Martial Law 1: Patriotic Treason

by Christopher Nuttall

  And twenty-one good men died in the blast, I thought, coldly. The Master Sergeant’s sacrifice had bought us the time we needed, but at a fearful cost. Earth’s mighty defences were useless now, at least until we could board them and replace their control processors, and we would have a free hand, as long as nothing went badly wrong. I glanced down at the display and saw that seven starships had definitely fallen into our hands, along with two of the troop transports. The Marine transports were already on their way from Mars, but we couldn’t trust the Infantry. Luckily, most of them would be in stasis tubes and wouldn’t know that anything had changed until it was far too late.

  “Captain, I’m picking up signals from the orbital asteroids and two of the starships,” Lieutenant Samantha Kennedy said. “I think the cat is definitely out of the bag now.”

  “Put them on,” I said.

  “This is Sanders, Captain Sanders,” a voice said. It was the sound of despair. “The Marines have taken the ship and are breaking into my cabin. They’re mutinying against…”

  The voice vanished, only to be replaced by another one. “There’s a battle going on at the airlocks,” it said. This one was young and female, an Ensign who had forgotten everything, even basic communications protocols. “The Captain is dead! They killed the Captain!”

  “Armed Marines are boarding the asteroid and cuffing my men,” someone else said. This one was old and cynical. The Marines had to secure the orbital asteroids before someone got any clever ideas about trying to reassume control of the orbital defences. “They’re killing anyone who tries to resist!”

  “This is Devastator,” a familiar voice said. I recognised my former Captain and winced inwardly. I’d wanted the monitor to threaten Earth if necessary, but he would have been one of the few Captains to survive. Devastator hadn’t had a large cell of rebels, just because the Captain inspired loyalty. “I have four mutineers in custody, I repeat, I have four mutineers in custody. I believe that this is not an isolated event and a security alert should be declared at once.”

  “Too late,” I hissed, savagely. The quick-reaction force in orbit consisted of the Marines, the Marines I’d already subverted. They wouldn’t respond to orders from the ground, but by the time the UN realised that that was the time, valuable time would be lost. They’d then send up troops in shuttles or the orbital towers, although the latter would be fearfully slow, but by then we’d have control of all the starships, one way or the other. We’d even control the upper levels of the orbital towers.

  “We had six people onboard Devastator,” the Senior Chief said. He shouldn’t have been on the bridge at all, but again, no one objected. “Two of them must have been killed in the crossfire.”

  “This is Captain Traduce,” another voice said. “I am barricaded in my cabin, but the mutineers have taken control of the bridge and the engineering compartment. The Marines are joining the rebels, I repeat…”

  The signal vanished in another wash of static and two more starships declared that they were secure. I keyed my console, sending the orders I’d prepared already, ordering them to prepare to move out to the asteroid belt if necessary. The Marines I’d sent there would have destroyed the UN garrisons by now and the workers would be rebelling, given half a chance. I’d seen it years ago. Earth no longer supplied the UNPF with anything. It all came from the asteroids. Earth’s vaunted industry couldn’t even meet Earth’s needs, let alone anyone else’s requirements.

  “Colin, watch out,” someone said. “They’re behind you and…”

  It broke off in a scream. “This is UN General Command,” a harsher voice said, yet it was tinged with fear and uncertainty. “This is a general broadcast to all starships. Report your status at once. I repeat, report your status at once.”

  “Ignore it,” I ordered, imagining the chaos down on the surface. The politicians would be trying to come to grips with the crisis, unaware that things were already outside their control. I was tempted to broadcast fake information to mislead them, but there was little point. Earth’s power to intervene was almost non-existent. They were probably regretting having disbanded the heavy ground-based laser cannons by now. “Samantha, how many starships are with us now?”

  “Twenty-one,” Samantha said. “The Al Gore is drifting out of control and we lost all contact with her two minutes ago.”

  “That was one of the ships without subverted Marines,” the Senior Chief muttered in my ear. “If there was a fire fight on the bridge, or damage to the control systems…”

  I nodded. “We’ll have to try to recover her later,” I said. The cruiser wasn’t about to fall into the atmosphere and add to Earth’s woes. If worst came to worst, I’d fire on her myself, but it shouldn’t be necessary. The ship wasn't leaking atmosphere and the crew should be able to remain alive long enough to be rescued, unless they’d killed each other by now. For once, I breathed a silent prayer of thanks for the UN’s obsessive concern with safety. The loyalists would find it hard to pump out the atmosphere and kill my people. “Can you get a link to Trygve Lie?”

  Samantha winked at me – she knew my relationship with Kitty – but she opened the link without demur. “Kitty, this is John,” I said, quickly. The battleship was always going to be the hardest target – in fact, in hindsight, I should have tried to prepare a suicide charge for that ship as well. We’d never have been able to smuggle a nuke though the sensors, but there were other ways. “Report!”

