“That’s why I got Reclaimer’s movie and television database.” Young grinned.
“Isn’t that illegal?” Yu asked, looking at her with a smile.
“Well, we are Harmony supporters, I don’t think anyone’s going to give a rat’s ass that we aren’t paying the corporations to watch their movies while fighting their war.”
Yu let out a snort. “You may have a point there. I’ve never thought of what we do as a war, sure, we were clearing the worlds of rebels, or just scaring the shit out of them by simply showing up. Before Sacremon we didn’t have that many slug-them-out fights, but even those were just battles. It all sucks, don’t get me wrong, but this, this war is not just a group of people that want more money or benefits from their planet’s conglomerate partnership. It’s a hell of a lot uglier.”
“And it feels like it’s not going to go away any time soon,” Young said, looking out at the stars and darkness that surrounded them.
“Yeah,” Yu said, shaking his head to try and get off the subject, but it was hard to. Everything they did was done to prepare for fighting Harmony. All they talked about was Harmony.
“I’ll take first watch, go play some card games or something if you want,” Yu said, checking his navigation controls, though they didn’t need to change their trajectory for another couple of days.
“Holler if you need anything,” Young said, pulling off her seat straps, and walking through the cockpit and into the cargo hold. Yu heard her talking to someone at the bottom of the short ladder that separated the cargo hold’s floor to the cockpit, then he heard footsteps coming up.
Yu looked around. “Hey Haas.”
“Hey. I was wondering what information you might have for me on the last sensor logs and our time to destination. I was also thinking we should go over how we’re going to impersonate a group of cargo handlers. I know Jerome’s got experience moving cargo, the rest of us, well we’ve probably stolen from cargo haulers like this, but load and offload one… not officially.” Haas grinned.
“Well, Bobbie would be the best for the cargo handling stuff, and as for the sensor logs and time estimates…” Yu used his implants to bring up the information on his mix of screens and holographic display, and slid them over to Young’s seat where Haas was.
They sat in companionable silence, Haas looking over information as Yu checked that the ship was still operating like it was supposed to be. Then he went to the list of movies, books and series. The freighter would get them to Osdal System fine, Yu’s role was simply to make sure that they were on track and to react if a situation came up.
Goddamn driving.
Chapter 10
Tower
Earth, Sol System
7/3266
Wallace walked into Nivad’s office.
“So they’ve left for Osdal?” Nivad asked.
“Yes, they should be there within a few months.”
“And the carriers?”
“So far undetected.” Wallace remained standing by the door.
Nivad stood. “When will the other teams start being inserted?”
“Over the next three months.”
Nivad nodded and walked out from behind his desk and over to the door. “Let’s go and see what our sector heads have to say.”
Wallace opened the door for Nivad, following behind.
Their guard detail all wore the powered armor like that which they had sent off to the carriers around Osdal. They fell in around Nivad and Wallace without a word.
In the conference room. Dalia, the head of the EMF and the intelligence heads of every system sat around the table.
Faces had changed, and the heads of Fernix, Housapel and Mintran had all been replaced. Those who filled their positions were determined to do better than their predecessors, or they too would vanish from Mega city.
“It would be disappointing if those units that the other carriers gave Reclaimer and Fearless were seen to be sub-standard. After much study, I have come to see that veterans prove to be almost invaluable. I believe that the cross training that Reclaimer offered Fearless was a large part of why they were such an effective unit. I have not seen the other carriers request access to the wealth of information that Fearless and Reclaimer have,” Wallace said as they walked to the head of the table.
Nivad felt satisfaction at the expression on the head of the EMF’s face as she worked her surface.
“I will have to look into that more. I do believe that the veterans are earning an additional stipend for their knowledge? They also got a percentage of the price for the freighter and infrastructure that they recovered undamaged, right?” Nivad took his seat.
“I believe so. Keeping their mind off their credits and on destroying Harmony is a good idea.” Nivad sensed some serious undertones to Wallace’s words.
“Let us begin,” Nivad said.
Systems were hurting from not getting the materials and supplies from Osdal, Fernix and Housapel. More freighters were reported stolen, as they hadn’t shown up at their intended destinations. It was assumed that Harmony had control of them.
Mintran was doing all it could to look like a model planet; the people were working their assess off and the companies were putting money into their people and infrastructure, not only to keep them happy, but it looked like they wanted to take Osdal’s position as a fabricator of compound materials.
Earth and Her Colonies were having a massive issue with transporting materials. Shipping Station was still being repaired, and could only hold a percentage of its old capacity. Most companies didn’t want to send their products there, and were instead shipping direct to other systems.
The subscriptions for the Harmony War were way up, and workers, not just company officers, wanted to watch the war.
Masoul was recovering quickly. They were going through a population boom and they were looking at building more housing.
The Gas planet and Asteroid belts production was up.
The sale of the last cargo on shipping station and the shipping station itself back to the Masoul partnership was confirmed.
