Finally, he had enough strength…finally, he was about to crush this damnable rebellion. He had seethed when Admiral Compton refused his bombardment request, but now he resolved to launch an all-out assault against Carlisle Island. Once he destroyed their base, the rebels would quickly disperse, and he could finish them off. Then he could get off this forsaken rock and go back to Earth and the reward for his success. He wasn’t sure what kind of posting he could get, but he was sure he’d never be a petty ward supervisor again, not after crushing the Columbian rebellion.
Cooper didn’t have a military bone in his body. Soldiers were nothing more than tools he used to achieve his ends. He wanted Compton to bombard Carlisle not because it would save thousands of his own troops, but simply because it was faster and easier. Now his soldiers would have to take the place meter by meter, and they would pay heavily for it. Cooper didn’t really care, and he figured the blood was on Compton’s hands anyway. But it would take longer, and that had him in a foul mood.
The rebel submersibles were a problem; he knew that much. His forces would have to take them out or drive them away; otherwise they’d never even make it to Carlisle. Cooper didn’t give it much thought; he didn’t really pay attention when the generals were explaining the tactical situation to him. He didn’t care how they did their jobs, just that they did them. He’d been pushing them for weeks to launch the attack, and he was getting sick of their excuses. They kept asking for more time…to stockpile supplies, conduct training, organize their forces.
None of the officers had any real combat experience, and the prospect of so large a battle was intimidating. Cooper was no military expert, but he understood it took a while to prepare a major operation. He also knew his generals were procrastinating. That’s why he was here.
“General Strom, a word please.” Cooper called out to his senior commander. His voice was impatient; it was obvious he was annoyed.
“Yes, Governor?” Strom was a pompous ass though, of course, so was Cooper. Technically, Strom was under the command of the Planetary Governor. But Cooper had been a low level political functionary, whose authority was the result of accepting a posting that no one with better credentials would take. Strom, on the other hand, was from a well-placed political family, and in all likelihood he would take over his father’s cabinet seat one day. His being here was a freak circumstance; he certainly never thought his military career would take him into space. He bristled at taking orders from a jumped up local manager, which is how he viewed Cooper. He followed them anyway, more or less, but he did so grudgingly.
“I would like to discuss specific timing for an assault on the rebel home base.” Cooper didn’t like Strom, and he bristled at the general’s barely disguised condescension. But Strom was what he had, so he dealt with it. He could order the military to undertake whatever operations he chose, but his authority did not extend to internal matters such as officer assignments. He was stuck with Strom.
“Preparations are underway, Governor.” Strom was clearly tired of Cooper’s interference, and his contempt was only very lightly hidden. “I will advise you when I have determined the earliest feasible start date.” Strom turned to walk away. “Now if you will excuse me, Governor, I am having a small dinner this evening for some of my senior officers, and I really must…”
“General Strom, I don’t care about your dinner party.” Cooper’s patience was gone; he’d had it with Strom and his delays. “You will prepare a plan for the invasion of Carlisle to launch within two weeks. And you will do so immediately and have it to me in 72 hours.” Cooper was speaking from anger; he really didn’t have any way to force Strom to do it. Technically, he had the authority, but if he reported the general for insubordination it would ultimately come down to Cooper’s connections and influence against Strom’s, a contest the governor was certain to lose. “Understood, general?”
Strom’s face flushed with anger. He considered Cooper his inferior in every way that mattered, and he bristled at being even marginally under the governor’s command. He bit back on his initial response and nodded grudgingly. “I will work on the plan as quickly as possible.” He knew his influence trumped Cooper’s, but he also knew his father, the Cabinet Minister, did not want any ripples right now. It wouldn’t do for the family to appear less than fully committed to crushing the rebellion, after all.
“Thank you, general.” Cooper didn’t always have the best judgment, but this time he realized this was the best he was going to get. “Your cooperation in ending this damaging and wasteful rebellion is appreciated.”
Strom nodded, a forced smile on his face. “If you will excuse me, Governor Cooper, I am quite busy.”
“Of course, general.” Cooper managed his own very forced looking smile. He turned and walked away, trying to contain his frustration. Then the explosions began.
“Move it out!” Sergeant Sawyer was leading the demolitions team. It was probably a lieutenant’s job, but Sawyer would have been an officer years ago if he hadn’t kept refusing invitations to the Academy. “I want those charges placed in 1-2-0 seconds.”
Sawyer had spent two days trying to find a weakness in the federal encampments. He’d been focusing on their supplies, looking for a way to hit one of their big dumps to impede their ability to launch an offensive. But the supplies were guarded and double-guarded, every approach covered. Sawyer didn’t know it, but the rebels had blown the main federal supply dump in Weston earlier in the war…and ever since the Feds had been extremely protective of the installations.
Jax had 481 regulars, plus about 200 volunteers with military experience – he couldn’t just frontally attack the federals. He knew he had to find a way to disrupt the Feds…something they could actually pull off. Then Sawyer had an idea.
The federal supply depots were well-protected, but the field with the atmospheric fighters was located near the perimeter. There were 18 of them, and they were all lined up in one spot. They were defended, but a well-executed surprise attack might take them out.
Without the fighters to screen and protect the assault force crossing the 16 klicks of water between the mainland and Carlisle Island, the rebel defense batteries and submersibles would tear the transports apart. An invasion without air support would be dangerous…probably more than an Alliance general could stomach.
Sawyer had 40 troops, hand-picked from a force that was already an elite unit. They were here to infiltrate, to get as close to the planes as they could before Jax launched a diversionary attack with the rest of the force. They were crouched down behind a slight ridge about 100 meters from the perimeter when they heard the sound of fighting to the north. Jax had gone in.
Sawyer’s troops sprinted the short distance and twenty seconds later they were inside the enemy perimeter. They started taking fire, but it was light. The guards were calling for aid, but Jax’s assault had distracted the nearby forces.
Sawyer’s team had magnetic charges, and they were attaching them to the fighters, three two-man teams moving from target to target. The rest of the force returned the enemy fire, trying to divert the defenders from the demo crews. They were taking losses – at least four people were down – but the primary concern was knocking out the planes. Doing that meant buying the explosive crews at least another two minutes, no matter how many casualties they suffered.