Kwori with me.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The Major followed the snivelling ministerial aide through the corridors of the building as his marines scattered throughout. The Captain was a quiet man, but eminently capable in any situation and had Taylor’s full confidence. Dallah led the Major and his men into an elevator and up several floors to what were clearly the most elaborate facilities of the building, which was not saying much.
Taylor was continually amazed at how Spartan the Moon colony was. As a marine he was used to roughing it, but his officer’s quarters could only be described as luxurious compared to what he was seeing now. Dallah opened the doors to the secretary’s office that led to the Prime Minister’s office. Two policemen were posted outside and armed with handguns, a lax security compared to what their Earth officials would expect.
Taylor nodded to his two marines, signalling for them to take up positions outside beside the policemen. The guards looked uneasily at the armoured marines. It was their colony policy to not have military personnel in state buildings, let alone with the kind of hardware they were carrying. The Major could see that the officers were desperate to interrupt and stop him entering with a rifle slung across his chest, but they were under orders not to.
Dallah pulled open the doors. The Prime Minister was stood looking out of a thick porthole across the colony. Two men were sitting at his desk, both wearing military uniform. Taylor went through into the office in full battle attire. The Prime Minister turned to greet him, but surprisingly was not at all shocked by his hardware. He nodded to Dallah to shut the door and leave.
“Major Taylor, this is Commander Kelly of the Moon Defence Force, and Colonel Visser of the UEN. I have called you here because we have just received some troubling news, but it would appear you were better informed than any of us,” said Prime Minister Olsen.
“Information has been withheld from us, Major, and that is unacceptable,” said Visser.
“Gentleman, you can complain all you like, but I am a soldier, not a politician. My only concern is the safety of the colony and its people, so let’s cut to the chase.”
“You think you can come in here and treat is like dirt?” shouted Kelly.
“Calm down the lot of you,” said Olsen.
“Major, we’ve just been informed by the UEN President that a large object, which appears to be a space vessel, is on a direct path to us and Earth. Also that they have lost contact with the fleet sent to investigate what they called an ‘incident’ on Mars. What can you tell us?”
“Clearly you now know as much as I do. I suggest you call all soldiers and territorials to arms, we may well have a fight on our hands.”
“A fight? With who and why?”
“I honestly don’t know, Colonel. Whoever is on the way has already attacked a civilian colony and has made no attempt at communication. We can only assume that they will continue with hostile actions.”
A light began to flash on the Prime Minister’s intercom. He quickly tapped the open channel button for hands free.
“What is it?” he snapped.
“Sir, I have a General White on the line for you.”
“Put him through!”
“Prime Minister, I am Major Taylor’s commanding officer and will be your contact from now on.”
“Go on, General.”
“What we suspect to be a vast ship heading your way is a concern, but no longer our first concern. It appears that a smaller vessel has split away and is heading for you at a far greater speed.”
“What are you saying, General? Give it to us straight.”
“Information is still sketchy, but it would appear the main vessel is coming for Earth and this smaller ship to your colony. As a military man, I’d have to say that it is typical of an attack vector.”
“We are talking about a mass scale attack, by who?”
“We simply don’t know. We have not seen anything like the size of these ships before. Nor
“Yes, Sir.”
The Major followed the snivelling ministerial aide through the corridors of the building as his marines scattered throughout. The Captain was a quiet man, but eminently capable in any situation and had Taylor’s full confidence. Dallah led the Major and his men into an elevator and up several floors to what were clearly the most elaborate facilities of the building, which was not saying much.
Taylor was continually amazed at how Spartan the Moon colony was. As a marine he was used to roughing it, but his officer’s quarters could only be described as luxurious compared to what he was seeing now. Dallah opened the doors to the secretary’s office that led to the Prime Minister’s office. Two policemen were posted outside and armed with handguns, a lax security compared to what their Earth officials would expect.
Taylor nodded to his two marines, signalling for them to take up positions outside beside the policemen. The guards looked uneasily at the armoured marines. It was their colony policy to not have military personnel in state buildings, let alone with the kind of hardware they were carrying. The Major could see that the officers were desperate to interrupt and stop him entering with a rifle slung across his chest, but they were under orders not to.
Dallah pulled open the doors. The Prime Minister was stood looking out of a thick porthole across the colony. Two men were sitting at his desk, both wearing military uniform. Taylor went through into the office in full battle attire. The Prime Minister turned to greet him, but surprisingly was not at all shocked by his hardware. He nodded to Dallah to shut the door and leave.
“Major Taylor, this is Commander Kelly of the Moon Defence Force, and Colonel Visser of the UEN. I have called you here because we have just received some troubling news, but it would appear you were better informed than any of us,” said Prime Minister Olsen.
“Information has been withheld from us, Major, and that is unacceptable,” said Visser.
“Gentleman, you can complain all you like, but I am a soldier, not a politician. My only concern is the safety of the colony and its people, so let’s cut to the chase.”
“You think you can come in here and treat is like dirt?” shouted Kelly.
“Calm down the lot of you,” said Olsen.
“Major, we’ve just been informed by the UEN President that a large object, which appears to be a space vessel, is on a direct path to us and Earth. Also that they have lost contact with the fleet sent to investigate what they called an ‘incident’ on Mars. What can you tell us?”
“Clearly you now know as much as I do. I suggest you call all soldiers and territorials to arms, we may well have a fight on our hands.”
“A fight? With who and why?”
“I honestly don’t know, Colonel. Whoever is on the way has already attacked a civilian colony and has made no attempt at communication. We can only assume that they will continue with hostile actions.”
A light began to flash on the Prime Minister’s intercom. He quickly tapped the open channel button for hands free.
“What is it?” he snapped.
“Sir, I have a General White on the line for you.”
“Put him through!”
“Prime Minister, I am Major Taylor’s commanding officer and will be your contact from now on.”
“Go on, General.”
“What we suspect to be a vast ship heading your way is a concern, but no longer our first concern. It appears that a smaller vessel has split away and is heading for you at a far greater speed.”
“What are you saying, General? Give it to us straight.”
“Information is still sketchy, but it would appear the main vessel is coming for Earth and this smaller ship to your colony. As a military man, I’d have to say that it is typical of an attack vector.”
“We are talking about a mass scale attack, by who?”
“We simply don’t know. We have not seen anything like the size of these ships before. Nor
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