Osdal (Harmony War Series Book 3) (18 page)

They were hellish things to kill, but use a sonic blaster at the right frequency and they’d fuck off.

“Looks like Earth, less clouds and smaller though,” Ko said.

“Yeah, when I got into the history records and I saw Earth when it was still green and blue, I thought it was a colony. We killed the damn thing by importing so much metal and polluting the atmosphere to hell. Not much we can do now,” Mark said, even as a small part of him hoped that, with the program he had started with the different greenhouses across Earth, and his finds on Sacremon, they could help to reduce the carbon in the air.

Chapter 21

Mining City One

Osdal Actual Osdal

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Guy Castillo looked at his glass, somehow it had emptied himself.

He stood and stumbled.

Maybe it didn’t just evaporate,
he thought, laughing at his own joke as he let the glass drop and wandered through his office and to the fridge. He grabbed a beer from the door, taking a big draw from it.

Tsik was on the couch, looking out of the windows at the strip mine that lay outside of Mining City One.

“Oh, don’t worry Tsik, we didn’t send our slaves to that mine,” Guy said, drinking. He saw Tsik wince and take a long drink from his own glass. He had a broken nose and a black eye. Guy had done that one night when he couldn’t take the shit any more, and he’d punched the man who had drawn him into Harmony with his nice words.

Tsik had let it happen; he felt as betrayed by Guy, and he knew that he was the reason Guy had become part of Harmony, and he’d dragged down the people that had followed him into it.

Guy had stopped after a time, crying as he realized he should be punching himself. Tsik was a wide-eyed optimist, but he was supposed to be a businessman. He had wanted to break into the CEO levels; he should have listened to Tsik but checked the facts.

He sunk into a seat, absently drinking his beer, his weakness, and for a time he could forget what he had brought on the people that had followed him. Many of his friends and their families had been shipped off to Twenty-One.

“Fucking Harmony and their fucking lies,” Tsik muttered.

“Ah, you’re finally learning Tsik. That’s not the right way a dog of Harmony should be acting,” Guy chastised the man. The noise cancellers were on all the time.

“Fuck you Guy, I didn’t want this to happen,” Tsik shot back, anger in his eyes.

“But you let it! You came in here, all pretty fucking words and promises, and told me that Harmony would make things better. You didn’t tell me that they would make fucking slaves out of the people that wanted to change the system, not just make it easier on those who ate Harmony’s shit up!” Guy’s words turned to yells, and he pointed a finger at Tsik, shaking with anger. “I should have just pushed you off of a tower and been done with all of it, but no, you came to me when I was at the bottom and you gave me hope. You piece of shit.” Guy spat on the floor, adding to the stains and beer bottles around the living room. He drank heavily from his beer.

“You should have,” Tsik said, taking a drink himself, looking dejected, a shadow of his former self.

“Look at us, just two drunks who can’t deal with reality any more,” Guy said, guilt and anger writhing in his gut.

“Don’t worry, when the EMF comes they’ll kill us both anyway. They don’t leave any rebels behind,” Tsik said, emptying his beer and grabbing another.

“Well it’s not like they mean this system to be anything more than an exercise at slowing the EMF. Luke’s got a system freighter ready to go at any time and I’m sure he’s not going to want to take the likes of us with him. He’s Harmony’s real golden boy. Once EMF arrives, he’ll run off to his masters and we can die for all of the shit Harmony stuffed into our heads.” Guy tapped the beer to his head and then pointed at Tsik. “And we spouted that like Harmony’s perfect fucking mouth pieces!” Guy threw the beer in a moment of rage and it broke, satisfying him.

He looked out at the strip mine, knowing that the people down there were living a charmed life compared to those at Mining City Twenty-One.

“I need another beer,” he said, standing and moving to the fridge, as impotent and useful as a pogo in space. Luke didn’t know what was going on with Guy, but Guy’s bodyguards were all Luke’s people. If Guy looked to pushing back, Guy would probably find himself in Mining City Twenty-One too.

His own cowardice stopped him; when he’d watched those in Mining City Twenty-One fear had rippled down his spine. It still chilled him whenever he thought of it.

Unlike the majority of people, he didn’t think of the Earthers as people who deserved their punishment. He saw them as the innocent, atoning for his sins.

Earthers.
He snorted at the word, pulling out another beer.
Fucking stupid name; all of them were born and raised in Osdal. Most of them have less connection than the people sitting on their assess and saying Harmony is great.

So Guy Castillo, grabbed more beers and sunk into his seat, looking over Mining City One, his thoughts becoming muddled and messy. Just how he liked them. In this world of pain, his only retreat was inside the bottle he took a long drag from.

Chapter 22

Mining City Twenty-One

Osdal Actual, Osdal System

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Luke looked over the numbers in front of him; they denoted the production levels of the various mines around the city.

He flicked the air. He was one of the few people that not only had implants but they were up to date. It was one of the privileges that came from his weekly chats with Housapel and Fernix’s heads.

The next page denoted number of workers compared to production levels. Another broke down the various machines that were being used and reports on their conditions.

Luke couldn’t give a fuck about the people behind the numbers, he had two jobs: keep Harmony supplied with the materials they needed to build their war machines, and bleed the EMF that arrived to take Osdal.

Of course, he wouldn’t be there when that happened, he would be in a ‘command center’ observing the battle. For the first few days or weeks they would think that he was just secured away giving orders, instead of aboard a freighter heading for Fernix.

“Gather the work vehicles that you need from other sites; the people of Osdal seem to be getting lazier as time goes on. Remind them that there are places within the ranks of the Chosen, then also remind them that we are looking for Earth sympathizers,” Luke said to Dean Castillo, who was sitting in the chair across from him.

