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  We were both silent for a good while after that. I nursed my drink and thought about his words. He was right, I knew he was right. But it wasn't easy. It was one thing to ask men and women to follow you into danger, but quite another to say, you and you, go into that death trap while I stay here. He was also right that I'd have to get past it if I was going to be an effective officer. They tried to cover this whole topic at the Academy too, but you really couldn't understand it fully until you’d lived it.

  The general was silent. He knew I needed a minute to think, and he gave it to me. He took the bottle and filled our glasses and then sat quietly, staring at his cognac but not drinking.

  Finally I broke the silence. "I know you're right, general. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your taking the time to talk this through with me. I'm having a hard time dealing with the losses. We were lucky and had light casualties here, but then the moons campaign was another bloodbath. Not as rough as Achilles or Columbia, but bad enough. Lots of empty seats on the shuttle coming back. I want to thank you for handling this privately and not through disciplinary channels. And for all the other ways you've helped my career."

  He laughed softly. "Erik, this isn't disciplinary at all, private or otherwise. You are one of the best marines I've ever seen. Consider it help with your continuing education and development. Maybe I'd like to see you sidestep some of the things I learned the hard way. You're less of a drinker than I am," - he looked at my full glass and laughed again - "but I was less of a drinker myself a few thousand ghosts ago." He drained his glass. "But look at it this way. You've created one hell of a blood and guts reputation for yourself. I think your troops would raise you up on their shields and declare you emperor!"

  We both laughed, and having gotten past the "official business," we sat for a long while and talked about all sorts of things delightfully devoid of military significance. We even crossed the boundaries somewhat and discussed a bit of our pre-corps pasts, but that was the cognac talking.

  I learned a lot about the general that day, not the least of which is that he can drink me under the table. We polished off that very expensive bottle, which left him still in decent shape and me barely able to stand. He helped me over to my bunk and pulled off my boots. On his way out he ordered the AI to shut off the lights. That was the night I got tucked in by the marine corps’ biggest hero.

  So now I was here, reviewing the battalion I would be commanding, shiny new major's pips on my collar. It was a new unit, and most of the privates were fresh out of training. But the general had arranged for my old company to be transferred to my new command, so I had some familiar faces. He'd also given me authority to issue battlefield promotions to non-com positions, so I was able to take a lot of my veteran privates and make them team and squad leaders. I had a couple I wanted to send to the Academy, and the general approved them all, effective after the campaign. He didn't want to lose any experienced personnel from the mission, and I agreed completely.

  I spent three days reorganizing the battalion. I tried to get an experienced private in every fire team, but I just didn't have enough. So I made sure each squad had at least one and that any team without one had a very experienced non-com in charge. I couldn't commission new lieutenants, but I could put a few veteran sergeants in command of platoons. I ran it by the general, and he told me to do whatever I thought was best. He also approved my request to bump Frost and Sanchez to captain and give each a company. Sanchez took a hit on Dina, but he'd be back to duty before we shipped out. By the time I finished rearranging things I was pretty happy with the results. I would have loved another experienced officer or two, but you work with what you've got.

  A week before we were set to ship out I got one more surprise, courtesy of General Holm. I had just finished a final briefing with my platoon commanders and was heading out to the dining hall, when a familiar figure turned the corner and said, "Well if it isn't Major Erik Cain, the war hero."

  I couldn't restrain my shocked smile. "Captain Darius Jax! How have you been, old friend?" I walked up to him intending to shake his hand, but somehow it turned into a big bear hug.

  He flashed me a broad smile. "Tried to get myself killed on Alpha Leonis IV, but otherwise pretty fair. Of course, who can keep up with the legendary Major Erik Cain?"

  "That will be quite enough of that, thank you. Come on, let's head down to the officers' club and get some dinner. We've got some serious catching up to do."

