Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (12 page)

"Sir! Recruit Gaignon reporting for duty, sir!" He saluted, fist to chest, and took off his dripping hat. Arie! I was overjoyed.

"About time you got here, recruit. What was the damned hang-up?" Doggie asked.

"Sir, had to wait for the course to end, sir."

"All right folks, this is your new squadie. He was diverted for awhile because the Legion needed his talents. But now his ass is mine. Gaignon, would you care to say a few words justifying your existence to my squad?"

"Sir yes sir. Hi, Richard! Um, my name is Arie Gaignon and I'm from Eugarat. I'm just out of midschool and I've never done anything worthwhile in my life. But I'm hoping that's going to change now."

"All right, that's enough nonsense. You will learn all about your squadies as the course progresses. For now, get outta that stupid rain gear. Squad Delta does not use rain gear. Get into running shoes, khaki shorts, khaki sleeveless top, field cap, web belt and canteen. Fill canteen with water. We're going for a little walk in the rain. Move it, children! We leave in five marks!"

And we did – right into that torrential downpour and all the way to Mount Sweat. All of us except Oswego. She got to stay in the squadmod while her ankle was mending. About halfway up the mountain Arie disappeared in the rain and we didn't see him again until we gained the summit where we found him waiting for us, calm and rested, relaxing under an overhanging rock. He disappeared again on the way down and was awaiting us in the squadmod sipping dox with Oswego when we arrived.

"How the hell do you do that?" I asked him, when we had a momentary break.

"Do what?"

"Move so fast like that!"

"Aw, it's nothing. I was good at track. I could outrun everybody."

"Where were you before you showed up in Delta, and how did you manage that?"

"I was helping out the contact folks. They were teaching a course on freestyle combat contact and were short on qualified instructors. They ran the recruit lists and found me and a couple other guys. They threw me in the ring to test me, and I evidently impressed them. I had a pile of gold medals in regional competitions and I guess that's how they originally spotted me. Anyway, they were using me as a backup and as a test dummy for their demos. It was fun! But the course just ended."

"But how in God's name did you get assigned to Delta?"

"Well, Delta had a couple of open slots, I'm not sure why, and I was standing there when they were deciding where to send me. They actually asked me if I had any preference and I was ready for that – I knew you were in Delta."

"Well, I'm glad to see you, Arie."

"Likewise. Do you still remember those two honeys from the Dark Lady?"

"Are you kidding? Honeyhair and Blondie. Of course I do."

"I had access to some commo systems, and I was able to do a little research. Bottom line, if we ever get leave we can follow up. I didn't contact them but I've got all the info we need to do that."

"You mean they're here on Veltros?"

"That is affirmative, my man." He gave me a big smile.

"Now that is good news," I said.

Δ

One fine day in the classroom they introduced us to the DevStrat, DevOps and DevTac segments. We had finally arrived at the point where we were to study how to conduct ourselves on the battlefield. DevStrat was the development of strategy where we studied the history of military strategy, first historical, then current. When we were through with that we went on to military operations, first historical, then current. Finally we studied military tactics, first historical, then current. The last was a very long and detailed course as it was the heart of what we had to learn – small unit tactics for interstellar warfare.

These were all fascinating subjects to me. I learned all I could. There were graded tests every evening after class. I loved it – I did very well. By now my body was whipcord tight and all pumped up. Whatever they had been adding to our meals was doing its job. I felt great. And I was fascinated by current Legion tactics. The individual squad was the spear tip of the ConFree Legion. With our current opstech and firepower, we could be inserted onto an enemy planet without detection, move invisibly to the target, deliver overwhelming firepower to instantly obliterate the target entirely or accomplish our mission in complete silence, whatever was required, then call for evac and depart the scene quickly, again invisible to our foes. Fleetcom guaranteed us both vac and air superiority. We could strike either in person or via attack holo. Holo was preferable because it guaranteed no casualties on our side – but plenty for the enemy.

