The general activated some controls where she was, a curved map appearing next to her virtual presence. Since the human presence on the primary world had been mostly confined to one shore of a continent, the map didn’t have to cover anywhere near the entire planet. “The red markers are Syndic ground forces units. You can see they were scattered through these inland areas. Colonel Rogero tells me inland on that continent is riddled with subsurface volcanic tubes. From the messages we’ve intercepted and what we can see of ongoing ground operations, the remaining population on Kane seems to have withdrawn into those volcanic tubes and has been conducting guerrilla strikes at the Syndics, while the Syndic ground forces have been trying to find the Kane defenders and pry them out of their holes.”
“Inland the terrain is rough and covered with dense vegetation,” Colonel Rogero said. “Ideal defensive terrain.”
“Since our arrival in the star system,” General Carabali said, “the Syndic ground forces have all abandoned their search-and-destroy missions and are trying to get back to a perimeter on the edge of the ruins of this city.” She pointed to a place on the map near one of the coasts. “From what we’re seeing, Kane’s defenders are harassing them as they retreat, slowing them down. Inside the perimeter we can see Syndic defenders intermingling with an obviously civilian population. Colonel Rogero tells me those will be primarily the ‘snakes,’ and the civilians, the families of the Syndic soldiers they’re using as hostages. Getting inside the perimeter and taking out the snakes without the civilians being massacred is our biggest problem.”
Geary sat back, thinking. Michael Geary had earlier raised the possibility of a false flag attack when he thought Pele was a captured ship. Maybe that idea would work on the surface of the planet. “Executive Aragon, you said a sister unit is already on the surface?”
“Yes,” Aragon said. “The 1234th. We’re the 1233rd.”
“Can you pass as part of the 1234th?”
Executive Aragon narrowed her eyes at Geary. “If our comrades with the 1234th go along with us. They will, I think.”
“Do we know where the 1234th is on the surface?” Geary asked.
Colonel Rogero nodded and pointed to a place on General Carabali’s map. “Here, Admiral. Like the rest, they’ve been pulling back toward the Syndic perimeter. At the pace they’ve been managing, they should reach it a little after we arrive in orbit.”
“We were going to cut them off,” General Carabali said. “Surround them before they could reach the perimeter. But if we let them through, along with Aragon’s people, we could have a nice Trojan horse thing going. This might offer a good way to simplify the challenge of getting to those snakes without losing a lot of the hostages.”
“Get us inside and we’ll protect the families,” Aragon vowed.
“Your numbers will be limited,” Colonel Rogero pointed out. “Even if the members of the 1234th join in fully. Do you think you could open the perimeter to some of the Alliance Marines?”
“Marines?” Aragon gave Carabali a distrustful look. “Why?”
“Because,” Rogero said, “that will free you Tigres to defend your families, while the Marines have a snake hunt.”
“We kind of like killing snakes,” Aragon said. But she paused to consider the idea. “How do we keep those Marines from killing my people when they go snake hunting?”
“I brought malware,” Colonel Rogero said. “Get it into the Syndic command net and it’ll cause snakes to display special markers on the Marine combat systems.”
Aragon grinned. “Nice. But, still, we’re talking Alliance Marines. I don’t need to get ‘accidentally’ shot by Marines.”
“My Marines,” said Carabali, her voice stiff, “will not shoot at anyone who does not have a ‘snake’ marker or who does not shoot at them.”
“So you say. I have no guarantee, though.”
“I will personally vouch for General Carabali and her Marines,” Geary said. “If sent in with orders not to shoot at any Syndic soldiers who don’t open fire first, but to engage snakes whenever encountered, that’s what they’ll do.”
Aragon looked at him, nodding. “If Black Jack guarantees it, that is enough.”
“You need to try to convince the workers in the other ground forces units to surrender or at least stop shooting,” Colonel Rogero urged her. “Let them know you’re guarding their families as well as your own. Tell them they will be treated well if they surrender. They should have heard about General Drakon’s mercy for workers who surrender.”
