Prime Minister Thomas Gratton had a guest. But first he read the report on the police raid on the safe house.
Colonel Carl Graham sat in the office and was a mercenary and founder of the Military Assistance Corporation of Xenophon. Colonel Graham was supposed to help the government of Kennedy with the Freyans.
Colonel Graham remembered his prior visit to Freya to sell his services as a mercenary.
He’d arrived on Freya in the first week of February and checked into a hotel in one of the suburbs of Landfall. But he had to wait a full local day for the scheduled meeting with the defense secretary as all local government offices were closed on what would’ve been a normal business day.
Why was this? He thought at the time. Is it a national holiday?
Graham left the hotel early for the meeting and hailed one of the taxicabs waiting at the cab stand. It was a Ford Galaxy sedan that had seen service as a police car and was now painted in the company colors of red and white. The driver appeared to be entering middle age with glasses, a mustache, and a fringe of blond hair. The driver wore his old style stainless steel M1911A1 in a shoulder holster.
The driver asked a question.
“Where to, sir?”
“The Planetary Government Center in Landfall.”
“There’re multiple buildings on the site,” said the driver, “so what department are you visiting?”
Graham answered.
“The Department of Planetary Security.”
“Okay.” The driver replied.
The driver switched on the meter and electric motors hummed as the cab pulled away from the hotel. But something about the way the driver responded to him seemed a bit odd to Graham. It was as if he were speaking with a long term veteran soldier.
“Is there a problem?” He asked the driver.
“No sir, it’s just that the Founders wanted to call it the War Department, but the groundhogs wouldn’t allow it.”
Graham responded.
“The Federation authorities?”
“Yes.” The driver replied.
And then the driver asked his own question.
“Are you a writer, sir?”
“Yes.” He replied. “Of military theory for the most part, like works such as On War by Clausewitz.”
The driver’s response was a surprise to him.
“Vom Kriege by General Karl Maria Von Clausewitz.” He said. “I tried several times to read the complete Standard English edition and the damned thing always put me to sleep.”
“Well military theory isn’t for everyone.” Graham curtly replied.
The driver quickly and clearly responded.
“The thing is that Clausewitz began to write at a time when Kant was barely cold in the ground and Hegel had just started his emissions. At that time the intellectual culture in Germany was already in deep trouble with clarity and brevity already going out of style.”
Graham hadn’t expected a lecture on intellectual history from a common working man.
But he responded.
“I wrote a book on military doctrine titled Future Forces: Organization and Doctrine.”
“I’ve read it.” Said the driver.
“So how do you feel about it?”
“I think Colonel Gromov wrote a fairly good review of it. He clearly understood how the citizens out here on the colony worlds would respond to an invasion by your Future Force but didn’t explain why colonists would resist.”
Graham sneered.
“Gromov, that moron.”
The driver solidly interrupted the sneer.
“I served with him when he was a battalion commander in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we don’t give out Sky Blue Berets as promotional items, even to West Point graduates.”
“So you were in the Quarantine Force and then retired out here?”
“No.” The driver replied. “I enlisted here and served on Earth.”
“Why?”
The driver smiled before answering.
“Because that’s where the enemy combatants are.”
Graham thought for a moment and then spoke again.
“So you feel that the Quarantine Force are all true warriors?”
“Hell no!” The driver suddenly snapped back. “The goal of every warrior is to impose his will upon his victims. And our mission in the Quarantine Force is to hunt down and kill warriors.”
Present tense. Graham thought. He spoke with hostility in the present tense.
Graham was now concerned for his own safety.
Is there a round in the chamber of his gun? Graham thought.
The cab then entered the main drive of the Planetary Government Center and stopped in front of the DPS Building. Graham paid the fare in cash and without a gratuity.
Colonel Carl Graham, the founder of the Military Assistance Corporation of Xenophon, found out during his meeting in Landfall that Freyans hated mercenaries. Someone claiming to be an Objectivist objected to founding of the Quarantine Force.