“Yes sir.”

“I see that you are also having an issue with workers, especially after the four Digger incidents. I know that there are Earth sympathizers out there, so see if your sister would be interested in heading up those investigations. I am not satisfied that everyone is being caught. The laziest among those that profess themselves to be Harmony supporters make me suspicious. If they did want to help Harmony, then they would work harder in the time that they can,” Luke said, knowing very well that Dean and Emilie Castillo would take that to mean, round them up, accuse them, and use them as an example for others to work harder, then toss them into the work camps.

The Diggers were a pain in the ass, but Osdal had a lot of people, and with new sweeps he would fill the camps back up and production would be higher than ever. He had a decade or less until the EMF arrived. In that time, he would work the people of Osdal until none but the Chosen were left, or till the EMF arrived.

“I will pass the message on personally, and Emilie will be more than happy to look into those people.”

“Good, I expect to have another shipment going out in four months,” Luke gave another wave and the images only he could see disappeared.

“What about the asteroid miners?” Dean asked, his voice curious, but Luke saw the anger in his eyes. Dean came from Osdal Actual and thought of the miners in the asteroid belts and those on Osdal Three as slackers.

Luke tried not to sigh, the entire population of Osdal Three were working in camps to collect organic materials for the processing stations. It was slow going, due to disease, bad conditions and native creatures killing the workers. Despite that, their production numbers were matching those that were coming from Osdal Actual and the asteroid miners.

They had a smaller population to begin with, so it was easier to cut them out of the loop. They kept to themselves, so now communication had stopped with them no one seemed to care. They had enough to worry about with the Chosen around and Mining City Twenty-One.

“One refining station in the asteroid belts pulls in more raw materials than two mining cities. It might not be rare metals that the cities get, most of the time, but they pull their weight and then some,” Luke said. He saw a flash of fury in Dean’s eyes; it was a slight against his planet and people. Luke hoped that it would serve to light a fire under the young man’s ass and get him to kick the other Osdal Actual people into working harder and faster to out do the asteroid miners.

“I see what you’re saying about people on Osdal not understanding their need to work. Emilie will find those that are not working for the good of Harmony,” Dean promised.

“Good, now I have a meeting with the heads of Harmony, so let me know how things are going and I hope that you and your camp administrators will join me for a meal tomorrow evening?”

“We would be honored sir,” Dean said, bowing his head. “For the sake of Harmony!” He gave a proud salute.

Luke returned the salute and words. He didn’t like eating with Dean and his camp administrators. All they talked about was the people they’d tortured, killed and raped, they took joy in sharing their sadistic tales. Luke would smile and laugh, but he didn’t care, they were just pawns, and their purpose was to give him and the heads of Harmony the means to attack Earth and take over Nivad Selvra’s position.

Luke walked to his conference room. The lights dimmed, no light from outside coming in. Two shadows waited for him.

“Sorry for my tardiness, I was dealing with a personnel issue,” Luke said, his voice warbled and changed as he took a seat.

“I take it that it is no longer an issue?” the head of Housapel asked.

“No, sir. I expect that the production numbers will be the highest they have ever been in the coming months. Why corporations didn’t think to do this before I never know.”

“Bylaws, the fact that workers would rebel, and they didn’t have a military to themselves. Nivad likes to use the EMF as his threat. People do as he says and he keeps the peace. Well, until we fucked the little bastard’s plans,” Fernix’s head said.

“Now that is sorted, shall we look over production numbers?” Housapel said. “Would you like to go first Osdal?”

“Certainly sir. We are on track to fill a freighter every four months with the requested materials.

“Production has ceased on the powered armor units, as well as machine guns and heavy machine guns. We scrapped the bolt action rifles. There will be groups with the weapons to check their abilities against the Troopers’ armor. But finding people that can put the weapon to use are hard to find on Osdal.

“We have taken the plans provided for the shuttle upgrades, applied them to the ships and have made several remote launches in Osdal Actual’s atmosphere. We have switched production to make more, and sensor units,” Luke said, sending them reports that backed up what he was saying.

Fernix and Housapel were silent as they reviewed the information.

“Everything looks to be advanced compared to our original timeline, you are to be commended Osdal,” Housapel said. Fernix made noises of agreement.

“Fernix, could you go over your production and recruitment numbers?” Housapel asked.

“We have started working on the battle ships. They take up a lot of production time and resources from other projects, but it’s estimated that they will take eight months to make one as we continue on with the armed shuttles and powered armor. Based on the results from Osdal’s engagements, we are capable of making adjustments to all of our projects. We have a limited run of weapons coming out. They will be adjusted according to Osdal’s reports.

“We are putting a sensor grid into place, and defensive missile systems are being put around Fernix Actual and the shipyards as they become available. It will take years to cover them both adequately and then move to the procurement and machine shop stations,” Fernix said.

Luke looked over the reports; Fernix had a larger population and Harmony had become a popular group through their propaganda and the making of a faux system government. Politicians dealt with making Harmony looking good, and the heads dealt with the real power of Harmony and looked to taking over Earth and Her Colonies.

The numbers they were impressive. By the time he reached Fernix it would be a stronghold the likes of which no system had seen before. The EMF wouldn’t be prepared for it. Osdal would be a teaching ground, Fernix and Housapel would be a bloodbath.

The diagrams of the battle ship showed that it was seven hundred meters long, with metal storm heavy weapons sprouting from it. It didn’t have the automated systems of an EMFC, those were installed when the carriers made it to Earth, though it had more weapons, missiles and all-round armor. It also had thirty shuttles with missiles and scaled down metal storm weapons. They didn’t have the punch of an EMFC, but they had numbers.