“I was thinking, Admiral,” General Carabali said, “can we let the Syndic soldiers surrender to Colonel Rogero rather than to Alliance Marines? That might make a big difference in their willingness to stop fighting.”
“It would make a big difference,” Aragon said. “The Alliance won’t be trusted. One of Drakon’s officers, though, would be.”
“Let’s do that, then,” Geary said. “Executive Aragon, if your unit backs up Colonel Rogero, and you get your sister unit to do so as well, it will allow him to disarm surrendering Syndics once the fighting stops without using the Marines.”
“That would be best,” Rogero said. “Between us, Executive Aragon, we might be able to save the lives of a lot of those workers as well as the lives of their families.”
Aragon waved one hand in agreement. “Consider it done. I need to get back to the mobile forces unit and brief my people. Send me details when you have them. You have enough shuttles to drop us?”
“Easily,” General Carabali said.
“Then I need a ride.” Aragon looked about her, focusing on Michael Geary. “You coming?”
“Yes,” Michael Geary said before anyone else could reply. He struggled to his feet, looking at the others. “It’s my ship. My crew. I need to be there.”
“Understood,” Geary said. “There shouldn’t be any more fighting in space, but I understand where you’re coming from.”
“Gunnery Sergeant Orvis,” Desjani said. “Can you and the Kommodor escort Executive Aragon to the shuttle dock? I need to say something to Captain Geary before he leaves.”
Aragon hesitated, with a suspicious look toward Desjani, but went with Orvis and Marphissa. Colonel Rogero and General Carabali made quick farewells and their presences vanished. Dr. Nasr, frowning, slapped some med patches on Michael Geary. “You need more basic nutrients and some immune stimulants. Do not overdo it.”
“Sure, Doc,” Michael said. “What’d you need, Tanya?”
“I need you to come back with us in one piece,” she said as Dr. Nasr left. “Your sister Jane is waiting at Midway with her ship Dreadnaught. She always believed you were still alive. Your picture isn’t up at the family home’s shrine. So don’t get yourself hurt now when we’ve finally got you back.”
“Okay, okay.” Michael Geary paused. “How do you know my picture isn’t up at the shrine back home?”
“We were there before we left.”
“We?”
“Um . . . the admiral,” Desjani said, waving toward him.
Geary stood up, feeling awkward. “Captain Desjani and I are married. That status doesn’t exist aboard this ship, of course.”
Michael Geary stared at him for several seconds as if paralyzed, then abruptly laughed. “Black Jack, the perfect officer, married his flagship’s captain?”
“We are fully professional on this ship,” Desjani insisted.
“Knowing you, Tanya, I don’t doubt that. But . . .” Michael laughed again. “Every time I didn’t do something right, I’d be told that Black Jack would never do that. You are human, aren’t you? I wish I’d known that growing up.” He looked at Desjani. “That’s why you called me ‘brother.’ Welcome to the family, sister. Is Jane okay with it?”
“We’re cool,” Tanya said. “Battle sisters, you know.”
“Great. I should get to the shuttle dock bef
ore Destina gets too worried.”
“Is there something going on with her?” Desjani asked.
That brought another startled look followed by a laugh. “With her? You mean me? If I made a move on Destina Aragon she’d rip my arm off and beat me bloody with it. But she has honor. She’s a good officer, believe it or not. And I respect that, even if I didn’t owe my freedom to her. But an Alliance officer getting involved with a Syndic, even an ex-Syndic? Never happen.”
“Honore Bradamont is married to Colonel Rogero,” Desjani said.
“What?” Michael Geary looked dazed. “There have been a lot of changes since I was captured.”
“You have plenty of time to catch up,” Desjani said. “Let’s get you back to your ship. You’ve got plenty of repairs to oversee.”
* * *
FROM orbit, to the naked eye, Kane was a lovely planet, large oceans of brilliant blue dotted with small continents covered with luminous green vegetation. The nightside showed the red glow of active volcanoes in a number of places, while the dayside sky was streaked with banners of volcanic ash mingling with the clouds.