In the office Colonel Graham read the report on what Freyans could do and then he spoke to the Prime Minister.
“One of the things that was pounded into our heads at West Point was that ‘It really helps when the enemy is being stupid.’ Your government on this planet has been stupid. We can stop the Freyans when they get here, but it’ll be a bloody mess.”
Prime Minister Thomas Gratton replied.
“I’m just following the orders of the archbishop.”
Colonel Graham spoke back to the Prime Minister.
“Another thing we learned at West Point was that there’s no such thing as a valid excuse.”
“That’s not an excuse!” Gratton replied. “That’s a fact!”
“‘Reality is real’ as the Randroids used to say.” Colonel Graham answered.
There was a speech made in a public square in the center of New Boston. The speaker was a man with glasses and a fringe of blond hair who’d been recently fired as a security guard from the New Boston general hospital.
“Our ancestors were dumped on this planet by the founders of The Federation. That’s right, our ancestors didn’t come here voluntarily. Then our ancestors lost control of the world they were dumped on. Some of our progressive ancestors were of Boston and New York Irish extraction, as a result some members of the Irish diaspora came here. Then our ancestors lost political control of this world to a bunch of people who couldn’t pass a Turing test if they cheated on it.”
Some New Boston police officers fired on the speaker and some members of the crowd of people gathered to hear him.
The next morning Prime Minister Thomas Gratton read a report on what was being called the New Boston massacre by the media.
We’re losing control. An uprising is happening. Prime Minister Gtatton thought. Does the archbishop understand this?
In the afternoon he had a meeting with ambassador from the planet March. His basic message was that diplomatic relations between the planets were being cut off.
“Why?” Asked Prime Minister Gratton.
“You’ve broken several of the basic laws of Humanity.” replied the former foreign minister Cross. “And you’ll pay the price for them, we’ll not be here when you do.”
The embassy of the planet March left the planet Kennedy.
Before diplomatic relations with March were terminated George Cross made one final visit to his family on Kennedy. His last stop on the trip was in the home of Prime Minister Thomas Gratton.
In the kitchen Cross spoke.
“Randians, and Freyans are no exception, regard all religions without exception as pure nonsense and all prophets as being false. There aren’t any churches or temples on Freya, not even storefronts. What’s more likely, the overturning of the natural order, or that a young woman in a primitive society would tell a lie? Islam is openly practiced in only two places, The State of Israel and the planet Masada. Islam is practiced elsewhere under heavy restriction or openly suppressed by the Quarantine Force. The city of Mecca and the Kaaba have been erased from the face of the Earth. One of the reasons many worlds were granted independence by The Federation in the late Twenty Second Century was that the authorities believed that the Yellowstone Supervolcano was about to erupt. It didn’t erupt, but The Federation authorities granted independence anyway. One of the problems I had as foreign minister was apologizing for the actions of the government. Has anyone in the cabinet ever asked if they were the actual bad guys? Actions have consequences. The planet Kennedy will pay those consequences. The Freyans will always answer force with force. Freyans also insist on being contrary, they’re the only people in the known universe to allow Stairway To Heaven to be played in their guitar stores.”
“Really?” Asked Prime Minister Gratton.
“Yes, really.” Replied George Cross.
The perpetrators of the New Boston massacre were tried and acquitted. Then subsequently Police Captain Eric Merrill, one of the perpetrators of the New Boston massacre, was assassinated. The words “A is A” were found spray painted at the snipers position.
In the government center in New Boston, the minister for religion, Bishop Paul Clark, walked into the prime ministers outer office. The bishop spoke to the secretary and asked a question.
“Is the prime minister in?”
“Yes, your holiness.” The secretary replied.
The bishop walked the main office and sat down. Prime Minister Gratton was standing and looking out the picture window that overlooked the downtown basilica. The prime minister spoke.
“I’ve lost another foreign minister. The last thing he asked before resigning was ‘are we the bad guys?’”
