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.Wouldn't it be easier, he asked himself, to keep the supplies in orbit?It would definitely make sense, he thought.A single antimatter missile detonating in space would be bad, but not unmanageable.If it detonated on a planet’s surface instead, even a worthless piece of rock like Hades, the devastation would be terrifying.The bombardment of Earth would be nothing compared to the destruction of an entire naval base.Hell, if there was enough antimatter on the planet's surface, the blast would crack the planet in two.“You will notice that most of their supplies are stored in the dumps here, here and here,” the intelligence weenie said, tapping the chart.“We believe they actually land their freighters here” – he tapped another location on the chart – “then transport the supplies into the dumps and hold them for further deployment.Quite why they do it this way is a mystery.”He paused for effect.“The base is defended by a number of automated weapons platforms, in orbit, and a handful of small PDCs, positioned around the complex,” he added.“Taking out the former, along with the defending squadron, will be the Navy’s task, but the latter will be our problem.Stealth missiles will do what they can, but we may have to storm the PDCs and suppress them before the freighters can land.“We don’t know how many troops the enemy have positioned on the ground, but we find it hard to believe the dump doesn't have at least a small security force assigned to it.There are several buildings that might well be barracks.”Martin sighed as the intelligence officer droned on.One thing they had learned about the Tokomak – he assumed from the captured starship – was that they were having manpower problems.It was hard, nearly impossible, to get volunteers for the space fleet, let alone the Tokomak groundpounders.They were probably far too used to a life of luxury, Martin speculated; on Earth, the military had been largely manned by the poor and downtrodden, rather than the ultra-wealthy.But two-thirds of the Solar Marines came from the Solar Union, where – with a little bit of effort – they could have earned themselves lives of peaceful luxury.Their lives could be extended indefinitely.And they chose to give it up and fight beside the rest of us, he thought.Why didn't they stay where they were?He thought he understood, even though it was an alien concept.They were patriots, loyal to a society that was loyal to them; indeed, they were truly part of their society in a way he’d never been part of the United States of America.No one had ever asked him, back on Earth, if he’d wanted American troops sent to Cuba, South Africa or even Iran.Hell, no one had ever asked his opinion on anything.But the Solar Union had wanted him to vote.“I trust you were all paying attention,” Major Lockland said, once the intelligence officer had finished talking.Martin, who knew there would be copies of the briefing available online, made a mental note to go over it in cynical detail later.“The operation will be carried out as follows.”His gaze swept the room.Martin thought he knew what he was thinking.There was no deadweight here, not in the Solar Marines.Everyone, even the intelligence weenie, was armed and ready to go to war.Martin had once been told, during training, that there had been militaries where 90% of the manpower was nothing more than support staff for the 10% who did the actual fighting.It had proven a deadly mistake, if only because the tail had begun to wag the dog.The Solar Marines were determined not to make the same mistake.Even their logistics officers were expected to drop with the rest of the company.“We will be launching missiles at the PDCs,” Major Lockland said.“After that, we will drop from orbit.Our particular responsibility will be Dump #2.The other units will be tasked with taking and holding the other dumps; naturally, I expect us to have our dump secured first.”He smiled, then went on.“1st and 2nd Platoons will be responsible for crushing the remains of the PDCs, assuming they survive the missile strikes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]