Guido and Williams loaded the nuke. The pilot complained about all the extra weight, but I told him tough. He complained more when I told him he was taking a detour.
As a precaution, I radioed the insurgent commander and asked him not to shoot at our medical helicopter because it was full of wounded. He agreed, saying he was watching us closely from KFC. The insurgent commander complained about Sergeant Green blowing up the ovens at KFC, saying it showed a lack of good faith on our part. But he was above such pettiness and would let the medical helicopter pass. I could see hundreds of insurgents across the river waving and dancing. They were celebrating their victory. I was determined to put an end to that! The rest of the city seemed deserted. The local population of spiders and humans had either evacuated East Finisterra or gone underground into the mines.
The helicopter lifted off, taking a sharp turn toward East Finisterra. Guido set the timer on the nuke and dropped it out the side door over KFC. Then the helicopter darted southwest toward New Memphis. A ground-to-air missile arced up from East Finisterra, took a severe turn towards the helicopter, and hit with the force of a hammer. The helicopter dropped quickly, spinning out of control as it went down.
Lieutenant Lopez braced himself as he looked up at Medic Ceausescu. “Elena, I am sorry for anything mean I may have said to you.”
“Screw you!” replied Corporal Ceausescu.
“We’re about to die, and the last words on your lips are screw you?” asked Lieutenant Lopez frantically.
“Screw you and fasten your seat belt!” added Corporal Ceausescu.
“Puta,” responded Lieutenant Lopez as he clicked his restraining harness into place just before impact.
The helicopter bounced off trees before twisting to the ground. Medic Ceausescu pulled Lieutenant Lopez from the wreckage. The pilot died. Guido and Williams stumbled out of the helicopter unhurt. Spot tagged along. With Corporal Ceausescu’s assistance, Lieutenant Lopez led them away from the crash. It started raining as darkness set in.
“Some days just aren’t worth getting up for,” commented Lieutenant Lopez, still leaning on Ceausescu. “Thanks.”
“Drop dead,” replied Corporal Ceausescu.
“I probably will.” Lieutenant Lopez let go of the medic. “I can walk just fine.”
Suddenly the dark sky turned to bright light. They all shielded their eyes and dove for cover as they heard the sonic boom from the nuke they’d dropped on East Finisterra. The rain turned to mud from the fallout. Everything was coated with wet clay that came down like snow.
“Take your radiation tablets,” advised Medic Ceausescu as they walked through the muddy forest. “I think that nuke was larger than the Captain expected.”
“We just turned East Finisterra into glass!” shouted Corporal Williams, giving a rebel yell and shaking his fist to the east. “Awesome, baby! That’s what happens when you mess with the Legion!”
“Where are we going?” asked Guido as they trudged along.
“If we keep going west, we will reach the highway,” answered Lieutenant Lopez. “We can hitch a ride from there.”
“This place creeps me out,” complained Guido. He could hear wolves howling up on a nearby ridge. “They’re stalking us.”
“I heard that the wolves seeded on New Colorado are smarter and larger than normal wolves,” said Corporal Williams. “They plan their attacks. It’s genetic engineering gone wild. I heard the wolves even wiped out a whole company of spider special forces.”
“Nonsense,” said Lieutenant Lopez. “El lobo only seeks out the weak. Maybe they smell my blood.”
“You have nothing to fear,” said Corporal Washington. “Fear of man is a survival instinct bred into all wild animals of Old Earth. It is me the wolves are stalking. They hope I will lag behind.”
“I told you they liked to eat spiders,” said Corporal Williams. “Don’t worry, Washington. We won’t let them eat you. I say we blast them.”
“Don’t waste your ammunition,” ordered Lieutenant Lopez. He thought he glimpsed a wolf off to the side. Then it was gone, hidden by the underbrush. “If there are insurgents out here, we don’t want to give away our position.”
“I just saw the biggest damn wolf there ever was!” shouted Corporal Williams as he fired full automatic into the forest. “I think I got him!”
Corporal Williams charged off into the forest. The others followed. They found nothing, not even a blood trail.
Finally losing interest in wolves, the legionnaires walked for miles until they reached the North Highway. The wolves followed.
* * * * *
I looked out the slit windows of the command center bunker. The mushroom cloud still drifted over East Finisterra. I had seen nuclear explosions before, but this one close up seemed larger than usual. The devastation across the river was complete. West Finisterra was flattened, too. I expected the course of the New Mississippi River to change. The paperwork from the environmental impact statement would be extensive. Damned paperwork!
Miraculously, the Finisterra Bridge was still standing. Civilians were popping out of their spider holes and wandering about the rubble. The mines and the tunnel system remained intact. Radiation levels were high, and dust was settling everywhere. The spiders weren’t much affected by radiation, but it was something to be avoided by humans. Refugees needed to take radiation tablets before fleeing south to New Disneyland or north to Camp Alaska.
“General Kalipetsis is on the radio,” announced Corporal Kool. “And he doesn’t sound happy.”
“He never is,” I replied, taking the radio. “What?”
“Lose that attitude real fast, mister,” said General Kalipetsis. “Did you explode a nuke?”
