Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) (9 page)

              There was a video of someone who sat behind a desk and wore a nondescript workers suit, with rags that covered the person’s face.

              “Hello, I have been given the honor of addressing you, the people. I speak to you as a member of Harmony. Harmony seeks to bring about equality to people. We will take the people’s power back from those that have been swayed by greed. We have killed the sons and daughters of this greed, the bastards of the EMF. Harmony is a way of life - it is not just an ideal. Join us in our fight for Harmony. Together my brothers and sisters, we will remove the scourge of the companies and cleanse the Earth. We will adopt Harmony and dispose of those that are tainted by greed.”

              With that, the channel ended.

              There was no confusion to his feelings now. Those troopers could have been him, or his section. They were from Earth. They were people just trying to get away from the shit of the slums. They didn’t deserve to be slaughtered like that, not for some religious fuck that just wanted to replace one system with another.

              Mark didn’t care about the reasoning. He knew two things. If the cryo-pods were blown, it would mean more combatants when
Reclaimer
got there. It also meant Harmony didn’t care about people that didn’t agree with them. That could be because they were so confident in their position, or because they wanted examples to keep everyone in line – just like the inquisition kept people in line during the Middle Ages.

              Learning history, especially military history, gave Mark a skewed look into others’ actions. This knowledge helped him see a potential threat from many different ways. Tactics changed. But people, their motivations, and their depravity didn’t.

              Training for the day ended abruptly.

              The troopers’ simulated shuttles opened their cargo ramp.

              “Alright, get your gear stowed. Everyone grab a shower and some food. We should be getting a briefing soon. Sergeants, see to your people,” Lieutenant Kim said. 

              They walked across the deck, and got to the massive armored doors that led to the armories and elevators beyond.

              The entire platoon moved past their fellow troopers who saw the videos and messages for themselves. Everyone either looked angry or scared.

              They helped one another get out of the armor, ammunition packs and harnesses.

              “That everyone?” Mark asked his section, as they removed their armor, weapons and ammo.

              “Yup,” Tyler said, as he came out of the rearmost armory racks.

              “Alright, you’re on your own time as far as I’m concerned. I would suggest a shower. Also keep your ears out for the meeting. Has everyone checked out the data package Nerva sent out?” he asked, as his voice changed from droll to tense.

              The others nodded, and their eyes were hooded. There was confusion and questions behind those eyes, yet they knew one thing - no one killed EMF troopers and got away with it. Whether they knew the trooper or not.

              “We can assume that we’re going to be in the middle of that mess. Nerva will have more for us,” Mark said, as he looked to them and saw understanding faces. “Dismissed.” Mark waited for them to get into motion before he headed for the bank of elevators that criss-crossed the carrier. He headed for one that would take him to his quarters.

              “I’m gonna go see Alexis,” Tyler said.

              “See you later,” Mark replied as he waved him off. Tyler disappeared into the mass of ambling troopers. Jerome appeared out from it.

              “Smokes on the observatory?” Jerome asked.

              “Yeah, gonna grab a shower quick,” Mark said. His pace didn’t slow as he got onto the elevator.

              “You should, I can smell you even over my own stank!’ Jerome said as he joined Mark on the elevator, with a half-laugh that didn’t reach his eyes. He saw the same recording as Mark. This didn’t look like a battle that the EMF fought in their lifetime.

              “Did you see the thing about Harmony?” Jerome asked, his voice quiet as they moved to the rear of the elevator.

              “The video?”

              “No their doctrine,” Jerome said.

              “No,” Mark answered, and looked for Jerome to fill in the blanks for him.

              “Looks like the rules cooked up in the crusades, and every other religious war. It’s going to get messy,” Jerome said.

              “When isn’t it?” Mark sighed.

              They got to their deck, and separated to shower. Mark got a new set of smart clothes on, and wandered over to Jerome’s section barracks.

              “You good to go?” Mark asked as Jerome threw his shirt on, and pulled it into place. The shirt moved together, and arranged itself on his frame.

              ‘Yeah, lead on,” Jerome said. Mark pulled a cigar from his chest pocket, and handed one to Jerome while he grabbed another.

              “Thanks.” Jerome struck it alight on his pants, puffing on the concoction. New cigars didn’t give off the smoke smell that coated everything. Instead, they only activated when they came into contact with saliva. A simple drink of water would wash even that taste away.

              Mark lit his, and the smell of strawberries filled the corridor. The scented cigars didn’t have the same system. After all, who didn’t like strawberries?

              They greeted those they knew, and wandered past others they didn’t. Salutes were almost automatic, as they got to the armored glass of the observation room.

              Mark sank into a chair, and felt the tension draw away from his body as he looked down on Earth.

              It didn’t disappear. Troopers traditionally got time off between planet drops, and went to either Earth or Masoul. It allowed them time to decompress, and get their affairs in order. Mark was working since he got to Earth, and they were already back to training and off to a new battle.

             
It looks like they’ve got some damned planning behind them with the way they took out the station and the cryo-pod bunkers.

              “What are you thinking?” Jerome asked. He didn’t look at Mark. He couldn’t sense his friend’s thoughts.

              “How this doesn’t look to be just some start-up rebellion. This had planning. Planning that isn’t making me happy with our chances. Especially in a system as developed as Masoul,” Mark said, his eyes dark.

