First Command (19 page)

On board Combat Shuttle over Frihitland
New Helsinki System, Solarian Republic February 18th 841 AE  (2802 AD) 09:00hrs Local time

Marines, ever a colorful bunch, usually called combat drop shuttles cockroaches because they were ugly, uncomfortable, and hard as hell to kill.
Titan
carried two such shuttles able to transport her entire marine platoon to the surface of any celestial body in twenty minutes or assist in boarding action. Jonathan had decided to take one of them to the surface in order to arrive in as timely a fashion as possible. To do so, he, Lt. Sandra Chan, who was coming as his tactical officer, and Lt. Krishna, who Jonathan had designated his S-2, or intelligence officer, had departed from Titan as soon as she’d entered New Helsinki’s orbit but before she’d made a full breaking burn. The shuttle had instead been detached, made a brief deceleration burn, and then relied on the atmosphere to slow it down. As the shuttled bucked and jolted from the air breaking, Jonathan reflected on how the disparaging cockroach nickname was well earned. Strapped into crash webbing across from him was a serene looking Lt. Krishna, and a somewhat frightened Lieutenant Chan who was also going green. Jonathan had left Trendale with the command of the ship while he took Krishna and Chan groundside. Also strapped into the crash webbing were Lieutenant Baker, and his first squad of Marines. Officially they were along for protection of the ship’s Captain, because there was an insurgency raging groundside after all. In reality, Jonathan wanted to bring his own muscle as a bit of a show of force for the folks groundside. The Republic’s various service branches were not above inter-service rivalry and the Marines made a nice assertion of Jonathan's command’s independence, and potential ability to contribute to the cause of keeping New Helsinki stable. Baker and most of his people were in light combat gear, hard-shell body armor, and armed with 50 caliber fully automatic slug guns. The artificial muscle enhancement in their suits allowed them to wield the heavy and powerful weapons.  However, four of Trendale’s men, designated Fire Team 1, were strapped into heavy combat suits which were, for all intents and purposes, walking tanks, complete with a 75 caliber cannon on the left arm, a miniature railgun on the right arm, and a flamethrower at the shoulder for good measure.
Titan
carried enough combat suits to outfit a full squad of twelve with enough light combat armor for the remaining thirty-six men who comprised the rest of the
Titan’s
marine platoon. Baker for his part was asleep, and the eight other men he had all had their visors down watching vids, listening to music or dozing like their commander. The roar of the shuttle's engines, and the air outside made for a bad environment for conversation. Looking at the Marines gleaming weapons and armor, Jonathan was yet again grateful he’d gone into the Navy. His father had been fairly tight lipped of his days in the trenches on Hera, but he’d told young Jonathan enough to forever scare the young man out of groundside combat. Jonathan's terraphobia helped of course. An officer who had panic attacks just from being in the outdoors, was of very little use to the Army or Marines. The shuttle buffeted again as it entered the lower atmosphere and leveled off. The pilot informed Jonathan through his ear bud that they would be making landfall in 15 minutes, and asked if he wanted to join them in the cockpit, as the view was apparently spectacular. “I think I will,” Jonathan replied, then glanced at his officers. “Krishna, Chan I’m going up to the cockpit would you care to join me?” Krishna shook his head. Jonathan could see he was reading over a report on his holo display. “I’ll…I’ll come sir,” Sandra Chan said uncertainly. She looked very green indeed, perhaps getting a good look outside would help. Jonathan hit the quick release on his seat, and ducked low as he went into the cockpit. Chan followed him stumbling somewhat as the shuttle buffeted on an updraft. The shuttle was coming in low. From the altitude they were at, Jonathan could see the vast northern sea spread out before them and the coastline of Frihitland coming up fast. The sea was calm, and the sky clear. Sea going cargo ships and fishing boats cruised intermittently between sand bars and small atolls. Haggerdam was coming up fast. Jonathan could already make up the profile of its low-slung, colorfully painted buildings as the shuttle banked on its final approach.  Haggerdam was New Helsinki’s capital as well as its primary commercial center and sea and spaceport. The city sat at the mouth of wide slow river the natives called the Fliss. The Fliss emptied into a large natural harbor, which was protected by a wide peninsula on its western side, and a large barrier island to the east. What seemed to be hundreds of wide flat-bottomed river barges, slowly trundled down the Fliss to Haggerdam river dockyards. Larger, ocean going cargo ships slowly powered by steam, navigated up and down the narrow channel which led from the harbor to the open sea. While still more sat at anchor, or were loaded and unloaded at the port. Haggerdam’s spaceport sat on the barrier island’s southernmost end away from the city. No causeway spanned the narrow gap between the channel to the peninsula. Instead, the main bridge lay to the far north of the island nearly five miles from the city’s outskirts on the mainland. Even that bridge, was but a narrow two-lane road. Most of the cargo bound for off world or inbound from the fat-bellied merchantmen waiting in orbit was moved to and from the spaceport by ferry and tug pulled barges. The spaceport itself wasn’t much to look at. There were a dozen or so concrete-landing pads for the cargo shuttles from the big merchantmen, and about twice as many smaller pads for independent ships and personal shuttles. Haggerdam spaceport wouldn’t even fill a tenth of First Landing Port on Solaria, but it was growing fast. As the pilot brought the shuttle in a wide circle for final approach, Jonathan lost count of the number of construction sites on the island. Warehouses, freight terminals, maintenance bays, passenger terminals, offices, fuel tanks, and at least twenty new landing pads were all going up. All told, the spaceport looked like it would double in size within a year, and probably triple after that. Jonathan wasn’t surprised by the growth. They had economics on their side. The new space elevator the Naval Engineers were building at the equator would move cargo to orbit in half the time it took a shuttle, and at a third of the cost.  Haggerdam’s central location at the mouth of the Fliss already made it a natural seaport, which allowed huge quantities of goods to be moved across the New Helsinki oceans at low cost. More importantly, Haggerdam had extensive docklands to off load those goods, and get them on shuttles into orbit. It would be years before the orbital elevators and port facilities could match that. Haggerdam’s good rail and road links to the interior of Frihitland raised the incentive higher to ship goods through the capital. According to Jonathan’s briefing booklet, the New Helsinkians used coal as their primary means of power for their steam locomotives and ships. Those cheap sources of fuel, combined with carbon scrubbers to mitigate the environmental damage, made New Helsinki’s cash crops of Tobacco, Cotton, Indigo, Spindlebranch, and Flax affordable to export. The shuttle jerked slightly as the pilot brought it from flight to VTOL mode, and gently touched down on the landing pad. The pad was within the walled compound at the southern end of the spaceport, which contained the National Police Interior Troop barracks, and the CRS Customs house. The compound held 6 pads, two of which were empty, but on four of which sat Interior Troop ATR-161 gunships in groups of six. They were small tilt rotor VTOL craft incapable of high altitude flight, but bristled with weapons and hard points. Jonathan, who had visited many worlds of man, was still mulling the sights of New Helsinki and the Interior Troops heavy footprint, when Lieutenant Chan threw up on him.

