Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) (33 page)

“Plenty of
time for that,” she replied.  “Will you be training us on these weapons
and coms systems?”

Kostovich
looked shocked.  “No.  I’ve provided very comprehensive IVR routines
for training.  I
sent
 
them
to you, I assumed you’d been
training already.”

“You
did?  I’m so sorry, I’ll look into that.  I guess I’m just a bit
practical minded.  An IVR is never quite like the real thing to me.”

“Well,” said
Kostovich, “if you like I could quickly walk you through the Enhanced
Battlefield HUD and the plasma rifle?”

“Thank you,”
said Foveaux, “I’d like that, can we make a time?”

Kostovich
tried to act like this was the most natural thing in the world to him. 
“Let me know some times that are good for you and I’ll check with my diary,” he
said, but he knew he was prepared to clear anything.

“Okay, I’ll
do that, thanks,” said Foveaux.

Kostovich
nodded toward a group of troops who had changed into their new uniforms and
were carrying plasma rifles and EBH helmets.  “They look like proper
soldiers,” he said.

Foveaux
nodded in agreement.

Foveaux
watched the strip lights on the roof of the tunnel fly past her and thought
about everything she needed to do.  Her army, such as it was, was less
than two months old.  Its main role, aside from being the de facto Martian
police force, was to keep the old USAN Army on Mars neutralized.  The MSS
was a police force without police officers and an army without an enemy. 
At least it was no longer an army without weapons.  Within days, she
hoped, it would no longer be an army without base.  She had been operating
out of one of Venkdt Security’s buildings, but it was not fit for purpose and
certainly not big enough.

The tunnel
opened out to the familiar scrubland before the gates to the garrison. 
The guards at the garrison’s gate were two of her own troops.  The
transport paused and, despite the troops obviously recognising their leader,
they dutifully went through the process of checking her bona fides via an
automated handshake process with her comdev.  “Welcome to the garrison,
Commissioner Foveaux,” a guard said, waving to her colleague who opened the
gate.  The transport proceeded into the parade ground in front of the main
garrison building.

The transport
had barely come to a stop when Captain Claudia Gibbs bounded from the main
entrance towards it.  “Commissioner Foveaux,” she was saying as Foveaux
stepped down from the transport, “it’s good to meet you in person. 
Welcome to the garrison.”

“Thank you
Captain Gibbs,” said Foveaux.  “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

“Certainly,”
said Gibbs, “come right this way.”  She led Foveaux into the building and
up the stairs to what had been Shaw’s office.  The blood had been cleaned
up but Foveaux immediately noticed the fresh plaster in the wall by the
window.  The bullet hole, which had been made in the wall rather than her
own head, had been patched over but not yet painted.  The reminder gave
her a chill but she quickly put it out of her mind.  Gibbs immediately
picked up on her discomfort.  “I’m so sorry,” she said, “I didn’t think
about that, shall we go somewhere else?”

“No, no,”
said Foveaux, “it’s fine, really.”

Gibbs looked
mortified.  “I hope you don’t think this was a stunt.  I’m so sorry,
I should have thought.”

“Really,
it’s
fine,” said Foveaux, sitting down.

“Can I get
you anything?  Tea?  Coffee?”

“Water would
be fine,” said Foveaux.  Gibbs tapped her terminal.

“I’m so glad
you’ve come over.  The way I see this whole thing is that we need to work
together.  I mean, obviously, there’s a big disagreement here, and we’re
in the middle of it, but I still think we can handle this together without
things getting out of hand.  Let the politicians think what they think;
we’re the ones at the tight end and I think we can rub along together just fine
until this thing is sorted out.”

Foveaux took
a bottle of water off the droid that had entered the room.  It carried on
to Gibbs, who took a steaming mug of black coffee and set it on her desk. 
“I’m glad you see it that way,” said Foveaux, “I’m thinking along similar lines
myself.  In fact, that’s what I’ve come here to discuss.”  She took a
swig from the bottle.

