Guardian (War Angel Book 1) by David Hallquist (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

take less than a minute. But no one wants to be responsible for the deaths of billions and the black clouds of death that would cover the once living world. Not even the Lunars want that, even after everything the Terrans did to them.

We can’t really besiege a planet. Sure, we can probably blockade the Earth, effectively forever, but so what? They don’t actually need to import food or raw materials—it’s the planet that colonized the entire solar system on its own. They can make anything they need there, and they will. They’ll keep on arming up, building new weapons and delivery systems in secret for the next attack…and the next attack…and the one after that…and so on. Worse, the whole time, Saturnine agents could be slowly transforming the place and the people with their nanotech and neurotech. No one even knows what that would eventually mean.

We can’t bomb their factories and manufacturing centers without hitting their arcology towers. That’s out, because that’s where almost everyone is living. We can separate the arcology towers from everything else by blowing up subterranean hyper-tube lines and port facilities, and we have been hitting those, but that’s only limiting their ability to coordinate with each other. Arcologies are designed to be totally self-sufficient. They’re the prototypes of the space-cities we built later on. Even burning the agricultural fields around those towers won’t really help; most of that food goes to the populations outside of the towers or are luxury foods for export. The towers grow their own vat-based food inside.

Sieges and blockades wouldn’t really work in this scenario, anyway. Even if we wanted to, I’m not sure there’s any amount of suffering that could be imposed upon the Terrans that would get them to surrender. The Council Supreme starves to death, tortures, and executes millions of their own on an ongoing basis. There’s also almost no hope of a rebellion or uprising—the Terrans are all implanted with tracking devices, and, at the first hint of dissension, they are looking at a long and lingering death. Their cybernetic police state is essentially impossible to overthrow from the inside. It would take a miracle to overthrow it.

Still, I can’t help but think, if even one Terran rose up against their tyrannical state, it might make a difference. I can dream, anyway.

Added to the whole problem is we actually care about the people of Earth, and the ones ruling it don’t. So that leaves the State of Terra with the ultimate hostages—their own people. They’ve made it pretty clear that if we punch too hard and it looks like things are going to fall apart, they’ll unleash a variety of doomsday weapons on their own planet. They’ve got buried nukes, bioweapons, nano generators, and who knows what else all over the place. They’re ruled by psychopaths who wouldn’t hesitate to bring the whole world down with them, just out of spite.

At this point, how do any of them surrender? The Lunars could never forgive them for what they’d done. Their own people would happily kill them. If they run, there’s no place that would be safe for them, except maybe Saturn—but that’s worse than death.

So our remaining option is to put pressure on the Council Supreme of the State of Terra. The Earth isn’t governed by one giant, computer-controlled union like Saturn is. Sure, Saturn’s been helping Earth develop advanced AI, but for some reason, the despots currently ruling Earth don’t want to be ruled by an automated despot. Instead of one big tyranny, the State of Terra is actually a confederation of little tyrannies, based out of their tower arcologies like feudal lords. They meet and work together as the Council Supreme of Terra. We’ve cut off their ability to communicate and function together; now maybe we can get them to act against each other or perhaps open separate negotiations with us.

All of this has led to the standoff we’re in now. Waiting in orbit, getting ready for the next move, whatever that is, and whenever it will be. All I can do is make sure my squadron is ready for whatever comes…and worry.

* * *

After getting all the files squared away, I stretch, then look for something to watch. Anything else, actually, to get my mind out of where it is. Hmmm…Jovian newsfeed. Let’s see what people back home are saying…

“A WORLD IN TERROR,” the caption reads. A grim-faced Jovian with a square chin and perfect features begins to explain. “All the solar system today is outraged by the attack of the Jovian military on the neutral world of Terra.”

What?

“A Jovian Naval task force, led by the host carrier Admiral Weston, launched an unprovoked attack on the Terran forces that were involved in a tense hostage negotiation at the L1 colony. Intense fighting erupted between Jovian, Terran, and Lunar naval forces. In addition to catastrophic loss of life and shipping in space, a number of surface blasts have severely damaged Lunar settlements, believed to be stray shots from the Jovian task force’s reckless engagement.”

WHAT! We didn’t even have antimatter on our ships…

“Not satisfied with destroying Terran civilian ships and space stations, the Jovian task force has been conducting an extensive surface bombardment of Terran civilian facilities and even settlements…”

With a sinking feeling, I realize with all the jamming around Earth, this kind of garbage is all people in the solar system are seeing…

“Planetary governments around the solar system are calling for an end to the senseless killing. Venus and Saturn have offered to send impartial observers, urgently needed medical supplies, and technical assistance to help the ravaged home world rebuild. At this point, we’re still awaiting an official response…”

I change to a different newsfeed. They can’t all be like this…

A kindly looking older Ceresian woman looks out of the hologram with the stars behind her. “EROS: Update!” is the caption. “The individual involved in the