Valkyrie- Rebellion

by Lucas Marcum

  Commander Mierzejewski nodded and replied, “The guards with empty rifles and the body in the street sort of gave me that impression. What can we do?”

  Elizabeth motioned toward the operations center and replied, “Follow me to the operations center.” The two walked the short distance back into the office building.

  Inside the operations center, Elizabeth leaned over the map and pointed at the carbon dioxide scrubber plant. “Ok. Here’s the situation. This recirc plant is offline. The other two are still on emergency power, but my people think they won’t be able to keep up for long.” She leaned on the table and looked at the young engineer officer. “I sent a team out to take a look, but they haven’t reported back yet, and communications suck. The power outage knocked out the local nodes, and the junk in the air knocked out our uplink to the satellites. We have no idea where they are, or how they’re doing. Can you get out there, support them, and get it online?”

  The naval officer nodded confidently and replied, “Can do, Colonel.” He cocked his head, looked at the map, and asked, “This red area here. What’s this, then?”

  Shaking her head, Elizabeth replied, “Uncontrolled fires. The fire department in this section of town went down in the shaking.”

  Frowning at the map for a few more seconds, the young man then looked up and said, “Ok. Here’s the plan. I’m taking myself and M-Twelve to get the scrubbers online. M-Thirteen will stay here and support the hospital setup, and M-Ten will go put out the fires.”

  Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “You can do all that? Is it safe to go alone?”

  With a broad grin, the engineer replied, “Ma’am, we’re designed to operate in combat, in airless conditions, while taking small arms fire. If these rioters have anything that can stop us, I’ll be exceedingly surprised.” His grin grew wider. “Of course, if they DO have anything to throw at us, we might have some rude surprises for them, too.”

  Shaking her head, Elizabeth responded, “Ok. Get to it. Let me know if you need anything.” She hesitated a moment, then added, “Thank you. For your help. We’re in a tough spot.”

  With a cheerful nod, the man replied, “Oh, I think we’ll be quite all right. People tend not to play silly buggers with a gent in a thirty-ton mech, and now you have four of us.” He grinned again, saluted, and left the office.

  ****

  “Colonel,” Elizabeth heard someone speaking to her through the darkness. She pulled the blanket off her face, sat up, and looked around. The room was dark except for the windows, which blazed with light coming through them. The shape leaning over her was outlined by it and said again, “Colonel Suarez, ma’am. Wake up. We need you outside.”

  Sitting up on the rickety couch in Chief Ikaika’s office, Elizabeth swung her legs over the edge of the couch and rubbed her face. The shape resolved into one of the junior sailors who’d been working in the improvised operations center.

  “Lights.” The room lights flickered on, gently illuminating the room. Looking around she asked, “How long was I asleep?”

  With a startled look and wide eyes, sailor replied, “Um…about eight hours, ma’am. Chief Yamashita sent this.” The young man gently handed her a cup. Waving it under her nose, Elizabeth caught the familiar, mouthwatering smell of hot coffee. She sat up straighter and said, “Oh, my god.” She took a careful sip, reveling in the heat and the comforting taste of the brew. She looked up at the young man, who was staring at her, and demanded, “Where did he get this? This is incredible!”

  “Uh…” the sailor started, and then replied, “He didn’t say where he got it, ma’am, just that we need you awake and in the ops center.” He nodded awkwardly, turned, and left the room.

  Taking another sip of the coffee, Elizabeth stood and moved to the small sink in the room. Catching sight of herself, she burst out laughing. Her hair was rumpled and sticking out from sleeping on it, what little makeup she had on was smeared, and her tank top had slipped in her sleep, revealing way more cleavage than she’d been aware of. She pointed at herself in the mirror and said in a mock stern voice, “Now, missy. You’re a SERIOUS officer. You need to look the part. You’re scaring the enlisted!” and burst into a fit of laughter. After she’d had a good laugh, she collected herself and set about the task of making herself look presentable.

  Thirty minutes later, her face washed, hair pulled back into a regulation bun, and dressed in a slightly cleaner uniform, she stepped into the operations center.

  Chief Yamashita turned from the table and said, “Colonel. We have updates for you.”

