Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane (52 page)

He scowled.

“And then there are the gladiator shows, where they are put in a
ring and basically hack each other to death. Or a 'noble defender of the
people', does it to them in a staged bloodletting,” she paused. He could hear
the quote marks there. “Fight a battle against an alien or Neo. They
always
win, though some fights look close. I'm betting all are rigged of course.”

“Of course. It wouldn't be good to show the people's champion
fall,” the Admiral said. He was a bit sickened by the idea of showing such
barbarianism to the masses. What were these people turning themselves into?

“There is more Admiral. They had a film crew with them when they
invaded. The crew remained behind to continue recording, but I've got the film
footage of the initial invasion.” There was a lingering hint of a question in
her voice when she said that.

The Admiral frowned. He was tempted to watch it, but he didn't
have time. He had to oversee the ships repairs and his growing fleet. He needed
to check on the wounded again as well. They had just gotten through Mister
Allen's brief funeral. The bugle taps echoed through him, pulling at his
consciousness as they always did. He had been a good man, hard working...

“Admiral, I think you should make time. I think
everyone
should,” Sprite said quietly. “I think it illustrates why we fight,” she said
grimly.

Irons frowned. “Show me,” he finally said, sitting back.

<----*----*----*---->

The Admiral watched the video sickened by the sight. Sprite kept
it brief, sparing him the worst of some of the imagery. She also showed him a
slide show. The video and images were unedited, sometimes with the film crew
coaching the soldiers in depravity. Apparently they had been a little put out
at the lack of initial resistance, so they executed some people or tortured
others. Gang rapes were a favored topic; apparently they served as Horathian
porn.

There was an interview with Colonel Wizenbeck describing the
invasion process, pacification, and then cleansing. He narrated a video showing
a column of cowering aliens and Neo's led into a gully and then slaughtered
like helpless animals.

Irons stared, wondering how anyone could make genocide of that
nature sound both efficient and desired. Then he remembered the Xenos and fought
his own internal battle.

With the Xenos it had been different, the Federation had indeed
been defending itself. The Xenos hadn't stopped, and most importantly, the Xenos
had hit first and had used terror weapons to destroy everything. But most
importantly, they fought back.

“Commander, enough,” he said after an hour. “Edit that together
into something coherent.”

“For?” Sprite asked. “You really want to show the crew? Admiral...”

“I know you meant it on one level, but not right now. I think they
need to know. Now.”

“So... a propaganda piece?”

“Yes. You can skim some of the worst bits, don't go into so much
detail, but indicate it is there. Their own imaginations will fill in the
rest.”

“Admiral... this isn't wise. I was wrong,” Sprite said.

“Show it to them. All of it. But put a warning caption up. And
leave the sound off in the worst parts.”

“Why share the misery?” Sprite asked, now playing devil's
advocate. “These people have seen it Admiral. They have been traumatized first
hand. To see it on a world wide scale?”

“So they know why they fight,” he replied simply.

“Aye aye sir,” she said. “But I'm going to gloss over the worst of
it for time sake and to make certain they don't overload environmental with the
vomiting,” she said. “Be prepared for another psych round,” she warned him.

It took Sprite the better part of an hour to pick through the
material and splice it together. When she was ready she ran it past the other
AI. They didn't have the revulsion or anger that she knew the crew would
exhibit, nor the psychological issues, though she was curious to see if Bounty
would exhibit any. The AI didn't.

“We interrupt our regular broadcast to show you this ladies and
gentlemen. For those of you with weak stomachs, I urge you not to watch. The Admiral
has asked that you see this, he refused to censor it,” Sprite cautioned through
the mess and MPR video display.

Heads looked up to the screen and brows knit in confusion. “We
bring you now footage of the invasion of Hidoshi's World,” Sprite said, and
then watched through the ship's cameras as people first stopped what they were
doing to watch.

Sick horror quickly etched its way onto many expressions. Some
hardened, others looked bleak. A few covered their mouths, eyes tearing, but
they didn't look away. She showed a cascade of video and images, enough to get
the point across. There was a growl when Wizenbeck came on, explaining the
invasion and then expressing how he looked forward to doing it on other worlds.

Trays clattered to the deck, as the crew grew restless and more
and more angry. Some turned away, sickened of the reminder of what they had
just escaped from. Many were upset and vocal over being forced to watch it.

Others were visibly upset and angry that it was happening. It
wasn't just a ship, their ship or someone else’s; it was a world with
thousands, possibly millions of people. Innocent people, innocent like they had
been.

“Now, what do we do about it? Can we?” a crewman asked, eyes lost.
“Can we do anything at all?” he asked, fists clenched in helpless rage.

“Yes,” Bounty responded.

“This is what we need to stop,” someone said quietly. Slowly, one
by one the crew in the MPR nodded.

<----*----*----*---->

“Are they okay?” Irons asked in his quarters. They were getting a
handle on the refugees. Fortunately they had experience in that department.
What bothered him was the status of the crew. They had finally shaken down into
a crew and began to bond when something like this happened.

Bounty was slow to respond for a moment. “Admiral, I think they
let success go to their heads. At least some of them did. Now they've had a
brutal reminder that people can get hurt, they can die. I think we all needed
the reminder.”

“Yes,” Irons said, eyes closed. He scrubbed at his face. “I knew
it, but I had also let success go to my head. Damn.”

“It's understandable Admiral. Due to variables out of our
control, the situation changed and became fluid. Once the enemy was aware, they
were inside our envelope. We had no choice but to fire.”

