Once the AARV’s were gone, the MMARV’s moved into positions in the hills and rained artillery fire down on the old facility. Lasers swept back and forth across the landscape decapitating anything that moved. The ground campaign was remarkably short. Even though the Swordsmen launched a single large helicopter driven assault of the real settlement, the majority of the fighting took place around the old facility.
The Viking commandos were lethally efficient with their small assault rifles picking off Swordsman soldiers with an accuracy rate of 90%, just shy of one soldier killed per bullet fired. Working from the cover of the forest, even the Swordsman heat detectors did not find the Vikings until too late to stop their fire. By the end of the second day, hunting Swordsmen in the forests had ceased being a battle and had become a sport.
Under cover of darkness, with the bright red blades of the MMARV’s leading the way, the Vikings attacked the old facility. The battle raged through the night. Exhausted Swordsmen, who had endured three days of constant artillery barrage, vainly tried to resist the advancing Vikings. By dawn of the next day, a few dozen Swordsmen were imprisoned in a store room. The rest were dead.
When the ground battle ended, the Vikings and colonists had suffered six hundred dead and eight hundred wounded. Isaac and the medical team moved to the surface to tend to the wounded. Eye had been killed and Bucky was wounded. The Marines had lost half of their number dead. The remainder were wounded including both Lt. Rattigan and Madison. All the AARV’s had been lost. Half the MMARV’s were damaged beyond repair. Oliver Newton had been killed in hand-to-hand combat with a squad of Swordsmen who attacked the main settlement. He was credited with saving the lives of over a dozen women and children by giving them time to flee while he delayed the assault on their house. Sergei Tsarevich and Boris Zarnovsky died when Swordsman helicopters opened fire on the meeting hall. Major General Anatole Dubrovnik Federation Colonial Service Retired died in a valiant attempt to rescue people from the burning meeting hall. He was credited with saving many lives. His body was found next to those of Sergei and Boris. He was trying to drag them from the building when he was overcome by the smoke.
Once it was clear that the battle was over, Rachel called Jane Turner to her office. Jane arrived alone. “Miss Turner, I heard you lost two camera crews on the surface. I have requested that their bodies be recovered so that they may be buried with full honors alongside our people who have died. Please accept my condolences.”
“Thank you. This is not the first time I have lost people in battle, but it seems to hurt more each time. Maybe I should find a desk job someplace safe.”
Rachel smiled, “Yeah, right.”
Jane laughed.
Rachel’s comm signaled for her attention. Lt. Rattigan had assumed command of the ground forces after being coerced by the Vikings to do so. It was not a situation he was comfortable with and he frequently called Rachel for guidance.
“Should I leave?” Jane asked.
“No, you can stay.” Rachel turned to the display and connected to Lt. Rattigan. “Lieutenant, how may I be of service?”
“The officer in charge of the captives wishes to complain about their treatment under the Geneva convention.”
“Put him where I can see him, and he can see me.”
A Swordsman Major stepped into the camera view. His head was bandaged. Blood showed around the edges of the gauze. The Swordsman opened his mouth to speak, but Rachel cut him off.
“MAJOR! Look carefully at this picture.”
She held up the picture Jane had given her. “Tell me why I should let you live? Lieutenant Rattigan, throw him in the lock up. Give him a copy of this picture so he knows what he can look forward to!”
Rattigan grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him off camera screaming in pain.
“You heard the lady, MOVE!”
COLONY SERVICE - CHAPTER TEN
FOUR MONTHS PASSED while Elizabeth and her crew waited for their relief convoy. Preceded by a courier missile, a convoy arrived and strictly followed established procedures for entering an occupied system. Once the convoy was established in parking orbit, Rachel sent the usual invitation to the Captain and senior officers for dinner.
Brigadier General Henri DesJardin replied immediately that he would be honored and asked permission to bring some of his engineering staff who wished to meet her engineering staff.
Rachel responded that they were welcome, but reminded the General that this was a party and not a workshop.
The laughter in the General’s voice could be felt even in the text of his reply. He allowed that he was coming to party, but he could make no such promises of his staff. He would, of course, remind them that this was a social gathering and to behave accordingly.
Rachel met General Desjardin at the airlock. “General, welcome aboard the Queen Elizabeth.”
General DesJardin bowed deeply and took Rachel’s hand and raised it to his lips. “It is my great honor to finally meet the famous Captain Rachel Solomon Cohen. Please allow me to introduce my wife, Lady Simone DesJardin.”
Lady DesJardin, wearing the uniform of a Captain in the Federation Marines saluted formally. Rachel returned the salute.
“General, Lady, please, we do not run as formal a ship as you do. We try to address each other by first name. Please call me Rachel.”
General DesJardin laughed. “Ah, you Americans! Once an American always an American!”
Lady DesJardin gently pushed her husband aside, “Captain Rachel, he would stand and chatter and block the door all day if we let him. I have brought French wine for your table and my men grow weary holding it.”
Rachel started to object, but Simone cut her off. “We know the rules. Your people deserve a celebration in honor of such a hard won victory.”