  Kitty sounded tired when she spoke to me. “I’ve got good news and bad news,” she said. I forgave her the breach of protocol. If she were still alive, we hadn’t failed. Not yet…and the more starships that fell under our control, the more certain our victory. “The good news is that we have control of the ship. The bad news is that there was a laser fight in several compartments and we don’t have any weapons until we can rig bypasses. We don’t even have point defence.”

  I swore. Battleship or not, expensive waste of resources or the ultimate weapon of intimidation, the starship was completely defenceless without weapons. A handful of nuclear strikes would take out a battleship, same as any other starship, and while the battleship mounted heavy point defence weapons, they couldn’t use them without the control systems. Intentionally or otherwise, the UN had scored a goal.

  “Understood,” I said, finally. There was no point in crying over spilt milk. “Can you still move the ship?”

  “Yes,” Kitty said. “The bridge is a mess, but we’ve moved operations down to the CIC and we can still use the drives.”

  “Good enough,” I said. “Power up the Jump Drive and jump out to the asteroids. There’s no point in keeping you here if you can’t fight. Make repairs as quickly as you can and then return.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kitty said. Her voice softened slightly. “Good luck, John.”

  I looked down at the display as the battleship started to manoeuvre out of the planet’s gravity well, ignoring increasingly frantic messages from the ground. We had twenty-one starships under our direct control now, with the others still disputed…apart from Devastator. I’d expected Captain Shalenko to be trying to take action, but instead the monitor was just sitting there, waiting. The torrent of messages from the asteroids was slowing down as my people secured control. He had to be going out of his mind with worry…or perhaps he was waiting to see who came out on top.

  They probably think that one of their senior officers has launched a coup, I thought, with a flicker of amusement. The upper levels didn’t realise – they didn’t really believe – that people less fortunate than they had been had minds and souls, or even the ability to use them. The thought of a mutiny from the lower decks was beyond their comprehension and, in every case, their paranoia had worked against them. If every member of the crew on each starship had been armed, the results would have been unpleasant. The chaos would probably have cost us our chance at a bloodless victory.

  I looked down at the messages and smiled. They’d been trying to call me directly, but they were also callin
g others. I wondered if they’d realised that I was in command of the rebellion, but it looked as if they were desperately trying to contact anyone. I studied the relay systems, trying to see what Captain Shalenko was saying to them, but Devastator appeared to be silent. He had to be using tight-beam lasers to communicate with the ground.

  “I think its time,” the Senior Chief said. “John, are you ready?”

  I tensed. “Yes,” I said, slowly. “Open a general channel, wide broadcast.”

  “Channel opening,” Samantha said. That had been one of the tricks I’d picked up from Heinlein. I wouldn’t just be addressing the UN General Command on the ground, or the uncommitted across the solar system, but everyone. They would all hear what I had to say. “You may speak when ready.”

  I took a breath. “This is Captain John Walker,” I said. “As of now, we have secured control of Earth’s orbital defences and most of the starships orbiting the planet. The United Nation’s ability to dictate terms to the Colonies, or even Luna Base, has been neutralised. This action is not something we take willingly, but it is action that we must take. The war between Earth and the Colonies is beyond victory. It can only end in defeat.

  “Ask yourself this, if you doubt me,” I continued. “Why have conditions on Earth steadily worsened, despite the UN’s promise of booty from the Colonies? Why have we – the officers and men of the UNPF – been expended endlessly in a war that they told us would be won in weeks, perhaps days? Why was Heinlein’s Resistance able to strike at the very heart of Earth itself, creating a sight that no one could miss in the sky? Why should we serve as enforcers to a group of politicians too stupid to see the writing on the wall?

  “We all swore loyalty to the high ideals behind the Peace Force. We were told that the Peace Force existed to promote Peace and to enforce Peace. Have we succeeded in our mission? No! How can we succeed in our mission when the mere presence of the Peace Force is enough to destroy Peace? How can we succeed when our lords and masters take steps designed to expand the conflict and destroy the peace and tranquillity on dozens of worlds? How can we look in the mirror and call ourselves the Peace Force when we bring them war, famine, pestilence and death?”

  I felt my resentments bubbling up. “But what does it matter what we do, if the political cause is right?” I asked. “What does it matter if we kill millions of innocents if the cause is right? The ends justify the means, right? We’re not robots, or computers to be programmed, even if far too many of us have allowed ourselves to believe their lies. We have minds and we can think for ourselves. How does it benefit Earth, or even the UN itself, if our very presence causes resentment and hatred? Are we murderers, so far fallen from grace that we can accept the destruction of an entire city of innocents by the weapons we are sworn to prevent being used? Are we monsters that we become passive observers as worlds are looted, women are raped and children are killed? Are we not compliant in their deeds? Are our hands not dripping red with blood?

  “Look at the UN, look at the world and ask yourself one question. What is it we serve? We serve as their enforcers, stamping down on anyone who dares to question, while others grow worse under our protection. How many decent officers have been held back, or sent to isolated fuelling stations, for daring to question? How many sensible Captains have been overridden by their Political Officers, or humiliated on the bridge in front of their crews. What value is our service when it is based on lies? How many of us only took service to escape the conditions on Earth?

