Steven Gordon 3: The Modloch Empire (10 page)

Kelly shook his head, ‘Yeah that might
work for the battle fleet. We have the same craft, and if we get
even a twenty minute head start then we will beat them to the
barrier. But not with these freighters. They will slow us down and
the Modloch will be able to catch us with ease.’

‘
That’s why I said
there was a couple of options. The first is to leave the freighters
and the second is to take them with us.’

Kelly took off his cap and ran his
fingers through his hair. ‘If we take them, how would we get
away?’

‘
There is only one
way if the brass thinks they won’t let us go
peacefully.’

‘
Hit them
first.’

Charlie nodded, ‘Exactly.’

‘
Shit! It would be
like Pearl Harbor all over again, only this time we would be the
Japs.’

‘
Couldn’t have put
that better myself, and look how that turned out.’

‘
Yah ain’t
shitting.’

‘
There are a lot of
parallels Sarge.’

‘
I see it, but could
they chase us across the barrier?’

‘
Remember the
Ambassador.’

‘
Yeah, they have a
whole damn planet of Modloch that could chase us all the way home.
A few months to train them and we would be up to our armpits in
blood again.’

‘
That’s the way I see
it.’

‘
Do you think they
will do it?’

‘
All their plans are
being put down on paper. Eyes only. In the event of a crisis point
being reached, all captains will receive their orders in written
form and by hand. That’s as much as I know.’

‘
It ain’t looking
good. Is there another option?’

‘
That’s what I am
exploring now.’

‘
On your
own!’

‘
Yup, no bugger will
listen to me Sarge.’

‘
So what are you
doing?’

Charlie explained it to him as best he
could. Kelly thought it over before replying. ‘I don’t know
Charlie, it sounds a bit thin.’

‘
I know, but what the
hell.’

‘
You can have the
music.’ He grinned, ‘But I want a favour.’

‘
Aye, I thought as
much. What is it?’

‘
I want you to show
these bloody marines how an infantry soldier can handle an assault
course.’

Charlie laughed, ‘Is that fair?’

‘
Don’t whop them too
badly.’

‘
Aye OK. Just enough
to shred their dignity and make them beast themselves half to
death.’

Kelly laughed, ‘That should just about
do it

‘
Let’s get it on
then.’

Kelly stepped forward and began to
scream commands. Men rushed from all over the assault course to
join them. They lined up in ranks before the two sergeants.

‘
I have never seen
such a pathetic bunch of assholes in all my days. I wouldn’t have
you in the infantry.’ He stalked up and down. Some he noticed were
throwing curious glances at Charlie. He smiled, ‘Today I have
decided to give you all a little demonstration as to how it should
be done. The man you are eyeballing is a sergeant from an infantry
regiment. A Scottish infantry regiment. He was one of the first men
on the city ship during the assault and was our guide up to our
forming up point. We met on the beachhead. He showed us how to gain
entry and then led half of my platoon in an assault to out flank a
heavily defended enemy position. The men he fought alongside said
they would fight by his side anytime. There can be no greater
accolade for any fighting man from other fighting men.

‘
You pukes think you
are the best of the best. You think you are better than the
infantry soldier. You look down your noses at the infantry soldier.
You do so because the people who instruct you also look down their
noses at the infantry soldier.

‘
Because you passed
basic training back on Earth you believe you now belong to a
brotherhood of heroes: go getting, ball kicking hard asses that
believe that they are at the top of the fucking fighting tree. You
are not. The infantry is.’

That brought forth a roar of
good-natured derision from the assembled men that made both
sergeants smile.

‘
You don’t
agree?’

‘
Sir No Sir!’ they
cried out in unison.

‘
I see, a bunch of
disbelievers. Today I will prove to you that you most certainly are
not at the top of the fighting tree. You are specialists who should
stick to the bloody jobs that you were created to undertake and
leave the bulk of the fighting to the real men in the
infantry.’

They replied with a roar. Now they were
fired up he turned to Charlie. ‘Sergeant Murison, do you fancy
showing these boys how to take an assault course?’