“Some of our people have problems with alcohol.”
Simone smiled. “Captain Darwin perhaps?”
“Among others.”
“Please allow me to introduce my son Bolivar.” A stunningly handsome Lieutenant in the uniform of a combat pilot stepped forward. Simone turned to the young man. “The Captain is concerned about what happens if Captain Darwin has too much to drink.”
“Captain, it would be my honor to be Captain Darwin’s escort for the evening and ensure that nothing untoward happens.”
Rachel sighed. “Very well, welcome aboard.”
Simone motioned for her staff to come aboard. Two of Rachel’s Marines escorted the wine bearers to the kitchen. Simone turned back to Rachel and said, “Is your sister Wendy nearby? We have chatted with your children and have news of their progress.”
The General quickly excused himself and engaged Isaac in conversation. Isaac laughed at some small joke the General made as they wandered off to join the party.
Wendy joined Rachel and Simone at the table. Some of the colonists had come up from the surface to participate in the party and others to help serve. Bucky’s very pregnant wife brought them their wine. Rachel asked her to sit with them and talk about life on the planet’s surface. Bucky’s wife pointed out her two daughters who were walking amongst the crowd passing finger sandwiches. When the time for the formal dinner arrived, Rachel rearranged the head table so that Bucky’s wife could sit with them and continue the conversation. Rachel was pleased to see that Isaac had pulled both Bucky and Lt. Rattigan into his conversation with Henri. Isaac, Henri, Bucky and Lt. Rattigan took their places at the head table. Alina and Bolivar were nowhere to be found.
Rachel spoke softly into her comm. “Elizabeth, where is Alina?”
Elizabeth giggled. “In the gym.”
“What is she doing there?”
“Playing.”
“Playing?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Elizabeth, what are you not telling me?”
“You told me to respect people’s privacy.”
Rachel sighed. “Is either of them in any danger?”
“Oh, no,” Elizabeth giggled. “He has six pack abs.”
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“Thank you, Elizabeth, that was more than I wanted to know.”
“Any time, Captain.”
Simone leaned over to Rachel. “Are you concerned for your Captain Darwin?”
“Yes.”
“Bolivar can be a perfect gentleman.”
“Except that Alina is not known for being a perfect lady.”
Simone smiled. “Where are they?”
“In the gym and Bolivar is not wearing a shirt.”
Simone laughed. “He is his father’s son! Your Captain Darwin will not regret this evening, I assure you.”
Simone turned back to Wendy and told her how the children had fooled the security service trainers in an exercise. Bobby and Naomi were working a simulation with the trainers only they had planned a surprise. Gabby and Hannah commandeered a vacant simulator. Barney took another with Delmar, Reuben and Suwanee’s youngest. Rashi and Esther’s two children, Caroline and Daniel took yet another. They entered the simulation in progress and ripped through the security forces. The security trainer was a good sport about the incident, even though it was obvious he was not happy at the fact that mere children had gotten the better of him. After that he locked all the simulators that were not in use.
Being the devious children that they were, they enlisted the assistance of one of the station’s computer engineers and found a way to join the simulations from the workstations in their bedrooms on Peter’s bridge. The station management seemed to feel that they would be safer if the children quartered with Peter and Peter acted in loco parentis. The station’s staff was less concerned for the children’s safety than they were for their own. They had not counted on the allure these five teenagers had on their peers among the station’s families. With the depth of Peter’s music library, they held dance parties that ran long after curfew.
On school nights, Peter ran study sessions in the galley and on the weekends Marines and security personnel chaperoned the parties. Those teenagers who had their parents’ permission to stay over were allowed to do so. The remainder were escorted to their quarters by the security staff. The primary reason that the parties were allowed to continue in spite of some initial opposition was that the teenagers who participated caused less trouble than before and their grades improved. The penalty for misbehavior was eviction and Peter ruled with an iron hand.
Simone had been impressed with the children and suggested that if any of them wished to join her expeditions they were welcome.
Simone and Henri took to the dance floor after the desserts had been served and demonstrated a grace and style that left Rachel’s crew speechless. Many members of Henri’s crew joined them on the dance floor. Simone approached Rachel, “Please join us. We would be honored to dance with you.”
Isaac stepped in, “Honored Lady, I am in awe of your dance, but other than a few rough folk dances, we have never learned the dances you do so well.”
Simone nodded gracefully. “It is a pity. Dance is the language of love. Two people who love each other as much as you do should include dance in the vocabulary of your emotions for each other. But it is no matter. Henri and I know folk dances as well as any of you. We shall dance!”
The music changed, and even those who did not know how to dance found themselves out on the floor.
The music wound down as people drifted off to their quarters or to the shuttles to return to their ships. Rachel, Isaac, Simone and Henri were left alone with the clean-up crew.
“Perhaps we should retire to my conference room if you wish to stay longer,” Rachel suggested.
“Excellent,” Henri responded.
