It had been six months since the Altair Prime Revolt erupted, and the United Earth Coalition (UEC) was slowly, though surely, taking back the mining world Altair Prime from the rebelling workers. The UEC 9th and 13th Independent Military Groups, also known as the Podolsky and Cisalpine Legions respectively, had been tasked by the UEC High Command to crush this worker’s rebellion after the undermanned Altair Prime Defense Force was surprisingly defeated.
The two legions were expected to handle this job with ease, but instead they found themselves bogged down on the planet as the rebels turned out to be more heavily armed and entrenched than intel had reported.
Even so, that wasn’t the reason for the UEC’s struggles. Nor were the legionary commanders to blame, for Colonel Scott Harrington Britannicus of the Podolsky Legion and Commander John F. ‘Jack’ Green of the Cisalpine Legion were two of the finest military leaders in Earth Space. It wasn’t an issue with the soldiers either as the men of the 9th and 13th were known for their bravery and competence.
The issue was two-fold. First was the High Command with their initial rules of engagement forbidding the use of certain things like tanks and air support. But the real problem was the commander of the Altair Prime Counter-Insurgency Task Force: Major General Tyrone Murray.
To say that Major General Murray was incompetent would be a severe understatement. And his decision-making was indeed responsible for the initial difficulties the Podolsky and Cisalpine Legions faced in the invasion. More importantly, Murray’s callousness regarding civilian lives had leaked onto the people of Altair Prime.
***
At the outskirts of Lexingtown, soldiers of the 13th were scouring the farmlands. They were looking for something to eat. Or to be more specific, they were looking for something natural to eat. Something that would have been nowhere near as disgusting as the UEC mil-rations.
Corporal Marco Icardi shook his head in frustration, his brows sweating. He looked ready to scream towards the sky.
“What’s wrong, Corporal?” Jack asked. Having been busy with communicating with the 9th, the commander of the 13th didn’t partake in the foraging.
“I can’t seem to find any food here,” responded Marco. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever found foodstuffs on this planet. All I’ve got are cash crops like tobacco, cotton… I even found some cannabis.”
The Commander grinned. “I thought you were a city boy, Icardi.”
“I was, but my gran papi was a corn farmer. He used to let me pick some of the crops for me to eat. Anyways, there’s nothing to eat here. Where are the wheat or corn or rice?”
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“There are none,” a third person answered, he was none other than Major General Murray himself. “They only plant cash crops here on Altair Prime. When the people aren’t making money by mining, they do it by farming.”
“Major General, sir” Jack said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“I go where I please, Commander.”
“But sir,” Icardi interjected, “how do the people of this planet get their food?”
“How else, Corporal?” responded Murray. “Trade. They import all their food.”
Commander Green’s eyes narrowed. “That’s just asking for trouble, if you ask me.”
“Indeed,” Murray said, smiling. “If it were up to me, I would’ve skipped the whole ground invasion and simply blockade the whole damn planet. Starve the rebels into submission. Unfortunately, the pansies at the Pyramid don’t have the gumption for that kind of thing.”
Jack grimaced. “You’d be starving 20 million people to death, sir.”
“A small price to pay, if you ask me,” Murray said.
Commander Green didn’t respond, neither did Corporal Icardi. Chilled to their bones, both men could only look to one another.
Unfortunately, the people of Altair Prime had caught wind of this conversation. As it turned out, a child of twelve had been eavesdropping. This leak of information lengthened the campaign by a few more months as civilians became less willing to cooperate with the UEC.
***
Despite the setbacks they suffered, the 9th and the 13th were able to fight their way to Karlsburg, the location of the largest rare-earth mineral mine on the planet. The mine was a huge pit, with Karlsburg City built entirely around it.
Seeing the wealth before his eyes, Commander Jack Green was disgusted. He turned to his friend Colonel Scott Harrington. “Look at that! How many credits worth are in that mine alone? Millions? Billions?”
Harrington groaned. “Not this again.”
But Jack ignored his friend. “Yet these poor miners are struggling to make a living while their employers make a killing.”
“Brother, why do you sympathize with those accursed rebels?” asked the Colonel.
“Why do you not?” the Commander countered. “These people are simply fighting for their shot at an honorable living. And we are killing them for it.”
“Need I remind you that those honorable rebels have terrorized this entire planet and killed not just our fellow soldiers but innocent civilians as well?” responded Harrington. “How many orphans and widows were made because the rebels decided that violence was the answer to their grievance?”
“They were pushed into a corner, dammit!”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”
Green’s eyes widened. “Scotty! How can you even say that?”
Harrington took a deep breath. “I understand the plight of these proletarians. Really, I do. However, they have chosen a course of action that only worsens the situation. Now, we either allow their reign of terror to continue or we stop them by force.”
“There has to be another way.”
“Jack, you know I admire your determination to avoid a no-win situation. But sometimes you can only choose the least abhorrent option.”
Before Commander Green could respond, the recently promoted Sergeant Icardi arrived. He saluted the two legionary commanders. “Pardon me, sirs. General Murray wishes to speak with you both.”
“Speaking of abhorrent,” Jack said.
Harrington groaned and shook his head. “Let’s just go, brother.”