Charlie stepped forward, and looked the
assault course over. ‘That’s hardly fair Sarge. They are a bit
green behind the ears yet. It would be a bit like giving a child a
spanking.’

They roared their objection. ‘They
would seem to disagree with you.’

Charlie shrugged, ‘In that case, the
six fastest step forward if you think you can beat me.’

Kelly burst out laughing as they all
stepped forward. ‘Just the six fastest.’ He looked down at a tablet
and read out the six fastest times over the assault course and the
names of the men who achieved them.

They stepped forward. ‘Sir, the
infantry sergeant has no equipment sir.’

‘
What’s all this
“sir”, “sir”, shit?’ Charlie asked.

Kelly shrugged, ‘Some kind of hang up
from the island. I gave up trying to correct them. Want to pick
some equipment Charlie?’

‘
Aye OK.’ Charlie
picked a man about his size. The man handed over his webbing and
Charlie made a few adjustments. ‘I tell you what, to make it a bit
fairer, I will take the section weapon. Oh and the rest of you take
your equipment off. Feel free to strip down to your
t-shirts.’

They howled with laughter. ‘Shut the
hell up,’ Kelly ordered, ‘do you actually think he is joking?’ The
laughter began to die.

Charlie took off his bonnet and shoved
it inside his combat jacket. ‘I can assure you gentlemen, I am not
joking.’

Kelly point to one individual,
‘Asswipe, give the sergeant that M60.’

The man stepped forward and tried to
hand the weapon to Charlie. Charlie growled, ‘What the fuck do you
think you are doing Soldier? Were you so badly fucking trained that
you don’t know how to present a weapon to a senior NCO?’

Kelly stepped in, ‘Clear that fucking
weapon asshole or I will shove it so far up your ass you will have
to squeeze the trigger with your dick.’

The marine took a step back, ‘Yes sir,
sorry sir.’

Kelly stepped back and addressed the
six men, ‘Strip to your t-shirts.’ They obeyed but looked
confused.

The marine cleared the weapon and
Charlie checked it was clear. The M60 was handed over. Charlie
adjusted the sling.

‘
OK, I’m
ready.’

‘
Would you like to
take a walk round the course first Charlie?’

‘
No that’s OK, it
looks fairly standard.’

‘
OK line up,’ Kelly
roared. ‘Charlie take the left hand lane.’

They lined up in their lanes. The
marines were fairly cocky and began to shout their encouragement to
their friends.

‘
Get ready,
go.’

Charlie went over the first obstacle
neck and neck with the fastest of them. He stayed there until they
were under the barbed wire entanglement. At the six foot wall he
simply vaulted over it and got a short lead of about a meter. At
the twelve foot wall he swung wide and then seemed to run up and
over the wall.

There were shouts of disbelief from the
watching marines as their comrades reached the wall and began to
help each other across. By the time the first hit the ground
Charlie had a good ten meter lead and slowly began to increase it.
The men screamed their encouragement, but about halfway round it
began to peter out.

Charlie went up and over the cargo
nets, high walks and rope bridge, then over the six and nine foot
leaps as though they were two. The last hundred meters was supposed
to be a sprint but Charlie was so far in front he merely trotted to
the finish line.

It was all Kelly could do not to burst
out laughing at the looks on the marine’s faces. ‘How was it
Charlie?’

‘
It’s actually quite
a nice course. Half a dozen times round should build you up a nice
sweat.’ He cleared the M60 and handed it over to the slack jawed
marine.

The first of them came in gasping for
air and collapsed in a heap. The rest weren’t far behind. Charlie,
who hadn’t even broken a sweat, sniffed loudly at the sight. ‘Are
you sure they are fully trained Sarge?’

‘
That’s what they
told me,’ Kelly mused with a sigh.

Charlie put his bonnet back on and took
off the webbing, ‘I don’t know. I expected to beat them, but not by
so much. Your guys were in much better shape.’

Kelly shrugged, ‘These guys aren’t
infantry Charlie.’

