The Terran Mandate (4 page)

Crimson Sunshine

Shahn'dra padded her way quietly to the
radio in the corner of the cabin. The thin tendrils normally draped over the
top of her head quivered and then floated up over her eyes as she reached out
with a leather brown hand to stroke the radio case. He had tried to explain it
to her once. It was like the way she could reach out into the world with her
antennae and sense things, but it was even more magical because the words were
always crisp and exact, even if they were tinny or sometimes obscured by
static. There was also one other big difference: it wasn't forbidden. The
instinct to reach out to him mentally was buried somewhere deep inside. She was
even tempted to try it sometimes, but her fear of the forbidden always stopped
her.

The leathery skin of her face fluttered
and she pursed her thin snout into a narrow tube to let out a faint cooing as
her hands brushed the dials. She wasn't supposed to. Her mother had told her to
leave it alone until they they needed it. She looked over her shoulder to make
sure her mother was still sleeping and then quickly flipped the power switch.
She gasped softly and yanked her hand over her mouth as the box hummed to life
and dim light emerged behind the window. She twisted one of the knobs just enough
for the mysterious crackling hiss to jump out from the box. She always wondered
what was inside making the noise and had to remind herself of what he had said:
"Don't worry, it's supposed to do that." Her heart still beat just a
little faster when she heard it. Two marks were etched on the window: one red,
one white. The red mark was for trouble, for calling the Paladin. The white
mark was so she could talk to Captain Brandt, a man she had only met once, but
one she longed to talk to almost every day. One night, the box wouldn't light
up and it had taken several days for it to come back to life. When she had
screeched out at him after it came back on, he had patiently explained that she
couldn't use it every day because it had to sleep. Since then, she was careful
to count the days to make sure it had enough sleep so it would always come back
on.

Shahn'dra turned the knob and moved the
needle to the white mark. The static was replaced by a shining tone that slowly
rose in pitch and then whined back down until she couldn't hear it anymore.
When the box sang like this, she knew she had tuned it correctly. Her mother
snorted and shifted position. Her antennae fluttered for just a moment and then
her breathing fell back to a deep drone. Shahn'dra closed her eyes and let her
antennae sway back and forth as the box started to sing again. When the tone
had reached its highest peak, she unhooked the mic and said the strange words
he had taught her. She said the words slowly in a voice laden with the thick
accent of her people's guttural language. "Echo Five, Crimson Sunshine,
over." She let go of the button and waited. After a few seconds of
listening to the box sing, she pushed the button again and repeated the phrase.
"Echo Five, Crimson Sunshine, over." She let go and waited. He had
told her that she should only try twice unless it was an emergency. She scowled
as the box sang back to her without his voice. Then she heard the click. The
voice floated out to her, tinny and warped with static.

"Crimson Sunshine, Echo Five,
authenticate baily."

Shahn'dra closed her eyes as tight as
she could, remembering all the combinations of sounds he had taught her. She
couldn't read the symbols he had tried to show her, so she had made a long song
in her mind and sang it to herself quietly every night. She hummed and bobbed
her head until she came to the one he had said.

"Echo Five, authentication is
wick."

After that, he would speak in her
language, something that few Colonial Marines knew, but something that every
Terran Guard learned from childhood. Because of this, he had told her it was
important to never say certain things, like where they were or who they were.
As far as everyone knew, there were no Shoahn' left and if they ever found out,
it could cause some serious problems - and not just for her and her mother.

"Remember to be careful,
Shahn'," he said. She started cooing again, this time with a faint purring
mixed in.

"I know. I'll be careful."
Something flashed through her mind. It left a wake of darkness that she couldn't
understand and then was gone. She stroked her antennae, forcing them back down
to her head. "What happened?" she asked.

The box sang for a long time before the
answer came back. "We had a battle today."

"There is less of you," she
said, feeling the new emptiness in his voice.

"We lost many Marines," he
said in a retreating voice. "Too many."