The naked eye couldn’t see that the cities and towns of Kane were mostly in ruins, pitted by craters from orbital bombardment. But it would have noticed that the nightside betrayed no artificial light advertising human presence. The remaining people on Kane were still in hiding, and the soldiers on the surface were also trying to avoid being spotted.
“This is Admiral Geary to all Syndicate Worlds personnel on the surface of the planet. Your warships have been destroyed. Your transports have fled. You have no means of escaping and cannot defend yourselves against bombardment. Colonel Rogero of the free and independent Midway Star System is here at the orders of General Drakon. He will accept your surrender. Everyone who surrenders will be treated humanely. Everyone who fights will be taken down. Your choice is clear. To the honor of our ancestors, Geary, out.”
He sat back in his seat on Dauntless’s bridge, watching his display where scores of shuttles from the assault transports were dropping down through the atmosphere, heading for different landing zones. “General Carabali, did we get confirmation from Kane’s government that they’re going to halt action while our forces land?”
“Yes, Admiral.” Carabali was still aboard Typhoon, coordinating from low orbit the action of her Marines as they landed at spots hundreds of kilometers apart. “President Rian Wake has ordered their senior surviving officer, Colonel Mako, to stand down all operations. They don’t want to get in the way of us wiping out the Syndics.”
“Good. Have Executive Aragon’s troops landed yet?”
“They’re dropping now, Admiral. We were able to link to their armor. It’s limited access, so no intrusions can enter our net from them, but we can sit on the shoulder of Aragon and her senior officers. And Rogero is with them. I’ve got a company of Marine force recon dropping near them, ready to get inside the Syndic perimeter as soon as those Tigres give us an opening.”
“Looks good,” Geary said. He called Captain Hiyen aboard Reprisal. “Any luck spotting decent targets for bombardment?” The battleships had not only the widest range of orbital bombardment projectiles, but also the best targeting systems for them.
Hiyen shook his head. “Not if you want to avoid killing the civilians. I’m sure there are concealed positions, but we haven’t spotted them. If the Marines do, we can take out any strong points for them.”
“All right. You’ve got a good picture on our Syndics, right? The Tigres?”
“Yes, Admiral. They’re clearly marked on our displays. We won’t drop anything on them.”
“I hope that Executive Aragon is as tough as she looks and as smart as her mouth,” Captain Desjani said. “Otherwise we might lose a lot of those civilians.”
“I’m hoping that, too,” Geary said, watching as the first shuttles began dropping off Marines and Tigres. He activated the display that would let him get first-person perspectives from the Marines, hoping that he wouldn’t have a front-row seat to further tragedy on a planet that had already seen far too much of it.
EIGHTEEN
THE view from Executive Destina Aragon’s battle armor was of dense brush rising above head height in varying shades of green and brown, interspersed with some kind of tree-bushes that loomed even higher, their thickets of thin limbs too weak to support climbers.
Aragon was moving forward cautiously, a low-strength identification signal pulsing on her helmet’s heads-up display.
The view from Colonel Rogero’s armor was much the same. If not for the individual markers on the helmet display it would’ve been impossible to know where the other soldiers were.
The commander of the Marine recon companies was behind Aragon’s soldiers and Colonel Rogero, moving blindly through the brush, and maintaining separation from the “friendly Syndics” only thanks to his link with their armor systems.
Aragon came to an abrupt halt as another figure in battle armor appeared in front of her, weapon leveled.
She flipped up her face shield and so did the soldier facing her. On the improvised link to the Syndic armor Geary couldn’t hear them, but it was obvious that the reaction of the other soldier started with relief and welcome but quickly shifted to worry and anger.
“They’re yelling at each other,” he said, trying to grasp the idea that two soldiers with life on the line in the middle of a war zone would be arguing so vehemently, hands waving and fingers pointing.
“As long as they’re talking,” Kommodor Marphissa said.