Evelyn Stone once said that revolutions and civil wars happen because the rulers are being stupid. Thought the prime minister. Are we being stupid?
Multiple worlds had terminated diplomatic relations with the planet Kennedy.
The minister for religion replied.
“Of course not, we’re the righteous. The Freyans will be stopped.”
The prime minister spoke.
“The Federation won’t stop them. The Pope himself went to the federal capital in Omaha and begged for an intervention. The president refused.” Gratton replied.
The minister for religion replied.
“God himself will stop that Godless filth. God is on our side.”
In a safe house several Freyans were watching Ice Station Zebra a movie about a confrontation on the northern ice pack between the Americans and Soviets involving a nuclear submarine.
Judith Stern spoke.
“Of course Rock Hudson is an actor, all he ever played were straight guys.”
Corporal Diaz replied.
“You’ve quoted Evelyn Stone.”
“Of course I have.” Said Judith.
While the frigate was in the high guard position during refueling at a gas giant the commander of the Freyan task force, Commodore Lilith Keller, held an inspection and had dinner aboard the RFS Loan. Commodore Keller transferred from the flagship RFS Evelyn Stone with a cutter and stepped though the starboard airlock of the ship. Commodore Keller wore a nametape with the name Keller embroidered with yellow thread above the right pocket of her dark blue shipboard jumpsuit and she wore a nametape with the words R.F. NAVY embroidered above the left pocket. Commodore Keller didn’t wear any ribbons as at this time she only earned commodation medals. Commodore Keller did wear the badge of the SURFace Extravehiclar Reconnaissance team, the Freyan navy SURFER team, which was the equivalent of the old American navy SEAL team. The main course of the dinner was fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli and roasted chicken with the desert being Chocolate Marshmallow ice cream. There was a discussion of history during dinner.
“We think of Washington as a beautiful city. Apart from the hills the site the city was built on what was basically a swamp out in the middle of nowhere. Which tells us what the founders of the American republic really thought of the national government. Evelyn Stone a serious disagreement with Christopher Hitchens,” said Commodore Keller, “he wouldn’t have bothered to call a cab if someone in holy orders showed up at his front door to see a child. And Stone also disagreed with Hitchens in not calling those who opposed him as Fascists.”
Commander Glasgow asked a question.
“Why do we have to go on this mission?”
Commodore Keller answered the question.
“Because most politicians are concerned with three things, getting elected, getting reelected, and getting laid. If he does the correct thing Thomas Gratton won’t get reelected, so we must resort to force.”
Commodore Keller had other things to say.
“Believers of evil doctrines believe they’re good people. Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, were ordinary men, it’s the followers that gave them power, and most of them believed they were good people. It's easy to refute someone when they insist on being wrong. All one has to do is tell the truth but someone can't refute anyone when the other person insists on being right. That's why the partisans of tyranny always advocate censorship. Tyrannical states always fail.”
Commodore Keller had one last thing to say during dinner.
“Those who value power will go to war to get it. To those who value power over all else, no act is too depraved and no bodycount is too high. Those who make war on us will die, it’s that simple.”
There were two more assassinations. Two police sergeants who participated in the New Boston Massacre were shot by sniping by the locals. The words “A is A” were found spray painted at both of the snipers position.
There’s a revolt and we’re losing control. Thought Prime Minister Thomas Gratton.
Prior to her kidnap by the state Judith Stern had only fired twenty two caliber guns and an Ishapore 2A1, which was the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark 3* chambered in the 7.62 x 51 millimeter NATO round and made in a Indian arsenal. Judith never used a Marine ACR until the New Boston police tried to place them under arrest at a safe house.
In New Boston an aide, a junior officer in the Kennedy Space Guard, spoke to Colonel Graham.
“The Freyans are here. There are numerous flashes of light a million kilometers away from the planet.”
Graham had brought forty five fighter spacecraft from Xenophon. Three squadrons of basic fighters to face the Freyan navy along with the Space Guard cutters. Colonel Graham spoke.
