Read Online Rebellion Ebook Full by B. V. Larson - Free Book Online Page B

decided to lie.
    “Don’t worry about it,” I told my officers. “I’m working on something. All this is going to turn out fine.”
    They stared at me, and visibly brightened. They had hope again, I could see it swimming into their minds. I had infected them with that old monster, the hope-monkey. Even Sandra caught it, I could tell. She had faith in me. Hadn’t I always pulled a rabbit out of every hat in the past? They wanted to believe, so they did. They didn’t even ask what my plan was. It was enough to know I had one. Everyone relaxed and felt more confident—except for me.
    Because only I knew I was full of shit.

-8-

    When the assault ships were loading up, I met Kwon on the deck of the hold. The deck curved upward gently, as we were really standing inside the walls of a giant cylinder. The big doors stood open, the four leaves spread like a steel flower. The yawning doors let in the white light reflected up from the ice world as we glided closer. Brilliant yellow starlight from the nearby sun flowed in as well, casting long, stark shadows.
    Kwon was wearing one of the new battle suits, as was I. He looked huge and machine-like. His suit had been a special order, as it was the largest size I’d come up with. Not everyone had a suit yet. There weren’t enough to go around. I had decided to put them on the men in the assault shuttles, as they would get to the target first.
    “Down here to see us off, Colonel?” Kwon asked me.
    “Are you going in one of the ships?” I asked.
    “Yes sir.”
    “Me too. I’ll fly with Major Welter.”
    Kwon looked at me sharply. “I didn’t realize you were coming along.”
    “Where else would I be? I don’t like sending my troops into harm’s way without sharing the pain. You know that, Captain Kwon.”
    “Sir, permission to speak freely.”
    “Granted.”
    “Are you out of your freaking mind?” Kwon asked in a low voice. There was more than a hint of exasperation in his tone.
    I chuckled. “Some think so.”
    “We need our commander at the command brick, on the boards, coordinating all this.”
    I shook my head. “There isn’t anything to coordinate. There is no firepower to back up the assault, no more ships. There won’t be a second wave. How can I second-guess the ground commander on a mission like this? Whoever stays in this hold will be watching and providing some sensor data—that’s it.”
    “I still think you’re crazy.”
    “You’re still right. You want to come with me on my ship?”
    “No,” Kwon said. “But I’ll do it anyway. That way, when they blow you out of space I can take command.”
    I grinned. “For the good of the Force?”
    “Right, sir. Can I ask more questions?”
    “Talk to me, Captain.”
    “How do we get back?” he asked.
    I stared at him. I opened my mouth to say: the Macros will come pick us up . But I stopped myself. I had no indication from Macro Command they would do anything to retrieve us. They had only shown concerns for such issues when we left the Worm planet. We had our mission parameters. We were to take the enemy satellite. But that was all we knew about the Macro plans.
    I frowned at him. “Hopefully,” I said, “the Macro ships will park in orbit around this world and we will be allowed to fly back to them.”
    “I hope so too, sir. About the enemy, do we kill them all or what?”
    I nodded, I’d thought of this one. “We’ll kill as many as we have to, then get them to surrender.”
    “What if they won’t? Could get bloody.”
    “I know, but any beaten force eventually—”
    Kwon interrupted me, which was uncharacteristic for him. “They have nowhere to retreat. Would you surrender to aliens or fight to the last? Maybe they don’t know about surrender and mercy.”
    I didn’t like where he was going. He wanted to know if he had permission to slaughter an entire population. We hadn’t even met these people, and we were planning their massacre. The entire conversation had a surreal feel