“Do go on,”
said Gibbs.

“Well,” said
Foveaux, “strictly speaking Martian forces are in command here.  We have
Shaw and Edley under house arrest, and you and your troops in pretty much the
same position.”

Gibbs nodded
philosophically.  “I guess that’s true,” she said.

“That works
for me tactically, but there are still some other things I need from you.”

Gibbs was troubled
by the words but she covered it well.  She thought the stand-off
position was a good place to be in.  She was happy to be in command of a
neutralized battalion.  She knew that under the terms of the surrender she
could no longer respond to any gung-ho orders from politicians or
generals a hundred and forty million miles behind her, and her force had been
stripped of arms.  To her, the current position worked well for all
sides.  Now it sounded like Foveaux wanted to mess with the balance. 
These thoughts all flashed through her head at once, but instead of grimacing
she smiled sweetly and said, “Of course, how can we help?”

“One thing I
don’t have and really need,” said Foveaux, gesturing with both hands, “is a
garrison.  We’re currently based in one of Venkdt Security’s
buildings.  We have the offer of an old warehouse on the edge of town; I
don’t much fancy that either.  I’m trying to put together an army and
would like for it to be based here.”

Gibbs knew
that she didn’t have anything to negotiate with.  In fact the entire
meeting was a charade.  Foveaux could, if she wished, simply order her
out.  She decided to play along with it.  At least that way she could
leave with dignity.  “I see,” she said, “that does make a lot of sense.”

“What I was
thinking,” said Foveaux, “is that you could move your troops out to the
warehouse, and I could move my troops in here.  Does that sound reasonable
to you?”

‘
Of course
not
,’ thought Gibbs.  “Yes, that sounds like a reasonable
arrangement,” she said.

“That’s great,”
said Foveaux, “I’ll have one of the assistant commissioners come over right
away to arrange the details.”

“Yes, do
that,” said Gibbs.

“One other
thing,” said Foveaux.

“Yes?”

“I’d like to
offer any of your people who would like to accept it a role in the MSS. 
You’ve been performing this role much longer than we have and your experience
and advice would be invaluable.”

Gibbs
nodded.  “I see,” she said.  “Of course, for any USAN troops to
volunteer for the MSS they would be committing treason.  You understand
that?”

“I suppose,”
said Foveaux.  “Would you like us to handle it from our end?”

Gibbs looked
distinctly uncomfortable.  “Commissioner, we can’t really have anything to
do with that.  Do you really think it’s a good idea?  We have a
comfortable situation at the moment.  If you start asking people to switch
sides
things might turn very ugly.  Families,
friends feeling betrayed.  I really don’t think it’s a good idea, and I
certainly can’t be a party to it.”

Foveaux
nodded.  “I understand.  I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Well, we’re
reasonable people,” said Gibbs, “that’s why we have these discussions; to
figure out those sorts of things.  Thank you for understanding.”

“No problem,”
said Foveaux.  “We won’t ask for volunteers until you’re settled into the
new facilities.”

Gibbs forced
a smile.  She didn’t like it one bit, but she wasn’t in a position to
argue.

The warehouse
facility was barely suitable as a base for two hundred troops.  Under
Gibbs’ supervision they had requested and received building materials. 
The warehouse itself, apart from a single office high up on one side, was
basically a huge empty box.  Gibbs’ plan was to build a two storey
structure on one side of the warehouse.  There would be a space in front
of the building, much like the parade ground at the old garrison but far
smaller.  The new building would house the refectory, day room and living
quarters.  Gibbs had elected to make the overseeing office hers.  She
would have a view across the parade ground to the quarters beyond.

The two
access points to the warehouse were below her office.  They were large
gates leading directly to tunnels, connected to the main Martian road-tunnel
network.  They were guarded by MSS forces, four troops either side of both
gates.  As soon as she received
them
Maya planned
to position two armoured troop carriers in the tunnels, too.  She didn’t
expect trouble from the USAN forces but she wasn’t taking anything for granted.