  We hopped on the lift down to the club and worked our way through a couple of dinosaur-sized steaks as we took turns recounting the events of the past three years. Jax had been badly wounded during the Alpha Leonis campaign and got the pleasure of regenerating an arm, which gave us something to commiserate about. When he mentioned he was at Armstrong I thought he might have met Sarah, but the medical center was enormous, and their paths hadn't crossed.

  The best news, as far as I was concerned, was that Jax was assigned to my battalion. The general, who had been impressed with both of us on Columbia, had apparently been mentoring his career as he had mine, and he arranged to have Jax transferred to serve under me. His captain's bars were shiny and new, but I decided right on the spot to make him my battalion executive officer. He had never commanded a company in the field, so putting him a heartbeat away from battalion command was unorthodox to say the least, but I knew Jax, and I knew that he could handle it. I knew I could trust him.

  After expressing the obligatory concerns about his readiness for the position, he accepted. We shook on it, and business concluded we spent a long night talking and reminiscing. Jax and I had fought together in Achilles and on Columbia, two back-to-back bloodbaths, and each of us had been able to count on the other. It created a real kinship between us that was hard to explain but very real nonetheless. I have always been a loner, and Jax was close to the only person I would have called a friend. My personal relationships were few. Sarah, of course. And the general, who was rapidly becoming like a father to me.

  Getting back to business, I felt a lot better about the battalion. With Jax, Frost, and Sanchez as three of my captains, and my veteran NCOs from the old company spread around as platoon execs and section leaders, I figured we'd be able to manage just fine, even with the high proportion of green troopers.

  The campaign itself was a significant undertaking. The brigade was going to assault three systems, one after the other, only the second time a strike force had been given multiple targets. We'd be reinforced and resupplied between attacks, but we were going to hit all three in rapid succession, with very little time between to rest and refit.

  As the war grew in scope, central command was planning more in terms of this type of sustained, multi-planet campaign. We had just completed the first one - the attacks on Dina and Albera, but they were two moons of the same planet. This was much vaster in scope, with almost ten times as many troops and three enemy worlds in different systems.

  The entire campaign represented something of a doubling down on holding Gliese 250. We were attacking a group of systems known as "The Tail," a chain of three stars with no lateral warp gates at all, just one in and one out until the last system, which had only the one. The entire thing was a dead end, with no discovered route in or out except through Gliese. That made the systems easy for us to defend once we took them. As long as we held Gliese, the worlds of the Tail would be safe from attack. Of course, if we lost Gliese and didn't take it right back, the systems and any forces deployed down that dead end were cut off and as good as lost. They'd fight, of course, but trapped with no hope of resupply or reinforcement they'd stand no chance. If the enemy took Gliese back while we were still in the middle of the campaign, we'd have a disaster on our hands as bad as Achilles.

  With no usable real estate in the system, the battle for Gliese, if and when it came, would be a naval affair. The little maneuver we'd pulled off to grab the station was only possible because it had been a surprise attack, and there were no Caliphate naval forces posted in the syste
m. But now the navy had done everything it could to bring force to bear, and if the Caliphate came back they'd have one hell of a fight in space. And I do mean one hell of a fight. As long as our invasion force was deployed down the Tail, Gliese would host the biggest concentration of naval force deployed anywhere since Operation Achilles.

  We even had an allied PRC task force in-system to bolster our defenses, which was a new level in cooperation between the two powers. In addition to bringing 8 cruisers and a number of support vessels, the armada delivered Captain Akio Yoshi, an observer and liaison officer who would be coming with us on the campaign. The general attached him to my battalion, and asked me to make him as comfortable as possible.

  I took the general's charge seriously, and checked and rechecked all the arrangements. I inquired about his billeting arrangements and found that he'd been assigned VIP quarters, which were quite a bit larger than my own. I checked them out to make sure everything was ready for his arrival, and I assigned a private to act as his orderly and assistant while we were on the station. I tried to arrange for one of the officer's clubs to have some Japanese dishes available while he was here, but since we'd only taken the station a few months ago, the supplies were still fairly limited, and they couldn't really accommodate my request.