  Nodding, Elizabeth moved to the table. She noted that the broken tactical display was now functional and had replaced the map, which now hung on a wall. There were also three portable communications consoles lined up on a desk, with a sailor in a headset manning them.

  Pausing to stare at the map, she then looked up and said, “Chief, that coffee is incredible. Where did you find it?”

  With a crooked grin, Yamashita replied, “The coffee shop across the street had been looted, so I went over and picked up a couple of bags off the ground. I’ll pay ‘em back after it’s over.”

  With a grin, Elizabeth replied, “Improvise, adapt, overcome. Right, Chief?”

  Yamashita replied, “You know it, ma’am.” He tapped a control on the map base and the symbols blinked. “Ok. First things first.” He indicated a section of the map. “We have power to the depot, and the hospital emergency triage unit is up and running. Only a few stragglers wandering by have been treated so far, but we think that’s about to change. Captain Naga is on the way back with her three trucks. Two are loaded with the most seriously injured patients, and one is loaded with staff from Hellas General.” He paused and frowned. “I guess the rioters got in and burned a bunch of their remaining supplies. They’re still holding out, but they’re glad for our help.” With a worried look, he added, “I’m not sure how much longer the hospital is going to be mission capable. Captain Naga’s impression was that they didn’t have a lot of anything left.” He tapped another control, and the tactical map blinked in a different area. “The CyBees are making good on their word. The fires have been pushed back, because M-Ten is just smashing the buildings that are on fire, and letting the rubble burn out.”

  Elizabeth nodded and asked, “And the scrubber and air recirculation plant?”

  With a grim expression, Yamashita replied, “We don’t know. We’ve lost contact with both the teams we sent over there, including Commander Mierzejewski and his mechs.” He pointed at the display. “We’re also hearing a lot of gunshots from this area.”

  “Rioters?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Maybe,” Yamashita replied, “but with the amount of gunshots we’re hearing, it sounds more like serious street fighting. Ikaika thinks the Mars Firsters are making a push to gain control of the city.”

  Shocked, Elizabeth replied, “What? Now?”

  With a pragmatic shrug, the big NCO replied, “What better time? Their opponents are disorganized, in the dark, and without comms. There’s no help coming from the UEA, and civil services are disrupted.” With a slight smile, he added, “It’s what I would do.”

  Still stunned at the idea, Elizabeth responded, “They can’t think the UEA would let them keep it.”

  Yamashita swept a hand through the holo map and replied, “With fifty thousand hostages, they’d have a hell of a bargaining tool. Plus, if they get the air recirculators, who’s gonna fuck with ‘em?”

  “Goddammit. As if the damn sharkheads bombing the planet wasn’t enough to worry about, now we have rebels.” Elizabeth scowled and declared, “Never in my life have I wanted a battalion of power armored Spaceborne with combat kit more. We’d fix this bullshit in a hurry.”

  Yamashita nodded in agreement. “You know it.”

  They heard a truck horn honk, and then commotion from outside. Glancing out the window, Yamashita said, “That’s the convoy. Showtime.” The man turned and headed for the door, with Elizabeth right behind.


  As the trucks pulled in, the massive metal gate crashed shut. Elizabeth could see the figures on the platforms near the gate hurling bricks over the sturdy walls into the street, with things being thrown back in return. Suddenly there was a burst of shots from outside, and one of the sailors on the wall tumbled to the ground. Another jumped out from behind a stack of pallets, dragged the still form into cover, and turned and screamed, “CORPSMAN!” A figure on the wall Elizabeth recognized as Sergeant Gagarin stood up and began firing down into the shadowy street, occasionally ducking as blue-green blasts and rocks flew past him. Seeing several dark blue police uniforms leaping out of the back of one of the trucks, Elizabeth ran forward. Waving her arms at them, she yelled, “Get on the wall! The WALL!”

  One of the policemen looked at her, then at the wall, and turned and ran for it, vaulting up next to the Spaceborne trooper who was crouching and reloading. The policeman stood up, aimed his pistol into the dark, and rapidly squeezed off half a dozen rounds. He was joined by half a dozen others, firing their pistols into the darkness.

