Laura Whiting was still sitting in her office, high above the streets of New Pittsburgh, her attention divided between two Internet terminals, one of which was showing a MarsGroup station, the other of which was showing a big three station. For once the two news services shared a common thread: that of confusion. They reported on the fighting that had occurred on Macarthur Avenue in Eden, and the movement of troops and armor outside the two military bases themselves. They also had a few reporters on scene up on Triad near the tram stations, although they had no idea of what had occurred there except that there had been shooting on the platform between MPG soldiers and MPs.
"The only thing we know for sure," the MarsGroup anchor told her audience at the hourly recap, "is that a large scale deployment of the Martian Planetary Guard has taken place and that those soldiers are being used to fight WestHem forces that are stationed on the planet. Heavy fighting was reported at the Macarthur Avenue main entrance to the Eden Marine Barracks, including the use of tanks and armored personnel carriers with heavy weapons. MPG troops in large numbers have been observed entering the base from both the Macarthur Avenue entrances and from the outside airlocks on the planetary surface itself. They did not seem to be under hostile fire as they did this. It is unknown just what their exact intention is but it would seem that occupation of the base is their goal.
"Meanwhile, other elements of the MPG have taken control of federal buildings, including the FLEB offices, in the cities of Eden, New Pittsburgh, Libby, and Procter. We have tried to interview some of these soldiers but they have all refused comment on what their exact mission or intentions are. Governor Whiting, who's indictment and arrest warrant are what apparently precipitated all of this activity, has not responded to requests for interviews but she has released an email announcing that she will address the planet tonight at 1900 hours, New Pittsburgh time. We will of course carry that address live."
The big three recap was basically the same information, although with a decidedly different slant to it.
Laura sighed as the reporters began rehashing the same information again. Her stomach was knotted and burning from the tension of the day. She took a sip out of her ninth cup of coffee and continued to wait and watch.
Soon Jackson's face appeared on one of her screens. His face was showing the strain of the past few hours as well but he seemed to be happy nonetheless. "The planet is pretty much secure," he told her.
"Pretty much?" she said.
"We have TNB locked down tight and all of the MPs accounted for. The same goes for EMB. We're in occupation of the base and more than ninety percent of the weapons there are now accounted for. We're going room to room with scanners to find the rest. In the four cities where we have MPG divisions, all of the FLEB and other federal law enforcement have been captured and are accounted for. Now we just need to get some soldiers over to the other cities and take control of them there. I've already sent battalions out on the inter-city trains for that duty."
"Could those agents cause problems for us?" she asked, knowing that each of those offices had around a hundred agents.
"Nothing that's going to put our possession of the planet in jeopardy," he said. "They could put up a fight if they were stupid I suppose, but it'll be an ultimately losing one. We'll have them all secured or dead within twenty-four hours."
She nodded. "Let's hope that it doesn't come to that," she said. "What else has been done?"
"Communications with Earth have been virtually shut down," he said. "We've assumed control of the com-sats and have shut off all outgoing transmissions except media broadcast. Per your orders, they're still allowed to receive signals and email."
"Very good," she said, and then braced herself. "And the casualties?"
"Relatively light," he said, offering a crooked grin. "Since General Sega surrendered all of the WestHem forces once it became apparent that they could not win, we were spared..."
"Numbers, General," she insisted.
He breathed deeply, casting his eyes upon her. "Thirty-three dead, forty-seven wounded," he told her. "Most of them up at TNB from the force that was pinned in the tunnel."
"And the enemy?" she asked next.
"We haven't got a firm count just yet but we have a rough estimate," he told her. "Including the feds at the capital building and the marines in the C-12, it looks like about 560 dead, 133 wounded. We also lost two civilians and had three of them wounded when those idiots guarding the passenger platform at TNB opened fire on our troops instead of surrendering. For what its worth, the numbers are considerably lower than what was predicted for the operation."
She nodded. "I understand. See to it that names are gathered as soon as possible and that the families of those killed are notified immediately after my speech tonight. And as for the WestHem casualties, make sure a full accounting is sent to Earth as soon as possible."
She seemed morose, and this bothered Jackson. It bothered him greatly. After setting all of this in motion, after all the years of planning and scheming, was she now paling due to the casualties sustained in the successful operation? She should be cheering.
"Laura," he said carefully, "we knew we were going to take casualties when we started this thing. Those MPG troops knew when they went in that they might get killed. The all voluntarily went in anyway. They died fighting for Mars. For Mars! Not for some moon that circles around Jupiter that nobody was even using but that our government wanted to deny to EastHem so they could keep selling them fuel. They didn't die in some godforsaken shithole in the southern hemisphere of Earth fighting fanatical nationalists that hate WestHem rule as much as we do. They died for Mars, Laura, for this planet, so that we could be free. And while I'm sure they'd rather be alive right now and I'm sure their families feel the same, they died for us and I'm sure they'd be proud of that fact; as should we all."
"I understand all of that, Kevin," she told him. "I also understand that you did everything you could to keep those casualties to a minimum. It's just that..." She paused, trying to figure a way to articulate what she was feeling. "It's just that I sent those people in there and some of them are dead now. Tonight I'm going to ask for more people to sign up to do the same and, if they agree to do it, we're going to lose some of them too. We face a long, hard struggle against a superior enemy and each one of our soldiers that dies in this conflict is a living, breathing person with a family, with a life. I just want to make sure that I never allow myself to forget that, that I never treat them as pawns in a chess game against WestHem. I never want to hear you say the term 'acceptable losses' to me. Never. No loss is acceptable, Kevin. Each one is a tragedy and should be treated as such. If I start accepting the deaths of my soldiers as acceptable or inevitable, I'm no better than the pigs we're fighting. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Governor," he said, finding himself moved by her words. Laura had a gift for that. He remembered himself as a young private in the WestHem marines, stationed in Argentina region and fighting the nationalist guerillas. He remembered his friends dying there, ambushed when alone by the poorly trained and equipped but fanatical Argentines. He remembered the sensation that his superiors simply didn't give a shit whether or not he lived or died. He did not want a single soldier under his command to ever feel like that. "I do understand, perhaps even better than you do yourself."