Greenies

people and horrible human rights abuses. Earthlings are so shallow.'

They turned their attention back to Williams, who was now talking about the attack on TNB.

'These terrorist criminals entered Triad Naval Base under cover of darkness. They were led by this man.' A graphic of Jackson was placed on the screen.

'Hey,' Jackson said to the applause of the assembled staffers, 'there I am. But what the hell did they do to my face?' The image of Jackson had been worked on by someone. His handsome face had been altered to look evil and scowling. His eyes had been darkened considerably giving him an almost demonic appearance. And the blackness of his flesh had been enhanced, making it appear darker than it really was.

'So-called General, Kevin Jackson. The man Laura Whiting appointed as the head of the Martian Planetary Guard. This man, who we believe to be Whiting's chief conspirator, led a group of armed, radical separatists, equipped with MPG weapons, to the gates of Triad Naval Base. They were allowed entrance to the base by this man.'

'Allowed entrance?' Jackson asked no one in particular. 'We blasted our way in.'

'Who the hell is that?' asked Whiting. 'He's not one of our people.'

Jackson looked, his eyes widening in surprise. 'That's Sega!' he exclaimed. 'The Martian marine commander for the expeditionary force.'

'General Ronald Sega,' Williams confirmed. 'And I am sad to state that this man is not a separatist. He is not even a Martian citizen. He is, or rather was, a highly trusted commanding general in the WestHem marines.'

'Holy shit,' Jackson said, shaking his head. 'They're gonna blame Sega for all of this!'

'This man was in charge of the marine forces on the planet of Mars.' Williams said with utmost sincerity. 'He was also the highest ranking military officer on that planet. We now know that he is the worst traitor this great hemisphere has produced since Benedict Arnold in the American Revolutionary War. General Sega apparently provided Kevin Jackson with access codes that allowed him and his thugs entrance to Triad Naval Base. The MPs on the base responded quickly to the intrusion and managed to pin the invaders near the front gate of the base. General Sega, as I mentioned before, was the highest-ranking officer on the planet. He declared an emergency and then sent a message to all WestHem military personnel ordering them to surrender to the Martians. To surrender! To throw down their arms. He stated to the brave commanders leading these MPs at Triad, as well as his very own marines at Eden Marine Barracks, that the situation was hopeless, that fighting on would only get them killed. And these brave soldiers, who lacked the information to make any decision to the contrary, who had no information to tell them that their commander was exaggerating things horribly, did as they were ordered.

'Thanks to General Sega, Martian separatists have taken control of all of our military assets on that planet. We have information that the separatists then marched onto TNB and executed more than a hundred of the MPs that were fighting them!'

'Executed?' Jackson nearly screamed at Williams' image. 'You have got to be...'

'Shhh!' Laura hushed him.

'Before communications with the naval base were shut down we received frantic cries for help and horrid descriptions of these thugs lining up the MPs and spraying them with machine gun fire, of shooting grenades at them. These are atrocities on the magnitude of the Asian Powers during World War III. Worse even. At least the Asian Powers were humane about how they killed prisoners.'

'Laura,' Jackson said, 'are you sure we should be allowing this feed out to the entire planet. Some of our people might believe this crap. This could alter the vote.'

Laura simply smiled. 'On the contrary, Kevin,' she said. 'I have a little more faith in the intrinsic common- sense of our citizens than that. I believe these broadcasts will do nothing but help our cause.'

Jackson was doubtful but he knew that Laura was almost supernaturally adept at reading the pulse of the citizens. He would trust her judgment over his own.

Williams lies continued. She claimed that General Sega himself had executed scores of marines after the base fell. She claimed there was evidence of a sexual relationship between Sega and Whiting. She claimed that thousands of MPG troops had been shot or imprisoned by the 'rogue elements' when they refused to take up arms against WestHem. 'It appears now that Generals Jackson and Sega have purged the MPG of all soldiers that have professed allegiance to WestHem,' she said. 'And unfortunately, all of our soldiers on that planet have been captured. Their fate is unknown and our prayers are with them. Our prayers are also with all of those loyal Martians and WestHems trapped as hostages on that planet by this terrorist take-over.'

'Terrorist take-over?' Jackson said in disgust. 'Hostages? Shit.'

'Did you really expect anything else?' Laura asked him.

'No,' he admitted.

'But you can be assured,' Williams proclaimed firmly, 'that this lawlessness and terror will not be allowed to continue. As we speak, preparations are being made to send a force of WestHem marines to Mars to restore order and to effect the arrest of those responsible for this situation. As you all know it takes some time to travel to Mars; approximately eight weeks at the current planetary configuration. It will take at least two weeks to assemble the forces and equipment necessary for this operation.

'We on the council realize that this leaves two and a half months for the current situation on Mars to continue. As horrible as that sounds, leaving those poor people under those conditions for that length of time, there is no other option. We will of course commence negotiations with Laura Whiting and her cohorts and let them know in no uncertain terms that what they are attempting will not be tolerated and that we will hold them responsible for any lives lost during this period. We will try to convince her to surrender herself and her thugs before our Marines land.

'But if she refuses, then our Marines will land on that planet and forcibly return it to the citizens of Mars and it's proper place in the WestHem system. Ms. Whiting,' Williams stared meaningfully, 'if you are listening, and I suspect you are, then I advise you to stop this madness before it goes any further. If you really care about the Martians, if you have a single ounce of empathy for them, you will stop this dangerous game before our troops arrive.

'Since I doubt that you will do this and, since I have received information that this broadcast may be still visible to the citizens of Mars, it is Whiting's sympathizers that I am now addressing. I'm talking to the men who have, for whatever twisted reason, volunteered to take up arms against WestHem at this evil woman's direction. Drop those arms now, right this minute, before it is too late. We have no wish to land on your planet and kill you; our quarrel is with the leadership you have followed. If you have not killed anyone, if you have simply gone with the crowd out of peer pressure, than you are in no trouble as long as your weapons are dropped by the time our forces land.

'Because, believe me, they will land and they will take control of the planet. I hope with all of my heart that this is a peaceful process, but if it must be a violent one, you stand absolutely no chance of preventing our re-occupation. None. I do not wish to see a lot of misguided people killed for no reason, so I plead with you, I beg of you, drop your arms. Do it now, today, this very moment, and do not pick them up again. That is the worst path that you could possibly follow.'

That was the end of Williams' speech. The news conference continued on with a question and answer period in which the reporters began inquiries into such things as what the name of the operation would be and when bids on the advertising and marketing contract would be accepted.

Laura ordered the computer to reduce the volume. 'She got in some good blows there near the end,' she was forced to admit. 'She must have a hell of a speech writer.'

'Do you think anyone will listen to her?' Jackson asked. 'Do you think it will change the vote?'

Laura smiled. 'Maybe a little,' she admitted. 'But I still think that our citizens have had quite enough of WestHem and their lies. I think most of them will see right through that speech.'

'But what about the threats?' Jackson asked. 'Many will believe in that even if they don't believe anything else. It would be ironic indeed if our citizens voted for autonomy and then no one volunteered to fight for it.'

Laura stared at him, anger now apparent on her face, anger that had not flared this brightly even during the worst part of Williams' inflammatory speech. 'Do you really think that our citizens are that shallow?' she asked him coldly. 'Do you really think that they would vote for freedom and then ask someone else to fight for it?'