Rebellion Ebook Full by B. V. Larson Page B

world,” Gorski said. “We just don’t have time to reach the others. I’ve got three satellites orbiting that world. I think it is significant to note that the Macro cruisers are staying many thousands of miles from any of these satellites.”
    “Which would indicate they are armed with space-combat weaponry,” I said. “Do we have any intel on these platforms and their combat abilities? Are they engaging the Macros? Are they firing anything at them?”
    “No sir, not so far as I can tell.”
    I shook my head and scratched the back of it. Why weren’t they fighting? This had to be some kind of test. Maybe the Macros just wanted to see what my troops could do in this situation. Maybe they thought we were the best unit they had. If that was the case, I appreciated the compliment, but I certainly didn’t want to keep impressing them.
    “Colonel Riggs?” asked Major Sarin. I slid my eyes toward her. “If those platforms have enough firepower to keep a Macro cruiser at bay, sir….”
    I nodded, agreeing with her unspoken thought. “Yes. That means they will blast our assault ships completely out of the sky. Not to mention our pathetic suicide capsules.”
    Sarin stared at me. “Are we really going through with this, Colonel? If we are crippled in numbers, we will lose all of our other—options.”
    There it was again. I looked around at them briefly. I could tell they thought we would have better odds fighting the Macros. I felt a spiking headache blossom at the base of my neck. I wanted to attack the invasion ship as badly as they did. I wanted to run out of this system and head back to Earth. But now, there were witnesses. Macros were everywhere. Right here, in this system, there were enough ships to head back to Earth and trash my homeworld.
    “Proceed as ordered,” I said.
    The assault ships were coming back now. Accelerating as hard as they could, they slid toward us at an impressive velocity. I thought they just might make it.
    “We’re going to need covering fire from these Macro ships,” I said, shaking my head. I could not fathom how else we were going to get all the way to the hull of one of these space stations without getting blown away. “Open a channel to Macro Command.”
    Sandra did as I asked instantly. She was really on top of things now. I thought maybe I hadn’t screwed up by putting her in the command brick after all.
    “Macro Command, this is Kyle Riggs.”
    Silence. The Macros had never been big on salutary greetings.
    “We request supporting fire from Macro Cruisers on the primary target satellite.”
    “Request denied.”
    I blinked in rapid annoyance. “In order to assure operational success, we require supporting fire.”
    “Request denied.”
    With all my heart, I wanted to shout WHY NOT? But I didn’t. I kept cool and tried to think of a better wording for my request. I couldn’t come up with anything, so I decided to work on the question of why they were refusing. I couldn’t do it by simply asking , of course.
    I closed my eyes to focus to the conversation.
    “Your refusal to cooperate is not logical,” I said.
    “Incorrect. The request cannot be granted.”
    “You are asserting that my request is impossible.”
    “Incorrect. The request cannot be granted.”
     “Explain your logic in not granting my request.”
    “Prior agreements are to be respected in this instance.”
    My eyes snapped open again at that. Prior agreements? At first, I thought they meant the agreements they had with us. What deal had they made that indicated they could not provide covering fire? Were they worried they would hit some of my men as we launched our assault?
    “Explain the nature of your prior agreements pertinent to this decision.”
    There was a hesitation. I knew I had whatever served these robots for a central brain churning with that one.
    “Request denied. Arrangements with other states are not to be shared with Kyle Riggs.”
    I froze as I suddenly, completely, got it.