often used as a vacation spot for the inhabitants. The only residential areas in Ring Two belong to those that actively work in the second ring. Agricultural specialists, caretakers, etc. The first ring houses the gravity dependant science facilities, the major medical facilities, governmental offices, and some residential districts. Most of these are used by those that work in the first ring.” She consulted her AI again. “Ring Three is primarily residential, with some businesses that cater to the residents. Restaurants, shopping malls, etc. Most of the residents, however, either work in the other two rings, the Spindle, the construction shacks, or the exploratory teams.”
“Will the Coriolis Effect have any effect on us?” Tara demanded of Mey Ling.
“Perhaps.” Mey Ling answered without hesitation, smiling slightly. “We’ve already discovered that we can’t handle prolonged zero gravity.” Stifled groans greeted that announcement as nearly every Valkyrie within hearing distance considered their individual bouts with space sickness during the long voyage. “I’m pretty sure that as long as there is some semblance of gravity, our…” she paused as she considered how to continue, remembering Corina’s orders on what not to mention while aboard the Striker. “…bodies will adjust. While most…people…might develop both medical and psychological problems closer into the hub, I imagine that we’ll simply feel grateful to any degree of gravity.”
As the conversation lagged, with some pestering Rese for more details, Mey Ling caught Corina’s eye and motioned for her to move away from the other Valkyries for a private conversation.
“So what have you learned about this place?” She asked. She tapped the AI unit on her belt. “We all got an info pack but they were pretty sketchy on what we are supposed to do after we arrive.”
“What makes you think I got anything more than you did?” Corina evaded. Mey Ling did not respond with words, instead she fixed her commanding officer with a baleful stare. Major Hilien, standing close enough to over hear, merely snorted. “Okay.” Corina sighed. “I got a full packet.” She admitted. “With instructions and a lock that won’t let me share with the rest of you until we actually get on the habitat and report to the Governor. Actually, he is the one that will have to provide the unlock key that will allow me to share with the rest of you.”
“I knew it.” Mey Ling breathed while Sarah Hilien shook her head. “I knew there had to be another reason why they were sending us here. As much as I like the general, even he wouldn’t be willing to risk his career to send us with out some other reason.”
“Actually, getting us away from Mars was the primary reason.” Corina risked, after taking a good look around. “General Hemmers and Colonel Schaefer were already making plans to do something. It was information received during their planning that convinced them that Fargone would be the best bet.” She made a few gestures with her fingers and Mey Ling’s eyes widened slightly and Sarah scowled. It was the method all military units used to communicate during silent ops. Basically Corina had told them to drop it, be silent, enemy nearby!
To be Continued……..
-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2014 by Clay Clearbrook
-- and may not be reprinted without permission.