Elizabeth had prepared cinnamon rolls and coffee and had them on the table when the foursome arrived. Simone laughed. “The famous cinnamon rolls and coffee! Now I know we are welcome!”
“Please help yourselves.”
Henri removed his jacket and put it across a chair, “ Thank you for a delightful party. Let us talk business before we depart. Mr. Rothschild has requested that you and your entire team be recalled to headquarters.”
“Did he say why?”
“He has another colony he wishes to establish, one that he feels will require your special skills.”
“Did he say why this colony needed my attention?”
“No, he said it was better that I not know lest I divert my attention from my work here.”
“He can’t expect me to up and leave these people as if they were so much cargo. How do I know you won’t lock them in cages for lab experiments like Sergei Tsarevich?”
“You have only my word. Isn’t that all we ever have? Rest assured that unless you consider the entire surface of this planet to be a cage, then I have no intent of restricting their activities. In fact, I intend to enlist their assistance in developing the planet.”
“You will not conduct experiments on them?”
“Not in the manner you think. The whole planet is an experiment. First the failure of the cloning operation, then the sudden upheaval caused by your arrival and the shock of how easily you defeated them. These people have been traumatized by battles. They have looked death in the face. They need help. I brought help. I have counselors, sociologists, teachers and medical personnel who will help them adjust to their lives and deal with the changes that are to come. There are more colonists coming. I have some on my ships. There will be conflicts between those who lost loved ones in the bid to secure this planet and those who came later and reaped the benefits without such losses. We have people who have dealt with these conflicts before and understand the intensity of the emotions behind them.”
Rachel assimilated what he said. “It sounds too soft and squishy to me. Are you sure these people won’t walk all over you?”
“Key to our success is that we do not provide the leaders. They do. The leaders must be as independent as possible or they will not be accepted. The first leaders must come from the earliest settlers and then as others arrive they assume leadership rolls.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Let me show you this letter from Anatole Dubrovnik.”
“My dear friend Henri, I am leaving for a new system whose coordinates appear below. Boris Zarnovsky is there now. Sergei Tsarevich is on his way. I hope to head Sergei off. If I am successful in stopping Sergei’s madness, please convince the Colonial Service to allow you to come out of retirement to save these people from the horrors Sergei would visit on them. If I am not here to tell her myself, please show this letter to Captain Rachel Solomon Cohen. In my heart I know you are the best person for this colony. I will gladly serve under your leadership.”
“Anatole was a good man,” Rachel said softly when she had finished reading the hand written letter.
“One of the best.”
“So, now what do we do?” Rachel asked.
“Here is a list of the equipment you are to leave here, and here is a list of the personnel Mr. Rothschild would like you to bring back to Headquarters.”
Rachel scanned the lists. “We will have one problem. Lt. Rattigan has been drafted as the colony’s leader in spite of his expressed wishes against it.”
“In your reports you mentioned another man who you felt had leadership potential. I think his name was Bucky. Was this the man I met this evening?”
“Yes,” Rachel smiled. “A capable and well respected leader. He was the one who insisted that Rattigan be put in charge. One of the Swordsman women with two teen aged daughters latched on to him right when they first arrived. She is pregnant with his child. Simone met her this evening.”
“A truly caring and generous woman,” Simone said. “I look forward to earning her friendship and respect. Her daughters are gracious young ladies. I hope that we will work well together.”
Henri smiled. “Excellent. Perhaps this will be easier than I had expected. We will help make the substitution, and you can bring your people home.”
Henri and his people descended to the surface and quickly assimilated themselves into the existing popu
lation readily adopting the dress and language styles of the previous arrivals. Within a month, the new arrivals were indistinguishable from the people that had come with the first group.
Henri helped the colony establish a ruling council of five members. Bucky was the chair. Henri recruited one of Eye’s supporters for the council. The first group of colonists elected one of the women rescued from Stonebridge to represent them. A man and a woman were elected from the remaining two waves of colonists to complete the council. Under Henri and Simone’s experienced leadership, the colonial government quickly established order and began growing and improving the colony.
Rachel quietly recalled her crew to the ship. They retrieved all the military hardware, including the MMARV’s and AARV’s and carefully stowed them against the day when they would be needed again. The crew members said their farewells to the friends they left behind and once everything was in order, Queen Elizabeth departed Norseland and set course for headquarters to begin a new mission.
COLONY SERVICE - CHAPTER ELEVEN
IN THE COOL CLEAR LIGHT of early morning, wearing the blue uniforms of Space Force officers commensurate with their rank as Space Force retirees proudly displaying the battle ribbons they had earned the hard way, Greg and Avi ascended the steps to the Space Force Academy’s largest auditorium. They entered the lobby, and an old friend weaved through the crowd to greet them. Avi spotted him first and pointed him out to Greg. Greg advanced to shake his hand. “How is Rear Admiral Alfred McGuire LLB, JD, PhD, Dean of the Space Force Academy Law Department soon to be retired, feeling today?”
“I’ll feel much better when this is over.” He pointed with his thumb inside the auditorium. “I am glad you could come.”
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