“Yes, sir,” I answer. That’s about as good as I can expect. Since this is likely a near-wartime cruise, Ceres was the only scheduled stop where we might have had some leave, anyway. Actually, answering a formal complaint from the Venusians would involve taking us out of flight status and keeping us grounded at Ceres during the inquiry. So he’s not going to damage the flight readiness of his crews just to assuage the injured pride of a Venusian, and he’s going to stick his thumb in their eye, as well.
“Dismissed.”
* * *
I keep my men busy with a variety of simulations; we don’t need to get in trouble again so quickly after the last time. It should also help us deal with the tension and burn off a little aggression. The simulations deal with what we might be facing: ship escort, boarding actions, rescue operations, and close space support. Most exercises are based around asteroid settlements, space stations, and ships, depending on the environment we’re in. Most of the bad guys are Saturnine, but I throw in some Belters, and given how many Venusians I’ve been seeing around Ceres, there’s some Venusian adversaries as well. Sure, we’re at peace with Venus, but things change. We’re technically at peace with Saturn, too.
We get the mail—messages beamed to Ceres station via laser, then forwarded to us. Coming out of a society where you can talk with anyone, anywhere, anytime into the sequestered communications of life aboard ship really makes you appreciate getting back in touch with people.
The holo from my family puts me in the middle of the porch, surrounded by everyone. My cyber-augments bring me the scent from the home cooking, and for a while it’s just good to listen to everyone’s everyday successes and challenges. Past everyone and the deck furniture, the dome reveals the breathtaking cloudscape of home, with the shimmering lights of the northern aurora visible even during the day. I miss it all so much, and it’s nice to have sensorium recordings like this.
People from Phobos Base sent a message, too. They talk about old times at the Academy and the various kinds of adventures and trouble they’ve gotten into on Mars. Everyone seems to be in good spirits, even with the rising interplanetary tensions. Maybe even because of it. No one talks about the trouble likely to come. After all, there’s nothing they can do about it, and if it comes down to fighting, everyone already knows what to do.
There isn’t much news coming in other than the usual troubles rising between Jupiter and Saturn. Things seem to be heating up between Terra and Luna, as well. Other local news provides some distraction: the spectacular ceremony of a feathered Venusian princess of some sort, arguments over Martian water rights leading to conflict, and some kind of lunatic breaking out of a Lunar hospital.
Finally, we get the word—we’ll be shipping out.
I expected we’d stay on station guarding Ceres or head closer to Vesta, but no.
Our destination is Eros. Apparently, Saturn-allied insurgents are taking over the asteroid, and we’re going to stop it. Eros isn’t an ally, but they’re signatories in the Free Belt Alliance, and a trading partner of Jupiter. I expect the real reason we’re going is so Saturn doesn’t get yet another major asteroid base. Bit by bit, they could take over the whole of the Belt that way.
My guess, and my worry, is that this is just the next step in raising tensions with Jupiter. It’s not involving them directly, yet, so if it fails, they can back down and deny the whole thing. It’s also an act they know we’ll have to do something about. My worry is that we might be getting drawn into a trap, to take us out of action before the real fighting begins.
Well, we’ll find out.
* * * * *
Chapter 4 Eros
Ah, Eros, the Asteroid of Love!
Eros should have been an important site in the solar system. Sure, it’s a comparatively small asteroid compared to Ceres and Vesta, and it looks like a tumbling space potato. Still, the asteroid’s orbit crosses that of Mars, and it has a near-approach of Earth, which puts it in a valuable strategic position. Its mineral content of aluminum, gold, and platinum made it a fantastic mining proposition. It was one of the first asteroids colonized, and once it had a shining future in the solar system.
It didn’t last.
The minerals were all too quickly mined out on an asteroid only the size of a large city. The tunnels were pressurized, and for a while it served as a supply and transfer station for other missions out into the Belt, Mars, and outer planets. For a while it looked like it was going to be the new hub of trade and transit in space.
Then the State of Terra happened.
Suddenly, all the asteroid’s funding was cut off, and transport fell to almost nothing. Everyone was ordered home—though many stayed, knowing what would happen to them once Special Security got a hold of them and their families. For a while they served the desperate refugee fleets fleeing Earth, including my ancestors, on the way to the Jupiter system.
After that, trade and traffic died off. Ceres and Vesta still had minerals to mine, as well as the ices and compounds needed for life, so they soon became the twin poles of Belter trade, traffic, and influence, bypassing the little asteroid.
It seemed like Eros couldn’t get any love. Eros couldn’t deliver minerals, couldn’t dominate trade, and was at the mercy of any ramshackle navy or pirate that came along. So the little asteroid placed itself under the protection of
