by Danny Loomis
Irish looked at the faces turned his way, marveling not only at the fact the entire LRS platoon was now in the Eire system, but under his command. “I want to officially welcome you to the Eire star system. Staff Sergeant Two Eagles and his squad are already busy, working with snipers. This briefing deals with one main objective: Kick the enemy in the ass so often they run squealing from here.” He clicked the remote, bringing up a picture of Eire on the bulkhead’s large screen.
“Here’s where we’re going to do our work. The two main continents we’ll be on are Dublin and Burunda.” He touched each with a laser dot. “You’ve all got an information packet about the physical characteristics of Eire, along with information about the four major cities.” He clicked to the next slide. “We’ve got approximately three weeks to help the rebels, who’re called freedom fighters, raise up enough support from the twenty million souls on this planet to throw out the present government. A lot of the population’s ready for a change. Just need a nudge to get them to actively support the freedom fighters.
“In three weeks, we expect action to heat up in space. During that three weeks, we must ensure the Legislaturist militia, called Legs, and Alliance troops become afraid to travel outside their garrisons. At the end of that time we’ll conduct major raids on the three main airfields the Alliance are using for their air assets. There are presently ten thousand rebels under arms. We expect another two thousand will be ready to fight by the end of three weeks. This isn’t enough troops to go face-to-face with the fifty thousand Legs and thirty thousand alliance soldiers.
“One of the main reasons you’re here is to help coordinate and participate in missions with freedom fighters we’ve provided sniper training to. They don’t have the experience you do, but make up for it with enthusiasm and the ability to match or exceed you in their sharpshooting abilities. The second main reason is to blow up things, something many of us joined the LRS to do.”
He gestured at Franny. “Lieutenant Smith has come up with a more detailed plan for the platoon. You’ll be broken up into smaller teams and spread around the two continents. Communication and leadership will be the critical elements to ensure our success, something I know you all excel in.” Irish paused, surveying his audience. “Lieutenant, they’re all yours.”
Franny strode to the front. “Okay, guys, now you officially know what we’re here to do. Kick Alliance butt. And, in this case, some of their friends. But first, I’ve got a surprise for you.” His face transformed into a mirthless smile. “You’re going to take an hour break, and clean all your weapons. I noticed none of you even bothered to check your weapons once you got on board the Erebus. Squad leaders, let’s get ‘em humping!”
He turned to Irish, a normal smile on his face. “God, I love surprising them. Gets harder to do all the time, though.”
Irish shook his head, giving a snort of laughter. “You haven’t changed a bit, Lieutenant. Not since you were my squad leader.”
Franny clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, flattery like that deserves a reward. How about I buy you a cup of that swill your crew calls coffee?”
“I heard that!” Willy’s voice echoed from the flight deck.
* * *
Shag drifted the Erebus down until five hundred meters above the Swain river, 100 kilometers north of Youghdal and began following it. “You sure this is a good idea?” He glanced nervously at Irish in the co-pilots chair.
“Probably not, but we couldn’t get all the teams spread out in a day without using the Erebus, even though we’re slower at this kind of chore. It’d take the shuttle a lot longer doing it all alone. Besides, you’re only helping place ten teams. The shuttle’s having to cover the whole continent of Dublin by itself.” He straightened, eyes on the screen. “Take a ninety degree turn-now.” The top of a hill rose above the forest. “Opposite side of hill, at the foot of it,” Irish said.
Once they’d touched down, they waited for Willy’s signal. He was working as Loadmaster this trip. “Open ramp.” Less than a minute later: “Close ramp.”
Irish touched the map on his screen. “Okay, lift it and head for here.” He leaned back after checking his sensors. “Nine more to go.”
“Then I can get back to my hidey-hole upstairs. Lot safer than here,” muttered Shag.
By dusk the last team had been placed. “Okay, head for the rebel’s base and drop the L.T. and me off. Then you can get back to playing around in space.”
