A broken alliance, p.31
A Broken Alliance, page 31
part #5 of Sentenced to War Series
“Thirty percent? That’s not very high.”
This was a lot for Rev to take in, and he was struggling with it. Marines had died, and it was because Sieben, his side, had put in a kill switch? Anger began to supplant the shock.
“Why the hell would they do that? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I am not . . .” Rev started to say out loud before switching to tabletalk. “I am not a Genesian.”
Rev wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. He knew it was true. He’d heard it in the voices of the thugs who beat up Mr. Oliva. He’d seen it on the news as people debated whether to continue the IBHU program. The fact that there was an unofficial moratorium on IBHUs and karnans and that there had been no new IBHUs since the end of the war was evidence of which side of the argument had prevailed.
There was something more troubling, though. Rev was fighting for the Perseus Union, but were they fighting him?
“Is it just Sieben? Did they do this on their own?”
Rev didn’t want to ask the next question. He feared the answer he might hear. “Higher orders, as in the Marines?”
Rev had wholeheartedly bought into the Corps, and he thought it might break his heart if he knew the Corps was complicit in this. And while Punch said that he calculated only a thirty-percent chance that Pashu had been sabotaged by his own side, Rev knew in his gut it was true.
Once you eliminated the impossible, then whatever was left, no matter how seemingly unlikely, had to be true.
“Why did you have such a hard time telling me this?”
“Concerns” was a very neutral way to put it. Rev was both angry and afraid. Angry that he was serving, putting his life on the line, and at any moment, he could be turned off. Angry that Tesler Sign of Respect, Vicky Alemen, and Mak Dulla had been killed because his own side had so lacked simple trust and been so afraid that their weapons would go crazy and turn on their creators that they thought they needed drastic actions to protect themselves.
And there was fear. If they did this, what else would they do? There were still forty-three Marine IBHUs. While the MDS still posed a threat, if they were defeated, what next? Would it be time to get rid of the sticky problem their mere existence raised?
“What?”
“Are they watching?” Rev asked, fear battling anger.
Rev got to his feet.
“Are you sure they can’t follow tabletalk?”
True enough, I guess.
“And I just gave them something out of the ordinary.”
“Sorry about that, Punch. I was just dizzy for a moment.”
“No, I think I’m OK.”
Weak sauce, Reverent. Can’t you come up with something better? he asked himself.
All of this was difficult to digest. He wished he could run this by the others. Or not necessarily his fellow IBHU Marines. Tomiko or Bundy might be better. But if they were monitoring him, how could he do that? He was pretty sure that saying “kill switch” and “the Union is trying to kill us” might just trigger a review.
“I’m not in the mood right now, Punch.”
Punch was sounding less and less like a battle buddy, a human-sounding tool to help Marines kill more enemies, and more like a co-conspirator.
There was always that was what he was programmed to do, to suck Rev in and gain his trust. But as Punch had just pointed out, if Punch was an elaborate spy designed to keep him in check, well, then the jig was up. Punch, and his operators, already knew everything.
Rev had no choice but to trust Punch. And in his heart, he wanted to trust his battle buddy. He tried to shake off his mood, to sound like he was just a Marine, thinking about whatever twenty-four-year-old Marines thought.
Food, drink, and sex—that’s what we think about. But Punch is right. A joke might have to do for now.
“You know what I need? I need a joke. A good one for once, though.”
“And that, my friend, only proves that you’re an AI. It takes a human to know what’s funny. So, hit me.”
“Tell me, oh great font of humor.”
Rev shook his head. “Like I said, it takes a human to know what’s funny. Or in this case, what isn’t funny.”
36
A week later, a newly reinforced Tigan division kicked the MDS light division off Rasper Mountain. Rev and the other IBHU Marines back on Enceladus watched the feeds, but the flow of information was both slanted toward the CoH side and incomplete. Rev worried about the Second of the Second, Fox Company in particular.
It was with great relief ten days after victory was declared that Rev welcomed back Tomiko, Bob, Rice, Toshi, and the rest. He’d been at the mini-exchange when he got the word and rushed back to berthing.
He stopped just outside the door, however, spotting Tomiko and Bob through the window as they sat together on the green couch, their heads almost touching as they talked, Bob’s arm around the couch back behind her.
Why are you waiting?
He shook his head and pushed through the door.
“Welcome back!” he shouted.
Tomiko and Bob separated, and Toshi stuck his head out of his crypt.
“Rev! Good to see you,” Toshi said before clambering out.
He met Rev, and the two gave each other a hug and slapped backs. Others said hello before going back to unpacking their kits or whatever else they were doing.