Shahn'dra closed her eyes and stroked
the radio. "Close your eyes," she said. Her head swayed back and
forth as she listened for the wind and then she started to sing with nothing
more than a whisper. Soon, a soft trill crept in at the bottom of her range.
Then, she split her voice with a cooing melody that floated over the top of the
trill. Remembering the cadence and tone of his own words, the melody echoed his
sadness in a somber cycle that drifted higher with each round. She pulled in
air through the singing gills etched into the side of her face, never stopping
to actually breathe as the song coalesced into a vocal symphony. It was her
song. Every Shoan had their own, but she infused it with a timbre that was
meant just for him in this one moment. This particular song, like all Shoahn'
songs, was unique and would never be heard again. It never occurred to her that
the radio could never do justice to her singing and she sang to him as if he
were standing right in front of her. She finished with three long notes stacked
on top of each other and then faded them all to a whisper that once again
sounded just like the wind. She let go of the button and the radio sang back to
her with its droning whine. When she didn't hear his voice, she keyed it again
and asked softly, "Jason?"

The radio crackled and then his voice
emerged once again. "I'm here," he said. She couldn't hear the faint
break in his voice that she had inspired. "Thank you."

"Some day I will sing to you in
front of me," she said.

"I hope so," he said.

A sudden flash of darkness swept over
her, stronger this time. It was different than before. The flavors of dark were
infinite and she knew the few that humans could feel. This wasn't one of them.
The Dark Winds whispered at the edge of her consciousness. Her heart raced and
her antennae whipped straight up, waving frantically around her head.

"I have to go," she said in a
choked voice, and shut the radio off before he could answer. She backed away
from the radio, but the darkness would not leave. She looked frantically around
the room and held both hands out to keep her balance. She kept backing up and
then tripped over her mother and tumbled to the floor. Her mother was already
sitting up, her antennae flitting back and forth. She reached out and held
Shahn'dra against the wall, as if to protect her.

Together, they huddled in the darkness,
their antennae dancing together as they pushed back at the forces trying to
stampede into their consciousness. "It's stronger this time,"
Shahn'dra said. Her breath came harder as she concentrated to control the forbidden
instincts that welled up into her mind. She was afraid of them, not just
because they were forbidden, but because they seemed to have a mind of their
own. The Dark Winds surged and she let out a gasp. She felt like something was
looking at her.

Then they were gone.

Hindsight

All eyes were on Dekker as he glanced
around the room. "Before we get into all that," he said, "I want
to know how the Terran Guard managed to get their second brigade into line just
in time for this battle. It is more than a day's march from their compound,
under the best of circumstances."

"What are you getting at,
Colonel?" General Lane asked.

Dekker eyed Lt. Simmons. Taking the cue,
she placed her palm flat on the table. "Sir, my mission was to conduct a
recce followed by a combat patrol if the opportunity developed. After we found
the enemy flank, we immediately observed the Guard's second brigade deployed in
line moving decisively for the center of our own lines. Our estimate is that
they were conducting a spoiling attack to secure and exploit a breach right
down the middle."

"Given that the Enforcer Battalion
couldn't hold the initial line, I can only imagine what would have happened if
the Guard's Second had reached their objective," General Lane said,
looking directly at Dekker.

"That's not the way it was,
sir," Lt. Simmons said. Colonel Harris, the regiment's S-2 and her boss,
nudged her with his elbow, but she ignored him.

Lane leveled his gaze on her.
"How's that, Lieutenant?"

"Colonel Dekker's infantry was
engaged with forces from the Guard's Second before the withdrawal. By my
estimate, he was up against the bulk of their armor company and two companies
of infantry in addition to the Third Battalion of the Guard's First
Regiment."

The room fell silent as everyone's eyes
turned towards Dekker.

Lane squinted at Lt. Simmons.
"Thank you for your report, Lieutenant." Turning his attention to
Dekker, he said, "Did you know you were up against that much resistance,
Colonel?  I don't recall receiving a report on the disposition of enemy forces
at your location."

"As I recall, sir, I was told to
hold the line and then the General closed the net. But that's not what's
important here."

