Greenies

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.'

'Good.' She gave him a weak smile. 'Please continue your report.'

Jackson looked down, consulting some notes he had before him. 'We have a preliminary estimate on POWs here. We have captured approximately forty-six thousand WestHem military personnel at the two bases on Mars. Of course more than eight thousand of those captured at TNB are Martian civilians that worked on the base. They'll of course be released as soon as they are identified. The rest are sworn members of the WestHem armed forces. Preliminary numbers put the number of those that are Martian citizens at approximately eight percent. We've got people working the computers right now and we'll segregate the Martians from the Earthlings when we ID them. As for how many of that eight percent are loyal to Mars?' He shrugged. 'Your guess is as good as mine. I like to think it'll be in the upper ninety percent range, but who knows?'

'If it isn't at least in the upper eighties, especially among the navy,' Laura opined, 'we're in a lot of trouble.'

'Well, we'll squeak by, no matter what,' Jackson answered optimistically. 'Right now the POWs are still confined to their bases, most of them in their assigned housing units. Processing will start shortly. We'll segregate the Martians and keep them at TNB and then we'll move the bulk of the Earthlings to the compounds we'll be setting up in Libby and Procter. Most of the marines however, will be held right on the barracks grounds where they were stationed. A convenient, pre-positioned POW camp. We'll use the MPG troops that are prison guards in their civilian lives to watch over them; those that aren't vital to combat operations anyway.'

'Sounds like a good plan,' Laura said approvingly.

'Thank you. I thought of that part myself.'

'Any idea whether or not we'll be able to use Interdiction as a plan?'

'Matt Belting will be launching to Triad later today. He'll be the man to make the final decision on that but I don't imagine he'll be able to say until after we vote whether to go ahead with this revolution or not and after he has a preliminary report on the recruits we get with naval experience. I certainly hope we'll be able to pull it off. If we don't, my troops are gonna have quite a fight on their hands when the WestHems finally make their landings here.'

'Too much of a fight?' she asked.

He stared at her. 'Laura, you know what kind of odds we face even under the best of conditions. WestHem has the power and might to send a whole lot of trouble our way. We need Interdiction to go off at least in some capacity or we're going to lose some cities to the marines once they land. That may not lose us the war, but it'll sure make it longer, harder, and deadlier. I've planned my campaign under the assumption that we won't man a single ship or stop a single WestHem transport before it reaches Mars, but my job will be a whole lot easier if Interdiction goes forth with at least a small measure of success.'

'Then I guess my speech tonight had better be inspiring,' she said simply.

'If I know you Laura, and I do, you might even get some of those corporate haunchos to sign up.'

Under Whiting's orders, all of the office workers in the capital building were released, including the legislature and Lieutenant Governor Scott Benton. They did not go home as was offered. At Benton's suggestion, the legislature immediately convened a special session and voted to condemn Laura Whiting's actions and to open an investigation into impeachment proceedings for her actions. They added an addendum demanding her immediate removal from office during the course of the investigation. This time, with a clear course of action and with no pause to consider recall campaigns, the vote passed, with only half of those legislative members that had shifted loyalties during the last few months voting against it. The Lieutenant Governor ordered the results of the vote immediately transmitted to her through the secure Internet channels.

Laura did not address them in person, though she did broadcast her reply to them on the big screen in the legislative chambers.

'Sorry, folks,' she told them, shaking her head sadly, 'I'm afraid I won't be honoring your vote, at least not yet. Things have gone a little far for that.'

'It's a constitutional requirement that you honor the vote,' Benton, acting as spokesman, told her firmly. 'You do not have a choice whether or not to honor it. You will step down immediately and I will take over as Governor.'

'Our constitution was put aside when the first shots were fired downstairs,' she returned. 'I will not stand down unless the Martian people ask me to stand down. No votes from the legislature will be binding until further notice.'

'You can't do that,' Benton nearly screamed. 'You have no authority to disregard a vote. None!'

'Those armed men under my command have given me the authority,' she said. 'Right now they are following my orders and they are securing this planet from WestHem interests, of which you Scott, and most of you on the legislature are included in. As Martian citizens you will have the opportunity to judge my actions and vote upon them in a few days. Until then, this office and the Martian Planetary Guard are in charge of the planet. The legislature is hereby dismissed from office until further notice. You will all vacate the building immediately or I will have the troops remove you.'

'We're not leaving,' Benton told her. 'And we will not allow you to pervert our constitution in this manner. You will step down right now and submit yourself to custody or I will...'

'You will what, Scott?' she asked him. 'Have the feds take me into custody? There are no more feds in New Pittsburgh. The MPG is loyal to me and my orders and we have initiated a revolt against WestHem. A revolt, do you understand? Revolts are not stopped by votes cast by playthings of the people we are rebelling against. Now I'll tell you one more time, leave the capital building or you will be removed by force.'

'We're not leaving,' he repeated stubbornly.

She smiled. 'Tell that to the soldiers when they come up to remove you then,' she said, and then signed off.

Ten minutes later, an entire platoon of armed soldiers entered the legislative chamber. Five minutes after that, the entire legislature and Scott Benton were escorted out of the building at gunpoint.

Chapter 7

At 1800 hours, New Pittsburgh time, people all over the planet found an Internet screen and tuned it to the proper channel. Some were gathered around a single screen in the living room of a public housing apartment. Some sat in luxury apartments on the edges of the cities. Many were freshly deployed MPG troops on occupation duties. If they were near a screen they watched it, if they weren't near a screen, they watched their PCs instead.

When the speech began there was no fanfare beforehand, no commentary by reporters, no speculation as to what was to be said, no spurt of advertising commercials. The image simply blinked on, showing Laura Whiting sitting at her desk dressed in her normal garb, a dark blue T-shirt. Her graying hair was styled but not perfect, her face showed strain with large bags under her eyes. In that instant the planet held its breath. And then she began to