Δ

Ever since the ankle incident, Oswego's attitude towards me had changed about 180 degrees. Before she had been morose and sullen, but now she would always greet me with a beaming smile and appear anxious to talk with me. It was a nice change, and I felt good that I was stealing her away from the dark side. Despite that, however, she and Fordwater had become thick as thieves and when together, they were pretty much unapproachable, a strange salt and pepper combo united in suspicion and hostility. I'm not sure what the mutual attraction was, but they were a formidable pair.

We had just broken up after a class in Dron Hall, and the squad was walking back to the squadmod. The walkway was full of recruits going to and from class. Arie and I were in the rear, and Oswego and Fordwater were ahead of us. I was just reflecting on how nice the view was, when somebody else evidently had a similar thought. There were two Alpha Squad recruits who were heading the same way and were passing the girls on the walkway.

"Nice ass!" one of them said admiringly, as he reached out and fondled Fordwater's rear. In an instant, he was down from an elbow to the throat and an accompanying kick from Fordwater that knocked his legs out from under him. He landed on his back and Fordwater was instantly on him just like some kind of savage jungle cat. She had inserted a gleaming bootknife about halfway into his mouth and everybody froze to see what she was going to do.

She brought her face closer to his. She was icy pale and twitching. The knife was poised to strike right down his throat. The victim was croaking like an injured frog and bleeding around his lips, but dared not move.

"Keep your hands – to yourself," she hissed. Then she brought the knife up just a little – as if in prelude to jamming it all the way down his throat – and spat in his face. After that, she got up, began to walk away, thought better of it, and returned to spit in his face again. He just lay there whimpering. His buddy dared not move. Finally, Fordwater walked off and rejoined Oswego, who had been watching in fascination.

"Remind me not to pat that particular girl on the ass," I said to Arie.

"Yeah, that's not recommended in her case. What a psycho."

"Don't say that too loud."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Δ

"All right, everybody into the pool!" Doggie ordered. We were all in bathing suits. The girls wore form-fitting, black two piecers and the males wore somewhat baggy black trunks. We got in the water and gathered at the shallow end as ordered. It was a beautiful, long competition pool with a transparent roof, and today it was reserved for drownproofing.

"Line up here," Doggie said. We formed a line about chest deep.

"All right, this is simple," Doggie said. "You are all full of nanoreds – millions of artificial red blood cells, which give you extra endurance on the run and which also allow you to survive underwater without breathing. Or, that is, without breathing outside air. Your body now has plenty of oxygen and will allow you to continue functioning underwater, for hours if necessary. Does everyone understand?"

He paused briefly. "Good. So we're going to go underwater and stay there until I give the word. First, put on those nose plugs."

They were hanging around our necks with a little cord. I put mine over my nose and it squeezed very tightly, cutting off my ability to breathe through my nose.

"Now you don't have to worry about the nose. All you have to do is go underwater and do not open your mouth to take a breath. Put your swim goggles on."

We did so – the goggles fit neatly over our eyes. "Now I guarantee you will not drown as long as you do not take in a mouthful of water. This is purely a psychological problem. Your body will command you to take a breath, but you must overcome that. Let's do a demo. Rains, we'll start with you. Don’t even bother taking a breath. Just sit down quietly underwater and keep your mouth closed."

I did it and sat down gently underwater, pressing my lips tightly closed. It worked for awhile but then I was overwhelmed by an instinctive desire to take a breath. It was overwhelming. I surfaced abruptly, gasping for air.

"Try it again, that's all right. You can do it. Go."

I tried again. This time I realized that I was in charge, not my body. I kept my lips tightened and sat there underwater not moving. Got you, you bastard! Feels like my lungs are still going. I'm all right! Who the hell needs air? I've got it inside me! I just stayed there, looking around happily. The others were trying it now, going under, trying it out, some of them resurfacing quickly, others succeeding. I saw Zhang quietly sitting on the bottom like a statue. I waved to him and he waved back.