‘
Aye that’s true.
Still I think you need to bring the standard up a bit.’

‘
Yup, I reckon so.
Want to help?’

Charlie’s head came up, ‘Love to. Let
me get this little job done first and I will be right with
you.’

‘
Great. I will tell
Babes to give you access to my room, so you can get those
CDs.’

They shook hands and Charlie left.
Kelly turned back to the despondent marines. They had all managed
to get back to their feet. He shook his head sadly, ‘Anyone here
still think they don’t need any more training.’ There was silence.
‘OK, any of you fellas fancy another crack at the assault
course?’

There was a great roar from the
assembled men. Kelly lined them up and set them off with a smile.
Motivation was a great thing and so much easier than screaming at
the top of your lungs all day.

CHAPTER 14

Steven folded the latest set of plans
up with a groan. Komoru, seeing he was finished, got up and placed
the next set in front of him. Alongside she laid a set of notes she
had taken.

Steven looked through the notes first,
‘You believe this one is unworkable?’

‘
Yes I do. It is far
too complicated to work.’

He just wanted to sign the plans and
send them back but knew Komoru wouldn’t allow him to. She had taken
much of the burden off his shoulders by looking over the plans
first and making notes. He ploughed into the documents. An hour
later they joined the growing pile with the recommendation that the
plan be destroyed. Komoru had been correct.

She laid another in front of him. ‘No,
I’m sorry, I need a break. Why do you look so fresh?’

She smiled, ‘I find the process
invigorating, don’t you?’

‘
No. I find it
depressing.’

She shook her head, ‘Steven, you are
looking at this with your heart. You must stop. There is a chance
none of these plans will come to fruition.’

‘
I am sorry, I just
can’t seem to detach myself. How do you do it?’

‘
Years of abuse and
ridicule for agreeing with the scientific papers of a fourteen year
old boy.’

‘
Ah! I see. Was it
really that bad?’

‘
They were vicious
and vile. Now, of course, they are all on board. You would think
that... what is that British saying? Butter wouldn’t melt in their
mouths?’

Steven smiled and placed his hands
behind his neck, stretching. ‘That’s the one. How was the last
paper you published received?’

‘
With great aplomb.
Now they are singing my praises.’

‘
That’s
good.’

‘
They are two
faced.’

Steven laughed, ‘Ouch! You haven’t
forgiven them then?’

‘
Not one of them. As
Cookie says, they are definitely on my shit list.’

Steven thought that saying coming from
Komoru’s gentle lips was hilarious. ‘It is hard to believe I missed
all of that.’

He spun his seat round to face the wall
and it shimmered. She sat on his knee and his arms enfolded her.
They watched the world below in silence for a while.

‘
Do you think it is
beautiful?’ Komoru murmured.

‘
Not really. Yes and
no.’

She laughed, ‘That doesn’t make
sense.’

‘
Doesn’t
it?’

‘
No.’

‘
It is my first alien
planet. That makes it beautiful. Is it a pretty as our Earth? Not
even close. Even from here everything is so uniform; that makes it
ugly.’

She nestled farther into his arms, ‘I
can see what you are trying to say, but I like it.’

‘
Would you like to
stay there for the rest of your life?’

‘
No.’

‘
Why not?’

‘
Because it is ugly.
From here it is beautiful. Up close it is so devoid of diversity.
Yet there is still beauty.’

It was Steven’s turn to laugh, ‘It is
beautiful, it is ugly. You are making about as much sense as
me.’

A Modloch battlecruiser glided silently
past. Steven sighed and Komoru got up. The wall became solid again
and Steven turned back to the plans.

CHAPTER 15

The King and the Emperor escaped the
clutches of Lady Jane and flopped down onto a couch with a sigh of
relief. Both had discovered that the other was going to be
reviewing the customs of the Croweens. A visiting ruler and an ally
of the Empire had accepted the invitation to the feast to be held
by the Humans. They had, however, some strange customs. The King
had suggested that they shared the chore together. It was a
decision the Emperor now regretted.