There were Ministry of Intelligence agents on Masoul still, but they hadn’t found anything of note in the cities.
Fernix and Housapel were firmly under the control of Harmony.
Their military was growing, and camps for Earthers, or those that didn’t agree with Harmony, were constructed. Someone made the reference to segregating camps. Harmony gave them the bare minimum to sustain themselves, and worked them hard. They built their weapons, kept the systems working and provided for the people who supported Harmony.
No information came out of the camps, and they were located away from population centers. Both Housapel and Fernix were highly developed worlds; they had sprawling colony centers and nearly five hundred million people combined.
The majority were living with minimal work, other than those in the camps.
Harmony’s propaganda machine was in full force and their military had swelled to ten million. It was expected to be closer to fifty times that by the time Troopers showed up. The heads didn’t think that they would be able to give all of them good gear, but people trained to use even a simple rifle and who were driven with the knowledge that their plight was right and their cause was righteous could do some hellish damage.
Harmony wasn’t just a group in Fernix and Housapel, they were a system, and it was working. The people were getting a taste of the freedom that company officers got, while others were taking up all the slack and being the focus of anger and propaganda.
Some people likened it to the Nazi’s system, but with a focus on communist sharing and pride in one’s group.
There were leaders, but they were all puppets. No one knew who the real leaders were, or where they were.
Then they got to the EMF head.
“Right now, we have four hundred thousand people joining Earth’s Military Forces every month. In four months, we will have 35 million personnel in transit to Housapel.” The head of
the EMF looked proud of her numbers.
Nivad knew them already, and he knew the plan. It wasn’t elegant but it was simple, something that he’d learned from the military texts. It was better to have a simple goal than a complex one.
Forty five limbo carriers had been awoken, trained on new gear and told of the situation on Fernix. To them, upon waking up, they had only just finished fighting battles across Earth and Her Colonies, from pirates to rogue colonies and everything in between. They would fly outside of Fernix’s sensors and patrols, and would send in their own operatives like the forces at Osdal were doing, then they would secure Fernix system, installation by installation, clearing out Harmony.
Fifteen Carriers close to Sol had been recalled to make up training staff for the new Troopers. Nivad had created incentives for people to start up ship yards and given the industry a huge push; two hundred and ninety Earth Military Force Carriers were to be built over twenty years. As soon as the carriers were finished and crewed, they were to be sent hurtling off towards Housapel. In four months, the last carrier would leave on the 51 year journey to Housapel.
By that time Osdal would either be back under Earth’s control, or Earth and Her Colonies were in for a world of troubles.
Nivad was already talking to the Osdal partnership about getting colony ships together to reseed the planet with working colonists. He was doing the same with the Fernix and Housapel partnerships, because when the EMF cleared the planets there wouldn’t be enough people to keep the systems productive. They needed workers, so another colonist drive was in order.
It was Nivad’s plan to group the carriers outside the systems, then rush in, fresh and ready for battle. They would clear out the systems, then as soon as they were clear, the colonists that had been shipped from Earth would move in and start getting the system back to work for Earth and Her Colonies.
Dalia was last to go. She dealt primarily with activities within Sol and whatever else Nivad wanted someone he trusted to look over.
“While people are angry with the war, they’re angrier with Harmony. They’ve seen the videos and they want to destroy Harmony. They’re willing to put up with a few hardships to get through the current conflict. Our ability to move items throughout Earth and Her Colonies is becoming pronounced. Fernix is the biggest ship builder in the EHC and it’s hitting us hard. Earth is the only other system that makes system to system ships. All of our production was focused on carriers and we have all of our freighters running full out, but Harmony has over sixty percent of our freighting ships. We’re reclaiming them slowly with carriers spread out along the main routes between systems. It’s slow, and to get all of those carriers back, it’s going to take decades.”
Nivad saw that fact was sinking into people’s minds. They needed to think beyond this war. It had taken a massive chunk out of the economy already, and if they didn’t plan it out then they could be stuck in a depression like after Earth’s World Wars.
“People are quickly looking to change to freighters, and the large companies are being slow, probably looking for more incentives from the EHC government. I believe it’s best that we give them some incentives, but also take a cut of the profits they make on the carriers. We’re going to need money later to keep the economy up as the impact of Harmony’s systems not supplying materials and goods hits us.” Dalia took a breath, not liking what she had to say next. Nivad knew what was coming, and carefully kept his features calm and relaxed.
“It will be another 24 years until the real impacts of Harmony’s uprising is felt. With the distances between systems, a lot of freight is moving while this is going on. Our deliveries for the next couple of decades are already underway, but after that it’s a mess,” she admitted.
“Start up a committee to look into past recessions and depressions. I want us ready to face that when it comes to it,” Nivad said. “We will have to keep people’s minds off of the woes back home and focused on our battles across the stars. Wallace has made a recommendation, and I agree with him.” Nivad looked to the man and nodded his head.
