Greenies

platform.'

'Copy that,' Shaw replied. He was a kilometer away, at the south tunnel with bravo company. 'Are any of your men wounded?'

'Negative, sir.'

'Get your medics in action once everyone is in the tunnel.'

'Yes sir.'

He then addressed all of his company commanders. 'Okay Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta companies,' he said. 'All tunnel entrances are secured. Move forward now and quickly. Heads up on the other side, the WestHems have been alerted. Weapons free but use your discretion. There are a lot of civilian and non-combatants in that base.'

He received four acknowledgements and the next phase was begun.

At each of the three tunnels leading to Triad Naval Base the primacord was placed on the security doors that guarded the entrances that the trains used. The explosive material formed half ovals two meters wide by three meters high and detonators were attached. The troops stood back as safe distance from the doorways and the detonators were fired, exploding the cord and blasting neatly through the three-centimeter steel. In all three tunnels, at virtually the same instant, sections of doorway clanged to the ground, allowing entry to the MPG.

The commands to move came and, at each of the three tunnels, nearly two hundred troops rushed forward and through the newly created holes in the doors. A squad of infantry stayed behind at each platform for security and prisoner guarding. At the main entrance a squad of medics went to work on the wounded civilians and MPs.

The tunnels were two kilometers in length and thirty meters in diameter, each of them with two side-by-side magna tracks. The MPG special forces troops moved rapidly forward at not quite a double-time pace, weapons ready, infra-red enhanced eyes peering forward. Though complete surprise had been hoped for it had not been achieved. The WestHems knew they were coming and were probably scrambling troops to try and stop them. When they reached the other end of the tunnels, the fun would really start.

Commander Gravely was in command of the Triad Naval Base MPs. He was at his desk in front of his Internet terminal, supposed to be going over some budgetary figures but actually watching the Internet coverage of the events in New Pittsburgh with growing rage. What the hell did those greenies think they were doing? Firing on federal officers. Refusing to honor a valid arrest warrant. Holding all of the workers in the Martian Capital building hostage. There were even rumors that they were engaging WestHem marines down at the barracks entrance. The green bastards had gone too far this time and he relished the thought that the WestHem federal system was soon going to land on them with both feet. And about damn time too.

Things had gotten very bad since that bitch Whiting had been sworn in. What had once been simple animosity between Martians and WestHem had turned into vicious hatred that was often punctuated with violence. The naval personnel on the base were afraid to even go into Triad or down to the Martian surface for fear of being attacked by angry Martians. And now Whiting actually had MPG troops, which were under federal control for Christ's sakes, firing upon FLEB agents and holding hostages. He hoped that when this was all over they lined every one of those traitorous bastards up against a wall and...

His Internet terminal cleared, showing the face of Lieutenant Smack, the dispatch CO. 'Commander,' he yelled frantically, his faced flushed. He was obviously excited about something. 'We need you in here right now. A serious situation is developing.'

He almost asked for information right then, would have if not for the petrified expression on the Lieutenant's face. He acknowledged the request and stood, leaving his office and entering the dispatch center less than thirty seconds later. Five dispatchers sat at computer terminals, Smack included. Normally their jobs were to take calls from base personnel regarding matters that required an MP response and to route those calls to their available MP units. They weren't doing that now however. On all of their faces were expressions of disbelief mixed with fear.

'What's going on?' he demanded.

'Sir,' Smack reported, 'five minutes ago we received radio reports from the access tunnel stations on the Triad side. All three reported that the lights and Internet had gone out and not come back on. Shortly after that, the main freight squad leader reported that he was under attack by greenie troops and surrendering his position. We then...'

'What?' Gravely yelled loudly enough to make everyone in the room jump. 'Greenie troops? Attacking our MPs? And they surrendered?'

'Yes sir,' Smack nodded rapidly. 'And that's not all. A minute or so later the main gate on the Triad side reported they were under fire by the MPG. We haven't heard from them since. The north gate then reported they were overwhelmed and surrendering too. While we were trying to figure this out we received breach alarms on all three Triad to TNB tunnel doors.'

'The cameras,' Gravely barked. 'In the tunnels. What do they show?'

'Nothing sir,' Smack answered. 'The power is out in them. The power supply for the tunnels comes from Triad, not from TNB.'

'Those green sons-of-bitches,' Gravely proclaimed, now beginning to feel fear himself. He thought for a second, wondering how bad this situation was. Greenie troops were moving through the access tunnels towards the main base. Why? What could they possibly do if they got there? A terrorist attack of some sort? How many of them were there? There couldn't be that many, could there? Where could you hide a large number of troops on Triad after all?

'What should we do, sir?' Smack asked.

'Move all available MPs to the three tunnel access points. Give them weapons free status and tell them that Martian infiltrators may try to break through. Send the bulk of them to the main personnel tunnel. That's right outside here and is the best access to the rest of the base. Alert TIRT and have them deploy with all of the heavy weapons they have.' TIRT was the terrorist incident response team, a platoon of specially trained and equipped MPs kept on hand for just such an incident. Well, maybe not this sort of incident. No one had ever considered the possibility of an armed number of infiltrators attacking the base through the access tunnels.

'Yes sir,' Smack replied, calmer now that someone else was calling the shots. He went to work.

Gravely sat down at an Internet terminal and activated it, giving his authorization code. 'This is Commander Gravely,' he told the computer. 'On my authority set base to condition red zebra. All personnel to GQ stations.'

'Order confirmed,' the terminal replied. 'Initiating condition red zebra.'

Red zebra was the code for occupation of the city of Triad by enemy forces. Even during the Jupiter War it had not been initiated. All over the base doors between sections buzzed and slammed shut, latching securely and trapping people in their work areas or hallways between doors. Only MP personnel would be able to get through them and only after their IDs were confirmed both by the security computer and by visualization by command staff. The base was locked down tight as a drum.

'Get me Admiral Rosewood,' Gravely told the computer next, referring to the commander of the naval base.

Rosewood was on the screen almost immediately. Obviously, when his door had slammed shut on him, trapping him with his secretary in his office and when the announcement came over his screen letting him know that his base was now on the highest level of alert it had ever experienced, he became a bit curious as to what was going on. A quick check revealed the source of the order. He could have instantly revoked it, and figured that someone had made a career-ending mistake, but he decided to see what the situation was first.

'Commander Gravely,' he said, staring from the screen. 'Did you order a condition red zebra?'

'Yes sir,' Gravely answered. 'I did.' He then quickly explained the chain of events that led him to do this.

'That's absolutely insane!' Rosewood said after hearing the story. 'Are you sure about this?'

'As sure as I can be, sir. I already saw the alarm displays on my screen. Sir, our tunnels have been breached and I have every reason to believe that MPG troops, unknown in number, are in those tunnels for unknown intentions. They do seem to have the ability to breach the doors when they wish however.' He then explained the steps he had taken so far.