  While the firefight was raging at the gate, the trucks were pulling up in front of the containerized hospital set up in the motor pool, which was now expanded into several lightweight buildings. The members of Task Force Mercy were waiting for them and rushed toward the back of the trucks. Litters bearing wounded began to appear and were quickly rushed into the partially finished hospital.

  The massive construction mech standing nearby took several steps toward the gate, reached down to an unused area of pavement near the depot office building, and ripped out a big chunk. It then paused, wound up like a baseball pitcher, and hurled the mass of concrete out into the dark with tremendous force. Elizabeth could hear the faint screaming from the darkness and the gunfire immediately slowed down, then petered out.

  Next to her, Chief Yamashita chuckled and said, “Ruthless and creative. My kinda sailors.” He pointed at the hospital and added, “I was going to show you what we’d gotten done on the hospital, but they’re busy now.”

  From the direction of the trucks came three figures. One was the tall, slender figure of Captain Naga. The other was a small woman in a bloodstained white coat, with dark hair pulled back, holding the hand of a child. As they approached, Elizabeth was astonished to see the woman she’d met earlier in the month.

  The woman nodded cordially and said in a calm voice, “Colonel Suarez. We meet again.”

  Elizabeth smiled and replied, “Dr. Al-Tamimi. It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re ok.” She leaned over, put her hands on her knees, and said to the little girl, “And it’s good to see you too, Aliyah. Are you being good?”

  The girl nodded with wide eyes. Elizabeth smiled and said gently, “Are you being brave?” The young girl nodded again, silently. Elizabeth said, “That’s good, because we need brave people here. You see Chief Yamashita and Captain Naga there?” She pointed at the big man and the naval officer next to her and continued, “They need you to be brave so they can be brave, ok? Can you do that for me?”

  The big petty officer nodded solemnly. Aliyah looked at the two for a moment, and then shyly replied, “If I’m brave, can I get a medal like you?”

  Elizabeth smiled and nodded. “Oh, you bet you can. Right, Chief?”

  Yamashita nodded with a crooked grin and replied, “Absolutely.” Naga nodded silently with a tired smile on her face.

  Speaking softly to the little girl again, Elizabeth continued, “I need to talk to your mommy for a minute, ok?” She straightened up and said to Fatima, “How bad is it up at the hospital?”

  Fatima shook her head. “Bad. The smoke and fires alone would have been bad enough, but the rebels. Fah,” she made a contemptuous noise and continued, “If they hadn’t burned out the storeroom, we could have saved dozens of lives.”

  She gestured at Aliyah. “I’ve had her in my office in the hospital for three days now, but the hospital was becoming unsafe, so we came with the convoy. Do you have anywhere we can keep her safe so I can continue to see patients?”

  Elizabeth nodded and gestured at the depot offices. “I have a couch and running water in there.” She looked at the other woman, noticing the bags under her eyes and her filthy clothing. Gently she asked, “Where’s your husband?”

  The woman shook her head, her eyes suddenly shining brightly as she answered in a brittle voice, “I don’t know. I think he’s out with the militia trying to protect our neighborhood, but I haven’t heard from him in two days.”

  “Why?” Elizabeth asked. “Why isn’t he here with you, helping at the hospital?”

  Her eyes flashing again, this time with some complex emotion, the woman answered, “Because the shop is all we have left in the world. Two worlds, in fact. We cannot see our home burned again.” She composed herself and asked in a tight, clipped tone, “May we get Aliyah to a place where she can sleep?”

  Turning to Yamashita, Elizabeth ordered, “Chief, get these two to my office. If we have anything to eat, feed them. They’re both to sleep for twelve hours or so.”

  Yamashita nodded and gestured at the building. “Ma’am, if you’ll follow me…”

  “Wait,” Fatima held up a hand and protested, “I have patients to see…”

  Pointing at the field hospitals, which were now a buzz of controlled chaos, Elizabeth said, “For now, we’re ok. We have the staff for this. We need you rested for the next group of patients.”

  Fatima opened her mouth to protest, and Elizabeth cut her off, “No arguments, Doctor. You’re off duty for twelve hours.”

  The woman looked at her, smiled slightly, shook her head, and said, “Thank you…Elizabeth.”

