Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales Read online

  In the morning we left the hotel and walked out of the Sector A checkpoint into the main area of the MPZ. I had called Sergeant Warren, who’d turned out to be a great assistant, and told him to cancel our appearances in New York and get us transport permits to leave immediately. Somebody would probably be pissed that we were bailing on our commitments, but to say I didn’t give a fuck would have been an understatement of epic proportions. We were sitting on a small bench in the park when he called me.

  “Major, I got your events canceled and travel permits issued for you to go back to Wash-Balt today. I was stunned they said yes. Apparently Presidential Medal winners do have some influence. Is there anything else you want me to do?”

  “Nice job, Chris,” I replied. “Yes, I need you to arrange to have our baggage sent from the hotel to wherever we’re staying in Wash-Balt. Oh yeah, I need you to get us a place to stay there too.”

  He responded sharply, “Yes, sir. Consider it done.”

  “And Chris … thanks. This was important.”

  “I’m at your service, sir.”

  “After you finish, take the rest of the time to yourself. Stay here or go wherever you want with the rest of your leave. Use my name if you think that stupid medal has juice.”

  “Thank you, sir. I appreciate that, sir.”

  And so Sarah and I had stayed one sleepless night in New York City, which had once been home to us both, and we left never to return. Two hours later we were on the magtrain to Wash-Balt, and that evening we were eating dinner at Aoki’s old haunt.

  By the next morning we’d pushed the demons back into the recesses of our souls, and we were back to normal, more or less. The two of us were closer than ever. I had been nervous on my way to Earth, uncertain how several years apart would have affected us. But now I knew, we both knew, that time, distance, war, hardship—none of it—would get between us.

  We had a month’s leave coming now that the tour was over, and we’d both had just about enough of Earth. We decided to go to Atlantia, which was a big rec center for troops on leave. Anywhere but Earth.

  As we boarded the orbital shuttle we both knew we’d never see Earth again. I was wrong, I’d be back once more, under circumstances I couldn’t have imagined at the time. But Sarah never returned to the planet of her birth, and as far as could tell, she never even thought much about it.

  CHAPTER 12

  I Corps Assembly Area

  Columbia—Eta Cassiopeiae II

  Ten years of war. Ten years since I finished basic training and made my first assault at Carson’s World. Sixteen years passed for that angry, animalistic kid saved from an early death by a Marine. A Marine who later died himself fighting half a kilometer away from his recruit on a planet they had travelled very separate paths to reach.

  Ten years of war that saw us beaten and forced to retreat, only to regroup and claw our way back into the fight and throw the enemy onto the defensive. In the four years since I’d graduated from the Academy we’d taken a big swath of Caliphate territory and reclaimed the momentum. Or at least evened the score.

  But the enemy still held a whole sector of our worlds, conquered in the disastrous early years of the war, and now we were going to do something about that. I Corps was the largest formation ever fielded in space by the Western Alliance. The 1st and 2nd U.S. Marine Divisions, the Royal Marine Division, the 1st Canadian Spaceborne Brigade, and the Oceanian Assault Regiment. Over forty-five thousand troops, all committed to Operation Sherman, the campaign to recover our lost systems. Commanding I Corps was a Marine I’d served with before, and one I would have followed into hell itself, the newly-promoted Lieutenant General Elias Jackson Holm.

  While I was on Earth trying to keep a smile on my face and the contents of my stomach inside while dealing with politicians and government officials, General Holm was organizing and training what would become I Corps. After the successes of the Tail and Outer Rim campaigns, the general pretty much had a blank check, and he used to it appropriate every veteran formation he could find for the offensive.

  This left many of our systems defended by green troops, but the general made sure that every crucial planet had a least a component of veterans and a seasoned commander. The newly conquered rim worlds were left lightly defended. The Outer Rim campaign was a diversion, intended to shift the enemy’s focus to retaking his own systems, and we couldn’t realistically hold the worlds we took anyway. They were just too remote, too far from our own bases of support. Hopefully, the Caliphate would be fully committed to recovering some of this territory, giving us an opening to take back what we’d lost early in the war.

  The whole conflict had become more complex, and was showing signs of widening further. There was a lot of diplomacy and spying going on, though we generally didn’t get too much information from those quarters, at least not until it was time to act on it.

  Our alliance with the PRC was starting to pay off. Fully mobilized now, the PRC was keeping the CAC busy, launching attacks on multiple worlds, raiding supply lines, and generally preventing them from starting any new offensives against us. The CAC outnumbered the PRC, but the Coalition had great technology, certainly better than the CAC’s, and even superior to ours in certain areas. In a long one-on-one war of attrition the PRC would probably lose, but as an ally causing the CAC a world of problems they were perfect. On a personal level I enjoyed the reports I was getting on the exploits of Major Aoki Yoshi, who was rapidly becoming the hero of the PRC. Aoki was a good officer and a good friend, and I wished him only the best.

  Open war had broken out between Europa Federalis and the Central European League as well, though for now it was a separate conflict. No one was seriously wooing either of them since an alliance with one would mean war with the other, but most likely that conflict would eventually merge with this one. This new fight would play havoc with the general’s supply of good cognac, but that was likely to be the biggest effect on our war effort for now.