  I had a basic course in Japanese at the Academy, but the language curriculum was one of the things that had given way to the wartime acceleration of the training program, and my resulting ability to stammer a few words did not exactly facilitate communication. I was as likely to call his mother a rhinoceros as I was to offer a respectful greeting, so I took a portable AI with me when I went to the landing bay just in case his English was no better than my Japanese.

  I could have saved myself the trouble. After we exchanged our respective salutes he greeted me warmly, in perfect English. "Major, I am glad to finally meet you. We in the PRC have heard much about your exploits, and I have been a particular fan. I am most honored to be your ally, and I sincerely hope one day to be your friend."

  He extended his hand, and I grasped it firmly. "Captain Yoshi, I am very glad to meet you as well, and quite grateful that your English is far better than my Japanese."

  He laughed heartily. "My father was the PRC ambassador to the Alliance for almost ten years. I grew up in the Georgetown Sector of Washbalt. No doubt one reason I was assigned to this duty."

  "Well that should make things much easier on me. I'm from New York myself." I motioned for the orderly to collect the bags. "You must be exhausted. Let's get you settled into your billet. The private will bring your baggage to your quarters immediately."

  "I would be most grateful, Major. And if I may make a request?"

  "Certainly, Captain Yoshi, what can I do for you?"

  "It’s been a long day, and I’m starving. Is there anywhere on this station that makes a good burger?"

  I started to answer him, but couldn't stifle my laugh. He looked at me quizzically, so I explained about my misadventures with the officer's club kitchen, and we both laughed again.

  "Your efforts were most kind, Major, but you needn't worry. Ten years on your east coast, remember? If I can get a good rare burger and a pepperoni pizza with a decent beer to wash it all down I'll be just fine."

  We had another laugh, and then we downshifted into small talk as we made our way to the officers' club, where we had two rare burgers that Akio pronounced, "quite excellent considering where we are."

  We got along immediately, and while there was very little common ground between his privileged background and my, shall we say, grittier past, it turned out we were very similar in many ways. We agreed to dispense with the "major" and "captain" stuff, except in front of the troops.

  I learned a little more about the liaison program over the next few days, and I thought it was a great idea. In the past allies tended to operate in overall cooperation, but generally undertook their own separate operations with minimal joint planning. Combined task forces, like the one taking shape in Gliese 250, were quite rare, and any suggestions at embedding allied liaison officers into active strike forces would have elicited shouts of "espionage!"

  But mistrust was starting to give way to necessity. Since the Unification Wars, there had been no formal, long-term alliances or treaties between any nations. Certainly, some of the powers were more likely to support others - us and the PRC or the Caliphate and the CAC, for example. But there were no long-term arrangements, and each war set off a desperate scramble to attract allies, with the belligerent powers offering their prospective new friends all sorts of choice bits of the enemy empire in return for joining the fight.

  But the scale of war in space was increasing, and it was becoming more crucial to have long-term allies. No power was strong enough to stand alone. The CAC and the Caliphate had as close to a permanent alliance as existed, which put enormous pressure on us. We could have handled either one of them, but not both. As both were usually fighting against us, and the PRC was the blood enemy of the CAC, an alliance made all sorts of sense.

  For six years we had fought both the CAC and the Caliphate alone, and our defeats were largely the result of being spread too thin. If the PRC had entered the war at the beginning, the strategic situation would be enormously different. We might have even won the war by now. But there was still tremendous distrust between the superpowers, and these wheels turn slowly. Maybe it starts with two officers, a couple of hamburgers, and a night spent drinking too many beers.

  Akio fit in very well, and he got along with everyone. He was very friendly and easy-going, but when I pulled up his file and read it I realized that this guy was one hell of a fighter too. In the couple years since the PRC had entered the war he'd been in five assaults, the last two as a company commander.