“Launch the cutters and fighters.”
Colonel Graham also brought a regular lift infantry brigade from the army of Null to descend on the Freyans when they landed on the planet. The planet Null in the Procyon system was originally named for the civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Junior. After the planet was granted independence by The Federation the name was changed to Null, after Lawrence Null, the last Jackass president legitimately elected before The Reformation. The uniforms and rank insignia of the army of Null were derived from those used by the Null Boys during The Reformation.
Like most Racial Collectivists the brigade from Null murdered those they thought of racially inferior. One of the tactics they used was in imitation of the Einsazgruppen on the Ostfront. All the men and teenage boys were shot, with the women and children were stuffed into wooden buildings. Then the buildings were set on fire. Those murders were retaliated for by the local resistance.
A First Sergeant from Null shouted to the men in his company as a response.
“Let’s go out and kill some Crackers!”
There was the assassination of numerous ground pounders from Null by the local resistance. The infantrymen from the planet Null were seen as off world occupiers, this resulted in an ongoing race war on Kennedy.
It took the better part of an hour for the fleet to emerge from hyperspace. The fleet generally took the form of a sphere, with the escorts on the outside and the Marine transports with the carrier on the inside. On the bridge of the carrier RFS Evelyn Stone Commodore Keller spoke.
“The type two weapons remain on the ships. Launch the fighters.”
The type two weapon was a missile that had a five kiloton boosted fission warhead. Including the Marines there were 60 fighters on the RFS Evelyn Stone. The carrier was an unstreamlined ship and the fighters launched directly into space. The fighters of the Kurnass model were 196 cubic meters in volume and had a two man crew with six missiles and a laser cannon.
Commodore Keller on her command deck watched as the Freyan fleet jumped into the Alpha Centauri system and her fighters launched.
Aboard the main Marine transport the Colonel in command of the Marines spoke.
“The rough part begins now.” Said Marine Colonel Al Klein as he and his staff boarded the landing boat.
Colonel Graham had combat experience. For Colonel Graham the operation on the planet Vance had gone off without flaw and with no casualties for his men. The objective of this operation was a small mining town on one the minor outer colony worlds.
Vance was a barely habitable and tidally locked moon of a Jovian class gas giant that in turn orbited a red dwarf star. The initial settlement had served as a way station for the exploration and colonization of better worlds further out from Earth. But a more detailed survey of the world had found recoverable minerals in the platinum group and a rare earth element used in the manufacture of hyperdrives.
The world was named for John Vance, an Australian astronaut employed by the Martian Relocation Project. Although the Martian Relocation Project had set up their own outpost on this world they also opened it to settlement by dissident groups from Earth. What made the military operation possible was the fact that not all of the settlements had joined the newly independent central government. But for Colonel Graham this action was also a step forward in the recovery from two disasters. The minor and most recent was the defeat of the unit that left him with a bit less than three hundred effective soldiers out of was once a first class mercenary regiment.
The first part of operation was a night march through the forest bordering Federal Republic of Vance and the dissident colony of Vermillion. The march to the objective was illuminated by the reflected light of the gas giant planet that was permanently fixed on the southern horizon. The objective of the operation was the town of Runoff and the mining sites surrounding it. Which was a cluster of homes, small businesses, and offices. Very few of the people were awake at the time and once the mercenaries were in position their unit simply walked in and seized the town.
With the streets, the government buildings, and the local militia armory of the town secured Graham ordered the transmission to the client of the code for the successful mission. But as Graham waited for arrival of the sponsors there was unfinished business to be dealt with.
Graham sat at the official desk as the Mayor of Runoff was dragged in. The Mayor was barefoot, unshaven, and hastily dressed. He looked around the room and shook his head before speaking to his captor.
“So you think you’re special?”
“We’re professional soldiers.”
“You’re only criminals.” The Mayor replied. “Did you kill anyone yet?”
“No.” Graham replied.
