America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 5: Insurgency (8 page)

Corporal Wayne approached Lieutenant Barker.
“We have been relegated to banditry status,” commented Corporal
Wayne. “With no refuge or safe haven on either side of the border,
we will not last long.”

“I’ve been in tougher spots,” replied
Lieutenant Barker. “I’ll survive.”

“No, you will not,” said Corporal Wayne.
“Neither of us can pass a checkpoint without embedded Legion chips
activating alarms. Colonel Czerinski offers us both amnesty and a
second chance.”

“You have informed the Legion of our
location?” asked Lieutenant Barker, visibly upset. “It’s a trick.
Colonel Czerinski cannot be trusted.”

“I have revealed nothing,” advised Corporal
Wayne. “Czerinski only requires that we kill Desert Claw, David
Torres, and Sergeant Toock. It’s the best offer we will ever get,
and time is running out. It is rare to get so generous a second
chance after making such poor decisions. Seize the moment now.”

“I wonder, what is in it for Czerinski?” said
Lieutenant Barker. “He is very vindictive. I’m surprised by his
offer of leniency. Okay. Let’s get it over with.”

Lieutenant Barker got up and led Corporal
Wayne down the hill. They found Sergeant Toock in an outbuilding,
cooking a meal. Without warning, Corporal Wayne slit Sergeant
Toock’s throat. Sergeant Toock did not die without a struggle. He
burst outside, staggered a short distance, grasping at his throat,
and fell. Wayne and Barker followed.

Desert Claw and Torres ran over to Toock’s
body as his blood still dripped from Corporal Wayne’s knife. Wayne
wiped his knife clean on Toock’s uniform.

“What happened here?” demanded Desert Claw,
pointing his rifle at Wayne and Barker.

Lieutenant Barker shrugged. “Spiders and ants
just can’t seem to get along. I’ve tried to mediate between those
two. They got into it over an old score.”

Desert Claw relaxed. He seemed to understand,
being that he did not like Formicidaen ants either.
Those
oversized ants are a menace to the galaxy,
he thought. Desert
Claw gave Wayne a nod, then left. One less ant to worry about was
the unsaid agreement.

“That big ant creeped me out,” commented
Torres, also leaving. The other insurgents dispersed.

“What about Desert Claw and Torres?” asked
Corporal Wayne. “When do we kill them?”

“Forget about those fools,” said Lieutenant
Barker. “Let Czerinski do his own dirty work. Those two will get
killed soon enough, trying to rob banks or just being stupid. When
the camp sleeps, we will leave. It’s not that far on foot to the
MDL.”

* * * * *

At midnight, Barker and Wayne hiked south to
the MDL, where a Legion patrol took them into custody. Captain
Lopez brought the fugitives to me.

“What shall we do with them?” asked Captain
Lopez. “Something painful, I hope.”

“Interrogate them,” I said. “Then shoot both
at dawn.”

Lieutenant Barker did not take my comment
well. He lunged, but Captain Lopez knocked him to the ground.
Corporal Wayne was stoic.

Anyway, I was just messing with them. Neither
faced a firing squad – yet – although that’s what they both
deserved. General Kalipetsis intervened, wanting the matter
resolved with as little scandal as possible. Also, it appeared that
Barker still had some friends and conspirators among the New
Colorado planetary elite. So, both Barker and Wayne were spared,
for now. Both were busted down to private. Officially, Barker was
disciplined for losing control of his command and negligence of
duty. He also forfeited his substantial enlistment bonus. Wayne was
disciplined for obeying illegal orders, and poor judgment. I posted
both privates to MDL guard duty in the canyons east of town.

* * * * *

Private Barker, Private Wayne, and newly
promoted Corporal Valdez walked along the MDL fence, watching for
insurgents, smugglers, drug traffickers, and rattlesnakes. It was
boring duty. Motion activated fence alarms warned them of activity
or breeches. Most alarms were caused by coyotes or other
wildlife.

“I can’t believe I outrank you two,” mused
Corporal Valdez, full of himself as they hiked through the
sagebrush. “It seems like just yesterday, I was a private and you
two were big shots lording over me.”

“It was just yesterday you were a private,”
said Private Wayne, drawing his large combat knife and pricking
Corporal Valdez under his chin. “Do not let your promotion go to
your head, or you will lose your head.”