More figures in Syndic battle armor appeared out of the brush, some beside Aragon and others beside the new soldier. Colonel Rogero arrived, giving Geary a new perspective on the same argument and a chance to see how heatedly Aragon was debating with the others. Face shields were popping open as additional soldiers joined in the argument.
It gradually became apparent that Aragon was winning the argument as she gestured to Rogero, and the new soldiers slowly lowered their weapons, staring at him. Hope began to appear on faces that had been haunted by the certainty of doom.
General Carabali called in. “It’s going well.”
“It’s taking a long time,” Geary said.
“That’s not a problem, Admiral. I’m coordinating the actions of the other Marine forces with what happens there. The commander of the Marine recon companies just informed me he’s gotten the come-forward request from Colonel Rogero. This will decide things.”
Colonel Rogero and Executive Aragon had both turned to point as the Marine commander shouldered aside some brush and came into view. Geary marveled at the courage that had taken as dozens of weapons held by the new soldiers leveled on the Marine. Aragon was yelling again, and Rogero seemed to be speaking calmly.
“They’re telling these new Syndics we’re their best hope if they want their families to live,” the Marine reported. “That Executive Aragon has got a mouth on her. I wouldn’t want to be chewed out by her. Yeah. They’re coming around. These guys thought they were walking dead, and now they’re seeing a chance for them and their families.”
The debate continued for what seemed to Geary far too long, but eventually the entire group started moving again at a faster pace, trotting through the brush, sharp-edged leaves and branch tips continuously scraping along their armor. He wondered what it would be like trying to move through that brush without battle armor to protect face and arms and hands. The leaves looked hard enough to slice through clothing.
It felt incredibly claustrophobic as well as strange. Geary was used to being able to see for literally billions of kilometers in all directions. But among this vegetation he could barely see beyond the armored face shields.
He noticed that a symbol on Aragon’s face shield had altered. The unit identification. She and her soldiers now appeared to be part of the other unit.
“Diversionary attacks starting at o
ther parts of the Syndic defense perimeter,” General Carabali reported. “The Syndics are dug in and well concealed. It’ll be rough if we have to dig them out.”
“Should the battleships drop rocks on any of the positions?” Geary asked.
“No, sir. Not yet. We don’t want to push forward now. We want the, uh, snakes to be focused on these places and to think they’re holding out against us.”
The brush Aragon and Rogero were walking through abruptly vanished, giving way to a mowed area where nothing stood higher than a centimeter off the ground. Beyond were the tangled ruins of what had been outlying buildings of a city.
Linked in to the Syndic net through their new friends, Aragon’s and Rogero’s displays showed scores of Syndic soldiers hidden among the ruins.
“Colonel Rogero is activating the malware he loaded onto the Syndic command net,” General Carabali reported.
Suddenly, new markers appeared. Some of the so-called snakes hadn’t been visible on the normal combat displays. Now they were, and every snake had a bright symbol next to their marker.
Aragon, her soldiers, Colonel Rogero, and the Tigres of the other unit raced across the open area, exactly like tired, scared soldiers who’d finally reached safety.
The Marines following them had paused, still fully concealed by the high brush.
Aragon and Rogero stood to the side as a couple of snakes in armor approached the commander of her sister unit, issuing orders. Even through the link and the covering armor Geary could sense the tension in the defenders.
“Ramping up diversionary actions,” General Carabali reported. “The battleships are going to do several pinpoint rock drops.”
Geary saw heads snap around in the direction of the far side of the Syndic perimeter as the roar of battle rose and the ground shook beneath the feet of the soldiers.
Aragon and a group of her soldiers stayed at the perimeter, pretending to be trying to fix problems with their armor, as most of the Tigres hastened off toward an area where many civilian markers were clustered, accompanied by Colonel Rogero. Confronted by more snakes, the Tigres with Rogero opened fire without hesitating, killing them, and ran onward, depending on speed to overrun all of the internal security service agents before they could alert their superiors or start massacring the hostages.
Boundless Page 38
