There was a lot of fanaticism among Caliphate troops; their front line Janissaries almost never surrendered. But these were just routine security troops posted far back from what was thought to be the front line. They were just conscripts, and they'd been roughly handled so far. I had no idea about the command structure here - intel had been really weak in that department - but if their troops were ready to give up there wasn't much the command staff could do. If a Caliphate station commander and his officers wanted heroic deaths I was more than willing to oblige, and if their troops were ready to drop their weapons I was just as happy to let them do it.
"Hector, I want you to translate everything I say into Arabic and feed it into the communications system. Understood."
"Yes captain. What part of that did you feel was beyond my computational capability?" He hadn't been obnoxious for a while, so I guess he was due. They really needed to work the kinks out of this AI personality programming.
"Sanchez, I want you to plug my AI link into the com system, and put us on stationwide broadcast."
"Yes sir." He paused for a few seconds, looking briefly at the screen in front of him. "That will just take me a few minutes."
While Sanchez set up the communication, I checked on our overall status. We had about 30 prisoners, and they'd been disarmed and stripped of their body armor. They were locked in a storage room, and there were two guards outside the room and another monitoring on video.
All of the entryways were guarded, with a picket placed down each corridor and a fire team at every entrance. The rest of the troops were formed into a reaction force to meet any threat that might develop. I checked again with Frost, and his situation was largely unchanged. The enemy had withdrawn from several of the approaches to the power facility, with only sporadic fire from the others.
"Ready, captain. You are on systemwide communication."
I nodded to Sanchez, though gestures of that sort were pretty pointless in armor. "Attention Caliphate personnel. This is Captain Erik Cain, U.S. Marine Corps, Western Alliance Military Command. Presently, my forces are in control of both the power generation facilities and the main computer center. As you are aware from our recent demonstration, we can cut power to any areas of the station we wish."
I paused for just a second. I was actually speaking to Hector, and he was repeating what I said in Arabic on the com line. I was distracted briefly by the realization that he was using my voice and not his. Nice touch, Hector, but a little creepy too.
"We effectively control the station at this time. We have sufficient force to occupy the entire facility deck by deck if we need to." Ok, that was a lie, but worth a try.
"Even in the event that, for some reason, we are unable to take possession of the entire station, local space is totally controlled by our warships. Your defense grid has been destroyed, and if we are unsuccessful in taking the station our orders are to destroy it. We have the firepower to do just that." That much was true.
"You can fight on, but I have neither the time nor patience to allow this battle to go on any longer than necessary. If my troops are forced to take this station level by level there will be no quarter offered to any Caliphate personnel. If the station is surrendered immediately I will guarantee the safety of all inhabitants." Ok, this was a gamble. If they surrendered, it paid off. But if they didn't, I just gave them a reason to fight like banshees.
"If you surrender, all prisoners will be given the option of repatriation to the Caliphate at the soonest possible opportunity." I didn't really have the authority to offer repatriation to POWs, but I was pretty sure that central command would back me up. Especially if I captured the station with light casualties. If not, I was perfectly willing to lie to save the lives of my troopers.
"Alternatively, surrendered personnel will be given the opportunity to request asylum in the Western Alliance." Caliphate personnel were "encouraged" not to yield, and things could be difficult for anyone, especially a commander, who surrendered. I wanted to give them a good option. They weren’t all religious fanatics.
"You are not frontline military personnel. I have no desire to have my fully-armored assault troops hunt down and kill everyone on this station, but I will. I will." I paused to let that sink in. "I am prepared to accept a surrender within the next ten minutes. After that period there will be no quarter, no mercy, no cessation of the attack. You have ten minutes. After ten minutes we will accept no incoming communications."
I made a motion for Sanchez to cut the broadcast. In a few minutes we'd know if it was going to be easy or difficult. Meanwhile, I signaled for the backup company to launch. If the station surrendered they could land in one of the bays almost immediately and assist in managing the surrender and taking control of the station. Otherwise, I'd assemble a recon force to take the nearest bay so we could get them aboard. I'd need the numbers to fight my way through every section of the station, and I'd want the tech support crew to help us utilize control of the computer and power generation centers.
I suspected that the commander's inclination would be to fight on, and that's why I broadcast my message live. His conscript troops were probably not as anxious to die, and the huge number of civilians on board even less so. As it turned out, I didn't have to wait anywhere near the whole ten minutes.
"Incoming message, sir." Sanchez on my comlink.
"Send it to me. Hector, translate, please." But I didn't need Hector's help. The response was given in accented, but clear English.
"Captain Cain, this is Sub-Commander Ahmedi. The commander has elected to pass on to the afterlife. An honorable death. As acting commander I offer the immediate surrender of this station and its personnel subject to the terms offered. I await your further instructions."
"Hector, translate my reply. Sub-Commander, I am pleased to accept your surrender, and I commend you on choosing to avoid a continuance of hostilities, which could not have altered the outcome of this engagement but only caused needless bloodshed. Please stand by for further instructions from my officers." I just stood there for a few seconds, letting out a sigh of relief. War is always bad business, but I was grateful, for once, to have most of the troops I led in coming out with me.
"Sanchez, secure a landing bay so we can bring the support elements onboard. Closest one to here. Coordinate with the sub-commander, and send a squad down to secure the area. Tell the sub-commander to release all security on the computer system so you can pull up schematics. Once we have the reserves deployed, have the Caliphate troops report to a suitable assembly area and supervise the disarming."
I barked out a number of additional orders, and having made the arrangements to secure the station and its personnel I took a few minutes to reflect. The surprise attack on the Caliphate Station Persaris was a complete success. We had six dead and seven seriously wounded, a casualty rate of less than ten percent, and a welcome change from the abattoirs of Achilles and Columbia. I'd completed my first mission in charge of a company, and, moreover, as the overall mission commander. Maybe I could do this after all.
We spent another week on the station, mostly helping to organize our skeleton operations crew and supervise the detention of the prisoners. There were only 157 surviving security personnel, but I wasn't taking any chances, so all 2,000 or so occupants of the station were treated like combatant detainees. It was nothing but a rest for us. Our armor was shuttled back to the Wolverine, and we were fitted out in fatigues with light hand weapons.
Just before we left a new task force arrived, carrying a battalion of regular infantry and a full complement of technical and operations staff. Five cruisers joined the two we already had, forming a strong defense against an enemy attempt to take the station back. Freighters and repair ships also arrived to repair and upgrade the system's defenses, and a large transport docked to collect the prisoners.