Impossible, I thought. Could we be that lucky?
The answer was no, it seemed. The missiles were faster than UN-standard missiles, but not as fast as the simulated missiles we practiced against in the exercise drills, and it seemed that EarthStar One’s defenders had kept up with their own drills. The missiles were swatted out of space before they even got close enough to try for a proximity kill. The Heinlein starship twisted, threw a salvo of missiles at us, and then vanished back into the wormhole.
“Pilot, jump us out of here,” I snapped. The missiles were far too close to hope that the point defence could take them out. A moment later, we fell into our own wormhole. This time, the trip took seconds. “Report!”
“We’ve evaded the missiles,” Muna said, calmly. I felt her presence steadying me and wished, absurdly, that I knew her better. We’d lived together as Cadets and Ensigns, yet I felt I didn’t know her at all. “They’re trying to find new targets before they burn out, but unless they have some completely new drive system it’s unlikely they’ll find anything.”
She broke off, and then snarled a curse in a language I didn’t recognise. “Captain,” she said, “you’d better take a look at this.”
I looked. It was the live feed from the orbital defences. “Shit,” I hissed. “What happened?”
“They hit Asteroid One,” Muna said. “The death toll…”
She broke off. Asteroid One was more than just another asteroid; it was living history. It had been the first asteroid to be moved back to Earth orbit and mined for raw materials, before it had been mined out and converted into the first asteroid colony, high over Earth. It had been the playground of the rich and famous for years before the UN took it over and turned it into residences for people too important to live down on Earth among the scrum. Now…
I breathed another curse under my breath. Asteroid One had been settled before the UN had instigated rigorous safety checks — not that anything had gone wrong, at least for over three hundred years — and it hadn’t been designed to take nuclear hits at close range. The bombs had broken through the rock and atmosphere was streaming out, which would have been bad enough, but the spin was now tearing the asteroid apart. As the damage mounted up, the situation only became worse; the asteroid was shattering in slow motion. I made a silent bet with myself that it wouldn’t be more than an hour before it shattered completely…and I was damn sure that everyone onboard was dead.
“They’re gone,” Muna said, finally. “They did what they came to do.”
I kept the ship at red alert for another hour, but there were no more attacks and I breathed a sigh of relief. The Heinlein Resistance were making a point of their own, one that fitted in with their nature. They’d gone after some of the UN’s leaders and killed them. I wondered if we could use the chaos to aid our own operations. We’d have to move as soon as possible…
“Leave it until Wednesday,” the Senior Chief advised, when I met with him and the Master Sergeant in the evening. I didn’t know if I could wait two days, but they were right. We had to make the final preparations now. “That will give them time to get the power struggle underway. None of the big bosses will be watching what’s happening in orbit until it’s too late.”
I hoped he was right, but I sent the messages anyway. If the UN Security Division knew what was afoot, they’d have time to act, but we’d be ready. Two days…a lot could happen in two days, even with all our planning. If we failed to take EarthStar One quickly, we were going to have to abandon the second part of the plan. I just wished I knew if they knew…
Two days, I reminded myself, thinking of Kitty. Two days…
“I shouldn’t worry too much,” the Master Sergeant added. He started to speak in rhyme. “He either fears his fate too much, or his deserts are small, that puts it not unto the touch, to win or lose it all.”
I shrugged. I was betting everything.
But then, so was he.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
EarthStar One was originally designed by the United Nations in the wake of the creation of a truly global military force. The original logic was that if the headquarters of that force were in orbit, it would be immune to pressure from the national armed forces or even political influence. This feeling was so strong that everything related to Earth’s defence was relayed through the station. Even when the UN disbanded the remaining national forces, the policy was not changed. The UN’s inertia kept it firmly in place.
The shuttlebay was packed with all of the Marines and their equipment. My starship was firmly behind me, if nothing else, and while I had issued firearms to everyone in the know, I probably wouldn’t need the Marines onboard. They had their own mission. I’d listened to the bitching and had been relieved to hear that most of it focused around the use of a common shuttle, rather than one of their assault boats. The Master Sergeant had overruled the objector by pointing out that an assault boat near EarthStar One would be a red flag for the defenders; indeed, the only way we could get a shuttle there was through my request for an urgent interview with Admiral Rutherford. By the time the defenders realised that they were under attack, it should already be too late.
“Don’t worry,” the Master Sergeant said, shaking my hand. “You just make sure you live up to your promises, understand?”
I nodded. The Master Sergeant had had his own price for joining me and I fully intended to pay it. The thought of operating without political supervision was intoxicating, but…I looked down at my timer and winced inwardly. Thirty minutes before Zero Hour. Even now, my friends and allies would be gathering their forces, preparing to seize control of the starships and mutiny against their commanding officers. I hoped that everything went to plan. We had most of the Marines on our side, but those who weren’t with us, or those we couldn’t risk contacting, were a dangerous unknown factor. I might have to convince them to play with us, or force them into surrendering. I hoped it wouldn’t be the latter. The Master Sergeant wouldn’t take it calmly.
“I will,” I promised. “Don’t fuck up, all right?”
He snorted. “An asteroid crammed with worthless paper-pushers who’ll shit themselves when they see us carrying weapons,” he said, with a grin. I wasn’t so confident. He was taking twenty-one Marines to assault a target that had no less than two thousand personnel and, despite his confidence, I feared that something would go wrong, right at the worst possible moment. “Don’t tell me my job, Captain. You tend to your knitting and I’ll tend to mine.”
“Deal,” I said, watching as the Marines filed onboard the shuttle, pushing and jostling at each other. I couldn’t understand that either. They were going off to die in a cause few of them believed could work…and they were laughing! One of them was telling a filthy joke about two whores he’d met at Luna City, a mother and daughter team, and the others were just about wetting themselves laughing. “Good luck, Erwin.”
“I taught you well,” the Master Sergeant said. “You’ll do fine.”
A moment later, he boarded the craft and I turned and left the shuttlebay, before watching them depart. Realistically, we’d been committed as soon as I’d started to reach out to my former classmates and ask them to join, but now…now I felt committed. I knew what I had to do now, before all hell broke loose in orbit, and I touched the pistol at my belt. It felt clunky and reassuring in my hand.