As well as
being necessary, the work on the new garrison buildings in the warehouse gave
Gibbs’ troops something to do.  They had been at work for six days and the
outline of what was going to be was taking shape.  The floor plan was
clearly visible and some of the ground floor walls were already in place. 
Scaffolding reached ambitiously upwards, and it was possible to imagine what
the finished building might look like.

Gibbs was
looking out of her window, satisfied that the troops were occupied and that the
building of their own accommodation would give them sufficient ownership over
it to make up for the fact that they had been evicted from their true
home.  She even thought they might be enjoying the task, hard as it was.

She heard one
of the huge gates clanking as it sank into the ground and assumed it was
another truckload of building materials.  She was surprised to see one of
the MSS’s transports rolling in.  She saw Maya and Assistant Commissioner
Matthias Schroeder step down from the cab.  She watched with rising alarm
as they walked to the front of the building project.  Schroeder looked
like he had something in his hand.  She couldn’t make out what it was
until he lifted it to his mouth and began to speak.  She hurriedly opened
one of the windows in her office to hear what he was saying.

“Soldiers of
the USAN.  You are all aware of the recent change in status of the planet
Mars.  Until recently you had been charged with keeping order on our great
planet.  That proud duty has now fallen to the Martian Security Service,
the MSS, of which I am assistant commissioner.  Commissioner Foveaux and I
would like to offer all of you the opportunity to serve in the MSS.  Your
knowledge and experience will be invaluable to us.  We understand that
taking up this offer will present you with significant difficulties. 
You’ve all sworn an oath to the USAN, which you would necessarily have to break
in order to join us.

“We are
living through turbulent times, and at such times it can be difficult to see
things clearly and understand what is really happening.  Mars is now an
independent planet.  That is a plain fact, and will not change.  It
will take some time for our former colonial masters to come to terms with that
fact, and until then they may view some of our actions through a distorting
lens, seeing them very differently to how they actually are.  We are not
asking you to become traitors to the country to which you have sworn an
oath.  We have dissolved your unit.  We do not regard you as an alien
or enemy force.  For us, you are welcome guests on our planet.  As
part of our courtesy towards you, we offer you the opportunity to join with us
and help us forge the MSS.”

Gibbs glanced
to the microphone hanging from a hook next to the window.  It was
connected to loudhailers on the roof of her office.  She thought about
grabbing it and screaming, ‘
If any one of you dog-faces steps forward
I’ll have you thrown in the stockade and court-martialled to within an
inch of your lives
.’  But then she thought about the conversation
she’d had with Foveaux and knew she couldn’t afford to antagonise the Martians. 
On top of that, the troops hadn’t even got round to building the new stockade
yet.  Her hand physically twitched as she looked at the mic, but she let
it go and carried on listening.

“If any of
you would like to join us as officers of the MSS on pay equal to current MSS
officers
, please step forward now.  We can take you
immediately to the garrison - your old garrison - and
induct you into our new service.  If any of you would like further time to
think this offer over you can contact either myself or Commissioner Foveaux for
further details or for an informal chat.  We will be leaving in the next
thirty minutes.  If any of you would like to come along with us please
know that your help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you”

Schroeder
dropped the loudhailer to his side and took a few steps until he was beside
Foveaux.  He leant in and spoke to her.  Gibbs scanned the building
site opposite.  The men and women there had been working until five
minutes ago, carrying, lifting and bolting.  Now they had coalesced into
little groups and seemed to be debating.  She saw that some groups quickly
finished their debate and went back to work, while others seemed to carry on
discussing.  In a couple of groups the discussion seemed quite heated,
with fingers jabbing and wild gesticulation.  She saw, in some places, her
troops leave their work and disappear toward the region where their kit bags
and equipment were temporarily stored.