“Don’t be an ass, Norris,” Hanson said. “You’re making a pleasant profit. As am I.”
“I’m talking about profit for PanTerra…and Earth. They’ve put enormous resources into this expedition. They deserve a payoff.”
“I thought we were here to rescue human slaves, Mr. Norris,” Ramsey said with a lightly sarcastic edge to his voice. He’d seen little evidence that Norris or his people back on Earth were that interested in freeing slaves. It was technology they were after. Alien technology. And that mountain must hold secrets worth an obscene fortune to PanTerra.
“Give me a break,” Norris said. “Social do-gooding is fine, but it doesn’t begin to pay for an interstellar mission.” He shrugged. “Besides, the Sag-ura have been slaves down there for ten thousand years, right? They can wait a few years longer, if need be.”
“I’m sure both Congress and the Marine Corps share your views, sir,” Ramsey said. He had to bite down on the words to keep his anger from leaking across the interface into the noumenon. Norris, he’d decided, was a thoroughgoing son of a prick, but the MIEU was stuck with him, whatever his own feelings in the matter might be.
If Norris heard Ramsey’s sarcasm, he ignored it. “General, I can’t stress enough the importance of that planetary defense base. We must have access to its secrets.”
“We do,” Ramsey told him. “The first phase of the assault has gone smoothly. Surprisingly smoothly, in fact. We’ve taken the mountain, and an ARLT xenotech team is on-site now, examining the thing. You do realize, though, that any secrets inside that mountain are going to take years of study to winkle them out. Our people have reported they don’t understand more than a fraction of what they’ve found.”
“The next phase is to take the Legation area of New Sumer and the Pyramid of the Eye,” King said, “which will commence with our next orbit. After that we can begin negotiations with the Frogs.”
“If they agree to it,” Hanson pointed out.
“Of course, of course,” King said. “I suspect this show of force will be sufficient to force them to the bargaining table. But…Colonel?”
“Sir?”
“I’ve posted my standing orders on the net and to every platoon, company, and battalion leader in the task force. If there is even a quiver out of that mountain, we pop the cork. Understand me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I will not risk the entire MIEU to PanTerra’s profit motive, however compelling that might be. I’m counting on you, Colonel, to detonate that nuke if it becomes necessary to do so in order to protect the fleet. Clear?”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Good. Carry on.” The general’s noumenal presence faded from the link.
Around the three noumenal viewpoints, the orbiting fleet emerged again from Marduk’s eclipse of the local star. A hundred kilometers below, an ocean steamed and fumed.
“Shortsighted idiot,” Norris said, the words barely audible.
“Belay that crap,” Ramsey told him. “He is in command of this mission.”
“That doesn’t make him right. You’ve felt his fear? The man is terrified. He’s going to order An-Kur blown if he just thinks there’s danger. It was a mistake bringing him on.”
“Oh? And what did PanTerra have to do with the selection of the MIEU’s chain of command?”
“PanTerra organized the international follow-up expedition, Colonel, and to win the cooperation of so many foreign governments, they had to make certain…concessions. Among those was to choose as supreme commander for the MIEU, a man all could agree on. General King has had a great deal of experience working in diplomatic circles with various of the other governments, including Brazil and the Kingdom of Allah. He was the best compromise candidate among available senior Marine officers.”
“I see.” Ramsey hadn’t expected a straight answer from the man. “Then if he’s that experienced, why—”
“The man has family,” Norris said. “Two husbands, a wife, and two kids. He is a deliberate exception to the military’s famsit rules.”
Which explained a lot. There wouldn’t be many senior officers available who were domestically unattached.
“He must have volunteered, surely,” Hanson said. Exceptions could always be made in any set of regulations.
“Sure. And to get him, PanTerra is providing very well indeed for the general and for the members of his immediate family—including anagathic treatments that will keep them in step with him over the course of a twenty-year-objective mission. Jesus, you know how expensive those are. Just the same, a man isn’t as trustworthy out here if he’s separated from a family.”