Soul at War Read Free Page B

plexi-glass hatches and
twin machine guns mounted in the nose. Streaked in white lettering
above the frontal exhaust pipes was written 'MILLITARY OFFICE'.
Then a figure emerged from the starboard hatch in olive green
dress, followed by a tall, wide shouldered officer in black
breaches, boots and a peaked cap. Across the arm of his jacket was
a Lieutenants stripe and the pips on his collar confirmed his
rank.
    I watched the spectacle for a few
moments, and then returned to the rapidly drying paint.
    "Excuse me," A voice shouted over my
fence. It was the Lieutenant's aide, all youth and
arrogance.
    "Can I help you?" I shouted without
turning from my work.
    "We're looking for a Lieutenant John
Shap. Could you tell us where we might find him, it is of the
utmost urgency."
    "There is no man of that rank around
here, Private," I replied, working the brush into the welds where
the catch jutted out. Maybe my fence could rust, but if people saw
the Church gates rusting my reputation would be ruined.
    "But is there a John Shap
then?"
    "Finished," I said to myself,
satisfied. Putting the brush in the turps, I turned and wiped my
hands on a cloth. "Who's asking?"
    "Military command," The Lieutenant
piped up, obviously fed up with the wait. "If we don't find him,
we'll have to hunt him down with dogs until he owns up."
    "I didn't see any dogs on that
rust-heap of yours. You're bluffing."
    "Try me." The young adjutant looked on
in shock, wondering why his Lieutenant hadn't put a bullet in my
head for my insolence.
    "What the hell are you doing in a
black dress, Dan?" I shouted. His aide looked fit to burst, his
face had changed colour.
    "What's with the face hair? You get
lazy in your old age, John?"
    "What's with the rank? Did you stop
being lazy?" We met half way up the drive and shook hands, all
grins and laughs. "How long has it been, Dan? Nine years or
so?"
    "Just about. How the hell are
you?"
    "I'm good. Damn good. That's record
time. I was only on the 'link to Simms an hour ago. He's usually
quite slow in reporting people."
    "You've been off the scanner for too
long. Sometimes we just need to know where you are and what you're
doing. We don't want another case like we had in New
York."
    Dan Burns was an old school
friend. We'd both joined up at sixteen but after a year in basic
we'd gone our separate ways and only met up again as part of a
peace keeping force posted to Ganymede. As usual we'd promised to
keep in touch but such promises were always made on the way out of the door. He'd
been a sound bloke though and I'd met a few troopers who'd served
under him who only echoed that assessment.
    "So go on, what brings you out this
far? They could have sent anyone to check up on me," I asked. We
were sat on the porch; the sun beating down fiercely now it was
afternoon. That had led to a round of cold beers, then another and
I was just about to get the third when I decided that was enough
small talk. Military Office didn't pay house calls for
fun.
    "I suppose you've heard about the Zion
conflict," Dan said.
    "I have. Something about an ARC fleet
moving into the region was the latest."
    "The information has been delayed.
It's six weeks old. As of last night, we lost two planets to a full
on assault, the other three are in jeopardy and over sixty-three
percent of our forces are being redeployed to make sure they don't
go the same way."
    "What's so special about Zion? It's
full of colonists with no war interest, no hostile intentions." Dan
looked to his aide, they exchanged something non-verbal.
    "John, this stopped being a war of
property and material gain years ago. To the enemy, it's a
crusade."
    "A religious crusade? They're
more like 20 th century Communists.”
    "Do you remember Scientology in the
twentieth century? How it was started by one man?"
    "A tax dodge you mean."
    "That's never been proven. They are
following someone called 'Asc Theros', a man who's managed
something we've never been able to do in centuries."
    "And that is?"