The General's War

by Michael Poeltl

  “You’re here now,” Trainer states. “You outrank us all. But I think a call to the general, just to let her know what you’re planning, is prudent.”

  “Right,” Nick feels a buzzing in the ear with the bomb and a hand raises to address the tingling. “But I, uh, I think we can accomplish that once we’re on the ship. You know, better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” He opens a cupboard in the kitchen and pulls out a box of energy bars.

  “I think a call is required straight-away, Commander.”

  She’s not very agreeable for a subordinate, Nick thinks. He wonders if there is something more he’s missing. “Listen, I’m just anxious to get back so we can stop whatever damage Chopra’s doing to the war effort.”

  “I understand that, Nick, I do, but the general must be allowed to circumvent any proposed action should she feel it does not serve the greater purpose of the war.”

  “Fine!” He finally says. “Go ahead, hail her!” He irritably waits for his head to explode.

  Lynn marches to the communications console and Nick follows. “But I doubt she’ll want to speak to me,” Nick says. “After I lost the fleet, she’ll probably be too pissed at me to agree to any tactic I might suggest.” He looks around the room for something, anything he could use as a distraction, certain the general will see through any attempt at his bluff.

  “If yours is the only warship we have, she’ll likely see the merit in your suggestion. Besides, Mann and Juravinski had years of experience on you. It’s no wonder they managed to take back their fleet.”

  “Thanks, but I just don’t see the point in bothering her with this,” Nick’s feeling desperate now, as Lynn sends a hail request to General August’s personal EC. His inner-ear buzzes again. The General’s face appears on a screen.

  “Lieutenant, is everything -” the general stops herself when she notices Wilkes standing on Mars Station. “Captain, what, how did you get back to mars?”

  “It’s a long story, Ma’am,” he begins, his nerve leaving him, waiting on his head to burst. “I managed to take one of the corvettes from Luna and steal myself back to mars.”

  “That’s commendable, Commander, but very unlikely,” she looks to Lieutenant Trainer. “Apprehend Commander Wilkes, something feels wrong with his story.” The other five surround Wilkes, securing him by the arms.

  “Lieutenant, have you searched the corvette?” August asks from a darkened room, lit purple by lights in low ceilings.

  “No, General, He’s only just walked in,” Lynn explains.

  August’s face falls as she looks behind the lieutenant. “It’s too late,” she tells them.

  Lynn turns to see twenty altered humans with weapons raised, behind them. She backs off instinctually. The others raise their firearms to Wilkes’ head.

  “We’ll fire on him if you make another move,” a corporal threatens.

  “Lay down your weapons, Captain Chopra asked me to do this without violence,” Tobias explains. “I’d like to honour his request, but if you force my hand -” he looks at the screen. “General August, you look awful. But then you have lost Mars Station, and you are being lanced from orbit,” he notices the cramped, dimly lit bunker she currently occupies. “And by the looks of things, you’ll soon be a bad memory.” He laughs.

  “You’re the Chimera,” she whispers. “The one who started it all.”

  “I’m the one finishing it, general.” He looks back to the soldiers surrounding Wilkes. “The commander there has a bomb in his head. If you don’t want skull and brain impaled into your own, I would step back.” Tobias raises a hand with a detonator in it.

  “Tobias,” Nick says, losing control of his bladder and wetting the floor. “No, please.”

  “Drop your weapons and lay on your stomachs,” he orders them. They look defiant, Nick notices to his great disappointment. “Honour your former captain,” Tobias continues. “And let me keep my promise to him. He wished no harm come to any of you.”

  “Captain Chopra is a, traitor,” Lynn says as though trying to convince herself. “He has no honour.”

  “Then to kill you, l do him no disservice,” Tobias says, pointing his pulse rifle at the Lieutenant. Raising the detonator, he looks at Wilkes.

  “Lieutenant, shoot that man!” General August orders. “You shoot him now! Shoot him!”

  Lieutenant Trainer is clearly startled by the general’s command. “They’ll kill us all if we start firing, General,” she says.

  “None of you are any good to me alive, so be dead!” She watches from her purple room.

  Mars Station falls eerily quiet. The crew look at one another confused at the general’s orders and obvious disregard for their lives.

  “This is who you would choose to follow? This, rather then a man like Captain Chopra? A man who’s lost his son to the senseless Chimera executions on earth?” Tobias asks the Lieutenant.

  Lynn looks back at the screen. August’s face seems scarred with the deep shadows, forcing her mouth down in a terrible grimace, her eyes disappearing altogether. Images of ancient, demonic scribblings come to mind.

  “No,” Lynn says quietly, shaking her head. “No, had I the opportunity, I would have followed Captain Chopra’s lead.” She looks to her soldiers. “We all would have.” They nod and lower their weapons. Lynn lowers hers and turns to the screen. “You have thrown earth into an impossible war, General. You are a bitter, awful woman, and every ship produced in this facility will have a singular mission now: To bring you down.”

