2
The elderly woman leaned against the desk as she stared at the six Marines, her piercing blue eyes taking each of them apart to their core and finding them wanting. Even the colonel who was in charge of their three-day indoctrination seemed to squirm in his seat.
Finally, she pointed a finger at Ethereal Randigold as if in accusation and snapped, “You. What will be your purpose in the Home Guard?”
Randigold looked around at the others for support, but no one stepped up. “Uh . . . to protect the home system. And the Mother?”
The woman, who had just been introduced as a deputy director of some D-4 subdivision, shook her head. “So, you, a provincial Marine, are going to save the Mother from some threat?” She snorted in disdain.
Rev frowned. He wanted to say that he, as a “provincial Marine,” had pretty much done that not six months ago. As if reading his thoughts, she turned to him, her eyes cold. He wondered what she knew about him. Hopefully, not much.
Luckily, she shifted her attention to Lieutenant Macek. “You. You’ve got a you-ni-ver-si-tee ed-u-cay-shun,” she said, making it sound like an insult. “What do you think?”
The lieutenant cleared his throat, his social arm fingers tapping his thigh. “We’re there to learn to work with soldiers from other nations, so we can work together when we need to. Like fighting the tin-asses.”
“A little better, but not quite right. So, let me explain it to you. The directorate doesn’t give a flying fig if you ever lift a finger in combat or not. What you do as a Marine is immaterial. We’ve got lots of Marines to fight our battles.”
Rev glanced around at the others. Everyone looked confused, so at least it wasn’t just him.
“So, let me lay it out for you. First, you are there to remind the rest of humanity that we’re players in the grand game. If we didn’t have Marines with the ground troops and ships assigned to the home fleet, then we’d be signaling that we are not active participants, that we’re like the Denters, and you see how well that worked out for them.”
Rev grunted. The Denters were a two-planet alliance who had chosen to stay out of the Congress of Humanity, even as an associated nation. During the war, one planet had been scorched by the Centaurs, and the second had suffered tremendous casualties. No one had come right out and said that the fleets which arrived for their defense were late because of their stance, but it didn’t take much imagination to wonder if that was true.
“Second, you are there to make contacts, yes, as the lieutenant just said. But not just contacts. The Navy deploys to the Home Guard with their own ships, the crews all Union. You, however, will be intermixed with soldiers from throughout the galaxy. You are to keep your ears to the ground and pick up whatever you can glean from conversations. During your term of service, you will be debriefed every four months, so remember everything you can. You’ll be getting a class tomorrow with some techniques you can use.”
“Why not just download whatever we hear from our battle buddies?” Randigold asked, her tone showing that she still smarted from the woman’s put down.
To Rev’s surprise, the woman just laughed. “Smart question, girl. The short answer is that your AIs will be limited in their capabilities while in the home system and aboard any vessel under Council orders.”
“Limited?” Randigold asked, almost as if a challenge.
“Limited. Not by choice, but because we had to sign onto the treaty. Before you leave here, your AIs will be somewhat downgraded to meet the requirements.”
“Did you know this?” Rev subvocalized.
<Yes.>
Another short answer. Rev didn’t like the idea of Punch being neutered. Things hadn’t been the same since he’d refused Rev’s order at the battle at Bluebonnet Meadow, but to have his capabilities limited suddenly had Rev feeling somewhat naked.
“So, that’s why you are going to have to learn to remember, to take notes. It isn’t a perfect solution, but some important observations have been uncovered by Marines serving in the Home Guard. Of particular interest, of course, are the karnans you’ll be serving with.”
“What’s a karnan?”
<That is the term the Manifest Destiny Sphere is using for their modified soldiers. Named for the Hindu mythological figure Karna, who had armor—kavach—and earrings—kundalas—incorporated into his body that made him invulnerable, even to the gods.>
Rev frowned. He’d named his IBHU Pashu, short for the mythical Hindu sword Pashupatastra. Just a coincidence, he knew. But the connection to Hindu mythology was a little unsettling.
“And finally, if you are trying to gather information, you can bet that the soldiers from other nations are doing the same. So, you need to learn how to reveal nothing. We don’t need to get into a who can piss the farthest contest. We withhold our . . .” the deputy-director said before trailing off.
“But that’s my normal spiel I give. Looking out at the six of you, I guess that’s no longer the case. We’re showing all of you off. As is the Manifest Destiny with their karnans. So, maybe we are seeing who can piss farther, us or them.”
She seemed a little too pleased with herself over that analogy.
“Now, you six from New Hope and another six will be the center of attention. As will the karnans. Both of you will be under intense scrutiny by every nation of humanity. They’ll want to know if you’re just the modern version of the Genesians, and if you are, what they need to do to shut you down. Aside from that, like I said a moment ago, we do want to see how well you stack up against the karnans, but at the same time, we don’t want to reveal too much about the science of who you are. To them or to anyone else.”
She paused to see if that was sinking in. “You’ll be going through some intensive training on how to interact with the others tomorrow. We’ve got a skilled staff, so pay attention.
“And know this. I’ll be here with you through the entire process. And if I have my doubts, no matter how small, about any of you, I’ll pull you. No debate, no second chances. Nothing.”
She took a deep breath and seemed to relax just a bit. “But for today, we’re going to give you some basic lessons on daily life aboard Titan and Enceladus and the separate and often Byzantine social mores of that beast we call the Congress of Humanity.”
OceanofPDF.com