Willy joined them on the flight deck, slipping into his seat at the weapons console. “Y’know, I suspect those anomalies we spotted on the solar collector satellite where we hid from the bad guy patrol weren’t put there by the alliance. Think they’re explosives or something?”
“Like in blowing up the satellite at the right moment?” Shag asked. “Yeah, might be. Whatever they are, I’m not gonna mess with them if they don’t mess with me.”
“Good idea,” Irish said. “By the way, have you noticed how the battleships in high orbit have shifted position again?”
“Oh, hell,” he groaned. “That means I got to plot our route back to space all over again.”
Willy made a whimpering sound. “Poor baby. Gotta work again. I sure feel sorry for him.”
Irish shook his head. “I don’t know how you two put up with each other when you’re up there on that asteroid by yourselves.”
“Neither do I, Cap,” Shag said. “But at least we don’t have to get all gussied up and look important all the time like some people are gonna have to do.”
“Gah! You sure know how to depress someone.” He shrugged. “Not that I’m going to let that happen too much. I’ve got plans to become involved with some of the missions. So unless they want to hold their political meetings in some mudhole out in the middle of a forest, there won’t be much gussying up.”
It was full dark when Shag touched down in a small glade five kilometers from the rebel HQ. “You sure we can’t take you guys all the way in, Cap?”
Irish finished strapping on his rucksack. “No, safer to keep traffic at a minimum around that location.” He shook the hand of each before turning to leave. “You guys be safe, y’hear?”
“You too, Skipper,” Willy called after him.
Shag kept Erebus on the ground until Irish disappeared from sight. “Dang, glad he’s handling the ground missions for us. That’s always one part of our job I never really cared for.”
Willy’s eyebrows twitched. “I seem to remember you had a good time last year when we stopped on, what was that planet’s name? Yerby. Yeah, that was it. Caroline seemed to keep you pretty happy the entire week we were there.”
“Yerby? Hell, you know we never been there. It was Darwin.”
The Erebus silently lifted and began its journey back to space, its two occupants continuing their chaffing. Within seconds, it disappeared.
PLANET EIRE–REBEL HQ (Day +87)
Irish alerted at the whispering on his comm. “Another fifty meters and hold.”
Franny eased up alongside and touched helmets. “Don’t recognize the voice. You sure it’s okay?”
“It’s Sergeant Nolan, one of the original snipers I trained. They must’ve relocated HQ.” He started off again, this time at a slow walk instead of trotting.
Within seconds, there was a double-click on his comm. “On your right.” A figure stepped from behind a large boulder, and waved them over.
“We changed location, Sir. Five klicks this way.” He turned and began a shuffle-trot along a faint trail through the two meter tall scrub brush that covered the immediate area.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when they slipped behind a screen of brush and into a small cave opening. Within twenty meters it had widened to the point several people could walk side by side. Dim lights were positioned on the floor every ten meters.
Two Eagles greeted them, a large smile on his face. “Damn, it’s good to see you, L.T.”
“Same to you, Staff. W
hat’s this about you being the commander of Eire’s snipers?”
Two Eagles shook his head. “Y’know, I used to think that sack of-er, Captain standing next to you liked me. Then he stuck me in the commander’s job. Now I spend my days fighting off paper blizzards. A cruel thing for him to do.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said with a smile. “But I’m here now. You can go back to screwing off once I’m briefed up. First, how about getting all the snipers not on mission to fall out for P.T.?”
“Happy to, Sir.” He whistled and ten shapes materialized from the walls of the cave around them, causing Franny and Irish to jerk back in surprise. “Give us a minute to get out of our cammys and we’ll be ready.”
“Franny raised a hand. “Stand fast.” He did a slow spin, eyeing each soldier. A closer inspection while walking among them, and he nodded approval. All were fully armed. Finally he was once more standing in front of Two Eagles. “Staff Sergeant, I am truly impressed. You have done an excellent job with these soldiers. If they shoot like they hide, there’s no way we can lose.” He turned to Irish. “With your permission, Sir, I’d like to get an up-brief from Two Eagles now.”