“No, sir,” I said. “It must have been the insurgents.”
“Don’t lie to me,” shouted General Kalipetsis. “I need to rely on my commanders to tell me the truth.”
“Is this a secure frequency?” I asked. “Never mind! You took all my nukes. Remember? Besides, our tactical nukes aren’t that big. It must have been a spider nuke.”
“I will not tolerate your deception,” advised General Kalipetsis. “Give me a reason not to relieve you of command.”
“Because my sector is the only place in the North that no longer has an operational insurgency,” I replied. “We killed them all.”
“Insurgents are attacking all the county seats,” said General Kalipetsis. “Be ready to move out toward either New Disneyland or Camp Alaska. And don’t set off any more nukes!”
“I did not explode that nuke,” I argued. “It must have been the insurgents who accidentally blew themselves up.”
“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself to be a liar,” said General Kalipetsis.
“Spare me,” I replied.
“I’m warning you,” continued General Kalipetsis. “No more surprises. No more nukes. No more lies.”
“That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”
“You lie so easily. I need reliable information. Don’t you know a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots?”
“All I know is we are facing more than just insurgents,” I answered. “There were thousands of heavily armed Arthropodan marines in Finisterra. We need air support. We have one medical helicopter carrying wounded missing south of here, shot down by a SAM. I expect more casualties from the radiation. We have a lot of digging out and rebuilding to do. Fortunately the miners up here are good at digging.”
“Did you blow up the Singh Gold Mine?” asked General Kalipetsis. “The biggest mother load on the planet, and you nuke it. How am I going to explain that to Congress?”
“I have not been across the river yet, so I don’t know about the Singh Mine,” I said. “Are you going to do something about the spiders landing marines down here?”
“I’ll be talking to the Commander of the Arthropodan Fleet later today,” said General Kalipetsis. “They deny landing any troops. He s
ays they are only in orbit to protect the local spider population and to prevent more genocide. Quite frankly, you setting off a nuke on the spider side of Finisterra is not going to help negotiations.”
“Threaten to blow their Fleet out of orbit,” I suggested. “Threaten war. That will get their attention.”
“No one wants war,” said General Kalipetsis. “I can’t make threats like that. We need to contain the fighting.”
“War is a horrible thing,” I said. “Let’s keep it that way so you don’t grow too fond of it. War can’t be contained. It needs to be unleashed.”
* * * * *
“What went wrong in Finisterra?” asked the Arthropodan Fleet Commander. “You assured me the human pestilence would use restraint. Instead, they used a nuke on their own city. Are they insane?”
“It might just be a local commander using excessive force,” said the Special Forces Commander. “Or possibly our team leaders gathered too many troops in one place, providing an irresistible target.”
“Local human pestilence commanders are allowed to use nukes that big?” asked the Fleet Commander.
“Maybe,” replied the Special Forces Commander. “We are looking into it.”
“I thought your Special Forces units would stay dispersed,” complained the Fleet Commander. “You were supposed to assist the insurgency and use hit and run tactics. Instead, you group up inside the city”
“I ordered my ground units to stay dispersed,” explained the Special Forces Commander. “But the insurgents prefer urban combat. My team leaders report that the locals are afraid of the forest. They complain of monsters.”
“What idiocy is this?” asked the Fleet Commander, losing his temper. “What monsters?”
“There are wild animals that attack in packs at night,” said the Special Forces Commander. “We have killed several. They are just another beast native to Earth’s forests, put on New Colorado to control pests.”
“What are they, monitor dragons?” asked the Fleet Commander. “I hate dragons.”
“I brought a picture,” advised the Special Forces Commander, pulling out a photograph of a dead wolf. “We shoot them on sight.”
“It is hideous,” said the Fleet Commander. “Are the human pestilence training these beasts to attack our soldiers?”
“No,” said the Special Forces Commander. “The monsters are dangerous to humans, too.”
“Good,” said the Fleet Commander. “I will show this photo to the Emperor when I give report. The Emperor will not be happy if you deviate from the original plan. You are to fight a guerrilla war from the forests so that the Emperor can deny direct involvement. You are not to provoke the human pestilence with large-scale engagements again. Our goal is to negotiate a joint occupation of New Colorado without going to war.”
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Chapter 2
The Arthropodan Fleet commander and General Kalipetsis agreed to face-to-face negotiations at Camp Alaska. The Fleet commander landed with five shuttles and a thousand Special Forces marines. They promptly freed about two hundred insurgents held at the detention center, and set up a spider zone of control dividing Camp Alaska.
My battalion was ordered to Camp Alaska. I sat in on the negotiations. Lieutenant Lopez joined us.
“I strongly protest the landing of Arthropodan marines,” announced General Kalipetsis. “Are you trying to provoke a war?”
“No,” replied the Arthropodan Fleet Commander. “Quite the contrary. I am here to stop a war. The marines are merely a needed precaution. You will remember the last time I was here under a flag of truce, I was attacked and injured.”
“By occupying Camp Alaska and freeing dangerous terrorists from prison, you hope to prevent a war?” asked General Kalipetsis. “Excuse me if I doubt your credibility.”