  The general’s image disappears from the screen, but the tension in the room is still on high alert. Nick feels safe for the moment, as the pulse rifles lower and the soldiers stand down, but he’s still very much aware of the bomb in his head.

  “You have some explaining to do, Wilkes,” Lynn points an angry finger.

  Nick is instantly offended, having done so much for his new cause. “Look, I’ve come this far to claim Mars Station for the rebels,” he pleads. “Now you’re all rebels, what more can I do?”

  “You could blow up,” Tobias says, a grin spreading across his face.

  “See,” Nick stabs a pointed finger in Tobias’ direction. “This is what I’ve been putting up with. Fine ‘blow my head off’, Tobias! You’ve gotten what you came for!” His anxiety is raging. The soldiers surrounding him back off carefully, afraid he may set the bomb off himself with all the shouting.

  “Nick,” Tobias calls to settle him. Nick looks, Tobias raises a hand and presses his thumb on the detonator. Wilkes’ inner-ear buzzes again, he soils himself, and faints.

  ______________________________________________________________________

  Tobias looks to Trainer. “He had to believe he was in mortal danger.”

  “But he wasn’t.” Lynn maintains.

  “No,” Tobias answers. “I kind of like him. I think I’ll keep him.” He motions for two Chimera to take Wilkes to the lavatory and place him in a shower. “Stay with him. When he wakes up he can address the mess he’s made.”

  “Now, let’s you and I hail Captain Chopra and the Chancellor,” he says to Lieutenant Trainer.

  “Please,” she steps to the side, looking somewhat fearful of his imposing size and alterations. A moment later the chancellor is on the screen.

  “Tobias,” the chancellor greets him. “You must be Lieutenant Trainer,” he says looking at the pretty woman in uniform standing next to Tobias. “I’m pleased to see you well. Captain Chopra will be thrilled.”

  “We’re sorry we’ve been on the wrong side of this war, Chancellor,” Lynn explains. “We were under orders not to accept incoming communications.”

  “Understood, Lieutenant. That Mars Station, and more importantly the shipyards are no longer under the general’s thumb is a major victory.”

  “Lynn,” Chopra joins the chancellor. “Good work, Tobias,” he nods with a genuine smile. “Lynn, are you with us?”

  “I am, we are, all of us, Captain. Had I known about your son -”


  “Thank you, but you couldn’t have known. You do us proud joining the cause now. Keep the projected timelines moving for the destroyers in queue. Tobias, will you be joining us?”

  “Yes, we’ll leave in a few hours.”

  “Very well, we’ll continue lancing specific targets from orbit. Where is Wilkes?”

  Tobias laughs his barking laugh. “He is recovering in the lavatory, Captain. He got us this far. He did well.”

  “Good to know,” Chopra says. “Continue to keep him on a leash.”

  “Oh, I will! He’s my pet now,” Tobias laughs again and the room erupts with him. “We’ll speak soon, Captain, Chancellor.” Tobias ends the communication and invites Lynn and her crew to his corvette for dinner and drinks. She accepts on their behalf and, with Nick in tow, the group of now thirty, board the corvette.

  “Thank you for supporting the right side,” Lynn says to Tobias as they sit in the great room, Mars appearing somehow more brilliant beyond their viewport. “I’m truly grateful.”

  “And we’re grateful for your change of heart,” Ginny explains to Lynn, leaning into her from across the table. “We’ve grown to respect Captain Chopra and wanted to honour his request. He had told Tobias that you were good people, loyal.”

  “General August might say otherwise,” the Lieutenant adds, raising her glass of cabernet with a wink, igniting another belly laugh from Tobias.

  “Will you come with us, Lieutenant?” Ginny asks.

  “I would love to get back to earth. It’s been two months here this tour. But if the captain believes I am more valuable here, mars is where I’ll stay to oversee the shipyard,” she ends the sentence with a long drink from her glass.

  A rousing round of laughter and back slapping stirs behind them as the Chimera and soldiers let Nick Wilkes pass through their celebrations. He sarcastically waves them off, thanking them for their kind salutations. When he lands a look on Tobias, he could have started a fire with his gaze.

  “Had fun, did you?” He asks him directly. “You made a man shit his britches.”

  Tobias laughs again, takes Nick by his upper arm, and directs him to the seat beside him. “I do apologize, Wilkes,” he pours the small man a big drink and hands it to him. “Though you do make me laugh.”

  “Can I ask you, Nick,” Lieutenant Trainer says, taking a serious side-bar. “Did you believe in what you were doing when you took command of Captain Chopra’s ship, or were you simply driven by the desire to lead?”

  “I’ll be honest with you, Lieutenant, I couldn’t have cared less about the general’s war. I had no opinion on it. I was a soldier, like you: had the thinking trained out of me years ago. But I saw an opportunity to take the reigns.”

  “And so, you put a plan into action,” Lynn nods.

  “I did,” he tells them unapologetically. “And it worked, I was captain for a day, or at least a few hours. The youngest captain ever to lead the only fleet of space-fairing warships history has ever known.”

  “Probably not exactly getting into the history books,” Ginny says. The others smile.