“Granted. Lieutenant. The three of us can have our own meeting in two hours.”
* * *
Irish sipped his second cup of coffee marveling at the efficiency of the rebels’ logistics. For having just arrived at a new site, they’d ensured food and sleeping quarters were ready soon as possible. Even Stacy’s Pub had been set up, according to a sign pointing down-tunnel. He smiled when Franny and Two Eagles slid into seats across from him. “Well, Franny, what do you think?”
“Very nice,” he said. “Been quite a challenge for Two Eagles to ride herd on a hundred troops scattered all over the planet like they are. I’m happy to see how well he’s handled it.”
Two Eagles’ skin darkened even more while he blushed. “Thanks, Sir. If I hadn’t had three admin folks to help, it would’ve been impossible.”
Irish nodded. “That and the ultra-low frequency commo. Whoever thought to send it to Eire really did us a favor.” He took a drink of coffee, and eyed Franny. “You think you can handle a command that’s this spread out?”
“No problem. Having Two Eagles be my second, we can…”
“Sorry to rain on your dreams,” Irish interrupted. “I’ve got other uses for him. I’ll give you someone even better, Sergeant Nolan. He’s not only a crackerjack shuttle pilot, come to find out he was the head clerk for a supply business that had warehouses all across the planet. So he’s used to dealing with a spread out system already.”
Two Eagles raised an eyebrow. “What’s Nolan think about this?”
“He almost licked my feet when I asked if he wanted to be Franny’s second in command. The fact he would fly a shuttle even more than he has already was icing on the cake.”
“Sounds good to me,” Franny said with a smile.
“Two Eagles, you know the layout of this place better than us. Can you find a quiet room to conduct a briefing in?”
“Yep, they got a couple rooms already prepped.”
“Good. W’ve got to meet with the rebel leaders later this morning. How about an hour before evening chow we have a meeting with Brian and his staff? I’ve already got some missions in mind, but need to bounce them off Brian.”
Several hours later Brian led the way into the briefing room, more relaxed than Irish had seen him since Stuart’s death. “Thought I’d better have a couple rooms dedicated to doing this,” he said while they moved to chairs at the front. “We’re expanding so rapidly my uncle and I are getting or giving briefings all the time.”
“How’s your uncle fit into the picture?” Irish asked.
“Like a glove on my hand,” Brian said. “When I offered him overall leadership with me handling the operations portion, he completely thawed towards me. Said it’d be a joint leadership, with him handling logistics and admin. Which is perfect. Bernie was the one handling all the admin for me anyway.”
Their conversation was cut short when Franny and Two Eagles entered. Eight rebel officers brought up the rear. By the time they were seated, Irish had plugged in his data cube and brought up a picture of Eire on the front screen.
Gentlemen, for those who haven’t met me before, I’m Captain Shannon, the Confederation’s representative. If you don’t mind, let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves.” He pointed to Brian. “Starting, of course, with the leader of the freedom fighters on Eire.” As the introductions rolled around the table, Irish suppressed a smile at Franny and Two Eagle’s disquiet. They were just now realizing this was a meeting of the top military leaders for the freedom fighters.
Introductions finished, Irish began. “Time is of the essence, Gentlemen, so let’s dispense with any more formalities and get to the meat of the matter.” He brought the next picture up, depicting the two continents.
“At present, the Legs have a total of seventy thousand troops on both continents. The Alliance has thirty-five thousand on Dublin, and eighteen thousand on Burunda. That is a dramatic increase from what was on-planet just a month ago. We feel the Alliance is getting ready to make its big push to take over the planet, government and all.”