              “Then we’re going to have to try and mitigate those chances. I’ve already asked the techs to change the simulated decks over. It’s going to take some work, but they’ve brought it up to higher. We’ll get something to practice on before we get there. With our higher pay, hopefully most of our troopers will want to stay awake and train instead of sleep,” Jerome said.

              “Yeah, but there are twelve
million
people in Masoul right now. We both know that number is only going to grow while we sleep,” Mark said.

              “When we link up with
Fearless
then we’ll be two hundred troopers strong,” Jerome said.

              “Yes,
if
we link up with
Fearless
,” Mark said. “
If
they can keep the ship alive.”

              Mark and Jerome’s eyes met.

              “We both saw how she was looking after that blast to her unarmored side,” Mark reminded him.

              Jerome grunted and sank back into his chair. He put the cigar back in his mouth.

              They stewed in their own thoughts for a while. Nerva’s summons brought them out of those thoughts, and to their feet.

              “Mess, ten minutes,” Mark said, reading it out loud.

              “Yep, let’s see what else he’s found out,” Jerome said, as they turned their backs on Earth.

              ***

              Tyler slumped into a seat beside Mark. Jerome was on the other side, but deep into his paper work. Mark helped where he could, but he had his own paperwork to get through. Holm grabbed a round for everyone. Alexis and Lucille were there, having drinks and girl talk.

              Alexis caught Tyler’s eye and waved to him. He smiled and waved back, as his headrest moved.

              “Hey! I’m leaning here!” he said, as his brother looked to him with an almost exasperated look.

              “Yeah I can feel your boney-ass shoulder in my arm,” he said, as he shifed again to annoy Tyler.

              Tyler exhaled violently, but he was too tired to do anything about it. He had just been training on the sand planet, Ashkal.

              Tyler thought it was the best kind of training. He knew how hard it was to run in sand. Fighting in it would be even shittier.Holm got to the booth, and slid in on the opposite side. He pinned Jerome to the rear.

              Tyler grabbed the beer from his reclined position, and took a deep gulp. He let out a sigh, as the cold liquid made its way to his stomach.

              “Thanks Holm,” Mark said, as he accepted a beer and raised it in thanks.

              “No worries, I’m happy to just watch you three get through the miles of paperwork that I don’t have to do anymore,” Holm said happily. Jerome shot him a dirty look.

              “Tyler, make sure that you’re near my drop point wherever we’re going. I’m stealing him as my second,” Jerome threatened.

              “I’ll do my best,” Tyler grinned, as he looked over to Holm who rolled his eyes before he slouched into the couch.

              “You hear something from up high?” Mark asked, as he sat back and shifted Tyler’s pillow.

              “Seems that something’s coming down the pipe, and it’s causing some confusion,” Jerome said, as he looked up from his papers. “I don’t know where it is, but I know we’ll be hearing something about it soon enough.” He grabbed his beer and took a large gulp.

              “I was talking to some of my old crew from Dominator. It looks like their mission was pulled when
Reclaimer
got back in system. Though, no one was given the new mission. Maybe we got it?” Holm said, as he looked to the others.

              “We’ll find out when we find out,” Mark said. His age-old wisdom reminded him to not give a fuck until it affected him.

              Alexis wandered over and Lucille went off to her shift. She waved goodbye to Mark. They were definitely an item, like Tyler and Alexis.

              “Friggin Victors,” Jerome sighed, as he took another swig of beer and got into his paperwork once again.

              “Hey babe,” Tyler said, as he moved for her to sit down. He twisted himself around so he could lay in her lap.

              Mark had to shift down as Tyler’s boots poked his side.

              The table shuffled around as Alexis looked down at his head that rested in her lap.

              “That’s not nice,” she said, her eyes thinning.

              “They’re used to it by now,” Tyler grinned.

              Alexis shook her head, unable to hide her smile as one of her hands played through his hair. The other snagged his beer from the table, and gave it a big swig.

              “Hey!” Tyler said, as he reached for the beer. Everyone else laughed as Alexis tried to sneak in a few more gulps from the mug.

              “Briefing in two hours, all personnel are to report to their designated briefing areas,” the ship’s communications officer blared through to the entire ship. The message was repeated two more times.

              A message pinged on everyone’s implants. They got the new optical implants, so they could access their HUD and implants at any time.

              It was beyond Tyler why the optical implant wasn’t added to the standard implant suite. Though he, and everyone else, bet it was because the corporations just wanted to make more money off of the troopers. Especially when the implant was an extra thousand credits - the equivalent of ten days’ worth of field combat pay.

              Everyone else around the table got it as well. Though, as Jerome was demonstrating, it was nice to have the paper’s tactile feedback once in a while.

              “Looks like Captain Ortiz is calling a meeting in mess,” Mark said.

              “Booyah! Don’t even have to move,” Tyler said, throwing a fist up in victory.

              “Lazy,” Alexis accused him.

              “Yup!” He was proud of the title.

              “Is he always like that?” Holm asked

              “Yes!” Everyone said as one.

              “Well, let your real feelings out, why don’t you?” Tyler said. He crossed his arms as the others laughed. He couldn’t keep the act up for long, and joined in.

              ***

              Jerome waved Rudkin over to the table as people started to gather for the meeting. Rudkin became his unofficial second in command.