There was no resistance from the police or any of the civilians that were awake.
So much for the sea of armed civilians. Graham thought.
The Mayor looked directly at Graham and spoke.
“Then if you leave right now and cross the border back into Vermillion you and your unit may yet get away.”
Graham mentally dismissed the statement and placed a document on the desk before the Mayor.
“Sign it.” Said Graham.
The Mayor briefly scanned it and then replied.
“No.” Said the Mayor. “You’re nothing, you have no authority and thus no power over any of us.”
Graham stared at the Mayor for a moment.
How can he say that? He thought.
“I can have you shot.” Graham replied.
The Mayor looked Graham straight in the eyes and then calmly replied.
“I’m sure you could, in that case you’ll actually become something, it would only be a diseased animal that should be put down quickly.”
Graham could not believe what he had just heard.
Is he insane? Graham thought.
The Mayor spoke again.
“Now you should lay down your arms, go home, grow up, and get a life.”
For Graham and his men this wasn’t possible, there wasn’t any place they could call a home. With the refusal to sign the surrender document Graham sent the Mayor downstairs to the town jail with the police officers that were on duty and other elected officials.
In the afternoon a grav vehicle arrived in the town with two well dressed civilians. The first man represented the sponsor of the operation, the Superior Mining Company, and the other was a civilian officer of the “official” central government of the planet. Superior Mining Company originated on the Iron Range of Minnesota in the late 19th Century and the firm had barely survived into the Interstellar Era. But under new management the firm would expand again by exploiting the resources found on the colony worlds and shipping them back to Earth. At the same time the Federal Army of the planet Vance arrived on scene.
The commander of the army spoke to Colonel Graham.
“You believe that we won’t fight because you’re holding something valuable?”
“Right.” Replied Colonel Graham.
The Federal Army of Vance had retaken the town of Runoff by force. Colonel Graham and the survivors of the regiment and crossed the border back into Vermillion. The Federal Army then unified the planet by force. The Federal Republic of Vance later joined the Ursa Major Confederation.
Carl Graham was now wanted by the Freyans on Kennedy and he had no choice but to fight.
As the Freyan relief fleet transited to the planet Kennedy a diplomatic ship jumped to Earth. James March was met at Phoenix Starport by Beth Adams and spoke.
“You’re it.” He said to Beth.
“What?” She responded.
March spoke to Beth.
“You’ve been confirmed by the Senate as permanent ambassador to the Federation, I’m to be your second.”
Freyans, like most Randians, were rational people. Freyans could also be emotional. James March would eventually marry Beth Adams. For the time being at the starport they hugged.
A merchant ship jumped from Alpha Centauri B to the Solar System. Doctor Fuller finished her internship on Kennedy. She had enough of the insanity that ruled the planet Kennedy. She obtained a position in the Emergency Room at the Abbot-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis north of Lake Street. The Twin Cities in Minnesota existed because the natural upper limit of navigation on the Mississippi River was near downtown Saint Paul. With the main source of water power, the Saint Anthony Falls, near to downtown Minneapolis. An archbishop attempted to merge the Twin Cities and bought property for the Catholic Church in the Midway area of Saint Paul.
Another merchant ship jumped from Alpha Centauri B to the Solar System. Prime Minister Thomas Gratton placed his wife and two sons on the ship to Earth.
Douglas Green was a governmental lawyer and traveled a lot. The front page of the London Times proclaimed that the Freyans had dropped into the Alpha Centauri system off the planet Kennedy and were using nuclear weapons. Even though the action was 4.27 light years away and a week ago, Green was now unemployed. His first job interview was in a pub just off of Trafalgar Square. The interview was with a junior member of the committee and she was Diana Windsor, a blonde woman in her thirties.
She spoke.
“Stone used to indulge his love of cheeseburgers at a restaurant in the southern part of Edina in Minnesota.”
Green responded.
“Stone celebrated the alleged discovery of cold fusion by taking some friends to that restaurant.”
“I need a job.” Green said.