“I say we kill the little zit and leave him
for the buzzards,” suggested Private Barker. “My feet hurt from all
this walking. We stop here and do it now.”

“Please!” begged Corporal Valdez. “We can
rest for the night. We can rest all day tomorrow, too! We’ll set up
an ambush in this arroyo. It will be easy duty for everyone.”

Private Wayne put his knife away, and they
settled in for the evening. The dry sand of the arroyo made a soft
bed as he happily snoozed. However, at about 0200 there was
movement at the MDL fence. Five spiders cut the wire and quickly
passed through. The lead spider carried a rifle.

“Halt!” yelled Corporal Valdez. “Drop you
weapons! You are under arrest by the Legion!”

Private’s Barker and Wayne woke up and
flanked the spiders. All five spiders surrendered without incident.
They were a family.

“This is my lovely wife, and those are my
three children,” advised the father spider. “We immigrate south for
freedom. Many of us tire of being ruled by an Emperor and being
taxed to death.”

“Too bad,” said Corporal Valdez. “You’re
going back. You can’t just sneak across the MDL.”

“Why not?” asked the father. “I have lots of
friends who have done just that. Now they are rich Americans.”

“There aren’t any more better jobs south of
the MDL than there are north,” argued Corporal Valdez.

“I heard the streets of America are paved
with silver and gold,” insisted the father spider, excited. “I
bring my family south to the Land of Opportunity, to the Land of
Milk and Honey. We will do any work to get started. Our
determination cannot be stopped.”

“Our streets are paved with gravel,” said
Corporal Valdez. “You will be locked up and deported.”

“Jeez,” said Private Wayne. “Let them go. We
aren’t out here to arrest lettuce pickers. It’s a waste of our
time. We are supposed to be fighting the insurgency.”

“I say let them go, too,” commented Private
Barker. “Everyone deserves a second chance and a new start, as long
as they are willing to work hard. That’s what America is all
about.”

“We can’t just let these spider peasants
overrun the New Gobi,” argued Corporal Valdez. “Insurgents sneak in
with these damn spiders. No offense to present company – some of my
best friends are spiders. But you know what I mean.”

“Are you going to let them go?” asked Private
Wayne, getting more agitated. He drew his large knife, again.

“I guess they pose no real harm,” conceded
Corporal Valdez nervously. “I guess there’s room for everyone.
Welcome to America,
amigo
!”

“Thank you very much,” replied the spider
father. “We are glad to be here in the USGF, and glad that the
Legion is out making the countryside safe for democracy.”

“Maybe your baby spiders will even grow up to
be legionnaires,” commented Corporal Valdez.

“Now that is something to aspire to,” said
Private Barker, sarcastically.

“Don’t pay any attention to him,” said
Corporal Valdez. “He’s just a disgruntled employee. He’s the type
you have to watch out for at the Post Office.”

“You would rather deliver mail than fight for
freedom?” asked the spider father, incredulously.

“You are lucky that the Legion took you
back,” commented Private Wayne. “You are lucky to even be
alive.”

“Whatever,” said Private Barker. “No army is
worth being a member of unless you are an officer. Don’t worry
about me. Every dog has his day. My ship will come in someday.”

“”Ship?” asked Corporal Wayne. “In the
desert? Ha! That’s a good one. Your ship will never float.”

back to top

Chapter 10

“The bacterial plague we developed could
potentially kill about half the spider population of the North
Territory,” announced the Legion scientist. “It is carried by
normally benign mites that thrive on spider exoskeletons. The mites
are usually helpful to spiders in that they clean a spider’s
exoskeleton, keeping it healthy. But this germ, once it finds a
host, is very nasty. It attacks the blood and lymph glands.”

“Spiders have lymph glands?” asked General
Kalipetsis, alarmed. “This disease can’t make the jump from spiders
to humans, can it?”

“That would be almost impossible,” advised
the scientist. “We designed the bacteria for spiders only.”

“What are the downsides, if any?” asked
General Kalipetsis. “If we used this weapon, would the spiders know
we did it?”

“Most certainly,” said the scientist. “Our
technological fingerprints are all over these little critters. Any
spiders that lived would be very upset at us. But the Arthropodan
Empire is doing the same type of research. Don’t think they
couldn’t release some nasty germs on us, too.”