  With a smile, Elizabeth watched the two walk by, then turned to Captain Naga and asked, “How bad was it?” The woman’s uniform was a mess—stained with blood and soot, and with a large tear in the elbow.

  Naga shook her head and said, “Like the doctor said. Bad.” She paused and added, “We can probably make one more run. After that, I can’t promise we’ll make it back.” She ran a hand over her ebony skin, then looked in distaste at the grime on her hand and said, “We were taking fire a good deal of the way back. They’ll have roadblocks up next time.” She looked at Elizabeth and, raising an eyebrow ironically, stated, “I have discovered that getting shot at on the ground is quite different than in a starship. It feels much more…personal.” She opened her mouth as if to say something else, then shut it and walked away in silence.

  From the direction of the hospital came two figures, one of them Major Carson. The stout woman declared, “Colonel, we need help. There are too many people in triage. The civilian doctors mean well, but they just don’t get how we have to do things now. What we have for supplies is all we’re going to get, so we have to dedicate resources to the people that have the best chance to survive. Civilian triage isn’t going to work. We need to set up an exterior triage center staffed by our people, now.”

  Elizabeth turned and looked at the hospital, seeing the bustle of people running in and out, and patients stacking up outside. After a moment she asked, “Where are our military doctors?”

  The tall specialist with Major Carson replied, “Three are in surgery already, and the other three are busting their asses trying to keep the critically ill in triage alive.”

  “Goddamnit. Where are our medics?” Elizabeth demanded.

  The man’s face was grim. “They stripped most of them from us a few months ago to support the offensive. We have one, and he’s up to his ass in the Triage unit.”

  “Colonel,” a voice from behind said, and Elizabeth turned and saw Sergeant Delgado, with two men in civilian clothes.

  In a firm voice, she stated, “This better be good, Sergeant. We’re busier than hell here.”

  The Spaceborne nodded calmly and replied, “It is, ma’am.” He pointed at the stocky man on his left. “This here’s Doc Bailey. He was our squad medic on Desolation. Retired, got out, and got fat, but he’s the best goddamn medic I’ve
ever worked with in my fourteen years in the Spaceborne.” He pointed at the other man. “This guy here is Sergeant Yi. He’s also retired, and one of Doc’s drinking buddies. He’s a medic, too. He also happens to run a gun store a few blocks over.”

  Elizabeth regarded the men for a moment, and then laughed and said, “Well, gentlemen. I’m not going to lie. We could use your help. How do you feel about joining the UEA for a few days?”

  The stocky man grinned slightly and replied, “Mars is home, Colonel; and let’s be honest. You never really leave the service. I’m in.”

  Yi shrugged and stated, “Well, I’m in, too. Plus, the good staff sergeant over there has already sent a raiding party to my shop to get you guys some more firepower.”

  Elizabeth frowned and replied, “We appreciate that. I don’t know if I can promise repayment.”

  The man shrugged. “Who cares? If I don’t give it to you guys, the dusties in Mars First will take ‘em, and I’d rather not get shot with my own weapons. Either way, those guns and ammo are gone.” He grinned and added, “Plus, I’m insured out the ass. It’s fine.”

  Shaking her head, Elizabeth laughed, then said, “Ok, Sergeants. I don’t remember the whole thing, so we’re going to improvise. Raise your right hands.” The two men complied, raising their right hands. “Do you swear to be honest, follow orders, protect and defend the UEA and its citizens, and try to do generally the right thing as much as you can?”

  The two men exchanged a glance, chuckled, and replied in unison, “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. Welcome back to the UEA Army on a temporary, provisional, and probably not very legal basis at all.” Elizabeth turned to Delgado and asked with a smile, “How was that?”

  “The best improvised swearing in I’ve ever seen, ma’am.” He grinned.

  Elizabeth turned back to the two men and said firmly, “No time to waste. You’re both on triage. We need mass casualty screening set up in front of the emergency module.” She turned to Delgado. “Sergeant, get them something with rank on it.” Turning to Major Carson, she said, “Major, here’s your medics. Get them online, and then tag out with one of the other nurse corps officers. I need you rested before the next wave comes in.”