The rebels had only been on the Rock for a few days, and they were still exhausted and disorganized. But their morale was strong. The arrival of Holm and the Marines was a huge boost, and Marek’s troops were straining to get back into the fight. The federals in the north had been roughly handled by the Marines, and they were disordered and scattered in separate groups. Jax and Marek immediately began launching search and destroy missions, trying to wipe out the federal pockets before they were able to reorganize and regroup.
The fighting was brutal, with few prisoners taken by either side, at least in the early stages. The federals had no line of retreat; they were cut off and forced to fight to the end. The attacking rebels were still low on supplies, but they were angry from their recent defeat, and they fell on the Feds anywhere they found them. It took a full day, and most of the next, but by nightfall on the second day the battle was over on the northern half of Carlisle, and every federal soldier had been killed or captured.
In the south, Holm’s forces were slicing through the masses of federal troops, driving them steadily back. Losses were heavy, but finally the federals were pushed back onto invasion beaches. There was chaos as terrified soldiers threw down their arms and scrambled into whatever craft could carry them. Overloaded hovercraft attempted to lift off and head out over the sea, but many of them crashed into the roiling waves.
Finally, at dusk on the fifth day, the federal General Strom transmitted his unconditional surrender to Holm. Strom had deliberately bypassed Marek, preferring to deal with the Marine commander. But Holm refused, instructing the federal leader to treat with Marek. The Columbian forces had fought the whole war; this was their planet, and Holm respected what they had achieved. Strom had no choice – he surrendered the federal army to John Marek, and for the first time he was compelled to accord the rebel commander his Columbian rank of general.
“That fucking coward, Strom.” Arlen Cooper had gotten himself on one of the escaping transports. He was packed in, surrounded by filthy, sweat-soaked Alliance soldiers. Command and control had broken down entirely. There were several thousand federal troops fleeing Carlisle for the mainland, but there was no authority, no discipline.
Most of the transports landed on the original embarkation beaches. They were overloaded, damaged, and low on fuel – very few of them could have gotten much farther. The mass of men and women on the beach was no longer an army. Most of them had thrown down their weapons when they ran for the loading hovercraft, and now they streamed inland, mindless, terrified, lost.
They didn’t get far. Jill’s refugees from the camp were everywhere, armed now and hunting down any federals they could find. They fell on the fleeing Alliance soldiers, most of whom tried futilely to surrender. But the mob had no mercy, no pity. They massacred every federal soldier they found…all save Cooper. The governor had the misfortune to be recognized, and he was taken to Weston in chains and dragged before Jill Winton. He was a pitiful, broken wreck, and he groveled and begged for his life.
Jill just stared down at him and laughed as he cried and screamed for mercy. Arlen Cooper had lived his entire life as a sadistic bully, and now he’d reached judgment day. Jill pulled her knife from the sheath on her belt and did the deed herself. Cooper’s end was neither quick nor pleasant, and when she was done Jill sat in the middle of the bloodstained street and laughed hysterically.
Chapter 31
There was a din in the air, the confused cacophony of a dozen separate conversations melding together. The meeting hall was vast, a magnificent testimonial to Martian engineering and wealth. The low gravity presented challenges to the health and day to day life of the Confederation’s citizens, however it was nothing but a gift to its engineers and architects.
The talks between the Alliance and its rebellious colony worlds had been going on for weeks, and finally they were close to agreement. Both sides had entered with hardline positions. The Alliance refused to recognize any level of colonial independence, insisting that each world had to submit to any federal authority it elected to impose. That position wasn’t supported by the military situation, but Alliance Gov had many ways to pressure its colonies beyond pure military force.
The colonies, so recently on the verge of total collapse, also entered with an aggressive position. Bolstered by the recent defeat of the federal forces on several of the major worlds, they insisted on total and immediate independence. Admiral Garret had rallied the navy, and after his experiences at the hands of Alliance Intelligence, he declared openly for the colonies. His forces hunted down and destroyed the well-equipped but inexperienced Directorate naval units, establishing total dominance over Alliance-occupied space.
Generals Holm and Cain had rallied the Marine units they were able to reach, leading them into action against the Alliance forces on Armstrong, Columbia, and Arcadia, winning total victories on each world. And the Directorate attacks on Marine garrisons were generally failures, the Marines emerging victorious in most of the encounters. With Garret’s fleet and Holm’s and Cain’s Marines standing with them, the colonial representatives felt strong, and they made harsh demands of the Alliance diplomats…demands that just led to a bitter impasse.
That’s where Vance and his diplomats came in, pointing out to both sides the enormous weaknesses they were overlooking. The Alliance faced disaster without its colonies; even from a protracted stalemate. Stripped of the flow of extraterrestrial resources, the already tottering economy would collapse utterly, with severe and unpredictable consequences. The death throes of a Superpower, especially one as large and powerful as the Alliance, could even destroy the Treaty of Paris and start war on Earth again, and that was something no one wanted.
The colonies had their own problems as well, which Vance’s team pointed out in great detail. They had the Marines and the navy backing them; that much was true. But the Marine Corps was shattered, its widespread garrisons unsupplied and demoralized. It would take time – and considerable resources – to rebuild it back to its former capabilities. Those resources – the weapons, armor, and ammunition a modern fighting force required – could only come from Earth. The colonies lacked the manufacturing capability to produce such high-tech items in any quantity. A Marine Corps backing the colonies without Alliance support would quickly find itself starved of almost every material item it required to function.
The navy was no better off. Garret had been forced to hunt down and destroy the Directorate-controlled ships, suffering considerable losses in the process. The massive post-war surplus of ships was gone, and there were barely enough functional vessels to patrol and provide basic defense…if they were lucky. There were shipyards in the colonies, most notably in the Wolf 359 system, orbiting one of Arcadia’s sister planets. But those shipyards were assembly areas, and they still required sophisticated weapons, computers, engines – systems that could only be built now in Earth factories.
The colonies and the military could become self-sufficient, but it would take years, probably decades. And that was time they wouldn’t have. Already, the other Superpowers, especially the CAC and Caliphate, were ready to pounce on newly independent worlds…planets without the resources to mount a sustained defense. Without the strength of the Alliance behind them, the colony worlds would be picked apart by the other Powers. They would win freedom only to lose it again almost immediately.