small unit had peeled off and was setting up another checkpoint. There, as here, it was quite clear that the humans commanded and the Fallen Ones served. In a blinding flash of insight, Rubibael realized that he was looking at the future for his people as well.
1/33 (Spearhead) Battalion, Third Brigade, Third Armored Division, Ninth U.S. Corps. Eternal City
“Hokay, so according to the sitrep, the Marines are holding the center of the city, we’re advancing towards them with the Russians on our left and the Chinese on our right. We’re right in the middle of our front so we won’t run into either anytime soon. Units on the extreme end of our lines might. Not soon though, damn this city is big. But, latest word from the herd, there are special forces teams all over. Seems like every bunch of snake-eaters decided to slip a team into the city to see what was going on.”
“Just our, Russians and Chinese main force units though?” Biker was concerned about a blue-on-blue shoot out.
Stevenson shook her head. “Caesar’s Third Legion is on our right. That’s a long way though. The Big Boss is bringing up representatives from all the other countries in the H.E.A. and they’ll be following us in. That way they can claim they took part on the final occupation of The Eternal City. But, lead elements are just the three of us.”
“Any resistance?” Biker looked at the maps spread out in the back of the Bradley command vehicle.
“Not resistance, no.” Stevenson was hesitant. “The Jellies are stunned, they don’t know what to do or what is happening. The combination of losing Yahweh and having us waltzing into their city has left them almost catatonic. The Second-Life humans up here, they’re different. They’re shocked, sure, but there’s a strong streak of sullen resentment running through the crowds. If there’s resistance, that’s where it will come from. Don’t be surprised if we get stones thrown at us or something along those lines.”
“That bad Ma’am?” Biker was being careful, there were several other members of the battalion present so he refrained from using the nicknames born in the privacy of their tank. A tank crew was one thing, a command group was quite another and he was meticulous about the difference.
Stevenson nodded. “It’s like the time I took a white boyfriend to a rib joint in the ‘hood. Great ribs, best ever tasted. But, the same brooding hostility was there. Nobody spit on his ribs or gave him a hard time but we could both sense it. He had the sense to keep his mouth shut and let me do the talking. Same would do well for us here. The Second-Life humans here don’t look on us as liberators or saviors. Near as I can judge, they see us as, at best, an invading Army that has yet to prove who we are and what we want. No way are we the second coming.”
“Actually, Ma’am, strictly speaking, we are the second coming.”
The lieutenant in charge of the artillery battery was feeling his way in this odd group. This was his first effort at a response that wasn’t strictly military. Stevenson reached across and gave him a light slap on the back of the head. “We know that but they don’t. So we better be damned careful here. We don’t want more trouble than we can handle. Supply section, how are we for fuel and ammunition?”
Most of the veterans of the fighting in Hell worried about that. The memories of their ammunition supplies dwindling while unending streams of daemons pouring into the killing grounds were too fresh, as were the parallel memories of pulling out to resupply and finding that they could pick up only a portion of what had been needed.
“Ammunition, all the vehicles have full loads and we’ve got some extra. Fuel, we’ve enough to maneuver here a little but we’ve come far enough in to run the M-1s near dry. Fuel convoy is behind us, it’ll be with us in an hour or so. Food, we’re fine. Marky is already at work.” A laugh ran around the command group at that. It was a constant amazement what that man could do with Army field rations.
“Hokay, we’re all set then. We’ll stay here, fuel up and then move on. We’ll get to the center tomorrow unless we hit trouble.”
V-22 Osprey ‘Command-One’ Over The Eternal City, Heaven.
“Units are moving up well. No resistance reported.” General Asanee looked down at the scene rolling past underneath. The grid layout of the city made navigation easy. The V-22 was simply following the wide boulevard that ran up the center of the American zone of occupation.. Ahead of them, the green of what had once been Yahweh’s palace grounds and the blue of the immense lake in the city center were visible. For all the amount of diesel exhaust pouring into the air, it was still clearer here than in most human cities. Asanee sighed to herself, smog would come to Heaven soon enough. She remembered when she had been a child back on Earth, she could look up and night and see a fabulous array of stars. Then electricity had come, light pollution had been born and the stars had slowly vanished. Now, when she went back to her home, only the brightest were visible amid the glare of neon lighting.
“No active resistance.” General Petraeus corrected her. “There’s the seeds of what could be passive resistance already. We could turn that into a fully-fledged human insurrection if we’re not careful. Remember what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Asanee nodded. A few years earlier, before the Salvation War had changed everything, she had been in Iraq. Her General had received a request from the Thai unit assigned to Iraq for heavy weapons and landmines to defend against an insurgent attack. She had been sent to investigate the request and judge whether the fears of attack were grounded. A quick visit had turned into a two-month stay and had coincided with the expected attack. It had been beaten off but she remembered all too well how the situation in the country had gone downhill during her time there. “The Chinese and Russians are joining us Sir?”
“They’ll be there. Dorokov is flying in on a Mi-24. I don’t know how Ti plans to arrive.”
The pitch from the V-22’s engines changed as the aircraft transitioned from horizontal to vertical flight. The pilot was bringing the aircraft in to land on a large open area at the top of the steps leading up to Yahweh’s palace. Those steps were too large for humans to climb comfortably. Anyway, bringing an aircraft in made a very unsubtle point. Asanee looked at the lake, its shimmering royal blue now criss-crossed with wakes from ships, AAV-7s and LCACs. It was an impressive sight. Then, there was a gentle bump as the V-22 landed.
The tail ramp dropped down and General Petraeus led the way out. As he emerged, a Marine Corps band struck up a long-familiar tune. It was the words that were slightly strange.
When the Army and the Navy
Finally gazed on Heaven’s scenes
They found the streets were guarded by
United States Marines.
Chapter Eighty Two
Throne Room, The Ultimate Temple, The Eternal City, Heaven.
“This place is a disgrace.” General Ivan Semenovich Dorokhov looked around in barely-veiled disgust. The command group from the Human Expeditionary Army had assembled outside what had one been Yahweh’s palace and entered the anteroom. The building was in a serious state of decay, one only partially concealed by the glittering arrays of precious stones. General Dorokhov looked at the iridescent displays with curiosity. “Has the matter of reparations been discussed yet?”
“The Yamantau Council are still evaluating the matter.” General Petraeus was also surveying the scene that was unfolding before his party. “I believe they have yet to come to a conclusion. The last thing I heard from them was that reparations were required but how they were to be paid is entirely another matter. Who should pay them is also interesting. Yahweh is undoubtedly the responsible party but he is dead. The rest of the angels seem to be as much of his victims as we were. We all saw that concentration camp.”
General Ti Jen-chieh was also inspecting the walls. “I wonder how many peasants and workers died on how many worlds to fill this room with stones.” His words were met with a series of nods. Even a cursory inspection of The Eternal City revealed that far more than a single world had been looted to provide the ever-present displays of gleaming gems.
“And what happened to them after death?” General Asanee was more interested in the carving of the woodwork. Her family were carpenters and sculptors who worked in wood and the craftsmanship in the carving interested her. Personally, and admitting to herself that she might be biased in the subject, she thought the carvings were inferior to the ones her brothers produced. The rifle she was carrying was an example of their work.
