There’d been a time, a century ago or so, when enlisted personnel were actually discouraged from marrying, when it was assumed that female Marines would get married or pregnant and have to leave the service. No more. Lots of Corps families had two or more members in the Marines nowadays; the Corps went out of its way to station family close together, though, of course, the needs of the service always came first. In her case, she’d been stationed close to home, at Quantico, until her posting as CO of 1-MSEF, which meant she had to go to V-berg. They’d been good about letting her shuttle back and forth between the coasts on weekends, but it had been a grind, a damned nightmare, and one weekend out of three she couldn’t get home anyway.
Her kids needed her. She needed her kids—and Rob. Maybe it was time to think about an early retirement.
Her PAD chirped. Reaching to her holster, she pulled the device free and plugged it into the flatscreen on the back of the seat in front of her, for a bigger picture. The screen flashed, then showed the words SECURE TRANSMISSION INCOMING.
She glanced around her. She was on a commercial flight, but the seat next to her was vacant and none of the other passengers was paying attention. She slipped the earphone into her ear and set the sound to plug only; her conversation would be private enough. She thumbed the accept key.
It was General Talbot. “Hello, Colonel.”
“General,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I’m not alone at the moment.” She wondered if she should go to the rest room to take the call. Or ask a steward if she could use the galley/food-prep compartment.
“That’s okay,” he told her. “Just listen and don’t comment out loud. We have some new information about the…situation.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Word just came through a few minutes ago. Apparently, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt was also attacked and destroyed shortly after the Kennedy. We didn’t know sooner, of course, because of the time delay from Jupiter space, and because the bureaucracy in Washington right now is falling all over its own feet.
“Triple-N already has the story, of course, but they haven’t put it all together yet. This confirms that we have been attacked, and that it was the Heavenly Lightning that launched it. As of 2035 hours Zulu this evening, we are on a war footing. We expect the president will make an announcement either later tonight, or sometime tomorrow morning.”
She took another glance around. No one was listening. “What…what about our people at Europa, sir?”
“Status unknown at this time. If they were operating according to sched, the first troops should already have been on the surface. But our sensors picked up three major explosions, one of them very close to the CWS facility itself. It looks as though the Chinese have deliberately destroyed our facility on Europa, our Marine transport in orbit, and the Peaceforce cruiser that was in a position to intercept their transport. The Star Mountain is now scheduled to reach Europa within three days. They undoubtedly have troops on board, and intend to secure whatever is left of our installation there, and assume the task of contacting the Europan intelligence first.”
“I take it, sir, you want me back at V-berg, stat.”
He shook his head. “Not…immediately, Kaitlin. Take a few days at home. But my staff will be preparing a readiness report, and we need to know we can count on 1-MSEF. We may be looking at a relief expedition of some sort, depending on the current status of our Europan base.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Check in with my office once you get home, and be prepared for a quick ride back to V-berg.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Colonel Frickerson can have any numbers you need for your report, and you can always access Yukio.” Yukio was the persona of her secretary AI, resident in her PAD, but who also roamed the computer net at Vandenberg. “I can tell you right now that we’re ready to go…I’d say on forty-eight notice.”
“That’s reassuring, Colonel. Thank you. I…don’t expect we’ll need you back here for, oh, say, seventy-two hours yet. Just stay in touch, just in case.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Kaitlin…I’m sorry about your son.”
She clenched her jaw before replying. “We don’t know he’s dead, sir.”
“No. And there will be a search for survivors. But as of tonight, he is being listed as ‘missing, presumed dead.’ You have to know that it isn’t likely that anyone survived on the Kennedy.”
“I…know, sir.”
“Okay. Give my best to Rob.”
“Yes, sir. I will.”
The screen went dark before coming back up with her PAD’s comm desktop display. She stared at it for a long time before switching off and unplugging from the seatback display.