Benjamin Gold

Location: CCIWS Stakeholder’s Views, Contested System, Unaligned Space

“Shit on a stick.”

“What was that?” Ben asked, surprised to hear the words out of his communications officer.

“Sorry, sir,” the officer cleared their throat. “We just got word that our position at the settlement was overrun. I heard shooting in the background, and then everything went dead; like they destroyed their equipment.”

“That’s standard procedure to keep our tech and encryption software out of enemy hands,” Ben sighed.

A1 might be in orbit, and they might have taken down that Spyder, but they were too late.

he doesn’t let his bridge crew see him mentally scratching his head and looking for a way out of this mess. It didn’t take him long to think of something. It was a long shot, with probable no chance of working, but it was worth it.

Lots of people had died in the last twenty-four hours that could have been avoided if Red Tides had just respected the Commonwealth’s claim.

“Get the shuttle and my security team ready. I’m going down to the surface,” he ordered.

That brought everything on the bridge to a screeching halt.

“Sir, I advise against,” the Gunnery NCO started, but Ben held up a hand.

“I put those marines in this position, and who knows how many of them died. It’s my responsibility to get as many of these people safely home.” It sounded way less like a holo ra-ra speech in his head, but it was too late to take it back, and his intentions were pure.

If he could get these people out safely, it was worth a shot. That’s why, ten minutes later, he was bumping through atmosphere with four marines strapped in around him. He had access to the external cameras, and he watched the sensor readout while they plummeted along the flightpath. They’d only shot down the one Spyder, but there could always be more. So far, the Confederation’s assault shuttles hadn’t gone up against the Spyders, and he didn’t want to be a test case; so he kept a close eyes on the readings.

It was only a fifteen-minute ride down from orbit to a safe LZ. They’d have to hike a few klicks to the camp. The shuttle would settle into an overwatch position to make sure the MOUNT units they’d spotted on the sensors wouldn’t be able to drop indirect fire all over them.

There were about a million ways this thing could end with him dead with a capital D. That would righteously piss of Jacobi. He’d barely had any time at all alone with his wife, and getting killed was a sure way to piss her off. He had no doubt she could pull some medical miracle, bring him back, just so she could kill him herself.

He put the thoughts of his wife aside as the shuttle rear ramp opened up and he tromped down with his guard. The marines looked like killing machines next to his simple armored vest. He had a pistol on his hip, and a collapsible submachine gun magnetized to his back. He knew, deep down, if this went to shit, he stood no chance going up against any type of infantry; Commonwealth or Confederation.

The marines knew that too, and they’d packed an extra shield generator, which one lucky corporal got to lug the next few kilometers. That would buy him a few extra moments of life if this failed.

he told himself to stop focusing on the negative, and prep for what was coming.

He had some intrgalactic diplomacy to conduct.

***

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Mark “Coop” Cooper

Location: Unnamed Planet, Contested System, Unaligned Space

Rounding up the prisoners, managing the civilians, and looking for intel took most of the remaining grunts to accomplish, which meant Coop and the SGT were on perimeter duty. With the Spyder down, the LT and NCOIC were taking inventory of not only the remaining Commonwealth gear, but anything they could cross load from the Confeds. So far, the answer was quite a bit.

Apparently, the Confeds liked to have interchangeable gear. Coop applauded the ingenuity. The Commonwealth and Blockies got their panties in a bunch about weapons, ammunition, and the likes. They all needed to have their own, unique stuff that the enemy couldn’t turn against them. To a soldier on the ground, hungry, without commo, and out of ammo; the reasons were total bullshit. A gun was a gun. Bullets were bullets. Whatever worked was fine with him. That looked to be the Confed point of view as well.

he sighed.

Eight marines had surrendered relatively unharmed, when it became clear they couldn’t hold the building. There were another two that were more seriously injured, but thankfully, a bunch of the civilians were doctors. Mostly PhDs, but there were a few MDs there that were dusting off their physician skills after a few decades of non-use, with a healthy assist from their IORs.

There were more than thirty civilians, and if anything, they were a bigger headache than the marines. The head civvy kept yacking about something or other to the LT, like he didn’t even register that a battle had just been fought, and his side lost.

you couldn’t pay Coop enough to deal with that asshole. He’d rather chill here on the perimeter scanning for anything that might sneak up on them. That’s what he expected of the Confed’s counterattack.

He never expected them to walk right up to them broadcasting in the clear. ‘Right up to them’ was a relative term. Five Confeds came to within five hundred meters of the settlement, waving a legit white flag.

“They could be trying to get intel on our situation here,” the NCOIC was probably right.

The second the marines were disarmed, the civilians processed, and inventory was underway, and available troops were sent to work on repairing entrenchments. It wasn’t going to be too long before the grunts were on the opposite end of the assault. Since the defense had worked so well last time, there was no need to fix what wasn’t broken. They just needed to replace some equipment, and make the place look like it hadn’t been blown to hell. Machines would do most of the work, but people had to manage them.

All that work had ground to a halt when the Confed showed up. The LT wanted to keep his force’s strength and disposition as secret as possible. It was kind of hard with the Confed shuttle on overwatch, but Coop commended the LT’s effort.

“They’re squawking a captain’s code, so I’ll go,” the LT decided. “You keep everyone in line here, sergeant,” he turned to the NCOIC. “Get me three volunteers, and they’ll join me and chief.”

As far as intimidation tactics went, having Coop ride shotgun was the best way to do it. He could take out the four marines and officer easy peasy. With his entourage set, the LT walked out to meet the enemy.

Coop didn’t listen to the introductions, he already knew the officer.

“Good to see you again, Coop,” Benjamin Gold gave Coop a smile. “It’s been a while.”

The LT wouldn’t help but look surprised.

“We served together on a gunship,” Coop relayed. “Looks like the split has worked out well for you, captain. Nice bump up in life.”

Ben shrugged. “I don’t want this to get any more out of hand than it already has.”

“A little late for that,” Coop gestured at the battlefield around them. “Kind of too late for take backs.”

“But we don’t have to go any further,” Ben continued. “Your battleship left you. It’ll be at least two days, maybe more before you get reinforced. Do you really want to keep fighting and dying before anyone can get here?”

“My orders are to hold my ground here,” the LT recaptured Ben’s attention.

“I understand,” Ben replied. “But we’ve got more than a battalion’s worth of troops that will come to take our people back. You’ve got a short company. This doesn’t end well.”

The LT’s jaw clenched in frustration. It wasn’t any secret they couldn’t hold this position.

“You’re a good man, Coop. My father has a standing order that if you’re encountered to offer you a spot in the Confederation. We could use good men like you.”

“Well, hell, that’s some diabolical shit, sir,” Coop replied, wary of the eyes on him. “You’ve been here five seconds and you’re sowing discord in the ranks. Tell Papa Gold I’m good.”

Ben held up his hands in surrender, but the damage was already done. The LT now knew that he’d served with a Confed officer, and a Gold at that. Even worse, Coop had an out that none of the other Commonwealth soldiers did. That was less motivation for him to fight in the battle to come. Coop had just gone from a precious asset to a potential liability.

“Think about it,” Gold started to walk away with his guards. “I’ll give you a two hours ceasefire to think it over, lieutenant.”

Conversation over, the Confed delegation walked until they’d put the mountain between them and Coop. The LT didn’t say anything, he just turned and marched back toward camp. By the time they’d arrived, Coop’s access to the Commonwealth command net was revoked.

he wanted to chew the LT out, but he couldn’t; that would put him in an even worse position.

Now, he just got to go into the next fight deaf, dumb, and blind. That was fucking fantastic.