Greenies

the last battle. We were hit hard and fast in all sectors and we took some heavy casualties — unacceptably heavy casualties. We weren't able to fulfill our primary mission of slowing down the WestHem marines at the gap and the defensive lines behind the gap. We were not able to inflict significant casualties on the enemy. This failure was not the fault of any of you out there — you people fought hard and you fought well and I'm proud of each and every one of you. Nor was this failure my fault, or General Jackson's fault, or General Zoloft's fault, or Governor Whiting's fault. It was simply the fortunes of war acting against us. The enemy got one in on us with their air strike and were able to prevent us from neutralizing their artillery. They came at us with overwhelming numbers before reinforcements could be fully deployed. In short, they kicked our asses in this particular battle. That is war and the Martian way is not to try to find someone to blame but to try as hard as we can to learn from what happened and to prevent it from happening again.

'That is what we're trying to do now. Our reinforcements from the 12^th and the 5^th ACRs out of Proctor have now all arrived and are being deployed to the main line. Most of the 4^th Infantry Division from Proctor are on their way here right now and should start arriving early this evening. So please take assurance in the fact that help is here and more is on the way.'

He took a few breaths and looked around at the sea of faces staring back at him from behind their helmets. 'People,' he said, 'I fully understand why some of you are doing this but desertion is starting to become a serious problem out here. I know that right now many of you are contemplating leaving before the next phase of this battle begins, particularly those of you in the anti-tank platoons. It was you folks, after all, who were hit the hardest out there in the gap and in the blue line positions. But before any more of you leave please let me explain a few things to you. All I ask is that you listen to me and trust me as you've trusted me in the past. I made a vow long ago that I would never lie to my troops and I'm not about to start now.'

He paused to let that sink in. When he felt it had, he went on. 'Okay, the first point I want to make is that the defensive positions you'll be manning here on the main line are much more formidable then the positions in the gap. The main line has always been regarded as the place to make our final stand and it was constructed with that in mind. Those positions are solid, reinforced concrete bunkers with concrete overhead protection that will stand up a lot longer to artillery bombardment before crumbling.

'Now I understand the basic theory of defensive positions. No matter how strong your defenses are, a determined concentration of firepower will eventually break it. We haven't neutralized the WestHem artillery and, if we don't, it is possible that they might be able to inflict significant, even lethal damage upon these positions. I don't like telling you that, I know it isn't helping my pleas to stem the flow of desertions, but it's the truth. If we don't do something about the WestHem arty, we may have a repeat of the Jutfield Gap and the Blue Line casualties. It will just take a little longer.

'So... on that note, I have been authorized to tell you that General Jackson and General Zoloft are working on a way to reduce or neutralize that artillery in this theater of action. I can't tell you what their plan is — although I have been briefed on the rudimentaries of it — but I can assure you that there is a plan in effect and it stands a very good chance of being effective. Now if this were WestHem and I was a WestHem marine colonel telling you this, I would expect you all to think it was a bunch of bullshit. However, I'm not a WestHem marine colonel, I'm a Martian colonel and I've told you this same thing before during the first phase of the battle. I was telling you the truth then, wasn't I? I am not lying to you now. I hope you will all consider my record before making any decisions.

'And there is something else I'd like you to consider as well. I have been told by General Jackson and General Zoloft that our forces here in Eden will not be subjected to that volume of fire again even if their plan should fail. If we cannot knock out or neutralize the WestHem artillery and they began to bring shells down with impunity as they did before, you will all be pulled back and the city will be surrendered to the WestHems before we even have a chance to experience the sort of losses we suffered in the gap and at the Blue Line.

'So please, have faith in your leadership a little bit longer. We need every man and woman with a gun, with an AT weapon, with an APC or a tank to stand between our city and those forces of corporate WestHem that are trying to take it away from us. We can do this, people, if we only stay united. We're fighting for our very freedom. Don't let us lose it after everything we've gone through to get this far. If we lose, then all those who have fallen will have fallen in vain. That is all I have to say on that subject. Now then... I have reserve assignments for those who will be staying.'

He tried to go onto his reserve assignments but he was interrupted by the sound of applause. He wouldn't have thought he could hear something like that out in the thin atmosphere, with everyone wearing gloves on his or her hands, with his own head covered with an insulated helmet, but sixteen hundred people doing it at once made a noise no matter where you were — as long as there was any air to carry the sound.

'Thank you,' Martin said when it finally died out. 'As I said, I'm proud of each and every one of you and when we beat those fucks back into orbit you will all know that you played a major part in it. Now, on that note... those assignments.

'As you might have noticed, the tanks and their support units are not here. They have already been reassigned and redeployed to the 2^nd Infantry to help shore up certain positions on the line where a particularly thick barrier is needed. Many of the tanks from the 2^nd Infantry have joined them. Unfortunately this has left some armor gaps in other places along the line and our APCs, minus their mounted infantry crews, will be used to augment these gaps.'

'What the fuck?' Jeff heard Tim Locker — the driver of their APC — mutter over the tactical channel. 'Augment the tanks?'

'I know this is a departure from MPG doctrine,' Martin was saying. 'Trust me when I say it is a necessity. And, like the AT positions in the bunker complexes, our fixed armor positions are a bit more considerable than the gap positions. They are all hull-down depressions surrounded by concrete and reinforced with titanium shielding on the front and sides. The APCs will not be placed in any position where they are not augmented by at least one 2^nd Infantry main battle tank.'

'How are we supposed to reinforce anyone if they're taking our APCs?' Drogan asked. 'Are we supposed to walk to where they need us?'

'No,' Jeff replied, pointing to a group of the tracked agricultural trucks. 'I think they've developed alternate transport for us.'

It turned out he was entirely correct as Colonel Martin explained just seconds later.

'Great,' said Walker, who, though he had applauded as loud as anyone a few minutes ago, seemed less than thrilled with all the change in basic doctrine. 'We'll be riding in the back of trucks, completely exposed. One proximity shell from one artillery gun or even a mortar will shred us all.'

They all pondered that unpleasant image in silence.

'Okay, folks,' Martin wrapped up. 'The WestHems are currently performing a textbook assault on the Purple Line, which they don't realize is completely empty. After that, it is anticipated they'll do the same for the Red Line. After that, we expect they'll have to refuel and rearm before they can move on the main line. That will take most of the day to accomplish and our arty, special forces teams, and aircraft intend to make that process as slow and painful for them as possible.

'In the meantime, we ourselves need to refuel and re-arm too. Let's get that done and then start moving to our new assignments.' He paused for a second or two. 'Free Mars, people. Free Mars. We're not just saying it, we're fucking doing it!'

AgriCorp Greenhouse 02.13223 — 05.66542, 14 kilometers northwest of Eden

0645 hours

This particular greenhouse was full of tomato plants that had been days from being harvested. Now it looked like most of the yield would have to be written off since 253 main battle tanks had entered the sanctity of their growing area and smashed most of them flat with their treads — enough agricultural destruction to make an AgriCorp executive cry had any of them known about it.

The tanks were spread out in staggered lines all across the fields, their ranks closing like a funnel into four distinct lines near the north end where four fueling and resupply cars were waiting to service each of them. At the head of each line the tanks would be pumped full of hydrogen for fuel, oxygen for oxidizer, and would have any shells or bullets they'd shot off in the first engagements replaced. They would then move onto the access tunnel that led to the next greenhouse to the north where a final assembly for... for something was taking place.