Everybody did it. Later we tried it without the nose plugs. Drownproofed! What a kick!

Δ

"Greetings, all. Today we look at the current galactic situation." The lecturer was clad in Legion black and had that little silver insignia at his left breast. By that time I knew it was a combat cross, meaning he had seen combat. The arena darkened, and a whole glowing galaxy of stars appeared, hanging in the air all around us like multicolored jewels against black velvet. Stars, star clusters, molecular clouds, nebulae and political groupings were labeled in several different colors. "The Confederation of Free Worlds is in a very favorable situation at present because we are aware of the realities of historical change, and have embraced those realities to strengthen ConFree. Our enemies continue to ignore history and to embrace deadly lies that have inevitably poisoned and weakened their societies."

The combat cross! I'm a little slow sometimes but sitting in that lecture I finally realized something about Doggie. When he wore his black dress uniform, he did not display that little silver insignia, the combat cross. Just about all the other instructors wore it. So my initial speculation about him was right – he was a new guy; he had been through Basic and was now teaching it, but he had not seen combat. From then on I would sometimes fantasize about asking him, in front of the whole class, what was that little silver insignia that most of the instructors wore. But I never did it. I may be stupid, but I'm not crazy.

"Here we have the Outvac," the instructor continued, "a huge empty bubble in spacetime, which is the result of some ancient cosmic catastrophe." A thin red laser track flashed over to the Outvac and the huge target area pulsed red briefly. "And, of course, this is the homeland of the Confederation of Free Worlds. It is separated from the rest of the inhabited galaxy by the Outmark Border, which will lead us to the Gassies, the Gulf, and the Inners." The border region, a titanic, bowl-shaped slice of infinity, pulsed briefly in green.

"The primary ConFree worlds are scattered along the edges of the Outvac. The Crista Cluster – here – is where our Outworlder ancestors first settled, after discovering scores of habitable worlds in this distant star cluster. It is some 1,400 light years from the heart of the System, and it represented freedom from persecution to the settlers. Here, of course, are all the major star systems of ConFree – Veltros, Lotus, Sarana, Augusta, Quaba, Guarados and so forth." A little blue box labeled
YOU ARE HERE
popped up by the
CRISTA CLUSTER
text and prompted a burst of laughter from the recruits.

"On the other rim of the Outvac, each roughly 750 light years away, lie Dindabai and Andrion, widely separated in spacetime from each other as you can see." The two star systems lit up briefly. "These are now important ConFree settlements and Legion and Fleetcom bases. They were both attacked as primary targets by the Omni swarm during the last Omni expansion, but the O's were turned away during the Battle of Andrion Deep and these important star systems survived. Now we move closer to the Outmark border to a series of outlying Outvac stars under ConFree control. Augusta was briefly occupied by the O's. Marala 5 was a prosperous ConFree settlement when it was seized by the O's. It is now a blackened cinder as we induced a nova in the star, killing everyone in the system, O's and humans alike. Plenty has been written about that decision, but I mention it here only as a historical fact. Camelora 7 was also attacked by the O's, and resulted in the first successful field use of the attack holo weapons system and recovery of the planet. Veda, seen here, was not targeted by the O's.

"That's it for the Outvac. Now a quick summary. For 300 years ConFree was battling the United System Alliance, first as rebelling stellar colonies and later as a strong rival force to counter the System slave state's effort to control all humanity under its rule. After ConFree declared independence and chased the System from the Outvac, we were the only serious opposition left. The people of ConFree took up the crusade to end galactic slavery, and we grappled with the System to do so wherever possible. We were successful, due in part to weaknesses in the System itself. The System was an empire, governed by blind force, ruling over billions of people divided into hundreds of nationalities, races, cultures and language groups. Control was maintained by encouraging resentment, hatred and division between the citizens while pretending to sponsor equality by redistributing wealth. All empires expand, collapse and die, especially if their foundation is based on a lie – for example, that diversity is a strength rather than a weakness.