Barrera stared at me. “It’s all about your ego, isn’t it, sir? It’s all about you.”
I stared back. “I believe as did Frederick the Great of Prussia. He was a mini-napoleon in his time. He said most generals were inherently timid, but that a brave leader who was competent would always beat them. You have to be willing to take risks to win at the game of war.”
“This is not a game, Colonel. Real lives are being lost out there. Your risks and mistakes have cost us too much.”
“There is some truth to what you say,” I said. “But no one else was there—only me. No one else was in the position to make these decisions. Right or wrong, they had to be made.”
“I accept that, Colonel,” Barrera said. “But I just don’t think you are the best man for the job.”
“And so we come down to it. I am forced to order your imprisonment, court-martial and eventual execution.”
“I understand, sir,” Barrera said.
I could see by his eyes that he did. I could also see that he was troubled. He looked back to the screens where the next phase of the battle was unfolding. Kwon moved forward to restrain Barrera, but I waved him back. He shadowed the disgraced Lieutenant Colonel’s every move.
“Colonel,” Major Sarin said quietly. “Our tanks are engaging the enemy now.”
I flicked my eyes quickly back to the overhead screens. The hovertanks were firing now. They were all hitting the big dreadnaught, just as I’d ordered. The enemy fleet was beginning to respond, to turn on them. The British missiles were only a few minutes from impacting. They’d reached the apogee of their flight and were now coming back down into the atmosphere.
The enemy cruisers took notice of our hovertanks after their first dozen strikes against their protective dreadnaught. Forty-odd cannons swiveled to fire down upon the smaller craft that scooted around over the waves below them.
The dreadnaught had been damaged earlier, when it had been hit by the U. S. missiles. But it was huge, and I wasn’t sure if my tanks with their relatively light guns could bring it down.
“Two hovercraft have been hit, Colonel,” Major Sarin reported. “…six hit…seven.”
“Keep them on target. Take out the dreadnaught’s forward point-defense pods as primary targets. Secondarily, take out the enemy engines.”
The battle raged. The British missiles were less than a minute away. Everyone’s eyes were locked on the screen. Only Major Sarin tapped at the screen. The rest of us watched fixedly.
“We’ve lost forty percent of our hovertanks,” Major Sarin said, somehow keeping her voice even. “Due to losses, command has switched from Major Feng to Lieutenant Koslov. The new commander is requesting an order for an orderly withdrawal.”
“What have we done to that dreadnaught?” I asked.
“One of the four defensive pods is knocked out, two more damaged. Of six identified engine ports, three are damaged. Other hits have been scored all over the hull, but it is not known if this damage has reduced the enemy vessel’s effectiveness.”
I glanced at Barrera. I could tell he’d pull back the hovertanks. I tried not to let that fact alter my judgment in any way. It was more difficult than usual. Part of me wanted to show him how these things were done—but the rest of me wanted to save the tanks and their crews to prove I wasn’t a wild-eyed madman.
I took a deep breath. No! I thought. I had to think clearly about victory. Barrera didn’t matter. I looked back to the screens and thought hard. If we took down that ship, the ship-killer missiles would do great damage to the fleet and probably save Star Force. Perhaps that was self-serving, but really we represented the majority of Earth’s defensive capacity. Most importantly, we had the only known versions of Nano factories on the planet. If they wiped those out, the rest of Earth would be reliant on centuries-behind technology and wouldn’t stand a chance against the Macros. They wouldn’t be able to build a single ship that could stand up to the machines.
“Order Lieutenant Koslov to continue the attack until his unit is down to ten percent effectiveness.”
Major Sarin hesitated, glancing at me. Our eyes met, and then she looked back down and relayed the orders. Both of us knew we’d just consigned those brave men to death.
Barrera let out an audible sigh. I knew how he felt, but I couldn’t worry about that now. The hovertanks were the last asset I had in the region that could take out that big ship. I could request that Fleet assault the dreadnaught, but even if Crow did listen to me, I didn’t want to make that move. I wanted my fleet of ships to survive until the end of this. I would much rather lose the hovertanks than lose my ships. Such was the harsh calculus of war.
“Sir!” Major Sarin shouted, pointing toward a screen depicting the enemy fleet in close-up.
The big dreadnaught was in trouble. Something inside it was burning. I heard a surge of excitement from upstairs. Marines in battle suits stomped their boots. I watched, drawing back my lips from my teeth in a tense grimace.
The big ship reared up and began to climb. It was increasing its altitude. Was it dodging the British missiles, having calculated it couldn’t shoot them all down? I could see now the missiles were converging on it. At least half the incoming contacts were headed just for that one ship.
It rose up and up, higher than the highest clouds. As forty miles up, it was well beyond the reach of my hovertanks.
“Order Koslov to scatter and retreat,” I said.
We watched as a few missiles got close and set themselves off with suicidal spherical explosions in the high atmosphere.
“Get Crow on the command channel,” I ordered.
“Riggs, we’re on station here, but the Macros don’t seem to be firing at England just now. Lucky pommies.”
Pommies? I wondered, but didn’t have time to ask about Aussie slang just now. “Crow, hit that big ship. Don’t let it get away. It’s limping now, leaving its protective cruisers. Finish it off.”
“You know, mate, I’m going to do this one for you. I think you’re beginning to understand how to use a force like ours. We’re light cavalry, see? We’re mostly good for running down the peasants after they break.”
Crow began another of his nasty laughs, but I cut him off.
Barrera watched the battle in interest. I stared at him for a moment, wondering what I should do. We didn’t have laws in place yet—martial punishments for crimes. But attempted assassination of one’s commanding officer? Tradition was pretty clear on that one.
Barrera finally noticed me eyeing him. He turned and faced me. “May I make a final request, sir?”
“What’s that?”
“I’d like to man the turret on the eastern wall when the machines hit us again.”
“We’ve abandoned that wall. Every defensive position has been evacuated.”
“Exactly, sir.”
I thought about it. The marines would watch my second in command go down in a blaze of glory. It would be better for morale than putting him up in front of a firing squad.
Finally, I nodded to him. “Good luck, Barrera.”
“Good luck, sir.”
We shook hands. As he headed for the door, I turned to Kwon and Sandra, who both looked skeptical.
“You two make sure he gets there.”
“Will do, sir,” Kwon said.
-40-
The second battle for Earth didn’t end the way I’d expected. Barrera made a fine last stand, but that part didn’t really surprise me. He wasn’t exactly a dishonorable man, he was someone who was so dedicated to the cause he’d decided to take matters into his own hands. In some ways, I could understand that. I’d made similar decisions against the U. S. government in the past. I wondered to myself how I would react if I had been playing second banana to someone I disagreed with all these years. Someone like Crow, perhaps. Maybe I would have gotten ideas, over time. After watching my C. O. make mistakes that killed off millions, I could imagine deciding the time had come to act. I might even have become fed up enough to move against my commander.