“All for the glory of the League.” Voronin touched his fist to his chest, the proper response to invoking the phrase. “What will you do now? One of their vaunted core worlds has fallen before us.” He smiled thinly. “After all the prattling by the Coalition Defense Force that we’d never succeed against a hardened target.”
The question brought anger up within Yuen. He’d spent the afternoon outlining the next steps of his planet-capturing campaign with the Social and Public Safety Committee, only to be overruled at the last moment. “I am unsure,” he admitted. “We were close to convincing the chairman of the need to send a significant portion of the home-defense fleet.” Yuen snarled and turned his head. “But that damn Terran attack on Sol.” His eyes blazed with fury. “The doddering old men back home can’t see it was only one ship. At best, a gimmick. I doubt they could do it again.”
Voronin frowned. “We’re not getting reinforcements? The Eire campaign cost the fleet twenty-five percent of its ships, and it will be some time before my crews can get the rest repaired. A few battleships will be out of commission for months.”
“Some but not enough.” Yuen calmed himself with a deep breath. “The committee believes the bulk of the fleet is needed to protect Earth, all because an escort carrier with three squadrons of fighters blew up a fuel depot and a few ships!” Again, anger raced through the calm he always projected.
“I suppose some allowance must be made to reassure our citizens that the capitalist dogs of the Terran Coalition can’t strike whenever and wherever they want,” Voronin replied cautiously. “Besides, if the workers aren’t safe, we won’t get the ships needed to fight the war.”
“This observation lounge is swept for listening devices daily by my most trusted staff,” Yuen snapped. “You need not worry about political commissars questioning us later.”
With a frown, Voronin nodded. “Still, be careful what you say. Any whiff of defeat or individualism… You know what the punishment is.”
Yuen sincerely believed in the cause of the League. Deep within his soul, he knew humanity’s solidarity was the only way to ensure everyone was properly looked after. The wars brought by reactionary elements such as the capitalists and those who clung to their outdated superstitions could never happen again. Only united as one League of Sol could humans gain their rightful place in the galaxy. Still, he also believed the model could be improved upon. But he couldn’t voice that opinion. “I would rather focus on fighting the Terrans than dealing with internal politics,” Yuen snarled.
“Comrade, I fear for our efforts. Without overwhelming firepower, our campaign will turn into a war of attrition.” Voronin pursed his lips. “I don’t want to see a generation of brave sailors die in the meat grinder of a great patriotic war.”
“Nor do I,” Yuen replied. “Our duty is to win this war as quickly as possible, with as little loss of life as possible. On both sides.” He stared out the window again, watching the legions of people hurrying to and fro across the deck below. “The Terrans deserve to know what it means to be free of their bad thoughts and how great humanity can be.”
“We need a new strategy, then. Something to affect their hearts and minds.”
Yuen turned and narrowed his eyes at Voronin. “Yes. Like they did to us with that ridiculous attack on Sol.” Wheels churned inside Yuen’s head as he pondered what they could do, then he smiled “Thank you, comrade.”
“For what?” Voronin asked, puzzled.
“Look how a simple act caused so much fear even in the League. Now the men and women who did it are venerated as heroes in the Terran Coalition. These individualists focus on having heroes to look up to rather than worship the real power of the state and its citizens. I think it’s time we lay a trap for the CSV Zvika Greengold. Let the Terrans understand what it means to lose a hero.”
Voronin nodded. “The idea being it will shake their morale and perhaps give us political capital back home with the Social and Public Safety Committee?”
“Exactly, Admiral. Until then, we’ll keep doing what works. Strip their border planets from them, especially those with useful minerals, and grind down the capitalists. They don’t have the stomach for a long war like us. Oh, give it a couple of years, and they’ll be crying about the human cost, the lost mothers and fathers and sons and daughters.” He turned back to the scene below. “But we can keep going for three generations if that’s what it takes. Though we value the lives of those lost, the League cannot—ever—be defeated. The revolution must continue, no matter the cost.”
“To the revolution,” Voronin replied.
“Always.”
Battlegroup Z: Book 4 – Bandits Engaged: Justin Spencer and the crew of Zvika Greengold face the bitter cost of war as they go up against a ruthless enemy destroying freighters in neutral space. Get Book 4 today!
Only $3.99 - Tap HERE to read NOW!
THE END
Get Two free & Exclusive Daniel Gibbs Books
FREE BOOK: Read the story of Levi Cohen and his heroic fight at the first battle of Canaan in Echoes of War: Stand Firm.
FREE BOOK: Join Captain James Henry as he tries to survive in the independent worlds after being cashiered out of the Coalition Defense Force. Can a broken man rebuild his life? Find out in A Simple Mission.
Both available FREE, only at
www.danielgibbsauthor.com/standfirm.
Also Available from Daniel Gibbs
Battlegroup Z
Book 1 - Weapons Free
Book 2 - Hostile Spike
Book 3 - Sol Strike
Book 4 - Bandits Engaged
Echoes of War
Book