“It is you who lacks credibility,” argued the Fleet Commander. “How many prisoners have died in your gulags? We freed those prisoners to save them from certain death at the hands of the Legion. If they did not die from your abuse, surely the approach of winter would have killed them all.”
“Your troops must leave,” said General Kalipetsis. “They are a provocation and violate our sovereignty.”
“The marines are just temporary,” said the Fleet Commander. “I propose they stay in place only during negotiations. We can agree that both sides will not reinforce existing troops or commit any aggressive acts.”
“What about all the insurgents you just freed?” asked General Kalipetsis.
“I promise to control the locals while we negotiate,” said the Fleet Commander. “That is the easy part.”
I stepped outside and radioed the T. Roosevelt Space Weapons Platform. “I want you to target the five Arthropodan shuttles that landed in Camp Alaska,” I ordered.
“We can’t do that,” replied the Commander of the T. Roosevelt. “We are surrounded by the Arthropodan Fleet. They have threatened to destroy us if we bomb any part of the planet, or make any aggressive moves.”
“That is a risk I am willing to take,” I commented. “I am ordering you to destroy those shuttles. Don’t make me come up there!”
I walked back inside to join the negotiations. “Do you really expect us to believe you will not land more troops or make any more aggressive acts?” General Kalipetsis was saying. “You have broken all your promises so far.”
“Yes, I give my word,” said the Fleet Commander. “The status quo is fine, for now.”
The loud explosions from outside rocked the building. We peered out the windows in time to see the destruction of the spider shuttles.
The Fleet Commander was furious. “What treachery is this?” he fumed. “This is your doing, Czerinski!”
“I am merely enforcing our agreement per treaty not to land large amounts of troops,” I responded. “Be glad I used restraint. I should have bombed much more. I will, the next time you violate the peace treaty.”
“You human pestilence show time after time you cannot be trusted,” replied the Fleet Commander.
“Now we have a new agreement on the table,” said General Kalipetsis. “We accept the new agreement, but will not tolerate more violations. Is that acceptable to you?”
“I agree,” said the Fleet Commander. “It is only my desire for peace that restrains me from avenging your belligerence.”
* * * * *
The spiders quickly put up a fence dividing Camp Alaska to establish their zone of control. A checkpoint controlled traffic between the zones. Corporal Tonelli and Private Wayne drew guard duty on the Legion side that night. Their opposites on the spider side waved at them to come over and talk.
“Bring Spot,” said Private Wayne. The monitor dragon had been growling across the fence all night. Private John Iwo Jima Wayne, an ex-Arthropodan Special Forces team leader and now a legionnaire, did not trust other spiders. “Be ready for anything.”
As they approached the spider guard shack, a large monitor dragon challenged them. It was restrained by a spider marine pulling on its chain.
“Sorry if Satan scared you,” said the spider marine, patting his dragon on the snout. “He does not like human pestilence or traitors.”
“It will take more than a fat lizard to scare legionnaires,” said Private Wayne.
“Pull your dragon back,” said Guido, as he tried to control Spot. “I don’t want them to fight.”
“Of course you don’t,” said the spider marine. “You would not want your pup to be eaten.”
Guido sized up the other dragon. Its head was huge. Old scars covered its face. Satan was larger and more muscular than Spot. “My dragon has many combat kills,” bragged Guido. “Spot would tear your dragon’s throat out. That would be bad for the ongoing peace negotiations.”
“Care to put money on your brag?” asked the spider marine.
“How much can you afford to lose?” asked Private Wayne. “We won’t risk a combat dragon for chump change.”
“It could be millions,” said t
he spider marine. “I have many friends who would want to take your money, too.”
“No,” said Guido. “Captain Czerinski would not allow it.”
“No stomach for a fight?” taunted the spider marine. “I heard you human pestilence are squeamish. I will give you two-to-one odds, being that your dragon is only a pup.”
“Do it,” whispered Private Wayne. “Your dragon has seen combat. I know this marine’s dragon. He is pampered, overfed, and fights only at sporting events.”
“I will give you three-to-one odds,” challenged the spider marine. “That is the best offer you will get.”
“Deal,” said Guido. “How much can you afford to bet?”
“As much as you can afford to lose,” said the spider marine. “My commanding officer will hold the bets.”
“All bets will be made through Bonanno Bookies of New Memphis,” said Guido.
“What?” asked the spider Marine. “I am not letting human pestilence in New Memphis hold my money.”
“Then the fight is off,” said Guido. “It’s the law. We have no choice on the matter.”
“Then it is not happening,” said the spider marine. “I knew you would find a way to worm out of the fight.”
“Ask around,” said Guido. “This much action has to go through Bonanno.”
The spider marine conferred with his partner. Then he made some phone calls. “I have decided to allow all bets to go through Bonanno Bookies,” said the spider marine, glumly. “You will lose your money, anyway.”
* * * * *
“The destruction of our shuttles needs to be avenged,” insisted the Special Forces Commander. “There was crew aboard those shuttles. This is like a claw slap in the face.”
America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 3: Silent Invasion Page 2