  Our intel teams were more worried about the South Americans. Generally, they were more closely aligned with us than our enemies, but the systems they really wanted to annex were mostly ours, so it was easier for the Caliphate to offer them a reward. Intelligence reports suggested that they had been very close to entering the conflict before our recent victories caused them to delay. There was still a lot of concern they would eventually come in against us, though, and we just didn’t have the reserves to manage another front. Their empire was in decline, barely holding onto superpower status, and they desperately needed a bigger presence in space. They were cut off from the rim by the other powers, and they were effectively landlocked in space. They needed to conquer someone’s colonies to create a pathway to unexplored areas, and ours were juicier and better located for them. I was no expert on diplomacy or intel, but I suspected greed and expediency would win out over other considerations.

  We had our own diplomatic initiative underway—we were trying to get the Martian Confederation to come in on our side. They were closely aligned with us and would never have sided with the Caliphate or the CAC, but they also had a strong resolve to remain neutral. While they’d fought a skirmish or two over the years, they had managed to stay out of the First and Second Frontier Wars, and they had no desire to get dragged into the third. I suspected they would enter the war rather than see the balance of power shift significantly to the Caliphate and the CAC, however. My opinion was unqualified, of course. One thing I have never been is a diplomat.

  Regardless of diplomacy and the shifting of national alignments, I Corps was going to liberate our people. Some of them had been held by the enemy for seven or eight years, and it was well past time for us to free them from the yoke. I believe that opinion was shared by every member of I Corps, from General Holm to the lowest, greenest private fresh out of camp.

  The assembly point for I Corps was an amusing one, at least for some of us. The Eta Cassiopeiae system had the warp gates to facilitate our advance, so the planet Columbia was again t
he destination of troop transports, though this time the situation was significantly less dire. When I stepped out of my ship onto the field outside Weston it felt odd, as though I’d only been away a very short time. Six years. Had it really been almost six years?

  I walked quietly to the edge of the field, gazing over at the hills in the distance, my mind lost in thought. There were ghosts here, ghosts of friends I’d left behind. Friends I’d sent to their deaths. “I’m back, brothers,” I whispered somberly. My introspection was short-lived. An orderly came over and told me the general wanted to see me immediately. God, he must have been about twelve. And why was he looking at me with that crazy stare. There are real heroes around here, kid. If you’re dazzled by me you need to get out more.

  The Columbians had been busy. We’d left their world in pretty rough shape, but they’d somehow managed to get it looking almost the way it did before the battle. In fact, many of the new buildings were larger and nicer than the ones they’d replaced. There were some red zones, of course, the unavoidable result of a battle where sixteen nuclear warheads had been used. But they had all been tactical nukes, and the biggest was roughly 12kt, so a complete cleanup was possible and, in fact, was well underway.

  The defenses had been dramatically improved as well. Two large orbital fortresses protected the planet, and each commanded a huge array of firing platforms and combat satellites. Any enemy fleet approaching Columbia was going to have its hands full. The militia had been upgraded too, and the planet now had a regular army of sorts, with 1,100 fulltime professional soldiers under arms. With the enhanced militia, Columbia could field over 3,500 reasonably well-equipped and trained troops for its own defense.

  The orderly had brought a transport to take me to the general. I jumped in, and we headed over to the main HQ. The open plains around Weston had become a massive military camp. There were temporary shelters, rows of parked vehicles, and thousands of troops marching, drilling, and conducting exercises. I wanted to get a look around, so I had the orderly pull up a little short of the general’s pavilion so I could go the rest of the way on foot.

  I’d left Columbia a sergeant, but I came back a major. As I walked through the bustling camp I couldn’t get used to the deference, the constant salutes from everyone I passed. Of course, I was scared to death of majors too when I was a young puppy solider. But it was still an odd feeling.

  Headquarters was a portable modular structure at least 50 meters long. The general was standing just outside his door, rapidly firing out orders to three different officers. I laughed quietly to myself as I walked up. The three of them were having trouble keeping up with him. It had been a year since I’d seen the general, but one look and I could see he was his old self. When he saw me walking up I thought I could see a little smile on his face. He quickly finished up and dismissed the officers. I stopped a couple feet away and snapped him my very best salute. “Major Cain, reporting as ordered, sir!”

  His return salute was no less sharp, but his greeting was warm and friendly. “Welcome to Columbia, Major. I believe you are somewhat familiar with the place.” He pointed to the door. “Let’s go into my office and catch up.”

  I followed him into the building and past a dozen desks with officers and non-coms sitting at workstations. He opened a large white door that had three stars engraved on it and motioned for me to enter. Once the door was closed we shook hands and he clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Erik, my boy, it’s good to see you. It’s been a long time.”

  “It’s good to see you too, sir. Of course it’s only been a long time because you sent me back to that political slime pit instead of taking me with you on the Outer Rim Campaign.”

  He laughed and scolded me a bit. “If you didn’t insist on making yourself such a conspicuous hero all the time, I wouldn’t have to send you back from the front to collect your medals.” He noticed the small package I was carrying. “What is that?”