  “No, but it could have gone the other way,” he stops himself and looks around at his present company. “I’m happy it didn’t,” he backtracks. “But you all know that it could have. That’s all I’m saying.” He drinks his cup of wine in one long gulp. Tobias pours him another.

  “Because you no longer outrank me, I can tell you, Nick, I’m not impressed,” Lynn confronts him. “You were the same little weasel on Mars Station as you must have been on Captain Chopra’s Destroyer. So cocky, so self-assured. So convinced of your status. You blinded yourself with your politicking on that Destroyer. Now you’re this man’s pet.” She offers a nod and a wink to Tobias. He smiles back. “You’re a pigheaded ass, Nick.” Lieutenant Trainer ends her tirade with that.

  “Let’s get some rest,” Tobias suggests, standing and pulling Wilkes up by the back of his shirt. “Lieutenant, if you and your compliment are remaining on Mars Station, then I’d like to offer that option to my people too. If that’s alright with you. They’ve seen a lot of fighting.” He places Wilkes on a chair and mouths the words ‘stay’.

  “Of course, Tobias, there is plenty of room here. We can give them a tour of the facilities now.”

  “Excellent,” he says opening a new bottle of the red. “Come, Ginny, let’s finish this bottle in bed.”

  THE WAR MACHINE

  “I want missiles to pepper the inner perimeter of First City,” Fran tells Major Jackson from her emergency bunker, while awaiting a retrieval team. “The rebels are closing in fast and we’re losing eyes as the Chimera continue to hack our cameras, and the deserters keep our air force busy above.”

  “I understand, General, but what you need to understand is that this order will be authorizing the deaths of roughly half a million civilians currently trapped in their homes.” Jackson’s voice carries a grim message.

  “We’ve done our best to protect those we could from this war, Major,” she explains coldly. “Now the rebels threaten to take the most strategic city in the Union. It will be a devastating blow to our forces both tactically and psychologically.”

  “That may be true, General, but you have to consider the fallout if we drop these missiles on our own people,” Jackson adds.

  “You’re missing the point, Major, just because we drop the bombs, the people don’t need to know that they came from us,” she explains with brutal clarity. “We can muddy the waters. What’s important is that the city remain in our possession.”

  “You’re saying the very reason we’re fighting this war is not the point?”

  Fran reads something in the Major’s voice; telling her that she has turned him against her now. “Do you want to win this war, Major?” She asks accusingly. “If they take me alive, this war is over.”

  “Perhaps it should be over,” Jackson laments. “If we’ve been reduced to dropping bombs on those we claim to protect just to save face, I’m no longer sure I’m invested in your vision, General.”

  “Major,” Fran warns. “If you do not carry out my orders, someone else will replace you.”

  “When they understand what you’re asking, I seriously doubt that.” He tells her, drops the call and issues his prepared resignation to every division in the Corps. With his resignation, he includes his reasonings.

  ::In my career, I have dealt with insurgence in the form of Humanists, Shadow Brokers, and yes, AI Host. This war is unlike any of those, and though I have been proud to serve mankind in fighting the general’s war, it has come to my attention that this war is not about mankind, it’s about one person; General August.

  ::A self-proclaimed Humanist, General August has just ordered me to drop missiles on the civilian population of First City to delay the inevitable. It will not stop the rebels from advancing. It may slow them long enough for the general to escape, but it will not stop them.

  ::My suggestion to you; when First City falls to the rebels, let it. Lay down your arms. Too many have died for a cause too few believe in. Major, Daniel T. Jackson, Retired.::

  Fran reads the resignation and realizes the message has gone out to every EC in her military machine. This will draw more away from her cause, she knows. What should her next move be?

  ______________________________________________________________________

  She and her aids, trapped in their miniature bunker, experience two days to deliberate as they watch and listen via their EC’s the devastating blows the rebel forces are landing to military operations everywhere. From orbit, from within and from Host and Chimera pairings. It’s obvious to Fran that those trapped in the bunker with her now believe their general has lost this war. Uncomfortable silence permeates the place, as she imagines her officers beginning to reconsider their allegiances.

  Twenty-eight hours later the sound of metal twisting against metal echoes in their confined space as someone above turns the hatch, allowing fresh air to pour over them like a waterfall on
the ten aids and General August. A hand reaches in and she takes it, pulled to safety.

  When everyone has been pulled free, the team of six soldiers lead the eleven through demolished hallways and massive displays of crumbled concrete and rebar and dust caved in from above. Bodies lay strewn about the floors and cries of help come from tiny pockets underneath the many tons of rock. Fran is shaken, not only by the scene in front of her, but by the way the major had left things. He has accused her of a terrible thing, and those who know the general will know them to be true. She was always willing to go further, at a cost which others morality could not sustain.

  As the small group arrives at ground level, they find themselves in a park. Twenty metres to their right is where the lance penetrated the bunker, effectively ending the war effort. All around them is green grass. Beyond it is the city. A river crosses their path which now drains into the hole in the ground.