Wallace bowed his head at the praise.
Nivad continued. “The EMF will start giving out medals for actions in the Harmony War, as well as pieces for valor and injuries. Medals grab people’s attention and show that our Troopers are doing something. That said, I don’t want them to be handed out to just anyone. Wallace, I want you to look into medals and form another committee that will look into awarding them. Make sure that you have people that have been in real combat on the committee. I want those awards given to those who are not only seen as role models by the people, but by the EMF.”
“I’ll get it done,” Wallace said, looking to Nivad and then the head of the EMF. They nodded to one another; they’d talk later.
“Very well, let’s go win a war,” Nivad said, standing.
Chapter 11
Mining City Twenty-One
Osdal Actual, Osdal System
7/3266
Caroline woke to the sound of gunfire again. The Diggers had showed up twice in as many months since the first attack.
She felt the others in her lean-to shuffling around nervously.
“Just a runner,” someone said, the words passing around as people went back to sleep.
Just a runner, she thought, wondering why she didn’t care more.
She’d seen so many people die over the months that it barely registered. Someone was running in the daytime, just so that the Chosen could end their lives.
They’d finally given up hope, and believed that dying was better than living.
Caroline hoped that they found peace, and settled back onto the hard Osdal ground. But something kept her from trying to sleep; something was missing, something was wrong.
Where’s Ellie? She immediately she knew who the runner was.
“Oh no, Ellie,” Her weary body pushed up and out of the lean-to, and people grumbled as she opened the cloth coverings to look outside.
She saw the chosen sitting in their air car, and she could hear their laughing.
One fired at Ellie, who was only a few hundred meters away, and the laughing told her everything. They were toying with Ellie.
Caroline wanted to run over there and beat their heads in, make them dance as rounds flew beside their heads or at their feet.
She collapsed onto her knees whimpering to herself, angry at Ellie for leaving her, angry at herself for being angry at Ellie. But most of all she was sad, knowing that she was totally alone, that one of the pricks would hit her and then Ellie would be no more.
Caroline wanted to crawl back into the lean-to and curl up into a ball, pushing the world away, but she couldn’t move from watching Ellie walk away and jump as another round hit the ground near her feet.
She wished that there was something she could do to get Ellie to come back, to make this all a bad memory, to go shopping, to laugh and talk about which boys they liked and what they wanted to do with their lives, as if they had a real plan.
Another air car came down and someone stepped out, and the laughing slowly died and then stopped suddenly as the new arrival started barking orders. The shooters got into the air car and took off, heading for Ellie, and hit her with the front of the car. She collapsed on the ground. The air car continued on, guards getting out and walking back, Ellie was still moving.
No, just let her die, please! Caroline might not agree with Ellie’s decision to get herself killed, but it was her decision to make. A bullet would be simple and easy, but instead they were beating and kicking her.
Caroline could only imagine the pain they were inflicting on the frail girl with their vicious kicks and punches.
Then they stopped, grabbed Ellie, and dumped her in the back of the air car, then turned around and headed for the lean-tos.
They dumped Ellie out on the ground in front of the confused group; they never brought the runners back, they just shot them.
“No more runners! You run we’ll get you over to the educators,
and they’ll take weeks letting you die!” Caroline heard one of the Chosen said to the residents of the shacks. Caroline scrambled to her feet and headed towards Ellie.
“Fucking Earthers,” the man said, kicking Ellie again.
The air car took off and people continued on with their lives, no one caring about Ellie’s broken form. They had their own worries.
Caroline looked over Ellie’s body; her arm and ribs looked to be broken. Her face was swelling badly.
“Kill me, please just kill me,” Ellie said, her voice filled with pain, her body too broken to do it herself. She pulled a knife from her clothes, pushing it into Caroline’s hands.
She stole one of the Chosen’s blades! Caroline thought, the blade trembling in her hand.
“Please, Caroline, please, I can’t do this any more,” Ellie cried, choking on blood and broken teeth.
The blade shook in Caroline’s hands.
It’s her choice, what can she expect? She can’t go back to work like this, they’ll never give her medical aid… Caroline’s mind was a mess of emotions and cold reality.
“Come on Ellie, I need you,” Caroline said, her voice barely a whisper.
“No, you don’t. You’re stronger than me. I’m just holding you down.”
“No! No, you’re not!”
“Please,” Ellie coughed, spitting blood and teeth out on the ground, but her broken jaw didn’t allow most of it out.
“I can’t…”
“Do it, fucking do it you coward!” Ellie urged, fire in her eyes as they locked on Caroline.
The fire died and Ellie reached for the knife with her unbroken arm, fingers broken and bent in ways that made Caroline wince.
“Either you do it, or I choke on my blood and teeth.”
Caroline couldn’t imagine letting her friend die like that, and she saw Ellie’s finality. Either Caroline did it, or Ellie would find a way.
“I’ll do it.”
Osdal (Harmony War Series Book 3) Page 7