Chapter X

Haggerdam, New Helsinki, Solarian Republic

National Police Interior Troops Barracks at the Numgrad Air and Space Port

February 19
th
841 AE (2802 AD) 09:46 Local Time

Jonathan hated looking anything less than his best.  He especially hated being out of uniform, but he hated smelling of vomit even more, so it was with great reluctance that he changed in a pair of Marine fatigues while Lieutenant Chan blubbered an apology in between dry heaves. Jonathan made a mental note to ensure the next time he was within projectile range of Sandra Chan, and they were on a moving object to slip her some motion sickness pills. The air was hot and muggy, and the sun shining brightly as Jonathan disembarked the shuttle followed closely by Lieutenant’s Baker, Krishna and Chan who remarkably had only had a few flecks of her own filth on her uniform. The base was a hive of activity with several squadrons of gunships warming up their engines, while technicians disconnected fuel hoses and loaded weapons. A battalion of Interior Troops in light body armor and equipped with slug guns stood by to board. At the base of the ramp stood two men wearing the Interior Troops dark brown uniforms and pillbox caps. The taller, blond soldier with a waxed mustache whose ends were pointed upward wore the double diamonds of a major, equivalent to a full Captain in the Navy. The other, shorter and darker, had the blood red chevrons of a master sergeant. Both of them saluted as Jonathan and his party reached the bottom of the ramp, which the Marines, Jonathan and his officers returned in kind. “Lieutenant Captain Pavel I presume,” the major said extending his hand to Krishna. “You presume incorrectly Major,” Jonathan said tapping the single closed and open circle he’d pinned to the fatigues collar. After a moment of confusion, the Major redirected his attention to Jonathan. “Of course Elcap, my apologies. I’m Major Matthew Fortis 110th Interior Brigade, 1st New Helsinki Division and this is Master Sergeant Abdul Jablan,” the Master Sergeant nodded in acknowledgment. “We’ve been instructed to escort you and your officers to the Governor’s residence. A staff briefing is been scheduled for later this afternoon.”

“Well, lead on then Major,” Jonathan replied.

Jonathan, Krishna, Chan and Baker followed the major to the waiting squad car, a sturdy four wheeled, open top all-terrain vehicle. The same type of vehicle that had been the mainstay of armies since the bygone, ancient days of Patton and Eisenhower. Jonathan, Krishna, Chan, and the two NPIT men climbed into the first one, while six of the Marines piled into another that Fortis had thoughtfully brought, anticipating Jonathan having a Marine escort. Two Marines stayed to guard the shuttle, while the others of Fire Team One remained in their drop pods on standby in case of an emergency. Usually, that meant a few hours of napping or vid watching, not too strenuous of a duty considering a man could live in heavy combat armor for a full week longer if necessary. As they boarded the waiting squad cars, Lt. Chan gestured to the near by gunships and Interior Troops boarding them.

