He paused, apparently inviting comment. None came. “Once we have secured the orbitals, we will start landing troops at once, concentrating on their largest cities,” he continued. “Once the cities have been secured, Infantry units will advance into the countryside and suppress rebels and insurgents there, before we begin working with friendly forces on the ground. After the locals see that our forces are capable of defeating the corrupt government, they will ally with us and the remaining insurgents will be rapidly weeded out.
“In addition, Marine units will seize their largest orbital installations and production plants. Once secure, those plants will be turned over to supporting the invasion and producing items needed to pay Earth for the liberation mission. I anticipate no real difficulty in carrying out the invasion, so once the troops have been landed, the majority of our fleet can be dispersed for other duties, leaving a light observation squadron and, of course, the Devastator in the system.”
There was a pause. “Any questions?”
“Yes,” someone said. I was surprised to see a Marine Major General sitting in the front row. Marines normally had little to do with matters outside their sphere. “Just how long do you expect the invasion and occupation to take?”
“I expect that major combat operations will be completed within the first month,” Admiral Hoover said. “We should be able to pull out most of the infantry within the next year or so, depending on local conditions. The locals will see that we are resolute and firm in our determination to convince them to share what they have with all of humanity. We have a paternal oversight role to consider…”
“I suspect it will take much longer,” the Major General said. “I was actually involved in a joint operation with Heinlein reservists and they were damned good. It will not be ended quickly…”
“Thank you,” Admiral Hoover said, tightly. His voice became harsh and unbending. I knew what he was going to say before he spoke. “If I had wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it.”
I scowled, despite myself. I’d learned that the Marines were far from stupid back when I’d been training with them. Overall, I’d trust a Marine’s opinion rather more than the Admiral’s… and, now that it had been pointed out to me, it was clear that the Admiral was being very optimistic. The war could drag on forever.
It struck me, then, that we were going to invade another planet. We were going to bring them war and devastation in the hope that they would become more like us. I remembered what I’d seen on Earth and shuddered again. Whatever Heinlein was like — and I didn’t even know where the name came from — it could hardly be worse than Earth, could it? Somehow, I doubted it. Even Terra Nova was a paradise compared to Earth.
But what could I do?
I mulled it over as we were dismissed and I reported to Captain Shalenko, but the answer was all-too-clear. There was nothing I could do about it. History was on the march and I was nothing, but a helpless spectator. All I could do was watch, and wait.
Chapter Thirteen
The logistics of interstellar travel are, despite the best efforts of the UN, inflexible. Some items — foodstuffs, for example — cannot be transported economically under almost any conditions. The cost of transporting the food to another star would make it the most expensive food in the galaxy, particularly that almost every settled world grows enough food to feed itself. It is therefore clear that shipping anything apart from specialised items is not a economical proposition. This has a baleful effect on military operations as well. Any UNPF operation would exist on the end of a long supply line with massive time delays. It would literally take months to request reinforcements and months longer for them to arrive.
“Captain, the remaining starships have finally logged in,” Lieutenant Marya Jadwiga said, from her position on the bridge. “They’re signalling that they’re ready to go.”
“Finally,” Captain Shalenko hissed. I didn’t blame him for being frustrated. The Devastator had been ready to go at 1300, as we had been ordered, but the other ships hadn’t been anything like ready. I was silently grateful for the time I’d spent on logistics. It was becoming increasingly clear that the other ships hadn’t spent anything like as much time on it… and the Admiral had been chewing the walls. It was now 1500 and we were barely ready to go. “Lieutenant Walker, please take our guests to the observation blister.”
“Aye, sir,” I said, tiredly. The last thing I wanted to do was talk to the reporters, but orders were orders. Besides, the sight of a wormhole opening at close range would be enough to shut them up for a while, I hoped. “I’ll get right on it.”
The reporters, I was amazed to discover, had dressed up in their finery for the trip to the observation blister. I tried very hard not to laugh as I escorted them through the passageways — some crewmen were rather less discriminating — and took them into the observation blister. Space — and the sight of Earth, visible as a blue-green sphere in the distance — still took my breath away, but the reporters didn’t seem impressed. They’d probably seen it often enough that it was no longer a wonder to them, although I couldn’t understand why. It had never stopped being a wonder for me.
“Tell me something,” Frank Wong said. Wong seemed to be the senior reporter, insofar as there was such a thing. “When are we actually departing? I was told to expect you at 1300.”
I wasn’t going to explain all the problems to him. “There were delays,” I said, reluctantly. There was no point in elaborating. “I believe, however, that we will depart in a few moments. It really is a fantastic view.”
“He’s trying to distract us,” Mytych Milan insisted. I had never been able to untangle where he’d come from originally, but he was a reporter through and through. From what I had been able to gather, he was under the impression that he was an investigative reporter, out to gather dirt that could be used to make the UNPF look bad. I doubted that he’d be long with us either. “We could be…”
“Stuck in the stateroom with nothing to do, but drink and fuck,” Frank Wong snapped back, angrily. I was pleased to see that he had some sense, although in their place, I’d have been brushing up on my studies. There was always something to do on the ship. “Watch and learn. It’s your first trip out of the Solar System, isn’t it?”
“Now hear this,” the Captain’s voice said, echoing through the starship. “We are ready to jump. I repeat, we are ready to jump. The wormhole will be opened in two minutes…mark.”
“Watch,” I said, softly. This sight, too, never lost its power to thrill. “You won’t regret it.”
Ahead of us, the light from the stars seemed to twist suddenly into a shimmering ball of light, which expanded rapidly into an open mouth, a rent in the fabric of space and time. The funnel grew larger, rapidly blurring through the colours of the rainbow, and seemed to rush at us. A moment later, we were inside the wormhole and flying towards our destination. The lights vanished and we seemed to be inside nothing, but darkness.
“My god,” Mytych Milan said, stunned. “It…what was that?”
“That was a wormhole,” I said, dryly. I’d feared that the reporters would throw up — it wasn’t uncommon for first-timers — but they seemed to be holding themselves together. Two of them looked pale and wan, but the others seemed fine. “Heinlein is forty light years away, after all. That’s a months journey even with wormholes.”