Rev sat down on the couch on the other side of Tomiko.
“So, what the hell happened? We tried to follow the news, but you know how that goes.”
“Nothing happened,” Tomiko said with a sour tone.
“What do you mean? We’ve seen the news. You took the Sleeping Bear.”
Tomiko gave a bitter laugh, and Bob said, “We didn’t. The Tigans did. Or at least, the Mad Dogs let the Tigans have the mountain.”
“Huh?”
“First, we weren’t a real part of the operation. The Tigan high command said that we, as a Home Guard unit, hadn’t worked with them before, and we weren’t familiar with their command structure and culture. They said that’s what made working with us so difficult.”
“Ah. So, they were seeding their excuses for the previous problems,” Rev said.
“Got it in one. They wanted us as the scapegoats,” Bob said. “No real mention of the two battalions they lost when they didn’t detect that the Tooth was rigged to blow.”
“Fucking Tigans couldn’t find their assholes with both hands,” Tomiko said.
“Anyway, they brought in almost another whole division and lots of supporting arms. They were going to conduct a massive frontal assault no matter the cost.”
“Which was why I was glad we were a so-called strategic reserve,” Toshi said.
“Yeah, it would have been a bloodbath. But after two days of prep fire, just before the lead elements were going to cross the LOD, the MDS called it quits. Said they had proven their resolve, and nothing was going to be gained with more bloodshed on either side.”
Rev nodded. He had to give the MDS credit. They had proven themselves in the battle for the Sleeping Bear, turning back a heavy division. With a depleted light division, they still might have been able to turn back the heavier Tigan forces, but maybe not, and a defeat would negate what they’d managed so far.
Claim victory, then use the excuses of peace and saving lives to cede the field of battle. Pretty smart move.
“So, the battalion never engaged again?”
“Nope. Nada,” Tomiko said.
Rev was relieved . . . for the most part. That meant everyone made it back. But there was that strong desire to have paid back the MDS in kind. They’d killed three of his fellow IBHU Marines through spying and theft. Gingham and Crocker, two good troopers had been killed, not to mention the rest, all so that one side could stand up on a useless mountain and pound their chests.
Given the choice, he would have wanted to be there as the MDS left their position—better yet, he wanted to kick them off by force. Even if they left voluntarily, though, they could claim whatever they wanted, but everyone there would have known the truth.
That’s just pride speaking, Reverent, and pride goeth before the fall. This was the best-case scenario.
“What about our KIAs?” Bob asked. “We couldn’t get any word on them.”
“Gingham looks good,” Rev said, and Bob made a deep sigh of relief.
“Others, too. Smith, Theo, Haverstadt . . . uh, Wa. More, too.”
“Crocker?” Tomiko asked.
Rev shook his head, and Tomiko grimaced.
“What about the three IBHUs?” she asked.
“No. No resurrections.”
“Well, we knew the Mad Dogs weren’t going to let that happen. Either capture them or kill them without a shot at resurrection,” she said.
Toshi sat on the couch arm next to Rev. “So, what about you? All you IBHUs just gonna sit here?”
Rev hesitated, but whatever was going to happen would be out in the open. There wasn’t a need for secrecy.
“I don’t know for sure. What’s going to happen to us is being debated back on New Mars right now. Word is we’ll know in a day or so.”
“Any hints?” Tomiko asked. She seemed nonchalant, but Rev knew her well enough to know she was deeply invested in the subject.
“Not really. Or at least, not that we’ve been told. We’re just sitting here waiting with our thumbs up our butts. We were told, though, that we’re not allowed to train until all of this is sorted out. We were going to test out IBHUs on Range 405, but that got canc’d an hour before we were supposed to go.”
“Speaking of which, what the hell happened out there?” Bob asked. “That’s the big question.”
Rev had been waiting for the question. Rumors had to be running rampant. But the Marine command had come up with a pat answer that was mostly the truth, just not all of it. And that was ignoring the deeper truth he and Punch suspected.
“Like we thought. When the Mad Dogs stole the five IBHUs, they discovered a flaw in the programming that essentially allowed them to shut down the weapons systems. That’s been fixed now.”
“A flaw? Who the hell screwed that up? Sieben?” Tomiko asked. “That’s un-fucking-believable.”
“They’re doing a forensic study to get to the bottom of it,” Rev said, hating to take the scripted line.
Bob frowned. “OK, so they found a programming bug. How did they exploit that out on the battlefield?”
Rev shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I just know what we’ve been told.”
“Something’s messed up with that explanation. I think they’re holding back on you.”
If you only knew, Bob.
“I’m sure everything will come out in the wash,” Rev said.