“What can you do?” Windsor asked.
“I fix things.” Green answered.
Green got a job with the committee.
When the Freyans arrived Prime Minister Gratton witnessed a glowing mushroom cloud rising over the starport. The brigade, battalion, and company headquarters of the brigade from Null also each received a nuke. On live television the bodies of the archbishop with two senior nuns were hung upside down at a methanol and recharging station in New Boston. Also on live television there was the image of the downtown basilica in New Boston on fire.
Bishop Paul Clark was placed under arrest by Marine Sergeant Major Emil Hastings.
Marine Sergeant Major Hastings shouted.
“Marines! Place Clark under arrest!”
Two Marine sergeants charged at Clark. As he was knocked down to the ground Marine Sergeant Major Hastings stepped over to him and spoke.
“Paul Clark, you’re under arrest for the crime of kidnaping a minor, this is a capital offense. You have the right to remain silent and the right to counsel. And if you can’t afford one then an attorney then one will be provided for you. Do you understand?”
Clark shouted.
“YOU’LL BURN IN HELL FOR THIS!”
Marine Sergeant Major Hastings responded.
“Absolutely no way, asshole. Let’s go.”
The Marine sergeants handcuffed and picked Clark up off the ground and followed Marine Sergeant Major Hastings to a detention area.
Prime Minister Gratton was also placed under arrest by the Freyan Marines. Freyan Marines landed in front of the safe house that Judith Stern and the Marines that rescued her were staying.
A charred human form crawled out of the ruins of the starport.
Colonel Graham in his command post witnessed as the Freyan fleet jumped into the Alpha Centauri system. Colonel Graham in his command post saw as his fighters and space guard cutters lift off. Colonel Graham in his command post watched as his fighters and space guard cutters were vaporized by the Freyan navy. Colonel Graham in his command post watched as the Freyan navy task force transited to the planet and launched a spread of missiles. The spaceport was one of sites on the planet that was nuked.
Colonel Graham ultimately died from his burns.
President Veronica Sterling of the Freyan Republic watched from her office in the presidential residence as 10 Ursae Majoris B set on the horizon.
Are we the bad guys in objective reality? She thought.
Freyans in general, and her ancestors like Evelyn, often asked themselves this question. There’s never been a record of any member of Center of Eternal Truth asking themselves this question. Eternals thought of themselves as superior and infallible beings, but they ultimately failed in the end.
The refusal to ask this question has led to much bloodshed. President Sterling thought. The refusal to question ones own beliefs has led many people to become monsters.
On the command deck of the RFS Evelyn Stone a staff officer ranked as a Navy Captain spoke.
“The Marines have boarded. The recovery teams and our special passenger have also boarded and our prisoners are in cryosleep.”
“Break orbit and go home.” Commodore Keller said.
“Aye, aye, ma’am.” The staff officer replied.
Last week Sergeant Morrison was a member of the planetary defence forces. This week Sergeant Morrison was a member of the resistance.
“There’re some infantrymen from Null in those woods!” Another member of the resistance said as he pointed to a set of woods.
“You want me to drop mortar shells on them?” Sergeant Morrison replied.
“Yes.” The resister answered.
Sergeant Morrison was the head of a mortar platoon of the resistance.
“Set up the mortars!” Sergeant Morrison ordered his platoon.
The former civilians that made up the members of his platoon set up four 81 millimeter mortars.
“We’re ready, sir!” A mortar man shouted.
“Drop rounds on those woods!” Sergeant Morrison shouted and pointed.
The mortar men dropped two rounds down each barrel. The infantrymen from Null stopped firing.
“It looks like the grunts from Null stopped firing.” Said Sergeant Morrison.
“Right.” The Resistance Battalion commander replied.
“Let’s go forward.” He said.
A new constitution of the planet Kennedy followed the Federation charter in forbidding religious indoctrination and persecution as well as censorship. Numerous people in the government on the planet were suddenly and violently unemployed.
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