“What a mess,” I said, as we stepped down onto the ground floor. The fighting had torn the area apart, leaving nothing, but wreckage and dead bodies. The noise wasn’t so loud down here, but I could still hear the helicopters as they dealt death to anyone who threatened us… and the sound of explosions and gunshots in the distance. It sounded as if the entire city was at war, against us… or each other. I’d been in city-fighting before, but this was different; now that we’d pushed the Communists away from the Government buildings, it was as if the civil war was flowing around us without touching our lives. It was… strange, almost uncanny.
I keyed my earpiece. “Jock, come in,” I ordered. “What’s going on out there?”
“The fighting seems to be shifting towards the industrial regions,” Jock said. A shriek followed by a massive explosion underscored his words. “Sir, they just took out a transport helicopter.”
I winced. There’d be time enough to mourn later. One expensive helicopter and an irreplaceable crew had just died. The sound of shooting and rockets being fired grew louder and, unable to prevent myself, I stepped outside, to find that I was standing in a pile of wreckage. Dead bodies were everywhere, the stink of blood and piss and shit was almost overpowering… I had never gotten used to it, no matter what my trainers had promised. This was what happened when the military world interacted badly with the civilian world.
“They’re going to burn for this,” I promised. The growing black smoke rising up from the city smelt of fire and burning bodied. “The people responsible for this will pay in blood and suffering.”
“Stay back, sir,” one of the soldiers warned. I knew better than to object. Standing orders concerning bodyguard duties authorised everything, including physical force, to prevent the protected person from being endangered. They’d knock me down and sit on me if they had to. I couldn’t even object. I’d drawn up the rules myself. “The Captain’s on his way now.”
I heard the approaching convoy and allowed myself to be escorted back into shelter, watching as the first vehicles rounded the corner and sped towards us. The light tanks parked in a position to cover the area, while the men of A Company dismounted from their trucks and rushed to secure the area. Ten minutes later, we held the area surrounding Government House and it was over. The remaining Communists had retreated, leaving nothing, but devastation behind.
But I could still hear fighting in the distance.
Ed jumped out of a vehicle and marched over to me, before nodding respectfully. Salutes were forbidden in a combat zone. “Sir,” he said. “Captain-General Nolte, I presume?”
I cracked up laughing.
Chapter Eleven
By default, a legitimate government is one that controls territory. We may not approve of the government and/or how it acts, but our disapproval will not remove the government from power. The only way to remove a government from power is through pressure, which is generally expressed as physical force. Choosing not to do so means granting legitimacy to the government.
“Concentrate on securing the area,” I ordered, as Ed’s men started to set up their mobile command post. It was a UN-designed unit I wasn’t sure I completely trusted — people had been known to hack into them before — but at the moment it represented the best option short of returning to the spaceport. “Detail off a couple of platoons to replace Kendrick and a third to secure the normal government building.”
I examined the mobile command post readings as Ed headed off to carry out my orders. Now that A Company was parked in the middle of the city, I felt a lot safer, safe enough to relax slightly. I could still hear gunfire in the distance and the sound of someone putting up a desperate resistance — although I didn’t know against what — but on the whole we were safe, for the moment. The politicians in the remains of the stadium would live to politick again. Somehow, I wasn’t able to decide if that was a good thing or not.
The reports from the spaceport made me smile in relief. No one had tried to launch an all-out attack — they’d only throw a few shells into the complex — which meant that they weren’t insane enough to attack a dug-in position. The Svergie Army units were forming up now and preparing for operations; one of my minders reported that the men were pissed at what had happened to their capital city. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the situation — outraged soldiers might commit things that outsiders would call atrocities — and issued my orders. With the enemy in retreat, it was time to bring in the rest of the Svergie Army.
“Warn them to be careful,” I ordered, knowing that it was an unnecessary order. They hadn’t been prepared for MOUT yet, but we had no choice. The sooner we could establish a heavy presence on the streets, the better. I gazed around at all the carnage and winced. They’d see that… and then they’d be out for blood. How could I blame them for that? “We need to locate the remainder of the enemy.”
“Understood, sir,” the dispatcher said, back at the spaceport. He could afford to be calm. He was sitting in the safest place on the planet! “We’ve been picking up transmissions from the Communists, sir. They’ve taken over one of the broadcast towers and they’ve been screaming their propaganda into the air.”
“Put them though,” I ordered, angrily. It was another sign of just how primitive Svergie actually was. Most worlds used a datanet-like system for communication, preferring to reserve radio for emergencies. “I want to hear what they’re telling the people.”
The radio crackled and came to life. “…Time of the People’s Republic of Svergie is at hand,” a voice thundered. “Take to the barricades; claim your world from the off-world plutocrats and mercenaries. The old government has fallen. We have formed a government in the name of The People! Take to the streets and welcome us as we build utopia; Peace, Freedom, Collective Ownership…!”
There was more like that, none of it particularly interesting, or welcome. “Cut it off,” I ordered, finally. Their coup had failed, to all intents and purposes, even if they had seriously injured the President. It didn’t look as if the population was coming onto the roads in support of the Communists; it looked as if most of the population were staying indoors, as far from the chaos as they could. “Order the Svergie forces to continue deploying.”
I keyed my earpiece and called Jock. “Jock, the Svergie Army is on its way into the city,” I said. “Stay out of their way and make your path towards the hub of greatest resistance. I may need reports from you later.”
“Understood,” Jock said. “I’m on my way.”
I wiped my forehead as I turned back to the command post. No one likes city fighting, apart from deranged terrorists and wreckers. The most advanced army in the galaxy could make their way into a city and get chewed to ribbons in a carefully-prepared trap. All of their advantages would be cut down to almost nothing, while they’d never know who was in front of them, or behind them. I’d seen attempts to chart out the course of one particularly nasty battle in a city and it had looked like someone had mixed together several different strings. The battle had raged backwards and forwards for days.