Irons waved a hand. “I don't give a damn about the casualties,”
he said coldly. “War costs, and I'd rather they died then my own people. What I
don't like is the expectation that it will go down perfectly. I think this
cured that.” He scowled and looked away. “In the crew and in me,” he murmured
softly.

<----*----*----*---->

“Well, this is nice,” Ensign Enric, said sounding amused as he
set his tray down carefully. The food replicators were nice, but having fresh
food brought in on the colliers was a treat. The bland food the replicators
were churning out got to a person after a while.

“Yeah,” Yosef said, picking at the fruit. He wasn't certain what
it was, but it tasted tart, sweet, and juicy. He dug in with a spoon. “How's it
going on the bridge?”

“It's... interesting,” Enric drawled, picking up a spoon to stir
his creamer into his coffee. Having real cream was nice. “It's different. It's
not just putting on a pretty uniform. There is a lot to learn.”

Yosef snorted softly. “Tell me about it,” he grumbled.

“Oh, I've got sleep teaching and downloads too. Right now it's
all practical, Commander McGuyver and the Admiral settled on practical with
some foundation until we have more time.”

“I know,” Yosef said. “The good thing is if you get bored or if
you let the computer know that you know most of it, it runs you through a quiz
and then moves on,” Yosef replied.

Enric smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, I like that
too,” he said. He set the cup down.

“This seat taken?” Doctor Glenn asked.

The two men looked up and then waved. “By all means Doctor, have
at it,” Yosef replied with a shrug.

Marty smiled and took his seat across from Yosef. Holly joined
him on his right. The small circular table was a bit crowded, but they wouldn't
be there long. “Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Time to start
your day off right,” Marty said.

Holly sniffed softly and sipped her coffee, cup in front of her
face as she cradled it.

“So, you were talking about the training?”

“Yes, it's a lot to absorb,” Yosef said.

“I know. I was reading about the beginnings of gene engineering
and how on Terra they used Myostatin gene therapy to treat muscular dystrophy
and a host of other diseases. And how it led to super soldiers, athletes doing
gene doping, and heavy worlders.”

“So much for just the practical doc,” Enric replied with a
chuckle.

“Eh?” Marty asked, now confused. He stopped buttering his toast
with red jelly to look at him quizzically.

“We were gassing about the focus on the practical,” the Ensign
said.

“Oh,” Marty said. He took a bite of his toast and then rolled his
eyes. “So much better,” he murmured. Someone reached over and snagged the small
ramekin with the jelly in it. “You're welcome,” Marty said over his shoulder.

There was a mutter of thanks and then Marty snorted. Holly poked
him. He sighed. “I'll be good.”

“Sure you will be,” she teased.

“You two seem to be better off,” Yosef said in approval.

“We... knew it was coming. We've both had some experience dealing
with treating trauma. I must say I hated the experience, but now I can
understand when people say you don't understand.”

“True.”

“Anyway, I was going over the Beta mods for augmentation and I
guess I got side tracked by the gene thing,” Marty shrugged. “It's no big deal.
It does explain a few things I had wondered about though.”

“I see.”

The group ate for a bit before Holly set her cup down and took
her own bite of toast. She smiled. “I have to admit this is a nice change. Real
bread and jam. Strawberry I think.”

“Yes. We should thank Mister Takagi. He did wonders getting it
over to us.”

“Yes, yes he did. And you did a wonderful job making sure it
didn't get away on that ship,” Holly said, voicing her approval.

Enric blushed a bit. “Ah shucks ma'am, it was a team effort.
Miss... I mean Lieutenant Nobeki did the shooting. I just handled OPS.”

“As you said, a team effort,” Yosef said with a nod. “I'm going
to enjoy the fruits of our labor,” he said, grinning as he worked on the fruit.

“So... practical knowledge?” Marty prompted.

“Yes. I'm wondering though about the lack of in depth foundation
and theory. Most of it people forget or gloss over.”

“Use it or lose it,” Marty murmured thoughtfully.

“Yes!” Enric replied, nodding. “That's it exactly. But there is
so much!”

“Which is why we have to put it into practice. And constant
practice,” Holly said. “Muscle memory. You train so it becomes the level of
instinct, you don't even have to actively think out the steps involved in a
procedure, you just do it. It helps with your self confidence too.”

“Knowing you can,” Marty said with a nod.

“Yes,” Holly replied.

“Have you done any drills lately?”

“A few minor ones, but nothing major. Most of them are disaster
related. My part is damage control.”

“Which went over well in our last frackus.”

“For some of us,” Yosef said darkly.

The others shifted slightly, now uncomfortable. “I know there is
another combat sim in two days. Lieutenant Nobeki drills on combat daily. She
thought she had it down and started to slack off, but our recent encounter
changed that,” Enric muttered.

“I've got to go report for duty. Be seeing you ma'am, sirs,”
Yosef said, getting up and policing his tray.

“You too... petty officer,” Enric said, trying hard not to
stumble over the sudden void between them. He nodded to him as Yosef left.

“It's... odd,” Holly murmured. She set her spoon down. “I'm not sure
about being an officer. About the whole fraternizing thing. I've known some
people who are enlisted for years. Some I knew on other ships,” she said,
nodding to Enric.

“Yes, we did cross paths once or twice,” Enric chuckled. “And
yeah, it is weird. Just another thing to get used to. I'm not certain about it,
another thing that's been skipped, but we'll deal with it.”

“After what we've already been through, this is a cake walk,”
Marty said.

“Oh, did they make a cake?” Someone asked behind them. That started
a buzz of conversation that rippled outward through the mess. The cook caught
it and frowned. He looked around. A helpful crewman pointed the Doctor out. The
cook scowled blackly at the Doctor. Marty groaned softly. Holly and Enric
chuckled.