"Alright, Colonel, let's have
it."

"As I said, I want to know how the
Guard's Second Brigade knew to be in position just as our attack was starting.
You heard Lieutenant Simmons. Those tanks weren't moving to contact. They had
been brought forward from the Guards compound at least a day in advance and
were rolling into the attack. They knew. What I want to know is how." He
paused to assess the room - still finding no allies. "We hit a spoiling
attack right off the bat. I'm not saying we could hold the line, but there
might be more of us left if I'd had some help from another battalion or even an
extra weapons company. You deployed a single battalion to breach the middle -
"

"Hold," Lane said. "You
were to hold the center. You weren't the main effort here, Colonel."

"That's a fire support mission,
sir. Giving us an extra weapons company makes even more sense if that's the
case."

General Lane leaned away from the table.
"I should have known better than to engage in a debate on tactics with the
Enforcer." A flurry of nervous chuckles floated around the table. He
leveled his gaze at Colonel Harris. "I think we all got taken by surprise
on this one."

"What's important here,"
General Lane continued, "is how we're going to get them back. Today's
attack showed us how not to do it. The question is what to try next."

The rumble of Colonel Mason's voice
reverberated across the room. "Next?  Sir, we have three under strength
battalions - one of them hurt bad - and, what - a company of tanks? -  against
almost a full division of infantry and a tank battalion. If there is going to
be any 'next', we need the Paladin here to get in the fight."

"Yeah, well," General Lane
said, "the idea here was to take on a single brigade and then defend
against whatever the Guards had left with whatever we had left reinforced by
the Paladin's Cats." Lane folded his hands on the table and let out a
sigh. "You guys know we can't replace them. If there is any way to do this
without risking them in the attack, I'd rather not resort to that just
yet."

"Sir," Mason persisted,
"If we don't use them now, they're all we're going to have left. Things
are not getting better. We need to get the Cats into a full attack while we
can."

"Alright, Colonel, we know where
you stand. What about the rest of you?"

Colonel Quadish spoke next.
"General, we can defeat them. It would be better with the Paladin, yes,
but I don't think we have to try that just yet. I agree with you."

Turning to the S-2, Lane lifted his
brows. "Colonel Harris?"

"It's clear they've consolidated
their forces. But I don't think they're going to leave their compound wide open
for us to just walk in. They'll have to pull back at least a battalion as a
rear guard to keep the lines of communications open. We'll have real trouble
dealing with the rest, but with the Paladin -" He looked at the table and
rubbed his forehead.

"Go on."

"If we put the Paladin in, it would
be an even fight."

General Lane raised a brow. "Even? 
That's all?"

"Even," the S-2 said.

"What about it, Major, are you
ready to get in the fight?" He ignored the glances at Dekker, who had not
been asked his opinion.

"All I need is a company of
infantry for a Foot Guard to keep their guys off our fenders."

"Hell, you can take two of
mine," Mason said.

"As you were, Colonel," Lane
said.

"Just give me the word,
General," Mason said. "I'll lead it myself."

Dekker  cleared his throat. "It's
not what it's all cracked up to be." He made sure Mason was looking at him
before continuing. "But I know you'd do a fine job, Colonel."

"Passing the torch?" Lane
asked.

"I was relieved of those duties by
your predecessor, sir," Dekker said.

Major Walker glanced down at the table
and then leaned forward, looking straight at Mason. "I'd talk to the
Enforcer about it, Colonel. It's tough duty." He turned his gaze to Dekker
and said, "It takes a special kind to guard a Cataphract."

"Major, what's the status on your
team now?" Lane asked.

"We're set up just behind the
compound. My rig is down for repairs."

"How long is that going to
take?"

"At least a day."

"Alright," Lane said.
"Let me know when you're back on line. In the meantime, I'll take the
issue of committing your team to the main line under advisement." General
Lane stood up. Everyone around the table stood up with him, waiting for his
final orders. "That's all for now. Carry on. Dismissed."