  “The UN created the nightmare that now grips Earth,” I thundered. “Look at it! How does it match the version created by the UN’s propaganda machine? Have things gotten better? No – if anything, they’ve gotten much worse. Our families and friends choke to death on pollution and suffer under the rule of the gangs, or corrupt police officers, while the political class dine on fine foods and drink fine wines, unheeding of the screams for help below them.

  “We’re not disloyal to Earth, or humanity! We are people who have decided that enough is enough! We are the people who are going to end the war and prevent the UN from crushing the life out of hundreds of worlds. We’re your comrades in arms, your fellow servicemen. Join us. You have nothing to lose, but your chains!”

  I drew my hand across my throat and Samantha cut the channel. I was sweating heavily. I had never claimed to be a good speechwriter, and yet it had to come from the heart. The signal would be racing out across the solar system now, yet who would listen? The uncommitted in space might join us, or take advantage of the chaos to revolt against the UN, but what would happen on Earth itself? The UN had been breeding all initiative out of the population for centuries. Would they rebel, or would they shrug and return to their lives?

  “I’m picking up a direct signal from the planet,” Samantha said. “It’s the Sec-Gen himself.”

  “On screen,” I ordered. The Secretary-General looked pale and wan. He was grossly overweight and, despite the best treatments money and high status could by, was balding. He was sweating like the pig he reassembled. “Hello.”

  The correct means of address was ‘Your Excellency,’ but I wasn't in the mood to kowtow any longer. It would have betrayed everyone who had fought and died to get this far.

  “Captain,” he said. His voice was probably intended to sound resolute, but it came out as more of a whine. “Captain, we can discuss this, perhaps even…”

  “My terms are quite simple,” I said, cutting him off. “You will surrender control over the UNPF to me. You will declare the war with the Colonies at an end and formally accept that your jurisdiction ends outside Earth’s atmosphere. You will not attempt to subvert my command or interfere with us in any way.”

  I stared at him coldly. “If you refuse to comply I will be forced to bombard Earth,” I added. I’d counted on Devastator, but even without her I could still drop precision KEW weapons. I could take out the entire UN and he knew it. “The war is over, you fat pig.”

  Samantha broke the connection and we burst out laughing. No one had spoken to him like that since…oh, probably since he was born. I hadn’t been impressed with his appearance either. A more resolute man would probably have tried to stall long enough to put together a military option of some kind. As it was, I suspected he’d give in, sooner rather than later.

  And Captain Shalenko was still out there, waiting.

  I considered hailing him, but pushed the thought aside. Instead, I concentred on mopping up the remaining loyalists before they could become major problems. The newly-arrived Marine Transports were ordered to secure the orbital towers and shut down their massive elevators until everything was secure. The asteroids surrendered one by one and we secured the stores that had been prepared for invading Williamson’s World. I took a certain delight in ordering the beauecrats held prisoner and prepared for a return to the surface. The fleet I intended to build would have no place for their kind.

  “Ah,” Sally said, suddenly. “Captain, I think we have a problem.”

  “Show me,” I ordered. I should have known that everything was going far too well. Captain Harriman had taught me that if my plan had worked perfectly, it meant I was about to lose. I hadn’t understood the logic until much later. “What’s happening?”

  A trio of wormholes formed near Earth. Two of the new arrivals were cruisers. The third…

  The Kofi Annan.

  Roger’s ship.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The UN was always careful enough to ensure that its most powerful starships went to the Captains who had a strong incentive to be loyal to the system. By 2500, that generally meant younger members of the Political Class, people who had very well-connected families. Competence was regarded as an unexpected bonus.

  -Thomas Anderson. An Unbiased Look at the UNPF. Baen Historical Press, 2500.

  “Sound Red Alert,” I ordered, keying the intercom. “All hands to battle stations. I repeat, all hands to battle stations.”

  The massive battleship had emerged from the worm
hole beyond the moon, but that wouldn’t prevent Roger from hearing chapter and verse from the Secretary-General, or even from Captain Shalenko. How would he react? Roger was smart enough to see the flaws in the system, but unlike me, he had strong ties to the ruling class. Years ago, I would probably have trusted him, but after Muna…I no longer knew who I could trust. What side would Roger be on?

  “Captain,” Samantha said, “I’m picking up encrypted signals from Earth to the Kofi Annan. I think they’re trying to warn her Captain of what’s happening here?”

  “Damn you, Roger,” I muttered. Either through planning or a horrendous stroke of bad luck, he was in a position to reverse most of what we’d done. It would still be bloody – and the UN’s self-confidence would have taken a ghastly set of blows – but he might still come out ahead. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  I looked down at the display. Seventeen starships were in excellent condition, but a handful, including Kitty’s ship, were damaged. Kitty had jumped out to the asteroids and wouldn’t have the slightest idea that something had gone badly wrong at Earth. By the time she knew, it would all be over unless I sent a ship after her…and, even so, she would still have to repair her weapons before she could intervene.