  I’d almost forgotten. I handed it over to him. “Just a little gift from Earthside. With Europa Federalis and the CEL at war again, it might be the last you see for a while.”

  He opened the box and pulled out the small crystal bottle. I had been right that night we shared that first bottle. It did cost a month’s pay.

  I could tell he was touched when his voice cracked ever so slightly. “Thank-you, Erik. Damn, it’s good to have you back.”

  He walked behind the desk and motioned to one of the guest chairs as he sat down. He put the bottle on his desk and leaned back in his chair.

  I sat down, and after a brief silence I asked what had been on my mind since I had gotten there. “So how is my battalion, sir? I know they were on the campaign, but I couldn’t get any decent reports.”

  “Jax took good care of your people, Erik. After the fighting they did in the Tail, I assigned them to the reserve for the Outer Rim battles. They plugged a few gaps, but they made it through the whole thing with less than 20 percent losses. Not bad for four battles.”

  I was relieved and let out a breath. “Jax is a tremendous officer. There’s no one I would rather have taking care of my troops.”

  He gave me a wicked little smile. “He did such a good job with the battalion I thought I’d let him keep them. I put through his promotion already.” He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small box. “I’ve got his major’s circlets here. He doesn’t know yet; I thought you might like to tell him.”

  His words were still sinking in. Jax deserved the promotion, no question, and I was happy for him. But I never even considered not getting my battalion back. I felt a little sick.

  The general was sitting there grinning. He must have read my mind. “Relax, Erik, they’re still yours. I’m not taking your battalion away; I’m giving you another one too. You’re going to command the regiment.”

  He watched me with an amused stare. I was too stunned to speak, so I just listened. “I’ve got your eagles in my desk already. You’ve earned them, but if it’s OK with you I’m going to wait to make it official. Your rise through the ranks has been indecently quick already, a record in fact, as you know. So I’d like to wait a couple months instead of bumping you up again immediately.”

  I finally managed to stammer out a response. “General Holm, I don’t know what to say. Of course. Whatever you think is best, sir. We can forget the whole thing. I’m happy to stay as a major.”

  I really meant it. I could barely imagine myself at my current rank, much less dealing with another promotion. But the general shook his head. “It is well-deserved, Erik, and you should be getting it right now. Effective immediately, you are the commander of third regiment. You’ve got a colonel’s posting, and you’ll be wearing those eagles before we hit dirt in an assault. My word as an officer.”

  He looked at his desk for a minute and then up at me, the friendly smile back on his face. “I’ll bet the trip wasn’t all bad. So how is your beautiful doctor?”

  I smiled to myself for a few seconds. “She’s amazing. She was the only thing that made wallowing in that mudhole tolerable. How in the world did you even know about us, general?”

  He gave me a sly glance. “I have to know what my troopers need, Erik, or I wouldn’t be much of a commander now, would I?”

  We both laughed, but then I looked at him very seriously. “I am very grateful, sir. Until this trip we’d never had more than a few days together, when I wasn’t her patient. I hadn’t seen her in a very long time. You will never know how much it meant to me to have some time together with her.”

  His smile got wider. “Then I have another surprise for you. She’s on her way here right now. As it turns out, I’ve got another little box with major’s insignia in my desk with her name on it. She’s going to be executive officer of medical support services for the campaign.”

  I tried to hide my excitement, but he saw right through it and almost started to laugh. “Don’t get too worked up, Erik. You’ll be on different ships. She’s going to be busy; you’re going to be even busier. T
his will be no protracted lover’s rendezvous as I suspect the trip to Earth was. But on the bright side, if you manage to get half your body shot off again, she’ll be here to help you grow it back. Again.”

  We caught up personally for a few more minutes, but then we started to talk about the campaign. Neither one of us was very good at not discussing business. The general went through his basic strategy with me, and when he was done he got to the things that were really troubling him. “Your surprise attack taking the station at Gliese 250 was a massive victory for us. It enabled the Tail and Outer Rim campaigns, and let us hurt the enemy like they had hurt us. In addition to the strategic implications, the effect on morale was incalculable.

  “But I’m afraid there’s one downside we might have to face on this campaign, and it’s the result of those successes. The enemy can’t get to the Tail at all without going through Gliese, and while they do have other approaches to the Outer Rim, it’s still a long way, and they need time to get their logistics set up. Since Gliese is so strongly held, the enemy haven’t even made a second attempt to get in there. Which means they have a lot of uncommitted troops.

  “They’ve controlled some of our systems for eight or nine years. Look what we did at Gliese in the first six months. Can you imagine what fortifications they’ve built in that time? Our intel is very weak for this campaign. Are the troops not being thrown at us in Gliese or the rim waiting for us, entrenched on our captured worlds?”

  He paused for a few moments, as if he was searching for the right words to express his thoughts. “Erik, I’m afraid we’re going to have much more of a fight than anyone expects on this campaign. I’m going to need my most dependable, gifted officers to be at their best. I’m counting on you, and I want you to tell me immediately if you have any concerns or misgivings. I need your instincts on this one. If you have a bad dream about the enemy, I want you to tell me about it.”