“Time On Target ten minutes.” Said the pilot.
Joe could see over the helmets of the marines to the cockpit. On screen were the Rings of Al Banduq. By hugging the rings they should evade Mirconian censors. Not that anyone could actually see a shuttle, or the rings. Behind them was a sky full of stars. In front was nothing. A great dark void. The dark side of the gas giant. Somewhere ahead lay The Moon of Al Banduq. It was dark like everything else. In two days it would orbit out of the shadow. It would be lit up for almost three months. Ninety Earth days of daylight. Earth forces would make a landing base in the dark, then fight in the light. Or what passed for light this far from a star.
“TOT nine minutes.”
Joe replayed the last message from Alicia.
“…. glad you were on the Flag Ship. I was afraid you were on that Vengeance. The Captain of that must have been a terrible man to destroy The John The Revelator while peace talks were still going on. After that of course there was no chance. Its thanks to that Captain that the war started…..”
That bit just didn’t make sense. Joe knew orders to destroy the Johnnie came from Earth via the Flag Ship. He had received them. But obviously the Earth Media were blaming the Captain of the Vengeance. They were saying war started because “He” decided to destroy the Johnnie. But in fact Earth Government ordered the destruction of the John The Revalator. So did that mean Earth wanted to go to war? Over a slug farm?
Come to think of it Earth had leaked the voyage of the Vengeance to Mirconium. That was what made them invade in the first place. They wanted to get it over with before the Vengeance arrived. So did Earth want them to Invade? So they could go to war over a slug farm? That was insane.
Joe glanced into the cockpit, at the main screen. There were green dots, the other shuttles. Red dots, the Thunderbirds. Blue dots the destroyers. All aiming in towards a yellow circle, the Moon.
There had already been destroyer raids, lasering the main Mirconium targets. They didn’t cause much damage or kill many. Their main purpose was to cover landing parties of lispers. They had been scouting enemy positions and laying out safe spots for the main landings. Joe was in at the start of the main landings.
A point on the equator called Glitteringstones.
“TOT five minutes.”
He returned to Alicia’s message.
She was in his house. She wore the orange bikini she’d worn at Cape Maclear.
“I hope you still like the look of me. You haven’t fallen for any female slugs or anything. I know they drug you so you can’t make love. But I do worry. I’m still at the Embassy of course. There’s lots happening. Mostly secret of course. But we are helping Earth out. Were refurbishing some engineering ships. For you to use on the rebuild of Al Banduq. There’s even talk of us opening a production line for Thunderbirds. Our people are very impressed with them. We actually offered a Mother Ship but Earth turned it down. It seems like Earth wants to do it all on its own. We just help out on the financial side mostly. We’re freezing Mirconium credit and lending loads to Earth.
And now we have Heaven on our side. The Heavenly Existential Church is in favour of cleaning Mirconium up because it makes the universe a more heavenly place. So there.
Joe watched her as she talked. Brown eyes, brown hair. Her smile. The way she moved her hands when she was excited. The way light fell on her body. The way her body moved as she changed position . Her enthusiasm. The sheer lovely normality of it all. Outside the windows of his house there was sunlight. A glimpse of the Mediterranean between tower blocks rising from its surface. All this was right there. Being fed straight into his optical nerves.
“TOT now. TOT now.”
“Standby” said someone.
Joe switched the message off. Reality. The Marines. The shuttle.
The man standing by the door.
“Two hundred meters.”
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