LANCEJACK (The Union Series) Read Free Page B

certainly at some stage receive a challenge
to your position as a leader of men . Stamp it out. Hard.’
    ‘I’m
sorry,’ I said darkly, ‘Do I fucking know you?’
    The
troopers’ eyes widened as they realised that the young ‘ crow ’ was in
fact a lance corporal, ‘Sorry, Corporal,’ they chorused instantly afterwards.
    ‘That’s
better,’ I said, calming down, ‘Think before you speak next time, lads.’
    I
was glad that they had backed down, though I didn’t want to show it. It
wouldn’t have looked good if I had started throwing punches with random
troopers on my first day in the battalion.
    I
made my exit, smiling to myself as I left the cookhouse. Andy Moralee, the little
boy who had been afraid of his own shadow, was no more. I was Lance Corporal
Moralee, and I wasn’t taking shit from anyone.

 
    2
    Situation Enemy Forces
     
    A
great deal had changed on New Earth. When I left the planet two years ago it
had been ravaged by war and plagued by pockets of Chinese resistance. The
infrastructure had been in ruins and the economy non-existent. The people were
unfriendly and blamed us as much as the Chinese for their suffering, but they had
relied upon the Union to keep them alive with rations, water and shelter.
    The
people of New Earth were tough. They had lived for centuries on a planet where
the atmosphere could kill a man breathing unaided in under a minute. They were
well-educated, with a strong work ethic. Indeed New Earth was a leader in the
manufacture of high-tech electronic equipment and nanotechnology, which was why
the Union, Russia and China valued it so highly.
    It
hadn’t taken them long to get back onto their feet. Within those two years the
planet infrastructure had been rebuilt, maglev railways reconnected, shuttle
ports resurfaced, farmland re-cultivated and power restored. Cities like Jersey
Island, which had been bombarded by battleships in orbit and fought for house-by-house,
had been returned to their former glory.
    I
gaped in awe as I soared across the virtual New Earth landscape from the
comfort of the warren simulators. I flew past cities built entirely of marble-plated
concrete and others that glittered with a million panels of glass. Endless rows
of wind turbines turned lazily upon horizons chequered green by farmland; a
colour that dazzled the eye as it contrasted against the red surface, as did
the brilliant turquoise sky.
    New
Earth was dead. Nothing could survive the poisonous atmosphere outside the
domes, and even crops were contained within rows upon rows of airtight
greenhouses. Some people had said that New Earth could be terraformed and
turned into a green world like Earth or Eden, but the idea had long been
discarded as an impossible dream. The planet was said to be completely hostile
to all forms of life. Yet still it was beautiful.
    ‘Wow,’
one of the new troopers exclaimed, though I couldn’t see him. To me it was as
though I were flying on my own in the sky, with the voices of the others in my
head.
    ‘Mad,
right?’ Another disembodied voice agreed. I recognised it as that of the
conscripted intelligence sergeant who had taken us into the simulators that
morning for our guided tour, ‘There are a total of 79 provinces on the surface
of New Earth, and each one is different to look at. For instance Jersey Island
favours traditional European buildings built out of local stone beneath glass
domes, whereas the Nieuwe Poort province - where you will mostly be operating -
has a real thing for marble plated concrete.’
    As
we soared into the city of Nieuwe Poort I saw straight away that it was nothing
like Jersey Island. It looked as though it had been designed and built by a
single architect, an architect with a love for classical Roman buildings. Vast
marble plated pillars and massive white arches held glass domes and ceilings
high above our heads, to protect the inhabitants from the toxic New Earth
atmosphere. The buildings themselves were grand, with tens of