“What’s going on there Major?”

“Oh, a bit of a live fire exercise you could say. The Indies have been getting restless in the South West Highlands, so we are sending an extra battalion to reinforce the locals troops, and the 109th and 201st Brigades.”

The squad car peeled out of its parking spot with the Marines following close behind, and zoomed toward the main gate. Jonathan felt a certain amount of pride as he glanced up at the Solarian flag with its golden sunburst on a green field next to the horizontal white and red bars. Next to it flew the local banner, which was a golden field and a red Nordic cross. The base certainly seemed well organized, and up to military standards.  The National Police were not a branch of the Solarian armed forces, and did not fall under the purview of the Ministry of Defense. Instead, the Ministry of Public Safety oversaw them, like the Custom and Rescue Service. The National Police service was in itself divided into two branches. There was the National Police Investigations Bureau on Solaria, which served as the primary domestic investigation and law enforcement force for crimes against the Republic such as treason, kidnapping and terrorism. They also investigated all crimes committed by servants of the state, military officers, and client governments. Then there was the Interior Troops, who for all intents and purposes, were the Republic’s bullyboys. These troops were trained exclusively in low intensity conflict, with emphasis on crowd control, riot suppression, counter-insurgency combat, as well as other mundane police duties. An Interior combat brigade would also include detachments of intelligence specialists, public relations units, medical and construction companies, and advisors who sole purpose was to train local police and militia units. Interior Troops were also unique in that though their officer and noncoms were usually Steaders or Landeds, the rank and file was exclusively Provos. No brigade had an over representation from any one world. In fact, it wasn't unusual that an entire combat brigade of 6,500 men would have no two soldiers from the same city, continent, or world. This was done deliberately. Military in the Republic service guaranteed citizenship to anyone who served, but also to their children and immediate family. The Navy rank and file was mostly made up of Provos, some who were skilled and experienced spacers many of whom made a career in the Navy or the Merchant Fleet. Infantry grunts needed few skills other than knowing which way to point a rifle. The Army could turn away men and women based on its roster being filled by Citizens on National Service. The Marines were a small, elite force. However, the Interior Troops needed to be a large standing force able to wage continuous low level conflict with units staying in the same area for years or even decades on end. The result was every Interior trooper who qualified - physically fit, able to learn Chinglish, and unwed - signed up for a twenty year hitch, starting after a full 18 months of training. There was a 60% wash out rate, but no shortage of volunteers, especially since any man disabled before his hitch was up was automatically declared Solarian by Spilt Blood, and granted disability and Provisional Citizenship. The Interior troops were tough, nasty and thoroughly the right tool to fight an insurgency with. Interior Troops were kept in standing brigades, and then deployed as needed. Four such brigades could be grouped into a division, usually named and numbered after the world they were deployed on. Major Fortis’ 1st New Helsinki Division was one such formation. There were two other such divisions on New Helsinki numbering about 78,000 men and women. That seemed like a large force, but a planet was a big place. Securing it with anything short of an army a few million strong, was a tough job, but a job the Interior Troops were more than up to.  In addition to their duties as police, combat troops, engineers, and medical personnel, each Interior brigade had a company whose dedicated purpose was the training of local auxiliary forces. Normally, one such company could produce a fully trained division worth of men every two years. According to latest figures, despite the Republic only having about 150,000 personnel in the system including the Interior Troops, Jonathan's Command, the CRS contingent, The Naval Engineers, the Army Orbital Denial Brigade which handled orbital defense, and the assorted bits and bobs from the OMI and the Civilian Ministries, New Helsinki had a standing army of 2.5 million auxiliary soldiers with another million plus in reserve. That was more than ample force to secure the planet with, and allowed the Interior Troops to be used as precise instruments rather than blunt objects.  Jonathan borrowed Major Fortis’ canteen to help wash down another dose of Oxitanie to suppress his onrushing terraphobia. It helped suppress the nausea and anxiety that the open blue sky was causing him as the squad car rolled past the main gate. The gate was defended by two dug in automatic grenade launchers manned by a squad of National Police in parade uniforms complete with white sashes, gloves, and helmets. Less than a hundred yards up the road, however, the squad car rolled pass a platoon of local troops in ceremonial dark blue uniforms with the emblem of the New Helsinki Nordic Cross on their right shoulder and the Solarian Sunburst on their left. Jonathan leaned forward to ask Major Fortis a question, “How are the local auxiliaries faring, Major?”