He clicked to the next picture. “On the Burunda continent, we are calling for our fighters to increase military activity against all roadblocks, plus attack one of the centralized garrisons. You’ve been working on these plans for awhile. Brian and I feel now is the time to put those plans into motion. These attacks should be coordinated across Burunda during the next five days. You’ll have at least two snipers taking part at each attack site to help create confusion by eliminating some of the enemy’s chain of command. Once these missions are accomplished, you will begin ambushing any and all enemy troops you can.” He looked around the room. “Are there questions from the Burunda contingent?”
Franny raised a hand. “In case the question comes up later, Burunda continent has twenty sniper teams, along with members of the Long Range Scouts to coordinate with each team so they can hopefully be more effective when helping on missions you plan. We’ll have constant communication with them if necessary.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant.” Irish looked around the table. “Anyone else? No? Then let’s continue. We’ve made sure there are LRS troopers coordinating with the sniper teams on Dublin, one for every five teams just like on Burunda. Far as planned missions, Brian and I discussed having five within the next several days. As with Burunda, this first go-round should be against roadblocks, and one large garrison. I suggest the one near the town of Thule be your target.”
After another half-hour of discussion, the meeting drew to a close. Brian stood, nodding to Irish. “Thanks, Captain. As you can see, we didn’t go into detail about how you complete these missions, that’s what we have all of you for.” He gestured at one of the rebel officers. “Dillard, if you or your folks don’t want to have the Thule garrison be the target, come up with an alternative. Just remember, it has to be accomplished within five days. Can y’do it?”
The short man at the end of the table nodded. “No sweat, Sir.”
“Good.” His eyes scanned the rest. “Anyone got any concerns? If not, this’ll be the last face-to-face meeting for the foreseeable future. Any other assignments will come over the radio. If you need supplies, let us know ASAP and we’ll try to get them to you within three days.”
While everyone was filing out, Irish tapped Brian on the shoulder. “I need to talk to you when we get a chance.”
“Come on down to my office,” he said. “Now’s probably the best time.”
Moments later both were relaxing with a fresh cup of tea in front of them courtesy of Bernadette. “Not sure you’ve heard yet, but I’m no longer a Captain,” Irish began.
Brian took a slow drink of tea before responding. “When you arrived back on Eire, we got the latest messages from the Confederation. I can tell by your expression you’re not too happy a
bout being made Ambassador Pro Tem, but somebody’s gotta do it.” His lips quirked. “Would you rather see Shag made the Ambassador?”
Irish gave a bark of laughter. “Oh, God no! He’d never speak to me again, let alone scaring all your politicians to death.”
“I promise to make it easy as I can for you,” Brian said. “There’ll be a few meetings you have to attend, to include the decision-making ones. Especially those concerning the war.”
“I’ll have to adjust, I guess,” Irish said with a sigh. “It’s just that I could be a lot more effective going on special missions.”
“Agreed. Just so they don’t conflict with your work as an Ambassador.”
Irish perked up. “Really? Like if Two Eagles and I wanted to go out three or four days from now and blow something up?”
Brian’s full-throated laugh had Bernadette poking her head in the office. “You think you two could be a little quieter in here? I’m trying to get some work done.”
* * *
Roadblock Number Three, 10 Kilometers East of Henbrook Township:
Lieutenant Bracken stepped up to the barrier on Highway 121 that led towards Ennis. No vehicles for the past hour. Not normal, not at all. “Sergeant, something’s not right. Tell Yancey to get his team out of bed and in position with Craley’s. And call HQ, ask for a patrol to check the route to Ennis.”
Sergeant Price poked his head out of the guard shack. “Sir, y’did that yesterday. The Captain said if you called in a false alarm once more, he’d have us guarding the latrines.”
Bracken shrugged and started for the shack. “Yeah, I know.” He cast an uneasy look over his shoulder. “Still, it doesn’t feel right. I guess we’ll have to make do with our squad.”
Price stepped out the door. “We been promised a platoon at each checkpoint by next week. Think you could wait until…” The rising whine of a speeding vehicle cut him off. A truck careened around the corner three hundred meters away.