“You’d better hope so,” Tomiko said. “You can’t have Pashu go dead on you again.”
She stretched, arching over the back of the couch. “Let’s stop with all the soldier-talk. I’ve had enough of it. What I need is a pint or three of Epson Gold. Anyone else up for the White Wombat?”
There was a chorus of yeses, including a loud one from Rev. Everyone needed to unwind from the deployment, and the White Wombat might be the answer.
It sure couldn’t hurt.
37
It took four days for a decision to be made.
The Perseus Union, “with regret,” was pulling its IBHU Marines from the Home Guard. All other Marines would remain with the Guard until their normal tour was completed, and new Marines would continue to be assigned.
The stated rationale was that the IBHU Marines’ presence was a bone of contention among those who were pushing to formalize the moratorium on creating new “super-augmented” soldiers, which toothlessly included the MDS karnans. But it was difficult to deny the truth.
The Union did not trust the CoH to protect both the individual IBHU Marines, and more importantly, the technology that created them. Seventeen IBHU Marines had been killed, with only one going through the resurrection process. Lieutenant Macek had confided in Rev that many in the Union thought that those losses could be laid at the feet of the Home Guard command.
Rev wasn’t so sure about that. Being a Marine was a dangerous profession, and serving with the Home Guard was no different. But politics was politics, and officials would grab hold of anything if it could be made to support their own beliefs and causes.
On the one hand, as someone who tended to go back over operations, second-guessing what happened, Rev didn’t really think that the battalion and brigade command could have done much differently—other than providing better security for the IBHUs in the armory. The attacks on the Tooth and Sleeping Bear were both clusters, but that was on the Tigans, not the Home Guard.
On the other hand, other nations were able to observe the IBHUs, getting some of the best intel possible on their capabilities. This wasn’t just by the MDS theft, but by observing them firsthand in combat. Rev considered both the Frisian Host and the Mezame Concordat allies, but they had been on opposite sides on two separate occasions over the last three years.
All of that was OBE. Like the MDS soldiers before them, within six hours, the IBHU Marines would be leaving Enceladus for the flight back home. There had been hints that could be the decision, and because of that, Sergeant Tsao had already joined them from Titan. Now it was all over but for the shouting.
“I guess that’s it,” he told Bob as he pulled his last seabag from his cell and laid it next to the others. His two years with the Home Guard were in those three bags.
“It sucks to end like this,” Bob said.
“What about you? Your job was to watch me. Does that mean you’re done, too?”
“No. I’m here for another year, just like my orders stated.”
“Think it was worth it? I mean, with me and all.”
Bob snorted, then smiled. “I already knew about you. You don’t give yourself enough credit, but you’re a good man, Rev. A good Marine. As long as the Union has Marines like you, it will be in good hands.”
“Good man? Hardly,” Rev said, embarrassed.
“Oh, so the reason you lost your arm in the first place was because you’re an asshole? Yeah, I get it. Saving little girls is so asshole-like.”
Rev felt his face turn red, and he broke contact with Bob’s eyes.
“As far as your magic weapon, yeah, I learned a lot. I couldn’t help it. But really, does that even matter? We’re allies, first of all. But if you think about it, does knowing that a Mad Dog karnan can carry a JPS beam cannon mean much? Or that you have that twenty-millimeter monster on your arm? Knowing the size of a heavy tank’s main gun doesn’t mean I can suddenly defeat it.”
Which was true, when he put it that way. What the MDS discovered had drastic consequences, but what did Bob really learn that could be used against them if the tides of war turned and they were on opposite sides?
“Let’s just hope it never comes to us being enemies,” Rev said, holding out his hand.
Bob pushed the hand away and came in for a hug. “Love you, Rev.”
“And I love you, too. And this isn’t goodbye. We’ve got this amazing thing called comms. We can keep in touch.”
“Yeah, we can,” Bob said as he released Rev, not sounding overly confident.
Rev understood the pessimism. It was a big galaxy. To be honest, he didn’t know if they’d ever see each other again, but he hoped so. He’d grown quite fond of the Frisian yellow-master.
They broke the hug, and Rev looked around. “You seen Miko? We’ll be leaving pretty soon.”
“I don’t know where she is,” Bob said a little too quickly and with a little too much emphasis.
Rev gave his friend an odd look.
What’s with him?
He shook it off, though. It wasn’t worth pursuing.
Rice, Toshi, and others came and said goodbye, but still no Tomiko. She wasn’t there when Rev left for the Home Guard, and it was beginning to look like she might miss him again. He didn’t have a clue as to why, though. They were friends, good friends, and they wouldn’t see each other again for close to two years.
