The girls’ eyes roamed the crowd as they sang, stopping for a second to meet each man’s gaze, then moving on.
They sang the final words of the anthem, then put their free hands on their hips and flicked their hair as the the last echoes of the song faded away.
They pouted behind the mayor as he clapped.
“Thank you. Thank you,” the mayor said.
The scraping of two hundred and fifty moving chairs, and the thudding of two hundred and fifty pairs of boots on the concrete floor echoed around the room as the men sat.
The Mayor waited quietly for them to settle down before speaking again.
“Estérel has cafes, bars, and many, many lovely girls who would like to make the acquaintance of fine young men such as yourselves. Please, while you’re here with us, feel free to visit our town, and entertain yourselves. You are risking your lives to protect ours, and are sure to receive a very warm welcome.”
The girls posed behind him as he spoke, and smiled at the men with bright red lips.
Bairamov leaned toward Logan, and nudged him.
“Now I know what kind of entertainment I’ll be spending my winnings on.”
Boots clicked on the floor.
Captain Beaufort, the company commander, strode through the doorway, then across the hangar, toward the stage. Another man followed him, tall with freshly-trimmed hair, above a suit that would probably cost a year of Logan’s wages. A shorter man trailed behind them, with his shirt bulging out over the waistband of his pants.
“Thank you Mr Mayor,” Beaufort said, “and thank you to your lovely choir for their beautiful rendition of the national anthem. The Legion very much appreciates your efforts to make us feel at home, and we will do everything in our power to protect you all.”
The Mayor smiled and nodded, then motioned for the girls to leave. They pouted and swung their hips as they sauntered from the stage, still swinging their flags behind them.
Five hundred eyes followed them toward the door. Beaufort and the other men waited for the girls to pass, then climbed onto the stage themselves. Beaufort waited a moment longer before he turned back to the Legionnaires.
“My apologies, gentlemen. Though it looks the mayor kept you entertained during the delay.”
The men laughed as their attention returned to the stage. It had certainly been more entertaining than the beginning of their day. Especially for those who’d survived it.
Beaufort raised his hands to quiet them down, and waited for the echoes to fade. He looked toward the tall man. “This is Governor Porcher, of New Strasbourg.” Then at the other. “And Governor Chaput, of the department of New Moselle, where we are now stationed.
“We’ve just come from a VR conference with Commandant LePlage on the Marine LePen. Further landings are now on hold while we evaluate the safety of this site, and install the point-defence guns to protect it. The shuttles the insurgents hit will be out of action for several days for repairs, and we can’t afford to lose another.
“Our mission for now is to clear out the remaining insurgents in this department. Capture prisoners for intel, if possible. Ensure the insurgents have no support from the other colonists, and locate and destroy any weapon caches. Sweep them out of the mining villages, so they’ll surrender or starve.”
“What are we facing?” Volkov said.
“The insurgency began with weapons stolen from the Compagnie d’Etoile, and explosives stolen from the mines. But, according to the latest Compagnie reports, they’ve since found a source of their own. They have no heavy armour or weaponry, but they’re not lacking in man-portable weapons. Or talent. They’ve been able to hurt the Compagnie badly enough to call in the Legion. We believe at least a few of them are ex-military, and the rest seem to learn fast.”
“Captain,” Chaput said, “The Compagnie was perfectly able to deal with the insurgency. They are trained, and better equipped than the insurgents. I did not ask…”
“What about the SAMs?” Volkov said.
“That’s a new one for us today. The Compagnie have never seen them used here before. But they don’t fly much. Most transport on New Strasbourg is by land, with trucks, or horses and carts. But, if the insurgents now have SAMs, it is surprising that they haven’t tried to shoot down any inter-department flights before this.”
Volkov stared at the man beside Beaufort. “Must be some aristos flying from city to city who’d make a good target.”
“Could be they only just got the SAMs. Or maybe they were keeping their new toys a secret to surprise us. So far, we don’t know.”
“How many insurgents are there?”
“Almost a hundred thousand colonists live here on New Strasbourg. Half of them are children, and nearly sixty percent of the remainder are women. So there are likely to be at most a few hundred active insurgents. But if they are able to operate so openly, many more here must support their cause.”
A hand rose in the front row.
“Why are there so many women here?”
“The mines work regular twelve hour shifts with whatever machinery the government can afford to send, and use muscles for the rest. Most of the men die young.”
Porcher put his fist to his mouth, and coughed. “To be fair, Captain, I have introduced strict safety standards to protect the men who work in the mines. Mining may once have been a dangerous activity, but today it is as safe as any other here.”
“My apologies, Governor. I must have been misinformed about the current conditions.”
A hand rose to Logan’s right.
“Who’s supplying the weapons?”
“Most of the weapons the Compagnie have captured so far were of Islamic State manufacture.”
“Do you think they’re trying to gain a foothold out here?”
That would make some kind of sense. France and the other nations of Europe had been fighting the Islamic State and its predecessors on Earth for centuries, on and off.
The Legion instructors had drilled its long history into the recruits during their training. Legionnaires had fought them many times through those centuries, and lost many men doing so. This could just be the next phase, fresh military history to be taught to new recruits in decades to come.
Hopefully, without so many dead.
“I don’t think the Islamic State is stupid enough to give its own weapons to insurgents, and hand us a very good incentive to attack them. If another power is active here, I doubt it’s them. Either way, the Navy are now protecting the wormhole. Whatever external support may have been sneaking weapons through it to the insurgents, no more will be coming to them any time soon.”
“What tactics are they using?” Volkov said.
“Mostly, ambush and run. Take a few shots, blow up an IED or two, then fade away into the local population where we can’t find them. Hide their weapons until next time, then hide among their supporters. They don’t want stand-up fights unless they’re ready for one. They want to keep hitting and killing us one by one until the government give up and call us home.”
Logan raised his arm. “Why?”
“The usual reasons. They’re light years from Paris, and say they’re working and dying to make people rich back home. They don’t seem to realize their life would be a whole lot harder without the supplies France sends to them. They’d be lucky to survive a year without our support.”
“New Strasbourg is a young world,” Porcher said. “There are no native animals living on the land, except a few bugs and worms. You could stuff yourself full of the native plants, and you’d still starve to death, because our bodies can extract so little nutrition from them. The government has invested substantial amounts of time and money in building this colony. It is our duty to repay the government and people of France for their investment. And we will.”