“That is exactly why we maintain a biological
warfare capacity,” said General Kalipetsis. “We want to have a
credible deterrence to their reckless adventurism.”

“Another problem is that a spider plague
would kill our spider citizens, too,” advised the scientist. “It
kills quickly, and there is no vaccine.”

“What if we release the spider plague in the
Far North?” asked General Kalipetsis. “Would our spiders in the
South be safe then?”

“No matter where your release point is,
epidemic diseases circumvent all obstacles and travel the world,”
insisted the scientist. “You could never responsibly use this
plague.”

“What about bio weapons that blight their
crops? The economic impact alone could be enormous. The Empire
depends on the New Gobi to be their galactic bread basket.”

“We have wheat, fruit, and vegetable fungus
that we can release in the North. As long as we don’t allow their
crops to cross the border, we should be safe.”

“Work on ways to disguise delivery systems. I
want to attack soon.”

* * * * *

“You are way overdue to address the troops,”
advised Captain Lopez. “The men need to know you care about
them.”

“But I don’t care about them,” I said.
“Besides, my ribs still hurt when I move. Even raising my voice
hurts.”

“Some people may mistake your humor for
cruelty and callousness,” said Captain Lopez. “But I know better.
Speak directly into the microphone and tell the men you love them.
They need a pep talk. Let it be a message from the heart.”

I was nervous. The truth of the matter was I
didn’t like public speaking. I hated to be in front of crowds. How
does a highly decorated hero of the Legion come to fear public
speaking? Maybe it has something to do with my audience all
carrying automatic weapons. Any one of that rabble could turn on
me. I limped up to the podium, gripping it for support. I looked
out at a sea of bright young faces. It always amazed me how these
baby faces could be such a lethal fighting force.

“Gentlemen, and Medic Corporal Elena
Ceausescu, thank you for saving me from terrorists. I am recovering
nicely from my injuries. Even though the insurgents should not have
ever been able to sneak into the tunnels in the first place, you
all did a great job of saving me later. This is not the first time
you have saved me, and it will not be the last – I hope!

“General Kalipetsis told me just today in my
office, we legionnaires are our nation’s first line of defense
against the spider hordes from the North. Take pride in being given
the awesome responsibility for securing our borders. Every time you
arrest spiders infiltrating the MDL, know that many of them are
probably insurgents in disguise. You save lives every time you turn
back the hordes to their Empire. Have a nice day.”

Nothing but silence followed. I turned to
Captain Lopez. “Well? How did I do?” I asked. “They don’t seem
happy.”

“That speech sucked,” replied Captain Lopez.
“Next time, I’ll give you cards to read. Get back out there and
tell your men something they want to hear!”

I faced my legionnaires again. “I am ordering
all company commanders to give everyone in the battalion a
three-day pass. Also, I am buying every one of you brave
lean-mean-fighting-machines two beers at the Blind Tiger Tavern.
Bring your ID to show the bartender. Have a good weekend!”

Legionnaires cheered wildly as I walked off.
“Not bad, eh?” I asked Captain Lopez. “I rebound well. Am I The Man
or what?”

“Good save,” commented Captain Lopez,
grudgingly. “But you’re so cheap. Is that all your life is worth?
Two free beers? You will make that back many times over in gambling
revenues from them.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” I said, as I
waved at my men. “I’m a businessman. I still have to turn a profit.
Keep smiling. Remember, they all carry guns and grenades.”

We waved and nodded at the troops as they
departed en masse for the Blind Tiger Tavern. Many were singing old
Legion songs from antiquity. ‘I want to be an Airborne Ranger; live
a life of constant danger. I want to go to Vietnam; I want to kill
a Charlie Cong!’

* * * * *

After General Kalipetsis’ last visit, my
tropical office plants at Legion Headquarters died. I couldn’t
prove it, but I suspected General Kalipetsis killed them. The
general was last seen loitering about my mini palms. I didn’t think
anything of it at the time, but now I wondered. General Kalipetsis
made a comment about how healthy my plants appeared. He said I had
a green thumb, but he was snickering. Now, all the leaves had
dropped off, and I needd to rake my office floor.
That
bastard!