  His first assignment was commanding a platoon protecting an exploratory expedition on a newly discovered planet. The CAC, which also claimed the system, sent in two companies to take out the whole group. Akio's platoon dug in and held out for 5 days against five to one odds before PRC naval support arrived and the CAC forces withdrew. He had 65% casualties and was wounded twice, but he held the place and kept every civilian member of the expedition alive.

  I was going to have trouble keeping this guy a safe distance back from the fighting, I could see that now. And I didn't want to end up having to tell the general how I got the PRC liaison officer scragged.

  Chapter Ten

  AS Belleau Wood Task Force Crocket En route to Iota Draconis system

  The order of battle listed 6,307 troops, including the general and Aoki. It took three days to shuttle us all to the waiting transports, and another two to get all the equipment and provisions loaded and the ships underway.

  My battalion was assigned to the Belleau Wood, which was eerily familiar, since it was a sister-ship to the Gettysburg. We filled it up this time though, and things were pretty crowded. I had a cabin with an adjoining office this time instead of a bunk in the non-com berthing area. Another of those privileges of rank.

  We were accelerating at 1g, so we didn't have to strap into the acceleration couches, at least not yet. It would take a couple days to get the fleet into formation, and until then we'd have a comfortable ride. I used the time to get everyone settled in and put together a schedule of workout and training sessions. When they weren't strapped into the couches or asleep, I wanted them kept busy. God, when did I turn into an officer?

  The fleet was impressive. Ten large assault ships of the Gettysburg and Arlington classes, and twenty-four smaller transports and supply vessels, protected by a nine ship task force built around the battleship MacArthur. We were lighter on warships than we'd normally be for this big an op, but that's because they were staying in Gliese to protect our rear.

  Eight days later we zipped through the Iota Draconis warp gate and burst into enemy space at .05c. We didn't expect any significant defending naval forces, but the task group went in ahead, the transports lagging behind. If we guessed wrong, and there was a Caliphate fl
eet down the Tail there was no point in losing a brigade before they even touched ground.

  As expected, there weren't any warships in Iota Draconis, but the MacArthur's group did capture four large freighters filled with rare ores from further down the Tail. The ships had been trapped at Iota since we'd taken control of Gliese 250.

  Iota Draconis II was the largest colony of the three we were going to assault, and the orbital defenses were tougher than anticipated. The fleet took them out, but the MacArthur took significant damage, and one of the cruisers was holed in multiple places and knocked out of the fight indefinitely.

  This was the first time I'd fought under General Holm in an attack, and the landing was the most meticulous thing I'd ever seen. Every aspect was perfectly timed, with the general closely monitoring each detail. A single regiment landed in the initial wave, with a reserve battalion suited up and ready to reinforce if necessary. My people stayed onboard, and I found it difficult to sit in my office and watch the battle unfold without me.

  I'd invited Jax and Aoki to monitor progress with me, and we sat silently for a long while, each of us unsettled at sitting on a ship while troops were landing on an enemy world. Finally, Aoki broke the silence. "I have never seen a landing so perfectly executed. General Holm truly lives up to his reputation."

  "I've never met any officer with a mind like his." I looked up from the screen over to Aoki. "He sees everything, and he anticipates every possibility. I still don't know how we managed to hold Columbia, or how he knew the enemy had that third wave coming. Jax and I were only sergeants at the time, but Holm was aware of everything that was going on during every minute of that battle. And with all he had going on at the end. he still had the time to track one wounded sergeant and send out the party that pulled me from under a pile of radioactive debris."

  "He did more than that, Erik," Jax said. "He led the search party himself. We counter-attacked right after we repulsed the enemy advance - your emplacements were spot on, by the way…I've never seen troops melt away like they did in those fields of fire - we counterattacked. We ended up four or five klicks away by the time the fighting was over. I was sure you were dead, but the general - colonel then - commed me and said you were alive and ordered us to head back and find you. By the time we got back, he was already there, with two medics and a couple squads of infantry searching."