"General Jackson and Governor Whiting," proclaimed the MarsGroup reporter narrating the story, "are both viewing the departure of the WestHem landing groups as a triumph of Martian military might and ingenuity over a superior power, as a battle won in this struggle for independence. And indeed that is what it seems on the surface. Still, many Martians — particularly those in the MPG who helped facilitate this victory — are having grave reservations over the cease-fire order issued by General Jackson. It is felt, almost to a person, that this failure to carry home the attacks so brilliantly fomented since the WestHem landings may have some rankin' consequences if and when the marines return to the surface."
There followed a serious of interviews with New Pittsburgh area troops — most from the 3rd and 6th ACR — regarding their feelings about the cease-fire. Most of the interviewees expressed a deep admiration for General Jackson but puzzlement, even anger, over what was considered a grave mistake.
"It's like victory was in our grasp and shit," said one young tank driver. "And now he's like choking at the vital moment."
"It's like he thinks it's over and shit," said another ACR member, this one an AT gunner. "Them motherfuckers is gonna come back at us."
"It's seditious for them to air this shit," said Brian, shaking his head in consternation. "I mean, what they're saying is true, but they shouldn't be putting it out for everyone to see. We're at war here! They're giving aid to the fuckin' enemy!"
"I must disagree," said Matt's prospect for the night. Her name, interestingly enough, was Surrender.
"What?" he asked, glaring at her.
"With all due respect," she told him. "They're only reporting in the manner that a truly free press should report. Whitewashing over the facts and distorting the stories to make your side seem the sure victor is what the WestHems are doing. It's part of what led to their defeat in the first place."
"Huh?" Brian and Matt said together.
"Where you getting this shit from?" Brian demanded.
"I have a masters degree in human history from UME," she said, blushing a little. "I try to keep that to myself most of the time but when someone says things like what you just said... well, I just can't help myself."
"A fuckin' masters degree?" Matt asked incredulously, his intimidation factor suddenly increasing by a factor of ten or so.
"Sorry," she said, her blush flaring a little brighter in the red spectrum. "I hope that doesn't bother you or nothing."
"No," he said. "Not at all. I've bagged many a masters degree bitch. A few PH-fuckin'-d's too."
She patted his leg affectionately and then turned back to Brian. "Look," she said. "You may think they're demoralizing the troops by reporting the truth, but what is actually going on here is unprecedented in human history. MarsGroup is not simply taking a side and disregarding everything that doesn't agree with the position they've decided to represent. They're actually sticking to the truth. The pure truth for the most part. People are upset by General Jackson's orders. People are worried about what the ramifications of this decision might be. People are worried about what's going to happen when the WestHems come back down for round two. They're not embellishing any of that, are they?"
"Well... no," Brian admitted.
"But they're also telling the good to go with the bad," Surrender said. "They're showing the WestHems blasting back into orbit. They're showing the elation we all feel at having beat those prudes off of this planet. They're being honest, Brian, telling everyone what is really going on instead of using innuendo and disinformation to tell a story that will entertain the masses."
Brian's jaw was hanging nearly to the floor. Matt's was down there with it.
"Sorry," she said, blushing a little. "I don't usually go on like that, but..." she hefted her beer bottle. "You know?"
"Yeah," Brian said respectfully. "I know."
"And look," she said, pointing at the screen. "They're telling the other side now. The side the WestHems are telling."
They all looked and saw that she was right. The MarsGroup reporter was now explaining that they'd downloaded some clips taken from the Big Three — whose broadcasts could still be caught on any home video screen or PC for those who wished to view them.
"This is a press conference given a few hours ago by WestHem Executive Councilperson Loretta Williams," the MarsGroup reporter said. "As you know, Ms. Williams is the representative for the planet Mars on the council and it is she who has acted as executive spokesperson on all Martian matters since Governor Whiting's inauguration day speech. Here she is explaining the removal of General Wrath from command of the Martian task force, his subsequent arrest, and the resulting pullback to space. As you'll see, their version is a bit different from ours."
The screen changed over to a visibly aged Loretta Williams standing behind an executive podium. The shot was mid-conference, having skipped over all of the preliminaries. "... that General Wrath has been engaged in unprecedented levels of corruption, incompetence, and falsification of reports ever since the task force left Earth for Mars. These crimes against WestHem have grown even worse and more deadly to the troops that placed their trust in this fiend since the landings themselves. It has come to light that General Wrath has cut corners on maintenance and oversight of the armored vehicles under his command to the point that hundreds of them in each theater of operation became disabled by breakdowns and accidents. This has left many of the troops that relied on these armored vehicles for transportation to the battle area and support during battle, exposed to terrorist suicide attacks and artillery fire. This caused many casualties, the true numbers of which General Wrath was then under-reporting in his daily briefings. We are also told that he ordered the marines to attack each greenie defensive area they encountered instead of simply bypassing them and heading directly for the edges of the cities where they could have broken through with ease and left the terrorist forces behind them. While his intentions could perhaps be called admirable — he wanted to kill or capture every single greenie terrorist manning every single position — it was an untenable goal militarily and it cost many good men their lives. It is in the Jutfield Gap outside of Eden and in the Formica Gap outside Proctor that this ill advised and horrible plan took the worst toll. Though the General reported casualties of ninety marines in these two battles investigation has revealed that we actually lost more than two hundred. And since then another ninety-seven have fallen."
There was a collective gasp from the reporters assembled for the briefing.
"Madam Councilwoman," asked one of them. "Are you saying that more than three hundred marines have been killed on Mars to this point?"
"Sadly, the count is three hundred and six killed, two hundred wounded," she replied, seeming near tears at the admission. "That is more than twice the expected casualty rate for the entire conflict and we still aren't standing in those Martian cities."
"Three hundred and six?" Matt scoffed. "Do their people really believe that shit? I killed more than that myself!"
"Me too," said Brian's prospect for the night. "There's twelve to an APC and I've got forty-nine confirmed kills caught on camera."
"You didn't kill them," Brian told her. "Those were the ones that broke down because General Wrath cut corners on maintenance."
"Of course," she said, smiling.
"This is exactly what I was talking about," Surrender told them. "The WestHem press is not free, it's corporate owned and the corporations own the government. They report only what they're told. Even bad news like a humiliating defeat is twisted and distorted and blamed on a single person. There's no way they could ever release the actual casualty figures or tell what really happened out there because the WestHem public would be horrified and demand an immediate end to the war."